Black Magic Sanction

Two demons looked up, the laughter of their joke still showing on their faces. Dressed in leisure suits I wouldn't be caught dead in, they looked me up and down, assessing how high I was in the familiar hierarchy. I felt naked without Al, and I gave them a bu

The better dressed of the two eyed me. "Who the hell do you belong to?"

Ambivalent, I let the door shut behind me. There was a room mirroring this one in reality. I could sense it, like an unheard echo. "I'm Al's student. Nice to meetcha."

The second demon smacked the first on the shoulder. "See, I told you she was alive."

Alive? I thought, wondering what the gossip had been. "Toodles," I said, blowing him a sarcastic kiss and stepping from the line and back into reality.

The noise cut off with a sudde

Heart pounding, I backed up into the wall I'd just walked through. Not taking my eyes off the moving shadow, I fumbled, finding the light switch. Light flickered into existence, and I sighed. It had been me. The movement had only been me, my shadow reflecting off the ornate mirror propped against the wall.

Slowly my pulse eased. Before me, large racks held old clocks, locked metal boxes with faded index cards, and slatted crates. One side of the room held a huge chest freezer. Actually the entire room looked a lot like Nick's basement in a much higher tax bracket. If I was lucky, there wasn't a camera. I thought of the demons at their table, able to see me with their own second sight but unable to cross over, and I shivered. The Coffee Vault, indeed. At least I'd never be trapped in the ever-after again.

Spi

There was the hum of machinery, and I backed up. The two panels slid apart like the doors in a science-fiction movie to show Ivy, Nick, and Jenks, hovering with brow furrowed. "Rache?" Jenks questioned.

"We'll talk about it later," I said, and Ivy bumped Nick when he bent to pick up his stuff. Scowling, he caught himself and followed her in, immediately plugging his card into the panel.

"Cameras?" Ivy asked, sca

"We're good," he said, his gaze fixing on the picture Ivy had turned to. "That's it," he said, eyes eager as Ivy paused at a really small painting. It was hardly a foot by a foot, showing a dark background of snowy mountains and a castle, the foreground taken up by a satisfied-looking young man in a red robe and fu

"That's it?" Jenks said, landing on my shoulder as we eyed it. "It's not very big."

"Kinda ugly, too," I said, getting a fu

Nick was spreading a black silk cloth on the coffin-size freezer. "It's not the size, Jenks, it's how you use it," he said, smirking. "It doesn't need to be big if it looks like Trent."

Well, it did look like Trent. Jenks wasn't laughing, his hands on his hips as he moved out of the way while Ivy took the picture to Nick. "It stinks. Almost as bad as you, Rache," he accused.

"I smell?" I said, flushing.

Holding the canvas at the unpainted corners, Ivy frowned at him. "You were in the ever-after," she said, one shoulder lifting in a shrug, and I took a step back from them, feeling unclean. Great, I hadn't even noticed.

Oblivious, Nick carefully took the picture from Ivy, making a production out of rolling it up in the black cloth to put into the mailing tube he'd been carrying across his back like a sword. I couldn't help but sourly wonder if it was stamped and addressed to his latest girlfriend.

While the two of them discussed who was going to carry it, I unzipped my belt pack and brought out the hoof pick. I'd leave it here where Trent would be sure to find it. If he didn't make the co

Jenks joined me, and together we looked at the beautiful inlaid wood one last time before I set it on an open display case, bright with mirrors and lights. "I should have done this a long time ago," I said softly, wondering if I'd ever get my entire memory back. But who really remembered anything about being twelve?

"Oh my God," Jenks said, eying the statue next to it. It wasn't any bigger than he was, but I felt myself warm as I looked more closely. It was two men and a woman, buck naked, doing the nasty. At the same time. One in front, one in back. She looked like she was enjoying herself, though, ample breasts heaving and back arched, which kind of made it hard for the guy in back, but by his expression, he didn't care. They had pointy ears, the woman sporting a cute pageboy haircut and the men having hair past their shoulders, wild and feral.

"What is it?" I said, wanting to pick it up but feeling it might leave me sullied.

"Tink's dildo, you're asking me?" he said with a snort, but he didn't elaborate. Not even one rude gesture or comment. The unusual restraint was clear evidence of his depressed state.

"Ivy?" I called. This was too good not to share, timetable or not. "You gotta see this."

She came closer, Nick trailing behind as he capped the top of the tube the picture was now stashed in. "Whoa," she said, nose wrinkling. "Elf porn?"

"It's my ticket out of this life," Nick said, and Ivy grabbed his wrist when he reached for it.

"Hey!" I said as he twisted out of her grip, frowning at her. "We're not here to steal a statue. Didn't you learn anything from last time, Nick?"

Expression angry, he picked it up, the small statue fitting neatly in his palm. "I'm not walking out of here without something to show for it. And don't tell me you didn't expect me to help myself. That's the only reason I agreed to this, and you know it." His blue eyes were mocking, daring me to say anything. Just once, I wished I could be wrong.

Pissed, I barked, "Put it back!"

Jenks rose from the shelf, and Jax chimed out, "Uh, Nick? An alarm just went off."