Etched in Bone
Page 45

Tess watched that Cyrus cross the street as she considered the question. All the children received half their daily milk ration as part of their midmorning snack on school days, courtesy of the Courtyard. When they had decided how much rent to charge for the apartments, the Business Association had taken into account that the Sierra was a lone female who had to feed two pups, so they had agreed to charge her less than their other tenants. They had done those things because, while the Sierra wasn’t a dominant female like Miss Twyla and hadn’t earned the same respect, she had started out as a good, reliable worker.
She’d sulked a bit about their decision not to let her work at the consulate, and showed her displeasure by not doing her assigned work as well as she’d done it before. They were used to that behavior in humans, and she would have improved or been fired. But since the arrival of that Cyrus yesterday, the Sierra acted like a different person—someone none of the terra indigene would have trusted if she hadn’t been connected to Montgomery and Miss Twyla.
“Basic meals for herself and her pups at A Little Bite and Meat-n-Greens,” Tess said in answer to the banker’s question. “She has to pay cash for everything else, including food for anyone else, until she has a credit balance again.” She heard his hesitation. “Get Simon’s and Vlad’s approval before you send a message to all the stores, but let them know I’m going to hold to it in my shop.”
“Vlad just came in. I’ll tell him. If he agrees, I’ll tell all the stores.”
Tess hung up and stood to one side of the archway, watching the Sierra and that Cyrus, who had taken a seat.
“We’ve got quiche with seasonal fruit this morning,” the Sierra said. “And we have fresh muffins and some pastries left over from yesterday.”
“I’m not eating that shit,” that Cyrus replied. “I’ll have some bacon with scrambled eggs and fried potatoes and buttered toast. And coffee.”
“We don’t make that kind of breakfast,” the Sierra whined. “It’s a coffee shop, Jimmy.”
“You got the fixings here. You can go in the kitchen and make it for me.” That Cyrus leaned toward the Sierra, who cowered but didn’t have enough sense to walk away. “You owe me, Sissy. You lied to me about the situation here, so you owe me. Now, get your ass in the kitchen and cook me up some breakfast.”
Nadine stepped into the front room. “My kitchen is off-limits to everyone but Tess.”
Tess glanced at Nadine. Then she considered the knife in Nadine’s hand and the weirdly calm fury in the woman’s eyes.
Shit. <Henry, I need you here now.>
Her hair turned red with threads of black as she strode into the coffee shop, a predator to be reckoned with. “This coffee shop works the same way as any other in the city. You order the food, you pay for the food, and then you take it with you or eat it here.” She stayed focused on that Cyrus, struggling to stay in control while the threads of black in her hair turned into streaks—a warning that she was getting closer and closer to her true nature. She wanted to blacken his organs, turn them into festering slush. She wanted to make it rain inside his skull while she harvested his life energy. She didn’t care if she damaged the Sierra, but she didn’t want to hurt Nadine, so she had to stay in control, had to avoid taking that last step toward her true nature.
“Sissy can pay,” that Cyrus said.
“She’s tapped out,” Tess snapped. “So unless you have cash for the food, get out.”
That Cyrus rose, knocking the chair over. “Who do you think you are?”
She didn’t want to tell him. She wanted to show him.
“Tess?” Merri Lee’s voice from the archway. “Should I call the police?”
“Human law doesn’t apply here,” Henry growled, coming in from the back door.
She knew by the expression on that Cyrus’s face that Henry didn’t look completely human.
That Cyrus looked at all of them, then headed for the front door. Pausing as he pushed the door open, he hawked and spat on the coffee shop’s floor.
Feeling Henry move to block Nadine, and hoping Merri Lee had enough sense to hide, Tess shouted, “Hey!” In that moment when Cyrus looked toward her, her hair turned black with a few threads of red and she looked away before he saw more than the tiniest glimpse of what she was. He clutched at his chest, staggered out the door, and almost stumbled in front of an oncoming car before righting himself.
It didn’t feel like she had harvested enough life to damage him permanently, but that brief look at her should weaken him for a day.
The human mask wasn’t sufficiently in place, so Tess avoided looking at anyone—and hoped none of them were looking at her. <Are Nadine and Merri Lee all right?> she asked Henry as she headed for the hallway.
<Vlad pulled Merri Lee into HGR so she wouldn’t see, and I blocked Nadine and the Sierra,> he replied.
<We’ll finish this,> Simon said. <You need some quiet time.>
Startled, Tess almost looked up. When had the Wolfgard arrived?
<Nadine needs quiet time too,> she said.
<She’ll get it. Julia Hawkgard is here. She’ll take care of customers. Merri Lee can help and take things out of the oven.>
<I’ll go upstairs.> She had an office up there that she’d turned into a cozy nest where she could rest and still keep an eye on the shop during the day.
Keeping her eyes lowered, Tess went upstairs. Once she was safely alone, she looked in the mirror that hung on one wall. Black hair streaked with red, the coils beginning to relax. A face that, once again, looked human.