Monster Mansion 2 by Dante King (most interesting books to read TXT) 📕

he had run out of steam, I was buckled over in my seat, the phone held at arm’s length, trying to keep my laughing as silent as I could. His rant had been delivered in a single breath, and I could hear him gasping at the other end of the line. He would be reaching for a cigarette.

Sure enough, there was the snap of the lighter, and the sharp inhale. After a moment, he came back on the line, sounding a little calmer. “You got nothing to say, asshole? Where were ya, anyway?”

Despite his show of anger, he couldn’t fully disguise the curiosity in his voice. Trevor knew that despite everything, I enjoyed my job in the enchantment shop, and it was out of character for me to ditch him like that. The last thing he’d heard was that I was going out for a date with a hot beastkin woman.

Trevor was one of the old school of people who disapproved of humans having relationships with outworlders, especially beastkin. My date had turned out to be Astrid, and the evening had ended with me bonding to Kyrine. If Trevor disapproved of me sleeping with beastkin, what would he make of me sleeping with a dungeon avatar? I suspected that he might just be jealous.

“I got a new job, actually. I was kinda headhunted, you could say.”

There was a shocked silence. Then he said, “Headhunted? You? What for?”

“That’s confidential, Trev,” I said. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”

“Uh huh…” he said, obviously not knowing what to make of that.

“Anyway, I wanted to say sorry. I totally owe you an apology. I’m thinking I can make it up to you though, in a pretty big way.”

“You got that right,” he growled, but I could tell I had piqued his interest. “Well, what’s this offer? What are you going to do to make it right?”

I leaned back in my chair, fingering the stack of engraving sheets and smiled. “I’ve got a line on some good-quality engraving materials. Thought you might want to upgrade your stock with something a bit higher-class.”

“How much?” he said suspiciously.

“Well, free to begin with,” I said. “You can have the first batch as a sampler. See what you think. After that, we can talk about it. Whaddya say?”

“Only enchanting sheets? Anything else?”

“You grasping old prick,” I laughed, and he chuckled along with me this time, all the anger gone out of his voice. There was nothing Trevor loved better than a good haggling session. “I’ve got a source for some inks as well,” I said.

“I already got good ink. What do I need more for?”

“You’ve not got anything like this,” I said. I held up a bottle, letting the evening light from the window catch the deep red liquid. “Trust me, I know that ink you sell. You’ve never seen anything like this in your life before.”

“Hmmm… and just where are you getting this stuff from, kid? Do I need to worry you’re going to get me into trouble?”

“No need to worry about that, Trevor. This shit is authorized goods. If anyone gives you any trouble, you can call me and I’ll sort you out.”

“That’s not good enough. I need to know what I’m getting into here.”

“All right, I can tell you this much. The stuff is coming from the government. It’s part of a government-sanctioned supply project to improve the quality of magical goods available. That good enough for you?”

“Say no more! So long as I know I’m not going to get in any shit with the feds, I’m ready for it. Buy hey, you got anything… you know… any under the counter kind of stuff?”

I chuckled. “How about some level 5 healing potions to begin with?”

“Hell, yeah!”

“So, am I forgiven?”

“You pull off an affordable supply of healing potions and better inks, and yeah, I’ll think about it! When will I expect you?”

I thought about it for a moment, then grinned. “I won’t be coming down myself. I’ll be sending someone.”

I rang off, chuckling. I’d let him stew for a bit - it would take a bit of time to create the supplies, anyway. Then I’d ask Belinda to head down with an initial delivery. We’d see how well he did at disapproving of outworlders after seeing her.

I rubbed my hands together with glee. I was looking forward to this.

The rest of that day went by pleasantly. Kyrine re-emerged and worked with Amanda to create a comfortable guest room for the EDI agent to spend the night in. Amanda was impressed with the mansion and seemed to get on well with Kyrine. They both had a bit of a wild streak, and they seemed to recognize and like that in each other.

After we had all eaten together, Kyrine came to my room, and we worked together on creating some supplies for Trevor. That went smoothly, until we bumped into each other crossing the room and ended up in each other’s arms.

“Shall we call it a night at that?” I suggested, leading Kyrine to the bed.

Once we had made love, we drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms. I was anticipating a solid night of rest, but it was not to be.

I woke, Kyrine shaking me urgently by the arm.

“Jeremy, wake up!” she said, sounding happy and excited. I glanced about. The only light came from the low embers in the hearth.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Adventurers!” she said. “They’re outside the mansion. I’m going to open the gates and let them in!”

Chapter 12

Todd Hammerfist, his brother Josh, and their leader, Sarah Windvane, parked their car in a side street most of the way up the hill and got out as quietly as they could. They had driven out to arrive in the middle of the