Thieves About, page 12
part #2 of Enchantress Series
This might be one of them.
Realizing my next hurdle, I popped over to Linc, finding him just sitting down at his desk at the precinct. I sat on his lap and laid one of my best kisses on him, smirking when it left him breathless. “You are amazing.”
“I am?” he panted, glancing around at all the attention we had now.
“Whoops, forgot about them,” I chuckled, not even looking. “Yes, you are. You got all the extra noise out and energy mucking up the path. I was able to fix something for my companies because of it, so I come with gifts.” I held up a few sheets of stickers for each of the three spells we were trying. “So you can have that sort of sex with any lucky lady you choose.”
“Stickers?” he muttered, taking them.
“Spell stickers. They’re fun, I promise.” I flicked my wrist and cleaned the entire precinct. “And this is my thank you to help your work and the mood of your people as everyone is happier working in a clean place.”
“Thanks.”
I nodded. “Now, onto the case. I have an idea, but I need your help.”
“Whatever I can do.”
“Always so helpful.” I gave him another kiss. “I have these chi finders. They’re fizzies. I stumbled on the idea off something another me in a different dimension started, but I figured out the next steps and then shared how to do it with him in a dream.” I waved him off when he opened his mouth to ask the bevy of questions I was sure he had. “Whatever, not the point. The point is they light up the chi of people.”
I made one for shifters and a bottle of water appear, showing him how I put it in the water and shook it up before handing it to him to drink. He nodded, taking it from me and downing it, coughing when the horrid taste hit his buds. I shrugged. It was magic not a cupcake. I waved for him to take more, and he sighed, doing it.
“Holy shit,” he whispered after a second, blinking around at the officers. “All of the shifters are like glowing, a halo of color around them.”
“The spell lights up their auras for others to sort of see, or at least that part of them being a shifter color.” I held him off again. “What if I could make one for thieves? Fine, not admissible in court or cases, but for right now it—”
“It could help find ghouls.” He smiled brightly when I nodded. “Okay, I get your super excited and wound up mood then. What do you need?”
“Access to thieves. Could you get me into a prison? I mean, I could just get in, but that would make a mess for Helen to clean up later. Is there a warden you know or your badge could get us in, yes?”
“You are sort of adorable right now,” he chuckled, standing with me and moving me to his desk. “Let me ask, but yeah, I think I could make this work. What would you need from them?”
I opened my mouth but then frowned. “I won’t really know until I’m in front of them. Maybe hair? I would need a big thief and a little thief, and not size, but crimes. It gives the range.”
“Got it. I’ll make it happen.”
“Good, then I’m going to go eat and fill up. Do you want anything?” I threw back my head and laughed as I caught a thought of exactly what he wanted right then. “Darling, you could strip me naked and do me right here for them to all watch and it still wouldn’t be the most scandalous thing I’ve ever done. Not even close.”
“Really?” he muttered, his eyes filling with heat.
I laughed again, holding my stomach when it hurt because I laughed so hard. “Yes, as orgies are not just something that was done in ancient Greece or Rome and still very much happen today. There wasn’t television centuries ago, and it was quite common for that to be the form of entertainment.” I stood, smiling brightly at him. “Maybe I’ll invite you to my coven’s celebration of Beltane. It’s a very popular event we go all out for.”
“Please do.”
“Is that why all your stores and everything close for the first week of May?” someone else I’d seen at the crime scenes asked.
I nodded. “Yes, it’s a celebration of the gods to give good harvests. We pick several of the newer farms we purchase from or any we’ve added, and make sure the energy is ripe for all the seeds and everything is very fertile.”
“Please invite me,” Linc groaned.
“Maybe.” I chuckled and popped away to the cafeteria, ordering a bunch of food and a few sandwiches to go for him. I found Jerome in the cafeteria and kissed his cheek, showing him the stickers.
“I love when you have the type of fun that clears your head,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “These are great, boss.”
“The trick is one spell on the adhesive so it never sticks to the unwilling, and one spell on the actual sticker,” I explained. “So I should be able to do rolls of the paper for the adhesion part, and then the actual fun spell can be something added during printed or mixed into the ink. Or I do it after. We shall see, but I think they should be specific stickers like that. A pillow, tongue…”
“Yeah, that third one is hard,” he chuckled. “I was thinking the number ten.”
“Perfect.” I gave him another kiss and headed to my table to leave him to what he’d been doing.
I ate my fill after my food arrived, taking the doggy bag for Linc and popping back to the precinct after I changed. He nodded we were good to go, and I handed him the food before finding out where we were going. I brought us there and let him be in charge, sort of turned on by how good he was at being authoritative and people listened to him.
After we signed in and showed ID, we were led to the warden’s office, and the moment we met him, I wanted to roll my eyes that my good mood was probably going to be over. He offered us a seat and then pulled the douche move of leaning on his desk so he had to look down at us. Humans sometimes amused me with their acting superior after reading basic psychology… As if they were the only ones who can read it.
