Page 3 of Handcuffs and Hexes

When the first guy continued to ignore us, ducking under the tape, and Tommy stepped up to stop him, the guy made a gesture and Tommy went flying back. Seth muttered a few soft words, then moved his hand, and suddenly a ghostly-looking, see-through cushion appeared out of thin air to soften Tommy’s fall. Then it disappeared, dropping him safely on his ass from a few inches off the ground. Seth had the audacity to smirk openly.

But two more vehicles were arriving, and from them came more entranced people, all of them men.

Chapter 2

Seth

Iwasn’tsurewhatI’d find at the anomaly that had opened up midtown, but whatever it was, it had piqued my employer’s interest. I didn’t mean the EA though; I meant my real employer, Desmon the Dragon of Darlington. So when the call came up at the EA, I stepped up. Why not be paid twice for the same job?

There was some paperwork involved because the EA now worked hand in hand with the police, and they always had more rules and regulations, but the pay was worth it. Both Desmonand the EA paid well, and I needed all I could get if I wanted to achieve my life’s goal of having fuck-you money.

It had been sheer luck that a certain sexy officer had been there as well.

But that didn’t mean that I hadn’t also taken calls purposefully knowing that Officer Cooley would be there. But today had been an honest fluke. A good fluke, because I’d stopped her from tumbling into the mysterious portal.

As far as portals went this thing was massive, and by the reports it had swallowed up half a dozen cars and more than its share of people already when it first opened up. Usually portals required energy to be kept open, and the more things that went through it and the longer it had to be held open, the more energy was required. But this one seemed to stay open effortlessly.

By the time I’d arrived on the scene, it had grown to take up most of the intersection and was encroaching onto the sidewalk. If it continued at this rate, it would be swallowing the nearest building soon. A good thing they’d had the sense to start evacuating everyone.

“Don’t let any of them jump in!” I yelled as I wrapped threads of magical bindings around the first idiot who’d stepped out of the SUV. “Whoever is holding the portal open could be using the energy from those who stepped in to keep it open.”

That was just one person’s theory down at the EA, but it hadn’t been ruled out yet, and it made sense to me, so we had to take precautions.

The order not to use any large-scale magic for fear that the anomaly might suck up the magic and grow, combined with the explicit instruction to not harm any civilians or do anything illegal in front of law enforcement, was making the job a little more difficult than it had to be. Otherwise, I would’ve just made a large shield around the thing to prevent anyone from jumping in, stuck the incoming men onto the nearest wall like flies on flypaper, and called it a day. But I had more than one reason not to use any flashy spells. Desmon also didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention to what was happening here. He didn’t want people converging on the town. Despite being a dragon, he actually cared about Darlington. Sometimes I wondered if he considered the entire city a part of his hoard.

Now that the officers knew they were dealing with magic, they each had their shields up. Shields against magic had been in common use in Darlington for years, and since the fall of The Wall, many police departments around the world had added it to their arsenals.

By the time I immobilized the two from the first vehicle, the officers had wrangled the rest.

“What are we going to do with them?” Officer Cooley asked, her voice catching my attention. “We don’t have space back at the precinct, especially if they keep coming like this.” She eyed another vehicle that was already approaching. Suddenly, one of the perps who had been handcuffed moved.

Officer Hayes, who had been holding him, was thrown back as a burst of energy surged from the perp.

“Mike!”

Officer Cooley lunged for her partner even as the suspect cast a spell, literally throwing it with his now-free hands. The handcuffs lay singed on the ground. This was a decent-sized spell, probably everything he had, thrown in as a last-ditch effort.

Caught off guard, I wasn’t able to cast a protective spell around her in time.

Cooley’s eyes went wide as she shoved her partner out of the way. I watched as time slowed, and the ball of magic hit her on the shoulder. Part of the spell also hit Officer Hayes. She was flung back, right toward The Breach.

I winced as she landed on the slanted piece of concrete. The impact had knocked her out, and she was starting to slide toward the portal. Officer Newman—Tommy—was already running toward her, but the second he stepped onto the cracked section of the road, it shifted.

“Fuck!” he swore. “It can’t hold both our weights.”

“Step back, I’ll carry her with my magic.”

I lifted her, careful not to move her too much in case there were any broken bones. But even so, the disturbance to the integrity of the concrete had been too great. It started to crumble, tumbling into the hole.

I felt the tug of magic on Officer Cooley, like the hole was trying to actively pull her in. I concentrated, refusing to let her go. Her body floated in the air as I continued my tug-of-war with the invisible force.

“The Breach is growing!” yelled one of the officers behind me.

And it was. No wonder it was so much harder to hold onto her now. It almost felt like the thing had its own gravity. I concentrated and hauled Cooley into my arms before stepping back out of the way of the expanding void. She was out cold, but the usually cheerful yellow glow of her presence was still there, so I knew she was alive.

The faint hint of magic I sometimes felt around her was there too, heightened this time probably due to being in the presence of so much potent magic. She claimed to be a completely magic-free human, but there were definitely traces of witch, or maybe even wizard, in her bloodline. She hummed of magic now. Had it come out to protect her from the magical blast?

I hadn’t recognized the spell the man had thrown, but now I wondered if it was because it hadn’t been one at all but rather just someone desperately flinging his magic around. Kind of like playing a saxophone with a drumstick. One can still make music, no matter how incorrectly it was done.

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