Chapter Nine #2
“He was summoning fiends,” Milo said. A simple correction that resonated along the tether connecting us.
“Whatever, it’s all the same demonic garbage I don’t want in my business.”
There was a huge difference most didn’t grasp between fiends and demons. The sentience. The power. The magic.
Finn’s death cemented that difference in both of us.
It clung to Milo’s thoughts, forefront and threatening to expose emotions he never showed publicly.
Vulnerability, sensitivity, weakness—each held its right time for public observation, but working a case wasn’t one of those times.
The anguished final expression on Finn’s stilled face faintly rose in Milo’s mind.
A murky haze filtered through the morgue where Finn lay, and I couldn’t be certain if it was Milo burying the memory himself or me severing my magic entirely so I wouldn’t have to ever see that expression again. One I refused to cement in my thoughts.
Flashes of blood splatter, broken body parts, and a woman’s face vacant of life rattled in Milo’s head, pushing away his past and any threatening guilt, allowing him to remember what brought him here this evening.
His most recent case. His most recent failure.
But motivation to keep his demeanor from shifting as he pursued closure for this lost life.
“Maybe I avoided you because I didn’t want to cause you any trouble.
” Milo grinned, grabbing a martini from the bartender, who quickly made themself scarce from earshot.
“Little ole me, stopping in here, asking the right questions to the wrong people. It could’ve caused waves, and you know I only enjoy the ripples I control. ”
“Please.” Cassidy fiddled with her bracelet, unsnagging it from a diamond-encrusted watch. “A few fiend-fucked warlocks wouldn’t have intimidated me, and you know better.”
“I know a woman of your caliber would never let a few warlocks or fiends rattle you,” Milo said. “But I’m here in search of something far bigger than either of those.”
“Here about that demon thing, I assume. Tragic.” Cassidy’s eyes remained locked on the stage as a new performer sauntered out. “You can speak to whomever you wish. Patrons, performers, Gavin. Though they already answered questions for the detectives.”
“I’m sure you enjoyed those leading questions on the case.
” Milo had read the police reports and gleaned enough from those investigating that they were more interested in a welcome invitation to snoop behind closed doors of Gwendolyn’s Guns & Gals than search small leads on one of Cassidy’s employees, warlock or not .
“No one’s interested in that girl’s death, myself included.
I barely knew her, no one here did, so if you’re hoping for one of the six degrees of separation visions, doubt you’ll find much.
” Cassidy’s expression shifted from aloof amusement to vacant indifference.
“Truthfully, she lacked in every way on and off stage and wasn’t much better at serving drinks or making conversation.
The one saving grace she had was her magic. ”
“A magic which appealed to the demon who devoured Melody Mauve.”
“Oh, you memorized her name.”
“Memorized a lot more than that.” Milo had read her file, learned her fate, found connections or lack of to any family, and learned she possessed a powerful arcane branch.
Milo held back all the potential possibilities that’d crossed his path when researching this latest victim.
All the visions he’d stored in his massive vault of a person he’d never met and now never would.
A simple life with nothing grand or glorious, so it went untended in his ever-growing list. No immediate danger should’ve lied ahead for her.
But demonic interference was a difficult thing for Enchanter Evergreen to predict.
None of that mattered. He clung to the seven visions he’d had of Melody Mauve, tucking them away in his mind, even though they were snuffed out since she’d died, and now simply took up space in his head. He held onto them out of guilt.
“She wasn’t involved in any extracurriculars, which is why I paid her no attention.”
“Then why’d you hire her?”
“Gavin has a soft spot for small-town girls with big-city dreams.” Cassidy nodded to the man posted at the end of the bar, fully alert and glaring at Milo.
“Plus, as I said, she had a wonderful magic that would’ve sold high.
Figured, a few months of waiting tables and she’d realize the benefit of selling her branch. ”
I ground my teeth, nearly rousing and severing my link again.
The Gardner Family enchantment schemes. Cassidy would find those with powerful and unique magics and assign them to work alongside a witch who possessed an enchantment branch, so the branch could be written through spell craft copies or bottled in potion crafts, then distributed.
I’d skimmed enough off her surface thoughts when we were students to understand the inner workings of her family business.
Not that my findings were considered admissible at Gemini or a court of law.
“I need to find out where Melody was when she was abducted. I already know where she wasn’t.” Not at work, home, friends, or her local haunts.
“Why does it matter where she was? You can’t exactly read the memories of the scene.” Cassidy’s comment skirted a reminder of Finn, which fueled my magic. Everything in the living room shook, and Milo’s thoughts became faint echoes.
“Not why I’m looking for it,” Milo said with a smile, unphased by Cassidy’s comment or better at hiding it in his mind than I was.
Each of the victims had been unaccounted for, the same as Melody, and if he knew where she was, he’d know the demon’s hunting grounds.
“But hey, if you can’t figure out where one of your girls, with a magic you never had a chance to taste, snuck off to, I understand.
Guess there are still hidden nooks in Chicago Cassidy Gardner is unaware of, or maybe new ones. ”
“Goading me because that works wonders.”
“Simply suggesting you might be out of touch.” Milo eyed the empty box office above the bar. “Sure, you’re seen here, but you’re still a mile away from everyone else in this club.”
“Christ, you’re annoying. Look, I’ll ask around, but do yourself a favor, Enchanter Evergreen.
Don’t stress yourself out over this girl or a handful of nobodies.
” Her expression shifted, stone cold, eyes tightened, matching the cutthroat demeanor of her grandmother’s portrait proudly displayed on the bar wall behind her.
“If any of these ‘victims’ mattered, they wouldn’t be dead.
They’d have popped up on the great Enchanter Evergreen’s radar that much sooner.
You should honestly leave the sweeping up of corpses to less impressive guild witches. ”
Milo’s stomach sank. Something few people called out, but something commonly acknowledged was that The Inevitable Future worked to make the world brighter one life at a time, so if you didn’t make the cut, you didn’t matter.
Milo worried too many others saw it that way too.
In truth, every lost life represented a failure, one he’d never found a way to prevent.
“Ask around, Cassidy.” Milo’s smile vanished, and his face soured into something stern. “Unless you’ve finally reached the end of your usefulness.”
“I’ll find out where she was.” Cassidy tugged Milo’s tie, adjusting and tightening it too much. “Here’s some free advice for you, though—don’t fuck with demons. They don’t stay in big cities long. Let them enjoy their visit and move on.”
“They don’t stay long because enchanters like me banish them back to the Hell plains they crawled out of.” Milo leaned in close to Cassidy’s ear. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have a late-night date.”
“You could do better.”
“So could he.” Milo strolled out of the club, dwelling on how he hadn’t contacted me because he prioritized the case, which didn’t get him far.
Taking in a deep breath of cold air, Milo contemplated going home instead of surprising me, worried I’d be more annoyed than entertained. Part of him wanted to put off stopping by until the weekend. No. I clawed my way up from the couch and grabbed my phone, texting him .
Short. Simple. Eager. Something to say I had to see him. Now. Somehow, I needed to explain how my telepathy swelled, explain how I’d tracked his case alongside him, invaded his thoughts from halfway across the city.
Milo’s blood rushed, and his face heated, giddy and already compartmentalizing his career and his desires because he believed tonight would be blissful. Unfortunately, I’d have to burst that bubble when he showed.
Explaining my damn telepathy problems was going to ruin everything between us.