Witch War in Westerham

by Dionne Lister

  “Seriously? When this is over, I just want to go on holiday.” I sighed. Meh, who was I kidding? Of course I’d help him. It was in my DNA. “Maybe when we’ve had a few weeks off, I’ll go see him.”

  Will grinned. “That’s my woman. I knew you would.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” I swirled spaghetti onto my fork and stabbed a piece of meatball, then shoved it into my mouth. Yum.

  “He also said that now things made more sense to him—about the enslavement of whole families. He’s going to quietly investigate a few villages today. He has a feeling RP might have control of communities. Most of the families related to the people from the factory are from poorer areas. We also need to figure out how to release them from service so they can be safely questioned and not have to go back to that life.”

  “If they all have tattoos, I guess we could get Robert to teach us how to unravel them? If he can work out one, surely they’re all the same?”

  “That makes sense. And now we have a bigger pool of agents who can help de-RP everyone.” He gave me a measured look. “But we have to take down the top snakes first. You know it won’t be easy.”

  “I know, but what’s the point of believing we’ll lose? If we don’t believe in our ability to beat them, we’re setting ourselves up for failure. Imagine what Angelica would say if she knew? She believes we can do it, I bet.”

  Fondness crept into his gaze. “She would believe in us.” He smiled. “You’re right. We got this.”

  “I’m always right. Didn’t you know?” I smirked.

  “I might hate it sometimes, but, yes, I’m starting to see.” He winked. “Except when I’m right.”

  “As long as I’m right about the big stuff, I can concede the small things.”

  He laughed. “You’re impossible.”

  I gave him a cheesy grin. “And that’s why you love me.”

  “Maybe…. Or maybe it’s because you never do what you’re told? Or maybe it’s because your jokes are so bad? Or maybe it’s because y—”

  My mouth dropped open. “Hey, hey, let’s not get carried away here. Before you know it, you’ll be breaking up with me. If you do, by the way, I’m keeping the ring. I’ll hock it and take Imani and Liv on holidays.”

  He raised a brow. “Already planning on how to spend my money after you break up with me?”

  I shrugged. “Beats being bored when I’m stuck at home by myself.” I tried, but it was impossible to contain my giggle.

  He grinned. “You’re impossible, but I love you. And never change.”

  “I wasn’t planning on it.”

  What I was planning on was killing Piranha. Did that make me evil? Would I even still like myself when this was all over? Who knew? What I did know was that I wanted to survive to find out.

  The rest, well, I’d deal with it if I made it through.

  Universe, if you care anything about fairness and love, you’ll help us win, won’t you? Silence greeted my question. Universe?

  Another day, another level of danger. Some of us had spent the whole day at James’s, prepping, with others going back and forth. His dining-room table had become the hub of operations, and he’d set up screens in the lounge room, like the ones set up for the factory operation. Tonight, Imani, Will, and I were wearing small video/audio devices, just in case anything happened and we needed to dissect it later. Millicent and James would be watching the live video feed to give us any warnings if we missed something. We each had a device on our chests and one on our backs—all the angles were covered… literally.

  As I forced down dinner, Bagel and Cinnamon sat on the table near me, their own little plates in front of them. Millicent had been interpreting their chatter through dinner. They assured me everything would be fine and that it was going to be exciting rather than scary. I didn’t want to argue with them because they were so cute, and how often did one receive advice from rodents? I was obviously living my best life.

  I only ate enough that my stomach would keep quiet while we were out. This level of stress wasn’t conducive to eating, even for me. We had a list of eleven places to visit—three in the UK, three in France, one in Russia, and four in Germany. It was going to be a loooooong night. Most of the places were at least a fifteen-minute car ride from the nearest landing point. Roche was doing his best to have agents ready to ferry us around. He was proving an exceptional team member. Again, I had to thank Chad for something. He’d basically introduced us and then annoyed the Frenchman enough that he was happy to go against him. I grinned. He thought he was making life harder for James, but he’d done the opposite. It was the little things. And it was funny how things worked out—not that they’d totally worked out yet, but what we saw as a near disaster with Will and James being stood down turned into a massive positive.

