Champagne, Misfits, and Other Shady Magic

by Meghan Ciana Doidge

  The woman stiffened, then turned to gaze at us. Her expression was a strange mixture of defiance and wonder. “You first.”

  Kandy snorted, crossing her arms. “That’s not your privilege, is it?”

  “I should know my place, should I?” Without the mangled jaw, the werewolf’s accent was obviously American. But again, I couldn’t place the region. “We didn’t come to Vancouver to be bullied.”

  “Did you come to break into a shop and risk exposing all of the Adept?” I asked mildly. My mind was already focused on whether or not memory spells were going to be needed to fix this.

  The woman dropped her topaz gaze. “No.”

  “Then?” Kandy asked pointedly.

  The woman straightened to her full height. “Rebecca Talbot.”

  Another Talbot. This was getting way beyond coincidence. Rather annoyingly, actually.

  We waited, but Rebecca didn’t offer any further information about herself or her family.

  “And?” Kandy asked.

  “And what?”

  Kandy pointed at herself. “Kandy. Enforcer of the West Coast pack.” Then she pointed at me. “Jade. Dowser. Alchemist.”

  Then Kandy pointed at Rebecca.

  She shrugged belligerently.

  “Were one or both of your parents werewolves?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Maybe?” Kandy snarled.

  “Time to go,” I said, interrupting. I caught another glimpse of Dave beyond the swing door. “I still need to do my hair and makeup.”

  “Yep,” Kandy said. “If you won’t talk to us, you sure as hell will talk to the witches.” Then she grabbed Rebecca by the arm and half-dragged, half-carried her toward the back door.

  That really hadn’t been my meaning. But Kandy was the enforcer, and certainly knew way more about how to deal with werewolves than I did.

  “I’m not trying to be disrespectful,” Rebecca muttered.

  “Well, you’re succeeding magnificently anyway.”

  Kandy paused by the door, turning the handle. I hesitated, considering darting out front to talk to Dave. Offering to pay for the damages, and trying to smooth it all over with money rather than magic. And all the while, seriously hoping none of the shop’s customers had spotted the werewolf in the fridge before he’d closed up.

  Rebecca suddenly slumped to one side.

  “Shit!” Kandy snarled.

  I dashed over to her, grabbing Rebecca’s other arm. “Oh, my God. Is she okay?”

  “Passed out,” Kandy said. “Happens after a werewolf’s first few transformations. I thought getting her on her feet right away might help.”

  “Well … I guess you can’t really get the witches to torture her when she’s unconscious.”

  Kandy sighed as if suffering greatly. “True. Pity.”

  “We’d better take her home,” I said, settling Rebecca’s arm across my shoulders. Her head lolled harshly to one side. “Do you have the Talbots’ address?”

  Kandy pulled out her phone, opening the door with her free hand. “Pearl will.”

  Thinking it was probably better to carry the magically exhausted werewolf rather than drag her down the street, I picked her up under her knees. She was surprisingly heavy. But then, she topped me by at least three inches.

  I followed Kandy into the back alley. “Do you want to pull the SUV around?”

  A sorcerer leveled his gun at me. Fresh-roasted, creamy peanut butter — the kind that would just suck all the moisture out of your mouth — flooded my senses of taste and smell. Since I’d been on a peanut butter kick for a while, I instantly liked him.

  Except for the gun, of course.

  That was just annoying.

  Especially since I could taste magic embedded within the weapon as well as in him. An echo of his own. So even though guns were notoriously unreliable around magic and magic users, I had a sinking feeling that the sorcerer’s weapon would fire and strike true, exactly where he aimed it. And unfortunately, the place he was currently aiming it was the middle of my forehead.

  Yep. A dark-haired sorcerer, dressed head to toe in a Vancouver Police Department uniform, had me dead to rights.

  And my arms were rather occupied carrying an unconscious werewolf.

  Kandy had paused a couple of steps into the narrow alley between the butcher’s and a brown-sided, five-storey apartment building that faced West Fifth Avenue. The rear units would have a perfect view of the alley.

  “Hello, VPD.” The green-haired werewolf bared her teeth in greeting.

  “Sorcerer,” I murmured.

