This is not a final edit, but it’s getting pretty darn close. 
***
I wasn’t too surprised to find Thorandryll in the reception area. Just by lounging on the harvest gold two-seat sofa he turned our mellow reassure-the-clients-we’re-sane atmosphere into a kindergarten art project. Damn gorgeous elves. Then again, arrogance like Thorandryll’s kind of cut through the glamour. Nick’s polite nod was ignored, and with a little helpful direction from my finger poking his ribs, he headed for Kate’s office.
Left alone with the elf, I smiled. “Have you been waiting long?”
“Not at all. Your employer and I finished our conversation only a few minutes ago.” He’d risen from his seat when we walked in, and began to offer his hand, but dropped it.
So, Whitehaven had given him the zoo speech. It was actually a ‘don’t touch the psychic unless she offers first’ speech, but it reminded me of the signs on certain cages at the zoo: ‘Don’t feed the monkeys’ or ‘Don’t touch the tiger’s glass’. “Good. If you’ll follow me, we can talk in my office.”
“Certainly. It’s a pleasure to see you again, Miss Jones.” He followed, taking a seat when I gestured towards the chairs while shutting the door.
Once seated behind my desk, I asked, “What is it that you need me to find?”
“An item has gone missing from my library.”
“So you want me to find a book?” Sitting back as he nodded, I thought he looked fantastic in the black slacks and a soft looking green pullover he was wearing. Cashmere, I bet. Or thistle silk spun at midnight on a unicorn spindle and knitted by moths. He was having a terrible influence on me, if I was thinking things like that. “What kind of book?”
“It’s an ancient tome, over two thousand years old.”
“They had books back then? Wow.”
“Yes, some did.” His tone indicated sudden second thoughts about hiring me. I hid a grin, meeting those wintry blue eyes with what I hoped was an innocent expression.
“How long has it been missing?”
“Three days.”
“Okay. Do you have a photo of it?”
“No.”
Not helpful. “How about the title and author’s name?”
“It’s a journal, Miss Jones, so has neither stamped upon its cover nor written inside.”
That was even less helpful. “Could you describe it, or better yet, visualize it and let me see it?”
“Your employer strictly forbade any attempts to mentally share information.” He frowned, obviously not understanding Whitehaven’s rule.
“Oh.” I’d had some freaky episodes after mental contact with centuries old vampires, hence the rule. The boss did the forbidding when a client was over a century old. The rule had come into play after I’d tried to bite him one evening. Even second-hand, the vampiric hunger for blood is a bitch. “Okay, do you have anything I can attempt to get some information from?”
“It’s a large tome. The cover is lightly tanned leather. There aren’t any symbols stamped upon it.” The elf gestured with long fingered hands. When he finished, a square of crimson silk formed in mid-air, then whispered down to pool on my desk’s top. “The book was wrapped in that for the past three decades. Will it suffice?”
“Yeah, it should.” I looked at the silk. It was older than I was by almost a decade. “No idea who stole it?”
“If I knew that, I wouldn’t be here and the book would already have been returned to its place.” He glared through me, jaw clenching and lips thinning. There was no trouble imagining him with a sword in hand, dressed in elaborate armor, and charging into battle.
“Aside from its age, what’s important about it? Why would someone want to steal it? Is it worth a lot?”
“Only to a few, with myself being one of them.” He smiled, not a confident curve of lips, but something cute and slightly crooked that called to mind little boys up to mischief. My brain stuttered to a halt. I didn’t think he was using glamour to improve his looks, but that wasn’t the only thing elves could do with that particular ability.
A quick knock on the door and Kate poked her head in. Her familiar, a parrot named Percival, stood on her left shoulder and Nick was behind her.
The shifter focused on Thorandryll after a quick glance at me. Kate ignored the elf in favor of informing me, “I’m ready to try another location spell, Jones.”
“Okay, just a minute.” Their appearance broke the haze. I summoned up a professional smile, aiming it at the elf. “I’ll let you know as soon as I come up with anything, and keep you updated on my progress as often as possible.”
Both golden eyebrows rose. “You’re not going to attempt psychometry now?”
I wondered if he’d been researching psychic abilities while answering. “I have a previous case to wrap up.”
“I see.” He nodded, gave another brief, devastatingly gorgeous smile and rose from his seat. I shadowed the move, stepping out from around my desk to offer a hand. Thorandryll didn’t shake it. Too common, I suppose. He raised it with a quarter bow, breath and lips oh-so-briefly warming my knuckles. My skin tingled in reaction. “I look forward to hearing from you, Miss Jones.”
So was learning that he had a plan for world domination, which led to his being given the nickname ‘The Chihuahulhu’. There are a few people who believe him to be top notch Evil. 0_o
