She stuck her tongue out at him for good measure.
Once they left the closet, Tessa followed Rob as they retraced their steps to the back of the office.
Soon enough, they reached the presidential office suite. The stronger magical lock blocked their path for a few minutes, but with a brief surge of powerful magic, Rob opened the door. Beyond the entrance, there was a small waiting room with two secretarial desks. Behind the farthest desk, another door loomed. On the opposite wall, an oil painting of Jasper hung on the wall. A rather creepy one. The warlock had a receding gray hairline and beady black eyes. Tessa wouldn’t want to work in the office with his stern face eyeing her every time she passed by.
The lock on the main office door didn’t put up a fight, and they entered the inner sanctum of Jasper’s presidential suite. Rob made a beeline for the long mahogany desk as she crept around the office, eventually walking toward some gray drapes covering windows. She trained her flashlight on Rob, but the curtains to her left drew her eyes. A faint tingle of magic tickled her nostrils.
As Rob fumbled with the safe underneath the desk, Tessa gave into her curiosity and touched the drapes. Jasper’s magic dampened something large behind them. Curious fingers reached for the curtain, wondering what mysteries lay underneath the heavy cloth.
As expected, the bright lights from the outside of the facility shined with the night sky beyond. She closed her eyes and pried deeper into the folds of the magic. The spell’s complexity had layers of masking magic to prevent prying eyes and ears from discovering the secret behind the curtain. Tessa unlocked the first layer and exposed the sound of rustling chains. A second layer pushed her from the window to a secret room hidden in the folds of the window glamour.
A room double the size of the presidential suite existed here. In the center of the room, a man sat in a gilded cage. The chains on him rustled as he stood to stare at her.
She took a hesitant step forward, before striding into the room across a white bear skin rug. The muscles on his bare chest rippled as Tessa passed black leather couches. His strawberry blond hair brushed against the top of the cage. Through the fuzzy noise of the magic in the room, she watched the barely contained energy bouncing around his body. The energy only a shape-shifter would have.
A hand touched her back. “What are you doing?”
Rob opened the curtain wider and took in the expensive baubles around the room. “I may have to report a few more items to Clive.” He whistled appreciatively.
Tessa shook her head with disappointment. Rob ignored the poor man in the cage and started to dump stuff into an open Limbo gateway. Was he seriously whistling the tune from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, “Hi Ho, It’s Off to Work We Go”?
She approached the cage. “Are you hurt?”
No reply.
“You don’t have to be afraid. I want to let you out.”
She reached for the cage.
The man inside jerked forward. “Don’t touch it!” he snapped.
In seconds, Rob was at her side backing her away.
“I meant her no harm.” The man continued to speak as Rob pushed her behind him. “The bars are cursed with a fire spell.”
“I’m a water witch. I can disable it.” Tessa inched her way past Rob. He caught her arm.
“Haven’t you learned anything from Dagger? Don’t get in the middle. I can protect you from these people if I repo’ed the goods, but taking a warlock’s shape-shifter is another thing.”
She didn’t know what warlocks used shape-shifters for specifically, but locked servitude for a sentient being was bullshit in her opinion.
“I can’t leave here with a man trapped in a cage, Rob.”
Rob shook his head. “A spell on his head will prevent me touching the cage or him. He’s been marked to prevent other warlocks from taking him away. You also need to make a choice. Either free him or use your five minutes in Limbo for your scroll.”
She gazed at the open portal with longing. After everything she went through to get to this room, another opportunity was ticking away. She took a step toward the opening, then stopped. What if her scroll wasn’t there?
“The clock is ticking, Tessa.” He gazed at her as if he knew what she planned to do. “I can only mask us from the surveillance in this room for so long.”
Would she sleep well tonight knowing she picked her scroll over another’s life?
She approached the cage and prepared a counterspell. Heat stroked her limbs. She edged toward the bars with caution. Sweat formed on her brow as she kissed her fingertips with magic and touched the lock. With a loud click, the door opened.
The shape-shifter waited, assessing her with sharp eyes.
“I mean you no harm.” Tessa backed away. “You’re free to go where you want.” She returned to Rob’s side.
“Ok, Mother Theresa, let’s go.” His voice was terse, but a small smile showed his approval.
After Rob left his repo calling card, they retraced their steps through the facility. She assumed the shape-shifter went his own way until flashes of his blond hair appeared around corners a few steps behind them; somehow he managed to hide, even as tall as he was, behind the crates.
They finally reached the streets outside of the factory, and Rob gave a rare grin. “Other than screwing up two or three times, you didn’t do too bad back there.”
Hints of a sunrise bled into the horizon as they strolled. “I’m not trying for my Repo Girl merit badge, but I did miss out on two opportunities to get my scroll in there.”
“There’ll be other times coming up. Plenty of deadbeat supernaturals who don’t pay.”
“I’ve always wondered: With your skill set, why are you a repo man?”
He grinned. “When I arrived back in the city, I searched for a few jobs. I didn’t have time to go through rounds of interviews and bullshit recruiters out to make a quick buck.”
