Between the Lines (Here Witchy Witchy Book 7) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Between the Lines

  Acknowledgments

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Author's Note

  Connect with me Online

  About the Author

  Between the Lines

  Here Witchy Witchy

  Book Seven

  A.L. Kessler

  Copyright © 2018 Amy Kessler

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced without the expressed permission of the author.

  Blood & Ink Press thanks you for supporting Indie Authors.

  To Jasmyn, thank you for all you do.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to everyone who made this book possible, especially with the messed up timeline I was on. Thanks to my readers for being patient, I know you all love Abby as much as I do and it took me a little longer to get this to you. Thanks to my husband who held my hand during some rough times this summer.

  CHAPTER ONE

  I leaned against the brick wall of the empty store that Clarissa ran up until the day she was murdered. Three months later and they had yet to rent it out. But I suppose that's what happens when someone dies in a building. Specifically, murdered to summon a demon and attempt to bring back the dead. I sipped my coffee, and it helped fight off the cold that was working its way into my bones. It was an unnaturally chilly fall for Colorado, but I was coping with my leather jacket and coffee. I wasn't sure why I was standing here, or why I felt the need to come here. I hadn't been to Clarissa's store since she'd been murdered. I hadn't wanted to face the reality that she was gone.

  Most of the foot traffic in this area had hustled inside to escape the cold, leaving me alone on the sidewalk, leaning against the wall, and looking a bit out of place. Half of me was expecting Clarissa to come out and drag me in and I would find everything as it should be. Glass fairies in their little case, spell supplies on the other side of the store. But I knew better. I closed my eyes against the wave of grief. What the fuck was I doing here?

  I pushed off the wall and paused one more time, waiting for her to come out. The door didn't move. The 'For Rent' sign didn't disappear out of the window. She was really gone. I walked back to my car and climbed in, and my phone rang the moment I buckled my seat belt.

  "Special Agent Collins speaking." I tried to keep the exhaustion out of my voice. Sleep had seemed scarce lately, and I was consuming more coffee than usual which was what was keeping me going, not that I was going to complain about more coffee.

  "Hey Abby," Mason's gruff voice came over the phone. Mason was one of the local detectives and my favorite to work with. Normally I'd be happy to hear from him because it meant a job. Right now though, all I really wanted was to go to the office and pretend like I was working. "Remember a while back with the demon case?"

  A while back was only three months ago, but maybe it felt longer to him. "Yeah, why? Please don't tell me we have another one on the rampage."

  "Well, that's what I need to know. I have a very interesting circle here, and I think it's right down your alley."

  I rubbed my eyes. "Text me the address, and I'll be there in a bit."

  "Alright." He disconnected the phone, and I waited for the text to come through. It'd been close to a year since PIB had assigned me to the Black Magic Taskforce. The caseload seemed to be lower than when I was a normal PIB agent, but the Paranormal Investigation Bureau needed the new task force to handle things that went above and beyond what standard agents handled. Like rampaging demons and creepy living dolls. But I was starting to think that it came with more nightmares.

  My phone dinged telling me that Mason had sent the location to me. I put the address in the GPS and let it guide me to my destination. The historic town of Manitou disappeared as I got on the highway and headed back into town. I followed the mechanical directions of the GPS until it led me to a familiar neighborhood. The one where my old house had been. Had been, because black magic had imploded it when someone tried to kill me.

  I raised a brow when I saw the cop cars and emergency vehicles at the entrance of the alleyway just down the street from the empty lot that was my old address. What the hell. He was being literal. It was right down my alley. I groaned at Mason's attempt at a pun and parked my car. I got out and headed toward the crime tape. There were no gawkers around, which made me wonder where they were. I stopped at the crime tape and showed my badge to the officer there. "Special Agent Collins, I was called in by Detective Mason."

  The officer nodded and lifted the tape for me. "It's bad, fair warning. We cleared the area for safety reasons."

  That explained the lack of people. I touched my pentagram around my neck as a weird magic slid over me. It felt almost like sludge trying to make its way over my aura. As a witch, it seemed almost tangible to me. I didn't want to get any closer, but it was my job to see what was going on. I forced myself to take another step forward and then another. As I moved, the pressure of the magic wrapped around me, squeezing me, making it hard to breathe. What the fuck happened here?

  I took a deep breath and made my way over to where Detective Mason was standing. His hair was salt and pepper gray, sticking out every which way, which made me wonder if he had just rolled out of bed.

  I checked my watch. No, he should have been out of bed for a while now. Maybe he'd just been running his hands through his hair. I stepped up next to him and put a hand over my mouth.

  Whatever had been in that circle was no more. Globs of flesh covered the circle as if whatever had been inside had exploded. Judging by the blood splatter on the concrete, that might have been the truth. The runes that surrounded the circle were the same ones that had been around the circle where someone killed Clarissa.

  Anger filled me. If it was the same bastard, I was going to kill him myself. But the thing was, it could have been anyone who knew the rune base. Though even the Cult of Ra hadn't been able to translate them. I'd been working with a member to do just that.

