Page 4 of Cursed
“I wonder if Sorren and Donnelly are around,” Evan mused. “They seem to get called out a lot.”
“Whatever situation needs a centuries-old vampire and a master necromancer is a job I don’t want any part of.” Seth repressed a shiver. Sorren, the vampire, protected Cassidy as he had generations of her forebears. Donnelly, the necromancer, had powerful death magic, though he used his power to stopwitches with bad intentions. Their specialized skills and broad networks often took them out of Charleston to deal with problems elsewhere on the East Coast.
“Hi guys! Great to see you again.” Teag Logan looked up from behind the counter. “Come on in.”
Teag was tall and slender with a skater-boy mop of dark hair. As Trifles and Folly’s assistant manager, he helped keep the busy shop running when pressing supernatural matters took Cassidy away from her duties. His ability to weave spells into cloth and his background in martial arts proved valuable against bad guys, even if he didn’t have Cassidy’s abilities as a psychometric to read the history of objects by touching them.
“Cassidy wanted me to remind you about dinner tonight with her, Kell, Anthony, and me.” Teag named their respective partners.
“Absolutely. Looking forward to it,” Seth replied.
Cassidy returned just then with a tray of four hot lattes. “Sorry I’m late. I popped down the street to pick up some caffeine. Every planning session goes better with coffee.”
She pushed a lock of strawberry blond hair out of her eyes when she set down the tray. Seth’s eye was drawn to her agate necklace, which complemented her pale complexion. It looked old, and he wondered if it had magic as well as being an heirloom.
“I’ll cover the front. Go do what you need to do.” Maggie, their part-time helper, assured Cassidy as she moved to the register and front counter. She was over sixty, and her silver-gray hair curled in a flattering bob with sassy blue streaks that matched her eyes.
Cassidy thanked Maggie, and they headed to the table near the back of the store where Cassidy did her readings.
“Fill us in,” Cassidy said as soon as they were settled. “I’ve heard a little from Travis and Brent, but that was mainly thatyou were alive and settled things with another of the disciples in West Virginia.”
Sometimes Seth felt amazed at the network of paranormally-skilled partners he and Evan had managed to find in their quest. Researchers, witches, psychics, mediums, monster hunters, academics—and even a vampire. When he struck out to avenge his brother, Seth believed himself to be alone. While nothing made up for his loss, he treasured the friends and allies he had gained along the way, including Evan, the love of his life.
Seth and Evan took turns recapping their most recent adventure, answering questions along the way. The twelve witch-disciples came from different backgrounds and had varied supernatural abilities. Everything Seth and Evan learned from each encounter added to what they could use against the next one.
“Have you guys ever thought about doing a comic or book series when you’re finished? You’ve run into some epic shit,” Teag joked.
“No thanks.” Seth waved him off. “My main fantasy is escaping to a not-haunted tropical island and sipping daiquiris in a hammock all day.”
“Hey, multiple streams of income can buy a lot of beach drinks,” Teag teased. “Just sayin’.”
“Don’t you actually have some intel for them?” Cassidy said with fond exasperation.
“Yes, I do,” Teag replied. “As a matter of fact. I’ve been working with Rowan to do some digging,” he added, mentioning a witch friend of theirs. “The Savannah witch-disciple is a whack-a-doodle, even for that crowd, which is saying something.”
“That’s a technical term, whack-a-doodle,” Cassidy said with a straight face. Teag shot her a joking glare.
“Sterling Vernon is the younger son of a ship captain from more than a century ago. He’s a weather mage. He’s leveraged those connections to grow an import-export company that specializes in illegal cryptid body parts and derivatives.” Teag glanced at the notes on his phone. The disciple’s death magic extended his followers’ lifespans at the cost of the energy stolen from their victims, so Vernon’s extreme age wasn’t a surprise.
Seth felt his stomach lurch. “The ghost we just dealt with said Vernon killed him because he discovered a frozen monster corpse in a shipping container.”
Teag nodded. “That tracks. Everything Rowan and I could find suggests Vernon uses the bodies for magical and ritual items. But there have been persistent rumors he also caters to ‘gourmet consumption’ for very specialized tastes.”
“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Evan swallowed hard. “Are you saying…”
“Just rumors, but the stories have been around for a while,” Teag said. “Aside from that, Vernon uses his boats to transport cargo for other witch-disciples, and more than one hunter thinks they’re into para-pharmaceuticals and shifter trafficking.”
“Lovely,” Seth muttered.
“It gets better, or worse, depending on how you look at it,” Teag said. “Vernon is part-owner of a popular restaurant in Savannah.”
Evan caught his breath, and for a moment Seth feared his boyfriend really might lose his lunch; he looked a little green, but Evan shook his head.
“That’s really…disconcerting,” Seth said.
“Just wait.” Teag seemed to be enjoying the disclosure a little too much, and Seth suspected that Teag and Cassidy had already had time to process the disturbing information.
“Scuttlebutt has it that Vernon also runs an underground restaurant specializing in magical, cryptid, or legendaryingredients whose clients are wealthy immortals, non-humans, and lesser witches,” Teag finished.
