Page 92 of Outlaw Witch

“That first year was gruesome.” I mock shudder, even though the coppery stench of Fabian making people bleed from their eyeballs is something that still gives me nightmares.

“But right now, word seems to have gotten out that Fabian’s indisposed. No bloody massacres for the moment,” Zeph says. “Any ideas how that might have happened? You opened your yap to your trash friends?”

Fucking. Christ. He needs to dial the hostility back about a million notches.

“Don’t be a dick, Z,” Fab barks, looking seriously pissed off.

It’s a weird thing to witness. Fabian never loses his cool, not even a little, and never with the two of us.

It’s only been a few weeks since we first met her but it seems Silver’s fucking with all our brains, not just mine.

Huh, I wonder if she could use her funky voodoo toun-fuck my brain, take out some of the junk and fluff so I didn’t have three song choruses and a bunch of random recipes floating around on a loop. Maybe that way, I’d be able to focus on shit.

Start things and actually finish them.

Like that tiramisu I started constructing in the middle of the night and then forgot all about.

Dammit. Another dessert bites the dust.

I zone back into the conversation just as Zeph is biting out more harsh words at Silver.

“—why is she here? We’re talking business that has nothing to do with her.”

“Seriously, man. You’re pissing me off right now,” Fabian growls back.

“Things have gone so far to shit over the past month. You don’t think it’s coincidental thatsheshows up in our lives and everything goes to fuck?”

“You’ve lost your fucking mind, man. How can you blame Silver for a bunch of shit that kicked off before we ever met her?”

Silver gets to her feet, pressing a darting kiss to Fabian’s cheek. “Look, it’s cool. I don’t need to be here for this. Plus, I’m pretty sure I need a shower and a change of clothes.”

She looks like she needs a long nap more than anything. We’ve all been killing ourselves over the past few days, getting ready for the ritual and she’s no doubt going to continue in that vein until the next new moon.

Not giving any of us a chance to argue, Silver spins on her heel and heads out of the room.

“Smooth, dude,” I mutter. “What happened to wooing Silver? All you’ve done is to be an ass to her and we still need her, now more than ever.”

Z glares at me, crossing his arms and flipping me the bird. “I’m done talking about that little witch. Now, how the fuck are we going to fix this shit with the disloyal asses working for us?”

“Smoke out the snakes?” I suggest.

“Exactly.”

We spend the next half hour debating possible options. We need to make a point, to show that we’re not to be fucked with even while one of our members is out of action. Something that’s brought to our attention when Fabian falls asleep after only a couple of minutes into our brainstorming session.

If any of our detractors saw him right now, I’m pretty sure we’d have a lot more people trying to fuck with our business.

“Why don’t you use Silver?” Seb chirps.

Huh?

The words don’t compute. That they’re coming from baby Nightshade, Seb, makes even less sense.

“You said that people leave you guys alone because they’re afraid of Fab, right? But Silver can do at least some of the same stuff as him.”

“Why can’t you, like, show her off a bit?” He says with a shrug, barely glancing up from his game. “Get her to whip out a blood sword and watch everyone shit themselves.”

“And they’ll all fall back into line,” Zeph grunts with a nod. “Shit, you’re a genius.”

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