“There you both are!”
My head snapped to the open doorway, where Lorraine stood, eyebrows raised and arched, her emerald green eyes narrowed. Lorraine is a Gestalt witch of the green order, which means that her magiks are in tune with nature and are deeply humane. Usually.
Her honey blond hair hangs past her waist and her fluttery, earth-toned wardrobe reflects her solidarity with natural harmony.
Unless you got on her bad side, which, today, I was.
Lorraine glared at my slip. “Can you wrap up your little lingerie fashion show and meet me in my office, please? And you”—Lorraine swung her head toward Nina, who was holding my damp dress under the hand dryer—“can you please break up Vlad’s empowerment meeting and get out to the main floor?”
I looked at Nina. “Vlad is still into the Vampire Empowerment Movement?”
Nina gave me her patented “Don’t even start” look, punched her fist in the air, and bellowed, “Viva la revalucion!” while slipping out the bathroom door.
I pulled my dress over my head under Lorraine’s annoyed stare, and then worked quickly to rearrange my mass of unruly hair. When Lorraine sighed—loudly—I wadded my curls into a bun and secured it with a binder clip, following her down the hall.
“Okay,” I said as we walked, “what’s up?”
Lorraine didn’t miss a step. She pushed a manila file folder in my hand with the blue tag—Wizards—sticking out.
“Nicholias Rayburn,” I read.
“Ring a bell?”
I frowned. “No. Should it?”
“How about ‘Three-Headed Dog Ravages Noe Valley Neighborhood’?”
“Mr. Rayburn did that?”
“No,” Lorraine said flatly. “You did.”
I raised my eyebrows, and Lorraine let out another annoyed sigh. “Nicholias Rayburn was here last week. Old guy, blue robe, pointy hat?”
I cocked my head. “Oh yeah. Now I remember him.”
“You should, because you allowed him to renew his magiks license.”
My stomach started to sink.
“Yeah. With his three-inch-thick cataracts and mild senility. You were supposed to withdraw his license and strip him of his magiks, but you didn’t, and he walked home, thought a fire hydrant was following him, and unleashed the hound of hell on the land of soccer mom. Not exactly great for our reputation.”
I felt my usually pale skin flush. “Whoops.”
Lorraine stopped walking and faced me, the hard line of her lips softening. “Look, Sophie, I know you’ve had a hard time. I understand that with all you’ve been through you’re going to make some mistakes, but you’ve got to be more aware.”
The events of the last year of my life flooded over me, and I blinked rapidly, trying to dispel the imminent rush of tears.
It had been rough.
While I had gone for nearly thirty years with nothing so much as an overdue library fine to raise any eyebrows, in the last twelve months I had become involved in a gory murder investigation, been kidnapped, attacked, hung by my ankles in an attempt to be bled dry— “And I know it’s got to be hard, what with Alex out of the picture and all.”
—and I had fallen in love with a fallen angel who had the annoying habit of dropping into my life with a pizza and a six-pack when things were supernaturally awful, and dropping out when things shifted into relatively normal gear.
I sniffed. “Thanks. It won’t happen again. I promise.”
“Let’s hope not. But why don’t you head out a little early today?” she said, squeezing my shoulder. “Get some rest and regroup.” Lorraine bit her lip and danced from foot to foot, then leaned in close to me. “Okay. I’m really not supposed to say anything, so this is just between you and me, okay? The main offices have found Sampson’s replacement. We’re supposed to have the new management in place by the end of the week. But its super hush-hush so don’t tell a soul.”
I mimed locking my lips shut and then turned on my heel, heading out to find Nina.
*