Eddie snarled, starting to lean across the seat to grab for the troll, but Bronx moved a lot faster and smoother than a person might expect. Eddie never touched him. “You’re going to blow our fucking cover!”
Before he could continue ranting, I tapped my index finger in the dead center of Eddie’s forehead and the man froze. His mind dropped instantly into a hypnotic trance, his entire body locked up as if someone had hit the pause button. It was a shame I couldn’t keep him like that indefinitely.
Ignoring Eddie for now, I slid out of the backseat and joined Bronx on the sidewalk. The troll didn’t bother looking down at me, his sharp yellow eyes continuously sweeping the area, trying to spot if anyone was watching us.
“Bronx?”
“It’s a feeling. A kind of warning that I can’t explain. After working for Reave for years, I learned to trust it. Kept me alive through some bad stuff.”
“Got it,” I murmured, my mind already working. I dug through the pockets of my coat, looking for something I could charm, but I didn’t have much on hand. Just my wand, a handful of chalk, and a couple peppermints. You never charmed food. Stupid accidents always followed when you charmed food.
“How about this?” Bronx suggested, pulling on the collar of his wool coat to draw my attention to the onyx stone in a silver setting pinned to the lapel. When the stone caught the light, I saw there was a protection symbol etched into it. It was the first time I’d ever seen Bronx wear anything like it. The troll wasn’t religious and didn’t buy into protection symbols, but I was willing to bet that being my friend had convinced him that having such a thing certainly wouldn’t hurt.
“I knew you were a mind reader,” I joked, pulling the pin a little closer to me as I traced the same tracking spell on the onyx stone that I’d used earlier for Serah.
Bronx gave me a little smirk. “Nope. Just guessed that you’d like to keep an eye on me as well.”
“Definitely.” I drew a second spell over the stone, turning it into a two-way radio. “Talk and I’ll be able to hear you.”
“Will I be able to hear you?”
“Yep, but it’s got only about a six-block range.” I released the pin and stepped back, letting the troll readjust his coat.
“Like a walkie-talkie?”
“Better. I’ll also know where you are and that range is pretty damn far. Try to stay close and hidden all the same.”
“Not a problem.” Bronx gave a little salute and then turned away, trudging down the street with his head down and hands in his pockets.
After less than a minute, he became little more than a massive black shadow, disappearing into the growing darkness. The troll had spent time working for the local mafia boss, Reave, before he could finally escape that life to become a tattoo artist. He rarely spoke of that time and I never got the impression that he enjoyed it. Unlike most of his kind, Bronx had a finer sensibility. He had the soul of an artist and, while his size and strength might lend itself to brutality, he wasn’t a violent creature.
Even knowing that, when shit got crazy, Bronx never turned away from me. He was always there to help at the risk of his own happiness and life. I hated a part of myself for constantly drawing him into danger and darkness. And yet, he was the one who I relied to watch my back. Trixie was my heart, but Bronx—he was my rock.
Jumping into the front passenger seat of the car, I took a moment to close my eyes and focus on the two threads of emotion that were attached to my brain now. Serah was anxious with a hard edge of determination. Bronx was a Zen pool of calm. The troll was a master of control, his own worries and fear locked down so that he could focus on the job before him.
With my companions taken care of, I turned my attention back to the cop. I shoved Eddie so that he was sitting back in his seat with his eyes staring blindly forward. “You told Bronx to talk a walk and find some shadows to hide in so he could watch for the killer. He just left to follow your instructions,” I said and then tapped his forehead again.
Eddie blinked a few times and looked around a little confused when he spotted me