The creature before them was tall and wide, with greyish skin and an intimidating energy. Its overall form was human – as heavily muscled as a bodybuilder – but its features were stony and wider, as if it had been carved from a mountainside.
Nicole mentally flipped through her mother’s bestiary, landing on a Gnomus – but clearly this one was from one of the branches that had intermarried to grow much taller than those in the mythological stories. Lures didn’t work on them, hence the high demand for their services in establishments like this.
As they were ushered into the small room, the painting door closed behind them and the Gnomus checked their supernatural IDs. Nicole kept her pulse steady as he looked over her and Dylan’s fake ones, which claimed they were both Seers. Once the creature was satisfied, a great lock cracked and the reinforced door behind it swung open.
Nicole was blasted with the growl of jazz trumpets, the swell of strings, luxurious darkness, and the scents and feel of a dozen new creatures, like a gallery come to life.
The room was rectangular and tiered slightly, with one long mirrored bar on the left. On the right, a copper wall of banquettes caught the low glow of lamps and candles on each table. Above, a bevelled ceiling with crystal chandeliers – most likely heavily soundproofed – gave the sense of a vault.
Small tables were set throughout but the focal point was the stage across from them, alive and vibrating with a small orchestra and a boy band, the red drapes behind adding a bold backdrop to the four Sirens on the stage.
Remi’s attention was on them immediately, their song a blend of R&B and jazz. Each was dressed in a unique suit and polished in their own way: from the tight coils of dark hair and oversized suits in different colours, to the flash of tattoos and the bright lure of smiles. Their voices blended with the flow of music, adding to the magnetic feel of the bar.
The candlelight was nearly not enough to make out what other beings danced, glided, or sprawled in the space, which meant the glimmer of their varnishes reverted to just that. There were iridescent wings, and the momentary curl of a horn like a ram’s twisting up from dark, curly hair. A Nymph-like creature with hair down to the floor and slick as an oil spill, as if she’d stepped from an Arthur Rackhamillustration. Something more like a leathery arm than a leather jacket brushed Nicole as they passed, someone else had lightly pointed ears, another, tattoos that almost looked like they moved.
Nicole smothered the purr of her Empyreal and the curiosity of her art-loving heart.
Remi knew though, and smiled.
‘You okay?’ Nicole whispered to Dylan as they came further inside, following Remi’s confident lead.
He nodded tightly, eyes swiping over the room of creatures. Neither of them had ever been this close to supernaturals they didn’t know. Despite her trepidation, her chest was alight with a reluctant happiness, hearing snippets of conversation about spells and supernatural permits, noting the potent herbal alcohols perfuming the room, and spying the bar snacks of fried flowers and nuts that would cause a human an irreversible psychedelic trip. It was like they’d stepped into one of her mother’s bestiaries or tomes on supernatural society. Now she was apartof it.
But she was also responsible for keeping it safe.
Images of Wild Hunts and apocalypses swirled like unholy fire through her mind.
‘Have a few drinks,’ Remi said, interrupting them. ‘Take the edge off, or you’ll make people nervous.’ She used her Siren abilities to bend the sound in a way that only Dylan and Nicole could hear.
‘Join me at the bar?’ Callum suggested.
Dylan sent him a look, but the other Empyreal’s eyes held only amusement, challenge, and a bite of heat.
‘Fine,’ her brother said.
Callum’s smile was as dangerous as a dare.
Tension seared and Nicole quickly hooked her arm through Remi’s as Dylan peeled off from them.
‘Take me away before we’re burned in the crossfire,’ she murmured.
Remi chuckled and walked her to a sleek booth near the stage with a small red lamp that gave everything a bloody, sensual hue.
‘We need to talk about that when we have a moment,’ she said, as she clipped a ward beneath the table that would mute their conversations but still allow them to hear the room. Her bare legs were smooth and pressed against Nicole’s reassuringly, the large gold sequins on Remi’s short skirt like a spill of coins.
Nicole took a breath, steeling herself against the onslaught of extra details and focusing on the familiar closeness.
‘That would require knowinganythingabout it,’ Nicole said. ‘Dylan’s been silent on the matter.’
Remi made a noise of interest, tearing her fascinated look off Dylan and Callum and back on the music while Nicole scoured thepatrons.
Picture the gallery, she thought, remembering Kyan’s advice.
When she was little, her father had taught her how to spot supernaturals by noting the unusual magics humans were taught to ignore. Nicole could sense it, of course. That prickle at the back of her neck, or an instinctive tug in her stomach that told her:Look. Treasure.
Just like the first time she’d met Remi: her curls backlit by the sun. Nicole had known instantly that Remi was supernatural. Knew the soft harmony of herhelloheld the promise of power as it raised the hair on her arms. Amid her fascination, she had noticed Remi’s equal interest. Then, as if they both knew it, and both realised that they were safe in that knowledge, they smiled. And a tentative friendship had begun.
Dylan set drinks before them on a napkin printed with an antique-looking Mermaid with wings, blindfolded by a piece of seaweed. Likely, it was an iconographic combination of the mythical Greek Sirens, and Mermaids. Or, Nicole suspected, the Liver Bird that watched over the city.
