by Linsey Hall
He grinned. “Nah, they don’t bother me. I’ll go now. Save my precious taps from my sister’s wayward mind.”
“You’re one tough duck, Connor.” He was only twenty-two and a Hearth Witch, but Hearth Witches were tough, no matter what anyone said.
“I’ll be going. Good luck with the vampires.”
“Thanks. I’m gonna need it.”
He turned and left, pounding down the stairs and out into the cold night.
I dug into the bag and pulled out a sleeping bomb. The potion was contained in a blue glass ball that would explode on impact, drenching the unwitting vampire in a sleeping potion that should knock him out.
I handed it to Cass. “You’re the best at throwing things.”
“I won’t be offended,” Del said.
“Good. Because you’re a badass with that sword.”
Cass went to the window and peered out. I joined her, pulling my own potion bomb out of the bag. I tucked the vial of invisibility potion into my pocket. I wouldn’t use it unless absolutely necessary. They tasted like crap and were hard to come by.
Cass pointed to the two vampires loitering below. “We can hit them, no problem.”
“Yeah, they’re probably only forty feet away.” Even better, their gazes were glued on the first floor door, not up higher where we were.
“Excellent.” Del rubbed her hands together. “Let’s get this show started, then we can sneak out and solve a murder.”
I grinned at her, then turned back to the window.
“Del, could you use your gift to suppress sound?” I asked. “I don’t want the vampires to hear us open the windows.”
“Sure thing.” Del approached the windows. She’d stolen the power from a creepy demon a couple months ago. Just the thought made me shudder, though she suffered no ill effects.
Cass and I each took up position at one of the two big windows. Del’s magic flared briefly on the air, bringing with it the scent of fresh soap. She nodded to us.
I bit my lip as I eased the window up. There wasn’t the usual creak of old wood and metal, so I relaxed. Once the windows were all the way open, cold winter air rushed into the apartment.
I glanced at Cass, who nodded at me and mouthed, on three.
I nodded back, and we counted. At three, I hurled my potion bomb at the vampire closest to me. He never saw it coming.
The glass ball exploded on his chest, splashing him with a pale blue liquid. Cass’s potion bomb found its mark, and her demon swayed along with mine. They both crashed to the pavement, a weird synchronized ballet.
“Nice one.” I shut the window and hurried to the door. “Now let’s get this party started.”
I grabbed a clean jacket and my car keys from the hook by the door and hurried down the stairs. Del and Cass were right behind me.
The air was bitter cold and the night dark when I exited the building. My gaze went immediately to the vampires, who were dead asleep on the sidewalk, looking like drunks who’d wandered away from the bar.
“This way.” I turned left. “Fabio is over here.”
We headed toward the car I drove around town, which was parked on the other side of the road a few yards down. Fabio was a Dodge Challenger Hellcat, a ridiculously powerful muscle car that spoke to my soul.
We piled in, Del in the front with me and Cass in the back.
Since it was late and we wanted to be sneaky, I pressed the Stealth Mode button that would magically dampen the sound of the roaring engine. Fabio had quite the growl, but it wasn’t always appropriate. Certainly not when one was trying to creep away from sleeping vampires. Fabio started as silently as a Tesla, and I took off away from the curb.
“Where in Darklane are we going?” Cass asked.
“Fair Fortune Alley.”
“Seriously?” Cass asked. “Fair Fortune Alley is where you had your worst streak of luck to date?”
“Yep.” I sighed. “Let’s just hope my luck turns around.”
I sped through the quiet streets of Magic’s Bend. It was after nine, so folks were either home or plunked down on their favorite barstools. The dead-empty business district and bustling bars of the historic district just proved my point.
“We really ought to come down here more often,” Del said as we cruised past a particularly hopping place called The Drunken Troll.
“Let’s get Nix off the hook first.” I turned toward Darklane.
It was quieter here, with only a few shadowy individuals skulking along the sidewalk. The buildings were as old as those in the historic district, but instead of the brightly colored paint that made that part of town so charming, the buildings in Darklane were covered with a thick layer of dark soot. It could just be dirt, but my money was on the residue of dark magic.
I pulled the car over into an empty spot near the curb, right behind a hearse. I wasn’t going to read into that.
We climbed out. The chill hit me hard, and I zipped my jacket to ward off the bite. We were on the main street in Darklane, but most of the lights in the buildings were dimmed. Only half of the streetlamps worked.
It was creepy and kooky and all together spooky—entirely suited for the Addams family. And though the residents here were often on the wrong side of the law and we tried to avoid that kind of thing, some of our closest friends lived and worked here.
“This way.” I hunched my shoulders against the wind and led the way down the street toward Fair Fortune Alley. “Once we’re in the alley, we can use our dragon senses to look for clues.”
“Should we split up?” Del asked.
“Probably.” I dodged a puddle of green slime. “Don’t want to draw attention. And if we have to knock on any doors, best not to do it as a group. The residents here probably don’t like to be startled after dusk.”
“Good plan,” Cass said.
