Page 65 of Aberrant Monsters
I didn’t need Telarion for this.
I didn’t need him for anything.
seventeen
The Night Guild was an imposing gray stone building on Pendergrast Street. It reached for the stars with jutting plinths for the gargoyles who lived there to launch themselves into the sky. Iron gates barred entry to the grounds, but a guard was on hand to let us in.
“Miss Silvercrest is expecting you.” He led us across a small courtyard toward a two-story building connected to the main house.
The structure was newer than the gray stone building. Heat kissed my cheeks as we entered, and the smell of coffee tickled my senses. A reception counter blocked entry to the good stuff. But no one was there to greet us.
The guard pressed a button by the counter. “She’ll be out in a moment.”
He left us to it and headed out the door.
The Night Guild was the supernatural society’s answer to law enforcement. By day, officers like Devyn held the fort, but by night the gargoyles came to life and patrolled the skies. There were pillars all over the city, plinths of stone a person in trouble could touch to summon aid if in mortal distress. I wasn’t sure how it worked, and I’d never used one, but many supernaturals felt safer knowing they were there.
This gray stone monolithic building was the Night Guild’s base, but it didn’t look like a police station; neither did the extension we were in. “What is this place?”
“The guild archive,” Quentin said. “All their case files are held here and most of the staff live in the main building.”
“So this isn’t where they bring their criminals?”
“No, they have a precinct in the city where criminals are held while being questioned. If convicted, they’re transported and held at the Athenaeum.”
“And what is an Atha… whatever you said.”
“A prison and a library. The most dangerous criminals are stored there as books.”
“Did you just say what I think you said?”
He smiled. “Yes. Criminals are turned into books. I believe this not only saves space but also enables the finest minds in science to study them, to find out whatmakesa criminal and hopefully find a way to reduce future crime.”
“It all sounds a little far-fetched to me.”
He smiled. “And rift walking is an everyday normal thing?”
“Touché.”
“Hey, guys,” Nandi said from behind the counter. Archie and Devyn appeared behind her. “We have a lead. Kind of.”
“Not much of a lead,” Devyn drawled. “More of a leap of faith.”
“Okay.” I stepped away from the counter to allow them room to file out. “What have we got?”
“Four strange deaths,” Archie said proudly.
Devyn gave him a what-the-fuck look.
He shrugged. “What?”
“They occurred over a space of three weeks after our eldritch came through the rift,” Nandi said. “All relatively close to the Underbelly.”
“A two-mile radius,” Archie added.
I looked up at Quentin. “Isn’t that far for an eldritch to go from its point of entry?”
“It is, but we can’t discount it. We’re learning more and more about these creatures every day.”
