“How do you feel about chain mail bikinis?”

Audra was trying to work on the monthly financials, but concentrating wasn’t easy. She kept thinking about Lara’s bare butt plastered all over the page she was working on, and finally she’d had to give up and start copying it all to another page. Not that she had anything against Lara, who had been just as irate as she was. In fact, they’d had a nice late night Waffle House meal in which they’d spent a long time constructing elaborate revenge plans that neither of them would ever enact but strangely made them both feel better. They’d exchanged cell numbers at the end of the night, and Lara had promised to call the next time she was in town since she traveled a lot for work. Audra was looking forward to it, but that didn’t mean she wanted to keep Lara’s butt papers.

The mention of chain mail bikinis did not help in the concentration department. Her rebellious imagination immediately pictured Chad in a chain mail bikini with Lara, also in a chain mail bikini. The worst part about the whole thing is that Chad was such a pretty man that he could have actually pulled it off.

“What are you talking about?” she asked aloud, trying to shake the image.

Beef Weiblinger gave her a look of intense concern and shut the door behind him. Beef was her best friend, and they’d do anything for each other. That was no exaggeration. After Uncle Grey had died, he’d offered to move to Vegas with her. He’d claimed it was because he was sick of Ohio, and she’d believed him, but still. He’d moved across the country, and at least part of that had been to support her. He was a keeper.

Most people nicknamed “Beef” fell into one of two categories. Either they were giant and literally beefy linebacker types who could put away mountains of food in one sitting and crush beer cans on their foreheads, or they were scrawny guys who struggled to open jars of pickles and the nickname was meant to be ironic. But Beef wasn’t either of those things. He was just a normal guy. His little brother hadn’t been able to pronounce “Bartholomew,” and somehow it had gotten shortened to “Beef,” and the name just stuck.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “You seem upset.”

She sighed. As much as she wanted to delay telling the story, she’d have to do it sometime. It seemed best to get it over with, especially since she was sure the rumor mill was already churning. She should have known not to give Chad a job, but of course she’d been all egotistical about it, thinking it wouldn’t be a problem because she was so in looooooove. It had made so much sense then. Now it just made her want to punch herself in the face.

“Chad had a girl here last night. On my desk. I caught them on the new security cameras and had to haul my butt over here and dump him. He’s fired, by the way. I already took his key, and I’ll scrub him from the schedule later on today.”

“Daaaamn,” he said, drawing out the word into a long sound of shock. “Okay. Not entirely surprised, I’ve got to say. It’s a stupid question, but how are you?”

She pushed away from the desk and leaned back thoughtfully. “I’m mad, to be honest. He’s not the person I thought he was. Except that I’m not really all that surprised either, deep down. The more I think about it, the more I realize that he was kind of a jerk, and I just couldn’t see it. Is that weird?”

“Yes,” Beef said gravely. “But I think all relationships are weird. I don’t know why people go through all of that. Emotions and sharing body fluids and people peeing on the toilet seat and not wiping it up afterwards. Yuck.”

“I’m beginning to agree with you. I’ve been buying wedding magazines since I was about eight, but I think I’m done with romance. I’m thinking I’ll get another cat.”

“I wouldn’t. There’s still too much urine involved. How about we plan a vacation instead? Somewhere tropical, where servers will bring us drinks with little umbrellas on them while we sit on our chaise lounges and read trashy magazines.”

“Sold. I knew I employed you for a good reason,” said Audra.

“Because I speak sense to you when it comes to urine and vacations? I mean, not urine with vacations. Those are two separate topics, in case that wasn’t clear.”

“It was, but I appreciate it anyway.”

As much as Audra was joking, she really meant it. Beef’s ridiculous commentary had finally managed to drive the how-could-I-have-been-so-stupid loop out of her head. And maybe he was right. She’d fallen hard for her two previous boyfriends. Phillipe had gone on a bike tour of Europe and come back with a new tattoo and a raging case of chlamydia. Bryan had asked her to marry him and then celebrated her acceptance with a threesome…which hadn’t included her. After that, she’d told herself just to date somebody. Nothing too serious. A fun relationship without too many strings attached (although monogamy had still been a requirement after the chlamydia scare). Chad had seemed just perfect. Amusing, handsome, sexy as hell. She’d fallen hard despite herself. Now she was ready to join Beef in the land of not-dating-and-quite-happy-about-it-thank-you.

Besides, what did she need a boyfriend for? If she needed a date for a wedding or something like that, Beef would go with her, and he was fun and charming and she didn’t need to worry about him ditching her in the middle of the event in question to go have sex with some stranger. He’d dated a bit in high school and quickly realized he preferred being single. The guy had a point. She didn’t understand exactly why she’d felt the need to date when it had always turned out so badly.

