"Yes. I believe I mentioned she has a particular skill with tarot cards and that it's customary for everyone at the Coven to have their cards read by Hannah at some point. She's invited us over tomorrow to have your cards read."
"I thought she didn't live here," Jade said.
"She keeps a house here although it remains empty most of the time. She lives closer to the Supernatural Council headquarters for convenience sake."
She tapped her finger on the car door. "What will I have to do?"
Paris shrugged slightly while driving. "Nothing really. Hannah wishes to read your cards. It's a way for her to get to know you better. She can pick up pieces of your past, your history, your magic."
Jade felt a bit of fear curl in her stomach at Paris' words. Her past. Her history. She feigned mild disinterest, doodling a bit with her fingers on the window. "What kind of stuff does she usually see?"
"I'm not sure. Readings are between Hannah and the particular witch at the time."
"So, she doesn't tell you what she sees."
"No," Paris answered and then his eyes flicked over to her and back to the road again. "If you're worried about that, no. She won't tell me what she sees about you. She won't tell anyone." Paris paused. "You needn't be afraid."
"I'm not," she said automatically.
"Good," Paris replied smoothly. He pulled the car up in front of the little cottage she'd just barely started to think of as her own. "I'll make arrangements with you tomorrow once I firm up a time with Hannah."
Jade hesitated, hand on the handle of the car door, ready to escape. "What if I change my mind, once we get there?"
"I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want, Jade. Hannah won't either."
She felt better at the assurance and she nodded a bit. "Okay. Call me, I guess. Or I'll see you at the coven tomorrow."
"Good work today."
Jade felt uncomfortable at the praise and squirmed a bit, using the motion to get up and out of the car. "Thanks." Before he could say anything else, she slammed the door shut and escaped up her walkway to her cottage. She heard his car idle there for a moment, waiting for her to get inside before he drove off.
CHAPTER THREE
Jade's cottage was small but homey. Even though it had come pre-furnished by the Coven and she hadn't had a say in the furniture and decorations, she still found it soothing and familiar. Comfy couch, afghan thrown over the back, lamps with 40-watt bulbs and worn end tables made the space soft and welcoming. Coming back after a day at the Coven felt almost like coming home sometimes, instead of feeling like she was coming back to a hotel - a place where all her things were, but not a place she felt totally comfortable.
Jade didn't have keys on her, but she didn't use the traditional lock on the door anyway. Since Jade had learned a little bit of demon magic, she felt more secure using a minor spell she'd found that locked her door and kept anyone she didn't want out. She'd tried it out one day, asking both Henri and Callie to open the door after she'd hexed it. They both found themselves reluctant to even approach her walkway leading to the door. Jade had also noticed since she started hexing the door, the mail man left her pile of fliers and notices on the bottom step, not even getting within a few feet of her spell work. Satisfied it worked, she continued to use it. The most convenient part was that the hex continually recognized her and let her through without any further magic.
She kicked off Henri's shoes and stared longingly at the kitchen for a moment before deciding that another shower was definitely in order before she ate. She trudged up the stairs and immediately headed into the small ensuite bathroom that jutted off her bedroom. She pulled her ponytail down and examined the small patch of hair at the front of her skull that was growing a bit faster than the rest. After her run in with the demon when she first joined the Coven, Gellar had to shave a small area to stitch up a cut. When Callie had kept seeing the small, stubbly patch day after day, she asked Jade why she didn't charm it to grow faster.
Jade hadn't even realized it was an option.
Callie had pointed her in the direction of a few spells and Jade managed to work one of them, but she ended up with a patch of hair that grew a little faster than the rest. Callie seemed to think it would even out on its own and advised leaving it instead of trying to counter-hex it and start over again. Like a blister or hangnail, Jade couldn't stop checking in on it and poking at it, frowning every time she had to trim the section to match the rest of her haircut.
She turned the shower water on and took her small scissors out, fiddling at making the ends of her hair even while she waited for the water to heat up. Heedless of Gellar's words, Jade ripped off her bandages. She'd had enough stitches in her lifetime that she wasn't concerned about getting the small wounds wet.
