Page 10 of Cursed (Witchbane #8)
“Pretty much, except when it rains. We’re not in peak tourist season now, it’s even busier then. They work hard. It’s hot in those trucks,” Tony said.
“We really loved the barbecue, especially the peach one,” Evan added.
Tony flashed a proud smile. “That’s Pax’s family recipe. He left home with that and a couple hundred dollars in his pocket and did all right for himself. Of course, I’m probably biased. He’s my boyfriend.”
Tony hesitated as if waiting for their reaction, and Evan knew not everyone in Savannah was open-minded. To set Tony at ease, Evan moved his hand to brush against Seth’s knuckles.
“We didn’t really introduce ourselves. I’m Evan, and this is my partner, Seth.”
“Business partner?” Tony gave them an assessing look.
“That and life partner, too. Package deal,” Evan replied with a smile.
Tony nodded as if answering an unspoken question. “Cool.” He glanced at his watch. “Oops, break time is over. I need to go play. I hope you’ll come back. All the food is good, but Pax’s is the best.”
With a wave and a smile, Tony headed back to the stage, stopping to greet other diners along the route. Evan glanced toward the Peachy-Cue truck and saw Pax watching Tony fondly.
They listened to a couple more songs, but without ordering more food, Seth and Evan didn’t have an excuse to keep taking a table. Evan dumped their trash in a bin and gave Tony a salute as they left the lot, heading toward the nearby shops.
“That was pretty damn awesome,” Seth remarked.
“The whole setup is great. I’m glad to see all the trucks doing so well. Having live entertainment is certainly a draw, but people wouldn’t come back if the food wasn’t good,” Evan replied.
“I never thought peach and barbecue could go together, but that was amazing.”
Evan chuckled. “Didn’t know you were quite that much of a foodie,” he teased.
“Just calling it like it is.” Seth looked at Evan as if assessing his expression. “What are you thinking? I doubt it’s about fried pickles.”
“They were good too, and the candied bacon was damn near orgasmic,” Evan replied.
“I wouldn’t go quite that far?—”
“But I was just thinking that it’s going to be hard to get Tony and Pax to believe us,” Evan continued. “I mean, it always is. It’s a crazy story unless they’ve heard rumors about their real family history.”
There’s an immortal killer witch who wants to sacrifice you to his dead master so he and his coven can level up. We’re monster hunters, and we’re here to save you.
“We’ll have to figure out a way to cut through the skepticism,” Seth replied. “We’ve always managed before.”
“I know, but I still worry,” Evan replied.
“How bad are the ghost crowds?” Seth asked as they walked back to where he had parked the truck. Evan had told him what it was like when they were in Charleston, another city with a long history of being known as haunted.
“Distracting,” Evan replied. “They’re everywhere. Most of them are repeaters, so no consciousness, but I keep feeling like I need to say ‘excuse me’ for walking through them even though they’re too weak to actually manifest.”
“You take it in stride pretty well.”
Evan shrugged. “Been doing it all my life, although I think my ability to see and talk to them has gotten stronger with all the practice since we’ve been doing what we do.”
“It’s like there’s an invisible city on top of what most people see.”
“That’s a good analogy, except that the people are from every time period. So native people, early settlers, colonists, sailors, and everyone else from the last three hundred and fifty years. Sort of like a costume party gone wild,” Evan replied.
Evan could see their truck as they turned a corner. Seth was choosy about where he parked, careful that he couldn’t be easily boxed in either by accident or on purpose. The truck sat where they had left it, first in the row of curbside parking spots where pulling out would be easy.
Seth slowed and so did Evan. “What’s up?” Evan asked.
“Something’s not right,” Seth growled.
Before Evan could ask more, a man stepped out from behind a parked van and took a swing at Seth. A second man came at Evan from the other side of the vehicle.
He had no idea whether the attackers wanted their wallets or were hired by Vernon to scare them off, but Evan didn’t have time to wonder.
Training took over, and all the sparring he and Seth did between jobs paid off as Evan evaded his opponent and landed a punch to the jaw that set the man back a pace.
“Leave town.” The man swung again and landed a bruising hit to Evan’s shoulder.
“Who hired you?” Evan asked while evading another punch. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Seth was fighting hard to hold off his own opponent. The street was quiet, but sooner or later someone was likely to notice a brawl in broad daylight.
At least so far, the two men hadn’t pulled weapons.
“Stay out of it,” the man snapped. “What happens here is none of your business.”
A police siren screamed, not far away. The two men ran. Seth and Evan gave chase, but the next intersection opened to a busy street, and they lost sight of the strangers in the crowd.
“Let’s not stick around to explain to the cops.” Seth unlocked the truck and pulled away before the squad car arrived.
Evan didn’t realize he was holding his breath until they were back in the flow of traffic. His shoulder ached, but he knew it could have been much worse. “Did they hurt you?” he asked.
Seth’s grim expression and locked jaw let him know how angry he was. “I might have a bruise on my jaw tomorrow,” Seth replied, and Evan could see where a red spot was starting to bloom. “I missed the worst of the punch, but he definitely intended to put me on the ground. How about you?”
“Got hit in the shoulder, but it could have been worse. Probably have a mark.”
“Did they say anything to you?” Seth asked. “Because he told me to leave and stay out of stuff that wasn’t our business.”
“That’s what the guy said to me too,” Evan replied. “What game is Vernon playing? He could have used magic to ambush us, or the toughs could have shot us. I’m glad that didn’t happen, but I don’t understand.”
“Jumping us is easy to pass off as an attempted robbery,” Seth said. “Murders in broad daylight get more attention. Even if Vernon has the police in his pocket, that kind of thing is hard to cover up, and it wouldn’t play well in a tourist town.”
“Do you think he knows we’re the ones who killed the other witch-disciples? He seems to see us as an annoyance instead of a threat,” Evan mused.
“I’m fine with being underestimated.” Seth glanced over to Evan. “Can you grab my phone and pull up the first text message? I sent myself Pax and Tony’s address. Then put it in the GPS.”
Evan’s hands shook in the aftermath of the fight as he took Seth’s phone. Seth seemed calm, but Evan knew that battle training and military experience helped Seth deal. That wouldn’t stop him from seething inside at the attack.
“On the downside, if he sent goons after us, it means he knows who we are and figured out it’s related to the ritual.” Evan called up the directions and put the phone in its holder on the dashboard. “And we’ve made contact with Tony and Pax. Now all we have to do is get them to believe us.”