Tooth and Claw (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

there were multiple bars, a dance floor and
even a pool hall set up. Isaac wasn’t in on the secret yet though, so I was
enjoying the look on his face as he tried to school his features. He was about
to become the first vampire to ever set foot in the werewolf community’s party
central. Hopefully we would all survive the occasion.
    I needn’t have worried. True to her word, Christina paved
the way. The bar had gone completely silent when Isaac walked in and then a
number of men had stood, pushing back their chairs. There was a tense moment
before Christina bustled over from behind the bar.
    “Isaac, so wonderful to finally meet you.” She grabbed him
by the arm and escorted him to the bar, chatting the whole way. After a few
minutes, even the most stubborn male had decided to sit back down. Crisis
averted.
    For his part, Isaac looked a little dazed by the whole thing,
or at least by Christina’s attention. She spoke to him a mile-a-minute and if
I didn’t know better I’d say flirted with him too. I watched as she tried to coax
his macaroon recipe out of him, while plying him with a bowl of her famous
stew.
    “Can you believe that?” Tess smiled and pointed to where
Isaac and Christina were huddled together discussing the benefits of unbleached
flour.
    I just shook my head. They looked cute together. Who knew,
maybe they were the first inroads into better vampire-werewolf relations. We
were like UN ambassadors or something. I casually looked around the bar.
    “He’s not here,” said Tess with a grin.
    “Who says I’m looking for anyone?” I turned my back on the
room suddenly finding my empty stew bowl very interesting.
    “Uh huh,” Tess rolled her eyes. “Sure you weren’t.”
    “Oh, stick a sock in it. Do you want to go shoot some pool
or what?”
    We left Isaac deep in conversation with Christina and headed
for the back room that led to the Ice House.
    “Hey,” I said to the bouncer at the door, “where’s Tank?”
Tank was the bouncer the previous time I had been there. True to his name, he
was the biggest man I had ever seen. He wasn’t just tall, he was wide to go
with it.
    “Don’t know. He never showed up for his shift,” the current
bouncer replied. He ushered us into the small store room that acted as the
entry to the Ice House beyond.
    “That’s odd,” mused Tess.
    “What?” I asked as we pushed our way to the bar through the
crowd standing near the dance floor. We ordered a couple of draft beers then
moved along towards some tables near the pool hall section of the venue.
    “That’s the second time that someone hasn’t shown
up for work today. What is it with everyone ditching work?”
    “Must just be a coincidence,” I replied, not thinking much
about it. “Look, there’s a pool table opening up over there.”
    We shot a couple of games before Isaac finally joined us and
my game went downhill. Up until that point, I had been totally playing the
pool shark by using a little telekinetic nudge here and there to up my game.
Tess was oblivious, but Isaac had caught on pretty quickly
    “No fair, Harry,” Tess complained.
    “Hey, I was just finding a practical application for my new skill.
I wonder if I can do it with darts too?”
    “Let’s find out.” Tess was always game for a new
challenge.
    We moved over closer to the bar area to an empty table by
the dart board. It wasn’t in use so Tess grabbed some darts.
    “Don’t look now Harry, but someone is watching you,” she
said looking over my shoulder towards the bar.
    I rolled my eyes. “How am I not supposed to look now?” I
don’t understand why people say that. If they didn’t want you to look, they
should have just kept their mouth shut. I tried to look over my shoulder as
casually as possible. Nash was sitting at the bar nursing a beer. “What’s he
doing there?”
    “He’s been here watching you for the last half hour,” Isaac
volunteered with a smirk.
    “Just ignore him Harry.” Tess grabbed my