Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1) Read online

  Other faltering connections. Many. None are mine. None elven. Hair connects. Tube connects. Different vibrations, same colors. I pull towards their destination. Pulls sharply west. Feel the sun's heat layered through everything. Welcoming. Comforting.

  This connection went past the freeway, towards the trees. Elves always went for trees. Historical fact, and one of the reasons the Isles couldn't reclaim the Americas. Once the isle elves invaded they were in already claimed lands. Our elves were fiercely protective of their homes.

  Soaring above the treetops. Trailing link. Following Long Ear's thread. Know this because of the colors. Four, five on connection. Always Long Ear. Savage earth is fuzzy things. Ticks laced with red. Pink meats complex, never sensible. Changes.

  Trees sway. Images trail before and after. Glow. Spirits of living things. Diffuse compared to pink meats. Almost ghostly. Barely tangible. Material vibrates. Faster than pink meat buildings. Easier to pass by.

  Every living creature I saw had an aura about them. If my vision was focused on a traveling person there would be a blur of energy just before and after them. Almost like destiny dragging them forward one moment at a time. With vampires, when they woke, that colored energy rushed from the ether to their comatose bodies. Right in time with sunset. Daniel and I had discussed it once over too many drinks and a starlit night.

  Growing close. World small now. Look down. Will find what is mine. Need to. Pulse thumps. There. Found the Long Ear. He kneels. Appropriate. Trees dwarf him. Branches weave their patterns. Shade blots sunlight. Air cools from their actions.

  Look at Long Ear’s face. Study. Still dirty. Hair, unwashed, grains in it, oils. Tangles through. Can feel it all. Disgraceful. Disrespectful.

  Long Ear shudders but knee stays firm. His pulse skips with my displeasure. Barely feel supplicants weight against grass and dirt. Confusing how it sits. Feel the face, search for reason, expression, familiar. Faces all the same, regardless of specifies. Long Ear is wary, tried. Cheeks drag, eyes pinched, wrinkles line eyes. Unsure how old this one is.

  Lips move. Air vibrates. Almost make out the sounds. Inhuman, incomplete. The reverberations of voice sink into the surrounding wilds. Lost.

  In a startling moment of realization, I saw something else behind him. A figure, standing tall and looking around. Its head resembled the same mist that trailed after the trees. Almost like a spirit detached from the body.

  Fog Head stares straight at me. The curve, posture, all telling. I look back. Confusion runs through me. It speaks words, clear words.

  "Forgive me, Lord," The elf said. Who was he talking to? There was no one else this clearing. No one sizable. "I answer your summons. What do you desire?"

  Oh Hell. He was talking to me. Never, ever, ever, before had anyone tried to hold a conversation with my tracking form. The closest thing was Kahina talking to me. The brief moment of comprehension she brought back with her as she awoke would allow her to see me. A side effect of her spirit traveling during the day.

  Responding was a difficult concept to grasp. I tried to speak, feeling an odd disconnection as my body back in the hotel room spoke the words for me. It was like being drunk. Where words came out of me but someone else spoke them. A stranger operated my mouth.

  "You can see me?" A hum whispers through the world. Leaves brush in agitation. Branches rustle. Birds chirp.

  "Yes. You are a Lord. Forgive me for my delay in response," The elf said. This whole situation was growing stranger. I was basically feeling a conversation miles away and translating it into normal sensations.

  Long Ear’s words are reverent. Tone soft as they pass through. My head tilts. I feel taller than expected."Why do you call me ‘Lord’?" Wind scrapes by trees, carving words out one at a time.

  I should be asking where the elf was. Then Daniel would drop me off at home and life could go back to normal. Instead, I was going along with the craziness.

  "You claimed ownership, I felt your call again and waited." Fantastic. Another mystery. Had he felt my claim while tracking?

  "I am no full Speaker, please, ask what you will before my energy fades." Plus, how could this elf claim to have any energy? He seemed worn already with his scraggly blond hair and worn features.

  "Why do you run?" Each word hangs on the air. Felt more than heard.

