Page 40 of Aberrant Monsters
Fuck.
I shoved my seat back.
“Where are you going?”
I strode toward the door to the main house. “To get myself a contract.”
twelve
The north wing was dark and damp, and it would have been creepy if I were afraid of ghosts. But hanging with Nandi and chilling in the cemetery had cured me of any fears I had toward the undead.
On the whole, ghosts weren’t interested in hurting humans anyway. Therewereexceptions to the rule, though. We called them twisted, but humans had other names for them like poltergeist or demons. But demons had better things to do than wander around on earth. Trust me, if you saw a demon, there’d be no doubt what you were seeing, and unless you were a summoner and could control the creature, it would also be the last thing you saw.
I made my way down the dingy corridor, hugging myself, rubbing my arms and feeling almost bad for putting Quentin in this part of the castle. I mean, it wasn’t his fault he’d been assigned to me. He was doing his job, and punishing him for my predicament hardly seemed fair.
There was a spare room in the east wing; it was small but warm, and the electricity there was reliable too.
I’d offer to move him.
I stopped outside his door and stood with my toes bathed in the strip of light shining out from beneath it. I’d come here all gung-ho about demanding a contract, but what leverage did I have?
I mean, who needed who the most here?
Only one way to find out.
I rapped sharply on wood and waited. It was almost midnight, but our meeting had only wrapped up thirty minutes ago, so he couldn’t have fallen asleep already.
He opened the door a moment later, fully dressed, looking just as groomed as he had in the study. Warm lamplight lit up the room behind him. I guess the electricity supply was behaving tonight.
He gave me a polite inquiring look. “What can I do for you, August?”
“I want a contract.”
He gave me a small smile. “Smart girl.”
Irritation flared in my chest. “Don’t talk to me like you’re ancient and I’m a child. It’s patronizing.”
He tipped his head to one side. “Very well. Smartwoman, then.” He waited, staring at me expectantly. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“What do you want your contract to say?”
Crap. WhatdidI want it to say? “That once I’ve done my part, the Order will separate me from Telarion and reinstate the blood contract, which sets me free of the Order completely.”
The corner of his mouth tipped. “I’ll pass that on.” He made to shut the door, but I pressed my palm to it to halt him.
“When will you pass it on?”
He stepped aside a little so I could see into the room beyond. Neatly made bed, sparse furnishings, a desk housing a laptop, and a long oblong gray thing that looked like a coffin.
“What’s that?”
He glanced over his shoulder at the coffin thing. “Biometric scanner. There wasn’t room for it in the study. We’ll be using that to make sure you don’t sustain any damage after your trips into the eldritch realm.”
“I have to getinsidethat thing?”
“Are you claustrophobic?”
