Death's Endless Enchanter

by Ruby Loren

  “It might sound strange, but the best thing to do is to ignore him and hope he goes away,” Tor said, sounding tired. “He’ll probably try and trip you up, of course… a few death curses here and there, but you’ve already come up against those, haven’t you? They most likely won’t work on you. Once he figures that out, there’ll be more trap-type spells - like the ones the last bounty hunter left. You’ll just have to treat him as another, much less sneaky, bounty hunter,” Tor concluded.

  An idea popped into January’s head, triggered by Tor’s mention of the last hunter. “Hey, what about Leah? She’s better at magic than me and could probably knock Bob off his perch.”

  “It might be worth asking her to help,” Tor said, stroking the little black rabbit. It made a weird purring sound and continued to eye January.

  She’d told Tor all about Leah and the showdown with the wolves and the witches.

  “Asking…? I was thinking more along the lines of sending Bob a message saying ‘Hey, just to let you know, I’m not king of the castle around here…’ and then add in Leah’s name and address. Job done! Thanks Tor.” She grinned at him.

  He tried not to look pained and failed. Honour must have been more of a big deal in his day.

  “Good luck,” he finished.

  January stood up. She looked down at the creepy rabbit once more and pulled a face.

  Tor made a sound of amusement when the bunny’s fur stood up on end and it bared its tiny teeth at her. “Don’t worry, you’re not the only one he hasn’t taken to. He hates Simon. I hope they both come around soon. Neither of them know it, but I’ve left Jinx to Simon in my will. It’s a magical contract, so Simon can’t worm his way out, for once…”

  January smiled a little at the thought of someone as self-centred as Simon having to look after a rabbit that hated him.

  “Will he live that long?” She asked, meaning the rabbit.

  She noticed the guilty look that crossed Tor’s face.

  “Ah, well… he’s not under a spell, per se, but there may have been an experimental potion I was testing on a pet shop rabbit and, well…” He trailed off.

  January decided to let it lie. An evil genius rabbit was not her biggest problem at the moment.

  It was the perfect night for a full moon meet. Or at least it would have been, January reflected, had there not been uninvited visitors.

  “What are you doing here? Is spending every day with me not enough?” January said, coming up behind Leah. The vampire stood downwind of the clearing where January’s pack met every full moon.

  “Perhaps I fancied a walk in the woods,” she said, flicking her annoying, pixie cut hair.

  January snorted. “We’re both meant to be staying at a hotel in London. Even for you, it’s a long walk to get to this forest.”

  Leah opened her mouth, probably to add in some nonsense about being homesick.

  January turned her eyes to slits. “Why are you here?”

  “In case you hadn’t noticed, on this night, people tend to be able to predict exactly where you’ll be. This is the most obvious time for an attack by a hunter.”

  January rolled her eyes. “So, what, you’re here to watch the show?

  “I said I’d protect you. You’re a magical curiosity,” Leah said and then shut her mouth. A light crease furrowed her brow, as something she didn’t know how to explain occurred to her. It didn’t happen often to a vampire of her age. “Why, when I arrived home, did I find a card through my letterbox asking if I was challenging someone called Bob El Muerto, King of the Magicians to his title?” Leah asked and January sniggered, just a little. “Is it some kind of party?” Leah looked genuinely baffled.

  January found she couldn’t wait for Leah and Bob to meet. He would be so disappointed to know that yet another person hadn’t heard of him.

  “Just a small magical annoyance that I was hoping you could handle, seeing as you’re protecting me,” January said, smiling sweetly.

  The crease in Leah’s brow didn’t go away but she said nothing more.

  “Have you already spoken to Gregory tonight?” January asked, finally having to acknowledge the tall, blonde vampire who’d been waving at them from across the clearing for the past five minutes. January was not looking forward to Joe seeing Gregory. It was like having an embarrassing ex turn up at your first proper date.

  “No, and I don’t intend to. If he wants to keep his life, he’ll stay across that clearing. His death still means money and favour,” Leah said, her voice flat. January knew that favour with The Clan was what she cared about, especially as Leah was dangerously close to joining The Clan’s opposition - or so she claimed, anyway.

  “I think I’ll leave him there,” January said and sighed.

  “Do you think he knows he’s standing where every shifter for miles around can smell him?” Leah asked, disdainfully.

  January’s mouth twisted. Gregory knew full well where he was standing and that everyone would know all about it. Being the centre of attention was one of his favourite pastimes. “He knows,” she said and then left Leah to it. Perhaps she could persuade one of the bird shifters to poo on both the vampires’ heads.

  January turned around at the sound of leaves crunching beneath the densely packed trees. Ryan and Bella walked up on top of the clearing brow, standing next to her.

  January made a special effort to smile at Bella.

  “How are you? Did I hear you’ve been having a bit of trouble with a mad magician who wants to take on the world’s only enchanter?” Bella asked, politely.

  January half-nodded and then frowned. How was it that everyone knew? She still needed to look into that.

  “I’m hoping it can all be smoothed over,” she said in response to Bella’s words.

  Actually, she was hoping that Leah would trample all over him.