“I really think we should do this,” she said. “And thanks for cheering me up. I’ve been sitting here all morning, grumbling to myself while I pictured them having sex on my desk. Because that’s what they did. I have a really nice visual aid on the security feed if you’d like to see it.”

Beef had been leaning down with one hand tented on the desk to get a better look at her face. With careful deliberation, he pulled back, wiping his hand on his pant leg.

“I’m very happy to help. What do you think? Dinner tonight and vacation planning? We could order Chinese and spend the evening rating resort pools on a scale of one to holy shit I want to move in.”

Audra winced. Even after years of friendship, Beef didn’t know that she was an elementalist. Back in Ohio, it had seemed like a moot point. She’d spent a lot of vacations with Uncle Grey, learning how to control and develop her powers, but she rarely used them at home. And when she did, she could always make an excuse. She’d manipulate the elements—maybe putting out a fire gone out of control—and throw a little dirt on it for verisimilitude. Or she’d blame it on the wind. Beef had always bought her stories, or so it had seemed.

But then, after Uncle Grey died, everything changed. Now, her magic was a part of her job, and she couldn’t talk about it with her best friend. She’d always been so good with excuses, but now she was running out, and she could tell he was becoming suspicious. She was going to have to handle this question carefully. She couldn’t have him here during the drop off, so she needed a good excuse. Luckily, she came up with one quickly.

“I’ve got the security guys coming to repair one of the cameras after hours,” she said, pointing toward the corner. “There’s a dark spot in the feed that I don’t like.”

He didn’t seem to think anything of that. “No problem. China Dragon will deliver to the shop. I’ll keep you company.”

“It’s silly for both of us to be stuck here. And honestly, I’m not very hungry. I’m too busy pining away for Chad.” She put the back of her hand to her forehead, and while he laughed, it seemed forced. “What if I came over once they’re done? You could do a little preparatory research if you want, and we’ll look through whatever you’ve found. I’ll bring frozen custard.”

“Now you’re just trying to bribe me.”

She nodded. “Shamelessly. Is it working?”

“I suppose,” he said airily. But he still didn’t look thrilled.

“I’ll see you around 11,” she said. “Thanks for understanding.”

He nodded, but he didn’t say anything. Audra didn’t like that, and she didn’t like hiding things from him. But Uncle Grey had made her promise not to tell anyone about the artifact storage at the shop, and she’d kept her word. Her mother knew enough to send her to her uncle when things got strange around the house, but they didn’t talk about it at home either.

Then again, Uncle Grey wasn’t around anymore. And Chad had found out about her magic by listening in on one of her phone calls, and the world hadn’t ended. If someone as untrustworthy as Chad knew her secret, what harm would it be for her to tell Beef? None, she decided. She would tell him tonight and demonstrate a little so he didn’t think she was having a psychotic break, and then they could plan their vacation and he’d understand when she was a little squirrely about her schedule.

Everything would be fine.

 

Darius Carson dragged his artifact into the building on a dolly, stopping it in front of the counter with a grunt of effort. Audra couldn’t decide what impressed her more, the fact that he could move what looked like a giant block of granite without assistance or the fact that he didn’t seem to expect her to be impressed by it. Chad had always looked for the reaction every time he did something remotely difficult.

Audra told herself sternly that she really needed to quit thinking about Chad.

Instead, she would think about Darius, in a completely detached, I’ve-sworn-off-dating kind of way. He seemed like a competent sort of person based on her limited experience. When he’d called to make his appointment, he’d easily answered all of her questions about the artifact rather than hemming and hawing like maybe she could figure it out herself if he just stalled long enough.

“You say you dug this up in the desert?” she asked, leaning on her elbows to get a better look at the block of stone over the counter.

He nodded. “Yeah. My coworker wrote up some notes on the discovery, and we’ve got a map printed out for you too so you can find the site yourself if you want. Your uncle used to ask for all of that, but I forgot to ask if you wanted the same information. Damn. Now I feel stupid.”

He ran a hand over his bald head. Audra reflected that it was a good thing she’d sworn off men, because Darius was giving off a serious Dwayne Johnson vibe. He was built like the Rock, and he had the same tanned bald head, and the same solid good looks. But the Rock smiled all the time, and she still wasn’t sure if Darius had teeth. There. That was a good reason not to be interested in him. He was probably all gums and saliva. Like Beef had said, dating just came with too many bodily fluids.

“No, that’s good,” she said. “At least for now, I’m continuing to do things like Uncle Grey did. Eventually, I’ll find my own way of running it, but I think it would be stupid to rush into changes just to make my mark on the business.”

He nodded and smiled a little. Damn. He did have teeth, and they were pretty good.

“Makes sense to me.”

