The Problem With Black Magic (14 page)

However, as she studied the room, Cassie was beginning to get the sinking feeling that an introduction wouldn’t be necessary. Some people must have recognized her, because all over the ballroom, heads were turning in her direction. One woman even pointed to her, which dispelled any doubt that it could be her imagination that made it seem like everyone was looking her way.

Of course they knew what she looked like: half the demons in the room had probably sent members of their entourage to spy on her all week.

Feeling her cheeks color, she looked through the bag for something to distract her. In addition to the badges, there were also some event favors, like pens and water bottles monogrammed with the name and date of the “dental” convention. Apparently they took this cover story rather seriously.

Smelling a familiar musk, she looked up to see Sam holding the red drink in front of her. “Thanks,” she said weakly, taking it from him. “Everybody’s looking at me.”

“I can see why; the witch situation must be even worse than I thought,” he said quietly. “There’s maybe two witches worth mentioning in this entire room, and I’m not sure about the second one.”

“You can tell?” Cassie asked.

He paused, giving her a searching look. “Can you?”

Cassie was about to utter a snarky remark when she realized that it was a legitimate question; he wanted to know if she could sense who was in the room. Squinting, she found that while she couldn’t say how she knew, she was pretty sure she could tell who was a demon and who was a familiar or a normal human just by looking at them. Part of it was the fact that the demons tended to carry themselves like they owned the joint, but she was picking up on more than just body language.

“The tall lady in the blue dress over there is a witch, probably,” she said quietly. “And that man standing next to her is a demon. The man they’re talking to is a familiar, but…not his familiar, I don’t think.”

Sam’s expression was inscru
table as she read the room, leaving her unsure if her guesses were right, even though her gut told her that they were. Sam moved as if to say something, but he was cut off before he could.

“Sam! Ha, long
time no see!” said a heavyset man in a brown sport jacket and white slacks. He walked up to Sam and began pumping his hand vigorously, while Sam looked at him with an expression akin to revulsion.

“Remember me, Dan
Bucknell? We met a few years ago when my company hired that construction firm you were slumming at?”

“Oh. Right,” said Sam, noncommittally. “Nice to see you
again,” and Cassie suppressed a shudder at the iciness of his tone.

Dan, looking like he’d had more to drink than just the half-finished beer in his
hand, either didn’t notice Sam’s coldness or ignored it entirely. “And it’s great to see you! Talk of the town now, what with the new girl and all--“ at that he gave Cassie a huge grin that made her nervous--“and, I have to tell you, it’s unbelievable. Do you know they have people out scouting for witches as we speak and what have those hacks turned up? Didley-Squat. But send Sammael out and about for a few months, he’ll come back with the best potential we’ve seen in decades! Only you, my friend.”

“Ah...thanks,” said Sam, averting his eyes. “I can’t take much credit though, she is what she is.”

Dan shrugged. “Modesty doesn’t suit you, friend.” Cassie noticed that Sam seemed to wince every time Dan called him a friend. “Anyway, what are your plans? Assuming all goes well tomorrow, of course?”

Sam looked at him like he was afraid he was about to step into a trap. “What are you referring to?”

“You know. Are you going to make her a witch, immediately, or do you plan to keep her this way for a while? I’ve heard it said it’s better to let them ripen more first-- not that I’ve ever raised one myself, but that’s what I’ve heard.”

Sam looked at Cassie with a pleading expression on his face. “I…uh….”

“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Cassie said, glaring at Dan. Sure, she’d planned to play along with demons and their sexist attitudes, but considering what she had considered saying, he was getting off easy.

Dan chuckled,
then leaned down to look her in the eye. “Of course, she’s new,” he smirked. “Don’t worry sweetie, you’ll have all that newfangled feminism smacked out of you in no time, and you’ll be happier for it. No happier woman than a witch who’s learned to please her master, you’ll see that I’m right.”

