Bounty Hunters and Black Magic

by Kristen Banet

  After feeding them, she decided to pamper Dark Prince, giving him a thorough rubdown. She brushed out his mane and tail, then gave him a treat. Letting him back out, she clicked her tongue twice, calling the mares over. Regal, Duchess, and Lady were Prince’s ladies.

  While she didn’t ride the mares often, they were all well-behaved for her and well-loved. Regal had been William’s favorite, and he rode her everywhere. A chestnut with a beautiful gait, Regal was a horse that begged to be ridden, but Adalyn just never had the chance.

  “I need to get you girls out more often. The last year hasn’t been good to me or to y’all. With that said, I shouldn’t be ignoring y’alls needs like this,” she murmured, brushing out Duchess’s mane. She did the basics. She made sure they were clean and fed, still used to contact, but she never saddled them. They needed to be exercised. Adalyn could tell Lady was getting a bit overweight on her.

  When she was done with them, she patted their flanks and they trotted out of the barn and back into the field. She chuckled as Duchess immediately rolled in the dirt. Then she saw him.

  Remy was walking up and waved at her at the fence before entering the field.

  She swallowed, remembering the hellhound she’d seen. He’d been massive. She had never seen a real hellhound, only sketches and studies of them. He’d had two dangerous horns near his ears, bony spines down his back, and bone-like ridges over his ribs. Hellfire had come off his paws, scorching the earth. Not strong enough to cause a blaze but enough to glow in the night from a distance.

  But at that moment, he was just a gorgeous man standing in her field, looking a bit out of place.

  “Looking for your horses?” she asked. “Come in.”

  “Maxwell is coming with us now. He’s pretty angry about something. Know what that’s about?” he said casually, walking into her barn.

  “I did something he disagrees with. It’s not something you’ll need to worry about.” She led him to his mare and Easton’s gelding. “Here they are.”

  He didn’t look at his horse, though, his orange eyes still on her. Maybe it was the color, but she liked the way his gaze always seemed warm, even hot. Like he was always aflame, ready to heat up someone’s life.

  “What’s wrong?” she murmured, turning to look away from him when he never broke the gaze.

  He grabbed her chin and swooped in, kissing her like he was never going to see her again. When he pulled away, he was smirking. “I was committing your face to memory, just in case I never come back. Not very often I meet a woman who I like so much, more than just a one-time affair.”

  “We barely know each other,” she reminded him.

  “Are you sure? I know you’re an independent witch that takes no shit from any man in your life. You like taking action, for good or bad. You try to fix your own problems, but you aren’t too stupid to deny help when it’s the best course of action.”

  “Depends on the problem,” she mumbled, thinking back on her argument with Maxwell. “And I still know barely anything about you.”

  “I’m a hellhound shifter who is normally called a freak by any woman who will have me,” he whispered, kissing her again. “You didn’t. And you even gave me a place at your table. Thank you.”

  She didn’t pull away from him, letting him claim her mouth, delve into her with his tongue. When it was over, she was breathing harder, feeling flushed.

  “I’m not saying we’re anything important, but I’m saying thank you for having me for a couple of days.” He released her chin. “It’s been a nice couple of days, just being in someone’s house and not called anything awful. Been nice being in a town where bounty hunter is the worst thing we are, not Supes or monsters.”

  “I’m glad you found something nice here for a moment. You should go before…” Before she jumped him for one last time. “You’re probably on a tight schedule.”

  “I am,” he agreed. “Hope to see you again.”

  “Me too,” she mumbled, leaving the barn before anything went further.

  When she was back in her house, she let herself think about what just happened. She could relate to his sentiment. They had given her a couple of days of not just being William’s widow, a woman who needs to do this or that. They had just wanted her, and that had been its own small gift. She was glad to hear they got something good out of it other than a quick fuck.

  She watched out her window as Remy led the horses back down to town.

  I hope they come back.

  18

  Maxwell

  “Maxwell, surely you don’t have to arrest her…” Valen repeated, sitting behind his desk. “I mean…”

  “She’s not protected by anything. There’s nothing that would allow me not to. I’m going to help the bounty hunters and try to think of something. Or she’ll be gone, which also works.”

  He didn’t want to. He was angry and he’d just said some harsh things to her, but he didn’t want to see the Society lock her away, another wild magic witch to put in a padded room with no ability to do her magic.

  No, he couldn’t doom her to that. He had to find something else.

  “Just don’t tell anyone!” Valen threw his hands up. “They don’t need to know it was Adalyn-”

  “If you think no one else is going to stumble on her doing black magic, you’ve lost your mind. They know she’s the only witch in my area, well, the only one that’s settled down. Rumors of her taking out a demon for a bounty will reach them eventually. They’ll put the pieces together. I need something concrete to keep anyone else from coming after her.” Maxwell groaned, rubbing his face. “First I need to finish this demon business.”

  “Yeah…” His old friend sighed. “I’ll keep an eye on her while you’re gone. I wish Tobias were here. He’d be helpful right about now.”

  “Where is he?” Maxwell asked. “I know he’s away but…”

  “About a two week ride away, visiting his tribe. One of the other shamans is ill and he wants to say goodbye before he passes on.”

