Page 4 of Kiss of Magic

“No point lusting after me now, Blue-eyes. You had your chance. You chose the dead guy.”

“Darian’s not dead, jackass. He’sundead. There’s a difference.”

“Yeah, whatever. But don’t come running to me when you start hankering after a proper red-blooded male.”

Tala rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help smiling. Damn the gods, she’d missed this. Trading banter with another tracker. Catching up and shooting the breeze. Planning the next hunt, trying to outwit her competitors.

She’d even missed Mike’s bar, as dark and dingy as it was. This had been her life, before she’d fallen head over heels for a bloodsucker.

Blake’s voice broke into her thoughts.

“So spill, Blondie. Why are you here? I thought you were loved up with Count Dracula in Unicorn Land.”

“There’s no such thing as unicorns,” she corrected automatically. Why did everyone think supernatural realms had unicorns?

“You know what I mean. What’s going on?”

Tala hesitated.

She’d known Blake for a long time and she trusted him. To a point. True, the last time she’d seen him he’d double-crossed her and almost got her and Darian killed. But in the end he’d helped them, though it had nearly cost him his own life. That had to count for something, didn’t it?

Besides, he was one of the very few humans who knew about the existence of Nush’aldaam. Who was aware that jinn and fae were real. And who wasn’t freaked out by the fact that she was a shaitun.

And he was a good tracker. Very good. Maybe as good as her. She made up her mind.

“I have a job for you.”

“What kind of job?”

“A sensitive one. Difficult. And dangerous.”

“My favourite kind.”

“I’m being serious. This job is… well, a lot’s riding on it.” She took a breath, knowing Blake was a cynic but determined to make him understand. “The future of my world depends on it.”

Blake snorted.

“Enough with the theatrics, sweetheart. Just tell me who you’re trying to find.”

“A witch.”

Blake raised a brow.

“Do you mean someone with a filthy temper? Or a Sabrina?”

“An actual witch, though according to her coven she also has anger management issues. They’ve been trying to locate her forthe past three weeks but evidently she’s managed to ward herself against them. Here, take a look at her picture.”

Tala put a photo on the table and Blake picked it up. A young woman glared out at him. Her colouring was unusual; coffee-coloured skin, turquoise eyes and cobalt-blue hair which he guessed wasn’t dyed. She would have been pretty if she hadn’t been glowering so furiously.

“She looks a real charmer. What’s her story?”

“Her name’s Dani Archambeau. Canadian national. Her coven’s based in Montreal.”

“And they’re pissed because she left? What happened to free will?”

“It’s complicated. Apparently she’s the one person in the world who can prevent a catastrophe.”

“Christ, not another chosen one. What a fucking cliché.”

---