“So what specifically do you need anyone from my prison for, Ms. Devil?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
I snorted. “Yes, I’m going to fuck them, you bigot.” I waved my hand and extended the legs of our chairs so we were above him. “Now that we’re looking down at you and your pettiness, we’re trying to save lives. Are you willing to help, or do I have to call the governor of Indiana and tell him you’re racist?” I held up my hand to stop his objection. “I see auras and read thoughts when I don’t block them out.
“You are sickened to have a leech in your presence and a whore like me even as you’re wondering if I’m as good of a lay as the rumors. For the record, I’m better, but men don’t pay me, so I’m not a whore. I enjoy sex like your bigoted mind sees only appropriate for men and ladies only please their husbands. Child, you know nothing, so help us and quit the bullshit, or I will tell your wife about all the women you dirty chat with online.”
He cleared his throat and stood. “Follow me.”
“That’s what I thought,” I purred, undoing what I did to the chairs and getting to my feet. “I need a petty thief, a small amount, and like a bank robber would be nice. Some sort of range. Or if you just leave it to me, I will find them.”
He nodded as he led us out of the office and towards the prisoners. “It would take us a bit to comb through their records, and everyone is innocent of course, so honestly I have no idea who would really help.”
“Thank you for your honesty and aid to stop these killings,” I said, keeping my voice bland so he knew I really didn’t feel that way. I took over, heading right for the cafeteria much to his and Linc’s shock. Once there I popped up onto a table and whistled. “I need a few thieves. Tell the truth and you get a pass out of here. Lie and I’ll put you under the ocean to feed sharks. So who here has stolen things?”
At first they all looked at me like I was off my rocker, and then one jumped up and raised his hand. “I stole a pack of smokes when I was a kid, but I’m actually innocent of what I’m here for.”
“You are,” I muttered, reading his aura. “You will do nicely. Please go stand with the gentlemen over there.” I glanced out at the group. “I need a bank robber or someone Ocean’s Eleven level. Anyone else want out of here? Remember to tell the truth.”
Two thought they fit that bill and at least weren’t lying, so I waved them to join us, thanking everyone before heading back out. The warden shook his head as he brought us to an area for receiving visitors, guards joining us for our safety which made me laugh.
“You’ve robbed banks?” I asked the first, seeing in his aura that it wasn’t a lie but sighing. “ATMs of banks isn’t exactly the same.” I turned to the other one, and he was so excited at the chance to be free I got everything out of his mind. “Oh, you will do nicely. And for the record, I didn’t say I’d set you free. I asked if you wanted out of the cafeteria. You are out of the cafeteria.”
“Bitch, you said—”
I waved my hand and put him in the seat, silencing him. I let power flash in my eyes as I approached him. “Bitch, you do not talk to the Enchantress like that if you want to live.” I moved my hand over him and felt his energy.
“Wait, don’t interrupt,” Linc said quietly to someone. I’d have to thank him later for that.
“I think you need to give me your hair freely,” I told the guy. “I cannot take it, so you will pull out a few strands of hair for me so I can check, or I will make you tell everyone back in that cafeteria you want to be their bitch. Which would you prefer?”
I released him to move and wasn’t surprised when he reached up and pulled out a few strands of his hair.
“Wise.” He placed them in my hand, and I felt the energy again. “This will work.” I turned to the other guy. “You too, darling. I need some of your hair.” I made a bag appear and put the first guy’s hair in it before moving to my other end of the spectrum.
“Will you help me, Ms. Devil?” he asked quietly as he tore out some hair.
“Yes, darling, because you are innocent.” I made my phone appear and called Helen. “Hi, when you get a second, I made a deal with an inmate who is innocent of whatever he’s been convicted of that our attorneys would help him. I’m going to put him on and leave it to you.”
“Got it.”
I handed the phone to the guy, nodding it was okay, and we switched, him taking the phone and handing me his hair.
“Cell phones aren’t allowed in here,” Linc muttered, snickering when I waved him off that I didn’t care.
“I didn’t just pop into their cells and went through proper channels. Take the win as being patient.”
“This is you patient?” the warden checked, raising that eyebrow at me again.
I snorted. “Yes.” I glanced at Linc. “What sort of items are contraband? I need more than this to make a real amount of fizzies so we have a chance at tracking the ghouls.”
“Can you do something to make sure I never come back as one of those things?” the inmate blurted, looking worried, and I realized it was the perfect place for people to discuss such matters as there were a lot of thieves in prison.
“Make sure your body is cremated and you’re safe. That is the only guarantee because even if I did something, there is always someone bigger and badder or willing to slaughter a village to get what they want. It is impossible to raise ashes.”
“Yeah, okay, good, thanks,” he sighed, scrubbing his hand over his head. “I never killed no one, and making me do it after I’m dead is like the worst thing ever.”
“I agree.” I glanced at the warden when he cleared his throat, and he gave me a list of what prisoners couldn’t have. My impatience won out, and I made a sheet of stickers appear. “Are these fine?”
“There’s no rule against anything benignly spelled as long as it won’t help him get out of here, like stick that on the wall you want to destroy sort of thing, because you’d be arrested for aiding and abetting if it did.”
