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Trixie gave my bag a violent kick with her foot, which sent it flying. Really wished I’d had a brick in the darn thing like Orville accused me of every now and again. But no. After a few seconds, the ringing stopped.
She glanced behind her and seemed to make up her mind. “We’re too open out here. Time to take this inside.”
As a simple dispatcher, she didn’t have standard-issue handcuffs. But that wouldn’t stop someone like her. Holding my wrists in one bear-clawed hand of a grip, she reached into her back pocket and came out with a zip tie.
Looking me straight in the eye, she said, “This can go two ways. You can let me put this on you without a fight. Or I can get off you, and while you try to run, I can pull my taser in like a half a second and send a lot of volts through your system. Your choice.”
Not much of a choice to my mind. I’d seen Amie’s taser at work. The zap it delivered wasn’t a pretty sight. Electricity is a mighty powerful thing. And not meant to be sent through a human’s body.
Part of me wanted to wait until she tried to put on the zip tie and then fight her for all I was worth. If she’d just give me a couple of seconds, I could hit her with a spell to stop this madness. But that wasn’t really in the cards, was it? She knew witches, and she knew what we were capable of. I wouldn’t be getting a single second.
As I said, not much of a choice. But if I was lying on the ground, writhing in pain, then she could do pretty much as she pleased with me. I didn’t like that idea at all. I allowed her to put on the zip ties.
That done, she jerked me to my feet and shoved me up the short steps. “Inside, witch.”
I glanced at her first. I wanted to know what I was dealing with. The first thing I noticed was that she didn’t have a gun. A taser, yes, but no firearm. That was something. At least, that’s what I told myself, anyway.
My saving grace just might be that she was underestimating me. If I’d been her in the present situation, I’d have zapped me right off the bat. Then I’d have done what I came to do and got the bloody heck out. Good thing she wasn’t me, wasn’t it?
Because I knew a few things she didn’t. One of which was that my house was warded seven ways to Sunday. Thanks mostly to Sapphire’s new husband, Archimedes Mineheart. Come to find out, Earth witches were pretty good witches to have on your side after all.
The door opened, and she pushed me over the threshold, as I’d expected her to. I knew what would happen next. But apparently her vision hadn’t warned her. Thank you, Goddess, for having my back on that one.
I dropped to the floor and rolled to the side to get behind the door. That was important for the next part of things. I needed something substantial between the two of us. Like a solid wooden door.
Because when Trixie went to step over the threshold, she was stopped. Dead cold. My house wasn’t about to let someone in that had murder on their mind.
While she was still struggling, trying to get through the ward, I kicked the door shut. Hard. With my hands zip-tied, it sure as heck wasn’t easy to get the latch to work, but I managed it. Right before she tried to turn the knob. A little too close for comfort.
She might not be able to get in, but I wasn’t at all sure that the wards would be very effective at stopping a taser lead. And I sure as shooting didn’t want to find out, either.
Darting into my little apartment, I grabbed my small witch’s blade and cut the ties. Not a simple task, that. Even as I worked at getting my hands free, I started the spell.
I’d almost finished it, too, by the time I heard the sirens coming down the road. I ran to the window and looked out.
Furious and totally ticked off, Trixie was running. I was betting that she’d left her vehicle by the road so I wouldn’t hear it on my gravel drive. She might have been able to make it to her car and be gone before Orville showed up. And yes, I was that sure it was him behind that siren.
Too bad for her, my spell finished. I had to use a little extra juice from our power crystals because I didn’t want to risk her tasering my man. By the time Orville slapped the cuffs on her, she wasn’t in any shape to fight.
Oh, she’d survive. But, like me, she’d be sore as all get out tomorrow.
Now that the worst of the danger was over, I started to feel the pain. I’d be needing to go to the hospital or my sister Sapphire when this was all done. Never the less, it was going to take more than a little pain to stop me from going out to meet Orville.
But I had to grab my walking stick on the way.
When he heard the front door open, he glanced back at me. He looked greatly relieved at the sight of me. At least until he noticed the walking stick.
Let’s just say he was none too gentle getting Trixie into the backseat of his squad car. Not exactly police brutality, but not the care he normally took, either.
I got that. Especially since she had started to come to her senses by then. And she wasn’t going in easily.
But go in she did. And minus her little taser, too.
“You searched her to make sure she doesn’t have any other weapons on her, right?” I didn’t like the thought of him driving down the road and having her shoot him in the back. Just because I hadn’t seen a gun didn’t mean she didn’t have one. Some handguns were downright tiny.
They’d still kill a man at point-blank range, though.
Orville stopped and looked at me. “How long have I been Sheriff?”
I smiled at him. “Sorry. I’ll take that as a yes.” By that time, I’d reached him. Finally. The next couple of minutes were filled with just gentle warmth and gratitude. And a nice, close hug.
“How did you figure out it was Trixie?” I asked.
He kissed the top of my head before letting me go. “Let’s just say we owe Amie a steak dinner. She called me and said that she’d sent the files to you, but that she hadn’t heard from you. So she wanted to send them to me to look at too.” He shook his head. “She said her witch’s intuition told her it was important.”
Witch’s intuition, Goddess, or a Goddess-ridden kitten named Destiny. One of them, for sure. Wish they’d told me an hour or so earlier than they had. Could have saved me from having to limp down that aisle.
I didn’t see my ankle being one hundred percent by then.
But then again, Sapphire was good. And she wanted a perfect wedding.
Two things in my favor right there.