Episode Four

 

An Unexpected Sequel

 

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

 

As the founder and owner of Landon Talent Agency, could I ever have predicted I’d make a deal with the devil? Okay, technically, Barbara Knollman was a low-level demon. But still. I’d agreed to do the demon’s bidding and, if I wasn’t yet entirely sorry for having made that deal, I definitely had regrets.

Now I sat in the overstuffed leather chair opposite the Councilwoman, my hands clasped in my lap, eyes downcast like I’d been called to the principal’s office. Though, in a way, that was true.

“Robin, this has worked out perfectly,” Barbara said. She stood at the window overlooking Main Street, immobile, her brown hair swept back in a tight bun. She returned to her chair behind the imposing solid wood desk and sat, her hands resting on its surface, talon-like fingernails displayed.

The effect worked. I swallowed audibly and Barbara chuckled. “You really wanted the supernatural underworld to be exposed?” I asked. A few months ago, a local pain-in-the-butt reporter revealed a crazy genie to be a serial killer. And then outed the lot of us.

Barbara smiled, her small sharp teeth drawing attention. “Yes. I did. I foresaw the path to my success. It included the exposure,” she explained, tapping her manicured talons against the fine wood-grain.

“I’m not sure I understand what this has been about,” I admitted in a small voice. My boss could see the future, but she kept her visions a secret. Even I didn’t know what success she sought.

Barbara looked down on me, her minion. “You will. Everyone will.” A demon posing as a 50-something year-old human, she also happened to be the unofficial head of the Las Vegas City Council. Technically that position fell to the Mayor, but Barbara held the actual power. Interestingly, although the paranormal underworld had been exposed, she had not. I wondered if she saw that in her vision.

My skin crawled as she stared at me, an ambiguous smile on her face. Now what? I waited. It would do no good to ask. After five years as her minion, I certainly learned my place. Maybe I used to be a witch, but today I was powerless and under her thumb.

“It’s time for the next step,” the Councilwoman stated. “You will shut down your agency.”

I gasped. Shut down my agency?

“I want your full focus and attention. There is a being in town who must be eliminated.”

Surely she doesn’t mean—

“And you will eliminate him.”

My jaw dropped open and I stared, aghast, at the demon. Close my agency and kill someone? I needed to buy time. “Who?”

“His name is Jackson McKee.”

I waited to see if more information would be forthcoming. Nada. I risked her wrath. “Who is Jackson McKee?”

She gave me a withering look. “It doesn’t matter. I need him killed.”

I blanched at her tone and directive – and pushed back. “If I don’t know what kind of paranormal being he is,” I reasoned, “how will I know how to kill him?”

Barbara pursed her lips. “He’s human, but with abilities.”

Hmm. A witch like me? An empath like Catherine, that irritating fellow talent agent?

“So you can kill him like any other human.”

I paled but nodded. Where was she going with this? “Okay. Where do I find him?”

“He’s about to be a cameraman on Forbidden Island.”

I remembered receiving character breakdowns for actor submissions for that film and seized my opening. “Since it’s a movie production, maybe it would make sense to keep my agency open so I have a natural in to get on set. After all, I sent actors to it.”

Barbara stared impassively. I wasn’t stupid. I knew she knew why I made my suggestion. She sighed. “Fine. Keep your agency open. I want him dead within the week.”

I gulped.

She glanced down at the paperwork on her desk. I took that as my cue to leave and scurried out of her office, with nary a backward glance. I wasn’t a killer. What could I do now?