Page 30 of Reapers Don’t Ride

Chapter

Nine

The sounds of the market were a blend of distant hums and closer roars, punctuated by clangs of tools or flesh on wood as someone slapped a counter to make a point. I relaxed, not trying to pick up individual conversations, just enjoying my hand in the angel’s strong grasp, that is, until I heard a high-pitched squeal that had me jerking Gavriel to a stop.

He looked at me questioningly. “Is something wrong?”

I searched his eyes and then tugged him to the next branch going left. “I thought I heard something.”

“Vampire hearing is very acute. How remarkable to be able to distinguish sounds in such a chaotic mix.”

“I’m probably wrong.”

“Do you want to tell me what you think you heard?”

I glanced at him. No, I didn’t want to tell him that I may have heard the cry of my friend Crucible the ferret. “It’s probably nothing.”

I heard another high-pitched squeal and moved faster, dodging around a group of portly goblins, Gavriel close behind. I’d dropped his hand at some point, the better for us to thread through the market more quickly. People also got out of my way as soon as they saw me before they even recognized me, because I had the intensity of someone on the hunt.

The shop was wrapped in dingy lime green fabric, and the door was rickety bamboo tied together with more of the same lime green. I reached for the door and Gavriel covered my hand with his, holding me back.

“Do we have time for distractions?”

I heard another squeal and opened the door, slipping inside the dim shop, heavy with frankincense, lit with elaborate lamps that dangled from the bamboo strips above us. I searched the room and found a generic mess of artifacts, magical and otherwise, but there in the corner was a cage with a little nose sticking out of the bars, black beady eyes staring at me like he’d been waiting. Crucible was alive.

“Welcome to the Cave of Wonders. What are you looking for today?” A goblin said, coming forward with glowing golden eyes, hunger and eagerness in them.

Gavriel stepped in front of me. “We’re looking for a knife.”

Right. I wasn’t going to cut my way directly through the goblin to my ferret. We were here on a mission.

The knobby goblin raised his brows. “What kind of knife are you seeking? I don’t have any cursed daggers like the Ruby is accustomed to in my humble shop.

I glanced at Gavriel and then at the goblin with his avaricious eyes. “What’s your name?” I asked, frowning at him.

He smiled back, showing a gold glint in his front tooth. “My friends call me Romi. And you’re Ruby of the Blood. I heard that you came to the market after being run to the ground by angels the other day.”

My skin prickled. He shouldn’t know that much about me. This was our target? He seemed so stable and ordinary. He wasn’t out in one of the main booths on the busy thoroughfares either. It would be hard to get witnesses for his accident. It wasn’t impossible, though. And why did he have my ferret? Maybe it was a different ferret.

Crucible let out a yip that drew my eye.

“What is that?” I asked, trying to sound indifferent.

“Oh, not much. Just a pet of mine I have to keep down the rats,” he said with a twitch of his fingers.

“He’s good for getting rid of rats? I hate rats. Our place has rats that keep me up at night scratch, scratch, scratching.”

He blinked at me. “Vampires don’t sleep.”

I gave him a look. “That makes the scratching even more irritating. What kind of animal is he? Are there other shops with more variety I can choose from?”

“I thought you wanted a knife,” Romi asked, narrowing his large eyes at me.

“Of course, for my friend’s birthday. It doesn’t look like you have anything here he’d like.” I glanced at Gavriel.

“My birthday is next week,” he said with a slight smile. Why were his smiles so beautiful? “There’s plenty of time to find something perfect. If you’d like to get this creature for the rats, I’ll pay for it.”

He pulled out his card and the goblin’s gold eyes glowed with dollar signs. He shook his head, though. “Sorry, the ferret’s not for sale.”