She just needed to feel clean.
While she'd appreciated the anti-bacterial and stinging antiseptic quality of the soap at the medlab, she was infinitely more grateful for her own sweet-smelling body wash and loofah. There was something so comforting about being in your own shower, surrounded by your own things.
Or at least travel sized containers of your own things. She really needed to go back to her apartment and get her stuff. She was almost out of body wash.
Project 'Get Her Stuff and Commit to Moving to the Coven' needed to commence sooner rather than later. If Josef didn't have any other sewer assignments for the rookie of the group, maybe Jade could go back tomorrow, pack her things, load up the car and start processing the paperwork that it would take to shut down her life there.
While she knew it was the right decision, she still felt a melancholy weight settle in her stomach at the thought. Jade didn't consider herself particularly attached to the apartment or her job, but it had been the last place she'd seen Lily.
She closed her eyes, willing the thought away. She didn't need concrete walls or steel girders or really crappy hallway carpet to remind her of Lily. It was just a building, just an apartment, just a place that housed things, she told herself. It didn't mean anything.
Jade avoided looking in the mirror when she got out of the shower. She towel dried her hair and secured it back in another ponytail, not once looking up at her foggy, waterlogged reflection. She had things to do, plans to make. But first, lunch.
She padded down the stairs, making her way to the kitchen when she heard a strange scrabbling, scratching sound at her front door. Frowning, she stepped over to it and swung the door open.
The lizard-creature from her morning romp in the sewer bolted past her like a dart. She shrieked in surprise and then raced after it. It leapt up the stairs, quick and nimble and she barely caught sight of it racing into her bedroom and then diving under her bed.
"No! Hell no!" she shouted as she ran after it. She skidded to a stop in her bedroom and then hunkered down on her knees, peering under the bed. Sliver-green reflective eyes blinked back at her.
"Get back out here! What are you doing? Ugh, you can't be here! Aren't you supposed to be in quarantine or being dissected or something?"
It blinked its strange, luminescent eyes at her and didn't move.
"You've got to be kidding me! How did you even get here?" Jade reached a hand under her bed, trying to snatch an arm or a claw. It scooted back farther, out of her reach.
"You can't stay here."
More blinking - the silver-green orbs watching her carefully.
"I mean it. I don't keep... lizard-things. Or pets. It's bad enough buying groceries for myself."
It made a soft of huffing sound and tried to move back further, but encountered the wall. She thought maybe it scared itself a bit because it started slightly like it was going to come back toward her, but then stopped and blinked at her again.
"I'm serious. You probably eat fish or cats or small children. I don't know. But I'm not getting any of those things for you."
It gave off a quiet, whining sound that was just...
She rolled her eyes. Pathetic. It was pathetic.
&nb
sp; "That's not fair," Jade said, a complaining tone marring her voice. "I barely just moved in here myself. I don't even know if there's a pet policy. And even if there is it probably doesn't apply to lizards."
Its pink tongue darted out and licked her outstretched hand quickly. It felt like nubbly sandpaper - rough, but not too unpleasant.
It was a High Noon standoff. Lizard-thing vs. Jade. They watched each other, neither blinking. After a few seconds, it made a low, 'pfffffft' sound and then licked her again.
Dammit. She thought she might like it a bit. It was ugly and strange, but it looked at her like it knew and liked her.
Jade rocked back a bit on her heels, moving away from the bed slightly. "I'm not going to feed you. If you managed to survive in the sewer, you can mange to find your own... whatever it is you eat around here."
She heard it move under the bed. She couldn't be sure, but it sounded like it was coming closer to her.
Jade shuffled further back, scooting on her butt. "And no accidents in the house or you're gone. I'll hex the place against you."