  Damn. One of Tobias’s teachers is dying. I wish I had known.

  He knew it was his own damned fault for not knowing. He’d disappeared. Adalyn had been right to yell at him. He’d let his own hurt soul run him away from his friends when they had desperately needed him after Beelzebub’s attack.

  “If it eases your guilt, Adalyn has been so wrapped up in her own stuff that she doesn’t know either,” Valen said gently.

  “I wish you couldn’t read minds,” he mumbled, glaring at his Russian friend.

  “Most of the time, I don’t. I don’t really like violating people’s privacy like that—you know that. You just got quiet on me and you looked upset. I got curious.” Valen shrugged. “Shield your mind better.”

  “You and I both know that my mental barriers can’t hold you out.”

  “No, they can’t, but it’s nice for you to try. I have to work a little.” Valen smiled. “Maxwell, the best thing you can do to fix the situation you’re in is just to stick around.”

  “I’ve got a lot going on. When this case is closed, I have to go back East for something.” He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to deal with the politics of his family. It was something he and Addy always had in common. They each came from very well respected magical families that held power in the Society. Unlike Adalyn, he was an heir. He moved out West to avoid it, but it was finally dragging him back. “I’m cutting my family out after this trip, I think.”

  “Your choice. But come back to Redstone when that’s all said and done. I’d like one of my friends back.” Valen stood up. “And we’ll find a way to keep the little witch out of trouble.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed softly, standing up as well. He knew the bounty hunters were probably ready to ride out. “Demons first, then finding a way to keep Adalyn out of trouble, after that, a trip back East. Then I’ll come back out here, make Redstone my base of operation, like it should be. That’ll keep me in the area between cases.” He had too much going on. His li
fe was an endless list of things he had to take care of.

  “Good. Now get out of here. I got a saloon to run.” Valen waved him away. Maxwell smiled, holding up his hands as he walked out.

  He met the bounty hunters downstairs and they left the saloon without a word. They collected the demon from the jail, and threw him over one of the horses. Luckily, the demon was unconscious still. It would be at least a day before the gunshot fully healed and he woke up. They started riding out of the town in a companionable silence—until the hellhound shifter ruined it.

  “So…what did Adalyn do to make you angry?” Remy asked casually.

  “How did you know?” he asked back, frowning.

  “I asked her why you were in a bad enough mood to come help us,” he answered. “She said it was something she did.”

  Maxwell sighed, shaking his head. Easton chuckled but didn’t add anything.

  “Really, no answer?”

  “Not one that I’m comfortable giving right now. Has nothing to do with you two.” He didn’t want to tell a couple of bounty hunters that she could possibly have a bounty on her one day.

  The topic dropped as quickly as Remy had brought it up. Maxwell decided to divert them onto the work at hand. “How far out do you two think we should take this from town?”

  “A day’s ride should work. Right between here and Fort Lackey works for what we need. Far enough away from either town to keep civilians safe, but close enough in case things go sour. Remy?”

  “We have the one I was tracking. We’re flying blind.” Remy didn’t sound upset, just accepting.

  “We’ll need to get on another scent,” Easton said, sighing.

  “How do you do that?” He’d never met anything like Remy before and his tracking skill was unique. It made him curious. A skill like that as a marshal would be a blessing.

  “I get a scent and I can track it anywhere as long as I can remember it. As long as I focus on that scent, I’ll always know where to find the person. There’s no hiding from me, at least not that I’ve ever heard of.” Remy grinned, showing off large canines. “So really, I wasn’t tracking the entire group, just one of them, but this gang doesn’t seem to break up that much. Well, until Adalyn got one to wander off. Anyways, now I don’t have anyone’s scent. We have the one I was using to track the gang. I don’t know the rest of their scents well enough to call on.”

  “It’s a quirk of him being part-hellhound,” Easton added.

  “Hell’s hunting dog, but with you, given a mouth and a mind of your own.” Maxwell raised an eyebrow at Remy, who nodded.

  “Yeah, but it’s not helpful right now.”

  “Well, we’ll figure it out,” Maxwell mumbled. The further they got from Redstone, the better. He needed the time to figure out what to do with Adalyn. He readjusted his cowboy hat, trying to block the sun better. It hung high now, beating down on them all with summer heat.

  He used the quiet ride to consider his options. There weren’t many. He could ignore it, pretend like she hadn’t done the magic. He could say that it hadn’t been her, saying she banished the demon with him and he let her claim the bounty.

  He wished he could say she would never do it again, but he knew better. She was tenacious. She wanted to protect Redstone and nothing was going to stop her from succeeding. He needed to figure out a way to keep what she did from causing any backlash on her. Some diplomatic immunity, anything.

  If she were a warlock, he’d just tell her to join the MD or take over being the sheriff, but she wasn’t. Neither job was suitable for a woman.

  He was still considering all those thoughts when Easton pulled them to a stop. It was mid afternoon and they were at a stream. “We’re taking this trip slow,” he noted as the bounty hunters jumped off their horses.

  “We are, since we need the demons to come after us,” Easton said. “Easier to just stretch this trip out to a reasonably long trip, a full three days, instead of racing it in two.”