Though we didn’t look like much more than your average twenty-something women and this place screamed danger!, we were the things that went bump in the night here. No matter how many murderous demons or wicked warlocks prowled the streets of Darklane, we could hold our own.
Except against vampire Enforcers. But I wouldn’t think of my poor showing right now.
I turned down Fair Fortune Alley and glanced back at Del and Cass. “See you guys in an hour?”
“Yep.” Del nodded. “Use your comms charm if you need us.”
I saluted, then turned back to the alley and stepped inside.
Suddenly, the world went darker and quieter than it had been a moment ago. I took a few steps, trying to shake it off. But the narrow, cobblestoned alley still had a creepy feel to it. Like it had earlier this evening.
I turned back to ask Del and Cass to see if they felt the same thing, but they were gone. That was fast. Their dragon senses must have already picked up on something.
I shrugged and crept farther down the alley. The ground that had been torn apart by the demon was roughly mended, though still clearly in need of some attention.
Who had repaired it so quickly? Magic’s Bend municipal services weren’t exactly quick, and this was Darklane. They’d let this place fall into the nearby sea before they did much to repair this part of town.
I stored the question for later and called upon my dragon sense. It was the only FireSoul gift I used, and even then, I used it rarely. Just to help find items for my trove, normally.
Ideally, you’d have information about what you sought. What it looked like, smelled like, tasted like, its origin. Anything. But if you were desperate, you could jumpstart it with your desire alone. In those cases, it didn’t give you the exact answer—but it might point you in the right direction or give some clues.
Since I was really freaking desperate, the magic within me ignited, then warmed and curled, like a fog that filled my limbs and mind.
Who killed Marin Olerafort?
I wished I’d gotten a good look at him to help my dragon sense, but I had nothing more than an image of a large cloaked figure.
So I rep
eated the question, along with the scene of his death, until my dragon sense latched on to something. It pulled at my middle, directing me farther down the alley. Toward where Marin’s body had once been.
He was no longer there, nor was any evidence of his death. It’d been about three hours, and apparently whoever had cared for him was quick.
I passed the dumpster where I’d killed the demon, but his body was long gone too.
My dragon sense pulled me toward the side street where Marin and his attacker had come from. It was an even narrower street, but it showed the fronts of buildings rather than the backs like in Fair Fortune Alley. The moon hung low over the sky at the end of the road, shedding its watery light over the ramshackle buildings.
I hurried down the street, conscious that the Enforcer could come looking for me at any moment. Given what little information I had about the killer, it was unlikely my dragon sense would lead me straight to him. But if I could get even a clue…
I needed just one—anything—to put the Enforcer off my trail.
Plump rats skittered along the side of the road, pressing themselves close to the edge of the building. They squeaked as they passed me. A warning or a greeting?
On my left, a narrow black door called to me. The building above was one of the newer ones on the street. It was brick and flat-fronted—probably only two hundred years old.
I eyed it warily. The windows looked almost blank, like no one lived within. But if this was where my dragon sense pulled me…
Warily, I knocked.
The wind whistled down the street as I waited, the silent moon my only company. I almost wished the rats would come back.
An electric charge filled the air, the subtle tang of magic being ignited. I braced myself, letting my magic wait at the ready. I didn’t have a lot left—I really needed a nap after today—but I could get myself out of whatever was coming at me.
“Who’s there?” a reedy voice demanded.
I glanced around. The door hadn’t opened, so who the hell was that?
“Hello?” I said.
“Who are you?” There was still no figure to match the voice. That had to be the magic that I’d felt. Someone was projecting their voice, like a magical intercom.
Probably an older woman, from the sound of it.
“I’m Phoenix Knight.”
“Fancy name.”
“Yeah.” I’d chosen it myself when I’d woken in the field at fifteen with Cass and Del. We’d looked to the sky and chosen our names from the constellations. Cass was Cassiopeia, Del was Delphinus, and I’d chosen Phoenix, hoping to rise from the ashes of whatever my terrible past had done to me. I didn’t remember that past, but the stomach-churning sickness I’d gotten whenever I’d tried to remember had made me certain it was shit.
“I’m here to ask some questions,” I said.
“That’ll cost you.”
“What do you want?” Please let it be something I could conjure. I was nearly broke from the last ancient map I’d bought for my collection. Though our shop did well, Cass, Del and I were almost constantly broke because we were feeding our treasure-hunting beasts.
“Chuckles.”
“Chuckles? Like, the candy?”
“Yes. They’ve been discontinued. There’s no way to get Chuckles any longer, and I find that I fancy them.” She cackled.
Was the old bat screwing with me?
If so, she’d picked the wrong discontinued candy. I happened to like Chuckles. A lot. The gooey, chemical fruitiness was one of my favorite treats.
And because I was well-familiar with them, I’d hit the jackpot.
“No problem,” I said. “I can bring you Chuckles. Right now, in fact.”
“Now?” Suspicion laced her voice.
“Yep. Just let me in, answer my questions, and I’ll give them to you.”
“Let me see.”
See? I glanced up at the windows to see if she was peering down, but they were just as dead-empty as they had been.
“Do it!” she demanded.
