Playing With Fire

Chapter Three

I drove aimlessly trying to think. I didn't know how to handle this. Should I run? Should I stay and find out why he was here? What does he know? Maybe his presence has nothing to do with me at all. I finally pulled off into an empty parking lot near the Ratsnest and called Keira. She formed out of smoke in front of me and looked at me quizzically.

"There was a Fae Male at the Guild." She hissed loudly in response, the hair on the back of her neck standing up. I began pacing and she sat on her haunches waiting for more information. I told her everything I knew up to this point.

"I don't know Kiera, maybe we should leave?" The pointy fangs she showed me told me how much she thought about that plan. Keira was a predator and she didn't like the thought of running.

"You're not special, I have fangs too." I let my canines lengthen and stuck my tongue out at her. She rolled her eyes at me and I sighed. Yes, this was getting us nowhere. I didn't want to leave. I liked the life I had carved out here, and I couldn't just leave Flo alone, not now that I had awakened her. I was thinking too much into it. Whatever the Male was doing here it had nothing to do with me. I had covered my tracks. No one knew about me. I would keep my head down, stay out of his way, and everything would be fine. Decision made I called Keira back to me and rode my bike back to the Guild.

Boris was exactly where I left him, but I ignored him and went straight for Lawrence. He tried to ignore me, but I was not in the mood. I slapped the counter loudly and he flinched, finally giving me his attention.

"I'm not here to screw with you, just give me a job and I'll get out of your hair. I might even say please," I bat my eyes at him sarcastically.

"No jobs," was his short reply.

"What do you mean no jobs? This is the Guild. There are always jobs."

"No. Jobs." He looked at me like I was dense but I met his stare with a hard one of my own until he elaborated with a sigh. "Castiel isn't giving out any jobs until he 'assess the Guild members to better know how to hand them out'."

"Well what in the fuck does that mean?"

"I don't know Delany I'm just the meager clerk." Read 'leave me alone I don't answer to you'. Biting back a snappy reply I stalked back over to Boris sinking down into the chair I had vacated not forty-five minutes earlier.

"So, what is all this nonsense about 'assessing'?" Boris shrugged his giant shoulders at me.

"Do we just wait around here with a stick up our asses until he is ready to 'assess' us?"

"No, I understand that you need to work. The assessment will begin immediately."

I turned to find Castiel looking at me from beside the clerk's desk. Brilliant. Lawrence shot me a wicked grin as I met Castiel's appraising look. Me and my big damn mouth. Castiel finally strode to the center of the room after deciding I wouldn't be saying anything else, and the men around me quieted to see what he had to say.

"I know the rumor mill has been working overtime so let me clear everything up. Yes, jobs will be put on hold until I have a better understanding of each individual merc's abilities and power. No, I don't care about what jobs you have completed up to this point. No, I don't care how long you have been here. This is an assessment based purely on skill alone."

Hmm, that was different at least. Most Guild's did run on a sort of seniority. Since most of the men in this field didn't end up retiring there was something of an unspoken rule that the longer you survived the higher up in the pecking order you were. Mercenary etiquette, maybe? Was that a thing? I scanned the room and saw a lot of disgruntled faces, especially from the guys who had lasted the longest and earned their right to dick around with the rest of us. I shot a quick glance at Boris, who looked thoughtful, but that was pretty much his default expression.