Page 32 of Battle of Witches
“I got my potion working, but Killian can’t take his phone with him when he’s a bat. I know he can handle himself, but I’m going to be worried until he gets back.”
Just then, I heard the roar of a ton of motorcycles outside the warehouse. Damn. The parking lot back here was for employees only. There was parking for everyone else in front of the main building. Several of my employees were all about the biker life, but they were already here.
“Put your shirts on. I think Asfrid sent her people here as a reaction to your video.”
Before we could even exit the warehouse, Killian burst in with about twenty shifters. He must have conjured himself some clothes because he wasn’t naked after his flight. So, what did my familiar just do? He turned around and flung his arms out to the shifters he had just brought to my warehouse.
“New peeps, meet the dream team. That’s one of the Gemini Twins Asfrid wants; hands off, or we’ll have to duel. That istheLoki, his son, Sleipnir, Bjorn, a seer, and you’ve already met me. Everything in here is cursed, so don’t touch anything.”
“Killian, what did you do?” I asked.
“We need snacks,” Loki said.
He waved his hand and one of my work tables that was clear of items was filled with food. Killian filled me in on what went down at Asfrid’s when she played that video. She utterlylosther shit.
“We mean no harm to your girl. Asfrid isn’t one of us if she can have a tantrum and kill a great guy like Huggy. She’s also claiming she’s alpha to all of us, and she didn’t earn that title. Asfrid lied about a lot of shit. But you’re also a Trickster. After Huggy, weknowyou’re telling the truth about her dark past. Was everything you said about hybrids true?”
“I’m happy to answer all your questionswithoutkilling you over it. It’s all quite true. Trying to make you hybrids would kill you. Trust me. It’s been tried before. In the spirit of honesty, two hybrids were recently accidentally created, but they were technically dead, and we weren’ttryingto add magic to a living being. Reyson was trying to impress his girlfriend by giving her familiar his body back after he pissed her off by sticking a big dick on his forehead.
“Hethoughthe’d end up with a warlock but created a hybrid. Now, theonlyway for you to end up a hybrid without exploding is to die, hang out in the Aether for who knows how long, get an offer to become a witch’s familiar, and only Lilith knows how that works, and then find a god to do it. You aren’t going to be paired up to guide a young witch if you died a shifter and don’t remember how to do magic from a previous life, and you’re only doing it to become a hybrid. Sorry, not sorry.”
“Why do youwantto be hybrids?” Sleipnir asked. “Being a shifter is awesome. Asfrid and her friends used to act like I was defective because my mother was a god, and I took after my father and ended up a shifter. I don’tneedmage powers, and neither do you, even if one of your parents isn’t a god. You were still created by one, and you aren’t helpless against other supernaturals. They willneverknow what it’s like to run through the woods with heightened senses. Never let anyone tell you that they are better than you.”
“Not all of us do. Huggy didn’t, and several of us don’t. Some alphas got taken in by her. Some of them weren’t in it for the whole hybrid thing. They wanted her necromancy spell. They thought becoming hybrids was against how we were created, but giving shifters the ability to do necromancy is pretty significant.
“The Library of the Profane is the only place you can get a qualified witch to assist with necromancy andnotrisk ending up with a revenant. Unfortunately, not every shifter group has someone with a library card, and not everyone lives nearby or can afford to transport a corpse here. Most of us have stopped consulting with witches for that because it’s traumatizing when someone you love or respect ends up a revenant. Giving us the ability to do necromancy is why most of us agreed with our alphas.”
That made sense and was more in line with every shifter I knew that wasn’t my stupid ex-boyfriend and that idiot Scooter. Shifters were proud, and I couldn’t see them changing themselves on a cellular level because they thought they needed magic. Giving them necromancy? I could see how they fell for her lies.
“Some were really into the idea of becoming hybrids and got addicted to her power-sharing potion. We all had to try it to join her. I couldn’t tell you if I power shared or not because I was honestly too out of my mind to be sure. Many of us didn’t like how it made us feel and didn’t want to do it again. She wanted people around her at all times in case Loki found her, but the only person she tolerated long term who was addicted to that potion was Scooter.”
“We demand shifter justice. You’reallowedto question your alpha if they are doing something stupid. It’s not a dictatorship. You also don’t kill unless it’s a life-or-death situation, and you have no choice. Neither do witches. We’ve had some pack members leave to join covens, and they aren’t expected to be mindless drones, either.
“She’s not an ally to shifters or witches. I don’t even think the vampires would claim her, and they need blood to survive. Furthermore, the entire supernatural community looks down on those who murder for personal gain. So, all bets are off if you go after kids.”
My faith in the supernatural community? Officially restored. There were only two dumbasses in her midst, and I already knew they were idiots. Everyone else heard the truth and said not today, Satan. Every last one of them followed Killian back to the museum to hear the truth.
Loki took a savage bite out of one of the corndogs he conjured.
“I’m quite fond of shifters. My son is one, and I tried my hand at creating them once. It went horribly wrong, as you now see. I’m familiar with shifter justice. It’s patient and thorough. We can make it happen in, like, ten minutes with a phone call to Kaine Dragovich, but we need all the details about that house and any surprises.”
One of the shifters started pounding on the table and calling for heads. Everyone joined in. Fuck, I joined in, too. Everyone here was against snitching, but we had limits for what kind of shit we tolerated.
Hopefully, these shifters vomited Asfrid’s secrets all over us, and this was over for good.
Chapter26
Loki
My mood had greatly improved.Thesewere the kind of shifters I had in mind when I made my hybrids. I had initially considered making eight-legged horse shifters like my son. I had these ideas about bringing him home to a whole family like him.
I scratched that idea because of what went down with Sleipnir. Odin saw him and immediately wanted him. His stupid family wanted toborrowhim. If I tried to recreate the magic that was my son, it wasn’t mortals they’d have to win over.
I knew my kind. Sleipnir was capable of things they weren’t. Hell wasn’t the only realm a god couldn’t portal to without an invitation. There were several like that. They couldn’t keep my son out, though. He could just run there. I knew plenty of people who would abuse that, so I made hybrids instead.
Hindsight.
Valentine and Scooter liked to pretend like they were the ideal when it came to shifters, but they were outliers. People like Valentine and Scooter liked to pretend they were slaves to their beasts, and that gave them an excuse to do whatever they wanted. Shifters were calculating, and they spent ages fighting that stereotype.
