by Kyle, Celia
Between a bin of dragon scales and a shelf of mummified cats sat an empty spot. Rushing over the inventory in her mind, she fought against the ire clouding her brain to figure out what was missing. Then the image of it danced up in front of her.
It was a voodoo doll. Not a real one, but some cheap straw piece of shit in a plastic grass skirt and a coconut bra—exactly the kind of cheesy crap that chortling humans went gaga over when they came in. The thief had been back! Not only was Thayne conducting himself like a massive prick—almost as massive as his actual prick—he hadn’t even managed to accomplish what he was brought in to handle.
As much as it galled her, it was as if the cosmic energy had given her a gift, something to lob at the bastard who had just ripped a hole in her heart. Diving across the store, she yanked open the door so hard, the bell nearly flew off.
“Hey!” From halfway up the block, Thayne stopped and turned back to glare at her. “By the way, the thief was here and stole something again. So, thanks for nothing, asshole!”
With one last withering look, he turned and continued his blistering retreat. Dickhead jerkface stupid fart.
Shutting the door behind her, Kiki took a moment to try and still her breathing. Surveying the shop, she wondered if anything else had gone missing. Or when the bandit had returned.
It was entirely possible the theft had taken place when they were back in the storeroom. Neither of them had been in any kind of condition to keep an ear out for the door. Still, she refused to let herself believe it was anybody’s fault but Thayne’s. As much as he had cursed himself for being talked into helping, Kiki wondered why she had agreed to give over the shop to some stranger in the first place.
If she hadn’t, she probably would have missed out on the most intense, mind-blowing orgasm of her entire life. But, in the frustration of that moment, she almost thought that would have been worth it. Almost.
Chapter Four
Dereliction of duty.
That’s how Orrin had explained it to Thayne that night. Thayne hadn’t been sure if Orrin referred to the fact that he had missed the thief, or that he’d gotten too friendly with Kiki. But he’d known better than to ask. Not that he was afraid of being chided by the Master Vampire of the Nicolaides clan. Thayne wasn’t one to experience fear.
He hadn’t asked because he knew that letting the thief escape and getting too friendly with Kiki had both been mistakes. There was simply no way around the truth. He knew that better than everyone, and as he opened up the shop the next morning, he promised himself he’d pay double the attention to events and his surroundings. After all, no way would he let such a stupid situation sully his reputation. He got shit done no matter what, and it’d take more than a stupid Enchantress’s spell to make him forget.
He propped himself up on a tall stool, right behind the counter, and folded his arms over his chest. He remained staring at the door for almost five minutes as if he expected the thief to waltz in and admit it all, but none of that happened. Obviously. What happened was that his mind drifted again, his thoughts swirling back to Kiki like bathwater going down the drain.
He thought back to last night, when he had endured that awfully embarrassing conversation with Orrin. Sara had been sitting on the couch behind the Nicolaides Master, and she had offered an explanation to what had happened—maybe Kiki could be his Beloved.
Ridiculous! An Enchantress as his Beloved? If that were true, the world had surely gone mad. Still, a small part of him wondered. What he had felt was awfully similar to how most vampires described finding their Beloved.
That rush of adrenaline, a tidal wave of lust and desire, and an upwelling of affection for a complete stranger. Had there been a checklist for such stuff, Thayne was pretty sure he could tick most boxes. Not to mention the fact that he couldn’t stop thinking about her. It wasn’t just about the thinking, either. His body ached to see her again, every fiber of his being burning with desire every time he thought of her. Only his brain seemed content to hold the line, reminding him to have some common sense.
The whole thing was a ruse.
It had to be.
Enchantresses were experts at putting love spells on unsuspecting people, and he had no doubt Kiki was powerful enough to make him believe their bond was fated. He had no idea why she’d want to mess with his head, especially when he had volunteered to help her catch the thief, but it just went to show how untrustworthy Enchantresses were. Lower your guard around one of them, and next thing you know they’ve wrapped you in strings just to make you dance to their tune.
