Page 4 of Pointy Ears and Purple Glitter
Malik could hear the paranormal behind him was starting to stir, and knew he had to be quick.
“What’s restitution?” Big Mouth asked.
“Ask Grok. Now get the hell out and don’t let me see you within four blocks of this alley again. And before you think of tucking your tails between your legs, disappearing into those damn shadows, and not telling Grok about this?”
Malik pointed up to the top of his workshop roof, where a red light was blinking. “I’ve recorded everything you two did. Me and Grok have a deal. You two just broke it. If I don’t get my restitution by lunchtime, I’m taking the afternoon off, and I’ll go tell Grok about this myself. You just messed with the wrong guy.” He gave them both a shake for good measure. “Now piss off.”
“Be fair, Malik,” Knife Guy said as Malik let them go. “You have to admit those ears make that guy weird.”
“I don’t care if he has two dicks and horns. You had no right mugging fucking innocents in my alley. Piss off and make sure you go straight to Grok’s.”
Malik watched, arms folded across his chest, until the two men ran away. Taking a deep breath, Malik let it out slowly. His rhino was still pacing and wanting to break out and run after them. Images of the two men skewed on his horns weren’t helpful in retaining his zen.
Once he was sure his rhino wouldn’t do anything stupid, like scare a man who’d already had a rough night, Malik turned around. The innocent was sitting upright, leaning against the alley wall. He looked so otherworldly that it took Malik’s breath away. Perfectly sculpted eyebrows, brilliant green eyes, just enough scruff to edge pretty into sexy, and waves of bright silver hair tumbling over his shoulders – he was Malik’s dream man if Malik had ever imagined a man like that could exist.
“Are you badly hurt? Did something happen to your glamor?”
“Glamor?” The man reached up, patting his face, looking confused. “What do you mean glamor? I don’t feel any different. I always look like this.”
WTF?Malik moved forward. “You’re a fae, aren’t you?” He kept his voice low, although his rhino let him know there wereno humans around. He resisted getting too close. He didn’t want the beautiful fae to feel overwhelmed. He was suddenly conscious of his bare chest and low-slung sweats which were all he was wearing.Thank the Fates I changed out of that towel.
“I can tell what you are from your ears.” He hurried to explain. “Most fae glamor their appearance when they’re on Earth, so they don’t walk into situations like you did tonight.”
“I didn’t walk into this situation. It crept up on me and caught me unawares.” The fae looked around. “Where’s Sparky. What happened to Sparky?”
“Sparky?” Malik looked around automatically, although he already knew there wasn’t anyone else around. “There’s no one else here. Who’s Sparky?”
“Not a who exactly, more of a what.” The fae scrambled to his feet, looking up into the sky. “Sparky. Sparky? Where are you? Are you all right? Did you get hit?”
“Er…” Malik glanced at the sky, but he couldn’t see anything. “Didyou get hit,around the head perhaps?”
“Yes, but it’s fine. Sparky!”
“There’s no need to yell.” Malik’s eyes widened as a flutter of feathers suddenly erupted from his workshop roof. “I was trying to work out if a raven could drool seeing your handsome hero flex his chest muscles. One of us had to be looking, and it wasn’t you.”
A raven landed on the fae’s shoulder. “Hi, hunky man. I’m Sparky, and this is Tynan, a clueless fae who keeps dragging me into unsafe situations. I hate to say this, but apparently ravens can’t drool. Believe me, if I could, I would. You deserve to have someone drooling over you. What’s your name, big guy?”
“Er…Malik. You’re a talking raven?” Malik felt silly just saying it, but he hadn’t come across a Sparky before. “Are you a shifter?”
“Like you, you mean.” Sparky shook his head. Malik noticed Tynan was looking particularly uncomfortable. “No, alas, I don’t suddenly turn into a tall streak of cluelessness like our Tynan here. My speech ability is more a question of magical misadventure. You see…”
“Sparky, that’s enough,” Tynan said sharply. “I’m sure Mr. Malik has better things to do than stand around, getting chilly, listening to the next fabrication you come up with. Mr. Malik…”
“It’s just Malik,” he said gruffly. “No Mister required.”
“Malik then.” Tynan’s Adam’s apple bobbled up and down as if he had to swallow down whatever it was he actually wanted to say. “I hate to presume on your generosity, but you’re clearly local here. Could you possibly point me in the right direction so I could get a cab? The most direct route. I feel like I’ve been wandering around this place with no lights for hours and while I know there were some glimmers of light on the horizon that way” - he waved in the direction of town – “I’d really prefer no more detours.”
“What brought you down here anyway?” Malik indicated Tynan should follow him out of the alley. As much as he wanted to touch the fae…take his arm…wrap his arm around his waist…take him inside his own place - his rhino thought that was the best idea ever - Malik knew Tynan had been traumatized and wanting to go home was perfectly logical.
“I’m a private investigator. I thought I was meeting an informant to help on a case I’m working on.” As they rounded the corner, Tynan pulled a piece of torn paper from his coat pocket. “Cloister Way, I think it says,” he added, holding the paper out for Malik to see. “It’s not easy to see with the scribble.”
“Can I…?” Malik held out his hand, taking the paper and peering at it, aided by the light from his office window. “Fucking Grok.” He stabbed at the paper that was signed with aG. “This is a scam. You were scammed. It was Grok’s men who attacked you tonight. How did you even end up on this side of town in the first place? Cloister Way is a street on the other side of town.”
“This is where the taxi driver dropped us off.” Tynan looked down at his feet. “Well, not here exactly. He wouldn’t come into the area where the lights go out. But when he dropped me off, he said it was only about three blocks down the road.”
“This road?” Malik could still see the lights from the business district on the horizon.
“No.” Tynan shook his head, his silver hair sparkling in the lights. “Six blocks over that way…I think. I’m not sure. We came from that way.”
