Page 15 of Outlaw Witch

Unfortunately, parts of me react unconsciously to the combined thoughts of privacy and the gravelly sound of his voice, and I shiver.

He spots the movement instantly and gives me a dirty smirk, which quickly morphs into a disgusted grimace.

I snort. “Sorry if I’m not jumping at the chance to find a nice, quiet spot with you two. Y’know, considering you’re both strangers and one of you scared the shit out of me already today.”

“We’re not going to hurt you, sweetheart.”

“Yeah, we need you too much for that,” Zeph adds.

I don’t know what it is about this guy, but for some reason, I trust his assholishness. It seems authentic, and I find myself believing his words that they’re not planning on hurting me.

Not while they apparently need me, anyway.

I can’t say I’m not intrigued about what this is about.

“Fine,” I tell them. “We can talk outside.”

That way, I can always fly a fireball in their faces without damaging the sofas. Sticking close means Ember’s always only a mind-scream away, although I’m not sure what he could do against these two massive mages.

I stride out into the daylight, not waiting to see if I have two burly shadows following me.

Stopping once we’re out of earshot from the warehouse, I turn around. We’re out in the old parking lot where there’s a whole lot of weeds and cracked tarmac and not a lot else.

As intrigued as I might be, I still want this over with fast. There’s a chocolate pudding in the fridge with my name on it.

Whoever says you can’t have pudding before midday clearly hasn’t had the morning I’m currently having.

The two of them glance at each other for a hot second, like they’re having a silent conversation. I hang back and wait them out and it doesn’t take long before Zeph grunts, giving a curt nod. Roscoe then steps closer to me and I fight the urge to back up. I’m not gonna act squirrelly or afraid in front of these two.

“We heard you can do blood magic,” he starts.

... I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that.

My eyes dart between his and Zeph’s, who is looking stony-faced once again, although there’s a gleam in both of their eyes.

They both look kind of... hopeful?

I lick my dry lips. Blood magic isn’t outlawed, like necromancy or telepathy. But it’s rare as shit and people are kind of weird about it.

“We need a blood mage, or a witch that can do blood magic. Whatever the hell you are.” Roscoe runs a hand through his dark hair and swallows hard. “We’ve been searching high and low for months, but the only person we could find moved to the other side of the world and wasn’t willing to negotiate. He gave us your name, suggested that you might help for the right price.”

I’ve only met one blood mage before, so I’m pretty sure who they’re talking about. “Zoto?” I ask.

He used to live around here a while back. Then he lived in The Buried Citadel for even longer. Eventually, I think he fell in love with a vamp and the two of them moved to Australia or something.

What a vamp is doing living in Australia, I have no idea. But Zoto was never exactly... normal. Although a blood mage and a vamp must get up to some pretty wild shit together.

“That’s the one. He said you could do some of the same stuff as him.”

Because my magic absorbed some of his, like the greedy sponge it is. But I don’t want these guys knowing that.

It’s one of my biggest secrets, worth my life.

“And what do you need a blood mage for?”

“We have a friend who has a curse on his magic. He needs another blood mage to lift it, or he’s gonna die.”

I blink at that. The only other blood mage I’ve heard of is also pretty notorious in this city. “Fabian, right?”

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