Monster Mansion 2 by Dante King (best way to read ebooks .txt) 📗

a valuable EDI asset, and so was Selena. When assets move on, a special unit goes in and clears the whole place out so the assets can’t be traced. Everything in the apartment will be incinerated.”

“Huh,” I said, thinking about my laptop, my guitar, and my stash of weed. “Not sure how I feel about that.”

Before I could say anything more, we had pulled up outside Trevor’s shop, and there was the old bastard himself, five-foot five, pot-bellied and balding, dressed in shorts and an Avengers t-shirt and leaning up against the doorway with a smoke in his mouth, enjoying the afternoon sun. As soon as I saw him, I was glad that I’d decided to come along and not just send one of the agents.

He opened his eyes as we parked up and got out of the car, and it took him a moment to recognize me.

“Jeremy! You little prick!” he shouted companionably. He spat out the remains of his smoke and came over to pump my hand in a sweaty grip.

“This is my friend Selena, and this is Amanda,” I said, gesturing to the two women.

“A drow, and a cat-girl,” Trevor growled. “I’ve nothing against the Drow, lady, but I’m no fan of beastkin.” He glared as Selena.

“Well, these are my buddies, Trevor,” I said icily, “and if you’ve got a problem then we can just take our massive amount of expensive, high-end magical shit elsewhere. Perhaps Teddy Half-Eye down the street would be a better prospect?”

Teddy Half-Eye was Trevor’s nemesis, his only competitor in this part of the city. The mention of his rival’s name made Trevor change his tune quick enough.

“Not at all, not at all!” he said, smiling slimily at Selena. “Forgive an old man’s prejudices, I’m sure we’ll get along just fine, eh? Sorry if I’ve given offense.”

Selena looked more amused than offended. Trevor was one of the old generation who had an unreasoning dislike of the beastkin, but I was not going to take his crap this time.

“You just keep your dinosaur opinions to yourself and we will get along fine. It’s not the ‘80s anymore,” I told him.

“True, true, more’s the pity. But where’s this magical loot you’re talking about?” He was peering into the back of the car, which was quite obviously empty.

“Just take us into that storeroom you’ve got at the back of the shop, Trevor, and you’ll see soon enough.”

He gave me a suspicious look, but then shrugged and led us through the shop, locking the door behind him.

“Selena, gimme your phone,” I said as we stood about in the dusty, dimly lit storeroom at the back of the shop. She did as I asked, and I dialed the number of the mansion phone.

“Hello?” said Astrid’s voice after five rings. She sounded a bit breathless.

“Astrid, it’s me. Everything alright?”

“Sure, why wouldn’t it be?” she said.

“You just sounded a little out of breath, that’s all. You been working out?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that… Kyrine and I were, uh, working out, yeah.”

I heard Kyrine’s throaty chuckle in the background. Ah.

“Ok, well, you better get ready, because I’m about to open the portal,” I said.

“Haha! Ok, uh, give us a minute, okay?”

There was a scuffling sound as she put the phone down.

I turned to the others, trying to keep from grinning. “They’ll just be a minute,” I said.

Trevor was looking at me, open-mouthed. “Did you say… portal?” he said.

“I sure did, my dude,” I said. “Actually, you might do well to grab yourself a seat for this next bit. I wouldn’t want you to fall over when you see this.”

“Holy shit…” muttered Trevor as he grabbed an old wooden chair from a dusty corner and sat down in it.

“Ok, we’re ready,” said Astrid on the other end of the phone. “Go for it.”

“Right,” I said, then put the phone on the floor.

I pulled the little box from my pocket and activated it. Trevor’s eyes were like dinner plates as the little portal generator expanded its legs and began to shine a bright light up into the dim room. It hummed faintly.

“Mine’s active,” I said to Astrid. “Turn yours on.”

There was a crackling noise in the room, and the light from the portal generator flickered and shook, then stabilized into a tall, door-shaped rectangle of white light. The portal was opaque for a moment, then it cleared, and I could see right through into the workroom back at the mansion.

“Awesome!” cried Selena.

“Fucking hell!” moaned Trevor.

There was a thud as the old shop owner slid from his seat and fell bonelessly to the ground in a faint.

Selena moved toward him and propped him up against the wall. He woke, blinking, and reached out to grab her hand, staring at the portal.

“Is it… is it real?” he asked her in a quavering voice.

“It sure is,” she said kindly. “Come on, let’s leave Jeremy and Amanda to it for a bit and go find you a drink of water or something.”

“Good… good idea…” Trevor mumbled. He seemed to have entirely forgotten his dislike for beastkin as he let Selena lead him away, leaning his weight on her arm as he went.

“That was a bit mean,” Amanda chuckled.

I shrugged. “He’s a bit of a dickhead.”

“It’s true!” she said, and we both laughed.

When I first went through, Astrid and Kyrine were both looking pretty flushed, and Astrid looked a bit embarrassed. Kyrine just looked pleased with herself.

“What have you two been up to?” I asked before Amanda came through. The bedclothes were rumpled, and there was something that looked suspiciously like lingerie stuffed hurriedly under the bed.

“We were just entertaining each other until you came back,” said Kyrine wickedly.

“I hope you don’t mind,” said Astrid. “We just missed