Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,38

about the humans who were migrating to Bennett from Lakeside. The girl had also told her about meeting Tess, which explained a lot about why Barbara Ellen had approached a Harvester in the first place. The friendliness was genuine, but the girl also seemed to be making a point that she would choose her own friends, regardless of Tolya’s concern or Virgil’s growling.

“No,” Yuri replied. “Those humans should arrive on Watersday, if the train stays on schedule. These humans heard there was work here.” He picked up a stack of papers off the bar. “Don Miller worked on the computer yesterday and made up these forms for potential employees. He said he had a feeling you would find them useful, but they might be useful now for dealing with these strangers.”

Don Miller, her other bartender, was an Intuit who had a sense of what people needed. Freddie Kaye was another Intuit, but he had a feel for numbers and wanted to work as the house gambler.

“Are there enough forms?” she asked.

“Won’t know until the humans walk through the door, but I won’t be surprised if there is exactly the number of copies that we need today.”

“We’re going to have customers?” Garnet Ravengard sauntered over to the bar and smiled at Yuri. She had the dark eyes and black hair typical of her form of terra indigene. Except for a couple of black feathers mixed in with her hair, she looked human—and had more of a bosom than she’d had yesterday.

Had the Raven been able to alter her human appearance or had she achieved that effect by using some kind of clothing beneath the garnet red dress?

“The dress looks good on you,” Yuri said.

“And you look like a frontier bartender, right down to the little black tie,” Garnet replied.

The Sanguinati did look the part in the white shirt and black vest and trousers—and the black string tie.

No telling if the humans would appreciate the costumes and the rest of what had been done to give the saloon a particular flavor, but Scythe realized that everyone who worked there would have fun. And that pleased her.

A minute later her pleasure faded and her gold hair suddenly had streaks of blue and red—and a warning thread of black—and began to curl as five human males walked into the saloon.

“I’m Madam Scythe,” she said. “Welcome to the Bird Cage Saloon.”

Four of the men removed their hats in what she assumed was a gesture of courtesy. The fifth man did not.

Something in his eyes. Something that scratched at her instincts to feed. She moved toward him slowly as her hair changed to red with streaks of black and threads of gold and blue—and it coiled.

“We should not be required to be in this house of fornication,” the fifth man said loudly.

Yuri vaulted over the bar one-handed, drawing everyone’s attention, including hers. A movement, a reminder to be careful.

“We sell a variety of drinks,” Yuri said, showing a hint of fang when he smiled at the men. “Our girls are here to talk to customers, even do a little singing and dancing. But Madam Scythe does not allow fornication in this establishment.”

The man looked pointedly at the stairs that led to Scythe’s suite and the rooms the employees could use during breaks or as dressing rooms.

“As you can see,” Yuri said with a nod toward the stairs and the red velvet rope that was attached to the wall and newel-post, “the rooms are for employees only—and that rule is strictly enforced.”

There was enough bite and warning in the words that Scythe understood that Yuri was also uneasy about that particular human. Adding to her own sense of wrongness was the way the other four men were looking at their companion, as if they, too, recognized something odd about his behavior.

“Now, if you gentlemen will fill out these forms, that will assist everyone when the mayor comes in to talk to you about what work you might do here.” Yuri handed out the forms. “On the second page, where it says ‘Miscellaneous’? Please provide the reason you left your previous place of residence.”

Garnet went into Scythe’s office, then reappeared with two pens and a pencil. “Here are writing implements if you need them.”

One man approached Garnet but glanced at Scythe as he accepted the pens and pencils. “I don’t know why he is saying these things,” he said quietly.

“He’s your friend?” Scythe asked just as quietly.

“No. He joined us at the border station. He said he was