Wednesday Snippet - Oath Breaker

I thought now I'd officially started work on the sequel to BLOOD WITCH, it might be nice to start sharing snippets again (as long as I keep them non-spoilery). So I think this is a safe place to start.

I'm off to resist the temptation to start an actual Fort Rosser Fortean Twitter account...

"Mr. Trevino?" she called as she approached.

"Quieter!" he snapped.

Lola joined him under the tree, getting a proper look at him. He was younger than she'd imagined, probably in his early twenties. A silver lip piercing caught the smouldering light of the cigarette and when he raised his hand to smoke, she saw a thorny tattoo design around his wrist.

"You are Jonah though, right?" It would be annoying to be wrong, or find out this was some elaborate joke. Although he'd already paid the consultation fee, so the joke would be on him.

He pushed his hood back, revealing a shock of black hair. "You are Lola Guntram? Do you have ID?"

She'd never been asked for ID at a consultation before, but she silently handed over her driver's licence anyway. He pulled an LED torch from his jeans and inspected it thoroughly before nodding and handing it back. "It's pretty easy to fake ID these days," he said as he did.

"Then why bother asking to see it?"
 

He opened his mouth, then closed it again, frowning. Apparently stumped, he changed the conversation. "I did a lot of research on you before contacting you. I understand you use...unconvential methods in your work."
 

Lola had a little speech she gave all her clients, about will-power, the nature of personal sacrifice, and the dangers of working with magic. She didn't bother giving it to Jonah. Something told her it would be wasted on him. "Yes."

"Good. I have an unconventional problem."

"Would you like to tell me a little about it?"

He finished his cigarette and flicked the butt into the pond. Lola scowled at him, but he didn't notice. 

There was an unfocused light in his eyes, as if he was recalling something traumatic. "I run a blog called Fort Rosser Fortean. Maybe you've heard of it?"
 

That was not what she'd been expecting. She swallowed the bubble of skepticism that rose in her. Who was she to judge? "I follow your Twitter account," she said. Imani had insisted.

He beamed at her. "So you know our work?"

"Your Twitter work, yes."