  “I know,” Kandy snorted. “I can smell him.” She raised her hands, showing off her cuffs rather than declaring peaceful intentions as she stalked forward two steps. “You know who you have your gun pointed at, right? Because even if you managed to shoot one of us without the thing exploding in your hand, a tiny piece of metal ain’t slowing either of us down.”

  “You’re standing at the scene of a reported disturbance —”

  “Yadda yadda,” Kandy said. “We’re the good guys, VPD. Don’t we look it?”

  The sorcerer glanced my way, exceptionally calm under the circumstances. He was around twenty-three, six feet tall, clean-cut, and in excellent shape. A runner’s body, from the look of it. Dark hair. Deep-brown eyes.

  Kandy took two more quick steps toward him. “I’m thinking of making him bow before you, dowser. Stinky sorcerer playing at being an itty-bitty policeman with an itty-bitty gun. Oh, excuse me, police person.”

  I coughed back an inappropriate laugh.

  VPD swallowed harshly, glancing at me. “You … you …”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Kandy snarled. “There’s a cupcake on her T-shirt, ain’t there?”

  I cleared my throat, lifting my burden slightly. “He might not be able to see it. What with me holding a werewolf and all.”

  My comment seemed to remind VPD why he was pointing a gun at me. “You will put the woman down. Carefully. Then step back and place your hands on the wall.”

  “She really won’t.” Kandy was starting to sound amused rather than pissed, which wasn’t going to be healthy for the sorcerer.

  I glanced around. It hadn’t rained in weeks, so the alley looked especially nasty. Tidy, of course. It was Vancouver, after all. But definitely gritty and stained. “On the ground? That seems harsh. These are cute overalls. Do you really want me to ruin them for her? She’s had a bad afternoon.”

  “I’m serious, ma’am.”

  The sorcerer had nerves of steel.

  He’d also just ‘ma’amed’ me.

  “Jesus, I’m like maybe three years older than you!”

  “Just take the gun,” Kandy said, sounding bored. “I’ll break it if I do it.”

  “My arms are a little full.”

  The werewolf threw her hands up in the air in mock frustration. Then she beckoned for me to hand over my burden.

  “No one is going to move … any farther.” VPD’s calm facade was cracking.

  Kandy and I eyed him for a moment.

  “You mean, other than to place her down on the ground?” I asked mockingly.

  “Right,” he said, grinding the word out. “Right.”

  “The gun, Jade,” Kandy said. “Or I’ll take it. And then the itty-bitty sorcerer will cry. Who’d you steal the uniform from, anyway?”

  “I won’t … be crying.” VPD kept the gun steady on me, but Kandy was getting under his skin. “And this is my uniform.”

  I sighed. Kandy was right. The conversation would go more smoothly without the gun in play.

  I stepped forward, allowing the unconscious werewolf in my grasp to roll into Kandy’s outstretched arms.

  VPD started to squeeze the trigger.

  But whether the gun would have gone off or not, I’d never know. Because I moved.

  Stepping forward and slightly to the side — just in case the gun was triggered by his magic rather than his finger — I took it.

  Stepping back,
I held the weapon aloft in my open palm, taking a moment to watch as deep-blue sorcerer magic settled back into its polished metal.

  VPD grunted, stumbling back a few steps. Reacting too late to my advance. He reached for the other gun still clipped into his holster. Probably his police-issued weapon, because the gun I held was larger. And teeming with power.

  “No,” I said, backing my command with a push of magic.

  He froze in the middle of pulling the second weapon.

  I displayed the gun I’d snatched from him for his benefit. “I can destroy this weapon and all the magic contained within it with a mere thought.”

  “Impossible,” he said, struggling to remain calm.

  I smiled. “Test me.”

  His gaze flicked from me to Kandy. Then he lifted his hands away from his service weapon.

  Kandy snorted derisively. “These fledglings are so boring.”

  “I’m no fledgling.” The sorcerer squared his shoulders. “And that’s my sister you’re holding.”

  Well, surprise, surprise.

  “Another Talbot.”

  “Yes,” he said snarkily. “See the name tag?”

  Ignoring the sarcasm, I eyed him thoughtfully as I twirled the gun in my hand, playing with its peanut buttery magic.

