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

Naturally that’s exactly what I did. ‘You’ll bulldoze your way in,’ I told him, ‘catch sight of Philip, see red and attack.’

Monroe’s expression didn’t flicker. ‘What would be so wrong with that?’

I started to tick off on my fingers. ‘First of all, we know from Julie that he’s likely to be curled up in a corner sleeping. He’s had too much blood to drink to be anything other barely conscious. He’s not going to put up a fight, Monroe.’

‘You don’t know that for sure. Assuming we can trust what Julie told us, she made it perfectly clear that she’s never taken that much blood in one sitting. Therefore,’ he pointed out implacably, ‘she can’t really know how it’s affected Philip. In fact, the one thing we know for sure is that he’s emanating vast amounts of magic because of what he’s done. That makes him both unstable and very dangerous.’

‘I hadn’t finished,’ I answered. ‘Secondly, right now your headspace is telling you to fight first and ask questions later. You could very well end up killing him.’

He stared at me. ‘Why would that be a bad thing?’

‘Because things are bad enough already between the wolves and the vampires. I spent all of two hours in your neighbourhood, Monroe, and even I could tell you’re sitting on a powder keg.’

‘The vampires are free to leave at any point.’

I gave him a stony look. ‘So the werewolves can live alone? A pure society untainted by other ethnicities? Do you know what that sounds like, Monroe?’

He winced. ‘I do. And I don’t mean it like that. There are plenty of werewolves I’d happily get rid of too but somehow, when I was busy doing other things, they all showed up and settled in. It was not what I wanted.’

‘It’s called free will. People have to be allowed to make their own choices. If those choices adversely affect others then they have to be held accountable – but you can’t tell everyone how to live their lives.’

‘Yes, I can.’ He blinked slowly. ‘Philip used his free will when he slurped every drop of blood from Valerie. And I’m not sure why we’re suddenly getting into a philosophical argument about morality when I should be in there sorting out fucking Philip for killing your friend.’

‘You can’t kill him,’ I insisted. ‘You can’t even hurt him unless it’s absolutely necessary. He deserves to be allowed to speak about what he may or may not have done first.’

Monroe sighed heavily. ‘I will agree to that if you agree to stay out—’

He was interrupted by a loud crash. We froze and stared at each other. ‘So much for sleeping it off in a corner,’ he hissed at me. ‘Stay here.’ He turned and barrelled into the door. Unfortunately, instead of going through it he bounced back and ended up sprawled on the pavement. He growled and got to his feet.

‘Oh, did I forget to mention that the casino doors are steel reinforced?’ I asked innocently.

He shot me an irritated look and tried again. ‘They must be bolted shut from the other side. I’ll have to find another way in.’

I nodded. ‘Go on then.’ I raised my hands and concentrated, allowing magic to spurt forth. A second later the doors sprang open. ‘Look,’ I murmured, holding my hands up in sarcastic awe. ‘Maybe you do need me after all.’

Monroe hissed something under his breath. ‘Just don’t get hurt,’ he said. ‘That’s the last thing I need.’

I would take that as evidence that he cared for me. I flashed him a quick grin before squaring my shoulders. ‘Let’s get this bastard. Without hurting him.’

Monroe rolled his eyes then he stalked into the casino with me hot on his heels.

Whatever – or whoever – had caused the crash had fallen silent again. The casino interior was very dark and very silent. In one corner close to the doors stood a smiling, life-size, cardboard cut-out of a scantily clad waitress holding up a wad of cash. Whoever she had been pre-apocalypse, she certainly wasn’t here now. I gave her a wave and debated whether to bring her along to make it look like there were more of us.

Monroe clearly wasn’t concerned with numbers. He marched forward past several empty tables and scattered playing cards and chips. I abandoned the smiley cut-out and followed, unwilling to let him out of my sight – until my foot slipped and I realised I’d trodden on a playing card. The ace of spades. I shivered. I wasn’t usually superstitious and I didn’t believe in luck or lack thereof; I made my own luck. All the same, something about that card gave me the willies.

I shook myself. It was only a card. It didn’t actually mean anything. I looked up and realised that Monroe had also stopped. His head was tilted up and he was sniffing the air. It was difficult to tell through the gloom but to me he looked very confused and very unhappy.

I sidled up to him. When he didn’t immediately respond, I nudged him. ‘What’s wrong?’ I whispered.

His nose twitched and his hands curled into fists. ‘Wolf,’ he answered.

Now I was the one who was puzzled. I frowned at him. ‘What…’

‘There’s a wolf here,’ he said in an undertone. ‘Young. Female.’

My heart sank. So I’d been wrong. Yet again, I’d fallen victim to my self- belief. It wasn’t Philip the vampire whose magic signature had been broadcasting from this place, it was just a werewolf who wanted to play roulette. I cursed to myself. I’d been so sure this was where we’d find Valerie’s killer.

‘And blood,’ Monroe added as an afterthought. ‘There’s a shitload of blood.’ He unfastened his boiler suit and stepped out of it, taking his time, then turned to me in all his naked glory and placed a finger to his lips. It wasn’t his lips I was looking at but I nodded anyway. A second