“Where did you get this picture from?”
“From the security camera across the street. Why?”
“Because I saw her as I was walking to the coffee shop. She nodded at me like she knew who I was. I figured she was someone you guys sent to watch during the day, but Levi confirmed it wasn’t one of yours.”
Catalina nodded. “So she’s not anyone you know then?”
I shook my head. “No.”
Tabitha made a note.
“Thrills was around a few years ago, being sold by a vampire. The drug itself isn’t new,” I stated.
Catalina nodded. “But weaponizing it is.”
She had a good point there.
“I’d like to talk about the vampires. I need to know what they had to say about their captivity.” I really didn’t like that half the meeting was focused on my safety.
Catalina glanced at Levi, who nodded. “They are recovering well now that they are feeding. They were kept from blood sources, sliced with silver, stitched up with silver thread. In one word…”
“Torture.” I pressed my lips together. “Thank you.”
“Does it line up with what Liz had done?” Levi asked.
I nodded. “It does. We know who’s doing it, and as soon as my party is over, Liz and I are going to hunt the witch down.”
“Assuming Samuel doesn’t give Levi another order. There’s a reason Samuel has demanded Levi keep you at the mansion,” Warren stated.
“I’ve very well aware that there is a reason behind it. We’ll find out what it is soon enough, but as you all know, I refuse to hide and cower. Liz and I will be going after Adrianna as soon as I can without putting Levi or myself in Samuel’s warpath.”
Everyone stared at me for a moment, and Catalina snorted. “Okay, Princess.”
She pointed to the second screen. This is the house that the vampires were found at. We’ve put surveillance on it, but all we’ve seen is PIB and Mason’s crew there.
I studied the picture. I knew most of Mason’s crew, and there was one person there that wasn’t part of it. “Catalina, can you zoom in on the picture, on the person on the left.”
She nodded and zoomed in. I studied the face and tried to place it. The hair was light, but it looked like a wig. I frowned as I tried to place just the face. In my mind, I was going through different hair colors and styles, trying to get something to match.
I glanced at the picture of the woman from the shooting. No, it wasn’t her. It was someone I met recently, though.
Then it clicked. “Gabby.”
Levi raised a brow. “Liz’s sister.”
“Yes.”
Levi nodded, and Tabitha made a note. That didn’t sit right with me. “I need to call Liz.”
“You can fill her in when we’re done.” Mario put a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off but didn’t argue.
“We have a location for Adrianna. I was going to have Oliver scout it out.” I glanced at the third screen. “I see you have him on surveillance as well.”
Catalina nodded. “As a precaution. Your uncle is a bit of a loose cannon. When we send him out on missions, we send someone to track him.”
I snorted. “You know you aren’t fooling him, right?”
“We know. The hope is that he behaves himself when he’s under surveillance.” Catalina chuckled. “Sometimes it works. Other times he does stuff purposely to piss us off.”
Yep. That was Oliver. “What mission do you have him on now?”
“That’s classified,” Catalina answered without missing a beat. “Only between the King and us.”
I was tempted to argue that one, but I figured I’d learn eventually. Most likely when it came back to bite me in the ass. “Is that all then?”
Catalina shook her head. “There’s still the discussion of Samuel and his threats. We don’t know if he’s tied to the shooting, and until we can hunt the woman down, we won’t know anything.”
“Samuel has set a specific date that I cannot leave the mansion until. That means he’s either planning something that I need to be out of the way for, or he needs me in a location for a reason. Knowing his love for drama and power shows, I’m willing to bet he’s going to show up at the party.”
Catalina nodded. “That was our thought as well. So you will have guards spread out through the party. Mingling with you and other guests so that it’s not obvious who is there to protect you and who is there because it’s your party.”
“Because Simon,” Mario interrupted, and there was a tinge of bitterness in his voice. “And you are dating, he’ll be around you more. We are trusting that the Alpha knows how to protect you.”