One clawed, scaled foot peeked out from under the bed. It was the first good look she'd gotten at it. In the sewer, it had been too dark and once outside, her own eyes had still been adjusting as it had been taken away. It had a four-pronged foot - each toe had a sleek, sharp black claw. She absently fingered one of the puncture marks on her shoulder. She could easily see how it had been able to pierce her skin so quickly. She waited a minute and heard it shift again, its strange lizard snout coming out from under the bed. It was triangular, but blunted, like a bearded dragon. It was more a pale lemon-lime than the green she had first thought it was. It was textured and scaly, but more like a fish than a lizard. Slightly iridescent, it glimmered a bit in the light when she moved her head to get a better look. Jade shifted back again, giving it more space. It didn't come all the way out, but stretched its odd neck until the rest of its head was visible. It rested its chin on the floor and stared up at her with soulful eyes. They were uniformly one color with a vertical oval pupil that was wholly black. It had strong ridges encircling its eye sockets, giving it a hooded, haunted look.
She crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm calling you Bruce. Bruce Banner. You can't stop me."
Its tongue flicked out again, this time tapping her on the knee.
"Fine," Jade said emphatically. "You can stay."
It looked like she now had a pet.
#
Paris returned to the Coven after dropping Jade off and headed directly to the lab where Josef was working on dissecting the unknown creature. He liked to tell himself he wasn't going so that he could check up on Jade's mission and ask how she was fitting into the Coven.
Except he was.
He walked into the lab and was confused to see Josef crouched underneath a shelving unit. A look off to the right showed three Counter-Magic agents working some kind of locator spell. From the looks on their faces, they weren't having any luck. An unknown woman, presumably the veterinarian was reviewing a set of x-rays on a light table.
Josef crawled out from under the table and stood, catching sight of Paris as he did.
"Problem?" Paris asked.
Josef looked grim. "It appears our unknown lizard has escaped."
"How?"
Josef jerked a thumb toward his three agents. "It seems these gentleman can't keep track of one little lizard."
"It was very fast," one of the young men piped up. "And it had sharp claws." The other two nodded along quickly, one clutching his arm. Paris frowned, turning back to Josef.
"Is this a serious breach?"
Josef sighed and glanced over at the women. "Our vet says probably not."
"Probably," Paris repeated.
"Well," Josef drawled. "It doesn't seem like it's your average kind of lizard. From what we can tell, it started out that way. But somehow it ended up down in the sewer and started eating all the magical odds and ends it could find. From that, it grew and changed. Now it doesn't fit any kind of classification. From the tests we could run before Larry, Curly and Moe," he cast a disparaging look at the young agents and they had the grace to look sheepish, "lost it, it appears to be smarter than your average reptile. It's got higher cognitive reasoning and may even be emotionally intelligent."
"But you don't know for certain," Paris said.
"Not until we get it back."
"Can you track it?"
Josef looked at the young men and one of them cleared his throat. He smoothed back his pristine hair cut in a nervous gesture before he spoke.
"We were tracking it, but it's like... well... it appears to have disappeared."
Paris raised an eyebrow at the young man. "Disappeared. You managed to find it in the sewer, but now you can't."
"We don't know if it can cloak itself or if it found some kind of magic dead-zone to hole up in."
"Is this a coven security matter?" Paris questioned Josef, but the older man shook his head.
"I don't think it's dangerous, if that's what you're asking. It was down there for years and we only found it because it got stuck and blocked a valve. While it was here, it didn't seem aggressive. More..." Josef sighed, thinking for a moment. "To tell you the truth, once we got it away from Jade, it seemed a little sad."
Paris blinked twice. "Sad."
Josef nodded. "I think it was stuck and she found it, helped it out and it... I don't know. It liked her or something. All I know is when we drove away from her it howled like a lost dog and I swear the thing was moping even as we ran tests." Josef shook his head in amusement. "This is one for the books for sure. That witch is something else."
"That's the primary reason I came to see you. To ask you about her," Paris said, casting a sideways glance at the other agents and then corralling Josef off to one side. He hesitated briefly before asking what was on his mind. "How is she doing?"
