“She told me. He came to the shop to buy some blood and bones. But his cowl fell back on his way out the door. Theresa saw him. He smiled at her then left. Later that night, she rotted and crumbled to dust.”
Val shook her head. That sounded just like Vladimir, that prick.Death should always be both gruesome and memorable,she’d once heard him say.
“Before she died, she enchanted his image to me. Here.” Ashia wove a spell in the air, and a life-size view of Spectre appeared before them.
Val laughed, delighted.
Finally. You bastard. You made your first big mistake.
CHAPTER
FOUR
Two days later,Val found Talon at the Ribald Unicorn, the popular bar he ran in the bazaar. The bar catered to magir of all kinds but few humans. Val, who served drinks and pretended to be little more than a lowly earth witch, was welcome. Warlocks, the witches’ evil, human counterparts, always made too much drama and thus had been banned.
Val stood in the back of the bar in the shadows and watched Talon argue with two druids about something, his hands flailing as he emphasized his point.
Her best friend and former lover should have been a wolf. There was something playful yet dangerous about him. His sandy-blond hair needed a cut, and his light gold eyes held more secrets and sadness than a guy his age should have.
Always popular with the ladies, Talon had a strong, rangy body when human. In his avian form, as a large golden eagle, his wingspan, sharp talons, and even sharper beak warned prey to be wary.
He should have led his own flock. Before his family and mate had died, he might have. But the same events that had ruined her future had also ended his and put them on very different paths.
Now the leader of a rag-tag band of shapeshifters, Talon loosely led the Beast Brigade—his goofy choice of a name. They were twenty members strong at last count and had a mix of raptors, felines, wolves, two bears, and if she wasn’t mistaken, a house cat and a dog.
Shapeshifters, unlike lycans and special werebeasts, didn’t have extra magic in their shifted forms. Shifters were either human or animal with no in-between. No extra power, no weird magic but their ability to shift shape.
Except for Talon, who she knew was a lot more than just a golden eagle in shifted form. She’d seen the guy yank a lycan off her feet and fly with her. No normal eagle could do that.
But she let him have his secrets. She had more than her share, for sure.
Masquerading as a normal human server at the bar, the spell that masked her scent and features would last a solid month before she’d have to take it again. Val had been using spells to mask herself for over a decade, sadly used to the need to hide.
She’d bartered for this potion from a coven down in Oregon that didn’t know her. Now, she had sharper features, blue eyes, and short black hair. Her body remained the same, average height and weight for a human woman. Nothing outstanding except for a dimple when she smiled.
She also wore a subtle perfume that helped disguise the scent of necromantic power, to stem her paranoia. In the weeks since she’d begun using this particular disguise, no one had questioned it. With Talon as her supervisor, no one would be the wiser.
As if thinking about him summoned him, he turned to wave at her.
She waved back, remaining in the shadows.
The druid with him growled, “Can’t believe you think I’d fall for that one. Get lost, birdie.”
Talon grinned. “Say what you want, Harry, but you still need to pay off your bar tab at some point. Give me a spell to make my lemon tree grow and I’ll knock fifty bucks off.”
Harry the Heretic scowled. “I’ll think about it.” He slid into the floor and vanished.
Talon shook his head. “Show off.”
The area looked packed, as usual. The bar did a lucrative business catering to all manner of magir. Mostly mages and shapeshifters and always a dozen or more witches. A few lycans with the occasional nymph or visiting fae normally stood out.
The bazaar sold all kinds of magical constructs. Most shoppers were looking for things they couldn’t find in the human stores. Usually fae, celestial, and even the occasional demonic component. But the marketplace also had a lot of crafts shipped in from other realms.
Talon joined her after checking in on a few tables. He slung an arm around her shoulders and walked her down the hall to his office. “What’s up? Did you get us a witch?”
She nodded. “Ashia Cane, former head of the Emerald Cauldron Coven.”
He snorted. “What a stupid name for a coven. It’s like everyone in Seattle names everything after the Emerald City or throws ‘Rainier’ into their title.” He had to be thinking about the Rainier Mage Council. Plunking his butt into the creaky chair behind his desk, he asked, “Any problems?”
