Witch for Hire (3 page)

"
The earth has whispered such things to me. I have also heard that this individual resides at the southern edge of Cherokee County
."
 

I gave him a half bow, the best I could do at the table. Unicorns rarely give out information. This person must have harmed a unicorn for them to help me. "I have heard and I will investigate."
 

Enethre dipped his head in acknowledgment; they weren't the traditional words but the meaning was conveyed.
 

I caught myself yawning and realized I was past due for a nap. I excused myself from the table and headed to my room. I loved being on the ground floor, especially the last room on the hall. I didn't have anyone to my left and the world was to my right. I even had a nice door at the end of the hall that spilled into the most beautifully canopied garden that was perfect for my ceremonies and rituals. No one else spent as much time in that garden as I did, and I loved that it was mine; I even had a small altar.
 

I let myself in to my room, dumping my purse on the counter before heading back to my bedroom. The apartment was small, with a tiny kitchen and dining room to the left of the door, and the living room straight ahead. To the right of the door was a coat closet and just past that was the door to my bedroom. I pried off my shoes and slipped under the covers without undressing.

Elron

These were happy woods. The entire place was happy, from the house to the gardens to the woods, but this one little garden had something extra. It was excited, something odd for plants and trees. They were prone to joy, happiness, sorrow, and tranquility, but not something as active as excitement. Someone had spent a lot of time here and a bit of their personality had seeped in to the place. That someone was excited about life, and probably young. Strange, few youth of any race knew enough to transmit their feelings.
 

The trees whispered about a person, moving and bending with change. The plants gossiped about tenderness shown to them, but the air breathed words of rage and despair into my ear. The plants didn't know gender, but I got the impression of a woman, a young woman. The altar indicated she was a witch, a good witch. What all of them said, was that she wasn't trying to influence them; they just liked her.
 

I settled cross legged on the ground, found the quiet spot inside my mind, and simply existed. Meditation was difficult to learn, but once learned it was soothing to simply be, or focus on a single problem. It was one of the few things that had brought me peace since I lost my wife. I hadn't valued the lessons in meditation until I had reason to escape from my thoughts.
 

At one thousand, five hundred years, I was middle-aged to old. Elves rarely lived past three thousand, not because of old age, but because we became, dissatisfied with the world, or saddened by the loss we had experienced. Health-wise, I was still in my prime, but I had lost my mate two hundred years ago. The years without her had not been happy or fun. My friends had done their best to help me, mostly ensuring I lived, but I wasn't sure if I was thankful to my friends for keeping me in this world.
 

Those were choices made long ago and not why I was settled in this garden. I turned my mind back to cities; unsure if I could live in a city, but I need to reconnect with the world and the job nearby was a good opportunity. Elves were creatures of the woods. The woods I'd lived in were seldom touched by foreign hands. Elven forests were a sanctuary for creatures that wanted to live in harmony with nature. For many years I had believed cities were unnatural parasitic creatures on the beautiful facade of nature. The last time I lived in a city, brief as the time may have been, was before the industrial revolution.

Cities were different then. They were still unclean, with many people in an area much too small, but they were more connected to nature than modern cities. Today, even this far from the city, I could still feel the alteration it had imposed upon the world. There was concrete, asphalt, metal, smog, fog, and very little connection with the earth.

Realizing I would reach a more informed decision after the interview, I stood up and let my eyes soak in one last view of the garden for the evening. Behind me a door clicked open, quickly clicking shut again. I pivoted to see who it was, pleasantly surprised to see a young woman, with wavy brown hair swirling just below her shoulders. She had an athletic build, and lovely curves. Walking, she studied the path in front of her feet. A fraction of a second before she would have hit me I grabbed her shoulders. "Slow down." The woman jerked backwards, gasping. "No reason to fear, darling, I'm just keeping you from colliding with me." Her eyes were the most striking green, accenting her small nose, perfectly sized mouth and curving brows.
 

