Page 20 of Buzz Kill (Smoke & Mirrors Tavern #7)

Chapter twenty

DECLAN

Alwin was being weird. While normally no one could read anything on the stoic man’s face, now it was broadcasting his annoyance with our new hunter friends. When the men finally woke, we were camping out in the woods outside of Eastbend and conveniently in the direction of Dry Bank, North Carolina. For the moment, we were lying low under the guise that Infinite Earth might be looking for us, though the real goal was to get these two to provide an introduction that would allow us to show up and join Origin Order without suspicion.

Of the two hunters, Billy was easier to get along with. He was a friendly country boy, laid back and easygoing. While Nick was slow to trust and despite the fact that we’d staged a breakout charade just for him, he still watched us with suspicion. Needless to say, the constant scowl on Al’s face every time I got friendly with them wasn’t helping.

I wasn’t entirely sure it was as obvious to the others as it was to me, but if Al was supposed to be playing the part of the capable guy you’d want on your side, he was missing the mark. Adept as ever, sure, but definitely not conveying the kind of brotherly “team” vibes we needed here. Gods, this was going to be harder than I’d thought.

Billy and I easily kept up the conversation over the fire while the other two sat in sulky silence. We told a few stories about our time with the hunters, mine were an elaborate backstory made up by Sage in advance, but Billy had a few stories of his own, mostly of things he and the boys got up to during training. He’d only recently been sent to Eastbend when their cabin was ambushed.

Sage had been right that this one was a baby hunter, barely twenty-two and pulled into this mess by his older brother. The kid had been given a version of the truth from the beginning and it included the need to protect humans from the monsters of the world. He’d never had the chance to see non-humans for himself, he was just told we were evil and sent off to fight. I supposed that was how all war was, though.

“What about you, Nick?” I asked.

This hunter was one that even Sage couldn’t crack. He’d gotten almost nothing out of the man and he’d stuck to his principles with a stubbornness that told us he had motive. He wouldn’t have just been pulled in by a friend, this hunter had a story. But getting him to tell it had proven difficult.

“What about me?” he asked.

“Why did you decide to become a hunter?” I pressed again.

“How do we know you’re not just spies that Infinite Earth is using to pry information out of us?”

It was an excuse to avoid the question, but not an unreasonable one, considering he wasn’t all that far off the mark. I pointed to my bruised face and bloody arm. Alwin had similar injuries that we had left untreated for the sake of the mission.

“In case you forgot, we all could have died in that crash. A bit much for a charade, isn’t it?”

The two of them had fared a little better in the back seat and the man did seem to remember our very real reactions to being chased by something they couldn’t see. The invisible monster part was explained away easily enough since Origin Order had access to concealment magic. They hadn’t even questioned that part. They did question what exactly Infinite Earth had sent after us, but it was within our cover to pretend we didn’t know either. We were new recruits after all, the sect wouldn’t have revealed all of their secrets to us.

Nick poked the fire with a stick a few times. “My girlfriend was killed. The police weren’t able to find the ones responsible, so I looked into it myself. Eventually my search led to things I never knew existed and I ended up joining the Origin Order to get the full truth about what’s really out there. The hunters have access to things I don’t, and I realized the only way to find the one who killed her was by joining them.”

Alwin and I exchanged a quick glance. With a story like that, we probably wouldn’t be able to sway this one away from the hunters. He was out for revenge and if it was a non-human that killed his girlfriend, a few days of being protected by non-humans wasn’t going to change that.

“That sucks, man,” Billy finally said. “Sorry ’bout your girl. Never actually met one of those things face to face, but I hear they’re real nasty. You just say the word and I’ll help you settle the score.”

“I will assist as well,” Alwin agreed.

“Yeah, same,” I agreed.

My agreement was more for the ruse, because let’s face it, what was I going to do for the guy? But I knew Alwin’s offer was genuine.

Nick huffed a humorless laugh. “You don’t even know what it was that killed her.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Alwin answered. “If someone or something is responsible for the deaths of others, and it is within my power to stop it, I will.”

Nick’s eyes narrowed on the elf. “Why?”

Alwin met his stare steadily and answered truthfully. “This is my home as well, and I will keep it safe.”

The two men stared at each other, taking their measure for a long while before Billy couldn’t take it anymore.

“Geez, man, just take the help. Ya obviously ain’t gotten very far on your own. I say we take Glen and Henry here back to headquarters with us. We can’t be sure if anyone else made it out, and we gotta report what happened.”

“Anyone else?” I questioned. “You two were the only ones we found, were there others with you?”

I’d been trying to get him to spill the identities of the other hunters, but Billy’s face turned grim. “Quite a few. Not so sure they were taken by other hunters, either. When we were attacked at the lodge, all kinds of strange things happened. Definitely not natural.”

“Magic,” Nick agreed. “Things I wouldn’t think hunters had access to.”

