by Catie Rhodes
“Get out.” My breaths came in hard gasps.
“Listen, I ain’t here for trouble.” He took a slow step toward me. When I’d known him before, the drugs hadn’t had time to eat away his body, only his soul, and he’d been a healthy weight. Now his jeans flapped around his emaciated legs, and his arms looked like pickup sticks.
I backed toward the flap of my tent. Damn it, Finn. Can’t you get your ass in gear? He knew “intruder” meant to come quick. I’d been having so much trouble the last few days, he should have been on high alert for me anyway. What was he up to?
Tim closed the distance between us, arms outstretched, his body odor nearly gagging me. I doubled up my fist and tried to make myself swing it. It hung uselessly at my side. My knees went rubbery, and my head swam.
Tim pulled me into a hug, pressing his disgusting, stinking body against mine. The first tear leaked out of my eye and slid down my face. I still couldn’t move. He let go of me and leaned back so he could look in my face, still baring those awful rotting teeth.
“My gorgeous ex. Thought we’d never meet again.” He squeezed my shoulders for emphasis. “’Bout a month ago, back when y’all was in Gonzales, I seen you. But when I went after you, you’d already gotten away. Did a month of asking around, looking for you.”
Remembering Jadine’s prediction, I glanced at Tim’s neck. Sure enough, a serpent tattoo, faded by time and sunlight, crept out of his shirt and onto his neck. I’d thought Tanner was the one she’d seen, the one I should watch out for, but it had been Tim all along.
For some reason, that calmed me. “What do you want, Tim?”
He made a mock pout, which would have been charming when I was in my early twenties and stupid as a pile of poo. Now it just looked creepy. “Why I gotta want anything?” he whined. “Why can’t I just want to catch up?”
“You don’t look for somebody for a month just to catch up. And you sure as fuck don’t go nosing through their things.” The eff-word gave me some of my swagger back. I shrugged Tim’s filthy hands off me and got a few steps away from him. He tried to crowd in on me, and I held up my brass-knuckled fist. He nodded and put up his skeletal hands in a warding off gesture.
“All right. I wanted to do this nice, but I’m just gonna be blunt. Last time we talked, it was about money.” He tilted his head and gave me a parent-to-kid glare.
“Talked? Is that what you call beating me until I had a miscarriage?” My voice raised with each word until I was screaming so hard it hurt. Tears flowed freely down my face.
There was no way I could express, in a way his fried brain would understand, what that miscarriage had done to me, besides making me infertile. He could never understand what it had been like to meet Finn’s daughter and realize she was the spirit of our lost child, a child lost because of Tim kicking and punching me.
“You had a miscarriage? Was it mine?” The asshole actually looked worried.
That did it for me. I actually heard my self-control snap. I raced toward him, rearing back the fist with the brass knuckles and letting it fly as hard as I could. It hit Tim’s jaw, and a spray of spit came from his mouth. But he knew how to fight too. He doubled up one fist and rammed an undercut into my sternum.
The air whooshed out of my lungs in one long stream. My knees went loose, and I sank to the floor, lungs aching, bowels burning. I tried to catch my breath. Nothing happened. I glared at Tim, lips pulled back from my teeth, and tried to hit him again. I couldn’t work my arm.
“That last time we talked, you owed me money.” He knelt on the floor next to me and grabbed a handful of my hair to drag my face toward him. “You still owe it.”
I wanted more than anything to argue with him, but I couldn’t even catch my breath, much less talk. So I did the next best thing. I pulled on the mantle. It was tired from summoning the Coachman, but it came willingly enough. I imagined dozens of red wasps covering Tim’s face. Then I pushed the power into them.
He winced as the first phantom bite stung his skin. Then he let out a yelp as another one hit. He let go of me and slapped at his face. I poured more power to it. Tim ran around the room, slapping his own cheeks, and crying out.
In the back of my mind, I heard Mysti’s sweet voice. It comes back times three. I didn’t give a shit right then. I sent fire into the stings. Tim’s cry was as pretty as an opera.