  Kandy flinched, acting as though I was going to accidentally shoot her.

  I glared at the green-haired werewolf. But since her reaction was actually prudent, I stopped playing with the weapon.

  Kandy chuckled to herself.

  “Liam,” the sorcerer said, alternating his gaze from his gun to his sister. Actually, adoptive sister, judging by the difference in their magic. “Liam Talbot. Son of Stephan and Angelica, sorcerers.” He was obviously deciding to play nice.

  “Specializing in guns?” I asked, honestly interested.

  He grimaced, then nodded. “Ballistics, weapons, et cetera.”

  “And your accuracy?” Kandy asked.

  He glanced at his sister again, tension running through his jaw.

  “You’re the one who pointed the weapon at us,” I reminded him gently. “That opened you up.”

  “For interrogation?”

  Kandy laughed. “You ain’t seen nothing yet, VPD. And your sister is in some shit as well.”

  “At this distance, 98 percent accuracy,” he said stiltedly. “I wouldn’t have missed.”

  “You did miss,” I said.

  He looked at me, startled. Almost as though he hadn’t sorted that out for himself yet. Yeah, I moved faster than he could pull a trigger. Gun-toting sorcerers beware.

  Liam nodded begrudgingly. “I … I thought you were hurting Bitsy. That you’d already hurt her.”

  “Bitsy?” Kandy echoed.

  He nodded toward his unconscious sister. “Bitsy. Rebecca.”

  Kandy laughed sneeringly, presumably in response to how the werewolf in her arms was anything but tiny. “You don’t pull a gun unless you’re in immediate danger, sorcerer.”

  “Sometimes it’s a deterrent —”

  “No,” I said. “There are others who walk the streets of Vancouver who wouldn’t have been as understanding as we were.”

  “Understanding?” he sputtered.

  “Where’s your car?” Kandy said, ignoring him. “We’ve got a party to get to. And your sister will probably be asleep for hours from her transformation.”

  “Transformation?” Liam echoed incredulously. “She … transformed?”

  “Partial,” I said. “Why? Doesn’t she usually?”

  He shook his head, then looked chagrined. Like he’d given away one of his sister’s deep dark secrets.

  I glanced at Kandy. “She is bitten, then?”

  “Sorcerer?” Kandy demanded.

  “She … was born to werewolves, but …” His voice trailed off.

  “Didn’t transform as expected? When expected?” Kandy filled in the information he’d left hanging.

  Liam nodded.

  “So …” Kandy looked at me, some dark emotion surfacing. “Her parents bit her?”

  He nodded again.

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “To trigger her magic?”

  “It’s barbaric,” Kandy snarled. “Their alpha should have excised them for it.”

  Liam snorted harshly. “Bitsy would have been killed if her pack leader had discovered she couldn’t transform.”

  Kandy leveled a scathing glare at the sorcerer. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  He clamped his mouth shut. Not really backing down. But willing to remain silent on the matter.

  “That’s why she’s scared of werewolves?” I asked. “But why the sudden transformation? Like you said, it isn’t a full moon.”

  “No,” Kandy said, gazing down at the woman in her arms. Then she looked up at me. “Something is definitely triggering the fledglings’ magic.”

  I nodded. “But not just the Talbots, since it started with Mory. And the sorcerer here looks fine. The grid, maybe?”

  “Maybe.” But Kandy sounded doubtful.

  “What grid?” Liam asked.

  We ignored him.

  I thought about the sketch from Rochelle, wondering again if it represented some sort of rune I was meant to chalk into my circle when we gathered to recast the grid. Or maybe some sort of magical object I needed to find, then use as an anchor. But I didn’t want to mention it to Kandy in front of the Talbots.

  Rebecca, aka Bitsy, moaned softly in Kandy’s arms. Liam dashed forward, instantly forgetting that he was a hard-assed police officer and murmuring to her in soft tones.

  “Um … hey, LT …” Rebecca murmured. Then she appeared to suddenly take in the fact that she was being held aloft by a green-haired werewolf. “Oh … hello? Um, why are you holding me like a baby?”

  “It isn’t by choice, wolf,” Kandy groused.

