Chapter Three

Stunning and Stunned

RILEY

Riley took shelter behind one of the trees lining the dark street in the quiet Salem residential neighborhood. He observed the house that was his target from his shaded spot, gesturing for the other magical enforcement agents to line up behind him and blend in with the shadows.

The one-story house looked remarkably bland to belong to a witch. Nothing about its white siding, small porch, and well-manicured lawn betrayed it as the dwelling of a dangerous sorceress. With Christmas fairy lights neatly lining the porch and a sparkly plastic reindeer in the front yard, the illusion of normalcy was almost perfect. The only giveaway that revealed the building for what it really was happened to be the broomstick casually draped against the front porch. That was no human broom, and the witch definitely didn’t use it to brush fallen leaves off her driveway.

An air of innocence or not, Riley knew better than to base his judgment on appearances. Years in the magical force had taught him how misleading first impressions could be. He signaled for Agent Callidora to take care of the broomstick, thus cutting off a potential escape route for the witch. Once she had the broom, Riley took a deep breath and signaled to the rest of his team to follow him as he moved ahead, slowly approaching the house on silent feet. They had to be careful not to alert the witch of their presence before they were ready to take her in.

As the two agents still with him neared the front door, Riley unsheathed his stunner gun. The weapon wasn’t lethal, but one shot to the chest would impair the witch’s magic long enough for Riley and his team to apprehend her. But he hoped it wouldn’t come to that and that she’d go quietly.

One of the agents positioned himself by the front door, ready to kick it down at any moment. While the other waited in tense silence for Riley’s signal to attack.

Riley made them wait. A kicked-down door would alert anyone inside the house to their presence and potentially make the arrest more difficult. Instead, he retrieved from a pocket in his spell-proof jacket a small, silver key with intricate engravings that glowed faintly blue in response to Riley’s touch.

Riley pressed the skeleton key into the front door lock and sighed in relief when he heard it click as he turned the key. The witch, at least, had not warded the entrance with black magic or some other nasty trick.

Still on high alert, he pushed the door open to reveal what appeared to be an unassuming living room, illuminated only by the dying embers of a fire in the fireplace at the back of the room.

The house still smelled like chocolate and vanilla, making it all the more clear Riley and his agents were in the right place.

Before proceeding inside, Riley scanned the room to locate potential threats. At first glance, all he could make out were the hardwood floors, the couch, an armchair, and a small table. Then he did a double take, noticing the black mass on the armchair and its regular breathing. A cat—no, most probably a familiar—most female witches kept them. Better to subdue the animal, too.

He flipped his fingers, beckoning Malatesta, one of the two agents following him, to deal with the cat, and silently instructed the other to proceed along the dark corridor that split the house in two. They’d have to go room by room.

Riley was already moving when he heard a faint hiss, a brief scuffling noise, and then nothing. Meaning the cat had been successfully seized. He looked behind his shoulder and saw Malatesta walk out of the house holding a black sack that was shaking as if it had a life of its own. His deputy would bring the cat back to the magical law enforcement van parked outside and then rejoin them.

Riley approached the first door on the left and signaled for Agent Morales to take the one at the end of the hall. Once he was sure his deputy had understood the instructions, Riley tried the handle on the door closest to him. It was unlocked, so he slowly pushed it open to reveal a simple bedroom. A queen bed, twin nightstands on either side, a basket of unfolded laundry on top, and a chest of drawers in front of it—all faintly illuminated by the moonlight filtering in through the window. No murderous witches in sight.

He was about to check the room on the opposite side of the hall when he heard the stunner gun go off. Riley rushed to the end of the narrow corridor where Agent Morales had just discharged his service weapon. He was expecting to come in contact with all kinds of monstrous beings, seeing how black magic disfigured the bodies of its wielders in horrendous ways, and thus entered the bathroom thoroughly unprepared for the sight that awaited him.

A beautiful young woman with pearly white skin—the witch they were after presumably—was slung into the bathtub completely naked. Of course, she was naked. How else would one take a bath? She had a set of white headphones on, two slices of cucumber covering her eyes, and her long hair was floating about in the water, surrounding her like a sea of ruby-brown silk.

She was also slowly slumping underwater.

Before the water reached her nose, Riley shoved Morales aside, and, doing his best to look as little as possible at the naked body of the witch, he scooped her up from the tub.

Water dripped all over him as he turned to his deputy in an angry jerk. “Why did you stun her? Did she try to resist arrest?”

Morales looked at the floor in shame. “Sorry, boss, I think she was actually sleeping, but I got scared and acted on instinct.”

“You got scared by what ?”

Morales pitifully gestured to the two slices of cucumber now floating aimlessly in the tub. He must’ve thought the witch was trying to enthrall him or something—a rookie mistake.

Before Riley could tell his deputy off, the witch came to in his arms. She coughed out a little water and began to squirm against his chest, making it all the harder to ignore how naked she presently was. Her eyes opened, revealing stunning green irises. Her expression quickly switched from confused to scared, and she started struggling to get free of his grip.

“Easy now,” he said in what he hoped was a calming voice. “You’ve been stunned.”

“Stunned?” The witch repeated in a voice still raspy from the coughing, but that Riley couldn’t help but notice sounded melodic.

Then she looked down at herself, probably realizing for the first time she was being held by a stranger while completely naked, and yelped. Riley struggled not to trail the witch’s gaze down her body, and soon, he was too busy containing her to worry about her bouncing breasts as she fought to get free of him.

“Easy,” he repeated, using a more authoritarian tone. “I’m going to put you down now, so you can cover yourself, but try anything funny and I’m going to have to stun you again.”

Fire came alive in those green irises. “Who the hell are you, and why did you stun me in the first place?” she spat.

“Chief Inquisitor Riley King, and you, Miss Bennet, are under arrest.”