Page 2 of Tricky Magic
“Let me end your suffering for you,” she said, pressing the gun into his forehead.
Josh closed his eyes tightly and whimpered. A stain began forming across his lap as a threatening click sounded through the room, but the gun turned to smoke. Ellea got up and walked toward her things, shaking the feeling of her magic singing at the small use of power. She quickly cleansed the cards with a spell and placed them back into their bag, along with her crystals. Before she turned to leave, she looked toward Josh.
“Instead of reading more into your future and telling you the happy ending of your story,” she said, staring into his watery and angry eyes, “I’m going to let you wallow in your piss-soaked self-pity and constantly wonder where your path in life is heading.”
“I hope you rot in Hel!” he sobbed and then spat at her.
This ass-hat actually spat at me?
With a cock of her brow, the vile spit stopped before it hit her, rerouted, and splattered right in his dumb face.
“Let me leave you with a curse to close off thiswonderfulsession.” Ellea stood fully, intensifying her stare.
Her powers dimmed the lights and conjured smoke that billowed from the corners of his office. She summoned the beasts that had been plaguing her dreams all week. Their scales and feathers gleamed in the lowered light and hissed in languages neither of them knew. Throwing her hands in a woo-woo way her nana would be proud of, she deepened her voice and bellowed out into the room,
“Every door you enter will be closed. Every business deal will be built on lies and ruin.” She pointed a steady finger at him. “Your family will always blame you for their woes. You will never feel peace and you will never find happiness!”
In a blink of an eye, the room went back to normal, and she disappeared. Well, she was gone from Josh’s sight. She was invisible to him while he crawled across the floor, sobbing and cursing her name. Ellea’s heart rate peaked to a new high, and her head began to pound after the use of magic she’d barely tapped into.
I shouldn’t have done that.
Rubbing her temples and swearing to herself, she left. Ellea could still hear Josh’s sobs as she reappeared and walked past his wide-eyed receptionist. She smiled at the middle-aged woman and placed her dark sunglasses on her face, heading toward the elevator.
* * *
It wasa scorching day at the end of July, but Ellea decided to walk home. It had been a while since she’d tapped into her trickster magic, and it left her feeling jittery.
Luckily, I didn’t waste any of my fancier and more uncomfortable outfits on this fun client.
Josh had been the fourth bad reading this week. No matter how many times she shuffled the cards or looked into a client’s future, it was all bad. She scowled and headed toward the historic district of the small city of Halifax. Sporting a light cotton top and a sheer, black skirt, Ellea cursed her heels. She managed half a block before the first dirty look was shot her way. She ignored it, as she had done most of her life. Her parents had made it impossible to be liked by anyone. The magical outbursts in her early years hadn’t helped matters either. Her parents had landed themselves in a supernatural prison after killing some mortals, disrupting the order, and several other frowned-upon things. She had zero fond memories of them and was thankful she’d been raised by her uncle and Nana.
Both were seers from her mother’s side. Her uncle Felix’s mood changed with every equinox or the latest trend, and he’d spent their years together teaching and training Ellea in anything and everything. It had helped to quell the power coursing through her veins. Trickster powers were scary, and was best to be ready for anything without having to tap into that side of her magic.
Jadis, her nana, was the type of seer you saw on late-night psychic commercials. Her favorite pastime was bumping into a mortal on the street and going into a fit about their future or a loved one trying to reach them. Ellea would never dream of doing that. As another dirty look was shot her way, she reached into her bag.
Two books sat in her purse, a brand new one about demons and her old favorite, a shifter reverse harem. She didn’t know much about demons; she’d only had one or two glances of the three that sat on the council. The council had been formed over three hundred years ago after the Great Elimination, a time when mortals hunted supernaturals. The battles and hunts ended poorly for both sides, so they’d compromised and formed a council that included supernaturals and humans.
The cover of the book about demons caught her eye. She would read the first chapter and see if it was interesting. Turning to the first page, she dove in while easily navigating her way home. It was a win-win, avoiding glares while reading smut. She managed three pages before she ran into a large and hard body.
“Fuck, watch it,” she hissed. People usually navigated around her.
“Hey, kitten,” a familiar voice said.
Isaac.
Internally, she cringed at the nickname, but she smiled up at him. They had been fooling around for a few months now after his father, a council member who sat next to her nana, had forced their relationship. She was sure the goal was for it to be serious, but she kept it light. It helped that he had a nice dick and knew how to use it. He was taller than her petite frame. He was blond, lean, and handsome; all witches were handsome or pretty. He always seemed to run into her at the weirdest times, and it made her wonder how much he was investing into their relationship. The other two men she was seeing would hardly ever bump into her on the street.
“Hey, Isaac.” He had a paper clutched under his arm, and she caught the headline, “Another String of Vampire Attacks Haunts Eastern Nyrway.”
The name of their continent always made her want to giggle.
“More attacks?” She had overheard her nana at a recent brunch discussing ways to stop the increase in vampire attacks.
“Yeah. Nothing your cute little head needs to worry about,” he said, brushing her hair off her shoulder. “Want to hang out tonight?”
Ellea suppressed her grimace.
“No. I want to curl up with a book and rest since Lughnasadh is this weekend.” She didn’t bother to make her smile warm.
