Witches for Hire (Odd Jobs #1)(71)
Red light flared outside the windows, flames circling the shop in a high blaze.
“Wonderful.” Jeremy couldn’t drag them out in time, and the windows and doors were probably warded shut. Fire spread inside, burning across racks and collapsing shelves rapidly. He snatched a bottle of lighter fluid off a shelf before it caught flame. Quickly, he snapped it open and sprayed it on the wall closest to the parking lot. The wet pentagram caught fire, and Jeremy pointed his wand at the wall. All of the flames and heat gathered to that spot in a large wave of power. “Break.” The wall blew out. Smoke, dust, and melted candy stung his nose and mouth. Jeremy squinted through the mess, but the witch responsible didn’t appear.
As he stepped near the hole, a metal glint caught his eye. Jeremy dropped to the floor, two gunshots going over his head. He scurried behind the canned goods. Footsteps crunched on rubble. Without moving his head, Jeremy scrounged for any weapon. His finger touched a charred broom handle a few feet away. Quietly, he dragged it closer to him, dipping the brush end in bubbling green apple and cherry hard candies that had melded into a molten cascade of drippy goo. When the muzzle of the gun cleared the corner, Jeremy swung the broom as hard as he could. The gun clattered to the floor, and Jeremy scrambled to his feet while summoning his magic into an energy ball in his hand.
Grunting, with his hand covering his burned face, it was hard for Jeremy to recognize Perry from the day he’d walked into Levi’s office and threatened to stop him investigating the serial murders. That failure of a witch had his hand extended with a similar sphere of magic, but his shone bloodred with anger and was aimed behind the counter. “Put yours out,” he growled.
“So you can kill me first, and then take out the witnesses? No thanks.” Jeremy swung his hand out to hit Perry, but their magics clashed. Jeremy’s fingers bent backward from the force as Perry gritted his teeth in pain. Neither of them could move closer, and both witches summoned barriers of red and yellow between their bodies.
“I’ll drink in every bit of magic you have, so you can join Levi.” Half of Perry’s face was a translucent mask of cooling marbled sugar, but he managed a thin smile.
“I guarantee that you’ll see hell before me.” Contrary to Jeremy’s words, Perry’s barrier began closing the distance between them, darkening into black tendrils that greedily sucked up Jeremy’s magic. Jeremy tried to move back, but Perry’s power drew them together like magnets. Regular magic wasn’t going to beat him, but if Jeremy opened up the channels in his body while admittedly feeling intense fear and anger, he was likely to hurt the clerks too. Perry’s hand was almost on his chest, and physical contact meant instant death. Jeremy licked his lips. I have to do something.
Perry’s magic crackled like lightning. “There’ll be nothing of you left to identi—” He suddenly shrieked in agony, his back convulsing as he was lifted off the floor. The mysterious force slammed Perry to his knees, revealing Desmond behind him with a hand piercing through his torso.
Jeremy stared at Desmond’s bloody hand, transfixed by witnessing him kill that way a second time. Unlike in England, Jeremy felt no horror, because Perry had just tried to kill him and two innocent people.
“I’m sorry for being late,” Desmond said as he retrieved his hand and the energy vamp slumped onto his stomach.
Perry didn’t stir. Hopefully the bastard’s dead. Jeremy rubbed his forehead, exhaustion eating at him now that the adrenaline was gone, and there was no way to hide their relationship anymore. As soon as they reported the incident to the Council, which they had to after so much magic exploding in one area, Faradin’s dolls or the Council member himself would collect them for questioning. Who knew when they’d be released from custody due to the lies they’d told.
“You should leave before I start the cleansing spell,” Desmond said so calmly that Jeremy’s frantic brain didn’t register understanding at first.
“I’m sorry, what was that bloody nonsense you spouted?”
“Go home now, and no one will know you were here.”
Jeremy waved his arms around the destroyed store. “Removing the evidence makes all of this look like a planned murder. I’m not in the mood for you to play white knight, so just call the fucking Council. While you’re doing that, I’ll call my father, and maybe Simone, because she’ll love me owing her a gigantic favor.”
Desmond’s bloody hand pulled upward, and the body floated off the ground to meet it. “Perry was the only one she trusted. Killing him is my chance for her to make a mistake.”
He hasn’t even figured out a way to say Rosaline’s name without triggering one of her curses. “Why do you do these things when they affect me regardless of your intentions?”
Desmond frowned. “Because your life means everything to me. I’m not capable of changing that.”
“So I’m supposed to stay quiet until things blow over?”
“Yes!”
“The Council will restart its investigation into your past if they think you went back on your word.” Jeremy closed his eyes. “It’s obvious that he came here with the intent to kill. I can’t lie about this. This isn’t an ideal situation, but I’m not using you as a scapegoat for my problems.”
“Her sole attention is on me, which will change if she knows you’re involved. For both our sakes, you need to let me finish this.”