“Who the hell are you?” I demanded, irritated not only to have some jerk glaring at me, but because our food was nowhere in sight.
Something in the man’s eyes shifted and my hackles rose. I blinked and his eyes went back to normal. But suddenly I wanted to slam the door in his face.
He snarled, revealing sharp, razor-like teeth. My heart pounded. I stepped back and conjured demon fire in my palm. He flew forward, a knife appearing in his hand. He licked his lips. His tongue was blue and long, like a lizard’s.
My heart pounded. I tossed the fireball at him and skittered backward. He dodged the blow, knocking over the coat rack as he lunged forward again. The blade in his hand caught the light. I swallowed. It looked sharp.
I gathered more fire. Conor came racing down the stairs, obsidian sword at the ready. The lizard man glanced from me to Conor and jumped for me.
I threw my tennis ball-sized flame at his chest. It smacked into the leather of his jacket and fizzled.
Ice filled my veins. My fire had fizzled. That wasn’t supposed to happen. But maybe I was just out of energy to put into it.
I inched backward to where I’d propped my sword against the sofa. The man recovered from the hit quickly and came after me.
Conor stepped into his path and raised his sword. “Stop,” Conor commanded. The man hissed at him, his blue lizard tongue shaking between his sharp teeth. “By the power of the Magic Council, I place you under arrest.”
The lizard man lunged at Conor. Conor swung the sword. The man blocked with his dagger and Conor’s blade clanked against it. Obsidian was sharp and powerful, but the dagger was probably enchanted to be super strong.
I closed my fist around my hilt and, taking a quick breath, rushed at the lizard man.
He dropped his dagger to his side and turned from Conor, lunging at me again. I swung my blade at his knees but he jumped over it. Conor swore as the man got at least five feet of air. My blade hit empty space. I lost my balance.
The lizard man pounced and landed on my back. I hit the ground with a thud. I still held my sword but the man’s weight held my arms down. The cold metal blade of his dagger hit my throat.
“Come with me,” he said, his voice like a deflating balloon.
“I’m not going anywhere until you get off me,” I growled back. My ploy didn’t work. The lizard man did not get off me. Instead, the knife pressed harder against my throat, sharp and cold.
Conor stepped forward, ready to attack.
“Come any closer, and she dies,” my attacker hissed.
“He’s bluffing. Snake man needs me alive,” I said.
“Do I?” The knife dug a little deeper and I was sure I felt a wet trickle of blood run down my skin. I swallowed.
I was pretty sure he did need me alive, or I’d be dead already, but maybe it was a better alive than dead situation. I probably shouldn’t take my chances.
I could tell from Conor’s pained expression that he wouldn’t risk it, either. He tightened his jaw and stared daggers at the man on my back.
I conjured a tiny ball of demon fire. Given the events of tonight, it was a struggle but I managed. I kept the golf ball of flame at my side, hopefully out of lizard man’s line of sight.
“What do you want?” Conor demanded of my attacker.
“This little witch comes with me,” he hissed. He slowly rose off me, careful to keep the knife at my neck. Asshole. I started to raise my fist.
“Who sent you?” Conor asked.
I paused, waiting for an answer. Not that I thought lizard man was going to spill his guts and come clean, but curiosity got the better of me.
“My boss,” the man said.
Not useful. It never was.
He straddled me, the blade cutting into my skin.
I brought the flame up to his inner thigh and pressed it against his leather pants. Unlike the jacket, which had probably been spelled to be flame or magic resistant, the pants ignited. He jumped, the knife leaving my throat.
I leapt up, rounding on him with my sword. I pressed him against the wall, the flame still licking up his leg.
“Who sent you?”
The man’s tongue lashed out and licked my face. It shocked me enough that I reeled back in surprise. The man tore out of my grasp. I swung my sword at him but he’d already gotten out of range. And the fire on his pants had run out of energy, turning to wisps of smoke.
