Lie Down with Dogs Read online

  “He hates it, hates what we are. He won’t teach me, but I’m manifesting, I’ve got all this power, and I can’t control it. I thought the lamp would help, but it makes things worse. It makes me feed it more magic. I think—I think it wants to devour me.” He shook the hand clutching the lamp at me. “I can’t put it down. See? It’s stuck. My dad quit cold turkey, like thirty years ago, and it’s starving.”

  Some objects did accumulate residual energies as they passed through hands over the years. The older an item and the more powerful those hands were, the greater the charge it collected until it had a power all its own. Some substances were hungrier than others, but metal usually remained latent.

  But djinns lived for eons with the metal of their lamps conducting their magic. If any object had a right to gain an appetite, it stood to reason that would be one of them. That didn’t excuse Herbert’s actions—he had chosen to pick up the lamp in the first place—but I understood the need to push back.

  I had my own daddy issues after all.

  “I don’t know enough about djinns to know if what you’re claiming is possible, but I’ll ask someone about it who knows before summoning your dad, okay?” Between the lamp theft and his crime spree, I doubted anything I said would help his case much.

  His hunched shoulders slumped with relief. “Thanks.”

  After opening the door, I pushed him through it into the reception area. “Don’t thank a fae.”

  One day he might meet someone with fewer qualms about collecting on that debt than I had.

  “Is that a real thing?” he asked as I handed him off to a steward for processing.

  “Say it to the wrong person and it becomes a very real, very bad thing,” I cautioned him.

  “Children these days.” Mable tsked from behind her tidy receptionist’s desk. “Parents get so worked up over how to hide their mistakes and their pasts that they end up enabling history to repeat itself.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her, but it was hard maintaining a glare at someone who reminded you of Mrs. Claus. Instead of red, she wore pink. And instead of fur-trimmed boots, she preferred fuchsia snakeskin. But her cheeks were rosy, and she baked a mean cookie.

  I rocked back on my heels. “We are talking about Herb’s parents and not mine, right?”

  Her soft laughter made the room brighter somehow. “Does it matter?”

  “I guess not.” I reached into my pocket and presented the jar to her. “For you.”

  She moistened her lips. “You didn’t have to.”

  “I know.” That was half the reason why I did. The other half being it was smart to stay on her good side. She was the one who assigned cases, and the more she loved me, the better cases I found waiting for me on my desk.

  Better cases meant higher bounties. More money meant increased risk, too, but I had bills to pay.

  With a plump hand, she indicated a chair angled across from hers. I dropped into it with a smile while she sampled her bribe. Mable was a bean-tighe, a type of hearth spirit. She would live for as long as the building she was bound to stood, and I hoped hers stood forever. The job wouldn’t be the same without her.

  While she licked her tasting spoon clean, I dropped Herb’s file in front of her and got comfortable.

  “Long night?” She lifted a tray of honey oat cookies and offered them to me.

  “Very.” I snagged one, bit down and moaned. “Have I told you your talents are wasted here?”

  “My people exist to tend our homes and care for our families.” Mable gazed lovingly around the room. “This is home. You and the other marshals are my family. I’m happiest when you’re happy.”

  I gave her fingers a squeeze.

  “Thierry Thackeray,” an overhead speaker blared, “report to the magistrates’ chambers.”

  I exchanged a startled look with Mable. “When did we get a PA system?”

  “It’s always been there, dear, but I think—” The wrinkles on her forehead deepened. “That might be the first time it’s ever been used.”

  A groan pushed me to my feet. “That can’t be a good thing.”

  “It could be,” she said cheerily. “Honestly, Thierry, the world isn’t all doom and gloom.”

  Famous last words.

  Chapter Three

  During the eight years I attended public school, back in the days when I still thought I was human, I never caused trouble worthy of being sent to the principal’s office. But if I had, I imagined the walk of shame after being called out in front of the class felt like this.

  After trudging up three flights of stairs, I rounded a corner and stopped in front of a heavy door carved from glimmering silver-veined oak imported from Faerie.