“When I was in college, I dreaded interviews. I could talk to anybody on the street about anything, but when it comes to sitting in a chair with people staring at you like you’re coming in to take their job I was more than happy to start my own business in a city far away from the prying eyes of my family.”
“It can’t be that bad if you’ve got money.”
She scratched her nose, needing the distraction. “Money isn’t everything. And well, my parents have money, not me. My grandparents wanted their grandchildren to make their own way.”
“Sounds like great advice.”
“It does, but well, my mom is a housewife. The only thing she’s building up is a tab at the local shopping mall.”
“I’d expect a beautiful woman like you to be some stockbroker’s wife. Sitting pretty in an Upper West Side apartment eating bon bons.”
She laughed. “Sounds like my mom. She married the first rich warlock my grandmother found for her.”
“Your grandmother’s a matchmaker?”
“Yeah, I’m trying to follow in her footsteps, hard as they may be to fill.”
“My dad served in the military. There’s nothing wrong with doing the family profession.”
“Ever since Grandma passed away, she’s pushed me toward her business. I guess I thought things would be so easy…”
She shuffled a bit, but he grasped her wrist.
His voice lowered. “So, are you heading home? Or would you like some breakfast at my place?”
She smiled. She’d hoped he would’ve forgotten their little episode in the storage closet. Apparently, his short-term memory was intact. Slowly, he stroked the skin on the pulse point of her wrist.
Tessa swallowed and focused on the road ahead to keep herself from asking if she could eat her breakfast from the comfort of his lap.
“I have to work this—” A truck beep behind them.
“Hey dumb ass, get outta the fuckin’ road!” A stern man in delivery vehicle veered around a dazed strawberry-blond shape-shifter twenty feet behind them.
She frowned. “He followed us
this whole way?”
They’d used two jump points and trekked about two miles to reach the south docks in Manhattan.
“Pretty much. I assumed he’s from the city.”
Tessa stopped to allow their trailing ghost to catch up.
The shape-shifter eyed her but approached. In a thin t-shirt and tattered jeans, he blended into the crowd of workers heading toward the factories and docks.
“Do you need some money to get home?” Tessa searched her pockets, but she only had about twenty bucks. It wasn’t much, but at least the poor man could have a hot meal.
“I have some friends somewhere in the city. I’ll wander around Midtown until I find them.”
“Wander around? I can’t let you do that.” After imprisonment for who knows how long, Tessa didn’t want to leave him roaming the streets. She sacrificed her time in Limbo for him, the least she could do was offer him some kind of temp work. Danielle and Ursula would lose their natural minds over another hot temporary employee.
Rob frowned and pulled her to the side. “You don’t know this guy. He’s free to make his own choices.”
“I know that. I’m only thinking about giving him a temp job until he finds his friends.”
“How much do you know about shape-shifters?”
“Enough to know they’re afraid of us.” She returned his hard stare. “Rob, I’m a pretty good judge of character. Not every man is a rapist or nut job sorcerer. I think he’s a nice guy.”
From behind Rob, she heard the man grunt, “I’m not a man.”
Rob tilted his head. “Excuse me?”
“I’m a woman.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Dating Tip #4: Most of my clients are men, but witches are guilty parties as well. It’s great to have a career and build a name for yourself as the Wicked Witch of the West, but remember that men are looking for love as well.
Tessa’s mouth dropped open as Rob chuckled with amusement. She reddened, thinking of how less than an hour before she had been admiring the shape-shifter’s fine physique.
“As much as I appreciate your offer, I just wanted to thank you personally for helping me.” The shifter’s hard face softened as her height decreased. A second later, a brunette in oversized clothes stood next to Tessa.
“If you’re in the same position to help someone else someday, I hope you help them, too.” The temptation to ask the woman’s name was there, but now that the shape-shifter had her freedom, Tessa didn’t want to know. The choice to live her life as she saw fit was now in her hands.
Tessa dug into her pocket. “I don’t have much—”
Rob pushed her hand away and fished a few bills out of the satchel. “Stay off the streets for a while. Don’t go uptown. Matter of fact, you’re better off leaving New York entirely.”
The shape-shifter reluctantly took the money and nodded.
From that point, they parted with a round of quick goodbyes. As Tessa watched the woman walk away, she grinned with satisfaction. This feeling is much better than matching a high-strung warlock with a witch, Grandma.
She turned to see Rob staring at her. “What?”
He merely shook his head with a small smile. “Let’s get you home.”
The trip was quiet—although the kiss lingered on her mind with each step. When he delivered her safely to her door, she took her time messing with her key-ring, wondering if he’d kiss her again, but when she turned around to say a few words, she found him long gone.
He had too many annoying habits.
She rolled her eyes and went inside. She’d deal with him again soon enough.
After a nice power nap, Tessa ambled into the bathroom. As she passed the wall mirror, she caught the first faint circle of red on her neck. Oh, damn! She faced the mirror with wide eyes. Then she craned her chin up to view the carnage. Hickies sprinkled over her neck screamed out, “You sure got it on last night!” One in particular was bright red with a light purple spot in the middle.
Once the shock wore off, Tessa dressed for work. Her makeup though, took longer than expected. Twenty minutes later, her neck’s giraffe-like appearance was covered in enough foundation to put Mary Kay out of business.
