Take Me Once, I'll Bleed You Twice novel Chapter 76

Chapter 76

The staff was a mixture of different species, including a wampus cat named Gregory and Bobby the baykok. Unlike the rest and a sasquatch – Beatrice had never heard of those two creatures before.

two goblins, twin fae, a witch.

Gregory the wampus cat had six legs and a tail twice as long as it should be. Yes, he was a cat, and yes, he could speak His job was hookkeeping, and Beatrice couldn’t figure out how he managed that, since he was all paws and tail. Wasn: her business anyway, and he always made sure she was paid at the end of every shift. She liked Gregory.

Bobby looked sort of like Riaghaire had before he’d been freed, only worse. He was a literal skeleton covered in flesh, with eyes that glowed red. Claire said his kind liked to prey on warriors of any species and, if someone was stupid enough to start a fight, it would be the baykok who put an end to it by killing the person responsible. Everyone knew of and agreed to the risks when they walked through the front door; anyone stupid enough to start shit once inside deserved whatever they got.

“So… con’t join in on any fight,” Beatrice noted with a nervous laugh.

“Pretty much. He won’t move for anything but an all-out brawl but, when he does, back away and don’t ever think about fighting.”

“I’m going to stick to the back rooms, thanks,” she assured the blond before looking over to where Riaghaire stood by the door. Shouldn’t Claire be having this conversation with him, too? Ah, whatever. He could take care of himself, and his hearing was sharp; he probably heard every word they’d said.

“We haven’t had a brawl here since the winter of ’73,” said the witch, who was gathering a tray of clean glasses to bring out to the bar. It had been a surprise to learn that the man was a witch – weren’t they suppose to be women? – but Beatrice didn’t dwell on it for long. He was shorter than her by a few inches but that didn’t stop him from being intimidating as all hell. Long grey hair was pulled into a complicated twist at the back of his head, while his

facial hair was kept at a permanent five o’clock shadow stage. Again, she didn’t bother getting stuck on the whys. People avoided getting in his way as he

moved around so she did the same and that’s all that mattered.

–

Harry the sasquatch — and yes, his name was just that unimaginative was in charge of security. He was also banned from the storage area and the kitchen as he shed hair like, well, a very hairy creature. Luckily, he seemed content manning – or, in his case, sasquatching – the front door.

The others paid so little attention to Beatrice that she hadn’t been introduced to them, at least not officially. They referred to her as ‘the human instead of by name and she was fine with that. She had no issue calling them ‘the goblins’ or ‘the fae’ in return.

It didn’t take long for Beatrice to fall into a pattern. She and Riaghaire worked the same shifts as Claire to simplify their lives. They would wake mid- afternoon, head to work once the sun had set, and return home just before dawn. Rinse and repeat.

Two weeks passed by with Beatrice in a constant state of worry that Alphass Hendricks would show up and try to take her away. The and ceason she was was because Riaghaire was nearby. He would fake sure no one took her able to sleep at night actually, it was morning by the time they went to bed while she was off in lala land. Listening to him read out loud, his voice having softened a fair bit now that he was no longer starved, Julled her to sleep every time without fail.

When they arrived at work one night during their third week, Beatrice was feeling antsy. She couldn’t quite put her finger on why, but every little noise made her jump. There was also the fact she had a headache that just would not go away, no matter how many pills she swallowed It made het antable, so she chose to seclude herself in the back rooms without greeting anyone she didn’t want to chance stapping at someone who could kill her far more s

than should be allowed.

As she loaded the industrial grade dishwasher with dirty glasses, Gregory pounced onto her shoulders, his tail wrapping itself around her neck twice as he settled. “What the fuck,” she exclaimed, nearly dropping what she’d been holding. How she managed to keep everything from dropping to the floor she didn’t know, but she wasn’t pleased at the lack of warning from the wampus cat “What the hell, Gregory Give a girl a heads up if you’re going to do that

Gregory rubbed his cheek against hers, a light purr rumbling out of him. “Sorry, sorry I just wanted to come say hello *

7:52 am P

Chapter 76

“I this even allowed?” she asked, giving him a quick chim scratch. “In a human workplace, this would be considered inappropriate.”

“Human, schyuman,” he retorted. “Your kind shouldn’t be used as an example anything other than how to do things wrong.”

“I can’t argue with that,” she grumbled, feeling a little insulted.

“Anyway. I’m to tell you that the floors must be cleaned before you leave.”

“Okay. All of them?”

“Correct,” he nodded, rolling his r’s more than was needed. “Including the main room and restrooms. Nice and shiny, please.”

Beatrice let out a sigh. This was turning into a regular thing – cleaning the floors – and it sucked. A lot. She hadn’t realized how horribly messy some species were until she’d been forced to mop the floor after a particularly busy night.

It had been… disgusting, to say the least.

“Yeah, sure. Yay me,” she said without enthusiasm.

“Atta girl,” Gregory chuckled as he unwound his tail and hopped off her shoulder, slinking away towards his office.

Why the wampus cat got an entire office to himself was a mystery and, again, she wasn’t about to question it. Who knew what scary things he might be capable of doing.

She found herself imagining him using his tail as a noose when a shout came from the main room, followed soon after by a loud crash.

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Take Me Once, I’ll Bleed You Twice

hapter 77

BEATRICE

Unable to help herself, Beatrice moved to the door and, after cracking it open just a bit, peeked through to see what was going on.

Absolute chaos greeted her eyes. She couldn’t quite figure out what was happening, except that Harry was in the middle of the room, picking someone up before chucking them into the far wall. The sasquatch had just toss a full grown… whatever they were cover twenty feet. Like it was nothing. Then she saw Bobby standing on the sideline, his glowing eyes following the fight that’s what she told herself, since she couldn’t exactly tell; his eyes were just red,

with no pupil or iris.

1

She was getting hung up on things that didn’t matter. Again. The fact Bobby had moved from his spot in the corner the sper he hadn’t moved from since

Beatrice had started working at Kaleidoscope – made her gut clench.

The door was suddenly thrown open and Riaghaire was staring at her, looking unamused that she’d been on the other side. “Gréine, come,” was all he said before taking her hand in his, dragging her further into the back.

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