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  “A wise choice. See where you can concentrate on, focus your magic to one point in time.”

  “Scared I’m going to see something I don’t like again?” I raised my brow. “I don’t think Levi is directly related to the experiments.”

  “I’m more worried you’re going to lose control again.” He shook his head. “Do you want me to come with?”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to explain why you know what’s going on. Oliver knows about you, but Levi doesn’t. He was pretty explicit in his desire to not let anyone visit.”

  “And yet, you’ve let Simon in, Clarissa in, and Detective Mason.”

  “I never said I was consistent in following Levi’s wishes.” I finished my coffee. “I’m off to get ready. If you leave, make sure you lock the house up and delete the video footage.” I walked out of the room.

  “I know what I’m doing.” He called after me.

  I chuckled as I made my way to my room to get ready.

  The worst part of my job was paperwork, lying on it made it worse. It was rare that I lied on paper for my job and knowing that Boss Man knew I was an elemental made this particular lie a bit harder. Pack dysfunction, missing suspect, and suspected arson at the murder scene. It was almost like a movie and probably could have been a case in and of itself.

  “So in conclusion, Zachary Ingram/Joshua Gray, is still at large, but cannot be located by evidence, magical or otherwise. This case is considered closed unless another murder is committed that matches the details of this report or there is a sighting of Zachary. A person of interest report has been entered into the system.” I muttered it out loud to look for typos.

  “Hell of a conclusion.” Oliver walked into the office. He flicked his white plastic visitor badge. “Look, I’m official this time.”

  I snorted. “You still used Nick’s badge to get into my office though.” I leaned back. “My case is closed for now.”

  “Did you set the building on fire?”

  “Nope, wasn’t even on scene.” I motioned to the chair in front of the desk. “What are you doing here, and officially?”

  “I came to take you to the scene so you can see what we’re working with and I’m official because your daytime receptionist saw me coming in this time.”

  “What did you tell Mandy?” I tried to hide my smile at him getting caught.

  “The truth, that I’m your uncle and I wanted to surprise you and take you to lunch. I even gave her the proper ID for her paperwork.”

  “You want a paper trail for some reason.” I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want any record of you being at the scene as a PIB agent. We’ll go to lunch, I’ll pay with a card, and then we’ll pick coffee up on the way there.”

  I nodded. “Okay, that makes sense.” I didn’t want me being there on record either. I sent my report and stood. “Let’s go get some lunch then, shall we?”

  “I’ll take you to one of your mother’s favorite places.”

  It was so strange for him to suddenly be interested in talking about my mother so much. “Why so much about my mother?”

  “Maybe I’m just feeling nostalgic. Levi is finally becoming comfortable with me in your life and watching you grow up and seeing what you’ve become makes me miss my sister.” We walked out of the office together. He followed me, taking the stairs without asking about it, maybe he just knew I didn’t want to take the elevator.

  We walked out to his sleek black car. It wasn’t a brand I was familiar with, but at least it wasn’t a limo. I got into the passenger side and shut the door. Buckling up, I waited for him to get in the driver’s side. He climbed in and started the car.

  “Did you know your mother was fluent in French?”

  “And a few other languages, Latin, Romanian, Arabic, and Chinese I believe. She was married to a linguist, after all.”

  Olive nodded. “Yes, he was a great linguist, which is what got them killed.”

  I didn’t miss the bitterness in his voice. “You didn’t like my father.”

  “I didn’t like Tobias at all. I thought that he was taking advantage of your mother’s kind heart and her magical abilities.” He shook his head. “In the end, it was his shortcomings that got the two of them slaughtered. But I don’t want to talk about her death right now. I asked about the French because her favorite restaurant is Cafe de la Soeur.”

  “The one up north? It was one of the first places built on that side of town; I hear the chef is from Paris.”

  “He is, all of his staff speaks fluent French. Your mother would often go there to unwind and escape her world.”

  That was interesting. Levi had never mentioned it to me before. Maybe he didn’t know about it. “I’ve never been there. Can’t say it’s my kind of place. I’m more of a Chili’s kind of girl.”

  “You’ve never had a date take you there? It’s the number one date spot in our city.”

  I gave a full laugh. “Date? Oliver, when was the last time I went on a real date?”

  “That’s right, you never managed with the werewolf, and everything before that was just drinks at a bar. You need a classy boyfriend.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

  “That’s not happening; I don’t have time to date.”

  “You would if you left PIB.” The smile and joking were gone.

  “Not happening.” I shot back.

  He was silent the rest of the drive. It wasn’t the uneasy silence that I felt the need to fill, just the silence that said we ran out of conversation and were just comfortable with each other’s company. He pulled into the restaurant and parked in the closest parking spot to the white painted building. A bight red and black sign had the restaurant name painted in white scrolling text.

  “Let’s go get seats.” He got out of the car and I followed.

  We walked into the dimly lit restaurant. The hostess greeted us in French, and I gave her a blank look. I never learned another language besides Latin. Oliver however, didn’t miss a beat. He spoke French to the hostess. She smiled at him and responded enthusiastically before leading us towards the back of the restaurant.

