Hunting Witches by Jeffery X Martin Read Free Book Online

around little shops.
    The place most folks in The Keep did their shopping was called The Store. It was part of a chain, but a small one in comparison to the stores and outlet mall monstrosities in Bell Plains. Artisan market, it was not. She tried to justify it. Nika hated having to choose the lesser of two evils. The chain was still family-owned, but so was Wal-Mart. However, after some internet research, she found out The Store paid their employees twice the national average for retail workers. Maybe I can get a part-time job there, Nika thought.
    This was only her third time in The Store, and she was still learning the layout. It was difficult finding the little things, like razors, and this lack of familiarity resonated with the way she was still reliant on her GPS unit to get her around The Keep. Even though she was technically a resident, she still felt like a stranger, and she would never be considered a local.
    Something about The Store, though, was wonderful. As soon as Nika pulled into the lot, she felt this crazy energy coursing through her body, like it was being pulled up through the tires into the soles of her feet. It made her want to dance. It made her want to fuck. It made her want to play rugby, and she wasn’t one hundred percent sure what rugby was. She knew it was violent, though, and she wanted in.
    That feeling faded, though, as Nika was able to push it towards the back of her mind. She couldn’t go into public like that. She briefly wondered if any fights had ever broken out here; it certainly seemed like the right place for it. She got out of the car, locked it and entered The Store.
    Her cart was wobbly. It always was. That was standard Nika luck. She couldn’t get a smooth-running cart to save her life. She began ka-chunking her way through the grocery side of The Store.
    It was an interesting comparison between shopping in Atlanta and shopping in Elders Keep. Atlanta was focused on showing how multi-cultural it could be. It was no problem to find exotic foods like durian or testicles. Judging by the food selection in Elders Keep, this was a town obsessed with its Southern heritage. Nika had never seen a store that had seventeen different brands of grits. There was a special cooler in the meat department for fatback and hog jowls. It was a carbohydrate paradise, and the masque of the White Lily held sway over all.
    Still, the produce was fresh, as local as it could be, given the season, and the meat was always tasty. Nika picked through the packaged chicken, thinking of a tetrazzini recipe she had been anxious to try. She made her way through the yellow foam trays until she found the bird parts she thought would taste the best.
    “Kind of an arbitrary decision, isn’t it?”
    Nika looked to her left to see a smaller woman, rail thin, also looking at the chicken.
    “Excuse me?” Nika said.
    “All this meat,” the woman said. “And what do we know about it? Where does it come from? What if it’s all synthetic? How would we know? If it’s pink, we’ll eat it. Not just chicken on that, either.”
    “I suppose we all do the best we can,” Nika said, trying to be polite.
    “That’s not true,” the woman said. “Not all of us. Not all the time.”
    “Maybe not,” Nika said, and she turned her cart and began walking off.
    “You’re new here, aren’t you?” the woman called, and Nika could hear the stranger’s soles shuffling towards her, chasing her. “I can tell. I know everyone in town. Are you visiting?”
    Nika sighed as the woman caught up to her. “No, you’re right,” Nika said. “We’re newbies. My husband and I just moved here.”
    The woman extended her hand and smiled, the corners of her pale blue eyes crinkling. “My name’s Sarah,” she said. “Welcome to Elders Keep. I used to work here! That’s how come I know everyone. Everyone has to come to The Store, right?”
    “I’m Nika.” They shook hands, and that was how Nika made her first friend in The