Witches for Hire (Odd Jobs #1)(60)
“Not this late at night, we’re not. Besides, the crone in that area keeps the place tight. No one’s fucking around on her territory.” Zach tossed his paper wrapper into a trash can. “Are you going to tell me what you’re looking for?”
“Signs of energy vamps.”
“Are you sure it’s not a few people instead of a coven?”
“They’re too widely spread to be a small racket, especially with their current targets.”
“Well, they’re getting fed somewhere.” Zach knocked his shoulder against Jeremy’s. “You always have weird things going on in your life.”
“You have a lot of nerve talking about me.”
Zach suddenly stiffened. He frowned as he turned left and sniffed the air, his eyes taking on a golden light.
“What is it?”
“Speak of the fucking devil. Come on!” Without looking behind him, Zach ran across the street, ignoring shouts from drunken patrons dancing to booming country music.
Jeremy ran after him. There was nothing on his end, and obliging his friend’s problems was the least he could do in return.
Zach led him away from the crowds, finally stopping behind a gas station. He pointed at a small group congregated around a running truck. “They’re selling Binarrah eels,” he whispered.
Jeremy sighed in exasperation. “Why do people sell such nonsense on the black market? I’ll have a chat with them.” He tousled his hair, popped the collar on his jacket, and walked with his thumbs in his pockets, sporting an air of superiority. Think posh asshole thoughts. He stuck his nose a little higher in the air and walked straight into the illegal business deal.
The seller hurriedly slammed the crate top on the box. “You lost?”
“No, just walking. Is the gas station open? I’m doing a beer run,” Jeremy said loud enough for the seller’s companions to flinch.
“No, it’s not fucking open, so go back where you came from.”
“If you don’t work here, then you can’t tell me to go.” Jeremy continued walking forward. The seller and one of the others reached inside their shirts. He faked a sneeze. As if about to cover his mouth, Jeremy lifted his hand but suddenly thrust it out. The seller and his customers crashed into the truck. “Get out of my way.”
“Fuck!” The seller struggled to free himself, and Jeremy squeezed his hand into a fist, swinging the group onto the box.
The box collapsed under their weight, the seller kicking his comrades away from him so he could escape the many feelers trying to grab hold of any skin they could find.
“Wow, that looks absolutely cocked up,” Jeremy said. “Let me help you.” He took out his wand and pointed it at the box. Flames burst inside it.
“No!” The seller tried to stomp out the fire but lights from condos over the closed storefronts came on. He glared at Jeremy and shot to his feet. His companions ran in opposite directions.
“That’s my cue too.” Jeremy put his wand away. In the darkness of a closed tattoo parlor’s stoop, an amber bracelet gleamed against brown skin without the benefit of natural light as Zach waved for his attention. Jeremy rejoined his friend, who looked up at him with those pitiful eyes. “You know I had no choice. If one of them got away, this city would be in chaos.”
Zach sighed as he stepped into the street light. “I know, but I’m getting tired of this. If the Council doesn’t figure out who’s behind the illegal portals, this will keep happening.”
“How about I buy you an Italian ice, and we call it a night?”
His friend stared at the fire burning the black wriggling creatures into nothing. “If you find whoever is smuggling those animals, do me a favor and fuck them up like you would if they were the energy vamp you’re looking for.”
“Consider it done.”
TWO WEEKS of dead ends. Gulley’s body hadn’t offered up anything Jeremy didn’t already know, and now the channels on his skin tingled down his neck to his balls. Just typical of his body to become accustomed to being shagged on a schedule. Jeremy’s cock rising because he inadvertently sensed that annoying magician was not how he wanted to continue his streak of bad luck. Following his cock now that it was a bloody dowsing rod led him from the rare bookshop he scoured for discarded spellbooks on Sundays to a brick front of mostly mom-and-pop businesses closed for the day. Why does everything I don’t want happen in spades? Nearby, a cop sat in a gas station parking lot with his motor running as he fiddled with a computer screen. Jeremy kept walking until his skin prickled in earnest a few feet from a doorway darkened by an awning. “Why the fuck are you following me?”
The shadows lightened, and Desmond tipped his hat in greeting. There might have been a slight flourish of his long coat as he swept out of hiding, but if Jeremy acknowledged that he’d seen, it worked as well as encouragement. “Quite strange for you to sense me when the knight couldn’t feel a trace of me.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Word is Perry knows you captured the wolf, and he’s not happy.”
Jeremy crossed his arms. “That’s not your concern.”
Desmond looked down at his trimmed nails that gleamed from being freshly manicured. “The great thing about not dating is that I don’t have to give a shit what you want. Perry will come after you, and then I’ll kill him when he tries.”