The Problem With Black Magic Read online

  Chapter Nine

  Sam looked up at Serenus in disbelief. “How did you…I didn’t-“

  “I did,” Dwight interjected, and Cassie realized that he’d been in the room the whole time she’d been there; he’d been so quiet, standing against the lockers behind her, that she hadn’t even noticed his presence. “I sent him a text as soon as they showed up and asked for you.”

  The demons looked at Serenus with disdain, like he was an annoying bug they’d love to squash, but couldn’t. Suddenly, Cassie felt like there might be some hope for her continued freedom after all.

  “There was no need,” muttered Sam angrily. “I can handle this.”

  “Yeah, you were doing a real great job so far,” Dwight said quietly.

  “What’s your business here, Examiner?” said the salt-and-pepper haired man to Serenus, making a show of brushing some imaginary lint off of his immaculate black suit.

  Serenus grinned. “You know very well. Officers of the court, lying about the law. Tsk, tsk. How downright shameful.”

  Salt-and-Pepper looked at Serenus as if he were a gnat. “We didn’t lie.”

  “No, but like all good liars, you didn’t tell the whole truth,” said Serenus, still beaming; it occurred to Cassie that the man must live for moments like this. “The law, most recently amended in 2007, states that a familiar with potential for advancement must be taken to headquarters and evaluated— unless her master can successfully defend his custody of her at the next meeting of the high court,” said Serenus, as if quoting by rote. “What will happen at court remains to be seen, but Cassie remains here until at least the next court date— and when is that, again?”

  “Two weeks from now,” said the sandy-haired man with a sour expression.

  “Two weeks from now!” said Serenus, clapping his hands together in glee. “Where I imagine Sam has an excellent chance of maintaining custody of her, since whoever sent you two bozos wouldn’t have bothered if that weren’t the case.”

  Cassie took a deep breath: two weeks. She was safe for two weeks. It didn’t sound like a lot, but considering she had just been wondering if she’d ever see her family again, she’d take it.

  “Watch your mouth, Examiner,” said the sandy-haired one. “Just because you’ve been appointed by the court doesn’t make you untouchable.”

  “Right back at you, kiddo,” said Serenus, gamely closing the gap between them. He gestured to the demons with his cane. “Really, you should be thanking me. Do you know what Sam was about to do if you actually tried to take her away with you? No amount of legal protection helps when you’re dead.”

  For the first time, Cassie thought she saw a glimmer of fear on both demons faces. “He wouldn’t have done anything,” sneered Salt-and-Pepper. “It doesn’t matter whose son he is, attacking us would be signing his own death warrant.”

  “Perhaps,” said Serenus, turning his back to them and pacing away nonchalantly. “But do you know for sure he wouldn’t do it anyway, just out of spite? I don’t know if he’s suicidal, but he’s not the happiest camper in the lake, this one. Maybe you should have brushed up on the particulars of your target before you tried to take his familiar away from him.”

  Salt-and-Pepper grimaced at the echo of his own words, and looked at Sam. “You would have tried to kill us?” he asked.

  “Of course not; it’s against the law,” said Sam evenly, and it didn’t take a mind reader to sense the murderous intent in his eyes. Cassie stared; she had thought his resigned look had meant he’d given up on her. Now, it seemed like he’d been planning something else entirely.

  The lead demon cleared his throat. “It doesn’t matter; we’ll see you all in court in two weeks. Sammael, if you want to keep your servant, be sure to show up this time.”

  “Will do,” said Sam icily.

  “Good day, gentleman,” said Serenus cheerfully, like they’d all just met for a spot of tea. The two demons shot him more glares for good measure as they exited the room.

  As soon as they were gone, Sam jumped up from his seat. “I was handling it,” he said to Serenus.

  “Yes, but your method of handling it would have led to more dead bodies. I thought it was prudent to try a different approach.”

  “They would have deserved it,” Sam said, glaring at Serenus. Cassie realized, for the first time, how angry he was; she’d been too caught up in her own situation to realize it, but he really had wanted to kill them.

  Serenus fixed Sam with a withering look, like he was a spoiled child who needed reprimanding. “And what, pray tell, would you have done next time when they sent not two, but 20? You start killing your own kind, they’ll send a squad to put you down like a rabid dog, Sam!”

  Cassie was surprised at the barely contained fury present in the older man’s voice; apparently, he was seriously concerned that Sam was going to get himself killed. She swallowed; if Serenus hadn’t shown up, Sam could have gotten rid of the demons, just like he’d gotten rid of the poor souls who’d tried to kidnap her over the weekend— and that would have been the end for both of them.

  Sam grimaced, like he knew what Serenus said was true and couldn’t stand it. “Maybe they would be doing me a favor,” he murmured.

  Cassie stared; Sam wasn’t normally “the happiest camper in the lake” by any stretch of the imagination, but this was a new side of him. She got to her feet gingerly, hoping she wouldn’t agitate him further.

  “Sam, it’s over, okay?” she said, everyone turning to look at her as she spoke for the first time in a while. “No one needs to die.”