Conor beat him to the door and blocked his exit, sword raised. “Tell us who sent you, and I might let you live.” His voice was edged and raw.
I smiled slightly. Conor was strong and skilled, but he rarely threatened people with anything but arrest. He must have been super pissed off.
The lizard man paused, turning between Conor in the doorway and me blocking his path to any back exits. He had no way out that wasn’t through one of us.
“I have been sent by my master,” the lizard man said. His voice cracked a little, and his black eyes were wide as dinner plates. He was scared, I realized.
“Who’s your master?” I pressed, taking a step toward him. My pulse raced, but my sword was raised and ready.
He shook his head, tongue curling out between his lips. He clenched his fists and kept looking from Conor to me. He actually looked pained. He opened his mouth a few times but he said nothing.
“He’s been cursed,” Conor said.
My stomach roiled. I was pretty over dealing with curses at this point. “How so?”
“He can’t say who he’s working for. It’s a nasty little spell.”
The lizard man nodded furiously.
“Turn around and I’ll cuff you,” Conor commanded.
The man began to vibrate with panic. “No, no, no,” he repeated under his breath. “Cannot. Will be killed.”
“Let him go,” I said.
Conor met my eyes, his eyebrows raised in question. He looked dubious but not like he thought I’d totally lost my mind. That was improvement.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded sharply.
Conor moved aside, allowing the lizard man to pass.
For a long moment, he didn’t move, continuing to look around as if convinced it was a trap. But when nothing else happened, he finally lunged forward and then jogged through the door.
I gave him a sixty second head start, pulling on my coat and shoes while I counted in my head.
“What are you doing?” Conor asked.
“Following him. He’s probably going to report back to his boss right now. We can find out who that is.” I finished tying my sneakers and stood up, grabbing my sword. “You coming?”
Conor smiled. “What about dinner?”
“Leave a note for the delivery guy.” We’d ordered online and Conor had already paid. The food would get cold on his porch, but this was an opportunity we couldn’t miss. I broke into a jog and moved quickly down Conor’s dark, long street. His was one of only a few houses in this neighborhood. It backed up to woods and wasn’t particularly close to anything.
It was going to be a long night.
I caught up with the lizard man as he headed down the side street that ran parallel to the freeway. Conor fell into step beside me and we moved quietly, keeping a good distance between us and him. We stuck to the shadows so he wouldn’t see us following.
Thirty minutes in, we reached the city, and were able to follow closer without being noticed, but Lizard Man didn’t seem particularly concerned about the possibility.
Finally, about an hour in, the man went into a self-proclaimed steakhouse that was more of a dive bar than an eatery. He sat at the bar. Conor and I headed for the bar area before a hostess could notice our swords or call the cops. We sat at a tall table in the corner and ordered drinks from a tired looking waitress, our swords tucked safely out of sight. Conor ordered a beer. I tried to order one, too, but Conor insisted I stick with 7-Up. Something about alcohol dulling the effects from the healing potion. I groaned, but relented, wanting my ribs to heal.
&n
bsp; Then we waited.
No one came and joined our friend. He didn’t pull out a phone to call anyone. And he didn’t watch the door like he was waiting for someone.
“Seems like he just wanted a drink,” Conor said.
I groaned as my stomach growled. “I was sure he’d head straight for his boss.”
“It was worth a shot,” Conor said, reaching over to pat my shoulder.
“We could be eating egg rolls right now.” The dive bar’s kitchen had closed at midnight or I’d have ordered a snack.
Now it was quarter to two. Half the tables already had chairs stacked on top of them and the crowd was dwindling. The waitress came by to let us know it was last call and we asked for the check.
Lizard man got off his stool and headed for the front door. I was debating the wisdom of following him again when I saw something bright pink out of the corner of my eye. I turned and my heart slammed into my ribs.
Belinda. She was a reclusive witch who lived down in Seattle. Except she was here in this dive in Everett, dressed in skinny jeans and a pink plaid shirt, her gray hair in a long ponytail. She startled when she saw me.
