Chapter 8
TRACE
I whistled softly, and Terrance came flying over some tall bushes to land on my shoulder. I saw James’ eyes widen.
“He’s bigger than a regular crow,” he said, his brow creasing.
“Yep,” I agreed cheerfully, making no attempt to explain. “Terrance, this is James. He lives here with Edwin. James, this is Terrance.”
Terrance gave James a once-over. “Delighted,” he croaked.
James’ eyes bulged. “You talk?”
“No, you hallucinate.” Terrance leaned forwards. Having been on the receiving end of his penetrative gaze, I was impressed that James didn’t step back. He did swallow audibly, which was fair enough. I’d seen bigger men than him lose their cool around a familiar.
“Don’t be sarky,” I chided my feathered friend. “James, show us the way?”
He asked me to repeat what I’d said, so I did, keen to get going. The sooner I found out if this could work, the sooner I could make plans to begin moving my things.
James didn’t move. Irritated, I looked around at him. He pointed at his eyes with two fingers and said carefully in that slightly flat tone I’d noticed when he’d spoken before, “Please look at me when you speak.”
“Huh?” I must have blinked at him. He huffed. “I have hearing loss. If you look at me, I will hear better. And I can lip read a bit.”
“That’s rough,” I said automatically. James narrowed his eyes.
I hastily recalculated my initial assessment of him as a cute but bland twink.
This young man looked like he’d blow over in a stiff breeze, and had apparently chosen the life of a shadow, but he was evidently no pushover if his pissed-off expression was anything to go by.
“I meant, I should have been quicker to accommodate your needs.”
He gave a sharp jerk of his chin as if to say he accepted my bumbling explanation, then led the way behind the house and along a neat path.
Edwin’s home was neatly sheltered by a high, dense yew hedge, presumably planted to keep the worst of the sun off the rooms. Edwin, or someone he paid, kept the place very tidy.
An arch-shaped gap in the hedge gave way to a massive expanse of lawn I frankly had not expected to see.
When Dalziel had got in touch to say he thought Edwin’s place might be suitable, I’d been sceptical.
But considering time was running out and my options were limited, it had been worth a shot.
Now I was glad I’d made the effort to drive all this way.
I paced around the entire garden, mentally positioning my rarest and most prized plants in different spots, double-checking where the sun was in the sky and which way it would circle.
The height of the hedge surrounding the plot might be problematic, but if Edwin had no objection to my lowering it by a couple of feet, especially if I could reposition the carriage, it would still offer a substantial degree of privacy but allow for more light.
I made sure I caught James’ attention before I asked, “Will Edwin object to losing the lawn?”
He shrugged, a very elfin gesture which suited his slight frame. “I doubt it. It’s not as if you can grow plants without digging most of it up, is it?”
I laughed. “Guess not. Is there anything else to see, or can I check out the housing sitch?”
“There is, actually.” He pointed to the right-hand corner from where we’d entered the garden.
“There’s a part of the hedge that is thinner over here.
It looks as though there used to be another archway.
I checked the plans and it definitely belongs to Edwin.
The other side has a paved area and a small garage.
I think it might be possible to remake the archway and add some gates at the boundary to make it a separate entrance.
I doubt you would get your car in the garage but it looks sound, so you could probably use it for storage.
” His sentence rose at the end, not quite a question, but enough suggestion in it to make me think he’d given this some thought.
“That would be very useful. Can we break through the hedge or...?” I was trying to speak clearly without making it too obvious.
I couldn’t understand why Edwin hadn’t cured his hearing problem.
I thought being a shadow came with a side helping of health benefits.
But I’d only just met this cutie and already been the recipient of his impressive stink-eye, so I didn’t want to get any further on his bad side while he was being so helpful.
James shook his head. “Better to walk around. You should ask Edwin if you want to chop holes in the hedge.”
“Fair enough. Let’s look inside the carriage first, if that’s okay, before we head round to check it out.”
The carriage was, thankfully, watertight, but it would take a lot of work to turn this into a home.
There was no running water, or even any bathroom fittings, although someone, Edwin I presumed, had taken apart the original sections and repartitioned them into a lounge, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.
All had proper walls and doors, but with open holes for electric sockets to be wired in and markings on the floor in the bathroom for the sanitary ware.
My heart sank at what it would cost me, but presumably Edwin would be flexible about the rent he expected while I lived in a literal building site.
The garage was in excellent condition, totally empty apart from a wall of shelving and half a dozen tools suspended on hooks that I presumed Edwin used to keep the front garden tidy, as well as a lawnmower.
Everything was in good nick and would be incredibly useful.
