As we approached city limits, Emily said, “the best thing we can do right now is get close to Clint Bower. He likely doesn’t know anything about us but he’ll know the most about what

Alabaster and Kaiser are up to.”

“What do you suggest?” I asked, as the city was in plain view now. Everything had an early 1900s feel to it. The architecture was quaint and so were the citizens walking about. It felt like an H.G. Wells' novel meets The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Emily did an excellent job of getting us to blend in. In addition to the outfits, we wrapped Arduwan’s sword in fabric and Wraith hid his daggers in his bag. I opted to just rely on my magic until the situation called for weapons. This was just espionage for the moment. “There’s a club that he hangs out at downtown. I’m gonna try and score a date with him.”

She seemed so confident.

“If I can get him drunk and talking,” she continued, “maybe he can let me know what he’s financing for them and where to find them.”

“Is that safe? For you to get that close to him?” I asked.

“Oh yeah. Don’t worry. Bower is a push over. He’s a spoiled rich kid and a light weight. I’m pretty sure after two or three drinks even I could kick his ass if he got too handsy.”

We were now walking along a cobblestone road. Towering buildings surrounded us and steam powered cars chugged alongside. Soon we found ourselves in front of a large, five story building, draped in red tapestry. The Arliss. A boutique hotel at the center of downtown Brasshaven. Emily had stayed here the majority of her time scouting ahead for us while we were in Callist.

Arduwan and Wraith’s room were on the second floor. Emily had specifically chosen a fifth floor room so she could get a good look of the street from her window. I brought my bag up to the room and dropped it on the bed. It was daytime so the room was naturally lit with the curtains open. It was a nice place. Probably the nicest hotel I’d stayed at in any world, including my own. There were long halogen light bulbs along the wall, oak furniture, and red linens to match the overall aesthetic of the building.

Emily walked in behind me with her hands behind her back. She only partially closed the door before asking, “So, are you okay staying together this time? Or do we need a locked door between us again?”

“Haha, very funny,” I said, “it’s not like it’s a leisure trip anyway.”

I sat down on the bed and put my face in my palms. Emily came over and sat next to me. She put her hand on my back to comfort me.

“Hey,” she said, “it’s okay. You’ve been going through a lot. I’ve had it easy here compared to what you must’ve gone through in Callist.”

I sighed deeply and replied, “It wasn’t that bad. The place can grow on you. It’s just that…I was so sure we had a way to get Anabel and Stephanie back. But just like Higgins, she’s gone forever. I mean, I’d finally gotten over the two of us as a couple. But she’s still one of the best friends I’ve ever had. And poor Anabel. Just when things were starting to brighten her up and she had adjusted to life in my world.”

I held back my tears once again.

“She’ll be okay,” Emily consoled, “She’s pretty tough underneath it all. If we live through this, she’ll be happy when we’re all back together again.”

“I’m not gonna let any more of you get killed. This bastard dies this time. No more time outs in jail.”

“Well don’t get too far ahead of yourself. We gotta find him first. Then search for an opportune moment to take him out. Come on. Let’s go get the others and get something to eat before showtime at the club.”

The four of us had a nice fish dinner at a local restaurant. We went over the plan with Emily before heading down to the Gatsby Club where Clint Bowers liked to hang out.

“Okay, let’s go over this one more time,” Wraith said, “the three of us are going to go in separately and get a table. Then Emily will come in. She’s gonna try and isolate Bowers at the bar and see what she can get out of him. If the plan needs to change, her signal will be to go to the ladies room. That’s when Arduwan will get up and meet her in there to relay anything back to us.”

“Right,” Emily confirmed, “it’s best Bowers doesn’t see me with any of you. If anyones in the restroom we can wait for them to leave before I say anything. Otherwise, you guys just sit back and observe unless something crazy happens.”

“Something crazy is gonna happen,” I added.

“Let’s hope not.”

* * *

When we went into the club there was an immediate notable difference in atmosphere from everywhere else. It looked like an upper class 1920s Jazz club, with a band to boot. Virtually everyone in here was rich. I was rich in my world, but I had no desire whatsoever to hang out with a crowd like this. Luckily, we were still dressed nicely and the club was dark, so we didn’t stick out going to our little table.

About five minutes later, Emily came in. She only gave us a quick glance, just to know where we were in case she needed us. But she quickly gravitated towards the large circular bar on the far side of the room. There was a small group of people huddled together. Mostly younger men but a few girls as well. Emily joined them. We couldn’t hear what they were saying but it became visibly obvious that she was talking to Clint.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

He was a tall, thin, young man about twenty five years old. He had dirty blonde hair slicked to one side and it was clear he was digging Emily. The way he fumbled for a lighter to light her cigarette. I could do it without the lighter you know.

She was laughing and cutting up with him. I saw that she was ordering drinks that were heavy on the ice so as to not get drunk herself. But this guy was drinking whiskey like water. If what she said was true about him, I was worried he’d pass out at the bar before she got enough information out of him.

After about thirty or so minutes, the cue came. She got up to go to the ladies room and gave us a quick glance on her way.

“You’re up, Ardu,” I said.

“Hey! Watch it! That’s a boy's name, remember?” she corrected before seeing herself off.

A few minutes went by. Emily came back first. Then Arduwan came back to our table.

“So what’s going on?” I asked, subtly but enthusiastically.

Arduwan had a disturbed look on her face. She said, “Emily said she’s going back to Clint’s place with him.”

“What?! Why?”

