Chapter Twenty
Lucky’s indeed, his thoughts echoed.
Wait. Hold up.
Will stopped in the center of the tavern and turned in place, really giving the bar a hard look this time. When he did, he noticed several things that had escaped him before. There were a lot of beautiful people in the bar. None could hold a candle to Helena, but they were beautiful nonetheless. And you didn’t normally find beautiful people in roadside bars in the middle of the night in the bayous of Louisiana.
There was no smoke in the bar. No one was lighting up. There was no one arguing. Everyone was happy. Even Darryl had made several bull's-eyes with his darts, and the zombie warlock was actually grinning good naturedly as he toasted drinks with a complete stranger.
Puzzle pieces began to slide into place for Will, and his little hairs stood on end as the picture came into view. He stopped turning when he faced the exit they’d come through. There was a horseshoe above the door; nothing strange about that. But it was painted gold, and as Will studied it, he came to the conclusion that it wasn’t painted gold – it was gold. Pure gold.
Not iron.
Most importantly, above the horseshoe was a beautifully scrawled text in green and gold that read, Aird de na fae, mar na fae intinn agat.
It was a grammatically obscure form of gaelic. But Will had read a lot of obscure books.
Mind the fae, for the fae mind you.
Will let out a defeated sigh. “Crap.”
He turned back around to face the bar in time to see the bartender slipping out through the half-door at one end before making his way toward a back door to the bar Will hadn’t given much thought to before. Will swallowed hard. His gaze slipped to Helena’s drink. Two-thirds gone now. He touched the potion. Then he looked back up at the back door, coming to a fast decision.
He did his thing and strode to the bar, placing a hand on the stool beside Helena that was still empty. He slid into it with a warden’s grace. “Hey,” he said by way of greeting, adding a smile he hoped she would believe.
“Hey you,” she replied easily, returning his smile and spinning to face him on the stool.
Her attention and that smile floored him at once, it was just that strong. But alarms were going off in his head. He licked his lips and nodded toward her beer, which was now just about gone. “Here,” he said, picking up his own beer and taking a swig to show her it wasn’t poisoned. He swallowed and put it back down. “You need a refill. Have mine. I’ll drive when we head back out.”
She smiled. “Thanks. I truly hate to see a good beer go to waste.”
He slid it toward her, and she reached out to take it. Her fingers slipped over his. An electric pleasure zapped through him, passing over his hand to race up his arm and infiltrate the rest of his system like a drug. It was made stronger by the fact that she was trusting him – him, a complete stranger who had stowed away invisible in her car. Trust for a warden meant more than words could say.
For Will, it meant just about everything. Especially since he was as of that moment betraying that trust outright.
As Helena put his beer to her full, dark pink lips and took a long pull, swallowing it down, his heart both leapt and then sank. She’d tasted him, in a manner of speaking. She’d trusted him. And he’d done her wrong.
But at least the second part of the spell was complete. He’d slipped the potion into the beer.
“So your cousin’s night seems to have improved,” she said, nodding to the booths behind Will. He glanced over his shoulder to find Liam and Destiny laughing, each of them leaning heavily over the table toward one another.
Will smiled and shook his head. “He sure got lucky.”
“Everyone gets lucky at Lucky’s,” said Helena. He turned back to her wry smile and glittering eyes. She took another drink of his beer, and he watched her in quiet fascination.
Everyone gets lucky at Lucky’s….
“Helena,” he said softly, holding her attention long enough to make him feel like king of the world. She peered easily up at him through eyes that he could now see were multicolored, not only maroon but harboring shades of purple and pink, and deep blood red. They were the most stunning eyes he’d ever beheld. “Would you…” he said, having to focus hard to stay on target, “excuse me for just a moment?” He cleared his throat nervously. “I’m gonna hit the little boy’s room.” He smiled a self-deprecating smile.
She grinned widely at him. “I’ll save your seat for you.”
He stood, but found himself remaining there, staring down at her a lot longer than he meant to. Finally, when he noticed his throat had gone dry and his eyes kept straying to her lips, he forced himself to move. “Be right back.”
