Chapter 22 #2
I walked over to a customer and concentrated really hard on them and only them. They probably thought I was a weirdo with the way I was staring at them, but that was okay. I didn’t care.
After about an hour, I started to realize that a few of the patrons had this… certain smell. Almost woodsy or something. Or at least it reminded me of being out in the middle of the forest.
Every one of those woodsy-smelling people were in the same group, and after staring at them for a while, I had the feeling they were shifters. Wolf shifters, to be exact.
When Arzu walked by, I snagged their attention and whispered, “Is that group over there wolf shifters?”
They glanced at where I was pointing, then turned back to me with a grin. “Yep.”
“I knew it. They smell woodsy.”
For some reason, that made them chuckle as they continued to their table.
After that, I started sniffing out everyone in the bar. Hopefully I wasn’t being too obvious about it, but I found a lone witch who was talking to some kind of water animal shifter. I thought they might’ve been a mermaid. Two fae came in together, had one drink each, and left.
There was a group of three vampires hanging out in the corner, and they actually seemed to know Toby. They tried to get him to sit with them, but he said he was guarding his fledgling, and they all gave him respectful nods, looked at me with more nods, and then walked off to their corner.
It was… kind of nice, actually.
There were a ton of humans, and now that I could scent them, it was so very obvious who was a human and who was a supe. No wonder all the supes in my life had such an easy time telling everyone apart.
Of course I got the drow scent from Arzu and Drin, but I recognized that one because of Zay’s dad, Obi. And then I got the grizzly bear shifter scent from Quinn, even though he was all the way by the door.
It was really cool how I could kind of focus my nose on certain things or specific people, no matter where they were in the bar.
This was going to be a fun power to play with.
Jett yelled out, “Last call!” And I was honestly surprised. Apparently playing what-type-of-creature-are-you with myself made the time fly by. I’d thought I still had an hour or two left.
After Quinn shut the door so no one else could come in but the current patrons could go out, he walked over to the bar like he usually did at closing time. I put a water in front of him, and he took it gratefully, drinking half of it in one go.
“You know, I can always bring you a water when you run out. Just give me a signal or something,” I said.
“Mm. I might have to take you up on that. Thanks.”
I shrugged and finished wiping down the counter. I’d said that to him a million and a half times before, but he never did it. Maybe I should just start taking one over every once in a while or something.
Or I could send Arzu to do it. They’d love the extra Quinn time, I was sure.
This was a great plan.
After a moment, Quinn asked, “Soooo… you figured out how to use your nose tonight, huh?”
I paused and looked at him, now worried I’d been sniffing people obviously or something. “What do you mean?”
He rolled his eyes. “You’re figuring out how to identify people, right?”
I nodded with a grimace. “Oh shit, were people mad I was sniffing them?”
He laughed and shook his head. “I don’t think anyone else noticed, but I know you, so I did.” He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal.
“Ugh. That’s… horrible.”
He laughed again, but his smile turned into a smirk. “Guess what I did over the weekend?”
“What?”
“Took Arzu out on a date.”
My jaw dropped. “What? Are you serious? Oh my god! How did it go?”
“It went amazingly. They were so fucking sweet, and we ended up kissing in front of their door for a while before I said goodnight. I don’t want them thinking I’m only in it for sex or something, so I’m trying to take it slow. Like, I’m all in with them. I… I really, really fucking like them.”
I let out a loud squeal and practically jumped over the bar to reach him and give him a huge hug.
He laughed and hugged me back.
I whispered, “I’m so happy for you, Quinny. Like so fucking happy. You deserve the absolute best, and I really think Arzu can be that for you.”
“I think so too. I really, really do.” He turned his head so his lips were near my ear as he spoke in a barely-there whisper, “I think they might be… mine.”
Holy shit. Quinny and Arzu were viramores?
“Really?”
He nodded. “I… I know they are.”
I let out another squeal, although I tried to keep it quiet so I didn’t hurt his ears. Then I gave him another squeeze, released him, and quickly finished up while he told me a little more about their date.
Eventually, Arzu joined us, and when they put their hand on Quinn’s back and kissed his cheek, I almost swooned right there.
Gah! I was so fucking happy for them.
“What?” Arzu asked when they saw me staring at the two of them.
“Nothing, I just… oh my god, I’m so happy for you two.”
“They’re fucking adorable together,” Jett added even though he’d been walking around cleaning the floors and not even remotely a part of this conversation. He always had to jump in, the nosey butt.
I loved him for it, though.
Both Arzu and Quinn blushed, and I couldn’t help but grin. Jett and I shared a holy-shit-aren’t-they-so-cute look.
“Seriously adorable,” I couldn’t help but add as I carried some more dirty dishes to the back with a huge grin on my face.
In the years I’d known Quinn, I’d never seen him look so happy. It made my heart warm with affection for both of them.
And holy shit, they were viramores too. I just knew Quinn was right about that.