by Shona Husk
“We need Mason.”
“It’s his first holiday with his family in fifteen years. I’m not calling him. You’re going to have to get used to me.” Peyton held his gaze.
Sawyer refused to look away. Peyton smiled.
“Is this some kind of witchy pissing competition?” Cosima asked breaking the standoff. They both glanced at Cosima. She grinned. “I win.”
Sawyer blinked, shaking off the weight of Peyton’s stare. There’d been nothing unfriendly in it. He’d never been anything but considerate and helpful, but it always felt like Peyton knew he was better and anything nice he did was a handout. Sawyer knew it was his own issue, but he couldn’t shake it off. His gaze caught on Mason’s watch on the filing cabinet. Extra time.
He lifted his eyebrows at Cosima and tapped the side of his leg with one finger, before curling his fingers to his palm, hoping she remembered their old shop lifting code. Hoping he’d remembered it right. It had been a decade since he’d used it last.
As a distraction, Sawyer turned to face Peyton. “Who’s going to keep an eye on Mallory, so he stays alive?”
“Not you. You’re going home to deal with cops. You’re off the case unless the Morrigu tells me otherwise.”
“Are you going to ask Her?” Would She tell Peyton more than She’d told him?
“Are you?”
“Yeah, why not?” Sawyer stepped back, glanced at Cosima, and then walked out of the office.
She followed, hooking her arm through his, and dropping something metal and solid into his track pants pocket, before whispering in his ear. “I have no pockets…or underwear. Perhaps we could make a stop on the way back to your place. Maybe get breakfast, too?”
That was probably the best idea anyone had put forward.
Cosima didn’t know why Sawyer wanted her to take something, only that when she’d seen him tap his leg and curl his fingers that there was something behind her that he wanted—and it wasn’t the whole filing cabinet. When he’d moved to talk to Peyton, she’d glanced behind her and seen a watch and a plant pot. She figured he meant the watch. She also figured it had magic and that it would be best not to ask until they were out of the building.
Sawyer picked up his bag and acted as though he were doing exactly what was asked of him. As he walked past the desk, he called out to Oskar. “I’ll call you if I need help with the cops.”
Oskar picked up his car keys. “I’m driving you home.”
“We can catch a cab,” Sawyer said.
“No. I have to make sure you get there in one piece.”
Cosima smiled, hoping Oskar hated shopping. “I need some more clothes. Can we make a stop?”
Oskar studied her for a moment. “You can borrow some of Mylla’s pre-baby clothes.”
Before she could argue, he was on the phone and asking Mylla to come down.
“Whose Mylla?” she whispered to Sawyer.
“His wife. Long story, cursed house, evil great uncle. Mylla’s like a hundred or something.”
“What?” Was this woman immortal or just really old?
“Yeah, he’s a real toy boy.” Sawyer grinned.
Oskar glared at them and hung up. “She was cursed, and it’s taken her months to be able to get used to living.”
Cosima frowned. “Was she like sleeping beauty?”
“Not that kind of curse. She was bound by a witch using death magic and kept as his mute servant.”
“And Oskar broke the spell by getting her pregnant,” Sawyer added.
Oskar sighed. “That’s not what happened.”
“It is, effectively, but your version is boring.”
They argued like siblings who knew each other far too well. This was Sawyer’s family and it was better than anything he’d ever had before. They were worried about him being killed. She was worried about saving her own ass.
While Cosima hadn’t changed, he had. He’d fallen into a good life and was making the most of it. She’d returned to destroy it and drag him back into the shadowy mess where she existed.
She should walk away.
Sawyer put a hand over his heart as though wounded and Oskar laughed. Sawyer joined in. The joke between them. The lift chimed as it reached the ground floor and a young woman with a baby on her hip stepped out. She greeted Oskar with a kiss and Sawyer with a smile. Her gaze turned cool when it landed on Cosima.
