Here Witchy Witchy Box Set 2 Page 44

  Ten minutes into my report, a knock came at the door, and Liz stood there, her arms crossed as she looked down the hall. I got up and let her in.

  “What’s up?”

  “Came to see how you were faring after your exchanged with Drake.” She looked me up and down. “Damn Abby, what did he do to you?”

  I smirked. “You should see what he looks like.”

  “Heard there’s not a lot left of him.” She sat in front of my desk. “A little birdie told me you needed to chat with me.”

  Interesting. “Little birdie named Grayson?”

  “Yeah.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Okay, you’re going to think I’m crazy, but there are some cases that have to do with Life Magic and a vampire named Ira Diaz. I was asked by someone to look into those cases.”

  “You want to reopen them?” She raised a brow. “Do you think you can solve them?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t want to jump right into reopening them, but I’d like your permission, as the team lead, to look into them. Look over the case files and see what I can make of them.”

  She was silent and twisted back and forth in the chair. “That’s a slippery slope that leads to the vampire king.”

  “Ah, gotcha, I don’t have the clearance to deal with him.” At least I didn’t use to. I hadn’t checked it since I’d gotten my forced promotion.

  She shrugged. “I look at it this way, if you have the clearance, go for it, if you don’t, then you won’t get very far.”

  “I guess I never looked at it that way.” That was as close to permission as I was going to get.

  “I’m here to be your support, not your boss.” She stood. “Glad to see you made it out in one piece. Welcome to the team, Collins, I’m sure you’ll feel right at home.”

  And for some reason, I didn’t doubt that. I snorted and turned to my computer to see what grand adventures and explosions would come next in my life.

  The End

  Everyone has Their Demons

  Book Six

  A.L. Kessler

  Chapter One

  I looked at the massive amount of emergency vehicles lining the main road in Manitou. Shops sat in rows, splitting into two directions, up and down the hill with the sun setting behind it. The ambulances, fire trucks, police, and my least favorite, news vans blocked both directions. Mason called me in because he suspected black magic.

  The crowd parted for me, which normally happens because of my height or my badge. It could also have been my new leather jacket that had PIB written inside a pentagram, that would certainly get anyone’s attention. I froze when I realized what store the crime scene team was standing in front of. Clarissa’s store, with its currently bright pink door opened just slightly. The fairy that normally hung over it lay shattered on the ground.

  “Agent Collins.” Mason greeted me.

  “Detective Mason.” I glanced at the older man; his hair was getting grayer with every passing month. Three months ago, I would have said it was salt and pepper, but now it was more of a white gray than dark. His eyes though hadn’t faded over the years; they were still a sharp hazel with wrinkles at the corner. “Any word on who the victim is?”

  I was hoping he’d give me a name. Sometimes he had one already, other times the victim just remained a John Doe. He shook his head. “No, no one’s been in there except the crime team. We’re trying to get a hold of the owner now.”

  “It’s Clarissa Summers.” I locked my jaw. “She’s normally in at this time. She’s a good friend of mine.” I tried not to panic. “Do we know if it’s her?”

  “We don’t know.” Mason made a note. “If it isn’t and we can’t reach her, maybe you can?”

  I tried to squash down the paranoia that told me that it was Clarissa and move forward. “Yeah, let me take a look at the body first, so I know what we’re working with.” I pulled a pair of gloves out of my bag and walked into the store. The glass cases filled with fairies that lined one wall had been destroyed. Glass was shattered all over the floor, crunching under my feet with every step. Every fairy was broken, and the shelves overturned. The rest of the store's spellcraft items, books, and candles had been tossed around the shop.

  My heart stopped at the destruction, but there was no body in sight. I took a moment to consider what I could see and what I could feel. There was a small presence of magic pushing against me, telling me I wasn’t welcomed. It sent goosebumps up my arm, but I had walked through worse spells without flinching.

  I forced my way through the store and into the back room. Dread filled me with each step, but I wasn’t sure if it was my paranoia or if is was the spell that was trying to keep me away. I pushed open the back room and instantly knew why Mason had called me.

  Black candles were melted all over the floor, and the upside down pentagram and runes that marked up the light colored tile were drawn in blood. In the middle was the body.

  Her red hair had been newly colored, her normally pink cheeks were now pale, and her lifeless eyes stared at me.

  Clarissa.

  My heart raced, and anger flooded through me. I wanted to deny that her body was on that floor. That someone would kill the most innocent person that I knew. My best friend. The one person that I could turn to no matter what was going on in my life. We met for Chinese food at least once a month; she’d been with me through everything.

  “Agent Collins?” Mason asked from behind me.

  It took me a moment to find my voice. “I’m sorry. I need to call another agent. I can’t work this case because I know the victim.”

  Mason put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. It was his way of giving me comfort without making a show of it. “I’ll need to talk to you after you’ve had a moment.”

  I nodded and tried to force my eyes away from the body. That’s the only way I could think of it right now because if I admitted that it was Clarissa, I was going to lose it. I put a hand to my chest, trying to stop the ache forming there and swallowed the lump in my throat.

