Chapter 11

Hexx's Pawnshop didn't look special. It was a one-story brick building squashed between a liquor store and a pet grooming salon. There was a large front window stuffed with the usual watches and gold chains, and a glass door had a neon sign that promised eas y credit loans.

It wasn't until Maya had entered the cramped space that she could feel the distinct tingle of magic. Not an active spell but the residual hum from having a lot of magical items stored in the same location. The Witch's Brew felt like a nuclear reactor when she opened their heavi ly warded safe.

Assured she was in the right place, Maya weaved her way past the open bins filled with used toys, sunglasses, and old DVDs. At last she spotted a girl who barely looked old enough to be out so late at night seated behind a wood-paneled counter. Her hair was short and dyed a deep purple that matched the heavy liner that circled her eyes. She was wearing a fishnet top with a black bra underneath and was perched on a high stool, her attention glued to the pho ne in her hand.

Maya halted several feet from the counter. The girl was a human and she didn't look dangerous, but only a fool allowed themselves to be deceived by surface appearance. Usual ly a dead fool.

The girl continued to stare at her phone, and Maya loudly cleared her throa t. "Excuse me."

"Can I help you?" The girl didn't bothe r to glance up.

Maya swallowed a sigh. Good help wa s hard to find.

"I'm looking for something spec ial," she said.

"Then you've come to the right place." The girl waved her hand toward the glass cases on the far side of the room. "Lots of special stuff here. Jewelry—"

"I don't want jewelry," Maya interrupted, her voice sharp enough to force the girl to at last glance up.

She wrinkled her nose as she took in Maya's black slacks and expensive cashmere sweater. Was she offended by the elegant outfit? "The knockoff clothes are over there," she waved her hand toward the opposite side of the shop where a few wrinkled blouses and a fake fur coat were hanging on the wall. "There are some purses in the bins, but you're better off checking out the street sellers around Times Square. They ha ve more stuff."

Maya ground her teeth. Was the girl being deliberately annoying, or was it her natur al personality?

She stepped toward the counter, deliberately turning her head to reveal the spid erweb of scars.

"I said some thing special."

The girl dropped her phone. "Yikes. That's bad. Did you put your face on the stove?"

Maya smiled. The girl had at least cleared up any confusion. Annoying was her natur al personality.

"I heard you had magic that can get rid of blemis hes," she said.

"Maybe. I don't know nothing about that hocus-pocus stuff." The girl turned her head to yell toward an open door at the back of th e room. "Hexx!"

A minute passed, then another before a goblin with long stringy hair and crimson flames tattooed along the line of his jaw stepped into the shop. He was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt and jeans that looked as if they hadn't seen a washing machine in several weeks, but Maya was more interested in the pale red aura that pulsed around him. A l ow-grade demon.

"What now?" he snapped, clearly irritated at th e interruption.

The girl nodded toward Maya. "You ha ve a customer."

"Buying or selling?" he demanded, his bored gaze swinging toward Maya. Instantly his eyes widened. Unlike his human assistant, he recognized the scars on the side of her face. "Oh shit." Reaching up, he grabbed a small crystal hung around his neck, yanking it off the leather strap and throwing it in her direction.

Maya waved her hand, releasing a burst of power that deflected the crystal. It careened toward the shelf of bowling balls and exploded. There was a loud crash as the balls collapsed to the ground, some shattering beneath the impact and others rolling crazily across the cheap Formica tiles.

"What's happening?" the girl cried out, ducking behind the counter. "Should I call the cops?"

"No!" Maya and Hexx roared in unison before the goblin was spinning on his heel and darting into the back room.

Maya raced behind him, but not before he slammed the door and locked it. Dammit. She rolled her eyes, dipping her hand into her purse to pull out a small vial. Centuries of finding herself in dangerous situations had taught her to reserve her magic, preferring to use the potions she could brew at home in her leisure. Spells weakened her and left her vulnerable.

Stepping back, she tossed the vial at the door handle, her nose wrinkling as the acid ate through the lock. Melting metal dripped onto the floor, and lifting her leg, Maya kicked the door open. It slammed loudly against the wall, and Maya stepped into a small room that appeared to be a combination office and storage space.

Hexx was currently grabbing the lids off boxes piled in a haphazard fashion, no doubt searching for a weapon to u se against her.

