Chapter 19

Rasmus might not be good at jumping into fights to help, but he hustled me into the shower and picked out a decent set of clothes for me to wear. I came out of the bathroom wrapped in a giant bath towel the size of a blanket to find my bloody clothes and shoes stuffed into a spare trash bag for Henry’s people to try to save.

He’d laid out a fresh set of clothing nearly identical to what I’d gotten bloody on the bed. The vibrating angel relic patiently waited beside them. The only thing Rasmus hadn’t found were my extra shoes. That was understandable since I had stashed them in the car Dylan was still driving. I figured if I ever needed an extra pair it would be while working out in the field.

“Where can I find shoes for you?” he asked.

“They’re in the car Dylan is driving. All I have here is a pair of sturdy boots. They’ll have to do.”

Now that I was working again, I obviously needed to invest in a few more pairs of sneakers, but I had yet to make it plant shopping, much less to a shoe store. I hated shopping on the best of days but sometimes it had to be done. Usually, I talked Fiona into going with me. I guess I’d have to ask Mulan to go. First, I’d have to lay some ground rules about stripper heels and too much bling. I hated both and Mulan loved them.

I watched the guardian’s mouth tilt up at both corners. “Do you find my lack of shoes funny? I could conjure a pair but the cost of that sort of magick is dear for a witch. I’d rather make do with what I have. Especially given what I have to do today.”

“No, I swear I wasn’t laughing. I was thinking that if you ruined your boots this afternoon, you’ll be shoeless and have to borrow some from Mulan.”

“Borrowing shoes wouldn’t work. Mulan wears a whole two sizes smaller. She has unbelievably tiny feet.”

“Really?” Rasmus asked as he glanced at my toes peeking out from under the giant bath towel. “Are your feet considered abnormally large for your size? How is that genetically possible?”

“I wouldn’t use the word abnormal to describe my feet. And I’d appreciate it if ya wouldn’t use it, either. Anytime ya talk about my body or one of its parts, ya better be using the same poetic language ya used last night.”

Rasmus laughed at my rant and I grinned at him for it. Laughter was still too rare for him, but I was grateful to occasionally amuse him enough to make him forget to be his serious self.

I was about to drop my towel to dress when someone knocked on the door. “It’s Conn,” I said to him, still ready to let the fabric drop. Conn had seen me naked plenty of times.

Rasmus grabbed at the cloth and held it in place. “Come in,” he called.

I rolled my eyes when Conn walked in and grinned at a stubborn Rasmus holding onto my towel.

“Lunch delivery,” Conn said, brandishing the tray. “Henry told me to put it in your sitting room. Are we all having lunch together?”

Entertaining people wasn’t high on my list at the moment, but it seemed only fair to invite them. “Sure. Why not? Invite Zara as well. I don’t want her to feel left out. If Zenos is around, he can come too. We’ll make it a party. Some people might have to sit on the floor, though.”

“Zara is still sitting on the couch. She’s reading a book while she waits.”

“That’s her research,” Rasmus said. “Hold on to your towel while I close the bedroom door.”

A snickering Conn carried the tray into the sitting room. I’d hear about this later. He’d tell Mulan and I’d get twice the teasing. I glared at Rasmus. “Conn’s seen me naked more than you have.”

“Yes, but I don’t want him to see you naked today. That’s what counts.”

I heard Conn’s laughter from the other room and glared at Rasmus.

“Fine, Guardian. Shut the damn door. I could have been dressed by now.”

“I’ll just pop out into the foyer and invite Zara to lunch.”

“Sure. Do that,” I said with an eye roll.

The moment Rasmus opened the door, I threw off my giant towel and waved my arms to anyone who might be passing by. If they’d seen me, I’d have looked like a naked idiot.

Rasmus glared before clicking the door shut behind him.

“Prude,” I said under my breath. I guess it was flattering that he cared that much.

I ended up having to hunt for my boots and they were in the last storage tub I checked. I was ready to admit Henry’s iron-fisted right to rule the choices of our furnishings. What would it hurt to let him find me a bedroom set that came with drawers I could use instead of plastic tubs?

