Chapter 21

21

“I don’t know who created the artifact echoes you found in the bayou, but I got the artifact from a succubus called Samara. If you worked for the Syndicates, you must have heard of her.”

“We’ve met,” I said with a straight face and an even tone.

Moira had reached for the stone with one long-fingered hand, her rings glinting in the candlelight that allowed shadows to cling to the walls. But her hand halted in mid-motion, and she pressed her lips together, then dropped them to her lap so we mirrored each other.

“How did you do that? I didn’t think you were telekinetic,” she asked, pursing her crimson lips and watching me with a small frown. She had been trying to work out my powers.

“I’m not. I think the stone inside me calls to the others.”

“But the door? I don’t know that removing the mark is the right choice, girl. You could be extremely powerful,” she said, the frown disappearing from her face.

“I don’t thirst for power, ma’am,” I said as I raised my hands in surrender. “I’m a simple person. I only want enough to stay alive. Mostly, I prefer to be left alone to find cool shit for my clients, so I can pay my bills. I prefer to be left out of turf wars that had nothing to do with me and only made life harder for everyone.”

“You sound like your little witch-friend,” she said.

“I take that as a compliment. She’s a good one.”

Moira nodded. “I can’t give it to you, though. What do you have that is of value to me?”

“I can grant you a favor.”

She had laughed aloud. “Now, what would I want from you?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t have use for someone who could not only find what’s most valuable to you but could summon it to you. I had no allegiance to any faction, and if you give me what I need, that makes us closer to friends than I was to most. Do you want the favor, or do I tell Thorn where you got this and let our lives get messy? It really makes no difference to me.”

Her eyebrow flew up in shock, and that alone was almost worth my pounding heart and sweating palms.

“You aren’t much like your friend after all.”

“I don’t worry about the rule of three as much as she does, but I’d rather do no harm. That said, I’m tired of being a pawn to the factions when none of you give a solitary shit about me. I just wanted to go home and sleep with both eyes closed. If granting you a service keeps you off my back in the meantime, it’s worth something to me, too.”

Her eyes gleamed as she stood and offered me her hand. “One runestone for one favor of equal value.”

The phrasing had given me pause. “Value as I see it, or as you do?”

Her smile had broadened to a grin. “Either you needed it badly enough to agree, or you didn’t. It’s as simple as that.”

The rune had warmed in my lap at her proximity, ringing alarm bells in my head. This attractive, elegant, grandmotherly witch should not be trusted.

Then again, neither should Thorn nor the pack. When it had come down to it, my lack of faction loyalty had probably made me look pretty damned sketchy, too. So everybody in my life, including myself, was on the sketchy side of trustworthiness. But I’m not sure I have a choice anymore. I need that stone, and she has it.

I gripped her hand as a glow brightened and warmed between our palms. Three marks in less than a week. It’s got to be some kind of record. I ignore the voice in my head that’s way too late in telling me to rethink what I’m doing. After all, I said I’d do a favor. I won’t do just any favor. I know how to use words, too.

The heat in our hands grows to an almost painful level of discomfort, leaving me to wonder if the other two would have been this painful if I hadn’t been knocked out for both of them.

Finally, the light cooled, and she released me. In the center of my palm is her sigil, the wardruna. It reminds me of a Klingon Bird of Prey from the top but rendered as a stick figure.

Keeper of secrets. Cool.

“Why this rune?” I showed her my palm, and she grabbed my hand and peered closer.

“Isn’t that interesting,” she mused. “I didn’t choose this, you did. But if you are a protector of secrets, that makes you a trustworthy ally.”

“Or extra conniving.”

She chuckled. “From a different rune, perhaps. But this is protective, not the same as a blackmailer or spy would have. No. For all your “I’m just looking out for me” bluster, in your heart, you are a defender. This is a good trade.” She paused and pursed her lips once more. “The secret you keep tonight, is that Samara must never know that I told you where I got the demon stone. She never said I couldn’t sell it, but I think she was trying to keep it away from Thorn.”

“I’m not Thorn.”

She sniffed at me, her eyes narrowing. “That’s not entirely true, is it?”

I cringed. “A situation I’m working to remedy.”

“Delightful. You certainly have found yourself in a pickle, haven’t you? I owe Samara no allegiance. The other factions always undercut witches.”

“I’m sorry. That’s bullshit. I know how much the witches do to keep the peace.”

She nodded. “Maybe we’ve misjudged you.”

“Maybe you’re starting to think you have a use for me, too?”

She holds up her hand, the mark of the Gemini on her palm. “I’m duality, not duplicitous. I keep my bargains.” She checks the gold-filigreed pendant watch hanging around her neck. “Well, I know you must have things to do.”

I stood, barely suppressing a chuckle, while I stuffed the artifact into my pocket with Chastity’s baubles. “Yeah. Nice to meet you, Madame Sorcière.”

“Very nice to meet you, young witch.”

I shrug. “Not a witch.”

