by Melody Raven
The guard dog started for the water and a panicked look crossed over Sam’s face. “You can’t go in that stuff.”
“It’s not active.” Bastian stepped in up to his ankles. “You’d know if it was dangerous. Trust me.”
As he started to pull the girl onto the grass, Derek hopped off the dock to help him. As the water jostled, the smell got worse and Derek forced himself to breathe through his mouth. He’d been around his fair share of bad smells, but this was like a dead body had been sitting in the hot sun in the middle of a swamp for a week. Considering Janet hadn’t been dead for more than a few hours, he had no idea where the smell was coming from.
Once she was on land, Bastian shone the light over her. She looked as if she was wearing her pajamas—short shorts with some sort of flower pattern and a tank top. He wasn’t a fan of guessing cause of death, but he was going to assume it was the two long gashes along the inside of her arm. One was straight and deep; the other was jagged and unsteady. “She killed herself...” he thought out loud.
“Maybe she couldn’t live with the fact that she killed someone?” Sam stepped off the dock and onto the grass.
Derek turned on the flashlight attached to his phone and moved down to look at her feet. The soles were red and scratched. “I think there’s more than that.”
“We need to keep the parents from coming out here,” said the guard dog.
“I can go distract them,” said Sam. “Maybe try to get a better idea of whether anything has been different about Janet lately. If she’d seemed depressed or anything.”
“Sounds good. We won’t be long out here.”
Sam started inside, her legs moving just fast enough to tell Derek that she wasn’t as comfortable around the dead body as he and the guard dog were. Damn it. She shouldn’t be here.
“She shouldn’t be here,” said Bastian, echoing Derek’s thoughts.
“What?”
Instead of answering him, he stood and took out his phone. He made a call, but Derek couldn’t see who it was to. “I found the suspected arsonist. It’s one of us and she’s dead. Surrounded by darkness. Okay, I’ll send you the address. I’m taking care of it.”
“Who was that?” asked Derek once he hung up the phone.
“My version of backup. You need to take Sam home.”
As much as Derek wanted to get Sam out of here, he had no idea what brought the change in circumstances. Bastian had felt no problem leaving Sam alone while they went to look over video footage. So what about this dead girl made things different? “She’s not going to want to leave.”
“I have faith that you’re going to convince her. Claudia is going to be here within the hour. You need to be gone before she arrives.”
“That’s why I need to leave. Why does Sam?”
Bastian glanced back to the house where they could see Sam talking to the parents through the window. “Claudia wanted her to get her feet wet. To see if any of this would trigger her abilities. She didn’t want her around dark magic. So go get your girlfriend and get her out of here before people start asking questions.”
Derek wanted to stay. His interest was piqued, and he wanted to know what had happened to make this young girl light a building on fire and kill herself. But he had to be awake and alert in the morning for his actual job, and he knew that this problem wouldn’t be going away quickly. And if Bastian thought Sam was in danger if she stayed around here, he was willing to drive her home.
“Fine. I’ll get Sam to leave.” He debated saying good-bye or even a “nice to work with you” to the guard dog, but everything seemed so insincere. Instead, he just started to the house. Whatever questions Sam had been asking the parents must’ve stopped because there was dead silence inside.
He made eye contact with Sam and gestured toward the front door. Once they were both outside, he bent forward and spoke in a hushed tone so the parents wouldn’t overhear him if they were listening in. “Bastian called in backup. He told us to get out of here.”
Sam looked exactly how he expected. As if leaving was the last thing she intended to do. “But we just got here and we don’t—”
“It’s your first day on the job,” he reminded her. “I get the feeling that this is a lot for even your guard dog to deal with. Let the big guns handle it. You’ll regroup and work on it tomorrow.”
“If they let me,” she murmured.
“You’re the boss’s granddaughter. I’m sure you’ll still have a job.”