Henry’s impeccable taste in furnishings usually suited me. I doubt he’d put something I hated in here.

I picked up the angel relic and studied it. The wood looked freshly cut from a tree after only a couple of hours. I felt sure this was why Zenos thought the resurrection spell would work.

I emerged from the bedroom to find everyone already present in the sitting room except for Zenos. Even Zara had come in. She sat on the small couch with Mulan and Conn. Rasmus was in the chair he used last night. The remaining chair, a magickal one still sized for me, waited for my rear end to grace it.

“Come eat,” Mulan ordered. “You need energy after fighting with fairy.”

“I’m fine. It wasn’t that bad,” I said, frowning at the group.

I was lying. This whole situation was bad, but the last thing I wanted was to rehash what I’d done to Ezra. It’s not like I’d truly expected the fairy to apologize or show some remorse. Maybe I’d secretly hoped for that but I hadn’t let that fantasy get in the way of what I had to do.

I sat in the chair and picked up a sandwich from the plate someone had prepared for me.

Zara stopped eating to stare. It was the first time I saw admiration in her gaze. Her stare made me wary of what she might be thinking. She didn’t make me wait long to find out.

“I have a question, Aran. Was what you did to the fairy an example of your normal work?”

I shrugged as I chewed. Then I opened a bottle of water to drink. After I’d stalled all I could, I finally had to respond to be polite.

Rasmus, Mulan, and Conn were practically holding their breath over what I was going to say.

“We do all kinds of things in our work. The last job was one we were doing for Dylan.”

“Dylan is your shy far darrig friend.”

“Yes,” I said, amazed at how nice the female guardian could sound. Where had the bitter woman gone? “His family relic was stolen and we helped him find it. While doing that, we had three jobs that dealt with trolls who’d committed various crimes. The worst was when we fought a giant snake and had to free a large number of animals from a shamanic troll breeder. Our work varies. We work for the Shadow Breakers. They provide the jobs.”

Why did her sudden friendliness worry me so much? The absence of her arrogant sarcasm should elate me. But it didn’t. Zara was the kind of person who’d stick a knife in yer back after bringing ya coffee. Her niceness likely wasn’t real. It was probably an act.

“I found what you did with the fairy to be both exhilarating and merciful. You could have ended his life but you didn’t. I’m not sure I would have had that kind of control in your circumstances. We all saw him try to kill you.”

I smiled at the rock star status Zara had granted me. “My deal with the fairy was both personal and professional. We were business partners once. Plus, I consider us friends. His betrayal was hard for me to believe at first.”

“And you were lovers,” Conn added.

“Yes, but that was before I married,” I said, clarifying what Conn said. “And I hadn’t seen him in ages. He betrayed the people we work for as well as me. He took out Conn and Mulan before he tried to kill me. The worst thing was when Ezra tried to kill my daughter. I survived due to the divine intervention of a wicked angel named Tony.”

Henry appeared in the doorway with drink refills and cookies. “His name is not Tony. That’s not an angelic name.”

I shook my head. “It’s what he told me to call him, Henry. If I find out differently, you’ll be the first person I tell.”

Henry rolled his eyes as he set down the tray on the dry bar. “Mulan’s family is napping. They asked me to let you know that you’ll need to wait another hour so they can rest.”

I blinked in surprise. “All this trouble is for their benefit and they want us to wait for them to finish their naps? Who Danu’s name do they think they are?”

“I am very sorry, Aran,” Mulan said with a sigh. “They say they must nap to avoid jet lag.”

“They arrived over a week ago, Mulan. Hello. Jet lag doesn’t last that long.”

Henry gave me a stern look. “Eat your sandwich. Have another drink. Enjoy a damn cookie, Aran. You’re supposed to be on vacation. You could at least try not to take things so personally.”

I leaned back and stared at him. “Fine. You’re right, Henry. The jiangshi is not a job—not really. Even if I have devoted all my time to it for days and days, I’ll just sit here with my thumb up my butt until they finish their naptimes like all the other toddlers in the world.”

I glanced at Mulan. “No offense.”

Her sigh was long. “None taken. I know my parents are rude.”

