Stone Chameleon (Ironhill Jinn #1) Read Online Free Page B

been in worse spots, and you’ve come away unscathed every time. This bullshit vamp thing will turn out the same.”
    “What could be worse than Isaac thinking I’ve murdered five of his people?”
    She chuckled. “I seem to recall a certain incident with a colony of spider rats in the basement of Bo’s Tavern last year.”
    The creatures had bound our arms and legs with webbing as thick as repelling rope and hung us from the ceiling upside down and bleeding. Yes, I supposed that was more immediately dangerous, but the vampire murders frightened me more.
    “Still don’t know how you got us out of that one with no hands free and no weapons, but you did, like you always do, like you always will. Why do you think I never get worried before we go out on a job?”
    I’d called upon the earth that day, summoning stone shards to nick the webbing at my back where she couldn’t see. “I’m not infallible, Harper. Our fear keeps us alive, and you may need it one day when my luck runs out.”
    “Never gonna happen.” Her voice faded.
    I bit down on my retort when Simon, the lead guard on the day shift, left the brick building by the gate and bounded up to my rolled-down window.
    “Sorry it took a minute, Lou,” he said. His salt-and-pepper hair stuck out in clumps beneath his blue guard’s hat. “Something’s got Blake’s bees all in a buzz.”
    My eyebrow quirked up. “What about this time?”
    “Not sure.” Simon’s bony shoulders jerked up and down. “He wants to double up the guards every shift, but didn’t tell me why.” His weathered hands clamped over the door frame. “If you don’t know what’s up, then I’m guessing the you-know-what is about to hit the fan big time?”
    I groaned and retrieved my cell, pressing the speed dial for my boss.
    It rang twice before Blake picked up, and his Texas drawl filled my ear. “Now, don’t go off on me.”
    I flattened the stone in my free hand to dispel some of the fury from my voice. “Tell me you’re not responsible for sending the media swarm that ambushed us today.”
    He sighed, never a good sign with Blake. “It’s good press. Business is booming because of the paparazzi, so yeah, I might’ve tipped them off to where you were at.”
    “So now they have footage of my presence at yet another crime scene involving the hive. And besides that, we have more business than we can possibly handle. How much money do you need before it’s enough, Blake?”
    “Christ. If I’da known there was another dang vamp down there, I’da kept my trap shut. It takes a lot of scratch to run the creature reservation, you know it does.”
    “Don’t try to sell your greed as anything but what it is. Now, tell me why you’ve doubled the guard.”
    There was a long pause before he muttered, “Gerry mighta called me. Why didn’t you stay at the damn scene, Lou? If Isaac comes here—”
    “If Isaac comes after me with the power of the hive behind him, no amount of human guards, even if they were all armed with fae silver, will stop him. We’ve been over this before. If I survive the night, you and I will come to an understanding of how this business will operate in the future, or you can find yourself another pest control expert who has a degree and a decade of experience in preternatural creature management.”
    Fae silver wasn’t silver at all, but a substance the people of the Underhill discovered that could seriously harm a vampire. When the undead had found something similar to hold against the fair folk, it created a strained peace between the two powerful races.
    I hung up amidst a torrent of curses on the other end of the phone. “Would you kindly open the gate now, Simon? And a word to the wise—if the hive lord arrives on the premises, he’s to come to me unhindered, understood?”
    Simon nodded, his smile revealing crooked teeth. “Sure thing, ma’am.” He trotted back to the guard house, and, a moment later, the gates trundled along their rollers