Courts and Cabals by G.S. D'Moore (best e reader for academics txt) 📕

Frustration flashed across her face; like she was offended I didn’t immediately sign on the dotted line, but then she deflated. “Of course, you can.”

“How about I give you a million dollars to shut the fuck up!” Dani yelled as she put her pillow over her head.

“I won’t have to fuck her, will I?” I asked, and Lilith laughed. Her laughter sounded like how warm sunlight felt on your face after a cold winter.

“I could do this,” I thought, but I wasn’t going to get some standard deal with the goods I was packing.

Lilith must have sensed a change, because she came out with the big guns. “The contract isn’t only about money and sex,” she informed. “If you become a member of my harem, I have responsibilities toward you, and through me, my cabal does. First and foremost, would be your safety. For instance, a certain grudge with a certain Fae, we’d make sure that went away.”

“Jackpot,” I could tell she’d been saving that for this moment.

“I’m not saying yes,” I proceeded cautiously, “but I’m intrigued. I think we have some negotiations to do on the benefits, but guaranteed safety is a good selling point,” I tipped my head to her in acknowledgement of her skill.

I didn’t tell her, but I also liked that I was going to be her first. In a world where I wasn’t special, it was nice to be the center of attention for once.

My words brought a smile to her lips that nearly stopped my heart. “I eagerly await your counterproposal,” she gave me a small bow.

“Thank god,” Dani groaned, finally giving up on sleeping and hopping out of bed. I got a full frontal look at her before she grabbed a towel and headed for the shower.

“Apparently, dwarfs aren’t as hairy as Tolkien led us to believe.”

“The only problem now is to figure out how we’re going to get you back to your dorm without being seen,” Lilith scratched her chin, and flung a stray strand of hair out of her eyes.

That was one of the few things on my mind. First, I wanted to see if I could resolve this thing with Aveena on my own. If I could, it got a murderous Fae off my back, and might even strengthen my bargaining position with Lilith. If security wasn’t an issue, I might be the one doing the milking.

On a grander scale, this whole deal gave me options. I was a poor townie and always financially hurting. If I did five years of this, I didn’t need to work for the UN. I could pay my way through college, have a normal life, and be fucking rich on top of that. UN employment offered a degree of power to a human in a supernaturally-dominated world, but money had a power all its own.

I had a lot to think about, so it was a good thing it was Saturday.

***

It was a bad thing it was Saturday. As a rule, teachers liked their weekends and summers. Having to come back into the office, to meet with a UN agent, who they didn’t like or even wanted to be there, put them in a terrible mood. Vernon tried to remedy that with coffee and donuts.

Sheriff Wood left before dawn to go back to her place and change. Vernon showered as well before going to the Dunkin’ Donuts on the interstate to pick up breakfast for everyone on the UN’s dime. Him and the Co-Sheriff arrived at different times, in different vehicles, but to anyone with shifter senses, they stank of each other.

Vernon watched her arrive, but kept his attention on matching the list of people the UN had sent him with the teachers in the room. There were only six, much less than the students, but these were experienced and skilled mages. Just using the artifacts on them wasn’t going to work. They’d know tricks to avoid detection. Being a mage himself, he knew how to counter those tricks, and had a few surprises up his sleeves.

“What do we have here?” Wood asked professionally. She’d just finished speaking with the Dean, and by the look on the old mage’s face, she wanted to get this show on the road.

Wood was in street clothes today: a pair of jeans with her badge clipped to her belt opposite her holstered weapon, a heavy shirt, and light jacket with “Sheriff” written on the back. Without the gun, she could have been going apple picking on a brisk autumn day.

“Where’s everyone else?” Vernon asked. The law enforcement contingent was supposed to meet up at nine, and it was five after.

“We’re it,” she shrugged. “There was some kind of gas explosion in town last night, so Sheriff Wilson is down there handling it. The deputies were reassigned to other duties. After you said none of the kids did it, Wilson said it was a low priority for us.”

Vernon ground his teeth, that was both true and false. It was true because if none of the kids – with their mommy and daddy’s high-powered lawyers – were involved, this wasn’t going to blow up into something big. On the other hand, if the kids didn’t do it, then this wasn’t an accident or someone experimenting. If a trained, adult mage was responsible, then they did it for a reason. A kid had been injured as a result. In some ways, the situation was worse now.

“And this is supposed to be a local investigation,” Vernon bit his tongue before lashing out at Wood. It wasn’t her fault. There were a dozen people in her department, including the two sheriffs, to cover five thousand civilians and an area nearly the size of Delaware. Even more difficult, she was the only supernatural. “Which might explain why she jumped into bed with me so quickly,” he surmised,