“Thank you for the warning, that makes perfect sense.” I turned to the inmate. “Each of these twelve stickers is one use of a spell I used on the detective here last night. Ask him man to man if it’s worth yanking out a handful of hair.”
Linc snorted. “There are no women in here, and the only sex he could have is the type he doesn’t want. Yeah, twelve of those is worth yanking out all his hair.”
The guy nodded and yanked some more out, putting it in the bag when I opened it. I gave him the stickers with a warning to use them in private.
He snorted. “It’s prison. There is no privacy.”
“Well, then gag yourself.” I snickered, making my card appeared. “For when you want more or other types, as what I’m making won’t go bad, so I can stockpile them for when the next piece of shit raises a ghoul.”
“Oh, so you’re against that sort of practice?” the warden drawled, his tone clear he didn’t buy that for a second.
“Warden, I won’t so much as call a spirit from another plane to comfort a family member because I believe it’s a crime to disturb someone’s afterlife and peace. I would rather die myself than ever raise the dead. I have a lot I’m not proud of myself for doing over my centuries, but it was all in the name of protecting my coven or myself.” I stared at him a few moments, shaking my head. “I would worry about yourself, warden.
“Your aura is far from clean.” I made a sheet of pillow stickers appear and handed it to the inmate. “You will protect our friend here because he is actually and truly innocent and some are raping him because he is so pretty.” I shot a nasty look at the warden. “Your job is to protect the people in this prison. Every failure marks your soul, as you swore to do it, and going back on your word is a crime to the ones judging.”
He went pale and looked visibly shaken.
Good.
After the innocent guy finished on the phone and thanked me profusely, he tore out a clump of hair, enough to leave a small bald spot, and all of us winced. I leaned in and kissed his cheek, wishing him luck and telling him that my people would make things right.
“That wasn’t all you did,” Linc guessed as we headed towards reception, not wanting to teleport out of prison, as that would somehow get misreported.
“No, I put a spell on him that any man who touches him with anger or ill intent will have their intentions turned back on them, get a taste of their own medicine.” I swallowed a snarl when I saw one of the guard’s auras flash worry.
I gave him crabs before we left. I wanted to do more, but I did tell Linc so he could report it to whomever might be able to handle a situation like that. Some people were just too horrible for words.
After dropping Linc off at his office, I worked for a few hours in my workroom and had the potion brewing, confident it would turn out. I popped downstairs for lunch, finding Jerome after I ordered.
“I’m going to need the big dehydrator thingy wherever that is again,” I informed him, looking at something on my tablet. “I’ve been thinking about the taste of the fizzies though. We have those oils we sell in capsules, right? The fast dissolving ones? They’re made from gelatin if I remember correctly, and I don’t think that will interfere with the potion. Would it be a problem if I interjected into whatever schedule with those and try?”
“Um, no, boss, whatever you need,” he answered nervously.
I looked up from the tablet, blinking at him as he was rarely ever nervous. But he wasn’t looking at me. I followed his gaze and blinked some more when I saw Victor, Andrew, and half their nest standing there. Then I glanced around the cafeteria to make sure I was really where I thought.
“Walter talked Tommy into bringing them when I got the report from SPU since you weren’t answering your phone,” Helen explained.
“I was elbow deep in ingredients trying to make the right fizzies to help,” I grumbled, waving her to just spit it out since I obviously wouldn’t like it.
“They found ten other cases with cut hands starting in Miami,” she told me, handing me a tablet. “And that’s all they’ve heard back from so far, but they contacted every department with SPU or not along or near that path when Miami immediately replied they had a case like that. It didn’t get flagged as supernatural as—”
“Humans chop each other up too, not just SPU type cases,” I muttered, looking it over. “Alright, I’ll start at that scene after lunch if you could warn them I’m coming. Also, I’d like a word or six with Tommy.”
“It was well within the authority he has to make the call,” she said carefully. She shook her head when I opened my mouth to argue. “There’s a pack of ghouls, boss. On a direct path here. They could be here as soon as tomorrow, even tonight if they headed straight here after the bank at twilight yesterday. You know how ghouls can run when it’s dark. He made the call after looking over the map and seeing how fast they’re moving along.”
I gave a slow nod. “Fine, then you tell him next time before he involves the leader of another—”
“I did not tell him of that,” Walter admitted. “I told him I wished to bring some friends to add a layer of protection and maybe start to hunt before they reached here.”
I shot him a pissed look, but he only shrugged. I focused back on Helen. “There is an emergency indicator in my workroom if something is really going on. That would have been the time to hit it. I know you all hate to bother me with stuff you think beneath me getting involved, but this is not.” I gestured to the ancients, and she nodded. Then I looked to Victor. “Have you eaten?”
“We could eat,” he said, glancing around. “We just arrived, and Walter was telling me much about all you have built here.”
“Always the damn snitch,” I grumbled, shooting Walter another unfriendly look. “This is why I only deal with you lot every century or so.” I waved off what he was going to say, handing him my ID. “Fine, whatever, feed them. I have work to do.” I went over to my table and hit the button there to change from glass panes into a projection screen. There was a reason I normally sat there besides I liked the sunshine.
