City of Magic: The Complete Series Helen Harper (fox in socks read aloud TXT) 📖

I frowned as if thinking deeply. ‘A mile. Maybe slightly more.’

‘And are we likely to bump into any more creatures like that one?’

I raised my shoulders. ‘Never say never. The beasties do tend to come out more at night, and dusk isn’t far off now. But it’s unlikely. The rest of the route from here to our enclave is usually clear.’

‘Usually,’ the bodyguard snorted. ‘That’s not good enough. Do the animals live in your so-called enclave too?’

‘Animals?’ I frowned at him. ‘I don’t know what you mean. There are some cats and a couple of pet dogs. I think someone has a budgie…’

His nearest buddy interrupted. ‘He means the wolves. And the bloodsuckers. Will they be there too?’

I blinked innocently. ‘But of course. We’re all one big happy family.’

‘Then,’ the first bodyguard addressed Fab again, ‘I must insist that we turn around and leave the city at once. I don’t want to be out at night and we can’t stay in this enclave if those other … things are there too.’

‘Relax, Boyce,’ Fab said. ‘If Charley here can manage it, you can too. After all, she’s half your size and she’s obviously doing fine.’

‘She’s got blue hair,’ Boyce growled. ‘And she can do shit with her fingers. She’s infected and obviously dangerous. I might not have been part of your team for long but I know what I’m doing. Until we know more about this city, we should get you out of here.’

Interesting. He was far more antsy than his employer. And a newbie. ‘For the record,’ I told them lightly, ‘I get this hair colour out of a bottle. The magic has nothing to do with it.’ I didn’t deny being infected; I couldn’t do that. And I probably was a wee bit dangerous at times but only when threatened.

I drew in a breath. ‘I won’t guarantee your safety because that would be foolish. I will say, however, that you are in no more danger in our enclave than you would be in any other British city.’

‘Well,’ Fab smiled, ‘that settles it then.’

Boyce glared. ‘Our radios don’t work. If anything goes wrong, we’ll have to…’

‘It will be fine.’ Fab’s voice was colder this time. ‘We continue.’

Some of the tension in my shoulders eased. I’d been gambling on this outcome and I’d been almost certain I’d achieve it. All the same, I was relieved that things had worked out the way I’d wanted them to.

‘Come on then,’ I beamed. ‘Let’s get going before Cuddles returns.’ I looked up at the sky, shielding my eyes. ‘We don’t have long before the sun sets.’

I strolled ahead, twisting my head to the left and silently acknowledging the narrowed blue eyes watching from the roof of the house ahead. In the dying sun, Monroe’s fur was tinged with more burnished red than usual.

I flicked my hand in the air then ran my fingers through my hair. Even in wolf form, he looked remarkably pissed off at my surreptitious instruction but he did lower himself behind the chimney stack. He might not be happy but I knew he’d understand. If all this was going to work for us, we had to be in control at every moment.

Chapter Eleven

I’m sure you know that the one thing most people like more than anything else is talking about themselves. Fabian Barrett was no exception. While his men walked in silence, their eyes flicking from left to right and their postures visibly stiff, even with the hazmat suits on, Fab meandered lazily next to me and chatted non-stop. He acted like he possessed total faith in his own immortality, regardless of his surroundings. With five bodyguards around him, that wasn’t an entirely unreasonable belief.

‘I was as shocked as anyone when the Plague began,’ he said. Now that he’d calmed down, the steam on his visor had subsided and it was easier to make out his face. He looked older in real life than he did on television. He didn’t have wrinkles but his skin had that smoothed-out quality that told of too many Botox treatments and face lifts. Rather than make him appear younger, it suggested he was older than his years. Not that I blamed him for his vanity. It couldn’t be easy being constantly in the public eye. I knew enough from Julie and her previous career as an actress to appreciate that.

‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Force of habit. What do you call what’s happened? I know it’s not the Plague.’

‘Usually, we just say the apocalypse,’ I told him. ‘Sometimes the Manpocalypse.’ Cath’s attempt at coining a new phrase hadn’t really caught on, but she kept trying with it. I had to admire her persistence.

‘The Manpocalypse because it’s local to Manchester?’

I nodded.

‘Clever.’ He heaved in a breath. ‘In those first weeks, you know, we weren’t sure that it wouldn’t spread. Everyone was on alert. I had a lot of people working for me in this city and I spoke to each and every one of them after they were evacuated. The tales they told were barely credible. And utterly horrifying.’ He shuddered. ‘The rats. The fire falling from the sky. The way the trees suddenly began sprouting at a rate of knots.’

‘It was quite something,’ I agreed.

‘Why on earth did you stay?’

I considered his question. ‘For the same reason, I suppose, that people continue to live in Los Angeles and Tokyo when the threats of massive earthquakes hang over their heads every day. The same reason why there are settlements near active volcanoes or near the shore in tsunami zones. The benefits outweigh the risks. And this is my home.’

‘The benefits being … magic?’ he asked.

I smiled easily. ‘Amongst other things.’

‘I visited here several times before the Pla— before the apocalypse,’ he told me. ‘Manchester was a great city.’

‘It still is.’

His expression didn’t change. ‘Yes,’ he murmured. ‘I can believe that. I’ve been trying to get back here for months. The government can prove