Dirty Little Misery (Miss Misery) Read online

  But spells could be worked in several ways. One of them involved a complicated series of glyphs, almost like a spell-caster’s alphabet. A glyph or several, applied directly to the skin and made of the correct ingredients, could produce far more potent effects than my vials. They would also be used up much faster, but I supposed that didn’t matter to the Gryphons.

  The paste had turned a bright cobalt blue by the time Mike removed it from the salamander. He waved the dowel a few times, as if trying to cool it down. “We put these as close to your heart as possible. Most women prefer their backs to their chests though. Up to you.”

  Looked like this would be the second time today I was taking my shirt off without anything fun to show for it. “My back is fine.”

  I sat on the stool Mike indicated and pulled up my hair and shirt. The paste was warm on my skin, and I wondered how many glyphs he was drawing because it felt like a lot of writing.

  “The standard is two glyphs,” Bridget said, as if reading my thoughts. “One is for all-purpose protection. The other is specific to countering the effects of pred magic. That one should make it a lot easier for you to go into Shadowtown without having your soul violated.”

  “Sounds good.” Or it would if I had to deal with that problem.

  The pressure on my back ceased, and I let go of my hair and shirt as Mike dumped the improvised pen on the counter. “You’re all set. Those should last between two to four weeks, depending on how much trouble you get in, or how many preds try working their magic on you.”

  “This is great,” Bridget said as we left the lab room. “We’re finally getting to work together, although we won’t be working on the same case.”

  I forced a smile because “great” didn’t quite describe it for me. I got what Bridget was saying, and it sure beat fighting with her, but no matter how many friendly people I met around this place, I had to consider the Gryphons a threat. And that wasn’t even getting at the blackmailing bit.

  Anyway, I’d see soon enough if Bridget still thought this arrangement was great when my blood analysis came back. Just what would she—and everyone else in my life—think if she discovered that the human with the cursed gift was not so human at all?

  The question made my stomach turn, so I pushed the thought aside and finished my coffee. There was nothing to be done about it. I was what I was, and as far as I knew that couldn’t be changed. It was best, therefore, not to think about it until I was forced to.

  “So am I free to go, and how do I leave?”

  “You are free.” Bridget dumped our empty coffee cups in the trash. “Andre will call you when the analysis is done. I can walk you out.”

  “Actually,” came a new voice from behind me, “I’d be happy to do that. I’d very much like a chance to meet Ms. Moore.”

  Bridget and I had entered a busier part of the floor, and I turned around. The man who’d spoken acknowledged Bridget with a slight tilt of his head before facing me.

  He smiled, but something in that smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, and he held out a hand toward me. “Tom Kassin.”

  Confused by my immediate distrust of him, I took it. “Nice to meet you.” Or not.

  No, probably not. I wished I knew why.

  Tom Kassin was only my height, and with his round baby face, pale blond hair and blue eyes he was almost cherubic. Almost. Because something about him got my hackles up, and I couldn’t figure out what. Thanks to my misery-sucking abilities, I was usually a very good judge of character, and this new Gryphon was setting off all my alarms. Yet when I stretched out my gift toward him, I got nothing. That disconnect left me uneasy. For humans anyway, I always had a good reason if I distrusted someone.

  Bridget didn’t seem to share my strange antipathy toward Tom Kassin. She merely shrugged at his request. “Sure. I’ll talk to you later, Jess.”

  “Yeah, okay.” I returned my attention to Tom, half wondering if I was ever going to get out of this building today.

  He began walking. “I’ve read a lot about you in the files from Victor Aubrey’s case. The gift you described is quite unusual.”

  I was beyond sick of hearing that or similar phrases. “So it seems.”

  We reached the elevators, and Tom pressed the down button, making a few more vacuous comments about my gift as we waited. He had a faint accent, British of some sort, only it wasn’t the same accent as Devon’s. In fact, it didn’t sound quite right. Some of Tom’s words almost had a Southern twang to them, as well.

