Pursuit: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

had no idea who I was looking for. The “person” Gib mentioned could just as easily be a three-inch tall blue elf with a coloring book.
    Then again, Gib had said the man had been a Dioscuri. Great. I was trying to find someone I’d never seen on an island full of people I’d never seen before. No problem.
    “And do you know why it took several months to clean and repair a boat?” asked a tall, thin black man as he sauntered up to me, a bottle poking up from the paper bag in his hand. “Because they were all drunk.”
    “Is that so?” I asked, glancing at him and sighing. He was wearing a loose-fitting red Hawaiian shirt with a nametag that said Joe pinned to it.
    “It is so! What they’d do is get people drunk and ship ‘em over here.” He pointed at two huge stone doors that must have been twenty feet tall as he pulled up his baggy canvas pants with his other hand. “Then they’d shut those doors. Once you were inside, you were screwed.”
    “Well that doesn’t explain why they remained drunk,” I said, glancing past Joe and toward what looked like a bakery. Even from here, the smell of fresh baked bread had my stomach rumbling. “What kind of treats do you guys have here?”
    “They were drunk because they got paid in rum!” Joe exclaimed before he took a slug from the bottle hidden in his bag. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and grinned at me. “And we have lots of local treats… if you like bananas and coconut.”
    I sighed. “I’m allergic to both coconut and bananas,” I replied crossing my arms over my chest.
    “Too bad. That bakery makes the best… erm… I’m not sure what they’re called actually. I usually just point at the glass.”
    “Cool,” I said, making a move to walk past him toward the bakery. This was an island, islands had pineapple. They had to have something with pineapple, right? “Though I’d expect a tour guide to know things like that.”
    He stepped in front of me, blocking my path. His face had lost its gentle, fun drunk look. Now he was staring at me, head tilted slightly to the side. He reached up and stroked his stubble-covered chin with one boney hand. “You don’t recognize me, do you?” he asked.
    “I’m sorry,” I said with a shrug. “I’m not with a tour group or anything. I was just wandering around.”
    The man grimaced, his yellow huge teeth glinting in the warm light. He reached up and ran his hand over his shaved head. “You expect me to believe that?” he asked, eyes sparkling with intelligence.
    “Uh… yeah?” I said, suddenly worried because I’d stashed all my weapons in my spirit pouch, my very own portable interdimensional locker. I mean, I could probably take some drunk on the street but still… this guy was starting to give me the creeps.
    He leaned down close to me, folding his body in on itself like a praying mantis. He sniffed, his nostrils flaring huge and wide.
    “Are you seriously smelling me? Did that really just happen?” I asked as I backpedaled, my hands curling into fists.
    “You smell like Lot. I don’t know when you were last there, Dioscuri, but that smell of dead air hangs around you for months after you leave.” Joe straightened, dropping his bottle to the ground. The sound of breaking glass split the air and several people turned to look at us. “I’m not going back with you. So, unless you want me to ship you back there in a very tiny box, I suggest you get the hell off my island and don’t come back.”
    My heart hopped into my throat as he narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re him…” I murmured, my eyes going a little wide.
    “Yeah, I am.” Joe said with a shrug. “I’m Kain. You found me, want a gold star?”
    “Like from the bible?” I swallowed. “Where’s your mark?”
    “Yeah because that joke didn’t get old the first five thousand times I heard it.”
    “Sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “Let’s start over,” I added, holding out my hand. “I’m Lillim Callina.