Hours later, a short stewing bartender cornered me.  Impressive, considering I was twice her size.

"So you were out for how long?"  Julianne started the conversation where we left off.

"Only a day or two."

"Dammit, you hibernate like a bear, Jeff.”  We were talking at the back door to her bar.  Julianne was in the process of checking for things to be cleaned.  Her eyes scanned over piles of cigarette butts, trash bags and stains on the wall.  “You were napping for two days down there?"

"Unless it's an April Fools’ joke,"  Which was four months too late.  None of my friends enjoyed the long setup for this kind of joke anyway.

"You don't normally get that tired do you?"  Now she was starting to sound like a pack mother.

"No.  But I had an unwanted interaction, hired help."

"Normal or..?"  The question hung for a moment and I tried to consider which way to go with this.  Julianne took my silence as a reason to change venues while shaking her head, we went inside while she flagged down one of the employees.

"Vamp, two partials."  I could have pumped up the story a bit, added a broken arm, made it seem like I was some sort of badass and it wasn't just a set of lucky conditions.  My turf, a cross, being aggressive, a pounding heart.  The list went on.

"Guess I should start paying you more when you're working here, huh?"

"Nothing big, I remember being better at that sort of stuff,"  I said.

"You're just out of practice,"  She protested, but it was true.  I had been quite good at roughing people up, and that sometimes required wading through more than one person.  Maybe I was getting old.  Julianne gave her employee a list of chores and some instructions before we continued talking.

"I don't mind one on ones," and I truly didn't in most cases "but she wasn't out to kill me."  I regretted what I said right away.

"Wait,"  I could hear the gears clicking into place like an old time slot machine.  "She?  Vampires?  You're kidding me!  You pissed Kahina off enough that she tried to bleed you?"  Julianne wasn't angry or even upset.  She was smiling intensely  with teeth and everything.

"She succeeded."  I wanted to smile too but kept it under wraps.  Other wolves I didn't mind pissing off, but she was worth keeping happy.

"Damn, she doesn't seem that far along.  Guess she still likes you,"  Julianne was almost laughing.

"Why do you say that?"

"She would have moved onto someone else, if she wasn't locked onto you,”  Julianne jabbed me in the middle with an elbow.  “Going after your blood, but not killing you, it’s practically an invitation back into the sack."

"Not sure why tasting my blood means she's still hot for me."  Vampires who drank blood did so because of compulsions.  They also tended to focus on people they wanted to convert.

"You know how it works, bloodthirst is just proof that girl’s still pining for you, even after your shit,"  Kahina had barely skipped a beat when it came to trying to get us back together, and four years was an eternity to humans.  "So two of her helpers tried to take you on, and you survived with...what?"

"Bruised ribs and a scratched set of knuckles."

"Real or those pieces of crap you imitate real claws with?"  She snorted at my hands.  We had made it back to the bar counter where I grabbed a stool and sat down.  Julianne started inspecting the latest location for anything out of place.  She was as bad as I, in her own way.

"I do what I can with what I was given."  I shrugged one shoulder again.

"Man, you should just take the dive one way or the other.  I'm sure someone could sponsor you."

The dive she was talking about involved switching from human to one of two species, wolf or vampire.  Both came with downsides and registrations with the Western Sector’s government.

"That's alright.  I get by as a normal person,"  I said.  Julianne ran some water onto a rag and handed it over.  Fine.  I could clean a counter top.

"No offense, Jeff, you ain't exactly normal, never have been,"  She said once I got to wiping.

"Well, everyone’s got something abnormal."

Julianne just stared at me for a moment.  I tried not to think too hard about my own comment.

"Got a spot for you for the rest of the week if you need it."  She offered.

"Please.  Door gig again?"   I nodded while inspecting the counter.  There, my corner of the bar looked much better.

"As long as it stays quiet."  She confirmed and reached out for the rag.

"You're covered tonight, right?"  I had seen the Hispanic wolf wandering around last night.  