  “What did you say to make her light up like that?” I asked as I sat at the table.

  “I told her who I was.” He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I wanted to talk to you about the rules for the vampire king’s scene.”

  I raised a brow. “Rules?”

  “Vampire politics.”

  “Of course.” I opened the menu. “You’re going to have to order for me if they only speak French.”

  He smirked. “The best way to learn is complete immersion.”

  “You’re going to make me look like an idiot.” I shook my head.

  “No one would mistake you for an idiot, Abigail.” He chuckled. “Just point to what you want.”

  I looked at the menu, which was also completely in French. “You have to be kidding me,” I muttered. “I don’t know what any of this means.”

  “Then I’ll order for you, this time. Maybe I should add French to our lessons.”

  I tried not to roll my eyes. “Do you plan on making this a monthly thing?”

  “If we survive tonight. Perhaps.”

  I didn’t like the way that sounded. “We’re performing a spell. It’s not a deadly spell; it’s just complicated.”

  “You like chicken, yes?”

  I nodded. “You’re avoiding my statement.”

  “Abigail, we’re dealing with the Vampire King and his guards, on a case that has over two hundred dead bodies, a rogue vampire who wants anarchy, and hordes of blood-starved experimental vampires. I think this goes well beyond performing a spell.”

  He had a point. “Over two hundred dead bodies?”

  “All part of this experiment.” Oliver looked at me over the menu.

  “That’s terrifying. How have we not known that many people have gone missing?”

  “Most of them are homeless or have no family or friends. Loners, if you w
ill. They aren’t all local either.”

  “And how are you guys getting that information if you’re not working with PIB?”

  Oliver looked down at his menu. “We have our ways. The king has his resources.”

  “And how did you get roped into this? You hate Levi, and he’s not too fond of you.”

  “They needed a warlock or a witch they could trust. Levi knew that since Ira was after you, I’d help with the case to bring down Ira.”

  I couldn’t keep from laughing. “To protect me? You tried to hand me to Tomes last year.”

  “My daughter’s life was at stake.”

  In Oliver logic, that made sense, trade one family member to save another.

  As if following my train of thought, he set his menu down with a sigh. “You’re stronger than my daughter. You had a better chance of survival than she did.”

  So that was it. It wasn’t just him protecting his own hide; he assumed that I would be able to escape and save myself. “You also called PIB.”

  “That wasn’t the original plan until I saw you had another agent other than Nick in your phone.”

  “Don’t like Nick either, is there anyone you do like?” I paused as the waitress came up.

  Oliver ordered for us both and handed the menus back. “There are very few people on that list, and you don’t know any of them.”

  That was comforting. “Anyways, back to the rules.”

  “Do not mention the vampire king. Do not mention to anyone that you work for PIB.”

  “I’ll make sure to leave my badge in the car then. Can I have my guns?”

  “Multiple?”

  “To be fair, Ira trapped me against the wall the first time, and I lost one gun. It was the second one that saved my life.”

  “Yes, guns are permitted. I wouldn’t go flashing them around though.”

  The waitress brought us both a glass of wine and water. Oliver picked up his wine and took a sip.

  I waited for the waitress to walk away. “I don’t make a habit of brandishing my gun.”

  “I was more going for a subtle hint of use your magic before your guns.” He shook his head. “You’ve been in PIB too long. You have magic, you need to use it.”

  “I use my magic all the time, protection circles, tracking spells…”

  “When was the last time you used it for something other than work?”

  I jerked at the question. “I’ve been practicing trace spells in my yard.”

  “In your yard? Have you done one in the house?”

  The thought hadn’t even occurred to me. “No…” I suddenly had the idea of all the information I could gleam for my investigation if I did a trace spell in the house.

  “Don’t.” He sat his glass down. “You do not want to see what happened that night.”

  I looked down at the white tablecloth. “Don’t you want to know what happened?”

  “I do know. They were both killed by the Cult. That’s all I need to know.” There was a bit of anger in his voice, and I let the subject go.

  “So yes, I have used my magic outside of work. I used it to try to find the owner of Osiris.”

  Oliver snickered and I took a sip of my wine to cover up my laugh. “There’s no reason for me to use it constantly.”

  “You’re a witch Abigail, there’s plenty of reasons to use it. You’ll be expected to use it at the scene. If for some reason you need to defend yourself, use it.”

  I hated using it to defend myself. Protect myself, yes. “What about the elemental ability?”

  “Keep that hidden. That’ll make you a rare asset to Levi, and we don’t want someone thinking they can just take you.” He leaned back in his chair. “Oh Abigail, what am I doing dragging you into this?”

  “I have no idea. But remember, I’m a big witch, I can handle this.” I looked up as the waitress brought our food.

  She sat it in front of us and asked Oliver something. He shook his head, and she wandered off. I put my napkin in my lap. “Why are you so worried about this? You sent me the pictures; you wanted me there.”

  “When Levi took you in, he swore that he would leave you out of politics and the vampire world the best he could. Then at eighteen, you decided you were going to join PIB, and he refused to hold you back.”

