Magic & Mayhem

by Susan Conley

  Mona looked at his face; worry etched his brow.

  “Good thing you’re good at what you do.”

  He sighed, moved away, and opened the car door. “That doesn’t mean we both won’t end up dead.”

  Oh no, he was not going to go there. She watched him come around the front of the SUV, opening her door to join him.

  “Really?” She could help but laugh a bit at the macabre scene he painted. “You’re going to lay that crap on me? Okay, I guess I’ll just have to be the one to make sure we don’t get caught in that trap. Because, you know, I have all the experience fighting and stuff.”

  He grabbed her hand and helped her over the wall of snow at the curb.

  “If we’re going to rely on you, I better start planning my tombstone now,” he joked, his mood clearly lightened. “How about ‘fought well, fucked better?’”

  Mona laughed. “Sure, so long as you tell your family first. Or how about ‘fought better well fucked?’”

  “Or ‘better fuck, well taught?’”

  “Or ‘butter tuck, sell naught?’” Mona said, doubling over in laughter.

  “Woman, that doesn’t make sense. I’m trying to be serious here.” Cart hauled her up and hugged her.

  Mona’s laugh died, although a smile lingered. “Oh and ‘fought well, fucked better’ is serious, Cart.”

  “It is in my family.” He waggled his eyebrows and his grin promised her many things.

  Mona wasn’t quite sure she was ready for any of them. Or at least not mentally ready; her body had far different ideas.

  He kissed her nose then let her go. They’d arrived almost forty-five minutes early, making excellent time across town. Mona wasn’t ready to go in yet.

  “Mind if we walk around the block?” she asked. “I feel like I’ve been running or sleeping for days now. I wouldn’t mind the break.”

  “Sure.” He tucked her hand in the crook of his arm and stared off in the direction opposite of where she needed to go. “Tell me about bartending.”

  So she did, sharing insights on the regulars and telling him about the elfings finding her there, one of whom she’d brought him to meet tonight. They’d made it all the way around by that point.

  “No relation?” he asked as they walked by the plate glass windows.

  “Not that I know of.” Elf families were far flung entities, particularly since most elves, except those rare ones who did have a Seele, did not stay in long-term relationships and often had children with several different partners. Families were very extended by mortal standards since all the children of any person with whom one of your parents had a child with was considered a sibling. Distinctions of half, full, and step simply did not exist in an elf family. Good thing when elves were in a relationship, they tended to be monogamous, or it’d be even more confusing for everyone.

  Adding in cousins made the family that much larger.

  So Leonardo could be family. Mona should ask him.

  He was already sitting at the bar, waiting.

  Which would have been fine, except for the person who’d chosen to sit next to him. Something was off.

  Cart bumped into her back.

  “Anyone you know?” she asked Cart, pointing to the pair. “He looks like he could be in your family.” His build and coloring were eerily familiar.

  “Which one, the geeky kid or the older one?”

  “The older one. The geeky kid is Leonardo.”

  “Not that I know of.”

  “He’s trouble.” To Mona his magic exuded a level of uncleanliness she didn’t trust. Not enough for her to filter out, but enough that she was very uncomfortable.

  Cart stilled. “Should we leave? I don’t want to get mortals hurt if he’s here for you.”

  “He hasn’t spotted me yet. I don’t think he was expecting me to come in accompanied or this early.”

  “Okay, wait here. I’ll head in and see what I can find out. Do me a favor though, stand over by the edge of the building—you’ll be out of sight, and if the window shatters I don’t want you right in front of it.”

  Cart approached Leonardo. He offered his hand to shake, saying something in the process.

  Before Leonardo could take Cart’s hand, the other guy jumped up and pulled out a knife, placing it next to Leonardo’s throat.

  Mona took a step and in that blink Leonardo was gone. Shit, he’d probably jumped; she was also sure it was the first time he’d used magic that way.

