I held my breath as I uncovered the eye sockets and nose. The corpse was old enough to be clean of skin which made me wonder if we had more unsolved murders connected to this house.
“Abby?” Nick’s voice called over the property.
“Out back.” I yelled and continued to slowly work the skull from the ground. “We need a forensic team out here.”
I heard his feet come up behind me and slow. “What did you find?”
“A skull at the very least.” I glanced at him. “Make the call?”
He nodded and pulled out his phone.
“What did you learn from our ghosts?” I blew some dirt away from the bone and frowned. I didn’t know much about bone structure and I’d have to wait until someone from the lab or the medical examiner got back to me to even find out if the person was male or female.
Nick didn’t answer me, but I heard him telling someone to get the forensic team out here again. I pulled out my phone and shot Detective Mason a quick text on what was going on.
“I didn’t find out much, he didn’t know the person who murdered him, he doesn’t remember anything from that night. As it tends to go with the undead. He has no idea who it was from the Cult that sealed him up.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Violent deaths scar people in the afterworld.”
I stood up and dusted my hands off. “Well, I wouldn’t know, my only undead encounters are with zombies and vampires.”
We both went quiet at the thought of zombies and I forced a chuckle out. “It’s a good thing that’s over with, huh?”
“Yeah, but we’ve moved from zombies to ghosts. I don’t know how much improvement that actually is.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.
“When were you going to tell me about having the sixth sense?” I met his green gaze.
He shook his head. “You know, we all have at least one ability we’re not proud of or don’t want people to know about.”
I thought about protesting, but he was right. Mine was the elemental ability, bad things tended to happen to those who could control elements. “Well, I’m glad it’ll come in handy in this case.”
By the time forensics had shown up, Nick and I had several theories about the skull, ranging from the obscure to the logical.
“Abby, leave it to you to find a skull.” Jason, the medical examiner for our area, laughed and I spun around to greet him.
“Not a full skeleton, just a skull.” We clasped hands and shook, he bowed his head to Nick.
“Agent Averin.”
“Jason, always a pleasure to see you.”
I stepped away from the skull. “We’ll leave your team to work.” I looked at my phone for the time. “We’re going to head back into town, I want to do some more research on this house. Let us know what you find.”
“It could be a couple days. We’ll have to canvas the area to see if there are any more parts.” Jason’s eyes swept over the property. “Any idea what my team might find out here?”
“None.” I didn’t want to bring up the possibility of vampire victims. I turned to go back to Nick’s car. He said a few quick words to Jason before running to catch up to me.
“What else do you want to look into about this house?”
“I’m hoping I can find that basement. I also have some witchy business to take care of tonight.” I got in the car and leaned back in the passenger seat. Would forensics find ten skulls out there to match to our victims? The woman’s body had been recovered years ago, but that didn’t mean the vampire didn’t have other victims that hadn’t been discovered.
“Are you going to go talk to Levi tonight as well?” Nick slammed his door shut.
“I’ll probably call him. That’s a long drive for me, and if he thinks it’s important he’ll come to me.” I buckled myself in and started flipping through the folder again. “Like I said, he may not have any information on it.”
“You don’t know how long he’s been in the territory? I find it hard to believe that you never asked.” He glanced at me as he pulled out of the driveway.
I shook my head. “He’s told me before, but that doesn’t mean I remember. It was when I was young and could hardly see past Friday night. It never really seemed that important to me.” I shrugged.
“You know less about the man who raised you than he knows about everyone in this damn city. That should alarm you.” Nick gunned the engine and merged onto the highway.
I closed my eyes as the momentum in the car shifted. Nick’s words were mere assumptions, I doubted that Levi kept tabs on everyone in the city. All the vampires, yes, but not the humans and other creatures. He did have some sort of alliance with the wolves, but again, I didn’t think that meant he kept track of them. “Not much alarms me anymore, Nick. This last year has been kind of hellish.”
“No kidding. All you’ve done since I’ve gotten here is attract trouble.” He laughed.
I opened my eyes and glanced at him. “Maybe you’ve been attracting the trouble.”
“Doubt it, I think it was just a matter of time.” He navigated through the traffic. “What do you make of the skull?”
The sudden shift in conversation killed the lighter mood. “I don’t know. I’m hoping it belongs to one of our thumbs and we don’t have either another unrelated murder to solve or another vampire victim.”
“You’d think the vampire would have known to bury the person deeper.”
“Land shifts, erosion wears down the ground, they could have been six feet under and everything worked them back up to the surface. We’ll know more when forensics can tell us how old the bones are and if they find anymore.” I looked at the photo of the vampire victim. “Until then, we focus on one crime at a time.”
“Which one do we have more information on?”
That was a good question. “I think it’s about even. We have a name for the vampire victim, and her body was recovered. It’ll be an old file, but we might be able to find more information on her. The other one we have thumbs, but no identification yet. The regular systems showed nothing and PIB systems are backlogged thanks to the computer crash. And we have a ghost who’s pissed off, but can’t tell us anything.”