"Settle down," Maya commanded, moving to stand in the middle of the room. "I just want to talk."

Reluctantly turning to face her, Hexx licked his thin lips. "You' re Maya Rosen."

"Yes."

"I heard what yo u did to Jada."

Maya f rowned. "Jada?"

"She was a friend of mine. She did séances to make som e extra money."

"Ah. I remember." A decade ago she'd heard rumors of a witch who'd moved to the area offering to speak to the dead for grieving families. It didn't bother her until she'd discovered the woman was gouging the poor humans by demanding outrageous sums of money and threatening to trap their dearly departed if they didn't pay up. "I did warn her to shut down her business. More than once. She decided she could do whatever she wanted, even if she risked stirring prejudices against magic users. Things could have gone much worse for her."

Hexx grimaced. "Okay, she made a mistake, but shit...she still breaks out in a rash during the full moon."

Maya shrugged. It wasn't her curse that continued to make the witch break out in a rash. It had been a temporary spell that would have dissipated within a few weeks. If Jada continued to have rashes, it was a psychosomatic response. Not unusual and probably a response to her own sense of guilt for taking advantage of vul nerable humans.

"As I said, s he was warned."

Hexx stepped back. "I don't want any trouble..." His words faded as he dove toward the nearest box and pulled out a small linen bag filled with various herbs. Maya could smell lavender and mint and cloves. Probably the ingredients for a sleep spell, but the magic wasn't activated. Thankfully, Hexx didn't seem to know anything about the items he sold, and tossing it in her direction, he watched her with wide eyes.

Maya allowed the linen bag to bounce off her chest before she swayed and lowered her head as if she were going to sleep. At the same time, she reached into her purse to pull out another vial. On cue, Hexx darted toward the door, despera te to get away.

Waiting until he passed, she spilled the contents of the vial onto his shoulder. Instantly he froze in place.

"Argh." Hexx struggled against the potion that held him prisoner. "What have y ou done to me?"

"Nothing that can't be undone." She strolled until she was standing in front of him. "Answer my questions and you might survive."

"I...yeah, okay." He did more lip-licking, a fine layer of sweat coating his tattoos, as if his face really was on fire. "What do you want to know?"

"Earlier today you gave two disguise spells to a demon who goes by the n ame Long Jong."

He sucked in a sharp breath. It wasn't what he'd been ex pecting. "Who?"

Maya reached into her purse, pulling out a small crystal. It was nothing more than a healing gem, but Hexx wouldn't know it wasn't a dread curse.

"Don't even start with m e," she warned.

His eyes darted from side to side, but he was stuck. And he knew it. "W hat about him?"

She dropped the crystal back into her purse. "Who told you to give hi m the amulets?"

He hesitated, obviously reluctant to reveal the identity of the buyer. "No one told me," he eventually said. "Long Jong came by the sho p to buy them."

"A lie ," she snapped.

"If Long Jong told you a different story, he's the one who's lying," he insis ted. "I swear."

Maya ground her teeth. Skye was out there somewhere, obviously in trouble. And this idiot was wa sting her time.

"You're starting to piss me off," she snapped. "There's a simple way to discover who's tell ing the truth."

Hexx made a strangled sound, his eyes wide with terror. "No magic. Please! I don' t want a rash."

She rolled her eyes, nodding toward the desk across the room where a small monitor was set on top of an old-fashioned DVD player. Even from this distance she could see it was a security camera monito ring the store.

"There's no need for magic. We can watch the s ecurity video."

"Oh. Right. The security camera." His fear remained, but it was threaded with an unease that had nothing to do with her. "Sorry, it' s not working."

Maya narrowed her gaze. Enough was enough. "Tell me, Hexx. Do I look stupid?"

"No."

She pointed a finger at the center of his face. "Do you think I won't turn you i nto a hamster?"

He blinked, his mouth falling open at the threat. "Yo u can do that?"

She released a trickle of magic. Just enough to make his greasy hair float on an in visible breeze.

"Let's find out, shall we?"

"No! Wait!"

"Talk," Maya commanded, emphasizing her request with a sharp ya nk on his hair.

Hexx's face paled to a pasty gray. "Okay, okay. Earlier today I got a text telling me to have two disguise amulets in a bag and to be waiting by the curb at noon for someone to pick them up."

"Who sent the text?"

"I don't know."

