Disclaimer: I don't own Dime Store Magic, or any other books written by Kelley Armstrong.

Ok, this is my first fic that's neither Doctor Who or Charmed. So please be nice! It's basically Lucas's POV on what will hopefully be the whole of Dime Store Magic (the main bits anyway). Some parts of the story offer more leeway than others, which means that some chapter's will be more interesting than others!

Enjoy! (hopefully)

A Sorcerer Lawyer

Chapter 1 - Meeting Paige Winterbourne

I was stood outside an unpretentious-looking house in East Falls. The home of Paige Winterbourne. She was a witch who had taken it upon herself to care for Savannah Levine, the teenaged daughter of the notorious black witch Eve Levine, and was now paying the consequences.

A Satanic alter had been staged in her back garden, and soon all hell would break loose. She needed some assistance protecting, and she also needed a lawyer. That, I could help her with. If there was ever a job for a sorcerer lawyer, this was it.

Still looking at the house, I gathered my courage. To my chagrin, I was afraid. I know that to people around me, I come across as very confident. However, quite often, that's another bluff. It's always been my nature to be introverted and indecisive. And these aren't convenient things to be for a prospective lawyer.

Fortunately, I've always been a very good liar. A trait I inherited from my father, and one that I'll admit, has come in very useful. I've found that, when you say something, if you say it with confidence, everyone is always more likely to believe what you say.

However, this meeting was going to be made all the more difficult by the fact that I couldn't look directly at Paige. It's always been that way, looking into each others eyes, witch recognises sorcerer, sorcerer recognises witch. And yet we can't recognise our own kind, and we can't see it in ourselves.

Once, when I was young, I spent ½ an hour looking intently at my own eyes through a mirror, trying to see what was different about them. To me, they looked no different from other people's eyes, and yet whenever a witch looked at them, she would see something there that screamed 'sorcerer' at her. The same way that when I see a witch, I instinctively know.

I was no more than 4 or 5 when I encountered my first witch. I was holding my mother's hand as we went around the grocery store and a woman dropped an orange. It rolled, and stopped at my feet. So I stopped, picked it up, and handed it back to her. The middle-aged woman took it without looking at me, and said "Thank you dear." Once she'd put it in her basket, she looked to me with a smile… a smile that vanished the instant she looked into my eyes.

As I looked into her eyes, I saw something there that I'd never seen before. I was so young, I didn't really understand it. However, I knew that there was something about this woman that made her different from others.

My first impulse had been to run back to my mother. However, my curious nature got the better of me, and I asked the woman why here eyes were so strange. Thinking back to the encounter, it's fortunate that the woman didn't speak Spanish. As it was, my mother heard what I said and called my back over to her, apologising to the woman.

Soon after that, I first met my father, and discovered that I was a sorcerer, and about witches.

Deciding that I couldn't stall any longer, I walked down the front path and rang the doorbell before I could change my mind. No one answered.

Strange, I knew she was in. I rang it again, and this time, it was flung open.

"Lucas Cortez," I said, my eyes downcast, "your new legal counsel." I shifted my papers from my right hand to my left, and extended my right hand to her.

"Look, I'm not interested—" she began, before pausing and asking, "Did you say 'legal counsel'?"

Hmm, clearly not what she was expecting. Obviously I didn't give off the lawyer vibe. However, I continued confidently, "I'll be taking your case from here Ms. Winterbourne. We should step inside."

I didn't wait for her to invite me, because I wasn't expecting her to, and I wanted to help. So instead, I brushed past her, and went into the living room. I scanned the room. It was a complete mess, and practically had 'searched by the police' written all over it.

"I assume the disarray is from the search." I said. "This is unacceptable. I'll speak to them about it. I presume they had a warrant? Ah, here it is."

I picked up the search warrant, and went into the kitchen.

"Wait a second, you can't just take that." Paige protested, following me.

"Do you have a copier?" I asked, moving some things aside and spreading out some of my papers on the table, "I take my coffee black." I added, hoping I wasn't pushing my luck.

"You can take your coffee down at the donut shop unless you tell me who sent you here."

Touché. Clearly Paige was not going to take this laying down. I knew that the image of witches as weak and fearful was just a stereotype, but just this once, I wished that it were true. This would be so much easier if that were the case. However, without missing a beat I said, "You are in need of legal services, are you not?"

She hesitated, "Oh, I get it—no one sent you. What do they call you guys? Ambulance chasers? I'm not interested, and if you try to bill me for this visit—"

"I'll do nothing of the sort." I assured her, "This visit is entirely free, a sample of my services. I've taken the liberty of acquainting myself with your case, and I've devised a strategy for defending you."

I pushed two pieces of paper across the table towards her. "As you'll see, this is a simple contract stating that, by agreeing to speak to me today, you are in no way committing yourself to retaining my services and will not be charged for this meeting."

While she scanned the contract, I busily pretended to read the police warrant. Internally I breathed a sigh of relief when she signed the contract. Did this mean that she was starting to cave in?

"Let's start by discussing credentials," she said.

Apparently not

"Let me assure you, Ms. Winterbourne, there is no one more qualified to handle your case." I said, really hoping she would push anymore.

But today was not my day, because she continued, saying, "Humour me, then. Where'd you go to school? Where do you practice? How many custody cases have you handled? What percentage have you won? Any experience handling defamation of character? Because that may be a possibility here."

I shuffled my papers for a minute, desperately trying to think of any other way to tell her I could help her. I came up with nothing. What had I been thinking anyway? There was no way I could've done this entire trial without looking at Paige.

So I turned to her, and said, "Let's get this over with, then, shall we?" and looked straight into her eyes.

Strangely enough, the first thing that hit me wasn't, 'witch!' but how beautiful Paige was. I couldn't really appreciate it when trying not to look directly at her, but she was.

However, after revealing that I was a sorcerer, and Savannah arriving downstairs, everything continued to go down hill. She chucked me out, for which I can't really blame her. But I'd be back, she was sure to need a lawyer sooner or later, and when she did, I'd be there. Maybe that way I could convince her to trust me.

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There you go! That wasn't too painful was it?! (please say it wasn't…)

Anyway, next chapter will be 'The Police Station' (haven't written any of it yet, I'm going to wait for some feedback on this chapter). So please, anyone who reads this, please review!