Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Laz was of average height with dark hair. He was always wearing khakis and a white button-up like he was some adventurer. Just missing the giant brimmed hat. He was your average Jewish human man who sat next to his best friend, Schwartz, an enormous mer of Haitian descent. His father had been human and his mother a mer. He had the physique of an Olympic swimmer, skin the color of onyx, and locs down his back. He’d been their security detail during the heist and was uncomfortably good with explosives.
“You did not bomb a shipping barge in California!” Gen argued.
Schwartz shrugged. “Maybe we did, maybe we didn’t.”
Laz laughed and clapped Gen on the back. “Maybe it’s better you don’t know.”
“Maybe it’s better you’re not active criminals.”
Laz and Schwartz burst out laughing.
“We’re all criminals, Gen,” Kierse said as she came up behind them. “Hence the heist part of the heist group chat.”
“That was sweet, wasn’t it?” Laz asked.
Laz slapped George’s hand as he slunk into the room behind the pair. “That picture was priceless.”
George shook Schwartz’s hand next. “He’s needed that group chat for years. Keeps him more human than monster.”
“More man than menace,” Laz agreed.
Schwartz shook his head. “Nah, he’ll always be terrifying, but it is fun to poke fun at it.”
“So long as he doesn’t turn the terror on us,” Laz said.
Laz, Schwartz, and George all nodded sagely.
“I’m here. Did I miss anything?” a voice said behind Kierse.
She found a bombshell walking into their midst. Lyra Anderson was an Upper East Side vampire princess. The daughter of the First Vampire War leaders Beckham Anderson and Reyna Carpenter, she should have been the last person involved with their heists. Yet she’d figured out what they were doing and insinuated herself in the last one.
She was also tall, dark-haired, and utterly gorgeous, her body willowy, her skin so pale as to be translucent, and her expressions so disarming that it was hard to look at her sometimes. She was without a doubt Kierse’s type. They’d tried to use that to their advantage, and she was still pretty sure Lyra would be up for joining her and Graves if they were into it.
“You’re right on time,” Laz told her.
“Excellent. Where’s my T-shirt?”
Gen pulled one out of a bag and handed it to her. “I hope it’s your size.”
“Looks perfect. I’m serious about the Anne Boleyn shirt, though.” Lyra winked at Kierse as she passed. “Hey, Kierse.”
“Lyra.”
“Um…I invited other people. Hope that’s okay,” Gen said as Ethan entered the room.
“Hey, I chose the side of evil at the end,” the Druid said as he stepped into the monster’s lair.
“Ha. Ha. You’re so funny,” Kierse said.
“Is it all right if I join as well?” a second voice said as Niamh stood outside the library. “The front door wards let me pass but not here…”
“Come in,” Graves said from where he poured himself a drink, looking up at Niamh like a particularly violent thunderstorm had crashed through the room.
She stepped inside. “Thanks.”
Niamh and Graves had a storied past. Kierse was pretty sure they still hated each other most of the time. Especially since Niamh had been involved in the binding ceremony with Lorcan, but she had made the right call in the end. And it was easier to work with the Druids with Niamh on the Oak Throne.
Gen grasped Kierse’s hand and drew her down onto the sofa. She pulled out her sketch pad as everyone else settled into their seats. Laz and Schwartz sat on either side of Lyra across the room. Walter was in his seat with his computer set up. Ethan and Niamh took seats opposite Graves. While George moved away from the guys to lean back against the bookshelves.
Graves carried his scotch in a crystal glass with him to the table at the center of his Holly Library. He set the glass down with a heavy thunk.
“Let’s begin. I’ll start by addressing the elephant in the room. This is the first meeting without Nate as part of our group,” Graves said solemnly.
The room went silent at the words. A horrible ache settled in Kierse’s bones at the thought. Tears came to her eyes, and she brushed them aside. She missed Nate. The easy humor, the way he knew what to say to make her laugh, how certain she was that she could come back to him without explanation. It was too hard to think about him being gone forever, and he wouldn’t get to see what he and Maura had worked so hard to create.
“Nate and I didn’t always see eye to eye on everything,” Graves continued, “but he is missed, and what happened was a tragedy. One that I still intend to correct.”
“Hear, hear!” Laz cried.
Schwartz lifted his drink, and then they were all lifting their hands to the circle in memoriam of their fallen friend. Kierse wished she had a drink to dull the pain a little more.