“Interesting. He might be a party boy, one of the Bacchanal lines, but he doesn’t have that dissolute look about him. Not a hunter, those feet are too pristine. Scars are old. And he looks soft. Former tough guy. Taking orders from someone, why else would he be here? I’ll get the library researchers to investigate,see if we can identify him.” Darcy snapped a couple of photos with her phone. Making sure to include the tattoo and the scars.
“Well, his boss, whoever that might be, gave him a syringe, a detailed description of my bar layout, and this.” Nico unwrapped the tissue, holding the ring out for Darcy’s inspection.
“Payment or a token, perhaps both. Either way, I’m guessing he was expendable, and they assumed effectively untraceable.”
“Luckily you love a challenge. You want me to wrap him up to go in some tarpaulin for you?”
With two bites Darcy finished her ice cream, leaning back against the nearest kitchen counter, crossing her legs, casting a quick admiring glance down at her lime vinyl thigh-high boots. “I have something for you.”
It was pure reflex that had Nico grabbing the silver plastic object Darcy pulled out of her left boot and flung his way. A star? No, a child’s plastic sheriff’s badge. At least it wasn’t any of Darcy’s extensive Japanese steel edged throwing stars or shuriken.
“And this is?”
“A symbol.”
“Of…?”
“Your new status, congrats, you’ve just been promoted to Secret Special Liaison Deputy.”
Yeah, Nico didn’t need to think about that. Throwing the plastic star back. “You’re joking.”
“Does this look like my joking face?”
“I’d have to double check the pamphlet, but no, I don’t believe it is. You’re serious? Thanks, but no thanks, I’m good.”
“But are you happy?”
“Excuse me?”
“Nothing. Now, as I was saying, this grave honour I’m bestowing upon you is non-negotiable, non-returnable, and highly fraught with potential death and disaster.”
“So not interested in any of that.”
“What about the end of life as we know it? Any thoughts or feelings about that particular subject?”
Okay, Darcy definitely had his attention now. His brother-in-law, Elijah, liked to joke the local Enforcers dealt with an apocalypse every other Tuesday. Considering all the stories he’d heard from the locals, that estimate wasn’t far off. But for Darcy to involve herself in a potential cataclysmic event? The threat potential had to be off the scale.
“Excellent. Good to have you on board. Well, you probably want to get our friend here on ice.” Darcy stood up straight, stretching, covering her mouth as she yawned. “See yah.”
“Wait. You can’t drop a bomb like the world is going to end and not give me any details regarding who, what, how and when.”
“A Cabal of asshole Deities want to remake the Earthly Plane so they can rule it for shits and giggles.”
“Who exactly? How? When?”
“All excellent questions. As to the who, unfortunately, most are hiding their involvement and operating through a range of high end contractors, with the odd expendable amateur thrown into the mix.” She cast a quick look at the dead body. “I’ll arrange some kind of briefing for you. In the meantime, suspect everyone.”
“I spend most of my days behind a bar, and my customers are all locals. Unless I get another four in the morning surprise visitor, I doubt I’ll be breaking this conspiracy wide open for you. I’m just saying, my contribution in all this is probably done. I’ll put glow bug here on ice, but do I really need a stupid secret title and a briefing?”
Darcy’s eerie ice-blue eyes frosted over for a millisecond. “You tell me? Someone who can hire or bribe a deity hanger-on knows enough about the Sanctuary to send them here, to your bar, into your kitchen, to a specific refrigerator armed with a deadlytoxin. And something else for you to think about, you know who else is about to mix with a whole passel of deities? Do the meet and greet thing? Your sister, the newest official member of the Goddess club, K’in.”
“Mierda.” Copper.
“Exactly. Can it really be a coincidence that the moment your sister officially steps up to Goddess status some golden dude in a toga and the ancient equivalent of flip-flops promptly turns up at the Yanez family business, packing a deadly poison?”
“I don’t know how useful I can be, stuck behind the bar.”
“You stopped goldenrod in his tracks. And whoever sent him, they have a specific target in mind, we just don’t know who, where, or when yet. Or even if their target is a personal one or weaved into the bigger take over the Earth plot. Either way, I think they’ll try again. You know how one note the Gods can be.”