  "Because they must not catch me," Comes the elf with an answer.

  "Daniel?" Want to call another name. Stop myself. Correct it to Daniel. Can't remember other title. Not Pink Meat.

  "Is that the Hunter’s name? If you are with him, Lord, be wary. He is dangerous to your kind."

  "He searches for you." I whisper. The words come easier. Or Long Ear understands quicker. Hard to say.

  "Do not tell him where I am, I beg of you, Lord." The strange form looked plaintive, and wavered at the waist, bowing slightly.

  "Why bow?"

  "Lord? You have claimed me, but I can not stay long." His hazy form blurred. "Find me in the waking if you wish to speak more. But I must not tarry for their Hunter."

  "We hunt you now." My words terrify the ghostly figure. Sweat pours down the brow of his kneeling self. Warm. Liquid pools where I inspect. As if blocked by my nonexistent fingers.

  It was weird to see emotions in one form and talk to another. Like talking to someone who spoke sign language. All the emotions were in the gestures and not in the face.

  "I must run, Lord, forgive me."

  Connection breaks. Two are one again. Tired shell of long ear stands. Looks at space that I watch from. Lips move. Mutters. Things that are blocked to my senses. Turns. Runs further west. Roots on ground trip him. Shows his exhaustion.

  I retreated back to my form. For a moment, I had that hugging sensation as ghostly limbs folded inward. Settling in their normal place. Slippage from tactile sensations poured in with the mental retreat.

  Man outside. Talks on small hard object. Phone. Few words audible as they bounce down hallway. Feet pace the row of doors. Heel, toe, heel, toe."Asset...working...soon," He said.

  I had found quite a few elves and never experienced anything like this. Nothing remotely close. Most of my history involved the pathetic side of an elven family tree. Those that were often strung out and coming down from a high. One talking to me? One having a separate spirit form? Telling me that he was running from Daniel? Hunters? This was more than a cold case. Daniel might be covering up something huge, or he might not know. Now I had a personal stake in this whole mess.

  The elf knew what I was, and seemed to phrase it in such a way that it was beyond a mere case of avoided vampirism. Kahina had believed my tracker abilities came from a close call with conversion during my childhood. The mental rewiring vampires went through could sometimes leave other changes in its wake. Rare, but possible.

  Ditching Daniel would give me room to act. I would find this elf and square away some answers before the agent shoved him into a cell.

  "Any luck, man?" The agent himself stuck a head inside.

  "No. It was weird." That wasn't a lie.

  "How so? Maybe I can compare it to the case files and shed some light on it."

  "This elf is different than normal ones?" I asked.

  "Well, you probably deal with the ones addicted to depressive shit." Daniel said. The few I tracked were often barely aware of their surroundings. "But he's from a nearly dead high family, I'm surprised he ever showed up on your radar, man."

  "They do anything different?" I asked.

  "Like vanish from sight in a pair of iron cuffs? I know he's one of the few that can actually do the extras,” Daniel tapped at his binder of papers. “They've got a name for them."

  "Speakers." The elf had mentioned he wasn't a full speaker, though.

  "Yeah. Those." Daniel nodded.

  "Besides that." I prompted Daniel back to the conversation.

  "Don't know. They don't show up on my radar a lot either." We were both out of our depth. Only I knew my relation to this elf, but Daniel’s was looking mo
re and more confusing.

  "I'll keep trying. See what turns up. Checking here isn't working."

  "I didn't know you got mixed signals." Daniel was careful in his phrasing. He knew something was up. I could tell it by his face. The way he paused before saying his words. Did he think I was lying? Should I be worried about this? One damned elf, one damned conversation and I was already mistrusting. I had known Daniel for years, hell the greater part of three decades. But I couldn’t remember anyone talking to me like that elf. Not while tracking."This room’s screwing me up. You know how many different people have been in here?"

  "Oh. Yeah, man. Forensics wouldn't even bother trying to get anything from a one-night hotel like this. Not without blood or something obvious." He dipped his head in defeat at that, then shook it to switch tracks.