“Sounds like we’re in a bad mystery novel.”
“No kidding.” I closed the file. “I’ll let you know if Jason calls me with anything tonight.”
“Why won’t he call me?”
I smirked. “He likes me better.”
“Well, if the first time I’d met you I’d been wearing a fancy dress, I’d like you better too.”
“Not my fault I was on a date when more bodies were discovered.” I shook my head. “And if you recall, I ended the night barefooted and in scrubs, dealing with blood-starved vampires.”
“And caught without your gun.” Nick clicked his tongue. “Not a very good way to be caught, Agent A.”
“And you, Agent N? Maybe you should go out more.”
“I went out to get groceries one night… you saw how that ended.” There was still a joke to his voice, but we both knew it had been a long night.
“You’re right, might be better to start staying home.” I glanced at my phone for the time. What I needed to do today was something I was dreading. I needed to check on the wards I had placed on Simon’s bar. Since he’d taken up the alpha spot in the pack, I knew he wouldn’t be there and one of his wolves would be watching over it. But it’d be the first time I’d be stepping foot on pack ground since Simon and I broke up, and since I’d gotten the alpha killed.
We took the rest of the drive in silence. I didn’t bother going inside the office, I was going to go to the bar and then see if I could find some old case files on the vampire victim. I climbed into my car and took a deep breath before heading out.
I walked into the bar and let out a sigh of relief to find it empty. My wards hid the bar from human sight so that it was available to supernatural clientele only. The act of using magic for that purpose was slightly illegal, but it wasn’t something I was going to
push. I understood what it was like to want a place where I could be myself. “Hello?”
“Welcome to…” The words died on the woman’s lips as she came from the back room and saw me. “Who are you, witch?”
Wasn’t exactly the greeting I was expecting, but I kept my face blank. “I’m Abigail Collins, I’m the witch Simon hired to put the wards on the bar. It’s been a year since I’ve last checked them. I wanted to make sure everything was good.”
“Hey Travis, there’s a witch here saying Simon hired her.” She called over her shoulder, her eyes still glued to me. I stood there trying to look harmless, which was hard when I was tall and had my gun on my hip. I’d luckily had the foresight to hide my PIB badge before walking in. “I just need to walk around to make sure—“
“No.” A gruff voice came from the back room and I tried to decide if I was going to leave it at that or not. I could have turned around and went right back to my day job, but I couldn’t in good conscience not check on the wards. If something was to happen and the bar was caught hiding, it could be trouble for the pack.
“No?” I asked and put my hands on my hips. “My wards have been protecting this bar for over three years.”
The woman moved out of the way and the wolf came from behind her and filled the doorway. I hadn’t seen him before. His bleached white hair and brown eyes would have been something I remembered, not to mention the sheer size of him. It was rare I met someone that made me feel short, but he towered over me with his solid muscular frame. I pressed my lips together as I met his gaze. “You must be Simon’s assistant manager; he’d mentioned he was leaving you in charge for a bit.”
“I’m not only his assistant manager, but second in the pack.” He crossed his arms and the veins in his arms bulged.
I raised a brow. “I don’t remember seeing you at the fight against Mina.” Mina was a witch that had tried to take over the pack. It hadn’t worked out well for her.
“You were too busy playing with the witch and getting our alpha killed.” He took another step towards me. “You aren’t welcome here.”
“My wards protect this place. You kick me out, I take them down and you’re exposed. Good luck finding another witch willing to do the wards and has the connections that I do.” I spat the words out as my heart jumped. I didn’t want him much closer to me than he was. I could take him down with magic, but if he moved too fast he could take me out with just brute force before I could mutter a spell.
“I have another witch coming to replace them.”
I couldn’t tell if he was bluffing or not. Many witches would walk away from the job. I didn’t because I liked to help the pack, normally in return they’d help me if need be. Of course, they were also usually a little friendlier toward me as well. “With Simon’s approval?” I felt like Simon would have given me a heads up, he knew I would have been stopping by.
“I don’t need his approval. Now leave, or I’ll tear you apart limb from limb.” He snarled and his eyes flashed to the yellow of his wolf’s for a moment.
I put a hand on the butt of my gun. “I don’t take kindly to threats, wolf. I was doing the pack a favor, if my services are no longer needed, fine. But I’d rather it came from the alpha, not his hot-headed second.”
He rushed me and slammed me into the wall, one hand pinned my throat against the wood paneling and the other wrapped around my wrist. He pressed his entire body against me to keep me from wriggling out of his grip. “My word is just as good as Simon’s.” He snarled in my face. “You set foot in here again, I will make good on my threat. Simon’s ex or not.”
His nails bit into my skin and fed my anger. I tried to take a breath but found my air restricted. I did the only thing I could think to do. I flatted my palm against the wall and felt for my magic of the wards. I pulled on it and called it back to me. I felt the final snap of it hit me and smirked at the brute in front of me. “Let go of me and I’ll leave.”
