“Someone like ye giving me threats?” She huffed. “Might as well put a stocking over yer head.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Yeah. Exactly. Just copping that now?”
She turned to go, but he hesitated. The invisible mage was looking their way. If Tristan came away from that wall, he’d be visible again, and that mage or one of the others would see his magic.
He didn’t want that trick getting back to Momar if at all possible. Gargoyles’ abilities were mostly unknowns to mages. They needed to keep it that way.
“Well? ” Niamh asked, motioning at the door. “Get movin’ or I’ll give ye a kick in the hole.”
“I might have to go to the bathroom,” Sebastian blurted, really, really bad at improvising.
Niamh stared at him for a solid beat, then said in a low voice, “Ye don’t know how yer bladder works?” And then, in a much louder voice, “Are ye some sort of eejit?”
“I need to go to the bathroom,” he said with confidence. “Maybe number two, I don’t know.”
She seemed to be developing an eye tic. “Well then,” she said very slowly, the tension rising,
“ye’d better get yer arse to the toilet before ye shite all over yer drawers. Here, let me help ya.”
“No, no, I can manage,” he said, expecting something awful. He wasn’t quite sure whether they were acting anymore.
“It’s no trouble, here.” She grabbed him by the back of the neck and an upper arm and started marching him through the bar. “Maybe ye’ll feel better when I stick yer head in the toilet and flush a few times.”
“Uncle!” he shouted, at least remembering to flail as they went, shooing the invisible mage into the corner. “I’ve changed my mind! Uncle, uncle!”
“What are ye on about, uncle?” Niamh got near the back and then threw him. He hit the corner of the hallway leading to the bathrooms and bounced off, ricocheting to the other side and face-planting.
“Oww,” he drew out, staggering on toward the bathroom.
“Give me a shot, Tam-tam, would ya? That lad has done me head in. What are ye looking at? ”
Niamh hollered, and a glance back said she was mad-dogging one of the mages and the other two were watching her with wide eyes. At the back of the bar, Tristan slipped out without anyone noticing.
Sebastian peed, because at this point it was probably wise in case she berated him again and he lost control of his bladder, and hurried out.
“I don’t like the look of him one bit,” Niamh was saying to someone sitting beside her at the top of the bar, pointing around a corner at the closest mage. “What are ye even wearing? Do ye not know how jeans work? Yer as bad as that muppet in the toilet.” She leaned harder on the bar, and though Sebastian was behind her and couldn’t see her eyes, he’d bet they were bugged out. She did that sometimes to unsettle people when (for some reason) her personality wasn’t enough. “Don’t know how to speak?” She huffed and went back to talking to the guy next to her as Tam-tam (where’d he gotten Timmie?) smirked with her hands crossed over her chest. “Doesn’t know how to dress, doesn’t
know how to talk…”
“Ready,” Sebastian said in a small voice, hurrying past her.
“What a night,” Niamh told Tam-tam as she pushed away from the bar. “What. A. Fecking. Night.”
“And it’s just getting started,” Tam-tam said.
“Don’t remind me.” Niamh raised her hand as she followed Sebastian for the door. “Sorry for the display. I’ll be sure not to bring this gobshite again.”
“Bring him! That was the most fun I’ve had in a while,” Tam-tam called as Sebastian made it outside and turned toward Phil.
“Abort,” he said, making it to the bush. “Phil—”
“I already told him.” Tristan stepped forward from the side of the building, wiping his eyes for some reason. “He’s gone. What’s the situation?”
Niamh came out next but didn’t stop to chat. She pushed Sebastian in front of her and over the grassy knoll to a hole in the fence beyond, dumping them both into an alley.
“Do ye mind telling me what we’re doing?” she asked, thankfully not yelling at him anymore.
“We need to call everyone off. Bringing these mages in is the wrong play.”
She stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. “Are ye positive? I can still go in and bag those mages. If you made a mistake, it’s fixable.”
“I’m positive. One hundred percent. You see—”
She waved her hand. “This isn’t the place to go over the particulars. If yer sure, let’s call them off and get back. We can talk about it with Jessie and Austin Steele.”
Tristan put his hands on his hips while biting his lip, his body shaking.
“You okay?” Sebastian asked as Niamh started to strip.
“No,” he said with a wheeze, wiping his eyes again. “I think I’m going to have a hernia from holding in laughter. I don’t know how I didn’t crack in there. I had both hands over my mouth and was shaking against the wall. I almost blew my cover.”
Niamh looked skyward while shaking her head. “Easily amused.”
“I was not at all amused,” Sebastian grumbled, and Tristan slapped his hand over his mouth and turned away again.
Next time, Tristan should be the butt of Niamh’s jokes. They’d see how he liked it.
Sebastian’s phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out.
A text from Jessie: Nessa is MIA. Is she with you guys?
“Hold up.” Sebastian put up his hand. “We need to stop by the warehouse to see if Nessa’s there.
She’s gone from Jessie and Austin Steele’s house.”
“Now Tristan, how’s that? Ye stick yer nose in and see what happens?” Niamh asked. “It’s probably for the best anyway. We should check on Edgar. Lord only knows what he’s got up to.”
TWENTY-THREE
NESSA
TRISTAN CUT through the night like a predator, every movement of his large body graceful and sleek.
The shadows slid over his face, accentuating those glowing eyes as he walked up the pathway to the little bungalow he shared with Gerard from the Khaavalor cairn and Gerard’s lead enforcer. Kingsley had made the accommodations available, figuring a cairn leader should have more space than a hotel room, and Tristan was worthy to share it.
His shoe scuffed the concrete before he stepped onto the dark porch, looking up at the dead light.
Not broken, just a loose bulb. There’d be no signs of tampering—Nessa had made sure of it.
Only the moonlight reached him now, allowing Nessa to see the loose, hardly buttoned shirt and trousers with the belt undone and fly open. It wasn’t like him to be so messy in his appearance. Then again, he was clearly home for the night after visiting those bars and taking down those mages.
Probably interrogating them as well. Why not? He’d shown he was incredibly competent in getting information. They wouldn’t need Nessa so long as Tristan was on the scene.
Frustration and fear ate away at her. She didn’t know what she’d do if she became irrelevant.
There was no family to cushion her fall. No friends to share in her misery. If they took her purpose and Sebastian, she’d have nobody. Nothing.
At the front door, he hesitated a moment before reaching for the doorknob.