Chapter 6 #2
Maddox leaned closer to the one he’d called Sky and sniffed his drink. “What is that?”
Sky bumped his shoulder against Maddox, pushing him. “I asked for a sea breeze, and the bartender—God love him—didn’t even get it remotely close. Not that I’m complaining. I appreciate his enthusiasm. This is like ninety percent alcohol and a kiss of pineapple juice.”
“Let me try it.”
“Hell, no! Go try your luck and order your own.”
Maddox glared at his friend, his brown eyes going golden while he reached out and tapped the side of Sky’s glass with his index finger. In a blink, the drink went from blue to clear.
“Oh, my God! What did you do?” Sky demanded.
He took a sip of his drink and choked. Had his friend turned it into poison?
Ryder’s heart leaped into his throat and he was planting his hands on the seat to slide out, even though he wasn’t sure how to deal with quarreling witches other than to toss them from the club.
“Water! You asshole! You turned my beautiful drink into water.”
Just as Ryder’s heart was climbing up his throat, Sky dipped two fingers into his drink that was now water and drew a circle on the table next to Maddox’s beer bottle and knocked on the surface once.
A small black hand with long, spidery fingers and knobby knuckles reached out of the circle and briefly patted the surface of the table before locating the bottle.
The second it touched the cool glass, it wrapped those bony fingers around the bottle and yanked it down into the circle as if Sky had opened up a portal.
The only thing to rip Ryder’s eyes from that horrific sight was the panicked cry from Gideon as he climbed to his feet in the booth and practically crawled on top of him.
“Idiot! You’re freaking out the vampires!” Maddox complained, hitting Sky on the shoulder. Ryder did not miss that Maddox was paler. He hadn’t made a single grab to save the remains of his beer.
Skylar’s eyes popped up to Ryder and Gideon, his face turning bright red. “Shit! I’m sorry! So sorry! It’s okay. Everything is okay, I swear. Mad pissed me off by ruining a fifteen-dollar drink.”
“Where is it? Where did it go?” Gideon demanded, his voice trembling. He stabbed a shaking finger at the empty spot on the table.
“What?” Sky asked. His brows knitted together over bright-green eyes.
“That-that thing. The hand!” Gideon continued.
“Your little minion,” Maddox explained blandly.
“Oh! It’s gone. It’s not here. It was never really here.” As he spoke, Sky reached out and rubbed his hand through the remains of the water circle on the table so that there was no sign of it ever existing. “That was one of my helpers. They’re very food motivated.”
Gideon stopped trying to climb into Ryder’s lap, and the fingers digging into his scalp were less like claws. “What kind of food?”
“Normal, human food. They’ll do just about anything for a ham sandwich and a bag of chips.” Skylar leaned closer and smirked. “They also like Mad’s beer.”
“Fuck off, asshole,” Maddox grumbled, his arms folded over his chest.
“Okay,” Gideon mumbled. He slowly settled in the booth next to Ryder, but Gideon didn’t put his feet on the floor. He folded his legs next to him and leaned into Ryder, both of his arms wrapped around Ryder’s arm.
Maddox laughed suddenly. “Wow. Way to make a great first impression. This is why I had to come with you.”
Skylar shot his friend a look, but it fell away when he turned his attention toward Ryder and Gideon. “Sorry again. Not the first impression I wanted to make. I’m Skylar Wallace, but you can call me Sky. You’ve already met Maddox.”
“It’s okay. I was…startled. We’re friends with Fox, so we’re kind of used to weird things sort of happening,” Gideon offered, even giving both men a small smile.
Ryder’s heart flopped in his chest. How could he not fall for this sweet man at his side? The witches scared him, and now he was trying to comfort them.
“Wonderful! Fox is fun. I’m hoping that we get to meet in person.” Sky leaned forward, a somewhat devilish smile tugging up the corners of his mouth. “Can I ask a weird question? Can I see your fangs?”
Ryder didn’t hesitate to lower his fangs in a flash and even throw in a warning hiss. Both witches jumped away, crowding close to each other.
“Holy shit!” Sky gasped.
Gideon poked him hard in the ribs. “Be nice!”
“They scared you first,” Ryder complained.
“And they didn’t mean to. It was an accident.
Be nice. I’m fine.” As Gideon spoke, his arms snaked across Ryder’s waist and he snuggled his head into his chest, effectively sucking all the irritation out of his frame.
How was he supposed to stay angry when Gideon held him like that?
It was fighting dirty. His fangs instantly receded and all the tension humming through his muscles dissipated.
“Yep. Sorry about that,” Maddox said.
“So, um…Fox says you have a ghost problem,” Sky interjected, his voice high and thin as his eyes kept darting to Ryder as he talked to Gideon.
“Yes! My bad. I’m Gideon and this is my boyfriend, Ryder.
” The bounce returned to Gideon’s voice as he drew out the word boyfriend.
“I recently bought this trunk at a thrift store and when I got it home, all these strange things began happening. Lights turning on, things moving, knocking sounds, the trunk opening and closing on its own, and giggling.”
“Plus, Winter saw the ghost,” Ryder added.
“Winter? As in Winter Varik? You know him?” Awe vibrated in every word Skylar spoke.
Gideon shared a glance with Ryder. Yeah, they were letting Fox deal with his Varik status. They were not falling on that grenade for him. They were also not going to share that they were technically part of the Varik Clan as well.
“Yes, Winter Varik,” Gideon confirmed. “He’s a friend. He’s familiar with ghosts, so he came over to my place and confirmed that was what the problem was. Winter said it’s a little girl, and it seems like she wants to play, but that was all he could tell us. He doesn’t get rid of them.”
