“That…is a proper cup of tea,” she said, inhaling more of the aroma. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” Grey said with a nod, before looking down at Peaches. “What do you feed your hound? Small cows? Large moose?”
“Sausage is good, if you have some,” I said. “Do you know how Frank manages to communicate with my hellhound?”
Grey gave me a look and then ducked under the bar to a refrigerator unit. He stood up a few seconds later with an armload of sausages.
“Give me a sec and I’ll have the kitchen warm these up for you,” he said, heading to the rear of The Dive. “Be right back. Then we can discuss how they ‘communicate.’”
ELEVEN
“Deterrence runes?” Jessikah asked under her breath when Grey had stepped into the kitchen, out of earshot. “I’ve never heard of such runes. It sounds made up.”
I let my senses expand again and felt the presence of the failsafes around me.
“Not made up,” I said. “Grey is scary strong, and Cecil is, well—Cecil.”
“I just find it hard to believe that trained Orchid agents would allow themselves to be affected by runic interference,” Jessikah said, apparently immune to the effects of the runes in The Dive. “It boggles the imagination.”
“Welcome to my world. I’m sure there’s plenty you’re going to encounter in this city that will boggle your brain and sound made up,” I said, empathizing. “Better to roll with it before those ‘made up’ things squash you dead. Trust me on this one.”
“Black Orchid mages are highly trained,” Jessikah said. “How could some runes make them cut an investigation short?”
“Do you recall Grey’s car?” I said, before taking another sip of the ink that was my coffee. “The Beast that’s parked outside?”
“How could I forget?” Jessikah said with a small shudder. “It’s malevolent.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Grey is the only person who can drive that thing. From what I hear, it’s killed previous drivers.”
“The car…has killed previous drivers?”
“Not the car, exactly, but the runework inside the car,” I said, without going into detail about how Cecil had placed some of the same runes in the Dark Goat. “Cecil, who runed the Beast and the Dark Goat, is beyond skilled when it comes to runework, wards, and things of that sort.”
“Is this ‘Cecil’ a mage?”
“Good question,” I said, scratching my chin. “I don’t really know.”
“You don’t know, but you let him rune your vehicle?” Jessikah asked, incredulous. “That’s living dangerously.”
“Cecil is something more than just a mage, I think,” I said. “He’s something old and primal.”
“Just not something you can elaborate on?”
“I’m not a mage…like you said. Besides, if Grey says Cecil added runes to this place—runes that pick up on the energetic fluctuation of thought processes and their bodily manifestations in a mage, thereby causing a runic chain reaction expressed in a flight response based on their intentions—I believe him.”
Jessikah stared at me for a few seconds before speaking.
“Really?” she asked. “You managed all that from his answer?”
“What?”
“That was actually a particularly magelike explanation,” she said, “for someone who is not a mage. Are you feeling ill?”
“I’m fine,” I said with a growl. “Did it make sense?”
“Actually, yes,” she said with a nod. “I just didn’t expect it to make sense coming from you.”
“I’ve had a few challenging days as of late,” I said, trying to dismiss her words. “Also, Monty is my partner. I’m bound to pick up on the jargon at some point.”
“That was more than ‘jargon,’” she said, looking at me. “That was an explanation with actual understanding.”
She was right. I didn’t expect to give her that answer. Whatever was happening to me with my signature was influencing my thought process. I needed to get this treated yesterday—but first, dealing with Darth Monty.
Grey came back with a large bowl of steaming sausages.
“Hope he likes these,” Grey said, carrying the enormous bowl. “The kitchen sends its regards.”
<The shadow-man brought me meat. Can I eat it now? It smells so good, and I’m starving.>
<You’re not starving and never have. Wait until he places the bowl down, at least, and why did you call him the ‘shadow-man’?>
<He has shadows around him, but he is good. He brought me meat. He must know…meat is life.>
The term ‘shadow-man’ was new. Either Peaches’ vocabulary was improving or my understanding of him was. I was sure it was related to the answer I had just given Jessikah, and whatever was going on with my energy signature. I looked at the bowl that Grey had used for the sausages, and slowly shook my head.
“Is that a regular aluminum bowl?”
“Yes,” Grey answered, placing the bowl down near Peaches. “Only one I had in the house. Why? Does he need a special hellhound bowl? Do those even exist?”
“I’ll buy you a new one.”
“What are you talking about?”
<Go ahead, and don’t forget to thank Grey.>
Peaches let out a gentle bark that rattled some of the bottles behind the bar, shattering a few. My eardrums squealed in pain, as I stepped to the side, giving him space for his approach on the bowl of sausages.
“That’s some bark,” Grey said, raising his voice and shaking his head. “My ears are still ringing.”
“That was a low bark,” I said, rubbing my ears. “You don’t want to hear loud.”
Jessikah looked at the bottles, and then at Peaches.
“That…was low?” she asked, rubbing an ear. “That sound was deafening.”
“He’s still a puppy, so he doesn’t have a handle on volume control yet,” I said, looking at Peaches go to town with the sausage. “Among other things, like slowing down while he eats.”
“If that’s puppy size, how large does he get?” Jessikah asked, staring transfixed at Peaches in action. “He’s quite large now.”
“Large,” I said, thinking about Cerberus or Peaches XL. “He says, ‘Thank you,’ by the way.” I glanced at Grey. “You may want to stand back a bit. Just to be safe, and to keep your toes.”
Grey took a step back.
One of Peaches’ bites removed the outer rim of the bowl. By the
