Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
My next call was to Dru . After explaining the plan, I asked her if she wanted to be our demon or if she’d rather I find someone else.
“ Why would I want you to find another demon, Hope ?” she asked crisply.
“ So you don’t have to slice your arm open?”
“ I don’t mind in this case.”
“ Are you sure?”
“ Are you doubting me?”
“ Never ,” I assured her. Then I realized why she was so eager to help with my potion—our friendship only went so far when bleeding was concerned. “ If this potion works you want to rub it all over Preston , don’t you.”
“ I would never.” She followed those very insincere words with an evil cackle. “ Maybe .”
“ You really need to talk to a therapist about that.”
“ And rob me of the small joys in life? I don’t think so. When will you get here?”
“ I’m picking up Dorsey , then I’ll head over. Oh , do you know any berzerker aside from Mark ?”
“ Call him and ask.”
“ I will. Thank you.”
We ended the conversation as we arrived to the bed and breakfast. I left the SUV double parked and tasked Alex with the job of finding another low-power mage while I brought Rufus inside. Dorsey might get cheeky, so I needed the intimidation factor.
Don’t worry—while unwilling blood resulted in dark magic, in this case, I knew Dorsey would only be unwilling as far as making my life harder, not for the sake of the potion itself.
However , Dorsey was nowhere to be seen. The reception counter was empty, as was the sitting area and the breakfast room. Was she in hiding?
“ Ms . Dorsey ?” I called loudly. When no response came, I rang the bell on the counter.
Nothing .
“ Let’s see if Lilian knows,” I told Rufus , then led him upstairs and knocked on her door.
“ Who is it?” came her voice, a little raspier than usual.
“ It’s Hope .”
The door opened right away, and I did a double take. Her platinum blond hair hung limply around her face, and her skin had taken on a sickly pallor.
“ You’re worse,” I blurted.
“ No kidding. Did you figure out who’s behind the spell? Why didn’t you call?” Her gaze dropped to Rufus . “ Nice dog.”
Rufus preened at the compliment.
“ Thanks , he’s a good boy, but, no, I didn’t figure out who made the spell. But I do have an idea of how to break it.”
Her eyebrows arched, then she blinked and pressed a hand against her forehead. “ Explain fast. I need about a truckton of painkillers and to lie down.”
I told her of my plans, and she nodded once, then winced in obvious pain. “ Sounds good. You go do that, then report.”
She must be really feeling awful if that was all her interest. “ I need Dorsey . She’s a low-power air mage.”
“ Dorsey ?”
“ She’s not downstairs. Do you know where she went?”
“ She mentioned it was girls’ night out or something. Maybe she went to that bar street. Now , go do the thing and bring me that potion when you’re done.”
“ I will.”
Two minutes later we were on the way to Guiles and Romary . The traffic was absolutely awful, Alex’s mage friends weren’t answering, and I couldn’t get the image of Ian sick on his couch out of my head.
“ This will work, right?” Alex asked, all seriousness.
“ It will.” It will , I repeated to myself. If we couldn’t find Dorsey then we’d grab someone else. Sonia would know of someone, and she’d be more than willing to help.
As if the universe had realized I was nearing my breaking point, a parking spot appeared right in front of us. I slid in, ignoring the outraged horns of other cars, and we piled out.
“ Divide and conquer?” I suggested.
“ Sure thing, boss. Will text you if I find her.”
We each took one side of Guiles , looking into every bar we came across. Some weren’t too happy with Rufus , but luckily I was able to see from the entrance.
I checked my phone to find a text from Hutton and nothing from Alex . I’d read it later. Now I had to find Dorsey .
Rena’s neon-pink sign caught my attention, and I made a beeline through the growing late evening crowd toward it. I’d been there a few times, and it was the perfect spot for girl hangouts and bachelorette celebrations. They also didn’t mind dogs.
Dorsey sat at one of the round tables with an elderly woman with bright blue hair. She spit her drink when she noticed me barreling toward her.
“ What are you doing here?” she demanded.
“ I need your help.” I turned to the other woman. “ Hi , I’m Hope Avery , nice to meet you. I need to steal Ms . Dorsey .”
The woman appeared unimpressed. “ Do you now?”
“ Yup .”
“ Go away, Avery ,” Dorsey grumbled. “ You’re not part of girls’ night out.”
“ That’s very rude of you, Ms . Dorsey ,” I said.
“ You stick to your friends, I’ll stick with mine.”
“ Hear , hear,” the other woman said, raising her pink drink in salute.
“ There’s nothing wrong with mixing it up some days,” I said. “ It’s good for the soul, you know.”
