Dev glamour as I’d decided that running about town with a character from Lord of the Rings was bound to attract attention.
“I can kill the vampire for you if that is your wish, Zoey,” Declan said confidently as he strode beside me. “If he is cruel, then I will slay him and you, my brother, and I will return to the sithein together.”
I rolled my eyes and kept walking. “He isn’t cruel. I’m not using Dev to try to escape Daniel. I love my husband. I love your brother, too. We’re happy together.”
Well, we had been until I’d shot my bodyguards and defied both their orders.
I opened the door to the small meat market. There were signs in both English and Filipino in the window. The store was neat and clean, but a butchery still smells like meat.
“Ah, it is a ménage?” Declan asked. “I always thought Devinshea would be happy in this sort of arrangement. I rather thought he would be at the center, however.”
I glanced around the shop. There were only three customers, and I disregarded them. I was more interested in the woman behind the counter. She was a small woman with tired eyes. Weariness was stamped on the lines of her face, but if I had to guess her age, I would put her in her early thirties. It was the tired look that made me suspicious. The aswang was always weary during the day from all the prowling it did at night.
This was the part where one of my werewolf bodyguards would have really come in handy. If Lee had just come with me, I wouldn’t have had to look like a complete idiot. He would have been able to smell the decay that hung about the corporeal undead and I wouldn’t have to identify the fucker myself. There are many creatures in the supernatural world that can perfectly mimic the human form. It’s one of those Darwinian traits that makes a species successful. Werewolves are successful because they can pass for human most of the time. Vampires can pass. Dragons got their asses slain because they were scary. They were no longer on this plane because they couldn’t hide what they were. Humans tend to hunt down and kill what frightens them.
My point is, when dealing with supernaturals passing for humans, there are always tricks to identify your prey. Hunters wrote entire books about it, passing these tomes from generation to generation. In the human world, they’re called superstitions, but in my world, it’s called a good defense.
There were a couple of tricks I’d discovered for identifying the aswang. I could find an elder to mix a special concoction of coconut oil and herbs and leave it on the suspect’s porch. When the aswang walked by it, the oil would boil, thereby unmasking the creature. As I didn’t know any Filipino elders who wouldn’t laugh me out of their homes, nor did I have any suspects, I had to go with option two, which I did, much to everyone’s surprise.
Right there in the middle of the butcher’s shop, I turned my back to the suspect, hiked my skirt up as modestly as I could, and bent over to view the possible ghoul through my legs.
Like I said before, I was going to spend the day looking like an idiot.
“We are doing this for what reason?” Declan asked from beside me. He had taken up the same position, and I was glad I wasn’t the only one looking foolish. “Are we trying to anger the creature by…what is the human term…mooning it?”
I sighed because the chick behind the counter was still human. Just to be sure, I checked out the customers because as long as I was down there, I might as well.
“It would only be mooning if our asses were bare,” I corrected Declan as I stood back up and smoothed down my skirt. That had been a waste of time.
Declan gave me a sly smile. “If your ass had been bare, I would not have mimicked you. I would have stood back and enjoyed the sight.”
“The two of you were hell on your mother, weren’t you?” Everyone was staring at us with looks ranging from disbelief to anger at our disrespect. I gave
“I can kill the vampire for you if that is your wish, Zoey,” Declan said confidently as he strode beside me. “If he is cruel, then I will slay him and you, my brother, and I will return to the sithein together.”
I rolled my eyes and kept walking. “He isn’t cruel. I’m not using Dev to try to escape Daniel. I love my husband. I love your brother, too. We’re happy together.”
Well, we had been until I’d shot my bodyguards and defied both their orders.
I opened the door to the small meat market. There were signs in both English and Filipino in the window. The store was neat and clean, but a butchery still smells like meat.
“Ah, it is a ménage?” Declan asked. “I always thought Devinshea would be happy in this sort of arrangement. I rather thought he would be at the center, however.”
I glanced around the shop. There were only three customers, and I disregarded them. I was more interested in the woman behind the counter. She was a small woman with tired eyes. Weariness was stamped on the lines of her face, but if I had to guess her age, I would put her in her early thirties. It was the tired look that made me suspicious. The aswang was always weary during the day from all the prowling it did at night.
This was the part where one of my werewolf bodyguards would have really come in handy. If Lee had just come with me, I wouldn’t have had to look like a complete idiot. He would have been able to smell the decay that hung about the corporeal undead and I wouldn’t have to identify the fucker myself. There are many creatures in the supernatural world that can perfectly mimic the human form. It’s one of those Darwinian traits that makes a species successful. Werewolves are successful because they can pass for human most of the time. Vampires can pass. Dragons got their asses slain because they were scary. They were no longer on this plane because they couldn’t hide what they were. Humans tend to hunt down and kill what frightens them.
My point is, when dealing with supernaturals passing for humans, there are always tricks to identify your prey. Hunters wrote entire books about it, passing these tomes from generation to generation. In the human world, they’re called superstitions, but in my world, it’s called a good defense.
There were a couple of tricks I’d discovered for identifying the aswang. I could find an elder to mix a special concoction of coconut oil and herbs and leave it on the suspect’s porch. When the aswang walked by it, the oil would boil, thereby unmasking the creature. As I didn’t know any Filipino elders who wouldn’t laugh me out of their homes, nor did I have any suspects, I had to go with option two, which I did, much to everyone’s surprise.
Right there in the middle of the butcher’s shop, I turned my back to the suspect, hiked my skirt up as modestly as I could, and bent over to view the possible ghoul through my legs.
Like I said before, I was going to spend the day looking like an idiot.
“We are doing this for what reason?” Declan asked from beside me. He had taken up the same position, and I was glad I wasn’t the only one looking foolish. “Are we trying to anger the creature by…what is the human term…mooning it?”
I sighed because the chick behind the counter was still human. Just to be sure, I checked out the customers because as long as I was down there, I might as well.
“It would only be mooning if our asses were bare,” I corrected Declan as I stood back up and smoothed down my skirt. That had been a waste of time.
Declan gave me a sly smile. “If your ass had been bare, I would not have mimicked you. I would have stood back and enjoyed the sight.”
“The two of you were hell on your mother, weren’t you?” Everyone was staring at us with looks ranging from disbelief to anger at our disrespect. I gave
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