So, this was the cursed princess. She didn’t look a day over twenty, and she’d certainly adopted modern fashion in skinny jeans and a long cardigan. The baby, wearing a green striped jumpsuit, chewed its fist. Oskar took the child and the baby flapped its arms and legs like it was going to fly away, but it was smiling clearly happy to see Daddy.
She doubted she’d ever done that for her own father. “Boy or girl?”
“Girl. Meredith, after my mother.” Oskar looked at her and nodded at Sawyer. “This place saved some of us from ourselves. The Morrigu takes but She also gives. It’s a foolish person who’d steal from Her.”
Was that warning? Was Oskar telling her to fuck off and not mess up Sawyer’s life?
She opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but Mylla handed her a plastic bag of clothes. “I tossed a few things in. Hopefully they’ll fit you.”
“Thanks.” Her smile felt brittle like it would crack her face.
The baby cooed at Oskar and patted his face. He kissed her, then handed her to Sawyer who pulled a face then smiled as soon as he had Meredith in his hands. Meredith squealed and gummed his cheek.
Cosima had never seen Sawyer with a baby before. It didn’t make sense. He wasn’t a responsible adult who could take care of a child. And yet Meredith seemed to know him well.
Oskar led her a couple of steps away, leaving Mylla, Sawyer, and Meredith making baby noises together.
“I can see what you want. It was on your face in the meeting. You can’t ask him to choose. It wouldn’t be fair.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Not directly. But I know about the ring, and I know what you meant to him. Think carefully about what you do next.”
“Or what? Your goddess will strike me down?”
“You wouldn’t be so flippant if you’d ever met Her.”
“Thank for the warning and the clothes.” She went to step away, but Oskar put a hand on her arm. He didn’t grab, but she couldn’t walk away either. There was magic in his touch, binding her in place. Her heart chilled and for a moment she was sure she couldn’t breathe.
“This isn’t always an easy life, but it’s a good one. I remember when Mason brought him in. I don’t want to see him that broken again.”
“What am I supposed to do, take off?”
“No. And you wouldn’t do that anyway. You want to live, it’s in your eyes. It’s the same hunger he had. Don’t take his to get yours, that’s all I’m saying. I think you still care enough about him to understand that.” He took his hand off her and she could move again.
She shuddered and sucked in a breath.
Oskar smiled. “Don’t fuck with witches, Cosima. We look after our own.”
She nodded but couldn’t find the words to respond.
Sawyer popped a kiss on Meredith’s forehead and handed her back. “Ready to go?” His gaze flicked from Oskar to her and back as though he knew something had happened.
Oskar swung his keys and smiled like they were all the best of friends. “All set.”
As it turned out, Sawyer didn’t need to fake being shocked at the state of his apartment. “Oh, Goddess. By the Morrigu’s eyeball hungry ravens, what the fuck?” He raked his fingers through his hair.
His door wasn’t anything more than some rather large splinters and he was very glad Oskar had come up with them—after taking in the damage to the car and asking if Sawyer had told Peyton about the crash yet, which he hadn’t because there were other more pressing issues.
“The wards are still intact but disarmed,” Oskar said before stepping through the hole.
Sawye
r grimaced as he placed his hand on the door frame. “Only a witch could’ve done that.” And they didn’t know who the witch was or what their natural talent was.
“Why has no one else called the cops?” Cosima asked.
“Wards,” both witches said.
Sawyer ushered her through the man-sized hole in his front door, there was no point in unlocking it. “It’s extremely hard to find my place unless you know me like you do or have a witch who doesn’t need to see with their eyes. Damn.”
Everything had been shot up. Pieces of his sofa and books and the trinkets that he’d spent time and effort imbuing with little spells were everywhere.
“Magic didn’t do this,” Cosima said.
“No. Once the witch brought them here, the goons with guns did the rest.” He stalked through the apartment. His bed had more lead than mattress and her room was no better. He stood in the bathroom doorway staring at the cracked reflection of himself. “Oh, come on. There was no reason to trash my bathroom.”
