Crossroad Inn: Crossroad Inn, #1

By J. Darlene Everly

The rules are simple: No killing or antagonism, and no conducting business on the grounds of the Crossroad Inn. It would be nice if everyone followed them. For an Inn at the intersection of the Underworld and the realms above, of some of their patrons get out of line, it could destroy the world. Good thing most don't push their luck. Eleftheria and her sisters are witches that are Innkeepers, but that isn't what keeps most patrons following the rules. It's who their father is. Here's hoping the service is good.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wishing Well Books LLC
• Release date: May 9, 2024
• ISBN: 9781954719484

J. Darlene Everly

J. Darlene Everly is an author living in the Pacific Northwest with her family and her growing menagerie of animals.

Book preview

One

Episode 1:

The Rules

The customer was not always right.

If I ever got my hands on the idiot who said they were, I was going to feed him to my hellhound.

Case in point: the Demon who sat by the walk-in fireplace with the cauldron bubbling over open flames, emitting the sweet scent of sleeping potion. He salivated over the singer gracing the dining room of the Inn with their haunting voice.

A mellifluous voice like that made the purple articles of clothing in the room shine just a little brighter to my eyes against the general gray of the stone walls. A voice like that told me that this average Human had a soul that would make a Demon rich.

This was the third seat he had parked his bony ass in since she started singing, each one a bit closer to the table-turned-stage upon which she belted out one of the best performances Crossroad Inn had ever witnessed. Which was saying something.

Eleftheria, my sister, Jacynthe, said, her voice a direct command, drawing my eyes away from him to focus on her. What are you doing?

Her fair hair haloed a bit from her braid after running from table to table all night. She was no less ethereally beautiful because of it, and more than one set of eyes in the room was drawn to her instead of the singer. Someday, I was going to muster the courage to ask Father why she was all light and air, but I was dark and shadow. But at that moment I needed to focus on my job, and watch for a breach of the rules.

Demon by the fire, I said, gesturing with my chin while I finished cleaning the glass in my hand, set it aside and reached for another one. We need to keep an eye on him because I think he’s going to try and do business in here tonight.

She pulled back from me, her eyes narrowing as she turned to spot him in the crowd.

Okay, I’ll keep an eye on him. But you still should have heard me.

Why, when you were just going to call me by my full name? I muttered, irritated that even she insisted on using it sometimes.

I said your name three times before I resorted to that. She raised a pale brow, and handed me a ticket from someone’s order.

Not just someone’s order. It was for blood. My blood.

Great. I looked up from the slip of paper to find where he was.

By the bone case, she said, turning and grabbing a different order from the pass through.

Yep, there he was, sitting at the alcove table by the glass-front hutch in which we kept the bones of some of the Inn’s previous stewards. They were the unlucky creatures without our ancestry who didn’t possess preternaturally long lives. Why they weren’t in the cemetery on the grounds I didn’t know. But I knew enough not to move bones.

His eyes were already on me, the familiar feeling of the hairs on my arms rising in goose skin from the hunger he allowed to show on his face just to fuck with me managed to bring me out from behind the counter.

I stomped toward him as a wicked half-grin, half-smirk twisted his gorgeous face into something more representative of his actual personality.

Eventually, I said, reaching his table and slamming my hands on it, sending the glasses of his companions clattering, I’m going to get tired enough of your bullshit to send my complaint up the chain.

Come on, Ellie, he said with a laugh that was brittle at the edges and then a swallow as his eyes darted past me like he was checking to see who else was here. I was just offering. If you don’t want to, consider it a joke.

You already know there is no chance I will ever change my mind, so this has now gone beyond a joke or an offer. And there are consequences for threats here.

It was nice to watch as all the cocky, rat bastard of him was replaced with cowering worm, but I had work to do.

Turning away from him, I looked over the people in the dining room, taking stock of anyone else that was likely to give me grief during my shift.

So far, so good. As long as I could keep that idiotic Demon away from the singer, tonight might end up uneventful.

I knocked on the wooden counter as I got behind it.

Even thinking the words made me worry about what was actually going to happen. Boredom was far too rare here.

Out the window, a flash of brilliant golden light made me sigh as it shot my hope of nothing happening all to shit.

Jacynthe had the dining room well in hand. Even the sketchy Demon seemed to be subdued judging by the dejected look on his face and the daggers in his eyes every time he glanced at my sister. But we still might have encountered trouble outside.