  “Hey, Ryan… I don’t mind, but did you tell anyone about the whole enchanter thing?” She asked, inwardly cringing. Her potential immortality had been a sore subject between them when they’d been together. Ryan shook his head.

  “Nope, but everyone seems to know. I didn’t even tell Bella, she heard it from one of the bar regulars,” he said.

  “Huh,” January said, wondering about Leah and then dismissing that idea. Leah didn’t talk to the locals. She considered them all beneath her. She’d told The Clan about January but January didn’t think they’d have started spreading that piece of information around either. It wouldn’t do to let the world know that there was a potential new power on the board, unless they were using the information to make her into a kill challenge. She shook her head. The Clan had always used money to get their way and she doubted they’d change tactics now. Anyway, the fact she was a unicorn was surely enough to excite trophy hunters, without needing to advertise the enchanter detail.

  As unlikely as it seemed, that left her with Tor.

  “Hi,” a deep voice said.

  January turned to see Joe step out from the trees to the side of her. She tried not to react too obviously, feeling super conscious that Ryan and Bella were both looking from Joe to her, curiously.

  “Did you know that there are two vampires watching us?” Joe asked.

  He looked at a complete loss when Ryan sighed and looked heavenwards and January ran a hand down her face.

  “That’s Gregory and Leah. Annoying, aren’t they?” She said and then waited for Joe to piece together who Gregory and Leah were from the story she’d told him. He looked surprised.

  “They’re here together?” He asked.

  January shook her head. “Nope, but let’s just not talk about them and pretend they’re not here,” she said, pasting a bright and breezy smile on her face. This full moon meet and first proper date were already not going as smoothly as she’d planned.

  “Looks like it’s show time,” Joe said, lowering his head in the direction of the clearing below them. Three wolves, a bear, and a couple of dogs had turned up and were regarding each other with suspicion. Janua
ry stepped forwards with Joe by her side and stayed that way, standing and watching, while the clearing gradually filled up with the local shifters and wolves.

  “Listen!” Joe said, raising his voice so it came out more like a roar. For a second, January wondered if he wasn’t a wolf after all, but then she realised it was just that he was an alpha. A real alpha.

  Every animal was silent, and even January felt the urge to bend to his leadership.

  “I’m Joe Milan, leader of the Witchwood wolf pack. From now on, we are to be united. We are not one pack, but two that will share and not fight. If there is a challenge against the shifter pack, or the wolf pack, anyone daring to challenge will face the displeasure of both packs. That is how things will be. I am with January and she is with me, just as our packs shall be,” he finished, reaching down for January’s hand and holding it clasped in his, high above their heads.

  January tried not to react.

  In the café, they’d talked briefly about potentially joining the packs together. She’d expected Joe to come and introduce himself to her and the rest of the shifters, but that had been about it. It looked like he’d decided to make the rules up all by himself. She shot him a sideways glance. He arched a dark eyebrow at her. What are you going to do? He seemed to say. In response, January changed, prompting Ryan and Bella to do the same.

  Joe stood for a moment before her, looking up at the huge black unicorn with the same wonder that almost everyone had the first time they saw her. Then he grinned and changed, too. January found she was now face to face with a large, black wolf, with touches of gold here and there. The wolf maintained eye contact with January. Below them, in the bowl of the clearing, no one breathed.

  In principal, January couldn’t find anything wrong with Joe’s proposal, other than the way it tied them so tightly together. What she didn’t like, was the way he hadn’t told her what he was going to do. He’d taken control when they were meant to be equals.

  Have a good night, January said, speaking the words directly into his head. He winced and took a step backwards. January felt a smile within her.

  There. Now they were closer to being even.

  She neighed and kicked her hooves at the sky, tossing her long, black mane, before galloping away through the forest, as fast as the tightly packed trees would allow.

  The full moon run had begun.

  But January had something else she wanted to take care of that night. After reaching the open space of the fields, she tore back towards her home, faster than any vampire could ever run. The energy of the full moon filled her with a buzz that made her want to gallop forever, but there was a mystery she wanted solved right now.

  “Hi Tor,” she said, when she reached the door and it opened to reveal the old man dressed in a rather impressive, embroidered dressing gown. Fortunately, the angry rabbit was nowhere to be seen.

  “Is anything wrong?” He asked, rather pointedly.

  January felt a stab of guilt at the time. She’d had to go home, put on clothes, and then drive across to Tor’s after the full moon meet. Running through a residential area (despite the residents all being bewitched) in black unicorn form was not a good idea.

  “Do you know how everyone knows that I’m an enchanter? To my knowledge, only you, Leah, and Ryan, were in on that. I’ve asked Ryan and he hasn’t told anyone else. I don’t think it’s Leah, either,” she said, leaving the rest unsaid. She was almost certain that she was wrong, so she didn’t want to accuse her magical mentor.

  To her surprise, Tor looked deeply unhappy. “The solution to that mystery, I’m afraid, can be found relatively close by… and unfortunately, on the internet,” he said.

  January recognised his tone of voice. He only ever used that tone when talking about one person.

  Simon.

  10

  It was three ‘o clock in the morning and she’d been staring at the laptop screen in mute horror for over an hour. Every now and then she made a sound of disbelief and kept on reading.

