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“A magic one that we believe contained real magic,” Caelum clarified, crossing his arms. “On Saturday.”
“Y’all mated now? You kiddin’ on me?” she asked, narrowing her black eyelashes.
“Don’t side this conversation,” Caelum demanded firmly, pressing his fingers on the table. “Now, you sell books because she bought books.”
She blinked up at us for a long, thoughtful moment. “Well, can Iseethis book?”
“Beau found the receipt, but not the book,” Caelum replied after a long moment.
“Well, where she say it went to?” she asked pointedly.
I pressed my lips together. “Didn’t ask.” At her chiding expression, I clarified, “Look, we think it’s magic that got us together, and I want magic to get us apart! We don’t want a mate, Wendy! You know that!”
Puffing with frustration, she slapped her hands down on her hips. “IthoughtI knew, but now y’all mated and actin' like it’s no big deal! And you ain’t talked to her 'bout this? You boys takin' on all this alone?”
“Hm. Typical alpha behavior,” the cat drawled out judgmentally.
“Shut up, Silas!”we barked at the cat, then turned back to Wendy.
She was leaning back on the counter, washing a beignet down with chicory. “I don’t know what you think I can do for y’all,” she said when she finally didn’t have anything in her mouth. “Can't whip up no counter spell without peekin' at the original. Did you see dis spell in dis book that does not exist?”
“It exists.”
“So you say.” She crossed her arms. “Now get out of here and find that book,cher. I can’t help you otherwise, and y’all are going to get me in trouble if Samael comes in and sees you posterin’ for a big fight with me.” She added thoughtfully, “Or willyoube in trouble? Hard to say with his mood lately.”
We rolled our eyes but let her lead us out of the store. I looked to my right and saw a whole bookshelf full of books. I turned back and pointed at her, then at it.
She slapped my elbow like I was the one being the brat, here. “I sell books, not spell books! I sell books about zodiac and dreams and such for tourists! I would never sell a book with spells, particularly spells thatwork. How irresponsible do you think I am?”
Caelum looked at her hard, and then when she smacked his elbow, he turned out of the store. “You’re going to help us when we come back with that book, right?” he asked her as he opened the door to the shop.
“Of course,cher!Tu peux compter sur moi! I wouldn’t leave you in a lurch. Just come on by here when you’ve got it.”
“For payment!”yelled the cat from the back room. He began to slink up the main path of the shop like he was absolutely certain that he wasn’t going to get eaten. It was an enticing thought,too, but at the same time, he was definitely going to cause indigestion. “Crisp, clean American dollars,” he specified.
“And you better get on out if you want to make good time, because I feel like Big Daddy’s on his way back home,” advised the shadow at the door.
I hated this place so much. It was nothing but hands-down weirdness.
I rubbed my chest. I was suddenly getting bad heartburn or something. What the fuck did she put in those beignets?
“Ryker? You okay,cher? You gots a lot of pale,” Wendy said, and I felt her hands on my elbow. “Sam’s not that bad to run into!” she added with a laugh.
I looked over at Caelum, and his eyes were also a little distant. “Wendy, what’d you put in those pastries?”
Her eyes looked up at me, narrowed. “What y’all trying to say about my cookin’? C’mon here andassir-toi,” she said, beckoning us to sit down.
“Not a good idea, Wendy!” the shadow said somewhere next to me, but she was already leading me to a chair by the try-on room. “Samael’s gonna be pissed. Get them out of here.”
“Oh, hush,” Wendy dismissed. “Caelum? You alright? Not you, too! You catch sick?”
Caelum found his way to the chair across from me.
And that was when the demon came in. Sure, the room already seemed chock full of them, but this was the ‘Big Daddy’. He looked off; humans tended to be terrified of him, but for reasons they didn’t understand. They didn’t know that behindhis sunglasses he had no whites in his eyes—just inky blackness that went on forever, but I imagined they felt it. They saw the tall lankiness but somehow knew that he was dangerous and powerful. I could feel him enter any place even if I didn’t physically see him; he tended to make everything feel especially creepy, like a haunted house. In fact, all that a house needed to be haunted was Samael.
“What’d you do?” Samael was quick to ask. This question was directed at Wendy, probably because—and he wasn’t wrong—it was normally her fault.
“Ça n’est pas juste!” she replied defensively. “You always blame me for everything! I ain’t no child anymore!”
