Blood and Mistletoe by E. J. Stevens Read Free Book Online

my friend’s hand drop to her side.  Crap, Jinx had a point.  Nobody should have been able to approach me unawares.  Not only had Jinx, a human, entered the alley without my knowing, she’d gotten close enough to touch me.  I shivered against the cold.  My worry over Marvin was a potentially fatal distraction. 
    “And you shouldn’t be here,” I said with a shrug. 
    “Someone has to keep you on your toes,” she said.  “You sounded like a crazy person when you called the office.  So I decided to close early and meet you here.  I know how much the troll kid means to you.”
    “When I phoned to tell you I was coming here, it wasn’t an invitation,” I said.  “Anyway, I’m working the case.  If I find Marvin in the process, all the better.”
    “Face it,” Jinx said.  “You have a soft spot for strays.”
    “I do not,” I said.  I turned away from Jinx’s knowing gaze and examined the ground at my feet.  I had moved a nest of pookas into my old tree house and a family of gnomes into my parents’ garden, but that had been necessary.  Helping to relocate the homeless fae had been the practical thing to do, in both cases.  “I just don’t like seeing kids get hurt”
    “Sure, you just keep telling yourself that,” she said.  Jinx moved closer, leaning forward to look over my shoulder.  “You find anything?”
    “Looks like blood,” I said.  I grabbed one of the pencils from my belt and scraped at the ground.  A layer of red ice broke away from the dirty pavement and I swallowed hard.  “Kaye thinks our killer may be using blood magic.”
    “Well that’s not disturbing or anything,” Jinx said, pointing at the red, ice covered slush.  “You’ve successfully ruined frozen strawberry margaritas for me.”
    “I didn’t ask you to be here,” I said.  I let out a sigh and stood.  I turned in a circle, scanning the brick walls and shadowed doorways.  “Come on.  We might as well find out if anyone saw anything.”
    “That could be a waste of time, especially since humans can’t see through glamour,” she said.  “Isn’t there a faster way to get clues?”
    I ran a gloved hand through my hair and let out a shaky sigh.  My eyes cut to the frozen puddle of blood.  Sure, there was a faster way, but it could also turn me into a raving lunatic.  I usually put off touching the remains of dead things as a last resort.
    I shoved my hands into my coat pockets and hunched against the wind.  Something small and hard hit the tips of my gloved fingers, and with a crinkle of cellophane, I pulled the item from my pocket.  A honey flavored candy sat on my gloved palm.
    Damn.  I wiped at my face with my sleeve as the chill air tried to freeze the tears that soaked my eyelashes.  I should have been buying candy with Marvin.  Instead, I was considering touching a frozen puddle of blood in a dirty alley, and Marvin was missing.
    Happy freaking holidays.
    “Yes, there is a faster way,” I said, shuffling forward.  “But I’ll need your help.”
    “Sure, what do you need?” she asked.
    I unwound my scarf and handed it to Jinx.
    “If I start screaming, shove that in my mouth,” I said.  Her eyes widened, but Jinx nodded.  “And if I don’t stop screaming, pull me away from the blood…and wash it off my hands.”
    “Got it,” she said.
    Jinx forced a brave smile to her lips, but I could see the fear in her eyes.  She knew what I wasn’t saying.  This method may be faster than pounding the pavement and rattling some cages, but it was much more dangerous.  There was no guarantee that removing the blood would break the connection. 
    I looked down at the candy in my hand.  The decision was a no brainer.  If the vision got its hooks in me deep enough, I wouldn’t be coming back.  But if we didn’t find Marvin soon, neither would he.
    I knelt in the filthy slush of the alley, ignoring the ice cold water that seeped through my pants.  It was time to find our killer,