  That wasn’t the only odd thing about him either. He had a red-and-gold pin on his uniform collar, something I’d never seen before. Gryphons gave out medals for extraordinary service, but they weren’t the sort of decorations that were worn.

  “You look puzzled,” he said as we stepped into the elevator.

  “I’m trying to piece together your accent.”

  He smiled again, and again something about it didn’t sit right on his face. Bridget never appeared truly happy when she smiled either, but this wasn’t the same thing. Tom’s smile was patronizing. Smug. “I’m originally from Savannah, and I worked out of the Atlanta office for several years before transferring to London and eventually to World in Grenoble.”

  I blinked. “You’re from World Headquarters?” Maybe the pin on his uniform had something to do with that.

  “I am.” The elevator arrived on the ground floor, and Tom waited for me to step out. “I’m here on a special assignment. People are very interested in what the furies were up to. While Agent Nelson works on the Aubrey end of the case, I’m doing some investigating for a commission that was formed regarding the furies’ actions.”

  I paused. We were in the lobby, and freedom wasn’t so far away. Yet Tom had gotten my full attention at last. “What is it about the furies that’s so curious?”

  “Surely you realize how unusual their behavior was. Furies thrive on rage and chaos, but to attempt what they did here, instigating fights among various pred races and the magi, that’s not normal.”

  I swallowed, remembering something Lucen had said during the Aubrey business. He and Dezzi had worried that the furies were trying to start a war. It might have been for kicks, which was entirely possible given the furies, but it also might have been for something worse. Lucen had suggested that the power the furies would raise by feeding off so much suffering could be used be used for a variety of nefarious purposes.

  “You think they’re up to something more than just starting fights?” I asked.

  Tom’s face was perfectly neutral, and his emotions didn’t give anything away. He was like a block of ice—cold, hard and unpleasant. “That’s part of what I’m here to find out. It was nice to meet you, Jessica.”

  Only once he left did I realize he’d said that was part of what he was here to find out. I had a feeling if I’d probed about the other part, I’d finally have gotten a good taste of deception and lies from him.

  Chapter Five

  I went straight to The Lair after leaving Gryphon Headquarters. Not only could I use a drink, my shift would be starting in a couple hours. I figured I could have that drink, borrow Lucen’s shower, then come back to the bar ready to push liquor.

  Strangely enough, when I needed normality in my life these days, Lucen was the person I thought of. It wasn’t too long ago that I’d have viewed him as proof of the lack of normality in my life, but I’d known Lucen for ten years, and I’d finally had to accept that he’d always been there for me.

  Before everything that happened with Victor, I’d assumed Lucen took an interest in my life because he was toying with me, like a cat playing with a mouse before biting the poor creature’s head off. But apparently not. Lucen had taken me in when I was hiding from the Gryphons, risked his standing with the satyrs to protect me, and still had the nerve to get pissed off at me when I’d tried to protect him in return.

  Much a
s I liked to think of him only as my satyr-with-benefits, or blame my attraction to him on his lusty magic, I knew better. I just hated to admit it. When I was feeling beaten down, I wanted him there to talk sense into me. And when I was angry and looking for a fight, I wanted him to help me work out my aggression in a less violent, more naked manner. And when I needed to talk about weird shit with someone who understood, he was a good option.

  Steph was the only human who knew about my abilities, and she tolerated a lot of weirdness from me, but she didn’t have the knowledge of magic or the loathing for the Gryphons that Lucen did. She also wouldn’t understand the significance of what Tom had told me about his investigation of the furies. If I wanted someone to discuss that with, and my unpleasant vibe about Tom himself, Lucen was the person I needed.

  More to the point, I also craved reassurance that being brought into an investigation that could potentially involve illegal activity on the satyrs’ behalf wasn’t going to destroy this unusual relationship of ours. I mean, it probably would, but I wanted Lucen to lie to me and tell me it wouldn’t. Since I couldn’t sense preds’ emotions, I could pretend to believe him.