“All right!” I called on my magic, conjuring a crinkly plastic package of the discontinued candy. I held it up. “See!”
“They’d better taste right.” The mistrust in her voice made me grin.
“They will. I’m a pro. And there’s more where that came from if you can answer my questions.”
“Follow the cat, then.”
“The cat?” What the hell?
“And you’d better have pure intentions.”
Pure intentions?
The door in front of me creaked open, and a stocky black tomcat peered out. He had a bruiser’s face and medium-length fur that stuck out at all angles. His mouth opened to reveal bright white fangs and a deep meow, then he turned abruptly.
“Okay, then.” I followed him inside.
But it wasn’t actually inside anything at all. The door led to a hollowed-out old building with crazy black plants growing wild within. Along the wall, a rickety iron staircase led up. It wrapped around the inside of the building, leading up to nowhere, as far as I could see.
“Did a bomb go off in here?” I asked the cat.
“Meerow.”
“Yes?”
“Meerow.”
Since that answer sounded no different than the other, it was hard to say. All I could do was follow the cat, so I did. He led me toward the stairs and started upward.
At the base of the stairs, the black plants curled around the spindles of the iron stair railing. My fingertips itched to pet their silky black leaves. I reached out, desire curling deep in my belly.
I just wanted to brush my hand against them. Just once.
My dragon sense tugged hard, away from the leaves.
I shook it off, annoyed, and reached out for the leaves.
But it tugged harder, finally breaking through the weird haze in my mind. I glanced at the cat. He’d stopped climbing the stairs and was watching me intently, curiosity in his green eyes.
“Something’s wrong with these leaves, isn’t there?” I asked.
This time, he didn’t meow, leaving me to make up my own mind. Though I still wanted to touch the leaves, I curled my hands into fists and kept them tucked at my sides.
She’d booby-trapped the entrance to her home. After the weird magical voice trick, I shouldn’t be surprised.
“Lead on,” I said to the cat.
“Meerow.” He turned and trotted up the stairs.
We climbed two stories, winding our way around the interior of the hollowed-out building. There was at least another story to go when the stairs in front of me split into two separate staircases. And there were two separate cats.
Both turned to stare at me.
Shit. “Which one of you is the real cat?”
They blinked, looking identical. Dang it. Another test. Or trap.
I licked my lips and concentrated. It was never smart to pick the wrong one.
What had the old woman said? Make sure your intentions are pure?
“I just want to ask questions.” I held up the candy. “And I have Chuckles.”
The cats just stared at me. So I conjured two more packs of Chuckles and thought really hard about just asking questions and leaving not so much as a dusty footprint on her front doormat.
Eventually, the stairs in front of me shimmered. One disappeared, along with its cat, which had clearly been an illusion.
In their place was nothing but a thirty-foot drop and more broken ribs.
I heaved out a sigh. “So I passed?”
“Meerow.”
“That sounds more like ‘don’t screw this up’ than ‘well done.’”
“Meerow.”
Yep, that was cat for ‘don’t screw this up.’
He turned and led the way farther up. I followed. The stairs terminated at a door. One single eye was painted on the surface, with eyelashes made of knives. Yikes.
But the windows on either side of the door had window boxes full of geraniums. Quite
the contrast.
I kinda liked this lady already.
I raised my hand to knock, but the door swung open before I could. Tom raced in, joining two other cats on a red rug in the middle of the floor. All were identical.
A woman stepped out from behind the door. There was something odd about her. An air that I couldn’t quite place.
“Chuckles?” Her voice was creaky and old, but she didn’t look a day over sixty. And a well-put-together sixty at that. She had wild auburn hair streaked with white and was dressed like a fortune-teller from a movie. Full skirts of many colors and golden chains.
The house behind her was brightly decorated as well, with plush fabrics and velvets that made it look like a sultan’s pleasure den in the Middle East.
“Hi.” I held out one of the packages of Chuckles.
She took it with a hand tipped with red talons, then laughed, low in her throat.
“Oh my god, did you just chuckle?” I asked.
Her dark brows dropped low over her green eyes. “That was a terrible pun.”
I shrugged. “I’m the worst. So sue me.”
“Wouldn’t bother. You’re broke.” Her gaze snapped to the collar around my neck. “And in trouble, from the looks of it.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re the walking dead.”
“Uh, no.”
“That collar says otherwise. Vampire quarry.”
I swallowed hard. “That’s why I have questions. Can I come in?”
She stepped back. “I’ll be expecting more Chuckles.”
“You’ll get them.” Magic prickled against my skin as I entered. “Protection charm?”
“Of course.” She gestured to the plush emerald couch. “Seat?”
“Thanks.” I sat and she brought over a tray of tea. I eyed it warily, smiling but not drinking when she handed me a glass.
“Smart,” she said.
“Thanks.” I pointed to the massive window seat at the front of the house. It’d look right down on the street. “So you like to watch?”
“Of course. Who doesn’t?”
“You have a point.” Even I liked to spy out my shop window and see what folks were up to. “I have questions about a murder that happened here a couple of hours ago.”