Page 31 of The Psychic and the Vampire: A Bad Case of Vampire Curiosity

“What about the magic angle?” Bridget asked.

The question was so unusual it had Viktor paying attention.

He had been half-heartedly listening to the banter between Bridget and Ant for almost an hour, and frankly he’d rather be outside playing with Able.

Unfortunately, Able was doing his job, trying to help ground Ant, who was still having issues.

After Bridget had given her lengthy and blistering opinion on how Viktor hadn’t been trusting his bond with his mate by sneaking off like a thief in the middle of the night, she’d gone back to trading ideas with Ant.

Viktor was done with talking. He had an itch in the middle of his shoulder blades.

A sure sign that danger was coming. Ridiculous in a way, because for Viktor, that had been his way of life for a long time.

But he’d gotten comfortable since being with Ant.

Worse, he’d gotten sloppy, especially with the business the night before.

Too busy worrying what Ant would think instead of doing what he should’ve done.

But Bridget’s question was clearly startling to Ant as well.

“What magic are you talking about?” Ant asked.

“I already confessed that I made the mistake of misusing my magic, creating those gimmicks and party tricks to make Hammond believe that I knew his secrets when I don’t know anything of the sort. I don’t see how that’s helpful.”

“No, not the magic you used yesterday. What about back when you were doing the scene reading for Carmine?”

“Carmine’s scene reading? There was no magic related to Carol’s murder,” Ant said. “The only magic there had been placed a few days earlier, but it had no relation to the murder.”

“I know that,” Bridget said. “I also heard you when you explained about smashing the source of that magic, ostensibly to save Viktor from being sucked into the earth. But did you read the scene, after Viktor was saved, to find out who had placed it?”

“Er…I didn’t think of it.” Ant was glancing in Viktor’s direction and Viktor sighed.

“What Ant’s trying to hide, and he’s being very kind about it,” Viktor said dourly, “is that I didn’t want to set foot in that park again.

Getting my foot sucked into the earth by an unseen force is enough to give me the willies, alright?

I just wanted to get out of there. So no, we didn’t even think about doing anything like that.

That would’ve probably been a good idea. ”

“Of course, it was,” Bridget said, grinning widely.

“I thought of it. But Ant, that’s what you need to do.

You need to go back to the scene and read it to see A, who it was that laid that rubbish magic in the first place, and B, to see if Carmine was there when that happened. If he was there, then you’ve got him.”

“Got him for what? Setting magic like that was irresponsible but it’s not illegal.” It seemed that Ant didn’t understand any better than Viktor did.

“The act itself might not be criminal in a human sense, no. But if Carmine directed a Mage Academy student to lay traps with their magic - traps that are designed to impair and impact the magic of another user, the Dean of the Police Studies Department no less, that is a crime in accordance with the Mage Academy.”

“That all sounds a bit suspect to me,” Viktor said. “Is the Mage Academy going to come along and arrest Carmine simply for paying some stupid student to lay a bunch of magical jokes around a murder scene?”

“It’s a really important but not widely known aspect of the Mage Academy’s governance,” Bridget explained.

“Ant is a high-ranking mage user. If any other member of the mage community - anyone with magic at all - interferes in his work, then that is a crime in accordance with the Mage Academy policies.

“It’s the same sort of thing if Ant tried to interfere with Robert’s studies he does, learning the nuances of astral projection.

Even something as simple as Ant trying to put his foot down and telling me I wasn’t allowed to help Robert with his experiments could be seen as one mage trying to influence the work of another.

“Mages are, you’ll have to excuse me about this opinion Ant, but you know it’s true, they’re basically a bunch of educated snobs. They are all really protective over their own spheres of magic, and very anal-retentive about maintaining professional boundaries.

“Put simply, if Carmine ordered this student to set up anything that would interfere in Ant’s ability to read a murder scene – especially a scene Carmine has already paid Ant to do the reading for, then Carmine is the one held responsible.”

“Carmine’s human,” Viktor said quickly. “He has no dealings with the Mage Academy as far as I’ve heard.”

“He must know something, or he wouldn’t have been able to influence that student to do something stupid,” Bridget said firmly.

“No matter, the fact still remains that if the student was paid or coerced to break one of the central Mage Academy policies, that person – not the student – is the one designated responsible. That is a direct offense.”

That had to be a good thing, right? Viktor certainly thought so, but it seemed Ant wasn’t so sure.

“Even if I could prove it, I’m not sure it would mean anything.

I’m not part of the Mage Justiciary. They told me that wasn’t a possible position for me, because of the work I was doing with the police department.

Being a contractor under two different organizations, both of which were part of law enforcement, would have been seen as a conflict of interest.”

“I know, brother dear,” Bridget said smugly. “However, you’re not a consultant for the police anymore. The Mage Academy has been sending you letters of invitation to become part of the Justiciary on a weekly basis since the day you handed in your resignation.”

“Why haven’t we heard about this before?” Viktor said. The Justiciary sounded like a very posh term, and Viktor wasn’t a hundred percent certain what it meant.