  Did I say I needed a drink? I needed more like several.

  Saturday’s crowd didn’t get thick until around seven, so Lucen saw me right away as I entered the bar. I took my favorite stool near the end and rested my head on my arms until he made his way over.

  “Do you need some coffee, little siren? You’ve been gone a long time.”

  I raised my head, and some of my tension lifted as I saw the concern in his eyes. How did I end up making a satyr care about me, and why couldn’t I simply feel better knowing he did care? Why did it also make me long for his touch?

  Damn his magic. Sometimes a girl wanted comfort without sex. But with satyrs, that was as likely as finding chocolate without calories.

  “How about something more alcoholic than coffee,” I said, sitting up. “I’m awake but stressed. The investigation took a while, then I had to do all this paperwork and other crap at the office.”

  Lucen smirked. “At the office. You sound so professional.”

  “Please. How should I refer to it?”

  He poured me a shot of Jameson. “When we want to get all literary, we call it Mount Doom. Mostly, though, it’s The Fucking Gryphon Building.”

  The whiskey burned my throat but settled in my stomach just right. “You’re so eloquent.”

  “I can be, but I’ve known you long enough to know you’re not the type to get hot from me quoting Shakespeare. So, on that thought…” He leaned over the bar and winked. “Get a uniform?”

  “Alas, no. Got a shiny ID badge, but no uniform and no weapons.”

  “Damn.”

  I sighed dramatically. “I know, and I look so good in black too.”

  Lucen topped off my drink. “Actually, I prefer you in as little as possible, but if we’re talking about your underwear, the red lacey ones are my favorite.”

  “Good to know.” I put a hand over the glass. “Hey there, go easy on the booze. I need to work soon.”

  “Don’t be stupid. Of course you don’t.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Don’t start. I’m not letting you pay me to hang around this place and pretty it up.”

  He stuck the bottle back on the shelf. “I’m not paying you at all anymore, and I’ve got your shift for tonight covered. Caroline had asked for more hours, so this worked out about as well as Gryphon shit can.”

  “Wait, what about Caroline? Did you just fire me? And for one of your addicts?”

  Lucen’s face tightened, no doubt picking up on the disdain I had for his Caroline.

  Addicts who were driven to deals by desperation earned my pity, but Lucen wasn’t one of those preds selling hope by the charm vial-full. He got his addicts by preying on their lust. I had a harder time feeling sorry for them, especially because he had to sleep with them every now and then to keep them healthy.

  “I didn’t fire you, Jess. You got another job. That’s called quitting.”

  “It’s not a job I asked for or wanted.”

  He took my hand, but my annoyance was too great to be overcome by his power this time. “No, but be reasonable. It’s one that’s paying you a lot more than I can pay you, and it might—and is likely to—interfere with your ability to work here. I have to make sure I have my shifts covered, and you have to make sure you have money and don’t go to jail. So we’ll both make do.”

  I scowled. Lucen had a point, but I didn’t like it. “You’d better get me another drink then. Yesterday, I was blackmailed. Today, I was fired, and that’s after I was probed and saw some really twisted stuff this morning.”

  Lucen kissed my hand, and my bitterness relented a touch. “You’ll have to tell me about it later.”

  “Yeah, I’ve got a few things to tell you.”

  Lucen had to go back to work, so I sat and texted with Steph while nursing a beer. We hadn’t gone out in a while because I’d been working nights, and the few evenings I’d had free Steph had been hanging out with Jim, her boyfriend. I liked Jim and approved of their relationship. That was no small thing given Steph’s history of dating guys who were either in serious need of therapy or borderline psychos, so I did all I could to encourage them.

  Absorbed as I was in my conversation, I didn’t notice the bar’s atmosphere had changed until a familiar voice spoke my name. “Ah, there she is. I’d thought I might find you here.”