Often we were just glorified door watchmen.  Friday nights and weekends, especially payday weekends, were the busiest.  They were the most likely to get out of hand.  Julianne didn't have the normal bar scene, she tended to attract the other races in almost equal numbers.  There was probably a bar that could boast that sort of claim in every city.  Normal establishments would have one or two non human patrons at a time.  Julianne's would have dozens pass through in an hour.

"We're covered.  Go finish your nap and show up tomorrow."

"Tomorrow then."  My head dipped.

"See ya."  She gave a distracted wave.

I wandered off and did just what she suggested, not showing my face outside until the following afternoon.  Slipping back into old routines was easy.  For the next week I got up, drank water, then hit the weights.  I had everything needed to get into shape.  Four years of traveling had been counter productive to my physique.  Inconsistent workouts, occasional starvation, cold nights, all served to make me haggard, not lean.  These few weeks home had been heaven.

After the workout I would head to Julianne's and handle a shift.  There used to be other places in need of my services, but thinking about them now was out of the question.  Work typically ended near midnight.  The remaining night was spent roaming the streets.  My hands would be tucked into pockets for warmth.  Often I didn't return home until after sunrise, exhausted but pleased that only some things in the city had changed.

Occasionally, I caught Kahina quietly staring.  Not enough to feel oppressed, but just reminded.  Part of me was disturbed at being stalked like a possession, the other wondering exactly where we stood.  The strange routine broke when an angry redhead startled me out of sleep.

"Get up, you're coming with me."  Fingers clenched in a panic.  I was vulnerable.  Someone had invaded my sanctuary.

"Who..." I couldn’t focus this early.  "What's going on?"  Daniel's face was slowly clearing as my mind tried to establish where I was.

"I lost that damned elf again.  He escaped custody two days after we tracked him down."  Upset Daniel worried me.  There were stories, that I may or may not have been involved in, where he'd gone Biblical when venting his anger.

"Doesn't the Sector government have their own trackers?"  I slowly stood up and tried to regain control of my front room.  Daniel was pacing already.

"They have two contracted, both of which are busy on other cases.  Neither one works as well as you do.  They do some dreaming babble."  He said.

"Get in line then.  It's just a cold case."  I responded while fighting a yawn.  Daniel didn't want the elf, he wanted the rich kid related to him.

"Not that easy, there's a lot riding on this one."  He shook his head.

"Not for me, Daniel,"  Anything more for this case would just bring attention.  "Nothing personal, I'm not getting involved."

"I'm doing this for you!"  He snapped and grabbed at his hair.

"What?"  I managed to maneuver myself between Daniel and the doorway leading to my basement.  He didn’t even care.  Once I was awake, the Agent had taken to walking the far end of my top floor.

"No, never mind.  Forget I said anything,"  His words left me confused.  "You're just going to have to come along."

"What?  Why?"  My head felt foggy.  What was he doing for me?  This?  This what?  The thoughts slipped out almost as soon as they passed through.  I braced myself using the wall and tried to reduce the headache that had come out of no where.

"Man, don't make me be an ass."

"Then don't, case’s dead.  Move on."  It's hard being polite to friends.

"No can do, you and I need this."

I thought about my belongings and the trouble that would occur from leaving again.  Daniel made it out like we would be absent awhile.  My mouth opened to start a stream of protests then Daniel cut me off.

"Plus, you owe me big, always have, who keeps your name out of the system?"  He switched tactics abruptly.

"That's how you're going to do this?"  He just had to go for the low blow and bring up my separation from the rest of the system.  It wasn't how I wanted to live.

"It's for your own damn good man."  Anxiety drained from his features.  The hair pulling he engaged in settled down.  

"You're giving me shit choices,"  I said.  He needed to leave my house soon before things went downhill really fast.  Daniel was pressuring me into a verbal corner and it was getting uncomfortable.

"Good.  Get some clothes in a bag and come outside, bring whatever you have for weapons."

"What the hell, weapons?"

