Page 18 of Redeemed
This time, I’m after the witch who works here, because the thing I want isn’t likely to be sitting on the shelves.
While I Uber over from our hotelsuite—and I use that term grudgingly—I divide the ride into worrying about what Connor really promised Poole and wondering if the witch will be working.
Uber dumps me off in a strip mall that’s identical to several thousand others in the city of LA. The shop is open, and just like last time, there are more books than I can get my mind around, along with comics and tee shirts and all manner of vintage junk.
Either I’m real lucky or the dude never leaves. Under the earthy vanilla smell of old books, I pick up the scent of his magic, a mix of lavender, sage, and something danker, like the scrapings from the bottom of a trash can. I don’t mean that in a bad way. Magic is basically the transmutation of one thing into another, and decay is an essential part of that process and blah blah blah.
At least that’s what my high school boyfriend used to claim. He also used to tell me werewolves couldn’t catch HIV so it was okay for us to go bareback.
Both of those things might be true, but I didn’t want to learn the hard way that he was wrong.
The woman behind the register is goth af, but her magic smells too flowery to be what I’m looking for. I slide between the shelves, dodging random piles of books, stalking the witch. I find him leaning in a doorway in the back, almost as if he’s expecting me.
He’s Black, his Sly and Robbie tee shirt looks vintage, and his hair is sprinkled with grey. “Whatever you’re looking for, we don’t have it.”
Yeah, he was kind of an asshole the last time I was here, too. “Are you psychic?”
“Nah, but I had Chinese for lunch and my fortune cookie said to watch out for gender-bending werewolves who don’t use the common sense god gave them.”
That made me laugh. “Gender what? How old are you?”
“Your nails are too clean. Makes me think you don’t know how to work.”
I hold my clean nails up for inspection.Nailed it in one. “I really could use a job.” And I’ll get one, as soon as we get the Trajan situation settled. It’s hard to set up interviews when you’re changing location every twenty-four to forty-eight hours. “But more than that, I need a portable ward.”
He fakes a belly laugh, slapping the wall. “You want a what, now? Must have to keep the kitties outa your bush, eh?”
“Oh please.” I shake my head, fighting a smile. “I’ve got as much dick as I can handle, but my boyfriend’s being harassed, and I need something to keep his…ex outta our hair.”
“That big pause before you said ex makes me think there’s more going on.”
Now this is the tricky part. I want this dude to work with me, but he doesn’t need to know the whole story. The fewer people who know Trajan wants to break with Jacques, the safer it’ll be for all of us. Right now, it feels like Jacques is playing with us, tormenting Trajan from afar. If it gets back to him that we’re actively seeking to sever their bond, I doubt he’d be so restrained.
Especially since the only way to sever their bond is to destroy one of them, and I like Trajan too much to hurt him.
My magician friend waits for me to think all this through, his expression growing more serious.
“What are your rules?” I ask finally.
“Meaning what? I don’t eat between seven in the evening and seven in the morning. It’s how I keep my girlish figure.” He rubs the old tee where it’s stretched across his belly.
He’s still fucking with me and that’s okay. I’ve got a few more cards to play. “I don’t want to ask you to do something that’ll cross a line, and I don’t want to cause you any trouble. I want a ward that’ll keep the bad juju out but that I can pick up and move when I need to.”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “Yeah, you said that before, and then you said something about your boyfriend’s big pause ex, and before I go making a spell like that, I want to know what I’m getting into. I work as clean as I can, but it’s still possible to pick up my…fingerprints, for lack of a better word, from the spell, if Big Pause Ex is so inclined.”
Good that he’s taking my request seriously. Bad that I hadn’t considered that angle. “Okay, so tell me this. What manner of creature is off limits for you?”
He gives an impatient snort. “Quit dodging. What are you up against? If you can’t be honest, I can’t help you.”
I drop my grin. “Vampire.”
“Big Pause Ex is a vampire?”
“Yes.”
“And your boyfriend is human?”
“No, and I promise you don’t want to know the details.”