  "I guess I should tell you about the reward for this case." Daniel's comment immediately focused my attention. Reward was attention getting, right up there with boobs, explosives, and Julianne screaming.

  "Were you not going to?" I asked.

  "I was thinking of slipping you something, but I'm not chasing charity. I'm chasing dollar signs."

  "Suits get rewards?"

  "Not normally, but this case is one of the rare exceptions. If I solve it, we're talking a quarter million that goes into my paycheck. That's a lot of incentive, man," Daniel said with a smile.

  I whistled. "No wonder you're gung-ho."

  "Right, and that elf was my only lead, if I could hold him, he might know where Arnold Regious is." He handed a picture to me showing Arnold's face, and a clean-cut version of the elf. One of them had gone through hard times since elves normally looked younger than a human counterpart.

  "Or what's left." My first search for this human resulted in nothing. Daniel shrugged it off.

  "What's left would be fine. Anyway, man, it took awhile, but the parents finally admitted that the two had been friends for a long time." Daniel shook his folder of paperwork at me. All his answers must have come from inside. "One of those blue blood networking things. Shove the kids in the same class, they grow up and rule the world together. Why they'd pick a dead clan heir is beyond me."

  Daniel was shaking his head and kept talking. "Quarter million, I could do a lot with that, and I need it."

  "Why’s that?" His need was going to affect my demands for compensation. Legwork and tracking were the heavy portions of any hunt.

  "Getting married, man. Need to propose, need a ring, need to plan. Shit’s not cheap." Daniel was counting off the items on his fingers. "New suit. Maybe two. A real house to come home to. The works."

  "No kidding? Who's the lucky woman?" I asked.

  "Boss’ daughter."

  I whistled again, but this time it was in amusement. The redhead was dating his boss’ daughter, and as far as marriage already? He had moved on since the teen years. Next he would tell me he was going to be a father of little ginger headed triplets.

  "You don't aim low."

  "No, I've got to do this. I need to complete it, and it's not only the reward." Daniel's voice took a momentarily hard edge.

  "Right, cheaper than kneepads I guess." I heard him blink in reaction to my comment.

  "Fuck you," Daniel's face turned tomato red.

  "She cute?" I asked.

  "Of course."

  "How did she get her claws into you?" I had to know.

  "Our first date was at a shooting range. Her idea." Poor Crummy had fallen hard. The tone in his voice made it obvious. "But, business always gets in the way, at least until we get things sorted out."

  "I hear you," That meant that it was time to get to work. "Cut me loose and I'll call when I get a lead."

  "Here." Daniel eagerly handed over a business card with his name and phone number. It came with a few twenties for change. "I can't spare much more without writing up a report, but I trust you to keep me in the loop."

  "Alright." Maybe I would keep him in the loop. Depending on what this elf meant by ‘Lord’. Maybe the elf was high on something. Delirium by forest mushrooms was a common enough addiction for the low born.

  "We find Arnold first, then we can talk about splitting the reward, consider it a retainer for my best man."

  I snickered. Like we could explain a nonentity showing up to a suits’ wedding. Much less a wedding to his boss’ daughter. Knowing the Sector high ups, even the catering staff would have to pass a background check.

  "We'll talk," I nodded.

  Find the elf, figure out what this elf thought I was, figure out where the Regious heir was, and radio home. Easy, and I knew which way to start. For now, it was time for food. The delay would give me a good excuse to see how far Daniel was going to follow me. I doubted his idea of cutting me loose was quite as free-form as I might hope.

  We normally played straight with each other. The only reason I questioned things now was because of the prize. A quarter million dollars. Trust and friendship could be measured at a lot less for many people. It was something I had seen too many times.

  No. Daniel was getting married, I would be anxious too.

  Suits normally looked terrible on me. Being best man was doubly impossible, but I felt flattered he thought about it. Happiness carried me into the worst dive around. Inside would be a goldmine of unheard of food or at least a back door Daniel wouldn't be able to find. The location I found couldn't have been more than twenty feet across and went deep into the building. On one side, there were tables that made the idea of cozy look like a pipe dream. Opposite the tables was a menu, a counter to place orders, and likely the cook's station.

