Page 3 of Chosen Spirits (The Bartender Mage #4)

Sitting inside of his car with his phone propped up on his steering wheel, Rahul listened attentively as Leif gushed about his morning evaluation, his cub's Minnesotan accent getting stronger the more enthusiastic he became.

"—so then Magus Nakatomi drank her fourth potion, Plant Control , and proceeded to redecorate all the ivy in the room because she said that there were some poor little leaves that weren't getting the right amount of sunlight.

Uff da! But she's clearly a light-weight, unless she'd always secretly wanted to organize all the plants into various vagina shapes. "

"It sounds like you made quite the impression on them," he told his adorable boyfriend. "Any criticisms?"

Leif nodded. "My Recovery potion. Seer Holly wanted to make sure I knew that I can't advertise paid medical services since I'm not a registered healer or nurse.

There's a four-week course I can take, but she said I'd probably want to save up enough ingredients for at least twenty or thirty potions, first."

Rahul made a face. "Sorry, Leif. That's going to take you months of herb growing, assuming that you don't craft any healing potions in the meantime."

The video of Leif moved as he shifted his position on the couch. "It's just that one potion, so it's nowhere near a priority right now. And besides, I'm still covered by the Good Samaritan Act for emergencies, and DOMA can assume their own risk, so it's all good! So how's your case going? "

Rahul peered through the windshield at a nearby apartment building. It looked like some storm clouds were rolling in, and a light drizzle was already underway.

"I'm about to wrap it up, actually. I'm scheduled to see my clients at seven on the dot for the final mediation."

"Ooh, gotcha! I'll let you go, then."

"Not yet, cub. I still have one more minute with you, and I'm not letting you get away that easily."

He saw Leif's face soften. "Aww, that's so sweet! So, um—"

"And I'm going to use this minute to tell you how amazing you are for passing your evaluation. Let's see. You're super. You're a hard worker, whose months of dedication paid off. You're the belle of the ball. You're a muscley stud."

Rahul kept at it, enjoying the sight of Leif's cheeks growing increasingly pinker as he got progressively more ribald. "—and the best horse-cocked, speedo-wearing mage I know! I love you, cub."

"Love you too, teddy bear. See you tomorrow!"

Rahul blew his phone a kiss, then hung up and checked the time.

6:57 p.m., which meant he was cutting it close.

Double checking that he had the portable drive with the gathered evidence in his pocket, he snagged his trench coat and fedora from the passenger seat, donning them as he strode briskly through the rain and up to the apartment building.

He keyed in the code that he'd been given, let himself through the door, then climbed up the two flights of stairs.

There were only two rooms on this floor, large family flats. Behind one of them, Rahul heard raised voices. Looking at his phone, he waited until the exact second to knock on the door .

The noise abruptly quieted. Rahul pocketed his phone in his slacks, then finely adjusted the position of his fedora on his head. He allowed the water to drip for the aesthetics, rather than use his fire magic to dry things in a quick flash.

After a short pause, the door opened a crack, revealing the face of Dane O'Cleary, one of his four clients.

Upon seeing who it was, the shorter man opened the door the rest of the way, granting him access.

Rahul took his hat off and held it in his hands as he stepped into the home, and Dane shut the door behind him.

"A good evening to you, Investigator Basu," he said in his thick brogue. "I hope you do be bringing us the answer to our… sticky situation?"

"I apologize for the delay," Rahul said, setting his hat on a table and using the removal of his coat as an excuse to buy himself a few more seconds to think. "And if by sticky situation, you mean the disappearance of your fifth roommate, then yes."

He heard a gasp to his left, quickly stifled. It came from Deirdre, a luna hare shifter. With her twitching nose and long, floppy ears, she was about as easy to read as his own weredog boyfriend, and her surprise was obvious.

"We've been so concerned about him," Li said.

The mythblooded kirin, complete with alabaster horn, hooves, and tufted tail, was more reserved and didn't reveal much.

Fortunately for Rahul, her girlfriend, Eve, emoted enough for the both of them.

The dark-haired nymph nodded fiercely before wrapping her arms around Li's waist and pressing herself into her side.

"So you've said," Rahul stated noncommittally as he set his coat down, freeing up his hands.

