Page 34 of Familiar of the Witch

‘More fool me,’ I grumped.

As usual, when my bags were packed, John slid out of his office to greet me. He gave a deferential bow before making a point of looking over my purchases. ‘You have an excellent eye, Coven Mother. You’ve picked out the finest specimens.’

‘As always, there are only the finest specimens to be found here.’

‘You’re too kind, Coven Mother, too kind.’ He bobbed his bow again and touched his hand to his heart.

I cleared my throat awkwardly. ‘Thank you for coming to Edinburgh – for coming to my aid.’

John grew serious and his professional customer-fronting smile faded. ‘It was my honour to come to your assistance. Should you have need of me in the future, I will do it again without hesitation.’

I smiled. ‘Thank you, John, I appreciate that.’

‘Let me help you with your purchases.’ He lifted the box and carried it out to the car. ‘Footwell?’ he asked.

‘Please,’ I confirmed.

I suddenly felt nervous. The last time I’d been here, someone had chucked a fireball at me. My car had been wrecked and Oscar had lain in a pool of his own blood. For a heartbeat, I was in that moment, filled with terror and fear.

John met my eyes. ‘It won’t happen again, Coven Mother,’ he all-but growled fiercely. ‘You have my word. An attack outside my shop! Unthinkable. I’ve hired wizard guards.’ He gestured at the two men loitering by the open door, one of whom was the IR juggler we’d seen earlier.

I raised an eyebrow. I hadn’t seen a request for further employees through the Coven. ‘Paid for by you?’ I queried briskly.

‘Yes, Coven Mother. No need to bother the Coven’s coffers for this.’

My phone blared and an unfamiliar number showed up. I frowned. ‘Excuse me, John.’

‘Of course.’

I swiped to answer the call.

Chapter 28

‘There’s been another attack.’ Charlize’s tone was brisk in my ear but even so my heart thundered.

My grip tightened on the phone. ‘Is Mum okay?’

‘She’s fine.’ Her voice turned rueful. ‘It turns out all these paintings she’s been doodling are rife with runes. That’s why she was so prescriptive about where they were placed. She had thoroughly warded the property and the paintings lit up like a Christmas tree. The assailants couldn’t get in – more’s the pity.’ She muttered the last part under her breath; she was clearly fixing for a fight.

‘Thank the Goddess,’ I breathed. ‘Who tried to attack her?’

‘Vampyrs controlled by a necromancer. They threw themselves against the walls, trying to phase in, and an earth elemental triggered a local earthquake. Nothing we couldn’t handle.’

Fury bubbled up inside me. First the fire elemental and now this. Unfortunately there are mercenary rogues in every species. Still, it gave us something new to look into. This necro witch was beginning to test my patience.

‘How did they locate my mum?’ I demanded.

‘Unknown, but items belonging to her were left in the care home. I suspect her location was scryed.’

I shook my head. Realising Charlize couldn’t see me, I spoke aloud. ‘No. Mum wouldn’t have painted wards and not included an anti-scrying rune for privacy.’ Dementia or time displacement or whatever it was, if she had the wherewithal to paint ward runes I doubted she would forget the basics. They were instinctive, like breathing.

I frowned. ‘She didn’t have any protective potions to paint the wards with!’

‘No. She used her blood.’

My mouth dropped open. After all her dire warnings about blood work, she’d opened a vein or two to paint her runes. Mother, thou art a hypocrite.

‘If she wasn’t scryed then maybe there’s a mole?’ Charlize’s tone was grim.

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