Initiative

by A. L. Kessler

  But he still had her notes somewhere, a journal that he'd taken while she was distracted that he thought had the information he needed. The only problem was that he didn't have a witch or a warlock at his command to help him with the spell. There were a couple witches and warlocks turned vampire, the majority of them being insane or walking the fine line of insanity that he might be able to get help from. But there was no telling if they had enough magic left in them to perform whatever spell Elizabeth had used.

  If he could find the journal, then he could put a call out for help. His mind turned to the witch hybrid he had in containment right now. She would be a wonderful asset if she could become stable. She could be by his side and work whatever magic he needed and hopefully not have the same weaknesses as a typical vampire. Tomorrow he'd test her in the sun, assuming she'd calm down a bit more. He needed to find someone with stronger blood than the humans he'd been feeding her. He glanced at the clock. He still had most of the night to waste. Feeding would be the first thing on his list and then maybe starting his search for a witch or a wizard to help him.

  Chapter Eleven

  Levi pulled his phone out to call Grayson, as soon as he heard him answer he spoke. "Mario is with Hannah. He'll be MIA for a bit."

  "That leaves you without a guard." He was quiet for another moment. "I'm tied up with cases."

  "I can manage on my own for a little bit. I'm putting in a petition for him to become my second to put a stop to this. She still has too much control over him." He tried not to growl.

  Grayson sighed. "His constant visits to her give her a chance to keep her power flowing through him. He's helpless putty in her hands. Get the paperwork in, use the proper channels, and we'll see if we can get an expedited answer. Meanwhile, you need to lay low. Maybe visit Abigail. I heard she was taking a few days off."

  "And your case?"

  "I have Liz helping me out with tracking whatever the creature is. She says she doesn't believe that it's a witch, but she'll do her best to bring it in. Seriously, lay low for a little bit."

  There was one thing he still needed to do before he could just lay low until the paperwork was put through. He needed to deal with Tomes. "I'll do the best I can."

  "When I find out what the creature is, I'll let you know. I'll see if we can get another King's guard to watch you while Mario is out, but it probably won't happen because it seems everyone's territory is experiencing some of Ira's creatures right now."

  Levi shook his head. "Like I said, I'll be fine, don't waste the resources. I'll get my paperwork in tonight."

  "I can hear the worry in your voice, Levi. We'll get him out of Hannah's and detox him from her power again."

  "It's the detox that I'm worried about. He'll come back hungry, wounded, and we don't know how long her claws will remain in him." Levi sighed. "I'm going to spend the rest of my night in the library to see if I can't find information on Ira from Elizabeth."

  "I wish you the best of luck with that. If you find something of interest, please let us know." He disconnected the call.

  Levi set his phone down and pulled out the paperwork. He had a few hours to finish that and then he could go speak with Tomes. He worked through the petition for the human courts to bring Mario in as the second in the territory. A couple hours later he sealed it in an envelope and put it in his mailbox.

  The motions seemed so human to him. Letter writing in an age of technology was odd, but it was something he'd enjoyed when he was human. Writing love letters to the women he tried to woo, letters to his family when he had one, and letters to Ira long before Samuel ruined their lives. He had some to Elizabeth too, when he was away, and she was working her magic at the labs.

  The letters.

  Levi took himself to the library and grabbed a box off the top shelf. He'd collected the letters from him that she'd kept, and he had all the letters she'd written to him. It had never occurred to him to check them to see where the previous labs were. Maybe they'd luck out, and Ira would have one still active that they could take out.

  He pulled all the envelopes out and looked at the addresses. He knew that he'd be spending the day putting the addresses in, researching, and preparing to send scouts out to the areas. His hope rose for just a moment, thinking that he could take Ira out. He put the envelopes in his office next to the computer and smiled.

  Progress. That's what it was.

  He picked up his phone and called the holding center that he knew Tomes would be at. He needed to make arrangements to visit the man and see what else he could learn.

  Levi appeared in front of the holding center. He straightened his shirt and walked through the front doors. A receptionist looked up. "Hello, Levi."

  "Laurie." He bowed his head. "I need to get checked in and meet with the suspect."

  She nodded. "Of course, they are moving him to a room now for you to talk to. I can't believe that we had a necromancer PIB agent. Crazy to think about, isn't it?" She filled out a form on the desk and motioned for him to walk through the metal detector.

  "It is, and such a shame that he was corrupt because that's such a rare skill" He walked through the device, and she handed him a visitor badge on the other side.

  "I hear that he's the mastermind behind the vampire attacks we've been having."

  That made him pause. "Which attacks?"

  "The ones at the grocery store and the restaurant. Rumor says he was also behind the attack at the press conference, but no one can confirm that."

  "We all know that rumors are like wildfire." He chuckled and walked down the hall. He found a PIB agent waiting outside a room. "Is Brian Tomes in there?"

  The agent nodded. "Yes, sir, we've been waiting for you. We confirmed with Agent Yorkingson that you were consulting on this case."

  Great now Grayson would know he wasn't laying low. "Thank you." He walked into the room and looked over the man. He seemed to have aged since he saw the agent six months ago. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his skin was a tad bit paler.

