Here Witchy Witchy Box Set 1

by A. L. Kessler

  I slid out of the van and made my way to the front of the building. This was not how I had pictured my night going. I got inside and fished out my badge and identification from my clutch. I saw the receptionist tapping away on the computer. She took a moment and then looked up at me.

  "Bit fancy to be at the morgue aren't you?" Had her voice not been light, I would have taken offense.

  I handed her my badge and ID. "Didn't you know? I have a hot date with a couple of stiffs."

  She wrote something down on a paper and then handed me my items back. "Well, Agent Collins, you're all signed in. Your date awaits." She gave a grand wave to the hall to the right.

  "Thanks." I put my stuff back in the purse and walked down the glaring white hallway. I came to a door that was open. Jason stood inside looking over the two bodies. They hadn't even been stripped yet. I walked in and put my purse on the steel counter against the wall.

  Mason had been right. These people had their throats torn out. I kicked my heels off and looked at Jason. "Do you have an extra apron or a pair of scrubs?"

  "Yeah, let me grab them." He slipped out of the room and I walked up to the table. I didn't have the medical training to do the autopsy but examining the wounds and the bodies could get messy and I really didn’t want to do it in my dress. I walked around the table while I waited. Bennie and Maggie were two middle-aged people with brown hair, no visible distinguishing marks on their skin and both average height and weight, not skinny, not obese. I noted a ring on her left hand and a band on his. A married couple, 'til death do us part.

  Jason walked in and handed me a pair of scrubs. "Notice anything? Detective Mason told me not to share too much, said it screws you up."

  "I don't like getting other people's perceptions of the crime. They were married, I would assume to each other since they were found together." I slipped the scrubs over my dress and did a little dance so I could unzip the dress and pull it down without revealing anything to Jason. I slipped the pants on under the skirt and wiggled the whole thing off. I folded it and put it with my heels.

  I went back to the bodies and examined the clothing. Both wore casual clothing, jeans and a t-shirt. The woman wore one of those shirts that came in right at the waistline. "They were found at God's Garden, my guess is they were up there for a walk. Judging by the shoes, I'd say it was on the basic paths, there's not a whole lot of red dirt." The place was almost all red rock and dirt.

  "We found them stashed between two climbing rocks." He grabbed a notebook off the counter.

  That didn't sound pleasant. I didn't know any creature that would kill something and hide it, not any that would be considered out of control. No, this killer knew what they were doing. "I'm assuming Nick is combing the crime scene?"

  Jason bobbed his head behind the notebook. "Yeah. He wasn't happy about not getting to look at the bodies here. Said something about today supposedly being a day off for you."

  "Apparently that only applies to the hours that the sun is up." I held my hand out. "Gloves? I want to take a closer look at the wounds."

  He put the notebook down and grabbed a pair of blue medical gloves for me. I slid them on and went to look at the first victim's neck. There was a strange thin tan line on her skin. "She wore a necklace of some sort, I wonder if she lost it during the attack. She wore it enough to get a tan line." I used my fingers to probe the wounds on her throat. "More teeth marks, I'm betting these ones come back human as well." I followed the tan line around the neck and saw bruising from where it had been pulled off and snapped.

  "Cannibals." Jason said, I looked up and met his gaze. I was glad to see he was smiling and trying to hold in laughter. "It was just a theory."

  "Yeah, zombies and cannibals, the city has gone crazy." I shook my head and my finger touched something hard. I prayed it wasn't bone. My finger curled around it and I pulled it out. The yellowish lump could be seen through the streaks of blood. Jason brought me a little metal dish and I dropped the mass in it.

  "I think that's a tooth."

  My stomach churned suddenly and I had to remind myself to breathe. I blew out a breath. "Did you take a cast of the teeth marks of the last victims?"

  "I did, we haven't run them through dental yet."

  I looked at the two bodies in front of me. "Run them, get a cast of these ones. I want to know if we're dealing with the same person." What I wanted to say was the same monster, but I resisted. I tried to view everyone as a person, at least until they were proven to be monsters.