Maya clicked her tongue. It was like dealing with a five-year-old. "You honestly expect me to believe you received a random text telling you to prepare two disguise amulets that are not only forbidden in Valen's territory but extremely expensive and then to stand next to the curb to hand them over to a stranger? And you thought...yes, that's a f antastic idea?"

"I was going to delete the text," Hexx protested. "I get all sorts of crazy messages. Some dude last week came in looking for a corpse. What kind of shop does he think this is?"

Maya deliberately glanced toward the stack of crates shoved against the back wall. A few of them had a familiar logo stamp ed on the side.

"One that sells black-market magical items," she stated the obvious. "No doubt you also dabble in illegal drugs, including dragon scale—"

"Well I don't trade in dead bodies," he interrupted. As if that excused his cri minal behavior.

"Who sent the text ?" she pressed.

"I truly don't know." His expression tightened, the muscles of his neck bulging as if he was struggling against her spell. When he failed, he sent her a glare of frustration. "Look, I was going to delete the text but a second later I got an alert from my bank showing a very large amount of money was just deposited into my account. The sort of money that was as good as a threat. Whoever sent it didn't intend to take no for an answer."

Maya believed he'd gotten a large sum deposited in his account. Whoever was funding the attack on the Cabal wasn't counting pennies. But she didn't believe he'd felt threatened. At least, not by taking the money. He most certainly was terrified to reveal who ha d deposited it.

"Was anyone with Long Jong when he stopped to ge t the amulets?"

"Not unless he had someone hidden in the trunk."

"Did he say anything?"

"Nope. He rolled down his window and I threw the bag to him. End o f transaction."

Maya lowered her hand and stepped back. She was wasting her time. Hexx was obviously nothing more than a pawn. He didn't have the information she needed. Her only hope was that he could lead her to someone who knew what was going on. And where she c ould find Skye.

"I won't turn you into a hamster. At least not tonight." She sent him a warning frown. "But I will be back to discuss your habit of selling black -market items."

"No discussion needed," Hexx stammered, torn between relief he wasn't going to suffer any immediate repercussions and fear that she might destroy his lucrative trade. "I'm sure all of this can b e cleaned out."

"I'll be back, " she insisted.

"Okay, yeah, sure. Gotcha." He forced a stiff smile. "Now if you can just... Hey, wait!" His voice cracked with fear as Maya turned on her high heels and headed for the door. "You have to release me."

"The spell will fade." Maya halted at the door to give him a finger wave . "Eventually."

His loud pleas followed her through the shop that was now empty after his young employee wisely decided to bolt, but Maya didn't slow her steady march until she was out of the building and halfway down the street. Only then did she step behind a lamppost and turn back toward the pawnshop. She was betting that Hexx was going to scurry to his employer's lair and warn them that a powerful mage was asking uncomfortable questions. And plead for mercy at having revealed his connectio n to Long Jong.

Ten minutes later her wager was rewarded as he stepped out of the shop and glanced nervously around before he locked the door and headed south. He was going to p lead for mercy.

Satisfaction surged through Maya as she followed at a safe distance. One way or another she was going to get answers.

They jogged a couple of blocks before Hexx thankfully darted into the subway. Maya had more stamina than a human, but her heels were made for beauty, not durability. She lingered in the shadows until the train stopped and Hexx jumped on without looking back. Maya quickly slid on behind him, not worried she was being l ed into a trap.

Hexx was the sort of demon who had zero impulse control. It wouldn't have occurred to him that he might be followed. His only thought was getting to someone who was stronger, smarter, and hopefully willing to protect his black-m arket business.

They'd reached Upper Manhattan before Hexx pushed his way through the commuters and off the train. Maya waited until the last second before darting through the doors and losing herself among the gathered crowd. There was always the chance Hexx was meeting someone and she didn't want to spook the m into fleeing.

Hexx paused, glancing around, but with long strides he was heading up the stairs and out of the station. Maya had no choice but to trail behind. Where was he going? There weren't any demon clubs in the neighborhood. At least none th at she knew of—

Her speculations churned to a halt as they turned a corner and she realized where th ey were headed.

The Green House Theater. The spot where she and Skye had blundered into the top-secret demon meeting a few days before. The air was squeezed from her lungs as she watched Hexx stop in front of the box office, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans and his sho ulders hunched.

