“Hola, Viktor!¿Cómo estás?It’s so good to see you, my friend.” He patted Viktor’s arm and pulled him through the doorway. “Come inside where it’s warm. Welcome. Welcome,” he said to each of us.
Once we were all inside, the short man with a friendly smile locked the door and then circled back in front of us. “Welcome to Tia’s Taqueria. Tia ismi esposa. I am Tomás, your host. You may sit anywhere you like, but we reserved the private room just for you,” he said, gesturing to an adjoining room on the right. “Mi casa es su casa.” He nodded at Viktor. “My people will take care of all your needs. The taco bar is open, margaritas are on the way, and we have warm sopapillas and honey coming right out.” He approached Hunter and anchored his fists on his hips. “And what’s your name?”
Hunter ducked behind Shepherd.
Tomás gave a raucous laugh and handed the boy a round lollipop. “You need some ice cream. Then you will be bouncing off the walls and talking our ears off.” He turned away and spoke to the workers behind the counter in Spanish.
Gem clasped her hands together. “IadoreSpanish! It’s so rhythmic, and I can understand every word. It’s one of the languages I inherited in my Relic genes. It’s so much easier to understand than the ones I’ve had to teach myself.”
Wyatt took off his jacket, proudly displaying a T-shirt that said:Taco Tangowith a picture of two tacos dancing. “Are you telling me you rented this place out for the whole day? Beautiful women? Bottomless tacos?” Wyatt’s eyes lit up, and he pitched his beanie onto a nearby table.
The warm restaurant was a welcome respite on a bleak winter day. Not many people went out on New Year’s Day in our city, and the heavy snow kept most indoors. Straight ahead was a wraparound counter where customers could sit and eat. The main room had a massive mural on the back wall. I’d never seen so much color—yellows, deep reds, and blood orange with a dark-blue ceiling. Archways separated the seating areas, and in the center was a large taco buffet. Wyatt had already grabbed a plate and was filling it up.
Blue chuckled. “I guess tacos are just the appetizer?”
The ceiling had twinkle lights strung across it, and the cozy feel made me want to take my jacket off and stay for a few hours.
Blue, Claude, and I followed Viktor into the private room on the right. Tomás and his staff had beautifully set a long wooden table. It was the only table that didn’t have colorful Mexican tiles on it.
Viktor sat at the head and faced the entrance. “Please indulge yourselves. I paid extra for them to open. We can stay all day, eat and drink as much as we like—they are fully staffed. If you grow restless and want to leave, you can come back anytime before seven. They have cooks at our disposal.”
Claude sat across from me. “That’s generous. I prefer this to sitting around a hotel lobby.”
Two waiters ushered in the drinks, placing iced water and tea in front of all the seats before leaving.
Viktor studied his menu. “The hotels were all booked up. I asked Wyatt what his thoughts were, and he suggested a restaurant. I have the money, but it is not always easy to find someone willing to work on their day off. Tomás is a good friend—a trusted human who donates much to his community. I know him through charity work.”
Blue snorted. “Spooky thinks with his stomach. At least they have a TV,” she said, glancing at the upper corner behind Viktor’s chair. “We can keep an eye on the weather and see if more snow is coming.”
“Five inches is all I can take,” I said, leaning back in my chair.
Wyatt sat to my left with a plate of tacos. “Somehow I doubt that.”
After setting two plates on our side of the table, Shepherd smacked Wyatt on the back of the head. “Keep it up, Spooks, and I’ll make you into a piñata.”
Wyatt spooned salsa onto his tacos. “I just wish we’d come here on Tuesday.”
Blue reached for one of the giant bowls of fresh tortilla chips they’d put out and sat next to Claude. “Why?”
He flipped out a cloth napkin and laid it across his lap. “Becauseit’s Taco Tuesday. That’s the official taco day. All the humans talk about it.”
I used my straw to dunk ice cubes in my glass. “Do they taste better on Tuesday?”
Everyone laughed.
I glanced into the main room and observed Gem guiding Niko around the establishment so he could learn the layout. We’d also invited Kira and Switch, which wasn’t something we usually did, especially Kira. Since everyone had to vacate the premises, we thought it best to all stay together. Kira sat at the far end of the table, her gaze shifting from one colorful piece of décor to another.
Switch swaggered up in his bad-boy leather jacket and sat across from Shepherd. His tangled hair fell past his shoulders, and his circle beard had grown out, filling in the sides of his face. His wolfish eyebrows slanted down as he looked at his two plates. Switch had an intense gaze and a rough appearance, but he couldn’t be more serious when it came to education.
I chuckled. “Are you sure two plates are enough? We haven’t even ordered yet.”
He unzipped his jacket and grinned at his messy tacos. “Honey, I’m just getting warmed up.”
“Amen,” Shepherd replied before shoving a taco into his mouth.
When everyone was finally seated, the waiters appeared. Gem conversed with them entirely in Spanish, and though I didn’t speak it, I understood one part of it when she gestured to her glass.
Wyatt finished his first taco, listening with rapt attention to their conversation. He plucked a tiny Mexican flag from a toothpick holder and waved it. “Any Everclear you got back there, just put it all in my glass,por favor.”