  "All right, let me get them stripped down so you can see the rest." He turned and pulled out a pair of EMT scissors and started cutting the clothing off.

  "The rest?" Had I missed something? The clothes were still intact, from what I could see. That's what I missed; it was something I couldn't see. "Hand me a pair of scissors."

  He handed me his pair without a word and then went to retrieve another set for him. I went to work removing the female body’s clothing. When we both had done what we could, I helped him flip the male body over and then he helped me with the female.

  We removed the scraps of fabric and I saw what he was talking about. Scratches marred the backs of these two. "Wild sex?" I threw out there.

  "Right up there with zombies and cannibals." He muttered. "Look at the angle, they were attacked from the back. Even in the heat of passion, you’re not going to get those angles.”

  He was right, they weren't consistent with marks of passion and were too deep for that. "You know, there are people who are into pain and it doesn't have to be done from holding the person."

  He blinked at me and opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

  "But no, I don't think this is one of those cases. I think this is from whatever our killer is."

  "They almost look like claw marks. Which points to lycanthrope."

  Which if the media got a hold of, it would ruin the work that Mina and her mate were here for. "I don't think it is, because of the throats." I pulled my gloves off. "I'll process what information I have." Which wasn't a whole lot. "Call me when you get the results from the dental records."

  "Will do. Do you need a ride back?"

  I picked up my purse, dress and shoes. "Nope, I'll call a friend. You worry about the bodies. I'll get the scrubs back to you."

  "Thanks, I'll call you if I find anything else out." He went back to the bodies.

  As I watched him for a moment, I wondered why he chose this field. Mason said he'd earned his spot and I believed that. Maybe he just had a talent for it. I shut the door behind me and pulled my phone from my purse. I texted Levi that I needed a pick up, it would be a couple hours before he could get down here. I had two choices, sit it out in the lobby or walk back to the party with Simon. I chose my first option. There was no way I was walking back into a party wearing scrubs.

  My phone battery was almost dead from playing games while waiting for Levi. I could have gone in and helped Jason, but he didn't need me looking over his shoulder. I trusted that he'd get ahold of me once he had information. Besides, this was supposed to be a night off. Levi walked in the lobby and I saw the receptionist put her hand under the counter. I wondered for a moment if she had a gun under there just in case. I knew that we did and that Kathy had once had to use it at our office. Supernatural creatures on a rampage were never a pretty thing.

  "It's fine, he just came to give me a ride." I grabbed my dress up from the chair and slipped my feet into my heels.

  Levi raised a brow. "Heels and scrubs, not your normal look."

  "I thought the blue of the scrubs would bring out my eyes." I said easily and did a little turn and Levi laughed. "Seriously, this is why dating doesn't work for me. But wait until you hear what we have in town. Care for a late night...bite?"

  Levi rolled his eyes at my bad joke. "Are you sure you don't want to go back to the party?"

  "No way in hell would you get me back in there willingly." I thought about Mina and the way her magic made me feel. "That's what we need
to talk about. I could use some coffee."

  He nodded and motioned to the door. "Then shall we go?"

  I shuffled out the door and grinned when I saw the Hummer sitting there in front of the building. It was my favorite of Levi's vehicles, though I could never justify owning my own with how much I drove in the city. The only problem was that it was yellow now, not green.

  “Why did you repaint the Hummer?” I ran my hand over the paint. It wasn’t awful but it wasn’t as stealthy as the dark green.

  He smirked. “It needed to change, vampire business. Don’t question it.”

  I shook my head and opened the passenger door. He probably just wanted a color change and knew those two words would keep him from having to explain. Like the sheep from earlier.

  I climbed in.

  "I can't believe you destroyed another car." Levi said the moment he got in.

  I resisted the urge to tell him what I had told everyone else. "Do you ever get that feeling that someone is always out to kill you?"

  "Why do you think I'm so paranoid and taught you to be the same?" He started the Hummer and pulled away from the building.

