by Jayne Hawke
She said it so casually. I bit my tongue and stopped myself from asking why she hadn’t told me that sooner. I hadn’t thought to ask; it wasn’t her fault.
“Seriously?”
“Yea.”
“How much?”
“We’ll call it payment for you helping me find the hex breaker.”
“Deal!” I said.
My day was already looking up.
I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with extra bacon. Amy was a little more restrained and ordered a BBQ burger.
“How’ve you been?” I asked.
I didn’t want her to feel as though I was using her. She was nice, and there was a chance of a real friendship that I didn’t want to screw up.
“Busy. The local covens aren’t happy about me being a solitary witch. I’ve had to dodge a few small attacks, and the politics can be exhausting.”
“I don’t envy you,” I said with a laugh.
Amy scooted her chair around closer to me and pulled out her tablet.
“So, this is the hex breaker.” She showed me an image of a small wooden box with intricate carvings. “Like the name suggests, it’s used to break hexes. These artifacts are incredibly rare, and only a few covens in the world can make them. No one quite knows how the Hecate coven got this one - there are rumours they stole it. There are always rumours, though. Covens are really bitchy towards each other.”
I took a sip of my coffee, enjoying the rich flavour with a hint of caramel aftertaste. I could get used to this.
“Ok, so someone stole it because they can sell it for a lot of money, or break a hex, right?”
“Exactly. Selling it would be difficult, though, because they’re so rare that it’ll be easy to spot if it’s the stolen one. The real issue is, who stole it from the coven? Hecate witches are excellent at protecting their things, because Hecate is tied into magic.”
I hadn’t really studied up on witches and deities, but I realised that I was going to need to if I was going to be serious about this bounty hunter gig.
“However!” Amy paused and took a big gulp of her lemonade. “Hecate is a complicated goddess and sometimes a coven will be guided onto one particular path. She can push covens into necromancy. If that’s the case here, then their protections might have been weaker. It could also mean that this is a political move, as a lot of people have been trying to outlaw necromancy.”
“Wait, by necromancy do you mean raising zombies?”
Amy laughed.
“That’s a possibility. However, that is completely illegal. It usually means speaking with the dead to gain knowledge that can be sold.”
That did sound pretty useful. I made a mental note about that.
“Oh, and sometimes they can form shades - they’re like vicious ghosts - which can be sent to attack someone.”
“How do you defend against that?”
“With great difficulty,” Amy said gravely.
Well, this coven was sounding delightful.
Our burgers arrived. I bit into mine, finding it to be perfectly cooked with good quality juicy beef and divine crispy bacon. The thick layer of cheese wrapped around the main burger encasing it in creamy goodness. I devoured my burger without a word.
Amy was far more dignified and took her time eating her burger like a lady.
“Oh!” she said, holding up her tablet.
“Our lead came through! A girl left the Hecate coven recently, we’re meeting her in Flame.”
“Flame? We are?” I said.
“The wine bar on the far side of town. And yes, in thirty minutes. The actual coven won’t talk to lowly beings like us, so we have to dig around and get a little more creative,” she said before she knocked back the last of her lemonade.
It felt really good to be pulled into a job like this. Exhilaration filled me as I allowed Amy’s contagious excitement to wash over me. We left cash on the table and left Toil and Trouble to go and meet the lead.
49
AMY DROVE US OVER TO Flame, which was in the trendy young part of town. The buildings had a lot more glass in them and less of the simple wood that I liked about my part of town. She pulled up her little Ford, and we crossed the quiet street towards the wine bar. Large windows spanned the front of the building, allowing passers-by to see everything that went on inside. The space had been split down the centre by dark wooden shelves covered in tiny succulent plants. Everything about it felt forced and contrived.
We walked inside and found the waiter in a crisp white shirt and black waist-apron looking down his nose at us. I smiled broadly at him and relished the look of horror on his face. Unlike Toil and Trouble, the place was empty bar a pair of businessmen in grey suits, talking in hushed tones over dark red wines, and a pretty red-headed girl who looked barely legal.
She tossed her curls back across her shoulder and looked over to us with a stiff smile. Amy took the lead, and we joined the witch at her small black wooden table. The seats were almost too small. I wasn’t sure how guys were supposed to fit on them. The table itself was cramped and not really comfortable for the three of us, let alone the four it had seats for.
“Liss,” the witch said with a small nod.
“Amy, and Rosalyn,” Amy said pointing to us.
“Why don’t we get straight to the point, then? I recently left the Hecate coven, and you want to know who took their hex breaker.”
“And why you left,” I said.
Liss crossed her arms.
“I was pulled into that coven aged twelve. It had sounded really cool working with Hecate. She has so many interesting facets and wisdom. The coven itself was stifling. I wasn’t allowed any contact with the goddess until I was twenty-one. And then when I did form a contact, it was weak and polluted. I left because it was a weak toxic coven.”
Amy’s brows furrowed, and she pulled back a little in something between revulsion and horror.
“As for who took the hex breaker, my money’s on the Loki coven. They’re small, but this is a very trickster move.”
“Interesting. I thought it might have been the Athena coven.”
