Hot Trick (A Detective Shelley Caldwell Novel)

by Patricia Rosemoor

  “Delano self-destructed. He let his greed and lust for power eradicate any ethics or morals he might have had,” Sebastian countered.

  “Those are for mere mortals. Why have power if you don’t use it?”

  “I agree, but power should be used for good, not evil.”

  Oriel laughed. “You sound as naive as Silke.” She waved her hand in the air.

  I looked around. Of course. A signal for her minions, who stepped out from behind some trees in a nearby grassy area. Snake Eyes and Tattoo Boy looked ready to fight. Big surprise.

  Pulling free from Jake, I faced them down. I only hoped Silke could hold her own until we could help her.

  “Dibs on Snake Eyes,” I told Jake as the thugs came at us. “Don’t be surprised if they have some magic tricks up their sleeves.”

  I rushed Snake Eyes, then dodged him at the last minute. He kicked out anyway and I grabbed his foot, twisting as hard as I could. He twisted with me, his body helicoptering to stay in line with the foot. I dropped it as his back turned to me, then kicked him behind the knee. Hard.

  He went down, and when I put Silke’s glittery sandal into his kidneys, he yelped.

  A few yards away, Jake picked up Tattoo Boy and tossed him as far as he could. When Tattoo Boy came back up to his feet it was with a chain in his hand.

  Snake Eyes had a knife.

  Knowing I was fighting for my life, I slipped out of the sandals, then picked them up. Even as Snake Eyes came at me, I jumped back and slashed at his arms with a sandal, knocking the knife away from me before the steel made contact with my ribs. With the other sandal, I struck out at his knife arm and hit his wrist with the sharp heel.

  The knife went spinning.

  Sounding peevish, Oriel said, “Get out of my way, Silke!”

  Silke swiped the air before her and Sebastian with a feather. “May the wind cleanse this space of evil—”

  “You think some beginner’s spell is going to stop me?” Oriel interrupted. With a wave of her hand, the feather flew out of Silke’s fingers.

  A body tackle sent me sprawling in the sand, Snake Eyes on top of me. I should have known better than to let myself be distracted, even for a moment.

  I wasn’t distracted now. I gave Snake Eyes my full attention. Reaching out to one side of me, I felt for the knife. My hand connected with the blade. I slid it down to the handle just as Snake Eyes got his hands around my neck and started choking the air out of me.

  Hesitating only a second, I jammed the knife into his side. He screamed and I shoved him off me. He flipped around on his back, trying to remove the knife. I ripped a layer of material from my top and tied his hands behind him.

  A choking sound made me look to Jake. He had Tattoo Boy’s chain wrapped around the thug’s neck.

  “Jake, don’t kill him!” I didn’t want him to have to answer to the justice system. “Please.”

  Jake nodded and let go. Tattoo Boy dropped like a sack and gasped for air. Jake used the chain to secure his hands and feet together.

  I turned to see Silke swoop a palm high over the sand, then flip her hand toward Oriel. A spray of sand followed, hitting the sorceress in the face.

  Oriel screeched and with a counter-thrust stopped the remaining sand in midair before it dropped harmlessly back to the ground. A second thrust flung Silke out of the way like a child’s rag doll. She landed in a heap on the sand. My gut clenched but she signaled me not to come to her.

  Help Sebastian!

  Apparently communication was restored.

  Now it was Sebastian Oriel faced. “You need to learn to pay attention, Sebastian. You’re a weak excuse for a sorcerer. That’s why I’m going to put you down like the dog you are.”

  Sebastian stood taller. “You may finish me, but you won’t beat me.”

  Oriel shrieked, withdrew a wand from her skirts and raised her arms to the sky. Was the wand the source of her power?

  “I call on the elements to do my bidding!”

  With Snake Eyes down I was free to help Sebastian, but how? Oriel had tossed Silke, and she knew some magic, while I knew none.

  Then again, did I need to?

  Oriel shrieked, “Winds and water rise to fight my enemies!”

  Surprise was on my side. Oriel paid no attention to me. Even as the wind began picking up in magnitude and a wave bigger than any I’d seen on the lake rolled in toward shore, I cautiously picked up the shovel and moved behind her.

  Sebastian kept Oriel’s attention on him.

  “Is this the best you can do, Oriel?” he asked as I inched closer to her. “Murder another mage while his powers are drained?”

  “You expect me to have some kind of moral code after what you did to Delano?” Oriel laughed, unaware of how close I was. “I would have taken you down any way I could.”

  As she spoke, I swung as hard as I could and caught her in the back of the neck and head. “Me too,” I spat.

  Oriel crumpled into a heap. The wind immediately died and the wave rushing toward shore gurgled to its finish right where it was, as if someone had turned off the water.

  I knelt beside Oriel and felt for a pulse. “She’s alive.”

  “Now what?” Silke asked.

  “That’s the question. I wouldn’t be sorry if she died. On the other hand, I’m sworn to uphold the law and couldn’t purposely kill her.”

  “So she’ll get mortal justice,” Silke said.

  “If we can keep her locked up long enough. That’s been a problem with her thugs. Slippery bastards.”

  I could only imagine how easy it would be for her to vanish, never to be found again.

  “We need a binding spell,” Silke said. “Only I’m not experienced enough. I don’t really know one.”

  “Binding spell?” I echoed.

  “To bind her powers,” Sebastian clarified. “In effect to make her human. I’m experienced enough to know what to do.”