A few hours later, Tessa was in the middle of assessing a client’s file when Ursula sent a call her way. “Phone call from the accountant.”
Her eyebrows lowered. Why would Aunt Daisy call her? Her aunt usually sent an email if there was something wrong.
“Aunt Daisy, how nice of you to call.”
“Ursula left a message regarding the mishap with the car payments. Sorry about that.” Aunt Daisy added stiffly, “You should pay more attention to your account.”
“I thought that’s what I hired your firm to do.”
“Tessa, I contacted you as a courtesy since you’re my niece. We balance your books and pay your debts, but you’re responsible for guaranteeing that there are enough funds for withdrawals.”
Tessa’s fingers tightened on the pencil she held. A pencil that would snap any minute now. She stood and started pacing the five feet of her office.
“Help me understand this here. Is there some kind of policy that prevents you from acting like a family member who cares for the well-fare of my business?” After she spoke, she wanted to take back her words. But her anger couldn’t be contained.
Aunt Daisy snickered into the phone. “Just ‘cause my mother favored you over everyone else doesn’t mean I give you any breaks. You should be grateful I called.”
Grateful? She’s kidding right?
“Don’t think most of us didn’t know about the extra gifts.”
Not again. “Both you and Aunt Lenore can’t let it go. Grandma’s gone and I can’t change her will. She wouldn’t want you to be unhappy like this. She’d want you to find your own happiness and let bitterness go.”
Her aunt huffed. “What about the car for your high school graduation or the extra money to insure you’d afford the scroll, yet have enough money to start your business? Didn’t think we knew about that, did you?”
Tessa’s teeth ground together. “I never asked for any of those things.” Aunt Daisy always went for the jugular when Grandma Kilburn wasn’t present.
“I could go on and on. But we all know you’ll waste it all. My mother thought you were so perfect. At the rate you’re going, you’ll be back in Chicago quite soon.”
“Do you have anything else to tell me? Something related to you doing your job correctly?”
“They’ll be plenty to talk about in the coming months.” She could sense Aunt Daisy’s smug smile through the phone. “By the way, you keep transferring funds from your savings. I suggest you generate more income from those clients of yours. If that doesn’t work out, you could always find work as my assistant.”
Time passed far too quickly for Rob. He’d been apart from her for four days, but he’d used his time wisely. He’d managed pay enough money to stop the creditors from calling, but a couple thousand wasn’t enough. He needed to keep working. He’d pulled a few all-nighters and still had strength in his hands.
One month wasn’t enough time to get a job, work for a bit, then quit.
With a sigh, Rob sipped a cold coffee at a local bakery and scanned the want ads. No one really wanted temporary workers these days. Not for a few weeks anyway. He’d hauled around boxes in stuffy basements, swallowed his pride as he packaged blow-up dolls, and even worse, he’d dressed in a chicken outfit to drum up business for a store. He refused to use magic to make an honest dollar.
“Don’t be a gumbengi,” his dad used to say, blending Korean and English. He’d heard the word often during his old man’s “pep talks.” The term, which meant maggot, also roughly translated to someone who was a lazy loser with no job.
The best way to avoid the label was to work. And that meant doing repo gigs. That was the only job that paid very well and made him feel good about what he did. But those prospects didn’t look so good tonight. Bad luck seemed to cling to him like a stick o
f gum smeared on a sidewalk. Scrapping it off would be a sticky mess he didn’t want to handle.
Pedestrians continued to walk outside, enjoying the cool evening. They had places to go, plans to have fun. He didn’t have such time and thanks to Clive, his trip with Tessa tonight wouldn’t go as planned. No golden amulet meant his access to Limbo was toast. He guessed that would be like a repo man without a tow truck—a truck with inter-dimensional abilities anyway. Rob snorted and crumpled up the empty cup.
Time to face the matchmaker.
Rob met her in front of Clive’s Recovery.
“What crazy place are we going to this evening?” she asked. As usual, she looked casual, yet put together enough to have him wondering if he’d been keeping an eye on her versus the problem at hand.
“At this point, not to a job,” he grumbled as he walked west.
She followed close behind him and grasped his arm. “Rob, what’s wrong? No job tonight?”
“Not until I get another amulet. The cheap piece of shit Clive bought died a few hours ago.”
She frowned. “Can you get another one?”
“That’s where we’re going. It’s a rough place. If you want, you can go back home until I get another one.”
“I’ll be all right. How rough are we talking here?”
“I’m going to a wizard’s bar in Queens.”
She kept a straight face the whole time. He could almost imagine all the things that came to mind. Had she ever left Midtown to see the other boroughs?
“Let’s go.” She strolled ahead of him, keeping her face hidden, but he wondered if he caught a flicker of doubt in her eyes.
Instead of taking a cab or jump point to Queens, Rob took her to the subway station. As they entered the train, Tessa asked, “I’m surprised you haven’t suggested a jump point. Aren’t there any to take us to Queens?”
Rob directed her to a set of seats and plopped down beside her. “The wizards in Queens blocked off the warlock jump points around a hundred years ago.”
“You have turf issues here too, I see.”
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