42 You And Your Obsession With Power!

It took a few days but Luna Conbolt was able to find the information Flint wanted regarding those flights. He scanned the list until he reached Las Vegas. It rang a dim bell.

Hadn't Ruby expressed a desire to go there and have the chance to meet the fire fairies that settled in that area once before? He didn't want to pay for a flight down there only to have his time wasted. It would be better to have Luna do it; if his niece was there, she would be able to sniff her out.

So he told the werewolf to go there on his behalf and got the confirmation as soon as Luna arrived in the airport that Ruby's scent was faintly there. She had gone to Las Vegas after all.

"I can't bring her back for you but I know where she's staying," she informed him over the phone a few hours later.

"That's fine; I'll take care of her myself," Flint said impatiently. "Thank you for your work. Our contract is done."

"I expect my check as soon as I get back for the amount we agreed on before."

The dial tone buzzed in his ear and he huffed. Private investigators were expensive; he used up almost the entire deposit the man who bought Ruby had left him. The remainder would go toward the plane ticket he needed to get there.

Flint began packing immediately and his wife came up behind him with a frown. "Where are you going?"

"Las Vegas. Ruby has been staying there and I need to go get her back before the deadline is up or we're toast."

Lily crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "I knew this was a bad idea from the start but did you listen to me? No! We could have manipulated her into using her powers for us because she adores Flora but you just had to go and sell her to a vampire of all things!"

Flint suddenly got defensive. He hadn't actively gone looking to sell Ruby or anything; that vampire approached him first! "He gave me an offer I couldn't refuse! We'll make more this way than we would from Ruby alone and have a powerful ally in our pocket to make our way up in the world."

She rolled her eyes. "You and your obsession with power! Isn't money enough for you? Why did you have to drag the rest of us into this? If you can't find Ruby we're all dead. Your good intentions to give Flora a better life will all be for naught if she isn't alive to reap the reward."

"Nothing will happen to Flora," he said sharply. "Don't you dare jinx her by talking like that."

"Flint, she isn't the only one I'm worried about. Shouldn't you have said something to them by now about how Ruby ran away? If you don't catch her in time and they find out…"

"I will catch her in time. Don't worry."

Lily let the matter drop but reluctantly. She flitted over and parked herself on his lap, holding his face between her hands very seriously. "You better. Take a break from packing for a while and pay attention to me while the baby is still asleep."

He wouldn't let anything happen to them. He would bring Ruby back and make sure that she got safely delivered to that imposing brute.

===

Flint arrived in Las Vegas shortly before nightfall and immediately went to go stake out the Bellagio. He wouldn't be able to get Ruby onto a plane unconscious himself but he could move her to a secondary location and keep her locked up until his contact arrived.

They were so rich that they could charter a private plane and avoid airport security to get her to their castle. Then everything would finally be done and life could go back to normal.

He watched that hotel room door for a while but nobody came in or out. Should he try knocking? That might tip her off so she could run again though and that was the last thing he wanted.

So he kept watching. And watching. And watching. Eventually he saw a laughing couple coming up the hallway and hide around the corner, barely peeking out to keep an eye on them.

That was Ruby's human glamour alright but who was that with her and why did he look vaguely familiar? Flint could have sworn he had seen that short black hair before.

It hit him like a ton of bricks after he watched them go into the hotel room. Oh. OH! That was the human who chased them out of the forest the day Ruby ran away! She was hiding with a human?

Impossible. The only contact she had with humans was when they came into the nursery to buy something. That meant whoever she was with was some sort of fae but he had never seen that glamour before and knew all of the fae in town at least by sight.

Flint stood there a while long debating what to do before the door opened again and the man came out. He followed him and discovered that he was heading down to the casino floor to play poker. Who started a game that late?!

Despite his weariness, he watched the man for hours. He showed no sign of tiredness at all and never so much as got up to get a drink or use the bathroom like most of the other players at the table.

He started putting the pieces together. At a castle in the middle of nowhere…staying up late…black hair…this man might be a vampire too.

What rotten luck! Vampires were among the strongest of the fae and now he had to contend with two different ones regarding that troublesome girl? Her power was the only redeeming thing about her. She was a total freak!

Flint doubted he was an associate of Dorian Cromwell or he would have said something about already having her in custody. No. He couldn't think like this. The man playing poker might not be a vampire at all. He could be an elf or something.

Wanting to confirm his hunch, the exhausted fairy continued staking the man out for the rest of the night. He didn't go back to his room until around 9 AM. Definitely a vampire.

He made it to his own cheap hotel far from the Strip in a daze. Doomed. He was doomed. One vampire wanted Ruby and the other appeared to be protecting her.

He was too tired to think straight right now. He could get some rest and then come up with a plan to get her alone and inject her with the knockout potion he bought. All he had to do was capture her and the stress would finally be over…