Derek looked like he had knocked himself out. Or, at least, I hoped he had knocked himself out. Part of me wanted to lean down and feel for a pulse, and another part wanted to get far away from him.
I looked around for a weapon, in case he came to. Behind me was a broom. It wasn’t much, but it would due in a pinch. So I grabbed it and pushed the guy’s body with the dirty bristles of the broom. He didn’t move or make a sound.
After watching the guy for a few minutes, I knelt down and felt for a pulse. It was weak. I doubted he would be coming to for a while.
Before I could grab my phone and call my attorney, Damian, Aleric came running through the door.
“Where is he? Did he get away?” Aleric was breathing hard.
When he stopped in the middle of my store, he put both his hands on his knees and bent over gasping for breath.
“He’s knocked out. I’m not sure he’s alright. Can you check him? Should I call for an ambulance?” I pointed down to my feet.
From Aleric’s position, he wouldn’t have been able to see the body. Aleric straightened up and walked behind the counter. He knelt down and felt for a pulse just like I did earlier.
“It’s very weak. I might be able to help. If not, you’ll need to call the police. Why is he behind your counter?” Aleric looked up at me with furrowed brow.
“He jumped the counter and tried to grab me. Before he could get his hands on me, I activated one of the bracelets you gave us during the hurricane.” I pointed to the brown leather strap which housed a teal stone. It almost resembled a turquoise.
“Ah, yes. The counter must have been directly behind him when he touched you? He could have a broken back, or it could just be severely out of joint. Either way, he’s going to be in a lot of pain.” He moved his hands back and forth, like he was trying to get a sense for Derek’s aura.
“My magic will save his life, if he did break his back. I’m just not sure how much I can do for him.” Aleric stood over the guy with his hands spread out.
“Should we move him?” I had heard you shouldn’t move a trauma victim until after you assessed his body. Was that what Aleric was doing?
“His back is broken in at least two places, and he has a severe concussion. There is some swelling on his brain. I know this guy. He’s really bad news. Had you sold him any spells, he would have used them against innocent civilians. Some may have been paranormal, but most would have been human. If it were up to me, I’d let him die.” Aleric stood up tall and put his hands on his hips.
“It’s not up to you. Heal him! I’ll call the police. Something tells me he’s going to have arrest warrants out for him, if he’s as evil as you say.” I hesitated before dialing 911. “Does he have any magical abilities?”
“No, he just knows how to use our spells.” Aleric’s nostrils flared when he looked down at the guy.
“Don’t just stand there! Help him! It’s not right to just stand by and let a man die just because you don’t like him.”
“You don’t seem to understand. This guy is a terrorist. He may not be doing this for religious purposes. For him, I think it’s all about scaring people and trying to kill. He’s sick and doesn’t deserve my help.”
“Do I have to call Rico and have him make you help the guy?” With fisted hands on my hips, I stood my ground and gave Aleric my evil eye.
“I get he’s a bad guy. Maybe he doesn’t deserve to live. But it isn’t our place to decide. It’s up to the courts to decide who’s guilty, and who isn’t.” Part of me wanted to let the guy die, and another really wanted to put the decision in the court’s hands, where it belongs.
He could tell me this guy was the devil incarnate, and I would still offer medical help. If we stood by and allowed the injured enemy to lay at our feet and die, we would be no better than those religious zealots who kill with no mercy, or the Nazis.
“Fine, I’ll help as much as I can. You need to call the police and get them here. As soon as the guy’s awake, he needs to go to jail.” Once he was on his knees, Aleric began running his hands over the guy’s back.
I expected some chanting or sparks to fly out of Aleric’s hands, but nothing. He closed his eyes and slowly moved his hands over the guy’s body. At one point, he stopped and asked me to help straighten the body out. Once we did it, color seemed to come back into Derek’s face.
While Aleric continued to run his hands over the guy’s back, I called our detective friend. “Detective Adams? This is Kat from The Voodoo Dolls Shop. Yes, Damien’s friend. I had a guy attack me in my shop, and he’s knocked out on the floor. Something tells me he’s going to have multiple warrants out for his arrest.”
“Did you shoot this one too?” Detective Adams wasn’t too happy with me or Jenna.
We had shot an intruder a few weeks ago. He was an acolyte who tried to attack us. The guy died on our shop floor, after Jenna and I unloaded our guns into his body. He was also responsible for some of the Storm Girls who disappeared right before Hurricane Gerttie.
“Nope. He jumped my counter, and I knocked him back so hard, he was knocked out when his head hit the counter. He slumped to the floor.” I probably should have called Damien first. Not only was he the beta in the alpha pack, he was also our attorney in cases like this.
“If the guy is still alive, I’ll have an ambulance sent out along with a couple patrol officers. I don’t deal with attempted robberies. At least you didn’t kill this one.” Detective Adams hung up on me, and I dialed Damien.
“Hey, Kat. Are you alright? I’m a block away. Rico called me.”
“Good, because Aleric is here trying to heal the broken back of the guy who tried to impersonate Derek Smith and buy real spells.” I took a deep breath and looked down at the body.
