Page 40 of Lovesick Gods (Lovesick #1)

Patrol was slow, but Danny didn’t mind as much as he expected. At least Ludgate hadn’t hit any new targets yet. There was time. And if the Elemental did hit somewhere soon, that was just new data to analyze on the path to catching him.

Danny finished another pass of the street he’d pinpointed as the most likely location for Ludgate to surface. He even occasionally waved to the plainclothes officers he passed. It was almost pleasant, aside from the scenery growing stale.

“You should head home, Lynn,” he said over the comms, stopping in a narrow alley barely wide enough to fit through but that kept him out of sight from the street. “I’ll give it another half-hour, then do the same. There’s always tomorrow, right?”

It was late, he was tired, and as long as he stayed positive, got enough sleep, and found time to see Cho later in the week, Ludgate avoiding capture was not going to keep him down.

“Are you sure, Danny? Andre’s still working on your new suit. I don’t mind staying a little longer in case you get lucky.”

Danny couldn’t actually hear Andre, but he imagined the CSI breaking into a snicker at Lynn using that particular phrasing. “Okay, but only until…” He trailed off as something caught the corner of his eye.

There’d been a flicker of…well, something . He knew what the reflection of light throughout his city looked like—he couldn’t afford to be blinded by a stray ray of sunshine or a car’s headlights when he lightning jumped—but that wasn’t what he’d seen.

“Hang on a minute. I might have something.”

“Be careful, Danny.”

Slowly, Danny peeked his head out into the adjoining alleyway. He couldn’t be sure which direction he’d seen that flicker, so he instinctively looked left first.

“No…not yet,” a voice hissed from behind him.

Danny whipped around, taking in the sight of a nicely dressed man backing away from him. He looked like he wasn’t quite at home wearing something so finely tailored, like maybe he was used to humbler means until very, very recently. Still, Danny recognized the man’s face right away.

Ludgate .

He praised his luck for all of two seconds before he reminded himself that it had taken days and a lot of hard work to narrow down a small enough search area that a chance encounter like this was even possible.

Twitching forward, Danny held back from using his powers to intercept the thief.

If he spooked Ludgate—a teleporter—he could ruin this chance entirely.

Since the element of surprise was already lost, he had to keep the man occupied, catch him off guard somehow.

Danny exited the alley with his hands held up in placation.

“I just want to talk, Ludgate. Been looking for you. You’re a hard man to pin down.”

“Ludgate?!” Lynn’s voice carried shrilly over the comms. “Andre!”

Ludgate didn’t cease his backward momentum, but he also didn’t teleport away; good so far. “You run around the city, block by block, just hoping to stumble across me, Zeus?”

He was stalling for time too. Danny kept his pace slow but his steps steady.

“Being a hero requires some detective work. Don’t think this was all chance.

If I lose you now, I’ll just find you again.

Later tonight. Later this week. The next time you try to take something that doesn’t belong to you.

Your success getting one over on me and this city won’t last. Better Elementals than you have tried. ”

The wider alley that Ludgate was backing down emptied onto the street. He’d already reached the mouth of it, but as he did, he stopped and tilted his head. “ Detective work, huh? You know I’m an Elemental. Tell me, Zeus. What do you think I can do?”

Lowering his hands, Danny came to a stop as well. He was five meters at most from Ludgate. One quick lightning jump forward and he could have him, but if he tried, he might just as easily lose him. “Seems pretty obvious given how you’ve accomplished your crimes so far.”

“Keep him talking, Danny,” Andre came over the comms. “We’ve alerted the patrols in the area to your location. If he stays facing you, they might be able to tase him before he bamfs away.”

Danny took another step forward. “Just give up, Ludgate. I—”

“ Ludgate ,” he sneered, as if he found his own name distasteful. “All your enemies have more fitting monikers, don’t they, Zeus ? Like Prometheus?”

Again, Danny stopped. Four meters. “They do. Kind of how the game works in Olympus City. So tell me. What’s your name?”

Ludgate squared his shoulders, head lowered just enough to glare at Danny from beneath the hood of his brow, his smile an ever widening gash. “Oh…you’ll find out soon.”

Before Danny could act, Ludgate darted around the corner out of sight. Sparking with lightning, Danny took off after him. A chase he could win. Maybe Ludgate wasn’t a teleporter; maybe his powers only worked in the right conditions. But if he had to run, Danny so had this.

Danny did not have this.