Cassie briefly considered tossing her drink in his face, but then remembered
Serenus’ imploring her to make a good impression. Besides, it would be kind of ironic if she made it to court only to run afoul of their anti-violence policy herself.

Fortunately, before she could sputter out something she probably would have regretted afterwards, someone else intervened.

“I know it’s none of my business,” said an English-accented voice, “but I couldn’t help overhearing, and Dan, watch your mouth in front of the young lady. It’s her master’s business if she’s rude to him; to a pathetic quarter-breed like you, she can say whatever she likes.” The voice belonged to a dark-skinned man with a hint of gray at his temples wearing a fitted black suit.

Dan’s face turned red, and he sputtered. “What’s it your business,
Cordley? Just because you finally bothered to get your ass to court for once doesn’t mean you have to stick your fingers in everything.”

The man,
Cordley, smiled and stood next to Cassie, still keeping a comfortable distance between them. “Ah, but I have no desire to get involved in everything; just to make ignoramuses like you stop sounding like pre-stone age clunkers before you give us all a bad name.”

Dan bristled
and looked at Sam. “Are you going to let him talk to me this way?”

Sam shook his drink, not looking at the other demon.
“Seems like I just did.”

With a harrumph, Dan took off, no doubt to tell everyone else who would listen how horrendously he’d been treated
by Sam and his new “potential.”

Cordley
held out his hand to Sam, which Sam took. “Dr. Allan Cordley, I haven’t been to court in five years and fellows like that are why. You’re that Sam fellow everyone has a bee in their bonnet about, correct?”

“Sam Andrews,” said Sam, with something approaching warmth. “And this is Cassie.”

Cordley smiled at her, but instead of making her nervous, for once she felt like he was just being friendly. “Of course, the lady of the hour. I do apologize for Bucknell’s behavior; it’s true we’re a male-dominated society but I assure you, not everyone is quite so big an idiot as to be proud of it.” He extended a hand to her as well, which Cassie gratefully took.

“Cassie Tremblay,” she said with a smile.
Look Ser, I’m mingling! Watch me mingle!

Sam looked at
Cordley quizzically. “You’re British, if I’m not mistaken?”

“I’ve been called worse,” said
Cordley, pausing to take a sip of his amber drink.

“Isn’t Europe part of a separate system? This is my first time at court, so maybe I’m missing something, but I always thought the European court was in London.”

“You’re correct,” said Cordley, “But I’ve been dividing my time between New York and London for nearly a decade now. Technically I’m welcome at either court, although I’d be just as happy to tell them both to buzz off, honestly. I’m only here because some contacts of mine insist that I make an appearance once a decade or so.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” said Sam flatly.

While Sam and Cordley shared stories of the annoyance of demon politics impinging on their lives-- which in Cordley’s case included a wife and a successful obstetrics and gynecology practice, and in Sam’s apparently a string of dead-end jobs-- Cassie’s eyes wandered the room. She did a double-take when she saw a nervous-looking red-headed boy standing next to a tall man in jeans and a windbreaker; she knew she hadn’t seen the boy before, but something about him seemed to command her attention. She had assumed he was the tall man’s son, but something clicked in her mind when she got a good look at the man’s face and realized the two looked nothing alike.

Oh my God
, she thought as she left Sam’s side, briefly pleased that she was so much shorter than him; he didn’t seem to notice her absence as he chatted with Cordley. The man in the windbreaker was also engaged in conversation, so Cassie hoped he wouldn’t notice if someone talked to his familiar for thirty seconds behind his back. She approached the boy and tapped his shoulder. He jumped, turning around quickly to fix her with frightened brown eyes that reminded her of Jay’s.

“Ethan?” she asked tentatively, and when his eyes widened, she knew she was right. “I’m Cassie,” she said softly. “I read your post on the forum. Do your parents know where you are?”

“No,” the boy whispered, and trying to hold back the tears that she could see welling up in his large eyes. “Pascal says I can’t see them anymore.”

