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

I looked him over. Without the hazmat visor, he seemed younger. His hair was shorn close to his skull in a buzzcut that did very little for him, and there was a nasty scar on his neck that gave him a brutish air. But somehow he was also now more human.

He finally succeeded in removing his gloves and ran his hands over his scalp. Then he turned to me. ‘Are you finished?’ he enquired.

‘I think,’ I said, finally finding my voice, ‘I’m just getting started.’ I squinted at him. ‘Aren’t you afraid you’ll be tainted by the magic?’

The corners of his mouth turned up in what was meant to be a smile. It didn’t look like an expression he was used to. ‘You must have realised by now that the suits are nothing more than a front.’

Carter placed a pint of beer in front of Boyce and stepped back, folding his arms across his chest.

The bodyguard reached forward and picked up the glass, eyeing it suspiciously. He took a cautious sip. ‘Actually,’ he said, ‘that doesn’t taste too bad.’

Carter and I exchanged brief glances. ‘If the suits don’t work,’ I said, ‘then why wear them?’

Boyce took another drink and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘First of all, without the supposed protection of the suits we can’t enter and exit the city at will.’

‘But if the suits don’t offer protection, you’re taking your contaminated selves back to the real world. You’re taking dangerous magic to a magic-less place.’ I dropped my voice. ‘You’re carrying the Plague.’

Boyce’s lip curled. ‘Dangerous magic. The Plague. There’s been a lot done to make you afraid of what is here, of what you are. It’s not worked.’ He gazed moodily into his pint glass. ‘Not yet, anyway.’

‘Why are you here, Boyce?’ I asked. ‘Why is Fab Barrett here?’

I wasn’t sure if he’d heard me or not. ‘You don’t understand what you have here,’ he said distantly. ‘You don’t understand how important all this is.’

I pressed ahead. ‘You mean the magic?’

‘What else?’ He gestured helplessly. ‘Just think of all its applications. One single army unit with magic at their fingertips could conquer the world. All it would take is careful use.’

A genuine chill ran down my spine. ‘That’s what he wants? Your boss wants to create magical soldiers?’

‘My boss wants money. And power. There’s no end to the possibilities that the magic here offers him.’ He looked up, his eyes focusing on me. ‘You can’t trust him.’

That much I knew. ‘What’s he planning?’ I asked.

Boyce laughed harshly. ‘To rule the world. If he controls Manchester, he controls the magic. And if he controls the magic…’ His voice drifted off. ‘Maybe he won’t create an army with it. Maybe he’ll cure cancer. Maybe he’ll sell the magic to the highest bidder to do what they please with it. There’s nowhere on this planet – hell, there’s nowhere in this fucking galaxy – like this city. It’s not a powder keg, it’s a power keg. And Fabian fucking Barrett wants it all.’ He took another gulp of his beer. ‘I’m new to his team. If I’d known what was really going on, I’d never have joined.’

I eyed him. ‘So you’ve come here to tell me that?’

‘I’ve come here to have a drink.’

‘Barrett doesn’t know you’re here? Doesn’t know you’ve taken off your special white suit? Doesn’t know you’re blabbing all his secrets?’ I watched him carefully. Was this another ploy? And if it was, why?

Boyce shrugged enigmatically. ‘Maybe he does and maybe he doesn’t.’

‘You’ve not exactly been friendly until now,’ I told him. ‘Why are you so chatty all of a sudden? Why come here and tell us all this? You don’t strike me as the type to suddenly turn traitor.’

A muscle jerked in Boyce’s cheek. ‘I grew up not too far away from this very street,’ he said, as if that were supposed to be some kind of answer. He raised his glass up. ‘Chin-chin.’ He drained its contents and got to his feet, pulling his hazmat hood from where Lucy was sniffing at it then ramming it back over his head. He began shoving his hands into his gloves.

‘Wait,’ I said. ‘You can’t just waltz out of here. Boyce, you came here for a reason. Tell us more about what’s going on.’

‘I’ve told you what you need to know,’ he said. He didn’t look at me. ‘It’s up to you what you do with that information.’ He sniffed. ‘I’m going back to my nice, large, safe tent.’ He enunciated his words carefully then he turned and walked out of the bar.

I glanced at Carter, who hadn’t moved a muscle since he’d poured Boyce’s drink. ‘What the fuck was that about?’

The vampire’s expression was troubled. ‘Damned if I know.’

I scooped up Lucy in my arms. She let out a squeak of protest, which I ignored. ‘I have to go,’ I muttered.

The door opened once more and I swung towards it, half expecting Boyce to return – or for Barrett to stalk in and demand to know what was going on. But it was a couple of other vampires, both with humans hanging off them. It was already dark outside now so I guessed it was breakfast time.

Carter didn’t take his eyes off me. ‘This doesn’t feel good,’ he said.

All I could do was nod my head. ‘I know.’ My jaw tightened. ‘I know.’

As soon as I left the Blood and Bones, I started to run. The uneasiness that had been trickling through me ever since Boyce came into the pub was turning into a cascade. Monroe would probably still be with Julian in the town hall. With luck, the others would be there too.

I swerved round the first corner, barely slowing down. Lucy was starting to wriggle; when my grip tightened on her, she let out a high-pitched screech of unhappiness. Then she opened her mouth and nipped me so hard on the fleshy part of my arm that I gasped