“I must apologize for the lack of a warm welcome.” he continued, standing up again. “It’s just that you never know what kind of hell beasts that Mister Hawkins might be bringing with him at any time.”
“Now, that's kind of unfair..." Trevor started to say but was cut off by Evelyn.
“Well,” she said, “there was that one time you brought a rabid lycanthrope to Jexo’s place in Morocco.”
“It escaped the cage that Trevor had it in.” Jexo explained to me, his voice clipped. “Killed twenty of my best employees and turned another fifteen. I now have a procurement team that needs flea treatments.”
“Okay, one time… “ Trevor protested.
“And then there was that time,” Evelyn said, cutting him off again, “you know, in Argentina, when Trevor showed up at Jexo’s compound there with a Himalayan shadow monster on his trail?”
“Ah yes, the soul-sucker.” Jexo replied. “I had to close that place down. Nobody would work there after what happened.”
“Yeah, but I killed the beastie in the end!” Trevor said aggressively.
“At the cost of only two hundred lives, at that.” Jexo added.
“And then there was… “ Evelyn began, but it was her turn to be cut off.
“Okay, OKAY!” Trevor shouted. “Who’s side are you on?!?”
"Well, obviously not yours, you stupid git." she shot back. "I mean, you're my brother, and I love you." she continued, her tone softer. "But sometimes you've got the judgment of a mid-western accountant on a three-day coke binge."
“Yeah, well this time I brought the Sorceress.” Trevor retorted triumphantly.
“You brought someone being chased by a trio of hellephants, who could do serious damage to my compound, to my back door!” Jexo replied, anger rising in his voice. He stopped, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. “My apologies.” he said gently to me. “It is an honor to meet you, Lady Sorceress. Please, come with me.” He smiled, which looked not as alien on his face as I expected.
“My friends will accompany me.” I said quickly, not wanting to be separated from them.
“Of course, my Lady.” he said. “I will treat your friends with all of the deference that I would show to you, personally.” His smile faded as he looked at Trevor. “As much as that will pain me in some cases.”
“Well, aren't you the diplomat!" Trevor said, with a grin, to Jexo. "I'm not used to seeing you this polite and well-spoken."
Jexo started to respond, but stopped himself.
“I don’t think that the Sorceress will mind if you tell him to sod off.” Evelyn said.
Jexo looked at me. “Go right ahead.” I said with a grin.
“Go fuck yourself, Hawkins.” Jexo said, and led us from the room.
* * *
The accommodations that we were given were surprisingly opulent. We had a sitting room that looked like something out of a five-star European luxury hotel, and the six bedrooms that were off of the main room looked even fancier through their open doors.
“The way here looked like a military base.” I said under my breath to Evelyn. “This is surprising.”
“Jexo deals in a lot of arms.” she answered just as softly. “Saudi Princes don’t like to stay in the barracks.”
“I hope you find these accommodations acceptable.” Jexo said after we all filed in.
“Yes, these will be lovely.” I answered.
“Now, you have free run of the facilities while you’re here, Jexo said, “But there are some areas that could be dangerous. I implore you to have a staff escort before entering any restricted areas.”
“That’s not unreasonable.” I said.
“I’ll make it easy for you.” Jexo turned and whistled behind him.
A woman, dressed in camo with her long auburn hair tied back in a ponytail, walked in and stood at attention by her boss.
“This is Sargent Tiffany Collins.” Jexo continued. “She will be available all hours of the day or night to assist you in any way needed.”
“Thank you, really.” I said, genuinely grateful.
“I invite you to dine at my table tonight.” Jexo said. “Sargent Collins will notify you when it’s ready. Now, I must take my leave.”
“Thank you, Jexo.” I said. “See you at dinner.”
He left, and Tiffany stayed at attention.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” she asked stiffly.
She has the most peculiar accent I thought. Like a blend of New Zealand and South African.
“I could use some clothes.” Katsu replied.
