Boundary Crossed (Boundary Magic #1)(23)
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. I got off the stool, turned around, and fixed my shirt with my back to Quinn, holding it shut with my hand. If he wanted to stare at my scarred back for the few seconds it took me to take the shirt off and pull it back on, let him. “I’ll walk you out.”
“I can find my own way,” Lily said sullenly. Then she caught herself and met my eyes. “Um, it was really nice to meet you, Lex. Si said you weren’t interested in training, but we should grab a drink sometime. I don’t know many people in the Old World outside of my clan. Or vampires.” She said the last with exaggerated distaste before shooting a final glare at Quinn and flouncing out. I heard the front door close a moment later.
“What the hell was that about?” I said, turning to face him as I buttoned the shirt.
“Lily and I have this problem where when we’re around each other, we accidentally start bickering like . . .” He drifted off as—to my surprise—his gaze brushed down my front, stopping where my flannel shirt still gaped. Annoyed, I stubbornly resisted the impulse to glance down and make sure I was covered. Instead I let out a little whistle, a high note followed by a low one, to get his attention. Quinn met my eyes and looked away, suddenly embarrassed. “Like teenagers,” he finished in a mumble. “Sorry, didn’t mean to stare.”
That took me aback. I had expected him to play innocent, or maybe make some lewd comment, not actually apologize. I was suddenly very aware that there were only a couple of feet between us. And that he looked like a Scandinavian Indiana Jones in that jacket. I cleared my throat. “You were saying something about the situation changing?”
“Yeah.” He looked relieved to be back on sure footing. “My boss wants to meet you.”
“Me?” I said, startled. “Why?”
He shot me a “don’t be stupid” expression. “Because you’re a witch, but you’re unaligned with any of the witch clans. He wants to make sure you’re not a threat.”
I thought that over for a moment. Ideally, I’d like to just try to forget that the Old World existed and go back to my life, but Darcy was still out there, and I wasn’t going to be able to relax until I knew my niece was safe. “Well, good,” I said, climbing to my feet. “I want to understand what Sid and Nancy wanted with my niece.”
Alarm sparked in Quinn’s eyes, maybe the biggest reaction I’d seen from him yet. “You can’t go storming in there demanding answers, Lex,” he warned. “It’s very, very important that you show respect.”
“You mean like the respect your boss showed for Charlie when he let Victor and Darcy go after her again last night?” I said tartly.
“Technically,” Quinn pointed out, his voice cool, “that was my fault. I was supposed to clean up the Depot mess, and I should have spent less time working the police angle and more time looking for them. I just never thought they’d go after the same baby a second time.”
“So you thought they’d go after some other baby instead?” I demanded.
“Don’t put words into my mouth,” Quinn snapped. Then he forced his face into its usual implacable expression. “Look, just come talk to Itachi, and this will all be straightened out, okay?”
“Fine,” I retorted. Then I glanced down at myself and sighed. With as much dignity as I could muster, I added, “But I have to change my pants first.”
Chapter 11
As it turned out, I had been to Boulder’s big vampire hangout at least half a dozen times before.
Like most college towns, Boulder has dozens of coffee shops, but so far as I know only one of them is open all night: a little place called Magic Beans, located on Pine Street, not far from Boulder’s pedestrian mall. It had been around since Sam and I were in high school. I’d been in once or twice to get a caffeine fix before my shift at the Depot, but I hadn’t noticed anything special about it, except maybe that it was a hell of a lot larger than the average coffee shop in notoriously expensive Boulder. Despite the size and the plum location, though, the prices were pretty comparable to any other coffee shop in town. If I’d bothered to wonder how that worked, I would have figured there was an underground casino in the back room or something. My mind probably wouldn’t have made the leap to “secret vampire headquarters.” But I guess I’m just naive like that.
Although it was after nine-thirty by the time we pulled up, there were no open parking spots on the street in front of Magic Beans, so Quinn had to find a spot a couple of blocks west. The outside of the building was unremarkable, just a big brick box that was beginning to crumble a little at the corners. “Remember to be respectful,” Quinn said uneasily as we approached the building. “You can’t go in with guns blazing. You don’t want to be on his radar as a threat.”
“I don’t have a gun, remember?” I said, a little sourly. Quinn had searched me and my purse before letting me get in his car. “And I don’t care if I’m on his radar. I care that Charlie isn’t.”
“It might be too late for that,” Quinn said ominously, but when I glanced at him he just shook his head. “Come on, let’s go in.”
Unlike most coffee shops, which are more or less one big room with a cash register planted somewhere, Magic Beans was labyrinthine, a maze of small rooms with tables and chairs scattered around at random. Each room featured art by a different Boulder artist, and each had a door, which you could close if you wanted to have a conversation without disturbing the other customers.