Page 13 of Chosen Spirits (The Bartender Mage #4)

Ducking effortlessly beneath a lashing tentacle, Tucker continued running circles around the surfaced angler fish, keeping its attention drawn.

When it started moving away from him and towards the contingent of Wisconsin operatives, he leapt up on its back, using his dire beagle claws to scratch at its flame-scorched hide.

It lashed at him again using multiple rubbery appendages, but though it managed to clip him, the attack resulted in nothing more than an icy spray of forest-green glitter thanks to the protection afforded by one of Leif's Glitter Armor potions.

Springing back, Tucker stayed light on his paws as he reassessed his flailing target.

" It's diving back underground ," Agent Reeves called out through comms as the fish burrowed beneath the quarry. " One last time, Agent Lilithian. Vinnie has the cage ready ."

Too tired to summon the wind to fly properly, Lilithian still managed to look perfectly poised as she glided over. Tucker hurried to her side as she pressed her hands to the ground, speaking to the earth through her sylvan connection to the land. Within moments, the quarry began to rumble.

To Tucker's best understanding, the shaking earth was to the Wassau Beast what being near a flash-bang would be for him, sensory depriving and painful.

The beast resurfaced near them, easily spotted thanks to an alert Rahul and his targeted spotlights, but Lilithian was already clutching at Tucker's fur, and he sped them both away.

" Area is clear! Vinnie, you're up . "

Out of the corner of his eye, Tucker noticed an oscillating sphere forming around the fish.

By the time he had deposited Lilithian back safely behind the barriers held by the front line and turned around, though, the sphere was already blinking out of existence, taking the fish with it.

The sudden silence was soon broken by scattered cheers among the operatives and first responders at the quarry, and Tucker howled along with them.

Tucker did a quick check of the surrounding personnel, but it didn't seem like anyone was hurt or in distress. He allowed Lilithian to mount him again, and began padding his way up and out of the pit, soon joined by leading agent Anton Reeves and the dimension mage, Vinnie.

"Good work out there, agent," Reeves said, and Lilithian dipped her head. "To you as well, detective, that was some nice footwork. I appreciate Minnesota's support in helping us contain what could have easily turned into a city-wide disaster."

Tucker barked cheerfully. "We live super close, just across the state line, it made sense to help!"

"Ha, well, thanks all the same. Vinnie, how're you holding up?"

The older man in biker's leathers held a fist up to his mouth, containing a burp.

"She's a big'un, no doubt, but I'll put in some extra hours in my sanctuary to shore up the containment.

We've probably got a few weeks to find new homes for them before I have to start cutting back on beans and Mexican food. "

Reeves frowned."Them?"

"Yeeeah. It's a pair of fused spirits. Tastes like, hmm, a stone spirit, of course, but also a fragment of a Great Lakes spirit.

And maybe a seasoning of corruption? Anyhoo, I reckon they were bound together against their will, hence the aggression, so we're gonna need Mary's help to separate them. Assuming the pair want to, that is. "

"We'll make communicating with them our first priority, then. We can work out the details tomorrow afternoon."

As they emerged from the pit, Lilithian dismounted, freeing Tucker to shift into his human form.

The Wisconsin agents went to speak to the other members of their four-man squad, while Tucker instead joined up with Rahul in walking over to an ambulance, accepting his clothing back from his boyfriend.

He donned his kilt and shoes, but left the shirt off for the moment, trying to cool down.

Leif bounced unsteadily to his feet when they neared, nearly falling over in his haste to give him a hug. He looked and smelled exhausted, but still smiled up at him brightly. Tucker wrapped an arm around him, stroking his arm, then focused on their injured friend.

"How're you holding up, Rickert?" Rahul asked.

"Doc says I'll be fine." Rickert jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the paramedic who was running glowing hands along one of his wings, then swatted the ground with his tail. "But I'll bet I won't be able to fly for like, weeks, or something. Not good, bro!"

"I never said you'll be fine, only that you don't look to be in danger of dying," the medic corrected as she pulled her hands back, apparently finished.

"Same thing, doc!" Rickert said.Tucker and Rahul, both having done their share of high-threat missions, nodded in complete agreement.

The medic seemed to decide it best not to argue further.

"You're going to need to get this wing checked out by a physician, as well as all these burns.