"It took some digging, but I found the truth.

You all had such perfect alibis at the time of his disappearance.

Li and Eve, of course, vouched for each other, and had a romantic carriage ride through the park. "

"It was a lovely night, of course I took advantage of it," Li said primly.

Rahul nodded. "Deirdre claims to have been volunteering to read spooky stories to children at the local library."

"Y-yes, exactly! You know how much I love to hear little kids scream. Wait, that came out wrong."

"And Dane, here…"

"Spent the night being plowed by three hookups," he finished grandly.

Rahul hurried to turn his back, clasping his hands behind him as he fought to keep a straight face.

"Yes, four perfect alibi's, so not one of you could have been here at the apartment." With a snap of his fingers, Rahul made a quick explosive burst of flame as he spun around, leveling a steely glare.

"Except that your alibis were all lies!"

As the four roommates flinched back from the sound, he pressed the advantage.

"Li and Eve! You said you'd had a horseback carriage ride, except that there were no horses working the park that night, only griffons, and Eve is allergic to cats!"

He heard Eve squeak, and he rounded on Deirdre, who was tugging on her ears, her mouth clenched shut and her entire face quivering.

"Deirdre! You'd said that you read all five of Tiny Tim's Terrifying Tales , but there are only four!

The production of the fifth one was delayed another month, which you would have known had you actually read the books that night. "

"I-I had an advance copy!" she protested, but her eyes kept shifting, proving the lie .

"And Dane." Rahul tsked as the handsome man lifted his chin up challengingly.

"Yours holds a grain of truth. You definitely met with three jocks and let them have their way with you…

but hardly for the entire eight hours like you claim!

I found the three men on the app, and invited them to a hotel room just like you did, but they all turned out to be chumps!

They were in and out the door, both literally and figuratively, in under twenty minutes.

Not one of them had the common courtesy to stay for a cuddle after. "

Dane seemed caught off guard. "Hang on, hang on."

Deirdre gasped again. "Wait, you don't mean to suggest…"

"That's right!Four fake alibis to disguise the real truth…

that it was all four of you together!" Rahul tapped the light of his djinn nature to conjure a glowing nimbus behind him, and let the fire in his heart spread throughout his limbs, turning his numerous tattoos and hands golden.

"And I'm the one that's going to bring you dirtbags in. "

Rahul popped his neck and cracked his knuckles, glaring at them menacingly.

Deirdre was the first to crack, her whiskers twitching madly before she started snickering, and then laughing uproariously. "Y-y-you called us… hahaha!"

"Aw, luv, you done spoiled it!" Dane crossed his arms, shaking his head at her.

The four actors and roommates congregated around him, and Rahul puffed his chest out, pleased at his own quick wit.

"Yes, it was a fine bit of improv," Li added, smiling at him. "Rahul, I loved the premise of a fake roommate, and you did a great job with spinning our own words around. I would have liked to have seen where you went with it next! "

"Aye, maybe tall, dark, and muscles here would have gotten up close and personal, caught up in his role," Dane said. "Maybe flex out of his shirt?"

"This shirt costs nearly eighty dollars!" Rahul protested with a grin, fingering the silken material of his long-sleeved dress shirt. "Take it off to prevent blood splatters from getting on it, sure, I can do that, but rip it? Never."

With a literal twinkle in his eye, Dane stepped up next to him, reaching up with both hands to grab Rahul's leather suspenders.

"Oh, aye, then? Well, the flames sparking off of your red eyes say that you're still a bit heated from your performance, so maybe you'd best be obliging before the wee shirt gets damaged any. "

Rahul growled at him, but Li was shaking her head. "Before you two strip each other in front of us… Investigator Basu, the real case that we hired you for. Please? Did you find out?"

Rahul grabbed both of Dane's hands in his own, leaning down to breathe a kiss on the back of one of them before straightening and addressing the four of them seriously.

"Alright. You had three stones thrown through your window panes in the last week.

No note, nobody seen, no other apartments in the area hit…

yes, I did find out who was doing it, and I'm pretty sure I know why. "

Li wrapped an arm around Eve, drawing her in close, and Deirdre clapped her hands together pleadingly. Even Dane held his mirth in check, and seemed to be bracing himself for the worst news.