The Price of Exorcism

to learn touse a sword. Could come in handy."
Aaron raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, sure. Thatsounds really interesting."
My heart skipped a beat. Wouldn't that be delicious towatch.
Mal shot a sly smirk my way before he turned hisattention back to Aaron. "We can start this afternoon. I need to head intothe shop for a little while, anyway."
Mal co-owned an occult store with a woman namedOlivia. I was supposed to go hang out with her at some point soon, but I'd beenavoiding that. She was pretty awesome, but I still felt weird about it. No ideawhy. Olivia did most of the work at the shop but Mal did spend some time there.
"That sounds great, Mal. Thank you," Aaronsaid.
"Cool. I gotta head to the restaurant for a bit.You boys have fun and I'll see you in a few hours."
I got up, telling my ovaries to shut it for a while,and headed back outside.
The trip to work was short and did nothing to curb mydesire, but the flashing red and blue lights at the shop cooled my ardor prettyfast. What the hell now?

Chapter 2
Price
There was an ambulance, a fire truck, and a cop car allcrammed into the parking lot. It looked like some sort of medical thing, as afew paramedics were crouched over someone prone on the ground.
I parked quickly and hurried over.
"What happened?" I didn't see Billy andthought that was strange. Normally he would have been around for something likethis.
My phone vibrated and I pulled it out. It was Billy'snumber.
"Who are you?" The paramedic gave me anappraising look.
"Owner. Just got here."
"We're not sure. We just got here a few minutesago. Seems like the guy passed out at the doorway."
"Oh." Oh, shit. The wards.
Billy ran outside, keeping me between him and theunconscious guy on the ground.
Yeah, that guy was probably possessed or something.
"Hey, Boss. Yeah, so that guy just kinda actedlike he bounced off of nothing then passed out on the ground." He twistedhis hands together. Billy knew what that meant. So did the rest of my staff.That's probably why they'd been hiding inside.
I nodded and knelt next to the unconscious dude.Mayhem was at my side and he must have done something because the paramedicsdidn't question me as I murmured a reveal spell, just in case it was one of thedelinquents from last month sporting a demon imbued charm. I didn't have thenormal components of the spell, but it worked, anyway. The spell tugged my handtoward the guy's wrist. Bingo. I yanked the bracelet off, though the host didn'treact.
Since the last time I'd done this had put me in prettyclose contact with the demon inside the charm, I'd increased my personal wardswith Mal's help to prevent that from happening again. I could feel the demonsquirming around inside the charm, but it couldn't contact me otherwise unlessI allowed it.
The paramedics, oblivious to my interference, got theguy on the stretcher and rolled him toward the ambulance.
"Thanks, Mayhem."
The Pomeranian shaped hellhound wagged his tail.
I slipped the charm inside a silk lined bag and shovedit in my jacket pocket. Right next to the holy water.
Now I wished I'd gotten a chance to find out theeasier way to get Prince Ezra's demons out of these charms. He'd said he had abetter way, but I hadn't had the time to follow up on that conversation. MaybeI'd just ask Aaron to melt the thing. His angelic nature put a serious hurt onthe charms, and it was easier than sacrificing a crystal to the cause.Especially since I didn't have any handy. Of course, I seemed to recall Aaronsaying it hurt like a bitch, so maybe I should have Mal bring some crystalshome with him. Then we'd have options.
"So, that's it then?" Billy asked once theparamedics had left. "Just take a bracelet off of him and he's good?"
"Yeah, this is one of the creeps sporting a demonin a charm. I'll take care of the actual demon when I'm done here."
"It's safe?"
"The bag I put it in is sealed with a containmentspell. It'll stay isolated in there until I can release it later. Send it backto hell and all." I shrugged.
Billy shook his head. "That is so cool."
"Naw, it's bloody scary is what it is."
"You're not scared," he pointed out.
"Got a good poker face. Come on, let's look atthat paperwork you wanted to show me."
He nodded, not questioning me further. "Oh,Chris, the new shirts came in. I've been handing them out."
"Great. Any of the customers freak out yet?"
Billy chuckled and shook his head. "Think we'llget a few, but most everyone loves it."
"I'm sure I'm going to hell for a lot of things I'vedone, but this might be the icing on the cake."
Billy shot me a concerned look. I shrugged in reply.
I followed Billy inside, hoping that the containmentspell on the bag I'd put the charm in worked as advertised and I wasn't aboutto get zapped by my own wards. Fortunately, I'd done my job and I passed insideto the blessed air conditioning with no issue.
The smell of marinara, garlic, and yeasty dough chasedthe dry desert scents away, lifting me up and making my stomach grumble as if Ihadn't eaten a huge breakfast not that long ago.
I waved to a few of my staff and caught a few curiouslooks from some of the customers who probably weren't regulars as we wentthrough the dining area and into the kitchen.
The cooks worked with a cheerful banter and other thana quick wave, I left them to it. The restaurant was busy with the early lunchcrowd.
"Hey, where's Sabian. We haven't seen in him in awhile and were concerned."
I used to have a rule about not bringing people I wasseeing around the shop. Part of that was my questionable taste in men, and partof it was that I knew nothing would be permanent, anyway, so why have them comearound. That had changed with Sabian, Mal, and Aaron and I was pretty sure thestaff had figured out that I was seeing all of them, and that the guys didn'tmind. Especially since we all ate here often enough together as