Page 17

Hex For Sale

“ W

hat the Hell are you doing here?!” Amelia shouted in shock after tossing the insult at him.

“Oh, charming that, nice to see you too, sugar tits,” the goblin said in a Cockney accent, and suddenly all the men stood in the room, including me.

Yet it was Lucius who was by the table one second, then in front of the goblin the next, now holding him by his throat up against the wall.

His short little legs dangled in the air, kicking and twitching as he fought to breathe.

“Speak to my wife like that again and I will snap your neck, Hexion!”

“Wife…? You married him?” Trice asked Amelia, who was now bright red, hissing,

“Not the time, Trice.”

“Er congrats,” Nero muttered next to her, nudging her arm.

“Thanks, honey.”

Meanwhile, the goblin was still being choked to death, turning his green skin a lighter shade as his beady yellow eyes started to roll up in his head.

“Lucius, let him go,” Amelia said with a sigh, making him comply before the goblin could pass out. He fell to the ground with a thud, gasping for air and coughing through it.

“What are you doing here?” Amelia asked again.

“If… you… must know… I was… sent here,” he stammered, making me frown in question before turning to Amelia to ask,

“How do you know him?”

“Exactly what I want to know,” Lucius added, making her sigh.

“He is the one who removed the Hex… long story,” she said, adding this last bit for my benefit.

“Aye, 'n' fur a guid amount o' coin too,” Trice commented dryly, to which the goblin had gotten to his feet and was dusting down his little suit jacket, straightening his hat before shrugging his shoulders.

“A goblin’s gotta earn a living.”

“Aye, and na doubt that’s exactly whit he is daein' now,” Vern said, glaring at him.

“C'moan, oot wi' it, who sent you?” Trice asked, folding his arms and looking down at the goblin, his scarred brow raising.

“A strange fellow,” he replied, making Amelia snort before she muttered,

“Kettle… black.”

He just sneered at her, that was until Lucius snarled at him with his fangs out, making the goblin quickly flinch back.

“Eyes on me, cretin,” Lucius growled. A threat that made the goblin’s over pronounced bushy eyebrow hit the rim of his hat. His big nose wrinkled as well as his palm sized ears twitching.

“Describe this strange fellow,” I demanded, getting back on point.

“A lawman, spoke funny, and about as easy to understand as these three here.”

Nero chuckled, giving Vern cause to frown at her, his easy demeaner long gone since the decision had been made for her to go with them.

“This lawman, did he look like a cowboy?” I asked, having my suspicions, ones confirmed when he said,

“Yeah, and called me a Knothead, whatever the hell that meant… think his name was Wild Bob.”

Naturally, Amelia chuckled at this.

“Wild Bill,” I corrected, making him shoot a finger at me and say,

“Wild Bill, that was it. In my defense, Bills and Bobs all sound alike.”

Nero and Amelia looked at each other with skepticism.

“Do they though?” Amelia asked, making him wink.

“Sure do, Chickie… okay okay, no chickie either… sheez, this guy is even more protective than your Scotty over here… what happened, the hero complex wore off when I took your Hex?” the goblin said, making Amelia slap a hand to her forehead as not only did he now have an angry Vampire to deal with, but an angry shifter too.

I decided to step in and block him before either man could rip his little green legs off like an insect.

“Wild Bill, what did he say?”

“He found me, heard some rumor that I sold a Hex to a shady character, some power hungry son of a God that needed to make everyone see him as the King of Fraud.” At this my eyes grew wide, before Lucius snapped,

“Clay… fuck! And you didn’t think to question why?!” Again, I kept myself calm, which wasn’t as easy as it sounded, as clearly this Goblin had an affinity for pissing people off. But I knew there must have been a reason that Wild Bill had sent him to us, so kept my focus on that.

“Hey don’t stab, maim, or shoot the working guy here. I was just trying to make a livin’, times are hard, you know, and I got little goblins to feed,” he said, holding up his arms in surrender.