He dropped me and I rubbed my neck and glanced up at him. “You didn’t feel it because you’re a werewolf, but I called my magic back. This place is no longer protected by my wards. Good luck.” I spun on my heels and left. My heart still hammered in my chest. A dull ache settled in my wrist as I unlocked my car. I debated on texting Simon to ask him what the hell was up with his crazy second, but I let it go. He made it clear he would contact me when he was able to. He had his hands full with the pack and didn’t need me or a relationship to distract him. I started the car and leaned my head against the seat. Maybe it was me who wanted the distraction.
I parked in front of the PIB records office and got out. Glancing at my watch, I made sure that I’d have time to get in and check the files out. I’d called ahead and the receptionist said that she’d have them pulled for me. I walked in and an older woman with gold rimmed glasses looked up at me the moment the door opened.
“You must be Abigail.” She smiled at me and shuffled some papers around and then pulled out a folder. “I just need your ID to sign you in. I can’t let you leave the premises with these files since it’s a cold case.”
“That’s fine, what I’m looking for won’t take long.” I handed her my badge and opened the folder while she signed me in. “I’m glad you guys still had these.” I looked at the faded pictures, I was paying more attention to background than anything else. The woman’s body was photographed in a room that I hadn’t seen in the house. Concrete walls and a tiny window told me that it was a basement.
When they had the basement sealed they must have sealed the window too. If I went back to the house I might have been able to spot where the window was covered up, depending on how good of a job was done. I moved the picture and looked at the next one. Just another angle of her body. I studied the background and other than the floor having carpet there was nothing there for me to be interested in.
“Here’s your badge back. If you want an empty office, the third one down the hall on the left is empty. There’s a table you can spread out on.”
I nodded and took my badge and folder. “Thanks, I shouldn’t be too long.”
“Don’t worry hon, if you need extra time, I’ll stay a bit late.” She smiled at me and I bowed my head in thanks. I made my way to the office she spoke of, and found a big round conference table in the middle of the room with a couple of chairs scattered around it.
I sat in the nearest chair and opened the folder again. I moved aside the notes and the pictures that I’d already gone through, saving the notes for later. If I could find what I needed in the pictures it’d give me a better visual than the words. The handwriting on the back of the photos had faded, eaten away by time. I pulled another one out and paused. There was a shot of the room I’d ventured into, the one with all the furniture moved. And where the space had been cleared stood a door.
I jumped out of my chair and called Nick. Hope filled me as I looked down at the picture. I hadn’t seen a closet door in that room, so I highly doubted I was wrong. Nick answered on the third ring.
“Social plans go bad?” He joked.
“No, I think I found where the closed off basement is.” I looked at the picture and my hope was replaced with dread. “I can’t go into the house to find out.”
“You’re right, I have to. You need to stay away from the house, roaming around outside might be okay.”
“Might be? I was able to go into the backyard.” I muttered and put the photo down. “I’m going to sit here and comb through the file. I don’t think there’s much else we can learn since supernatural creatures weren’t really known then…”
“Just our luck that the police shoved most of the cold case files to PIB, huh?” Nick chuckled. “You do that. I’ll go back tomorrow to check out the house. I’m working through the runes now, trying to decide why they weren’t welcoming to me, but were to you.”
“If you go back tomorrow, take pictures if you can. I’ll see if I can help decipher them.” I set the picture aside and looked down at the next one. A vague blurry figure wa
s in the background and I frowned. “You said they never caught the vampire, right?”
“And I also said I don’t want you near those runes.” He grumbled. “But I’m glad you heard something I said. Why?”
“Remember where the myth that vampires don’t show up in photographs came from?” I tried to will my eyes to bring the figure into focus, but of course it was the photo, not my eyes, that was the problem.
“Some say it’s because they don’t have souls, but scientifically it’s because they moved too fast to be captured by old technology, so they showed up as blurs or just a vague outline. Many of them didn’t want their image captured to keep the secrecy, so they moved faster on purpose.”
“Yeah, I think one of our cops captured the vampire on film.” I pressed my lips together. “It may be nothing, but it could be everything. I’ll see if I can get the lab here to enhance the photo and see if we can’t get it cleared.” It was a stretch for an old photo, but many of the people in the labs could work digital magic.
“Abby, did you just crack the case with a photo?” His voice was light, but that feeling of dread started to claim my stomach again.
“Possibly the vampire victim case, but we still have ten thumbs and part of a skeleton to figure out.” I reminded him, my voice didn’t match his tone as my eyes were locked on the image of the vampire. “I’ll call Levi tonight and ask him about the case.” I hung up without saying goodbye.
I put that photo aside as well and started scanning through the notes. I found a list of detectives who worked on the case and made a note in my phone. I doubted any of them were still living, and if they were, they probably didn’t remember this case. I closed the folder and snatched the pictures from the table. I went back to the desk and smiled at the receptionist.
“I hate to be a bother, but can you put in a request for your lab to enhance this photo,” I handed her the one with the blurry figure, “and copy this one for me?”
“I’ll have to get it all approved.” She took the folder from me and the photos. “But I’ll see what I can do.”
Here Witchy Witchy Box Set 1 Page 46