And you shouldn't fly until they give the go-ahead.

Normally, yes, reattaching a wing would take a gargoyle mythic like yourself a few weeks or more, but the healing potion you took seems to have sped the process up.

All the same, to be safe, you need to stay in your stone body until you're sitting in a clinic in case the injury reopens.

We don't want you spontaneously bleeding everywhere, okay?

Now sit tight, I'm going to call my medical director. "

Tucker watched the paramedic head back inside the ambulance, then stepped over to where Rickert was sitting on the ground in his obsidian and moonstone form. He patted his friend on the head, being careful not to touch where the Wassau Beast's digestive juices had left behind pitted areas.

"So, what did we learn tonight?"

"That Leif is the best guy in the whole world?" Rickert opened his arms up wide, and Leif stumbled into him to receive a hug, laughing and wincing as he bumped into his stone flesh too forcefully. "Thanks for the healing potion, cute bro."

Tucker snorted. "I was thinking more of a lesson about listening to your field boss when he tells you not to go stoneform against a stone fish with the unique ability to eat stone and metal."

"Yeah, bro, but you saw how she immediately went for me after I transformed, right? It was a totally intended distraction! I'll bet I was the juiciest, most delicious piece of rock she'd ever seen."

Leif lifted his head to kiss the side of Rickert's snout. "You are a big, savory snack, yes."

"Because of all this beefcake, right? Heh. But little bro, are you holding up okay? You're still looking way too pale."

Leif nodded. "It was a lot of potions to make in one day, but yeah. I'll be fine by tomorrow."

"Let's get the rest of this settled, then.

" Tucker was finally starting to feel the chill, so he pulled his shirt over his dust-covered torso.

He looked over at the Wisconsin team, seeing Agent Reeves thanking and dismissing the fire and rescue personnel, and then organizing transportation for his crew.

"If the medical director gives the go-ahead, I'll take Rickert straight back to Minneapolis to be seen by a doctor.

I doubt there's a gargoyle specialist closer.

What about you, Rahul? Coming home tonight? "

He saw Rahul shake his head. "Sorry, pup, I'm a bit too knackered to drive that far, and so's Leif. Our next site is in the opposite direction of home, too, so we'd have to just drive right back here. Hey, no need to whine, puppy, we'll be back tomorrow night to regroup."

Tucker swallowed his disappointment as he nodded, and Rahul bent down to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"Besides, Leif and I owe this fine gentleman a thank you pair of hands. I appreciated your shields, Gio."

Tucker watched as the anima firefighter came over, bumping hooked fingers together as he signed to Leif.

"He says it's no problem, I think," Leif translated, and Gio nodded. "But yeah, you're looking filthy. You must have really been in it!"

"He was with us at the beginning, at least until he drew too much attention," Tucker agreed. "Same problem as stoneform Rickert. Alright, give me final hugs, I'm going to settle up with Agent Reeves and head out."

Leif was the quickest, wrapping himself around his waist, followed by his burly bear who planted a lingering kiss on him despite the dust and grime. He laughed when Rickert joined in, then harder still when a bemused-seeming Gio was tugged into the group by Leif.

"Super Puppy Pile Goodbye Hug!" Leif intoned, his face buried in Tucker's chest.

"Darlin', I'm pretty sure it's just called a group hug. "

"Not when the target is an awesome good pupper."

Tucker growled happily, admitting defeat. He hugged Leif tighter, getting in enough comfort to tide him over until he saw his boyfriends again.

◆◆◆

Three days later, after a grueling work shift of squeezing through apartment crawl spaces to ferret out nests of pesky mimis—human-shaped sprites, but paper-thin, so thousands could fit inside a single ventilation shaft—Tucker parked his truck outside of Rickert's apartment building; Leif and Rahul were both away as they did their respective wrestling and belly-dancing activities, so he was taking the opportunity to check in on Rickert's injuries.

Grabbing the six-pack of light beer he'd brought, he headed indoors and up to the top floor.

Rickert's building catered to larger myths like orcs, bugbears, and bear shifters.

The hallways were broader, the floors were specially reinforced, and all the doors were taller, wider, and on sliding rails.

Tucker knew that for Rickert, this meant that he didn't have to worry about bumping his wings into every threshold, and he could stay in his denser stone form without gouging up cheap tile flooring.