Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
“Nah, man, not tonight. I’ll hang here. You’re solo.”
“All right. Let me know if you get caught up.” Jasper disappeared into the crowd.
“Get caught up in what?” I asked as Broken Sue, taller than most and parting the crowd like water, entered the bar. Menace dripped off him, and his eyes were hard.
“Mush, doggy,” I heard Nessa say from somewhere behind him. “Mush, mush.”
He stopped next to me, and Nessa popped out on the other side with a big smile. “He makes getting through a busy room super easy, doesn’t he?”
She put up her hand for a high five. He stared down at her, unblinking, before moving away.
“No problem, I got it!” she called after him, and slapped her own high five. “Aces. What’s up, guys? Tell me you didn’t start without me.”
Sebastian came through the crowd next, given space by the shifters but not the gargoyles.
“It’s like they’re trying to be dicks,” I said, watching the scene.
“They want ye to earn their respect,” Niamh said before finishing up her glass of cider. “They make a big show of it. It’s a huge pain in the arse, if ye ask me. It’s a bar. Calm the feck down, lads.”
“Hi, Jessie.” The basajaun put up his hand. “Nice to see you again. Sorry about the other night. It looked like it had gotten rowdy.”
“Yeah, no problem. I initially caused the whole thing, so…” I shrugged.
“Hey, sorry I’m late,” Sebastian said, holding his computer. “What’d I miss?”
“We need a bigger circle.” Nessa looked around.
Austin walked down the other side of the bar, and his gaze found me and stuck. A beige long-sleeve shirt showed off his broad shoulders and defined pecs. His stubble had been shaved away, and he was rocking that messy hair look that really suited him.
“Hey, baby,” he said, grabbing a bottle of wine. “Did you have a good training?”
“Yeah, thanks.” I leaned forward and lowered my voice. “How many of the gargoyles in here are with the leaders?”
He scanned the crowd as Nessa rearranged people around me. “Probably about half. They never cause any obvious trouble. I felt your magic a moment ago. I assume they didn’t clear out of the way?”
“Yeah. Naomi told me to push through.”
He nodded, noticing his grandma. “Welcome, Mimi. It took you a while to get down here. What can I get you?”
She clasped her hands in her lap. “I assume my input is currently of little importance?”
“You assume correctly.”
“I’ll have a glass of whatever Jessie is having.”
He nodded, pulling out another glass.
“And you’re fine with…” I hooked a thumb across Niamh to the basajaun, who was being made to scoot down. I recognized him from the first batch of newcomers, the one who’d come to drink with Niamh. Clearly he was still at it.
Austin watched him for a moment. “Yeah. We don’t get many Dicks and Janes here anymore. I said I’d allow it until it became a problem. Turns out, the bar fights dropped to almost zero with a basajaun around. His mere presence seems to convince people to mind their manners.”
You couldn’t argue with that.
He served us drinks and said he’d meet me on the other side of the bar in just a bit.
“Okay, first order of business.” Nessa studied her electronic notebook. “Niamh, we got questions.”
“Joy,” Niamh said drolly.
“As you know, that monster of a gargoyle has a natural resistance to magic. He made many mentions of old magic. Of feeling essences. Does that ring a bell?”
“Why should it?” she asked. “I’m not the mage in this outfit.”
“Start from the beginning,” Sebastian advised.
“Right, right, sorry.” Nessa flicked her finger across the screen and then reminded us of Tristan’s ability to feel her through the wall.
“The other gargoyles we tested were nowhere near as effective,” Sebastian said. “Not even the shifters have senses that keen. We tried Broken Sue, who has great instincts. He could sense me from across the room, and he knew someone was prowling around his property when we snuck through the other night, but he couldn’t pinpoint us. He looked through all his windows, but it was a general feeling, not a localized feeling. So this gargoyle has a sort of perception that isn’t normal for gargoyles or for shifters.”
“He said it was yer essence?” Niamh asked Nessa, her interest already piqued. That was a good thing. She tried harder when that happened.
Nessa explained that he’d thought another entity had taken on her likeness.
“What’d he think you were?” Niamh asked.
Nessa cleared her throat and glanced at Sebastian. “Cone of silence, s'il vous plaît.”
Sebastian draped a spell over us that would prevent people from hearing our conversation. Except maybe Tristan, but it’d be pretty obvious if he was in the bar.
“So that’s where it gets interesting,” Nessa said, scanning her notes. “He thought I might’ve been living in the walls, haunting the inhabitants. He said magic as old as this, meaning Ivy House, would have a good few of you.” She tapped her notebook and looked up at Niamh. “He was talking to me like I was this creature. He went on about how clever it was to assume my face so it could lead people down to the underworld—”