  I looked at his face, hoping to catch a glimpse of a smile or something to show that he wasn't completely serious, but nothing. He kept his blue eyes on the road as he drove. I'd always said the paranoia kept me alive. I had told Simon something similar with my last big case. "We're talking two attacks within a year of each other. That's more than normal."

  "I'm sure it will have something to do with your cases. It always does." His grip tightened on the steering wheel.

  Levi was normally calm and collected, emotionless when he needed to be. Now I could see the tension. "I'm sure it will be. It's really not that big of a deal." I promised. "Thanks for coming to get me and bringing the Hummer. I didn't want to pull Simon away from his pack stuff."

  "Wise not to. Any luck with the missing wolf?"

  I watched the little bit of traffic move by us. "She's protected by something stronger than me." My mind flashed to Mina, but her magic didn't feel the same. "I can't use a regular tracking spell to find her. I'm going to have to go out and look for her and see if my magic will work that way."

  "On pack land." He stated.

  I nodded. "Yes, because that's where she was taken. I don't like it any more than you do. I don't like playing by their politics."

  "I don't like you on land where you can get eaten." He laughed a little. "But you have to do what you have to." He pulled the Hummer into the small parking lot. I looked up at the Waffle House and smiled. I had spent much of my college time at this particular one studying.

  "I won't get eaten. Greg needs me to find this woman. Plus, the Alpha and his queen are in town, remember? It'd be a bad show to eat a PIB agent on his grounds." I got out of the Hummer. Levi and I walked side by side to the building.

  The place was empty except for two people, one a cook and the other a waitress stocking tables with napkins and condiments. They looked up and watched us walk over to a table. I looked down at the scrubs to make sure I hadn't gotten any blood on them and then shrugged.

  We sat down and I pulled out a menu. I found that I was hungry and wanted something with my coffee. "So, I met the Alpha and the queen that are in town."

  "Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?" He asked and leaned back into the booth.

  The waitress came up to us. Her round brown eyes were wide as she stood there poised with a pen. She was scared of Levi was my bet. "What can I get for you?"

  Levi motioned to me and the waitress pivoted so she was facing me and Levi was almost at her back, like she was ignoring him.

  "I just want a breakfast burrito and a cup of coffee, please." I smiled kindly and stuck the menu back where it belonged. She nodded and walked off.

  I looked at Levi. "The queen is a witch, a powerful one at that. A mere handshake almost brought me down to my knees."

  "Curious, I thought his queen was a wolf. You can't be both." He folded his hands on the table.

  I thought it was weird for a moment to see him out in public, his button up shirt and his dress pants. I thought maybe he had dressed for a meeting of some sort. "No. She might be using a spell to shift with them, but it's not the same thing. And it's a hard spell to maintain. Especially for a bigger animal." I shook my head. "I don't know what it is, but I don't like someone that powerful in the area."

  "They are only visiting, to help with the civil war that broke out." Levi shrugged. "You probably won't run into her again."

  "Unless she's the one hiding the wolf." I said off-handedly.

  He raised a brow. "Do you think that it's her?"

  "No, it's a different magic, but she makes my skin itch." I thanked the waitress as she brought me coffee. I cradled it in my hand. "I have to do a press conference on the rogue vampires tomorrow night."

  "Are you on that case?" He asked.

  I shook my head. "Not really, not officially."

  "Abigail." He said and met my gaze.

  I shrugged. "If there are any more incidents then yes, I could be put on the case. It would mean working two cases though, so I'm hoping Boss Man doesn't put us on it. But you know him. Rogue vampires don't look good on PIB. Or you for that matter."

  "I don't want you near it, but you know I won't interfere unless it becomes absolutely necessary."

  I sipped my coffee. "You told me to stay away from the corpse we found. You sent the agents to speak to me about it too."

  "I didn't send them." His brows drew together. "They met you at the office?"

  I moved my arms and coffee out of the way when the waitress came back with my plate and ticket. I waited until she left to answer Levi. "Yes, I e-mailed him yesterday and he and his partner showed up at the office. Should they have not? He was with me when the car blew up, but ran off before the firemen showed up and Boss came down."

