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)
Austin and I stepped to the side, waiting for the next in our team to come through. It should’ve been Tristan, but instead Edgar popped his head in, looked around, and sidled through like some sort of vaudeville demon.
“Well, hello,” he said, his teeth elongated and almost neon white. “Thank you so much for inviting me to your show. I will greatly love watching the people who dine here.”
Now, I was the one staring. This vampire could be so incredibly creepy.
“Make room,” I told him, gesturing him away.
“Yes, of course. I wouldn’t want to intrude.” He took two large sidesteps to the right with a strange smile, as though he were plotting something.
I really hoped he hadn’t brought any gnomes.
Cyra stepped through next, giving everyone a wide, open-mouthed smile as she looked around. “Oh my,” she said, pushing her glasses a little farther up her nose. Then she reached through one of the lenses and rubbed her eye. “This place is worse than the old Ivy House. Badly in need of a makeover.”
“Come on, come on, out of the way.” I waved her toward Edgar.
Finally Tristan entered, suave and huge and menacing, shadows curling through the air around him and the sheen in the doorway visibly melting away as he walked through.
I pointed. “Did you just…defuse that ward? With your body?”
He glanced back at it. “Melted it, I guess. It didn’t have much power. It couldn’t stand up to my magic, it seems.”
His darker type of magic, he meant. I wondered what would happen if Niamh had walked through, whether the effect would have been the same or his mysterious blend of power was the culprit.
“Right.” I turned back to the host. “These are the four for inside. I have two on the grounds outside. Would you like to see them?”
“Yes, please,” the man said, his eyes locked on Tristan. It occurred to me that no one had exchanged names yet. He hadn’t introduced himself, and it had made me forget my manners. Given he hadn’t actually asked, maybe the crew didn’t matter. Or maybe intros came later. I’d just roll with it.
“Broken Sue, if you please,” I called.
He stepped inside a moment later, his body language that of a soldier going to war. His sway was exaggerated, like his gorilla form, and his menace doubled down on Tristan’s, making the butler tense before stepping back.
“Excuse me…” The man coughed. “Did you just call this man…Broken Sue?”
“Yes. Mr. Tom, come in, please.” And then, out of impulse, I said, “Don’t embarrass me,” as though that ship hadn’t already sailed.
He appeared in the doorway, his disguise half on. A neck brace complemented Band-Aids on his face, and a strange gray wig stuck out from beneath a fedora. His arm was looped around a bundle of clothes.
“What is it?” he asked tersely. “I’m preparing for guard duty, since you have relegated me to the wilds while that excuse for a butler parades around in those stupid gloves and unsigned shoes.”
He’d probably meant to say “un-shined” shoes, but I didn’t correct him. If Sebastian had been hoping for absurd, I was delivering it.
“Never mind. You’re fine to secure the house.”
He gave me a harrumph before disappearing again.
Tristan softly cleared his throat. “You’re missing one,” he murmured.
I stared at him blankly.
“Missus Smith,” he prompted, reminding me that we would be using Dave’s stage name, the one reserved for mages. “Alpha Steele doesn’t count as one of your four.”
Duh. How in the world had I forgotten the biggest and hairiest of our crew?
“Right. Mrs. Smith, if you please,” I called, and a moment later, Dave stuck his head through the door with a gleaming smile, his teeth large, his smile insincere and threatening, and his hair puffed up. I wanted to take a step back myself, and he was on my side.
“Mrs. Smith,” I said, holding out a hand for him. “Four, not including Austin.”
The host had frozen solid somewhere between Tristan and Dave, his eyes wide, his head tilted up slightly.
“Did we break him already?” Edgar asked quietly. “Because usually it takes a little chatter to get to that point.”
“Shh,” I responded with a furrowed brow, wishing I could just be normal for once. But honestly, Edgar was right. We did tend to break people…in so many ways.
TWENTY-TWO
Jessie
“Fo-forgive me,” the man stammered before clearing his throat. A light sheen of sweat covered his now-pale face. “Quite the team. I’ve had word that you also have a host gathering not far away.”
Dang it. We’d done a bad job of hiding the extras. We’d need to work on that.
I figured it would be better to be open about it.
“Yes. Should this turn ugly, they’ll be here in a moment. I’m sure you can understand my concern, given it’s only been a few months since we dealt with a large-scale mage attack. We didn’t kill them all. You’re a stranger, and I have to think about protection. Rule of thumb, however—don’t attack us, and we won’t attack you.”