  I’d never hear her voice again or feel her hug. I closed my eyes and forced myself to step out of the room. With each step, I felt a little bit of pressure lift from me. The spell didn’t like me at all. Even though warding a public place was tricky, I wondered how such evil found its way into Clarissa’s shop.

  I took a deep breath when I got back outside. I was going to have to face this reality sooner than I wanted to, but I knew Mason was just trying to do his job.

  “Agent Collins?” I could hear the patience in his voice. “Abby?”

  I met his gaze. “The victim’s name is Clarissa Summers,” I choked out. “Thirty-six years old, female.” Bile rose in my throat. “Black magic played a part in her death.” I felt my body shaking, and I silently reminded myself not to break down.

  “Call another agent. I’ll take you down to the coffee shop to talk.” He put a hand on my back to guide me further away from the scene. I pulled out my phone and dialed the one person on my team I knew I could trust to handle this.

  “Hey Liz,” I muttered. “I need you down at the Manitou scene.”

  She was quiet for a moment. Liz was the head of the Black Magic task force, and she and I had worked part of a case together a few months ago. Thanks to that, I knew I could trust her to have my back. “You okay?”

  “No, not really. I know the victim, so I’m pulling myself off the case.”

  She sighed. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll be down there in a few.”

  “Detective Mason is going to ask me some questions down at the coffee shop, so I’ll be around.”

  “Okay, I’ll let you know when I get there. I’ll probably need to talk to you too.”

  I’m sure. I ran a hand over my braided hair. “Okay. Yeah. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  I disconnected the call and held my head down. This wasn’t how I pictured my day going. I shoved my phone in my pocket and turned to find Detective Mason talking to one of the other officers on the scene.

&nb
sp; I walked up to him. “I’m ready to go.”

  “Come on.” He escorted with me through the crowd, and we walked further down the block to a little coffee shop.

  Walking in, the smell of coffee flowed over me and I felt myself relax a little bit. Coffee wasn’t a cure-all, but it was damn close. Detective Mason and I ordered and then took our mugs to a table in the corner.

  I didn’t look up at him, trying to control the flood of emotions in me. Tears stung my eyes as the lump in my throat returned.

  “When was the last time you saw Clarissa?” he asked.

  I studied the light brown liquid in my mug. “Three months ago, she dropped a painkiller off for me. She didn’t stay and chat. She’d canceled all of our plans because of the shop and a sudden trip to her parents.”

  “You didn’t think that was odd?”

  I shook my head. “The thing about Clarissa and I was that we met if we had time, other than that it was a quick text here or there. She’s the one witch I can text without her judging me.” I bowed my head as the tears started to fall. “I never gave it a second thought.”

  Mason reached across the table and put his hand on my arm. “I’m sorry. I know this is hard.”

  There was that tone of sorrow that I’d used with people before.

  “Do you know who we need to contact?”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t know her family. The coven might have a phone number for you.”

  I didn’t even want to think about dealing with them.

  “Do you know who might have wanted to do this to her?”

  I tried to keep my misplaced anger in check. It wasn’t Mason’s fault. “No, Clarissa is…was the sweetest person you’d know. She wouldn’t hurt a fly; her aura was pure.” I shook my head. “No, there’s no one I can think of that would do such a thing to her.”

  I clenched my coffee mug to keep my shaking down to a minimum. “I wish I knew what she was up to for the last few months; maybe there was something there that could have given me a warning that something was going to happen.”

  “You can’t blame any of this on yourself.” Mason shook his head. “You out of everyone should know that.”

  Except all the events over the last few years were rolling over in my mind. Would this still have happened had I not involved her in some of my cases? Had she not worked for Levi, then maybe she’d be alive. I rubbed my eyes and sighed. “This sucks so much.”

  “Go home. Take the rest of the night off. I’ll make sure none of my men call you in on anything else.”

  I sipped my coffee. “Okay. Thank you. Liz should be here in a few minutes.” I would have been off for the night anyways had Mason not called me in. “I’ll head home and maybe take tomorrow off.”

  “Good plan.” He stood. “And Abby? If you need anything, let me know.”

  I nodded. “I will. I’ll be okay, thank you.” I finished my coffee and stood. I was going from angry to numb; I needed to focus on what to do next. I couldn’t touch the case without getting in trouble; I needed to remind myself that I could trust Liz to take the case. I needed to go home and start processing.

  I forced myself to go back to my car. I didn’t pay any attention to the press that was gathering around taking pictures and making notes. I didn’t want to see what was going to hit the headlines in the morning.

  I came home to a surprisingly empty house. The alarm gave a little beep as I disarmed it with my entry keypad, only the entryway lights were on, and not even my so-called cat was there to greet me.

  I closed my eyes and leaned against the closed door. I began to sob uncontrollably. The last few years, my life had started spiraling out of control and falling apart around me, but now my one consistent person, the one person I could depend on to get me through this shit was dead and wrapped in black magic.

  The basement door shut and I knew where Merick had been hiding. I tried to wipe the tears away from my face as he came running around the corner.

  “Are you hurt?” Merick’s dark eyes met my gaze as he knelt in front of me. His black hair was unkempt which was unusual for him, and he looked me over. “Abigail?”

