Page 12 of Chosen Spirits (The Bartender Mage #4)

"Oh, you betcha." Luce beckoned to them, stepping off down one of the hallways. "He mentioned he was expecting some folk from Minnie. Gio! Your boys are here. "

Luce brought them into a large community room, with a foosball table, massive television, entertainment system, and a half-dozen leather recliners.

There were two firefighters watching a movie while eating pizza who looked up briefly at their entrance, but then turned right back to the movie just as an action scene began.

A third individual rose up out of a chair and approached, his stride accompanied by muffled clanking.

"Gio, I presume?" Rahul looked at the shorter man who was wearing plate armor from head to toe, including a full face covering. In response, the man nodded, then brushed his hands together in front of himself, gesturing a few times before finally pointing at them both.

"He says it's nice to meet you," Luce said.

Rahul smiled, reaching out to shake his hand. It was firm, and cool to the touch. "It's nice to meet you, too. I apologize, I don't speak sign language."

Gio shrugged, then reached out a hand for Leif to shake. His cub reached up haltingly, mouth agape.

"Wow! You're so shiny! Wait, I'm sorry, is that rude to say?

Anyways, hi, yes! I'm Leif, and I took an ASL course a couple years back for college, but I'm a bit rusty.

Can I ask, are you also Hard of Hearing?

We're happy to make any kind of accommodation, since you're being so awesome by being our guide. "

"Nah," Luce explained after Gio pointed in her direction. "Gio's mute, but his hearing's top notch. Alrighty, Gio, Manny's here to cover the rest of your shift, so you can mosey on out and help these fine DOMA folk with whatever they needs doin'. I'll see you again after your four-day."

Gio made a salute, reached to a side holster where he carried a large phone, then typed out a message. The device played the message out loud in a synthetic male's voice with an eastern European accent.

" I will meet you out front in three minutes. I am looking forward to this. "

"Take whatever time you need," Rahul assured him, then gently aimed Leif back towards the entrance as Gio strode away in the other direction. Leif turned around to wave to everyone, even as Rahul nudged him along.

Once out front, Rahul went immediately back to his car, more so that Leif would be encouraged to get out of the cold. Spring was definitely approaching, but the temperature still had a ways to go before it could be called anything other than freezing.

"If Gio can take his armor off in three minutes, I'll be impressed," Rahul mentioned, tapping idly on the steering wheel.

He saw Leif shake his head. "Take it off? No, he's probably just getting his things. Or maybe his car? There's probably, like, staff parking."

"Well, if the man wants to help us out in full-plate, more power to him."

"Oh! No, Rahul, Gio's not wearing armor. He is the armor."

Rahul looked at Leif, then back to the building. "Well, what do you know? A living armor mythic. Good eye, cub, I didn't catch that. I just figured we had a firefighter who liked to cosplay, or maybe had an enchanted suit."

"I only caught it because I could see him with my spirit senses," Leif admitted.

"His body, um, he feels like he's extra solid and real , but also kind of hollow, but not actually empty.

Like an aerosol can, or a fire extinguisher, maybe?

And he's not, like, a dullahan or anything, it's the armor that's alive. "

While he hummed out loud, Leif pulled out his phone, and Rahul saw him hurry to type in a web search, living armor mythic how to be polite.

"I think as long as you don't offer to polish his codpiece, you'll be fine, cub."

"That… Rahul, goodness! It didn't cross my mind at all."

Leif finished skimming through a short page on cultural norms, paused for a few seconds, then typed in living armor mythic is polishing considered sexual .

A moment later, Rahul looked on in amusement as Leif, too engrossed in an explicit video of a man and a woman sensually running rags over a breastplate, failed to notice Gio pulling up beside them in a silent-running electric car.

When Gio tapped politely on the passenger door, Leif made a high-pitched squeak and nearly dropped his phone, fumbling to first catch it, then to shut off the screen.

Laughing, Rahul rolled down the passenger window while Leif tried to appear nonchalant with a burning red face. Gio, meanwhile, was just finishing typing a message.

" If I end up getting dirty on this excursion, you can help get me cleaned up. Deal?" Leif stammered a reply, but Gio was already typing another message. " We are headed to a quarry. I will send you the location ."

Rahul gave him a thumbs up, rolling the window back up while Gio returned to his vehicle. After viewing the text message and bringing up the coordinates, Rahul pulled out of the parking lot, following Gio in his car.

Some ten minutes later, Rahul was driving through rough gravel to park near a barricade that overlooked a three-story deep pit. As he joined Leif and Gio outdoors, he took in the sight of hewn rock and abandoned scaffolding.

"So we're looking for a large, smooth stone, shaped like a fish," Rahul explained as he summoned forth a series of glowing lights. "Should be perhaps three to four feet on a side."

There was a metallic tapping, and Rahul looked over to see Gio rapping his knuckles against the back of his other hand.Having caught his attention, Gio then pointed to one of his sparks and tilted his head.

"Right, good point! Let me do some better introductions.

I'm Private Investigator Rahul Basu, former agent for DOMA, mythblooded djinn of fire and light.

With me is Leif Becken, mage consultant for DOMA.

He's a certified spiritmancer that specializes in enchanted potions, and also my adorable boyfriend. "

Gio nodded, then began typing into his phone. " Giovanni de Fabbri, armatus anima . Firefighter, occasional DOMA helper, and reigning foosball champion. I can perform some guardian magic, if called upon ."

