by Jen Ponce
His smile was the kind reserved for annoying people who asked stupid questions. “No. You have to realize demons are base, stupid creatures. They only understand pain and violence. They are easy to manipulate and … trap.”
There it was again. That pause. What was his game?
“I had no idea demons were so stupid. And here I was being such a silly girl thinking I should be afraid of them.”
“Oh, you should be afraid. I’ve spent the majority of my life learning how to control them.”
I paused as if I was having trouble rubbing two brain cells together. “But you said they were easy to manipulate and trap.” I crowed silently as anger flitted across his face.
He inclined his head to me as if conceding the point. “I did. What I meant was, it’s easy for me because I’m able to command a lot of power.”
“Oh,” I said. I let my eyes wander down his form as if I was interested, then smiled as I sipped my coffee.
We finished our drinks in silence because I wasn’t wasting my energy on coming up with small talk and he obviously didn’t feel bothered to do the same. When he was done, he stared at me for longer than was polite. Just when I opened my mouth to ask him what he was looking at, he said, “I think I like your real hair better, Korrinthe.” He smiled and stood as if he hadn’t just casually dropped a freaking bomb in my lap. “Thank you for sharing your table with me. I hope we talk soon.”
He walked away, leaving me gape-mouthed behind him.
The fucker had known who I was all the damned time. “Don’t even start, Poppy.”
“He knew who you were. Get the fuck out of there now.”
“No, I will not. I am not letting someone like Adam Windhaven intimidate me.”
“He knows.”
“He knows shit about the tea,” I said, referencing our code word for the work we did. “He was just showing off. Trust me, it’ll be okay.”
“I do trust you. I don’t trust that son of a bitch.”
“Me either. His eyebrows were just too perfect.” I hung up and stared in annoyance at the empty table across from me. Sometime during my ‘conversation’ with the Grand High Exorcist, Harriet and her coworker had left. “Fuck. Where’d she go?”
After a few moments, Poppy said, “I looked through the security footage at the coffee shop and she headed out on Fifth and Magicite going north. I think she’s headed to her house. But you need to come home. You’re spoiling for a kill, Korri, but if she turns up dead after Adam saw you sitting in disguise in the same coffee shop she was at earlier, the Keepers will put two and two together.”
“You can’t convince me they’re that smart. Besides. I’m only watching her, remember? I need to figure out her habits so I know how best to … you know.” I passed a group of Academy students on their way into the coffee shop as I left, thanking my lucky stars I’d gone to school in the WD. There hadn’t been any uniforms there, or uber-rich magi kids to avoid. Half the time there hadn’t been enough teachers or books either, but that was another story.
“Why did he make a point of sitting next to you? Talking to you? How does he know you that well?”
I sighed. “Grandmother has been trying to set me up with him.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it’s a non-issue. It’s not like I’m going to date the guy. Grandmother can push all she wants; she’s not getting her way.” I made it to the bus stop and leaned against the metal canopy, annoyed that the thing didn’t have a single bit of graffiti on it.
“Korri … maybe you should let her set you up.”
I stared at the curb in disbelief since I couldn’t glare at Poppy. “Are you high?”
“Well, he’s a high level. He’s the Grand High Theurge’s son. Maybe …”
Maybe I could get my ass killed. “You’re suggesting I say yes to one of Grandmother’s meet-cutes to spy on the …” I glanced around, then said, “tea?”
“He and Kyle Klein are friends.”
I huffed out a breath. I knew that. Kyle Klein and Adam had gone to school together, graduated together, joined the same fraternity. Kyle worked for his father now and Adam was doing Lodge work, but they probably stayed in touch. “He’s just so … Lodge-y. Going on a date with him would make me feel gross, you know? Hell, if Rollo and Bernie caught wind of it, they’d beat the shit out of me.” Hecate forbid any of the witches I was friends with heard about it. I could tell them I was doing it for a reason, but when Kyle was found dead, they’d turn their suspicious eyes on me.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have suggested it. It’s just … we might not ever get a great opportunity to snag Kyle and he—” I heard snuffling and knew she was crying or trying not to. “Never mind. Sorry I brought it up.”
