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

Stars will continue to use this facility. I might have put out the fires, but the damage is obvious.”

Lyssa considered that before concluding, much to her annoyance, that Aisha was right. She knelt and stuffed the doll back into her pocket, then tapped her forehead with a smile, channeling her inner Samuel as a weapon. “I’ll be handing this over eventually so they can process it. You need to think about the future. We have to establish an equilibrium of coexistence with the Shadows. Little things like this might help.”

Aisha scoffed. Her gaze moved to a scorched wall clock. “Do what you want. I’ll go get the guard. I haven’t interrogated him yet, and his rounds will bring him by this place soon. I had him ignore this area, thinking he’d already checked it. The effects of the potion won’t last forever.”

“This doesn’t have to be a big deal. He might not know anything. Let’s keep this short and to the point.

“How do we do that?” Aisha asked, sounding doubtful.

“All we need to ask him for is the name and address of whoever is most likely to know where the shards are coming in. If he claims he doesn’t know about them, we ask about special cargo.” Lyssa shrugged. “Easy.” She lifted a hand and cloaked it in darkness. “After that, I’ll handle it if necessary.”

“You’re going to kill him?” Aisha asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course not.” Lyssa lowered her hand. “I might not have a handy hypnosis potion, but I can put them to sleep just fine.”

Aisha snickered. “I can do that.”

“Using the spell will last longer, and it hurts them less. We’re supposed to avoid unnecessary pain and death unless our lives are directly in danger, remember?”

Aisha snorted. “These are criminal scum.”

“Maybe.” Lyssa shrugged. “But we shouldn’t make too many assumptions.”

“Do what you want with your otherwise inferior power,” Aisha said and looked away.

“Let me get my batons, and let’s go have a chat.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

After convincing the guard to leave the cameras disabled and putting him to sleep, the two Sorceresses strolled out the front door and walked away from the warehouse, still clad in full regalia. Even with their damage, it would have been an impressive sight if it weren’t a deserted industrial area in the middle of the night with no one to see.

“Where are we going?” Jofi asked.

Lyssa blinked. She’d followed Aisha without thinking. The other woman had been confident while walking out of the building, but it wasn’t like their new target, a man named Chad Sellers, lived across the street.

The guard had given them the name, address, and directions, along with a cheerful confirmation that Chad would know where everything was. He was important, the guard insisted, far more important than anyone responsible for watching the warehouse at night.

Aisha strolled into an alley and headed toward a dumpster. Lyssa followed, unsure of what was going on until Aisha ducked behind the large metal box.

Flames enveloped her body. A short black skirt, a blue top, and calf-high boots replaced her dramatic regalia. She pulled her mask off and folded it into a tiny square before palming it.

Lyssa transformed her regalia into jeans, a t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. Her cuts and burns remained. Someone stumbling across them might think they’d gotten into a nasty fight in the alley, and that wasn’t far from the truth.

Lyssa cleared her throat. “Uh, Jofi pointed something out to me.”

“What?”

“Where are we going, exactly?”

“I have a car I rented under a false identity.” Aisha nodded at the other end of the alley. “It’s around the corner. I’ll have to drive to the location to interrogate Sellers. I’d rather not wait for him to arrive at the warehouse.”

“That’s okay. I’ll revert to being the full Night Goddess and get my bike.” Lyssa peered at her. “I don’t know why or how the Elders got their wires crossed on this, but neither of us is the kind of person who’s going to back off, and I think we both want this over with as quickly as possible. Two Torches can clear out a bunch of shard-users a lot faster than one. Whatever happens with Sellers, I doubt this situation will end with the gangsters apologizing and promising nicely never to do it again.”

“I don’t need your…” Aisha sighed in exasperation. “You’re right. The good of the Society must be placed above my desires. You can help me. You’re good for a few things, Corti, even if you’re a thief.”

“Will you shut up about that already?” Lyssa glared at Aisha, not wanting to repeat the old, tired fight. “Even if my mom hadn’t chosen the Night Goddess and even if the regalia had rejected her, it wouldn’t have mattered to you. There was no one in your family at that time or in your generation with a compatible essence. No one stole anything.”

“That’s not the point.” Aisha sounded more sullen than angry. “It should have waited for a Khatri. The tradition should have been maintained.”

“Well, it didn’t happen. Get over it before you make another mistake like tonight.” Lyssa waved a hand dismissively. “Park up the street from the address since you can’t hide your car like I can my bike.”

“I’m not an idiot, Corti.”

“No, but you do impulsive crap that raises my blood pressure. The sooner we get this job over with, the sooner we can go back to hating each other.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Fifteen minutes later, Lyssa and Aisha were hidden in the shadow of an empty house a couple of blocks down the street from Chad Seller’s place. They had confirmation of the man’s appearance from a local news article on Lyssa’s phone. They had no way of confirming the guard’s story, but the details rang true, especially the way the guard kept referring to Chad as “important” and “one of the boss’s favorites.”

Illuminated Society Torches weren’t cops. They were trained in combat to execute the lethal will of the Society when diplomacy wasn’t an option. Giving governments