Angel: Private Eye Book One by Odette C. Bell Read Free Book Online Page A

red
fingers.
    His lips pulled back in a sneer. “Get a head
on you, girl. Who the hell signs a contract from a vampire king
without reading it?”
    “I have read it,” I protested too quickly.
“Okay, I haven’t read it – but he summarized what it says. Plus,
this is the police station. They wouldn’t allow me to sign
something illegal,” I stammered.
    I think I realized how stupid I sounded as I
said it.
    Mr Marvelous chucked his head back and
laughed, though it wasn’t so ribald that he drew the attention of
everyone in the room.
    Somehow he was keeping the contract away
from me, despite the fact he was the exact same height as I
was.
    He leaned in and locked his calculating gaze
on me.
    I swallowed and pushed back from the table,
the legs of my chair grating across the lined and marked
black-and-white linoleum.
    “You came into my office today looking for a
job. I’ve got one for you.” Mr Marvelous stuck a hand behind one of
his suspenders. It was almost as if he was going to pick something
out of his jacket pocket, but he wasn’t wearing a jacket.
    That didn’t matter. With a suitable twang
and a vibration that ran down the length of his suspender, he
pulled something out of thin air.
    A crisp clean contract written in glistening
black pen on a piece of unmarked office paper.
    He slammed it down in front of me, grabbed
one of the pens from Cortez’s pen holder, and handed it to me.
    “What? I don’t understand—” I began.
    “Keep up, kid – I’m offering you a job. Sign
on the dotted line, and you start as a magical PI right now. The
benefits aren’t great – at least not the medical and dental. The
security benefits, however, can’t be understated. As a full-time
employee of Mr Marvelous, you will be under my considerable wing,”
he motioned to one of his scrawny arms that stuck out from the
folds of his upturned sleeves, “You’ll be protected from the scum
of this city. You’ll also be inducted into a wide-ranging and
fascinating career. It pays a flat rate of $10 an hour, and you get
to keep 40% of any bounties or direct contracts you manage to bring
in and solve.”
    “$10 an hour?” I scrunched my nose up. Then
I shook my head when I reminded myself it was completely irrelevant
how many dollars an hour this job paid – I had no intention of
accepting it.
    I made another play at snapping Benson’s
contract out of Mr Marvelous’ hand, but he just tugged it further
from my reach. “Don’t be an idiot, kid. Don’t sell your soul to a
vampire king. You want honest work that won’t leave you in
damnation? Sign the contract.” As Mr Marvelous spat out his garbled
words, he always kept one wary eye locked on the door Benson had
left through. It was obvious he wanted to get this over and done
with before the city’s most powerful vampire could return.
    “I’m not going to work for you. You already
ran me out of your office this morning. Now give me back my
contract—” I practically bent double over the desk as I made a bold
grab for it.
    Somehow Mr Marvelous was a hell of a lot
quicker on his feet than he looked. He was like a practiced boxer
dodging a right hook as he shifted the contract just out of my
grip.
    I was surprised we hadn’t drawn a crowd.
Then again, with the twin screaming banshees at the back of the
room, it would probably take an explosion and an impromptu dance to
turn heads here.
    “Fine. $11 an hour, and I’ll let you bunk in
the storage room at the shop. It’s got a window, good view,” he
mentioned with some pride, as if that sealed the deal.
    “A storage cupboard?” Again my nose
scrunched up. Then, almost immediately, I shook my head as I
reminded myself for the second time that he could take his window
and hang.
    “Spare room,” he corrected smoothly.
“Reliable heating, a great view,” he mentioned pointedly once more,
“And above all else – safe. I’ve never had a break in, never even
had any threatening mail. Nobody in their right mind