But the name implied, at least to Viktor, that Ant could do the same sort of work that he had been doing for the police, namely tracking down criminals, but this time maybe they’d be magical or paranormal ones.

Frankly, Viktor was getting tired of sitting on his butt. If Ant could do that – well, at least he and Able would get more exercise.

“The Justiciary is a similar position to the consultancy work that Ant had already been doing, but it deals specifically with paranormal crimes and incidences like one mage interfering with another.” Bridget confirmed Viktor’s thought process.

“The reason why the Mage Academy was so gung-ho about having Ant join the Justiciary is for a number of reasons.

“He’s the highest-ranking mage in the area.

With his scene reading skills he can see the truth of a situation regardless of what is said.

It doesn’t have to be murder. It could be sabotage.

It could be espionage. Viktor, you have no idea.

Some of the mages might come across as all prim and proper, but my goodness, when somebody thinks that a fellow colleague is going to get an award that they think they should have won themselves, they can get cutthroat. Robert’s been telling me all about it.”

“They’re not that bad,” Ant protested. “I didn’t realize that the Mage Academy had invited me to become a Justiciary. You could have told me earlier.”

“When would I have done that?” Bridget shook her head.

“All you’ve done is focus on this business with Carmine’s sister, and look, I’m not saying that those bastards who killed her shouldn’t have been put away.

You know I agree with that wholeheartedly, but Viktor has already explained there’s a good chance those guys are already dead.

“Besides, I’m getting sick of roses, all right?

I want this business with Carmine worked out once and for all, because he keeps sending me the damn things and they are driving me loopy.

It’s like this little dig that’s telling me that he hasn’t forgotten us, that we’re still on his radar.

And I’m with Viktor on this. I want this to stop. ”

“Bridget.” Ant clearly hadn’t realized up to that point that his sister felt that way. Viktor could understand.

“I don’t only listen to you, Ant,” Bridget said.

“I listen to my brother-in-law as well. I can see this vampire’s frustration, and I’m not even mated to him.

Honestly it’s gone on long enough. Carmine, if he’d had an ounce of common sense, should have just backed off, backed down, and left things alone.

But he has made a mistake. He won’t know the laws surrounding the policies of one mage interfering in the work of another.

And you can make that case if you were a Justiciary.

All you need to do is go back and read that scene again.

Read the scene from a current standpoint, not the horrific act that occurred ten years ago. ”

If anyone wanted to ask my opinion, I’m not a fan of going back to that park, Viktor thought. He had no idea how many of those quicksand-filled potholes that young mage had used, and he wasn’t keen to find out.

But Ant was nodding. He clearly agreed with his sister, and as much as Viktor didn’t like it, if it was a way of bringing down Carmine, without them having to move house, without them having to fight, without Viktor having to kill the man, because honestly it was getting to that point...

You know that killing’s not an option. Viktor’s vampire was clearly paying attention. His damn family would just go after our mate. Viktor hated it when his vampire side was right.

The Justiciary idea sounded positive, though and Ant seemed to think so, too.

“Are you sure the letter from the Mage Academy definitely said it wanted me to be a Justiciary?” Ant asked. “They’re not just saying they want to interview me, or they want me to put in an application? If I have to go through that, it will take too much time.”

“You were invited to join as a member of the Justiciary at your convenience,” Bridget said.

“The moment you agree, the position is yours. It’s as simple as that.

For all the Mage Academy’s legalese and long-winded letters, the context of that one was perfectly clear.

They wanted to snap you up before you resolved your issues with the police department and went back to working for them.

Those guys there aren’t stupid. Slow and a bit stuffy, but they’re not stupid. ”

“Okay, let’s do this.” Ant sighed. Viktor looked across at Bridget, expecting to see her on her phone, likely penning a reply to the Mage Academy, but Ant pressed his forefingers against his temples.

Viktor felt a tingle through his head. Seconds later, just the same as when Viktor and Ant had claimed each other, Viktor heard a foreign voice in his head.

“The appointment of Doctor Anthony Channon as Justiciary is confirmed. Details regarding payment, benefits, and duties, along with provisional appointment papers related to the vampire known as Viktor, will be sent via email later today. Congratulations on your new position, Doctor Channon.”

“It’s done,” Ant said.

“I know,” Viktor said, rubbing his head. “What’s all this regarding provisional papers for me?”

“You’re my mate. Unlike the police department, the Mage Academy expects you to want to work with me.” Ant smiled for the first time that morning.

Viktor felt something settle in his chest. “I assume you’re ready to head back to the park now?”

Ant nodded.

“Give me a moment, I’ve got to do a spot of research on my phone.” Viktor reached into his pocket.

“Oh, my goodness,” Bridget burst out laughing, slapping the table. “I’ll wager five dollars your vampire is searching for how to avoid quicksand in park areas.”

Ignoring her, Viktor typed that exact phrase into the search bar on his home screen.