Jamie took a bump out of the small bag of cocaine that he kept in his car. He was had been running himself ragged recently between tracking various elements of the supernaturals in DFW, his duties as a Warden and keeping up with his family. He did not have as much time as he used to for paying jobs, but today promised to be a big payday so he, or rather Alice had carved out time in his schedule.

“Thank you for the tea” Jamie said as he drank from the cup just placed in front of him by Martha Lee. The room they sat in was richly decorated in a mostly western style despite Martha’s Korean heritage. Martha was VP for an international logistics company and her late husband had been a major stock broker before a heart attack killed him five years ago so money was not issue for the Lee household. Jamie knew all of this and many other things from the file that Alice had put together for him, but he listened anyway as Martha told her story. Her son, Martin, had finished high school, but had gotten involved with a gang near Harry Hines called The Korean Brotherz. He still came to the house mainly to steal money and had threatened to kill his mother if she ever called the police on him. This had been going on for a year and Martha wanted a way to keep her son out of her house.

“Mr. Harper you come highly recommended, but I must be honest that I do not understand what it is you do? My friend was very vague.”

This was a common problem Jamie faced. Clients would recommend his services, but not give some details to their friends in order to not look crazy.

“Mrs. Lee, I am much like another other professional that offers a service. However, unlike a Doctor or a Lawyer, my services are not regulated or even recognized by most mortal authorities. What I can assure you is that I can keep your son out of your house by unorthodox means.”

“And what means are these Mr. Harper?"

Jamie with a dead pan tone said “Magic.”

“Magic? Preposterous. What sort of con man are you?”

“Believe me or not, it makes no difference. However, you do have friends who have used my services before and I have met everyone of their objectives. You have a problem and I offer a solution….”

At that moment a car screech into the Martha’s driveway accompanied by what sounded like Asian rap music.

“That is my son. I must go see that he does not try to rob me blind. Please stay here and we can continue our conversation.”

Jamie sat and listened to the screaming match between Martha and her son. It sounded like a few of Martin’s friends were in there as well occasionally throwing in smart ass commentary. Jamie could not believe that someone would actually call their mother the “C word”, but Martin had already managed to say it several times. The fact that he did not change his insults up suggested a lack of imagination.

This went on for about five minutes when Martin yelled and there was the sound of a crash. At this point Jamie could no longer sit ideally by while this situation spun out of control. Jamie swiftly went towards where the sound had come from and entered the Lee family kitchen.

Martha was on the floor with a bloody nose and appeared to be dazed. Standing over her was a presumable Martin. He dressed like someone trying too hard to be “gangsta” much like his two friends who were with him. The main fact that Jamie noticed was the small amount of white powder around Martin’s nostrils. A normal person or non drug addict might have missed this fact, but to Jamie it was the most important fact in the entire room. The guns that Martin and his friends had did not matter, nor did their ridiculous clothing, the granite counter tops or the wine rank hanging from the ceiling.

“Yo, who the hell are you white boy?” Martin said. Jamie just continued to stare the coke under Martin’s nose. How could this boy do this to his mother? How could anyone do this to their family?

After what seemed an eternity Jamie came back to reality. Martin had pulled his gun out of the waistband of his pants and was pointing it in Jamie’s direction. “Cracker, I don’t know what your deal is, but you had best bounce.” Jamie slowly lifted his hand and cocked his head to the side. At the last second Martin seemed to understand that something was very wrong, but it was too late.

Jamie simply said “Μέδουσα”. Out his hand appeared what looked like a female head with snakes for hair and fanged teeth. This horror then sped towards Martin and his friends who screamed in terror as they ran out of the house. They quickly got into their car in the driveway and sped away as fast as possible.

Jamie helped Martha up and got her bleeding under control with some paper towels. Afterwards they agreed on a price for his services which he agreed to perform immediately. Later as Jamie got into his car he once again opened his glove box and reached for his bag of cocaine. He stared at it much the same way he had at Martin several hours earlier. “What the hell is my problem?” he said to himself.

The bag then levitated a few inches above his hands and he focus an intense light on it. After a few seconds the bag and its contents had disintegrated.