  Cart knocked the knife out of the guy’s hand; his opponent didn’t care, he was lunging for Leonardo’s satchel. He grabbed it then jumped himself out, leaving Cart standing there and the few customers looking at him agape.

  Mona ran to the door. By the time she’d yanked it open imps were flitting across the room, indubitably altering memories.

  Cart crossed over and pushed her back out.

  “Truck. We need to track the kid down.”

  They climbed over the snow bank and back in the cab of the pickup.

  “I need an imp please,” Mona said.

  A slowly rotating spark came to light in her lap.

  “I need your help please. A young elf named Leonardo just did his first jump from the bar down the street, Fat Louie’s. He was the first person to go of the two who jumped out of there in the past couple of minutes. Can you please find him then report to Protector Dupree where he is? Please verify it is Leonardo since we do not want to follow the other jumper. Here—”

  Mona held up her finger and concentrated on what she knew of Leonardo from the one time she’d met him. The imp came and brushed her fingertip, causing a not insubstantial shock to race up her arm. Mona hissed at the pain as it spread through her body. Her heart started to beat frantically and muscles ticked.

  “Thank you,” she managed to get out.

  The imp stopped its slow revolution and faded out.

  “I didn’t know you could do that,” Cart said.

  She gasped and shook her hand, she hadn’t known either, just acted on instinct. Now that she did know, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to do it again.

  “Mona. Mona! Are you okay?” He held her hand and examined the tip of digit.

  “Just a bit of shock,” she said around her chattering teeth.

  “A bit, hell, you’re reacting like you touched a live wire. No wonder that ability’s not widely known—it’s dangerous.” He slid his seat back and hauled her across the console.

  He held her and rocked her until her heartbeat slowed to something close to normal.

  The imp reappeared. “Creekside Village, unit one fourteen.”

  “That’s one of the University at Buffalo graduate residence complexes,” Mona said. She uncurled herself from where she’d been snuggled on his chest and sat up straight. “I need to work. Bills to pay, you know the drill. Go, and once you’ve tracked him down, come back. I’m off at midnight.”

  It was a typical weeknight, slow with mostly regulars. No one seemed to have any ill effects from the imps earlier, although Mona could see trace residue from their work. Vince’s wife had gone into labor, so Mickey, the daytime manager was on duty. Just as the last customers left for the night, Cart walked in the door.

  “Good timing, almost done with closing. Did everything go okay?”

  “Yep, let me help and I’ll fill you in.” Cart took off his coat and hung it by the door. Mona would have to get more information later.

  “Except for sweeping the floor, everything else is behind the counter and Mickey and I will handle that.”

  “Okay, where’s the broom?”

  Mona set chairs on tables while Cart came behind her and swept.

  “We found him,” Cart said. “Turns out it hadn’t been the first time he’d jumped, he’d done it once or twice with relatives. First time he’d done it on his own, though. So he was surprised but not shocked when he ended up back at on campus. Roommate was a bit flipped.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “On his way to New York
.”

  Done stacking chairs Mona wiped the already clean bar, dreading the question she was about to ask.

  Cart put his hand over hers. “No change on Raine. I checked before we came back in.”

  Relief washed through her. “Thanks.”

  Mickey came out of the back room and told them it was time to leave. Zipping back up against the bitter cold they headed out and waited for Mickey as he locked up.

  “Where are Menlo and Tiffany?” Mona asked as they walked to Cart’s. “Did Tiffany find a new place?”

  “Yeah, the old Y. We’ve set up cots in the offices and there are two locker rooms so we have a place to wash up. Plus we can use the gym for a big open office, which we like. A bit rough now, but long-term looks good.”

  “That’s a great space to set up as a headquarters for the Buffalo Pack protectors. I didn’t realize it was still livable inside, it’s sat so long. There's that wing which used to be rooms for rent, although that's been boarded up for a while.”

  “Yeah, we can definitely work with it. Not sure what we’ll do with the pool though.”