Shit! I exclaimed inwardly. She’s still naked! I can’t believe I forgot!
We had been interrupted while installing a camera, and Katsu had never gotten a chance to retrieve her clothing before we had to run.
“Of course!” Tiffany said. “They… may not be very pretty.” she added, faltering.
“Functional is sufficient.” Katsu assured her.
Tiffany left, and Gaia turned to me.
“Some of those guys we passed looked pretty rough.” she said. “I’m surprised that none of them even stared.”
“Jexo went into full VIP mode when he found out that Annabelle’s the Sorceress.” Trevor explained. “His employees know what that means. Jack could have slipped her some D in the hallway and nobody would have batted an eye.”
“As lovely as the thought is,” Evelyn said, changing the subject, “we should pick our rooms. I want to get a nap before dinner.”
And I’d like a joint I thought.
* * *
Forty-five minutes and two supply runs by our camouflaged assistant later, all of us save Evelyn were sitting in the main area of our suite, a fire burning in the marble-topped fireplace.
“So is this Jexo guy just another international arms dealer?” I asked, taking a hit off of a joint provided by our host.
“That’s only one small part of his business.” Trevor said, sipping a German beer. “He also deals in stolen art, stolen mystical artifacts, and My Little Pony collectibles.”
Jack stopped hitting his joint and looked at Trevor. “Ex-squeeze me?” he said.
“He has a grand-daughter who was really into My Little Pony once upon a time.” Trevor replied. “He started buying ponies for her, and noticed how insane the prices for some of that stuff is. Brought him in three hundred million last year.”
“Seriously?” I asked, flabbergasted.
“Seriously.” Trevor confirmed. “Besides, I think he’s gotten into it all himself a bit.” he added with a wink.
“That explains the sweats.” Katsu said, sitting next to Jack. She stretched in the purple My Little Pony outfit that she’d been brought earlier.
“Unexpected pop culture affiliations aside,” Gaia said next, “we’re going to have to find out who’s sending all of these attack beasts Annabelle’s way.”
“Maybe our host will have some information.” I offered hopefully.
“If anyone’s going to know, it’s Jex.” Trevor said. “Maybe he’s found something out in the past couple of weeks.”
I can only hope so.
Chapter Thirteen
From the Diaries of Angelique Dupre
07/23/1589
Roanoke Colony
Educating young Sarah in the ways of the world has been difficult, to say the least. This damned cult that her family is mixed up in believes in sheltering their people to an absurd degree… even the armed men are often woefully naive!
For example, her reaction to chattel slavery… she knows that it exists, and that there are wealthy families back in Britain who have such unfortunate souls in their possession, but she refuses to see the abject horror of it all. She has been told that Africans are ‘Godless heathens’ who deserve bondage, and that enslavement and adoption of their owner’s religion may save their souls, so she sees it as a positive thing. She feels that it was ‘ordained by God’.
She outright refuses to acknowledge that plenty of non-African
people, and even white Christians, are enslaved every year. She simply can’t fathom how a ‘kind and loving (so long as you don’t disobey him, which hardly strikes ME as ‘kind’ OR ‘loving’!) God would allow such things to happen.
Once we leave this wild place, she is in for a harsh surprise if she doesn’t open her cult religion-addled mind!
* * *
Damn, this is tasty!
I took another bite of grilled swordfish and it almost melted like the butter it was cooked in. Everything was cooked to perfection… the asparagus roasted in the oven with sea salt and garlic, roasted red-skinned potatoes cooked with olive oil and fresh rosemary, and fresh garden salad with maple vinaigrette were being devoured freely by all at the main table. Several other dishes I hadn’t tried yet were also sitting nearby, and everyone’s individual entrees were going over as well with everyone as my fish was for me.
Best of all, the ‘special occasion’ status of the meal meant that everyone, including Jexo’s entire crew, got to eat just as well as those of us seated at the main table did. That had put us in the ‘okay’ column of most of Jexo’s folks, and everyone was in high spirits.
