Blood Catalyst Read online

  "I know, it's a bit creepy. I got it in one of my cases."

  "There's something magical about it." Their voice hesitated a little bit.

  "A protection spell. She keeps my office safe." I leaned back and crossed my arms. "Is that a problem?"

  They shook their head. "No, not at all. Just unexpected. Must be a dangerous job if you don't even feel safe in your office."

  "It's PIB, strange things happen. Now, what can I do for you?" It came out a bit more forceful this time. I didn't want to waste my morning chatting idly with a stranger. I wanted to get my paperwork out of the way and get back to my job.

  "I told you, I need you to locate a missing Cult member. A man named Zayden Serif. He's not a high member of the cult, but we're worried that he's bitten off more than he can chew."

  "Why can't you guys find him? You have much more powerful people than me."

  "Because our magic really isn't aimed to protect and save. I can bring you an object to do a tracking spell. I'm hoping you can just bring him back."

  "And who are you to him?"

  They shook their head. "Don't worry about it. I'll be in contact."

  "I haven't agreed to take it on."

  "We know you, Abigail. We know that you'll take it on. The Cult wouldn't have let me come otherwise." They stood and walked out of the office without even looking back at me.

  I stared at the door for a moment. What the hell was going on? I hadn't been back more than fifteen minutes, and the weirdness had already started.

  Well, I did say that I wanted to dive right back into work. I guess this was one way of doing it.

  ∞

  Even after all the miscellaneous paperwork and the few emails I had received were taken care of, my nerves still weren't settled. My mind kept going back to the cult member that came to visit. I reached for my phone and called down to the receptionist.

  "Mandy speaking, what's up, Agent A?"

  It was good to hear a familiar voice. Before I had gone on leave, Mandy was still working the night shift at the north PIB building.

  "Hey, before I came in, a person signed in to see me. Baseball hat, long coat, odd voice?"

  "Oh yeah, I signed him in."

  I could hear papers shuffling in the background.

  "A Jonathan Serif? He said he needed to meet with you about a case. He greeted Liz like an old friend when he walked in. I thought it was really weird. Did he give you problems?"

  I wrote the name down. "No, he didn't. He just didn't give me a lot of information to go off of. Thank you."

  I disconnected the call and put the name in the system. I assumed that Jonathan was related to Zayden in some way since they shared a last name. An ID was required to get a visitor's badge, so if Jonathan was lying about who he was, he had an ID to back up his lies. I watched as some links and documents scrolled up the screen as the search filtered out results. A knock on the door brought my gaze away from the screen.

  Through the glass window of the door, I could see Liz standing there. I went over and let her in. "I'm pretty sure as my superior your key card works for this office."

  She snorted. "Yes, but it's rude to use it without your permission." She walked in and sat in the seat in front of my desk. "By now you know you already have a case that concerns the Cult of Ra."

  "I don't know a whole lot about it, so I'm hoping you're going to give me a bit more information on it?"

  I waited for a moment while she sat in silence. She seemed to be debating something. Finally, she spoke, "Look, Jon's a good friend of mine. His brother is missing. If it goes on PIB record, we can use the resources that PIB has to find him. He could be in danger. He's young, only eighteen." She rubbed her eyes. "I know it's not technically black magic related, but there's no one else I can trust to handle the case." She looked up at me. "I know you have connections in the Cult."

  Which made me wonder how she knew that. "Let me ask you something, Liz? Are you Cult?"

  "Would it be a problem if I was?" There was something sharp in her voice that I couldn't quite understand.

  I shook my head. "No, you're right, I have connections in the Cult. Not all of them are bad." I shrugged. "I'll see what I can do. Jon said that he'd be in touch and that Seth also said I could be trusted."

  She raised a brow. "Seth is their high priest. How do you know him?"

  "I helped him out with a case." I shrugged a shoulder. "It's a long story that leads back to the Barn case."

  We both stared at each other for a moment, as if just now realizing we both had our secrets. After a minute, she smirked. "Secrets don't make friends Collins."

  "You're one to talk."

  The words were true, but both of our voices were light. "I know that Jon is in good hands. Thank you, Abby."

  I nodded. "Not a problem. After facing down a demon, I think the Cult is a bit less scary now." I twisted my chair from side to side. "I'm glad to be back at work. Thank you for making sure I was fully reinstated."

  "Boss Man is really worried about your wellbeing, Abby. Just make sure you don't prove me wrong and prove to him that you're ready to come back." She stood. "Jon has your number, just so you know. Again the paper trail is the only way you could use PIB resources to help him. Most of the business will be taken care of outside the office."

  I liked it better that way anyway. It meant fewer eyes looking over my shoulders. She walked out of my office, and the door snapped behind her with a click.

  Turning back to the computer screen I scanned over the search results for Jon. I clicked on the first one, a picture of a young man, with black, stringy, wet hair stood with a towel over his shoulders and a pair of swimming goggles in his hand.

  LOCAL BOY SAVES DROWNING BROTHER

  The article was from a small-town newspaper. Scanning the article, I learned that the headline was quite accurate. Jon had saved Zayden from drowning after some kids pushed the toddler in.