“Not anything else either, yet you have a witch’s power. Just because you haven’t found your home doesn’t mean it’s not out there.”

Despite the warnings about her, it doesn’t seem like Moira is out to harm me. “Stay safe on the moonlit roads tonight. There are much more malevolent things out tonight than witches.”

“Must be a Tuesday, after all.” I clench my rune-bound hand into a fist and take a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “Good doing business with you. Stay safe.”

I exit through the front of the store, earning a few half-curious glances from patrons and the girls who work the floor and register selling fake shrunken heads and protection spells.

Buses, or rather the people in them, shot my nervousness to the stratosphere, so I walked most of the way to the safe house to meet Thorn. The moon is waning but high in the sky, brightly shining down on the near-empty roads of the residential neighborhood.

Thorn’s car is parked on the road in front of the safe house. It’s the black sedan, not the Porsche. Does this mean business only tonight?

I found the front door unlocked and the wards lowered. I swallowed hard with a second of panic, even with Thorn’s car visible on the street. Then he spoke from the shadow of the dining room. “You have the final artifact?”

“Yup. And I’m glad. This job is getting dangerous.”

“Getting dangerous? I didn’t realize there was bigger danger than drowning for you.”

A wild tension buzzed between us, and I didn’t know what to make of it. The man before me wasn’t fun and games, sexy Thorn. This was serious-as-a-heart-attack Thorn, the Syndicate mob boss that scared Baton Rouge’s paranormal community shitless.

What had I walked into?

“It wasn’t in the bayou.”

“What do you mean?” he said. His voice buzzed like a rattlesnake’s rattle, and I seriously don’t know what stick was up his butt.

“Well, a witch had this one, and they are tricky ladies.”

The lights snapped on, making my eyes water at the sudden brightness. “What are you talking about?”

“It wasn’t where we thought it was. It got sold to someone else.”

Thorn scowled. “Who had it?”

I can’t tell him the proprietor of La Sorcière bought it, can I? I studied the ground as I worked it around in my head. As part of my deal, I can’t tell him Samara gave it to Moira. If I tell him would he confront Samara, blowing the terms of my agreement with Moira? I’m circling an infinity loop here and can’t see a way out. Loopholes. Witches aren’t the only ones who use them.

“Well?” Thorn pressed.

Finally, I lifted my chin. “The proprietor of La Sorcière had it.” I dug it out of my pocket and held out the cotton-wrapped package to him.

He stared at me as if I was a stranger.

“But we’ve got a full set, yay,” I said, managing a fist pump. But at his glare, my voice trailed off weakly.

Thorn blinked. “Are you saying you retrieved it from Moira?”

“I just said so, yes.”

Next thing, he’s pacing again. He hasn’t even looked at the stone yet like he was avoiding it.

“As I said, she obtained it a while back. She didn’t mind when I took it off her hands.”

He stared at me with an expression I couldn’t decipher. “Are you afraid of nothing?”

“I’m beginning to think the reputation doesn’t fit the person. She was a perfectly civil grandma-type witch who doesn’t seem nearly as dangerous as everyone makes her out to be.”

“By the devil, you are na?ve.” He scoffed, pushing his fingers through his dark hair, rearranging it over his forehead, and shot me an incredulous look.

“Or, she’s the first to notice I’m not as weak as everyone thinks and decided, like a good business person, just to do business instead of trying to kill me first and ask questions after?”

“You know what she’s called around the factions?”

“Bitch?”

The word startled a laugh out of him, followed by a sigh and a long look. “The wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

“People say all that? She certainly looked more sheep-like tonight. When I used a bit of my power, she looked afraid for a moment.”

“That definitely worries me. I’m almost afraid to ask. What did she ask in return?”

“I think that’s between me and her.”

He grabbed my shoulders and peered into my eyes, digging his fingers into my arm as if I would slip away.

I tried to shrug him off. “Ouch,” I complained.

He loosened his grip and stroked his hands down my arms.

“Elena. What did you give her for the token? Tell me, and we’ll fix it together.”

“I owe her a free finding. That’s all. Just a favor.”

He pressed his forehead against mine, his hands still on my arms, holding me. “Are you certain? Were you careful with your words?”

“As careful as I knew how to be. It’s one task, and I expect it to be awful and probably dangerous. But around here? What isn’t?”

We’re so close that if I tilt my head an inch, I could kiss him, and I haven’t kissed him since the night after the gala. For a moment, all I felt was need, and I couldn’t tell if he could sense my volcanic desire or my racing pulse. His scent was intoxicating, his hands warm through my clothes, then hot on my neck as he slid his fingers up to my jaw and tilted my head back.

“At this rate, I’ll have to keep you marked forever to keep you safe.” His eyes swirled red, and he turned away with a growl. “You did the best you could. Get some sleep, I’ll get you instructions in the morning.”

With that terse order, he left, and all the lights turned off as the door closed. Still, I stood in the little parlor for a long time in the dark, the last stone in my hand, wondering what the hell had just happened.