My urge to check warred with the fact that my other sisters and our mother weren’t around. Where they were, I had no damn idea, but someone else should have been on shift with us.

It’s not like night is our busiest time or anything, I muttered to myself as Jacynthe came around the counter and posted another order for Axel in the kitchen. So far tonight, we managed to escape any complaints about him putting too much hellfire in the food.

Short-lived blessings. Story of my life.

Hey, I think we just got an influx of Legionaeries outside. You good if I go check it out? I put down the wash rag in my hand, and wiped my sudsy fingers on the black apron that looked like part of my skirts.

No problem. Jacynthe picked up the vial of blood from the kitchen, and leaned toward me to whisper, Are you going to tell Father about Vanya? Because, technically, biting you would be conducting business, and constantly asking you would definitely cross the line to harassment.

I cut a glance toward Vanya at his table. The second our eyes met, he dropped his head and made a study of his hands.

Not yet. I barely contained a wicked chuckle.

Ellie. Jacynthe’s tone was just shy of scolding, and I donned the closest I came to an innocent smile. You can’t keep a threat over a Vampire just in case you think it might come in handy.

I’m going outside, I said as she let out an exasperated sigh.

My extra gift may have been some prescience, but Jacynthe didn’t need my gift to know exactly what I was thinking. My other sisters wouldn’t have been able to guess, but Jacynthe and I weren’t just the closest in age, she was also my best friend.

A Vampire enthralled to me without an ounce of witchcraft involved might just be valuable.

I opened the door, leaving the warmth and hum of the Inn for the moon glow. The biting cold and silence of the grounds always managed to send a chill down my spine.

The stable was quiet, the only current occupant long since settled for the night.

Across the grounds from the stable, all the exterior, open buildings were empty, too. So I set my gaze to the large crossroad cemetery just outside the gate.

Few people had been so foolish to break one of the only ironclad rules of the Inn, but when they did, it was almost always the entitled fuckwits of the Legion.

The good thing about Legionaeries was that they couldn’t hide their light in the darkness.

Standing among the tombstones were six faint golden glows—a rather large contingent for the kind of business they usually engaged in at the crossroad.

One of the lights was stronger than the others.

Hmmm…

It didn’t actually matter what they were up to out there. If it wasn’t happening on the grounds of the Inn, then it wasn’t my problem.

My breath puffed out white in front of me, illuminated by the magic flames in the light fixtures. It was going to freeze. I wrapped my arms around myself, and turned around to continue my shift.

Back inside, the song had changed. No longer was she singing haunting ballads, but apparently, we had moved onto bawdy sea shanties.

Trouble? Jacynthe asked, hustling past with more empty steins to drop off on the counter for me.

Maybe. There’s a bunch of Legionaeries out there, and they brought an officer, I said, pushing my sleeves up my arms, and getting back to washing the never-ending dishes.

Weird, but we have something else to worry about. Jacynthe nodded to the back-office door that was slightly ajar.

I looked back at her, but she just raised her brows at me. Her bright blue eyes widened, and she darted away with someone’s order.

Shit. Wiping my hands on my apron again, I chewed on my lip while my stomach did an uncomfortable jig, stealing an extra moment before I made my way into the office.

Mother rifled through a drawer on the desk, bent at the waist in her chemise and a sweater, partly turned away from me. The ledgers on one of the shelves behind her were stacked precariously where they were neatly lined up before. Her hair was undone—a state she never allowed guests to see it in. A tremor in her hand made her search more haphazard than it should have been, transforming it into something more like ineffectual flapping at the stuff in the drawer.

What’s going on? I asked, not bothering to fuck around.

She whirled around and clutched at her chest with a shaking hand before she took a deep breath at the sight of me.

Oh, Ellie, I need to find the logs from last year. Someone, she said, heavy emphasis on ‘someone,’ very important is coming, and I need to check something before they get here.

I eyed her, not understanding what the hell logs from last year would have to do with the mystery guest. The only person who stayed last year that was of import was one of Father’s lieutenants, and she had no reason to be ambiguous about one of them coming for a while.

Name? Maybe it will help me find what I’m looking for. I tried to keep my voice as flat as possible. She still jerked as if I slapped her, darting her gaze around the room like something was going to materialize out of the walls.

My eyebrows shot up, but I moved past her to the shelf below the one she had attacked, and grabbed three ledgers.

