Hexed

shit? « I said. The rabbi didn’t strike me as the negotiating type, so he must have hoped I’d just pick it up and say it was mine. The spell on the handle must do something nasty if anyone but the rabbi touched it.
    » Yes, think of it as a gift. «
    » My mom told me to beware of hairy men bearing gifts. «
    Father Gregory said at his stuffy English best, » It’s supposed to be Greeks bearing gifts. «
    I paused to regard him coolly. He was an odd fellow, considering he was clearly a British native and at least partially successful in the Catholic hierarchy yet also fluent in Russian and playing second violin to a Jewish guy who treated him like a trained show dog. Perhaps because of that, he demonstrated a desperate need to be right. Or righteous. Or both.
    » My mom didn’t know the Greeks existed, « I told him. » She was worried about cattle raiders coming out of what is now County Tipperary. «
    » Cattle raiders? But that was before St. Patrick’s time. How old are you? «
    » Don’t you know already? You pretend to know everything else about me, « I replied. » Shut up for a second while I check this out. «
    I wondered if the magical wards in my shop could snuff this Kabbalistic enchantment without much fuss. I’d never had the opportunity to test them against this kind of magic before, because they were designed to protect the place against spells from the Fae and from hell, as well as some of the more common forms of witchcraft. I’d run into a few Kabbalists here and there over the centuries, but they’d always been amiable sorts and I’d never had cause to think of them as antagonists, until now. This enchantment was still active because, essentially, it didn’t meet the definition of magic according to my existing wards. I was near certain it was naughty, especially if this would-be killer rabbi wanted me to touch it, so I directed the attention of my standing wards to the knife hilt and expanded my definition of magic to include the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The enchantment broke under the attack of my wards, and the red tracery of the juju faded. I flipped off my faerie specs and examined the hilt in normal vision. It was smooth black onyx inlaid with two sets of gold filigree characters. At the top, near the blade, were three Hebrew letters that spelled Netzakh , or victory , the seventh Sephirot in the Kabbalah. Underneath that, at the base of the hilt, was a curious logo that looked like a stylized capital P with a halo.
    » I’m confiscating this, « I announced, plucking it out of the carpet with no ill effect, much to the rabbi’s shock. » I accept no gift from you. When it comes to knives in my shop, I maintain a use-it-and-lose-it policy. « I twirled it in front of the rabbi’s face a couple of times to make sure he saw that his magic knife didn’t hurt me, then I walked calmly behind the counter of my tea station.
    » So how about it, Father, feel like making nice? If I was as evil as you seem to think I am, wouldn’t I be sucking the marrow from your bones right now or something colorful like that? Why don’t I brew us a cup of tea, I’ll release you guys, and we’ll just sit down and talk things over calmly? «
    » Ne doveryaite emu! « the rabbi spat in Russian. Don’t trust him . I still didn’t want to give away the fact that I understood everything he said, but maybe the priest would respond to a general plea.
    » Look, Father, « I said, » I don’t know what this guy is saying, but if he’s coaching you on manners or diplomacy, I think he’s shown definitively by now that he doesn’t know much about either one. «
    » His temper may be short, « the priest admitted, » but he was right to attack the wolf. «
    » What wolf? «
    » That man who entered the store was a werewolf. You cannot pretend you didn’t know this. «
    I wondered how they knew so quickly Hal was a werewolf, but I suspected that challenging them on the righteousness of their actions would get me closer to information about who they were. » Well, so what if he was? He was in human form and he wanted to buy a book. That’s no reason to kill him. «
    » Werewolves must be slain on sight! «
    » Says who? «
    The rabbi was thrashing about in his jacket, trying to get his arms free by pulling the whole cloth of the fabric over his head or … something. His hat fell off and his face was flushed, and his beard began to move again. I could have bound the bottom of his coat to the top of