Sam shook her head. “You don’t get it. This was the last test for me. I failed at training and Claudia thought putting me in the field would bring something out in me. I’m a failed experiment.”
“You didn’t fail to do anything. I’m sure she didn’t expect your first day on the job to be so eventful. Unless dead bodies are a normal thing for your kind.” Sam’s silence was an answer. “Besides, you were thinking some angry human was taking a cheap shot, right? This is bigger than anyone was thinking.”
“The only way I helped today was by bringing you along and even that was never supposed to happen.”
Derek reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet and showed his badge to Sam. “See this?” he asked and she gently nodded. “Remember my little speech about it to Montgomery in there?” She nodded once again. “I’ve been doing this a long time. I’d be pretty damn offended if I wasn’t helping more than you.”
Sam reached for the badge and he let her take it as she ran her fingers over the shiny gold. “I always thought these were so stupid, you know. A meaningless symbol of power. Then I saw you wave it in front of Parker and it was like magic.”
“Won’t work on everyone. People like Parker.... They trust cops. They’re used to authority working for them, not against them. If I’d tried that with someone used to fearing the cops, it would’ve gone differently.”
Sam handed the badge back. “I guess I don’t know as much about people as you. Even my own people.”
“It’s an experience thing. Remember, I’m older than you.”
The barest hint of a smile cracked her face. “Fine. Let’s get out of here. Bastian can deal with the mess.”
And the tears. But she left that part unsaid. It was too tough to think about.
Derek tried for a distraction instead. “So... dark magic? I didn’t realize that was a thing.”
“You didn’t think magic could be dangerous?”
“No. I got that part. But there’s another, more dangerous kind?”
“Dark magic isn’t really magic. I mean, it is. It’s power. Raw power that can translate to very powerful magic. But it takes over whoever is trying to use it. The nicest person can call on dark magic and it will corrupt them.”
“So you think Janet was taken over by the dark magic?”
Sam’s lips tightened. “I—I have a thought and I’m betting Bastian is thinking the same thing.”
“I wouldn’t mind knowing....”
“Janet had nothing to do with the Abbots. Or with Jennifer Barrett, for that matter. If she was calling on dark magic, she’d be going after people in the way of her getting what she wanted. So killing girls she thought her boyfriend liked or people in the way of a job promotion.”
“So the dark magic made her kill at random?”
Sam leaned in closer. “Just between us.”
“Because I have so many people to talk about magic with.” Sam gave him an annoyed look and Derek backed off. “Yes. Just between us.”
“I think what freaked Bastian out was that it wasn’t Janet controlling the magic. Someone wanted those fires to start and used Janet to do it.”
“They used an eighteen-year-old girl as a patsy?”
“They used her as a match. And after those people died, she made it stop the only way she knew how.”
Derek nodded. “That makes sense.”
“How does any of that make sense to you?”
“Bastian isn’t getting rid of you because he thinks you’re useless.”
&
nbsp; She raised a brow.
“He’s getting rid of you because you’re too valuable to become possessed.”
Sam let out a bitter laugh. “I wish.” She tugged at a chain around her neck until the pendant that had been hidden in her shirt came free. “Claudia made me a new charm. Now we’re both magic-proof.”
Derek pulled his eyes from the cleavage she’d pulled the necklace from and looked at the golden spike-shaped pendent. It was on a thirty-inch chain and came to a sharp point. A mystical and physical weapon. “I’ve worked with a lot of shitty rookies,” he finally said. “And your guard dog didn’t give any of the annoyed as hell body language signs I’m used to picking up on.”
“It’s like two o’clock in the morning. How are you so good at cheering me up?”
“We all have our strengths. Now let’s go before your grandmother realizes I’m here and tries to kill me.”
Sam rolled over and refused to open her eyes. If she knew how late she’d slept in, then she’d need to get up. If she could put off any self-awareness for any longer, she would. She flipped onto her back and tried to shut off her mind, but the thoughts started to come to her. She saw Janet Montgomery’s dead face coming up from the darkness. She saw the silent Bastian looking down at her. And there was Derek, taking her hand. Giving her strength when she didn’t know she needed it.