The driveway was gravelled and mostly free of weeds, another point in its favour above the fact it would act as a signal if anyone were to approach the garden.
Two wooden stubs indicated gates had once separated the driveway from the pavement.
They would be simple to replace. My car would just fit on the driveway, another positive.
Back inside, James sat pointedly close to Edwin while I ran through the stuff I would change if it was possible. He was sang-froid about all of my suggestions, with the exception of my wish to move the carriage.
His forehead furrowed, he explained. “We’d need a crane.
I hired one to get it in situ in the first place.
So it’s doable, but it won’t be cheap and to be honest, I don’t know how quickly we could get one.
The other issue is the attention we’d attract by closing off the road behind for the crane to do the job.
I’m not keen on advertising myself if I can avoid it and I’m going to assume you’d prefer to keep your presence low-key too.
Where do you want it moved to, if possible? ”
I cringed. I hadn’t considered the attention a crane would bring to Edwin’s home.
I could empathise with him on this. I treasured the land I was being forced to vacate in part due to the lack of neighbours.
A crow wasn’t a wildly unusual animal as pets went, but one of Terrance’s size was noticeable.
Living here would mean extra caution not to be caught in conversation with a creature mundanes would assume to be dumb.
Furthermore, if I had to live in a city, I wouldn’t have chosen London due to its sheer size.
However, from what I’d seen of the area, and specifically the parcel of land Edwin had been canny enough to snap up when land prices had presumably been affordable, I wasn’t going to argue.
I had better give him an answer. “I totally understand about your not wanting to draw any attention to yourself, or us, and I don’t want to advertise my presence.
But, if we could move the carriage, then I was thinking of the opposite corner to where it is now, but at a slant cutting across the corner rather than tucked against the hedge.
” He quirked his brows for me to explain.
“It was James’ suggestion, actually. Unlike you, I’m a daytime person.
I would like somewhere to sit out and chill that isn’t my work space.
If I can move the carriage sideways on to the corner like that, I can have a little triangle of lawn with a chair and some flowers.
It would also put the windows of the rooms, not the corridor, looking out over the remainder of the garden rather than the hedge blocking out the light, which is obviously how you’d placed it and how it would work best for a vampire.
But, I can see it wouldn’t be the quickest solution to my imminent homelessness.
” I sighed, feeling suddenly despondent about the whole thing.
A curse on Filey’s shitty nephew and his shitty plans.
Edwin looked thoughtful. “Let me make a phone call,” he said.
“There might be a way, but I don’t want to promise you anything without checking.
” He squeezed James’ knee and shot him an affectionate smile, which James instantly returned.
Were they fucking? It looked likely, but this was the same kid who’d been brutally drained and assaulted by that rogue vamp only a few weeks back, so if they were making the beast with two backs already, it seemed a bit soon.
Perhaps Edwin was as persuasive as he was hot.
Because, by the Goddess, he was bloody good-looking.
James was more cute than hot, his appeal more in his delicate features and the inner glow I’d picked up as soon as I’d walked through the door.
The thought of the pair of them writhing naked sent blood rushing south and made concentrating more difficult than it should have been when we were discussing my future.
I excused myself back outside for Edwin to make a call in peace.
James did not follow, so I wondered again how close the pair of them were.
At first glance there was a world of difference between them, but I had learned a long time ago not to judge by looks.
They could so often be deceptive. Edwin was my height and build, but with his pale skin, golden waves of thick glossy hair, and startlingly blue eyes, we couldn’t have been any more unalike if we tried.
I subconsciously ran my hand through my own messy hair and began disentangling the strands from the band holding it off my face.
Terrance flew to a nearby fence post and perched in silence while I finger-combed the tangles into an approximation of neatness, then retied it.
I missed the hair I used to have, among so much more, but regrets wouldn’t change a damn thing — it was a wasted effort to let my mind dwell on them.
I’d made my mistakes and now I was paying for them.
“You like him.”
I eyed my familiar. “Which one?”
His laughter wasn’t a human sound, but it wasn’t bird-like either. “Either. Both. Both, I suspect.” When I didn’t answer him, Terrance chuckled again. “I thought so. Be careful, my friend.”
“Not like I’d make a move on James,” I retorted swiftly, mostly because guilt had me in its grasp; I had already entertained a quick daydream of holding him and making him swoon. Stupid stuff, but it had been too long since I’d got off to anything but my own hands.
Terrance flew to my shoulder. “You would, with the slightest encouragement.”
“Shut up, or I’ll tell Edwin you’re incontinent and need a cage if you’re to be allowed indoors.”
He pecked my ear until it bled. I deserved it.