  Silke said, “But your powers—”

  “Are drained, true. But I can help you cast a spell.”

  Silke looked thrilled. “We have to hurry. Mom should already be coming to our rescue.” To me, she said, “I sent your banshee after her.”

  “Brogan’s not my banshee.”

  “Whatever. Let’s just do this.”

  Jake closed in, carrying a struggling gangbanger in each hand. As Silke and Sebastian conferred, Jake dropped them one on top of the other. I moved closer to him and slipped my hand in his.

  Silke and Sebastian were halfway through the spell when the sound of sirens filled the air. I glanced at the Drive. Squads were arriving from both directions.

  “Hurry,” I urged, my pulse ticking wildly as we were threatened with exposure.

  I could handle it, though. I would find the guts to handle anything.

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Backup arrived. An ambulance hauled Snake Eyes to the closest ER, while paramedics gave an all clear on taking Oriel and Tattoo Boy to lock up.

  Where they would stay this time.

  Silke and Sebastian got a ride in one squad, while Jake and I ended up having to make explanations to Norelli all the way back to the office.

  “We’re partners,” Norelli complained. “You weren’t supposed to make the collar without me.”

  “Um, I didn’t exactly have a choice when I was kidnapped and stuffed in a coffin. Believe me, if I could have shared that experience with you, Norelli, I definitely would have.”

  He gave me one of those did-you-just-insult-me? looks but didn’t say anything more.

  Having coached the others with some creative explanations as to what had gone down tonight, I was relieved when Norelli and the others accepted every word.

  Which also made me wonder if Sebastian hadn’t had something to do with that. Perhaps his power of suggestion hadn’t been affected. Or perhaps he had already begun to recover.

  Everything was finally going my way. Another set of homicides solved. And for once, Norelli got stuck with the bulk o
f paperwork.

  A win-win situation in my book.

  “I still have an APB out on Tanya Janicek,” Norelli said. “I want to make sure she wasn’t an accomplice. Besides, she could be a witness.”

  If she would cooperate.

  We all gathered in the vestibule at dawn.

  Silke and me, Mom in between us. Jake to the other side of me, Sebastian at Silke’s side.

  I tried feeling what was going on between the brothers, but to my chagrin, they both kept me locked out.

  “I’m so relieved the two of you are all right,” Mom said, keeping her district commander persona in place at the area office.

  Silke and I hugged her and I swear she held us a moment longer than she deemed necessary. I got the message. She loved us. I was going to have to give her some slack.

  Mom eyed Jake and said to me, “About that family barbeque—”

  “Later! Give me a break already.” So much for the slack time.

  “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

  I couldn’t help the groan that escaped me.

  The moment Mom left us, Silke said, “I’m exhausted. Magic is hard work.”

  Uh-huh. I looked at her. Barely a hair out of place. I knew what I looked like after fighting Snake Eyes. I’d winced when I’d seen myself in the restroom mirror.

  I had to give it to Silke, though. My impractical sister had saved the day using magic. I figured maybe it was time to start re-evaluating our relationship and who she was too.

  Just as Jake was going to have to re-evaluate his relationship with Sebastian. The truce between them was still on, but for how long?

  “You haven’t seen the last of me,” Sebastian warned Jake.

  Jake drew himself into an aggressive stance. “I’ll be looking forward to our next meeting. Brother.”

  The testosterone in the air was palpable. “Down, boys,” I said.

  Both men mentally backed off and I sighed with relief.

  “I’ll take you home, Silke,” Sebastian offered.

  An offer that perked my twin right up. As they walked toward the exit, I heard her murmur, “Whose home? Mine or yours?”

  My eyebrows shot up. So that’s the way it was…

  If so, I didn’t think I was going to get any more middle-of-the-night visits from Sebastian in my dreams.

  How Silke would work out her feelings for Sebastian—whether or not I trusted him with my sister—how the brothers would work out their feelings for each other and how I would work out mine with Jake would make for an interesting future. Not to mention how I would deal with the next woo-woo case that came along. It seemed I was the designated recipient of all the X-Files in the Chicago Police Department.

  “So what’s this about a barbeque?” Jake asked, snapping me back to the now.

  “Mom thinks a family barbeque is in order. I have to warn you, she doesn’t cook.”

  “Warn me why?”

  “Because you’re invited.” My stomach knotted as I asked, “Want to come?”

  “Or maybe she can come to our new place,” Jake said, reminding me of the loft. He smiled, slid his sunglasses in place and opened the door to the dawning of a new day. “Let’s go home and negotiate.”

  About the Author

  With more than six million books in print, Patricia Rosemoor is fascinated with “dangerous love”—combining romance with danger. She has written various forms of romantic suspense and paranormal romantic thrillers, even romantic horror, bringing a different mix of thrills and chills and romance to each book. She believes strongly in breaking down barriers to write crossover fiction that appeals to a large and varied audience.

  Patricia has won a Golden Heart Award from Romance Writers of America and two Reviewers’ Choice and two Career Achievement Awards from RT BOOKreviews. In her other life, she teaches Popular Fiction and Suspense-Thriller Writing, credit courses in the Fiction Writing department of Columbia College Chicago. Five of her former students are now published in novel-length fiction.

  She’s coauthor of The Last Vampire and The Vampire Agent from Del Rey Books. Her latest Harlequin Intrigue book is Deal Breaker.

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  ISBN: 978-1-4268-9241-7

  Copyright © 2011 by Patricia Pinianski

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