  “I don’t disagree,” Maxwell admitted. If anything, the planning from Easton and Remy was sound. They were smart, knew what they were doing. They would have made fine marshals, truly, if they weren’t in it for the money. “I’ll make a fire-”

  “I got it,” Remy cut in, already dropping a few small logs down. Then a ball of hellfire hit them and the fire was started.

  Maxwell just shrugged. “Anything I can do?”

  “Ward us,” Easton answered.

  He went to it, warding the area around them. He should have just done it. He didn’t make full wards like he had at Adalyn’s home, but rather, warning wards. If something crossed the line, they would be alerted. Anything supernatural, anyway.

  They settled into the camp, keeping an eye on their charge, and began talking about some other marshals, ones he didn’t like and the bounty hunters had run into. It was common ground.

  Maxwell had one problem with the entire situation.

  He actually liked the bounty hunters more than he wanted to.

  19

  Adalyn

  Adalyn was eating dinner when someone knocked at her door. The sun was long gone, so guessing who it could be wasn’t difficult. She figured it was probably Valen, since he now knew about her black magic use. After the night before, she was tired, but she would see him.

  I have to deal with this now. I’m amazed he didn’t reopen the saloon. The drama is gone. He normally lets nothing shut him down.

  She pulled the door open—and it wasn’t who she expected.

  “Adalyn Lovett. We need to talk.” The demon grinned, and it wasn’t pleasant. He was wearing a dark cowboy hat and ragged clothing. Broken-in chaps and dirty boots added to his look. His entire appearance screamed outlaw. It told her ‘I’m going to have fun torturing you’ more than anything else.

  She did the first thing that came to mind. She tried to shut the door, slamming it into the demon as he tried to walk into her house. She dodged a hand trying to grab her and ran back for her kitchen, where she’d left her Colt on her table. She could smell sulfur now, and heard the demon following her.

  She knew better than to spare even a moment to glance back. She jumped for her gun, grabbing it right as he grabbed her. She turned and fired into his gut, making him drop to his knees. It wasn’t going to kill him, but she knew it took him out of the fight for a moment.

  No one is going to hear that. I’m too far from town, and everyone would be at the saloon, which is probably too loud for Valen to hear the gunshot.

  She could hear others coming into her house now, from both sides. They had gone around back.

  Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuck me.

  She ran for her stairs, hoping she could get into her room. If she could, she’d ward up and try and send out word for help. At the bottom of her stairs was another of the demons, waiting. He grabbed her and she kneed him in the balls, then shoved him away right as a third demon wrapped an arm around her waist. She bit down on a hand that tried to cover her mouth as she fired a shot at the one she’d just kneed. The bullet hit his shoulder with enough force to send him back into a wall.

  The hand left her mouth and she stomped on a foot, making the demon behind her yelp in pain. He let her waist go and she scrambled up the stairs before the last of the four demons could grab her.

  She cursed as she remembered she needed to fix her door and jumped into one of the guest rooms instead, holding the door closed as one of the demons ran into it. She whispered a ward, hoping that it would keep them out.

  And it didn’t work. Instead, all the furniture in the room got shoved around. Fuck me. I forgot about my fucking magic. Shit!

  She kept trying to hold the door closed until one particularly hard hit forced it open and it slammed her in the back of her head. She stumbled away, turning to fire at whoever was walking in. Her vision was blurred and she knew she missed the shot when the gun was yanked from her hand and thrown to the side.

  “You’re coming with us, little witch,” the demon said cruelly, slappin
g her. It was hard enough to send her to the ground.

  She flung out a hand, not caring what her magic did at that point. If it blew up the demon, perfect.

  She heard him grunt and looked to see him against the wall just as two more demons walked in. One of them was bleeding. She began to crawl away, trying to find anything. I was trained for this sort of situation. William always wanted me ready in case one of his enemies came after us. I can do this.

  She went after her gun again, remembering it, but she didn’t make it. One of them grabbed her leg and she kicked back, connecting to something, but the hold wasn’t broken. The other went for her hair, pulling it up. Nothing else had hurt as bad as that. The sharp pain on her scalp pulled a scream out of her. Like the gunshot, she knew she was too far from town for anyone to hear.

  She and William hadn’t had a plan if her magic was screwing up. She didn’t have a chance to try anything else before one of them nailed her with a punch to the temple.

  Adalyn woke up on the back of a horse, her hands and wrists bound and hanging. She could only see the dirt and smell the sulfur of the demon riding the horse. She had a gag in her mouth, a dirty rag that tasted bad and kept her from whispering a spell.

  Shit.

  She tried moving, ignoring the headache she felt. When she tried some magic, all she got was a weak blast in the dirt beneath her. She didn’t try to blast the ropes on her wrists, for fear of blasting off her hands. She didn’t want to spook the horse with anything larger than the little blast on the dirt either, since getting thrown could easily break her back.

  “What are you doing back there, witch?” the demon growled, turning to look at her.

  She glared up at him. Does he really expect me to answer?

  She tried anyway, muffled and angry, telling the demon that she was going to blast his balls open. She figured if she was angry enough, he’d get the point.