Aleric was still working his mojo. I could hear bones cracking. If he was healing they guy, why were bones cracking?
“Did he hurt you?”
“No, I’m fine. I’m just worried about him. I called Detective Adams, and he’s sending some patrol officers and an ambulance. I’m not sure if the guy is going to walk or not. Breaking a back can leave you paralyzed, can’t it?” I wasn’t a doctor, but I think a broken back was one cause of paralysis. I would hate to be responsible for this guy not walking again.
“Don’t worry. Aleric can work miracles.” Damien hung up. I looked up when I heard the ding of the bell above the door, and there he was.
I ran to him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “What do we do? What am I to tell the cops? I can’t very well say my magical shield flung him away from me so hard he broke his back and cracked his skull.”
“You just tell the cops the guy jumped the counter, and you pushed him back as hard as you could before he was completely over, and it caused his injuries. He attacked you, Kat. Don’t worry. You did exactly what you should have done. I’m proud of you.” Damien wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed the top of my head.
I knew it was the wrong time to think about it, but the guy smelled good. He had a woodsy scent mixed with pine and cinnamon. Any other time, I probably would have been turned on by him.
While Damien was holding me, Rico and Joseph burst through the door.
OH! Great, I thought. Rico was going to give me a speech about how dangerous this is and he told me so.
Too bad because I knew we made the right decision to help. How could we in good conscience not help when we knew the war was coming? We had the ability to help. It would have been wrong, not to help.
7
Kat
“Kat! Are you alright? Where’s the guy?” Rico strode in and looked all around my store.
“He’s behind the counter on the ground. Aleric is tending to his broken back.” I cringed.
Damien hugged me tighter. Normally, I’m the tough one who likes to take charge and make others feel good. Right now, it was kinda nice having Damien take care of me.
Plus, I was in over my head. Part of me is glad the guy didn’t die, and another part
was screaming at me. Telling me I’m a fool for making Aleric heal the criminal. Who knows how many innocent people he had killed?
Rico and Joseph both walked behind the counter and looked on while Aleric continued to do his thing.
“You said he tried to buy real spells from you by pretending to be someone else?” Rico came back to where I was standing with Damien.
“Yes, I texted Aleric first, and he warned me about the guy. Then I texted you right away. As soon as I finished texting, the guy jumped the counter and tried to grab me. Thankfully, I turned on one of the charms around my wrist. He never even touched me. The force field threw him back hard against the counter.” I looked at the charm on my wrist.
These were some of the one-time use charms. This one was pretty strong. It could have killed the guy. It would have killed him, if Aleric wasn’t here. Which made me wonder how strong the new spells were?
“Should we put all of the spells into a locked safe? Currently, I only have the really dangerous ones inside of a safe. I’m wondering if the new charms and spells we have to sell are stronger than the ones we got right before Gerttie? If so, then all of our spells are dangerous, right?” I took a deep breath while I ran a hand through my hair and once again wondered what I had gotten us into.
“I think you have a good set-up. It’s the offensive spells people like that guy are going to try and get. They might want the defensive ones, too, but they won’t go to so much trouble to get them. Don’t worry. What happened here today will get out and people will know not to try this again.” Damien rubbed my back and it actually helped me to feel a bit better.
I turned my head when I heard the ding from the door opening. Two uniformed cops walked in with a paramedic behind them.
“I see you can’t stay out of trouble. Is this guy still alive?” One of the officers looked familiar.
“Maybe if you patrolled this area better, criminals wouldn’t be trying to break in and hurt us.” I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow. That cop was one who came last month when Jenna and I killed the acolyte. He was a jerk then, too.
“Listen here, missy, you are the one who keeps hurting men. How do I know you aren’t the problem? Maybe we should bring you into the station again. This time book you for assault.” The cop put one hand on his gun and the other on his nightstick.
If he thought he was going to intimidate me, he had another thing coming. I had several more charms on my wrist I could use to protect myself against him and his partner.
“Sorry, officer. She’s just upset. Imagine how your mother or sister would feel if they were being attacked by big men who thought they could hurt her?” Rico could try to calm the big oaf down. I really didn’t care.
The other cop with him stood back with a smirk on his face. He looked at his partner and rolled his eyes.
“Just keep your girls in line. We don’t need any more voodoo priestesses beating up guys just because they have issues with dominant men.” Wow, the cop was a serious jerk. He was probably the kind who thought women should be at home barefoot and pregnant.
The other cop spoke up, “Alright. Let’s get this investigation underway, shall we? Where is your attacker?”
“He’s behind there. A friend with medical background is looking him over.” I pointed to the counter.
“Alright, Joe. Go see if he’s still alive.” The good cop moved to the side so Joe, the paramedic, could get around.
“Miss?” The good cop looked at me with questioning eyes.
“Kat Deveroix. This is my shop.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“Of course, officer?” He hadn’t told me his name yet.
“Officer Deigner.”
The bad cop had followed Joe to see my attacker. “Tom, you might want to come check this out.” He waved over Officer Deigner.