  It was manned by a tall white kid that didn't have an ounce of muscle on him. His backward hat was probably as close as I could get to real sanitation laws. The burger was okay, not the best, not the worst. This place wasn’t worth a return trip for burned cow meat.

  No one else came inside. If I was being followed, then Daniel would have been camped out on the street in his car. In that case, I could shuffle over a few blocks through alleyways and head west from there.

  I dropped Daniel’s money on the bill plus tip then headed towards the back of the restaurant. Near the back, there was a network of other doors to different shops in this strip. A connection which allowed multiple stores to use the same restrooms.

  Getting out the exit required navigating hushed groups of people. There was one set of strung out junkies and a confused looking teen searching for the bathroom. In passing, I may have suggested she hold it and turn around. The teen must have realized this was a bad area and decided to do just that. It helped that I filled a good chunk of the tiny hallway on my own.

  A set of side alleys later and I was home free. Nothing in sight, no Daniel, no unwanted followers, only me and the streets. I hefted my duffle bag and hiked onward, one hand fiddling with the lipstick tube. Twisted threads of energy connected from here to him. Elven cords always resembled pureed crayons.

  Mine.

  Darkness claimed the landscape by the time I reached the tree line. Even after that I kept going. Answers and money pulled me forth. Hell, only a portion would be fine. Daniel could use it for his wedding. He probably needed to shell out tons to afford the wedding this girl deserved. I smiled thinking about it. Crummy had a girl. How cute.

  Moonlight littered the forest floor. The trees around made a noise like laughter at my slow speeds. Reaching the clearing from my vision with the elf had taken hours. I set about bunking down for sleep. This wouldn't be my first camping trip outdoors and probably wouldn't be the last. My back propped up against the base of the tree and both eyes sunk downward. Sleeping away from home was difficult but possible.

  A few hours would do me, then I could get back to tracking. Morning would come and I could go from there. One hand scratched an arm absently as darkness blanketed my thoughts.

  Chapter 5 – One of the Perks

  Waking up is never an easy process. Prior examples include banging doors, general yelling, angry ex-girlfriend, and finally
something new.

  A hand smacked me on the side of the head. I didn’t react well. Before I was fully aware, my fingers had curled around a solid mass of muscle. Incoherent snarls came forth matching an echo of noises behind me.

  Blinking rapidly only gave me a few glimpses of my surroundings. Trees. People. Fur. Everything was blurry while both eyes kept crossing. Seconds passed as the situation started to register. In my grasp was the neck of a male I had never met. Somehow the two of us were standing up with him pressed against the tree. He was growling. Veins in his neck were popping as the man tried to force a shift.

  Momentary confusion is too long when dealing with wolves. The other man flashed his arms quickly. One broke the hold I didn’t even know I could do. His other arm punching me in the gut with excessive force.

  Sleep’s fogginess delayed my normal reaction. Instead of tensing for the punch, I doubled over and stumbled backward, falling. As soon as I touched the ground a large set of fangs snapped in my face. Panic flooded me as I moved to defend myself using a method so amazingly stupid that it worked.

  Both arms latched around the wolf’s neck. My face buried in muscle and fur. A sharp breath caused my gut to clench in pain, I used that and tensed inward, knifing my knee into the wolf’s groin. Then a second swing, and a third before shoving the clawing wolf off into his pack mates.

  There was enough room to scramble backward and get on both feet. Pain in my belly and legs made standing tall difficult. I reached a hand back in search of solid rear cover. Anything to limit the circle forming around me. My mind needed space to eliminate the flotsam thoughts and focus on the important things. Such as, what in the hell was going on?

  To the left, there were at least three other wolves, large angry creatures that made normal canines look tiny. On my right were another two. Near them was a naked human digging through a duffle. My duffle. A snarl flashed across my face, at the circling wolves, at the man desecrating my belongings.