  Millicent waved her hand in front of my plate. “Hey, what’s so interesting in there?”

  I started. “Oh, sorry. Just thinking.”

  She put her hand on mine. “Good luck out there tonight. We’re getting close.”

  “I know.” There was so much to say about how scared I was and what could go wrong, but I swallowed it. We didn’t need more negative energy.

  “Come D-Day, my cousin is mine. I want to cuff the bastard.”

  My mouth fell open. I’d never heard Millicent swear before. Ever. “He’s all yours. I’m so sorry he did that to you. Family can be so disappointing sometimes.”

  “My father wants to kill him, too, but I managed to talk him into letting me arrest him. He’ll probably drop dead anyway.”

  I laughed. “We’ve turned into a vicious lot, haven’t we.”

  “Yes and no.” If her fierce gaze wasn’t enough to convince me we were doing the right thing, her words definitely were. “We’ve been driven to this, Lily. Make no mistake, if we balk at the last minute, they will kill all of us, and the future for non-witches will be bleak. Steel yourself, lady. We’re the last line of defence for what’s good in this world. Never forget that.”

  I squeezed her hand. “Thank you, Mill. I needed to hear that. The last thing I want is for Annabelle to grow up an orphan in a world where witches call all the shots and non-witches are their slaves. I couldn’t think of anything more disgusting. Besides, I guarantee it wouldn’t be long before some witches became more important than others….”

  “You’ve got that right. Let’s stop it before it starts.”

  “Yes, please do.” Liv sat on the other side of me. “How are you feeling?”

  I smiled. “How do you think?”

  “Well, for what it’s worth, if you, Will, and Imani can’t get this done, no one can.”

  “Aw, thanks. And for what it’s worth, I won’t give up, Liv. I’m in this till it’s done.” Bagel squeaked, and it sounded a lot like a cheer.

  Liv’s brittle smile lanced my heart. “I know. Thank you.” She looked at the rat. “Did she just cheer?”

  Millicent laughed. “Yes. She’s pretty confident we’re going to win.”

  I swallowed my comment again. This might be the happiest moment we had for a long time, and it was not in my nature to dash anyone’s hopes. Nope. I held my hand out to Bagel. “High five.” The little rodent tapped my palm. I grinned.

  Imani wandered over. “I hate to break up the party, but it’s time to get ready, Lily.”

  I sucked in a breath. So much for being ready for anything. There was no banishing the dread that set anchor in the depths of my soul. It was wedged in tight and wasn’t going anywhere. I did everything in my power to keep my voice steady. “Okay.” I stood and magicked my all-black outfit of jeans, jumper, sneakers, and beanie-cum-balaclava. We didn’t want to scare anyone in any of the villages we popped out in, but to avoid camera scrutiny, pulling down wool to protect our identities was for the best, even if it was just to stop the PIB identifying us later. There was no telling what was going to happen when this was over, and if I managed to survive, the last thing I wanted was to revisit the PIB cells.

  I magic
ked my camera to myself and checked I had a full battery. “I’m all good to go.”

  Imani touched one side of her body, then her lower back. “Me too.”

  “Two guns tonight?”

  She smiled. “I’ll be ready for anything.”

  I gave my ladies a hug goodbye and gave the rats a little kiss on the head. “I’ll see you guys later. Don’t have too much fun without me.”

  Liv’s smile was too bright. “We won’t. We’ll save all the fun for when you get home.”

  “That’s what I like to hear. Okay, ladies. See you soon.”

  Imani and I walked into the living room, where Will was talking to Cardinal. Will turned to look at us. He donned his poker face. “Ready to go?”

  I nodded, and Imani said, “Affirmative, boss.”