  “Ask Randall for help, he’ll see to it.”

  They’d made it over the curbside pile and were at the truck.

  “Randall?” Cart asked.

  “The Puck, his name is Randall,” Mona said as she climbed in.

  Cart slid behind the wheel, quickly starting the engine. “I’d forgotten you’d know the Puck’s name. He doesn’t like people using it, which is why it surprised me.”

  Mona rubbed her palms together as they waited for the engine to heat up a bit. “Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure that has more to do with the fact that he likes the power calling him the Puck gives him, than his dislike of the name. Although, yeah, he’s not too fond of the name, is he?”

  Cart laughed. “You’re going to be calling him Randall now, aren’t you?”

  “Every flippin’ chance I get. You try living with the control freak for a while. He was worse than my brother, and that’s saying a lot.”

  Still chuckling, Cart pulled the car out of the spot.

  “Hey,” Mona said, “I’d like to try to swing by my place to pick up a few things. You up to it?”

  “Hmm, you think it’s safe?” Cart asked they stopped for a red light.

  “I think the goons who were waiting the other night were the pair I saw on the skyway, and they weren’t strong enough to set a spell. And since the target was more Raine than me, I guessing my place is off the radar.”

  “Okay. But if it does look like something is set or someone is waiting, we’re leaving and coming back with some of my group.”

  It wasn’t a question, so she didn’t answer.

  “How long have you been working at the bar?” Cart asked.

  “Started as a waitress the summer after my first year in college, then I moved to bartending and I’ve been working at least two nights a week ever since. That’s . . . what? Almost ten years.”

  “Same owner?”

  “Yeah, Carmen. He has a touch of Folk in him and grew up in a Folk neighborhood. He was happy and worried for me when I told him I was training as a Warder.” And because he cooked the books, but Mona didn’t mention that. She was reasonably certain it was for relatively benign reasons. “Take a left here and go to the second entrance, the one marked clubhouse. That way we can drive past the rear of my place before we head in.”

  No goons were hanging out in the back or the front, and no magic or spells that she saw. One thing about her house, it was solidly in a mortal community; very few Folk were around. Good in that it made it easy to spot the goons, bad in that if she ever needed help there were not Folk close by.

  “Looks good to me,” she confirmed.

  Cart parked on the short ramp to the garage door. Mona got out and keyed in her code, Cart standing beside her and scoping out the area. Her smashed car was sitting in her garage. Someone must have moved it, she suspected the Puck. With the entire front end crumpled, it wasn’t usable, something she’d have to deal with later. She closed the garage door behind them, she pulled out her spare key from under the jug of windshield wiper fluid near the front of the space.

  Cart took the key.

  “Hey!”

  “So the guys couldn’t set spells, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t do other things.”

  He cautiously opened the door and peered around before flicking on a light.

  Mona looked over his shoulder.

  “I didn’t pick you for such a neat nick. . . that could be a problem.”

  Mona grabbed his shoulder and held him back. “I’m not a slob, but this isn’t how I left the house.”

  They tiptoed around the corner to her now pristine kitchen. A vase of flowers and a note were propped up on the counter. She looked at Cart. He shrugged, so she crossed over and picked up the paper, holding it so he could read it over her shoulder.

  I cleaned it up for you. Stay safe.—Nic

  Her shoulders slumped in relief.

  “Nice to have a brother who’ll handle things for you. Can’t have been in power long, or I would have heard something.” Cart’s stomach rumbled. He unzipped his jacket and slung it on the back of a chair before he headed over to the fridge.

  “He hasn’t. I mean, he’s just now coming into power,” Mona said as she piled her jacket on top of his.

  Cart’s sudden stillness made her look over. He stood, hand on the handle, arrested by her statement. He stared at her for a minute.

  Worried? Angry? Mona couldn’t figure what he was feeling; perhaps he wasn’t sure himself.

  “You mean Tania’s pulling his power out and pushing him into acknowledging it? He okay with that? You okay with that?”

