Dirty Magic (10 page)

I ground my comeback between clenched teeth. Saying it wouldn’t get me anything but more headaches, and I already felt a tiny ice pick
tap
,
tap
,
tap
ping away behind my left eye. “Understood. I’ll try not to hurt their feelings anymore.”

Her eyes narrowed, but the corner of her mouth twitched. “All right. We need to discuss some details of your assignment.”

I sat up straighter, glad to put the awkward meeting with the team behind me—for now.

“This is a trial run, not a permanent gig. You want that, you’ll have to prove you’ve got the chops to work at the MEA level. You can’t keep up—you’re out. You can’t follow orders—you’re out. Got it?”

I nodded.

“That said,” she continued, “this case is only the first in what I hope will be a long-term mission to rid Babylon of the dirty magic trade altogether.”

“Question,” I said. “Why did you agree to give me a try?”

“Honestly? There were a couple of other qualified Adepts on my list, but not one of them is related to Abraxas Prospero. None of them used to cook potions before they were old enough to read. And none of them have that hunger in their eyes.”

I tilted my head. “Hunger?”

“Desperation to prove yourself.”

My jaw dropped. “Screw you, lady.”

“You’ve got some balls, huh?” She smiled like I amused her. “That’s good because this job will test you on every level.” She crossed her arms and leaned back. “Judging from the high scores on your tests combined with the lack of promotions, I think it’s safe to assume you’ve had some issues at BPD because of your background.”

I nodded stiffly. “So?”

“So I want you to know that the BPD might not see the advantages of having an Adept on their squad, but I do. That’s why I convinced the MEA to set up this task force. To leverage the magical knowledge of Adept law enforcement officers to fight the dirty magic problem.”

I glanced at the door. “You mean, everyone’s—”

She shook her head. “Just Mez. And me,” she added almost as an afterthought, “but you already knew that. Shadi’s Mundane and Morales is a … special case.” I already knew who Morales was. I wanted to ask what was special about him besides his being an asshole, but I resisted. I assumed that Shadi was the chick, since she basically screamed Mundane. That meant I’d been right about the guy with the dreadlocks—Mez?—being a wizard.

“Does this mean you’re planning on recruiting more Adepts?”

She grimaced. “The MEA and BPD want to see what we can do with what we have for now.”

Translation: No more resources until we get some collars on the books.

“I’m surprised the MEA agreed to this at all. Most federal agencies refuse to even hire Adepts, except as lab geeks.”

“Well, it wasn’t easy.” Her dry tone implied she wasn’t just referring to how hard it was to get an Adept cop on her team. The fact she’d been able to work her way up to special agent in charge of an MEA task force spoke volumes about her own skills and tenacity. “Have you heard of Sun Tzu?” At my frown, she continued. “The Chinese military strategist. He wrote a book called
The Art of War
?”

My night-school degree hadn’t covered Chinese military strategy. I grimaced and shrugged.

She waved a hand. “Anyway, he said many smart things. One of which was, ‘If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.’”

I squinted at her. She watched me expectantly, so I smiled and nodded. “Right on.”

“The point is that Adepts understand how magic works better than any Mundane ever could. And you, Kate, you understand our enemies more than anyone else in this city.”

“I’m thrilled you are willing to give me a shot to prove that’s the case.”

“I hope you do. This task force is a sort of pilot program. If we have success, Eldritch agreed to give us more bodies for the team. Plus there’s a possibility the agency will create Adept teams for other hot spots—New York, Boston, LA. We may finally have a real chance to cripple the covens across the country.”

My pulse kicked up and pressure pushed down on my lungs. Suddenly this wasn’t just about my career ambitions or making enough overtime to buy Danny new sneakers. Gardner was talking flipping the script on the entire war on magic.

She slapped her palms on the desk, as if to dispel the heaviness that had settled over the room. “Now, since you’re on the team, you need to know that I only have two rules. First, no excuses. I’m not your mama so I don’t want to hear why you’re running late or that someone else is to blame for your fuckup.” She pointed to the sign on the desk to emphasize her point. “I discourage bullshit after five, too, just so we’re clear.”

“Understood.” I raised my chin.

“Second, we do things by the book here.”

I opened my mouth to tell her that wouldn’t be a problem, but she held up a hand.