Well, he wasn’t going to fall for it.
He had a history with Enchantresses, and he knew to be careful.
“All I need to do is catch that damn thief,” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose as he rapped his knuckles against the counter. “Just focus on that, Thayne. It’s not that difficult.”
Except it was.
Even though he put in his best effort to keep a clear head, everything in the stupid shop reminded him of Kiki—from the little trinkets by the entrance to the wooden counter against which he had pushed her. He couldn’t focus on a single thing focus that would help. Except, maybe, for the silver charms, but he wasn’t that desperate.
Not yet, at least.
It helped that Sara had gone back and convinced Kiki to stay away from the shop, so there was that. Unfortunately, that was also a bit of a bummer. His mind couldn’t let go of her, and the fact he couldn’t see her was like having an itch he couldn’t scratch.
“Welcome to Witch Way Supply,” he intoned dutifully as the door swung open.
The bell jingled happily, and a lanky woman stepped inside, her teenage daughter trailing behind her. Thayne recognized them. They’d come in the day before and browsed a few of the cauldrons Kiki had on display, but they hadn’t bought a thing. Now, though, they were back.
With his elbows resting on the counter, Thayne watched them with hawk-like intent, tracking their every move as they walked through the aisles. His helpful clerk smile remained plastered on his face, but underneath it was the calculating mindset of a predator, one that moved in the cover of night.
It was probably overkill to think of himself that way, especially considering he was only dealing with an inoffensive shoplifter, but he couldn’t exactly flip off that switch. Even if this was an easy job, that didn’t change the fact that he was a predator, one that took every single one of his objectives as seriously as possible.
“That’s a good one,” the younger woman said, going on tiptoes to peer over her mother’s shoulder. They were looking at a shelf that was lined with cast iron cauldrons, the type experienced witches used.
“Right, they look like it,” the mother said, a smile spreading across her lips.
Something about that smile was slightly off though. Somehow, there was too much politeness in it. Narrowing his eyes, Thayne remained focused on the two women, watching as the younger one kept trailing after the elder.
Despite her perky and cheery personality, the young woman had the look of someone who was about to shut the door on her teenage years. If he had to guess, he would say she was somewhere between eighteen and twenty. Her skin was a rich, dark brown that reminded him of chestnuts, which contrasted with the brightness of her blue eyes, and she moved elegantly despite her curviness. In fact, it wasn’t just elegance. She moved as if she had boundless energy, her actions those of someone who was too excited about something.
It didn’t help the girl’s case that her style was so different from what it had been the day before. While today she wore red jeans, her blouse a bright yellow, yesterday her fashion sense had been muted and almost too prim.
Why such a dramatic change?
And why did he feel something was off about the whole thing?
Then, when it finally dawned on him, he had to make an effort not to smack his forehead. She had seen the girl and her mother before, that was much true, but yesterday her “mother” had been someone else. Sh
e had been smart enough to choose similar-looking women she could shadow, no doubt, but Thayne had been paying close attention to everything that went on inside the shop. He couldn’t be fooled easily.
“What do you make of those?” the younger woman asked, pointing at the Blood-B-Gone charms Thayne had been checking out the day before. Before her “mother”—whom Thayne believed wasn’t a willing part of whatever scheme was going on—could say something, the blue-eyed girl continued. “God, vampires must be terrible slobs if they need stuff like this.”
Well, welcome to my shit list, young lady, Thayne thought, despite the fact she wasn’t wrong. Some vampires could be terrible slobs.
“Well, they’re vampires.” Still with that clipped, too-polite smile on her face, the older woman sauntered back to where the cauldrons were and grabbed one of them. She carried it all the way to the counter and then pushed it toward Thayne. While he used the register, ensuring he played his part, he kept his eye on the girl. She remained near the Blood-B-Gone charms, looking at the shelves as she waited for her “mother.”
