3.5. Black Magic Woman Read Free Page B

released his hold on me and staggered back, blood pouring from his crushed nose and eyes streaming tears. “What the hell did you do that for?” He wailed, although with his busted sniffer it sounded more like “But de hebb didoodoo dat pour?” 
    “Are you done trying to kill me?” I asked, bending the guardrail back into shape and making it a point to stay out of arm’s reach. 
    “Trying to kill you? Are you insane?” Greg sat on a nearby step and reached into a pouch on his utility belt. Yes, utility belt. Don’t ask. It just makes my head hurt. He pulled out a wad of tissues and started trying to stem the blood pouring from his nose. After all, he every drop that he bled out meant more he was going to have to replace later. 
    “Dude, you were just trying to turn me into sidewalk pizza, remember?” 
    “No. I remember us going to the costume contest, I remember seeing the hot blonde, and that’s the last thing I remember. What happened?” 
    “You went all Hulk Smash on me and tried to kick my ass.” 
    “How’d I do?” 
    I just stared at him. “I’m still here, and you’ve got a broken nose. You tell me how you did.” 
    “Fair enough. Now what?” 
    “Now we try to figure out why she was able to get you to want to kill me, then we try to figure out why you don’t want to kill me anymore, and then we try to kill her.” 
    “Sounds about right.” Greg got up from the steps, staggered a little, and sat back down. “I might need to be here for a few more minutes.”  
    “No worries, I’ll go find Sabrina and our seductress and figure out how she’s bespelling people.” 
    “Pheromones.” Came a voice from beside me. I jumped an appropriate distance into the air, like twelve feet or so, and turn to see Sabrina standing there. She still had on the Cap t-shirt, but it was ripped at the waist now to give her faster access to her guns. I liked the look. A lot. 
    “I’ve been warning you about that. One more time and you’re getting a bell!” I said as I landed less than gracefully. She just smiled. 
    “What about pheromones?” mumbled Greg from the steps. 
    “She’s using pheromones to mojo guys. It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?” 
    “For the obvious-impaired among us, why don’t you give me the Pheromones for Dummies version.” I sat down next to Greg like a dutiful pupil. 
    “Some people think that when humans are aroused, they give off certain scents that are meant to attract other humans.” 
    “They do.” I interjected. Sabrina looked down at me and I shrugged. “Sorry. Vamp-sniffer, remember? People give off all kinds of scents all of the time, not just when they’re turned on. But go on.” 
    She continued in her best graduate assistant tone, which was made more than a little distracting by the fact that she was wearing shorts that were just an inch shy of being indecent, a shredded superhero t-shirt and knee-high boots. All in all, it was very difficult to drag my eyes up to her face, much less pay any attention to the words coming out of her mouth. 
    “Since your monster is obviously female, and all the people she’s bedazzled have been men, it’s obvious to me that she’s using pheromones of some sort to do the trick.” 
    “Then how did she get Greg and not me? I mean, I know his sniffer is better than mine, but mine’s still pretty good.” 
    “What did you have for dinner?” 
    “Same thing I always have, oh wait, you mean who did I have for dinner?” 
    “Yeah, who?” 
    “That’s a little personal, don’t you think?” 
    “Just answer the question, Jimmy. I’m pretty sure I know the answer anyway.”
    “Okay, I stopped into Fuel for a bite in the bathroom while you were parking the car. Sorry, I get peckish in crowds, you know that.” 
    “And whoever you drank from had just finished dinner, right?”
    “Yeah, and boy did they like their pizza with garlic! Wait a minute, you think…?” 
    “Yep, you got too much garlic in