  The next document was a graduation announcement from high school, followed by that was a registration document for my local coven. And it looked like it was still active.

  I rarely went to coven meetings when I was a part of the coven. Not long ago they had asked me to withdraw my registration because someone had sent them a video of me controlling fire. There was really no love lost.

  But now I was probably going to have to contact them. I tried not to roll my eyes at the thought. Honestly, I didn't want to deal with them, but I needed as much information on Jon and Zayden that I could get.

  I reached for my phone, but it rang before I could pick it up. I looked at Merick's number flashing across the screen.

  "What's up?" I asked when I answered it.

  "Someone keeps trying to get through the spell and into the house. They aren't welcomed here. Have you felt it?"

  "No, but I think I need to redo my circle. It seems to be malfunctioning since I got that Demon curse."

  "Watch your back, because I don't know who or what it is. I'm not going to go find out either, because I don't like the way it feels." His voice sounded almost scared, which was something I had never heard in Merick's voice before.

  "You stay safe as well."

  He disconnected without another word.

  I leaned back in my chair. Who would be trying to get into my house? Vampires? It wasn't off the list since I'd met a day-walking one that attacked me.

  Someone who thought I'd still be on leave?

  I shook my head. I couldn't let it consume my day. I had people to research and PIB things to do. I made a mental note to redo my protection circle when I got home and hoped it would hold up. I was grateful that Merrick was at my house to protect it since apparently I was incapable of doing it myself some days.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I had pulled all the information on Jon and Zayden that I could find. It wasn't very interesting, which meant they stayed off the
radar as much as they could. That was good for me because it meant that they most likely dealt in less dangerous magic than some of the other members of the cult.

  But then there were Jon's eyes. Streaked with black meant that he dealt in magic that was more than gray. Merick's eyes only showed the streaks when he was performing magic that teetered on super bad. Had Jon been performing a spell while he was here?

  My heart stopped for a moment remembering the day the building had blown up. No, Liz and I would have felt the magic. I could trust Liz's taste in people. Maybe he had been performing a spell before coming to meet me. I looked down at the notes I had been taking. Was I just looking for a reason to be paranoid about the case?

  Probably.

  A knock on the door pulled me out of my thoughts. I smiled when I saw Simon standing there through the little window on my door. I got up and let him in.

  He leaned down and kissed me, letting his lips linger a bit on mine. "I brought you coffee and lunch."

  I smiled. "You know the way to my heart."

  He handed me the tray with two coffees in it and then walked over and put the fast food bags on my desk. "I figured you'd be too busy to remember to eat." He pulled out a fry and popped it in his mouth. "And I know that Merick hasn't resorted to making your lunches…yet."

  I rolled my eyes. "I did all the grocery shopping while I was on leave." I reminded him. "And I bought more than just microwavable meals."

  "Yeah, only because I ate there most nights and Merick can cook." He smiled. "How's the first day back?"

  "Paperwork, a small case, nothing huge. Typical day." I wasn't going to tell him about the threat at the house or who the case was for. There was no need to worry him on my first day back. "How'd you know I was at the office?"

  "Merick told me when I texted him to see what he wanted for lunch."

  I handed him his coffee as I sat down. "You two are all buddy-buddy huh?"

  "We tag team taking care of you." He winked at me. My recovery from the Demon's curse hadn't been easy, and I had almost died. Twice.

  I rolled my eyes and sipped my coffee. "Thanks for the coffee and lunch. I've been sucked into research all day."

  "Well, I had to make up for the bad news I'm bringing you, somehow." He didn't look at me as he divided the meals on the desk.

  I looked over my cup, trying to use it to hide my displeased look. "Describe 'bad.' Is it like, 'someone's shown up dead' bad, or 'I'm going to need you to save the pack bad?'"

  Simon sighed. "It's 'I need to be on pack grounds for a month bad.'"

  I tried to decide how this was a bad thing. I owned the circle that protected the pack's land, and that meant I was welcomed there. "Okay, so I'll just bring you lunch on occasion."

  "I'd love that, but Luke doesn't want you near pack lands right now."

  Luke was the person who was acting as second Alpha. It was the agreement made to reunite the pack after it was almost torn apart. But it had taken a person skinning pack members to bring them back together.

  I locked my jaw. "Is there something going on that I need to know about?"

  Simon shook his head. "Everything is fine. We have nine new pups, and they are skittish. Anything unexpected and new triggers an uncontrolled shift."

  I wrinkled my nose. "Okay yeah, I don't want to be turned into werewolf meat."

  "I knew you'd understand. I'll try to get down here once a week."

  "Why isn't Luke doing it? If you split pack duties?"

  "His month was last month. I have a couple more days before I have to go up, and I was hoping that they would be okay by now. But I was wrong."

  "Why are they so skittish? Where'd they come from?"

  "They don't know. They don't remember their change. Travis found them wandering around the Wolf's Bane during the day. They broke in looking for a place to hide."

  Simon didn't often share werewolf information with me. We had discussed it, and though I was welcomed on pack land, I needed to try and stay out of the politics of it. I was a witch, not a wolf.