Oskar appeared beside him. “They were having fun.”
“Yeah, bet they pissed in the milk and stuck my toothbrush up their ass.”
Oskar smirked. “Well, I wouldn’t risk using it.”
“Can you curse them?”
“Do you really want to waste your energy making sure they suffer?”
He gritted his teeth. The answer was no. But he really wanted to say yes, and to hell with all the rules about magic and hexes.
“Call the cops.”
“What a pity I can’t sic Peyton on them.” Maybe he’d summon a hellhound to go after them and Bright thus solving all their problems. But a loose hellhound tended to create more of a mess, and they didn’t like going back when the hunt was done.
“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s a really bad idea,” Oskar said.
“I know. Just let me enjoy it for a moment before I have to be sensible.” Sawyer closed his eyes relishing the fantasy of Bright getting ripped apart. “You still think hellhounds are overkill? Bright invaded my home. I’m going to have to move. I liked this place.”
He’d made it a home. His first real one. It had been a sanctuary from the rest of the world and sometimes his coven members. He really didn’t want to be explaining the closet full of stolen goodies, or how he sometimes needed to feel like he still could steal on a whim to prove he could, just in case everything went wrong.
This was the very definition of going wrong.
“There’s a place above the coven you can use.”
“Great.” Living there, Sawyer would be under constant watch, and even though it would be coming from a place of concern it would still grate on his skin.
Stealing the sword and skewering Bright with it would solve a lot of his problems.
“Um…I don’t want to alarm anyone, but there’s something in the kitchen for Sawyer.” Cosima called.
Sawyer turned. “Don’t touch it!”
“Do you think I’m stupid? Don’t answer that, Sawyer.”
Sawyer almost managed a smile.
Oskar put a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s have a look at the present and then call the cops.”
“We can’t just back off. This isn’t a theft gone wrong, this is war.”
“It’s not war until we engage.”
Sawyer shrugged off Oskar’s hand. “It’s war and while we follow rules and laws Bright will mow us down and move on and then who’ll be there to stop him?”
Cosima was in the kitchen with the box. It had been placed on the floor, out of sight. Well placed and easily overlooked.
‘Sawyer’ was scrawled on the cardboard flap. Sawyer glanced at Oskar. “I’m not getting anything, You?”
“No.”
“Cosima?”
She squatted on the floor next to the box and examined it. “No ticking, no wires or other holes. Who wants to open it?”
“I will, just give me a moment.” He opened up the pocket in his bag and pulled out the yellow marker. A light breeze swirled through the apartment, and neatly flicked back the flaps on the box.
Sawyer peered into the box and rocked back just as fast. A dead raven with a steak knife through its heart stared sightlessly at the ceiling.
He looked up at Oskar. “Still think it’s not war?”
Chapter 9
Cosima got dressed in the borrowed clothing while waiting for the cops to show up. The jeans were a little too snug, biting into her waist, her own clothes were bullet peppered and full of glass and possibly evidence. She wanted to leave and be miles away, but she’d brought this trouble to Sawyer’s door. She might as well have been the one shooting up his furniture and leaving dead birds in his kitchen.
Sawyer spoke to the cops, grim faced, and called her an old friend who was visiting. Not girlfriend, past or present. And she didn’t correct him. It was best she stayed in his past. She was all the bad things he’d escaped. If she stayed all she’d do was drag him down or get him killed.
There’d been a time when they’d been good together…or what had passed for good back then. Her gaze took in his apartment, the destruction of the nice things he’d filled it with, and she realized she didn’t belong here. Where her life intersected with his there was only damage.
Oskar lied smoothly and told them Sawyer and Cosima been visiting him. And that Sawyer was the godfather to his kid, and they worked together. Yes, it was possible Sawyer had made an enemy working with the Uncommon Raven Agency. The cops lapped it up, nodding and making sympathetic noises. And the almost lies continued as the questions kept flowing.