Here. All the guest lists from last year. I set them in her arms. She sagged with a tremulous smile playing on her mouth before she hustled from the room, not bothering to shut the drawer or put the shelf to rights.

Okay, I said to no one, and took care of what she hadn’t before I returned to my shift.

Any answers? Jacynthe asked, handing me another stack of dishes, and reaching for more plates from the kitchen.

No. Apparently we have someone coming that’s sent Mother into a spin. I shook my head, and went back to the never-ending scrubbing. I was going to need a spell for my hands.

Jacynthe was already out among the tables talking to Harlow, a strikingly beautiful Werewolf woman who wore a sleeveless tunic even in the winter. I could have stared at Harlow all night, admiring the muscles so clear under her sun-touched skin. Perpetual tans from so much time out on their farms left werewolves all warm colors—light brown to deep and rich black—while I looked as pale as death from being stuck inside the Inn all the time.

While I admired Harlow, the singer finished a song and people began to clap as she smiled and climbed down from the table. She was Human. But it wouldn’t have surprised me if somewhere in her past there was Fae in her ancestry. With her deep, dark brown skin as unlined as a small child’s and her gift for song, it would have made sense.

The Demon who had bothered me earlier as he watched her, jumped up from his seat and made a direct line for her.

His face changed as he neared her.

He was no longer craggy and some indeterminate, advanced age, so thin he was borderline skeletal, and so pale he was ashen. He transformed into an attractive man near her age with health and vitality glowing from his skin.

Damn it. I knew it, I said, dropping the plate I was cleaning in the sink with a clatter, and sending a splash of sudsy water spilling across the countertop.

I stormed toward him, there was no damn way he was going to get away with this.

He sat with the singer at a small table for just them, the tabletop blocked from my view by the heads of a rowdy group of Fae, Vampires, and werewolves who met up here at least once a month.

I ducked and bobbed to see around them as I wound my way through the tables. I wanted to break my own rules and jump over their table to get there faster.

Even with her extra ability, I would never understand how Jacynthe managed to make her way through the maze of tables too close together in the dining room with such ease.

The door opened behind me. The cold night air blew into the room. It smelled like the first crystals of frost with a hint of ozone.

Of course.

I skirted around someone else, squeezing my way between them and the person sitting at the table behind them. I felt a presence at my elbow, and the ozone grew stronger in my nose.

Excuse me, may we get rooms for the night? a rich baritone voice said behind me, the sound of it pleasing as their voices always were.

Yeah, hang on, I dismissed, not bothering to turn around, not willing to look away from the table in the corner. As if by watching I could stop it, like my eyes alone could stop something bad from happening.

But we need rooms, the voice came again, less friendly this time.

And I will get you rooms, but I need you to wait a minute. My voice was acidic, but then I was almost there.

No matter how hard I tried, it didn’t matter that my eyes never left them. I saw the moment I was going to be too late.

I don’t- The voice started from somewhere behind me before I cut him off.

Stop, I yelled, flinging my arms out to slam my sparks of purple-tinged power into the Human and the Demon, stripping the glamour from the Demon in a whoosh that looked like he was in a massive gust of wind.

The Human’s mouth dropped open and she stood from the table, taking a step back, a pen in her hand.

Around us, the dining room fell quiet as I finally reached the table.

Cowering and trying to lean his arms over the unsigned contract on the table, the Demon’s eyes flared a sickly yellow instead of the strong red flames I often saw in Demons.

Did you really think, after thousands of years, you would be the first one to successfully conduct business here? I asked, snatching him up by the collar of his coat, and dragging him out of his chair.

Turning to the rest of the room, I spotted who must have been the one trying to talk to me a moment ago.

A fucking Legion officer. Of course it was. Always had to be angels at the most inconvenient time.

People in my path scrambled from their seats, pushing chairs and even a table out of my way so I had a direct line to drag the Demon along with me.

But… I… please don’t do this. I can explain. The grating whine of the Demon did nothing but piss me off more.

The angel officer didn’t acknowledge that I clearly had a reason not to deal with him at precisely that second. He barely made a twitch as I passed, but he watched me with his strange, golden-streaked, blue eyes.

Of all the stupid ass things to do, you tried to steal a soul in the middle of the Crossroad Inn. You must be the worst Demon ever to come here. My voice was not loud enough to even get to the Demon’s ears, but I caught