Page 26 of That Mafioso Magic
“Her scent is tarnished. There is a faintness of sulfur,” Shi said, then she turned to me. “An evil spirit?”
I nodded. “Then it’s confirmed, her body has been possessed by a demonic spirit.” That knowledge broke my heart. But I’d be damned if I let that demon use her body to do more harm to humans. I looked around her room for something very personal to her. I took some hair from her brush and put it in a plastic baggie. I took her teddy bear from her bed and squished it inside another baggie. I looked around to see if there were any clues as to where the spirit would be now and didn’t find anything. It was time to head back. “We should go.”
The three of us left and the two cops were still asleep. Good, we’d be long gone before they woke up. An hour later, we were back at my office/home with some burgers from one of the best burger joints in the city that I could afford.
“So, did you find anything?” Sage asked us as soon as we entered the office.
“Nothing I was happy to discover,” I said. “Hungry?”
“Depends on what you have. Smells like burgers… from Charley’s Hut?” Sage asked, tipping his head inquisitively.
“Funny, I didn’t think you’d know about a place like that,” I said, handing him a bag that was greasy at the bottom. Charley’s Hut was located close to the south side in a working-class neighborhood.
“Oh, hell yeah, their burgers are famous. I remember when that place first opened,” Sage said.
“Really? It’s been in business for fifty years,” I said. “Oh, that’s right.” I remembered Sage was over five times my age even though he looked to be thirty. And a very sexy thirty at that.
Sage smiled as he reached into the bag, pulling a burger free. “One of my favorite burger joints.”
“You were living here when it opened?” I asked.
Sage nodded. “Newly arrived at the time, yes.”
“So, how old are you?” Xavier asked.
Sage took a bite of his burger, swallowed, then smirked. “A hundred and forty-six years old.”
“Jesus!” Xavier exclaimed, a chunk of burger still sitting in his mouth.
“For a shifter, I’m not that old,” Sage said.
“It’s still impressive, and I don’t really know any shifters. I know of your kind, but I don’t know any shifters personally,” I admitted.
He winked. “Well, now you know some.” He sat back in the chair, my chair, and took another bite of his burger. “So, the girl is possessed by the spirit, I take it?”
I frowned and nodded. “I was hoping that wasn’t the case, but it is.”
“So, your case is…?” Sage asked.
“I still want to find her body and free it from that demonic spirit. And now thanks to the book, we can do that,” I said, thinking back to the spell that Sage and I shared.
“You’re going to have to find it first,” Sage said.
I nodded. “The locator spells I was using before didn’t work. But I think that book will have a spell that will be a game changer. Perhaps a more advanced locator spell.”
Sage frowned. “You’re planning on taking on a demon? And you call my life dangerous.”
“I am, and I’m hoping with your help that maybe we can restore her soul.”
“Once a demon takes root, the human soul is gone,” Sage pointed out.
“Well, I’m also hoping that book has a spell that can restore a soul.”
Sage sighed and the expression on his face was a thoughtful one. “Is that the humane thing to do, Adrian?”
I grimaced. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Her parents are dead. She’s probably going to be found as the killer, because I’m sure the demon that took over her body didn’t care about fingerprints on murder weapons. What life are you returning her to?” Sage stated.
