by Kiki Howell
He cringed but finally answered, “Yes, Hades, this is an emergency. It’s about that witch Samantha Smith. The one you had me be the judge, jury, and executioner on?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
That wasn’t exactly the response he’d been looking for and he could hear the anger in Hades voice and thought that he could literally see the flames of the underworld lighting up his eyes even though Hades was not in the room with him the heat was definitely still there. No point backing down now he had already pissed Hades off, might as well go for what he had originally intended and figuring out why this gigantic man was going after Samantha.
“No, I’m not fucking kidding you. You told me you wanted me to handle this case. I did that so you could have sexy time with your goddess.” He air-quoted goddess, even if Hades couldn’t see him.
“I decided after reading her case file I would pay her two-hundred and fifty thousand fine if she would give me a piece of her scrumptious ass. It was obvious she didn’t have the money to pay the fine. She jumped on the chance, like I’d hoped she would.” He got distracted at the memory for a second before he shook his head and continued.
“Now, there is some freak in the office looking at the case files on your fucking desk. He took Samantha’s. He told me he’s not allowed to disclose anything and if I wanted to know more information I would have to get it directly from you. So, if you’re going to get your panties in a twist you can just throw that male aggression at that guy.”
He glanced over his shoulder to look at the guy and started swearing violently. The guy was nowhere to be found. Fuck. Where had that dickhead gone?
“Why do you want to know about this girl?” Hades question caught him off-guard.
“Because I would like to try to pursue a relationship with her that’s why. Now there some gigantic asshole after her? Yes, that kind of makes my hackles rise. Who the fuck is this guy?” He forgot to breathe for a moment while he waited for Hades to respond.
Hades was quiet for a minute. “He’s a Trapper by the name of Rune.” Those words sank in and Onyx felt sick to his stomach. Trappers were the best bounty hunters in the supernatural community. They were loyal once they accepted a hunt. They took the highest bidder. Failure was not in their vocabulary. Those traits with their loyalty meant if hired they would be faithful and they would deliver as promised. What in the world had this girl done that she had a Trapper after her?
“Why the fuck is a Trapper after her? I’m paying the fine for her she should be in the clear of any charges. Did you hire him?” He tensed. If Hades had hired him, he would officially quit by ripping Hades head off his body. Let a Greek god survive that.
“Me? Why would I want her? No, Lucifer wanted the girl. I owed her a favor and she made not interfering part of that favor. I told Rune he could look at her case file in my office and get the information he needed to deliver her.”
“Why does Lucifer want her?” he spoke through clenched teeth.
“How the fuck would I know? We didn’t sit around drinking tea and brushing our little dollies hair. Ask her your bloody self if you care that much.”
Hades gave a snort, “You might come back as a pile of ash. If you think your balls are big enough go play with the devil. Let me know how that works for you. If you die I’m taking it out of your retirement plan before I resurrect you. Good help is hard to find.” With those final words, Onyx heard a click and then realized he’d been hung up on.
“Thanks for the pep talk. Asshole,” he muttered as he slammed the phone down.
He needed a plan. First, he needed to be able to travel in sunlight. The sun didn’t kill him; however, the intense rays could leave him in a severely weakened state. Two, he needed to find Samantha so that he could keep her safe.
An idea on how to take care of both of those struck him with clarity. He started to make a couple phone calls so he could do just that.
Who knew having a witch as a mate would involve a faceoff with Satan?
Chapter Three
SAMANTHA STARED BLANKLY at her computer screen at work. How could she focus on anything when her memories of her night with Onyx kept replaying in her head? He hadn’t been kidding when he’d told her he had many things to teach her. Sweet things. Delicious things. Wicked things. There was no doubt in her mind that he had ruined her for all future lovers.
Bastard.
Maybe that wouldn’t be a problem. At the end of the night he’d programmed his phone number into her phone and told her he’d be more than happy to give her sexy witch ass lessons anytime. She’d rolled her eyes at him and told him you wish. Not because she hadn’t enjoyed their time together, she most definitely had. However, he was a little cocky for his immortal vampire britches. No need to inflate his ego any more than it already was.
Make him wait. Make him fidget. Make him question himself and his sexual powers. After that Samantha would gradually let him into her life. That is what she called ego check. She didn’t want to be seen as easy or desperate just because he knew how to work her body like a fine-tuned piano.
Three days had passed since that night at Club Diablo. Three days where she had her witch powers. Three days where she had her measly thirty-four dollars in her bank account. Three days where her head was attached to her shoulders. Any day she can wake up and live was a win in her book.
“Samantha Smith?” a deep male voice came from behind her and she bit her tongue before she slipped and gave her usual “yes” response. Her hesitation came from the tone of this man’s voice. If steel, razorblades, and barbed wire had a sound, it would be this dude’s voice. It gave her a serious case of heebie jeebies. The kind that traveled up your back, into your neck and shoulders and crawled across your arms. It was the sound of a dangerous predator and she barely managed to keep the shudders invisible to anyone but her.
