Luther stepped closer, and I felt the warmth from his body warm my back. “Does it contain what we need?” Perusing a few more pages carefully, I tried rapidly to make sense of the Latin it was written in. Then I looked up at him and gave a slight nod. The name of the creature was in this text repeatedly. I’d have to spend more time with it to know exactly what it said, but it definitely discussed the Galamut.
His eyes darkened with satisfaction, and answering satisfaction coiled through my belly. If this had answers that could help Hillcrest Hollow, that felt good. I really liked the people who lived there, I loved the library even more, and I was starting to think that being eternally bound to the vampire next door was a blessing, not a curse. I wanted to do my part in protecting the place that had accepted me, and my skills—and this text—might help us do that.
David opened his mouth again, and I knew he was going to protest, perhaps dispute what I’d said. I knew I had not made a mistake; I’d bet good money on being right on each count. David had his own professional reputation to uphold too, would he go so far as to wrongly deny my observations just to spite me? Mr. Nanook shot him a glare sharp enough to cut glass, and he snapped his mouth shut.“That will be quite enough,” the impressive bookseller said, though David had not spoken at all. I fought a grin, but I was pretty sure I’d failed.
The bargaining that followed was brisk and brutal. Figures were named, countered, and discarded. When they finally settled, it was with the air of two titans agreeing that the earth could keep spinning. I was a little in awe of Luther’s bargaining skills, and deeply aware—on a visceral level—that he’d taken great pleasure in the exchange. The biggest part of me, however, was in shock at the astronomical prices they had casually bandied about.
Not long after, we were back in the car, the city lights sliding past behind tinted glass. The privacy partition hummed into place so the driver could no longer hear us. My heart was still slamming uncomfortably hard against my ribs. That had been a thrill, and a bit of a wild ride, but I had the book inside a protective casing in my lap. We did it.
Belfry’s delighted voice filled my head.Did you see his face? Oh, I could drink that smugness for weeks.I laughed, the sound bubbling out of me before I could stop it. Adrenaline still sang in my veins. I knew the little bat wasn’t talking about Mr. Nanook but about David, who had definitely looked like he’d been forced to swallow a lemon.
“You were magnificent,” Luther said softly. Then his hand was at my waist, and he pulled me to him and kissed me, quick, fierce, full of promise. I melted into it, all thought scattering like startled birds. For once, the victory was ours. I wallowed in him and in the moment all the way up to the room.
Once there, I felt the bottom drop out, and I was glad to have a moment to myself. The hotel room was quiet in that expensive, padded way, like the walls had been trained not to listen. Luther had left ten minutes after we’d arrived with the book, so he could safeguard it for the night. He told me he’d be out long enoughto arrange a car sturdy enough for a medieval manuscript, and paranoid enough for a vampire’s peace of mind for the journey back home. I didn’t know if that meant he’d be gone an hour or ten minutes; where did one go to arrange for an armored car?
Pacing around the room, I trailed my hand over the back of the couch, but the rich, buttery leather was no substitute for the touch of an old book. “I just want to look at it,” I muttered, toeing off my heels and kicking them under the desk.
I ducked into the bedroom to look at what I’d packed and selected jeans and an old, paint-splattered band T-shirt that had made its way into my wardrobe via Maggie. The sleek suit and blouse Luther had gotten me for today weren’t unpleasant to wear, but they felt a bit too much like a mask. Like I was wearing someone else’s skin.
Changing clothes felt nice, like I was settling back into being me and not some fancy façade, a shield against David’s vitriol. “I can read the Latin, Belfry. I don’t even need magic for that part; I’ve been refreshing my memory all week.” I couldn’t stop a small laugh when I realized what I’d said: I don’t need magic? So casual, so normal already to have that be part of my thinking, part of how I assessed the world.
I know,Belfry chimed in my head, dangling from the curtain rod and preening the silk vest stretched over his tiny chest. He looked dapper as always, but I could tell he was a little off his game out here. He’d snarked about the city, but he hadn’t gossiped, hadn’t poked at Luther like he enjoyed doing. Now he seemed to be getting some of his usual spark back, and I was glad to see it.Luther is being all dark-and-broody-and-responsible. It’s very attractive. You should encourage it.
I snorted. “You would say that.” He’d be right, I did like how Luther had cautioned me to stay in the room while he secured the book. I didn’t like not getting to satisfy my curiosity immediately, but I loved how respectfully he treated the ancient manuscript.
“We’re on a deadline,” I told Belfry firmly. “This Galamut thing is escalating. What if it escalates from goats and wildlife to humans? The answers are sitting in that book, probably written by some monk who thought ‘be not a dick’ was revolutionary theology.” I had a feeling it would say the Galamut was the ultimate dick of all, like David, but times a hundred.