Hell.
“I’ll think about it. Okay?”
“Really?”
She was playing me. I knew it and she knew I knew it, but I couldn’t exactly turn her down, could I? We were friends and what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help her avenge her family?
9
I caught a bus and rode the twenty blocks or so to Harriet’s neighborhood, keeping my head down since Adam had easily seen through my disguise. Had he wondered why I was wearing one? Did he care? Lucky for me, I had a couple of Poppy’s portable rune disguises with me. Makeup and a wig could no longer be my go-to. I hated wearing Poppy out, but neither of us wanted to get caught, so we’d have to rely on her educist skills to hide who I really was from now on.
There was a park near Harriet’s house, so I ducked into some lilac bushes near the street and applied the rune. Poppy’s magic shivered over me, smelling faintly of gunpowder. My nose itched and I sneezed twice in rapid succession as I always did when using her disguises.
I stripped off the jacket—a disposable thrift store find—and took off the skirt to reveal a pair of jogging shorts underneath. The shirt I wore now looked like a runner’s shirt instead of a blouse thanks to Poppy’s rune. I kicked off the pumps and whispered a ‘change me’ spell. As long as what I wanted to change had the same mass as the thing I wanted to change it into, it would work for me. The pumps were lightweight, as were the sneakers they shifted into. They remained the same color, same weight.
I was now a thirty-something man out keeping his heart healthy. My weapons, strapped to my upper thighs, around one ankle, and on a forearm, were hidden by the magic, though someone would be able to feel them if they got too close.
“What are you doing now? Remember, you’re just here to watch her, not kill her.”
“I know.” I realized she couldn’t see me and was glad for it. She didn’t know I’d checked my weapons just in case. She didn’t yet know I’d changed into a disguise with clothes that were easy to run in. As soon as she saw me on the nearest security camera, she might have something to say.
It wasn’t like I was for sure going to kill Harriet. I needed to stalk her to figure out her habits. If the opportunity presented itself, however …
Harriet’s house was a boring little bungalow with boring little bushes out front and boring flowers poking desultorily out of the soil by the sidewalk. There wasn’t a good place to surveil it from, so I jogged sedately past, sneaking glances when I could. I’d try out the alley next, but after a bit of time had passed. I didn’t have any reason to be lurking in the alley, not as a jogger.
I ran five blocks down, then turned and made my way back up the street. I’d been hoping she’d make a mistake and I’d have an excuse to take her down, an excuse even Poppy couldn’t argue with, but so far it wasn’t looking good.
“Why don’t you come home? I think she’s holed up for the day anyway.”
She was right, but the need to kill still burned inside me. I wanted to hurt someone, and Harriet was the perfect target. “Maybe I’ll stay for a few more—” I stopped when I saw Harriet step onto her front porch dressed in jogging pants and tennis shoes.
“Korri,” Poppy said, warning in her voice.
“I’m just
going to follow her.”
“Korri!”
Harriet checked her watch before taking off down the sidewalk, across the street, and into the park.
The tree-filled park.
“It’ll be okay,” I whispered, my blood already rising at the excitement of the chase.
“You can’t take her in broad daylight.”
I ignored her and followed my quarry, the crunch of gravel under my feet music to my ears. I hadn’t yet seen anyone go past, which was also good news. “What’s the deal with this path, Poppy? Circular or does it spill out down the way?”
I heard her sigh, but I also heard keys clacking, so she was looking up the answers for me. “It’s circular. Why?”
I said nothing, just veered off into a section of densely packed trees. Under the canopy, it was quieter. If I managed to drag her far enough, neutralize her long enough to get a silence rune slapped on her, she’d be mine. She’d die just a few hundred yards from her own home.
“You’re going to get caught, damn it.”