"World’s not a friendly place man, you know that."  He exited and I sighed with relief.  Despite the media's control on stories, things happened constantly.  People went missing, violent outbreaks, danger was an unadvertised constant.  A set of knuckles, cross, and spare clothes went into a duffle bag.

The rest of my little devices had to stay at home.  Something had to stand between my basement full of little trinkets and the would-be robbers.  I grabbed two different choke wires.  One coated in acquired silver, effective, but weak against anything other than a wolf.  The other was cheap iron, not as weak and good for snooty elves.  Neither was designed to kill first.  Both were motivational assets that would hopefully be pointless.

My packed bag weighed hardly anything compared to the full gear load used during my four year travels.  Dirt was still caked along the bottom from my journey home.  The bag was thrown into the backseat of Daniel’s parked vehicle.  Crusty flakes broke off upon landing.  He didn't even look offended.

"I gotta tell Julianne."  I said.

"I'll be here."  Daniel was poking through more files on his laptop.

Julianne wasn't at the bar for once.  She wasn't at home either, or she would have noticed my call from the bar’s phone.  I left the message with her machine.

"Headed out for a bit, not sure how long.  Daniel’s got some work he's decided I need to help with.  Watch my stuff please, I'll be back soon."  The back of Daniel's car was crowded.  Files and papers all over.  I could barely make out the squiggles and small print.  Everything looked mind numbing anyway.

An hour later, at the border of town, it occurred to me that Kahina hadn't been informed of my departure.  Being attacked by her bodyguards a second time wasn't appetizing.  I borrowed Daniel’s phone and passed a second message onto Julianne's answering service.  The call barely ended when Daniel snatched the cellphone back.

"Can you straighten those up?  They're my secret plans for world domination and you can't read them."  He joked.  I rolled my eyes and closed up his boring files.

"Where we headed?"  I asked, shuffling papers into folders.

"Last place he was at, going to have you do a new fix."

"Caesars Junction?"  The bright neon light had flashed annoyingly while tracking the elf.

"Yes.  We'd had him all sitting pretty and the bastard just vanished."  Daniel sighed.  His hands clenched at the steering wheel.

Only some elves could do it.  Illusions.  Normally they just pretended to be elsewhere, then stood up and walked off, invisible.  Miles down the road an elf, ragged from carrying iron, would  be looking for a handsaw and a benefactor.  The news tried to squash the stories, but the internet was filled with good deeds performed by elves in return for freedom.  Elven punishments were harder to track due to their subtly.

"Checked the normal stuff?"

"Glamour?  Illusion?  Sure, I know you got your thing, but I do this for a living, trained for it.  Besides, only like one in twenty can do that."  The redhead was being defensive.

I covered my head with the bag and tried to blot out the passing landscape.  Traveling in cars for too long made me sick and irritated.  Daniel kept right on talking.

"You packed everything you'll need?"  He said.

"Like a good scout,"  I muttered.  A hint of nausea could already be felt.  Daniel’s idle motions distracted me, one of his fingers was rubbing against the steering wheel.

"Don't make fun man, I was a scout for years.  You weren't,"  Daniel said.

"Doesn't mean I'm not prepared."  I could feel him pause for a moment while trying to figure that out.  What Daniel was trying to read into my statement was beyond me.  

"Alright, we'll be there in an hour,"  He said.  I felt the engine rev up as he switched focus towards driving.

My bag made a great shade against the world.  Sickened by the motion I slipped into unconsciousness.  When I came to the car was turning into a gravel covered parking lot.  A glance outside confirmed we were at the same gaudy hotel I had seen in my vision.  They could afford the neon signs but not a paved parking lot.  Police tape still cordoned off a room that looked like a herd of elephants had passed through.

"Come on man, site’s barred until we got here, but the hotel manager is gearing up to whine like a firetruck."  Daniel escorted us past the police officer, past the angry manager, and up to the room.  "Get in, see if you can trace him using the hair, getting something more real time would help.  A direction, anything."

"You dropping me off at home after this?"  I pulled up the bag on my shoulder and glared around the seedy hotel parking lot.  This place looked as bad as it felt.

