it as a compliment. “Was that your sister who answered the door when I arrived? Libertie?”
“Yes, Libby left for the witches bazaar. You ever go there?”
“The one behind the Moulin Rouge? No, it’s a bunch of old hags selling mandrake and love spells.”
“Times have changed, CJ. Now they’re into cyberspellcraft and digital conjuring. When was the last time you’ve been?”
“Decades. Digital conjuring?” What the young witches wouldn’t think of next. He hated to admit he didn’t know about a particular magic.
She nodded and pulled the car over to park. “You said you know many magics. Is digital one of them?”
It would be as soon as he could dig up some information on it. Cyberhacking, he’d heard of, but to use the computer to digitally conjure magics? Truly, he’d been stuck in the archives too long.
“I’m adding it to my arsenal soon. So this is it? How does the Mistress of Neat like you find herself on the cleaning end of a spattered werewolf? And are you always dressed so elegantly for such a messy job?”
“When I’ve a call, I wear simple clothes under my hazmat suit. And this isn’t elegant. It’s my normal dress. Cleaning is my passion,” she said in a tone that invoked more sensual means to passion for CJ. She opened the car door. “Come on. Let’s see if your dark and weary soul attracts anything.”
“Certainly won’t be an uptight witch,” he muttered as he stood up from the car and closed the door.
“What was that?” She pursed her gorgeous lips and eyed him narrowly over the top of the car. “Did you call me uptight?”
He braced his forearms on the top of the car and smiled at her. “I did, oh, Beauty of the Bizarre and Unnatural Cleaning Jobs. But now you’re going to cut me down for the comment and make me feel like the dirt you think I am, right?”
She tilted her head, considering. “Not worth it. I haven’t made up my mind about you.”
“So not a derelict.”
“That’s apparent. You’ve a job working for the Council. I assume you’ve a home. Derelicts can’t usually claim as much.”
“Your home is a fascinating study in white and roundness,” he said, moving around to the front of the car to lean against the front quarter panel and watch her walk the bricked-in area in small paces. “That spell room of yours. It was so...”
“You said sterile.”
“To a fault. Tell me why someone who is so into cleaning chooses white? I mean, wouldn’t it be easier to keep a darker color clean? Or even wood or steel?”
“It appeals to me,” she said without looking at him. Arms held out, she walked the area as if trying to capture something in an invisible net held between her arms. “It gives me satisfaction to do a job well.”
“I can say the same.”
“What does your job involve, CJ? I’ve always thought librarians—”
“I’m an archivist, and I handle all the records for the Council. That includes all grimoires written throughout the ages, all spells and potions, objects of magical means and nature, contained creatures of mysterious origin, etcetera, and so on. I also keep the database on the paranormal nations.”
She paused, bent over, the gorgeous lines of her body playing deep shadows in the folds of the dress at her knees and hips. Mmm, the woman needed to be bent over the end of his bed...
“All of us?” she prompted, whacking him out of the sudden and illicit fantasy of foreplay on his big, comfy bed.
“Absolutely not. The sidhe can take care of themselves, and more power to them.”
“That’s quite a monumental task, keeping track of us all.”
“And I do it well.” CJ spread a hand over his gut and cast a glance skyward. Daylight waned due to what he suspected would be rain before evening. A twinge in his elbow confirmed the weather prediction. “That is, when I’ve not a soul full of demons trying to take over my body and fucking with my magic.”
“Are those spell tattoos on your hand?”
“Yes.” He tucked his hand along his torso. “I’ve quite a few all over. You ever hear of Sayne?”
“Yes, he’s an ink witch who travels Europe. I’ve never thought it an effective form of magic.”
“My tattoos are powerful. Much like your grandmother’s nail.”
“Sure.”
He sensed Vika wasn’t warming to him in any way. And why should he care? He only meant to use her to see if another exorcism was