Page 40 of Outlaw Witch

“I wouldn’t know,” I say. “It’s the first one I’ve ever seen.”

Fabian sighs softly, getting to his feet and sidling close to me as he makes his way out of the living room and into the kitchen. “Yeah, me too.”

It’s then just me and Zeph, who is, once again, looking at me like I’m his enemy.

“You’ll help him though, right? You can fix him? Because we didn’t go through all that shit to get you here only for you to turn out to be useless.”

I roll my eyes at him. It’s clear that he cares about his friend, but seriously.

“Fuck off, Zeph. I’ll do what I can.” I keep my voice low until I’m practically hissing at him. “That thing inside him is no joke. I can see why potions and basic rituals did nothing to help. They probably just pissed the curse off.”

I’m joking about that last part. But... not really. Who the hell knows if that thing has some kind of sentience.

“Look,” I level with him, realizing too late that I’ve put my fingers on his brawny forearm as he tenses it under my fingertips. I yank my hand back like his skin scalded me, not meeting his eye. “Fabian seems like a good guy from what I’ve seen of him. And you guys all clearly care a lot about each other. I’ve told you I’ll do what I can and I’m not a person who half-asses things.”

Apart from vacuuming. And finding escape routes to jobs. And doing laundry according to those little tags they stick on.

But no one has ever accused me of being magically lazy.

“Something to keep in mind, Z, I’m the only person around that can help your friend. And I don’t think any of us want to see what happens if that curse takes over his entire body.”

I feel like an ass, but I won’t let him bully me.

With that little bomb drop, I slip past Zeph’s big body and head through to the kitchen. Roscoe is already at the stove, frying something up and he grins over his shoulder at me. I plunk myself down beside Fabian, where he’s sitting at the kitchen island.

“For you,” Roscoe drops something in front of me in a small, brown leather case as he sets down a plate covered in cheese-y, toasted goodness.

“What’s this?”

“I thought you needed your own set if we’re going to have some fun,” Roscoe says with a grin.

I unwrap the case with one hand, grabbing my grilled cheese with the other and taking a big bite. Inside the case is a lockpicking set. Brand new, by the looks of it.

“Great idea, bud. Give the criminal who’s living in our building a kit so she can break into places,” Zeph snipes.

“Who are you calling a criminal?” I mutter.

“Roscoe met you while you were breaking in somewhere and stealing something. What else would you call yourself?”

I roll my eyes at him. “A survivor. It’s not like there are many jobs around for people like me.”

Fabian’s eyebrows are raised and I wonder if Roscoe let this little detail slip about me before he allowed me into his home.

Roscoe snorts. “It’s not like we can judge. None of our work is exactly squeaky clean, dude.”

I wait until Fabian’s done with eating his grilled cheese before speaking again, “Anyway, tell me about how you wound up cursed.”

He chuckles softly, pushing his plate away and leaning back in his chair. “So Roscoe told me he took you down to see my little brother Sebastian, right?”

I nod and he takes another bite of food, chewing and thinking over his words before he continues.

“Right, well, Seb’s been sick for a long time. He’s my half-brother, my mom’s second kid. Except she got pregnant with him while she was separating from my dad. She moved away from Arcanum when he was just a baby and decided she couldn’t live the life she wanted to with two kids weighing her down, so we both got left here with my dad.

“Seb first got sick when he was maybe eight. And, at first, it was fine. The healers helped him out, and we thought it was going to be okay. Then, a couple of years later, he got sick again, and it was a lot worse.” He shakes his head, face going pale at the memory and my heart clenches for him. I know I’d be just the same if any of my family got sick and I couldn’t do anything to help them.

“One thing that helped was vamp blood,” Fabian continues. “You know how it has healing properties?”

I give a half shrug. “I don’t really know a lot of vamps, but I’ve heard the rumors.”

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