Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
“It was your fault.” Sue pushed forward, and Aurora realized she didn’t have her glass in her hand anymore. It lay a foot away where she’d clearly dropped it, something she didn’t recall doing. She wondered if Sue had even realized it.
“Me bollocks. I can’t be held responsible for that thing tracking me to this bar,” Niamh said, following him.
Aurora hurried to catch up.
“I’m certain, somehow, that it was,” he replied.
“What was that thing, a rev…what?” Aurora asked as they left the now totally empty bar. Not even the bartender had stuck around. “Where’d everyone go?”
“That clown pulled down his businessman image, and everyone saw what he really looked like,” Niamh said as they turned right, toward a busier street. “They shot out of the bar like the walls had come alive and tried to grab ’em.”
“Let’s grab a rideshare,” Sue said.
“I can’t be arsed.” Niamh trudged on. “Nothing but chatty wankers, those. No, let’s get a cab. Just up here. There’s a whole bunch. They mind their business.”
“Probably because they’d prefer to plead ignorance if there’s a murder in the dirty back seat.”
“Probably.”
“What was the outcome of that meeting?” Sue asked, back to closed down and surly. He never seemed to let his personality out for long, a relic of his former job. It felt strange for such a powerful man—such an alpha in mind and in power—to be a beta.
Aurora took his transformation as a cue, though, to button up her personality as well. Back to business.
Niamh sighed, lifting her hand when they got to the curb. “Long story short, that creature could be incredibly helpful or a real nightmare.”
“And you have no idea which?”
“Not one shred, no. But if he’s helpful, he’ll be really helpful.”
“And if he’s not?”
A cab pulled up as Niamh scowled at Sue. “Did ye trip back at that bar, knock yer head against the wall, and bust free all yer sense? Then he’ll be a real nightmare, obviously. The risks are big, yes, we’re all keepin’ up with the conversation. Janie Mack, ye’d try the patience of a saint.”
“How would you know?” he replied, humor in the lines of his body again.
“Because I am one. Saint McFeck-off.” She turned for the waiting cab. “Now get into this cab. Don’t embarrass me.”
Stifling a laugh, because Niamh’s surliness was a riot and somehow endearing, Aurora squeezed into the back seat, taking the middle, and Niamh gave the name of their destination.
“How many of those exist in the world?” Sue asked as they got underway.
“Oh…” Niamh let out a breath, looking out the window. “Probably only a handful now. It’s not easy to thwart the grave, and once you exist the way he does, it’s not easy to get along in modern society. As you saw.”
“How do you kill them?”
“Same as most undead—tear out the heart, cut off the head. Things like that.”
“How easy is that to manage?”
“Depends on how long they’ve been unalive and how many people have tried it before.”
“And with that one?” Sue pushed.
“It would not be easy. He’s never been well liked, in life or in death. Many have tried to take him down. He has a sixth sense for evading the grave, I think.”
“His powers?”
“Speed, strength, hardiness, magic that makes you unnaturally terrified. He also looks a mess. Trust me, it’s not nice to see.” She thought for a bit as they slowed near a busy area filled with pretty people walking along the sidewalk, the men in tight clothes and the women skimpily dressed. “The magic is similar to Tristan’s, don’t you think?”
Sue shook his head slowly. “Both can make someone unnaturally terrified, but the feeling is much different.”
“Except Tristan has never used his magic on you directly.”
“He has. I asked him to. I wanted to know the effects…just in case.”
Niamh bent forward to look across Aurora at Sue, a grin pulling at her lips. “Just in case he turned out to be an enemy? Or double-crossed us? Or maybe you think that if we find out all his secrets, he’ll seek to bring us down so we can’t tell anyone?”
“It never hurts to be cautious,” Sue replied, not looking at her.
“I bet ye aren’t so cautious with shifters,” she goaded him.
“I am exactly as cautious with shifters. I know what happens when a pack is too trusting.”
Niamh frowned at him and leaned back again. “Why do ye always insist on clubbing people over the head with all that baggage? Ye take all the fun out of razzing ya, so ye do.”
Sue’s reaction was almost imperceptible, just a tiny relaxing of muscle. Basically, a smirk. He’d formed a camaraderie with Niamh, no matter how messed up. She might drive him nuts, but he took comfort in her flippancy regarding his past. Good to know.
“Well, anyway,” Niamh went on, “a revenant couldn’t be partially responsible for Tristan because their willies rot off. The mystery continues.”