An Interesting Bookstore and a Beautiful Woman - Part Six
Or how else would you like to spend a day?
Previously On - The houngan sends Laurent to the bookstore where more answers could be found to his current situation. The man who brought him here did his mystical shopping there.
Once I had broken my fast I moved towards the bookstore. A slip of paper on my breakfast tray gave me the name of the store and its proprietor. The sign read “Hunter’s Books” and from the lights I saw that someone was in even at this early hour.
I walked through the door and a bell chimed in the back. I ducked low to avoid the handful of charms that adorned the corners of the doorposts. I didn’t sense any active magic, but there may have been some silver in the bunch.
“Be there in a minute.” A voice called from the back. It didn’t have the lilting quality of a local’s accent. It was harder edged and a deep bass.
I touched the hilt of the Bowie knife sheathed at my back and considered my options. It would be satisfying to intimidate the man in light of my humiliations over the past twelve hours. I would play it a bit nicer to begin with though.
“Take your time.” I browsed the shelves, burdened with old books and new. Most of them fell under the category of “New Age”. There was little new about what they spouted and little of any use I could see. There were also a variety of trinkets and baubles all of which looked cheap and devoid of any real power. I didn’t imagine he would keep anything of real value out front.
The owner was a broad shouldered white man. He was dressed in blue jeans and an olive, long sleeved, button down shirt. His thick brown hair was brushed straight back, but stray hairs curled down to frame his face. Blue eyes shone with intelligence and friendliness. “What can I help you with, sir?”
“Does the name Willy Sparkles mean anything to you?”
The man’s eyes turned cool. “You don’t look like a cop. What’s your interest in Willy?”
“He and I crossed paths recently. He had a paper that contained a ritual. He told me that he got it from this shop. Is that true?”
The man walked behind his shop counter and looked more comfortable with some solid wood between us. “Well I don’t suppose there’s any reason to lie to you. Sure, he got some things from me over the last few days. Are you a practitioner?”
I raised an eyebrow. “I... dabble. As did Willy from what I could tell.”
“I’m sorry, Hunter Payne’s my name. What’s yours?”
“You can call me Laurence.”
“Alright, Laurence. I’d say that Willy had some real talent, though no focus. What he wanted was some major stuff, not for dabblers.”
I waved a hand. “Yes, yes, I saw it. It was very dangerous. Which begs the question, why on earth did you sell it to him?” I put some steel into the question.
Hunter’s eyes narrowed. “I believed it could help him.”
I snorted, thinking about how it did the opposite. I gestured at the racks around us. “Why do you carry this drivel?”
He put one hand on the counter and I realized that I couldn’t see the other one. “What can I help you with, sir?”
I stepped to the counter, letting both hands fall behind my back. “You can stop fucking around with powers you don’t understand and leave it to your betters. You can do that by giving me the book you got the ritual from and then burning this place to the ground. That will help everyone in this town.”
“I’m gonna have to ask you to leave, sir.”
I had never been that good at diplomacy with these lesser beings. I brought my left hand around to the front of my body slowly and held it out. “Forgive me, Mister Payne. It has been a difficult day for me.”
“For Willy too, considering he died last night.” I heard a metallic click from under the counter. “Would you know anything about that, Laurence?”
There was a dangerous energy in the air. I knew that he had armed a weapon. “Perhaps I do. I will exchange some information with you and then we can end this visit peacefully.” I wondered how he knew about Willy’s death.
“Fair enough. I don’t have the book that the spell came from. So, I can’t give it to you, at least not the original.”
“Where did you get the spell from then?”
“There’s a bookseller I know out in Colorado. He has it. He gave me the text of the spell over the computer.”
“Computer?” I searched the knowledge I had gotten from the man last night and found the reference. “Ah, so would you be able to get the rest of this text?”
“Maybe. It would take time and money. Do you have either?”
I shook my head. “I do have information that you would find useful. I can trade you a spell for it. Something suitably powerful in exchange for your time.”
“I can do barter. What do you know about Willy’s death?”
“I went to see him last night and found him dead. I’m looking for the man that killed him. It has something to do with that spell and the book it was in.”
Hunter’s face softened and he brought both hands above the counter. “I’ll help you all I can then. Willy was a little messed up, but he was a good kid. I’ll still take the spell in barter. Since you know a little about how he may have died, you may want to talk to his sister.”
“I understand that she is part of the constabulary.”
He looked over my shoulder and smiled, then he looked back at me, nodding. “And there she is.”
I spun on my heel sharply and the intake of breath surprised even me. The woman that was about to enter Hunter’s establishment was beautiful. Humans use that word all too frequently for any manner of things. They called animals, cars, weapons, scenery by that term. They spent it like a rich man throws away pearls. And I don't mean that her form was beautiful, though in human terms the full lipped mouth, sable hair, and simmering brown eyes would all be more than sufficient by themselves. I mean that there was a spark in her that no human I had ever met would have.
The energy screamed "Don't fuck with me. I'm the one does the fucking with around here." That probably earned her the other throw away human word, "cocky". She also had a power that shimmered in the air around her like desert heat. I couldn't wait to see how that manifested itself, even if it meant it was pointed at me.