Silver at Midnight: A Paranormal Romance Urban Fantasy (The Keepers of Knowledge Series Book 5) Bridgette O'Hare (ebook offline .txt) 📖

did get the hang of it. Explains why she never taught it to me, God rest her soul. She would not have been pleased to learn I started a full-on bar fight. Or she might have been amused. Toss up.

The time pause gave me a chance to evaluate what was happening around me. Truth was, I wasn’t even sure how what was happening had even happened. That’s what I got for trying to be friendly. Cian was not going to be pleased when he learned I was responsible for the destruction of Rocky’s. I’d already caused him enough stress and yet there I was wreaking havoc in a whole new way.

I rotated my hand counterclockwise to rewind the scene until I was walking through the front door of Rocky’s Tavern . . . again.

I glanced around for an opening at a high top, meandered past a couple of Witches chatting it up with a Banshee, and made my way to the first empty spot I saw at the other end of the bar. A spot that just happened to be next to one of the most attractive Vamps I’d ever seen. Granted, most Vamps were oddly physically attractive for some reason, just not to me. One of the downsides of being able to see someone for who they are at their core. Soul Sight wasn’t always a blessing, I supposed. So, I sat down next to Hot Vamp Guy and waited for the bartender to take my order. Innocent enough, so far.

But I could feel Hot Vamp Guy’s glances bore into me every so often. And that’s when I made my first mistake.

I tried to be friendly.

When the feeling of his next glance rushed over me, I immediately turned to meet it and offered a friendly smile. Harmless, or so I thought. It was then that Hot Vamp Guy’s female companion glared at me. I would have sworn I heard her hiss, but her lips were pressed hard together.

To most, she would be considered gorgeous. But there was darkness in her soul. That’s right, I said it. Vamps have souls. Contrary to what the lore might say about them being the walking dead, there is still a soul there. It’s a long story. Goes back to the beginning of time. Literally.

Thing is, some Vamps—just like every other race in existence—have both good and bad. Not every Fae is good . . . not every one is bad. Some of us often find ourselves teetering somewhere in the middle. But this Vamp, she was definitely getting coal in her stocking every year.

So, Dark Soul Vamp was shooting daggers at me with her stare, and that’s when I made my second mistake.

“Is there a problem, Witch?” I spouted it without missing a beat. I should really work on my filter. Scratch that. I should really develop a filter. But sue me, I’d had a tough couple of days.

Turned out, Dark Soul Vamp did not like Witches much. I, personally, think they’re delightful and would have taken it as a term of endearment. Not the case here.

Less than a split second later, fangs grazed the collar of my leather jacket—and it’s my favorite jacket—just before Dark Soul Vamp found herself crashing into a rather unpleasantly surprised cute little auburn-haired pale girl who happened to be walking by.

“Sorry!” I mouthed to Pale Girl just as I recognized her. The Mimic I’d seen reading at the café my first night in Pyreshore. Never would have pegged her for the bar type.

I barely had a moment to offer Pale Girl an apologetic nod before Dark Soul Vamp was bee-lining back at me. I had to give it to the Vamps—they were fast. But this one wasn’t fast enough. I dodged her just as a considerably large, and might I add rather impressive, specimen of the male Gargoyle persuasion stepped into the line of fire. I didn’t have time to warn him or push him out of the way. Next thing I knew, he was tumbling over Hot Vamp Guy and crashing into some poor soul at the end of the bar. And the domino effect began.

Have you ever watched one of those bar fights in movies where Guy Number One tumbles accidentally into Guy Number Two, Guy Two turns and gets all pissed off and immediately breaks a beer bottle over the head of Guy Number Three, and all hell breaks loose from there? Yeah. That’s what was happening at Rocky’s Tavern. Only, instead of beer bottles and wooden chairs as weapons, you faced the possibility of swords, elements of nature, fangs, and more coming at you. So much more.

In fact, Gargoyle Guy literally manned up and took a sword straight to the chest to protect Pale Girl. A sword! One of the perks to being made of literal stone. Also, major points for taking one for the team. I didn’t need Soul Sight to know his soul was putting out some light . . . stone or not.

Just as Gargoyle Guy wrapped himself around Pale Girl to shield her, I noticed Dex Long standing by a booth near the back with someone like he was simply watching a tennis match—looking from one side to the other as if he saw this type of thing every day. I shook my head. At least he wasn’t caught in the middle of it like I found myself.

While I had everything in slow motion, I looked around for an escape route. Yes, fleeing the scene that I managed to create seemed like a punk move, but it wasn’t like I started it on purpose. Sometimes, I just didn’t do a particularly good job of holding my tongue. I’d apologize to Cian for the damage to his bar later. Now, I just needed out.

I sped up the time pause by moving my hand just a smidge quicker to fast forward to the point where I halted the scene. I needed to get close enough to see a viable escape path.