Page 33 of Hex and the City
And in keeping even criminals mostly in one piece. Mostly.
“So this is the place,” I told Leon, nodding at the bright white of Atomica as we crossed the street.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets, giving the shop a dubious glare. “Looks like a chemistry lab to me. You sure they do perfumes in there?”
“I mean, that’s how fragrances are made, anyway. And it’s all just aesthetics, part of their image. Keeping things minimalist and clean. Speaking of which, let’s keep this mission tight. Get in, convince them to hand over the info, then get out.”
We paused on the sidewalk outside Atomica, peering into the floor-to-ceiling windows like a pair of casual shoppers.
Leon creased his forehead. “It’s the convincing part that worries me. Exactly how are we supposed to get them to cough up a whole list of customers?”
I shrugged. “I was thinking we could go with my rugged good looks and palpable charisma.”
He pursed his lips. “Very cute.”
“Thanks, I know. But then I remembered that I’ve got the notorious Witch Boy on my team. Any chance you could use your one of your hexes?” I nodded toward the counter where a solitary young woman sat mostly motionless, apart from the occasional bop of her head. “Maybe you could blast that lady’s brain the way you fried mine. Remember when you did that?”
Leon rolled his eyes. “I don’t know how many times you expect me to apologize for that.”
“Pretty sure you haven’t, and the answer is infinity times. Don’t you have some kind of spell you can use to bewitch her? Come on, Witch Boy. Maybe a charm of charming?”
He groaned and gave me a pained smirk. “Real cute.”
“Again, thank you, I know. I mean, if you’re not confident about your magic, I can always step up instead.”
Leon’s jaw clenched in a way that made him look even more impertinent, and a couple of notches handsomer. He was taking the bait. This was actually fun, turning the tables on him.
“But I can’t just dazzle her like that,” he said. “I can amplify emotion to an extent, but unless she already likes something about me, I can’t exactly force the magic. Look at her. The whole shop could be on fire and she’d still be sitting there listening to howler monkeys or whatever.”
I craned my neck to check out the sales assistant. Leon wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t done probing and feeling out his talents. “Okay, fair enough. But how come your fear hex was so effective on me? Why can’t you do a version of that on her?”
“Max, exactly how am I supposed to charm her with an apparition of a dragon?”
“Touché.” I adjusted my jacket, squinted as I attempted to inspect my translucent reflection in the window. “So what you’re saying is that you can’t do it. I guess I’ll just have to go in and sweep her off her feet.”
“Well, that I’d like to see.” He crossed his arms and raised his chin in challenge. “Go on, then. See if you can charm her the regular way.”
“You sure you won’t get jealous?” I waggled my eyebrows. “Promise I won’t cheat on you.Bruhosbefore hos.”
“Terrible joke,” he said. “Possibly slightly offensive, too.”
“I’ll stop cracking them when you stop liking them so much.”
Leon couldn’t wipe the smile off his face in time. He really was enjoying this. Hell, I was enjoying it, too. The slightly flirtatious banter was not a bad change from all the constant bickering. It seemed to flow so easily between us, too, like we were just taking turns annoying the crap out of each other. It was nice. Having a partner didn’t seem like the worst thing in the world after all.
Professionally, of course. I totally meantworkingwith a partner.
I pushed the door open, unleashing a torrent of fragrance onto the sidewalk. The air that rushed out of Atomica smelled like the loveliest things in the universe, only all at once. Like being punched in the face with a bag of potpourri.
We walked past tables topped with carefully arranged displays of Atomica’s latest and greatest scents. I caught Leon curiously reaching for a bottle out of the corner of my eye. His hand froze before he touched anything, like he was having second thoughts about handling the exorbitantly priced and extremely breakable bottles.
“Hi there,” I said, flashing a winning grin and quirking a single eyebrow. I was doing my very best impression of a dark, daring, and dashing stranger. All the D words, really. Probably made me look like a dick. “We were wondering about all the people who were first in line for your new fragrance.”
The woman at the counter sighed as she fished out her earpiece, looking so inconvenienced that we may as well have asked if she could kindly donate one of her kidneys, please.
“I’m sorry, sir, but I have to tell you what I’ve told everyone else. We’re completely out of Diablo 69. That’s how our founder wanted to issue the initial batch. The first run of bottles to a list of a hundred of our most valued customers, keeping it exclusive and intimate. It’s the Atomica way.”
That had slid out of her so easily, as if she’d said it a hundred times before, which she probably had. Atomica’s clientele were devoted to the point of cultishness. Every new fragrance release was a major event, and the limited nature of them meant repeating a lot of the same script.
