Page 40 of Battle of Witches
I also knew Loki wouldn’t have set off a bomb by mistake or let himself get buried under the rubble with Asfrid alive. I didn’t knowwherehe was, but I’d lay odds he was inside hunting. I could have shifted back and followed Asfrid inside. Still, I had firmly held religious beliefs about not getting into fights I wasn’t sure I could win when there was an assload of agents from the Paranormal Investigation Bureau, a god, and my very powerful girlfriend behind that fence.
I flew back over the fence and trusted Loki was somewhere inside that house.
Chapter32
Ravyn
Iwas learning a few things about Kaine Dragovich. As much as he liked to grump about not killing people and doing everything by the book, it was, apparently, totally fine when he unleashed his dragon and was the one who did it. Like, seriously, he wasfuriousLoki set off a bomb, and then he nearly knocked us all over, shifting and sailing over the fence.
He came back with a dragon shifter and shifted back. I snapped my fingers and conjured him some clothes. I didn’tknowif he would break out the dragon again, but he probably didn’t want to arrest anyone naked. Killian was still over that fence, and I wasn’t all that happy about it.
“Breathe, Duffy. Why on earth would you fall for this shit? You fought for this country and came back as a hero. If you were going to trust someone with potions, whyher?”
I looked at Duffy. He was big like all dragons but looked beaten down and stressed. Duffy might have been taken in by Asfrid, but I just wanted to give him a big hug. He mopped his hand down his face, and his whole body collapsed.
“I’m sorry, Kaine. The potions weren’t the same after the Moonfalls died in that car accident. I tried to make it work, but those kids at work are terrible, and I got fired again. If I don’t find work soon, I’m going to get evicted. No one cares about how decorated I was in the military. I spent years following orders and doing everything I was asked only to get shit on now that I’m out.”
Igotwhy Kaine went off book after hearing Duffy’s roar. I didn’t know what would happen to everyone at this house when this was over. If it was jail, Duffy didn’t need that. We failed him as a society. It wasn’t just that he was let out of the service with almost no support. I knew how things worked. The witch that cursed him and fucked with his head probably got off easy because she didn’t technically kill him.
Duffy didn’t need jail. He needed help. I was technically here to put a beat down on the bitch who cursed my familiar, but I wasn’t a monster. And I was pretty sure I knew how to help Duffy. He’d be helping me, too.
“Duffy, do you know that pub by the Academy of the Profane that humans keep trying different themes, and no one wants to go there?” I asked.
“Eventheydon’t want to hire me. I applied, knowing it was probably going to go ass up. I thought I could get on the construction crew building the last theme, but it was a big nope from them.”
“Look, the humans are selling it. My sister just gave birth to her first child, and my parents want to be closer to us. So, they just bought it and are opening a magic shop there. I’m good at potions, but I’m nowherenearas good as my mom. I’m betting she can replicate the Moonfalls’ potion so that it starts working for you again. I can probably do it while you’re waiting for them to get up and running.
“Also, one of my warehouse workers retired before all this started. I meant to hire someone, and then all this shit started. It’s a quiet job, mostly helping move relics in and out as we get them and when they are safe to move to the museum to show. Everything you’d be touching is either safely contained or defused and harmless.
“It pays well with benefits and a pension, and no one gives a shit if you yell at the ghosts. I scream at Phillip all the time. We’ve all had at least five meltdowns on the job, and we won’t judge if you do, too. I think it was fate I didn’t fill that position until I met you. I’d adore it if you came and worked with me at the Museum of the Profane.”
“It’s a good offer, Duffy. Ravyn just invented a potion that the Bureau is going to buy off of her. She can probably not only recreate that potion but tweak it and make it better. Benefits and retirement are probably just as good as what I have at the Bureau. Plus, I’veseenthe shit that goes down at the library and the museum. The kind of drama they get up to isn’t like one of your bad days, and they haven’t kicked fucking Loki out yet.”
“That’s fair,” I said, “and also true. Plus, it’s not a constant drama-fest where my ex-boyfriend robs the museum to bring a mass murderer back from the dead to make a new cult. We also have completely normal, boring days. On Wednesdays, we wear pink.”
Killian landed beside me and shifted back.
“I don’t think straight, male dragons have seen that movie.”
“Beyla made me watch it,” Kaine admitted.
Seriously, why wasn’t Kaine married with a million babies? He didn’t just take Beyla in. He’d gone full blown, supportive dragon daddy. My dad was the best. He taught me or got me lessons if I wanted to try something. He was excited if I was good at it and didn’t say a damned thing if I wasn’t, and there was absolutely zero hope for me. Beyla might be good at ballet, but I definitely was not.
My dad drew the line at my love of show tunes and certainly wouldn’t have sat throughMean Girlslike Kaine. Kaine had also kind of adopted Duffy, too.
“Yeah, I think I’d like that,” Duffy said.
“Then you can’t be here when this goes down. So, go home and lie low.”
“Everyone by the pool is sleeping,” Killian said. “I still don’t know where Loki is, but Asfrid isn’t dead. She went back into the house. Loki blew up someone, but it wasn’t her.”
“Let me stay and help,” Duffy said. “I think Asfrid gave all of us a different story to make us stay. I didn’t want to be a hybrid, and I had no intention of fighting someone else’s war again. Her potion seemed to help with all the shit that happens in my head, but I didn’t take it every day.
“Many of us were done after Loki’s video, but she asked us to come over to clear the air. She didn’t say much, just asked us to remember that historically, Loki liked to fuck with people and if he was a god and walking this Earth this long, why hadn’t he done anything to help people like she was trying to do?
“I don’t know Loki, but I know Kaine, and he doesn’t frame people. If Valentine was arrested, then he probably did murder those two girls. I wasn’t planning on sticking around, but Scooter and Asfrid were being secretive about something in the basement. I was only sticking around to call you, I swear. The bomb brought me to a bad place. Thank you for getting me out of there.”
“This isn’t your war, either, Duffy. If you can tell us who is inside the house, that would be great. After that, get out of here.”
