Page 3 of Tooth and Nail

Eoghan pressed his lips together to keep from smiling. “The first time I walked into the office, I almost fainted.”

She chuckled. “Not everyone meets a demonoid the moment they walk into their office.”

“Zzyx is yellow, seven feet tall, and has a pointed tail!”

She outright laughed. “Good times, Sapphire. Good times.”

Eoghan smiled at her, unable to hold onto his surly mood for long. The truth was, he loved his job and if it hadn’t been for losing Glad, he’d smile more. Before his partner’s death, he’d been happy.

“I do hope that smile means you’ve decided to give your new partner a chance,” she said, eyeballing him as the sound of the man’s car door closing, echoed in the darkness.

“I—I promised…so I will, Chief,” he said before turning away from his boss’s knowing green eyes to get a glimpse of his partner in the flesh for the first time. The man walking toward them was a couple of inches taller than six feet with closely cropped, wavy, black hair, just like his picture. He wore a dark suit, obviously wanting to make a good first impression for his introduction to the team. As he strode toward them, Eoghan noticed how he rolled his hips, walking with a relaxed, confident stride. He’d parked as close as he could get to the front of the observatory in the large lot reserved for patronsand lovers of the stars. He smiled and held out his hand to the chief as soon as he reached them.

“It’s nice to meet you in the flesh, Chief Deputy,” he said, taking her hand and shaking it. “You guys start early around here.”

Eoghan watched as she smiled genuinely. “This is the first and only time you’ll ever come in through the front entrance but since I.S.R.’s office isn’t public and only the staff and my team knows it’s here, I thought it was best to do it this way.”

“Of course.”

“Aristotle Brown, this is Eoghan Sapphire, your new partner,” the chief said, sweeping a hand out as she turned toward Eoghan.

Eoghan offered his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Brown took it and smiled at him. “It’s really nice to meet you. The chief has told me good things.”

Really? She hasn’t told me a fucking thing about you except that you’re a civilian.“Sure thing,” he said instead of voicing his innermost thoughts.

Eoghan shook his hand and held on long enough to be considered polite before dropping it. Something about the kindness in Brown’s eyes sent an uncomfortable rush of emotion through him. He suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of shame for all the cruddy things he’d been thinking about him. It hadn’t been Brown’s fault he’d been assigned to the I.S.R. and itcertainlywasn’t his fault he was stuck with a man still grieving the partner he’d lost.

The fact that Eoghan actually had to crane his head and look up a good four or five inches to meet his eyes, made Eoghan feel not only smaller in stature but also in maturity. He’d been a little bitch about Brown from the moment he’d learned that he’d come from the civilian U.S. Marshals and taking it out on the man who was to be his partner, wasn’t fairat all. From this very moment, he promised himself he’d make an effort to be a good partner.

“This is the quickest way into the building, Brown, but like I said, you won’t be coming in through the Gottlieb Transit Corridor,” the chief said, pointing to the head of the stairs which would take them down to one of seven public entrances into the building. She took off in that direction as Eoghan and Brown followed beside her.

“Sorry, ma’am, you said this is the Gottlieb Transit Corridor?” Brown asked as they reached the top of the stairs.

“Yes, this set of stairs and the railing align with the North Star,” she said, turning and pointing to the bright white star in the sky.

Eoghan watched as Brown followed where she pointed before his full lips spread into a wide grin. When he turned and met his eyes, Eoghan felt his breath catch. The way mirth danced in his eyes was captivating. He swallowed hard, immediately pushing all those thoughts to the back of his mind, wondering where in the hell they’d come from. He tore his gaze away from the hazel eyes which seemed to be studying him and heard him make a humming sound of interest at what their boss told him. They walked down two flights of stairs to the double doors, and Eoghan wasn’t the least bit surprised when Brown got there first, pulled open the door, and held it for the two of them to pass by before following them in.

“This entrance leads to our offices through a hidden door but like I said, you’ll never enter this way again,” the chief said as she walked into the wide-open space. “I deliberately had you meet us outside and brought you in this way so that you’d be aware of where our offices are located in relation to the observatory. As a little bit of background, the public rooms we’re standing in were excavated beneath the old observatory during its 2002-2006 renovation.

“The observatory was originally built here on the top of Mount Hollywood in 1935 after the death of Griffith J. Griffith. He’d left a massive endowment to not only build the observatory, but also keep it running long after he died with the stipulation that it was to remain open to the public. As I said, these new rooms have been dug out of solid rock while the observatory was closed down during its extensive ninety-three-million-dollar renovation.”

Eoghan watched Brown’s face as he glanced around, seeming to take in the exhibits against the wall. He walked over and ran his hand over a smooth rock before looking up at them with a grin. He had a very nice smile.

“It’s cold.”

“That’s because it’s a meteorite composed primarily of iron,” Chief Priest said. “Hundreds of these hit the Earth every year.” She pointed to a black and white picture of a woman who appeared to be lying in a hospital bed. “She was hit by one as you can see.” The woman’s exposed thigh featured a black bruise almost the size of a bowling ball.

“Wow.”

He nodded to her and looked back at the exhibit.

“In addition to these two public levels, the U.S. Marshals constructed several more levels of living, working, jail, and office space beneath these public rooms specifically designed to house the I.S.R. units. The construction of these levels were not then, nor are they now, known to the Griffith Observatory staff who were furloughed during renovations,” she said.

“Why the secrecy and why not just open the Marshals I.S.R. unit in an office building?” Brown asked.

Eoghan smiled to himself as the chief went on. “That will become abundantly clear very shortly, Brown,” she replied. “Aren’t you enjoying this little tour?”

---