The Improbable Pair : Clara and Damien (Delta Underground Operatives Book 1) by Sarah Noffke

Author:Sarah Noffke [Noffke, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: One-Twenty-Six Press
Published: 2023-01-12T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Market, Midnight Crossing

“I’m not really a hat person,” Damien grumbled, pulling the cap low over his eyes as they strode for the entrance to Midnight Crossing. Just inside the gates, at the center of the city, was the Market.

“Suck it up, buttercup,” Clara whispered, feeling the vampire’s anxiety.

It was well placed, and if he was on the banned list and found inside the walls, he’d been hung and never tried. No records of his death would be made, and everyone would quickly forget about it. Clara wasn’t going to allow that to happen, though. She knew her way around this place well enough that she could get them to where they needed to be without a problem—barring that Damien might do something stupid, which she suspected he was prone to doing.

“The line queuing up is long,” Damien noticed. “It’s going to take forever to get through that, and are they patting people down? They are going to recognize me.”

Clara shook her head. “You’re not that memorable, Damien Monty, although I get that you’re used to clarifying that you are ‘the Damien Monty,’” she teased, knowing that he needed that right then to put him at ease.

“Most do,” he argued. “And I don’t think you realize that I will be recognized by one of those ogres doing security checks. If I recognize their giant bulbous noses, then they’ll remember mine.”

“I don’t stand in lines,” Clara said, strolling by the people queuing up, fidgeting impatiently as they waited. “And save the five-dollar words for another time. Just shush it and pretend to be my boyfriend.”

“How do I do that?” he asked.

She took his hand, wrapping hers in it and smiled at him. “You act like you like me.”

“I would like you if you didn’t make me allergic to the one thing that keeps me alive… well, sort of alive, in an undead way.”

“Well put, boyfriend,” she said, dragging him up to the front of the line where an ogre with an axe stood, looking people over before waving them through or turning them away. By this point, they’d already been questioned, patted down and pretty well interrogated by the other security strolling the line.

“Hey, there’s no cutting,” a mage said, throwing up a hand and cutting Clara off. She paused, only a few feet from the ogre guard.

“But…” Clara complained, sounding uncharacteristically whiney.

“He’s right,” the ogre said, looking over the werewolf standing in front of him, deciding whether or not to let him into the city.

“Right, but, Nikko, I’m in a hurry and—”

The ogre looked up, at first surprised that someone knew his name. Then relief and happiness flooded his green face. “Clara Jordan! What are you doing here? I’ve been expecting you for ages! And missing you every day you didn’t show up.”

The giant monster pushed the werewolf out of his way and reached out, picking Clara up in his arms and whirling her around. Her legs and feet nearly swung into a few people’s heads, but no one said anything, afraid that would ruin their chances of getting into Midnight Crossing and the Market.

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