“What do kids like these days? Slime? Drugs?" Michaela wondered as she swirled her fourth bottomless mimosa.

  "Please don't get my toddler drugs or slime."

  "You get them those robots you play with by screaming at them, obviously." I chimed in.

  Lainey didn't seem amused. "Not that either, Beatrix."

  "I gotta make a return, then," I said with a wide smile. My phone vibrated in my pocket. I considered getting a second phone specifically for Coven's business. Or the second phone could be for personal use, given how little personal use I get. "Is there anything else you and Adelice need for the party?"

  "No, Ads has this completely handled." Lainey smiled dreamily. They had been the sappy, always-in-love couple in our trio since they met at some nightclub Lainey and Mickey always liked to sneak out to when we were teens. Mickey said the bouncer had lousy eyesight. My mom would have had me drawn and quartered if I dared to join them. "She's good at hosting. I'm happy it leaves me to the kitchen away from everyone else."

  "I'm with you on that." I held up the mimosa I'd been nursing the entire brunch. "Let's get the check before Mickey is too drunk to shop."

  "I'm fine." She spilled what remained in her wine glass. "Okay, let's get the check."

  We paid for our brunch and set off down the little promenade of shops. My phone buzzed some more in my pocket. Mickey groaned. "Do you ever get a day off?"

  "No." I sighed. There was always something that was deemed an emergency. It seldom was. "I want to change my hair." It was a bid for control of my life. I had that conversation with my therapist. My therapist, who was also a witch, affiliated with my Coven, which brought up some ethical concerns, but my options for paranormal therapists were quite limited. I was going to dye my hair.

  "There's a hair supply shop down the street." Mickey pointed out.

  "I think blue would look really good." Lainey agreed. "You haven't done blue since college."

  ~*~

  There was something about Happy Birthday. It would sound wrong in tune. The birthday girl, Maeve, was bouncing in her seat as one of her mothers carried her birthday cake slowly towards her, four flames lit atop it. Adelice set it down in front of her. The birthday girl took a deep breath as the song came to a crescendo and blew as hard as her little lungs could. Everyone clapped, and Lainey began cutting and distributing the cake.

  “What did you wish for?” Michaela leaned in, and stage whispered to Maeve after she was handed her cake. The freshly minted four-year-old turned and glared at her.

  “It won’t happen if I tell.”

  “I’ll keep it a secret,” Michaela assured her.

  “Don’t listen to her. Mickey can’t keep a secret to save her life.” I said jokingly as I passed a slice of cake to Lainey’s younger daughter, Holly. The two-year-old immediately dug in with her hands.

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  “It’s true. She’s a huge gossip,” Lainey warned as she handed Ellen a slice of cake.

  “It’s an aunt’s responsibility to gossip, right?” Michaela declared with a roll of her eyes. “I happen to have an in with the birthday wish fairy.”

  “Don’t joke about things like that with the children.” Ellen chastised from across the table.

  “Unnecessary cavorting with the fae. Almost as bad as a demon.” I joked as I leaned back in my chair and smiled at the scene

  “Alright, who wants cake?” Addy called from the kitchen. Maeve and her older sister Holly took off before any of the adults could even stand. I stood up to follow them when my phone went off. I pulled it out and let out an exasperated sigh.

  “It’s Meredith Wilcox. I’ve got to take it.”

  “Fuck her, it’s Maeve’s birthday.” Declared Mickey.

  “Don’t listen to her; take the call.” Ellen motioned me towards the other room to take the call. I really wanted to listen to Mickey. Fuck Meredith Wilcox. Yet, I know she’ll be even more annoyed if I leave it to voicemail and call her back later. I turned and walked into Lainey’s living room to take the call.

  ~*~

  I went over the list Meredith Wilcox barked out over the phone, all specialty and only in Hell. She claimed they were all for her special fertilizer that grew tomatoes the size of pumpkins. Still, they had a suspicious overlap with a poultice that was better than any cosmetic surgery for aging. I wouldn’t call her out on it. A few more matriarchs of the coven reached out with their personal lists much more politely. Still, Meredith was never known for her courtesy. I had a list of items to restock the coven’s communal stores. Our coven was large, and each member had a life and complex needs. My job was to ensure that those needs regarding magic and protection were met.

  I did my phone-keys-wallet pat down, then walked to the door to the coat closet. We hung a whiteboard in the center. I grabbed a marker and grabbed the appropriate rune, then knocked once, twice, thrice. When I opened the door, it was a bustling room full of countless magical beings instead of my dusty collection of coats. It was halfway between a fantasy tavern with wooden rafters and bustling fire and a nightclub with the ever-present feeling of a baseline from the dance room on the lower level. I stepped into the bar and closed my door.

  Tatiana’s Teat was a Fairy Pocket, the little holes in reality fae created outside their primary realms. Fairies mostly profited from the needs of other paranormal creatures, so they set up shops, nightclubs, and all kinds of places where the magic could be magical. Some were easy to access, while others found the doors were quests in and of themselves.

  That easily accessed quality made Tatiana’s Teat one of the best places for meetings amongst the paranormal. The Night Market was alright, but you must travel to the entrance. With Tatiana’s Teat, all you needed to do was draw the appropriate symbols and knock on a door three times. You could get there anytime and anywhere.

  “Alright, I’m here.” Prince Ashpar appeared behind me and crouched down on the stool. The furniture in the Teat was designed to accommodate the various shapes and sizes paranormal creatures came in. Still, Princes of Hell tended to be on the taller side of the spectrum. I met a giant once in the Night Market, and they were much larger than Princes, but that was about it. Ten feet tall and about the same in width, it shook the ground with each step. Ashpar was tall, but he wasn’t wide. A swimmer’s build, I heard someone say once. Not scrawny, but not ridiculously brawny.

  I held out the stack of lists in my hand. “I need these.”

  He flipped through the lists. “This one’s expensive.”

  “Charge that one to the Wilcox account, not the coven account. Meredith is just terrified to get too close to a demon.” I forced myself not to roll my eyes. Half of my job seemed to deal with ridiculous old-fashioned notions like that. “She needs it ASAP. She wanted me to make sure you knew that.”

  “It can’t be that important if she didn’t come herself.” He shrugged and tapped his knuckles five times on the stack of papers. “I can schedule the delivery in three days. Maybe two if you ask very, very nicely.”

  I rolled my eyes and bit down a smile. “Pretty please, with a California reaper pepper on top, can you deliver the Wilcox order quickly?”

  “That’s a stereotype. I hate peppers.” The bartender set his usual drink down. He picked it up as he stood to his feet. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Thank you, Ashpar.”