  I put my phone down as Dezzi, the satyrs’ Dom, swept through The Lair. As the most powerful satyr in Boston, Lucen—and all the other satyrs in the bar—answered to her, and their deference was quiet though noticeable. Dezzi was tall and voluptuous with pheromones that smelled vaguely like coconut. I could recognize their traces even if they weren’t making me squirm in my seat with lust.

  As usual, Dezzi had piled her black braids around her head to a height that obscured her horns, and her silver jewelry gleamed against her dark skin. Even in jeans and a simple peasant blouse, she looked regal. Lucen seemed to adore her too. I didn’t know much about pred hierarchy, but when it came to Doms, I assumed they could be every bit as loved or loathed as any leader.

  Dezzi could have thrown me out on my ass when I’d tried hiding from the Gryphons with Lucen, and she could have demoted him from his position as her third for daring to take me in. Instead, she’d heard us both out, and though saying she wasn’t pleased would have been an understatement, she’d given us a chance to make things right. And when we’d needed her support to follow through in the end, she’d given it.

  Although once she’d kind of terrified me, these days I had no problems with Dezzi.

  Now the satyr who was walking with Dezzi, however… I’d have been happy never running into her again. Lucrezia was Dezzi’s second, and although I had to admit she was gorgeous, I didn’t find her personality nearly as attractive. To Lucrezia, I was merely human cattle, and she didn’t understand why Lucen kept me around as a nonaddict fuck-buddy—her words, not mine.

  I pushed my empty glass away. “Hi, Dezzi. Lucrezia.”

  Lucrezia sat on the stool next to me, crossing her long, barely covered legs. “Pet, I’m surprised you’re hanging out here, all things considered.”

  Behind Lucrezia, Lucen said something to the other bartender and wandered over. He took my empty glass away but continued to hover protectively.

  Dezzi looked me up and down. “Rumor around Shadowtown is that the human with a satyr’s gift has become a Gryphon. I assume the rumor refers to you. Is it true?”

  “That’s a rumor?” I cast a glance in Lucen’s direction.

  He shrugged, setting two glasses of wine on the bar for the other women. “Don’t look at me. I haven’t said anything. I’d have told you eventually, Dez, but I was waiting to see what it meant myself.”

  “So it is true?” Dezzi
said again.

  I didn’t know why, but I was feeling defensive all of a sudden. Maybe it was because I was surrounded by three powerful satyrs and feeling very human as a result. “It’s not like I went and applied for a job. I’m being blackmailed into working for them.” I gave Dezzi the briefest of rundowns about what happened between me and the Director.

  “Nasty thing, isn’t she?” Lucrezia said, referring to Olivia Lee. “And you were so busy trying to defend them recently too.”

  “Well, congratulations, I’m over it. But that doesn’t mean I want to help you destroy them.”

  Dezzi ran a finger over her full lips. “Do you know what they want you to work on?”

  I hesitated a second. There was no use in lying. She’d know. “Yes, I was brought in on a case this morning.”

  “This wouldn’t have something to do with the murders in Newton, would it?” Lucrezia asked, picking up her wineglass.

  I tensed. “Actually, yes. How did you know that?”

  She gave me a pitying look. “Pet, don’t you watch the news? They said there were Gryphons on the scene.”

  “Oh. Well, I haven’t exactly had time to watch the news. The Gryphons have sucked away my entire day. Believe me—I’m not happy about this.”

  “No, I can tell you’re not.” Dezzi took a sip of wine finally. “But it doesn’t change the fact that you’re now working for our enemy.”

  I jumped off my stool in disgust. It was clear where this conversation was going, and the worst wasn’t even public knowledge yet. If the news had mentioned anything about F, surely Lucrezia or Dezzi would have brought it up, and this chat would be less friendly than it already was. “Give me a break. I just got done being enemies with the sylphs. Can’t I go a month without people picking fights with me?”

  “Dezz, she doesn’t have a choice,” Lucen said.