Warlocks

In this world, a warlock is a human magic user — distinct from Fae, who are born with innate magical abilities. Warlocks practice learned or acquired magic through spells, incantations, and rituals. They occupy a recognized place in the Mythical community and can work officially for organizations like the Conclave or the police's Mythical division, though some operate as freelance contractors willing to work for anyone with the right price.

Warlock abilities include casting protective wards (magical barriers that repel unwanted visitors or alert residents to intruders), performing tracing spells to locate people, conducting magical research, and creating spells using chalk symbols, spoken incantations like "Finio," and hand gestures. More advanced or specialized warlocks can develop proprietary spells they guard jealously from competitors. The magic appears to have a visual component — Larry's ward manifests as a shimmering blue forcefield that absorbs into the building. Voodoo practitioners are described as "a variation of a warlock" — human magic users with a specific cultural tradition, like Henri Boudreaux, who practices rituals involving Latin incantations and items like goat skulls. Warlocks can also work with potions, spell books, and grimoires.

The profession has a spectrum of ethics: Larry is a legitimate detective who won't share his proprietary work with untrustworthy colleagues, while Boudreaux is described as "brilliant" but the type who "will work for anyone given the right price" and is "not exactly the ethical type." Spells can backfire dangerously — Murias sees regular cases of magic users whose spells "fried their brain" while practicing in the redwood forest near the ley line.