Page 10 of Brimstone and Broomsticks
“Lucifer. And Lilith,” the bald man repeated. “And you’re Lucien.”
I shrugged.
“They had a thing for the letter L I guess?” he asked. “Couldn’t just name you Robert or Steve or something?”
“My father chose the name. He would have named me Lucifer after himself, but it would have caused confusion in hell, and Junior doesn’t sound menacing enough for the son of Satan.”
Bald Guy glanced over to Cassandra who shrugged. “See? Human. Crazy. And it’s not like everyone in this town isn’t secretly wanting to knock Clinton Dickskin to the ground.”
He snorted then turned back to me. “If I release you, you need to reappear for the trial, unless your attorney works out a plea deal with the prosecutor.”
“They’re seriously going to continue with this?” Cassandra asked.
The bald man nodded. “Dickskin is furious, and that guy who had his arm broken might file charges as well.” He turned to me. “No getting out of this one, Junior.”
I continued to keep my mouth shut and tried to incinerate the man. I had as much success as I had in trying to incinerate that werewolf.
“For Christ’s sake, Aaron,” Cassandra snapped. “He has no money, no family. He can’t post bail, and these charges are ridiculous. You know Clinton probably started the whole thing. And Stanley probably deserved that broken arm as well. How many times have you guys intervened in fights between Dickskin’s gang and the others in town? This is a regular thing with those wolves, especially this close to the full moon. I’m not going to let my client, an innocent newbie, sit in jail for weeks over what in a wolf pack is a minor dust-up.”
“I get it, Cassie. I do. But I can’t exactly send a deputy to hell to pick him up if he doesn’t show up at his hearing,” the bald guy retorted. “The guy has no last name, no ID, and no earthly address. What am I supposed to do?”
“Release him on his own recognizance and trust me to get these bogus charges dropped. I’ll handle it.”
The bald man eyed her, slowly raising an eyebrow. “You’re telling me you’re going to finally grab the family broomstick and take charge?”
Cassandra flushed. “I’m a lawyer. This guy is my client. I’m going to do my job—the job I chose. The one I went to school to do. The one that doesn’t involve a damned broomstick.”
Bald guy looked disappointed. “Well then, Lawyer Perkins, your client can stay here as our guest until he produces proof of a valid earthly address as well as one thousand dollars bond.”
Suddenly this vacation was looking a whole lot less interesting. Normally I wouldn’t care about a jail cell, but if they kept these cuffs on me, I wouldn’t be able to escape. Actually, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to escape if they took the cuffs off me. The memory of that officer’s stick from last night, and Pistol Pete’s Towel of Doom, along with the knowledge that my powers and abilities were pretty close to nonexistent made me eager to stay as far away from that jail cell as possible.
“He doesn’t have a thousand dollars,” Cassandra argued.
“Well then he’s staying here until the hearing. Which given that today is Friday, will most likely be Monday or Tuesday.”
“You keep him here, and you’ll regret it,” she snarled, her energy beginning to coil around her hands. I stared, fascinated. Turned on. And very aware that of the three of us, I was probably the only one that could actually see her magic.
Bald Guy’s eyes narrowed. “Regret it how, Cassie? Because I’m pretty sure you’re not threatening the town magistrate with bodily harm.”
She glared back at him. “Forget about coming to Sunday night family dinner. No porkchops for you this week. And forget about borrowing the boat over Memorial Day weekend too.”
“Cassie, that’s not fair!” he shouted, rising to his feet.
My eyes went back and forth between the pair. Clearly from their familiarity and first-name usage they knew each other on more than just a professional basis, but family Sunday dinner? There was no resemblance that I could see. Was he an in-law? A distant cousin? A neighborhood kid she’d gone to grade school with that was almost an adopted part of her family? He better not be her boyfriend or fiancé, because this witch wasmine.
Well, I hoped she’d be mine. If I ever got out of these handcuffs, that is.
She sighed, reaching up a hand to rub her forehead. “You’re right. I’m sorry. But you’ve got to see how ridiculous this whole thing is. He’s a newbie. Just let him out. And I’ll…I’ll deal with Marcus. I’ll get the charges dropped.”
That last bit was said between clenched teeth, as if her idea of dealing with Marcus involved decapitation or possibly evisceration.
The bald man gave her a sideways glance, as if he was thinking along the same lines as me. “You don’t know demon-boy’s address, or even his last name. The man has no ID or money. But somehow if the charges don’t get dropped, you’re personally going to ensure that he’ll show up for his hearing?”
She sucked in a breath and sat back in her chair.
Bald guy smoothed a hand over the top of his head. “Tell you what, Cassie, I’ll let him go if he’ll wear an ankle bracelet—one of Bronwyn’s ankle bracelets. And he needs to attend at least one anger management meeting before the hearing.”
“I don’t want him at that meeting,” she shot back.
