WITCH SHIfT

JPW

“Fine I admit I screwed up but she said she was still going to talk to her dad, so she will. I might not know much, but I do know when someone is on the up and up.” I said to the quiet Harv. He was mad because I was insensitive. Hell I was always insensitive; he should know that by now.

“I wonder if she is right. If I’m not cursed anymore, will we be friends, or are you just going to think I’m just another lousy human?”

“Harv, relax, I like you. No matter what you are. We are going to continue working together for years.” I said meaning it.

“Then why do you treat her so bad?” He asked finally looking up at me from the desk he worked at. “When you thought she was human you hated her, and when you knew she was a witch with no powers it was like she was contagious. What is wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” I said pissed. “Humans hate our kind, they always have. I just hate them back.”

“That makes sense. That will fix everything.” He said with sarcasm.

“Fine, believe me or don’t. I don’t want to talk about it or her. Let’s get back to work.” I said trying to stop this conversation.

“Works for me,” he said smiling. “I wonder if she would like to go out with me.”

“Why not, Harper has dated everyone in town. She’s a water nymph, it’s what they do.”

“Not her, Maryse, she is really pretty.”

“Seriously, you would date another witch after what that other one did to you? Dude you have issues.”

Harvey thought for a moment. “But she doesn’t have any powers. It would be like dating a human if you think about it.”

“Stick to Harper, it’s safer.” I said back.

“It wasn’t for you. She hurt you pretty good.”

“Enough, we have work to do. Let’s see if the herb shipment came in. The local witches are chomping at the bit for the Nottingham slivers.”

Maryse

“Thanks dad,” I said into the phone.

“I said I would look into it Mar. I’m not promising anything. You know the whole family was shunned. They won’t be easy to find, and if I do, they probably won’t talk to me.”

“If they don’t they are stupid. You aren’t on the council and you are a doctor. They may need you some day. They won’t take a chance of making you mad. Love you, I have to get to work.”

“Love you too honey,” he said and then we both hung up.

I got the invoices for the deliveries for the bar today and I was going to make sure there were no shortages. That way we could move on with whatever was bothering those two bar owners.

Invoices in hand I was at Keggers before the truck pulled in. I didn’t recognize the driver, but I didn’t know everyone in distributing, so I wasn’t surprised. He yanked open the side doors the pallets were behind and a bunch of shifters came out to start moving product.

“Why are you here?” Lincoln said walking out behind them.

“You said you were getting shorted. I am here to make sure you don’t.” I said back.

“Oh girl you are setting yourself up for a world of hurt. We have come to expect it; you are going to learn hard.” He said walking out to help with the order.

I ignored him and counted with the driver, who did not look happy, as cases were unloaded and kegs were taken off. When we were all done Lincoln was right. They were short two kegs and at least fifty cases.

“How can you not know you were short that much?” I asked the driver.

“I just drive. The truck is loaded before I get there.” He said smirking.

“Fine, I noted the bill. You will initial it to agree with what I saw.”

“Um, no I won’t be doing that.” He said like he was pissed.

“Oh you will.” I said smiling. “If you don’t you can load it all back up and we will refuse the entire load.”

“The fuck I will,” he said reaching for his phone.

I was reaching for mine as well. I called Anna but she didn’t answer. Then I called Mr. North and he didn’t answer either. It felt like I was being ghosted.

“My boss wants to talk to you,” the driver said handing me his phone with a big smile.

“This is Maryse.” I said into the phone.

“This is Charlie. What are you doing?”

Charlie was the plant supervisor. He was directly under Mr. North. “The truck is short. I’ve been here for the entire unloading. Your driver refuses to acknowledge that it was short.”

“They get what we give them.” He said on the other end.

“I was sent here for this very problem. Mr. North will hear about this.”

“You stupid girl, he’s the one that told us to do it.” He said laughing.

I was shocked. Then the more I thought about it, the more pissed I was getting. He had always treated me bad, but he was an asshole, so I didn’t think much about it. Now, though, it made sense, he didn’t like paranormals, he was a bigot, son of a bitch.

It was time to quit playing nice. “Fine, I’ll see what the witches council thinks of this. Tell Mr. North that I will let all the councils know what is going on.”

I slapped the phone shut and handed it back to the driver. “You won’t sign the shortages sheet?”

“Never going to happen,” the driver said smug.

“Fine, we won’t either.” Then I waved my hands in some fancy ass formation. He looked at me and then his eyes began getting big.

“What are you doing?” He asked scared.

“Who me? I’m not doing anything, now” I said as I finished waving my arms around.

“They said you have no magic.” He said pointing at me. “That was the reason they hired you and not a shifter for the warehouse.”

“Well, I can’t make you fly away or anything like my sister can. So in that sense I don’t have any.” I said smiling.

“What the hell did you do to me? I’ll tell Mr. North. You can’t do this. I’ll call my lawyer.” He said panicking.

“I didn’t do anything.” I said smugly like he did before when he wouldn’t sign the paper. “I just wish you would have signed and delivered what you promised, oh well.”

I turned my back and began walking away. He grabbed me from behind and spun me around. “Whatever you did you better undo it right now.”

He threatened me and before I could say anything Lincoln was beside me. “I would suggest you take your hands off the lady.”

He let go quickly, very quickly. “This isn’t the end. I’m calling Mr. North and telling him what you did to me.”

“What did I do?” I asked with little concern.

“It’s illegal for a witch to cast a spell on a human. You’re going to jail.”

“Prove it,” I said back. “In the meantime good luck, you’ll need it.”

He just about ran to his truck and drove away leaving one of the bays open on the truck side. He was going down the road before Lincoln turned to me. “I’ve never seen a spell performed like that.”

“Probably not,” I said smirking. “I don’t have any powers but I saw it on a movie once. It looked really good didn’t it?”

“He thought so. The problem is now I won’t get any more deliveries. That’s why we don’t get too loud about the shortages, I need alcohol to keep the bar going and I bet Al won’t get his delivery tomorrow. He will not be happy.”

“I’m tired of being treated like a second class citizen. We deserve the same respect as anyone else. If you’ll excuse me I have some calls to make.” I said walking away. My first call was going to the East Coast Coven, my last name had enough pull to get me that far.