The two witches kept her role in the mess out of the cops’ notes. She was nothing, a no one. Something they shouldn’t even pay attention to. The cops asked her a few questions and moved on. If they ran her name, they’d know who she was, but for the moment they weren’t cuffing her and dragging her out of there. Yet. But her knuckles were white as she gripped the edge of the chair.
The crime scene people showed up next and they were all ushered out as if they had somewhere to go—back to Oskar’s was the suggestion from the cops.
Would her apartment be in better shape? It wouldn’t be as safe. Bright had made it clear nowhere was safe.
The three of them made their way to the stairs. “What now? Why didn’t you mention—”
Sawyer lifted his hand. “Because that bird was a threat to all of us. We don’t name names.” He glanced at Oskar. “Peyton was right. I can’t believe I’m saying that, but the coven can’t be involved.”
“Sawyer, you can’t do this alone.”
“And I can’t do it with you. It’s too dangerous for the coven. There are families to think about. I don’t have a family. It’s just me. And if I don’t do something about the sword then who knows what Bright does next? You don’t want this happening to the coven, or the apartments above.”
Oskar looked away. “You’re not going to lie low and be safe, are you?”
“No. Did you think I would?”
Cosima put her hand on Sawyer’s arm. “This isn’t your mess. I shouldn’t have come.”
She saw that now. She’d been scared and alone and had run for the one person she trusted. But she’d thought Sawyer would do one last job with her. She’d misjudged how much he’d changed and how little she had.
She was the same old girl, always keeping an eye for the next job, never looking beyond, always running and never looking back. Sawyer had stopped and found stability, built something. Two days with her and she ripped it all down. The best thing she could do for him was walk away and never come back.
Something tore inside her. She still liked him…she wanted to be part of this new life with its illusion of safety and family. But she had no idea how to make herself fit.
She couldn’t fit. She wasn’t a witch. She was a thief and part of his past not his future, no matter how good it felt to have his hand around hers as they leaped over buildings and broke into the coven. For those few minutes, they’d owned the world.
They hit the sidewalk and walked to the cars.
“It’s what we do. It’s still a job to me, but we need time to regroup.” Sawyer glanced at Oskar as though he didn’t believe his own words. He didn’t have plan. “I’ll give you a call from my hotel room.”
Oskar nodded and handed him the car keys as they walked down the stairs. “Take this one. I’ll take the one Bright knows about.”
“You sure?” Sawyer pulled out the car keys and dangled them.
“Yeah.” Oskar grinned and took the keys. “You can stay in hiding while Peyton fumes about the damage.”
“I miss Mason,” Sawyer said with a sigh that made Cosima realize she wanted Sawyer to talk about her that way.
Had he ever or had she soured every memory? That night was etched in her mind. She shouldn’t have listened to Anthony; she should’ve trusted Sawyer the way she always had before then. But the fear he would leave them had been making Anthony pick at everything until Sawyer and he were arguing all the time. She’d sided with her brother. With blood. But family wasn’t made of blood. It was made with love and concern and actually wanting what was best for the other person instead of yourself.
“We all do, but he’d have chewed you out, too. I don’t think he’d have a fast solution to Bright.” Oskar gave Sawyer a hug. “Good luck.”
They’d need more than luck if they didn’t hand the sword over. Sure, Bright would misuse the power, but the power ran out. How long could the power of one dead witch keep the sword charged? And when it ran out, Bright would just be another thug with an expensive toy. She’d get the sword, hand it over, and this would all go away.
She’d go away. Move west and start over. She had enough in the bank that she could get a cheap place to live and sensible job like working in retail. Or maybe she’d finish school and learn how to do something. Have an actual career, something she could be proud of. Could she become a private investigator like Sawyer? Without the magic of course.
Sawyer pressed the button to unlock the new vehicle. Cosima felt a push before the ground bucked like one of Sawyer’s spells. The air snapped and then parts of car flew toward her before sliding away as though hitting an invisible wall. Her ears rung.