“Should we follow him?” Conor asked, oblivious to the witch to our right.
Belinda offered me a tight smile and then hurried toward the front door.
I didn’t know what she was doing here, but there was no way it was a coincidence.
“No. We need to follow the woman in pink.” I got up slowly, trying not to aggravate my ribs, though they felt better, and hurried after Belinda.
Conor could deal with the check. I was going to find out why a witch who rarely left her house was in the same bar as my attacker.
Chapter 13
I chased Belinda to her car. She was struggling to get the keys in the door of her Jeep Wrangler.
“Belinda!” I said, feigning nice. “Funny seeing you here. What brings you up to Everett?”
“Dinner with a friend,” she said, a forced smile on her face. She kept looking down the road. I followed her gaze and saw the Lizard Man rounding the corner.
I folded my arms over my chest. “How do you know the lizard guy?”
She swallowed uneasily and finally got her door unlocked. “Who?”
“Don’t play dumb. You’re forty minutes from home in a dive bar in the middle of the night. I barely know you and I know that’s not your style. What gives?” I glared at her.
Her shoulders sank. “I’m following that lizard shifter. And no, I don’t know what kind of lizard he shifts into.”
I blinked at her. “You’re following him? Why?”
She sighed. “It’s a long story. But I don’t want to lose him again. Hop in.” She climbed into the driver seat. I saw Conor emerge from the restaurant and gestured that I’d call him before jumping into the passenger seat.
Conor looked resigned to the fact that me running off was just one of those things that happened and waved.
“How long have you been following him?” I asked, as Belinda pulled out of the parking spot and onto the road.
“Since last night,” she said.
“So you followed him to a house on West Wood Road?” That was Conor’s house. If she’d been there and hadn’t helped…
“I lost him for two hours and caught up with him a few blocks away. He has an apartment off Broadway.” Broadway in Everett was something of a main drag, with a few smaller apartment buildings not unlike the one I lived in. “He walked right by his home to head to the bar. I sat out in the parking lot waiting for him to come back out. Since it was late, I finally decided to go in and have a look.”
I slouched against the seat, careful of my still-healing middle. He hadn’t been going to see his boss. He’d just come home and then, instead of actually going home, he’d gone for drinks. It had been a total waste of time to follow him.
“Why are you following him?” I asked. “Last time I checked, you weren’t really interested in what was going on in the magical community.”
“I wasn’t,” she agreed. “I thought maybe if I minded my own business and stayed out of it, I could keep myself safe. And then you came knocking on my door, sure there might be a skin shifter in the area.” She shot me a quick glance, mostly keeping her eyes on the road. She was going under the speed limit, following lizard man who ambled down the sidewalk without any urgency. “I realized that if I truly wanted to remain safe, I had to keep up with happenings in the magical world. I started visiting a couple of forums online. One is run by young witches who discuss goings-on in the area. I got sucked in.
“Three nights ago, someone posted a grainy image of that man,” she gestured to him through the windshield. He was a block ahead and we were stopped at a red light. “He’d been going to local witch haunts, asking about you.”
I swallowed uneasily. He’d tried to kidnap me, so I knew he was after me, but hearing that out loud was still chilling. “What about me?”
“That was the thing. He was cagey about it so no one offered up anything. I thought maybe if I followed him, I could see what he was up to. After all, he might just want to hire you.”
“He doesn’t,” I said sharply. I gave her a very short version of how he’d appeared at Conor’s house and attacked us, and how we’d fought him and then tried to follow him ourselves to find out who he worked for.
“That’s horrible,” she said. She’d paled a shade. “I’m sorry I lost track of him. If I’d known…”
“It wasn’t your fault. But next time someone’s asking about me, maybe give me a heads up?”
“Of course. I should have! I just didn’t know if he was friend or foe and…” She shook her head. “I’m new at this whole investigator thing.”