I knew I was taking a risk—she could be planning to head off the trail and take a different route home, someone could come along just as I tackled her or as I was dragging her into the bushes—but if it was meant to be, she’d come back my way, there’d be no other people, and I’d take her down.
I’d taste her blood. I’d feed on her death spirit. Oh yes.
I waited ten minutes, fifteen, and then there she was.
My prey.
There wasn’t anyone on the trail either before or after her and so I took her the same way I grabbed Oscar. I charged at her, blindsiding her, letting my momentum carry us both into the trees opposite my hiding spot, just like I’d done with Oscar. We hit the ground hard and rolled. Unlike Oscar, Harriet had been conditioned since the time she was young to watch out for strangers in the bushes. I didn’t realize she’d been carrying her pepper spray in her hand and she brought it up with the trigger depressed, blowing a shit ton of capsicum into my eyes. I slapped for my hexed knife, eyes squeezed tight, trying to remember exactly where I was taking her, dragging her along anyway despite the pain in my eyes.
I did have enough wherewithal to get a silence rune slapped to the back of her neck.
“Stop fighting, you bitch,” I muttered, tears running, snot running. If I got caught or if she got away, Poppy would never let me live it down … if I ever got out of prison, that was.
“Mmm!” The scream was silenced, of course, but it didn’t seal her damned mouth shut. She bit me so I hit her, which knocked her back on her ass. I reached for her shirt to yank her up and it gaped, exposing the medallion around her neck. When I grabbed it, she flipped the fuck out, flailing, beating at me, trying to scream.
I whispered a spell, trying to wrap her up in it before she got away and she brought her knee into my crotch. I wasn’t a dude—though she didn’t know that—but it still fucking hurt. My hand slipped, she tore free, and crashed through the bushes and away.
She’d gotten away but I had the medallion.
“Korri! You okay? Shit. Korri!”
“Fine,” I snapped. I whispered another spell, a wash-away spell, trying to get the shit out of my eyes well enough to see so I could get out of there. When I could make out the bushes and trees, I ran, tripping every so often because most of the shit in front of me was still blurry as fuck.
I stumbled into a stream, which I took as a good sign, and used the water to wash out my eyes. I could already hear Poppy telling me she told me so and damn it, she was right. I’d fucked up royally and now Harriet would be even harder to kill.
Unless … I held the medallion up. Its crystal was yellowish-orange and it glimmered in the dappled light that filtered through the canopy of leaves overhead. The last demon had asked if I’d wanted a favor. Would this one do the same? Would it want to kill the one who had enslaved it? Was I sending it off to get recaptured?
I kind of wanted Poppy to see what happened when I broke it … but I kind of wanted to be alone when I freed it. You know … just in case.
Sighing, I put it around my neck and tucked it into my shirt, then yanked off the disguise charm. I slapped another into place, one that made me look like an old woman, and headed toward the street, cursing myself.
I’d been so sure I could take her.
Fuck. I hoped she at least had a hard time sleeping tonight. I hope she had nightmares about it. I would get her soon enough.
I walked, head up, eyes direct, to the nearest bus stop, not slowing even when I saw a Keeper car drive by, lights flashing. They weren’t looking for me, I told myself. They were looking for some crazy man with swollen eyes.
How had I missed the pepper spray in her hand?
I caught the next bus, sitting near the back with my face turned resolutely out the window so as not to invite conversation. I also turned off the transmitter so I didn’t have to listen to Poppy bitching at me. When I was almost home, I disembarked and walked the rest of the way to the bootleg tunnel. Rollo was asleep when I poked my head up through the bottom of the food truck. I peeled off the old lady disguise and tossed it into the garbage. It was Bernie who hauled my ass up and sent me on my way with a tightly wrapped burrito.
This part of the city was tight, close, and shabby. A magus might come here and turn their nose up at the trash that piled up against the curbs, at the graffiti painted on every surface, at the witches who called each other’s names and bartered on the corner. They’d sneer at the rundown buildings, at the symbols honoring Hecate painted on doors. Those were illegal, those multicolored homages, but the magi had stopped trying to regulate it. They’d killed her and I guessed that was enough for them.