"In Counter-Magic? Good. She shows up on time, puts the work in, pays attention. She's got an attitude on her, but she tries."
"And the other agents, other witches?" Paris felt his heart sink a bit at the careful hesitation on Josef's face.
"She's only been here a short time. Less than two weeks in the actual department."
"That's not an answer."
"I know," replied Josef, gathering his thoughts. "The other agents are wary of her. Most of the Coven, actually."
"That's what I was concerned about." Paris turned to look at the triumvirate of counter-agents still trying to work their locator spell on the lizard. They were in each other's space, crowding one another casually in an easy manner. One said something and another one laughed and then poked him in the shoulder. They had a camaraderie.
Paris had yet to see Jade have that same camaraderie with others in the Coven. She was friends with Callie and Henri, and by extension, the men they were both seeing - Nick and Daniel. He was hesitant to put himself on the short list of her friends as he was the leader of the Coven and always felt like he maintained a slight distance. He did think they had a rapport and she certainly seemed comfortable around him, but Paris hadn't noticed her making any other relationships in the Coven. In fact, he'd noticed the distance the rest of the Coven members seemed to enforce around her. They physically kept away from her, glancing sideways with wary, watchful eyes. Jade was the first non-coven born witch they knew of. On top of that, everyone knew she'd been the target of a demon attack. In a strange way, Jade bore the negative backlash from the attack on her life more so than the man who had sent a demon after her. Matthew had been well-liked around the Coven - quiet, mousy, from a good coven family. Most witches agreed that Matthew dealing with a demon to take Jade's power was wrong, but it still seemed that he was the more sympathetic party of the entire mess. Having lost an eye by Jade's magic and becoming permanently disfigured only seemed to increase support for him. He was currently ensconced in a psychiatric facility for supernaturals and Paris knew several witches from the Coven were trying to get in to visit him, whereas peop
le weren't exactly lining up to welcome Jade to the Coven.
"She's different," Josef said, interrupting Paris' thoughts.
"She's still one of us," Paris countered.
Josef paused, weighing his words. "People will come around. She's not the easiest person to get to know, but she works hard and she's good at magic. Besides, it's not as though she doesn't have any friends."
Paris couldn't help but feel they were discussing Jade like a grade-school child on the playground. "True enough. I was merely... concerned."
Josef clapped him on the shoulder. "You're being a good Coven Leader, like your mother before you."
Paris managed a thin, wane smile at the words as he inclined his head as a form of goodbye, taking his leave of Josef. That was a whole separate issue he was dealing with - his mother.
If he'd been asked two months ago if his mother had ever dealt in demon magic he would have laughed at the very thought. However, after Jade discovered three demon grimoires belonging to Paris' mother, filled with demon magic and hexes, he'd started re-examining every moment, every memory, every small detail he could think of about her. He was only able to read through the grimoires for short spans of time, finding they made his eyes burn and his head ache. Her handwriting, as well as her magic, was unmistakable. Any hope Paris had harbored that the books weren't hers, despite being found in his house and with a letter to him from his mother, died as soon as he started studying them in earnest. They were clearly hers. He'd only made it through half of the first volume, but it was saturated with her essence. It was taking him considerable time to unravel the complicated and tangled demon spells she'd constructed.
Jade seemed to have an easier time with demon magic. Whether it was because she had a natural aptitude or had been touched by demon magic when Matthew set one after her, Paris was uncertain.
He tried hard not to wonder if there was any other reason Jade was so adept.
While Paris was only halfway through one volume, having only short bursts of time to work on it, Jade appeared to be gaining familiarity with the other two volumes. She claimed many of the spells were still a mystery to her, but she'd had more luck deciphering some of the easier ones. She could also read the books for longer, not getting a headache as quickly as Paris did. Paris also reviewed the demon grimoire next to his mother's other spell books, trying to establish when she might have started it, or when demon magic was introduced into her repertoire. He couldn't help but think if he could somehow figure out why she started using demon magic, then perhaps it would all make more sense.
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