"Probably not,"  He admitted as he showed me into the room.  His was paying more attention to the stack of paperwork in his hand than the room.  

"Stand outside."  One hand waved him away while I looked about the room.

"That serious?  Good, good."  Daniel seemed puzzled at first but made up his own excuse as to why I wanted him out of the area.  Not that it really mattered to the tracking, I was just annoyed at being dragged out here.  He stepped outside with the cellphone already to his ear.

I grabbed a chair, one that was familiar from the last vision of the fugitive elf.  This room had been tainted by dozens of people recently.  There was no connection, emotional or physical, between these objects and the elf.  Hands fidgeted with the hair and the empty tube.   Thoughts slowly spun together.  Linking that which I held to the other end.  My hand, my items, mine.  These were mine, all of it was mine.  That which I owned could not hide.

Consciousness unfurled one inch at a time.  The sensation of having more limbs stayed with me for a moment.  My mind’s eye could see the room around me and felt everything.  Cheap wood sealed tight by a false grain.  Lamps were screwed into the wall, dragging down the plaster.  Worn threads on the rug.  My eyes shifted around, not really seeing, only feeling.  There was a thread in my hands connecting hair and tube with something in the distance.  Then that mild awareness stuck as another cadence of thoughts chimed in.

Other faltering connections.  Many.  None are mine.  None elven.  Hair connects.  Tube connects.  Different vibrations, same colors.  I pull towards their destination.  Pulls sharply west.  Feel the sun's heat layered through everything.  Welcoming.  Comforting.

This connection went past the freeway, towards the trees.  Elves always went for trees.  Historical fact, and one of the reasons the Isles couldn't reclaim the Americas.  Once the isle elves invaded they were in already claimed lands.  Our elves were fiercely protective of their homes.

Soaring above the treetops.  Trailing link.  Following Long Ears’ thread.  Know this because of the colors.  Four, five on connection.  Always Long Ears.  Savage earth is fuzzy things.  Ticks laced with red.  Pink meats complex, never sensible.  Changes.

Trees sway.  Images trail before and after.  Glow.  Spirits of living things.  Diffuse compared to pink meats.  Almost ghostly.  Barely tangible.  Material vibrates.  Faster than pink meat buildings.  Easier to pass by.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Every living creature I saw had an aura about them.  If my vision was focused on a traveling person there would be a blur of energy just before and after them.  Almost like destiny dragging them forward one moment at a time.  With vampires, when they woke, that colored energy rushed from the ether to their comatose bodies.  Right in time with sunset.  Daniel and I had discussed it once over too many drinks and a starlit night.

Growing close.  World so small now.  Look down.  Will find what is mine.  Need to.  Pulse thumps.  There.  Found the Long Ear.  He kneels.  Appropriate.  Trees dwarf him.  Branches weave their patterns.  Shade blots sunlight.  Air cools from their actions.

Look at Long Ear’s face  Study.  Still dirty.  Hair, unwashed, grains in it, oils.  Tangles through.  Can feel it all.  Disgraceful.  Disrespectful.

Long Ear shudders but knee stays firm.  His pulse skips with my displeasure.  Barely feel supplicants weight against grass and dirt.  Confusing how it sits.  Feel the face, search for reason, expression, familiar.  Faces all the same, regardless of specifies.  Long Ear is wary, tried. Cheeks drag, eyes pinched, wrinkles line eyes.  Unsure how old this one is.

Lips move.  Air vibrates.  Almost make out the sounds.  Inhuman, incomplete.  The reverberations of voice sink into the surrounding wilds.  Lost.

In a startling moment of realization I saw something else behind him.  A figure, standing tall and looking around.  Its head resembled the same mist that trailed after the trees.  Almost like a spirit detached from the body.

Fog Head stares straight at me.  The curve, posture, all telling.  I look back.  Confusion runs through me.  It speaks words, clear words.