Samantha swiveled in her office chair to see who was asking. After getting that letter a few days ago she wasn’t going to be volunteering her name to random strangers anytime soon. Her first initial response on keeping her mouth shut was accurate.
The hulk behind her looked like he bench-pressed vehicles for a living and ate small, helpless kittens for breakfast. Ropes of muscle piled on top of more muscle had her eyes widening before she could reel in her reaction. Samantha feigned a quick cough to cover up her gasp and proceeded to fake cough while holding up the one finger universal response for just a second.
Quickly analyzing her options Samantha decided there was no way in hell she was admitting to this guy that Samantha Smith was indeed her. Until she figured out what this man’s purpose was she was officially going into incognito mode.
Samantha gave the man a brilliant hundred-watt smile, “Sorry about that, I think I swallowed my gum.”
The beast gave a swift smile that was all teeth, “I get that a lot. Samantha Smith?” he again inquired looking her straight in the eye.
He was waiting for Samantha to mess up and give him clues that she wasn’t being honest. He could look all he wanted. Growing up as a witch in a family who could spot lies before a person even spoke, had taught her at a young age how to cover up her tracks. Well that and her awesome older cousin Mystic who had taught her all kinds of things at a young age. This “monster” didn’t stand a chance.
Without looking away or blinking she gazed at the man’s surprisingly beautiful turquoise eyes. Samantha let herself get lost in them for a moment before she replied, “I’m sorry Samantha is out for lunch right now. I can let her know you stopped by Mr.?” Samantha waited patiently without any movement for his response.
Everyone in the paranormal world knows that when faced with a dangerous predator your best bet for safety was no sudden movements. Movements attracted the animalistic side of predators, even if they weren’t shifters.
He still watched Samantha, silently assessing her and she knew he was trying to decide if she was lying or not. If Samantha could get away lying to her powerful witch family, this guy didn�
�t stand a chance. She made sure to watch him back and even raised an eyebrow to show her impatience at waiting.
Glancing over at the cluttered desk he finally spoke again in that voice that made her ears want to bleed, “There’s a plaque on the desk that says Samantha Smith. Are you sure you aren’t her?”
Without missing a beat, she repeated, “She’s out to lunch. She’s one of our office temps who does work for everyone on the team here, which means some of everyone’s files are always on her desk. If she’s not here we come over and print or email off what we need.”
Samantha rolled her eyes as if impatient, “Look buddy, do you want to leave Samantha a note or not? I need to get back to work or I could lose my job. Message or not?” She snapped the last part impatiently to get her point across.
The man held up his hands, as if in surrender. “No, that’s okay. I can check back later. Do you know what time she’ll be back?”
Never. She was quitting and hiding till she figured out what the hell was going on.
Samantha looked over at the clock on the wall. 11:45 AM. Perfect.
“She should be back by 12:30, at the latest. Though she’s kind of flakey at times and takes longer lunches than she should so it could be upwards of 1 PM.”
He nodded. “I’ll just come back a bit later then. Thanks for your help.” For a man of his size he turned quickly and melted back into the office area. Before she could blink he was gone.
Samantha gave a sigh of relief and quickly formed a battle plan in her mind. First, grab everything she needed from her cubicle. Literally everything. Samantha hated to quit her job in such a manner but safety first.
First, she started to shovel everything off her cheap wooden desk into her large black purse that had been resting under her chair. The picture of her cousin, Mystic, and her last year at the Annual Witches Do It Better party. Samantha gave a quick smile remembering the fun they’d had stirring up trouble and getting the Elders all riled up. Good times.
Second, she got down on her hands and knees and quickly unplugged her phone and wrapped the charger to fit more neatly in her purse.
Third, Samantha quickly saved all her computer files that were currently open on her desk. If things worked out and she wasn’t in danger she could always claim she’d been sick and hopefully get her job back.
Getting a job at The Acquired Pen, aka T.A.P for short, had taken a small miracle. And possibly a favor or two to friends who worked there. Okay, really giant favors. One of those favors had already been claimed by Sassy Rivers. That favor had nearly cost Samantha the use of her magic and her life and let’s not forget eternal damnation of her soul.
Note to self: Include disclaimers about acceptable use of her magic. Favors rendered should not include any possible harm to self or break any magical rules. On a normal day, Samantha would have accounted for that. But getting a job at T.A.P. was like getting into college at Harvard. Almost impossible unless someone owed you some favors.
Samantha’s biggest goal in life was to live. If she wasn’t breathing, that counted as a big suck in the negative column and once she started getting in the negative column it would be hard to pull herself back out of it.
She could hear people shuffling around the office. Some were answering phones with a chirp in their voice. Others huddled around the water cooler spreading gossip but pretending to quench their thirst. She rolled her eyes. Seems it didn’t matter where you worked nowadays there were always assholes talking shit about the next scandalous thing.
The problem? The water cooler was right by the exit. Samantha needed to get by at least three women and one of those women was Britney Jones. Everyone in the office worshiped her, even though she was a downright mean and nasty bitch.
