The Long Way Down (Daniel Faust #1)(41)
“How many are there?”
“A generous handful. My prince’s court is one of the few that doesn’t have an open-season policy on them. Many feel that, being half human, they’re abominations and impure by nature.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said. The Audi rumbled out of the factory lot and onto the street.
“We, however, deem them worthy of existence and protection so long as they obey our laws. As a result, more than a few halfbloods migrate in from the Midwest and East Coast, looking for a place to thrive. The other courts’ shortsighted loss is our long-term gain. As usual.”
“So you’re…the sheriff?”
She grinned. “The sheriff, the diplomat, the occasional guidance counselor. Any business of the prince’s on Earth is my responsibility. I do occasionally need to go home for work or pleasure, but by and large, this world is my oyster so long as I’m strong enough to keep the job. Ah! Here we are.”
A valet ran over to take her keys as we pulled up to the curb. We walked together through the casino, under a ceiling painted the color of a midsummer sky. When we got to the restaurant, I eyed the marquee over the doors dubiously.
“Uh, Caitlin? Isn’t this one of Gordon Ramsay’s places? Don’t you need reservations at least a week ahead of time to get in?”
She glanced over her shoulder at me.
“I don’t, no.”
Twenty-One
True to her word, Caitlin only had to whisper a few words to the ma?tre d’ and we were whisked away to a two-seater table with a view of the kitchen. The prices on the menu were the scariest thing I’d seen all day, but my pockets were stuffed with cash from Artie’s poker game and the company was nothing to complain about. Caitlin picked out a ginger liqueur with lemon and bitters from the drink menu, and I ordered a Vesper martini.
“Here’s what I don’t get,” I said. “How did you get snared by the Kaufman brothers in the first place? I’ve seen remnants of infernal contracts before. They’re always give-and-take, ‘you do this and I’ll do this.’ Not the one you signed, though, it gave all the power to Artie and left you…”
I was going to say “virtually a slave,” but I fell silent, seeing the storm clouds brewing behind her eyes. Her lips pursed in a tight scarlet line.
“I was sent a message, which I believed authentic, that my prince wished me to meet with one of his agents in a hotel room. It was an ambush. There were several people waiting for me, under hoods and masks, and they…forced me to sign it.”
I shrugged. “I don’t get it. What’d they do, hold a gun to your head? I doubt that would slow you down much.”
“They have something that they shouldn’t,” she said, seeming to choose her words with great care, “a bit of old magic that has no place in this world, something venomous to my kind. Its very existence is a sensitive topic.”
“How sensitive?”
Caitlin sipped her drink, giving me a hard look. “Sensitive enough that if you so much as knew its name, I would be obligated to tear your throat out. Find another question to ask.”
“So you were captured. Sheldon and his friends gave you to his brother, who kept you in that house. What did Detective Holt have to do with it?”
“He was the entire reason I was there. I had one purpose: to seduce him, addict him, and keep him pliable. He was vital to their plan. Understand that the Kaufmans had no idea who I was, beyond my basic nature. I heard them talking on the phone once, and Sheldon told Artie, ‘If she can’t do a job on Holt, get rid of her and I’ll tell our benefactor to find us another succubus.’”
I frowned. “So it wasn’t personal for them. They asked this ‘benefactor’ to find them some random succubus, and he or she led them to you.”
It didn’t hang together, though I wasn’t sure how. Some detail nagged at me. The waitress came back.
“We’ll have the beef wellies for two,” Caitlin told her.
“The cambion,” I said as soon as the waitress walked off, “that’s the problem. Wait—you just ordered for me.”
Caitlin nodded. “I did. You’ll love it. Best thing on the menu. What about the cambion? They didn’t know anything; they were just acting out.”
“That’s the problem. They didn’t know anything. Just that you were gone, right? You up and vanished one day, and the toe-eater and his buddies figured it was party time.”
She narrowed her eyes as she put her cocktail glass to her lips. “Right, and?”
“So how did they know I was the one who set you free? Somebody had to have told them. We sure as hell didn’t leave any witnesses behind.”
“I haven’t spoken to anyone about it. You? Who did you tell?”
I had to think about it. Gossip was like breathing for Bentley and Corman, but they wouldn’t have said a word. I frowned, suddenly realizing who could have pointed the ferals my way.
“Nicky Agnelli, that piece of shit.”
Caitlin glared. “What about Nicky Agnelli?”
“You know him?”
“Of course I know him. He’s been a thorn in my side for years. He’s always wanted my job. Not to serve, mind you, but to use the office to further his greedy little ambitions.”