Page 63 of Death and Donuts

Shepard: I see you’re at Muschi. Are you alone?

Me: No. I’m with Cross. How is the fae debriefing going?

Shepard: Not as well as I’d hoped. Anchor said you had gone to Cross' place, but when I saw you at the restaurant, I worried. Please stay with him or me.

Me: I will.

“Shepard?” Cross asked as I put my phone down.

I nodded. “He was worried I was alone.”

Cross nodded and handed me a menu that was not in any language I had ever seen.

“Can you read this?” I asked.

“I’m a bit rusty in old fae, but I can manage.”

“Then you’ll have to order for me.”

“How about a little of everything?”

“Maybe not everything. Pick the top five you think I’d like.”

He ordered five appetizers, each of their soups, and five main meals. All in flawless, at least to me, old fae.

“How many languages do you know?” I asked after the server left.

“A few. Before English became a widely used language, traveling was often difficult. Using local guides was a necessity I often found difficult. So I vowed to learn the language of every country I visited.”

“How many countries have you visited?”

“Sadly, only a dozen. But I hope that will change in the future.” The way he looked at me said I could hop aboard the Cross Express and travel the world with him if I wanted to. The thought of exploring new places and eating new foods was tempting.

To prepare for the food’s arrival, I dug into my bag for my notebook and a pen.

“I’ll need the English equivalent name for these foods,” I said as I placed the notebook on the table.

I saw a slip of paper poking out of it and looked at it.

Call this number if you want to know why a certain vampire won’t die.

The number listed was in the D.C. area.

“What’s wrong?” Cross asked.

I handed it to him. “I think I picked this up at the Shadow Trade market earlier today. There was a chaotic moment when Anchor stepped in to break up a fight. I bumped into someone who was standing really close to me. I think they slipped me this note.

“Every time we’ve gotten messages like this in the past, nothing good has happened.”

“Agreed, but that was because you weren’t confiding everything then. Let’s call it together and find out what they want.”

After looking around to ensure no one was sitting close by, I took out my phone and put the call on speaker.

A peppy female voice answered. “This is Amberly. How can I help you?”

“Hello, Amberly,” Cross said smoothly. “I found your note about a vampire that won’t die.”

“You must be Everly’s friend. Thank you for calling back so quickly. Yes, we have the information you want. Let’s arrange a time to meet in person. Are you human? Non-human? What’s your name?”

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