On top of the table in front of her stood a small, black cauldron that was straight out of a movie set, with some sort of thin, white smoke billowing out of it.
“Have a seat, please, you two,” the woman said, pointing to two plush chairs on the opposite side of her.
“Sheila! How nice to see you again,” I said, flashing her a grin and taking my seat.
“Nice to see you, too, Damian.” She smiled back at me, and I could see a row of white, slightly offset teeth in her otherwise normal mouth. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” She pointed with one bony finger toward Rick, who was leaning up against a wall with his arms folded over him.
“Oh, him?” I chuckled. “That’s the great Richard Veinne. Though I call him Rick. We’re best buds, aren’t we?”
Rick could barely contain his laughter, but he managed to choke it down and hold out a hand toward our hostess. “Nice to meet you, Sheila.”
Sheila shook his hand and a strange look passed over her face for just a moment, then it was gone. “The pleasure is all mine,” she said.
“And what do you do, exactly?” Rick asked.
I shot him an icy glare. “Rick! That’s not any way to greet a lady!”
“It’s okay,” Sheila said, suppressing a chuckle. “I’m a blood mage. I work magic through blood offerings.”
“A... blood mage?” Rick’s distaste for the words was plain on his face, but he didn’t seem as disgusted by the idea as I thought he would be. “I bet you’re fun at parties.”
There’s the Rick I’d come to know and love.
“Now, now, Rick. At least let’s see what she can tell us before you mock her,” I insisted.
Rick rolled his eyes and sighed, but he nodded his head and finally took a seat.
“Thank you, Richard,” Sheila said. She stared straight into Rick’s eyes. “But first, there’s the small matter of payment, eh?”
Rick cleared his throat. “Umm, we kind of lost our-”
“She doesn’t want money,” I told him, interrupting. “She wants our blood. You know? Blood magic? That’s how it operates.”
“Our b-b-blood?” Rick stared down at his fingers and then up at a small device Sheila was holding in her hand. His face went ashen.
“It’s not as bad as all that,” I said. “She only needs a droplet or two to make it all work. It’s just like getting your finger pricked at the doctor’s office.”
Sheila nodded and a wide smile crossed her lips. “It’s like Damian said. Just a small droplet of blood will do the trick.”
She pressed the device to her finger, and I heard a small clicking noise, then she removed the device and a tiny droplet of blood showed on the tip of her finger. She placed the finger over the cauldron and squeezed until the droplet fell into the smoke and hissed.
“See? Just like that, eh?”
Rick’s face was still lifeless, and his eyes hadn’t so much as blinked the whole time. It was kind of funny to watch.
I offered her my finger next. “Don’t worry, I can be brave.” I flashed Rick a toothy grin and nudged his shoulder, which finally got him to break his concentration. A moment later, my blood was swirling in the cauldron with Sheila’s.
“Come on, Rick,” I urged. “It’s just a tiny prick.”
“O-okay,” he stammered.
He gingerly held out his finger to Sheila. It was shaking something fierce, so Sheila put her hand over his and whispered a few soothing words. Rick seemed to calm down considerably as she spoke.
“Ow!” he said as the hidden needle did its work. But the deed was done. His blood had been collected, too.
Sheila grinned at both of us. “Now that that’s settled, there’s the other matter, too, eh? You haven’t forgotten our deal, have you Damian?”
“Me? Forget?” I waved a hand dismissively. “Psh. Of course not!”
I pulled out the plastic box with the eclairs in them. “They were a little better a few hours ago, but here you go. Chocolate eclairs. Your favorite.”
Sheila’s face lit up and she hastily grabbed the box. “Are these from Hot Babe’s Goods in Seattle?”
“The one and only.”
“Oh, Damian. I never could resist a good eclair.”
I shot Rick a knowing glance. “See? Told you they were important.”
Rick just huffed and crossed his arms.
Sheila opened the box and picked up one of the treats.
“I wouldn’t eat that if I were you,” Rick said. “It’s been out in the sun for hours.”
“Oh, that’s nothing a little magic won’t fix,” Sheila chided him.
She held out one bony finger and whispered something unintelligible, then a small icy blast shot from her fingertip, enveloping the eclair and cooling it and the room down several degrees. Greedily, she shoved a bite in her mouth, eating half of it in one go.
“Mmm,” she said. “Just as good as I remembered.”
Rick sat there watching the whole thing with his mouth ajar. It seemed he was finally starting to relent on this whole magic thing. Or at least one could hope that was the case.
“Now,” Sheila said once she’d finished eating. “What brought you two here today? Want to find out about your futures, eh?”
“A fortune teller?” Rick spat. He huffed and shot me an icy glare. “Don’t tell me you came all the way out here just to find out about your love life.”
I reared back a bit. “Me? Heck no. I haven’t cared about my love life in years. I’m so over all that stuff.”
“For now, at least,” Sheila added cryptically. “But in a few months, well…” she gave me a wry grin.
This time, it was my turn to stare with mouth agape. What was that supposed
