Page 29 of Only Human in Strangeville

Drake walked in, a smug expression on his face.

“You are not welcome here.” Clare grabbed her phone.

I took a few steps back to stand next to my growling nimbus, not sure what else to do.

“I’ve simply come for the creature. You’re no longer in protected territory, and I will have what is mine.”

“I already told you, you can’t have him. He’s not yours.” I stepped in front of Nimbus, heart speeding, adrenaline coursing through me.

“And he certainly doesn’t want to go with you,” Clare replied, putting her phone down and pulling something else out from under the counter.

“It’s not his choice.” Drake stepped toward us.

I took one of the heavier books out of the bag and dropped the rest. “Seems he’s intelligent enough that it should be.”

The shade ignored my statement, apparently done with talking, and came over to me.

I lunged forward, slamming the book into his throat, spine first, just as Clare tossed something powdery at the shade.

Drake gargled out a shout of pain as he clutched at his throat. We’d surprised him, but I wasn’t sure it was enough. If he’d been human, the book to the throat would have dropped him.

Nimbus howled, and a whirl of air stirred up the powder Clare had thrown, pelting the shade with it and driving him to the door. The door slammed open, and Drake was shoved out, still batting at the remnants of whatever Clare had tossed at him.

“I forgot to tell you, dear,” Clare said once the door clanged shut behind the shade and Nimbus’s howl quieted. “There’s a sort of repellant in this bag under the counter. Anyone supernatural comes in and makes a scene, throw it at them. It nullifies their powers to a degree. You’re allowed to defend yourself.”

The werewolf who had followed me to work slammed through the door a moment later. I didn’t know her name, but she had clearly been running. Her hair was disheveled, and a bruise faded on her cheek.

“Sorry. He had friends.”

I blew out a breath between my teeth. “Fuck. Clare, I don’t know if it’s safe for me to be here. Not if this is going to happen.”

“Nonsense.” She waved away my concern. “This problem will be dealt with soon enough.”

“You think so?”

She shrugged. “I sense it. Until then, we’ll just do the best we can.”

I wondered what ‘soon enough’ meant to Clare, but she seemed disinclined to elaborate, so I let it go.

“Nimbus, you did good.” I kneeled and rubbed his fluffy cheeks. All the fear I thought I’d left behind was creeping back up my spine, quickening my heart, sending tendrils of adrenalin through my veins.

The cloud puppy rooed and leaned into my touch. I got a very distinct image in my mind of him sitting in front of me being a very good boy and me feeding him hotdogs.

“You want hotdogs?”

He wagged his fluffy tail and grumbled happily at me.

I laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.” His happy attitude dispelled some of the darkness trying to overtake me. I thought back to the conversations we’d had last night. What could I do against vampires and werewolves and shades?

I didn’t know, but I had to keep Nimbus safe. Even if it meant hiding in a coffee shop for months until he got bigger and was no longer of interest to Drake.

“Let’s get you home, Hannah,” the werewolf said.

“I didn’t catch your name,” I said as I followed her outside.

“Kerin.”

“Thank you, Kerin.”

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