Yeah, Darius was hot. She was saved from making a fool out of herself by the appearance of the so-called co-worker, who was a stacked redhead with wild curls and a self-assured walk. She sauntered in with a manila envelope in her hand, came right up to Audra, and thrust out her hand.

“You must be the new elementalist,” said the redhead. “I’m Rebecca. Nice to meetcha.”

“Audra.”

They shook.

“Here’s all the info on the find. Did Darius tell you that we already talked to Carl Hammond? I’m assuming you know him since medicine men get around. He stopped by the site while we were hauling it out of the ground and said it’s definitely not a Native construct.”

“I was just getting to that,” murmured Darius.

“Sure you were,” Rebecca shot back.

The back and forth banter reminded Audra of her and Beef, and she grinned, relaxing in a way that she usually didn’t when it came to her supernatural clients. They were usually so stuffy and emo. They made her want to roll her eyes most of the time, but so far, she liked these two. Based on what Darius had told her over the phone, he was a shifter, and she was shifterkin. She took a moment to muse on what he might turn into, but it seemed like a rude thing to ask out of the blue. Whatever it was, it was probably bald and sexy.

But she’d sworn off dating.

She distracted herself from the dangerous thoughts that had begun to rise in her mind and looked over the paperwork Rebecca had handed her.

“This looks all in order. The seal is intact after transport, yes?” she asked.

“I didn’t see any cracks in the rock when I took it out of the truck,” said Darius, “although I didn’t take a particularly close look at the bottom. Do you need me to?”

“No, I’m actually wondering if you wouldn’t mind breaking it open, though. I could do it myself, but I’d like to keep my attention on containing whatever is inside. The help would be welcome.”

His teeth flashed again. “I admit I’m pretty curious to see what’s inside. Sure, I’ll help. Tell me what to do.”

“Well, Rebecca, would you mind taking some pictures? I’ve got the camera all ready. I’d like to document the process, just in case someone in the future runs into a similar construction.”

“Sure thing. Where do you want me?” said Rebecca readily.

“How about we put you in the corner over there? There’s a step-stool, if you need the height to get a good angle for pictures. And then…” Audra looked thoughtfully at the dolly as she came around the counter. “Let me see if there’s a flaw in this marble…”

Slowly and tentatively, she put her hand to the smooth surface of the cube. It practically seethed with magical power beneath her hands, making her fingertips tingle. But she pushed that aside, feeling instead for the rock beneath her fingers, letting it talk to her. It felt almost tired—no wonder, considering the constant magical onslaught it must have endured for lord knew how long. It would give way for her gratefully, and now that she’d made a connection with it, she knew exactly where to strike.

“Here,” she said, pointing to a seam that looked exactly like all the others. “I’ll get you a hammer. Hit it here, and the whole thing will crack open. But first, I’d like you to turn the cube. I want the opening to face away from the door.”

Darius arched a brow but did as requested, laboriously turning the dolly. “Why is that?”

“If something comes out, it can’t escape this room,” she said simply. “I don’t want to give it a clear shot at the door. Not likely, but I’d rather be prepared. And if something does come out, don’t touch it. I’ll contain it.”

Darius opened his mouth as if to ask something else, but she shook her head, handing him the hammer. Time was wasting, and as nice as Darius and Rebecca seemed, Audra didn’t really feel like giving a lesson on elemental magic right now. She just wanted to get this over with so she could put the artifact into storage and pick up her frozen custard.

She stood between the cube and the door, preparing herself. The magic rose up within her. Gently, she placed her hands together and then slowly opened them to reveal a crackling, shimmering ball of energy between her fingers.

“Now,” she said.

Darius needed no further urging. He swung the hammer with considerable strength, striking at precisely the spot she’d indicated. The marble cube made a sound like an enormous gong with a crack running through it. It hummed uncomfortably, making her teeth ache. But there was no time to dwell on that. He struck again, sending spider cracks through the stone, running along the flaw she’d found. Just as she’d anticipated, it was enough to break open the hollow structure. As the two split pieces of the cube began to fall away, she felt a wave of dark energy ooze from whatever had been contained inside. She pushed her hands forward, enveloping the darkness in the crackling energy of her protective shell. For a moment, the dark thing inside pushed against the shell with a strength that surprised her. But she was a master of void magic, one of the best Uncle Grey had ever seen, and she adjusted to the assault quickly. It wouldn’t get through, now that she’d learned how it moved.

“What is it?” asked Darius, his voice full of quiet awe.

Audra stepped a little closer to glimpse the shape behind the shimmering force field. It felt like something she’d seen only once before, but she wanted to be sure.

An ornate oil lamp floated in the shimmering ball of light.

“Crap,” she murmured. “It’s a djinn.”