“ My soul is dead, so I wouldn’t know,” the second woman said. They both burst into laughter.
“ I’m sure we can make a transplant. You know, like livers? They grow back and all that.”
The woman made a face. “ Gross .”
“ No gross, no gain.” I turned back to Dorsey and leaned down. “ I need your help with the thing.”
Dorsey turned to her friend. “ She means the spell making people sick.”
I closed my eyes and counted to two. I would’ve usually made it ten, but we were on a tight schedule here. “ If you don’t want to get sick yourself, I suggest you come with me and help me stop it.”
Dorsey studied me closely, then took a sip of her own pink drink. “ You need me?”
“ Yes . And no blackmail,” I warned. Rufus suddenly nosed his way between us and let out a low growl.
“ Get that demon dog away from me,” Dorsey screeched, scraping her chair back.
“ Don’t worry, he only eats bad people who refuse to help.” I patted Rufus’s head. “ Don’t you, Rufus ?”
Rufus snarled, showing all his very impressive teeth.
“ Lord almighty, fine,” Dorsey grumbled, picking up her purse and standing. “ But it better not take long.”
I straightened. “ It will take as long as it takes, Ms . Dorsey .”
“ Ugh . I can’t with you.” She made shooing gestures with her hands. “ C’mon , let’s go. What are we waiting for?”
We walked out of Rena’s , and I sent Alex a text, letting him know I’d procured Dorsey and to meet us at the SUV .
“ We need to make one stop,” I told Dorsey , veering toward the web of narrowed streets extending from the two main ones. Rufus’s presence meant the crowd parted easily, even those already drunk.
“ Why ?” Dorsey asked. “ I thought we were in a hurry.”
“ Won’t take a minute.”
Dorsey mumbled something about kidnapping her under false pretenses but trotted after me and Rufus . It took us no time to get to the Crawler , and I was delighted for once to see Mark was in his usual bouncer spot outside, checking people’s IDs and paranormal types.
“ She and he can enter,” Mark said, pointing at Dorsey , then Rufus . “ You’re still out of luck.”
Silly Crawler and its silly no-witches policy. The door opened to let a patron out, and I peered wistfully into the inside of the pub. It looked cozy and like a great place to have some drinks and karaoke with friends.
My attention returned to Mark . “ Are you feeling okay? Not sick at all?”
He curled his trunk-thick arms. “ Strong as an ox.”
“ Good . I need a berzerker.”
“ Sorry , Hope , you can’t afford me.” He winked.
I felt my cheeks redden. “ A zerker with less power than you. The potion we made didn’t work, and I want to recreate it.”
He sobered immediately. “ I see.”
“ Need people who are at bottom of the paranormal barrel, pretty much.”
“ Hey ,” Dorsey snapped straight, which considering how curved her spine usually was, I was impressed it remembered how to do that. “ What do you mean with that?”
“ We all do what we can with the powers we have, Ms . Dorsey .”
She sent me a mean glare. Rufus let out a low growl of warning, and she shuffled to my other side.
“ You want April ,” Mark said.
“ April ?” Dorsey and I repeated.
“ That’s right.” He crossed his arms in his usual bouncer move. “ April is a quarter zerker. Will that work?”
Boy , would it ever. “ Perfect .” I gestured for Dorsey and Rufus to follow. “ Let’s go, Ms . Dorsey , Rufus .”
“ I’m not your dog,” she muttered but followed, her spine thankfully back to its usual candy cane shape. I’d gotten worried for a moment there.
“ Oh , wait.” I ran back to Mark , eliciting a surprised yip out of Rufus as he changed course to keep up with me. “ Do you know of any elemental mage that’s around?” I leaned toward the door of the Crawler . “ Maybe someone inside?”
“ None I know today, sorry,” he said apologetically. “ I’ll let you know if any of our usuals drop by.”
“ Thanks .” I wasn’t defeated, not yet. Plenty of mages around, even if they were in hiding today. We’d find one. I glanced at Dorsey . “ Is your friend a mage, too?”
“ Low -key witch,” she said gleefully. “ Expert in curses.”
“ Curses don’t exist,” I said out of habit.
“ Your presence in this city begs to differ.”
“ Low blow, Ms . Dorsey .”
“ We do what we can, child. We do what we can.”
Okay , she’d won that one. I called April on the way back to the SUV , and she was delighted to help since it was closing time anyway.
“ Is that Wyatt with your stray?” Dorsey asked, squinting ahead.
I almost dropped the phone. “ What ?”
She was right. There stood Wyatt , right next to Alex by the SUV , looking like the personification of doom and retribution.