Page 30 of Cursed
“If I had listened to you, maybe you could have put him somewhere safe. Is there a magical witness protection program?” Tony asked. “I would have made him believe me. Now?—”
“Tony, listen to me. There’s no guarantee that we could have gotten to Pax before they did. They used magic to take him, and they could have used that against us too. The bad guy was closer to making his move than we thought. As for a witness protection program…sort of. I’m not sure we could have gotten him there with the witch on our tail.”
Evan knew that Seth meant the St. Expeditus Society in Charleston, which gave sanctuary to people hunted by supernatural criminals.
“Where are you?” Evan asked.
“At home.” He gave a shaky laugh. “I haven’t even put the groceries away.”
Seth and Evan traded a look, and Evan nodded. “We’ll come get you. Stick the perishables in the fridge. You can stay withus. We don’t have a lot of elbow room, but the RV is heavily protected, and we picked up enough dinner to share. Don’t go anywhere, lock the doors, and ignore anyone who knocks except for us. We’ll be there as quickly as we can.”
“Okay. Thank you. Just…hurry.” Tony sounded like he was barely holding himself together.
“Stay on the line. Talk to me. About anything,” Evan said as he and Seth locked the RV, climbed into the truck, and headed back to town. “Tell me how you got into music?”
“My grandfather used to play the guitar. He taught me. He was with a bunch of local bands when he was young,” Tony said, shaky but distracted. “He didn’t care that I was gay. Said he’d played with plenty of gay guys in the bands and it never bothered him. The rest of the family, not so much,” he added with a bitter sigh.
“How’d you end up in Savannah? Where else do you play besides the food truck park and Mystic?” Evan did his best to keep Tony engaged.
“I left home and headed to the big city, which was Savannah. Told myself I’d work up to Atlanta, but it’s got a real different energy. Wasn’t ready for that. Maybe never will be. Savannah’s been good to me,” Tony said. “I found people to play with who aren’t jerks, so sometimes I play alone, and sometimes we have a trio. We have regular gigs lined up that pay enough to cover the rent. And I met Pax.”
“How did you meet?” Evan looked over to Seth, who mouthed, “Five more minutes.”
“I was playing at a bar, and he came in with some friends from the food trucks,” Tony said. “They hung around and seemed to be really into the music. Then his friends left, and Pax stuck around for my second set. He bought me a beer afterward and we got talking. Everything else just grew from there. How did you and Seth meet?”
Evan rolled his eyes. “Seth told me that a dark witch wanted to kill me. I said he was crazy. Then it turned out he was right, and he saved my life. It sounds very made-for-TV dramatic, but I’d definitely recommend the way you and Pax met.”
Seth pulled up in front of the house Tony and Pax shared. He and Evan both drew their guns, although they kept them low to avoid drawing the wrong sort of attention.
“I don’t see anyone,” Evan said.
“A witch with a cloaking spell might be able to hide,” Seth warned.
“I’m not getting any warnings from the ghosts,” Evan replied. “They saw Pax get taken, and the ones who still have a sense of self are worried about Tony.”
“Will they stand watch while we get Tony out of there?” Seth asked.
Evan closed his eyes, concentrating, and then nodded. “Yeah. But I don’t think they can fight if we get ambushed.”
“Then we better not need backup,” Seth replied.
Tony was waiting inside the door with a packed duffel bag and his guitar. He looked like he had been crying, although he now wore a resolute expression.
“I don’t know anything about how you guys do what you do, but I’ll help any way I can to take those bastards down and get Pax back.” Tony locked the door behind him, and they hustled him into the truck.
“Stay down,” Seth told him as they drove away. “Just in case anyone is watching.”
Tony tucked himself into the footwell in the back seat where he couldn’t be seen from the windows as Seth put them back on the road.
“Is anyone following us?” Tony asked in a shaky voice.
“Not that I can tell,” Seth replied. “I’m going to take the long way, just in case.”
Seth made several switchbacks and meandering turns before finally ending up at the RV park.
“Stay put,” he told Tony as he got out to check the wards on the trailer and scope out the area before gesturing for Tony and Evan to come inside.
“This is where you guys live?” Tony asked, looking around the neat, compact living space.