  Tomes raised a brow. "You weren't who I was expecting. What are you doing here?"

  Levi sat in the chair in front of him. "I'm here to speak to you about Abigail."

  A wicked smile crossed his face. "My, my, my, Grace must have told you about my interest in Abigail."

  Levi met his gaze. "Who sent you after Abigail?"

  Tomes tapped his fingers against the table. "There are others like me you know. I'm not the only one out there."

  "That doesn't answer my questions. Who sent you after Abigail?"

  "I won't be answering your question, because it's none of your concern. Unless…" Tomes stopped tapping his fingers.

  "Unless?" Levi prompted.

  "You know who the king is and how Abigail is connected to him."

  Levi shook his head. "I have a feeling that you know that information already."

  "Then why are you here? Think you can scare me into giving you information?" Tomes met his gaze. "Think that I'll give up names and locations? You're a smart vampire, Levi. I'm sure you've already got it figured out. The one thing I can't figure out though is why the rumors say that Abigail isn't a witch. She proved herself as one quite well on her case."

  Levi shook his head. "Abigail is all witch." He stood.

  "Then why is she the princess?"

  Levi snarled and slammed his hands on the table. "Abigail is not a princess. She is an adopted witch and nothing more."

  "Not fond of your adopted daughter?" Tomes raised a brow. "You're hiding something. Ira's told me so much about your Abigail, and the only way I'm going to win his favor is taking that bitch out."

  Levi took a deep breath. "There are no favorites with Ira. PIB caught you, and he won't forgive that. You'll be lucky if he doesn't kill you himself." Levi turned to leave. "You're nothing to him."

  "And how would you know?"

>   "Because I've known him for a very long time, and he never keeps his word. All he cares about are his goals and his precious fucked up utopia that's in his head. He'll use anyone to achieve it." He looked over his shoulder at Tomes. "And then he'll kill them so that they can't give vital information to his enemies."

  Tomes paled a touch. "I didn't give you any vital information."

  "You think that? You gave me plenty. That you know about Abigail, and you know about me. You also told me who you are working for. And if you don't think that's vital information then you are very very mistaken, Mr. Tomes." Levi chuckled. "And now I know that Ira has people in PIB working for him."

  Tomes didn't say anything as Levi walked out. Levi shut the door behind him and looked at the PIB agent that was standing there. "Thank you."

  The agent nodded and pulled out a walkie-talkie. "Brian Tomes is ready for transportation back to his cell."

  Levi would need to make sure that the footage of that room was erased so there was no record of what Tomes had said. He walked down the hall and handed Laurie his visitor badge back.

  "Did you get what you needed? That was pretty quick."

  "I did, thank you." He walked out of the building and pulled his phone out. He dialed Oliver.

  "I swear, I had nothing to do with Abigail getting hurt on wolf grounds." Was how the warlock decided to answer the phone.

  "I didn't think you did. That was all Simon and Abigail. Now. What I need is a favor. There some security footage I need to erase."

  Oliver laughed. "It's not like you to play with security footage."

  "You're right, but that PIB agent that was arrested for the zombie deaths, he knows about Abigail."

  "All of it?"

  "He's working with Ira."

  Oliver let out a long string of French that Levi knew was cussing. "Send me the details, and I'll make sure to get it erased.

  "Tomes didn't mention anything about Abigail's stature when he forced me into giving her over."

  Levi growled. "So that's what happened?"

  "He kidnapped my daughter," Oliver shot back. "You would have done the same."

  Levi had to admit, it was probably true. He'd do anything for Abigail. Even if it went against his own teaching and the lectures he gave her growing up. "How did he even find your daughter? I thought you wiped the records of her."

  Oliver was quiet for a moment. "I left my name tied to some of her paperwork so if she ever wanted to find me she could."

  It was the first moment of vulnerability that Levi had seen from Oliver in years. "So Tomes found out?"

  "He found out about my daughter and knew I had a connection to Abby. He wanted me to trade one for the other. Abigail was fine. She was never in real danger."

  Levi wasn't sure if he could believe that or not. "Thank you for the favor."

  "I'll put in an IOU for this one. If Ira is getting that close to Abigail without us noticing until it's too late, we need to rethink her safety." The warlock hung up, but the words stayed heavy in Levi's heart.

  Levi put his phone in his pocket and did the only thing that could put his heart at ease. He took himself to Abigail's. He should have appeared outside the door and knocked, but he didn't know if she would be up to moving around to answer the door or not. So he appeared just inside of it.

  Abigail was sitting on the couch, petting the cat. Her eyes lifted to meet his, and he saw sorrow in them.

  "Abigail?"

  "I'm fine."

  Like hell she was. He could see the pain on her face, the tenseness of her body as she sat there with her legs crossed. "Do you want to tell me what happened on the pack grounds?"

  "I thought Simon filled you in on that."

  Levi shrugged. "He did on some of it, that you were stabbed, that Mina and Greg are both dead."

  At the name of the witch, Abigail sneered. "That bitch was crazy. Tried to kill me in my own circle."