While I enjoyed Tim’s plight, I concentrated on getting my breath back. I’d give Tim a beating that would mark him the rest of his short life. Even if I had to cheat with magic. I took a shallow breath. My stomach roiled. I forced myself to take another and rolled onto my knees. Tim was still busy with his phantom wasps.
Finn, sweat-faced and gasping, rushed into my tent. Kenny Johnson came in behind Finn carrying a crowbar. So that’s where Finn had gone, to get our flunky to do the dirty work. Good. Kenny was a dirtbag.
Finn glanced at me. “Are you all…” The light fingers touched my mind, and Finn’s sentence broke off. His head slowly pivoted to stare at Tim, his eyes widening. Finn’s face reddened, and rage contorted it. My skinny cousin let out an animal yell and rushed Tim.
Tim, still occupied with getting whatever was stinging him over and over again off his body, didn’t see Finn coming. My cousin threw a wild punch at Tim’s head. Tim staggered backward and fell on the dirt. The sudden jolt broke the simple spell.
Tim rolled to his feet. In one smooth motion, he went around Finn and snatched the crowbar from Kenny. It all happened so quickly that Kenny barely reacted until it was too late. He backed away from Tim. My ex-husband advanced on Kenny, weapon raised to hit.
“Peri Jean, I know you found that treasure and got plenty of money from it. You gonna give me some of that money.” He glanced at me for just a second, the old hatefulness bright in his eyes.
“Let’s fight for it.” I took a step toward him, fist doubled up, not caring if this was the last five seconds of my life.
“Peri Jean, let us handle this.” Finn came up behind me and grabbed at my arm. I spun around and pointed one finger at him. He backed away until he bumped into Kenny. The two men glanced at each other, both not sure what to do. Well, I knew what to do.
Tim let out an incredulous laugh. “Come on then. I’ll beat you like a little bitch. You thought the other time was bad?”
“I think you’re in such bad health that I can whip your sorry ass. What’s wrong with you? Hep C from those ugly fucking tattoos?” I circled Tim, knees loose to dance away when he swung. “Or did you end up in prison getting your asshole stretched? I heard you can get asshole disease in there.” Tim winced. I went in for the kill. “You might be big enough to beat up a woman, but I bet you were everybody’s little butthole bitch in the pen.”
That was enough. Tim took a running step at me and swung the crowbar. It arced toward me, and I don’t think my heart even pumped an extra time. I took a step backward.
Someone rushed up behind Tim and delivered a series of fast punches to his back. Tim staggered and tried to turn around.
Tanner Letts grabbed Tim’s wrist and brought it down on his knee. The crowbar clanged on the dirt. My ex-husband reached into his back pocket.
Tanner didn’t give him time to get out whatever he was going for. He reared back one fist and let it go, pivoting his whole body as the punch unfurled. It slammed into Tim’s temple. Tim glared at me as his legs folded underneath him. He hit the ground. His head bounced once, and his eyes closed.
I ran over and kicked my ex in chest. It felt so good, I did it again. And again. I think I would have stood there kicking him all night had Tanner not dragged me off him.
Tanner, barely breathing hard, spun me where he could look at my face. I flailed in his grasp. If I could get back to my loser ex, I’d kick him to death.
Tanner grabbed both shoulders and shook me hard. “That’s enough.”
My teeth clicked together. I stopped struggling.
Tanner loosened his grip and stared into my eyes. He softened his voice
. “He didn’t hit you in the head?” I shook my head. Tanner turned to Finn and Kenny. “You two were going to let her fight that guy? Are you crazy? He’d have killed her.” Tanner turned back to me. “And you. Even with him sick, he’d have hurt you. Do you have a death wish?”
I pushed Tanner’s hands off me and muttered, “I had it under control.”
The shock and shame went off Finn’s face. He turned to Kenny and jerked a thumb at my ex-husband. “Get this piece of trash out of here.”
Kenny shuffled over to Tim’s still form and tried to sling the man over his shoulder. “I can’t do this by myself.” He grunted with the effort and finally dropped him back on the floor.
