“It’s fine,” I interrupted. “I’m not an idiot, and I’m an adult. I can take care of this.”
The vampire shrugged in acquiescence. “All right. If you want to track down a fox for us, then have at it. That would go a long way towards putting a hole in her plan to overthrow me.”
The woman from the cemetery tugged in my memory and I opened my mouth to speak, then paused. “I think…” I didn’t want to get anyone in trouble, and I didn’t know anything about her. “Last night, someone helped me get away. Maybe she was a friend of yours?” At Cian’s interested look, I went on. “I don’t know what she was. She didn’t have teeth like us-“ I gestured at Indra and myself. “Or a vampire, but she still had fangs.”
“Describe them?” Akiva requested.
“All of her teeth were fangs. Not set together like our teeth, but kind of spaced apart. Her eyes were teal. I didn’t get much of a chance to see much else about her.” I figured that super hot was irrelevant.
“That’s a water shifter,” Indra said. “A mermaid, maybe. Or a siren. Was she attractive?”
“She was so hot. Badass hot. Black hair, pale skin. Japanese features, maybe?” Was I rambling? “Around Akiva’s height? Definitely attractive.”
“Are you bi?” the lich’s voice was tinged with surprise.
“I am so bi. But even if I was straight, she was hot. She impaled the wendigo with her hand and if I hadn’t been in a fight for my life, I would have swooned.”
The three of them were looking at me with varying degrees of surprise and I quieted, clearing my throat self-consciously. “I just remember it very well.”
“Well she’s no friend of ours,” Cian said finally, alleviating my anxiety. “We don’t know many water shifters.”
“Oh.” Maybe it had just been chance, then. Whatever it was, I was happy for it.
“If she’s of the water, I doubt you’ll find her to ask for more help,” Akiva put in. “They don’t get mixed up in land matters.”
He didn’t need to tell me that; it was very well known in the preternatural community that those shifters who lived part of their lives in the water tended to keep to their own communities. New Orleans was a rare half-exception, since some of them kept residences in the city, but I doubted any water dweller would care enough to help long term. I’d never met one, only heard stories from my uncle.
“Anyway, I’ll take care of looking for the fox,” I promised. “And I can give you wards to keep with you, though I’ll have to refresh them every few days.” I drew my bag to me, fishing around in the small pocket until I found the charms from before. When I’d gotten them back from the three men, my wards on them had been completely depleted, so I knew they’d helped them in their struggles.
Akiva scowled. “You are not giving me the butterfly again.”
I looked at him, face carefully blank. “Sorry, Akiva,” I said in my friendliest tone. “It’s attuned to you now; no take backs.
Chapter 15
Aveline walked in the door a few minutes before two am, looking surprised that the men were still at our house.
“I thought you all would’ve gone home,” she admitted, walking to the kitchen to put down her stuff. “Are we ordering sushi?”
“Not tonight,” Akiva laughed, rising smoothly to his feet. “It is time we leave.”
Cian agreed with a nod. “There won’t be anyone knocking on your door today; I promise.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“Because I am no longer sidetracked,” the vampire explained.
Indra brushed by me, fingertips skimming my hand as he smiled. “See you later,” he said quietly, going out the door that Akiva had opened. Cian followed with one last wave and closed the door behind him.
Aveline and I went over our wards anyway, and I added my magic to them in order to give them a little something extra. Just in case Cian was wrong.
He wasn’t.
Thunder rattled my windows, waking me up with a start. Sitting up straight, I squinted at the rain against the glass before getting up and dragging on a new shirt and yoga pants.
Dragging a map of New Orleans that I’d borrowed from Aveline and a black crystal that dangled from a chain to the kitchen table, I sat down hard and stared at the map. Goddess I needed this to work.
Scrying was basic magic taught to all witches, and therefore very easy to ward against. If the kitsune of New Orleans didn’t want to be found, I doubted my junior set up was going to change that.
Sitting down, I leaned over the wooden table with my crystal in one hand while the other smoothed the curling edges of the map. It was only a map of the city; if this didn’t work then I might have to look for a bigger one to widen my search.
The other option was admitting failure before I’d made any progress at all, and that was not on my agenda for the day.
Forcing those thoughts from my mind, I gripped the delicate chain tightly in my fingers, drawing the crystal above the surface of the map back and forth.
I took a breath, eyes closing as I leaned forward in my chair over the map.
I’d never met a kitsune, but I had met their normal animal counterparts at my mother’s house. I let those images linger, memories of my fingers sinking into thick fur brushing at my mind and foxy grins swimming in my vision.
With just a small flick of my wrist, the crystal spun in a circle on its chain. It was a tool for my focus; it was how my magic would find the magic of a kitsune.
The crystal slowed for a moment, then continued to spin.
I frowned, but I was ultimately unsurprised. Whoever my magic