“Thank you and come again,” Thayne said after giving the woman her change.
She grabbed the Witch Way branded bag he had given her and turned on her heels to leave. Knowing he had to act, he decided to try something before the two women left the shop. He needed to confirm his suspicions, and he knew exactly how to do it.
“I hope you and your daughter have a good day, ma’am.”
“Oh, she’s not my daughter.” The woman smiled as she looked back at Thayne over one shoulder.
The moment she said the words, the blue-eyed girl straightened, and her attention darted to Thayne. It lasted for less than a second, but he saw anxiety flash across her face, and it was exactly the kind of anxiety someone whose cover had been blown would have.
He finally found his thief.
“Stop right there,” he cried out as the girl spun on her heel, making toward the door. Moving fast, his muscles working like coiled springs, he vaulted over the counter and chased after her. He had barely taken two steps down the aisle when the girl looked back at him. She knitted her eyebrows together, as if she was focusing, and one of the shelves fell over Thayne.
“What the hell!”
He held one arm up to avoid being buried alive under an ocean of trinkets. He felt a certain energy in the air, the kind he always felt whenever magic was being used, but something was different about it this time. Usually, magic felt like a burst of compressed power, much like an arrow flying straight toward its target, but what he had experienced just now was more like a raw explosion. Whoever the girl was, she packed some serious power.
Luckily for him, it didn’t seem like she knew how to use it.
“You stop right there,” Thayne said right before he tripped on a pot overflowing with a powdered concoction.
The girl merely grinned at him, looking completely unafraid, and darted toward the door. She was already gripping the handle when the other woman, the witch she had been using as a cover, pointed one hand at the door.
“What the…?” The girl kept on pushing the handle, but the door refused to move. She knitted her eyebrows together, trying to magically unlock it, but nothing happened. Powerful as she was, she was no match against someone who knew how to wield magic instead of simply hurling it at people.
“Thanks for that,” Thayne muttered as he ran past the witch.
He closed the distance between him and the girl as fast as he could and laid one hand on her shoulder. She spun around fast, her eyes locked on his, and then it felt as if his fingers were boiling. He let go and clutched his hand. When he looked down at his fingers, he half-expected to find them in flames.
“Don’t touch me,” the girl cried out, yanking on the handle once more.
When she realized she wasn’t getting out this mess easily, she flattened herself against the door and gritted her teeth, her eyes set on Thayne. Her fists were clenched, her fingernails digging into the palms of her hands, and she looked like she meant business. She was ready to put up a fight and, judging by her expression, she wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
“All right, listen,” Thayne said, massaging his hand. “I’m not going to hurt you, okay? I just want to have a conversation.”
“Fine,” she hissed past gritted teeth, slowly unclenching her fists. Still, her tone remained defiant, and Thayne knew he wasn’t going to get far with her. He could try and bare his fangs at the girl—that would surely scare her—but he figured someone with better tact should handle the situation.
Sighing, he reached for his phone.
As much as he hated it—or pretended he did—Kiki needed to be here.
Chapter Five
“I don’t see why I have to tell you anything.”
The blue-eyed delinquent leaned back in the folding chair with her arms crossed over her chest defiantly. She was the picture of the basilisk herself, and Kiki could tell that the harder Thayne leaned on her, the less success he was going to have.
“Well, you do,” he said.
“You can’t keep me here forever.”
“Watch me.”
Since Kiki had arrived, the girl hadn’t done anything to demonstrate the powers Thayne had described. Thief or not, she just seemed like some girl who got caught. Not that Kiki doubted his story—something had clearly made a wreck of the shop—but she wasn’t in any mood to give him much credit.
“I seriously doubt threatening her is going to get you very far,” Kiki drawled.
“Thank you,” the thief sneered at her captor.
“But,” Kiki continued, “she is going to need to start talking if any of us wants to go home.” They had closed the shop when Kiki arrived, but even so, it was now well past the time she would typically lock up.