“Have you tried the creamed spinach?” Katsu asked, dishing some onto her plate.
“Oh, I wanted to smoke a cigarette after I tasted it, it was so satisfying!” Evelyn moaned.
“I don’t really do spinach.” Jack said, making a face.
“Oh, come on.” Katsu said, smiling. “Won’t you try a little bit… for me?” She lifted a fork-full of the green dish and waved it in front of his mouth.
"Okay, I guess." Jack said with a sheepish grin and opened his mouth as Katsu fed him his bite.
“Unless you want to see my creamed spinach come back up,” Trevor groaned, “you two might want to dial back the adorkable a little bit.”
“I think it’s cute.” I said. “Besides, I also can’t wait to tell Raina just how lovey-dovey our dear Jack has been on this trip.”
“And do you know what?” Jack said, smiling. “I’m so in love with this Botan babe, even the specter of Olympic-level teasing from Raina can’t spoil my mood!”
“I think that’s sweet.” Evelyn said.
“Even if we need an insulin shot with dessert?” Trevor quipped as he devoured his steak.
Jexo walked over to the table and sat next to me, having seated me on his right-hand side at the big table.
“Sorry for the interruption.” he said as he dug into his food. “I just got word back that the hellephants have disappeared. Too bad, too… their tusks fetch a high price.”
“If you like your ivory well done.” Trevor said.
“Do you have any word on who sent them?” I asked our host.
“No, and that troubles me most of all.” Jexo said, sitting down his fork. “I’m getting shut out on this, even by clients who would be very embarrassed if it was known what they’d bought off me in the past.”
“Even Kyle?” Trevor asked, shocked.
“Even him.” Jexo replied, shaking his head.
“Blimey, and I was with you when you got him that Rosicrucian dildo.” Trevor added, returning to his meal.
“I also have clients pulling out of deals to sell me their stuff.” Jexo continued. “Some of these deals were two years in the making, too. It’s like people are afraid to part with mystical objects.”
“The presence of wild magick makes everything murky.” Gaia said.
Jexo shrugged. “Magick is magick to me.” he said. “Doesn’t matter where it comes from.”
“We would appreciate it if you didn’t interfere with the cameras we’ve installed.” Katsu said. “We won’t be sharing anything… extra legal we might see with any authorities.”
“It would really help.” I added.
Jexo smiled. “Then they are safe from me and mine.” he said. He took another bite of his food. “You know, when my sources said that a new Sorceress had come into her power, I didn’t believe it. I honestly never expected to meet one in my lifetime.”
“How did they know?” I asked. “We were careful to not tell anyone… at least until I’m at full strength.”
“That kind of energy?” Jexo replied. “There were thousands of sensitives who noticed something was up. A few of them could even say what.”
I have no idea why I said what I said next… it just kind of jumped into my head.
“I may need to call upon you again, some time in the future.” I said. “It may even be in the hour of my greatest need. I want to know that you’ll answer the call.”
Jexo looked shocked for a moment, and then calmed his visage. “If there is breath in my body, I will answer your call.” he said.
Everyone was silent for several minutes. Then Jack spoke up.
“What’s for dessert?”
* * *
It wasn’t Fae weed. It wasn’t even Vincent weed.
But it’s still not bad.
I took a hit and exhaled slowly, tasting the complex terpine profile of that particular strain. I looked over at Gaia, seated on the sofa across from me, and raised my joint in salute.
She did the same. “I’ll admit, this is more comfy than the hammocks in the shelter.”
I shrugged. “I liked sleeping in the open air, in a hammock.”
“Yeah, but here we have real wood doors between us and the ‘Katsu loves Jack’ show.” she replied. “We don’t have to worry about the silencing spell failing at a disturbingly loud time.”
“Here’s to wood doors!” I said, toasting with my joint again.
Tiffany strode in, back ramrod straight, and stood before us. “Do either of you two ladies need anything?” she asked seriously.