“I’ve read your file, Kate. The fact you made it through the academy and came recommended by Eldritch goes a long way to make me ignore your past associations. But please understand: We solve crimes using police work. Mez is the official team wiz. You need a defense potion or evidence analyzed—you go through him. No magical shortcuts to get evidence and no cooking potions—dirty, clean, or in-between—period.” She looked up from the papers she’d been arranging into a neat stack. “No reading potions, either, Prospero.”

I cringed. She really had done her homework on me. Back in the day, I’d had a talent for reading a potion’s energy to figure out the ingredients and sometimes even the identity of its maker. But I could tell from the look in her eye it wasn’t any use trying to explain that I didn’t touch any magic at all anymore. She wouldn’t have believed me anyway.

“Do things by the book,” she continued, “or you’ll find the book thrown with great force at your ass. Am I clear?”

Transparent was more like it. I’d hoped for a fresh start on the task force, but it appeared that the specter of my past haunted this gym just as it had the precinct. Gardner might be an Adept, but she clearly wasn’t letting that shared trait soften her attitude. I didn’t point out to her that my jaded past was part of the reason she’d hired me in the first place.

I raised my chin because I’d danced this dance before. I knew all the right moves. “That won’t be a problem.”

A slow smile spread across her lipstick-free lips. “Good.” With that, she got out of her chair and flung open the office door. “Morales!”

A few seconds later the dick from earlier appeared in the doorway. He slid me a smirk before raising his brows at his boss. “What’s up?”

“Round up the team. We’ve got crimes to solve.”

* * *

Morales wasted no time getting down to business. Without sparing me a glance, he walked back out the door. “Round up!” he called to the others.

Gardner passed me to follow him out. “Well? Come on.”

I blew out a sigh and followed. The sooner we got the formalities out of the way, the sooner we could get moving on the case.

We all gathered by the entrance of the makeshift lab I’d spied earlier. Well, “lab” was a generous term for what was basically a long table and a counter with cabinets overhead. The shelves were filled with various herbs and liquids—all neatly labeled. Bunsen burners flickered under glass beakers with simmering liquids of varying colors and viscosities on the counter. It had been a long time since I’d entered another wizard’s lab. Despite the bare-bones setup, I still experienced a little quickening in my veins. My eyes eagerly inspected the liquids, identifying most from scent or color. The rest I couldn’t name without further inspection, but I wasn’t about to do that until I was invited to do so. First rule of visiting another Adept’s lab: Don’t touch without permission. Usually this was as much a safety precaution as just good manners, and for me it was also self-preservation. Just being this close to the apparatus was making my palms itch.

I glanced toward the window and saw that the wizard’s view was a large billboard rising high above the freeway a couple blocks over. It advertised a new self-tanning elixir from Sortilege, Inc., that no one in the Cauldron could afford. Clearly the picture of a young blond woman playing on the beach was meant for the Mundane commuters who zoomed through the Cauldron on their commute to the suburbs.

Now that the team was gathered again, the jokey, hazing atmosphere had been forgotten entirely.

Gardner jerked her thumb toward me. “You’ve met Officer Prospero.”

I bit my tongue since I wouldn’t exactly describe the scene earlier as an introduction.

“The Cauldron’s her beat,” she continued. “I’ve invited her on the team because of her extensive knowledge of the covens and their key players. Officially she’s a consultant, but as far as we are all concerned she’s as much a full member of this squad as any of us. Is that clear?”

I blinked at her public support after the warnings she’d just delivered in her office.

The guy with the dreads shot me an impish smile. Gardner pointed to Morales. “I believe you caught Special Agent Morales’s name when you arrived.”

I nodded. “Hey.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s up?”

“Morales is second in charge around here. If I’m not available you take your cues from him.”

“Okay,” I said. Inside, however, I was thinking, Oh shit. The shit-eating grin he shot me confirmed my concern that he wasn’t done with the hazing.

“That’s Shadi Pruitt,” Gardner continued. “She was recruited into the MEA from Detroit PD. She’s our surveillance expert.”

The female jerked her chin up in greeting.

“Agent Pruitt,” I said.

“Shadi,” she corrected. Her tone wasn’t combative, exactly, but she was definitely sending off a vibe that our shared gender didn’t make us automatic allies.

