“Hey, you seen Sam around lately?” When the bartender stared at her blankly, Lina added, “Lorne demon. Mercenary. Has a pretty distinctive black Mohawk.”
“Oh yeah.” The bartender shrugged. “Haven’t seen him around for awhile.”
No surprise there. “I’ll take a lager, then.”
Brownie lager had a hell of a kick to it, but it went down a lot smoother than the whiskey she normally favored, and she wanted to stay on the top of her game tonight if there was a chance they’d be apprehending Sam.
Sam—the dirtbag. She still couldn’t believe he’d rolled over on her. They hadn’t been the best of friends or anything, but she thought they’d had an understanding. He’d once been hooked on score too, the hallucinogenic drug made from ground unicorn horns, and after he’d confessed he still couldn’t think about the stuff without breaking into full-body shakes, she’d confided it was the same for her.
Once a score addict, always a score addict.
Even if she hadn’t touched the stuff in two years…ever since the day Sara had died.
“You came.”
Lina turned toward the sound of Ronin’s voice, fighting back guilt at the undertone of surprise in his words. She took a long swallow of her lager before casually saying, “Money talks.”
Ronin’s eyes flickered, but all he said was, “My contact should be here soon.” He slid into an empty barstool beside her and flagged down the bartender.
Forty minutes and three brownie lagers later, there was still no sight of Ronin’s contact, and Lina was beginning to suspect Ronin had lured her here under false pretenses just so she would be forced to talk to him. Though he’d given it his best, he hadn’t gotten too much out of her, and since he hadn’t mentioned anything about Sara, she figured Dagan had kept his word about giving her time to broach the subject. That was a relief. She wasn’t ready to talk about her yet.
“Sorry I’m late,” a high-pitched yet croaky voice sounded out behind them.
Lina whirled in her seat to see a short, squat man facing them. Though he was glamoured to look human, his physique and voice unmistakably placed him as a goblin. Yeah, there was only so much cloaking certain species could do.
The goblin noticed her staring and prickled defensively. “Looked your fill?”
“For now,” she replied.
Clearly unnerved by her nonchalant response, he inched away from her and pointedly looked toward Ronin.
When Ronin threw her a warning glance, she shrugged. What did he want her to do, use her calming ability to charm the guy? It wasn’t her fault Shortie had gotten offended.
“Took me awhile, but I managed to track down some info on your guy,” the goblin said to Ronin in a low tone. “He’s been living under an alias.”
Lina took another sip of her lager while he recited the address, which was about eight blocks from Eros. “Any other information for us?” she asked.
The goblin gave her the death stare.
She laughed, unable to help herself, but when Ronin hit her with another warning glance, she shrugged. “Fine, you handle it.”
She turned to face the counter, waiting for Ronin to finish his conversation with the goblin. It served him right, though, for having her meet him here early and forcing her to engage in conversation with him.
Ronin and the goblin concluded their conversation, and the goblin left without a backward glance.
“Bye,” she called out to him, cheerfully holding up her glass in a farewell salute, but he ignored her.
“I think you’ve had enough of these.” Ronin snatched the glass out of her hand and plunked it onto the counter.
“Suit yourself.” She shrugged and turned to face him. “What do you think?”
“I think we should see if Sam’s home.” Ronin let out a sigh and impatiently flexed his back as he stared at her. “I also think you’re halfway drunk, which makes me question whether you should come along at all.”
“Come on, let’s do it. I’ll be sober by the time we get there.” Which was sadly true. As a full-blooded angel, her body healed itself of most afflictions fairly quickly. That was what had made score such a horrible addiction. Her fixes had never lasted long, and she’d always been left wanting more.
Lina stifled a shudder at the memory of the thick substance coursing through her veins. Never again would she experience the sweet agony of that particular high. She was happy about it, truly. She just wished she could stop thinking about the damn drug.
Ronin searched her face and was apparently satisfied by what he saw there, because he nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”