Southwest Nights (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 1) by Kal Aaron (large ebook reader txt) 📕

Heavy pressure in Lyssa’s chest built as she moved toward the anvil sign. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. The sensation didn’t worry her. She was exactly where she needed to be.

Lyssa pulled out her phone. She had messaged ahead before leaving that morning, and Serafina Dale, the Sorceress owner of the gallery, had sent one not-so-simple message in response.

Your custom order is ready!!!

Heart and anvil emojis had followed the message, and for some reason Lyssa couldn’t fathom, a string of squids and Scottish flag emojis came next. Serafina had never mentioned having Scottish ancestry.

Trying to understand Serafina was harder than understanding Jofi. Sometimes Lyssa thought she might be a spirit of creation in human form.

Lyssa walked toward the large bronze doors, taking a moment to appreciate the careful scrollwork and the intricate, almost hypnotic patterns. They were different every time she came, but surprisingly, based on what she’d read online, no one had caught on.

As she pushed into the gallery, a bell overhead tinkled and signaled her arrival. A curved dark hardwood desk stood in the corner with a slender black sales terminal on top, but the rest of the wide space was filled with stands featuring Serafina’s work.

Exquisitely lifelike figurines and statues of animals made of different metals filled one section. During Lyssa’s last visit, it’d been mostly farm animals, but the current menagerie appeared to be a mix of chimerical beasts combining the traits of deadly predators of the land and sea, including a shark-bear and a squid-tiger. The latter might explain the squid emoji.

Another section displayed intricate metal models of major cities. Some were easy to identify, with the Space Needle marking Seattle and Big Ben indicating London. Lyssa peered at one model for a half-minute before realizing it was Chicago.

Twisting lines of metal woven into tapestry-like creations decorated an entire wall. Unlike the chimeras and the cities, these pieces were more abstract, playful riots of color and shape. She didn’t spot anything that resembled sorcery glyphs, at least not in the style Serafina preferred.

The next section featured objects suspended in the air with no obvious support. She stepped closer but didn’t feel any strong sorcery. Once she was closer to the objects, she understood.

The trick involved portions of the art being connected by all-but-invisible metal wires that were remarkably strong. They were products of sorcery that only a woman with a metal essence could pull off, but otherwise, they were not subject to active enchantment. That meant they were something that, in theory, Shadows could create with the appropriate technology.

Serafina always had something new on every visit. She was always testing different techniques, unlike Lyssa.

Sometimes Lyssa wondered if she’d become overly reliant on the same spells, but combat was different than art. Success wasn’t in the eye of the beholder, and art critics didn’t murder a woman for failure.

Serafina didn’t publicly identify as a Sorceress, nor did she maintain a true secret identity. She bore the Imperfect Smith regalia and had lived in Las Vegas as a metalworker for years without encountering any trouble.

Someday, someone might realize her art was a product of sorcery, but her tendency to eschew media attention helped keep her shop available for people to enjoy without many questions, both for lovers of metalwork-based art and people who needed something a little more specialized, such as Lyssa.

After a few more minutes of looking around, Lyssa glanced at the staff door leading to the back and Serafina’s workshop. Busting in there would be rude, especially if the other woman was working, but she was surprised Serafina hadn’t come out. The pressure from the passive spells all over the gallery remained constant, so she hadn’t reacted using sorcery.

There were other possibilities. This wouldn’t be the first time Lyssa had had to track Serafina down.

Lyssa frowned. “She better not have fallen asleep again.”

“To be fair,” Jofi replied, “that was a visit after her normal business hours.”

“She told me to come right away, so I did. Then I found her snoring in the back.” Lyssa shrugged. She ran her fingers underneath her jacket. The current transformation of her regalia did not do anything to change the texture of the enchanted mesh.

That little helpful item was another of Serafina’s creations. It was arguable which had saved Lyssa’s life more often, the armor or the enchanted bullets Serafina supplied her. All Illuminated had their strengths and weaknesses, and Lyssa had done her best to make up for hers by cultivating good contacts.

“Maybe she didn’t expect me to come right away.” Lyssa chuckled. “Half the time, she barely knows what’s going on around her when she’s working on something.”

“Might she be playing some sort of joke on you?” Jofi asked.

Lyssa shook her head. “That’s not how her sense of humor works.”

She continued her stroll, yawning, her arms behind her head, wandering closer and closer to the staff door. There was a sign that said it was for staff only, but there were no other employees and hadn’t been since Lyssa had first visited. The shop effectively doubled as Serafina’s home, but she maintained a barebones apartment elsewhere.

Lyssa walked over to the door and knocked. “Serafina, it’s Lyssa.”

A loud thump sounded from beyond the door. Lyssa frowned and stepped back, unzipping her jacket.

“Whoever you’re hunting might have followed you here,” Jofi said.

Lyssa shook her head. “If they know Hecate is Lyssa Corti, I doubt they’d bother going after Serafina. I doubt they’d be that proactive, too.”

“But you’re preparing to draw. You’re worried about trouble.”

“Trouble comes in a lot of forms. It doesn’t hurt to be cautious. Let’s hope it’s nothing more than a sleepy woman.” Lyssa pounded on the door. “Hey, Serafina, you in there? I don’t have all day. Drink a cup of coffee if you’re so tired.”

Pressure built in Lyssa’s chest. Active sorcery. The intensity rose and fell in a rhythmic pulse, almost like a slow heartbeat.

Lyssa hissed and narrowed her eyes. The sensation was far stronger than the