Kicking It

“If we keep catching emergency cases, probably.”

Right. I held the title of investigator, but my real job was to intervene when a witch went off the rails and the shit hit the proverbial fan—that typically involved a witch pulling something out of one of the other planes of existence. I’d already eliminated two elementals and arrested a witch who fancied himself a summoner since my attempted vacation began. Couldn’t the bad guys take a break long enough for me to take one?

Removing the last of my knives, I left the bed and my rows of weapons as I moved to the open space in the room. Taking a deep breath to center myself, I spread my legs to a shoulder-width distance before hanging my torso downward so I could hug my legs in a deep stretch.

“So, what’s the case?” I asked, still upside down.

Derrick flipped back to the first page of the file. “Recently there was an outbreak of what was originally assumed to be an unknown contagion that reduced the victim from healthy to comatose in under twelve hours. A virus or bacteria has been ruled out as the cause, and it is now clear that a spell is responsible for the victims’ conditions.”

“So I’ll be looking for an unknown witch who for whatever reason is causing an epidemic.” It sounded easy enough. In fact, it probably should have gone to a different team—a team not on vacation.

“There’s more,” Derrick said as he flipped a few pages. “There have been reports of ‘smoke creatures’ in the shadows at night.”

Despite his finger quotes, I couldn’t help repeating, “Smoke creatures? What are we talking about? Air elementals? Djinn?”

Derrick shrugged without looking up. “I haven’t found a more concrete description—just that they have magical signatures consistent with a human witch, so they fall under our purview.”

I processed that as I changed from stretching to yoga and moved into warrior pose. “They have a sensitive working the case?”

Derrick shook his head. “Not that I’ve heard. All these readings came from detector charms. Also, I visited the hospital and gathered what information I could about the victims. I’m working on a time line to find where they might have encountered our unknown witch.”

“You started a new case before I’d tied up the last?”

“I looked into it just a bit while you were out.”

Out. Yeah, out meant I was risking my life hunting bad guys Derrick encountered only through research done at a safe distance. But Derrick had his job, and I had mine. And I wasn’t complaining. After all, mine came with a kick-ass crossbow, top-of-the-line weaponized spells, and a killer wardrobe—well, the last had had some recent casualties, but I’d remedy that the first chance I got.

I nodded to my partner, showing I held no hard feelings.

“It sounds like you’re still in the first steps of reconnaissance.” Which meant I wouldn’t be hunting yet.

Maybe I’d get a day or two of vacation after all.

* * *

I didn’t get that vacation.

The next night I found myself sitting in a parked rental Hummer wishing there was a Chinese take-out place nearby. But no, the case put me in Central York. According to the signs, the town was a “Suburban Paradise.” I could see why someone would make that claim; Central York was mostly houses. Streets and streets of rainbow- colored houses and perfectly manicured lawns turned the town into a carefully designed grid of homes. The “rebels” in the town had added an extra flower bed to their yards, making them stand out fractionally. Home Owners Associations were bad enough, but to move anywhere in this town you had to practically sign away your personality. This place looks more like Suburban Hell.

Of course, Central York wasn’t entirely houses—there was a community tennis court, a golf course, a park in the town center, one retrofitted movie theater, a post office, two government buildings, a couple of delicatessens, and three diners. That was it. Definitely no Chinese—or any other decent takeout—and I guessed only enough jobs for a fraction of the population.

They must commute. After all, Central York, while it might have been granted the status of a town, was really just one developer’s wet dream in downtown New York City. In Central Park to be exact. No one fully understood how the Magical Awakening seventy years ago had caused areas all over the world to unfold and reveal more space. Magic. I shook my head. However it occurred, it was an undeniable fact that if you walked around the outside of Central Park it was exactly the size history books claimed, but if you walked through the center you wound up in Central York.

The police scanner on my dash crackled, as the dispatcher announced a domestic dispute. Two cars responded, and then the scanner went quiet again. I’d been parked for several hours and this was only the second call I’d heard all night.

“Wow, it’s dead here,” I said to no one in particular. I had my windows open, but there was no one on the street to hear me. It was like the sidewalks had rolled up at nightfall. Was there a curfew or—“Have the attacks scared you into your homes?”

There were smoke creatures in the shadows after dark. Not that I’d seen one. Yet.

That was why I was hunting tonight. We didn’t have enough intel on the creatures, and Derrick couldn’t dig up more. Short of a premonition hitting him, the only way we would learn what I was facing was if I bagged one. So, I hunted. Rather passively, unfortunately.

I’d rather have been on the street, but I had no idea how to track the creatures yet. No idea of the territory yet either as the places they’d been spotted appeared random. Which left me only one option—follow on the cops’ trail. So I waited, the Hummer parked to save gas instead of cruising the streets.

Efficiency. Great in theory. In practice I was bored. And my ass was falling asleep. I wanted to be moving, to be doing something. Anything.

I considered the neighborhood around me. I could roam, just a little ways, but I wouldn’t be able to respond as fast if the dispatcher put out a call about the creatures. I glanced from the neighborhood to the scanner and back again. “You couldn’t pay me to live here.” The monotony made the place so very boring. Of course, that same trait gave the residents a certain anonymity, and I excelled at going unnoticed. What with my average height and build and average shade of brown hair and eyes, people tended to forget me as soon as I was out of sight. And that was without adding in my various obfuscation charms. Shaking my head, I amended my earlier statement. “Okay, maybe you could pay me to live here. But I’d have to travel. A lot.”

That trivial decision made, I double-checked the charms and weapons I had on me. It was typically a calming activity, but tonight it didn’t cut through my impatience.

“Come on,” I said, shooting the scanner a hard stare.

As if my glare had power, the scanner crackled again before the dispatcher’s voice filled the Hummer.

“Attention all cars in the vicinity of Blossom and Noir, an unknown entity was spotted at—”

Finally.

* * *

I spotted the telltale blue lights that indicated I’d reached my destination long before the GPS could announce I’d arrived. The Hummer didn’t have lights or tags—obviously, as it was only a rental—but I still pulled it as close to Robin Street as I could. Then I parked in the middle of the street. Who was going to ticket or tow the Hummer while we chased a creature of unknown origin?

After jumping out of the vehicle, I forced myself to walk, not run, toward the largest gathering of cops. You don’t run toward groups of freaked-out people with guns. The situation rarely ended well. Some of the officers looked up at my approach, but it was the two plainclothes Anti–Black Magic Unit agents who moved to block my path.

“I’m sorry but this area is currently restricted. Please—,” a tall agent with ruffled blond hair told me. But I noticed he didn’t actually look at me; his attention was on something over my left shoulder.

Cutting him off, I pulled my badge and held it above my head. “I’m Inspector Darque from the MCIB.”

The intersection went silent at my announcement. Now the agent looked at me.

“Thank goodness,” a rookie cop said, breaking the silence.

I glanced at him. His caramel-colored skin looked slightly washed-out as if something had scared the blood