“Most hunter sects purchase spells, do they not?” Alwin asked. “The type of spells would be limited only by the purchase price.”

Billy snorted. “They buy some of it, sure. But if they find a spell they really want, all they gotta do is take the mage’s family and they got all the free magic they want. The magic part ain’t what threw me. Tell me, what kinda creature can control bugs? That just ain’t right.”

I nearly rolled my eyes. Ollie and her dramatics. Everything that happened that night and her plague of locusts illusion was the thing that stuck with Billy the most. The man shuddered just thinking about it.

“How are they holding mages against their will?” I asked, changing the subject. “Wouldn’t they just use their magic to break out?”

“Not sure exactly. They had some place they were keeping the families where they couldn’t use their magic. Heard the place burned down after the monsters attacked, but long as the ones making the magic don’t know, they’ll keep doin’ what they’re told. That’s what my brother says, anyway.”

That was probably the facility where the hunters were performing the experiments. They must have separated some of the magic users to manipulate while they tortured their family members. Sage told us they’d searched him almost desperately for magic, maybe this was why. Had they found what they were looking for, they would have shipped him right to the hunters and used Ollie and her baby against him. It would never have worked, considering Sage really didn’t have any magic at the time, but I didn’t want to think what they could have done to Ollie had the situation turned out differently.

“Interesting,” I said lightly. “Very resourceful. Never heard of anything that can control bugs, though. How about you, Glen?”

Alwin looked up without missing a beat when I used the fake name we’d assigned to him. Glen Stevens and Henry Harrison were long-time friends who’d served in the military together. While our personas were as different as Al and I were in real life, our backstory included a bond that explained away our desire to stick together.

“No,” Alwin answered. “Likely an illusion spell.”

He’d directed the suspicion right back to the hunters, just like I knew he would. But while his answer might as well have been scripted, his actions weren’t. As soon as finished speaking, he stood and walked away.

“Where are you going?”

“To check the perimeter. I will return.”

Considering we were running from illusions, there was no need to check the perimeter. The wolves had scouted this location for us in advance making sure there were no other packs or non-humans claiming it. It was likely an excuse to get away and send an update to Ollie and Sage, and while normally I wouldn’t have questioned him, something in the way he was acting told me something was wrong. Maybe since before the mission even started. It was unsettling.

Alwin was a rock in a storm. Still and strong and unwavering. Apparently I’d come to expect that from him over the past few months we’d spent together. But something had changed in a very short amount of time. Since we’d returned from the demon world, to be precise.

I’d thought he was putting distance between us to make sure I got the message that what happened between us in the other world couldn’t continue. But I’d given him every signal that I was well aware of that fact. The man ran his own court, which essentially made him royalty in his world. Elves were not accepting of outsiders, any humans living in their world were servants or slaves. The man already faced adversity because of his half-human brother, no way could he add a sorcerer with no magic as a lover. Especially not a fuck up on my level. I knew that. But I hadn’t so much as flirted with the man since we returned, and that was no easy feat.

So why did it feel like he was mad at me now?

I must have been staring after Al for quite some time because Billy waved a hand in front of my face. “Uh, you okay there, Henry?”

“Yeah, just, you know, wondering if I should go watch his back. But he knows not to go far. So, tell me about these hunters you guys are with. Sounds like they’re at least better than Infinite Earth, huh?”

“They’re pretty strict with us recruits, but they ain’t locking hunters up in the basement, if that’s what ya mean.”

Billy babbled on about mostly unimportant shit, but while I should be soaking up as many details as I could, I was only half listening. Most of my attention lingered on the direction Al had disappeared to, and I couldn’t ignore the ball of nerves in my gut.

There’s nothing out there. I reminded myself. And even if there was, Al could handle it. Why was I suddenly a nervous wreck when he was out of my sight? Why was my stomach tying itself in knots over this tension between us? Why couldn’t he just tell me why he was mad in the first place? And most importantly, since when did I even care what anyone else thought of me? Since when did I even want anyone else around? I’d survived things other people couldn’t even imagine in their worst nightmares all by myself since I was a child. So why did I suddenly feel unsettled whenever the elf wasn’t next to me?

“I need a drink,” I grumbled.

Billy chuckled. “You’re preaching to the choir there. Better get it before we get to North Carolina. There’s no drinking allowed once we reach the compound.”

“What? Seriously?”

Billy shrugged. “They’re trying to train a bunch of new recruits to take on an enemy that could kill you in a million different ways. It’s training, not a frat house.”

“You friend’s been gone a long time, hasn’t he?” Nick finally spoke up. “It has to be close to an hour now. Should we check on him?”

I jumped to my feet. “Has it been that long?”

