I'd been charged by the company to get ahold of an upstart sorcerer who'd enchanted a field of ownership on a client's car.

The idiot hadn't even bothered to do it in private or even well. So now the office had managed a remote viewing to his place. And it was my job to get him.

I found the client easy enough, he was right next to the car, refusing to understand that, at least for the time being, this was no longer his car. He kept heading towards it and turning away, seemingly on his own, as deep inside he realised he was about to violate someone else's sacrosanct property. What a mess.

Our man on the ground, had no idea what was going on, but had followed procedure.

"When you encounter any oddness in the line of duty call in Scene Processing!"

He'd followed procedure. Cleared the scene and had the car towed some distance away. Some of them always had questions, and we'd give them if they asked, but they always thought we lied, or we're kidding. It was amusing the first few times, but one can only take so much of "stop fucking with me, what really happened here".

He looked at me with a junior's hope that his superior was going to make it all go away.

"You from Mantis insurance? Are you the guy from Scene Processing? I've just received a call to check back in to the office from my boss, are you good here?"

He was lying, but I admired that, this was a guy who knew he did not want to know.

"Yeah go on ahead, I'm good here... hold on what's the guy's name, the owner."

"Uh he's James, gotta go bye!!"

He left at an almost worrying pace, wisely. I've been working on a theory though, that the more sensitive you are to the … unnatural, the more you want to get away from it. Regardless, I'd look him up, a potential new transfer to the department.

I already knew the location of the jumped up idiot who started this, all I needed was the owner, so the item would rebound to him on release.

I could not fathom a reason why the sorcerer claimed a moving, occupied car, insured by Mantis, surely at this point they knew the companies signature on the items we'd insured. We'd caught so many over the years. Nevertheless, with the Covenant coming up, we always needed more cannon fodder.

I took a bewildered James to the thief's location, about a block and a half away, he couldn't even shit away from where he slept, I wondered if this guy was even fit to be a meat shield.

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The house was poorly appointed. An old decrepit bungalow belonging to a ninety three year old woman with no family. She didn't know who she was renting to except that he paid consistently one to two weeks late. She'd tried to chase him down, and given it up as a fool's errand. She was just waiting for the lease to run out. According to research.

I knocked, the yard was unkempt, there was an empty dog house, which tracked with a few witnesses on the scene seeing a young man walking his dog.

I heard rustling inside, and a voice, before the door opened. Momentarily, I was struck by the guy's aura, it seemed real, more real than even my own hands. Great, we were dealing with a narcissist, with delusions of grandeur.

I pushed him inside, explaining the reason for my visit before I paused. There was a pressure in the air, a taste at the back of my throat I'd only experienced around a jinn that had burned a building down last May. Notably, the jinn had done it from the outside in, forcing the occupants to congregate at the centre of the building before the end.

It was not a good memory. I immediately hated this guy, he'd probably gotten his hands on a jinn and was now playing around with it.

I asked James to step outside.

"The fuck did you do, a fucking jinn?"

"Genies are real, like Aladdin's lamp?"

He was more stupid than I thought.

"Not like that, these ones are dangerous, when you're done, they'll fucking eat you, I need you to wish it free, and away. And to put everything back where it was, then you're going to come with me"

He glanced at his dog in puzzlement.

"It's not- I don't have a jinn. I just wanted the car so bad and it just happened"

Maybe I had something here. Spontaneous expression was extremely rare. It spoke of a great power. Pity for him he was untrained.

I extended a bit of spirit into my voice.

"It's ok if you didn't do it on purpose, you just have to come in tomorrow. Come to this address and we'll sort it all out"

"What about the car?"

I started, this guy must have had an excellent resistance to spirit effects. Usually they go right to sleep after two commands.

"Don't worry about it, you can have it"

"But you have to come in early tomorrow morning"

My heart thumped in exhaustion as the effort got to me, my talent on such matters was tiny.

"Is this how you magical people speak, it's so exciting, I'm already learning"

I could feel my heart jump into my mouth.

"So all I have to do is come in tomorrow morning and I get the car? No questions asked?"

I'd made a terrible mistake, this was a tricky monster. A trained one. He'd extorted the car from me as a representative of the company and ensured he wouldn't be on the hook by articulating a proper deal. I was definitely fired.

I could already feel the magic in the back of my throat, it hung and scratching at my vocal cords for the expected answer.

Under the musk and dust in the environment I could feel the unmistakable static of a domain, like a lamp illuminating everything within and without.

I'd challenged an established sorcerer in his territory. Tricked.

"Huh, are you ok? You look like you're choking. Would you like a glass of water?"

I nodded, mainly to give myself the time to think my way out of this.

But even the water was charged with his magic. An unmistakable warning, a piece of him in me. I was beaten.

"Yes, tomorrow"

"I'm so glad. I was afraid I'd have to go to magic prison or deal with the magic police."

I stayed mum, aware that a single word from him would have me spilling my pockets and signing away my children. Fucking sorcerers!

I stiffly stood up, but tried to keep the consternation out of my face. I left the house immediately. I could see the sorcerer smile in triumph.

As I took James to the office to arrange for a new car, I let my own smile shine, he may have beaten me, but my boss was a sorcerer in his own right, and if I spun this the right way, I might be golden.