My heart sank and my body started to shake, but I kept his gaze. "Not much of a conquest if you had to threaten my uncle to capture me."
He backhanded me and my head snapped to the side. I licked the blood off my lip and raised my gaze to meet his again.
"I will ruin your body and your spirit and send you to the king. You'll be broken and drained of blood. There will be no hope of changing you to save your life."
I never had the desire to be a vampire and anyone who knew me would respect my wishes. "You don't scare me. I think you underestimate my power. The king isn't going to care if you leave my corpse on his doorstep."
He grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked my head back. "Oh how stupid you are. There are things you don't realize, Abby. Things in this world that you have no idea about."
A boom echoed through the house, shaking the walls. Tomes went silent, releasing my hair, and looking at Oliver.
Oliver shook his head and they both turned to the door. My ears rang from the noise, but I could hear voices calling out. Tomes turned his back and Oliver swept up my gun and shot him in the knee.
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. Oliver ran over to me and untied the ropes, while Tomes started to get up he unholstered his gun and shot. The fact that he missed and the bullet whizzed by my head was a miracle. The door to the room broke down and a small army of PIB agents with Nick and Melody at the head of it made me relax just a bit. Oliver handed me my gun and he looked at Melody.
"My daughter?"
"Safe and sound, back home with her mom. All of this will be nothing but a bad dream in time." She promised and looked at me. "You okay?"
"Tomes kicked my ass, but you know, I've had worse days." I holstered my gun. "What's all this about? I had it handled."
Nick snorted. "I told you she hated being a damsel in distress. She'd rather Tomes had put a bullet in her head."
But that wasn't what was going to happen. I would have found a way out or Oliver would have. The fact that Oliver was manipulated with a daughter I didn't know existed baffled me. He's shown nothing but a stone cold exterior. There was nothing in his house that even hinted at him having a child. Nothing in the PIB database or in my Big Book of Answers either.
A couple PIB agents pulled Tomes up and he snarled at me.
I walked up to him. I leaned in. "Next time you might not be so lucky. Oliver could have killed you."
"This isn't over, princess." He snapped back and I stepped away.
Princess? Why did he suddenly have a pet name for me? I shook my head. "Nick, you have him?"
"Yeah, of course. Agent Grace and I have this taken care of." He followed the PIB agent out. Melody stepped up to me.
"You wanted to be used as bait." She said easily and I snorted.
"That didn't mean you had to bring in an army of PIB agents in to rescue me." I rubbed my wrists. "How did you know?"
"Oliver reached out to me when his daughter was taken. He said he got the number from you and that he had information on Tomes. Tomes had planned to use Oliver's connection to you as a weakness, bring you to him or Tomes would kill his daughter."
I nodded. I had figured that. "Tomes never said why I was such a big part of his plan to piss off the vampire king."
"I don't have that answer, Abby. Maybe we'll get it out of him during the interview, but what matters now is that you're safe and so is Oliver's daughter." She put a hand on my shoulder. "I'll see you around."
I hated when people didn't have the answers that I wanted. I turned to Oliver and I knew he'd have the answers. I waited for everyone to clear the room.
"Because, Abby," he started as if he knew what I was going to ask, "you're the strongest PIB agent. To kill you is a kill to be proud of. It would show the king that Tomes means business. Not only would he have killed one of his own, but one of the best, and someone that's part of the vampire community."
I wasn't sure if I believed that. There were plenty of others that were stronger than me, better than me, just not any in this territory. My connection to Levi wasn't something I used often unless I was working for him. Though of course that could have been public knowledge to the vampires. But I still didn't see why the king would care.
I shook my head. "When were you going to tell me that you had a daughter?"
"Never, I wasn't in contact with her until Tomes decided to kidnap her. Her mother didn't want me in her life. That's what I get for having a one-night stand." He shook his head. "But I've always wanted a child."
That was news to me. "How old is she?"
"Four." He answered easily. "I've been keeping an eye on her from afar. She's adorable. Curly brown hair, beautiful brown eyes."
I could hear the love in his voice. "Must be hard."
"It's better for her. Her mother knows what I am and therefore she can be prepared. But let's face it; you and I both know I'm not the best person in the world. Had I not known to contact Melody, I would have turned you over."
That wasn't a comforting thought at all.
"Had you left the fire going than I could have defended myself." I pointed out. "We could have worked our way out of this together."
He shook his head. "Tomes knew what you are. There would have been no fire wielding for you without signing an instant death warrant."
"Oh yes, because being kidnapped and slowly tortured would be a much better option." I snapped. "I'm going home. Assuming that huge boom wasn't the Hummer blowing up."
"My guess was Agent Grace blowing down the front door. I'll see you next month for training." He said it so matter of fact, as if he didn't just admit that he would trade me for his daughter. Send me to my death without trying to help at all.
I couldn't fault him. The love a father has for a child was supposed to have no limits. But I felt that was just one of many circumstance that he would trade me for. Information that suited him could have been another one. A chance to kill Levi maybe.