Finn rolled his eyes. “You can’t carry him out of here like that during business hours. The three of us’ll have to act like we’re ejecting him. Tanner, you up?”
Tanner didn’t answer right away. He leaned over my table staring at something. I went over and found Oscar’s runes scattered all over the dirt floor. The gold-colored wheel Samantha had given me, the one that was supposed to help me find Oscar, lay beside them. Tanner pointed one finger at me. “Stay here while I help them. I want to talk to you about this stuff.”
“You don’t tell me what to do,” I shot back.
Tanner spun and walked away from me, shoulders squared. Mad as I was at him for not letting me do things my way, I still noticed the shape of his butt as he brainstormed with Finn and Kenny on how to get Tim out of there. They finally agreed on a plan and dragged Tim toward the door.
I ignored them all and squatted over the scattered runes and the wheel. It was obvious Tim had come here for them, which meant he could be working with Oscar. But how? When I looked up again, my asshole ex was gone.
Good. I needed to get myself together. My position in the community of Sanctuary didn’t allow for meltdowns.
I sat down at my séance table, hands still shaking. Tanner had said he wanted to talk about the runes. I didn’t want another close encounter with him, but I needed his expertise with arcane items. Something was going on, and I needed help understanding what.
Besides, I might not have to face Tanner alone. Word of what happened would spread soon, and my tent would fill with concerned family and friends. I leaned my head forward and took deep breaths, concentrating on slowing my heart. My anger at the whole situation ebbed. Guilt stepped into its place.
Tanner had been right about one thing. I could have gotten myself killed, and it would have been because of my fury. The poor man didn’t deserve the sharp end of my attitude. His pain over his losing his wife and daughters had to be unimaginable. I’d lost friends and family. It had been bad enough. But losing both your children and your life partner? I shied away from the thought. It was too much to contemplate. My mind, still agitated, jumped straight to what had happened with my ex.
Tim’s finding the runes made no sense. Earlier, Hannah and I had put the runes back in their muslin bag and placed that in a black wooden box. I’d placed the box at the very back of the shabby chic buffet’s bottom drawer. Tim had come in here looking for the runes.
He couldn’t have known about them on his own. Someone must have sent him. It made sense that someone was Oscar Rivera. But how had he and Tim hooked up?
Tim had been in my tent the night before. Could he have taken a rune then? Sure. He could have dropped one or two in his pocket as he stood when I first confronted him. If he’d done that, Oscar would definitely be in contact. He’d even help Tim act against me.
I let out an irritated grunt. This wasn't helping me figure out a damn thing. Might as well clean up Tim’s mess.
I stood, got out my rubber tongs, and began picking up Oscar’s runes. My black opal gave me a few shocks to warn me of their magic. Then it went cold, so icy it made the skin on my chest ache.
I counted the runes, dropping each one in the muslin bag after I counted it. There were a total of sixteen. But this was the first time I’d counted them. There was no way to know if Tim took one or not. I used the tongs to put the muslin bag back into its black box and placed the box back in the buffet.
Samantha’s wheel lay where Tim had left it, gleaming in the dull overhead lights strung through the tent. My black opal gave me a sharp ping.
The wheel didn’t look like a magical object at first glance. It just looked like a dull, tarnished metal disk. The only magic I’d ever seen it perform had manifested after making a deal with Sol, my chthonic contact in the dark outposts.
Realizing Tim had rifled through the cedar chest to get the wheel and that he might have damaged things I actually treasured, I hurried over and opened it. The smell of cedar enveloped me. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and blew it out my mouth. The familiar ritual comforted me, and I looked on the contents of the cedar chest with calm eyes.
Nothing seemed to be missing. Things were a bit moved around but not what I’d expect for them having been burgled.
A throat cleared behind me. Recognizing Tanner’s husky purr, I took a deep breath and forced calmness into my mind. Then I turned.
Tanner looked as though he hadn’t been doing anything more strenuous than taking out the trash. Which I suppose was exactly what he had been doing. In a funny way.
“He gone?” I asked.