  Will turned back and shook Cardinal’s hand. “Thanks again, mate. Good work.” Our new recruit gave a nod and wished Imani and me luck, then strolled off to talk to James. Will looked at me. “Imani is going to ferry you back and forth. I’ll take guard duty. I’ll be the last to leave everywhere we visit. Imani will be watching out for you, too, Lily. All I want you to do is get there and take as many photos in each place as you can. Once you’re not getting any new pictures, let me know, and we’re gone. If there’s any problems, Imani will make the doorway and you both leave. If something happens and Imani can’t do that, I want you to come straight back here. Understood?”

  Oh, crap. Why did it always come down to having to agree to something I didn’t want to agree to? Why did they even ask me anymore? It wasn’t as if my track record with obeying orders was anything to crow about. But seeing as this was super important, I decided to just go with it. “Okay. If there’s any trouble, I’ll come straight back here.” Will kept his bossy gaze on me. Argh, he was going to make me say it. “I promise. Happy now?”

  “No. I won’t be happy until this is done, and we’re home and safe.” He gave Imani a nod, and she made her doorway. I followed her through.

  We’d started with the properties in the UK, and it had been rather uneventful, thank goodness, although I was still jumping at the smallest unusual sound. I’d taken quite a few photos, then, thanks to a handy little dongle thing I plugged into my camera, I texted them straight back to James so Liv and Millicent could get a start on identifying people. Agent Fairweather was also helping them out because we needed to process them as quickly as possible.

  Our next destination was one I was super worried about because I had no idea what it was like, and from what was shown on TV in spy movies, Russian agents were the most horrible. I hoped we didn’t get caught by any. If the movies were to be believed, most Russians at properties in the middle of nowhere carried machine guns 24/7, even to the toilet. Maybe I was being ridiculous, but it didn’t feel like it when we stepped out of a public toilet into the freezing night to be greeted with a bomb of an old car driven by a guy who had a scarf up to his nose. All I could see were his dark eyes. He said something in a French accent. Phew, at least he was one of Agent Roche’s guys. Will, skilled man that he was, recognised him. As he slid into the front passenger seat, he held out his hand. “Agent Remy. Thanks for picking us up.”

  He gave a nod. “My pleasure. We have about a twenty-minute drive. I will drop you two minutes from the property. You will ’ave to walk the last distance.”

  “We can manage that. Thanks.”

  The area just above my stomach pulsed the whole way as waves of nervousness broke against my chest again and again. I wouldn’t be surprised if I looked ten years older tomorrow.

  He let us out, and I checked my return to sender was up. As we walked along the road, the gravel crunching under our feet, Agent Remy did a U-turn and drove off. Bye, bye. Wish I was going with you. I gave a forlorn wave at the receding taillights. Will smirked and shook his head. “So far so good, Lily. There’s nothing to be worried about.”

  I gave him my best “you’ve got to be kidding” look. I didn’t want to encourage conversation for a change because what if someone heard us speaking English and decided to check it out.

  When we were about ten metres from a driveway that was blocked by two tall timber gates attached to a stone wall, Will stopped. His magic was subtle and hopefully not detectable by anyone within a few metres. He disabled the video camera, then approached the gates by himself and opened them. This was way too bold for my liking, but we didn’t have time for climbing over walls. And magicking ladders to every destination would be taxing on us since ladders were heavy and bulky. I would have preferred it to walking straight in, but what did I know?

  We jogged down the long driveway, which wound its way through woods. Dogs howled in the distance. Shit. Had there been a sign about guard dogs? I didn’t think to look, and since it was so dark, I could easily have missed it. The barking got louder. Will and Imani slowed, and I stopped. I pulled my camera out to see if I could get any shots before all hell broke loose. Hopefully whoever had visited in the past had at least wandered out here at some point. At the previous properties, we’d managed to get onto land at the backs of the homes, which is where people had drinks after hunting. I swallowed nausea that nudged its way up my throat.

  The barking got closer. I lifted my camera. “Show me the witches who came here for hunting parties.” Three people came into view, in mid-afternoon light. All men. I snapped the photos. I sensed Will next to me. “Leave, Lily. Forget the photos.”