“She said, it’s not as easy as she thought to get it out of him. That he just keeps saying vague stuff about how him and his new partners have big plans for Brasshaven. She says he might be tipsy enough for her to distract him and find some information at his house.”

“Yea…information,” Wraith said, as he tipped back in his chair with his hands behind his head. I just looked at him in disgust.

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea, Arduwan,” I said once I turned my attention back to her.

“Yeah, neither do I. But Emily said for all of us to trust her and follow them but keep our distance. She said that If we could avoid killing him, we should since his involvement is unwitting.”

I was uneasy about this. But after all, I was the one that said we needed to trust Emily and follow her lead on all this.

A few minutes later, Clint’s entourage started to evaporate and he began to escort Emily to the front door. A chauffeur pulled up in what looked like a steam powered version of Casanova Frankenstein's limo from Mystery Men.

We didn’t want to lose them so we quickly grabbed a cab with the few Cogs we had left that Emily gave me.

“Follow that car!” I said, for the first time in my life.

The limo dropped Emily and Clint off at a small but upscale townhouse with a doorman. We couldn’t get too close without looking suspicious. But with it being dark out and a few park benches diagonal from Bowers place, we were able to remain inconspicuous enough.

I didn’t know how long we would have to wait but I knew we needed to be nearby incase Emily needed us. Of course we had no way to communicate with her from here. Hopefully she could find some way to signal us if push came to shove.

Fifteen minutes went by. Then thirty. Fortyfive. I wasn’t sure how long she was going to be in there but it sure seemed to drag on. The thought crossed my mind how serious she was about her detective work and how her nonchalance about sex could mean that she might actually have slept with him. It bothered me but at the same time it wasn’t like we had some kind of exclusivity agreement. I mean, we hadn’t even slept together. As erratic as she was about that kinda stuff, I guess I couldn’t blame her. She was as loyal to the cause of fighting Devils as any of the rest of us.

Finally, after nearly an hour, she emerged from the front door. The doorman offered her a ride home.

“No, thank you. That’s quite alright,” she replied before meeting us down the street.

It was late. Nearly midnight. We walked along back towards our hotel underneath gas powered street lights. We were far enough away and no one else was around so we could talk casually about what she had found.

“Check this out,” she said, giddily as she pulled a tiny box shaped camera out from between her cleavage, “I got it shortly after I arrived here and it turns out tonight was the perfect opportunity to use it!”

“What did you find?” Wraith asked.

“In Clint’s office, there were letter exchanges between business partners, including Kaiser Roboto and Alabaster. There was also a map of the location they were setting up shop together. I couldn’t get a good look at it while I was in there but when we develop this film we should know exactly where to find them.”

“That’s fantastic!” I exclaimed, “But just curious…why were you in there so long?”

Emily stopped walking in her tracks and looked at me with an expression of surprise. The others stopped walking as well and so did I.

“I had to finesse him,” she said.

“Finesse?”

“Yeah. He wasn’t just gonna hand this stuff over. He was pretty drunk when we got back and I must confess, even with the watered down drinks, I wasn’t at my best either. When he finally passed out, I was able to take a look around. But even then, I had to be careful because he had full time staff living there.”

I bit my tongue, gulped, and nodded.

Emily’s expression turned a bit angry before she added, “Well, I didn’t sleep with him if you must know.”

“I never said you did! I just wasn’t sure what finessed meant in this context.”

“Oh please. It’s pretty obvious what you think I’d do under certain circumstances. Just because I’ve got a history of chewing guys up and spitting them out like candy doesn’t mean I’d stoop so low as Clint Bower!”

“Remember that conversation we had about intimidation and saying overly direct things? Yeah, this is one of those.”

“Errr!” she growled, as she stormed off ahead.

“Ummm, excuse me,” Wraith interjected, “is there something going on with you guys that we don’t know about?”

“Can it, Ernest,” I huffed back to Wraith.

When we got back to the hotel lobby, Arduwan and Wraith went to the bar. Emily said she was going to bed and started to pick up speed to get back to our room. I followed her to the elevator andWhen she got on the door I saw a faint glimmer of tears in her eyes. Was she actually upset that I thought the worst?

“Hey. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply…”

“We’ll talk about it later. Just make sure those two go to bed too. Tomorrow might get busy,” she said, as the elevator door closed.

I went back to the bar, fully expecting to get a flurry of questions from those two about me and Emily. Until now, we hadn’t advertised that there was chemistry between us. Wraith just knew she came on strong to me when we had first met and Arduwan was…Arduwan.

To my surprise though, they didn’t mention it. They were having a nightcap and Wraith was trying to work moves of his own on Arduwan. It’s funny to me, you know. This woman, who by her own admission wasn’t exactly inexperienced with men, was completely clueless that someone was coming onto her.

“So you really can’t sleep on a mattress, huh?” he asked, slyly.

“Nope. It makes my back hurt. I tried a few times at some inns back in Callist but I found it was just better off to sleep on the ground or in a hay barn,” she answered.

“I see. Well, from what I could tell about our room, the linens are made of this world’s equivalent to Egyptian cotton. That means that it could be the most comfortable rest you’ve ever had!”

I’d had enough of this. I made them down their drinks and then escorted them up to their room to make sure they didn’t get into anything else before we had a chance to find Alabaster.

After dealing with Wraith and Arduwan’s antics, I took a deep sigh and went back to my hotel room. When I opened the door, there was Emily, sitting on the side of the bed, looking dead at me. She had her hands at her sides, palms down, and a blank expression on her face. She was wearing a black negligee, and her corset was on the floor beside the bed.