  "I want pictures of the circle, and I want samples of the blood to find out who or what was in the circle." I clenched my jaw. "And I want to talk to anyone in the area who might have heard or seen something."

  Mason nodded. "What are you thinking?"

  "I'm worried it might be the same person who summoned the demons. But this." I motioned to the circle. "Doesn't look like a demon summoning. It looks like a spell gone wrong."

  "That's unfortunate," Mason muttered. "I'll get you what you need. Currently, none of us have been able to find a witness, but if one turns up, I'll make sure you get to talk to them."

  "Thank you." I took a sip of my coffee and turned my back on the scene. "I'm going to be in the office for the day. I'll poke around to see what else I might be able to find."

  Mason didn't answer, but he didn't protest either, so I assumed that he was alright with me leaving. It wasn't like I had a body to examine. Hell, there wasn't going to be much for Jason, the medical examiner, to locate either. I cringed at the thought of poking around fleshy blobs. Suddenly I was glad that it wasn't my job.

  ∞

  I got back to the PIB building and took the stairs to my floor. When I came out of the stairwell and into the hall, I couldn't help but s
mile at the person standing at my door. Simon stood there, holding a bag of food. He knew the way to my heart. His caramel hair had gotten longer and almost hung into his hazel eyes. My heart pounded for a moment in joy at him randomly stopping by, but then the paranoia kicked in.

  "Please don't tell me you're here for bad news?"

  Simon held up the bag. "Nope, I'm here to bring you food and to check in on you."

  Since Clarissa had died, Simon had been promoted to 'he who must check in on Abby.' Though typically it had been a phone call here and there and an occasional pizza date. Not a surprise visit at the office.

  I raised a brow, my paranoia still wondering what he was up to. "Okay, I had coffee already."

  "I figured, which is why I didn't bring any." He waited for me to unlock the door with my key card. We both walked in, and he went right to my desk and set the bag down on top of it. "You were a bit late coming in though."

  I nodded. "I was down on a scene for a few minutes." There was no need to mention that I had been at Clarissa's vacant shop. "Nasty scene, globs of something all around. Blood splattered in a circle," I muttered, my brain going back to the runes on the ground.

  "Abby, we're about to eat." Simon looked into the bag. "I mean, if you're up for it, because that sounds pretty bad."

  "Yeah well, that's my life." I ran a hand over my eyes. "How are the pups? They should be getting ready to join the world again, right?"

  He nodded and handed me a breakfast sandwich, pulling another out for himself. "They're excited. Travis is going to take them apartment hunting next week. They've all decided to stay together."

  A wolf had changed the pups against their will, and they had been a bit unforgiving of their new situation, but they had adapted over the last year. "I'm glad to hear it. I'm sure they are ready to get out." I unwrapped the sandwich. "Did Levi send you?"

  "No, actually he hasn't called me in a couple weeks. Can't I just bring you breakfast?"

  Maybe I was being too paranoid. "Yeah, I guess you can. It's kind of nice. I don't get breakfast delivered often."

  "I guess it's something that I can do that Mario can't."

  The words sounded harsh, and I met his gaze. "I told you that the fake relationship with him is over. After he…" I almost screwed up and told Simon exactly what Mario had done. "Fucked up." I wasn't sure what Levi had told Simon about the situation, but I knew Simon wasn't in on the fact that Levi was king of vampires.

  "Yeah, seems Levi is making Mario give you space too?"

  I shrugged a shoulder. "It helps that every time Mario comes close to me, I trap him in a circle. With Clarissa gone, there's no one else Levi trusts to pull the circle down."

  Simon chuckled. "Never piss off a witch."

  I cracked a small smile and started to eat my breakfast sandwich. Simon was mid-bite when his phone rang, and Werewolf of London filled my office.

  I raised a brow, and he swallowed his bite. "Travis."

  I made an 'ah' noise and continued to eat while he answered it.

  "I'm still at PIB, what's up?" Simon put his food down, and I turned to the computer to start doing some searches on the scene today. I didn't have much to go off of, but if I could get a head start on the research, I'd be in better shape later on.

  Simon glanced at me and hesitated for a moment. "How do they know it was her?"

  I turned back to my computer and pretended to work. The tone in Simon's voice was cautious, but it had caught my attention.

  "Pictures?" His voice raised a pitch. "Holy hell Travis, did you call PIB?"

  I rolled my eyes. Simon was sitting in PIB's office, Travis probably thought Simon could report whatever he needed.

  I took another bite of my sandwich and put it down, trying to be patient. I wanted in on the gossip. I turned back to the computer and typed into the search bar what I knew about the crime scene. Unknown runes. Black magic. Possible exploded body. I hit enter just as Simon shot up from his chair.

  "You call that Alpha, and you get all the details from him. You call together those who live alone and tell them to be cautious of anything and anyone different. I'll be down at Wolf's Bane as soon as I can." Simon took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'll let her know to expect a call from Mason." He disconnected the phone and looked at me.

