White Witch, Black Curse

Jenks watched as I shook the envelope over the weighing pan, then rose up on a column of amber-tinted sparkles. "The phone is going to ring. You want to get it before it wakes up my kids?"

I looked up, not sure I believed him. The trill of the phone broke the silence, and I reached for the receiver, adrenaline jumping through me. Cormel? "God, I hate it when you do that," I said, as I hit the button to open the line.

"Hello, yes?" I blurted as Jenks darted from the kitchen to check on his kids. Then remembering we were a business, I cleared my throat. "Vampiric Charms," I said politely. "This is Rachel. We can help, dead or alive."

"Alive would be better," came Edden's voice, and disappointment that it wasn't Cormel slumped my shoulders. Tucking the phone between my shoulder and my ear, I went back to my set of scales.

"Hi, Edden. How is Glenn doing?" I asked, trying not to breathe on the scales as I tapped a little more dust out.

"Great. They released him this afternoon. The massage worked, though it raised a few eyebrows. It's going into the SOP for aura trauma."

"That's fantastic!" I said as I stood and dumped the dust in with the wine mix. Wine to give life, dust to give substance, ivy to bind, and holly to be sure nothing bad came in on the souls of the dead. "Thanks for calling me." I looked at the clock, wanting to keep the line open, but clearly Edden didn't get the hint.

"It was only right, seeing as you helped get him out." He hesitated, and when I didn't say anything, he added, "I'm sorry about Ivy. Is she okay?"

My motions to scrape the metal shavings into the mix were harsher than I had intended, and I warmed, gaze flicking to Jenks as he flew in. Oh yeah. He would have heard about that. "Ah, she's okay." I winced, adjusting the phone and remembering to grind a strand of my hair in with everything. "Um, how much trouble am I in over that?"

He laughed. "Just come in tomorrow and fill out a statement. I told them you were working for me, and they cut you a lot of slack."

I sighed in relief. "Thanks, Edden. I owe you."

"Yeah, you do…," he said, and my tension ratcheted up again at his sly tone.

"What," I said flatly. My eyes flicked to Jenks, listening to the entire conversation from across the room, and the pixy shrugged.

"I'd like your help on the next step in bringing Mia in," he said. "We can go over it tomorrow. See you at my office at eight."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Edden," I said, holding the phone tight to my ear. "There is no next step. Until my entire team is functioning, none of us is going after her."

"Our three best profilers say Ms. Harbor will be at a party tomorrow," Edden said as if not having heard me. "I want you there."

Jiggling the phone, I pulled a bottle from the oven and turned it off. Jenks's wings had hit a high pitch, and I tried to tell him with my eyes that this was not going to happen. "On New Year's Eve?" I quipped. "How much are you paying these guys? Half of Cincinnati is going to be at a party."

"I want you to come with me to one in particular," he continued, his voice tired.

"Golly, Edden. I don't date people I work with."

I could hear him puff his breath out in annoyance. "Morgan, stop messing with me. There's an eighty-three percent chance Mia will show up at this one."

The bottle was warm in my hands as I filled it, and I gave the mix a good shake before setting it beside the first with a sharp tap. "I've got spelling to do tomorrow. Personal spelling."

"I'll give you time and a half," he coaxed.

I crossed one arm over my middle. He wasn't getting it. "That woman's baby almost killed me," I said, trying the direct approach. "She tried to finish the job last night in front of a freaking jail, damaging my new aura and pretty much stripping Ivy's down to nothing. Do you know how hard it would be to live with Ivy if she were dead? I'm not going to risk us on some lame attempt to tag her and her psychotic boyfriend. Did you know I can't tap a line without convulsing if I don't have a good aura? I'm helpless, Edden. Not going to happen."

"Make some charms. I'll double your rate," he said, and I heard a burst of muffled noise when someone came into his office.

Make some charms. Stupid human. "No," I said, eyeing my potions. "Maybe when it gets warmer and all three of us can work."

"Rachel…People are dying. Don't you want to get even with this piece of work for what she did to your roommate?"

I got mad at that. "Don't you guilt me, Edden," I said, hearing Jenks's wings clatter. "There's a reason the I.S. is ignoring her. She's a freaking apex predator, and we are zebras at the watering hole to her. Trying to goad me into it by waving the flag of revenge is low. You can just take your guilt and your manipulation and shove it!"

Jenks looked pained, and I lowered my voice so I wouldn't wake up his kids. From the phone came Edden's cajoling voice saying, "Okay, okay, that was unfair. I'm sorry. Can I come over and talk to you about it? Bring you flowers? Candy? Does bribery work with you?"