“You know that’s who I moved to. I don’t appreciate the implications there.”
Amy smiled.
“Look at Loki’s band of misfits,” Liss snapped before she stood up and left.
“Well, that could have gone better,” I said.
“She was telling the truth. Although, I still think she’s wrong. There’s no benefit to Loki’s coven in this. No, this is for someone who’s seeking political gain, or has a hex to break.”
“So, we need to look into who got hexed recently?”
Amy rolled the white coaster over and over between her fingers.
“Yes, I think so. Do you want to a ride home?” she said distractedly.
“What am I missing?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’ll tell you as soon as I know. Promise.”
AMY HAD TEXTED ME A list of people in the area who had been hexed within the last month. It was a long list. She’d kept it to people who were aware of the supernatural world and thus knew that the hex breaker even existed. I’d spent three hours digging through the Grim to find out what I could about these people. Half of my list had been crossed off when Cole knocked at the door.
“You’re joining me for a run,” he said when I opened the door.
“We went through this. You don’t command me to do things,” I said staring him down.
He rolled his eyes.
“Rosalyn, you need to run.”
“Ask nicely.”
His scowl deepened.
“Rosalyn, stop being a stubborn pain in my ass and come into the forest for a run with me.”
“You say the sweetest things.”
I pulled my sneakers on and followed him out into the darkness.
“We’re going to shift,” he said once we were safely within the forest.
Butterflies exploded in my stomach, only to be quashed by excitement. I remembered the thri
ll of running in my wolf form.
“Relax and feel that form.”
I closed my eyes and felt something changing within me. My wolf skin slid over me like a comfortable hoodie. I barely noticed the sensation of my bones breaking and reforming over the delicious agony. When I opened my eyes, I was back on four legs and ready to spend the night racing through the forest. Cole had been right. I desperately needed this.
To my surprise, he dipped into a shallow play bow before he took off at a sprint. I took off after him, feeling my instincts to chase him down take over. As we ran between the trees and gave ourselves over to the need to just run, I felt myself slipping deeper into the wolf. My human mind was slipping, and I stopped dead next to a prickly bush. Cole walked over to me and pressed his cheek to mine.
“Give yourself a moment,” he said into my mind.
I clawed my way back to the surface and took control over my mind and body once more. The urge to follow the scents and just run faded away, leaving a calmer state. When I was ready, I began running again, this time more aware of the feel of the dirt beneath my paws and the myriad of scents around me. There was so much more than the deer trail my instincts nudged me to follow. There was the undergrowth and the hikers that had passed through it earlier in the day. The dogs, squirrels, and even the changes in the dirt itself.
We slowed our pace and casually circled back with Cole leading the way. We emerged from the forest with one of my favourite spots within walking distance. A pair of large flat rocks sat at the very edge of a cliff, which gave us views out over the surrounding landscape. On the bright clear days, you could almost see right across the state. We lay down close to each other and looked over the twinkling lights of the towns stretches out before us. The lights of the cars meandering through the darkness held my interest for a little while as I wondered where those people were going.
A calm descended over me, and I allowed everything to slip away as I rested my head on Cole’s shoulder and watched the world go by.
50
I WOKE UP TO A TEXT from Valentin asking if I’d like lunch at his place. My stomach twisted. I really wanted to spend some time with him, but I needed to be logical and use the opportunity to find proof he was the rogue. Amy still needed a couple more days for her spell to finish brewing or whatever it was doing. The soft warmth that came with being around him pooled in my stomach, and I sighed, doubting how genuine it was. There was a very real chance that it was just from his having turned me, and that hurt. The need for a pack, a real pack, grew with every day. Losing Valentin as the only packmate it felt like I had was going to sting.
There was still no word from Jake, and I glanced into his room feeling the odd emptiness that was becoming familiar. He had always been such a vibrant part of my life. I knew he was there even when I couldn’t see him, he was a light that chased away the shadows of the world outside. I hadn’t realised just how much I leaned on him and his ability to brighten any situation until he was gone.
I made myself a big breakfast to try and eat away my feelings and realised that I hadn’t felt any pull to bake in a little while. That had been a huge part of my world since I was a little girl. When I closed my eyes and thought of a happy safe place, it smelled of creamed butter, vanilla, and freshly baked cupcakes. It was full of laughter and sunshine. Baking had been my sanctuary and my biggest coping mechanism. It also felt like the very last shred of what I had of my mom.
Sighing, I knew that I’d bake when I was ready, but that morning I was looking forward to digging into information on the local covens. It gave me something productive and positive to focus on. I needed to get that sense of progress to shake off the sensation of the world crumbling around me. The fact of the matter was that I couldn’t hide behind baking and Jake any more. I was going to have to step up and really embrace my bounty hunter position. I was a garou now, and that meant that I could do real good in the world. I refused to be selfish enough to ignore that and continue trying to hide.
