Sam and Quillan took off twenty minutes later, leaving me alone with my comatose guest. We’d set Trey up on my couch and now he lay there with my blue blanket stretched out over him. I felt like I was living Weekend at Bernie’s or something.
I glanced at Trey and not finding him in need of anything, returned my attention to my email inbox where I’d just opened three more rejection letters for Captain Slade. Big goddamit. The phone rang and I picked it up mindlessly, not even glancing at the caller ID. “Hello?” “Dulcie.” It was Knight. I narrowed my eyes. “Ah, just the person I wanted to talk to.” He chuckled flirtatiously. “Is that so?”
I stood up and rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah, jerkoff, I didn’t appreciate that stunt you pulled at the Relations Office to get me off the squad.” Total silence. “Hello? Are you still there?” “Too bad.” I sputtered. “You arrogant…” “It was for your own good.”
“So now I have nothing to do all day, I’m not getting paid and I have two ugly gremlins running amok in my yard. I really got the short end of the stick on this one.”
“Sorry about the pay thing, but it was necessary. And I didn’t order the gremlins, so I have no idea what that’s about.”
“Oh, you didn’t order the gremlins? So, what I have like a secret admirer who sends me monsters instead of candies?”
Knight laughed, pissing me off more. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe the Relations Office thought you needed them. I’ll check into it.”
I sat down again and faced my inbox, the rejection notices staring back at me like they were laughing. Well, screw them. “Where the hell have you been?” I asked, wondering why I hadn’t heard from him in the last four days or so. I checked the caller ID, but the number wasn’t listed.
“Before you answer, what’s your number?”
He gave me the number and then added, “I’ve been running background reports on all the creatures in Splendor.”
I sank back against my chair. Yeah, that would probably take a good three to four days. “Let me guess; was I in that batch of reports?” Knight chuckled again, and even though it annoyed me to admit it, it was damned sexy. “I ran a report on you before we ever met.” Great, that was comforting. “Well, I have news for you.” “Do tell.”
I explained the Tad Jones and Guy Riley murders, how they each had something to do with the illegal potions trade and finally, the Trey situation. “Is your friend a good enough witch to break the spell?” Knight asked. “Yes, she is,” I snapped. “If she can’t, I could. She’s meeting you tomorrow?” “Yes,” I answered, rolling my eyes. Holy Hades, the man was arrogant. “Okay, I’ll meet you both at your place, then.” “Aren’t you afraid of involving Headquarters in your little secret case?” I asked, my tone thick. “If your friend is trustworthy, I’ll swear her to secrecy.” “Fine, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I didn’t wait for a response before I hung up.
TEN
Sam came to my apartment around midday, loaded with two shopping bags full of herbs, potions and other less appealing things like freeze dried bat wings, newt legs and sheep intestine. I watched her dump the contents of both bags onto my kitchen table and made a mental note to disinfect the area once she finished.
“Dulce, can you get some bowls and spoons? We’re going to need to mix up a few different concoctions.”
I nodded and threw open the cupboard doors. I gathered up three bowls-one small and orange, one Tupperware and one large blue one. All covered in a fine layer of dust.
Just as I finished rinsing them off, the doorbell rang, announcing Knight’s arrival. “Can you get that, Sam?” I asked, holding up the orange bowl as if to say my hands were occupied. “Check the peephole first,” I added. She threw me a smile. “A little paranoid?” “Better to be paranoid than taken by surprise.” “Who is it?” she called and peered through the peephole. “Hello tall, dark and handsome.” “Knight Vander,” he answered. “Happy?” she asked as her hand rested on the knob. I just nodded. Sam threw open the door with a large smile. “Hi, I’m Sam.”
I craned my neck as far as I could without actually moving from my position against the kitchen counter and watched Knight as he walked into the living room. He was dressed in dark jeans and a long sleeved black t-shirt. His hair looked freshly cut-the ends no longer curled up. His dark golden tan seemed to emit a light of its own.
He extended his hand toward Sam. “Pleased to meet you, Sam.”
Sam smiled and accepted his offered hand. “Nice to meet you,” she said in a soft voice.
Knight turned and caught me staring at him like a lovesick schoolgirl. “Dulcie,” he said, a grin breaking across his handsome face.
I muttered an unenthusiastic “hi” and busied myself with drying the bowls, which I’d already dried. I then retrieved two spoons and placed everything neatly on the kitchen table next to the hideous ingredients Sam had pulled from the shopping bags.
Knight neared the table and examined everything as if he were a health inspector. Apparently satisfied, he turned his attention to Trey who still slept on the couch. Knight approached him and picked up his hand, checking his pulse. “He’s not dead,” I started but was interrupted by Sam, who turned toward me and mouthed: “he’s hot.” I just shook my head. “Should we get started?” Knight asked.
Sam clapped her hands together like a cheerleader excited for the big game and took a step closer to him. “Well, I went to Harmony and got everything I could to break the spell.” She paused. “Are you a…witch too?”
Knight shook his head. “No…”
“He isn’t magical like us,” I blurted, then immediately wished I hadn’t sounded all of thirteen. Knight grinned, apparently taking no offense to my Tourette’s Syndrome moment.
“No, I’m not magical but I can tell whether something might break the spell on your friend. I thought I might be able to help you pick the right anti-potion.” “Okay, sure. If you don’t mind my asking, what are you?” Sam asked. “I’m a Loki.” Sam’s confusion was evident by her vacant expression. “He’s from the Netherworld,” I said. They don’t have Lokis here.” Was Lokis even the plural? Lokae? Knight didn’t correct me, so I just went with it.
“Oh,” Sam said, trying to quell her surprise. I knew she was bursting to ask him a million questions but, knowing Sam, she wanted to be polite. That, or she was intimidated by Knight. Probably the latter.
“What have you got?” Knight asked, facing the table with his arms crossed against his broad chest.
“I’ve got every herb you can think of. And I picked up a white tincture, an erasing potion and a PH 3 potion.”
Knight nodded like he understood what she was talking about. I couldn’t help but scoff-as if he knew! Although my magic allows me to create stuff with my fairy dust, I don’t know the first thing about potions. Unless you’re a witch or warlock, one who relies on creating magic rather than possessing magic, there’s really no reason to study potions. And Knight wasn’t a witch or warlock-he was a bullshitter.
And I was going to call him on it. “What do those potions do?” I asked, then noticed Sam about to respond. “Knight?”
He nodded at the challenge in my tone. “A white tincture will combat any colored potions and pull the strength from them, an erasing potion will erase whatever charm was put on your friend; and a PH 3 potion will negate any spells put on him by means of acid.”
Sam smiled; I didn’t. “Well done. You know your witchcraft,” she said, beaming at him like he was her star pupil.
I frowned and brought the bowls to Sam. She took them and handed one to Knight. “What do you think we should try first?” she asked him. “Maybe the tincture?” It didn’t go unnoticed that she didn’t ask me. But, hey, I didn’t feel sorry for myself. “You know this better than I do, Sam.” Knight responded, giving me a grin. Bastard. Sam laughed and started reaching for ingredients. Goddamn Knight for winning over my best friend.
“Well, I’m thinking that maybe the white tincture might work best. That way we can find out if any colored spells were used on Trey. From there, we can probably just use the erasing potion to break down the potency of whatever’s left,” Sam said.
“Sounds good to me,” Knight concurred.
“Yeah, me too,” I added, though they might as well have spoken Aramaic.
I leaned against the kitchen counter, thinking maybe I should go work on something else since I clearly
