All those repo missions: pissed off wood nymphs, crazed warlocks, a fight in a wizard’s bar—all of it for nothing. Property formerly worth a couple hundred thousand dollars sat lifeless in her hands.
Anger pooled in her stomach. “If I had the power, I’d call the ocean to come swallow Dagger whole.”
Rob’s jaw hardened, but he didn’t let her go. His hand caressed the back of her head.
“There’s no rescue, no happy ending. Archibald Cramer is in the fifth dimension expecting me to call him about the arrangements. He was my last chance for a big payoff.”
“Tessa, I—”
“Unless you have a cell phone with fifth dimension service there’s nothing you can do.” She pressed her lips together as the dread of the days ahead clawed at her. “I guess if you get shore leave, you’ll have to come to Chicago—the final resting place for matchmakers who can’t hack it in New York.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Dating Tip #18: Everyone wants someone to listen to their hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Be an active listener. Don’t send a clone during your date while you are casting spells in a haunted bog off the shores of Scotland.
Grand Central Station was a blur for Rob. A mob of strangers bumped into him as he took each painful step to leave town. The memories from the last twenty-four hours carried him to his seat on the train. His aunt and uncle had fed him a feast meant for kings last night, but he left in the early morning before they got up. He didn’t want to bring any more pain to his aunt. She’d cried during dinner.
Also, his aunt hadn’t taken it well when he confessed he was leaving. Seeing her saddened face stabbed at him. He was a damn fool for hiding it so long. He only wanted to protect her.
After their quiet dinner, she placed a folded, peached-colored handkerchief in his hand.
“Take this with you,” she said softly. “I forgot to pass it along when you left for basic training.”
Something fragile lay within the folds. “It wasn’t mine to take. It’s my dad’s.” But his dad was dead now.
His aunt had tucked a familiar black and white picture inside. “It’s your birth-mom, Minho. It’s always been yours.”
How he wished he could share this picture with Tessa. His gaze flicked to the empty seat beside him. He placed his hand on the cushion. He could almost see her sitting here, leaning her head against his shoulder, smiling up at him while he read the words on the back of the picture. He never bothered to ask before. Talking about his birth-mom always made his dad clam up. He’d never taken the time to sneak a peek at the Korean words: my most precious treasure. My wife and son.
He sucked in a breath. So his dad had taken the picture. A tear dropped on the photo and he quickly brushed the spot away. He forced a smile on his lips.
This was a good shot. Love was locked into each detail. In the way the mid-day sun shone through the nearby window. In the way his mom smiled at the camera as if to say ‘I love you.’ In the way his mom tucked him close like she wanted to protect him from the world.
Why did his parents have to pass away and leave him behind? The pain from loss ran deeper than any injury he’d ever had. He didn’t want to be alone anymore. Especially after meeting Tessa. He tucked the picture into a satchel pocket.
His hand lingered on the empty space for a bit longer.
Reorienting to his old life came quickly. Far too quick for Rob’s liking. Twenty-four hours after arriving in North Carolina he’d been told his deployment orders were ready. Most likely he’d join a SEAL team already in the field. He wanted to shift in his seat outside of Commander Fry’s office, but he refused to so much as twitch. The day of reckoning had come and no matter what assignment he’d been given—or what punishment for taking his time returning to base—he’d face it like a man instead of a punk.
“Sir?” Rob glanced up to see an officer standing no more than a few feet away.
“Yes?”
“I have orders for you to accompany me to meet Admiral Hurst,” the man said.
Rob’s eyebrow rose. He’d never heard of the name before. “What about—”
“That has been taken care of.”
The man quickly left, so Rob hurried to follow him. As they weaved through the hallways, suspicions pecked at him. Had someone found out about what he did on the side? Was he in trouble somehow?
Admiral Hurst’s office was at the far end of the command administrative building. In an area Rob never had authorization to visit. His escort reached the end of a quiet hallway and opened the heavy wooden door for Rob.
“Go inside, Sir. Admiral Hurst has been waiting for you.”
Rob nodded and ventured into the dim room. He looked around, expecting a well-lit, not dark, space. Making out the furniture at the other end of the room was damn near impossible.
“Have a seat, Shin.” The deep voice came from behind him.
Rob froze. A shorter man walked around him with a stiff gait. Bushy eyebrows almost obscured light blue eyes. He could’ve swore he saw the admiral, yet he didn’t feel him or smell him. No aftershave or even the sound of footsteps on the dark brown carpet echoed through the room.
Usually, there’d be a change in the electric charge in the air. A rising intensity with the spellcaster’s strength.
“I prefer to stand, Sir. If I may.” This guy had to be either a warlock or wizard of some kind—which meant Rob couldn’t tell the difference. Not a good sign.
“Fair enough.” The man flicked the thick fingers on his right hand and a black leather chair materialized behind him so he could sit. A single light illuminated the center of the room, leaving the rest in murky shadows.
Admiral Hurst rested his hands in his lap and stared at Rob for a moment. “Keeping rogue spellcasters under control has been an issue for thousands of years. We’ve had to face warlocks who helped the Mongols to the spellcasters who manage to unknowingly start wars among the humans. Even the wizards protecting the Crusaders were a bunch of rowdy bastards we had to corral.” He paused. “But you’re something entirely different. You’re both a warlock and a soldier. We’ve been keeping an eye on your activities and find you honorable.”
