“No. He’s so exhausted all the time that he thought he’d just been confused. Anyway, he gave me a potion to deaden scent, and I checked out the area where I caught Tristan’s scent. I found this under the couch.”
Austin Steele pulled his phone from his pocket and showed Niamh a picture of a pack. Inside were various items of a suspicious nature—little glass bottles, rags, rope. He put the phone away and opened a nondescript box on one of the shelves. Inside were a couple of vials, each with a tiny bit of
liquid in the bottom.
“I took samples of a few. The bottles weren’t marked in any way, so I’m hoping he doesn’t notice a bit of the contents gone. Can you find someone to analyze these and maybe figure out what they are?
Someone we can trust or blackmail into silence?”
Niamh tsked, feeling a smile grow. “By jaysus, Austin Steele. I believe ye’ve crossed over to the dark side.”
“I now appreciate how easy it is to deal with shifters. A show of strength and an ability to lead is basically all you need. Dealing with mages, though, and now dealing with…whatever Tristan actually is… I’m getting an education. In order to effectively protect Jess and my people, I’m going to have to get my hands dirty. I’ve realized that.”
“Fair play to ya. Yeah, I reckon I can find someone to look at this. Not around here, though. This isn’t urgent, right? What he did was for the greater good, ultimately. I don’t think he’s against us.”
“No, I don’t think he is. He’s loyal, he’s just…not ready to share his origins, I think.” He put the samples he’d collected back. “We can bring them back with us when we leave.”
Assuming they’d be leaving this place, sure.
“Did Nessa get a line on those magical guns?” Niamh asked, climbing the stairs after him.
Austin Steele sighed as they entered the main level of the house. “She’s had problems getting the supply we need.” He walked them into the kitchen, where Nessa had her head in the fridge. “Nessa, what’s the latest on the blasters?”
“Hello?” She straightened up, one hand still on the door and the other leaning against the fridge.
Her face was slightly drawn and her eyes puffy. She’d been pulling late nights trying to get more information from her network. Her days were spent training the garhettes, teaching them to use knives or the couple of blasters (what they were calling the magical guns to help the garhettes understand that they were more like pew-pew-pew than bang). “Oh. Hey. Are you guys hungry? I’m starving. I was going to make something easy.”
“Here.” Austin Steele put his hand on her shoulder and gently nudged her away from the fridge.
He reached in, coming back with a fruit tray and some cold cuts. “Why don’t you have a snack for now? I’ll make something when I’m out of the shower, okay? Take a break. You’ve been going steady with those garhettes.”
She sighed as she lowered onto the cushioned bench by the windows. “Except you’ve also been going steady, too, training and trying to get everyone to work together. You and Jessie are pulling double time.”
“No, she’s pulling double time. As are you. I don’t do magic or work with networks in the evening,” Austin Steele said, setting the plate of snacks next to her. “You girls are pulling the load.
I’m just doing long days. Chill out for a moment. Should we bring Indigo in to help you? Or Jess will be home pretty soon, I think.”
“Nah. They’ve got their hands full. The garhettes keep stabbing each other. They don’t seem to realize that you’re not supposed to hurt your opponent in training. You simply pretend to hurt them.
They think that’s a half-assed approach. We haven’t been able to get through to them. They’re exactly as stubborn as the gargoyles, but with less regard for their personal wellbeing.”
“They seem to be able to take a magical blast like a gargoyle, though, right?” he asked. “Has Sebastian verified that?”
“What?” Sebastian walked in with a cape pinned into his clothes and rustling around his calves.
One of the garhettes had heard the story from the border town, thought it was hilarious, and made him a better version as a practical joke. He’d get some use out of it for their plan tonight.
Niamh heard the front door opening and then the unhurried gait of Tristan, his footfalls light despite his size.
Austin repeated his question as Tristan walked into the room, showered and fresh with a button-up shirt and trendy, snug-fitting trousers.
“Yer not supposed to stand out,” Niamh told him.
Tristan glanced her over. “And you thought a muumuu would accomplish that task, did you?”
“I’ve got a change of clothes, ya muppet. What about ye? Are ye going to spend all night changing in and out of yer posh attire?”
“What’s going on?” Nessa asked, pausing with a piece of salami near her lips.
Sebastian ignored Nessa, answering Austin Steele’s question about the garhettes.
“Yeah, isn’t that wild?” He grabbed a nut from Nessa’s plate. “They don’t have the thick gargoyle skin, but they can withstand the same blasts of magic. Some of them can withstand even more because they have higher pain tolerance. I asked about that, and they said that if I’d been split in half by delivering a baby, I’d understand. To which I replied that I was fine being left in the dark. They thought that was hilarious. Funny ’cause it’s true, I guess.”
“No…” Nessa gestured between everyone. “What’s going on here? Are you going somewhere, Sabby?”
“Oh.” Sebastian frowned at her. “I thought I told you last night. Yeah, we’re going to relieve the towns of their mages.” He pointed at Niamh. “The gargoyles are already in position, right?”
“Yeah. We’ve got Ulric and Nathanial having drinks in Seyanna, Jasper and…that strange cairn leader, I can never remember that clown’s name, in St. Stein. We’ll meet Phil in Hensford. I figure we can hit those three towns tonight, no problem. They’re the closest. Then I need to start casing other towns. I don’t have a presence anywhere else yet.”
“You’ve been busy,” Tristan told her, leaning against the wall.
“I take my drinking seriously.” Niamh nodded at Nessa, whose brows had pinched together.
“What’s the story with the blasters?”
Nessa shook herself out of her stupor. “I’ve got thirty nailed down, plus a bid in for twenty more.
There’s no guarantee they’ll all work. That’s all I can find on such short notice without people asking too many questions. You’re going into the border towns tonight? Why wasn’t I told?”
“Because you aren’t going,” Tristan told her. “You need the rest. We can handle it.”
She stared at him for a tense beat before swinging her gaze to Austin Steele. “Dealing with mages is my part to play on this team. Those mages are going to have fail-safes. They’ll need to check in periodically or their superiors are going to know something happened to them. I can crack the phone codes and get that information to keep us from being exposed. You know this. Why wasn’t I told this was happening tonight?”