Free Blade Song by J.C. Daniels

hadn’t saved her kid. Witchery wouldn’t have saved the girl, either, but at least witchery wouldn’t have made the suffering worse.
    Mortal medicine had.
    The poor girl had lost so much weight, her hair, her strength…everything. All because they kept holding out hope.
    In the end, leukemia had gotten her anyway.
    Colleen didn’t bother coming out to greet me and I wasn’t surprised.
    I’d tried to convince the asshole bodyguard to wait in the car, but he didn’t. He was polishing up the fourth order of fries and standing three feet away as I lowered myself to sit in the dirt next to Colleen.
    “Hi, sweetheart,” she said absently, stripping away the dead leaves from a plant I couldn’t name. I knew my way around herbs and such, but Colleen liked the really exotic ones. I thought maybe this one was some sort of poppy. I couldn’t be sure, but the leaves looked right.
    “Hi, Leenie.”
    She frowned at the sound of my voice. I reached over at touched her hand, focusing hard. Witches were as different from one to another as shifters were. Different abilities, different gifts. Colleen had a gift for healing and empathy—it had made it that much harder on her when she hadn’t been able to heal her daughter. She caught the intensity of my thoughts, though, thank God, and didn’t speak out loud.
    What is wrong with your throat, Kitasa ?
    Her question came more in images and feelings than actual words, but I picked it up it up well enough.
    Don’t ask right now. But can you help ?
    She went to reach up and I caught her wrist, shaking my head.
    Sighing, she just stared into my eyes. There is a lot of damage. A lot of swelling. The bruising is just the beginning. I’m surprised you can talk. How is your breathing ?
    I shrugged. Hurts to swallow. Hurts to talk. Haven’t eaten a damn thing and it’s making me cranky .
    A husky laugh escaped her. “Imagine that. Come along.”
    As we walked by Damon, she gave him an ugly look.
    He snarled at her only to have the sound trapped in his throat. Literally. I felt the prickle of Colleen’s magic and it made something inside me feel all warm and fuzzy.
    I smiled. “Damon…this is Colleen Antrim. Of the Green Road Witches. She’s one of their Healers.”
    They were one of the strongest witch houses in the country. And even an asshole shapeshifter wasn’t going to fuck with one of their healers.
    I swept in front of her, letting myself smile a little.
    And it turned into a full-fledged grin a few minutes later when Colleen locked him out of her house. The door alone wouldn’t have kept him out. But the magic did.
    As she leaned back against it, the warmth of her wards settled around me and she folded her arms over her chest. “Okay. He can’t hear us now. Talk.”
    “Can you fix this first?”
     
    “There.” Her hands fell away and she studied my throat with critical eyes. “It’s the best I can do unless you want a full healing.”
    “I can’t.” Shaking my head, I got up and went to the mirror. I swallowed tentatively and sighed in relief. It ached a little, but it was more like the injury was a week old instead of hours. Grimacing, I stared at the mottled line of bruises that lingered. They’d faded to a sickly yellow and green that wasn’t really any more appealing than the blue and black from earlier. “Can’t you do anything about those?”
    “Not unless you want a full healing,” she said again.
    “No.” A full-healing would drain me and leave me down for a good twenty-four hours. I didn’t know if the crazy cat-bitch would give me twenty-four hours. And…blowing out a sigh, I let myself acknowledge the fact that I wouldn’t take time away from the job. The boy needed help. I needed rest and I’d let myself take it, but I sure as hell wasn’t going go down for a day just because I had a sore throat. After another look at my neck, I explained what had happened and looked up to find her watching me with resignation in her eyes.
    “Just what