Chapter 7 #2
The air around the car shimmered strangely, making me blink in confusion.
My ears popped, and I winced at the sensation.
From what I could see, the area Declan had brought us to was not in the nicest neighborhood.
Even now, with the sun rising, men and women stood deep in the shadows, eyeing us as we drove past. There was an aura of magic in the air that was palpable even through the shut windows.
“Where are we?” I asked. “What did we just drive through?”
“This is Tombstone Station. Basically the magical equivalent of the wrong side of the tracks. Sits right beside some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago. Even the gangs, mafia, and cartels don’t come here.
Not the human versions of those, anyway.
Doesn’t show up on any maps, and even satellite imagery shows nothing here.
We drove through an underportal. It keeps this place mostly hidden from the human world.
There are other areas and neighborhoods that are better hidden, but this one is where I have my safe house. ”
“Hidden?” I glanced around in awe. “Like Freedman Academy?”
“Basically. If the academy is like most I’ve heard of, though, it’s hidden with spell work, rather than behind an underportal.
This?” he said, gesturing around to the street.
“It’s completely hidden. Humans have a complete aversion to stepping foot here, and even if they did, all they’d find is an empty street. ”
“But is it safe here?” I glanced at a willowy wraith hovering a few feet off the ground, its glinting black eyes locking on us as we passed.
“This time of day? Maybe. Maybe not.” He gave a short, humorless chuckle.
“All I know is that no one who’s on the run ever stays at the Four Seasons.
The darker, danker, more dangerous places are best. It’s why I have a safe house here.
You go to a nicer human neighborhood, or worse yet a magical one?
People answer questions when they’re asked.
Here?” He shot me a grin. “Here, when someone asks a question, they get told to fuck off. That’s what you want if your professors or some other magical detective is after you. ”
He pulled up to the curb and threw the car into park before leaning over to open the glove box, his muscled shoulder pressing against my side. He smelled like leather, ocean spray, and sawdust. It was the most masculine scent I’d ever smelled on a man.
He handed me a small spray bottle. “Use this. It’ll help if they’ve hired a shifter or werewolf tracker.”
“What is it?”
“Scent blocker. Synthetic hormones mixed with a scent-suppressing potion. Spritz it all over yourself. It’ll prevent any creatures with exceptional olfactory senses from tracking your scent.”
“I… I’ve never heard of this,” I said, then went about doing as he said, spraying my legs and moving up.
“Only more unscrupulous people tend to use this stuff, but it’s pretty nifty for undercover operations or if I’m tracking one of your kind. Don’t want to give myself away because I’m upwind of my target. Let’s go.”
He climbed out of the car, breath puffing out in a thin cloud as I quickly tucked the spray bottle into my bag and followed.
The skyscrapers and apartment buildings around us towered high, keeping the early morning light from penetrating, which gave the street an even darker, more ominous vibe.
I quickly rushed over to walk beside Declan, unable to shake the feeling of eyes on me.
If Declan was worried about the area, he gave no indication of fear.
He led me half a block down to an alley, where we plunged even deeper into darkness. Two burly men stood a dozen yards down, one leaning on a steel slab of a door, the other standing in front of him. They seemed to be deep in conversation, until they noticed us walking toward them.
“Ey, look at this, Dom,” the one on the left said. He had a skull tattooed across his face that made him look like one of the Grim Reaper’s lackeys. “Got us a sweet piece of tail served up on a platter.”
“Looks like it, Danny boy,” the other said, kicking away from the wall.
He had ratty hair and obscenely long incisors, longer than a vampire’s.
Most likely a lion shifter who liked showing off by only shifting his teeth.
Actually an impressive trick, but I was too terrified to give the difficulty of that much thought.
“Hey, my man,” the one named Dom said, nodding to Declan. “Give us each five minutes with that pretty little thing, and we’ll let you walk outta here with your guts still in your stomach. Maybe we—oh… oh, fuck! McClintoc?”
“That’s right,” Declan hissed, moving out of the shadows so fast, I could have sworn he’d teleported.
He got in close enough before either shifter could react.
In a flash, he shoved the barrel of his pistol under Dom’s jaw, forcing the fangs to painfully dig into the man’s own chin. “Been a long time, boys.”