She stumbled back, fumbling for words. "My apologies, I didn't realize anyone else was here." She rubbed her hands down her hips and thighs. "I'm Michelle. Are you just here for a few days or are you leasing?"
 

"Don't worry, you didn't do any harm. I only plan to be a here a few days." I smiled at her.
 

"If you will excuse me, mister . . . ?" I didn't answer. "I would like to go to the altar." She pointed behind me.
 

"You're the witch?" I wanted to know who had influenced this piece of the earth.

"Yes." She sounded tentative.
 

"What clan are you from?" Witch clans were funny. Some of them were very open and friendly to other races, others were more traditional.
 

"It's not important." Michelle started to edge around me.

"It was just a simple question. What clan are you from?" Most witches loved to brag about their clans.

"What's your name? It's just a simple question." She glared at me as she asked.

"You may call me Elron. Now you can answer my question." I was amused; few questioned me this way.

She stiffened. "I don't have a clan."
 

Michelle tried to dodge past me and I let her slide by. "How did you come to be without a clan?"

"That, Elron, is none of your business." She turned her back to me and settled in front of the altar.
 

"I'll see you at dinner," I called out behind me as I returned to the lodge. Reaching my room I realized I was whistling. I didn't know the last time I had whistled.
 

Michelle

The dratted elf walked into the dining room seconds after I sat down. What business of his was it if I didn't have a clan? It wasn't often I regretted my upbringing, but being questioned about clans stirred unhappy feelings.

I'm a witch, but a witch without a clan. Mom had been expelled from her clan before I was born because she wouldn't say who my father was. The clan elders had ruled that he must have been human. Unfortunately for my mom, she wasn't much of a witch, and breeding with a human was against clan law. I'm not sure who my dad was, but he wasn't around. I've always thought he was from a clan hers didn't favor, because I sure had magic, and lots of it. I'd always wondered if the clan would have kept us around if they'd known how much magic I would have.

Regardless, without a clan I couldn't have a job working with other witches, since I didn't know which clans might have a grudge against the clanless, my mother, or father. Most witches don't want to do police work, so I was in luck. All the departments need witches, or someone with active magic, but few had more than a hedge-practitioner on staff. I didn't want to be a police officer so I set up a consulting firm and hired myself out to several departments. Some departments paid a retainer, some a case-to-case fee, but enough departments paid.
 

His annoying-self had interrupted me every time I tried to work during the two hours between being in the garden and dinner. I eyed him as he gathered food. He had one night written all over him. If I ate breakfast in my room tomorrow, I probably wouldn't have to see him except very quickly over lunch. I could even grab an early lunch and eat it in my room. He'd be gone by dinner.

"Excuse me. Michelle, is it?"
 

I jerked up from staring into my lasagna, eyes focusing on a werewolf who had tried several times to get my attention. "Oh, sorry, what did I miss?"

"We were hoping to purchase an injury charm from you. Would you have any we could buy?"

"How powerful of one do you need?" I had several of those, all different strengths, but I didn't want to part with some of my better ones. I liked to keep them for personal use. Fortunately, I hadn't needed to use a powerful one yet.
 

"Small broken bone, bad bruising, that type of a thing." The werewolf was looking at me intently. I understood. Fights between their kind could get ugly, and accidents happened when they were fighting. Injury while hunting was common as well, and no one wanted to see someone die because of one misstep. With their natural healing abilities, a small boost would go a long way.

"Sure. I'll bring it down after I eat. No charge." That type of a charm wasn't hard to make or material intensive.
 

I kept eating, trying very hard not to end up in a conversation with the elf. The unicorns, true to their word, had left, but I thought I would see them again. The dwarf was missing, but I figured he was at the smelting conference. Priscele, a wood nymph, had come in for dinner. She was another long-term resident, but had a very small room, more of a space with a bed, opening into the woods. She didn't spend much time in the lodge, but she said she enjoyed it in the winter. In her words, winter is for creatures with thick furry coats, not luscious ladies like herself. Right now, she was trying to tempt one of the quieter wolves in to spending some time with her.
 

