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

in case she decided to grow twenty feet while I was away; neither did I want her roaming around the streets with us. Given her squishy body, simply tying a leash round her wasn’t going to cut it.

In the end, after experimenting with various harnesses and halters, I gave up and stuffed her into a backpack, leaving the top open so she could peek out. She chirped happily, as if she were pleased to be venturing out on a day trip.

‘When I tell you to be quiet,’ I said, ‘you be quiet. No squeaking unnecessarily if we come across any beasties.’ I paused. ‘Even if they’re your own beasties.’ I still wasn’t sure what would happen if we met any more shadow beasts while we had Lucy in tow. No doubt I’d find out.

Lucy blinked at me adorably and yawned. I patted her head and swung the backpack onto my shoulders.

Lizzy, my erstwhile Australian housemate, took a more lackadaisical approach. She loped up with nothing more than a bottle of water. She gave me an easy smile. ‘This will be like old times,’ she beamed.

‘Yep,’ I said. ‘Except in old times we were usually wandering down to the pub. You weren’t likely to turn furry and I wasn’t likely to start shooting magic from my fingertips.’

‘Perhaps,’ she drawled. ‘But you always liked venturing into new places and taking risks. Plus ça change.’

Cath grinned. ‘I like risks,’ she said. ‘Do you think we’ll bump into any more hell hounds? I’m gutted that I missed the last one. All the good stuff happens when I’m not around.’

Despite everything that had happened, she still had a propensity to be awed by danger. ‘You’ll stick by my side,’ I warned her, wagging my finger.

Cath snapped out a salute. ‘Yessir!’

Jodie stomped up. ‘The vampire is taking forever,’ she said huffily. ‘I waited for a while but she’s putting on some stupid outfit. We don’t have to bring her with us, you know. She can stay behind.’

‘She can come if she wants to.’ I smiled. For all that she moaned about Julie, I reckoned that Jodie secretly liked her. The two of them had been together at the beginning of the apocalypse, after all; they’d probably be together at the end as well.

‘I’ve been practising,’ Jodie sniffed. ‘I can use magic to shoot down a glass bottle at fifty paces. If she gets in my way, she’ll be sorry.’

I frowned at her. ‘You’ve not been overdoing it?’ Magic, like food, was rationed. The apocalypse had been caused by too much of it being released into the atmosphere; we didn’t want to create a second disaster if we could help it.

Jodie rolled her eyes. ‘No. Because I’m not a psychopath.’ She turned and watched the strange figure sashaying down the street towards us. ‘Unlike her.’

Jodie might have described Julie’s clothes as stupid but there was a certain ingenuity to her get-up that I had to admire. She was wearing the same reflective fabric that the other vampires had taken to wearing, but she’d fashioned it into a dress that trailed the ground and covered every inch of her bare skin. It wasn’t the dress itself that was particularly odd, however: it was the umbrella perched on top of her head which really made the outfit.

‘Hello, darlings,’ she said. She held out a small hip flask. ‘Gin, anyone?’

Jodie tutted. ‘It’s not even midday.’

Julie winked. ‘It’s for the road.’

Cath stared at her. ‘Nice hat.’

Julie twirled. ‘It’s not my best look, I’ll admit,’ she said. ‘But I came across it in an old charity shop. I knew it would do the trick and keep me safe from the pesky sun without me having to use my hands to hold my parasol.’ She leaned in and tapped her nose. ‘I always was a trendsetter, you know. Just you wait and see – before too long, every vampire in Manchester will be sporting these. In fact, I imagine the trend will pass on to the humans and the werewolves too.’

I tried and failed to imagine Monroe wearing an umbrella on his head. Perhaps it was a look I could work on for the future. If I could manipulate him into making a bet with me, his forfeit would be to wear Julie’s headgear when he lost. And nothing else.

‘You’re getting that look on your face again,’ Lizzy said.

The others turned to me. ‘Yeah,’ Cath agreed, while Jodie and Julie nodded.

‘What look?’

Jodie folded her arms. ‘That look you get whenever you think about Monroe. All dreamy and…’

‘Like you want to whip off your knickers,’ Julie finished for her.

I coughed. They laughed.

‘All I can do is use my imagination where Monroe is concerned,’ Cath said. ‘Despite the whole werewolf thing, he takes care not to shift in front of me in case my delicate teenage sensibilities are offended.’

‘He is pretty impressive,’ I finally admitted. ‘But stop your imagining. You have your own werewolf boyfriend now, Cath. You should be focused on him.’

She smiled. ‘Nero is on fleek.’

Julie turned to me. ‘I still have no idea what she’s saying half the time.’

I grinned. ‘Come on, ladies.’ I felt ridiculously happy to be venturing out into the city with them. Monroe might have my heart and soul but these guys were still my family. ‘We have our mission. Let’s show the rest of Manchester how it’s really done.’

Lizzy whooped. ‘Let’s do this!’

Chapter Five

Less than two hours later, much like with any family members, I was ready to throttle the lot of them. Julie was tottering along, still swigging at her seemingly unending supply of gin and checking her reflection in every window and smashed-up car mirror that we passed. Cath was dragging her feet and moaning about blisters. Jodie was moaning about everything.

Even Lizzy’s sunny Australian attitude was beginning to grate. ‘There’s another pigeon!’ she yelled. She took after the hapless bird with her leggy gait, her bare arms bursting out with golden fur at her excitement. She still hadn’t full control of this shifting