  “And what do you know!” he said, turning to tower over her with a suddenness that made her gasp. “If you’d just listened to me and let me handle it— if you could somehow have avoided hitting me for another five minutes— they might not have realized what you were and none of this would have happened! Now we all have to go to court because of you!”

  Cassie drew back, shaking. She was confused; she didn’t know how to defend herself, because she didn’t really know what she’d done. He was that upset that she’d slapped him? She’d thought he’d be pissed that she had embarrassed him in front of his peers, but it sounded like there was more to it than that.

  “It’s not her fault, Sam,” said Serenus. “This is all on your head.”

  Sam turned his rage on Serenus. “They were trying to take her illegally! How is that my fault?”

  “Because it’s your responsibility to know our law, and just like human law, possession is nine-tenths of it. They called you on your ignorance, and, if not for me, by the time you figured out you had the right to file a complaint, Cassie would be a thousand miles away.”

  At that moment, the door opened and Khalil popped his head in. “Look, I hate to interrupt demon business with silly nonsense like our jobs,” he said, shooting Sam a dark look, “but I see those suits are gone now. Can I get a little help out here? The natives are getting restless.”

  Sam exhaled, as though letting all the tension of the last few minutes out of his body. “I’ll go,” he said, turning away from her. Dwight stepped forward and put a tentative hand on Sam’s shoulder.

  “Are you sure? Because…” he said, trailing off. Apparently, he wasn’t quite sure how to tell Sam that he didn’t necessarily want a demon still in the grips of murderous rage serving his customers.

  Sam moved toward the door, with something approaching his normal state of calm. “I’ll be fine; I’ll stay behind the bar and I won’t even look at anyone,” he muttered, letting the door slam behind him. Dwight shared a concerned look with Cassie, like he didn’t trust Sam not to kill and eat anybody, and followed close behind him.

  When they were gone, Cassie looked to Serenus immediately. “What does he mean, it’s my fault because I slapped him? He called me his property!”

  Serenus sat down, looking tired now that the action was over. “Cassie, a person bonded to a demon usually feels rather…subservient. It should be hard for you to disagree with him. Wh
en you struck him, right after being under compulsion not two minutes previous, you let the demons know exactly how special you were,” he finished quietly. “If they had any remaining doubt they were interested in you, you erased it.”

  Cassie sank into an uncomfortable metal chair. “So despite what you said, it really is my fault that we have to go to court, huh?” she said softly.

  Serenus leaned forward and put his hand on top of hers on the table; even though she wasn’t afraid of Serenus, the sudden contact still made Cassie jump in her seat a little. “Not really. If he’d told you what to do if officers of the court came calling, you would have been fine. This is why I asked you to be patient with him: he wants to help you, but he doesn’t know what you need to know.”

  “But you do,” said Cassie, meeting his eyes. “Why didn’t YOU warn me?”

  Serenus raised an eyebrow. “You’re not my familiar.”

  Cassie looked down, suddenly embarrassed. She was getting so used to Serenus filling in all the gaps for her, when Sam refused or was unable to, that she had forgotten that none of this was technically his problem. She didn’t know what his relationship with Sam was, but the fact that he cared enough to try to help didn’t make him responsible for the complete mess she and Sam had created. She also didn’t know how far he was willing to go to protect either of them, or if she had any reason to expect him to.

  “Thank you for showing up today when you did,” she said, quietly. Serenus smiled.

  “It was my pleasure. Any day I get to show officers of the Western Court for the idiots they are, is a good day in my book.”

  “I…have to go back to school,” she said, remembering suddenly how she’d run out of first period English like a woman possessed…well, technically she probably was possessed. Serenus had called it being “under compulsion,” and the thought of what that felt like made her slightly happy that she’d given Sam such a good hit when she had the chance, consequences be damned. She thought of asking Serenus about how it worked, but decided against it.

  Soon, she would have to know, but for now she just couldn’t think about it. Because dwelling on it at all today was going to lead to her stabbing Sam in the back with a bagel knife.

  Serenus stood up when she did. “I’ll walk you back then; you really shouldn’t be alone.”

  Cassie started to say that wouldn’t be necessary, then realized that it was; she couldn’t take two steps lately without demons trying to whisk her away to whatever hellhole they lived in. She was thoughtful as they made their way outside the shop, waving to the managers at the front as they left. Sam didn’t look up at her, for which she was just as happy.

  “Hey, Ser?” she asked him as they hit the sidewalk outside.

  “Yes, my dear?” said Serenus, taking her arm with his free hand like they were in an old-fashioned movie.

  “Can demons be killed?” she asked, pitching her voice low so others on the street wouldn’t hear.

  Serenus briefly broke his stride, turning to look at her in obvious surprise. “You’ll forgive me if I’m not exactly forthcoming with information on that topic,” he said dryly. “I take it you weren’t fond of the compulsion, eh?”

  “What a shame,” said Cassie in mock-disappointment. “I was beginning to think you knew everything.”