Thinking fast, she took one of the monogrammed pens out of her check-in bag and pulled an old fast food receipt out of her jeans’ pocket. Using one of the cocktail tables for suppor
t, she quickly wrote down her email address on the back of the receipt and pressed it into his small hand. “I’m going to try to help you. Email me when you can,” she said, and fixed a chipper smile on her face to camouflage the seriousness of what they had been talking about to any onlookers.

With that, she left him and headed back to Sam and
Cordley, hoping that Ethan would be able to read her handwriting and she’d receive an e-mail from him. Pascal, the boy’s master, had never turned around the whole time she’d been with him. She didn’t know what, if anything, she could do to relieve him of his familiar, but she was going to look into it as soon as she could. Stealing 11-year-old boys from their parents to use as magical fodder wasn’t something she could just sit by and ignore.

When she got back to the corner of the ballroom where she’d left him, Sam was glaring at her. “Don’t run off like that again,” he said.

Cordley grinned impishly. “I beg your pardon Sam, but do you really think someone’s going to try to snatch your familiar at court check-in? Now, that would take some serious chutzpah!”

Sam looked slightly embarrassed. “Maybe not, but she isn’t just any familiar.”

“Can’t argue with that,” responded Cordley, draining his glass quickly. Sam turned back to Cassie.

“Where were you just now? Did you suddenly need a cocktail frank that desperately?”

Cassie colored at the thought that he might be making a crack about her weight, but before she could come up with a response, Serenus joined the three of them.

“Sorry about that, duty calls and all. Dr.
Cordley, long time no see; always a pleasure,” he said, taking the doctor’s offered hand.

Cordley
shook the older man’s hand and nodded his head. “Likewise, Examiner.”

Pleased that
Serenus’ arrival had derailed Sam’s questions, Cassie decided to continue to lead the conversation away from herself. “What does that mean, anyway? I’ve heard several people call you ‘Examiner’ now.”

Serenus
cleared his throat before he answered, and Cassie realized this was one of those subjects that the man simply loved talking about. “I am the court-appointed lead spell examiner for this hemisphere. Wherever a spell is cast, if there’s any sign of foul play, they call me in. It’s my task to discern what spell was cast, by whom, and for what reasons.”

Cordley
, who had grabbed some hors d’oeuvres off a tray while Serenus was talking, smiled at Cassie. “It’s really quite amazing. There are other Examiners, but no one has a nose for magic quite like Dr. Zeitbloom. Can’t you identify a spell up to a year after the original casting?” he said, biting down on a miniature spinach pie.

“Ahem, actually it’s more like five years,” said
Serenus, taking a sip of his drink in an attempt to hide his self-satisfied grin. Sam smirked and rolled his eyes at him, which made Cassie start laughing before she caught herself.

Cordley
swallowed his morsel. “Amazing. Anyway, so glad I got to meet you two, but I should be off. Best of luck tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” said Sam and Cassie in unison as
Cordley began to make his way out of the ballroom. Cassie turned to Ser. “A nice demon; who’d a thunk it?”

“I’m nice,” said Sam quietly over the rim of his drink; Cassie deigned not to even dignify that with a response.

“Yes, Cordley’s always been a class act. Glad you ran into him. However, the night is still young--“

“It is?” asked Cassie. She felt tired.

“The night is still young, and I have several people I’d like for you both to meet. Now, who’s excited?”

Sam and Cassie exchanged pained glances, knowing that for once they were in total agreement about something.

***

No one Serenus pulled aside impressed Cassie as much as Cordley had, but no one was anywhere near as rude as Dan Bucknell had been either. For the most part, the demons Serenus introduced stuck to basic pleasantries and, beyond wishing them both luck tomorrow, didn’t delve into any of the particulars of Sam and Cassie’s situation. Cassie wasn’t sure if they were scared of broaching the subject exactly, but they were definitely wary.