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“Are you certain that this is what you want? This type of magic is extremely powerful. Often people believe they want a blind sort of love but once they find themselves involved in it, they realize they want a deep truly reciprocal love, one that wasn’t brought on by a magical potion.”
“Thank you for your concern, lady. But I’m certain that this is what I want. I wouldn’t be here if I wanted something else. Besides, the man will fall in love with me on his own. I just need to get my foot in the door.” Again, she smiles sweetly but there is a certain defiance in her eyes I can’t ignore.
“If you’re sure,” I lead her back toward the cash register, “Wait here,” I order while I go into the back storage, where I keep the more potent and dangerous potions. Her eyes remain locked on the doorway, when I return, she’s standing there like a maniacal robot.Ooof, this girl gives me the heebie jeebies,no wonder she needs a love potion to get a boyfriend.
“How much?” She tilts her head to the side and blinks three measured blinks.
“$500”
She pulls out a woven pouch, it’s small enough to double as a wallet, flipping through her bills she hands me five crisp 100-dollar bills. “Thank you.” Then she grabs the potion and with another blink she’s gone, leaving me alone in my shop with the echoing ringing of the bell and a weird feeling.All the weirdos are out today.
Checking my phone, I frown,still no messages or calls from Isaiah.
“Spill the beans girl,what’s going on?” Madison sits perched on my couch cradling a steaming cup of coffee, she’s become like a sister to me over these past two weeks.
“I had the strangest day today. There was this girl who came in looking for a love potion,” I shudder, “She seriously rubbed me the wrong way.”
“Isn’t anyone who is looking for a love potion a little weird?”
“I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’ve had weirdos come around plenty of times, it’s the nature of the business, but there was something just generally creepy about her. I felt like I was going to meet up with her again, under bad circumstances.”
I pause, taking a sip of my coffee, “But that’s just me venting out the ick. More importantly, what I wanted to talk to you about is the man that came in today. He was prying a little too hard for a ‘stranger passing through town’. If I were to hedge my bets, I’d say he was probably doing a little investigation for DHS. Probably trying to figure out what happened to their missing, very dead, friend.”
“Mmm, I’d say that’s a winning bet. It’s not ideal but we figured this would happen,” Madison nods solemnly. “What did Isaiah say when you told him?”
“I didn’t tell him, I didn’t want to leave that as a text message or voicemail, but I did tell him to call me and that it was important. He hasn’t gotten back to me all day.” I roll my eyes and instinctively check my phone again. Still no new messages or missed calls.
“I’m sure he’s just busy at the bar. They’ve got a lot to do to get the place back up and running. Samuel’s been a huge help, he’s a carpenter by trade, and they are making progress fast.” Madison frowns reaching for her phone and tapping at the screen furiously for a moment, “It’s been nice having Annie around the house too. She’s a great cook, not as good as you, but better than the rest of us now that Isaiah is so busy with the restaurant.”
“Oh, how easily I’ve been replaced, my heart is weeping,” I pout at Madison, feigning disappointment.
“Yeah right, I wish you’d come back and move in with us. I miss having you around, although your apartment is gorgeous. I can see why you wanted to come back here.”
“You flatter me. I miss you too, honestly, it was nice to feel like I finally belonged somewhere. The thing is, I’ve been working on a potion for the Pinehaven Pack. I haven’t tested it out yet, but I think with the DHS poking around it might be time to give it a try.”
Madison leans forward conspiratorially with raised eyebrows, “Tell me more about this potion.”
Excitement bubbles up inside of me, “It’s made with a slew of herbs, and it’s been brewing for the past week. I wanted to create something that would help keep all the Pinehaven shifters and other paranormal under the radar, yet something that could not be used for complete evil.”
“Really?” Madison says in awe.
“I spent countless hours on the phone with my mom fine tuning it. Theoretically, the potion should keep supernatural beings, with pure-hearted intentions, hidden from DHS and the hunters. The machinery the hunters use to hunt paranormal won’t be able to pick up on them. Paranormal should register on the hunters’ machines as completely human. The problem is,without one of their machines or volunteers to test the potion, we won’t know if it works until danger has already arrived.”
“Lorelei! That is absolutely genius.” Madison shrieks with excitement..
“Do you think Chase would be interested in it? I mean we don’t have a way to test it other than take it and see what happens...” I ask.
“I think it’s certainly worth a shot. And again, I think you’re a genius! You’ve got to come over and talk to the pack about this.”
Back at Pinehaven Pack headquarters, Chase stands in front of the crowded living room, sans Isaiah and Samuel. I’ve been assured, too many times now, that Isaiah forgot his phone here today and that he is not avoiding me. If I hear that excuse one more time, I think I am going to scream.
“We’ve got some disturbing news from the neighboring Grey Pack.” Chase starts. “The lab coats, although less dressed in white this time, are looking for their missing man. They want blood for being outed last year. And especially from us for destroying some of their labs and members.”
“Lorelei might just have a solution for us that will buy us extra time.” Chase continues, “However, it is experimental, and we can’t know until we try, if it will be successful or not. I think it’s worth a shot. This potion might help us fly under DHS’s radar, or machines, while we work out a better plan on how to handle them in the long term.”
“It’s got to be worth a shot,” Drew says followed by a round of nods from the rest of the pack. My heart is beating a million miles a minute and sweat is dripping down my back. Why am I positively uncouth right now?
A clattering sound comes from the door as the new guy rushes in, his clothes soaked with sweat and covered in grease stains, paint splatters, and sawdust. With him follows a mellowearthy scent competing with the distinct scent of harsh cleaning chemicals.