You are assuming it says that,Belfry said.It might say “be a dick, but politely.” Medieval times were complicated.That, Belfry said with the kind of tone that came from having actually lived through it. It was baffling to think of a bat as ancient as Luther, or to picture that the two had been a pair for that long.
“I just hate waiting.” I tugged clothes out of my suitcase, folding and refolding them with no real purpose. “And I know it’s nearby. Luther wouldn’t leave it somewhere unfamiliar. He knows the owner. Which means…”
…the safe,Belfry finished.Very boring. Very secure. Very unstealable.Well, there was that, I rather liked that nobody could steal our book. The question was, why would anyone, though? Nobody had anything to gain but us by acquiring this knowledge, right?
I sighed, flopping onto the edge of the bed. “I respect him. I do. I just also want to crack that thing open and inhale the knowledge on those pages. We need those answers, Belfry. We need themnow.” I thought of Gwen and Jackson, so cozily in love, and the image of a wolf and lynx—Kai and Freya, I’d learned—running through the street in a playful game of tag. What if something was happening to them right now?
A knock sounded at the door, disturbing my spiraling thoughts. I frowned, glancing at the clock, but it was too soon. I didn’t know anything about hiring armored cars, but I was pretty sure that would take more than twenty minutes. Luther would insist on inspecting the vehicle to make sure it was up to his standards. It couldn’t be him.
Luther had said this hotel was chosen specifically for its security and discretion. Maybe he’d ordered food, anticipating my tendency to forget to eat when forbidden books were involved. Not that I actually had access to one, but it was definitely taking up so much headspace that I had forgotten the time for dinner had come and gone. “Room service!” a voice called.
“Well, that answers that,” I said as I made my way to the door. “I hope it’s something good, but knowing Luther, it can’t possibly be bad.” My stomach rumbled, now that it had been reminded of its emptiness. I didn’t check the peephole, because this hotel had top-notch security according to my vampire. The wood of the door felt solid and thick, and the doorknob was polished copper. I swung it open, blinked, and drew in a shocked gasp.
It was David. For half a second, my brain refused to process him, like reality had glitched. My hand tightened on the doorknob, and instinctively, I tried to push it shut. Then his face twisted, all charm stripped away, and he shoved the door wider with his shoulder. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he snapped, barging inside. “Do you have any idea what you did back there?”
I stumbled back a step and nearly tripped over the edge of a rug. “Excuse you…” I snapped. How had he gotten in here? How had he even known where we were staying? His lanky frame didn’t appear to be packed with muscle, but I knew he was deceptively strong. It seemed weak to step back further, but I found myself trying to put the couch between him and me.
“You humiliated me,” he went on, voice sharp and shaking. Oh yeah, I remembered that tone, the way he had a habit of trying to make another feel small when his ego got dented. I shifted my weight on my legs. I’d kick him if he tried anything.
“In front of a client. Letting that...” his lip curled, “...that vampire tear me apart while you stood there looking smug. I know exactly what kind of favors you’re trading.” Vampire? So he knew. That caught me so by surprise that I just stood there, staring for a long second. The stuck-up, egocentric bastard was supposed to be all human. I had never even so much as seen a hint of interest in the occult. He’d scoffed at books with fairy tales, while they had delighted me; one of those things he liked to put me down about.
“Wow,” I said, struggling for a comeback as I pulled my surprise back around me like a cloak. So he knew? What did it matter? He was an asshole—nothing had changed—and I needed to get rid of him. “You managed to discredit yourself back there without my help. It was honestly impressive.”
Belfry squeaked and vanished in a flutter of wings, darting under the collar of my jacket like a living brooch. I knew I saw the bastard chase the bat with his eyes, but Belfry’s messy fluttering had confused him near the curtain. I didn’t think he had seen where the little fellow had hidden. David’s eyes flicked aroundthe room. “Where is it?” I thought he meant Belfry at first, but quickly realized he was searching for the book.
“Where’s what?” I crossed my arms, heart thudding but spine stiff. “The book? It’s safe. Why do you even care?” There was absolutely no reason for him to be after the book now, was there? His client might not have left that meeting with the impression that David was any good, but I knew we’d left Mr. Nanook satisfied with the deal.
David’s smile was thin and ugly, and I wondered when he’d completely lost his ability to charm. He stepped closer and loomed intimidatingly toward me with his lanky frame. The left shoulder seam of his suit jacket was so crooked it winked at me like a malicious eye. “Because I have a better buyer, and you owe me,” he snarled into my face. I was very glad the couch was still between us.
I laughed, I couldn’t help it. “Oh, that’s rich.” I owed him? After what he’d done? He deserved a bit of humiliation and a sweeping defeat. In fact, he was lucky that was all Luther had done to him. I was pretty sure my vampire would have liked to sink his teeth into David’s jugular back there, if he could have gotten away with it.
