Page 15 of Tooth and Nail

“McGillis,” Eoghan replied, flatly, ignoring the flirtatious come on. He was over it. “This is my new partner, Aristotle Brown. Brown…Kellen McGillis. He’s team leader of one of our sanitizing crews.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ari said, taking the hand McGillis offered.

“Well, aren’t you a beautiful man? It’s nice to meet you too,” he said, batting his dark, curling lashes.

“What’s happening?” Eoghan said, cutting off further conversation. He really didn’t like the way McGillis was ogling his partner, especially with him standing right there. The guy was a total dick.

“Where have they been keeping you, handsome?” McGillis asked, completely ignoring Eoghan as he turned the charm on Ari.

“Like my partner told you, it’s my first day…oh, and I think he asked you a question,” Ari said, sounding annoyed.

Eoghan didn’t know why but if Ari had flirted back, it would have hurt. Fortunately, he was a perceptive man and knew how to read the situation better than he could’ve hoped. McGillis gave an exaggerated sigh.

“Ouch! Okay, I get it. No one’s in the mood to play today. This way, boys,” he singsonged, spinning on his heels. He began sauntering back toward the museum’s front entrance, hood back in place. Once inside, he walked faster. “The bee’s inside and all persons not in the Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirrored Room have been sanitized and allowed to leave,” he said, shouting over his shoulder to be heard through the hood as Eoghan practically had to jog to keep up with his long strides.

“Slow down!” he shouted as McGillis almost sprinted across the vast space of curving, concrete walls. It irritated Eoghan even more because he knew the much taller man was doing it on purpose.

He came to a halt just short of the long escalator, pivoting to look at him. “What is it, Eoghan?”

“You left us in the dust back there, McGillis,” Ari said. Eoghan noticed the frown Ari was wearing, and it gave him an odd satisfaction to hear the man stick up for him.

“Sorry, beautiful. I tried to be nice, but you shut me down.”

Eoghan opened his mouth to say something nasty when Ari stopped him with his own words. “No, you were trying to come on to me, and I’m not interested. So, let’s move on. Why don’t you show us where Derwin is?”

Eoghan bit his lower lip as he noticed the dark look which crossed his ex’s features. He wasn’t a nice guy unless he was trying to get someone horizontal, and seeing that familiar look which most of the time led to an unpleasant exchange, almost made him wince.

“The room is up here.” McGillis pivoted again and headed up the escalator.

They stepped onto the escalator and as they got closer, Eoghan heard a low humming sound which got louder withevery foot they traveled. As they stepped into the bright, white room where natural light filtered in through the concrete veil, the humming sound got louder. McGillis started across the floor, passing by the first display of priceless contemporary art, a piece called Tulips by Jeff Koons. To Eoghan, the massive sculpture looked like multi-colored balloon art.

They walked around it, following McGillis to another gallery. As they stepped up to the dark room’s entrance, he realized it wasn’t a humming sound he was hearing at all; it was a low, constant buzz. He knew it had to be Derwin, but during the four other times he’d interacted with the honeybee, he’d never heard the shifter making that sound before. It almost sounded painful, as if he were in real distress.

“He has seven hostages,” McGillis said, abruptly turning to face them. “I can’t do anything for them until you neutralize him.”

“Thanks, McGillis,” Eoghan said. “Please step back for your own safety.”

McGillis frowned at him and then sketched an exaggerated bow, holding out a hand as he stepped aside. Eoghan rolled his eyes at the hyperbolic gesture and waited for him to walk back behind a perimeter the sanitizing team had set up before turning to look directly at Ari.

“Listen, I don’t think Derwin will try to hurt me. We’re not exactly friends, but like I told you, he’s been very helpful to us in the past. All we can do is try to talk to him calmly and rationally. It sounds like he’s in shifted form, so be prepared to see something pretty scary. His body is as large in shifted form as it is when he’s human. He’s no doubt in pain simply because of the tryphophobia. The combination of the disorder and his location means we have a situation which might prove volatile. The buzzing sound you hear is filled with despair.”

“You can tell that?”

“I’ve met Derwin in both forms and I’ve never heard that.” Eoghan pointed into the gallery. “That’s the sound of distress. Gear up and let’s get this over with. Someone put this honeybee in here knowing what it would do to him. We need to get him out and rescue his hostages.” He bent and set the backpack on the floor, unzipping it and pulling out the things Wordy had given him as Ari did the same. Once they’d both donned their gloves and were holding the bangsticks, he looked at Ari. “Remember. This creature might look scary but he’s totally gentle when not in pain. Please don’t kill him unless it’s to protect my life or one of the hostages and if I tell you to get out of there, do what I say immediately and without question. Got it?”

“Got it. Lead on, partner.”

Ari nodded sharply before Eoghan turned and walked into the dark gallery of lights and mirrors which had the appearance of a billion bright stars. The Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirrored Room, was a gallery of optical illusions on all sides. The floors, ceilings, and all four walls were mirrored, making the walkway appear to be floating in a vertigo-inducing, stomach-rolling display. It was definitely not meant for anyone with a condition that made them feel dizzy. The buzzing was deafening in here. Derwin was easy to spot…almost six feet long, and perfectly terrifying as a honeybee shifter. He looked like some freakish movie monster with six legs dangling from his round, striped body, covered by tiny hairs as he floated in the air over seven frightened humans, several of which were cowering and crying.

The moment they walked in, Derwin shot over to where they were, moving faster through the air than Eoghan had expected. He threw up his metal gauntlets, holding one hand out to stop the big bee. And clutched the bangstick tightly in his fist where it’d be at the ready in case he needed toprotect Ari from the wicked stinger sticking out from the end of Derwin’s honeybee butt. The stinger wasn’t long relative to his size, perhaps ten inches or so, but it was easily long enough to kill if Derwin intended it. The fact that no humans were lying dead on the floor of the gallery was a testimony to the honeybee’s self-control.

“Derwin, it’s Eoghan…Eoghan Sapphire from the I.S.R. team. Do you recognize me?”

Derwin bobbed up and down and then suddenly dropped down to eye level, flying right up to his face and staring at him with massive bee eyes. The multitude of hexagons inside the bulbous, black compound eyes were freakish and even though Eoghan was used to the way certain shifters appeared, seeing a six-foot long honeybee wasn’t something he’d ever seen up close and personal before. The hair which covered his entire body was longer on his thorax than on his legs, almost looking like it needed to be combed. It completely freaked him out. Derwin seemed to recognize him because he bobbed up and down, buzzing louder.

“Jesus Christ on a cracker,” Ari whispered from beside him.

Eoghan ignored him, instead focusing on the way Derwin looked over at Ari and then moved ever so slightly, hovering closer, slowly circling him in the air as if he was trying to figure out who he was. When he came back to the front of Ari, his forked, pink tongue protruded from his proboscis, the long sucking tongue which drones like Derwin used to eat nectar and clean their queen. His jointed antenna twitched as his wings moved so fast, they were nothing but a blur.

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