Dead in the Water (Gemini: A Black Dog Series Book 1) by Hailey Edwards Read Free Book Online Page A

cup?”
    The way she said it made me think I didn’t have much choice. Good thing my stomach wasn’t about to argue.

Chapter 5
    M uch to my dismay , the shop across the street turned out to be cramped and gloomy, and the air inside smelled the way I imagined soup would if it were made of sweat socks left to boil on the stove overnight. The booths were upholstered in cracked vinyl with pocked yellow foam rupturing from the seams. The stink of ancient cigarette smoke puffed out when my weight hit the cushion, and the sharp edges raked at my pants like tiny claws.
    After the waitress left us each with a steaming mug of blackish sludge and a pastry whose glaze resembled earwax, Thierry leaned forward. “I filed an incident report with my office and flagged your name on it. It’s standard when someone on the team—or a consultant—gets injured.”
    I dumped in two sugars, and the spoon smoked as it stirred the caustic brew. “Is it supposed to do that?”
    “Damn it.” She poked at her own mug. “Mervin must be working the kitchen tonight. He’s a cherufe.” At my blank expression, she made a rolling gesture with her hand. “It’s a kind of lava-lizard thing. Once he spat magma on the road, scooped up the molten asphalt and tried to pass it off as the soup du jour. Work crews were patching potholes for days.”
    I pushed my mug toward the center of the table where it bumped into hers. “If he’s that much of a nuisance, then why hasn’t he been fired yet?”
    She snorted. “Do you want to be the one to tell him to hang up his apron?”
    “No.” I laughed. “I guess not.”
    Our amusement waned, and Thierry began worrying the bowl of her spoon with her thumb. “Look, Camille, here’s the thing. I don’t know you, and I don’t know your security clearance level, but I know what I saw today. You risked a lot to save your friend, and that makes me think you’re one of the good ones.”
    “Thanks?” My voice rose on the end, making it a question.
    “With that in mind,” she said, flicking poppy seeds off her pastry one by one, “I’m going to offer you some free advice.”
    Free advice had a way of costing all the same. “Okay.”
    “This thing you’re hunting?” She cleaned a black dot from under her nail. “It might be Faerie stock. As in the blacklisted, do not pass go and enter the mortal realm variety.”
    The kind so predatory as to not discriminate between fae and mortals, the kind who would make the rivers on Earth run crimson with innocent blood.
    My mouth went dry. “That’s not possible.”
    Fae who petitioned for residency in the mortal realm required conclave approval. That didn’t mean good fae didn’t go bad or that bad fae didn’t grease enough palms to slip through the cracks, but there was a subsect of Faerie-born who were never allowed to enter this realm. Most fae called them ancients. Humans would title their arrival apocalypse.
    “Nothing is impossible,” she contradicted. “Some things are just less plausible than others.”
    “Magistrate Vause—” I began.
    She cut me off by waggling her index finger. “That’s all you get for free.”
    Thinking back to the confrontation in the hall, to her defense of Harlow, I accepted she knew more than I had been told. The only question remaining was could I afford to acquire what she knew? “What will the rest of the information cost?”
    “You asked for my blood yesterday.” She produced a slender dagger and a charm resembling a charred bird’s nest from her satchel. “I’m asking for yours today.” The cashier blinked at the blade then went back to picking hairs off his shirt and dropping them on the floor behind the counter. “I’ll have to bind you so that the secrets I confide won’t be repeated.” She poked the ratty twist of straw. “This particular charm is outfitted with a loophole you’re probably familiar with since you work high-profile cases. It allows for collaboration between people bound by the