Spliced

Coal sat sipping whiskey in his secret office with the lean and fair-headed Lucifer. They’d been discussing Coal’s latest endeavors and Coal had been trying to rope in some help with Drake. Lucifer knew the man well and was in a position to prod Drake in a direction that just might sway things in Coal’s favor. Unfortunately for Coal, Lucifer was having none of it.

“Perhaps you could have a chat with him,” Coal suggested, after pointing out the potential benefits for Lucifer in doing so.

Lucifer, who had been in some agreement up until that point now quickly shook his head. “I don’t want to be involved in that. That’s your deal.” Lucifer pointed one finger at Coal, while the others gripped his whiskey glass. “I have no interest with getting involved in the business of dragons.”

Coal eyed him a moment, and then reached for the decanter and moved it out of Lucifer’s reach.

“Hey!” Lucifer exclaimed as he watched the whisky moving away from him.

“Well, I guess you won’t be needing any of that stuff delivered to your door.” Coal was the proprietor of some fine beverages. It was through Stella that he sourced most of them but none of the other aristocrats knew that and besides, Stella was loyal to Coal. Access to good liquor was something Coal used often to garner favors in other areas of his business.

“You can’t just hold the whiskey hostage every time you want something,” Lucifer complained. He was right to some extent, be too stingy and people would eventually find another supplier. Stability had it’s benefits too.

“Not all the whiskey,” Coal replied, knowing where his limits were well, “Just the Beltane batch. You know my supply is limited and I have another friend who would be very interested in this stock. He also happens to be mates with Drake.”

Lucifer leaned back in his seat. He knew Coal had him. The Beltane batch was important but not important enough to get his feathers in a rustle over, maybe just important enough to talk to Drake though. “Fine, I’ll do it. I’ll have a chat to him, but I make no promises you hear and I have no interest in being at the event in question.”

“An attempt is all I ask,” Coal replied smoothly, replacing the decanter back next to Lucifer, who looked at it fondly. “And I’ll keep you abridge of dates as I know more.”

“Won’t it look suspicious?”

Coal gave him a questioning glance.

“If I’m not there.”

Coal gave a light shrug. “Depends on the event, besides we haven’t attended the same event in awhile.”

“I’ve noticed.” Lucifer raised his glass and took a sip. “People are starting to talk. They think you don’t care about maintaining social relationships.”

“I visit the people I’m interested in.”

“That’s the problem. Everyone else feels snubbed. I had to tell Emily DeVerre that you simply had a prior engagement and it wasn’t because you don’t like her that you missed her party.”

“I don’t like her. She’s daft and needy and she smells like she took a bath in a perfumery tank.”

“That may be so,” Lucifer nodded in agreement and winced slightly at the memory of the woman’s overpowering odor. She always ruined whatever beverage one happened to be drinking nearby. Aroma was half the flavor profile. He sniffed his whiskey to settle his senses before continuing. “But unless you intend on ending up like Grim, it might be prudent to pay your social dues from time to time.”

“Nobody bothers Grim.” Coal sighed and glanced around the room. There was some nice art on the walls, mostly men on horseback hunting various types of rodent with their hounds. He glanced to the side, enjoying the sun that streamed in behind him. It was peaceful here. He had no desire to be anywhere else right now. He sipped his whiskey slower than Lucifer but not because he enjoyed it any less.

“That’s because half of them are still afraid of his father.”

“Most of them don’t know.”

The pair were quiet for a moment then Lucifer spoke. “I’m just saying, despite the woman’s distasteful choice in perfume, she does have some useful connections. I’ve also heard her making some noise about how these protests have been negatively affecting her imports, and on another note somewhat tangentially related, I’m not sure now is the best time to be increasing the tax on blood shipping.”

Coal raised his own glass to his lips, took a sniff, then sat the vessel back down without taking a drink. With a smile he replied, “Actually, I think it’s the perfect time.”

Lucifer frowned. “How do you figure?”

“Well, the regulation of the industry costs money. Given current concerns regarding black market blood sourcing, pulling in some more income from some of those sources themselves to feed back into that regulation would appease some of the concerns currently being voiced.”

“You’d be undercutting your own income then, and pushing up blood prices.”

Coal shook his head. “We’d still be controlling who we let in the same way, we’d just be charging a bit more for it. The money still goes into the regulation but bribery fees are higher and we have a tighter handle over who’s doing what.”

Lucifer smiled slightly. “And the blood prices?”

Coal waved a hand absently. “With more income perhaps there’s an opportunity to funnel some funds into setting up a more local and legitimate operation. More legitimate blood sources please everybody.”

“And pisses off everybody,” Lucifer countered with a smile. He sighed. “As much as I’d love to see you set up yet another side business with public funds, isn’t Little Rock near expected capacity for blood donations.”

“You may be right,” Coal acknowledged. He’d need to think about it more.

“Either way, you should talk to Emily DeVerre and maybe have a backup plan for how you want to deal with this thing should the need arise.”

Coal nodded and after a moment’s consideration he said, “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“What?”

“If you had any necromancy contacts?”

Lucifer frowned. “I thought you had a necromancer.”

Coal was silent a moment, his face impassive. He could have sworn he heard the bookshelf make a strange almost whimper like sound and the air in front of the books appeared to shimmer slightly but he then blinked and everything looked normal. “There’s been some complications there.”

“Oh.” Lucifer was studying Coal closely. He sat back in his chair eventually, giving up on the reading. “Well, unfortunately no. Although depending on what you’re after there is one option. Reason Winters.”

“Winters?” Coal repeated with a frown. He remembered her from their year back in high school. She’d been an impertinent red-head, but bloody good with magic, not a necromancer but a borrower. “Didn’t she become a sorcerer?”

“She’s been kicked out,” Lucifer replied.

Coal raised an eyebrow.

“Memories kept intact,” Lucifer added.

Coal gave him a confused frown. That was unusual. Typically expelled sorcerers had their minds wiped. “Why?”

Lucifer shrugged. “No idea but she’s been allowed to continue working as a warlock, with her trade restricted to Mercy only, of all places.”

Coal’s frown deepened. “You think she’s a plant?”

Lucifer shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter to us.”

“It might.” He pondered the implications for a moment. Leaked information about his purchases was one risk. There was another problem too. “If she’s restricted to Mercy she won’t trade with an aristocrat then.”

Lucifer shook his head. “It just means you can’t buy direct. I know a guy who knows a guy. Perhaps you’ve even got a contact of your own.” The smile he gave suggested that Lucifer already knew who that might be but he wasn’t telling for free.

“What do you want?” Coal asked.

But before Lucifer could answer, a powerful woman’s voice yelled out from elsewhere in the house, “Coal! Get out here and show your face you murdering coward!”