  My fist rose at the same time a cool voice called, “Enter.”

  Stepping inside made me do a double take. The room was split down the middle by some unseen line, and every item on the left side was mirrored on the right side. The shelves lining the walls, the bulky silver-veined oak desks—also imports—even the knickknacks and the arrangement of the workspaces were identical. The only obvious difference, other than the magistrates’ contrasting appearances, was the crests inlaid into each desk, indicating house loyalty.

  “Magistrates,” I greeted them.

  Evander, the Seelie magistrate, was golden-skinned. His pale blond hair hung in a sheet down his back, and his shrewd lapis eyes appraised me. He stood when I entered, which showed more respect than the scowl Kerwin, the Unseelie magistrate, aimed at me.

  Kerwin resembled my guards with his grayish skin and ink-blot hair. His eyes were onyx. Cold, dark and chilling.

  “Always a pleasure, Thierry,” Evander began. “Please, sit.”

  I sat when he did, taking the chair in front of his desk since he was the one who offered. I angled myself so I could watch Kerwin from the corner of my eye. His glower darkened. I had slighted him, and Evander’s pleased expression told me the maneuver had been calculated, but switching sides now would only make things worse. Instead of playing musical chairs, I stayed put and faked ignorance of their political maneuvering.

  “I believe that we discussed the new terms of your employment in this very room less than two weeks ago.” Kerwin leaned forward. “And yet payroll was notified not ten minutes ago to prepare a check for you.”

  I glanced between them. “You have notifications set on my account?”

  “We have taken precautions for your safety,” Evander soothed. “You were asked not to accept any fieldwork without clearing the cases through us first.”

  “I have bills to pay.” I struggled to keep my voice level. “Base salary around here is peanuts, in case you haven’t noticed.”

  As if waiting for me to raise the point, Kerwin flashed a sharp smile. “You are a wealthy woman. You have no need of this position. In fact, your attentions are best focused elsewhere.”

  “Is that caveman speak for I should let my husband club me over the head and drag me back to the cave where I belong?” I barely kept the snarl from my tone.

  “Thierry is a modern woman. She wants to pay her own way, to be independent.” Evander tsked Kerwin. “The sooner your house accepts that, the easier her transition will be.”

  I sat up straighter. “Thank you, Evander.”

  “She refused the crown and abandoned our people for what?” Kerwin swept his hand around the room, no doubt including all my past transgressions. “She apprehended a djinn, a teenager, which makes him twice as volatile. If she wants my respect, she must earn it. Starting with assuming her rightful place on the throne.”

  My mouth fell open, but none of the biting retorts scrolling through my mind popped out of it. Maybe my brain-to-mouth filter had finally kicked in. Took it long enough.

  “You might not want me as your house’s princess,” I said calmly. “You might hate the idea of me being queen one day. You might even tell yourself it’s not because I’m a half-blood, though we both know better, but consider this.” I twisted in my seat to face him. “My
mother was kidnapped by a representative of your house. The same man also tricked me into performing fae marriage rites and ensured I took my father’s place in the Coronation Hunt. Then, after I won, he went after my crown.”

  “A crown you didn’t want.”

  “Rook used me. I want to live a quiet life in Wink. I want to pay my bills, live in my crap apartment with my best friend and maybe one day meet a guy and fall in love.”

  The word love furrowed their brows.

  Sidhe weren’t big on love. Wealth or political gain, now those were Sidhe aphrodisiacs. Exceptional beauty was another. They were stumped as to why I wasn’t giddy over the prospect of finding myself married to Rook—who was, I admit, easy on the eyes—when our marriage improved us both financially and politically.

  “We find ourselves at an impasse,” Evander began. “You agreed to our stipulations in order to continue working as a marshal. Yet you have proven your willingness to disregard those conditions. Do you wish to continue our arrangement or not?”

  “I do.” I had to work if I wanted to make ends meet until my earthbound year expired.

  “All right.” He nodded. “What do you think is a fair punishment?”