He just stood there for several minutes, shifting from foot to foot in a nervous dance. Then the door to the theater was shoved open and a large form suddenly appeared, stepping on the sidewalk to stand directly in front of Hexx.

Maya released a string of swear words, recognizing the goblin with a shaved head and muscular form stuffed into a leather jacket and jeans. Or more specifically she recognized the aura that was bright enough to spill throu gh the streets.

This was the head goblin commanding the others to perform some mysterious task a few days ago.

Hastily she reached into her purse to grab her phone. There was no way she could get close enough to overhear the heated conversation, but she could make sure this wasn't a wasted opportunity. Careful to stay hidden in the shadows, she took several photos of the two demons. She couldn't put a name to the goblin, but there was an excellent chance that Valen or one of his staff might recognize him.

The males ended their conversation and Hexx turned to scurry away. A second later the demon disappeared into the theater, slamming the door s hut behind him.

Maya tucked the phone back in her purse and grimly headed toward Valen's lair. It couldn't be a coincidence that the Benefactor had ordered her to travel to this theater. He'd wanted her to see the male demon. Probably because he was going to be involved in Skye's disappearance. Not to mention the attac k on the Cabal.

Dwelling on the Benefactor and the reasons he might have sent her to this location, Maya abruptly found herself lifted off the ground by an invisible force and pressed against the side of an abandoned pool hall. It wasn't a spell. Or magic. But she recognized the smell of unyielding power that swirled t hrough the air.

The Benefactor.

Her mysterious patron possessed a scent that was utterly unique.

The invisible bonds pressed against her with a force that wrenched a small groan from her lips. There were times she wasn't sure the Benefactor knew his own strength. Or perhaps he didn't recognize her fragility in comparison to his overw helming powers.

Knowing better than to struggle against the magic, Maya flinched as the image of the Witch's Brew seared through her mind. She was clearly being commanded to return home.

She hissed in annoyance. She desperately wanted to speak to Peri and share what she'd discovered. If Valen could identify the goblin from the theater, then they might be able to track down Skye. They would at least know where to get answers.

Now she would be forced to send the pictures to Gabriel, who was presumably acting as the liaison between her and her friend, and hope they would follow u p on the clues.

Maya's frustrated fury boiled through her like acid, nearly causing her to miss the shadowed form standing directly across the street. Even when she forced back the anger and cleared her mind to call on her magic, she could make out nothing more than a vague man shape and the strange outline of somethi ng on his head.

Wait. Shock jolted through Maya. Was the man wearing a fishing hat? He stepped away from the wall into a pool of light. Suddenly she could see the bushy beard and the velou r jogging suit.

"Joe," she breathed, struggling against the crushing grip of magic. "Did y ou follow me?"

With a shrug, he turned to stroll do wn the street.

"Wait!" Maya commanded. "Why are you here?"

Stopping beneath the lamppost, Joe slowly turned and Maya braced herself to ignore his usual insults. She wasn't going to let him distract her. Not this time.

But he didn't toss out some rude comment; in fact, he didn't say anything. He stood, staring at her as if he was contemplating some deep thought. Or perhaps communicating with an alien spaceship. Anything was possible with the in sufferable man.

Then, without warning, there was a strange distortion in the air around him. As if he were suddenly going out of focus. Maya snapped her lips together, wondering if the Benefactor was blurring her vision. She wouldn't put it past him to temporarily blind her to keep his secrets. But it wasn't her eyes that were being blurred, she realized, as Joe was replaced with a tall, broad-shouldered male with burnished copper hair framing perfectly scu lpted features.

He was gut-wrenchingly gorgeous. Even from a distance his striking beauty hit her like a punch. The smooth bronzed skin, the angular features that had been chiseled by the hands of a master, and the eyes that glowed with a brillian t emerald fire.

For a moment...or an eternity...Maya couldn't think. She didn't know where she was or why. She could barely recall her own name. Her brain had short-circuited and she was fairly certain that she was being given a glimpse of something no mortal s hould ever see.

She was still gaping at the vision when it flickered and abruptly disappeared and Joe was once again a solid form. Maya made a strangled sound, struggling to figure out if the vision had been real or a figment of her raw nerves. It'd been a rough couple of days. Maybe her b rain was fried.

As if sensing her bewilderment, Joe bent over in a mocking bow before he straightened and strolled away.