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

‘It seems prudent to know the people here and who they are, considering the safety measures that are important to keep us all breathing in this new world.’

Of course it did. Monroe had set up here in the north with the proviso that everyone who came with him followed his rules. It made a sort of sense that he’d take time to get to know them all, but it was still a remarkable feat. I knew the faces of many of my community members but I couldn’t have confidently stated their names or what they liked to do in their spare time. And I was aware that I didn’t know everyone. ‘You realise,’ I told him, ‘that makes you some kind of eidetic genius?’ A gambler like me would love to have that sort of skill.

‘Genius is far more to do with hard work than brain cells,’ he told me.

I gave a small smile. We did have some things in common then: I felt exactly the same about Lady Luck. ‘Well,’ I said. ‘Let’s put that hard work to the test. To the Blood and Bones it is.’

It wasn’t far. That was one good thing about these new communities that Monroe and I had set up: it didn’t take long to travel from one end of them to the other. In two proverbial shakes of a lamb’s tail we were standing outside the pub, which advertised itself by a swinging sign overhead that depicted a bone dripping with blood. Lovely.

I could hear raucous cheering inside. I guessed that the vampires would be there for the day, downing pint after pint while they avoided the sun’s glare. That little fact already told me a great deal about them – but it wasn’t quite enough.

‘What else do you know about these two?’ I asked quietly.

‘You mean, are they likely to cause much trouble when we ask them if they’ve recently sucked a woman dry?’

I raised my shoulders. ‘I guess.’

Monroe put his hands in his pockets and considered. ‘As vampires go, I think they’re alright.’

Damned by faint praise. I sighed. It wasn’t a lot of information to go on but there were six more suspects to track down after these two and not much time left to do it in. ‘Are you alright?’ I asked him. ‘I can do this on my own if—’

‘I’m fine,’ he interrupted with a dark expression. ‘I don’t need your mollycoddling.’

I suspected he was wrong. I’d have to set aside my mollycoddles for now, but I’d do what I could for him later. Monroe and I were inextricably linked, whether we liked it or not. And, truth be told, I did like it.

‘Come on then,’ I said. I shot him a glance. ‘I’ll do the talking.’

I pushed open the door. Almost at once I was virtually bowled over by the cloud of blue smoke that engulfed me. For a moment, my imagination got the better of me and I actually thought I was under attack. I choked and wheezed and flailed my arms around to clear the air so I could see. It was only then that I realised the smoke was coming from the pipes of the bleary-eyed patrons of the Blood and Bones rather than some bizarre smoke monster.

Something else we had the apocalypse to blame for – the loss of the smoking ban.

Coughing one last time, I entered with Monroe so close behind me that I thought he was about to tread on my heels. Rather than his close proximity making me claustrophobic, it was very welcome – there was something about this pub that set my teeth on edge. Maybe it was the glares of suspicion I received from the dozen or so people inside. Maybe it was the annoying music floating over from the far corner that was being strummed by an ancient-looking bloke on a lute, of all things. Or maybe it was the three semi-conscious people who currently had fangs embedded in their wrists.

‘Ladies and gentlemen!’ the rotund bartender bellowed. ‘The Joyless Brigade has arrived!’

A range of mutters reached my ears, mostly consisting of ‘werewolf’, ‘bastard’ and ‘enchantress bitch’. How lovely it was to be welcomed so warmly. I tutted and strode up to the bar. Including the three who were feeding, the idiots they were feeding upon, the bartender and the irritating lute player, there were four vampires, five werewolves and three humans. I congratulated myself on being able to pinpoint each of their ethnicities. I was getting better at this identification malarkey. Unfortunately, it only took one sweeping gaze to register the lack of obvious facial wounds on any of the vamps. That was frustrating – but I could hardly have expected it to be so easy to catch a cold-blooded murderer.

‘You all know who I am,’ I said, my voice ringing out.

Every face turned to me. Annoyingly, the would-be musician continued to strum aimlessly on the lute. I slowly turned in his direction and dripped an icy stare over his seated body. His fingers ceased their incessant plucking and he laid down his instrument. Just as well, it was definitely out of tune. I didn’t think I was the only one who was pleased at the loss of the so-called music; every shoulder in the pub appeared to sag in relief.

Monroe took advantage of the sudden silence to push in. Great. So much for me doing all the talking.

‘Who are these humans?’ he asked. His voice was dangerously low. ‘Have they agreed to this?’

The nearest vampire, a blond-haired man who looked like he wouldn’t say boo to a goose normally, sniffed and detached himself from the human he was feeding from. ‘Of course. We know the rules.’

‘Yeah,’ sneered the woman next to him. ‘Besides, it’s not as if we’re monsters.’

‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ Monroe replied. He drew nearer. Satisfyingly, all three vampires flinched. Blondie carefully pulled away from his breakfast – no mean feat considering the human had draped herself over his legs and