Page 87 of The Last Slayer
“The one and only.”
Her mouth opened and closed but no sound came out. She blinked. It gave me a great deal of satisfaction.
“How…?”
“A long story,” I said. “Stop staring. It’s rude.”
She snapped her mouth shut and quickly looked away. “I just—”
“Is Jack in?”
“No. He’s in London on business. He’s due back on Friday.”
Classic Jack. Nothing he could do about his daughter’s situation, so he flew off to make the firm some money. I guess it also showed how much he trusted me—a realization that always brought me up short and made me feel warm inside.
Then again, maybe he just thought it would take me at least a week to sort things out. Who knew what went on in his head?
“Valerie!”
The voice was familiar, and I cursed silently. It belonged to a Federation of Mageship enforcer, Jim Haddock. Tall, lean and with a golden choirboy handsomeness, all the nice packaging still couldn’t hide the fact that he was a fricking weasel. I guess the Federation hadn’t wasted any time in sending someone to investigate the psyche death of “Selena” the demon. But why did it have to be Jim? He and I…well, let’s just say that we had our history. It warmed my heart to see that his hairline was receding.
“Hey.” He beamed at me. “Are you new?”
“Go away, Jim.” He was bisexual—an equal opportunity man-slut.
“Uh, have we met?”
“You stole a boyfriend from me once.”
His smile faltered, and he frowned. Guess that didn’t narrow it down much for him.
“Can’t talk to you,” I said. “Not until our lawyer gets here.”
“Huh?”
Valerie tugged at his sleeve. “It’s Ashera,” she said in a stage whisper.
“And?”
Note to self: never overestimate the enforcers’ intelligence. If they’d been smart enough to make it in the private sector, they wouldn’t be low-level bureaucrats.
“Ashera. Del Cid. Do you know any other Ashera working for the firm?” I said.
“Ashera del Cid…that skinny neurotic hunter you got?” He laughed, actually slapping his hand on Sandy’s desk. “That’s funny. Really funny. And it’s gonna get funnier when I recommend that the Federation revoke her license.”
“Be nice, Jim,” Valerie said.
I turned to her. “Mind if I pulverize him?”
“I don’t think our lawyer would like that.”
Jim straightened. “No more jokes. We’ve got some serious business to attend to here.” He paused and looked at me hard. “Say…you have an interesting aura. What’s your specialty?”
The elevator chimed and the firm’s lawyer stepped out of it. Talk about being saved by the bell; it was the only thing that stopped me from turning Jim into a rabbit…or a cockroach. I’d never studied spells like that, but I knew if I willed it now, I could make it happen.
The thought of watching a little blond roach scuttle around was so sweet I could almost taste it. I took a breath and slowly let it out.
Our trusty counsel Shark lumbered over. That wasn’t his real name, of course. But it was all anyone ever called him. A big beefy guy, dark skin, not a strand of hair on his bullet-shaped head, soulless black eyes and a grin that could give you nightmares. The fancy Italian suit and wingtips did nothing to disguise the fact that this man was a latter-day barbarian, totally unconcerned with right or wrong. He crushed the other side because he could. And because we paid him to.