Much like shifters, witches tended to be quite territorial. I understood that desire in garou and shifters; we needed a safe space to run in. Witches, however, just seemed to like having space to call their own. I sat down with my laptop in front of me next to a huge omelette with a big helping of extra-crispy bacon. There was a directory of covens, much like the directory of packs. The fae refused to allow themselves to be put onto public records, which was an ongoing fight. I looked down that list and was surprised to see the huge array of deities represented just in the local area. I had assumed there would be clusters of similar deities in the area, but I quickly realised that was a stupid thought. Callie had worked so hard to train Jake and me for this eventuality, and yet I felt as though I’d squandered it. When she was killed, I’d buried my head in cupcake mix and refused to really deal with it. There were the small courier-type jobs to bring in a little money, but as people on the Grim reminded me, that wasn’t anything close to a real merc or bounty hunter.
Sighing again, I focused back on the task at hand. There were more solitary witches than I expected, too. I’d thought they were rare, like lone garou. Callie had said that witches preferred being in covens for protection and a strong connection to their deity. Solitary witches were treated with suspicion, if I remembered correctly. To have so many choose to go the more difficult route made me wonder if I’d missed something. I made a mental note to try and ask Amy about it.
As I began digging more into the Hecate coven, I started to understand the territorial nature of the witches. They were businesses, and they were guarding the area in which they did business. Covens usually lived together in one big house, or a number of smaller houses within a close area. They all worked on the coven businesses, so owning a good territory with plenty of customers meant the coven could enjoy the life that wealth gave them.
It looked as though the Hecate coven had a reasonable reputation in the area, although there had been a spat with an Ares coven out in Chicago. I was looking for dirt on them, something that I could use to get a real lead. Everyone suspected the Loki coven, but that didn’t quite feel right to me. It didn’t come across as a trick, per se. I couldn’t explain it, but my instincts said the Loki coven had been set up.
My phone buzzed with a text from Valentin asking if I was ok. I looked at the time and realised I was supposed to be at his ten minutes ago. My subconscious must have been putting off the meeting with him. What had been something that I looked forward to so recently had twisted into something I was dreading. The quiet voice in the back of my mind reminded me that I could be wrong. There was still a chance that he was a genuinely great guy and potential packmate. I replied telling him I was having car trouble and raced off to change into suitable clothing.
VALENTIN HAD COME TO pick me up. It was a sweet gesture, really; still, I couldn’t help wondering if he needed to see me for the guardian side of me, whatever that was. I couldn’t help but look at him differently as I tried to look for some sign of deception or that he was the rogue. I’d been too busy doubting everyone else in my life and allowing that lust and pack feeling to blind me to him.
He gently placed his hand on mine, which instantly soothed my anxiety. That immediate reaction within myself made me step back and analyse everything. On one hand, his skin against mine felt so right and soothing. The gesture was sweet, as was the gentle smile he gave me at the stop light. The fact it was so instantaneous and washed over me, pushing aside whatever logic and aloofness I had, made a cold weight form in the pit of my stomach. That sounded exactly like the bond between a turned and the one who turned them.
I caught the odd glassiness that sometimes clouded his eyes and felt the weird sensation that somehow he wasn’t sitting in his skin quite right. The need to trust him meant that I hadn’t noticed it at all before, and even in that moment I was doubting my own vision and instincts. The conflict raged between the desire to relax into him and allow the warm safety wash over me and the logical need to understand if he was the rogue. It
was too easy to slip into a comfortable, almost dazed state. I needed to keep my wits about me. Was that something he could control? Was he knowingly putting me into that gentle malleable state?
When I looked again, I saw the slight toothiness there and the edges of his seemingly concerned smile.
It took a lot to make sure that I didn’t hesitate when I followed him into his home. I didn’t want him to see something was wrong, but I also wanted to get a really good look around. I’d never really paid attention to the small details. What was he hiding within those walls?
“How’re you coping with Jake being gone?”
His voice was so gentle and caring, yet it sent a shiver slithering down my spine. I was reminded of those serial killers, their Teflon charm and the way they knew exactly what to say and how to say it. In that moment I felt more vulnerable than I had done in a good while. I looked into his beautiful eyes and felt the spark grow within me. There was still a chance I was overreacting.
“Not as bad as I expected. Did you heal ok? After the bar fight.”
I asked it as softly as I could muster, but I really wanted to see his reaction to that question.
“Yes, of course. Why?”
There was a flicker across his fine features. Something darker, sharper. I wasn’t supposed to have noticed that little problem.
“I just thought you were struggling to heal one of your wounds. I was concerned that they’d poisoned you or something,” I said with a shy little smile.
“Oh, it was just a little spell. Nothing to worry yourself about.”
He was lying. I heard the tinniness in his words. Still, I smiled and sat down, making myself comfortable. I still wanted to believe that he was a good guy and not the rogue.
“Have you made any progress with the rogue?” he asked as he sat next to me, his thigh pressing against mine.
Lust rose in me, quickly followed by revulsion. I looked away and thought of something that made me blush to try and hide my weird reaction. It was growing increasingly difficult to think straight with the emotions and instincts warring within me. The wolf side of me still wanted to jump him; it didn’t care if he was the rogue. The bond was very much active. The other calmer, more logical side wanted to keep a little distance between us and find an excuse to look around his home.