  "I didn't think Brian would come out." Levi crossed his arms. "But you're right, I told you to stay away from it and it seems that it's gone away. The rogue vampires though, that's my job to take care of. Not yours."

  One of his duties as the ruler of the territory. I could respect that, but the night before he said that I'd need to take care of it his way. Maybe he had changed his mind on needing my help. "Hopefully it's taken care of before they send me and Nick out, or worse, sending the executioners after any vampires in your territory."

  "The laws protect us from that."

  But we both knew that the government was willing to bend those laws when it came to rogues. We both let the silent thought sink in for a moment. "Are you going to come to the press conference?"

  "No. I have a meeting tomorrow night. Your uncle called me tonight." Levi chuckled. "He still thinks you're a child that I can control. You canceled your meeting with him so he wanted me to make you go."

  It didn't sound like Oliver had told him what it was about. Oliver also normally avoided contact with Levi. "I didn't have a car and I wanted to go on my date with Simon. I'll make sure to tell him you don't control me."

  I took a bite of my burrito. A scream outside echoed and I cursed, looking longingly at my burrito before I kicked my heels off and ran to the door to see what had happened. Levi was at my back.

  Three vampires were out in the parking lot, each with a person pinned against a car. I didn't have my gun, just my badge and that wasn't going to do a whole lot of good. I glanced to the Hummer and wondered if there was a gun under the seat. Levi rushed by me, grabbed one of the vampires, and ripped them away from the human. This was how we were going to play it. He'd do his job. I waited to make sure the first vampire was down and rushed to the woman that had been pinned against the car.

  She put a shaky hand up to her neck and gave me wide eyes. I could see the glossiness start to fill her gaze and her body shake. She was going into shock. I reached into the pocket of the scrubs and grabbed my phone. I dialed 911. "This is PIB Agent Abigail Collins, I need an ambulance down on Powers and Galley. I have th
ree vampire victims."

  I confirmed the details with dispatch and hung up. I shoved my phone in my pocket and touched the woman's face. "Help's on the way. I have to check on the other two. You sit here."

  She gave a small bob of her head. I turned to find that Levi had rounded up the three vampires. One was on the ground unconscious. I went to the next victim, male, his eyes were hooded, but he was still awake and breathing. I could hear the sirens wail in the background. I moved to the last victim and put my fingers against the uninjured side of their neck. No pulse. I closed my eyes. It'd been a hell of a night to be caught without my gun. I grabbed my badge and hooked it to the outside of my pocket as a police cruiser pulled up. Nick's car pulled up next.

  He stepped out and looked at the scene and then at me. "What do you want me to say?" I asked.

  "What is Levi doing here?"

  Neither of the three vampires dared move a foot while Levi was only a few steps away. As I watched them they glanced up in panic, their eyes red. They were acting like scared children. "Levi and I were meeting for coffee. He brought the Hummer down and picked me up from the M.E.'s office."

  "Where's your gun?" Nick asked.

  The tone of questioning in his voice made me turn to him and his gaze wandered up and down my body.

  "And your shoes." He added.

  "My gun is at home as I was on a date and the gun wouldn't fit in the clutch. My shoes are in the restaurant, have you ever tried to run in heels? I'd rather risk cutting my foot." I crossed my arms.

  One of the vampires tried to bolt, but Levi caught him by the shirt. I pressed my lips together. "You've got this handled?" I asked Nick.

  He gave me a droll stare. "You're not leaving me, partner."

  I huffed. "Okay fine. Call containment. Let them know we have three blood-starved vampires." I'm not even sure how Levi would handle this now.

  Nick stepped away and made the call as the medics started loading the two living victims into ambulances. My gaze went to the body of the third victim. He'd go to the morgue for an autopsy, and I'd get a call eventually from Jason or another telling me what happened. Luckily for me, there were specialists at the hospital that would help the victims with what they needed.