  Mona fiddled with the flowers, refilling the vase in the sink as she thought through her answer. The bright red tulips were some of her favorites.

  “I think he’ll be okay with it eventually. Despite the fact he’s ignored his own heritage, he’s used his knowledge to get a job monitoring Folk, so it’s not like he’s forsaken it entirely. Plus, he’s been unhappy and edgy about work for a while. I truly expect, once he recognizes what’s happening, he’ll see working with Tania as a protector is a much better fit. Although . . . he can be oblivious about some things, it may take him a bit to figure out what’s going on.”

  “How strong is he?”

  Mona realized his question was more how she thought Titania’s augmenting of Nic’s power might affect him after it was withdrawn.

  “Well, he’s a full blooded elf and he has a ton of magical ability, so I’d guess plenty strong even before whatever mojo Tania works.” She set the flowers back on the counter and didn’t look at Cart, suspicions on just how much power her brother might one day have too close to the surface for her to face him right now. “With Nic, I’ve always figured it was more of ‘when’ he’d start to fully embrace his heritage, not ‘if’ despite his refusal to take part in Folk society.” Mona thought about Nic and his life. “Besides, he and Tania have been doing a bizarre arm’s length dance for a bit. Not sure either of them was aware of it. But I’m guessing they’re both going to be super aware very soon.”

  Cart’s response was a loud grumbling of his stomach.

  “Let me grab a couple of things and we can head back.”

  “No reason to, we can crash here tonight,” Cart said from inside the fridge. “I’ll take the couch. You cook or something? There’s a lot of odd ingredients and sauces in here.”

  “Spent two years at a culinary institute after college,” she said as she sorted through the stack of mail on the counter, bill, bill, solicitation, bill. “Enjoyed it but decided long-term the life of a chef wasn’t for me. I wasn’t that dedicated.”

  They were alone, in her condo. No Folk about to disturb with the energy they were likely to create.

  Mona blindly stacked the envelopes into two piles. Should she say something? Hell yeah, the Puck wasn’t going to control her sex life.

  “You don�
�t have to crash on the couch.”

  The bottles in the fridge rattled as Cart slammed the door shut. Before she could turn around he scooped her up in his arms, causing her to shriek, and the envelopes she still had in her hands to scatter across the floor.

  Oh my, his eyes were turning again and he’d become so hot his body practically scorched her where she touched him. Mona flushed. Desire for him sent tingles from the inside out and flushed her with heat.

  “Good, because I really, really didn’t want to.” He strode out of the kitchen and to the stairs.

  “Wait, you have some kind of protection, right?”

  “I am a protector,” he replied, his grin wide at his humor.

  Mona slapped her hand on his chest then left it there, enjoying the feeling of his warm skin though his shirt.

  “My crew has been sticking condoms in every pocket of every jacket I own since the very first night.”

  Mona laughed, embarrassment tingling her cheeks. “Smart of them.”

  “I only pick the best.”

  They reached the landing and Mona pointed to her door. Cart set her down and reached for the handle.

  Mona placed her hand over his. “You okay with this?”

  She took his nonverbal reply as a yes.

  Chapter Ten

  A combination of the warm sun on her face and a hand caressing her hip woke Mona. She turned away from the sun and snuggled toward the hand only to find Cart was on top of the covers and dressed. And wide awake, the bastard. Exhaustion had claimed them far earlier than either had hoped. But before then. . .Mona smiled and stretched at the memory. Wowza.

  “Have you heard anything from the Warder since our meeting?” he asked. “I’m getting worried.”

  And there went that mood. But she understood Cart’s reaction, once she thought about it. Not having heard from Smythe was worrisome, particularly given everything that had happened since they’d last seen him.

  “No, I haven’t, and you’re right, it’s very odd,” she replied. Looked like she’d be getting out of bed sooner than she thought. She stretched and rolled over, the smell of coffee hitting her mid yawn.