“May I ask who ‘we’ refers to, Sir?”
The side of his mouth tilted into a sly grin.
“Who we are doesn’t matter. What is of the utmost importance is that you can go where we cannot and you’ve already taken the steps to clean up a few messes.”
So he was in the midst of a wizard.
“How do you know who I am, Sir?”
“Once a few other associates spotted you with Harry, we took the time to check your background and look into your repossession activities. We think we have an opportunity to take care of a growing problem.”
A few associates? Rob frowned. Most likely the guys who had been drinking it up and playing cards guys at bar had been high-ranking wizards.
“We sent in a few wizards to intercept Dagger to determine if he was the source of tainted wands, but all of our men were annihilated after their weapons were drained of power.”
Oh, fuck. Rob tried to not let the sour feeling sink in, but it had: that rat son-of-a-bitch figured out a way to combine all of the cursed elements to taint wizard wands.
“How capable were the men you sent?”
Admiral Hurst shrugged. “They didn’t have your military training, but they were armed with the best weapons.”
“Which were rendered useless by Dagger.”
“Yes.” For the first time, a tinge of anger lined the man’s words. “What we need you to do is to find him and eliminate him using a warlock’s arsenal. Due to the work you perform, we notice you haven’t chosen the side. You have a brilliant record in the military and you’ve worked hard for your country.”
Rob had heard all this talk before. Wizards like Harry tried to present their side of things like their shit didn’t stink. Even if they couldn’t cast dark magic, that didn’t keep corruption, embezzlement, and bribery from within their
ranks. At least when Harry tried to bring him over to the wizards’ camp, he offered Rob a drink first.
“I’m not doing this for you,” Rob finally said. “I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do, Sir. Like you said.”
A shimmer of light danced in the wizard’s right eye. “Fair enough. I didn’t expect you to choose a side.”
They stared each other down. Usually Rob kept his gaze square on the wall above a higher-ranking officer’s head, but this guy gave a different vibe. Almost as if he wanted Rob to step up to the plate and say something. As much as he’d like to take out Dagger, he had a job to take care of from his superiors. “What about my orders from my human commanding officer?”
“I’ll take care of that. Don’t worry.”
Rob didn’t doubt it. The wizards probably carried weight around here. Maybe in a few other branches of the military.
The wizard continued to speak. “We could use someone dedicated like you.”
Here we go. Rob would go where he was asked to serve his country, but when it came to the world of magic, the game wasn’t the same. “I like…my current assignment, Sir.”
“Every man has something they want to fight for,” the wizard replied. He tapped his fingertips together and power pulsed with each contact. A reminder of what he could do. “Is there anything I could do to change your mind? Is there something you want or someone who needs healing?”
His lips parted. Rob didn’t like the wizards paying him for anything, but this was one favor he didn’t hesitate to collect. If he never saw his lady again, he could do this one thing for her. “There is someone I need help to contact.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Dating Tip #25: Last minute decisions often result in the most spectacular dates, but that doesn’t mean everything shouldn’t be left to chance. If you’re a necromancer, don’t bring your summoned zombies if you can’t find a babysitter.
No boyfriend, no scroll, and now no hope for the approaching deadline. After Rob left her apartment that day, Tessa spent the evening into the early morning at her desk trying to figure out what she could do. The deadline loomed with Cramer.
Before he left he made her promise she wouldn’t give up. As they parted in front of her door, he looked her in the eye and made her swear. “You’re not going to go gently into the good night.”
“You’re trying to use Dylan Thomas on me right now?” She wasn’t feeling rather poetic at the moment.
“I’m serious, Tee.” He gripped her shoulders so she couldn’t look away. “The minute I leave the city you’re on your own. The woman I fell for wouldn’t go down without kicking some ass first.”
So she tried. Financially, she’d backed into a no-win situation. Tessa was past the cancellation stage for the venues. She’d already made a down payment, but all of them expected the rest of the money two weeks before the event. And she didn’t have a dime to her name.
She’d pressed her face down so long on the ADDITIONAL LOAN REQUESTED DENIED stamp from the Dwarves First National Bank that she wouldn’t be surprised if she had a new facial tattoo. Her request to buy a new scroll had been denied. She wasn’t shocked. A couple hundred grand to buy a replacement scroll, which now sat useless in the recycle bin, wouldn’t come from a business arrangement.
A quick trip to the pawnshop earlier in the morning to sell a few things also didn’t go as planned.
“I’ll take all that other stuff you got, but well, the wand doesn’t want to be sold.” The young wizard from the pawnshop in East Village tried to pry the stubborn twig from her palm, but it wouldn’t budge. Yes, it didn’t belong to her in the first place so it served her right for trying to sell it.
She kept hearing Rob’s words, her heart tugging each time, but her supposedly productive, rage-against-the-dying-of-the-light morning turned into a depressing afternoon with ice cream while watching a few Meg Ryan movies. She cried like a baby watching the unrequited love between friends in When Harry Met Sally. Then Tessa cursed Tom Hank’s character as he took away her tiny bookstore business in You’ve Got Mail. Not the best movie to watch. She should’ve known better.