He left the bar as quickly as he could, using those long legs to put safe distance between himself and the woman he had just betrayed. When he came to stand before the back door the bartender had disappeared through, he paused and glanced over his shoulder, making sure no one was watching.
Darryl had begun another game of darts and was tucking wads of money into his coat pocket. Liam was where Will had left him, and Destiny was leaning forward to show him an entranced expression – and a whole lot of cleavage. Liam was grinning like a schoolboy.
No one was watching Will.
He pushed open the door, ducking into the shadows beyond at the same time he hastily pulled his weapon from the holster at the small of his back. He held it barrel down as he slowly took in his new surroundings. A long hallway stretched through dim lighting. There were doors to the right, three in total, two to the left, and there was a set of double doors at the end of the hallway. Every door was closed.
Will slowly moved down the hall, listening intently for any sign of movement or life. He knew the bartender was down here somewhere, but there was no indication of which door he’d taken. There was no dust on the floor to disturb, there were no smudges on the gold doorknobs, and all was quiet.
“It would nae be me yae’re lookin’ for now, would it young man?”
Will whirled, lifting his gun to aim it between the bartender’s eyes. The man had appeared behind him without a sound and without warning.
“Yae’ve got good reflexes on yae, I’ll give ye that. But that weapon won’t do lasting harm to my kind, and I think we both know it.” The bartender smiled warmly, and his dark eyes twinkled.
“You’re a leprechaun,” Will accused.
“Aye, I be that,” said the bartender. “Name’s old as time and I’m not in the habit o’ sharin’ it, but Lucky’s what they call me.” He chuckled. “For obvious reasons, no doubt.”
“And Destiny?” Will questioned. “Is she another fae?”
“Aye. But again, yae already knew that, didn’t yae Will Slate? That isn’t what you came tae ask me. So why don’t we speak like men,” he suggested, his smile slipping and his voice deepening as he stepped forward, “an’ get tae the heart of the matter?”
Will considered the fae carefully. He thought about the bullets in his gun and the knife in his pocket and had to admit that neither would do much damage to the leprechaun, especially if the fae was as old as Will was guessing he was. The bullets had full metal jackets, so they were encased in steel which contained iron, and the stainless steel of his blade of course had iron too. But experience had taught Will that iron would only irritate a leprechaun. Not kill him.
Iron was the bane of many fae. But there were a few species who kept coming at you no matter how much of the stuff you filled them with. Leprechauns were one of them. Theories were that they’d developed an immunity of sorts to iron because they dealt so much with money. Will recognized the theory as racist and couldn’t have cared less what the real reason was. He only cared that the leprechaun standing before him was unfortunately right. His weapon was useless.
He lowered his gun and straightened. “The heart,” he said slowly. “You mean Helena.”
“Aye. That I do.”
“Were you reading my mind earlier? When we walked in?” Some fae could do that.
The leprechaun chuckled. “I can see how it might have seemed that way. But I don’t need tae, warden. An’ I have tae say, rather than pull a weapon on me, I’m thinkin’ yae ought tae be thankin’ me for not tellin’ our wee special lass what yae did with her drink.”
Will blinked. He swallowed hard. “It isn’t poison if that’s what you’re thinking.” He shook his head. “We’re trying to help her.”
The leprechaun smiled. “Aye. I know, lad.” His gaze slid past Will to the door they’d both come through, and Will got the impression the leprechaun could not only imagine Helena where she sat at the bar just then, but actually see her. His expression became troubled. “That’s why I dinnae stop yae.”
Will took a deep breath and replaced his gun, facing the powerful fae empty-handed now. “You know what is going on with her, don’t you?” Will asked softly.
“I do,” said Lucky simply. He met Will’s gaze again and lifted his chin. “There’s a darkness just behind her. Doggin’ her worse than the Night Terrors. Do what yae have tae. But if yae do her wrong, my kin and I will come for yae. An’ we know how to hold a grudge. Yae can bank on it.”
Lucky pulled the towel from the apron he’d tied to his waist and slung it over his shoulder. “Now if yae’ll excuse me, I’ve got customers that need tendin’ tae.”
He brushed past Will, and returned through the doors at the end of the hall.