Free Burned (A Magic Bullet Novel Book 1) by A. Blythe

caught sight of my copper cuffs. "It's those things, right? They keep you trapped as a human?"
    Well, the mystery was fun while it lasted.
    "I prefer to think of it as djinni-challenged." I had to do a better job of biting my tongue if I expected to get out of here in one piece. Even though Niko had promised me safe passage, he was no longer the thug in charge and O'Leary clearly had nothing to tell me about my burn notice.
    O'Leary looked me over again, assessing me. "I like your moxie, Miss Winters. You know what moxie is?"
    "Me and every Jewish person over forty."
    He smiled and I noticed the yellowish tint of his teeth. "Why were you looking for me?"
    "I need information."
    "And you thought I could help?" He pretended to look flattered. "What kind of information?"
    "It doesn't matter." He wasn't able to help and the less people who knew my business, the better.
    O'Leary stepped closer and lowered his voice. "It matters to me. Tell me, Miss Winters."
    I was going to throttle Flynn the next time I saw him. For so many reasons.
    "The Shadow Elite issued a burn notice and sent me packing. I want to know who cuffed me and why. A friend of mine thought you might have sources with that kind of information."
    O'Leary gave me an appraising look. "You were an Elite agent?"
    I nodded. "I trained at the Academy. PAN wanted me to stay, but I chose to go." And I was still in the Marida court's royal doghouse for joining the Shadow Elite. The Marida were proud rulers. They felt that it was beneath a Marid to work in shadow intelligence. Those jobs were better left to sneaky Shaitans.
    "And now your employer has fired you and cut off your powers." He tapped his chin with his index finger, thinking. "I'll see what I can find out for you. It might take time, though. Some sources are difficult to track down. Meanwhile, I expect you might be in need of employment."
    "Possibly." Definitely. "What are you thinking?" Desperate times called for desperate measures.
    "I've been looking for something. Maybe you can help me find it."
    "I'm listening." If I was lucky, maybe it would be a runaway dog.
    "A family heirloom went missing a few weeks ago. I want it back and I want the asshole who took it."
    Not a runaway dog then.
    "What kind of heirloom?" I doubted it was as simple as a diamond broach.
    "A scian that was passed down from my ancestors."
    I refused to admit I didn't know what a scian was. Marida pride. "What does it look like?"
    He tilted his head upward, conjuring up its memory. "It's a beautiful single-edged dagger. Made from cold iron and copper. Exquisite piece."
    "I didn't realize the Irish were big on copper and iron heirlooms."
    "The ones who fought djinn were."
    So the dagger was basically designed to kill any and all djinn it came into contact with, and he wanted me to recover it for him. Lovely. He must have sensed my desperation. Otherwise, he never would have asked me to find such a dangerous weapon. Under different circumstances, I'd be retrieving a weapon like that in order to destroy it. Now I was nothing more than a dog, playing fetch for my new master. It sickened me.
    "I assume that you'll be able to handle the weapon, should you find it," O'Leary said. His eyes shifted to my cuffs.
    Back in Philly for two minutes and I was jumping in bed with the mob. The Marida court would go apoplectic if they got wind of this arrangement. In a perverse way, I took pleasure in the thought. I wasn't proud of it.
    "The cuffs don't make me completely immune, but the effect will be muted." Unless someone stabbed me with it. Then I'd be permanently muted. I wouldn't let that happen, though.
    "So do you accept?" he asked and extended his hand in anticipation.
    What choice did I have? I was broke, unemployed and shackled and heavily indebted to my best friend.
    "I do," I said and we shook on it.

8
    F arah and I wandered through the armory, first to be sure that she hadn't inadvertently acquired O'Leary's scian. Once we satisfied ourselves that