Wanted: Undead or Alive

Back To Business

After spending the most pleasurable and acrobatic thirty-six hours of my life snowed in with Nick, we reluctantly agreed that it would probably be a good thing to come up for air and maybe catch a fugitive or two. I dressed in my usual work clothes, choosing short sleeves because despite the fact that I'd shut my furnace off, Nick's radiant heat was keeping the place at a cozy temperature. I carried my files and the info binders to the kitchen table and opened my laptop, determined to keep my mind focused on work and not on the fact that Nick was thumping around in my kitchen wearing nothing but a ratty old pair of Mandrake's sweatpants that I'd dug out of the bottom of a drawer for him. They were too big, so they hung distractingly low and loose on his hips.

Fugitives, Olivia.

"Adan Charring is a fire fairy. She set a bunch of hikers on fire when they poured dirty water on her doorstep."

Nick set the coffee to brew. "Didn't give a thought to posting bail for her. Fairies never go far from home. The humans were damned fools who deserved what they got. Fairies'll put up with a good many things, but dirty water isn't one of them."

"Sounds like you don't much care if I catch her."

"Nope. We follow the rules, but sometimes the perp gets away."

"She's got a baby. I've had her in arm's reach twice, but she slipped away both times. The second time, she just kind of blew up and disappeared."

He took a chunk of cheese from the fridge and carried it to the cutting board he'd already set on the counter. "Sounds like a fairy. If you really want to catch one, your best bet is sugar."

From the corner of my eye, I watched the flex and pull of the muscles in his forearms as he sliced the cheese with a little paring knife. "I tried to be nice. That's when she blew up."

"Not metaphorical sugar, love. Actual sugar. If you spill sugar in the sight of a fairy, they can't leave until they've counted each grain. While she's counting, you cuff her."

I slammed the folder shut and tossed it on the table. "It seems like this should be pretty much the first bit of information that is ever presented to a bounty hunter trying to catch a fairy."

He shrugged. "I guess everyone writing stuff down assumed bounty hunters would already know."

"You know what happens when you assume, right?"

He carried the cutting board to the table and set it down. A spread of cheese and crackers, pickles, olives, and chocolate-covered peanuts covered it.

"Cereal would have been fine," I told him.

"Cereal is mundane. It couldn't possibly suffice for our first breakfast together."

We'd eaten two or three times the day before and had a midnight snack as well, but none of that had been during the morning hours. Well, I'd eaten. Mostly, Nick watched me as if eating was the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen. He did indulge in a slice of turkey and a single microwaved pizza roll.

"When we faced off with the fire fairies in that burned out building, you called for iron, not sugar."

"If you remember, I wasn't exactly in my right mind. Also, I don't carry sugar in the car. We don't deal with fairies all that often."

Twice in less than a year seemed often enough for my taste, but I let it go and changed the subject. "You're not as glowy as you were." Not only had the illumination on his skin mellowed, but the lines of his djinn tattoos had vanished completely.

He walked over to the coffeepot and carried the whole pot plus two giant mugs to the table. "I've burned a great deal of energy off in the past two days."