Probably by this time, Rob was likely heading to a military base. He left her a text message that he’d contact her when he could. Wasn’t that a silver lining?
It didn’t make her feel any better.
By ten o’clock p.m. the local news came on, interrupting her movie fix. A full day wasted feeling sorry for herself.
Something shifted her coffee mug on the counter of her kitchen. Was that Kiki? Hell, with all those ghost cats roaming around, she shouldn’t be surprised if a cat or two jostled a sugar bowl.
One of the ruled out suspects lounged on a chair across from her. Kiki meowed.
An elderly voice whispered, “Tessa? Are you home?”
“I’m home,” Tessa called back.
Her grandmother floated into the room, saw her attire and harrumphed. “You look as if you sat here all day.” She glanced at the huge bowl of popcorn and five empty cans of diet soda.
Tessa avoided her grandmother’s face, unable to tell her what happened. She cried all day today and there weren’t any tears left. Only the raw feeling of defeat.
Grandma Kilburn sat down next to her. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“I failed.”
“Oh, every client’s different. I had a few doosies myself once in a while. But today’s another day.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m leaving New York.”
Her grandmother frowned. “Why would you say such a thing?”
Tessa sighed, wishing Grandma Kilburn’s form was corporeal so she could experience the warmth of a grandmother’s touch. Smell the sweet scent of her lavender oil.
She told her grandma of the lost scroll as well as her adventures with Rob. She left the worse news for the end.
“I’m bankrupt.”
“Have you spoken to your parents? Why aren’t you fighting?” Grandma Kilburn’s face was stern, shoulders pulled back.
“It’s more than that. I have a client I worked for months to secure, nurture, and now I’ll lose him.” Tessa felt so ashamed to reveal this. The one person she wanted to impress knew her failure now. She couldn’t survive as a matchmaker.
“That’s one client.” Her grandmother’s hand brushed against her hair, going through the motions of smoothing it. The very gesture sent a strange chill down her spine.
“He is the one client that owes me the most money and has connections with the Supernatural Council.” She laughed softly. “I don’t even have enough money to pay for the venues I secured a few months ago.”
“Oh. That is unfortunate.” Grandma sat back against the couch, for once silenced.
Then she sat back up, revitalized once again.
“But that doesn’t matter.” Grandma Kilburn stood and then pointed her finger at Tessa. “Take off that housecoat, girl. You’re going with me for a walk.”
“To where?”
“Hush your mouth and do as you’re told. While you get dressed, I need to gather some reserves for a powerful spell from the beyond.”
Twenty minutes later, in a T-shirt and pants, Tessa left her apartment with her grandmother.
“Where are we going?”
“Don’t you listen when your elders talk? You’ll learn soon enough.”
They secured a cab and drove northward to the Upper West Side. Their final destination was a high-rise apartment building nestled next to the Trump Towers.
Her grandmother floated out of the cab ahead of her. They entered the building lobby, but Grandma Kilburn stopped her before she approached the concierge.
“Close your eyes, Tessa. I need to mask you.”
The chill from Grandma’s fingertips caressed her forehead down to her belly. When Tessa opened her eyes, the world was painted black and white.
Amazing, yet peculiar like a movie from the forties. Tessa gazed at the dark shadows along her hands.
“Don’t ge
t all nervous on me. It’s one of the side effects I could never prevent. Your great-grandma Greta Kilburn could cast this spell with her knickers on backwards.” Her grandma floated toward the elevators, forcing Tessa to follow.
They exited at the 35th floor and then headed toward one of the townhouses. Tessa raised her hand to knock, eliciting a scolding from her grandmother.
“You’re masked! What are you doing?”
“I forgot already.”
Grandma Kilburn rolled her eyes. “With all that work you’ve done repossessing people’s property, you should know you don’t march into people’s homes.”
A cold hand slid around her wrist, chilling her skin. Slowly she was pulled through the door. The process of flowing through matter was jarring. Once through the door, they entered the foyer of a beautiful home with ten feet tall windows and oak wood floors. Gleaming white walls with modern fine art dotted the walls.
The chatter from a couple emerged from around the corner. Grandma Kilburn led her forward toward the voices in the living room. For a moment, she wondered if her eyes deceived her, but there was Liam with the woman he chose during the party. The older man sat cuddling with his auburn-hair lady while she read a book.
“Liam, why don’t you want to go to Europe this summer with me?”
“We can go to Europe, Lemondrop. I’d just prefer to vacation in Aruba.”
Lemondrop?
The woman smiled coyly, turning to plant a quick kiss on his cheek. “You always give into me eventually, don’t you?”
“Rather hard not to give in,” he grumbled with a grin.
The woman continued to read as Grandma Kilburn stepped forward. “I’m sure you recognize this man.”
“Of course, my client Liam Pershing.”
“Don’t you see what you’ve done for him?”
“Well, of course, he’s still dating the woman I matched him with.”
“Look closer, girl, like I taught you. There’s more to this scene.”
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