  He paused. The one thing Abigail had yet to do was kill someone with magic. He tried to think how to form the question, but she seemed to pick up on his thoughts.

  "I killed her with my gun. But I also negated her magic by taking over the circle on the wolf pack ground."

  Levi raised a brow. "Your magic protects their grounds now?"

  "Yep. I didn't do it on purpose, so spare me any lecture. Because honestly, I'm in pain and I want to do nothing but sit here."

  He pressed his lips together, her protecting the wolf pack grounds could work to his advantage when he offered Simon his backing, but if the alliance ever broke, it could mean trouble. "I won't lecture you. I just wanted to check on you and say thank you for helping Greg out."

  She snorted. "He's dead now, so it doesn't matter much to him." She hung her head. "He died protecting me."

  Levi sighed. "Sometimes that happens, but that is the reason you were able to kill Mina."

  "Yes." She sighed and then cringed.

  "Have you asked Clarissa to make you a pain potion yet?" Levi crossed his arms and looked as his stubborn daughter shook her head.

  "No, but I'll get to that soon. I just wanted to rest for a little bit. I'll shoot her a text when I'm ready for welcomed visitors."

  He didn't miss her little jab at him popping in uninvited. "I get it. You want to be alone. Is there anything I can get you before I leave?"

  She thought for a moment and looked down at the cat and then up at him. "Yeah, will you make me a cup of coffee?"

  Abigail logic, coffee fixed everything. Whatever it was that was bothering her, the cause of the sorrow in her eyes, she probably thought coffee was going to fix it.

  He chuckled. "I'll get you a cup of coffee. While I do that, text Clarissa and tell her you need a pain potion."

  She grumbled but reached for her phone. Levi walked into the kitchen and started gathering what he needed for the coffee. He opened the fridge to get the cream and noticed that there were actually groceries in her fridge. Not the lone container of milk that he normally saw.

  "I see you managed to go grocery shopping," he called out.

  There was no response. He assumed she was ignoring him or had fallen asleep while he was working on the coffee. He walked back out, and she looked at him.

  "Here." He handed her the mug.

  She cupped her hands around it and studied the liquid inside. "Thank you. And no, I didn't go grocery shopping. Simon had some dropped off for me. Because he felt that I needed food."

  "He didn't stay to tend to you?" There was a moment of anger in him.

  She shook her head. "No, we're not dating anymore. There's too much going on in life for either one of us to take on dating."

  "Maybe when things calm down with the wolf pack," Levi offered. "And when you heal."

  She glared at him. "I have a lot more going on than just a wound in my side."

  Levi raised a brow and waited for her to continue.

  "Like the fact that I have a work partner now, and Tomes was corrupt, and the elemental thing, and so much else. I really don't have time for romance right now."

  "Romance might help you unwind."

  "Maybe you're the one who needs to get laid," she shot back. "I'm not really in the mood for company. Thanks for making me coffee, but I just want to chill with my cat."

  He couldn't believe she was going to adopt the furless thing, but it wasn't like he had a reason to object to it. "Then I shall take my leave." He bowed his head. "If you need anything, please let me know."

  "I will. Clarissa will be over in a couple hours too with the pain management. I'm just going to sit here, like I said."

  If he didn't know any better, he would say she was moping, but Abigail wasn't one for just sitting around and pouting. He gave her one last look before taking himself back to the mansion.

  Ira walked to the containment room where the witch was now sitting without the chains holding her to th
e wall. Simple silver handcuffs wrapped around her wrists, with another chain connecting them to a pair of shackles. "Eventually you'll forgive me for all of this."

  "Fuck off," she growled, and he laughed.

  "Glad to see that you've found your voice." And it was a lot better than the grumbling and growling she had been doing before. "How do you feel?"

  She paused to consider the question and met his gaze. "Hungry."

  "For anything particular?"

  She looked at him like she was an idiot. "Food."

  That was good. "I'll make sure to get you some, but first, we need to take a walk." He pulled out the key to the door and unlocked it. She shuffled forward and held her hands up.

  "It'd be so much easier to walk without all of this."

  He shook his head. "No. I can't risk you running off or using abilities you have no idea how to control yet."

  She actually rolled her eyes at him. "I volunteered for this program, and you're treating me like a prisoner."

  "It's a precaution. You see, your blood has changed, you have changed. I'm trying to make sure that you're safe." He took her hand and patted it, trying to be as comforting as he could be. "Please, bear with me a little longer."

  She locked her jaw, and in a moment, she headbutted him and shoved him away with her shoulder. She darted down the hallway, but he grabbed her hair. "I was trying to do this the nice way."

  "So was I," she snarled, and he felt the magic grow around her, but the instant it seemed to be solid, she cried out in pain and shook her head, ripping her hair out of his hands.

  "What have you done to me?" She looked at him with red eyes. "Blood, I need blood."

  He grabbed her shoulder. "First, we have a little test to do."

  "Where is my magic? Why do I want blood?" She growled and tried to yank out of his grip.

  Ira took them to the door of the compound, opened it to let the dawn sun in, and shoved her into the stream.