Black Magic Sanction

and the door and Vivian smiling wickedly, one hand in her softly bulging pocket. Her hair was no longer slicked back but plain and straight, and her forehead had a new bruise. There was a rash on her neck that looked itchy. She'd been pixed.

Behind her, the leprechaun made a bunny-eared kiss-kiss at me. 'There you be,' she said, popping her green gum.

'Give me the bag,' Vivian said tightly, her hand open but not extended for me to grab and do some damage. 'Slowly.'

Grimacing, I handed it to her and sank back down at the table.

'Good decision, Morgan.' Vivian passed it to the leprechaun, then tossed two plastic-coated bands of charmed silver onto the table. 'Make another one.'

Pierce was still standing, his jaw clenched and a dangerous look in his eyes. Fear hit me—fear not for me, but for everyone else. He was way too free with the black magic. Damn it, couldn't we have had a standoff somewhere other than Junior's for once?

'Sit,' Vivian said lightly, looking at Pierce. 'Or I shoot her. With a bullet. Right in her gut. She'll be dead in twenty minutes. Understand?'

A faint sound of pixy wings rasped against my ear, the very familiarity of it catching my attention over the loud conversation. Jenks? My attention darted past Vivian to the front, and my breath caught. Nick was in the corner behind a New York Times. Our eyes met, and he winked. Jax was with him, waving enthusiastically and dusting an excited silver. Eyes wide, I pulled Pierce down into his chair. What is Nick doing here?

'Put them on,' Vivian said as she stood over us, and I fingered the zip strip. I was really tired of these things. I could do something stupid and try to get it on Vivian instead of me, but I threaded my hand through the circle and ratcheted it closed. Ley lines weren't my forte, anyway. Lucky for me, my amulets still worked, and I retained the old lady look and the pain relief.

Pierce glared up at Vivian. I could feel him tensing, feel his chi beside mine glowing with ley-line power. If he put the strip on, he would be magically helpless. If he didn't, Vivian would shoot me. 'Put it on,' I said softly, and Pierce's eyes pinched at the corners.

'Rachel—,' he almost growled.

'Listen to her, Tom,' Vivian said, and my breath caught. She thought Pierce was Tom?

Pierce, too, realized the power behind the understandable mistake. His motions rough, he put the loop over his wrist and tightened it.

The tension visibly left Vivian. 'Better,' she said. 'I'll get a bonus for bringing you in, Bansen. Where have you been the last couple of months?'

Dead, I thought, eyes on my bag as my mind went first to the money, then my splat gun, and finally the scrying mirror I'd brought so I could talk Al into giving me my summoning name back. Might be hard to explain that last one.

'I'm surprised to see you with her,' she continued, almost cocky now that she was the only one who could tap a ley line. 'Politics makes strange bedfellows, huh?'

Pierce stayed silent, knowing his speech would give him away, but the leprechaun was eying him as if she knew. Vivian assessed Pierce's silence, then glanced around the coffeehouse before pulling out the last chair and sitting down.

Behind her, the leprechaun huffed for being ignored. 'How about a wee coffee?' she said, standing with my bag tantalizingly close. The charms in my splat gun's hopper wouldn't care if I couldn't tap a line or not.

'I'm not your date,' Vivian said, noting where my eyes were. 'Get your own coffee.'

'I dunna carry cash,' she said, her small features bunched up, and she gracefully clambered up onto the nearest chair with a little hop, setting my bag well out of my reach.

'You just love digging holes, don't you,' Vivian said to me as she leaned back, her hand finally coming out of her pocket to scratch at the welts on her neck. 'The first sign of trouble, and you go to another shunned demon summoner. Smart, Rachel. Really smart. You're lucky he didn't turn you in himself. Word is, Tom knows your summoning name, too.'

Pierce's expression didn't shift as he sat like a stone across from Vivian. 'It would be wise for you to walk away, witch,' he said, his words slow as he chose them carefully to try to sound like everyone else. 'You will be beaten soundly.'

Vivian looked at him curiously, but seemed utterly unworried. 'Not even a circle stops a bullet at this range,' she said confidently as she tugged a slim phone from an inner pocket and flipped it open. God, the thing was as thin as a credit card. 'Come quietly, or you'll be in Alcatraz for so long that you won't be able to craft a love charm by the time you get out.'

My face burned at what they were doing. They had no right.

Nick was at the counter ordering and flirting with one of the clerks. He was here to help, wasn't he? The leprechaun was watching me when my eyes came back, and I dropped my gaze, resolving to not look at Nick again.

'Give me my coin,' she said to Vivian, still eying me. 'I need it to get paid.'

I made a sour face and said, 'You bought a wish to find me? I'm flattered.'

'I'll give you the coin when I'm done,' Vivian said, rubbing her welts.

'I want a coffee, then,' she demanded.

Vivian's face darkened. 'Can it wait a moment?' she snapped. 'I'm on the phone.'

The leprechaun sneered at her, then turned to smile at me. 'I be liking your hair the other way,' she said, clearly recognizing me. 'Hey, isn't this the same place—'

'Yeah,' I interrupted her, then shouted, 'Mark, when you have a chance, can we have a tall latte over here?' Mark raised his hand in acknowledgment, and I smiled. 'There's some money in the bottom of the bag. Help yourself. My treat.'

Vivian stretched between the tables to snatch the bag from the leprechaun even as she continued to talk to someone in soft tones. Her eyes widened at the stash, and I wasn't surprised when both the cash and my splat gun went into her pocket. Son of a bitch.

The leprechaun frowned as she fingered the five Vivian had left her. 'So how did the wishes go?' she asked me as we waited.

I lifted a shoulder and let it fall. 'I gave two away. I'm still digging myself out of the one I used.'

She snorted. 'Aye, it's a good thing you didn't spend them all. People have been known to die from too many wishes.'

'You know one of the wee folk?' Pierce said, the awe in his voice making her beam.

'I let her go for the wish I used to get out of my I.S. contract,' I admitted.

Pierce stared at me, aghast. 'You accepted a wish from a felon leprechaun?' he asked, making my face warm and the leprechaun frown.

'It isn't like she's an ax murderer,' I said. 'Besides, the I.S. wanted me to leave.' Jeez, look who was talking, Mr. Black Magic.

Pierce lapsed into a pensive silence, and Mark came forward, handing the leprechaun her coffee and looking at me as if trying to figure out how I knew his name. She needed to use two hands to manage it, but her smile was honest enough as she took it, giving him the five and telling him to keep the change.

'Did she really use a wish to find me?' I asked her, thinking how I could use a wish right about now.

'Aye.' She took a large draft of her drink as if it were cold milk, not steaming coffee. 'The wish is from the West Coast, but we'll honor it. Bitch of a loss on the exchange, though.' She glanced at Pierce. 'Do I know you?'

His eyes wide, Pierce shook his head violently. 'No.'

Vivian straightened, smiling as she confidently said, 'I'll see you at baggage claim,' and snapped her phone closed.

'You're not getting me through security,' I said. 'Shunned witches can't fly.'

'Then it's a good thing it's a private jet.'

I sighed, and the leprechaun put her cup down with a tap. 'Me coin? I do have a life. I found Rachel Morgan for you. That's all you be wishing for. You want me to help you get her to the airport, that be another wish. And