  It was a disaster.

  It was the worst thing that could ever happen.

  Simon had a blog.

  “Everything! He’s put everything on here!” January said aloud and tried her hardest not to start pulling actual chunks of her own hair out.

  Simon’s blog was basically a place where he’d dumped all that he’d overheard while living in her house as a cat, plus any new titbits that had reached his ears too. She was pretty sure that she was intended to be the main topic for the foreseeable future, too, as the blog had the catchy title of ‘Unicorn… Uncovered!’

  The web address was also very Simon. He’d opted for: www.blackcatblogsandbakes.com. Perhaps he’d been afraid she’d search out herself on the internet if he’d used black unicorn in the title. As if I have time to worry about monitoring the internet! She thought.

  At first, she’d wondered why the Official Board of Shifters hadn’t got involved. Simon was pretty much outing the entire community online, but then she’d read the comments. Half of the readers thought that Simon’s blog was some exceedingly messed up, yet intriguing, work of fiction. Then the other half, who also talked about shifter business, were seen to be role-playing.

  January growled. The internet was full of idiots.

  Next, she wondered how she was still alive. A lot of people had read this blog. It really did share everything - including her enchanter status and even detailed descriptions of the fights with bounty hunters that Simon had either been present for, or had heard details afterwards. Anyone reading the blog would have a pretty good idea of the places she liked to go, and even her style of fighting and magical ability level.

  “I am going to KILL him!” She said, her fingers darting across the keyboard, as she made herself a new account. There were already so many ‘black unicorn’ name accounts already in use, she did the only thing that she knew would get Simon’s attention as - surprise surprise - he hadn’t shared the details of his own life on the blog.

  She gave herself the username ‘Jinxblackrabbit’ and wrote:

  You’re dead.

  A minute later, a reply popped up from ‘Blackcatbakery’.

  Oops! ;)

  “I’ll give you ‘oops’!” She growled and started imagining all the ways in which she would make that sneak, Simon, suffer. “I kept you in cat food and this is the thanks I get!” She slammed the lid of her laptop shut so hard that she heard the screen shatter. She’d forgotten all about the extra full moon energy floating around.

  Oh well, it was nothing that her bank account couldn’t stretch to cover.

  “Maybe I should buy myself a private island and live there on my own forever.” She tilted her head, realising it wasn’t such a bad idea, before she shook herself. “And miss all of this fun? Who am I kidding…”

  Her stubborn streak dictated that she wasn’t leaving town until she’d come out on top. If things carried on the way they were going, she’d probably still be living in Hailfield come the next century.

  When January arrived at the Black Cat Bakery the next morning, she half-expected Simon to be gone. She had given him a heads up, after all, and she hadn’t thought he’d be one for confrontation.

  She could see him through the window, standing behind the counter and handing out what looked like a homemade newsletter. January felt her anger rise when a woman walked past her, out of the shop, holding a newsletter with a cartoon of a black unicorn and a black wolf surrounded by love hearts. She only just resisted the temptation to put her hand under the box and flip the cake the woman had bought straight into her face. To add insult to injury, she recognised the smell of her very own chocolate cake recipe, which Simon had stolen.

  January walked into the shop and got all the way up to the counter before Simon turned and saw her. He jumped back a little.

  January inwardly smiled, knowing he’d seen everything written on her face.

  “January! How are you?” He said, recovering and putting on his best customer greeting
grin.

  She didn’t change her expression “Not so good, some complete idiot has been writing about my life online and has shared so much detail that even a dormouse could kill me.”

  Simon looked like he was struggling to swallow and January didn’t blame him. He wasn’t too far off being on her own personal ‘to kill’ list. Witch or not, she still thought she’d get the drop on Simon.

  “Hey, we’re closing for an hour!” Simon called to a couple of people, who were lingering over cups of coffee.

  To be fair, Simon’s bakery wasn’t really meant to be ‘eat in’. Everything was served in takeaway packaging, January realised. The ex-black cat marched over to the door and flipped the little label, practically pushing people out onto the street.

  “I hope you don’t lose them as customers,” January said, not meaning it in the slightest.

  Simon shrugged. “They’ll come back,” he said, way too confidently.

  January stared at a cup of coffee that had been left on the table and noticed the faint blue glow of magic. “What! You can’t bewitch people’s coffee! I bet that’s not allowed…” She said, not actually having any idea if there were rules in magic, or who was around to keep them.

  “I’m just giving them a little brand loyalty,” Simon said, smirking. “The real challenge is getting them through the door in the first place. That’s where the blog has been sooo helpful. I just add on the end of each post that the very latest news can be picked up for free at the bakery. Hordes of people visit and then they buy cake and coffee.” He made a grabbing motion with his hand. “Gotcha!” When January didn’t look amused, he ruffled his brown hair and looked down at the printed newsletter. “It’s hilarious. Half the people think I’m a genius fiction writer and the other half are just addicted to the local gossip.” He raised his eyes to hers. “In case you’re interested, I don’t think people are going to go for the whole bass player for James Phoenix thing. It’s way too fan-girly to put that in.”