  I shook my head. “No. Clarissa is dead. Someone fucking sacrificed her.” My voice shook as I admitted it out loud.

  Merick tried to pull me into a hug, but I pushed him away and stood up. He watched as I went to the kitchen without a word.

  I went to the fridge and opened it. All I found was a half-empty bottle of wine. The amount of pain and anger I felt called for more. I shut the fridge and turned around to see Merick staring at me. “What?”

  “I’m trying to figure out how to comfort you.”

  “You can’t. Let me hold on to my anger for a little while; then I’ll figure out how to process.” I went to make coffee. “If I’m lucky, someone else will die, and I’ll be able to focus on another case.”

  He shook his head. “You can’t always bury yourself in work. Who has Clarissa’s case?”

  “Liz does, I purposely called her in so that I knew the case was in good hands.” I went to get creamer out of the fridge and found none. “Why the hell is my house empty of shit?”

  Merick chuckled. “Because you haven’t been to the store in a month.”

  I ran my hands over my eyes and sighed. “Okay, I’m going to the store.”

  “No, you’re not. Use some milk in your coffee; I bought some the other day. You are staying home. Dusk will be here soon, and Mario is going to march through that door.”

  Which meant that I was going to have to play girlfriend to the vampire. I didn’t have the energy in me to fake it tonight, but canceling wasn’t really an option. Levi, my adopted father, insisted that Mario and I have a false relationship so that he had an excuse to be around me to protect me. Why? Because Levi was the king of vampires, which made me the princess. It had complicated my life, a lot.

  “Shit,” I muttered and grabbed the milk. “I’ll go to the store later, I promise.” I shut the fridge and turned around to see him already back in his cat form. His chosen cat breed was a Sphynx, fitting since he was the son of the High Priest of the Cult of Ra.

  But him being back in cat form so quick told me that something had triggered his magic, but not mine. Most likely a vampire. Most likely Mario.

  As if on cue, I heard a knock on the door. I disarmed the alarm and looked at the screen to see Mario and Levi standing at my front door. They’d both gotten better about my wish for them not to just pop in and they started using the front door about a month ago.

  I opened the door and stood there staring at the two. “Something must be going on if you both showed up tonight.” I forced myself to greet Mario with a kiss on the cheek and a hug. He squeezed me and held me a bit longer than usual.

  “I can smell your tears, what has happened?” His Italian accented voice was something that used to get on my nerves, but I was getting used to it. Tonight his hair had been combed away from his brown eyes in a slicked-back style. His skin was just a tad dark for a vampire, but it was from ethnicity, not from the sun.

  I turned away from him. “That’s a great way to start a conversation and honestly kind of creepy.” They walked in, and I shut the door behind them. “What do I owe the honor of you both being here?”

  They looked at each other, and Mario’s gaze went to my gun. I wasn’t going to like what they had to say. “Please put your gun down.” Levi’s voice held an accent as well, but there was nothing recognizable in it. I always assumed it was from the centuries of living in different countries.

  I rolled my eyes, but complied, putting it on the counter. “Happy?”

  Levi nodded. “I don’t want you to shoot the messenger. Someone has killed Clarissa.”

  Even though I knew, it still hit me in the gut. Fresh tears welled in my eyes. “I know. I was called in on the case, and before you ask, no, I didn’t take the case.” I kept my tears in this time. “She was either sacrificed or killed with black magic. And that’s not the kind of news I
would shoot you over.”

  “Levi’s testing your current temperament.” Mario held his hand out, and I knew he was trying to offer some comfort, that and if someone were watching, it would be expected. I took his hand which took me another couple feet away from my gun. I didn’t like where this was going.

  Levi nodded. “I figured as PIB you’d already heard of Clarissa’s death. That isn’t what this is about. Ira has contacted me demanding a meeting with you.”

  I jerked, and Mario tightened his grip on my hand. “And you agreed?” I kept my anger in check. He’d spent so much time warning me away from the vampire, trying to protect me, that I found it hard to believe that he would simply agree.

  “He said that if you didn’t go willingly, he’d let a witch use your blood to track you down and force you to come.”

  My hand jerked and Mario squeezed it. “You aren’t one to take idle threats.”

  “I’m hoping you can gain some useful information if you meet with him. We have laid out the terms of a truce between you and him. You’ll be safe as long as you don’t attack anyone.”

  “Unless someone attacks me first.”

  Mario laughed. “Now you’re getting it.”

  “Can I take my guns?” I knew the answer, but I thought I’d ask anyway.

  “No, your blades are allowed, but again, no attacking,” Mario reminded me, and I realized that neither of them had faith in me to get through the meeting without violence.

  “Vampire politics are stupid.” I let go of his hand and went back to my coffee. “Could you not tell me this over the phone?”

  Levi shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you were okay after hearing about Clarissa.”

  I could hear the grief in his voice. They were friends as well, though I never knew exactly how they met, but grief didn’t change over centuries, it still hurt Levi to lose someone. “I’ll be okay. I’ll be better when we find out who killed her. Are you okay?”