  Snarling sounded close. Too close. Crap. I looked up to see Imani pointing her gun into the darkness. A snarling growl as a dog leapt, and yelling from further into the property. Crap. Imani fired her gun, then made her doorway. I had no time to see what Will was up to because I did as he asked and made a doorway in the fastest time ever. I jumped through into James’s reception room. My panting was super loud in the enclosed space. Will and Imani arrived just after me, thank God.

  Imani grinned. “Sheesh, that was close.”

  I stared at her. “You think it’s funny?”

  “No, love, but it was exciting. Don’t tell me you didn’t find it so?”

  “Jesus, no. What the hell is wrong with you?” Will was grinning too. “Not you too.” I looked up at the ceiling. “I’m with a couple of crazies. Who knew?”

  “Are you right to go again?” Imani asked. “We won’t worry about the Russian property anymore.”

  I raised my brows. “I should think not. You would’ve left your magic signature on the security system, Will.”

  “Well, that can’t be helped. Hopefully they won’t think to check it until tomorrow, and by then, it should’ve faded. I didn’t use much power.”

  The reception room door opened, and I jumped. Millicent stood there. “What are you doing? It took a moment, but eventually, I realised what your cameras were showing. What happened?”

  “Didn’t you hear the dogs?” I asked.

  “Yes. They didn’t sound very friendly.”

  Imani frowned. “Not friendly at all. I had to kill one of them. I’m not happy about that. Those animals didn’t ask to be caught up in this.”

  “Oh, no. What a shame.” Millicent loved her dogs, and she looked genuinely sad. “Okay, kids, are you getting back to it?”

  “Yep. We’re off to France now. See you later.” Will looked at Imani. “I’ll go first. See you in a minute.”

  The next two properties were vacant for the moment, which made our job so much easier. No nasty surprises were more my speed. I took many photos. The same people were starting to show up. Seemed like they enjoyed hunting at different venues. Sickos.

  The last property in France was in the mountains. Snow was scattered amongst the rocks, and the steep terrain was less than ideal. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be hunted, stumbling up and down incline after incline. Were there cliffs to accidentally fall off? Was that preferable to being shot or tortured?

  The lodge was a two-storey chalet affair sitting at the top of a hill. It would have had a glorious view during the day.
Will had disabled the video cameras at the front, and then the ones protecting the yard around the house. We snuck past a triple garage and around the back of the building. We stayed low and next to the house so that if anyone was to look out the window, they wouldn’t see us.

  I crouched, leaning my back against the rear of the house. I raised my camera and whispered, “Show me who hunted non-witches here.” What looked like a garden party was in full swing under pretty fairy lights. Only slightly more men than women. Everyone dressed for an afternoon of frivolity. Going on the garden’s green foliage, and the guests’ short sleeves and floaty dresses, it was summer. Drinks in hand, people laughed and chatted. Evil witches.

  I snapped off shot after shot. It seemed they had had quite a few hunts here in summer. There were a couple of photos of witches in the snow, but it seemed that they preferred to hunt in more comfortable conditions. When I was done, we left.

  When we reached our first German village, we exited the toilets and stood under a streetlight. Will’s brow wrinkled. “Lily, are you crying?”

  “A little.”

  Imani put her arm around me while gazing into the darkness around us. “It’s okay, love. We’ll put a stop to it soon.”

  A black Mercedes pulled up, and the driver waved at Will. Will gave him a nod and opened the back door for Imani and me to get in. Will sat in the front. The driver turned around and smiled at me. “Good evening. I’m Hans. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  I smiled back. “Guten Abend, Hans. I’m Lily. How do you do?” I never knew Germans were so formal, but I’d go with it. Hopefully, chucking in some high-school German would win me some brownie points. Not that I needed them. We weren’t going to hang out and go have dinner with this guy. Would we ever see him again after this? It was funny how people touched upon your life, but then you never saw them again. What was it all for anyway? I shook my head at myself. I wasn’t the first person to ask that question, and I wouldn’t be the last. It wouldn’t even be the last time I asked that question.