I held the spell for several minutes until Rafe bent down and rubbed his fingers against the woman’s burned arm. Dead and blackened skin sloughed away to reveal pink flesh beneath it.
“I think that’s enough,” Rafe said. “Take your amulet back and let’s see if she wants to talk.”
I released the woman’s head and lifted my necklace off her. She was staring at me when I did. She had wide brown eyes, and for the first time, I realized she had epicanthic folds.
Standing, I took a step back to be out of her reach in case Rafe dropped the spell that held her arms.
She twisted, trying to get her hands free, and her head jerked from Rafe to me and back. In a few seconds, she realized she wasn’t getting away and calmed down.
“Ready to talk now?” Rafe asked.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Start with your name; I like to know who tries to kill me.”
“Marcie Abrams.”
“Okay, Marcie. Now, why don’t you explain why you attacked two people minding their own business in the middle of nowhere,” Rafe said.
“Yeah, right.” The scorn in Abrams’ voice was genuine and puzzling.
“Yes, that is right,” Rafe said. “Now, you can tell us who sent you after us and why and we’ll let you walk away from here with no additional injuries.”
“You don’t really expect me to believe that do you?” Abrams asked.
Rafe cocked his head to one side. “I don’t see any reason you shouldn’t believe me. We didn’t have to heal your injuries. We could have just walked away and left you here to suffer.”
“You only did that to get me to talk. I’m not falling for it.”
“Rafe,” I suggested softly. “Why don’t you release her and let her stand?”
Rafe glanced my way and shrugged.
Whatever he was using to hold her arms over her head vanished, and as soon as she realized it, Abrams scrambled to her feet.
“There, now can we talk?” Rafe asked.
Abrams backed a few steps away and then hesitated. “I don’t guess you’re going to let me walk out of here.”
“That’s right, not unless you prove useful.” Rafe stepped to one side and waved a hand across the field where he had killed her compatriots. “These people died because someone thought it was smart to attack a Wanderer. As you can see, that’s not such a good idea. Now, we’re asking you politely, to tell us who sent you and why.”
Abrams glanced around at the bodies and the still burning remains of the helicopter. I heard the heavy tread of our familiars behind us.
“Holy shit! What are those things?” Abrams looked like she’d just pissed her pants. Beast and Maia stopped to either side of Rafe and me, facing our captive.
“That’s who we’ll feed you to if I decide you’ve lied to me,” Rafe said.
I had a moment of doubt that he might actually carry out that threat, but when I placed a hand on his, I felt humor in his emotions.
“Okay, okay,” Abrams stammered. “We were told that the gunships would take out your protection and that we had shields to protect us from your black magic. I guess someone was either optimistic or they lied.”
Rafe gave her a half-shrug. “Yeah, could be either, but I want to know which.”
“Robins, my team leader, said you were some kind of magic wielding terrorist. The mission was to take both of you down before you could launch your attack.”
“Our attack? That sounds interesting. Did this Robins tell you what we were supposed to be attacking?” Rafe asked.
“There’s some kind of religious gathering in Colorado in a few days. We were told that you were going to try and stop the gathering from succeeding.”
“Succeeding at what?” I asked.
Abrams shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. It’s just a meeting of religious leaders from the western hemisphere. They’re trying to come up with a response to all the Muslim craziness running around in the eastern hemisphere.”
“Go on,” Rafe said without expression.
“That’s about all I know. I work for Swamp Posse Security. We were contracted to provide the usual security needs of the meeting and then we were briefed on you two and sent down here to stop you before you could disrupt the meeting.”
“Seriously? Why would anyone think we’d want to interfere with a bunch of holy men?” I asked. Something didn’t seem right with her story. Rafe had been telling me that Wanderers never interfered with mundane humanity. Attacking a bunch of pious workers hardly seemed like part of our job description.
“That’s what I was briefed. I don’t know anything else about it,” Abrams said. She sounded defensive, but I guess I would too if I thought that my lying would just get me killed and eaten.
“Who runs this Swamp Posse?” Rafe asked.
“The CEO is Jenifer Armstrong. I’ve never met her, but I’ve read the on-line reports on her. She’s ex-Army, made full bird before retiring and founding Swamp Posse,” Abrams added.
“And where is this company located?” Rafe asked.
“We’re headquartered in Vicksburg.”
“Mississippi?” I asked.
Abrams nodded.
I still held Rafe’s hand in mine, and I could feel him reluctantly reaching a decision. Hell, he was going to kill her.
“Rafe, can we talk?” I asked.
He turned toward me, and I saw curiosity in his gaze. “Sure, we have time. Beast, would you watch this woman for me?”
“Certainly,” Beast growled, and he moved closer to Abrams.
The woman shuddered and took a step back.
“No, stay just where you are,” Rafe said. “You can sit down if your legs won’t support you, but if you start moving Beast here may recall how long it’s been since he last ate.”
Abrams froze and then slowly lowered herself to a sitting position.
Rafe and I walked back toward the center of the clearing and stopped when I thought we were out of earshot.
“What did you want?” Rafe asked.
“Are you seriously thinking of killing her?” I whispered.
He shrugged. “I’m considering it. It’s probably the