I ran a hand through my hair as I made my way back to the front door. I stepped over the fallen door and slivers of wood. Not my door. Not my problem. I went to the Hummer and climbed in. Locking the door, I thought back to Tomes.
"It's not over yet, princess."
I should have shot him in the back when I had a chance. Instinct told me I'd regret it down the line.
I pulled up to my house and sighed with I saw Melody sitting on my stoop. Part of me was grateful that at least she hadn't broken into my house and waited in the living room for me, but I wasn't sure I was pleased to see her either. I got out.
"All done with Tomes?" I asked as I walked up. I sat next to her on the stoop, it felt right.
"He's Nick’s problem now. Once your territory is done with him then I'll take him back to mine and he'll face trial there." She shrugged. "I wanted to come talk to you about what he wanted from you."
I looked at her. "He wanted to mutilate my body and send it the King of Vampires. Oliver fed me some line that it's because of my position in PIB and my connection to Levi."
"He's convinced you have a connection to the king himself." Melody said and she had a smile on her face. "So I need to know, do you?"
I laughed. I couldn't help it. It'd been awhile since I'd heard anything so crazy. "No, I don't have any connections to him. I was adopted by Levi, but he makes sure that I stay out of most vampire affairs. I know enough to get me through and that's it. Honestly, I try to stay out of supernatural politics and affairs because they are complicated."
"Yet you were hanging out with a werewolf and helping him with something." She shook her head. "You're a contradiction, Abby."
I shrugged. "I really like the werewolf."
"Dating one isn't going to be any less complicated. Especially considering you are a witch. You can never be changed, you can never be one of them." She reminded me gently.
"Yeah, I know, I don't know if it's going to work out between us anyways. Doesn't matter. You really came all the way and waited on my porch to ask me about my
connection to the mysterious vampire king?"
"I needed to get out of the office for a while. I'll be here until your territory is done with Tomes. I thought it would be a good idea to get to know the agents. I would have brought you coffee, but I figured you probably had some."
I stood. "Come on in for a cup. I had a long night and coffee sounds fantastic."
She smiled and stood as well. I unlocked the door and we walked in. Osiris sat back on his hunches and hissed at Melody. I picked him up. "Sorry, he's a little testy." Though she was the first person he had hissed at.
"He has all right to be, he knows I'm a shifter."
I blinked and turned around. "Shifter, not lycanthrope. You have the ability to turn into whatever animal you want."
"Yes, that makes him nervous." She sat at the breakfast nook. "Nice place."
"Thank you, it's a little big for just me, but I like it." I went and started to fix the coffee. Osiris jumped out of my arms and went into the bedroom. I went through the motions of starting the coffee. "So how long have you been working for PIB then, really?"
"About ten years. I went in right after high school. I wanted nothing more than to be an agent for the greatest new agency."
I turned around and handed her a mug. "You must have been close to one of the first agents."
"PIB's actually been around a lot longer, it just wasn't always public." She folded her hands around the mug. "You should know that."
"I meant first official of course." I knew the history of PIB, but I didn't know the details about how it functioned before it was government ran. I know a lot of older agents bitched and moaned about what they could or could not do now.
"I was close, but that doesn't matter. I climbed the ranks just like anyone else. Have you ever considered running your branch?" She sipped her coffee.
I laughed again. "Are you kidding me? No. I don't like to be in charge of other people. Besides, I don't want to be like Boss Man, holed up in an office and never on the field."
"Do you know much about Boss Man?" She tapped her nails against the ceramic mug.
"We don't even know his name. He likes to keep it that way. We rarely see him. I think I've seen him more this last year than I have since I've been with the agency."
She smirked. "And don't you think that's odd?"
"Have you seen my life? There's a lot of odd in it. It doesn't bother me. Everyone is entitled to their secrets, unless it affects my life." I sipped my coffee and savored the warmth of it sliding down my throat.
"We knew all about our fearless leader and she spent a lot of time on the field with us. I just think it's odd."
I preferred to work alone and I knew Nick did too. I'd never tried to look into Boss Man and his life. "If I learned anything tonight it's that secrets keep people safe."
"That they do Abby, just remember that down the line." She finished her coffee and put the mug on the counter. "I need to get going. Have a great night."
She let herself out and I was left staring at where she had been sitting. I was tired enough that I was willing to write her off as something else strange in my life. I just hoped she didn't turn out to be another partner at the agency. I couldn't handle any more. Not to mention, I couldn't trust a woman who had her identity completely rewritten to suit a job of spying on another PIB agent.
My mind turned back to Nick and I wondered again if he was there because I had been closely tied to the Barn Case six months ago when he had showed up. I shook my head and went to my bedroom. Tomorrow was going to be a long day full of witches and werewolves and I wanted to make sure that I got some sleep.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I woke up in the late afternoon to Simon knocking on my door, I had showered and eaten. I swung the door open and invited him in. I noticed Osiris didn't even flinch this time when Simon walked in. I studied Simon's face. Dark circles under his eyes told me he hadn't slept much last night.
"What happened?" I feared the worst, maybe Greg had decided to punish him. How did an alpha punish another werewolf? Maybe he had them run laps in the forest until morning. It sounded like a bad joke and I figured I probably didn't want to know.