I popped into a tiny hole-in-the-wall bar called Shakers, which wasn’t very wide but stretched from the sidewalk to the alley. It was always packed too, which I enjoyed. Nothing better than sitting elbow to elbow with your fellows getting your buzz on. I made my way to the back and squeezed in between a couple of construction workers just off the job, their hair still spiked and sweaty from their hard hats.
“Hey Korri,” the bartender said when he spotted me. “Usual?”
“Yes.”
Fred served me my glass on a coaster that read, “Are you okay with magi being dicks to witches?” I grinned and flipped it over. There was an innocent-looking Lodge symbol on the reverse, though if I squinted, I could see the resistance creed written inside the triangles. “We fight because it’s right against the might of the magi.”
Fuck yeah.
I was halfway through my second glass when the lights behind the bar flashed blue, then brown. Keepers. Most places in Hell’s Mudroom had some sort of early warning system regarding the Lodge. Blue then brown meant Keepers, and not Neophyte-level Keepers either.
Were they here for me? Had they followed me home? Surely not. I’d checked my six and made sure no one got on the bus behind me at the stop. Still, it was a strange coincidence and it didn’t feel right. I got up from the bar and made my way to the back door, pausing to look at the light above that. No flashes which meant no one had entered the alley. Yet, anyway. I pushed through the door, looked both ways, then chose the fire escape ladder across from me. I ran and jumped, catching the lower rung. It squalled as I pulled it down and, cursing, I raced up it as soon as I could, wincing as it groaned its way back up behind me.
I made it to the roof in time to see two Keepers round the corner … and immediately look up. What in the ever-loving Hell? Had Harriet managed to get a tracker spell on me? I ran across the rooftop, praying for some miracle to slow the fuckers down. Maybe the ladder would just give way under their weight. Maybe they hadn’t seen me up here.
Maybe pigs could fly.
I leapt across a small gap between buildings, dreading what would happen when I ran into a dead end. I tried the next roof-top access door, but it was locked, as were the two others I came across.
I peered back. Shit. They were just now climbing onto the roof. Once they saw me and
my distinctive hair, they’d figure out who I was. If I didn’t kill them up here, I’d go to prison.
I knew what I was going to choose.
I stopped running and turned, holding my hands up while I tried my hardest to conjure up some tears. Look weak, I told myself. Look feminine. With a quick adjustment, part of my right boob was now almost escaped from the top of my bra. A little bounce and my nipple would be free. Somehow, I managed to dig deep enough to find a few tears and I even went down on my knees as they neared, gloved hands spelled with stop runes raised.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, sniffling. “I thought you were my ex-boyfriend. I just panicked and ran—”
They looked at each other, then one of them stepped forward. “Where is it?”
I blinked up at them. “Where’s what?”
“The medallion.”
How the ever-loving Hell had they known about the medallion? I hadn’t shown it to anyone, and it was tucked in my damned bra. “I don’t—”
The first one stepped closer and grabbed the chain, yanking it free from my shirt. When he did, it pulled my boob free, too. He stared down at my nip-slip and while he was distracted, I yanked his wrist into my armpit, wrapped my arm around his in a quick, smooth motion, then jerked up at his elbow, dislocating it. He screamed and as he did, I dropped, his now abused arm still in my death grip. The second Keeper flung his gloved hand outward and energy buzzed overhead. Missed. I pulled a knife and jammed it into the soft underside the first Keeper’s chin, then ran for the second while he stood there staring.
His hand came up and his magic hit me in the chest, blasting me backward. Pain exploded in my sternum and then in my ass as I landed on it and skidded. When I stopped, I rolled, gasping for breath but knowing I couldn’t stop long enough for him to get his sights on me again. The rooftop exploded with magic where I’d just been laying, but I was up and running, pulling another blade. I flung it, putting my entire bodyweight behind the throw. He had also come to the same conclusion I had, that to stay still was to die, and so my knife barely grazed his cheek.
