Page 72 of That Ain’t Witchcraft

“First, we want your word that you won’t try to attack us again while we’re dealing with this shit. The crossroads are bigger and nastier than you are, but that doesn’t mean we’re magically immune to crossbows while we’re dealing with them.” I allowed myself the luxury of a scowl. “What the hell is it with your family and crossbows, anyway? First Chloe, now you. I’m getting real tired of Cunninghams trying to shish kebab me.”

“They’re convenient and easier to dispose of than firearms.”

“Maybe in England. Over here, we’re all about the unregistered handgun. Anyway, the point stands: I want your word that you won’t try to attack me again, or any of us. We need to be able to work without fear of some kind of messed-up sneak attack.”

Leonard gave me an assessing look, clearly searching for the catch. “For how long?”

“See, where I come from, ‘please don’t attack me anymore’ isn’t the kind of request that comes with a time limit. I’d really prefer it if you never attacked any of us again. If you can’t bring yourself to promise that, how about we do this: you give me the tracking charm and you promise me a year.”

“A year.”

“A year,” I repeated. “One year, during which you won’t follow me, you won’t look for me, you won’t do anything to disturb me. You said you were preparing for war back in Europe? Well, you stop it. For a year, you stop it. When the clock runs out, either we’ll have found a way to make peace, or we’ll pull the whole world down with us.”

Leonard hesitated. “What you’re asking …”

“You already have a narrative that fits. I’m your sweet little recruit, stolen by beasts during a mission I should never have been sent on, a mission that claimed the life of a senior agent.” An agent whose face I still saw when I slept—and probably would for the rest of my life.

My parents raised me to defend myself and protect the world around me, a world of magic and monsters and people who deserved the chance to live. That doesn’t mean I’d been prepared for the impact of killing a human being. I wasn’t sure anything, ever, could have prepared me for that.

“Yes,” said Leonard slowly.

“You were looking for me, and you stumbled across, fuck, I don’t care. A coven of like-minded wizards who were planning to set magic aside as soon as they’d managed to use it for one great good. A big red button labeled ‘erase crossroads forever.’ Whatever. It doesn’t matter, and you know what your grandfather is going to believe. You stopped to take care of the greater evil, and my captors whisked me away while you were distracted. You couldn’t find me. You needed to make your report. I’m sure once you’re back at Penton Hall, you’ll be able to come up with plenty of paperwork and administrative bullshit to keep you busy until the year runs out and it’s fair game again.”

“You’d have me look like a fool for losing track of you.”

I scoffed. “A fool who just got full credit for destroying the crossroads, much? Maybe you’ll look a little heartless for letting poor me get eaten by ghouls or whatever while you were distracted by cleaning up an actual threat to mankind, but I’m pretty sure your superiors will forgive you. The Covenant has always been willing to make sacrifices for the greater good, right? Gryffindor bullshit.”

“Are you making Harry Potter references because I’m British and you assume that’s the way to reach me?”

“No, I’m making Harry Potter references because I’m an enormous nerd and it amuses me to remind you of that,” I said. “One year, Leonard. Your word that you don’t attack me or any of my friends for that time, and that you don’t try to track us, either.”

“Why should you believe me?”

“Oh, that’s easy.” I smiled sweetly. “We learned about this concept in school, called mutually assured destruction. So here is what I am assuring you. If you come near me before that year is out, if you send one of your strike teams after me, if you inconvenience me in any way or with any intent to do me harm, I will come back to England, knowing everything I know about your resources and your security, and I will kill you. The question thus becomes: do you think you can completely redo your security, without blowing your own ‘I was trying to get her back, I absolutely didn’t encourage a spy to nestle in our midst’ cover story, before I can come there and start making you understand why it was a bad idea to cross me? Because I don’t think you can. I think I’d do a lot of damage, and yeah, you’d probably put me down, but I’m okay with that if it means you find out that choices have consequences.”

Leonard paled. “You’re bluffing.”

“I’m a Price, Leo. Do Prices bluff?”

He didn’t answer me.

“Your word, and you get to be a hero. Or tell me no, keep fighting us, and you get to be a corpse. One way or another. If I were you, I’d take door number one. It’s a pretty sweet deal, and it means you still have the chance to bring me back to the fold, as you so charmingly put it, assuming you still want me. I don’t want you, but hey, that’s always been beside the point as far as you’re concerned, right?” I picked up my mug. Took a sip. Set it down. “One year, your word, and you make the world a better, safer place for humanity. I thought that was your mission statement.”

“I’m beginning to question the wisdom of recruiting you,” he said sourly. “You’re more trouble than you’re worth.”

“I’ve been telling you that for a while,” I said brightly. “You in?”

Leonard hesitated.

“I asked you a question.”

“Yes,” he said.

My smile became genuine. “Great. Let me get a to-go cup and we’re out of here.”

Cylia watched in the rearview mirror as Leonard and I climbed into the back seat. The front passenger seat was open, but I wasn’t leaving Leo alone, and I wasn’t seating him next to Cylia. That left treating her like a taxi, at least in the short term. I would have felt bad about that, if I hadn’t been transporting a potentially armed Covenant operative. Patting him down in the coffee shop would have been suspicious.

“Hello,” she said, voice cool. “If you even reach for your wallet, I’m running us off the road.”