“It’ll be difficult to give her an accurate estimate without a face-to-face. How else are you going to truly understand what she wants?”
“Estimate? What she wants? Are you looking to pimp me out now? Is she the succubus you were talking about?”
“I know you’re a gargoyle, but are you seriously that hard-headed?”
“Hard-headed enough to take you on.”
Erik stalks toward me, swinging his hammer like a cheerleader swings a baton. I’m so stupid. I know better than to challenge him. I’m already weakened from growing back the tip of my finger. My boss is undead, and if he wields his hammer like his god of thunder, he’ll shatter me completely. I won’t have any choice but to shift into my lifeless form and stay like that for a long time in order to heal.
Erik lifts his hammer. I don’t shrink back; instead, I stand straight and tall while standing my ground. He flashes me a scary-ass grin.
“Go to her, Stone. All you're doing here is trying my nerves. And who knows, she might be the one to save you from being lifeless for the next decade.”
“Why are you so interested in my dating life? First, the succubus. Now, a stranger?”
“She’s only a stranger until you get to know her,” Magnus adds, unable to mind his business.
“You’re a good worker, Flint. And a good man. I don’t take to other beings easily, but you’ve grown on me. Even with all your whining,” Erik explains. “As for her, I don’t know much. She’s a dimmer, renting the old travel agency.”
“That’s a business that was bound to go under. Only an imbecile would waste money trying to book vacations in a town where eighty percent of the inhabitants can’t physically leave.” Magnus adds.
“Clearly, the last dimmer renting the place didn’t know that. You’re talking about the empty storefront across the street, right?” I confirm with my boss.
“Now you’re catching on.” Erik winks. “Doc Nightingale cleared out the place and gave her our number. We have an appointment for later today.”
“So when you said meet with her, you meant—”
“She’s our next job, dummy.” Magnus instigates. “You need to go over work plans and take measurements. And I mean of the store, not of the woman.”
This dwarf is rattling my last nerve.
“Whatever you say, elf.”
Magnus glares at me.
“Her name is Camilla Ramos,” Erik explains, ignoring the back and forth between Magnus and me. “Moved here from out of town.”
“That’s interesting.”
“Yes, especially since Doc Nightingale said she offered to rent the building sight unseen. He said to give her what she wants as long as it doesn’t weaken the integrity of the structure.”
“What does she want it for?”
“Don’t know. She called him, inquiring. He sent her pictures, and all she asked for was that everything left behind be removed. All of the furniture, shelving, and displays. She wanted it and the upstairs apartment cleaned and emptied. And you’re meeting with her at five.”
“Me?” My pulse races. “Why me?” There’s a tightening in my chest. “You’re the boss, you give the quotes.” I worry that Erik is going to say this is all a joke and that she’s actually a gorgon in disguise. “She’s really a troll, isn’t she?” The guys laugh.
“I’ll be sure to tell her you asked that on your wedding day,” Magnus sniggers.
“I’m not like my stupid friends. I’m not about to fall for some woman I’ve never set eyes on before and give up my entire life for her. Especially not a dimmer.”
“Maybe not.” Erik agrees. “But if you don’t marry someone in the next four months, you’ll be perched on the bank for the next decade, only coming to life at night time, and only in the face of a legitimate threat. You may be stuck there even longer if no younger gargoyles turn of age and remain unattached.”
“Then so be it. Ten years isn’t that long, and destiny is destiny.”
“But that lifeless destiny doesn’t have to be yours.”
