Taken

by Jennifer Blackstream

  Andy started to say something, but I cut him off. I really wasn’t ready to talk about this yet.

  “I’m really surprised he’s leaving me here. I thought he’d make me stay with him, like a pet. But apparently, he wants me to keep doing what I’m doing, only now he has the right to interfere if he wants to. He can demand I share information; he can make me work for him if there’s a case he needs solved. If he wanted to, he could force me to use my magic to further his own ends.”

  “Could he make you kill someone?”

  We were on shaky ground now. “Maybe,” I said. “He couldn’t tell me to go out and kill someone. I’m a witch, and if I used magic to kill like that, not in defense of someone but killing for gain, then I could lose my magic. It’s like being forsworn, a violation of honor.”

  “So witches can’t kill people for personal gain?”

  “They can. But it would be a foolish risk, unless their patron approved of cold-blooded murder.”

  “Their patron?”

  I rubbed my temple. “This is going to get complicated. We can talk about how people gain magic another time, when I’ve had more sleep. Suffice it to say, a witch gets her power from a patron. It could be a god or a goddess, or some other being with magic. And that patron can take the power away, if they choose.” I waved a hand. “In any case, that’s why most witches rely on curses instead of outright killing people.”

  “So Flint could make you curse someone.”

  “Yes.”

  “Or he could try to arrange a situation in which you would be forced to kill someone to defend someone else.”

  I blinked. “Yes.” I stopped before I could tell him how clever he was. I’d found grown men didn’t like being told they’d said something smart. At least, not outright.

  “So for a year, he’s a threat.”

  “He’ll always be a threat, but for a year, he has considerably more power,” I agreed.

  “Is he a danger to our cases?”

  My chest tightened. I hadn’t thought about that. I couldn’t lie to Andy, but if this ended up costing me my partnership with him, then…

  “I mean, could he force you to sabotage a case? Give him sensitive information?” Andy asked.

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  He thought about that. “What if you signed a nondisclosure agreement? With a stipulation that you will do nothing to knowingly compromise a case’s integrity?”

  I stared at him. “A contract?”

  “You said he couldn’t force you to violate your honor. So if you signed a contract with me, he couldn’t force you to violate it.”

  “True,” I said slowly. My mind worked furiously to consider what he was saying, probe it for loopholes. I was too flustered, too distracted by the knowledge Flint owned me for a year, and what that could mean. “Peasblossom!”

  “I’m right here. I’ve been listening the whole time.” Peasblossom popped out from behind the dented Coke can and gave me a disparaging shake of her head. “It’s like you don’t know me at all.”

  “Would that work?” I asked. “What he said?”

  Peasblossom paced to the edge of the table, puffing her chest out as she found herself the full focus of everyone’s attention. “Yes. Provided he doesn’t try to get you to swear something that deliberately tries to undermine Flint’s will.”

  “What does that mean?” Andy asked.

  “Flint never said he was interested in FBI cases,” Peasblossom explained. “So if Shade signs a nondisclosure, noninterference contract, she can argue that she had no idea that would interfere with her contract with him. Whereas if she were to sign a contract saying something like ‘I won’t answer Flint’s questions unless I want to,’ or ‘I won’t do Flint’s bidding,’ then that wouldn’t work because she would be signing that contract specifically to undermine Flint’s rights as her master.”

  A weight lifted from my heart, if only a little. “Agreed, then,” I said, looking at Andy. “I swear I will maintain the integrity and confidentiality of our cases, using my discretion only to decide when to share information, uninfluenced by anyone else.”

  “I’ll have something formal drawn up,” Andy added. “I should be able to tailor one of our contracts.” He turned to face me more fully. “I do have one more question, though.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You said you thought Flint planned this, this whole buying you at auction thing. Why? Why would he put in that kind of effort to own you?”

  I sighed. “He wanted information. The last time we interacted, he had a lot of questions for me, and he didn’t believe me when I said I didn’t have the answers. I think he bought me because that gave him the power to demand the answers to his previous questions. Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t withholding information last time. I was serious when I said I didn’t know.”

  “Didn’t know what?”

  My throat itched. We were getting dangerously close to revealing information the vampire’s contract forbade me from discussing. I flashed back to the jail cell and the angry telepath.

  “One thing you have to understand about the Otherworld,” I said, “is that prophecies are a big thing. You remember what I told you about the oracle? The power she used to have?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, there was a time when there were more oracles, and they were very, very powerful. A direct line from the divine. Their prophecies always involved a lot of interpretation, but then, that’s why they had so much influence.”

  “And you’re the topic of a prophecy?”

  “Not that I know of,” I answered. “But the thing is, people in the Otherworld are always searching for a piece of a prophecy. For those who are farther removed from divinity, less powerful, the best way to do that is to pay attention to what the really powerful people are doing. Who they’re paying attention to.”

  “And someone powerful was paying attention to you.”

  “Yes. Maybe. I’m not sure.” I ran my fingers through my wet hair, wrinkling my nose as I realized the back of my shirt was already soaked. I’d forgot to put on a hooded sweatshirt to soak up the water from my hair. Dammit.

  “Who?”

