do.”
I muttered at him.
“Pardon?”
“I killed the terrametus. I might not have managed to get rid of Iabartu on my own, but I killed the fucking terrametus.”
“Okay,” Thomas said. “Well done. But now let’s get to work so next time you can kill the god too.”
*
I still didn’t like him. And I was seething with rage at Corrigan and the way he’d given me up to the mages at the earliest opportunity. But I was starting to concede to myself that maybe there was more to Thomas than I’d initially been led to believe. If he thought that I was going to play the willing little student, then he was sadly mistaken, but perhaps I’d listen to what he had to say. Some of it at least. I’d not entirely forgotten his comment about me having feral instincts because of living with shifters.
He led me into a battered looking building, that was definitely considerably more worse for wear than any of the previous ones I’d been in. Thomas noted my r eaction and mistook it for judgment.
“You’ve spent too much time wi th the pack,” he commented wryly.
“What on earth do you mean?”
“Just because they have unlimited wealth, that doesn’t mean that we do also.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” I scoffed. “You charge up and down the country getting payment for services rendered everywhere you go. You forget that I’ve been your headquarters in London. It’s hardly falling down due to lack of money or disrepair.” In fact from what I could remember it was positively gleaming with wealth. Marble floors, expensive portraits, that thick fluffy carpet that your feet sank into…
Thomas grimaced. “We have to keep up appearances. You have no idea how much money to takes to maintain the upkeep of all these buildings.”
I gaped at him. “A nd you think that the shifters don’t have lots of buildings to maintain as well? They are dotted all over the country! You guys get to stay in one place and then materialize by magic through whichever portal you decide to create. You don’t need to keep up a presence in every corner of the country.” I couldn’t believe that I was sticking up for the shifters now after Thomas’ revelation about Corrigan’s deceit, but this at least was the truth.
“And you don’t have to spend years training and buying materials to maintain your art. You just attack whichever Otherworld creature happens to nearest and then collect your payment. We actually pay attention to what’s going on and do what we can to keep the equilibrium between all facets of the Otherworld.”
I blew out air in exasperation. Keep the equilibrium? What a load of bollocks.
“I suppose you don’t eat your young either,” I said sarcastically.
Thomas laughed. “Oh, you’ve heard that little nugget, have you?”
“Yeah, I mean, seriously? Who believes that shit?”
“It doesn’t hurt to keep the ranks suitably wary of the Pack.”
I couldn’t keep the disgusted disbelief out of my voice. “So you make up stories about the monster in the closet?”
“No,” he answered, calmly, “we just don’t do much to dispel them that’s all.”
“The Pack is nothing like that as far as you’re concerned. We have always treated the Ministry with respect.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. When you need some magic, you call us in and then treat us like the hired help. Don’t think we’re not aware that you all think that what we do is mumbo-jumbo claptrap.”
“That’s not fair! We don’t think that!” I paused and then back-tracked slightly. “Okay, not everyone thinks that, anyway.”
“See?” Thomas pointed out. “You’re not any worse than we are.”
“You shouldn’t say that, really, you know.”
“Say what?”
“’You’. I’m not actually one of them, remember?”
“I’ll stop saying ‘you’ when you stop saying ‘we’. And anyway, if you’re not a shifter and you’re
I muttered at him.
“Pardon?”
“I killed the terrametus. I might not have managed to get rid of Iabartu on my own, but I killed the fucking terrametus.”
“Okay,” Thomas said. “Well done. But now let’s get to work so next time you can kill the god too.”
*
I still didn’t like him. And I was seething with rage at Corrigan and the way he’d given me up to the mages at the earliest opportunity. But I was starting to concede to myself that maybe there was more to Thomas than I’d initially been led to believe. If he thought that I was going to play the willing little student, then he was sadly mistaken, but perhaps I’d listen to what he had to say. Some of it at least. I’d not entirely forgotten his comment about me having feral instincts because of living with shifters.
He led me into a battered looking building, that was definitely considerably more worse for wear than any of the previous ones I’d been in. Thomas noted my r eaction and mistook it for judgment.
“You’ve spent too much time wi th the pack,” he commented wryly.
“What on earth do you mean?”
“Just because they have unlimited wealth, that doesn’t mean that we do also.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” I scoffed. “You charge up and down the country getting payment for services rendered everywhere you go. You forget that I’ve been your headquarters in London. It’s hardly falling down due to lack of money or disrepair.” In fact from what I could remember it was positively gleaming with wealth. Marble floors, expensive portraits, that thick fluffy carpet that your feet sank into…
Thomas grimaced. “We have to keep up appearances. You have no idea how much money to takes to maintain the upkeep of all these buildings.”
I gaped at him. “A nd you think that the shifters don’t have lots of buildings to maintain as well? They are dotted all over the country! You guys get to stay in one place and then materialize by magic through whichever portal you decide to create. You don’t need to keep up a presence in every corner of the country.” I couldn’t believe that I was sticking up for the shifters now after Thomas’ revelation about Corrigan’s deceit, but this at least was the truth.
“And you don’t have to spend years training and buying materials to maintain your art. You just attack whichever Otherworld creature happens to nearest and then collect your payment. We actually pay attention to what’s going on and do what we can to keep the equilibrium between all facets of the Otherworld.”
I blew out air in exasperation. Keep the equilibrium? What a load of bollocks.
“I suppose you don’t eat your young either,” I said sarcastically.
Thomas laughed. “Oh, you’ve heard that little nugget, have you?”
“Yeah, I mean, seriously? Who believes that shit?”
“It doesn’t hurt to keep the ranks suitably wary of the Pack.”
I couldn’t keep the disgusted disbelief out of my voice. “So you make up stories about the monster in the closet?”
“No,” he answered, calmly, “we just don’t do much to dispel them that’s all.”
“The Pack is nothing like that as far as you’re concerned. We have always treated the Ministry with respect.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. When you need some magic, you call us in and then treat us like the hired help. Don’t think we’re not aware that you all think that what we do is mumbo-jumbo claptrap.”
“That’s not fair! We don’t think that!” I paused and then back-tracked slightly. “Okay, not everyone thinks that, anyway.”
“See?” Thomas pointed out. “You’re not any worse than we are.”
“You shouldn’t say that, really, you know.”
“Say what?”
“’You’. I’m not actually one of them, remember?”
“I’ll stop saying ‘you’ when you stop saying ‘we’. And anyway, if you’re not a shifter and you’re
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