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“Here,” I said. “Have this, on the house.”
“Oh, are you sure?”
“Yes. Take it, and have a good time.”
A grin split her lips. “Oh, I will now.”
She happily tucked the small bottle into her handbag and left. But as I made my way toward the back of the store and Francesca’s small office, the doorbell chimed again and I turned to see a familiar figure walk in.
“Anna,” I said, a surprised smile splitting my lips, “I didn’t think you’d be back on duty so soon.”
Anna was the RWA witch who’d been sent to the reservation to help the rangers hunt down the magic-capable vampire, but she’d been caught—and severely burned—in a magical explosion that had been aimed at me. She had the classic looks of a witch from the Kang line—an oval face, high cheekbones and a prominent nose, and mono-lidded eyes. Her hair was as vivid as mine, but cut extremely short.
She let the door close and walked toward me, moving with surprising ease. G
iven her torso and chest had copped the worst of the burns, I’d have expected at least a little tightness of movement. “I probably wouldn’t have been working so soon if it hadn’t been for your quick thinking.”
“All I did was pour water over your wounds—I hardly think—”
“It wasn’t ordinary water,” she cut in, “it was holy water. It killed the spell remnants that were burned into my skin and majorly helped with the healing process.”
“I had no idea it could do any of that.” And—considering the continuing invasion of evil into the reservation—maybe I needed to keep a bottle or two tucked safely away in my handbag.
Anna stopped beside me and looked around the room. “What happened here?”
“The witch emptied her shelves in our direction in an attempt to escape.”
“It’s a rather stomach-turning stench, isn’t it? And all aimed at sexy times, if I’m reading it right.” She glanced at me, merriment evident in her eyes—which were slate-gray rather than the usual silver, the only hint that her heritage wasn’t pure Kang. “I hope you and the ranger are prepared for the possible fallout.”
“Totally looking forward to it, actually.”
She laughed, the sound warm. “You’ve got the witch restrained, I take it?”
“In the rear office. Did Ashworth update you on what’s been happening on the way over?”
She nodded and fell in step beside me as I headed for the rear of the building again. “Yes. If she is the witch behind those bracelets, then she’s in serious trouble.” Her gaze came to mine. “Your opinion?”
“That it’s her.” I pushed the remnants of the curtain aside and motioned her toward the small office.
“Evening, Ranger,” she said, as she stopped just inside the door. “Have you got all you need from her?”
“For the moment, yes.”
“Good.” Anna eyed the other woman for a moment then glanced back at me. “That’s a very nice net you have around her.”
I smiled. Anna, like Ashworth, didn’t entirely believe that I was a low-powered witch, but unlike him, she hadn’t—as far as I knew—taken it any further.
“Thanks. You want me to remove it?”
She nodded. I immediately did so, and a heartbeat later her magic surged, wrapping a far stronger web around the other woman. Francesca didn’t say anything; her body was slumped, her expression grim. The reality of her sins was well and truly kicking in, I suspected.
“Right,” Anna said. “I’ll take this one back to headquarters. Do you want to secure the premises? We’ll need to send a team back to do a more thorough examination of both her workrooms and her records. It’s very likely this is not the first time she’s provided gray magic to those willing to pay enough.”
“You’ll let us know if you find out anything more about the three men she sold the charms to?” Aiden asked.
Anna nodded and roughly hauled Francesca to her feet. Anna might be the smaller of the two, but what she lacked in height was more than made up for in muscle. “As long as you return the favor, Ranger.”
“I will.”
