Page 36 of Sweetwater and the Witch

“Maybe. Or maybe we don’t want to take the risk of trusting our own emotions. No one knows for sure. It’s just a fact.”

“Think back to that first day in your office,” Ethan said. “What made you so optimistic about matching me?”

“My intuition. But everyone knows you can’t always rely on intuition. I think the problem is that I just didn’t have enough data.” She waved a spoon at him. “Your fault.”

“What more do you need to know about me?”

“Seriously? I need to understand why you were able to walk in on a scene like the one in my hallway last night and act as if the problem was no more complicated than taking out the trash. I’d like to know why you didn’t even flinch when you found out I was a fire witch. Why your aunt didn’t have a problem with rearranging the memories of one of the most powerful men in town.” She paused. “And why you marked so many questionsN/Aon the Ottoway questionnaire.”

“Right,” Ethan said. He drank some wine and lowered the glass. “I think I see the problem.”

Ravenna leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Tell me the truth. Are the Sweetwaters a mob family?”

“Definemob.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I,” Ethan said. “We make our money in strictly legal ways these days, but I admit we have a complicated history. The short version is that back on the Old World we were in the monster-hunting business.”

“Your turn. Definemonster.”

“Taking down monsters here on Harmony keeps law enforcement busy, but on Earth it was next to impossible for the cops to deal with psychic criminals. The general population didn’t even believe there were bad guys who could rob, murder, and deceive their victims by usingparanormal talents. They were rare in the population, anyway, because paranormal abilities were uncommon. The monsters were not what you’d call a huge problem, but they still did a lot of damage.”

It dawned on her that she was starting to take a more relaxed view of Ethan. Probably the wine.

“I think I see where you’re going here,” she said.

“At some point the Sweetwaters, who happened to have a pretty strong para-psych profile even on Earth, saw what you might call an opportunity. They went into the private security business. Very private.”

“Hunting monsters?”

“Yep. According to the family archives, we never had more than a couple of clients at any one time. Arcane is our oldest and most loyal customer. We did a lot of work for Jones and Jones, the organization’s psychic investigation agency. Sometimes we were hired by a couple of clandestine government outfits as well.”

“But here on Harmony you’re in the amber business.”

Ethan ate the last of his stew and set the spoon down. “That’s how we make our money, yes.”

“But you still do favors for Arcane.”

“And occasionally the Guild Council. Got a problem with that?” Ethan watched her intently. Behind the lenses of his glasses his eyes were even more unreadable than usual. “Because I can’t pretend we’re out of the monster-hunting hobby entirely.”

“Hobby.” She processed that description for a moment. “No, I don’t have a problem with it. I’ve done a little monster hunting too.”

“Your profiling work.”

“Right.”

“Something else in common,” Ethan suggested.

“Yes,” she said, warming to the notion. She leaned across the table and lowered her voice again. “Some people would consider me to be one of the monsters.”

Ethan looked amused. “Is that right?”

“They say there’s a light side and a dark side to every talent,” she said. “But I gotta tell you, the fire witch thing is mostly dark, as far as I can tell. Sure, it’s handy for making popcorn and fireworks, but that’s about it.”

His eyes glinted. “Popcorn and fireworks? Doesn’t sound like a dark talent to me. Sounds cool.”

“Are you kidding? It’s been a nightmare. Pretty much ruined my social life, and now it’s making it impossible to find a decent match for a Covenant Marriage.”

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