Page 22 of Soar

Then she darted out.

Gregori followed her to the door, watching as she went straight across the hall and into her grandmother’s apartment. Safe and sound then, good. He closed and locked the doorbehind her, as he doubted they’d leave the apartment again tonight.

Salem immediately went for the pizza, then made oohing sounds.

“Wiiiine. Thank fuck. I need alcohol today. I’m so buzzed I can’t settle or relax.”

“Glad I got some, then.”

Salem did a little happy dance as he grabbed glasses and plonked himself down at the table. He poured them both a glass before promptly sipping his.

“Ahhh, a good red goes down right. Where were you today?”

“Oh, signing up with the police department and fire station.” Gregori accepted the offered glass and took a sip. Mm, the wine was delicious. He’d guessed the correct one to grab.

Salem paused with the lid to a pizza box half open. “Uhhh…why?”

“Well, they’re in line with what I do. And I need something to occupy myself aside from feeding you and sexing you up.”

“I mean, you’re right, but why those two places?”

“Well, I’m a demolitions expert.” Gregori shrugged. He was secretly very pleased at Salem’s interest. This was the first time he’d ever asked Gregori any questions. “I figured the police was an obvious choice. And they agreed, but they also had me sign up with the fire department to help with all the house fires.”

“Oh right, ice dragon magic. You’d be good at suppressing fires.”

“That I am.”

Salem gave a sage nod. “I bet they cried tears of joy when you signed up.”

Gregori snorted a laugh, shaking his head as he grabbed some slices for himself. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

“The tears were secret, held inside.”

“Uh-huh.”

Salem consumed a full slice before asking, “What was the weirdest or best story when it comes to your job?”

“Hmm, I don’t know about ‘best’ but I do have a crazy one.”

“Hit me.”

“Well, this was while working with the Brazilian film studios, actually. I do freelance work with them if they’ve got a scene where something goes kablooey.”

From Salem’s expression, he hadn’t expected this. “What, really?”

“Yup. They use explosives in some form or fashion sometimes to get the right effect, and they hire experts so it doesn’t do actual damage. Kinda hard to blow up a car on camera without actually blowing up a car, if you get what I mean.”

“Okay…so you’re on a movie set, and…?”

“It was one of those crazy action movies. Not a blockbuster hit, either, although I saw the movie later and it wasn’t half bad. Anyway, in this scene, a prop plane slams right into an eighteen-wheeler, and they both explode upon impact. Not exactly what would happen in real life, but movie magic at its finest, am I right? My job was to rig the whole thing so they would explode on impact. I talk with the crew, get things set up, we walk through angles and whatnot. Prop plane is actually on wires, with a massive crane guiding it in, so it can’t go off the rails and hit something else. Takes a full day to set this up.”

Salem looked very interested in where this was going.

Gregori put his pizza down, hands getting involved in the storytelling. “The only person not happy with me is the action director. He’s wanting all sorts of impact from this scene. He kept arguing, telling me I wasn’t using enough powder for him.”

“Powder?”

“Powder explosives,” Gregori elaborated. “Most pyrotechnic explosions are a mix of gunpowder, kerosene, and selectminerals for some razzle dazzle. Like something you’d see in fireworks.”

---