Page 54 of Insidious Monsters
“That’s the guy I tangled with over the cute eldritch at Roll With It.”
“Victor?”
“Victor. Yeah, he looks like a Victor.”
Quentin pushed his chair back. “Come on. The sooner we get this job done, the better. Too long in Keswick’s presence gives me hives.”
I snorted and followed him to the door. “What is the story between you two.”
“I’ll tell you one day soon.”
We stepped into the cold afternoon as Keswick and Victor joined us on this side of the street.
“Quentin,” Keswick said with a thin smile and assessing gaze. “Still pumping iron?”
“Keswick.” Quentin smiled. “And you’re still not.”
Victor’s gaze was on me, recognition replaced with a smug smile. “So we meet again.”
“You know her?” Keswick asked.
“This is the rift walker I was telling you about. The newbie who let my target escape.”
“This is August,” Quentin said. “And please don’t blame your obvious incompetence on my charge. From what I hear, the eldritch was a baby and it was perfectly at ease with my charge. She even offered to return it to the rift, but you declined the offer, frightening the creature and causing it to bolt.”
Victor’s brows snapped down. “That’s not how it went down. Your charge refused to bag it and call it in.”
Call it in? The fucker knew what that meant for the creature.
“What, so it can get sliced and diced?” I glared at him, hands tingling with the need to smack something. “For a human, you seem to have very little humanity.”
“I do my job.”
“So do I. Difference is, I can also think for myself.”
“Enough,” Quentin and Keswick snapped at the same time.
I took a step back, only now realizing that Victor and I were almost chest to chest. Damn, how had that happened?
My anger melted as quickly as it had risen and the tingling heat in my hands ebbed. “Look, we’re here to do a job, so let’s focus on that and get this done.”
“Agreed,” Keswick said. “Victor, pull up the map.”
Victor tugged a tablet from his pack and flipped to a map of the city, zeroing in on our location. “I’ve marked the residue sightings.”
I took out my tablet and held it close to his so he could transfer the data wirelessly.
“You take the north sector, and we’ll take south,” Keswick said. “Stay on comms and we’ll work our way back to the bridge.”
Victor and Keswick headed off, and Quentin exhaled as if he’d been holding his breath. “Lead the way, August.”
I checked the screen, located the nearest residue signature, and set off toward it. We could be on the cusp of locating our first eldritch person, and that meant real answers about the eldritch world.
I couldn’t wait.
* * *
The sun was beginningto dip by the time we made it back to the bridge. A few decades ago, this bridge had been occupied by traffic, but it was a pedestrian-only zone now, overlooking the river and linked by two towers. The bridge in between the towers no longer lifted to let in huge freighters. I wasn’t sure what happened to those shipments now.
