The Dead (The Thaumaturge Series Book 1) by Cal Matthews

Author:Cal Matthews
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Gay & Lesbian, Gay, Lgbt, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fiction, Fantasy, Gay Fiction, Paranormal & Urban, Genre Fiction, Literature & Fiction
Published: 2015-08-05T07:00:00+00:00

When we finally reached my store, Marcus immediately settled himself in the chair by the front window and set to work on his food, all before I could even get the key wrestled out from the lock. I stood in the doorway, knocking the water off my boots and watched him, enjoying the sight of him eating. It felt faintly voyeuristic, seeing him do something so completely, mundanely human. Almost intimate. He glanced up, mouth already full, and saw me watching him. “What?”

“Nothing,” I said, and headed to the back room with my face flushing.

We passed the rest of the morning companionably. The pipes were in good shape, but once started I found that there were plenty of small tasks that needed my attention. I stocked some new products, swept up the storeroom, and worked on repairing the touchy electrical system in the tiny bathroom in the very back corner of the building. It was little more than a water closet, hadn't been updated since the building had been built in the late 1890s, but I sorely wanted a bathroom that I didn't have to share with my customers.

Marcus eventually wandered back to see what I was doing, and found me seeing to the dozen or so fresh plants I grew in the back under UV lighting. His face registered surprise, and I supposed it did rather look like some sort of illegal growing operation, but I saw him relax a bit when he recognized some of the more common herbs.

“So how did you end up doing this?” he asked, hopping up to sit on a stool, his long legs swinging in front of him.

“I just sort of fell into it.”

“Odd thing to fall into,” he observed, watching me.

“I suppose it is. How did you end up doing witchcraft?”

“Eh,” he said dismissively. “There's really nothing interesting about that. I met Shaina in college. She was way into it already, had been since high school.” he gave a low chuckle. “I kinda thought that she was a freak.”

“Imagine that,” I said dryly, and he tossed a dried aloe stalk at my head.

“But I felt like there was something to it. 'Cause I could, you know, feel stuff. Feel energy.” he shrugged. “Turns out she was right.”

“But how did you get into it?” I pressed. “You didn't drop out of college, obviously, if you graduated, so how did you explain to your parents that you aren't an engineer?”

He blinked at me. “Who says I'm not an engineer? I have a job, you know.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense. Not a lot of money in professional witchery, I'll bet.”

He snorted. “But my parents. Oh God, they're horrified. Can you imagine? It's bad enough having a gay son, but a gay son who is a witch? And we're black? My father hasn't been able to look me in the eye for a year.”

“So you're . . . out?” I asked quietly, avoiding his eyes by carefully snipping some mint from plant.

“Yeah,” he said, as though it were a stupid question.

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