Read 0.5-The Asylum Interviews: Bronx: An Asylum Tales Short Story for Free Online Page A

my face. It must have been what he was looking for, because he finally chuckled. “You can keep the wards, but that’s all. I’ll be watching you.”
    The warlock walked out of the apartment, closing the door behind him. My shoulders slumped and I released the pent-up breath. My hands shook with a combination of rage and relief. This was my life. I’m constantly looking over my shoulder, waiting for Gideon to smack me down while praying that someone else from the Ivory Towers didn’t accidentally stumble over me and kill me because I was still breathing.
    But Gideon was right about one thing. I couldn’t stop using magic. It had taken me months to learn not to wave my hand to turn on a light, flush the toilet, or warm my cooled coffee. I needed the touch of magic curling around me. More so, I needed to feel it move through me and into whatever act I was trying to accomplish, connecting me to something bigger for only a second or two. Gideon was waiting for an excuse to kill me, and there was no doubt in my mind that one day I would hand him that excuse.
    For now, none of it mattered. I needed to help my friend with his tattoo and interesting case of rampant sexual lust.

 
    C HAPTER F OUR
    I heard footsteps creaking overhead just seconds before my cell phone vibrated twice in my pocket. Checking one last time that the sign was still in place on the locked front door, I slipped out the back door of the shop with my journal in hand and pounded up the stairs. Before Parker’s call alerting me to his arrival, I had to track down Bronx. Since I hadn’t bothered to get his number the night before, I was forced to call Kyle at Tattered Edge. I made it sound like I was doing a background check on the troll in reference to a job. It was a relief to hear that Kyle regarded Bronx’s work highly and that the troll was officially licensed through TAPSS. Before hanging up, I made a lame excuse and got Bronx’s number.
    After piercing his groggy, sleep-induced fog, the troll was stunned by the news that there was a complication with Parker’s tattoo. And then he was even more upset that there was nothing that he could do about it until after the sun set. Trolls could not go out in sunlight without turning to stone. There were other races that were sensitive to sunlight, but for trolls and vampires, it was lethal. I wrote down the list of ingredients and details on the tattoo itself in my journal along with some notes on possible fixes. Unfortunately, none of the ingredients I had thought of to fix the tattoo were easy to get.
    The air vibrated with energy just outside the door to the apartment. The collection of glyphs and symbols scrawled across the wood in black chalk created a pair of barriers to hold in the power that was rolling off Parker. The first barrier started at the foot of the stairs leading up to the second floor, while the second and stronger barrier was at the doorway and around the apartment. After Gideon left, I went around and double-checked everything I had done. I was glad I had. The ward was holding, but just barely. The energy coming off Parker’s spell was pushing and bowing against my own wards, fighting to reach me. If I learned anything from this mess, it was that the power of an incubus was far stronger than I had initially believed.
    Parker must have heard my footsteps because he jerked open the door before I could convince myself to reach for it. He looked more than a little haggard with his hair standing on edge and white T-shirt inside out. He must have run out the door once he got Jill subdued, grabbing clothes as he left without looking at them.
    “Don’t come out!” I shouted, holding up one hand to stop him as he took a step toward me. “And don’t smear the chalk on the door frame.”
    Parker raised both hands above his head and took a step back, moving so that I could enter the apartment, but I didn’t. “What’s all of this?” he demanded, motioning toward the largest symbol on the