“Fucking right.” He continued to glower at the girl in the chair, and everything about his demeanor got right under Kiki’s skin.
“Could you not, actually?”
“What?” He jolted. She had caught him off guard.
“Swear all the time? It’s not an attractive quality.” She raised her chin in defiance.
He looked at her in pure amazement. “Maybe I’m not trying to be attractive at the moment.”
“Well, in that case,” Kiki sniped back, “you’re doing one hell of a job.”
“Are you guys done?” The two adults froze in place and looked at the girl in the chair, who regarded them with a raised eyebrow. “Some people,” she muttered under her breath, “damn.”
“Look,” Kiki was ready to level with their pseudo prisoner. “Whatever you say, this guy was hired to keep an eye on the shop. He found a fistful of lucky rabbit feet in your pocket, and a witch is willing to act as a witness. We don’t want to call the judiciary, but—”
“The hell we don’t,” Thayne snarled. Kiki gritted her teeth and went on.
“Okay, I don’t want to call the judiciary, but you have to tell me what’s going on.”
The girl in the chair heaved a sigh far too advanced for someone of her years. “I have to have something to take back to Jasper.”
“Who the fuck is Jasper?” At Kiki’s glare, Thayne rolled his eyes and rephrased. “Excuse me. Who exactly is Jasper?”
“He runs the ring. And if anyone comes back empty-handed, he’ll put them back out on the street.”
“So,” Kiki was sorting through it, “you’re stealing for someone named Jasper who is threatening to leave you homeless?”
The girl shrugged like it didn’t matter, though it so clearly did. “Yeah.”
“Then why do you take the stuff you do? It’s all crap.”
“Cheap stuff, yeah.” The girl looked back and forth between Thayne and Kiki and then leaned forward. “Look, I don’t want to do this. I was in the system. I knew I had something special, but when you’re in foster care, you want to do as much as you can to look normal. Folks don’t want special kids.”
“With good reason,” Thayne grumbled.
“Well,” she picked up, “it’s not like I thought a whole lot about it. Like, in those days, I could only really do a couple of things. Anyway, I ran all the way up through the foster family thing, but when you hit eighteen?” She clicked her tongue and jerked her thumb over her shoulder.
“So that’s where Jasper came in?”
“Exactly.” The kid fired a finger gun at Kiki. “He knew about the couple of things I could do, and it was stuff I had never shown anybody. He just knew. To me, that was wild. I’d never met anybody who just ‘got me,’ you know? Most of the families I ended up with weren’t too interested in figuring me out.”
In spite of herself, Kiki felt some genuine sympathy for this girl. After as much space as the little thief had taken up in her brain, it was an odd reversal.
“You said ring.” Thayne wasn’t going in for the soft touch. “How many of you are there?”
“Jasper keeps about seven of us. I’ve seen him throw a couple of kids out because they weren’t bringing in as much stuff as he wanted. It can get pretty ugly.”
“Wait,” Kiki shook her head, “are all the thieves children?”
“Kids, yeah. Actually, I’m the oldest. I turned eighteen last month. That’s why I’ve got to keep bringing stuff in. He could ditch me any day now.”
“Let me get this straight.” Thayne put his hand up, casting himself as every hard-boiled detective ever seen on TV. “If you’re so worried Jasper is going to turn you out, why are you stealing the cheap shit? You could take tons of other things.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to, see? That’s the thing. I don’t want him to make any money out of this. And I damn sure don’t want to put out the folks I’m robbing any more than I have to. So, I take something cheap enough that it doesn’t hurt you guys so bad, but worthwhile enough that he doesn’t pull the plug.”
For the first time, Thayne was as quietly dumbstruck as Kiki had been. This girl had seemed like such an impossible nut to crack just a few minutes earlier, and now she was just some kid trying to survive. Even more, to look at her in that moment, Kiki could tell she was genuinely remorseful over the whole thing.