  Fair was the trick question on this oral exam. “I get to set the terms?”

  “You are Black Dog’s daughter,” Kerwin said snidely.

  Ah. So this was a test. Too hard, and they would suspect my judgment was compromised. Too lenient, and they would know it was. The trick was in determining proper recompense.

  “A two-week suspension...” I swallowed hard, “...without pay.”

  Two weeks without a check. I would be lucky to afford ramen noodles after my bills got paid.

  Kerwin smirked. “Only two?”

  “Kerwin,” Evander warned.

  “Last year a new hire—a transfer from another division—helped himself to a file off Mable’s desk. He brought in the collar and was suspended for a week without pay.” At their expectant stares, I elaborated. “The case was earmarked for me, so when I showed up to collect the file, Mable explained why I was being reassigned.”

  Evander made a thoughtful noise.

  “Since my word should be worth more, I doubled the amount. Besides, I had Righty and—I mean, my guards with me. I wasn’t in imminent danger, or they would have brought me straight here.”

  Where they would have used the tether between realms to ship me straight back to Rook aboard the Faerie Express.

  “These are dangerous times,” Evander admonished. “Your predecessor’s murderer has not yet been captured.”

  My father was on the killer’s trail. That meant whoever offed King Moran was as good as caught. Until then, I was stuck with the guards and with light duty.

  “I am well aware.” I tried sounding contrite. “Though I do appreciate your concern.”

  The magistrates exchanged glances.

  “We accept your ruling,” Evander said.

  I pinched my lips together to hold back a whimper. This was going to suck. I had a small nest egg to help during lean times, but Mom’s house payment was a drain on my savings, and payments on her new car made my eye twitch.

  I ought to woman up and tell her the conclave had cut off her stipend for raising a magically gifted minor after I turned eighteen, but she wouldn’t be living in Wink, under the watchful eye of the fae, if not for me. I owed her for giving up her life in exchange for mine. I had given up my right to complain the day I turned thirteen and the powers I inherited from the father I had never met jolted to life and killed five of my best friends.

  I had been chasing my tail since I got back from Faerie. Two weeks away from the job might do me good. From here on out, I was calling this suspension a vacation. A much-needed one.

  “I’ll let Mable know on my way out.” I stood on numb legs, flashed them a smile and then got the heck out of Dodge.

  Chapter Four

  Mai found me in our apartment hours after the magistrates dismissed me. I was curled up on our old brocade couch wearing Eeyore pajamas with a melting pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy on my lap. She walked through the door as episode fourteen in season eight of Supernatural ended, just in time to catch me wiping drool off my chin from watching Dean slide on his Clark Kent-style glasses.

  Life didn’t get better than this. How had I forgotten Netflix was my soul mate?

  Mai stepped between me and the television. She plucked the soggy carton from my lap and set it on the coffee table. “Do you want to talk about it?” She brushed her hands off on her pressed khaki pants.

  “No.” I leaned around her. “I would like you to get out of the way, though.”

  “You’re self-medicating.” She perched on the couch beside me. “What happened? Did Shaw—?”

  “No.” I cranked up the volume. “I haven’t heard from him in days.”

  “Then what’s with the pity party?” She tugged my ponytail. “And why didn’t I get an invite?”

  I licked the melting goo off the spoon I refused to surrender. “I got suspended.”

  “For how long?” She hooked her arm around my shoulders and pulled me down until I slumped over her lap. After resting the side of my face on her thigh, she popped the spoon from my mouth. “Tell Auntie Mai all about it. What happened?”

  “Two weeks.” A tear leaked from the corner of my eye. “Without pay.”

  “Damn.”

  “I took a case without clearing it through the magistrates. Consider my wallet—I mean wrist—slapped.”

  “Double damn.”

  I sniffled. “Exactly.”

  She slid the hairband out of my hair and combed her fingers through the tangled strands. “Look at it this way. In a year, you’ll be queen and no one will be the boss of you. In the meantime, might I suggest having Righty or Lefty snap off the magistrates’ arms and beat them with their own hands?”