"Forgive me, lord,"  The elf said.  Who was he talking to?  There was no one else this clearing.  No one sizable.  "I answer your summons.  What do you desire?"

Oh Hell.  He was talking to me.  Never, ever, ever, before had anyone tried to hold a conversation with my tracking form.  The closest thing was Kahina talking to me.  The brief moment of comprehension she brought back with her as she awoke would allow her to see me.  A side effect of her spirit traveling during the day.

Responding was a difficult concept to grasp.  I tried to speak, feeling an odd disconnection as my body back in the hotel room spoke the words for me.  It was like being drunk.  Where you feel yourself saying words but it doesn't register correctly.  Like a stranger operates your mouth.

"You can see me?"  A hum whispers through the world.  Leaves brush in agitation.  Branches rustle.  Birds chirp.

"Yes.  You are a Lord.  Forgive me for my delay in response,"  The elf said.  This whole situation was growing stranger.  I was basically feeling a conversation miles away and translating into normal sensations.

Long Ear’s words are reverent.  Tone soft as they pass through.  My head tilts.  I feel taller than expected.

"Why do you call me ‘lord’?"  Wind scrapes by trees, carving words out one at a time.

I should be asking where the elf was.  Then Daniel would drop me off at home and life could go back to normal.  Instead I was going along with craziness.

"You claimed ownership, I felt your call again and waited."  Fantastic.  Another mystery.  He had felt my claim while tracking?

"I am no full Speaker, please, ask what you will before my energy fades."  Plus, how could this elf claim to have any energy?  He seemed so tired already with his scraggly blond hair and worn features.

"Why do you run?"  Each word hangs on the air.  Felt more than heard.

"Because they must not catch me,"  Comes the elf with an answer.

"Daniel?"  Want to call another name.  Stop myself.  Correct it to Daniel.  Can't remember other title.  Not Pink Meat.

"Is that the Hunter’s name?  If you are with him, Lord, be wary.  He is dangerous to your kind."

"He searches for you."  I whisper.  The words come easier.  Or Long Ear understands quicker.  Hard to say.

"Do not tell him where I am, I beg of you, Lord."  The strange form looked plaintive, and wavered at the waist, bowing slightly.

"Why bow?"

"Lord?  You have claimed me, but I can not stay long."  His hazy form blurred.  "Find me in the waking if you wish to speak more.  But I must not tarry for their Hunter."

"We hunt you now."  My words terrify the ghostly figure.  Sweat pours down the brow of his kneeling self.  Warm.  Liquid pools where I inspect.  As if blocked by my nonexistent fingers.

It was weird to see emotions on one form and talk to another.  Like talking to someone who spoke sign language.  All the emotions were in the gestures and not in the face.

"I must run, Lord, forgive me."

Connection breaks.  Two are one again.  Tired shell of long ear stands.  Looks at space that I watch from.  Lips move.  Mutters.  Things that are blocked to my senses.  Turns.  Runs further west.  Roots on ground trip him.  Shows his exhaustion.

I retreated back to my form.  For a moment I had that hugging sensation as ghostly limbs folding inward.  Settling in their normal place.  Slippage from tactile sensations poured in with the mental retreat.

Man outside.  Talks on small hard object.  Phone.  Few words audible as they bounce down hallway.  Feet pace the row of doors.  Heel, toe, heel, toe.

"Asset...working...soon,"  He said.

I had found more than a few elves and never experienced anything like this.  Nothing remotely close.  Most of my history involved the pathetic side of an elven family tree.  Those most often strung out and coming down from a high.  One talking to me?  One having a separate spirit form?  Telling me that he was running from Daniel?  Hunters?  This was more than a cold case.  Daniel might be covering up something huge, or he might not know.  Now I had a personal stake in this whole mess.

The elf knew what I was, and seemed to phrase it in such a way that it was beyond just a case of avoided vampirism.    Kahina had believed my tracker abilities came from a close call with conversion during my childhood.  The mental rewiring vampires went through could sometimes leave other changes in its wake.  Rare, but possible.  

