Anything?I asked monster.
No.
I saw no security cameras, so I decided to look around outside. I crept down the stairs, waited to ensure that the neighboring houses were still dark. I walked along the side of the house, found literally nothing. Not even a shrub. Grass reached right to the house’s exterior walls.
“Not much personality,” I murmured.
The yard behind the house was just as empty. No patio, no shrubs. An exterior door led to steps down to a crushed gravel path that led to Black’s (presumably former) carriage house.
It was a long structure with two wide, arched doors on the end that faced the street, the doors gorgeously carved. There were high windows along the sides, but unlike the windows in Black’s house, they were dusty and smeared with age. I found a few bricks on the ground and piled them up to make a step—while working to ignore the crawling and skittering things that made their home in and around them.
I stepped up, peered into a window. And found nothing. I’d have sworn there was faint magic in the air, but the (definitely former) carriage house was virtually empty. There were a few garden tools and some plastic boxes. Two pieces of furniture—bureaus, given their size and shape—were covered in dustcloths.
I stepped down, looked around. No Black. No magic. No secrets.
At least not ones that I could see.
* * *
I messaged Connor when I was on my way back to the town house, advised him I was ready for relaxation. I was welcomedhome by the scents of garlic and tomatoes, and found Lulu at the stove. Her short hair was pushed back behind a pearl headband, and she was pouring red wine into a big pot. She didn’t cook often, but every once in a while, she found herself in the mood. The dog apparently hadn’t done much for my hunger, as my stomach growled noisily.
“Drink?” she asked.
“God, yes,” I said.
Without turning around, she pointed at an open wine bottle on the nearby counter. I picked it up, took a drink. My mouth puckered from the dryness. “Nice.”
“New-to-me brand,” Lulu said. “Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”
“It smells amazing.”
“Thanks.” For the first time, she glanced back at me and took in the dust and grit and general explodiness of my clothes and hair. And her eyes went huge. “What the hell happened to you?”
“Demons blew up a warehouse.”
“While you were in it?”
“Only nearby. Me and Theo.”
“You look like you got stuck in a dirt tornado.”
Not entirely inaccurate, and the grit was starting to chafe. “Do I have time for a shower?”
“If you’re fast.” A timerdinged, and she turned back to a boiling pot, which I assumed held pasta.
“Wolves?” I asked.
“Alexei is watching soccer.”
“Football,” he called out from the den.
“It’s soccer in the US, as you know.”
Of course he did. But irritating Lulu was one of his hobbies.
“Your shifter is outside. I think he needed some quiet time.”
“What happened?” I asked.
