“That is one honor I would happily decline.”
Vander’s laughter sang through the phone. “Oh, I don’t know. I might be a little bit jealous that they view you as a bigger threat than me.” I clearly heard Byx yell, “idiot,” in the background.
Speaking with Vander was always headache inducing and this time was no different. As the first twinges of pain flared, I offered a brief, “Goodbye,” before ending the call. I didn’t wait to hear Vander’s own dismissal.
I’d no more than ended the call than my cell pinged with an incoming text, quickly followed by three more—four in total, all from one source, Keir. Given the condition Hikaru had returned in after he’d retrieved his murdered friends remains quickly followed by the situation with Aaron Detling, I’d completelyforgotten I’d agreed to review the Warlock Council’s recent communications with the Magical Usage Council.
Keir’s accompanying message was brief,thank you for reviewing and offering your opinion.I wasn’t at all certain I could review the Warlock Council’s messages neutrally, but I would endeavor to do so.
In keeping with what I’m certain Hikaru would deem, “stuffy warlock practices,” each note was dated, signed, and carried an official emblem. Keir had kindly sent them in the order in which they’d been received. The first seemed innocuous enough. Although brief, and most likely wholly superficial, it offered the Warlock Council’s condolences regarding the Magical Usage Council’s feared losses. The tone was polite, if insincere. It seemed in keeping with what I would expect.
The second letter appeared to be a follow up of sorts, asking for more details of who exactly was missing and if they were expected to be found alive or dead. While the tone of this one wasn’t cruel, it wasn’t kind either. It seemed more businesslike than personal. While it wouldn’t have been the avenue I would have taken, it didn’t strike me as completely out of character.
The third letter became a bit more… interesting. Why on Gaia’s green earth would the Warlock Council be interested in how the next leader of the Magical Usage Council would be chosen? Most likely a human wouldn’t have found it odd. Humans had the misguided notion that all the species had a ruling party that represented them and that these ruling parties communicated and supported one another. While I wouldn’t call them antagonistic, mostly we ignored each other. The very fact that the Warlock Council was so interested in the hierarchy within the Magical Usage Council was… odd.
By the time I got to the fourth letter, I was nearly dumbfounded. This letter expressedconcernregarding those left within the Magical Usage Council and their abilities toproperly perform their tasks. The tone of this letter was completely different to the previous ones. It wasn’t particularly threatening. Instead, it was cajoling. Concern oozed through nearly every line, along with the Warlock Council’s willingness to offer assistance in the Magical Usage Council’s restructuring during thesetryingtimes.
I scrolled through the letter again. Reading it a second time only served to increase the queasy feeling that had settled deep inside my gut. While the first three letters sounded harsher, they didn’t set off nearly the alarm bells the last one did. I simply wasn’t certain why.
There was nothing I could exactly point to beyond just how odd it was for the Warlock Council to show more interest beyond what seemed properly courteous. I imagined the Magical Usage Council had received similar acknowledgments from the Vampire Council, Witches Council, and various shifter organizations. I had no idea if Fairy would respond or not. Fairy was aware of what happened, but I doubted any could anticipate Queen Silvidia’s response or if she even deemed what occurred as worthy of her attention.
I puzzled over the letters, oddly wishing Hikaru was here to offer his, undoubtedly, colorful opinion. The kitsune was off on what he termed a reconnaissance mission. I didn’t like the idea of him venturing back into Danzig’s lair, but Hikaru was determined and confident Danzig would never know he was there.
I rubbed my chest, attempting to dissipate the growing tightness festering there. It was absolutely ridiculous, fretting over the kitsune this much. Hikaru was more than capable and I’d yet to fully grasp why his wellbeing was important to me. I suppose it was due to a sense of responsibility. At least that’s what I tried to convince myself. The effort wasn’t all that successful. There were many I felt responsible for and yet I didnot fret over them this way. Those individuals did not consume my thoughts or take up permanent residence in my brain.
What was it about Hikaru that I couldn’t shake? The kitsune was undoubtedly irritating. He’d rearranged not only living room, but his bedroom, the kitchen and bathroom. Hikaru claimed the disorder was an improvement. Clearly, he was wrong, and yet I’d not straightened a single item he’d intentionally mussed.
Hikaru came and went as he pleased. His tails constantly accosted my body and his flirtatious teasing was beyond inappropriate. Contemplating the kiss we’d shared in the hospital stairwell was enough to send my blood south. Perhaps that was the problem. My cock was commandeering all the blood in my body, leaving little to power my brain.
