Witch's Bell Book One

your shoes?'
    She instantly put a finger up to her lips. 'Shhh,' her tone was harsh, 'don't use that word around here – things might hear you.'
    He leaned in, face still a picture of sarcasm. 'You mean shoes?'
    She mouthed "Hell", then shrugged. 'Though honestly, a little trip down there might do you some good – beat a bit of manners and sense into you.'
    'Manners?' he said as he took off his suit jacket, handing it to her, 'I don't know what those are. But here's my jacket, if you're cold.'
    Ebony looked at the jacket, then up to him. She was trying to detect the joke, because she was sure that this had to be one. 'What are you playing at-' she began.
    'You're going to run around a cemetery in no shoes and a white cotton dress that's only going to get more see-through,' his voice wasn't filled with its usual irritating arrogance. 'I thought you could use a little... discretion.'
    Ebony looked down, expression alarmed. Darn. Sure enough, her dress was starting to go just a bit see-through - not that you could see all that much yet. But another ten minutes in the rain, and the world would know precisely the style and color of underwear bookstore-owning witches prefer. She grabbed at the jacket, throwing it on in a quick move.
    Nate just looked away, pretending to be more interested in the noises coming from the cemetery beyond.
    Once Ebony had finally managed to do up all the buttons on the jacket, she gave a little cough. 'Well,' she was, for once in her life, more than thankful the dark storm-clouds were out in force because at least Nate wouldn't be able to see the exact shade of pink she'd turned. 'Th... thank you,' she finally pushed the words out.
    Nate cracked a grin so large it looked as though his face was going to be split in two. 'What did you just say?' his head bobbed to the side, and he leaned in even closer. 'Because it couldn't have been what I just heard.'
    She clutched at the jacket, trying to ignore the subtle but just perceptible hint of cologne that emanated off the collar. 'I said thank you,' she raised her head in defiance. 'Like you will later, when I save your butt from ghosts.'
    'Okay,' he nodded, 'but you ruin the jacket, you pay for it.'
    Ebony blustered. 'That's not very gentlemanly!'
    'I wasn't being a gentlemen, remember? I don't have any manners. I was just covering you up so you don't distract the officers.'
    Ebony flashed her teeth. 'Are you calling me distracting, darling?'
    But before Nate could snap back a quick response, or hide a careful cough, Ben turned to them. his face was dripping with rain, his eyes sallow with the cold and a hint of dread. 'Okay, our guy's in the middle of the cemetery. He's got himself down into a crypt-'
    Ebony swore softly.
    'We don't know his name, but we're sure he's not a full-blown wizard or magician, or one of the other magical races.'
    'Hold on,' Nate put up a hand, 'how are we sure about that? I mean, if we don't have an ID?'
    'We're sure because he's still here, and not splattered against the headstones. No actual wizard would do something this idiotic; they're all regulated, like the witches. No one who actually knew the consequences would do something this absolutely horrible.'
    Ben took a shallow breath and continued: 'we know he's in a crypt, and we know he's got some kind of spell protecting the door-'
    Ebony swore again.
    'Well,' Nate rolled up his sleeves, the white fabric already distractingly see-through, 'can't we just bust in another side? Or break the spell? I mean, isn't that what Ebony does?'
    'This isn't a normal situation, Nate,' Ben sighed again, the growing shadows catching underneath his eyes and making him look more tired than Ebony had ever seen. 'Look Eb, explain it to him. We've got to wait for more police back-up anyway. You've got about five minutes, then we move.'
    Ebony took her own, deeper sigh, and angled her head to the heavens above. 'You've got about another five minutes till the sky opens up too,' she said under her breath. The ominous clouds, rolling in off the mountains beyond, were now fleeting towards them like crows on the wind. From the weather, to the day, the feel of the place – Ebony didn't like this one bit.
    Ben marched off, pulling his phone from his pocket as he did.
    'I don't get it, if this is so dangerous, why don't we just move?' Nate looked down at her. By now his shirt was all but transparent, allowing Ebony a complete view of the Detective's impressively-chiseled physique.
    And if it was