  I nodded. “There was a very heated conversation between the two of us when I decided to join the academy. But in the end, he decided that I was old enough to make that choice, with the understanding that he would still keep me away from the vampire politics, and I didn’t care.”

  “And now we’re leading you into the heart of an investigation led by the king.”

  “I’m not sure who’s more upset about this, you or Levi. Seeing as I haven’t even heard from him since you showed up telling me he wanted help.” I cut my chicken.

  He pushed his vegetables around his plate. “He’s been busy with everything. He leaves at sundown and returns right before sunup.” He motioned to my plate. “Eat up so we can get going.”

  I took a few bites, and when he didn’t continue the conversation, I spoke up. “Are those the only rules?”

  “The only ones I know you’ll listen to.” He continued to eat and left it there.

  His words made me wonder what other rules there were. Hopefully, he wasn’t setting me up for anything. We ate our meal in peace, and he paid when the bill came. He stopped me right before we left the building. “I’ll be right back.”

  He turned to talk to the hostess. I glanced around idly and noticed a bronze plaque on the wall. “Dedicated to Elizabeth Macintosh-Collins.” I raised a brow.

  Oliver stepped up beside me and followed my gaze. “I told you your mother loved this place. When the new owner found out about her passing, he dedicated the new location to her.”

  I made a mental note to look up who the owner was when I got a chance. I thought it was odd that someone would dedicate a new location to someone who happened to be a good customer.

  As promised, Oliver stopped and bought us coffee on the way to the scene. I hadn’t expected him to drive us all the way out east, almost to the state’s border, but I suppose where else were you going to hide a bunch of bodies? Not the city. The thing about PIB crime scenes was there was always some type of emergency vehicle, or a police car, something with sirens around. PIB crime tape would be strewn about to keep people away. But this scene was empty, except for one lone person standing at the front of a house.

  I knew why they didn’t leave more people to guard it as soon as my foot stepped over a magical circle. A shock went through me, almost stopping me in my tracks. Oliver glanced at me. “You get used to it. I had to make it stronger than a regular circle to make sure it would do more than just warn people away who weren’t welcome.”

  “What the hell does it do to people who aren’t welcomed?” I glanced at him.

  “You don’t want to know the answer to that.”

  I guess not. I followed him forward, and he spoke to the man in front of the house. It was a language I didn’t know.

  “Secret code?” I asked as the man moved to the side and let us in.

  Oliver shook his head. “No, you need to make it a point to learn other languages.” He didn’t even tell me what language it was. I let out a huff and followed him into the house.

  Bodies lay over bodies as if they were just discarded there. Each one in various stages of decay. The smell hit my nose, and I gagged.

  “I lied, rule three, don’t throw up.” Oliver pulled out a handkerchief and placed it over his mouth and nose.

  “A little warning would have been nice.” I put my hand to my nose. “Why haven’t you guys moved the bodies yet?”

  “We just found them the night I came to talk to you. We’re running out of places to take them that the vampire king trusts.”

  Which apparently meant he wasn’t taking them to Jason’s morgue, or someone would have noticed and said something. “How many at this location?”

  “Forty.”

>   Forty dead bodies just piled on each other. “This isn’t where they were experimented on.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “Every location I uncovered had beds, bedpans, chains. These guys are all just discarded on top of each other. This is a dump site.” I dug in my bag and pulled out a pair of gloves.

  “We’re not worried about you contaminating evidence.” He nudged one of the bodies with his foot. “We assumed he was just getting sloppy with how he set his space up.”

  I shook my head. “The gloves are because I don’t want to touch decaying bodies.” I lifted up an arm and saw a pentagram tattoo. “A warlock, I assume. Ira has a mission in mind. The place he kept me at was set up with medical beds and IVs; they had straps instead of chains. I really don’t want to think about bedpans, because I was unconscious most of the time…” I shivered. “If he wants his mission to succeed he has to keep a clean workplace and continue to develop his technique.” I rolled the body over, and it landed with a splat. I closed my eyes, willing myself not to throw up. “Did you look at any of them?”

  “I moved a few of them, but not all.”

  I looked back at him. “The one under this one is wearing a pentagram, and has a rune tattooed on his collarbone.”

  “Another one of us.”

  “At the haunted house, the bodies were split evenly between werewolves, warlocks, and humans.”

  “What are you thinking?”

  What was I thinking? All I had to go off of was what I managed to get out of Tomes. Ira was trying to create hybrids, give everyone a bit of supernatural powers to show them that they are all monsters inside. Some anarchy bullshit like that. “I had stupidly assumed that they were just trying to create vampire hybrids, vampire-witches, vampire-lycanthropes, vampire-humans. I don’t know what advantages they were hoping for because as far as I can tell the hybrid blood-starved vampires still have all the weaknesses that a regular vampire has.”

  “What’s changed that thought?”

  “I once wondered where they were getting all the blood for these transfusions. I think I know now.” I looked over the pile of bodies. The people that were walking around as the hybrids had to have gotten the blood from somewhere. Ira had to gather blood to create the hybrid. To become a vampire, one had to be drained of blood. “Draining the warlocks and the lycanthropes to replace the blood with vampire. Maybe all the way, maybe half way. I don’t know.”