  I tried to give him a bored look over the computer like I hadn't been half eavesdropping on him. Simon sat down and grabbed his sandwich and didn't say anything. I gave him a moment to process whatever news Travis had just delivered, and I turned back to my screen. To my surprise, our system had pulled something up based on my keywords. I string of similar stories from around the country, and it had started a month ago. I hadn't seen anything on the news about it, but PIB tried to keep unknown magic cases on the down-low.

  I scrolled through the first article I saw and looked at what they knew about the victim.

  Werewolf.

  I swallowed and checked the next one.

  Werewolf.

  As were each of the ones that followed. But none of the packs had reported someone missing or anything strange. I looked at Simon. "Let me guess. You have a missing pack member, and Travis received some type of picture that had to do with black magic."

  Simon met my gaze. "Pretty close." He cringed. "Your crime scene?"

  "Pulled up the results that are showing me similar killings with the victims all being werewolves." I pressed my lips together. "I didn't think I'd be getting another case for your pack. Not as part of the Black Magic Taskforce."

  Simon gave me a weak smile. "Looks like we're working together again then. There's no way to keep this away from PIB since the crime scene is yours. I'm glad you're the one who found it."

  "Tell me what Travis said." I pulled out a notebook and grabbed a pen.

  "He said that an envelope was dropped off at Wolf's Bane, and when he opened it, he saw pictures of a wolf being torn apart in a progression of some sort. Like steps." Simon ran a hand over his face. "In the end, all that was left was blobs of the creature."

  "Do we know who it is?"

  He hung his head. "A visiting wolf."

  "That's why you needed him to contact the alpha." I jotted down a couple things. "I'll need that alpha's contact information. Why was the visiting wolf in town?"

  "She was looking at going to college out here. The last we checked, she was looking at a house to rent." Simon's voice shook. "Damnit, I should have sent someone with her."

  I reached over the desk and took his hand. "This isn't your fault."

  "I'm supposed to protect the wolves, Abby. First, someone skins my wolves, and now this?"

  The case he referred to was not a pretty one. Travis had been skinned, a few wolves died, and Simon had learned to check into everyone's story."

  "Where was she from?"

  "A little town on the edge of Kansas and Missouri. Luna Grove. Super small from what I understand." He wrapped up the rest of his sandwich. "I have to get down to the club. I'm assuming I'll see you there?"

  I nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to call Mason and let him know where I'm heading. I'll also let Jason know to check the blood and take precautions since we're dealing with a werewolf."

  Simon stood, and I walked around the desk to let him out of the office. To my surprise, he grabbed my wrist gently and pulled me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and held him for a moment. We stood that way in silence for a moment, before he broke away and left the office.

  I sighed and went back to my desk and grabbed my phone to call Mason. His name flashed on the screen before I could even unlock my phone to call him. "I have a feeling I know what you're going to tell me."

  "Travis the streaking werewolf called me."

  I snorted at the nickname. Travis had taken off at a crime scene after shifting back from wolf to human. He darted around downtown naked for a couple blocks, and it had rubbed Mason the wrong way.
"He has pictures that are similar to our crime scene. The alpha got a hold of me already. Also, the system has turned up ten other similar unsolved murders."

  "Ten?"

  "Yeah, I didn't stutter Mason. Would you like me to spell it for you as well?"

  He was quiet for a moment. "Agent Collins, you might want to curb your attitude."

  It was the first time in a while he had to remind me of that. "Sorry." I didn't know what else to say. I didn't feel a whole lot like myself lately, and my sarcasm was starting to run off on its own. "There are ten other similar murders in different states, all the victims were werewolves, but that's all we know. I'll have to get a hold of the alphas in the areas to see if they can help spread some light on why they didn't report it or what might have been going on."

  "Thank you. I'll meet you down at Wolf's Bane to talk to Travis, and hopefully, he can keep his damn clothes on this time." Mason disconnected, and I leaned back in my chair. This was one hell of a Monday.

  ∞

  I drove my newest car down to the club and entered the building. Travis, Simon, and Mason were all standing in front of the bar talking. Travis stood a bit taller than both men and could fill up an entire doorway because he was so broad. I used to be intimidated by him, but only because at our first meeting, he'd slammed me up against a wall. I walked up to the group, and Travis handed me a cup of coffee.

  I took it from him. "Thank you."

  "The pictures are bad, and it's a bit early to drink. I thought coffee was the better choice." Travis motioned to the envelope that Detective Mason was holding. "Simon has confirmed that the wolf is…was our visiting wolf Brittany Schroeder."

  I held my hand out for the envelope. Mason handed it to me, and I set my coffee down on the bar before opening the envelope and pulling out the pictures. There in the images was the glowing red circle, and in the middle was a big wolf. Her fur held red and brown tones with a dark black stripe across one side. I flipped to the next photo, she was now in human form, and red and black light seemed to pierce through her. Her face was a mask of pain, her mouth open mid-scream as the light split her flesh.