“Yes.” I said, looking at her. “I need you to be one hundred percent truthful with me. Nothing that’s said will leave this room… okay?”
She shifted uncomfortably. “Yes mam.”
“Okay. Do you like to smoke weed?” I asked her seriously.
“Yes mam, I do.” she answered seriously.
“Then I need you to remove the stick from your butt, take your hair down, and smoke one with me.” I said, smiling.
She finally broke a grin and relaxed. She sat down on a chair between Gaia and me and took the fresh joint I passed her.
“So Sargent, is it okay to call you Tiffany?” I said.
“I’d prefer it, mam.” she said, lighting the doobie.
“And I’d prefer it if you didn’t call me ‘mam’.” I said, grinning. “I’m like, six years younger than you.”
“If you prefer, Lady Sorceress.”
“I’d prefer you to call me Annabelle.”
“I'll try, but I'm the second generation in the business. Everyone outside of my squad has been 'sir' or 'mam' my entire life." She exhaled, and finally seemed to start to relax.
“Second-generation, huh?" Gaia said next. "Who was in the business… your Dad? Mom?"
“Uncle." she replied. "My parents were career military intelligence whose mission went south and they never returned. Uncle Jex was their only next of kin, so I got shipped out here."
“Wait, Jexo’s your uncle?” I asked, surprised.
Tiffany nodded. “My Father was his youngest brother.”
“Well, I'm sorry to hear about your parents." I said. "My father died when I was young."
“I never knew mine.” she said without a hint of sadness. “They died when I was eleven months old.”
“So is your Uncle a good man?” Gaia asked.
“He’s been kind to me, even with the military discipline.” Tiffany answered. “He’s kept me out of most of the worst skirmishes, but has given me the tools to take care of myself when that can’t happen. He’s also raised me to take no shit from any man.”
“Here here!” Gaia said, raising her joint.
Tiffany and I returned the toast.
* * *
I awoke the next morning to the sun… okay, that artificial sun, being in the middle of a fairly large mountain… s
hining in through the pseudo-windows. I stretched, reveling in the ridiculous comfort of the bed I had slept in. I looked around to admire the interior of the room.
Antique vanity with a selection of top-shelf moisturizers and lotions… closet bigger than some apartments… what looks disturbingly like an original Monet… Greek bust on a pedestal… Gaia sleeping while sitting up in a chair… my own private bathroom…
I stopped short and glanced back. My green-skinned Fae friend was indeed fast asleep in a chair, her feet stretched in front of the door to alert her if anyone tried to open it in the night.
I climbed out of bed and put on the silk robe that had been brought to me the night before. I walked softly to the door, careful to not disturb her.
I was inches away from her.
“GOOD MORNING!” I shouted.
Gaia sprang up from her chair, letting three daggers fly as she did. They landed with three thunks!, lodging themselves in the wooden bedroom door. She looked around, ready for action, when she saw me standing there grinning.
“Really?” she said, hand on her hip.
“Uh, I could say the same thing to you.” I said, playfully shaking my finger at her. “I seem to remember you having your own room, with a far more comfortable bed?” I added, looking at the chair she had slept in.
“We’re sleeping in a mountain fortress loaded with mercenaries.” she said matter-of-factly. “With enough firepower in said mountain to level Colorado, I might add. I wanted to make sure that this wasn’t some elaborate trap.”
“Well, I appreciate your attention to detail,” I said, walking over to the closet, “but you can sleep in your bed tonight. I don’t know how I know, but Jexo isn’t going to do anything to harm me.”
“Fine.” she said. “But I’m going to switch with Evelyn tonight so I can have the room next door.” I started to protest, but she held up her hand. “I’ll sleep better if I do.”
“Fine.” I said back, smiling.
I opened the door and looked at the selection of dresses that Tiffany had scrounged up for me. They looked nice… far nicer than the sweats that Katsu got, I thought… and I picked a purple one that looked like it would reach just past my knees.
The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga Page 26