“What? Is the guy dead?” Office Deigner asked as he walked behind the counter.
“Sadly, no.”
Tom looked between me and the floor behind the counter and then back at me again. He blew out a loud breath and ran his hand down his face.
“Kat, did you know who this was?” Tom looked at me dumbfounded.
“No, who is he?” I had actually wondered who the guy was, and if he had arrest warrants. He must if these cops knew him.
“He’s wanted on several counts of murder and domestic terrorism. I’d say you got lucky when you knocked him out. Good job.” Tom nodded his head as an approving smile spread across his face.
“I’ll call this in. Kat, the mayor might even want to thank you for getting this guy before he could blow up our city.” Tom took the radio off his belt and called in his findings to the police dispatch.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want you to take on this new assignment,” Rico whispered.
“I’d say it all turned out just fine. Don’t be such a worry-wart. The bad guy is the one who got hurt, not me. Or Jenna.” I smirked, knowing she was the one Rico was really worried about.
Sure, Rico cared about all of us and didn’t want any of us injured, or worse. However, Jenna was the one he always fretted over the most. She was at the forefront of his thoughts all of the time.
Speaking of which.
Jenna came bounding through the break room door. Probably just came down from the apartment. “What’s going on? Who’s on the ground?”
Rico walked over to Jenna and hugged her. “Thank goodness you’re alright.”
“What happened?” Jenna furrowed her brow and looked around the store. Her eyes landed on the people right behind our cash register.
“I was attacked. Turns out the guy on the ground is a wanted domestic terrorist.” I’d tell her the whole story later when the cops weren’t around.
“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” Jenna came over to me and hugged me hard.
“No, he actually didn’t get a chance to. Rico’s training paid off.” I winked at Rico who stood behind Jenna with his hands on her shoulders.
“This neighborhood is just getting more dangerous by the day! Did you know someone actually tried to rob the tourist shop two blocks over last week?” Jenna hadn’t told me this before.
“Really? What happened?” If there were other robberies or break-ins in our neighborhood, we needed to be more vigilant.
Officer Tom interrupted Jenna’s story. “Sorry, I need to get your statement. Start from the beginning and tell me exactly what happened.”
I was really getting tired of the cops and how much time they took to investigate. We had to close up shop for most of the day. Thankfully, we were able to open back up before the evening rush hour, when we made most of our sales.
The bell above the door dinged for only the fifth time since we had re-opened. “Welcome to The Voodoo Doll House. Feel free to browse around. Let me know if you have any questions.”
Jenna was helping me re-stock the shelves of voodoo dolls and pins. It seemed we needed to either clean up the shelves or re-stock them on a constant basis. We did sell a lot of the dolls. However, most customers would pick them up and move them around to different parts of the row.
Indie was very particular about how the dolls should be organized. We received regular “instructions” on which dolls should be in which bins. She could be very anal about it all.
Sam wasn’t much better when it came to the pins. They were her babies. Apparently, the different types of crystals on the tops had to be placed in a certain manner.
I could hear her saying, “Kat, you know the different shades of purple actually represent different emotions, right? If you put the violet next to the lavender you could get a negative effect. Please remember the chart I created for you and sort the pins properly.”
She had given us a chart, and it showed the emotional flow of the colors. I still didn't get it. But to make her happy, and to make us look like we know what we’re doing, I try to always organize per Sam’s instructions.
“Excuse me. Could you help me with something
?” A young, brunette came up to me while I was sorting the pins for the voodoo dolls.
“Of course. How can I help?” I smiled at the woman standing before me.
“Well, I heard about your aphrodisiac fudge and wondered if I could try some? Does the magic make it taste weird?” The woman’s white cheeks began to turn pink. She seemed a little young to need the love fudge. She couldn’t have been twenty yet.
“The magic doesn’t change the flavor at all. Follow me, and I’ll give you a small sample. It must be small so you don’t succumb to the effects of the spell.” I tried to giggle like Jenna or Indie do, but I’m not much of a giggler. I think the sound out of my mouth was more of a guffaw than a giggle.
I handed the customer a piece of the fudge, which really didn’t have magic in it. She ooh’d over the flavor and closed her eyes as the sugar and chocolate melted on her tongue.
“Oh, that’s really good. This will really get my boyfriend interested in me again?” The innocence she displayed on her face had me wondering what was going on.
“How long have you been with your boyfriend?” I wondered if the fudge was what she needed, or maybe something else?
“All through high school. We just started our second year of college together, and he doesn’t hardly kiss me anymore. In fact, I rarely see him since classes started back up.” The poor girl winced, and I could see tears pooling in her eyes.
It sounded more like they were growing apart than anything else. Jenna was so much better at this relationship stuff when it came to finding just the right product for our customers.
“Hmm, sounds like it might be something else you need. Our aphrodisiac fudge is usually used to help in the bedroom, if you know what I mean?” I wiggled my brows, and she continued to blush.
“I have an idea.” Jenna walked into the store from the break room, and I was elated. She always knew exactly what these types of customers needed.
Council of Magic Page 4