"Martha was killed last night at the hospital. Well, this morning, really." He ran a hand through his hair. "I just got done over there. They are ruling it a medical complication."
A ton of things ran through my mind. She had surgery to remove the bullets, but that shouldn't have killed her. She was a lycanthrope, which means that she wasn't able to get an infection. "What do you think happened?"
"I don't know. I was there when they were talking about the blood samples. One of the nurses questioned why she was in the lycan wing if it wasn't showing up in her blood."
Holy shit, Witch had managed it. Somehow. "I saw her change, she was able to shift before the hospital. When I touched her hand my magic could feel her animal. What do you mean there was no lycanthropy in her blood?"
"I'm just telling you what I heard." He shook his head. "Greg knows, but we need to get up to the pack grounds to get this meeting over with."
I snatched my bag off the ground, my mind still spinning about Martha. "Did she have any other visitors?"
"They said that her sister came to see her, but that's not possible."
"Yes it is, if she was with Witch. It's totally possible." I gritted my teeth. "They performed a spell there. Which means that another body is going to show up at some point."
Simon turned to face me. "But it took Martha's life."
"Maybe they tried without a sacrifice." I thought back to anything I knew about sacrifice magic. "The spell would be weaker. I imagine that the spell separates both souls, the wolf and the human. They failed because the magic wasn't strong enough, they managed to take out the lycanthropy but at the cost of her life." I climbed into his car. "There's no true cure for the disease because no one really knows what causes it to show up in the bloodstream."
"We know that it's transferred through cuts and bites and blood, but it creates another soul. One of the animal you're infected with. No one knows why magical creatures and vampires are protected from it." Simon finished for me. "But it doesn't matter. What matters is that this witch has killed three of our pups and tonight we face her."
I brushed my hand over the butt of my gun, trying to find comfort in the weapon. None came and I realized it was because I was walking into a death trap. I was facing a witch much more powerful than me in werewolf territory.
"Abby?"
"I'm okay, just nervous. I don't know anything about Witch, for all I know I could be walking into a huge trap and so could you and the pack."
Simon put his hand on my knee. "I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." He sped towards the mountain.
We both remained silent through the rest of the ride, but he never removed that hand on my knee and at some point I covered it with mine.
He pulled up to the dirt lot and parked with the other cars. More of the pack must have been called for tonight. Depending on what happened with Witch, the pack would either be gone after tonight or they would stay around to grieve the loss of yet another pup. I would either die or return home for the night. Simon and I walked hand in hand to the circle.
I walked in and looked at all the wolves standing there, some in animal form and others in human form. I walked up to Greg and pulled my hair to one side and bent forward.
"Not tonight Abigail, tonight you are here as my equal, a protector of my family, my pack." His voice was strong.
I straightened and met his gaze. "You honor me." I turned towards the woods.
The wind kicked up and magic danced with it. I shivered and it had nothing to do with being cold. The witch I'd met at the pack gathering walked through, a werewolf at her side. No one missed the silver leash and collar that tethered him to her.
Her magic felt completely different than when I first met her and now I knew that she was much more powerful than I had imagined. I was going to die tonight if I couldn't outsma
rt her.
"Mina." Greg snarled. "We invite you to our land and this is how you repay us? You kill our pups?"
Mina held her hand out and Rachel stepped up and took it. "Two were merely sacrificed to rid this one of the disease that plagues you all. She came to me willingly."
"But the pups you sacrifice didn't and you failed to clean Martha of lycanthropy." I met her gaze. "The pups weren't willing."
Mina pointed a finger at me. "What is she doing here? This sorry excuse for a witch has nothing to do with this meeting."
I debated on pulling my gun out and shooting her now, but she hadn't done anything to threaten me. Yet. "I was asked here by the pack."
Mina smiled. "Isn't that sweet? Simon thinks his little girl friend can offer him protection."
"You were here to teach our pack that living in the open and with humans was possible while still maintaining our traditions." Greg stepped up.
I was curious how this plan went so wrong. I kept my mouth shut while we all waited for her to explain something. Anything.
"You thought wrong. Paul and I have been making our way across the country taking other packs and adding them to ours. I cure the ones who wish to be cured by sacrificing those who aren’t willing join us." She spread her arms out and wolves walked out of the forest. A quick guess told me it was over a hundred.
Simon stepped up to me. "About half of those are pack members who attacked us two months ago." He whispered.
I nodded. "So no shooting the wolves then, got it. I don't want to kill any of your former pack members." I grumbled and he stepped away.
"So what will it be, Greg? We outnumber you, I outclass your witch in every way, and I'm willing to do what is needed to lead your pack."
This was going to turn into a drag out teeth and claw fight, leaving Mina and I to deal with each other. My odds weren't good. Other than sacrifice and removing the lycanthrope virus, I had no idea what she was capable of. Some witches knew how to wield their magic into a physical weapon. I only had to hope she wasn't one of them. The moment the fighting started, I'd draw my weapons. Gun vs. magic, it would come down to whoever was quickest.
Here Witchy Witchy Box Set 1 Page 41