An even louder sighing Henry walked out without speaking to me again. Conn covered his mouth and fought not to laugh. “You sounded just like the dragon mage when you were complaining. What kind of lessons did Zenos give you, Aran?”

I nearly choked on my food. It took guzzling half a bottle of water to clear it out of my throat. Damn that dragon mage. His attitude had gotten under my skin in more ways than one.

I took a few deep breaths until I felt more myself again. “Zenos of the One is a brilliant teacher and an insufferable companion. Apparently, his rebellious attitude is also contagious. I apologize. I’ll apologize to Henry later.”

It was the shock of Zara laughing that had us staring open-mouthed at her. “I’m sorry. Weren’t you trying to amuse us with that confession?”

I recovered enough to grin at her. “If ya didn’t laugh at the chaos Zeno causes, ya’d go mad from it.”

Zara looked around. “Rasmus tried to explain what you did and how you worked together. I couldn’t imagine it until I saw it for myself. If I can fix the demon wolves, would you consider letting me join your team while I’m here?”

I chewed and almost choked again. If I didn’t stop eating, someone would have to perform the Heimlich maneuver on me. I set down the rest of the sandwich and gave the female guardian my full attention.

“Each member of our team brings a unique skill set to our work. Sometimes the work is mundane. Sometimes it’s exciting and dangerous. The main point is that we get paid for doing what we’re sent to do. The best part is we get to help save people. We don’t kill any creature if we don’t have to and we don’t hurt them unless it’s in self-defense. Bad guys are collected and turned over to our boss. The Shadow Breakers get to decide what to do with them.”

Her head moved up and down. “I assume you are the leader of your team.”

“Only because I have seniority in the work,” I said. “We collectively decide which jobs to take and then we work out who is doing what. Conn and I did this work for years, just the two of us. So did the fairy and I. It’s not fun to have to do what I just did to a former co-worker.”

My gaze drifted over to Mulan. “What we’re doing this afternoon is a freebie. Mulan’s family is more incorrigible than Zenos. The Wu Shaman has to fix their situation to keep them from being completely possessed by the jiangshi. It’s her sacred duty to honor her powerful gifts and use them to rescue her family. But most importantly, we want them to leave and never come back.”

“Are you going to all this trouble simply to get the Wu Shaman’s parents to leave? Couldn’t you turn them into small animals and set them loose in some field? It would be less trouble.”

I chuckled. “Do you seriously think forcing them to shift into animals is an answer?”

Zara shrugged. “I would think being possessed might provide a good reason not to let them stay in their human forms.”

Mulan turned and lifted an eyebrow. “Would you do that to your brother?”

Zara looked at Rasmus. “I’m not sure how to answer that.”

“She means yes she would,” Rasmus said.

Zara chuckled again. “What do you get out of the work, Aran?”

I leaned back in my seat to study her. She was serious about not understanding. That was what she hadn’t understood the first time they’d talked.

“Let me see if I clarify it for you. I get the satisfaction of helping a friend. Mulan hopefully gets the gratitude of her family, not to mention peace and quiet after they’re gone. Conn gets a less broody girlfriend. And your brother gets to sleep with a happier version of me. And if you eventually help us with our work, you will get a chance to see how amazing humans are because I know you think we’re not worth our free will.”

Zara’s mouth twisted into a smirk. “I knew my remarks hurt your feelings. Rasmus told me they didn’t, but I could tell.”

I waved that away. “Don’t make too much of it. All guardians bother me. It’s not just yer brother and ya. I don’t feel all warm and fuzzy about any of yer kind.”

I got lucky then that Conn brought up the need for us to make a communal gathering spot. We had talked about the blue house being turned into a meeting space before. I again suggested we build a spot behind it to gather socially. It already had a gardening space. We just needed to add some outdoor furniture, a fire pit, and perhaps a place to grill.

“All I ask of whoever ends up buying the furniture is that ya buy some to fit Mulan and me. We don’t want to have to sit in giant chairs with our legs sticking out like a child’s.”

“I’ll buy the furniture,” Conn said. “I’m the most motivated to keep the shorties among us happy.”

How could I argue with that when he was right?