“Gods, you’re married?” Amelia asked, not even trying to hide her shock.

“Well no, just knocked up some demon over in Tzalmavet but still, she wasn’t complainin’, not when those little guys turned out like me,” he said, doing a little dance like he was the sexiest goblin in all the realm.

“So Garmr, he paid you for this Hex?” I asked, once again trying to keep us on track.

“He sure did, and it would have been enough to retire on had I not lost it all on a game of Aimitin.”

“Aimitin?” I asked, never hearing of this before.

“Oh, I know this one! Aim. It. In… they say it too fast,” Amelia said, adding this last part to Nero who just nodded. But it did make me wonder just how long she spent here in Hell.

“So Wild Bill tracked you down?”

“Yep, got a message to me telling me that there would be coin in it for me when I did. Although you weren’t at the witch’s shop like he said you would be, but some squeaky big ass fella told me you would be here.

And here I be, so… erm you know… who is gonna give up the goods?

” he said, answering me and holding out his hand, giving it a shake ready for someone to put something in it.

“Man, but get the balls on this guy,” Nero commented, making him wink at her, at the same time grabbing his little package, before saying,

“Don’t you know it, Chickie… Oh fuck, what?

You’re sleepin’ with both of them?” he complained when, once again, Lucius took a step closer like he was going to throttle him for good this time.

But then he wasn’t the only one as Vern also took a step toward him in anger.

Like I said, the goblin obviously had a death wish.

“First tell us what information you have.”

The goblin folded his arms and gave me a wry look in return before telling me exactly what he thought of my demand.

“What? You think I am stupid or something? I do that and you won’t pay me.”

I was now the one to lose my patience… picking him up by his jacket lapels before slamming him against the wall.

“No, you do that and I won’t kill you… Now what did he want you to tell me?” I seethed, letting my voice change as well as my eyes, which I knew were burning with Hellfire as my beast came forth. His features twitched once more before he finally said,

“I know a secret way inside the castle and can reverse the hex I put on this bad dude.”

I dropped him, making him land on his feet this time. Then I patted him on the head in a condescending way.

“There, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

He huffed once and started muttering, this time in a different language, no doubt cursing me to high Hell. Not that I cared, as we had what we wanted and that was all that mattered.

“Then lucky for you, goblin, you have some use to us after all and therefore, if this works out and you do as you say you can, then you will receive your payday,” I told him, and finally his eyes widened with glee before he rubbed his hands together and said,

“Great, when do we leave?”

I turned to the McBain brothers and the witch before asking,

“How long will it take you to get to this sorcerer?”

“It’s in the mountain range near the Valley of Torment. So, traveling by foot, a few days.”

To which Trice told her, “We wull nae be traveling by foot, lass.” Then he turned to me and said, “A few hours, fur ah ken th' mountain.”

I nodded and then asked,

“And once you have what you need, how long will it take you to make the spell?”

Nero shrugged before saying,

“Eight hours or so, no more than half a day for it to brew, I’m sure.”

I released a sigh, wishing it was sooner but with no choice but to wait.

“Then I suggest you get ready to leave as soon as possible,” I said.

“Come oan, lassie, ah wull escort ye back sae ye kin git whit ye need,” Vern said, no doubt eager to try and change her mind. Something I could already tell from my brief meeting with the witch, was not going to happen.

“What I need?” Nero repeated.

“Something warm tae wear, it wull be cauld flying,” Trice said.

“I can confirm this,” Amelia added. A comment that didn’t look like it went down well with Lucius, as clearly, he wasn’t being reminded of good times here.

“Then with little else to do on our part, may I suggest us getting a room and taking this opportunity to rest?” Lucius said, making the goblin snigger before nudging him and winking.

“Right, rest, sure, sure.”

Needless to say, Lucius didn’t appreciate the goblin’s wagging eyebrows, even if it made his Chosen One chuckle. As for me, rest was the furthest thing from my mind.

No, what was on my mind was Ella and asking myself…

Would I finally get her back this time?