Alwin was the only one with a phone hidden on him in one of his magic elven pouches. Our cover story was that recruits with Infinite Earth weren’t allowed to carry them so these two couldn’t just call for a ride and leave us behind. That also meant I had no idea what time it was or exactly how long Al had been gone. While my mind kept circling back to Alwin wandering these woods alone, I’d kept my ass on that log by telling myself it hadn’t been as long as it seemed and he was just checking in with the gang back home. But even if he was giving every detail of the trip so far, it shouldn’t have taken an hour. The ball of nerves in my stomach was back and I was walking before I realized what I was doing.

“Stay here.”

“We should go too,” Billy said.

I turned back as he stood to follow. “And what are you going to do if you run into someone? Neither of you have any weapons and we don’t have any way to reach each other if we get separated. Stay here. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

But that few minutes turned into a lot longer when I couldn’t find Alwin anywhere. I’d expected him to find me as soon as I started looking, he had a way of knowing when I was close. But I’d made a full circuit of the perimeter and Alwin never showed himself.

“Fuck!” Where the hell was he?

The panic was back with a vengeance, and I made another trip around our campsite, this time a little farther out. Again and again, I circled the area, but Al never showed himself.

“Calm down,” I told myself. No one could have gotten the jump on Alwin. He could see an ambush coming a mile away. “Where the hell is he?”

“I am here.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Alwin spoke from right behind me. Whirling around with a chest full of anger and relief, I jabbed a finger in his chest.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been out here looking for you for almost an hour. Those two are probably thinking we ditched them in the middle of nowhere by now, and you’re out here hiding from me?”

His stoic expression never changed but his hand wrapped around the finger I was jabbing him with. “I was not hiding.”

“Then where the hell were you? You just disappeared! I did like ten laps around the campsite and you were nowhere to be found! If you weren’t hiding, why didn’t I find you? Why didn’t you find me?”

Alwin examined my face. “I told you I would be back. Why are you upset?”

“Are you serious?”

Alwin stepped closer until I was backed into a tree trunk. With the moonlight blocked by the trees, it was impossible to see his expression, but I felt his stare down to my bones. I shivered, the feeling of his warmth and his unwavering attention bringing back memories I’d shoved down deep when we returned.

My lips parted, but no words managed to find their way out before his mouth was on mine. Rough and angry, demanding and domineering. A sigh escaped me as I leaned into the kiss and only then did his movements gentle slightly.

Nothing had changed. This still couldn’t keep happening, but maybe Al was willing to give in to whatever this was a little longer while he wore the face of Glen. That was the whole point in the glamours, wasn’t it? Nothing that happened on this mission would come back on us. Not the real us anyway. Alwin wouldn’t face any consequences for Glen and Henry hooking up, so what was stopping us from keeping this going just a little longer?

My heart gave a little pang at the idea and I mentally admonished the stupid thing for getting involved. Only one body part was supposed to be affected by this and I ground it against the thigh Alwin had planted between my legs to bring it back into the game. Al’s hand slid around my hip to grab my ass and pull me tighter against him. His lips broke away from mine and I panted as they trailed down my neck, nipping with sharp little bites that he immediately soothed with his tongue.

I gasped when he hit a spot that sent shivers down my spine and shoved my hands under his shirt to tug at his belt. But before I had it open, Alwin froze and a soft snarl that I’d never expected to hear from him sounded in my ear. In the next breath, I was pulled off the tree and settled on unsteady legs next to a calm and composed Alwin.

“You should have stayed at the campsite.”

His voice was stern and a twinge of hurt tightened my chest before I saw movement in the dark and realized it wasn’t me he was talking to.

“There you are,” Billy said. “We didn’t know if something happened or if you guys just left us here.”

“Sorry, I would have been back sooner, but it took me a while to find him,” I answered.

“Did you put out the fire?” Alwin asked.

“Yes,” Nick answered. “We didn’t know how long it would take to find you and didn’t want to leave it unattended.”

Alwin gave a nod. “Then let’s go.”

He turned and headed in the opposite direction from camp.

“Uh, where are we goin’?” Billy asked when I followed without question.

“We’re following Glen,” I answered.

The duh was implied in my tone and Billy snorted.

“Following Glen where?”

I shrugged. “We didn’t get that far before you guys showed up.” The two hunters gave me a funny look. “What?”

“I got a car,” Alwin said from ahead of us. “There’s no reason to stay hidden when we can keep moving. The further we get from the area, the safer we will be from any Infinite Earth members that are still after us.”

Nick frowned. “How’d you get a car?”

“I borrowed it.”

The two men seemed to take that to mean he stole it and they stopped asking questions. Probably so they could claim they knew nothing if the cops got involved.

We reached a small sedan I recognized from the tavern lot and piled in. Alwin took the driver’s seat and pulled the car out onto the road.

“Where are we heading?” Al asked.

I glanced back at Billy from the passenger seat.

“Dry Bank, North Carolina,” he provided.

Alwin and I exchanged a look and with the first part of our mission successful, he aimed the car in the direction of the hunters hell bent on ending us.