“Hmm…the trunk? How big is it? Do you know where it came from?”
“We got it at the thrift store on Plum Street,” Ryder grumbled. At least Sky was getting down to business, his tone turning serious.
“But we don’t know where it came from prior to that.” Gideon shifted beside him and pulled out his phone. After a few taps on the screen, he turned his phone to show a picture he’d taken of it.
“That’s nice. Vintage?” Sky murmured.
“It is! I love it. I used to have one just like it…years ago.”
“Really gorgeous.”
Maddox leaned close to peer over Sky’s shoulder at the picture. “Looks haunted. Probably easier to get rid of it.”
Sky stared at his friend as if he’d lost his mind. “It’s vintage. Besides, haunted things can be made unhaunted.” He handed the phone to Gideon and smiled. “It’s very nice. You said the thrift store on Plum?”
Gideon nodded. “It’s a big store on the corner. You can’t miss it.”
“I’ll have to check it out. I love searching for treasures and bargains.” Skylar fell silent for a second, his eyes locked on the surface as he seemed lost in thought. He picked up his drink and took a sip, only to wrinkle his nose at the water.
After a final glare at his friend, he turned his attention to Gideon.
“So, here’s the deal. Option one is, obviously, get rid of the trunk.
It is the easiest option for you and would not require me to come into your home.
If that’s what you want to do, trust me, no hard feelings.
No one wants an unknown witch in their sanctuary, and I’m sure vampires are even more cautious. ”
Sky took another drink and glared at Maddox. His friend huffed and pulled the drink out of his hands. “Stop drinking it if you’re going to just glare at me. I’ll buy you another when you get me a beer.”
With a roll of his eyes, he was straight back to business.
“Option two is that I come to your place and do what’s called a consult.
I charge a flat two hundred and fifty dollars for that, nonrefundable.
I’ll come, check out the trunk and the ghost. The consult can last anywhere from five minutes to five hours, depending on whether the ghost is cooperative.
If the ghost doesn’t come out and I have to return another time, I won’t charge you again.
After the consult, I’ll figure out a list of options for getting rid of the ghost. Most of the time, it’s pretty simple to get the ghost to move on and release the item.
But occasionally, they can be stubborn.”
“Can Ryder and I be present during the consult?” Gideon asked.
Sky immediately nodded. “Yes, definitely.”
“Can Fox be present as well?” Ryder added.
“Sure. I get it. You want a witch there that you already know and trust,” he agreed with a wave of his hand. “But three would have to be my limit. Too many people, and the ghost might not want to come out.”
“What will it cost to get rid of the ghost?”
Skylar paused, his nose crinkling up. “Well, that’s kind of variable.
I’ll admit for humans, I usually charge a few hundred bucks.
It kind of depends on how difficult the job is.
However, when I am doing a job for others, like yourselves,” he said, nodding to him and Gideon, “I’m more open to different forms of payment. ”
Maddox groaned beside him. “Fuck, you sound like you’re propositioning them to a threesome. Please tell me that’s not how you usually talk business.”
“What?” Sky squawked.
Gideon immediately fell into Ryder, laughing so hard he couldn’t catch his breath. Ryder sighed. The thought hadn’t crossed his mind, but Sky now looked horrified.
“No! I didn’t mean that!” Sky cried, punching Maddox in the shoulder as his friend laughed nearly as hard as Gideon.
The necromancer sighed heavily and slumped in the booth.
“What I mean is that others, like vampires, shifters, and witches, have access to things that humans don’t.
Our friend, Red, does jobs occasionally for a wolf pack up north and they give him some of their wolf fur clippings.
There are some baldness treatments that require shifter fur. ”
“That’s so cool,” Gideon replied now that he’d stopped laughing.
“I usually have a running list of things I need or things I know others will buy off me. If you can get me something off the list, we’ll do a trade.
If not”—Sky shrugged—“money works too. But I swear, we’ll agree on a price before I work.
And even if it takes more than I initially thought, I won’t change the price. ”
“He might sound like he’s an idiot, but he really is good at what he does and is always fair in his prices,” Maddox stated.
“Awww, I almost forgive you for ruining my drink,” Sky countered, smiling sweetly at his companion.
“But he’s still a petty bitch,” Maddox added.
Gideon cleared his throat, cutting off the last of his giggles. “Okay. Let’s do a consult.”
Both Gideon and Sky sat with their phones out, going back and forth.
Gideon sent some money, and they worked on setting up a time when Gideon and Ryder were off work that coincided with Sky’s schedule.
It was on the tip of his tongue to remind Gideon that Rafe would happily give him off any night he wanted to take care of this, but he didn’t want to disturb Gideon’s gleeful chatting or to throw around Rafe’s name.
Just the mention of Winter had set off Maddox and Sky.
Tossing out Rafe would make things worse.
“In the meantime,” Sky said as he tucked his phone away with a new client appointment, “do you have a place where you can stay?”
“He does,” Ryder interjected in a hard voice. His hand rested on Gideon’s thigh and squeezed.
“Do you think the ghost is dangerous?”
Sky ran a hand through his perfectly styled blond hair.
“Probably not. This is more of a precaution, particularly since it seems to be very aware of you and wants to interact. In some rare cases, ghosts have become violent when they are ignored. I want to make sure you’re safe until I can inspect the situation. ”
Gideon lifted his head and smiled broadly at Ryder. “Yeah, I’m safe.”
At one time, that was all Ryder had wanted in this world. Now that Gideon was right here, staring at him with those big, beautiful eyes of his, Ryder wanted more.