Tanner nodded and came further into the tent. He reached into his back pocket and withdrew something. Metal caught the light. He came forward and set it on the table. “I pulled this off your ex-husband before we sent him on his way.”
I got to my feet, expecting to see a rune or two, maybe some magical item I hadn’t yet realized missing. Instead I found myself looking at a buck knife.
Tanner calmly raised the knife and flipped open the blade. He picked up one of my business cards. “May I?”
I shrugged. With careful precision, Tanner shaved an even sliver off the edge of the business card. He set the knife and the card down and settled his eyes on mine. They burned with intensity. “I stopped you from attacking him because I could see he was about to pull a weapon. You were so angry that you were acting without thinking. I’ve done a lot of fighting in my life. That’s a deadly combination.”
And here I’d thought Tim might have just beat me to death. My new friend, Tanner, had saved me from getting stabbed. I eyed the knife curiously, wondering how long it would have taken to die if Tim had stabbed me. Raising my head, I said, “But you risked yourself to help me.”
Tanner shrugged. “Cecil explained how important you are to this community. If I want to stay, I have to respect that.”
Dying still didn’t frighten me like it should have, but Tanner had done me a good turn. And after I’d so callously brought back the sadness of his loss. I owed him big.
“You saved me. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve earned your place among us. Stay until it doesn’t work for you anymore.” I knew Cecil wouldn’t disagree with me. He wanted Tanner here. Some of his reasons still made me uncomfortable, but there were other, good reasons to have Tanner around.
Tanner flushed at my pronouncement and shifted on his feet. The display of humility didn’t work on this compact, powerful man. He took a step closer and leaned down so we were at eye level. “I have to admit something here. What I did, helping you, was for selfish reasons too.”
“Oh?” I couldn’t manage more than the one word, not with Tanner so close, his warm scent surrounding me.
“Yeah.” His tongue teased the corner of his mouth. “I want a chance to get to know you. You’re like nobody I’ve met so far.”
My face heated along with the rest of my body. Change the subject or do something stupid. I got control of myself. I pushed the knife at his hand. “Do you want the knife? Maybe for a souvenir?”
Tanner picked it up, considered it, and slipped it into his back pocket. “I came back in here to talk about…” He trailed off.
I entertained the possibility of him closing the space between us and pressing his lips on mine. My body heated as I thought about how his mouth m
ight taste.
Tanner took a step forward. His arm brushed against one breast. My nipple hardened, tingles shooting through me. Wade’s face appeared in my mind. I loved him. How could I even sort of want Tanner to kiss me? But I did.
Instead of kissing me, Tanner leaned around me and stared at the floor. He jerked back and raised his eyes to mine. “Where’d it go?”
“Huh?” I’d been so sure we were about to engage in a little slobber swapping that I didn’t even know what he meant.
“The stuff that was on the floor.” He enunciated very clearly, his lack of a Southern accent pronounced.
“Oh.” Face on fire, I turned to the cabinet and took out the black box. I opened it, removed the muslin bag, and scattered the runes on the table.
Tanner backed away, hands up, mouth turned down in disgust. “No. The wheel.”
I left the runes scattered on the table, went to my cedar chest, and took out the pouch holding the wheel. Turning, I found Tanner right behind me. He’d approached without me hearing again. I jumped in surprise and dropped the pouch. Tanner caught it before it was even halfway to the dirt floor.
“May I?” He had his finger on the rawhide drawstring, but the question in his green eyes indicated he’d do nothing without permission.
I nodded. “All yours.”
Tanner went to the table but stopped and stared at the runes scattered over it. His face puckered as though he’d smelled something rotting. Suddenly, I smelled it too. I hurried to the table, used the tongs to sweep the runes back into their bag, put the bag in the box, and put away the whole mess.
The odor lingered, as did the pall of evil. Grabbing a bundle of white sage, I lit it and distributed smoke over the table to cleanse it. Those runes seemed to get nastier every time I dealt with them.
Tanner absently nodded his appreciation and sat down at the table. His fingers gently worked the rawhide, loosening it enough to remove the disk. Touching the disk as though it might break, he pulled it out of the bag and set it before him on the table.