Natural Mage (Magical Mayhem #2)(79)

“If we mask ourselves with a spell,” Emery murmured, “we’ll give away what we are.”

I clutched my hoodie again. “Reagan, get this show on the road. I want to get out of here.”

“I’ll get the show on the road, but you’re not getting out of here.” Reagan ducked, bobbed, and weaved, making a fool of herself while trying to scope out the bars. “With Emery here, they’ll be pulling all their resources into one place. And with the Guild’s money and power, a few of the lug nuts in Callie and Dizzy’s groups will be stupid enough to join their forces. Teamed with the creeps who are already loitering around this city, sticking to the outskirts and waiting until the time is right, we’ll have a small army on our hands.”

“They’ll attack during the day so we can’t use the vampires,” Emery said. “Given that they’ve seemed to stop caring about keeping their magic under wraps…” He shook his head and scanned the crowd. “I hate to admit it, but you’re right. We need to dangle some bait.”

“The bait. You,” I said between clenched teeth, my body shaking. I knew a battle was coming. I’d known that for months. But the last few days had given me time to relax in relative safety. Time to better hone my craft. Then Emery had shown up and the danger around me had seemed to melt away.

I’d fallen into my own false sense of security.

And it had just been ripped away.

“Perfect. Yes!” Reagan grabbed my arm and dragged me up the street toward the bars. “Keep that mojo going, Penny. Get those shifters eager to help you. That’ll at least give us a few more hands on deck.”

A big man with a unibrow stood in front of the bar we’d been thrown out of the other night, taking some woman’s ID. She laughed and touched her hand to her chest, making a joke about feeling young again. Her comments were met with a hard scowl.

“Jimmy,” Reagan said, crossing in front of him and leaning against the wall beside him. I awkwardly stood next to her, since she hadn’t let go of my arm. Emery stood on the other side, staring at me with a perplexed expression, as if he still couldn’t see me as a damsel in need of rescuing.

Mr. Unibrow, Jimmy, curled his lips and shook his head. “You shouldn’t be here. Management ain’t impressed with you right now.”

“When is management ever impressed with me?” she asked.

He handed the woman’s ID back and took one from a man wearing an excited, dopey smile. “Fair point. Red’s gone.”

“Good. Say, listen, what’s the scuttlebutt? What have you got wandering through here?” Reagan pushed me back against the wall so she could look down the sidewalk.

Jimmy handed the ID back and finally looked at us. His eyes snagged on me, and his scowl increased. “What’s the deal with her? She need rescuin’ from you or what?”

“See?” Reagan shot Emery a glance. “What did I tell you?”

Jimmy followed her glance, keeping his focus on Emery for a few beats longer. When he finally returned his attention to Reagan, there was a wary light in his eyes. “What are you into now?”

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with. I can’t use the help of a sea creature shifter, no matter how perplexing and secretive their mating habits…” Reagan waggled her eyebrows at him.

“What kind of sea creature?” I whispered, losing the battle with curiosity.

“Merman. How do they mate? No one knows.” Reagan waved that aside. “Doesn’t matter. At the moment. Listen, Red was concerned enough about the strangers of this area to call. What have you seen?”

Jimmy stared down someone who had stopped outside the bar and looked in. The poor guy with the strange taste in Hawaiian shirts clearly liked the music and was thinking about a libation, but the intense furrow in Jimmy’s bushy unibrow scared him off. He skulked farther on down.

“We got mages.” Jimmy spat to the side, nearly hitting Emery’s shoe. “Sorry, bro.” He curled his lip. “Heard someone talking about some nasty shit. Shit I don’t even want to repeat. Got him all sorts of power, la-dee-da. Had to brutally kill someone to get it. Didn’t seem to bother him.” He shifted to a wide, aggressive stance. His magic, the call of the sea, deep and powerful, washed over me. “I threw his ass out. Said he couldn’t be talking about none of that in my bar. Hell no. But he has friends. I know he does. Shifty-eyed, scrawny little hacks coming in here and staring holes in my back. When I look around, they have something else taking up their attention. Driving me crazy. But I don’t know no more than that. I don’t know enough to start banning people. Hell, I don’t even know who to ban.”

“Any other bars you’ve heard about this happening in?” Emery asked.

“A couple. All magical clientele. But again, aside from a few things people have mistakenly overheard, that’s all we know. It’s bugging me out. At least you can tell when it’s a vampire. Hell, even you.” He gestured at Reagan. “You smell different. Do I care why? No, I do not. I know you ain’t human, I know to watch my six around you, and that’s that. But these fuckers.” His lip curled again. “They’re dressing like tourists. They’re drinking and trying to fit in. I don’t know one from the other, but I know they ain’t right in the head. I know they don’t give two shits about killing people. That’s got me jumpy, I don’t mind telling you. I do not want that shit in my town, do you hear me?”