“And this,” Gardner continued, “is Kichiri Ren.”

The other guy came forward and held out his left hand. “They call me Mesmer.”

“Mesmer?”

“Mez, for short.” He nodded back knowingly. “I’m the team wiz. You need a protection amulet or magical weapon, I’m your man.”

“He’s a magical bad ass.” Shadi winked at him. “Right, Mez?”

He shrugged, but his smirk was self-assured. “I try.”

Gardner decided the social hour was over. “Any hits on the blood sample yet?” she asked Mesmer.

“Yeah, about that,” Mez hemmed. “There’s some bad news and some bad news.”

“Start with the bad.” Gardner leaned a hip against the counter.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in a dirty alchemy potion before. It’s got some elements I haven’t identified yet.”

“Because you can’t?” Gardner asked.

“Don’t insult me.” Mez rolled his eyes. “I will be able to identify every component—it just takes some time. It’d be easier if we could get a sample of the potion off the street to break down.”

“What’s different about it?” I asked.

He looked up as if he’d forgotten I was there. “In addition to the antimony, there’s also oil of rose quartz.”

My eyebrows slammed down. “You’re sure?” Oil of rose quartz was a distillation often used by alchemists to improve physical stamina. It was even thought to make men more virile, which is why the Big Magic companies used it in erectile-dysfunction potions.

“Why?” Shadi asked.

I glanced at her. “Most street wizards use down-and-dirty ingredients to cook. Their potions have more in common with moonshine or a meth lab than a true alchemical potion,” I explained. “They prefer quick and cheap so they can turn a faster profit.”

“It’s kind of like alchemy’s redneck cousin,” Mez added. “But oil of rose quartz of this quality is not cheap to come by, and even if a wizard saves money by brewing it himself it’s pretty time consuming.” He turned and looked at me, clearly enjoying talking to someone who spoke his language. “But that’s not all—there’s also blood.”

Shadi raised her hand. “And that’s bad why?”

“Most wizards from the alchemical tradition won’t touch blood potions,” I said. “They think it’s the dirtiest kind of magic.”

“But alchemy’s dirty, too,” Morales said, coming closer.

“It’s one of those weird hierarchy things,” I said. “The street alchemists see themselves at the top of the food chain, magically. Sex and blood magic are bastardized from other magical traditions, so alchemists consider those potions beneath them.”

My fingers itched to get a hold of a sample of Gray Wolf. Unfortunately, even if we had a sample and I somehow overcame my aversion to using magic, the fact remained that the courts had deemed evidence gathered through magical means inadmissible. Still, part of me wished that shortcut was available to us because I had a feeling getting the evidence through conventional means was going to be a pain in the ass.

“Keep working on it,” Gardner said to Mez. “Let us know what you find out. Soon.”

The wizard nodded.

“Shadi?” Gardner prompted. “Any leads on your end?”

“I hit all the apartments that looked down on that alley where Harkins killed the vic. People ain’t talkin’ as usual.”

“Keep trying. I want to know if Harkins knew the vic or if he just attacked at random. You find out anything about who she was?”

“Her name was Jessica Sprote. She was on her way to work.” She glanced down at her notebook. “She’s a cleaning lady at Volos Towers.”

My head jerked up. “Really?”

“What?” Gardner said.

Part of me wanted to keep the whispers I’d heard about Volos’s involvement close to my vest. But in the end, I accepted that if I was going to prove myself good enough to stay on this team, I’d have to start sharing intel. “Not sure it’s solid. Lots of people work in Volos Tower.” I shifted on my feet and crossed my arms. “But John Volos’s name has been cropping up ever since I killed Harkins. He’s got the mayor and the chief convinced he’s gone straight, but no one at the street level believes it.”

“Wait,” Morales said, “isn’t Volos the hotshot land developer?”

I nodded. “Yeah. He grew up in the Cauldron, though. He was Abe Prospero’s right hand.” I didn’t add that he’d gained that position once I’d walked away. “He’d certainly be capable of cooking a potion like this.”

I waited for someone to question me about sharing a last name with the former leader of the covens, but no one did. That meant they’d probably already been briefed on my background, which, frankly, was a relief.