1 Witchy Business by Eve Paludan, Stuart Sharp Read Free Book Online Page A

“Get off your little pea, princess. This is no fairy tale thing.”
    I imagined his thing was a lot more dark and dangerous than the kinds of jobs I did, while apparently still leaving him plenty of time to spend in the gym. It was hard to avoid staring at him. The things tattooed on his skin were all looking at me, the ones that had eyes. I was more than a little creeped out.
    Rebecca looked back and forth at us. A double take. A triple take. “Evert helps to solve problems for the coven.”
    “Oh, then he’s just like me then,” I said sarcastically. “Why didn’t you say so? It’s always nice to have something in common with my captors. What’s next? A forced bank heist and indoctrination into a creepy cult?”
    Evert smiled again. He didn’t look any less dangerous when he smiled, but it was good to watch anyway. Like a tiger. “The problems I solve have generally gone beyond being nice to people. By the time they call me in, everything has unraveled to the point where I either kill something and eat it, or deal with the problem by reminding sassy little witches that they should respect the authority of their betters. Real work.”
    Oh, that was just so insulting. Like he was the only one who did the dangerous parts. Like I just spent my life running around spreading happiness, joy and good feeling… damn.
    “I’m not always this nice,” I insisted. I don’t know why I wanted to impress him with that. “And if you think I’m scared of you, you’re wrong.”
    Evert stood there, his expression unreadable. It was probably not often that anyone stood up to him. Certainly not a witch who was around a foot and a half shorter than him. “You ought to be. I look forward to finding out someday just how much you can push the envelope with your powers, Little Miss Witchy Business.”
    “Don’t mock you? Don’t dare me,” I retorted. I had never pulled out the stops on my powers, but this warlock was itching to push me into doing just that. The trouble was, I suspected that even if I used all the power I had, it still wouldn’t be much. I was an enchantress. Barely a real witch at all.
    “Stop bickering, the both of you,” Rebecca said in her best schoolteacher voice. It was the tone she generally saved for when I’d cut things too close on a job. “Elle, you can see that we are in the middle of something important here. We need answers, please. What were you doing in Niall Sampson’s house?”
    Finally, we were getting down to the reasons for them wanting to bring me here. Obviously, they were worried that I was going to get in the way of whatever they were doing with Niall’s place.
    “Insurance work,” I explained, deciding that this had gone on long enough. If I waited for Rebecca to talk first, I’d still be there a year from now. As for Evert, I got the feeling he was enjoying the game too much. “Niall Sampson insures with one of the firms I work for. Earlier today, he had a valuable artwork stolen.” I took a pointed look around the room. “That theft hasn’t anything to do with either of you, has it?”
    “You think I’d do something like that?” Rebecca asked. “Steal?”
    As opposed to murdering, which Evert had already said he was fine with. Yet I knew Rebecca meant it. Stealing was beneath her. Actually, if it came to it, she’d probably get me to do it. Even so…
    “It is an artifact of some possible magical importance. Or you could have been testing out Niall Sampson’s security system. Either way, I want to know so that I can get out of the way before things get complicated. And before you get in trouble with the coven.”
    “My, my. It’s a bit late for that,” Evert said. “She didn’t tell you?”
    Really? This was new. Rebecca was in hot water with the coven? No wonder she was so upset.
    I wondered what she had done to raise their ire. I also wondered if snatching me off the street and cutting me down to some novice grade of witch with her insults was some unknown