He came out of his jump outside the alley, turned in the direction Ludgate had gone, and saw…nothing. Cars on the street. Other people along the sidewalks. But no Ludgate. A few of the plainclothes officers were headed toward him, but they were already too late.

“I lost him,” Danny grit out. “Wait…” The only other thing he could see was the shop windows lining the street. Then again, he thought he’d seen something flicker .

That had to be Ludgate’s signature! The sign that he was using his powers!

Following the flicker at a brisk walk, Danny ignored the pedestrians who stopped to point and stare at him, some even pulling out their cell phones to record. He hoped he gave them a good show, something for a better headline than ZEUS FAILS TO CAPTURE THIEF.

Maybe Ludgate could only teleport so far. Maybe he could phase through matter .

“Dude, is he Kitty Pryding this shit?” Andre echoed his thoughts.

“I don’t know, but I’m not giving up yet.” Danny jumped to the end of the street and turned around. There . Another flicker, leading down the next street.

On a whim, Danny jumped to the end of that block and waited. He backed up, trying to hide himself in the shadows, which would have been much easier if his stealth suit had been ready.

There was a closer flicker in the windows of a nearby shop as Danny readied himself to lightning jump once more and catch Ludgate the moment he saw him, but then…

Nothing.

Danny waited. Waited . Eventually, he peeked out of the shadows unsure which direction to look next.

“Still haven’t figured it out yet, eh, Zeus?” a voice said from behind him.

Danny whirled around, reaching out to grab Ludgate with both hands, only to grasp nothing but air.

Staring at his own baffled and angry expression in the dark windows of the store he’d been hidden in front of, he pressed a hand to the glass.

Was Ludgate on the other side, mocking him?

Was he one-dimensional? Was he invisible like Andre had first guessed?

A shimmer of the deepest, darkest black made Danny recoil and shake his head to clear it. Of course there would be black. There were shadows everywhere. But for a moment…for a moment, he’d thought maybe—

“This is more fun than I expected, Zeus!” Ludgate called from the next street over, down yet another alley, far enough away that he had to yell. Danny didn’t know how the man was doing this, but he was done playing.

Jumping after Ludgate, he reached the corner at the exact moment the other man finished darting around it. There was no way —

But as Danny got there, the alley was empty.

He slammed a fist into the brick of the building.

Determined, turning in a slow circle, he walked cautiously down the alley.

“A little help, guys? I can’t track him.

It doesn’t seem like he’s teleporting, but I can’t—” Danny oofed as he was pushed so hard from behind he nearly face-planted into the wall.

He spun around, only to be met by a closed door on the opposing building with nothing but a small square window that revealed dark interior.

“ Andre .” Danny clenched his fists.

“I’ve got nothing, Danny! Your trackers show no sign of powers being used in that area other than your own.”

“He’s been using his powers the entire time!”

“Not according to the sensors!” Andre yelled back. “Wherever he goes when he disappears, it must be blocking the signal.”

Seething now, Danny’s hands started to ache with the tightness of his fists. He turned in a circle faster and faster as he moved further down the alleyway. “Coward!” he cried.

“Danny, just stay calm,” Lynn said, “we’ll—”

“See you soon, Zeus.”

Danny spun around with a swinging punch, twirling so fast without anything to slow his motion that he nearly toppled over. Nothing. Not a damn thing but the corner of the alley and a dirty dome mirror mounted on the wall.

“Ludgate!” he screamed, punching the wall again, harder than before, causing an eruption of powder from the dried mortar.

Lynn and Andre talked at him, but he couldn’t make out the words as he huffed and shook with his anger. Nothing changed. Nothing ever changed. He still wanted to pummel the brick until his knuckles bled. Or until he made some lowlife bleed.

Touching a hand to his comms, Danny spat out, “He’s gone. Give me something else.”

“Huh?” Andre sputtered.

“What do you mean, Danny?”

“Something else ! Anything. Someone I can…stop.”

Silence answered him.

“I need something to show for tonight!” Danny slammed his palm into the brick. “Something to believe this isn’t all for nothing.”

“Danny…” Lynn said softly. “I don’t think that’s a good—”

“There’s an alarm going off on 7 th ,” Andre spoke over her.

“ Andre .”

“Could be nothing, no one’s reported anything official yet, but it’ll give you a jump across town.”

Danny pushed from the wall, turned on his heels, and lightning jumped away. There was some muffled arguing between Andre and Lynn, then the comms went quiet like they’d turned off the mics on their end. Danny didn’t care.