A few minutes later, Julian emerged, looking more composed. He threw me a look of apology before sliding gingerly into his booth.
Abraham’s phone dinged and he left us, murmuring something about a delivery. I brought the coffee carafe over tothe booth and refilled Julian’s cup. I slid onto the seat across from him.
“You okay there, buddy?”
“Buddy? Oh yes.” Julian’s tone was lighter, almost cheerful. “I’m so glad to see you, Hunter.” The man across from me gasped in surprise at his own words. “No. I mean. God, I’m losing my mind.” He dropped his head into his hands. “Who the hell is Nigel, and why do I keep hearing his name in my head?”
“Nigel?” I peered intently at the big man across the table. The bruising under his eyes was faded but still visible, his eyes slightly unfocused and bloodshot. His olive-toned skin was sallow, and he did not look well, but he offered a tentative smile. I gaped at him. “Nigel, are you…”
“Again, who the fuck is Nigel?” This time it was a growl.
I scowled at his bullshit anger. Two minutes ago, he was crying in his cup. “Nigel is the night clerk of the hotel. If you were there at all, you must have seen him.”
Julian’s forehead furrowed in thought. “Yeah maybe. Squirrely guy. Bow tie?”
“Yep. Well, he’s a ghost. Master Anu reanimated a body for him, so he was kind of solid, but not…” I shook my head. This was too convoluted for a simple explanation. “That’s what we were doing when you and your guys busted in. Saving Nigel.” I remembered bits and pieces of that now. Enough to know it happened.
Julian rubbed his chest with a wince. “We didn’t mean to. Damn it, I get these random thoughts that don’t feel like me. Like being sad about the necromancer dying. Or when I saw you, just now.” He gestured across the table. “It was like seeing an old friend, and I don’t know you from fucking Adam.”
I smiled. “Nigel and I are recent friends. I don’t know him that well. And technically, I wasn’t there when his spirit wastransferred to you, so… Do you have memory loss, blackouts? Anything like that?”
“No. I remember the whole shitty morning unfortunately.” Julian huffed and then winced again. “He’s in me. That’s what you’re saying? God damn it. I didn’t believe in any of this horseshit. Ghosts and wolves and monsters.” He gestured toward Abraham, who’d come back with a case of liquor. “No offense.”
“None taken.” Abraham set the case on the counter. Obviously, Julian had either been told about Abraham’sothernessor he’d experienced it firsthand. “So what are we talking about?” he asked.
I told him my theory. That Nigel’s spirit might possibly be alive and well inside Julian’s body. I tried not to get too specific about things because mob guy looked ready to barf as it was. Abraham however, didn’t seem surprised.
“That tracks.” He shrugged and started stocking the bar. “The necromancer knew he was dying. He didn’t want to use anyone else’s body, but Julian needed some supernatural mojo to survive. So he must have tapped Nigel for the job.”
Julian grumbled under his breath. At my look, he muttered, “He keeps squealing about Abraham like a teenage girl. Says he’s a big six and so handsome. Jesus, this is going to be annoying.”
I grinned, glancing over at Abraham’s muscular arms as he worked. “Nigel’s been around for a while. Big six must be old-fashioned slang for built.” I shrugged. “He’s got a point.”
Abraham looked over, as if sensing we were talking about him. “Hunter, you working today or talking?”
“Yeah, Boss. Just give us a minute. And can I fire up the grill? I could eat. Him too.” I jerked a thumb at the mobster.
“Sure. But tonight’s karaoke night. I’ll need you to set up the machine.” He headed to the back room again.
Julian blew out a tired breath of air. “A couple of months ago, none of this shit was real. It was all in Ramon’s head. A fantasy. And I was good with that.” He stopped, lost in thought. I got it. I had shit of my own to process.
I’d always been on the weird side of things. Seeing minutes into the future is not an everyday thing for most folks, but I’d learned to keep my ability under wraps from a young age. Still, I knew I was different. Coming to work at the bar and discovering an entire population of arcane beings and humans with specialties had made me feel accepted for the first time in a long time. Julian had learned all this in the past ten days. It was a lot to take in.
“Am I stuck with this ghost? Forever?” His hardened don’t-fuck-with-me expression suddenly looked young and vulnerable.
“I don’t know. Maybe after tonight, we can ask the gatekeeper. But for now, be glad you’re still awake and talking. It was Nigel making you sad that Anu died. They were close for a long time.” I put my hand out but didn’t touch him. “Before you freak out. This differs from Anu being in my head. I don’t remember anything. I blacked out, but you’re not doing that. If Nigel is with you—and that’s a big if—he’s pretty benign. I can’t imagine him making you do something you don’t want to do. In fact, he may have been the one to help heal your wounds.”
“I don’t freakin’ want him. I mean, who would want—”
“I get that. I do. We can work on that.” I sighed. It felt kind of good to work on someone else’s problems. “I’m going to cook us some burgers. You want cheese on yours?”
In spite of his obvious anger over his situation, Julian’s face transformed from vicious mobster to ruggedly attractive as he smiled. “Sounds great.”
I headed for the kitchen and did some basic food prep while our burgers sizzled on the grill. I wanted to call Regge, butI didn’t. Why should I be the one to reach out? I’d been reaching out to Regge for months, and the guy had shoved me firmly in the friend zone. Now I wasn’t sure we were even that. My stomach rumbled. Feeling empty inside, I knew a meal would help, but it wouldn’t fix everything.
I served Julian a plate with a cheeseburger and fries. Medium cooked to the proper temp (I used a meat thermometer like Abraham taught me), with lettuce, tomato, and no pickle. The fries were steak fries and perfectly deep fried. I was not a line cook by any means, but I did okay at this. Eating my burger in stages, I did my setup chores—refilling bar supplies, doing setups for the booths, getting chairs off the tables. I settled across from Julian and ate the last bite of burger.
“So aside from the Nigel thing, what are you going to do?”
