Page 54 of Hospital for Immortal Creatures

“Renenutet’s necklace. Replica.” Irene made herself comfortable in his lap. “Do you think I’d prance around with the original when there are so many thieves at the Bazaar?”

“And how will this Mada know the necklace is from you?”

“Trust me, she’ll know.”

Her palm caressed the skin of his chest, and her fingers crawled down his torso. Exhaustion burned in his muscles and his work with the witch was done, but her skilful movements stirred his arousal. He wrapped his hands around her waist, positioned her on top of his erection, and took the rest of his bonus.

***

Despite her affection towards him, Irene hadn’t hesitated to ask for a symbolic – as she’d called it – payment of one thousand euros for the information. He’d given her double. The next time he was in Istanbul, he planned to visit her again.

After midnight, he strode down the dirty streets. Irene’s apartment was so deep in the middle of nowhere, that even the navigation of his car had struggled to locate it, so he’d parked a few blocks down. Just as he reached the back street where his SUV was waiting, he felt that strange sensation again. Someone was watching him.

Constantine scanned the area. Down the street, a drunkard was leaning against a building for support. A group of youngsters were sitting in a circle on the pavement and passing around a bottle. They were so oblivious to the cold wind and the late hour, that they didn’t even notice the necromancer as he walked past.

He observed the lights of the nearest building. These blocks housed hundreds of people, perhaps creatures as well.

His senses tensed as they struggled to detect a possible threat, but the air promised no danger. There was somebody, however, whose attention was focused solely on him.

This game is ending. Right now.

Getting into his SUV, he locked the doors and disposed of his jacket and watch on the seat next to him. A deep breath later, the skin disappeared from his fingers. His bony fingers grasped the rear-view mirror and twisted it towards his face. For a moment, he recognised the two black holes where his eyes used to be, and in the next second, he was soaring. His skeleton was there, behind the wheel, wings tightly pushed against his spine. Constantine’s soul ascended just a little, enough to scan the perimeter.

Before he was able to detect anything, a strong hit met his weightless form, and he was back in the car. That fucking baseball bat again.

Taking off once more, he rose a couple of feet above the ground, but something pushed him back. He tried three more times, each as unsuccessful as the first two.

This is not over. His bones squeezed the wheel, gradually turning into fingers.

He dialled Mikhail. “I have a lead. She’s in Southern Italy.”

“You’re sure?” the manticore asked.

“I will be. I’m heading out now.” Constantine started the engine.

“Send me the coordinates. I’ll meet you there.”

“Brother, I’m not sure it’s such a good idea for you to come.”

A growl sounded over the line. “I insist. I’ll see you in three days.”

19

There had been one woman in Mikhail’s life that he had strived to impress, whose attention he had genuinely fought for.

Valeria’s beauty had been unequalled, but he had had many unequally beautiful women before her. Her incredible cunningness had been her outstanding trait. Hot, cold, passionate, indifferent, innocent, aggressive. He had never known what to expect from her, when she would wait for him in bed, would she even wait – all tricks that were older than the world itself. And he had been a young, conceited and selfish fool, who had fallen for all of them. Sometimes, he wondered if he’d ever truly loved her, or if every conquest of her body had served as a boost to his ego.

He certainly hadn’t loved her when he’d killed her.

Mikhail halted in front of Amelia’s room and knocked on the door frame. He had long forgotten chivalry, but the circumstances required him to become a gentleman once more.

Amelia showed up with her hair tied in a messy bun. The black clothes she wore accentuated her slender thighs, slim waist and small breasts in a subtle manner. Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard for him to be nice, after all. Despite her petite figure and the lack of pronounced sex appeal, there was something about her that he found attractive. Of course, her humanity and his inability to be with any woman after Valeria hindered everything else, but at least interacting with her needn’t be unpleasant.

He closed the door behind him and walked with her to the couch. A waft of citruses and rose geranium crawled up his nostrils and sent an unexpected wave of pleasure down his spine. The animal inside him stirred.

He sat on the couch, muscles tightening. Despite his conviction that he was unable to be with a woman, this was the second time his body reacted to her in an unusual way. First, he had felt it when their hands had touched the other day, on their improvised walk. And now, that same sense of electricity crept beneath his skin. It wasn’t desire but something very similar to… enthusiasm?

Mikhail ignored it, focusing his attention on Amelia. “I’m leaving the Hospital for a little while, but will be back very soon. It’s a dangerous mission.” He was lying about that last bit. The meeting with the old witch would probably be more boring than anything else. “I’m hoping that the issue is resolved quickly.”

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