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  That was the short of it. “Can you tell me where you were the night she was killed?”

  “Yes, I was in a meeting with another vampire. One I’m sure you’ve heard of.”

  The hair on my arms stood up, and I knew what name he was going to say even before it came out of his mouth.

  “Ira wanted me to do something for him. I turned it down because I still have some of my morals.” He leaned his head to the side and looked at Mario by rolling his eyes. “Unlike what my maker thinks.”

  The strange words and mannerisms didn’t escape me. He waved his hand in front of his face as if trying to shoe something away. “But you have other questions, don’t you? You don’t want to deal with Ira because he’s been trying to kill you. You’re running away from that problem.”

  I wanted to deny it, but the truth was, I didn’t want to talk to anyone about Ira because the stupid vampire had put I giant kink in my life. “I don’t know how to get a hold of Ira, so I can’t verify your story, but what I do want to know about is your daughter.”

  He launched himself towards me, and I jumped away, pulling my gun. He landed a few feet in front of me, snarling and showing his teeth. “My daughter, my beautiful Loraine. You aren’t privy to her information. I will kill you before you even look into her.”

  Holy shit did I hit a button. “I saw her picture in an article. Does she have your particular skill set?”

  “I will drain all of your blood from your body. You will not touch her.”

  He lunged for me, and Mario sacked him and pinned him against the wall. “You will not touch Abigail, you will not threaten her, and if you do not talk to her in a reasonable manner, I will tear your throat out.”

  It wasn’t exactly how I would have handled the situation, but I guess it was better than shooting him and getting blood all over Oliver’s carpet. I glanced at my uncle who had been silent. He was sitting in his chair, one leg crossed over the other, and he cradled a glass of wine in one hand. The bastard was enjoying himself like this was a show for his entertainment.

  “You think you can protect her from Loraine and me?” He laughed and disappeared from Mario’s grip. Poof, gone, leaving Mario, Oliver, and me.

  Everyone in the room stood quietly for a moment. Finally, Oliver cleared his throat. “Well, that wasn’t exactly how I expected that to go.”

  “I thought you said that he was going to meet us at midnight. That’s still a few hours away.” I holstered my gun and glared at Oliver. “A text or a warning would have been nice.”

  “Yes, but I thought that it would be a nice surprise to see how you handled it.” He motioned to the gun at my waist. “I see your first instinct is to still go for your gun, not your magic.”

  I nodded. “Because I’m a PIB agent, and let’s face it, me using my magic right now is only getting me into trouble, because people are sending fucking videos out.”

  “What?” both Mario and Oliver asked at the same time.

  I took a deep breath. “Boss Man and the coven both have videos of my elemental abilities, and the coven got one about the color of my circles changing and the video of me trapping Tomes in a circle.”

  “What does the magic matter?” Mario asked. “I know very little about witches.”

  Then why the hell was he in charge of me? Oliver sat his glass down on the coffee table. “What moment did they have on video?”

  “Someone got footage of me killing the blood-starved vampires.”

  Oliver pressed his lips together. “That was on a mission for the king; PIB has you on record there.”

  “But the Coven only sees it as killing with magic. They think I’m out of control. I have Clarissa’s phone; I was hoping you were going to be able to track the message.” I handed the phone to Oliver. “That trip has brought nothing but crap to my life.”

  Oliver put the phone in his pocket. “I wanted to leave you out of the whole king mess.”

  “Because that would have been easier,” Mario agreed. “Now your being in on it gives Levi a bigger weakness than anyone intended.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, you made the clear before. Go home. I don’t need you here.”

  “I’m not supposed to leave your side.”

  I gritted my teeth. Time to switch focus. “What do you know about Drake’s daughter?”

  “I know that she does carry his skill with Life Magic. He taught her everything he knew,” Oliver was the one who answered.

  “Why do you know that?” I rubbed my eyes. “Oliver, I swear that if I find out you have anything to do with the murders, I will drag your ass into PIB.”