Declan, teeth bared in anger, glanced from one to the other.
“What did I hear you saying about my lady friend? Something fucking disgusting, I think? Wanna repeat that?” He pulled the hammer back on the pistol, and I clenched my bag tighter to my chest, terrified I was about to watch a man get his brains blown out with a silver bullet.
Danny took a step back, holding his hands up in surrender. “We ain’t mean nothing by it.”
“We…uh…we thought you didn’t come around here no more, Dec,” Dom said, terrified eyes angled down toward the gun beneath his gun.
“I typically don’t,” Declan hissed. “I prefer not to get the stink of the place on my clothes. But sometimes needs must. Now, what are two shitheads like you doing hanging around my safe house?”
The two hoodlums shared a quick panicked look, before Dom sputtered a response.
“We been watching out for your place. Yeah. Yeah, that’s what we been doing. Making sure nobody fucks around or tries to break in. Please don’t shoot me, Dec. We ain’t never stepped on your toes, my man.”
“Right!” Danny yelped. “We were watching over your place.”
Declan lowered the gun and took a step back. “That’s mighty fine of you two fuckups. Now, I’ll let you get on your way.”
Both men visibly relaxed, shoulders slumping and chests heaving. Who was this man I’d come to for help? How could a human inspire this kind of fear in two supernatural creatures that, by any measure, should be able to kill him in seconds? It was actually kind of fucking hot to watch.
“Thanks, Dec,” Dom said, holding his hands up and slowly moving down the alley.
“Hang on one second,” Declan said, eyeing the men. “You need to apologize to my friend here.”
Both men’s eyes sprang open wide. The skull tattoo on Danny’s face made him look even more ridiculous with that expression.
“Apologize?” Dom said, as though he’d never heard the word before.
“Yes,” Declan growled. His pistol twitched at his side, not moving toward the other two, but enough motion that their eyes jolted down to it once more. “I know you weren’t being truthful when you said those things about her, but you still said them. Now it’s time to make it right.”
Both looked at me and nearly fell over themselves, shouting apologies and excuses for what they’d said. Finally, either bored or irritated, Declan waved to the alley exit.
“Enough.” He pulled a wad of bills out of his pocket and handed them to the two men. “Anyone asks if you’ve seen me or a pretty, curly-haired young lady, you tell them to fuck right off. Got it?”
“Fuck right off,” Dom parroted.
“Never seen you,” Danny muttered with a nod, taking the bills.
“Good. And if you do see or hear of anyone looking for us, you let me know right away. Now get the hell out of here,” Declan said.
The two shifters damn near sprinted away. I turned back to look at Declan as he approached the door.
“Who are you?” I said.
He glanced back over his shoulder and smirked, an expression that looked incredibly sexy on his face. “I thought you knew all about me from that book.”
“Apparently I need to read more,” I said.
He chuckled but said nothing more, shoving a key into the biggest deadbolt lock I’d ever seen. Leaving the key in, he took out his wallet and slid out a green card from the slot, then waved it around the doorframe.
“What’s that?” I said, stepping closer to get a better look.
“Sliver of enchanted jade. Had it carved to look like a credit card. It unlocks the protection spells I’ve placed here and on my house. I’m not good at magic, but you can find some pretty good sorcerers or witches who’ll do things like this for you for a price.”
The door shimmered faintly, then swung inward.
“Inside. Hurry,” he said, gesturing for me to head in first while checking around the alley, his eyes shooting left and right, looking for any prying eyes that might be watching us.
I moved in, stepping over the threshold fast, and ducking inside, breathing a sigh of relief once I was off the street.
Behind me, the door clicked shut as Declan followed me.
He slapped his hand against the wall, hitting a switch and turning the light on.
The first thing I thought was that Declan should live here rather than the tiny bungalow he chose to live in.
It was painted in bland whites and grays, but felt less stale and sad.
The sparsely furnished space also gave off the illusion that it was bigger than it seemed.
I’d entered into a small living room and a decent-sized kitchenette sat off to the side. An archway on the back wall led into the bedroom and bathroom.
Declan locked the door from the inside, then used the jade keycard to reseal the magic barrier.
“That’ll keep everyone out?” I asked, nodding to the door.