She parked on the street and we watched Lizard Guy walk up the stairs to the second floor of a small apartment building. The apartment doors were all outside, like a motel, and I made note of which one was his. Once he was inside and out of sight, Belinda visibly relaxed. “What does he want with you?”
“I’m not sure. Right now I have a few people after me.”
Belinda blanched, paling further.
I waved a dismissive hand. “Sadly, that’s not abnormal.”
“My! I don’t know how you keep up with it. I’ve only been following one guy for a couple days and I’m already exhausted.”
I shrugged. “You get used to it.” Since she’d been trolling the local witch forums, something I clearly needed to do more of, I decided to ask if she’d heard anything about a mage gathering artifacts or trying to summon a demon.
“No,” she said. “Why would someone need artifacts to summon a demon?”
“I think the artifacts were a decoy.”
I unbuckled my seat belt and grabbed my sword from behind the seat.
“I can give you a ride back to the bar,” she said, baffled.
“No way. I need that guy to tell me who he’s working for.” I got out and thanked her for her help. “You should go home and rest up. And keep me informed about stuff on the forums.”
“I can do that.”
I shut the door and she pulled away.
I crept up to the lizard man’s apartment and knocked.
The moment Lizard Man opened the door, I slammed him into the wall. He pushed back, trying to reach something in his pockets. I pressed my sword against his throat, the way he’d done with his knife against mine.
“Who’s your boss?”
He opened his mouth and again, wasn’t able to answer. I grabbed a fistful of his shirt material and dragged him over to the table he had pushed against the corner. On it was a stack of bills. I spun him around so I was behind him, sword at his back and pulled a pen from my pocket.
“Write it down.” I tossed the pen on the table.
He swore and picked up the pen. On the back of an envelope with a shaky hand he wrote “Jax Varta.”
I stared at it, trying to recall if I’d ever heard that name before. I didn’t think so. Granted, I didn’t know the name of
every mage in the region but still, I was surprised it looked so unfamiliar. Who the hell was this guy?
Lizard man used my distraction to dart out of my sword’s range. He ran into the kitchen and found a big, sharp looking knife.
“Get out!” he shouted. “Making me write that, you may have forced me to sign my own death warrant.”
“Boo-hoo,” I said, waving the envelope before putting it into my coat pocket. “That’s what you get for working with the bad guys.”
The lizard man lunged at me. I swung my sword up but he was fast. The knife cut into the sleeve of my leather coat. I fended him off with my sword, swinging at the knife until it toppled out of his fingers. He swore and dropped to the ground, picking it up. I pulled at my reserves and conjured demon fire. Just another golf ball of it, but it was something. I held it up as Lizard Man bounced up with the knife in his hand. He gave me a deadly look, full of poisonous hate.
“I curse you with my blood,” he said. “May the demon devour your soul.”
Ice froze my veins. I opened my mouth to ask what demon. The lizard man was fast. He plunged the knife into his own chest. He hit the ground before I could react. He coughed twice, a pink liquid bubbling out of his mouth, and then he went still.
I dropped my demon fire and rushed to his side. His eyes were wide and his long, blue tongue lolled out of his mouth. His chest wasn’t moving. I felt for a pulse. He was dead.
My stomach roiled. This guy had come after me so I wasn’t all that sorry he was dead, but a little pang of guilt reverberated through me. He’d been working for some guy named Jax Varta, and I’d made him spill it despite a curse on his head to make him unable to speak the name out loud. That meant this guy was powerful. And worse, he wanted me.
But this dude was just a henchmen and I’d gotten him killed.
It wasn’t my fault. For whatever trouble it might have caused me, I had planned to leave him alive.
But still. A sick feeling sloshed in my stomach as I closed and locked Lizard Man’s door, careful to wipe it clean of any prints I might have left behind.
I checked my phone. Conor had gone back home but offered to come pick me up. I shot him a quick text to say my bed sounded pretty good and then sheathed my sword and headed for my apartment.
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