Malediction: An Old World Story Read Online Free Page A

Finally, he straightened up. “I like the haircut,” he said to Scarlett.
    “Oh.” She touched it, a little self-conscious. “Thank you. Will said we can talk in his office where it’s quieter. Do you want a drink first?”
    Jesse ordered a beer, then followed Scarlett as she and Shadow threaded through the tables to the back office. Scarlett closed the door behind him and sat down in Will’s office chair. The bargest settled at her feet.
    “Your knee’s better, I see,” he commented. She looked good.
    “Yeah. Physical therapy was a bitch, but it was worth it. I even started running again last month.” She gestured for him to pull up the visitor chair. Jesse sat. “So what’s up?”
    He took a gulp of the beer, set it down on the desk, and said, “Remember that woman who came to see me at the LAPD last year, after the Remus case?”
    The smile faded off Scarlett’s face. “Uhhhh…no?”
    “Right after we stopped Remus, you came to my office to see me about Lizzy, and one of the victim’s relatives was with me,” he reminded her. “You said something felt weird about her, and she obviously had no idea what you were talking about. I had to pull you out into the hall.”
    Scarlett nodded, her eyes going distant as she considered it. “Yeah, I remember now. She felt Old World. A little like a witch, but not quite right, and not quite anything else, either. And her magic was, like”—she waved a hand in the air, looking for a word—“ suppressed , I guess would be the best way to put it. And dark.” Scarlett shuddered. “I don’t know. She was only in my radius for like, ten seconds.”
    “Well, you might get another chance at her,” he said grimly. He told her about Lex’s phone call and her declaration that she would find the answers on her own. “When we met last year, she didn’t seem like she knew anything about the Old World, but she sure as hell does now. And she sort of suggested she’s a witch.”
    “Well, fuck,” Scarlett said promptly, and he couldn’t help but grin.
    “That’s what I said.”
    “Who was the anonymous tip?”
    “I can’t figure it out. My best guess is Lizzy.”
    Scarlett shook her head emphatically. “Trust me, it’s not possible. Lizzy is … having problems. She’s being watched very carefully.” She took another drink of her soda and thought it over. “If she knows about the Old World, it’s really weird that she went to you.”
    “Because I’m not supernatural?”
    “Well, duh, but also because if she really is a witch she should have gone through the proper channels: had her clan contact Kirsten and clear everything through her. Although I’m still not convinced she is a witch.”
    “Well, what else could she be?” he asked.
    “I don’t know.” Scarlett was frowning, like she was searching her memory for something. Finally she shrugged. “Witch magic is hereditary. Maybe she’s just got like a drop of witchblood, and she’s unaffiliated with a clan. That means she’s just some random with no pull.” She shrugged, like she was waving off a housefly.
    “Yeah.” Jesse drank some more beer. He didn’t really disagree with anything Scarlett was saying, but at the same time, he hated the thought of Lex still not knowing what had happened to her sister. “Couldn’t we just tell her what she wants to know? If she really is a witch, I mean.”
    Scarlett shook her head. “I’ll talk to the others, but I have a feeling they’ll say no.”
    He understood that “the others” meant Will, Dashiell, and Kirsten, the leaders of the respective supernatural groups in Los Angeles. “Why?”
    “They’re really big on ‘need to know basis,’ remember?” She shrugged. “It’s just how they think: the Old World gets pretty territorial, and if they believe this woman poses any kind of threat to how we do things …” She trailed off and let Jesse fill in the blanks. “Besides, it’s just not a great policy to spill secrets to every random