Her eyes snapped open. No. She wasn’t going back down the Derek road again. Not only would Claudia kill her, maybe literally, but the last time she’d gotten involved with him he’d nearly died.
A good reason for her to never have taken him to the arson scene with her in the first place. But it was hard for her to think straight when he was around. Maybe in normal circumstances, when she wasn’t completely out of her element, she’d be able to handle him. But when it was her first day on a job she was wholly unqualified to be doing, her defenses were weakened. Now, in the harsh light of day, it was so much easier to realize how poor her decision-making had been last night.
Maybe today would be better. Assuming she wasn’t fired, of course.
She sat up and the first thing she did was reach for her cell phone. No calls from Bastian, Derek, or her grandmother. Was no news good news or did no news mean she was fired?
The phone rang in her hand, and Sam probably would’ve jumped if she wasn’t so exhausted. It was eight thirty, which meant she’d gotten a grand total of four hours of sleep. She knew some people were used to that, but in her pampered existence, she was used to a square eight hours.
The caller ID said Heather and Sam debated whether she had the metal capacity to handle a conversation with her sister. Then the memory of what her mother said came back to her. If Heather really did feel hurt that Sam was getting attention from Claudia, Sam shouldn’t avoid her calls.
After the phone rang one more time, she forced herself to hit the green Answer icon. “Hey,” she said, trying and failing to sound cheerful.
“Did you just wake up?” asked Heather, the judgment strong in her voice.
Sam didn’t know why she should be judgy. Eight thirty was pretty damn early for Sam. Her normal was ten a.m. Well, it had been before her recent disastrous round of training. “I’m awake,” said Sam, purposefully avoiding answering the question. “What’s up?”
“Mom said you wanted to do lunch. I have a free hour in my schedule this afternoon, so I was wondering if you were free.”
Sam didn’t know whether she was pumping her for information about her new schedule or whether she was sincerely asking whether she wanted to do lunch. She decided to go with the flow, and the story that it was Sam’s idea to do lunch. “Yeah. You know that new witch Claire I’ve been helping out?”
“The one Jackson is working with?”
“Yeah. Well, she and I have both been struggling with our magic and since you are so...”—Sam tried to think of a suitably kiss-ass term—“proficient, I thought it would be helpful to both of us if we could get some face time with you.”
“You want me to help you with magic?” There was a mixture of surprise and flattery in Heather’s voice, which was exactly what Sam had been going for.
“You’re one of the best witches I know.” Though it might be very kiss-assy, Sam meant it. As annoying as it had been, her older sister had been in complete control of herself from a very early age. At first, Sam had been happy that Heather was so good at it, but as her struggles kept getting worse, culminating in the fire, she hadn’t been able to hold back the jealousy. Not to mention that Heather had never been modest about anything.
But the distance helped her come to terms with the difference in their abilities. Absence really did make the heart less bitter.
“I need to call Claire and see if she’s free for lunch, though. I’m not sure how her schedule is lately.”
“I’m sure she’ll make time if she’s making this a priority. That’s the first rule to becoming a successful witch. You need to prioritize your magic.”
Oh Lord, she might not make it through this lunch. “Great,” she croaked out. “I’ll call Claire and make sure she pushes this lunch to the top of her priorities.”
“Fantastic! I can’t wait to see you! I’ll go through my list of acceptable restaurants and forward you the address and time once I have it all settled. See you soon!”
Sam said a quick good-bye, but Heather had already hung up. Oh yeah. This was going to be a blast.
“Stop looking at your phone,” said Claire as they came up to the restaurant.
“Just checking the time,” lied Sam. It was now two in the afternoon and neither of the men she was supposedly working with had returned her calls, which was starting to get irksome. She knew she wasn’t the most helpful member of the team, but she’d tried and she’d been with them up until the end. Well, at least until they’d kicked her out. That warranted at least an update phone call.