  Bitsy slapped her hand over her mouth, staring first at Liam, then at me with horror. “Oh, God … I … I … I was hanging out with Tony …”

  “Tony?” I asked sharply. That was the second time the unknown male had been mentioned. Well, unknown to me. Mory and Burgundy had apparently been playing board games with him the night before.

  “Our brother,” Liam said, not taking his gaze off his sister. Then I remembered Angelica Talbot having said the name too.

  Bitsy’s chin quivered. “I was just going to try on some sneakers. The store is having a fall sale.”

  “From Gravity Pope?” I asked, momentarily distracted by the idea of discount shoes. The store was almost directly across the street from the butcher’s. “They have the best Converse selection. Vans too.”

  Bitsy nodded, her eyes welling with tears. “Then I got really hungry.”

  “It’s okay,” Liam said.

  “It is not okay,” Kandy growled at the sorcerer. Then to Rebecca, she said, “Can you stand?”

  The unfortunate werewolf nodded. Kandy settled her on her feet and Liam got his arm around her waist. With the inches Bitsy’s wild hair added to her height, she was actually taller than her adoptive brother.

  “You’ll come to train with me,” Kandy said. “Starting Monday.”

  Rebecca looked traumatized.

  “She won’t,” Liam said stiffly.

  Kandy instantly got up in his face. “Don’t make me throw down on you, sorcerer. I’m standing inches away and you won’t see me coming.”

  He blinked.

  “Rebecca transformed in front of humans.” Kandy jabbed her thumb toward Bitsy.

  “Did I?” she whispered.

  “Well, one human,” I said. “Dave. And I think he’s figured some of this … all out. He called me.” I looked at Liam. “Unless you weren’t bluffing about that disturbance call.”

  Liam looked relieved, then embarrassed. “I was … bluffing.”

  “But …” Bitsy said.

  He cleared his throat. “Mom called.”

  “Mom called?” Bitsy straightened away from her brother, her tone bec
oming edged. “As in, she was tracking me?”

  “You know …” He dropped his voice to a murmur, presumably thinking that Kandy and I wouldn’t hear him. “She tracks all of us.”

  Bitsy bared her teeth at her brother.

  “Finally,” Kandy said blithely. “So you aren’t just a passive pup.”

  The bronze-skinned werewolf squared her shoulders. “I’m not available Monday during the day. I have school. Then soccer on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with games on Saturdays.”

  “What are you studying?” Kandy asked.

  “Sports medicine,” Bitsy said. “I’m a year away from my degree.”

  “And the soccer team?”

  “UBC women’s,” Bitsy said proudly.

  Kandy snorted. “Cheating isn’t it? Being a werewolf and all?”

  Bitsy’s face fell. She looked to her brother.

  Liam rubbed his hand over his face. “It wasn’t … but …”

  “But?” Bitsy whispered.

  “You were suppressing your magic …” Liam faltered, but the full consequences of the afternoon hung off the end of his sentence.

  “We’ll talk about it later,” Kandy said abruptly. “Go home. Come by the bakery after your classes on Monday.”

  “Bakery?” Bitsy echoed. “What bakery?”

  Kandy laughed harshly. “What? Does your family just keep you in the dark about everything?” She hit the word ‘family’ with as much derision as she could muster. Which was a lot.

  Liam flushed. “Of course not.”

  “Maybe I should pay you all a visit at home,” Kandy said conversationally, glancing over at me. “Jade and me. Maybe the sentinel would like to join us. Or even better, now that the executioner is back in town, maybe he’d like a snack or two? Nothing settles down a surge of stupid-assed defiance like being fed on by a vampire. Given the venom and all.”

  Liam’s hand flexed, as though he was thinking about pulling his second gun again.

  “I think they’re already fairly intimidated,” I said. “Aren’t you, Rebecca?”

  The werewolf nodded her head, almost frantically.

  “Liam?” I asked.

  He jutted out his chin. “I get who you are. Both of you. Henry Calhoun was clear.”

  “I don’t think he was,” Kandy said. “I think he was charming and sweet, and concerned about sending you somewhere that your family wouldn’t have to constantly be worried about being … what?” She eyed Rebecca for a moment. “Belittled? Scorned? Bullied?”