City of Magic: The Complete Series by Helen Harper (book club recommendations TXT) 📕

I glanced at it. It wasn’t far off and we could get there in minutes. There was still time. ‘Thank you,’ I said quietly.

‘Just remember that we helped.’

The human woman next to Blondie nodded. ‘All of us helped.’

I nodded. Vampires weren’t so bad. ‘We’ll remember. And,’ I added, ‘for what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re evil bastards.’ I jerked my chin at the lute player. ‘Apart from him maybe. Anyone who can produce music like that must be soul-less.’

I’d intended it as a joke but nobody laughed. The display of bravado that had confronted us when we entered had vanished completely.

‘Make it quick,’ Blondie said suddenly. ‘If it was Philip who did this, at least make it quick.’

Chapter Ten

As soon as we were outside, Monroe lifted his head and howled. It was brief but it was filled with anguish. Then he turned and slammed his fist into the wall. When he raised it again, I leapt in front to stop him.

‘What the hell is wrong?’ I demanded. ‘We’ve got a lead. A decent lead. This is good!’

‘This is not what I wanted,’ he spat. ‘A dive bar filled with vampires feeding off humans? This isn’t the community I planned! I should have been paying more attention. I should have never allowed this to happen! It was supposed to be safe here, it was supposed to be a place where things like this wouldn’t happen. Otherwise what was the point of setting up away from you?’

I suddenly understood. ‘Those humans want to be there,’ I said. ‘Unpleasant as we might find the idea, they’ve chosen to do this. And those vampires need to drink. They won’t survive if they don’t have access to blood. At the end of the day, they’re not doing any harm. They’re not hiding. It’s out in the open. It’s better this way.’

‘It’s not right, Charlotte,’ he snapped. ‘They’re not right.’

‘Didn’t you see what was going on in there?’ I asked. ‘They were scared of us. That’s what the show was for when we entered. Those vampires have spent their lives hiding from the world. Now they don’t have to hide but they’re still not treated like real people. They’re shut away behind their own barricades. The wolves treat them like some kind of sub-species. The vampires are half expecting to get their heads kicked in at any moment.’

‘My wolves do not treat them like that.’

I took his hands in mine. ‘You’ve not been paying attention,’ I told him. ‘And that’s not your fault. You’ve been mired in your pain and your grief. Let’s face it, things still aren’t great for the vamps. Yes, their powers are enhanced because of the magic in the air but so are their vulnerabilities. They can barely spend any time outside because of the sun. They’re loathed by just about everyone else in Manchester. Maybe this will turn out to be a good thing,’ I said. ‘Maybe it’ll highlight their plight, stop this place from being a powder keg and turn it into somewhere everyone can be welcome. Maybe we all needed this to open our eyes to what’s really going on.’

Monroe gazed at me for a long moment. ‘Unless,’ he said eventually, ‘deep down they’re all like this Philip, and they’re all capable of killing at any time. No matter what the vampires are feeling, Valerie is still a corpse. And, if you’re right, a vampire killed her.’

I swallowed. Despite my sympathy for the vampires and their plight, I couldn’t lose sight of what had happened. ‘Valerie’s killer deserves to be brought to justice.’ My voice hardened. ‘It will happen, make no mistake about it. But the people in there think we’ll kill Philip if he’s the culprit. That’s why they said to make it quick. If we do that, we’re the ones who are monsters.’ I looked away. ‘Maybe we are all monsters in the end.’

‘I’ve always been a monster.’ Monroe laughed harshly. ‘Whatever. If Philip did this, we can’t shove him out of the city and let him loose on the rest of the world. He’s our problem and we’ll have to deal with him. We exiled Max. But a stone-cold killer who’s also a vampire? That’s an entirely different scenario.’

I breathed out. ‘Then we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. But we can’t let every vampire be tarred with the same brush.’ I smiled sadly. ‘Besides, this community is safer than you think. Valerie wasn’t killed here. And Philip, if he is our killer, doesn’t live here either.’

Monroe looked away. ‘Maybe you were right,’ he said distantly. ‘Maybe isolation from others was the worst possible thing I could have encouraged.’

‘Not everything is your fault, Monroe. You made the best decision you could with the information and feelings you had at the time. We’ll find Valerie’s killer and then we’ll deal with everything else. We’ve got this.’

For a moment he didn’t react then his hands squeezed mine tightly. ‘It looks like that break in the Travotel worked for you,’ he said gruffly. ‘You’ve made a sudden return to blind optimism and care for the whole community.’

I grinned. ‘I can highly recommend a day or two away.’ And, I added silently to myself, it was amazing what a big problem could do to provide focus and clarity. There wasn’t time to feel stressed about other worries and issues. Perhaps every cloud did have a silver lining.

Like he’d read my mind, Monroe tilted his head and offered me a crooked grin. ‘I could do with more sunshine in my life,’ he admitted.

A thrill ran through me. If that didn’t brighten me up, nothing would.

‘Go on then,’ Monroe said, gazing up at the red-brick house where Philip, the potential murderer, was supposedly staying. ‘What are the odds that he is the killer we’re looking for?’

‘I’m not a police investigator,’ I said.

‘No,’ he conceded. ‘But you worked for the police and I bet you picked up a lot from them.