Ditching Daniel would give me room.  Then I would find this elf and square away some answers before the Agent shoved him into a cell.

"Any luck, man?"  The man himself stuck a head inside.

"No.  It was weird."  That wasn't a lie.

"How so?  Maybe I can compare it to the case files and shed some light on it."

"This elf is different than normal ones?"

"Well, you probably deal with the ones addicted to depressive shit."  The few I'd tracked were often barely aware of their surroundings.  "But he's from a nearly dead high family, I'm surprised he ever showed up on your radar man."

"They do anything different?"  I asked.

"Like vanish from sight in a pair of iron cuffs?  I know he's one of the few that can actually do the extras,”  Daniel tapped at his binder of papers.  “They've got a name for them."

"Speakers."  The elf had mentioned he wasn't a full speaker though.

"Yeah.  Those."  Daniel nodded.

"Besides that."  I prompted Daniel back to the conversation.

"Don't know.  They don't show up on my radar a lot either."  We were both out of our depth.  Only I knew my relation to this elf, but Daniel’s was looking more and more confusing.

"I'll keep trying.  See what turns up.  Checking here isn't working."

"I didn't know you got mixed signals."  Daniel was careful in his phrasing.  He knew something was up.  I could tell it by his face.  The way he paused before saying his words.  Did he think I was lying?  Should I be worried about this?  One damned elf, one damned conversation and I was already mistrusting.  I had known Daniel for years, hell the greater part of three decades.  But I couldn’t remember anyone talking to me like that elf.  Not while tracking.

"This room’s screwing me up.  You know how many different people have been in here?"

"Oh.  Yeah man.  Forensics wouldn't even bother trying to get anything from a one night hotel like this.  Not without blood or something obvious."  He dipped his head in defeat at that, then shook it to switch tracks.

"I guess I should tell you about the reward for this case."  Daniel's comment immediately focused my attention.  Reward was attention getting, right up there with boobs, explosives, and Julianne screaming.

"Were you not going to?"  I asked.

"I was thinking of slipping you something, but I'm not just chasing charity.  I'm chasing dollar signs."

"Suits get rewards?"

"Not normally, but this case is one of the rare exceptions.  If I solve it, we're talking a quarter million that goes into my paycheck.  That's a lot of incentive man,"  Daniel said with a smile.

I whistled.

"No wonder you're gung-ho."

"Right, and that elf was my only lead, if I could hold him, he might know where Arnold Regious is."  He handed a slip of paper to me showing Arnold's face, a much more clean cut version of the elf.  One of them had gone through some hard times, since elves normally looked younger than a human counterpart.

"Or what's left."  My first search for this human resulted in nothing.  Daniel just shrugged it off.

"What's left would be fine.  Anyway man, it took a bit, but the parents finally admitted that the two had been friends for a long time."  Daniel shook his folder of paperwork at me.  All his answers must have come from inside.  "One of those blue blood networking things.  Shove the kids in the same class, so they grow up and rule the world together.  Why they'd pick a dead clan heir is beyond me."

Daniel was shaking his head and kept talking.  "Quarter million, I could do a lot with that, and I need it."

"Why’s that?"  His need was going to affect my demands for compensation.  Legwork and tracking were the heavy portion of any hunt.

"Getting married man.  Need to propose, need a ring, need to plan.  Shit’s not cheap."  Daniel was counting off the items on his fingers.  "New suit.  Maybe two.  A real house to come home to.  The works."

"No kidding?  Who's the lucky woman?"

"Boss’ daughter."

I whistled again, but this time it was in amusement.  The redhead was dating his boss’ daughter, and as far as marriage already?  He had moved on since the teen years.  Next he would tell me he was going to be a father of little ginger headed triplets.

"You don't aim low."

"No, I've got to do this.  I need to complete it, and it's not just the reward."

"Right, cheaper than kneepads I guess."

I heard him blink for a moment.

"Fuck you,"  Daniel's face turned tomato red.

"She cute?"  I asked.

"Of course."