Maybe not from Derek. He’d gone from “I never want to talk to you again” to butting into what was supposed to be her day job.
“We’re on time,” assured Claire. “Assuming we’re in the right place.” They were in front of the restaurant in downtown Manhattan. Clark’s was a high-end place that catered to the Wall Street clientele. Sam wasn’t sure whether Heather had picked such a nice lunch spot because she was trying to show off or whether it was just because she had expensive taste. Maybe it was a mixture of both.
Sam wished they were eating somewhere more casual. Claire had been adjusting to her new life okay. Sam had eased her into the life by giving her the old apartment and some of her clothes. Eventually she’d get her a job and hopefully some more friends who had connections to the families. But it was still a process. Only a few months ago, Claire had been living on the streets. She’d been good at living on the streets too. Going from one extreme to another probably wouldn’t be good.
“We’re in the right place. Remember what I said about Heather.”
Claire nodded. “Don’t take anything she says too personally and agree with things even when she’s wrong.” She gave Sam a knowing smirk.
“Trust me. It’s easier than getting into a fight with her. I promise.”
Claire glanced back in the direction they’d come from, the half mile away they’d needed to park. “It’s not too late to bail.”
“As much as I’d love to, Heather really is good at what she does. She should have some good advice.”
“What good will advice do? Isn’t it just talent? Some people have it and some people don’t.”
Sam grimaced. “To a point. Some people can’t draw and will never be a master artist. But you can give anyone training and see improvements. The amount of improvements vary based on the skill of the instructor and student.”
“So she’s the instructor and we’re the students?”
Sam rolled her eyes. “Please don’t say things you know will piss me off. Let’s get in there and get this over with.”
Once they walked in, they gave the hostess Heather’s name and were im
mediately led to their seats. Except as their table came into view, Sam tripped over her feet and had to hold onto a nearby, thankfully empty, booth.
“Why is your grandmother here?” asked Claire in a hushed voice.
That was exactly the question that Sam had. There was Heather and Claudia, sitting together on one side of the table while there were two empty seats waiting for Sam and Claire. What did Claudia want? Heather had a smile on her face, but Sam could tell by her wide eyes that she wasn’t expecting this visit either. Any plans of using this time to bond despite Claudia’s apparent favoritism were probably about to go down the toilet now.
“Sam,” whispered Claire, reminding Sam that she actually needed to move.
“Coming,” she said, regaining her composure and making her way to the table. “Grandma,” she said as Claudia stood. Sam went around the table to hug Claudia and kiss her on the cheek. Different from the formal meeting they’d had yesterday, but she reverted back to her normal greeting. Better safe than sorry. She didn’t want to offend Claudia by seeming standoffish. “I didn’t realize you were coming.”
Heather shot daggers at Sam. “Funny. I thought you invited her.” Her cheerful voice disguised the true annoyance Sam knew was there.
“This is a surprise to me.”
“Don’t be upset. I wanted to talk with Sam and heard she’d be here.”
Sam and Heather made eye contact and then broke it. Neither of them had told Claudia they were meeting, and Claire had no reason to be giving out their schedule to Claudia. It was information they’d freely give if asked. Which meant Claudia had probably found them via magic, which was... concerning. Because Claudia didn’t do anything without good reason.
“Claire Washington, I presume.” Claudia turned her attention to Claire.
The younger girl stiffened and Sam could see the tension creep into her friend. It was intimidating enough to just be in this restaurant. But to have to meet Claudia at the same time was enough to stress anyone out. Sam reached out and grabbed Claire’s hand, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “This is Claire,” said Sam. “I thought Heather would be a great influence on her. She’s super smart and I think Heather is the best source of information around.” Claudia narrowed her eyes. “Except for you, of course,” she said with a nervous laugh. “But I assume you’re busy.”