"Good to know! Can you drink potions?"

" Unfortunately not ."

"Hang on," Leif said. "Gio, just to clarify, my potions are actually alcoholic cocktails infused with spirit magic."

Gio looked up from his phone, then made quick circling gestures with both hands. Leif nodded.

"Leif?"

"Getting drunk is almost like a universal law," he said, grinning up at him.

"It's kind of like how people will leave food for their dead relatives, right?

There are a number of incorporeal mythic creatures for whom the intent of the food is more important, so like, if you put a flagon of ale in front of a ghost, sometimes they can drink it, or at least get hammered.

Um, usually by leaving a mess behind on the floor afterwards, but I have served a couple of guys at the bar that way.

I think in your case, Gio, you'll be able to drink what I make, and feel it?

But it might get your inside armor all wet and sticky. "

" My gambeson ," Gio said, tapping at the cloth armor that filled in the gaps between the metal. " I will be happy to try if the mission calls for it, but if not, perhaps you would oblige me later with a drink. I cannot normally have any, and would appreciate the chance ."

"Well, of course, yeah!"

"Come on, boys, let's go ahead and get started, then."

Rahul loaded up on items from his trunk, while Leif retrieved his alchemist's kit and a flashlight.

After some discussion, they settled on Leif making just two potions for his own use, Telekinesis and a modified Bullet Barrier that would protect him in case of a fall or rock slide.

Gio watched Leif's mixing with interest, but declined a drink for the moment.

Gio led the way down an embankment, and dust was kicked up with each of their steps. Once they made it to the ground level, grass made an appearance, cushioning their progress. At that point, they split up, each person followed by several of Rahul's orbiting wisps.

"Be mindful of any coves," Rahul called out to Leif. "You can look, but don't actually go inside any of them by yourself."

The quarry wasn't that large, and Rahul was easily able to see the shine of Leif's flashlight each time he looked back over his shoulder.

Telling himself to trust in his cub, he shook his head, then bent to the task of the search, trying to picture the area as it might have been forty years ago when the original binding had taken place.

In the end, it was Gio who found what they were looking for a half-hour later, rapping on his chest to get their attention.

" It is a little ways inside this part," he said, indicating a carved out cul-de-sac on the second level. " You see the fish? "

Rahul breathed into his cupped hands, then opened them, sending out a number of fresh fireflies to provide illumination.

Entering the area cautiously, he took note of the carving, more like a relief on weather-worn stone.

There was a depiction of an angler-like fish, with a gaping maw and numerous tentacles.

" And this was bound by an arbiter ?"

"It was, and it's the reason this quarry had to be shut down. There were a number of newspaper articles and news broadcasts about it terrorizing the area."

Rahul turned around, seeing Gio signing a few words to Leif.

"Little?" Leif repeated, and Gio raised a hand as if knocking on a door.

Leif nodded. "No, the seal is small, yes, but the creature was much larger in real life.

It was described as having a body the size of a charter bus, with tentacles that could reach upwards of thirty feet, and could eat through stone! Chomp, chomp, chomp."

Rahul swung his bag off of his shoulder, reaching inside to pull out both his own potion's case and the surveillance camera.

"Cub, do you want to manage the history potion while I set up the camera?"

"On it!"

Leif hurried over, opening Rahul's case where three potions rested, including the newly discovered Dust Sight .

After grabbing the rum-based Dreaming History , which gave the user ghostly visions of the recent past, Leif walked over to sit outside the cul-de-sac.

He briefly explained how the potion worked to Gio while Rahul sought out the best spot to plant the camera.

If Lady I'ari made an appearance at any point within the next couple of years, the camera would detect it, alerting Rahul and DOMA both .

He was digging through his bag for a cloth to clean the dust off of a promising area when he heard Leif yelp. Rushing over, he saw Gio standing over his boyfriend, who was sprawled back on his ass.

"Leif!"

"Um!" he began, his eyes not quite focusing. "So, um, the fish? It is super duper scary to see when it's life-sized. It ate a whole boulder."

"Cub, you about gave me a heart attack. But damn, this thing hasn't been around for forty years. Has there been that little foot traffic here, or did you maybe find a potion variation that's better for looking back longer than a week?"

"Um."

Rahul paused."Leif?"

He saw Leif lick his lips. "This was, uh, I think just a couple of days ago. I caught glimpses of the sorceress focusing on the stone. And then, um, you see that rock right there in front of you? Do you think those teeth marks look sort of, maybe, not so weather-worn?"

Gio was typing furiously on his phone, deleting it, then apparently typing again. At last, he seemed to find out what he wanted to say.

" The monster is free? Exclamation point! "

"Um, yup! Yes. It's hard to tell for sure, my vision potion is a lot more vague and wispy than a real security camera, but—"

"On your feet, cub," Rahul said, jogging back to retrieve their gear.

He tried not to imagine the wind as being anything other than what it was.

Certainly not the rumbling of stone signifying the underground passage of the fish.

"Gio, help Leif if you can, his sight is going to be a little off kilter for the next hour. "

Rahul pulled out his phone as they hurried back the way they came, making the first of several necessary calls.

"Hey, puppy! Who's at HQ right now, because we may have a situation at the first site you gave me…"