  I sob-laughed at the mental picture.

  “So,” she asked casually, “what are you going to do for two weeks?”

  I lifted my arm. The tiny Roku remote hung from my wrist on its purple nylon tether. “This.”

  “Yeah.” Mai rolled it—and the topmost layer of my skin—off me. “No.”

  “Freaking monkeys.” I rubbed the angry red line until my healing abilities kicked in and the mark vanished. “Not cool.” I rolled onto my back. “You don’t mess with a girl’s season pass to oblivion.”

  She tossed the poor remote across the room, where it bounced onto a sand-colored rug and hit the stained-white tip of a bleached cow skull’s horn. Don’t ask. Mom went through a Western Gothic period after we moved to Wink. Cow hides up on the walls, skulls on the tables, horn coat hangers...

  Between Mai’s cherry-blossom hand-me-down furniture and my death-to-all-bovines accents, the apartment was clash of floral and macabre. We had a love blossoms in the desert theme happening.

  “I have a plan,” she announced.

  “The last time you said that, we woke up in a Minotaur herd’s bull pen with no pants on.”

  She jostled my shoulder. “But we had fun. Right?”

  “They pierced my nose.”

  “Come on.” She waggled her eyebrows. “It looked sexy.”

  “Mom almost killed me.”

  Leaning over me, she examined my nostrils. “You can’t tell it ever happened.”

  Thanks to my healing abilities, and not my best friend.

  I clamped a hand over my nose. “Do you mind?”

  “Not so much.”

  “What’s your plan?” I slapped my hands up over my eyes. “Say it fast, like ripping off a bandage.”

  “You. Me. Daytona Beach.”

  “That’s it?” I peered through my fingers at her. “You want to hit the beach?”

  “Why not?” She ticked off reasons on her fingers. “It’s hot. We’re hot. We’re both off work. We both—”

  “Back that up.” I tapped her second finger. “Why are you off work?”

  “You really tho
ught I would let my best friend sulk home alone for two weeks?” She rolled her eyes. “Well, technically, you’re on your own for week two. I’m still rocking the wannabe internship thing, so all I could manage was five days off plus the weekends. That gives us nine whole days together.”

  “How did—?” I levered up onto my elbows. “You acted like you didn’t know.”

  “I wanted you to confide in me.” She palmed my forehead and pushed me back down. “I swung by your office on my lunch break since you have a tendency to be kidnapped and weren’t answering your phone. Mable told me what happened, so I made all the arrangements before I left work today.”

  “Sheesh.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Get kidnapped once, and you’re branded for life.”

  “You came home married, crowned, with a DayGlo prehistoric cat and two Unseelie guardians.”

  I mashed my lips together. She had a point. Several in fact. “You are—”

  She glared at me. “Don’t ruin the moment, Tee.”

  “I was going to say you’re the best.”

  “Oh.” She preened. “Then you may continue.”

  “Nah.” I elbowed her in the thigh. “The moment’s passed.”

  A soft growl rumbled under her breath.

  “Two questions.” I tilted my head back. “Where will we stay? And how will we get there?”

  Fae like me weren’t allowed to fly without special conclave sanction, not that I could afford the ticket even if they cleared me, which they wouldn’t. Neither magistrate wanted me out of their sight.

  “I have an idea about the first.” She patted my forehead. “As to the second, I’ll drive us.”

  “No offense, but your ideas usually end in nakedness and/or in tears.” I chewed over safer, more budget-friendly options. “We could always hit up roach motels like we used to during spring break.”

  “Um, no.” Mai wrinkled her pert nose. “I’m older now, and wiser. Plus, I saw one of those specials involving a black light and hotel sheets.” Her shudder shook my shoulders. “Stop doubting my brilliance and listen. My mostly middle sister, Aimi—” she had fourteen siblings, “—just moved to Kissimmee. Her new husband, Jon, is the reynard of the largest kitsune skulk in Central Florida.”