  "Okay, you take care of the pack. Besides, it looks like I'll have my hands busy with work."

  He took a bite of his burger and still wouldn't meet my gaze.

  "There's something else?" I guessed.

  "Yeah, there's something else. Levi…"

  I knew exactly where this was going. "Mario is not coming to guard me again."

  "Levi said that if I couldn't be around, then Mario needed to be. He won't tell me what's going on or why it's so important that you have some sort of bodyguard on you almost all the time." There was a small bit of accusation in his voice.

  I wanted to tell him. I needed to tell him. "Not here. Tonight, at home where I know no one is listening."

  He met my gaze then. "Thank you."

  We ate in peace with the occasional chatter about something we'd seen online or heard on the radio. Since we'd seen each other so often lately, there wasn't a whole lot of catching up to do. When we were done with lunch, Simon cleared the trash and sat down again. He picked up the doll on my desk. "I can't believe you kept this thing."

  "I spent a lot of money on it. It's grown on me" I shrugged.

  He set it back down. "It's creepy." He glanced at his watch. "I have to go. I promised Travis I'd help him get the club set up for the big event tonight."

  I stood to walk him out, and he gave me another quick kiss. "I'll see you tonight."

  He walked out, and the door snapped shut behind him.

  I should have asked him why Levi knew he was leaving town before I did, but then I remembered that Levi and the pack had an alliance. I leaned against the door and crossed my arms.

  Like hell I was going to have Mario following me around again. Like hell.

  ∞

  I'd spent the rest of the afternoon going through old files on Ira. I had permission from Liz to dig up old cases and see what I could find out about him. It was a deal that I could do it on the down-low and turn information over to her to strengthen the case we had against him. Ira had been running blood donation labs in the area and was using the blood to experiment on people. The experiments went wrong, leaving a bunch of blood-starved vampires roaming about the area. It wasn't pretty, and it had led to a host of other problems.

  Our executioners couldn't get to him. He was Levi's brother. And he seemed to always be taunting me. Liz turned him into my side project. By the time the sun started going down I was putting all the research away and ready to go home. I grabbed my bag and opened my office door to find Mario standing there.

  He leaned against the wall opposite the door. His arms crossed, pulling his suit tight over his body. His black hair was styled back away from his face, and he gave me a smirk that would have made most women weak at the knees.

  He'd stabbed me in the back and left me under Ira's control. It would take more than a smirk to make me weak at the knees for him. "Go away, Mario."

  "Good to see you too, Abigail." His Italian accent rolled through me. "Levi would like to meet with you."

  I sighed. "Can't he pick up the phone?"

  "He thought you wouldn't take his call since you've talked to Simon."

  I walked passed him and headed toward the stairs. "So he sent you to annoy the piss out of me instead."

  Mario grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. "This is important."

  "Then he should have come himself." I shrugged his hand off my shoulder and turned back around to the stairwell.

  Mario snagged my wrist and the world around me started to shift and change. I had a moment's notice before it went dark and then reappeared as the front of Levi's mansion.

  I turned and glared at Mario. "What the fuck? Don't you touch me again without my permission." I took a deep breath to calm myself. I was here now, so I guess I had no choice but to see what Levi wanted. I walked up to the mansion and laid my hand on the pa
lm reader.

  Mario was close at my back almost shoving me into the door when it was unlocked. I kicked my shoes off and pulled out my phone to send Simon a quick text that I would be late.

  "Follow me," Mario said with no humor or emotion in his voice.

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "I know where I'm going."

  Mario said nothing but continued to lead the way to Levi's study. I walked in, and Mario shut the door behind me, not joining us.

  Levi was sitting in one of the wing back chairs, one leg crossed over the other, his head bowed against his folded hands. His blond hair fell down, shading his closed eyes.

  For a moment, I thought he was praying. "Levi?"

  He looked up. "Abigail." He motioned to the chair across from him. "Please sit. We have something to discuss."

  I felt like a child being sent to the principal's office. I tried to think of something that I'd done over the last few months that could have pissed him or the vampire council off. I slowly sat down in the chair across from him. I waited for him to speak, but he just sat there in silence.

  "You could have called me," I said easily. "Instead of having Mario forcefully take me." I kept my voice light. Joking, but I knew he'd be able to read into it.

  He didn't rise to my bait though. He simply sat there. Finally, he took a letter off the side table and handed it to me.

  I looked at the script written on the front of it. Leviticus. Levi's full name. I opened it.

  "Leviticus,

  It has been years since I have seen you, my fledgling. I hear you have risen in power, and I believe it is time for us to meet again. I know you have chosen to not continue my work and you may fear meeting with me. So I offer to meet under a truce, in my territory. Bring your witch.

  Samuel."

  I looked up at Levi, trying to hide the worry in my eyes. Samuel had been the name that was given to me by the day-walking vampire who had attacked me. My heart pounded in my chest as I tried not to demand answers. I had never told Levi about the attack. Finally, I spoke. "Your maker?"

  "Yes. I haven't seen him since Ira and I split off on our own to continue his work. Centuries ago." He still kept his head hung low as if he was embarrassed. "As you know, I cannot refuse a call to meet with my maker."