  I fought not to look away. “I can’t tell you that right now.”

  Andy rubbed his palms over his thighs as if centering himself. “We’re back to that, then.”

  My nerves were too raw for this. I wasn’t in the mood to listen to him complain about things that weren’t within my power to change. “If we’re going to work together, we need to trust each other. That’s what you’re always telling me, right?”

  Andy nodded, but he didn’t look happy, and he didn’t look at me.

  “So if I asked you to give me a gun so I could protect myself, would you just hand it over? Trust me with a weapon?”

  “Are you trained to use a gun?”

  “Nope. Never used a gun before. Never had to, never wanted to. But let’s say I got it in my head that I needed a mundane means of protecting myself. Would you give me a gun?”

  “No.”

  “Because giving me a gun would put me and others in danger. Right?”

  Andy crossed his arms. “So you’re saying giving me the information I’m asking for would be like me giving you a gun.”

  “Exactly.”

  “If you asked me for a gun, I’d give you one, just not right away. I would make sure I trained you to use it first, so you wouldn’t be a danger to yourself or others.”

  I grinned, giving myself a mental pat on the back. “Exactly.”

  He stared at me for a minute. Then he snorted. “Point taken. All right, so train me. Then you’ll tell me.”

  Relief dragged my shoulders down. “Deal.” I froze. “Oh, for goodness’ sake, where are my manners?” I waved at the fridge. “Can I get you a Coke? Water? Coffee?”

  “No, I’m fine.” He took an envelope out of his pocket. “Here’s your consultation fee for your help.”

  I took the envelope, my heart pound
ing. My first official check. My first legitimate check. Non-vampire-sourced.

  “Are you up for another case?”

  Before I could say yes, another thought occurred to me. “There is one more thing we need to talk about.”

  “And that is?”

  My stomach turned. “You shot a kelpie. Two of them.”

  “Can’t say I regret it.”

  “I know. And I don’t blame you. And thanks to Marilyn stipulating that the contracts are void, you have standing to argue you shot them in self-defense, so the Vanguard won’t come for you. But the kelpies… They aren’t going to forget that.”

  “Good.”

  I sighed and leaned into the corner of the couch. “Andy, up until this point, you’ve been learning about the Otherworld in relative safety. But now they’re learning about you too. You have their attention, and that’s… Well, that’s not a good thing.”

  “I knew what I was getting into when I started this.” He gestured with his hand wearing the ring I’d given him. “That’s why you gave me this, right?”

  “I’d like to give you a few more things,” I said quietly. “And I’d like to start training you so you can use some better items.”

  “All right.” He smiled. “And you can come to the gun range with me.”

  “Okay.”

  Andy looked around suddenly as if remembering something. “I forgot to ask about Echo. Is she here?”

  “No, I found her a new home.” I couldn’t help the huge smile on my face. I was pretty pleased with my ingenuity on this one. “I put her in the statue of Stephanie Tubbs Jones.”

  Andy arched an eyebrow. “Why that statue?”

  “I put a rune on the statue that will make people chatty. Nothing that strong, just enough that people will be drawn to sit next to the statue when they’re talking on their cell phones, or when they stop to talk with a friend or colleague while out and about.”

  Understanding dawned, and Andy chuckled. “Lots of stories for her to hear, then.”

  I nodded happily. “She liked it. And I promised to visit at least once a week so we can chat. I—”

  “Um, not to interrupt, but is that normal?” Andy pointed to something behind me.

  I followed the direction of his gesture and froze. Majesty sat on the back of the couch, six inches behind where I was sitting. He looked the same as he always did, grey with black stripes, cute white face with white on the tips of his paws. Completely normal but for one small difference.

  He was glowing.

  Faint green light radiated from his furry body, in a soft emerald glow. The kitten, for his part, seemed intrigued by the effect. He raised one paw, stared at it, then slowly brushed at his other paw. His tail lashed back and forth.

  I stared at him, then glanced at Peasblossom where she was now perched on top of the windowsill. The pixie crossed her arms.

  “Told you you should have gotten rid of it,” she said.

  I looked at Andy, then back at Majesty. This was it, then. The magic was finally leaking out, manifesting itself. And I had no idea how far it would go.

  Perfect.

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  Jennifer Blackstream Newsletter

  OTHER BOOKS BY JENNIFER BLACKSTREAM

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  Monster

  Taken

  Book #4 (Jan 2019)

  Paranormal Romance

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  Before Midnight

  One Bite

  Golden Stair

  Divine Scales

  Beautiful Salvation

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  All for a Rose

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  All right, so here's the deal. Certain online retailers have affiliate programs whereby people can earn referral fees for sending people to shop on their site. It's sort of like a "finder's fee" negotiated by a burly sea captain. Or perhaps a roguish treasure hunter. Maybe a dragon-shifter with a head for business... I digress. Basically, when you click on a referral link, the online retailer pays the associate (in this case, me) a very small percentage of whatever you spend during that session. So if you click that link and buy, say, LEGO Super Heroes Super Hero Airport Battle for $75.70, then the retailer takes your $75.70 and gives me somewhere around $2.

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  Jennifer Blackstream