Chapter 12 #2
“You’re smaller than I expected,” Brenton said. “From Stacy’s description, I expected you to be six-two and wider than a steer.”
“What?”
“You’re Quentin Heart, right?”
“Yes,” he answered cautiously, wondering if he needed to take cover. Brenton had at least three knives and two guns strapped in strategic places on his body. Quentin’s magic had pinged the weapons as soon as he walked through the door.
“Stacy talks about you like you’re an all-powerful deity, not a scrawny nerd.” The words were a bit insulting, but Brenton’s casual tone implied he was just stating facts, not trying to get a rise out of Quentin.
“I live to underwhelm.”
Lars laughed. “Don’t let the slim body and lack of bulk fool you.
My son is a magical powerhouse and could wipe the floor with you if he had his mind set on it.
As could I.” Lars’s humor vanished, and his voice took on an icy tone.
“You are here for a job, not to voice your personal opinions of my son.”
Brenton winced. “You’re right, sorry.” He quickly shifted the conversation. “What exactly is the bounty? Stacy was light on details. She just said to investigate whatever you wanted.” He glanced at Lars.
“There technically isn’t an official bounty per se.
In exchange for getting first crack at my inventions, Stacy agreed to look into my good friend Glenn’s attack and turning.
The vampire’s name is Nikko, and he lives in the forest behind the hospital.
I want you to assess whether he is a threat.
He wants my house, and eventually he’s going to want Glenn back; neither is going to happen. ”
“But he’s Glenn’s sire? Doesn’t he have rights?”
“He bit Glenn, then abandoned him. According to vampire law, that nulls their relationship. I’m worried he will still be able to call Glenn to his side because of their blood connection.
I want you to scope out Nikko’s location and gather as much information as you can about him.
If it looks like he’s going to be a danger to this clan, I’ll have you bring him in, but not before we have something we can nail him for. ”
Quentin wasn’t going to get on the wrong side of the council. He’d never met them, and he was already leery of their power over Jaks. Quentin couldn’t fight them all. Eventually, he would have to learn to work with others.
Brenton raised his scarred eyebrow. “Why do you need me? You’ve taken on a vampire before, and if rumor isn’t mistaken, you are dating a rather powerful one.”
“It’s a jurisdiction thing,” Quentin confessed. “We can’t go in without it looking as if Jaks is trying to invade another vampire’s territory without cause.”
“And you don’t want to call the attention of the vampire council.” Brenton nodded.
“Can you blame me?” Quentin scowled. “I’ve heard nothing positive about them. They are decidedly hands-off, and I refuse to leave my friend vulnerable.”
“Nope. Can’t blame you at all. I’d be happy to take the bounty-not-bounty.” Brenton’s feral smile melted away Quentin’s concerns.
“Good, let’s lay out the terms.”
After an hour of bartering over verbal contract details, since they weren’t going to write anything down, they came to an agreement, and Quentin handed over some of his newer orbs.
“The blue ones capture, the purple ones stun. If there is a particular place you want the vampire sent for containment, I can program that in.”
“Wow.” Brenton unzipped the gym bag he’d had draped over his left shoulder and shoved the orbs inside.
“Haven’t you seen them before?” Quentin rubbed his forehead. “I expected you to be familiar with them if you worked with Stacy.”
“She told me about the ones you provided her, but the company ran out before I came here.”
“Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Arizona. I was in the Phoenix chapter. We were bought out, and I transferred here. I have a cousin in the area.”
Quentin nodded his understanding. “Here is a page of activation words keyed to each ball by number and how to program them, so you don’t accidentally set them off.
You can change them to respond to a word of your choice.
It’s best to make them individual to each ball, or you could set them all off at the same time. ”
“You don’t use a word,” Lars interjected.
“That’s because I created them. I only need to push a bit of my magic to get them to work.”
“Makes sense.” Lars nodded.
“It doesn’t really,” Brenton muttered. “I’m not going to lie, things in Arizona aren’t as open as here.
Vampires don’t walk around like regular folks, and magic users are rare.
You people even have a college here, which blows my mind.
” He held up a hand. “I’m not saying I don’t like it.
It just takes some getting used to.” He lifted the strap back on his shoulder. “Thanks for these.”
“You’re welcome. Let me know how they work out.”
Brenton nodded. “I heard you were a bounty hunter for a while.”
“He’s retired to safer things,” Lars said.
Wow, when did his father start to agree with Jaks? The glare he sent him had no noticeable effect.
“Does that mean you aren’t interested in fighting the vampire yourself?”
Quentin shook his head. “No. I can’t be directly involved because of my relationship with Jaks.” He wasn’t interested in fighting anyway, but he wasn’t going to mention that to the bounty hunter.
“Best thing about that relationship,” Lars muttered.
His father’s shoulders lowered. Did he think Quentin wanted to fight?
In what world was Quentin a warrior? The only times he fought were when the battle came to him.
He had no interest in being on the front line of any confrontation if he could help it.
He was more of a supporting character, maybe backup for when things got tough.
“Fair enough.” Brenton nodded. “Not everyone likes a good fight.”
Although his words agreed, his eyes showed incomprehension of such a concept.
They parted on good enough terms, with Brenton promising to keep him in the loop.
He might have sounded like a bigoted ass, but he was willing to work with them, and that’s all they needed. They didn’t have to become BFFs. After a round of manly handshakes, the bounty hunter left.
Quentin wiggled his fingers to regain circulation. He turned around and faced his father. They stood there staring at each other for an uncomfortable minute until his father sniffed.
“Why do you smell like brimstone?”
Quentin frowned. “I don’t?”
Did he?
“You do. It’s all over you. What did you handle today? Were you summoning demons in class?”
“My class is beginning rituals and spell creation. We don’t summon anything. It’s not even in my curriculum. The only thing we did today was examine herbs for rituals.”
“Where did you get them?”
“Hafrey.” He froze. “I was going to visit him. I completely forgot.”
“Why?”
“I suspect he had something to do with Grevin’s accident.
He was one of the few who knew Grevin was doing a ritual that day, and he had access to Grevin’s wards.
There are only a few people who are cleared to enter, and I wasn’t there that day.
” He didn’t have proof, but his instincts were screaming that he was right.
He trusted his instincts.
His father’s grin was sharp and dangerous. “Then let’s go see a wizard.”