I scoffed at my own idiocy, a smile straining my lips. That right there was the crux of the issue. I should find Hikaru’s antics obnoxiously annoying. And, to an extent, that was true. What was also true was that I found those same antics amusing. Despite what was going on with the Warlock Council, I’d found myself smiling more in the past few days than in the past ten years combined.
The simple truth was that I felt lighter when Hikaru was around. The world didn’t seem so serious, or perhaps I didn’t need to be so stern when dealing with that same world. Oh, I still stewed. I doubt anything could ever change that aspect of my personality, but Hikaru had a way of pulling me out of my self-induced funk.
I’d flown into a rage when I found out another warlock had possession of the charm that had injured, and continued injuring, Aaron Detling. It wasn’t simply a matter of examining the charm, but without it, I couldn’t counteract its life-threatening consequences. The charm was still active and harming the human. The least the warlock who’d taken thecharm could have done was negate its effects. They hadn’t seen fit to do that. I doubt the warlock, or more likely, warlocks in this case, hadn’t viewed Mr. Detling’s suffering as important. He was human and would be seen as lesser—a necessary casualty to serve their version of a greater good.
Perhaps that was giving the responsible party too much credit. Most likely they understood that whatever they were planning wasn’t beneficial to anyone but themselves. Narcissists were like that and seemed to overpopulate the warlock community.
Elbows on my worktable, I rested my forehead in my clasped palms. As I sat there, Cilla was carefully boxing up all the charms available in the store. She’d put the closed sign out and left a forwarding message on the answering service that the store would be closed until further notice. If someone needed a particular charm, I would make a new one and see to its delivery personally. Once the charms were collected, Cilla then had the daunting task of contacting every customer who’d purchased a charm in the last three weeks. We’d discussed how far to go back and Cilla and I agreed it would be best to go back in time to when the elder warlock was in the store. I had no idea if he’d tampered with the charms or not. It was possible something had happened even earlier. It was also very possible that all the charms were fine and nothing of the sort had happened.
The simple fact was, we didn’t know and I wasn’t willing to take the chance. My reputation wasn’t everything, but it was damn close. It wasn’t just my reputation at stake, though. Assuming the charm had been intentionally corrupted, if what was happening to Aaron Detling was any indication, at least one other warlock out there would go to extreme lengths to discredit me, even if that process left dead bodies in its wake.
Sixteen
Hikaru
Danzig needed to die. No, he needed to be slowly tortured and left to rot. Vermin would scavenge his body. At least that way his flesh could be useful. My atoms occupied most of Danzig’s office. I was so scattered that I touched nearly every surface. The magic surrounding Danzig didn’t appear any happier today than the last time I’d been here. If anything, it was even more volatile. Every once in a while, a bolt of magic would make a run for it, only to slam into what I could only describe as a containment wall—trapped.
I’d never seen anything like it. The magic surrounding Niki flocked to him of its own free will. It could leave when it wanted. I imagined some of it did but doubted that percentage was high. Magic loved my warlock and for good reason.
If Tenzen hadn’t royally pissed off the brownie community by capturing and draining one of its children, I’d make haste to the nearest brownie and tell them what Danzig was doing. Brownies were made of magic and hated the thought of anyone abusing it. I couldn’t think of a greater abuse than making magic a prisoner.
I floated here and there, keeping a metaphorical ear tilted in Danzig’s direction. So far, all I’d been subjected to was Danzig’smisogynistic opinions regarding the female, human applicants. His disdain was as clear as his greed. The women were viewed as little more than breeding cattle. Danzig analyzed them with an eye to who might produce the most numerous offspring as well as the most powerful.
A day spent in this purgatory still hadn’t made Danzig’s vetting process clear. I still had no idea how he thought he could tell which human woman might produce the most powerful warlock child. Warlocks couldn’t even tell if a woman would conceive a necromancer or warlock child. There was a way to tell what the child was after conception. Fairy law had outlawed that practice, but it looked like Danzig didn’t care much about Fairy law, at least when it came to detecting necromancer children.
So far, I’d witnessed Danzig attempt to bribe two human women into allowing the test once they’d conceived. They would be given even more financial compensation if the child was a warlock. If it wasn’t, then they would also be paid to terminate the pregnancy. Danzig wasn’t just about making more warlocks, he wanted to eliminate necromancers before they were even born.
My atoms shivered and I itched to leave this horrid warlock’s presence. Despite my desire to leave, I stayed. So far, I hadn’t been able to learn anything more regarding Danzig’s plans for Niki or if he was in possession of the charm that continued harming Aaron Detling. Given the distance between Colorado and California, I doubted Danzig himself had been the warlock Aaron saw. We already knew at least two warlocks were involved and most likely that number would grow. All the rotten apples needed culled.