"I would love to spend more time with one who has become so attuned to the creatures of the woods." Priscele leaned towards the wolf and batted her pretty green eyes. I rolled mine.
 

"I'm not sure I'm attuned to them, so much as I hunt and eat them." The werewolf was starting to looked panicked. His packmates were shouldering each other and chuckling, clear signs of enjoying his discomfort.
 

"Surely one must be attuned to the creatures to hunt them so effectively." She stroked his arm.
 

Narzel, this was sickening, but amusing at the same time. The elf caught my eye. He was a pretty elf. His ears came to a delicate point, as if someone had pinched a human's ears and they had stayed that way. His hair was silver, a straight shining sheet all the way to his waist. He was slender, like all elves, but he had muscle on him.

"Silly, isn't she?" He was looking right at me. I couldn't get out of this one.
 

"It's in her nature. Besides, isn't the idea of a spirit of the woods and a woodland hunter getting together funny?"

His eyes twinkled. "Perhaps, but I also think you are being very kind with that charm. They take skill to make."

"I make a good living, and I wouldn't want them to do without." I looked back at my food.
 

"What do you do?"

"I'm a police consultant. I provide the extra magic they need at a lower cost than the witching firms, for most things. Some things just require several witches, but those are rare."

"Fascinating. Is it a trait of the young to be so enterprising?" He looked interested, and he wasn't asking about my clan so I humored him, sort of.
 

"Many of us need to make our way in the world, or have you forgotten that in your many years? How many years would that be?" I smiled as I finished.
 

"Ah, in to older men I take it? I assure you, I am your elder, but if you were wondering our precise age gap I would need to know your age." He smiled back. It was breathtaking.
 

"Twenty-five. I try not to be involved with people who pass through. It's bad for the heart and hard on the sheets."
 

A chuckle rolled out of him, bringing a smile to my face. "Been saving that one, haven't you?" He chuckled a bit more before continuing, "There are roughly one thousand, five hundred twenty years between us. Is that old enough for you?"
 

"Too old for me. Few of my kind live that long, and you could live another thousand years or more." I turned to my desert, a nice slice of key lime pie.

"Healthy eating, really. Genetics has far less to do with it than healthy eating." He popped the last grape into his mouth. "Good night. Don't forget that charm." He whistled as he walked off.
 

As he moved out of my sight I looked down, realizing I had stabbed through the very center of my pie. I finished the pie with significantly less zeal than I'd started with, halfheartedly participating in the conversation. Good eating indeed. I didn't think elves could get fat, healthy diet or not. After I finished my food, I quickly retrieved two charms for the wolves. Brushing off their thanks, and the pout of Priscele, I headed back to my apartment.
 

I never slept well when I was upset. I would toss and turn, falling into a real sleep just as the alarm went off. It was unpleasant and left me grumpy. Tiredness was dragging at me again, and I had lots of paperwork to do tomorrow. With those thoughts in mind, I walked past the door to my apartment, hoping Elron wasn't in the garden to annoy me.
 

Something showed me favor because the garden was empty. I knelt down, and opened myself to the earth and moon. Twenty minutes later, feeling calm enough to sleep, I went to bed.

I dreamed of silver hair, an elusive smile, and whistling. I dreamed those elegant hands were holding me close. I woke up in an evil mood, angry that he had invaded my life and my dreams; even angrier since dreams usually had meaning for me. It was one of the problems with being a witch, dreams were seldom simply dreams.

Breakfast was in my room because of my mood. The tattered bagel could attest to the dangers of my temper. Later, I gratefully attacked some paperwork, not in the mood to see people. It might be annoying and stubborn, but it wouldn't talk back. My mind wasn't fully on my task, but by lunch I had accomplished most of my day's to-do list. I snuck down, grabbed a plate to take back to my room, and managed not to see a single person in the process. I finished my paperwork, still grumpy, but triumphant in my isolation.