Page 4 of Bitter Spirits

“I was trying to get out of the kitchen,” Kelly said, her attention on what Isa was doing, “when this flash hit me.” She touched the singe mark in her shirt. “It hurt so bad. I think I screamed.” She turned to Isa with a dazed look. “I don’t get it. He’s not an electro mage or a pyro, but he was standing there, wielding magic he shouldn’t have, eyes wild. And that magic— like some weird cross between electricity and fire—” She shook her head. “All I could think was he was going to kill me. He tried for another strike but missed. The magic he was using, it was scary wild, and I just wanted to get out of there. He came after me again, and I knew I wasn’t going to make it out. He got an arm around my throat, and I stabbed him over and over again until he let me go. Then I ran.” She lifted her head, her gaze going from Isa to Des as she swallowed hard. “I think, maybe, I might have killed him.”

Chapter 2

Locke

“Got a possible lead that might intersect with your case.” Locke didn’t bother with a turn signal as he nudged his Charger around a sedan with out-of-state plates, doing the speed limit on the westbound 202. He zipped forward, knowing by the time they clocked him and started to move over, he’d be long gone.

“I thought you were tracking down Isaiah Holmes.” The voice emanating from his speakers belonged to Zev Aslanov, the intimidating Cordova Family Arbitrator but, more importantly, Locke’s friend.

“I am.” As soon as Locke cleared the sedan, he glided back into the left lane. “Does the name Leo Starini hit any bells?”

“Nothing’s ringing,” Zev said. “How does he tie into the Forge Foundation?”

“Other than being a Traditionalist, I haven’t a clue, but according to Jigz, he’s not only a friend of Isaiah’s but is flashing around a new product as well.”

“You think it’s the stuff I’m looking into?”

“I’ll find out tonight.” As Locke passed the sign for Twenty-Fourth Street, he angled the wheel to the empty right lane to catch the exit for east I-10.

“Are you hitting another club?” Zev asked.

Locke’s lips twitched as he steered into the highway’s connecting arc. “Check the time, old man. Clubs are closed.”

“Fuck you, bro.” Zev’s refrain carried a familiar affectionate dryness.

“Lovely offer, but I’m going have to pass. You don’t have enough curves for me,” Locke shot back, but his amusement was short-lived. “I had Roxy dig up Leo’s address. I figure if he’s not already home, he should be soon.”

“And you’ll be waiting,” Zev said grimly.

“And I’ll be waiting,” Locke agreed, his foot pressing down as the road ahead straightened out.

“Tag me if you run into trouble.”

Locke stifled an amused snort. “Please. This will probably be the easiest thing I do tonight.”

“Fine. Then how about you tag me if you get anything useful?”

“That I can do.”

Zev’s grunt was followed by a moment of silence before the familiar heavy beat and down-tuned guitars of Chevelle resumed. Locke let the music wash over him and rolled his tight shoulders. It didn’t loosen shit.

That night had featured an annoying trek through a series of hot spots filled with the university students. It was not his scene. At the age of twenty-nine, Locke had long since left behind the overpriced clubs crammed with a glittery, hectic throng wanting to be seen. He preferred higher-end venues that understood the true meaning of ambience and served quality drinks to a less frenetic crowd intent on enjoying the moment and getting their money’s worth.

As if it had just been waiting for a chance, the familiar image of a dark-haired siren hit his brain. With a low oath, he forced her back into the box she refused to stay in and turned his attention to the job at hand—a byzantine one guaranteed to keep him from dwelling on one frustratingly tempting bar owner.

Close to two years back, the sister-in-law of Locke’s boss, Emilio—head of the Cordova Family—had been killed in retaliation for stealing highly classified biotech research that she’d hoped to leverage into a paycheck. She’d made the mistake of locking the information behind a blood ward keyed to her young son. After she and her husband were killed, the interested parties decided kidnapping the kid was worth the risk of angering one of the most powerful Arcane families in Arizona.

This proved to be a mistake on their part. Emilio, determined to retrieve his beloved nephew and the information in question, set Zev out to hunt. As the Family Arbitrator, Zev was judge, jury, and executioner for anyone stupid enough to cross the Family. It didn’t take Zev long to track down the boy and the Guild Transporter who had accepted an off-the-books job involving an unknown package. That initial meeting of the Hunter and the Transporter had led to a shit ton more drama, which had uncovered a secret project that twisted inherent magic and a complicated conspiracy that stretched its sticky fingers to the highest corners of the Arcane society.

Locke’s tracking skills had earned him a seat on the wild ride late in the game. As a Hound for the Cordova Family, he was privy to certain sensitive details the majority of the Arcane society would never hear. Like the very real possibility that the Delphi serum—a drug created from the stolen research—had not been contained by the Arcane Council and was now making its insidious way through the Arcane population.

The situation had come to light a couple of weeks earlier when, through a series of strange coincidences, two incidents were brought to Emilio’s attention, and he, in turn, had called in Locke and Zev. The first involved Lilly Wright, a seventeen-year-old water mage whose father was a midlevel manager at one of the Cordovas’ research facilities, and the second was twenty-two-year-old Micah Holmes, an earth mage and intern in the law offices of Cortez, Hamlin, & Blythe.

While Lilly’s family had already reached out to the Western Arcane Guild to hire a curse breaker, Micah’s friends had tried to keep things low-key by hiring a freelance Key at discounted rates, which only made things worse. When it was clear Micah wouldn’t be able to make it in to work, they called his supervising clerk and explained that he was dealing with a nasty stomach flu. That excuse only stretched so far, and on day three, the supervisor got the full story out of Micah’s friends and then took the situation to his boss, Maribel Ortiz, the Cordova Family lawyer. Mari, who knew all about the conspiracy and mad-science project, called Emilio. Wanting the best curse breaker available, Emilio had contacted the Western Arcane Guild. They, in turn, had assigned top-tier Key Lena Davis, who just happened to already be working with Lilly’s father. At Emilio’s request, Lena had taken on Micah’s case as well.

Long story short, Lilly had been the target of a straight-up curse set by a jealous rival who coveted a spot on the swim team. Lena removed that hex and then tried to help Micah. It didn’t take her long to discover that whatever was messing with his magic wasn’t a standard active-level hex but something else, which eluded her. She suggested tagging a Dual-Key—Grayson Beck, out of Las Vegas—as he specialized in both active and latent curses. And just a few days ago, Grayson had confirmed Emilio’s dark suspicions about what lay behind Micah’s rapid deterioration and erratic magical behavior. The earth mage hadn’t been hexed—he’d been poisoned with an unknown substance. Once tests were run, the results confirmed that whatever he’d taken was based on the Delphi serum. Not only did it screw with his magical ability, but it was killing him slowly as well. Currently, he was being monitored in a private medical facility under the name Patient Zero.

Emilio had initially wanted Zev and Locke to hunt down Micah’s supplier and find irrefutable proof of the drug’s origins before he took his next step, which included bringing the Arcane Council in on the investigation. Unfortunately, while retracing Micah’s last known movements, the Hunter and the Hound had discovered that prior to his overdose, Micah had been trying to locate his missing younger brother, Isaiah. According to Micah’s circle of friends, for the last five years, he’d been Isaiah’s sole caregiver, taking on the role when he was seventeen and Isaiah was eleven. While Micah was focused on becoming a lawyer, his younger brother was pissed at the world in general and ran with a much wilder crowd, leaving Micah to habitually drag his baby brother out of whatever trouble he found.