  He chuckled. “Because like you, when I couldn’t find Drake, I looked into his life and found that he had a daughter. I started asking around, and then he contacted me. As you see, he doesn’t like people looking for his daughter.”

  Of course not. I don’t think I’d want people looking for my daughter either, especially after being turned into a vampire because someone needed my magic. I leaned back in the chair. “Drake’s still at the top of my list, but now his daughter is right there with him.”

  Oliver picked his wine up again and swirled the red liquid. “This is very dangerous territory, Abigail. Are you sure you want to continue with the case?”

  “Is there something else you’re not telling me? Because as far as I see it, there’s no more danger than my last few cases.” I folded my hands and met his gaze. “I didn’t expect you to get more protective after this whole princess thing.”

  He snorted. “You’re right. You haven’t become weaker. If anything, you’ve gotten stronger. Full speed ahead, niece.”

  “Weaker or not, she’s still an open target for Levi,” Mario snapped. “You promised to help keep her safe.”

  Oliver took a slow sip of his wine and stared at Mario. “I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about Levi. He’s done nothing but tear my family apart. Abigail is correct; she is a big witch, she doesn’t need babysitters and pretend suitors to protect her.”

  I knew Oliver wasn’t Levi’s biggest fan, but the malice in his voice led me to think there was a lot more behind the comment. My phone rang, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen in the room.

  I looked at it and saw Jason’s number flash on the screen. “I’m going take this and let you two figure out whatever issue it is you both suddenly have.”

  I stepped out of the room and into the office across the hall. “Jason, wonderful timing. What’s up?”

  Shuffling of papers came across the receiver. “I have an identity on the first victim.”

  “Perfect, now I can dig in. What’s the name?” I sat down in the tall leather chair in front of the desk and looked for something I could to take notes with.

  I found a piece of paper in the printer and then a fountain pen to my left.

  More paper shuffling. “Her name is Carmen Jones, thirty-three, lived in town, no family that I could find. She’s a registered shifter.”

  Another shifter death. Interesting. “Anything else I need to know?”

  “Yeah, I found some more of the plaster, and her cause of death was the same. I’m not sure what’s going on, but that alone is really strange to me.”

  Punctures right up the spine and plaster. At least the cause of death remained consistent. “Toxicology report?”

  “Nothing in their bloodstream that I could find. That’s all I have for you, Abby, if something strange comes up, then I’ll let you know.” He disconnected, and I wrote the name down so I could look into it when I got back to the office.

  When I got back to the sitting room where Oliver and Mario were, the two were just sitting there staring at each other. “Well, this is going to make for some awkward nights when I come up for elemental control.”

  “What was the phone call?” Mario asked.

  I shook my head. “Case related, and no, not the one that you and Levi have me on,” I clarified. “So really, the information is confidential, but I do have a name to pass by my uncle.”r />
  Oliver nodded.” Go ahead, let’s see if I have a connection to this one as well.”

  “Carmen Jones?”

  He shook his head. “Nope, that’s not one I know of. Does that clear me?”

  “Depends on if any of her family members bring you up in conversation. Lark’s ex-husband was pretty convinced that you killed her.”

  “Lark’s ex-husband was one of the reasons she was looking for Drake to begin with.” Oliver shook his head. “Trust me, Abigail, if I were to kill someone, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave the body lying around.”

  The comment made me pause. “That’s not reassuring.”

  “I have many ways of getting rid of a body.” He smirked. “As do most people in our society who don’t want to be caught.”

  Yep, totally not reassuring. “Anyways, since we’re done here. I’m going to go home and relax for a bit.”

  “The storm’s come in,” Mario added. “We should head back, so we don’t get caught in the flood area.”

  I’d seen the clouds coming off the mountain, but hadn’t given it a second thought. “Sorry things didn’t go your way tonight.” I stood. “Hopefully you got whatever information you needed from Drake?”

