Sinners & Sorcerers: Four Urban Fantasy Thrillers by Scott Nicholson, Robert J. Crane, Daniel Arenson, S.M. Reine, J. R. Rain Page A

barely managed to claw at my face as he fell. My own boils erupted, pouring pus down my jaw.
    Both of them regained their footing and jumped on me at the same time. We scuffled, and I didn’t know who was yelling and which guy was elbowing me. Feet and fists slammed into me. I curled up, protected my head. Managed to kick Joey to the ground, and he stayed down. But Eduardo didn’t.
    When I glanced through my arms, he was drawing a gun from his jacket. He aimed it at my forehead.
    All the supernatural ways I could’ve gone out in this world, and a bullet between the eyes was going to finish me.
    How boring.
    The gunshot rang in my ears.
    But I wasn’t in pain.
    I wasn’t dead, either.
    It took me a second to sit up and figure what had happened. Eduardo was on the ground next to me, also still alive, but out cold. Stonecrow was holding a bloody rock in one fist, looking shocked that she had actually managed to bash it into his skull hard enough to do damage.
    I’d thought Stonecrow had run for it and left me behind, but she had saved me.
    I managed a grin for her.
    Joey was getting up behind her, preparing to sneak up while she was distracted. I got to my feet and kicked him a few times in the gut, knocking him back down to the dirt. And then I kicked him in the face. Pustules exploded all over the desert.
    “Thanks,” Stonecrow said, pushing a lock of hair out of her face with the back of her wrist. She left a smear of blood and dust on her temple.
    I kicked Joey again, just because.
    “You’re welcome,” I said.
    + + +
     
    There were more zip ties in the SUV, so once Stonecrow and I had cut free of our restraints, I used them on Eduardo and Joey. They were both awake when I finished. Eduardo seemed like he was having a hard time staying awake, head lolling—he might have had a concussion, but I didn’t really care. Joey was much more conscious and much uglier.
    I crouched in front of them. The sun was at their back because I was nice like that. Evening was coming fast. They might not even get sunburned before it got dark again.
    “So how was this supposed to end?” I asked. “Was it secret Union procedure, or something personal?”
    Instead of answering, Joey said, “Are you fucking stupid?”
    Well, yeah, that was a possibility. But I wasn’t the one tied up in a ditch. I couldn’t be that stupid.
    Eduardo worked his mouth around, gathering saliva on his tongue, then spat on the ground at my feet.
    Nice.
    Stonecrow jiggled my shoulder before I could ask more questions. I brushed her off, but she did it again. “What?”
    “Shouldn’t we be leaving?” She was looking at the abandoned SUV.
    She had a point. All of the OPA’s cars had GPS trackers in them. Just because we were alone for the moment didn’t mean that we’d be alone for long. “Works for me.” I patted my pockets and made sure my notebooks were where I’d put them. I’d grabbed all of my stuff out of the SUV while looking for the zip ties, and the desert would’ve been a bad place to accidentally drop them. “Let’s get out of here.”
    “You can’t just leave us here!” Joey cried as we walked toward the car.
    I didn’t tell him we could. Actions spoke louder than words.
    Anyway, it wouldn’t be long before the Union picked them up.
    Unfortunately.
    I yanked the cable to the GPS tracker under the car before taking off again.
    Once we were back on the highway, I pulled the phone out of my pocket and tossed it into Stonecrow’s lap. “I’ll read you a number, and I want you text this location to the number.”
    “What location? I’ve got no clue where the hell we are.”
    I parked the car by the side of the road. “Here, I’ll do it.”
    She didn’t let me pull the phone from her hands.
    I rubbed my forehead then winced. I was still covered in blisters. The sun had only made it worse. “You can pull our coordinates up on the app on the phone. Give it to me.”
    She scowled but obeyed. I grabbed our coordinates from the