Demon’s Embrace(23)
Fortunately, Alex’s instincts proved correct a moment later as the irate, miniature pixie made a strange sort of hissing noise and went for Ronan’s face. He managed to grab her in the palm of his hand, but the little bitch burned him a couple of times before he could get her into a jar in the kitchen. Fortunately, her size meant the burns were no worse than the touch of a lit cigarette—annoying but ultimately not fatal.
She carried on for a while, hissing as loudly as she could—which wasn’t really all that loud—and beating her fragile-looking wings against the confined space of the jar. Surprisingly she cringed away in fear when Ronan grabbed a nail and hammer but seemed to calm down when she realized he only intended to punch a couple of holes in the lid so she could get some air.
“Too bad she doesn’t glow in the dark,” Alex said with a smirk. “She’d make a rather pretty lantern.” The pixie gave him a nasty look and used her finger in a way Ronan thought was typical only of humans. “I’m assuming that she can still slip travel, so the jar will only hold her while the wards are in place.” The pixie looked rather interested until he added, “And since I have no intention of turning them off, we should be able to hold her indefinitely.” She slumped to the bottom of the jar. It was obvious that she was saying something, but between her size and the glass Ronan wasn’t able to hear her.
“Were you able to catch any of that?” Ronan asked Alex.
“Not a word,” Alex said, smirking when their captive flipped him the bird once more.
“I’d really like to know why she still came after us. If that’s as big as she’s going to get, it put her at a tactical disadvantage. A human assassin would have cancelled the job or maybe called in help.”
“Didn’t I see karaoke equipment in the television cabinet?” Kali asked. “Maybe we can rig up one of the microphones to the TV.”
Ronan shuddered at the thought that he’d spent time in a house that was harboring such equipment. Thank God nobody had asked him to sing. There was a limit to how much one man should be asked to sacrifice in the name of keeping his woman safe and happy.
They had the microphone set up a few minutes later, and of course that was when the annoying little assassin decided to shut up. Angry enough to shake the jar, but sensible enough not to, Ronan turned to Alex for help. Nothing he’d learned about interrogation techniques had included a course on how to make a three-inch pixie spill all.
* * * *
“Why did you come after me?” Kali asked their captive.
The pixie rolled her eyes and tapped her foot. Even in miniature that thing was a bitch.
“Fine. Okay, I get it. Assassin for hire. Go where the money takes you. Kill whatever or whoever you’re told to kill.” She turned to Alex and Ronan. “She’s just a pawn. She doesn’t know anything.”
“Do, too,” the pixie said, sounding smug.
“Uh-huh,” Kali said in a voice that she hoped very clearly conveyed her disbelief. “Why would they tell you anything? You’re obviously a very small part of a much bigger plot.” She turned her back on the pixie, dismissing the creature’s existence.
“Do you have any idea who I am?”
“Not a clue,” Kali said over her shoulder. “Can’t say I much care, either.”
“I am Connistanterina Elizabeth DeKardoin, fourth-born daughter of the Pixie King. I am royalty, and you will treat me as such.”
“Well, Conni,” Kali said, hoping the shortening of her name would infuriate the woman enough for her to spill some useful information. “As royalty in the enemy camp, perhaps you should consider human history. I’m pretty sure we beheaded captured royals.”
“Human barbarians. No sense of honor.”
“Says the miniature assassin caught in a glass jar. You’re pathetic. You talk of honor like you understand what it means.”
“Of course I know what it means. The Oracle broke the rules. She intended to pass her information onto humans.” The pixie spat the word “humans” like it was some despicable contagious disease. “I killed her to protect my people. If I had known the traitor was capable of passing her information to human babies, I would have killed them all that day.”
“So you’re not a hired assassin.”
“I was not hired. I was chosen.” The pixie stuck her nose in the air, her eyes shining with what could only be described as a fanatical light. It didn’t matter what reasonable argument they made, this pixie had no intention of listening, ever. Considering she’d just announced she was willing to kill newborn babies, it took all of Kali’s sense of humanity not to grab the jar and start shaking until the callous bitch cried.