  “Enough to know what I’m dealing with, yes.” Oliver nodded. “Thanks for asking.”

  I wanted to ask exactly what he was looking into, but it would be pointless, especially with Mario standing right there. “I’ll see you Saturday to work on things.”

  “I’ll make sure to have a lunch ready for us.” It was a subtle way of saying that he was changing the time. We normally worked at night, but I guessed he didn’t want Mario tagging along, and I couldn’t blame him.

  “Perfect, okay let’s go.” I spun around to leave, and Oliver caught me by the arm.

  “What? No hug for your uncle.”

  It was so completely out of character I fought not to drop my jaw. He slid his hand down my arm until he found my palm. He squeezed it, and a hard object pressed into my hand. He pulled me into a hug. “I’ll see you Saturday.”

  I hugged him and then slid the object into my pocket. When I turned back around Mario was already heading out of the sitting room. I wasn’t sure if he had noticed that Oliver had given me something, but it didn’t matter. It was clear that Oliver didn’t want to draw attention to it so I wouldn’t tell Mario what it was anyways.

  I found the vampire waiting for me by the door, he’d already opened it, and the smell of rain wafted through the hall. I took a deep breath and smiled at the scent. There was always something about the rain that was calming.

  Oliver had walked with me, and I didn’t miss the joy that played crossed his face at the rain. His cocky smirk turned up just a little bit more into a smile, and his eyes seemed to brighten. Water was his element, so I’m sure the rain gave him some form of happiness.

  “Are you afraid of melting?” I stepped out into the downpour and looked at Mario.

  He shook his head. “I’m thinking of the river by the bridge we crossed on the way over here.”

  “I know an alternate route.” I walked to the car and climbed in.

  He simply transported himself to the car. “I would suggest taking that. I rather not be caught in a flash flood.”

  It was a route that I often took when it rained. I didn’t blame him for his concern. There had been a lot of fires here recently that upped the chances of flash floods coming down the bare mountainside, I didn’t think it’d rain that much already, but like him, I didn’t want to chance it. I started the car. “I’m already ahead of you.”

  I pulled out of the driveway and glanced back at the house. Oliver was standing in the downpour, but the water wasn’t touching him. It bent around him as his aura protected him from the moisture. Much like mine did when it came to fire, but for the first time since I met him, he looked perfectly at peace.

  “You want to tell me about the phone call from Jason?” Mario broke the silence.

  I focused on the road and the way the raindrops were bouncing off of everything, causing a fine mist over the road and the car as we drove. “Nope. I don’t need your help with that case. It’s nothing for you to worry about.”

  “It’s vampire business, and Drake has a connection to Ira, that makes it my business.”

  I shook my head. “No, not in my mind. If Ira actually enters the scene, then it’s your business. Levi trusts me to take care of my cases without help and without him looking over my shoulder. I expect the same from you unless it deals with Keira. Then I will share information, and I will let you in on the investigation.”

  “You are a very stubborn witch.” Mario snapped. “Do you not want protection? Do you not understand the implications of what is going on around you?”

  I nodded and my grip tightened on the wheel as I drove over a deep puddle. The pressure of the water pushed the car a little bit, but I was prepared. “I do, it’s been my life on the line a lot lately. But what I’m asking for is trust. Not for you to completely disappear.”

  The rain increased, and my heart sped up and I flicked the windshield wiper up a little bit more. I hit another puddle, and it pushed my tires more, hinting to me that I needed to slow down as I took the winding road. I let my foot off the gas to lower my speed. Mario didn’t respond, and I figured either he knew that the rain was starting to make me anxious or he wasn’t sure what to say about my request for trust.

  “If you want me to trust you, Abigail, you need to trust me,” His voice was quiet, and the response had taken him a few minutes to come up with. “I do not agree with the freedoms that Levi gives you, but he is King, he is your acting father, so he gets his say. I need you not to be so…what’s the phrase? Skitish? When it comes to me. No more throwing me in a circle, no more pushing against my protection and my new part in your life.”

