“Jason, I can’t go in a bar,” Kaiden waits at the door after I walk through.

“It’s not a bar, it’s a tavern. Besides it’s noon, nobody is drinking at noon. Now come on,” I take his shoulder and guide him in.

“No kids in my bar,” a gruff looking man calls out from behind the bar.

Based on Dalia’s description this is Sam. Half Leprechaun, half elf, full werewolf. His appearance looks it for sure. A bald head with faded Celtic tattoos, a wild and fiery red beard. Tall as an elf but as muscular as a Dwarf. His belly is hanging over his belt, but there’s muscle beneath it. I could see the fire in his eyes, ready to fight even if he was older now. Dalia said he was always looking for a fight, and that’s how he got excommunicated. Doesn’t look much has changed since then.

“We’ll be quick. I promise,” I plead with him.

“I ain’t got nothing for kids,” he argues.

“We should go Jason,” Kaiden turns to leave, I pull him back.

“Kid goes where I go. Dalia said I could find work here. I’m just here to check it out,” I stare back at him matching his intensity.

“Sweet, sweet, Dalia sent you,” the intensity turns to passion.

“Yeah, I’m Jason, this is Kaiden. I’m exiled, he’s, lost.”

“Well, any friend of pretty Dalia’s is a friend of mine. Should have just said so. If you’re looking for work, I’ve got work,” he hands me a menu and snaps his fingers.

The food items vanish and the letters rearrange. Instead of a menu, the pages hold job listings. New Jersey Devil sighting, Springhill Jack wanted dead or alive, demon haunting boarding school. Vampires holding an orphanage hostage, werewolf terrorizing the zoo. Vampire clan seeking the return of an amulet stolen by exiled member. Assassin wanted. This is the kind of stuff I live for. If I had known this place was here, I would have been working these jobs instead of making sandwiches. Unfortunately, with my limited supplies the jobs that interest me most are off the table.

“So, how’s Dalia? Still the same I assume,” Sam asks leaning over the bar and sucking in his stomach as if she were here.

“Don’t know, I got exiled. She sent me a kid and a letter.”

“Teenager, she sent you a teenager and a letter. But, she’s doing just fine,” Kaiden answers.

“Still gazing into that crystal ball,” Sam asks.

“Of course,” Kaiden laughs.

“Yeah, I miss her. I used to have a thing for her. Always wanted to make love with her. Then Elser had to stick his nose in the business. Swept her right off her feet.”

“Ew,” Kaiden whispers under his breath.

“Yeah, that’s more than I needed,” sometimes I forget those two are a couple.

“You had to see her back then, smooth warm sepia skin, smelling like the perfect mixture of cocoa, cinnamon and peppermint. She had legs for days, and nights. That wasn’t even her best asset because when the she would put on a...”

“HEY,” I stop him before he goes further, “she raised me. You’re basically talking about my mom, so please cut that shit out.”

“Yeah, she took care of me too. This whole conversation is unhealthy,” Kaiden adds looking mortified.

“Whatever, I’m going to grab you some food. We’re not serving lunch yet so the cook isn’t here. Don’t expect anything fancy. It’s on the house before you say anything, doesn’t seem like you can afford to pay,” he vanishes behind a kitchen door but his laugh keeps going.

“I don’t like him,” Kaiden whispers.

“Well, he’s all we got for real work.”

“We gonna go kill some vampires?”

“You’re not ready for that yet.”

“Then what are we gonna do?”

“Something simple. We’re going to go clear out some Leprechauns. They’ve taken over a warehouse.”

“The little magic guys who play with coins and fix shoes?”

“Some of them. Most of them are like Dwarfs, but skinnier and they can do magic. The shoe thing started because there was a Leprechaun kingdom that made excellent shoes.”

“Do you just make this stuff up,” Kaiden asks.

“No, I learned this all when I was in school,” I slept in class a lot, I probably am making this stuff up.

“Okay, I’ll believe you, until I look it up.”

“As I was saying, they never bothered to practice weapon making because they had magic. Should be an easy job that pays well. They don’t fight as much as rumors say.”

“Is anyone going to look like what I think thought they would or be anything like the stories,” Kaiden asks.

“Probably not, I remember my first class on the supernatural as they call it. Fairy tails don’t really do anyone justice. I thought Elves were the guys in Santa’s workshop,” I can’t help but laugh. “Whole time, Elser was an Elf, or at least half.”

“You think he and Dalia were really a thing?”

“They still are, even if I didn’t want to believe it.”

“Really? I never saw them together.”

“They just don’t like public affection.”

Sam comes back with some sandwiches and drinks for us. There’s nothing fancy, but I’m actually grateful for it. I don’t have a lot of money, so I’ve been really limiting what I eat, pretending I’m not hungry; I just want to make sure I have enough to feed Kaiden. Dalia entrusted me to take care of him, and I can’t let him go hungry. I just wasn’t aware how much kids eat and he seems like he’s been even hungrier since he drank that potion.

“Who pays us for these jobs,” Kaiden asks.

“Depends on who listed it. This one is just cash on delivery. That means the person who issued it will pay us. Others are listed by the Shadow Syndicate. They’ll get paid a fee for listing and about 90% of the money will come to us.”

“Shadow Syndicate? What is that,” Kaiden looks confused.

“A long time ago, a wizard, a mercenary and an adventurer came together as friends and took on jobs as a guild. Sometimes they hunted creatures, sometimes they hunted treasures or even people. Eventually they expanded and began to give out licenses to determine who could take these jobs as a they were dangerous. To get a license you can pass a test, do a set number of jobs with a mentor, complete a group quest with others who managed to get a provisional license. There were and still are other guilds, but they all follow the Shadow Syndicate’s license policy. So my license is from The Shadow Syndicate, but they just have this region locked down. If you went to the West Coast I’m sure there would be a different process.”

“Wait, go back, so all the missions aren’t to kill vampires?”

“Nope, there’s so many more. There’s courier, treasure hunting, security, even medical and cooking.”

“That’s crazy. When can I get a license?”

“Well, you’ve got the test to pass for a provisional license. You’ll need to study for the written part and score at least 1500. You can do that, you seem like a fast learner. After that there’s a skills test. It changes every year so I can’t give you an answer what that’ll be. Sometimes it’s sparring, sometimes there’s a massive game or puzzle to solve. Just show your skill. Lastly you’ll need to complete 1,000 supervised.”

“1,000? What? That’s insane. How can anyone do that,” Kaiden is overtaken with fear.

“Well, most people at the temple start missions when they’re around 16, so when they turn 21 they can receive their license. The training from 14-16 is mostly to make sure they can pass the knowledge test and skill tests. You’re a little behind so if we start now, by the time you’re 23 or 24 you’ll have a license. Some people wait until 40 to even try so don’t get discouraged.”

“This is a lot to take in, and I feel like I don’t know half the stuff I need to,” Kaiden seems to worry a lot about the little things, then completely ignores the big things. He was worried about studying, but not the fact that he blew up a treehouse and an apartment building.

“Well, the good news is we’ll be able to work on everything at once since we’re not at the temple.”

“Okay, when do we start,” there’s his eagerness.