Page 33 of Hunt the Dusk
“Not in my domain, you don’t.”
She blinked sharply and dropped her gaze. “Thank you.”
I had no clue what kind of prejudice Merry had come across because of her upbringing, no idea how the politics of the fae trapped in our world were. But it was easy to gather that Merry had been forced to live outside of it all and that she desperately wanted to be a part of it.
He tore his gaze from her and back to me. “Now…what is it you wanted?”
I filled him in on the missing persons case and how our trail had gone dead just outside his gates.
His frown of concentration melted as I finished. “Your wendigo isn’t here, but I can explain why it might look that way. There are powerful wards on the park. Protection wards that nullify any other spells that might be cast near it. The effects extend for quite a radius.”
“Shit,” Holly said.
“What does that mean?” Edwin asked her.
“It means my tracking spell won’t work around here, which means if Diago did go missing in this area, then there is no way to finding him.”
“We can still search,” Padma said. “See if we can pick up a trail outside of the radius?” She turned to Crush. “How much of a radius?”
“No idea.”
Great, just fucking great. “Okay, let’s drive out some ways, keep the same trajectory, and see if we pick up anything.”
“Sounds good to me,” Holly said.
“Thanks, Crush. We appreciate your help.”
“Anytime.” He took another swig of his drink and studied me for a beat so long I was beginning to get uncomfortable before he spoke. “Look, there’s a celebration at my club Midsommer Nights on Silvercrest Moon in a few weeks. You should come.” He looked over my shoulder at the others. “All of you.”
“You own Midsommer?” Merry squeaked. “I’ve been wanting to try that place for…forever, but it’s invite only.”
“And now you have an invite,” Crush said. “It’s a vampire-free zone. Just good music and delicious food.”
“Fae food?” Padma arched a brow.
Crush chuckled. “Yes, but there will be regular food too, all clearly labeled. You’ll have a choice whether to partake.”
What did that mean?
“I’ll leave your names at the door if you decide to come.”
“Why?” I hadn’t meant to ask it, but now that I had, “Why are you inviting us?”
“Honestly, I’m fucking bored. This king thing is tedious as hell, and the club helps a little but…You guys seem to get into some interesting stuff. Seem like the kind of people that might need a hand now and then. People worth knowing.”
Wait a second…I canted my head and smiled up at him. “Are you saying you want to be friends?”
He chuckled softly. “Yeah, I want to be friends.”
“In that case, we’ll be there,” Merry piped up for us all.
We hadn’t found our missing person yet, but we’d made an ally, and I had a feeling that we were going to be needing as many allies as we could get before the year was up.
Chapter 12
We covered a half-mile radius around the park, but there was no sign of Diago’s signature. We agreed to try Lomax tomorrow and call it a day for now.
Back at the office, Holly checked on the rest of her tincture before we packed up to head to Old Town.