Long, lustrous brunette locks cascaded down her shoulders, enhancing her perky boobs and tiny waist. Samantha didn’t even want to get started on Britney’s long, fit legs. All the men in the office wanted to fuck her and all the women in the office wanted to be her friend. The women were probably nice ladies by themselves but they turned to gossip girls when around her. The thing about bullies was if you were in their inner circle, you weren’t being gossiped about. Too many women had low self-esteem and not nearly enough courage to stand up to someone who could make their life a living hell in the office.
Britney Jones hated Samantha’s guts. Her first day on the job Britney had tried to gossip with her and when Samantha wouldn’t join in on her making fun of other people in the office she had sealed her fate. Samantha had a bright pink X on her back from Britney and her cronies and quite frankly Samantha didn’t give a fuck.
Bullies only had power over you if you let them. Besides, on a magical scale? She was barely above human if her weak red magic was anything to go by. Samantha’s magic? A rippling ten plus of shimmering purple magic that could knock a dinosaur on his ass.
The fun part was no one in her magical office had any idea what they were dealing with. Samantha’s powers would raise more than a few eyebrows and she liked to stay out of the limelight. That meant dimming her power to basically Britney’s level.
The advantage? When the bully crew tried any stunts on anyone in the office Samantha threw some spells around to keep them occupied with something other than their mouths. Her favorite was the dog poop that somehow ended up under the “Crew’s” shoes. Inside and everything. They were scratching their heads for days on how poop could possibly be between their toes.
Picking up her purse Samantha slowly made her way towards the exit. As predicted Britney slid in front of her before she could get out. When Samantha had glanced at her computer monitor before logging out it had been exactly noon. She had a limited time to get out of here before serial killer looking man returned. If he asked Britney where Samantha Smith worked she’d throw her under the bus in a heartbeat. Samantha didn’t plan to give her that chance.
“Going somewhere, Sammy?” Britney’s voice was honey sweet laced with barbed wire. She’d be a great fit for that mammoth beast of a man if attraction was based on voice alone. Her long brown hair was coiled at the top of her head today. She trailed a perfectly manicured claw across Samantha’s black bag before giving her a vicious smile that was all teeth.
Flicking Britney’s hand off her bag like she was a pesky fly, Samantha gave her a return smile. “Yeah, I’m heading home.”
Britney glared at Samantha while propping a hand on her hip, “The office doesn’t close till five. You're still on probation. Takes working here for more than a few weeks to get special treatment. I should know.” She bragged in a condescending tone. If her nose got any higher in the air, it would touch the sun.
Mentally, Samantha sent magical tendrils out to the entire office minus Britney and her two sidekicks. There was a mad dash for the door, people practically mowing them down in the process. The sudden urge to go number two was the only thing on anyone’s mind at that point. Samantha held back her snicker. Magic had its benefits sometimes.
“Oh, did you miss the email? We’re closing at lunchtime today so the big bosses can have some kind of private meeting about growth or something.” Smiling sweetly, Samantha sent out more magic to send an email to just Britney and her crew about the emergency meeting that popped up and that everyone could go home.
“There was no email you dumb twit. We never close work early. Why they hired you I’ll never know.” Her friend Suzy held a phone and started to nudge Britney. Looking annoyed Britney leaned down and her associate whispered something in her ear and her green eyes widened slightly.
“Well, maybe you aren’t so dumb, after all. No wonder everyone practically trampled me on their way out.” She stalked off to her desk to grab her purse and while she was occupied Samantha made her escape out the door and hightailed it to the front of the building as fast as her legs could carry her.
As Samantha jumped in her white sedan she felt no remorse. Britney and her crew would be leaving work to go terrorize some other poor bastard the rest of the day. In less
than fifteen minutes, those who had the bathroom emergency would appear back in the office. Samantha might be missing from work, but she left a note on her desk that she had an out of town family emergency and would be back as soon as she could.
The nasty crew would get tagged as walking out of work for no apparent good reason and they’d probably get detailed to clean the bathroom on their return since they didn’t let anyone know they were leaving. If anyone deserved to clean a bathroom with a toothbrush with no magic, those two deserved it the most. Samantha snorted quietly to herself as she revved her engine and pulled out of the parking lot.
She needed to find her cousin, Mystic. She already knew about the Sassy disaster and Samantha’s night with the vampire. She could stay with her while she figured out why a man that looked like a serial killer was asking about her.
The magical community has a survival saying, “Two is one and one is none.” Which basically meant by herself Samantha was fucked. With her cousin, she was safer than alone in a potentially unfriendly situation.
Potential kitten killer classified as a hostile fucking situation. She was screwed.
Chapter Four
ONYX SAT AT Hades desk, feet propped up, leaned back in the plush leather chair. He needed to figure out a way to help Samantha but he didn’t know what he could do. Hades was a dickhead. Rocking his foot back and forth his gaze landed on Hades personal black book.
If Hades couldn’t help him and maybe this little book could. He started to scan through the book looking for something - for anything - that he could use to his advantage. He was nearing the end of the book when he got to the W’s. There was one listing and all it said was Witch owed favor and had a phone number.