  Hail joined the rain echoing through the car in a steady beat. I slowed down more and turned my wipers up again. This wasn’t unusual weather for here, but it wasn’t something I liked to drive in. My poor car was going to have hail dents all over it.

  I didn’t respond until I had finished navigating the small ice balls and the rain returned. “If you want me to trust you, you have to prove that I can.”

  Something to my right caught my eye, a red glowing. My heart fell. Mud and rock came tumbling down the steep hill, crashing into the side of the car with a sickening couch. Mario’s hand wrapped around my wrist, and in one moment I was in the car that was moving sideways over the road, and the next I was standing in the rain watching the mudslide take my car over the edge of the road and down the rest of the hill.

  I looked up at the hill and dirt continued to crumble down into the road.

  “Good enough?” Mario asked and handed me my bag. I wasn’t sure when he managed to grab it, but I was glad he did.

  It took me a moment to figure out what he was talking about. Trust. “It’s a start.” I rubbed my hands up and down my arms as the chill of water set in my bones. There was a fine shake to my hands, and I knew that it was because there was a little bit of shock going through me as well. I started laughing a little bit as I saw the dirt bury my car.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Mario looked over the cliff. “There is nothing funny about this situation.”

  I shook my head. “Oh no, it’s hilarious. That’s my fifth car in two years.” I started laughing harder. “I’m going to need the Hummer.”

  Mario put a hand on my shoulder, and the world disappeared for a moment. When the world came back, we were back in front of Oliver’s house.

  “Why here?” I looked up at the door.

  “Because I have a feeling he had something to do with it,” he snarled.

  I shook my head. “No, Oliver wouldn’t try to kill me.”

  “I felt the magic, and I know you did too.”

  I saw the glow of the rune, but I wasn’t going to admit that right now. “It wasn’t Oliver’s magic.”

  “She’s right you know,” my uncle
said from the side of the house. “I felt it too. It was dark, but it wasn’t mine.”

  Mario spun me to look at him. “If it wasn’t him who was it.” The answer was in the pit of my stomach.

  “I have two theories.” I shook my head and walked into the house.

  “Abigail, you know exactly who it was.” Oliver followed me before Mario walked in. “You need to talk to him.”

  The Cult. “They don’t want me dead.” I shook my head.

  Mario followed. “Who are you talking about.”

  “None of your business,” Oliver and I said at the same time.

  I rubbed my eyes. “Mario, I need you to go get the Hummer.”

  “So you and Oliver can talk about this new threat? No.”

  There was one time that Mario couldn’t be watching me. The day. Oliver nodded as if reading my mind. “Go with him, Abby. Stay at Levi’s for the night.”

  He had his reasons. I sighed. “Will you go feed my cat?”

  “I will.” There was a laugh in his voice. “I’ll even be nice to him.”

  Mario looked at me. “Didn’t you feed the cat before work?”

  “He’s a hungry cat.” I shrugged. “Okay, take me to Levi’s.”

  Mario put his hand on my shoulder, and the world shifted again. This time replaced with Levi’s front door. I took a deep breath and scanned my hand. The door clicked open, and Mario and I walked in.

  Levi was in the entryway. “Abigail, Mario. I have news on Keira.”

  That wasn’t exactly the way I was expecting this visit to go. “For fuck’s sake.”

  Both of them looked at me, and I held my hands up. “I want some dry clothes, and then we can talk about the little child vampire.”

  Levi nodded. “That will give me a chance to fill Mario in on a few things.” I waved my hand and moved further into the house, going to my room.

  A text came to my phone. “I will stop by the office tomorrow; we’ll talk about this then.” I tried not to roll my eyes at my uncle’s text. I thought he could trust me to make my own choices, except for when it had to do with the Cult apparently. But I wasn’t convinced that they wanted me dead.