Page 10 of Monsters' Manor

I spend the next twenty minutes going through the rest of my closing tasks—cleaning the booth and getting everything ready for tomorrow—and keep up a steady stream of conversation with Silas the whole time.

Besides being nicer to me than I probably deserve, it turns out Silas also has a dry, sharp sense of humor. He gives me some insight into the tea this season at Edgar’s Acres, providing some surprisingly barbed commentary on a witch who has beef with Howard for breaking her heart last season, and a couple of vampires who had a falling out over a pretty forest nymph they both wanted to mark with their bite.

Feeling a million times more lighthearted by the time I finish up and lock the door behind us as we step outside, I savor the feel of the breeze against my skin. The early October night air is crisp and cool, and I breathe it down deep, tipping my head back to look at the sky.

“A full moon tonight,” Silas murmurs.

I hum in agreement. “The next one will be on Samhain. A blue moon.”

“Is that so?”

When I glance over, I can’t really see him anymore. With the night wrapped around us, his shadows have nearly disappeared into the darkness. It’s only the white light of the moon that lets me see the faint outline of him at all. Still, I can hear the smile in his voice.

“Yes, that is so.” It’s been a habit I’ve been hard-pressed to break, counting time by moon cycles. I don’t know why I still do it, really, other than that it’s how my father always marked the passage of the months—not by the calendar, but by the waxing and waning of the moon.

“Should be a wild night,” Silas says with an unexpected edge to his voice, dark and teasing. “Samhain always is, but with a full moon? I can only imagine.”

A shiver runs down my spine, and not just because of the reminder of Odelia’s deadline.

A wild night.

What does that mean, in this place filled with monsters and magick?

“I hope I’m still here for it.”

“I hope so, too.”

All the dark teasing is gone from his voice, replaced by a plain sincerity and earnestness. An open friendliness I’m not sure what I’ve done to deserve.

We stay like that for a few more moments, bathed in moonlight with the stars sparkling above. It’s a moment of peace. An exhale. Something I didn’t know I desperately needed after how I’ve been feeling the last few days.

But like everything else here, it can’t last.

“I should get going,” I say finally, nodding toward the long, sloping hill that leads down toward the staff village.

“Alright. Goodnight, Rose.”

“Goodnight.”

He’s gone in a heartbeat, fading into the deep darkness and leaving me alone once more.

4

My slightly improved mood lasts until I leave my cottage the next evening to head into work and find I have another demon escort.

Renwick is waiting on the postage-stamp sized porch outside my cottage’s front door. He’s leaning on the banister, and honestly looks ridiculous next to the ornate wooden scrollwork on the eaves, the delicate wrought-iron railing, and the overflowing planter boxes on the windows filled with fall flowers enjoying their last bloom before the frost kicks in.

The whole cottage looks like it belongs in some kind of fairytale, and Renwick is the villain come to wreak havoc in the pretty, enchanted forest.

“What do you want?”

I might have found some patience and maturity talking with Silas last night, but the same doesn’t go for the demon. I’m still petty enough to be pissed at him, and all that irritation kicks into high-gear when I see his smirk.

“I was hoping to catch you before your shift.”

“Doesn’t answer my question.” I brush past him down the steps.

He trails along behind me. “About what happened yesterday at Mira’s—”

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