"How did she get claws into you?"  I had to know.

"Our first date was at a shooting range.  Her idea."  Poor Crummy had fallen hard.  Just the tone in his voice made it obvious.  "But, business always gets in the way, at least until we get some things sorted out."

"I hear you,"  That meant that it was time to get to work.  "Cut me loose and I'll call when I get a lead."

"Here."  Daniel eagerly handed over a business card with his name and phone number.  It came with a few twenties for change.  "I can't spare much more without writing up a report but I trust you to keep me in the loop."

"Alright."  Maybe I would keep him in the loop. Depending on what this elf meant by ‘Lord’.  Maybe the elf was high on something.  Delirium by forest mushrooms was a common enough addiction for the low born.

"We find Arnold first, then we can talk about splitting the reward, consider it a retainer for my best man."

I snickered.  Like we could explain a non entity showing up to a suits’ wedding.  Much less a wedding to his boss’ daughter.  Knowing the Sector high ups, even the catering staff would have to pass a background check.

"We'll talk,"  I nodded.

Find the elf, figure out what this elf thought I was, figure out where the Regious heir was, and radio home.  Easy, and I knew which way to start.  For now, it was time for food.  The delay would give me a good excuse to see how far Daniel was going to follow me.  I doubted his idea of cutting me loose was quite as free form as I might hope.

We normally played straight with each other.  The only reason I questioned things now was because of the prize.  A quarter million dollars.  Trust and friendship could be measured at a lot less for many people.  It was something I had seen too many times.

No.  Daniel was getting married, I would be anxious too.

Suits normally looked terrible on me.  Being best man was doubly impossible, but I felt flattered he thought about it.  Happiness carried me into the worst dive around.  Inside would be a goldmine of unheard of food, or at least a back door Daniel wouldn't be able to find.  The location I found couldn't have been more than twenty feet across and went deep into the building.  On one side there were tables that made the idea of cosy look like a pipe dream.  Opposite the tables was a menu, a counter to place orders by, and likely the cook's station.

It was manned by a tall white kid that didn't have an ounce of muscle on him.  His backwards hat was probably as close as I could get to real sanitation laws.  The burger was okay, not the best, not the worst.  This place wasn’t worth a return trip for burned cow meat.

No one else came inside.  If I was being followed, then Daniel would have been camped out on the street in his car.  In that case I could shuffle over a few blocks through alleyways and head west from there.

I dropped Daniel’s money on the bill plus tip then headed towards the back of the restaurant.  Near the back there was a network of other doors to different shops in this strip.  A connection which allowed multiple stores to use the same restrooms.

Getting out the exit required navigating hushed groups of people.  There was one set of strung out junkies and a confused looking teen searching for the bathroom.  In passing I may have suggested she hold it and turn around.  The teen must have realized this was a bad area and decided to do just that.  It helped that I filled a good chunk of the tiny hallway on my own.

A set of side alleys later and I was home free.  Nothing in sight, no Daniel, no unwanted followers, just me and the streets.  I hefted my duffle bag and hiked onward, one hand fiddling with the lipstick tube.  Twisted threads of energy connected from here to him.  Elven cords always resembled pureed crayons.

Mine.

Darkness claimed the landscape by the time I reached the tree line.  Even after that I kept going.

Answers and money pulled me forth.  Hell, only a portion would be fine.  Daniel could use it for his wedding.  He probably needed to shell out tons to afford the wedding this girl deserved.  I smiled thinking about it.  Crummy had a girl.  How cute.

Moonlight littered the forest floor.  The trees around made a noise like laughter at my slow speeds.  Reaching the clearing from my vision with the elf had taken hours.  I set about bunking down for sleep.  This wouldn't be my first camping trip outdoors and probably wouldn't be the last.  My back propped up against the base of the tree and both eyes sunk downward.  Sleeping away from home was difficult but possible.

A few hours would do me, then I could get back to tracking.  Morning would come and I could go from there.  One hand scratched an arm absently as darkness blanketed my thoughts.