I was not going to rise to that bait. He was testing if I trusted Simon or not. I bit my tongue to keep me from lashing back. “You know what they say about plans made…”
There was a muttering around the room. I nodded. “I’ll make sure to keep myself safe as well. I’d like to enjoy my party, seeing as it’s actually the first party Levi has thrown for me since I was four.”
Levi seemed to choke on something at me calling him out. “And with that, I think it’s time to return home. Princess Abigail will be working on the case from the mansion. As she stated, she and Liz already learned something new today. We’ll take this new news back tonight and see what comes of it.”
I stood, and Mario and Levi stood as well. We walked out of the room, and Levi put his hand on the small of my back, taking us back to the mansion.
The smell off coffee greeted us when we appeared. I closed my eyes and inhaled. “Liz must be awake.”
“Seems like it.” Mario nodded and then took a few steps away from me. I started to walk down the hall toward the kitchen. Levi and Mario both followed.
“Thank you for taking this seriously, Abigail. You conducted yourself very well tonight.” Levi chuckled. “Very few outbursts.”
“No outbursts, actually, and I got something useful out of it.” I turned the corner of the kitchen and saw Liz sitting there with a cup of coffee. She stared at the countertop as if lost in her thoughts.
“Liz?” I asked softly, not wanting to startle her.
She jumped a little bit anyways. “Abby.” She took a deep breath. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”
I went to the coffee pot and made myself a cup. “You’ve got a lot going on, no need to apologize. I come bringing news from the council.”
“Oh?”
Levi hovered near me.
I nodded. “They have surveillance of the first scene you sent me. It’s of Mason and his crew working it.”
She stiffened. “And?”
“Gabby was on the scene.” I kept my voice even.
Liz shook her head. “Gabby wouldn’t be there.”
I raised a brow. “There’s video evidence. Do you know why she would be there?”
“She wouldn’t be there,” she said again, her voice more forceful this time. “Gabby wouldn’t be working with that witch.” Her hands tightened around her coffee mug, and her magic started to leak out.
Levi took a step forward, but I held my hand up to tell him to wait. “I’m not saying that she’s working with Adrianna. I’m simply saying she was at the scene, dressed as part of Mason’s crew.”
The coffee cup in her hand exploded. Liz hung her head, seemingly not bothered by the hot coffee that had covered her. “She’s…Abigail.” Liz shook her head. “Please, excuse me.” She stood and walked out of the kitchen.
I followed her. “Liz, you need to talk to me.”
“Gabby is working with the fucking witch. After everything,” she screamed, spinning around to look at me.
“That’s how she knew the location. That’s why she led you there.”
“Why lead me there to save you if she’s working with Adrianna?” I paused for a moment. “She’s tracking you.”
Liz nodded. “That’s why I had you start the spell. That’s why I had you use your blood.”
“Fuck.” I ran a hand through my
hair. “So now what? You just used your magic because you lost control.”
She nodded. “Adrianna finds us. She takes us both. The end. We become nothing more than a sacrifice to her wants.” Her voice shook. Gone was the confidence that she had earlier in the night.
“No, that’s not how we go out.” I shook my head. “We stay here. She won’t cross Levi, because it means that she puts a target on her head. So, for now, we stay here. We survive the party. We go after the bitch.”
Liz met my gaze. Tears shone in the corner of her eyes. “I’m scared of her, Abby.”
This was what I’d been waiting for. Some sign of her trauma. This was Liz. She had tried to pack it away, but now it was becoming too much. “It’s okay to be scared.”
“Terrified.”
“That’s okay too. You aren’t going to go through this alone,” I promised.
She nodded and looked down. “I’m a mess.”
“Go get cleaned up. I’ll clean up the kitchen and make us some tea.”
“Tea?”
I smiled. “I still have some left by Clarissa. She was a master at having a tea for every occasion.”
“Okay.” Liz turned back around and headed to her room. I went back to the kitchen to find Levi already finishing with the mess.
“You need to keep an eye on Liz.”
I nodded and went to get the teacups and tea. “I know. She’s processing what happened. Honestly, she shouldn’t be on the field right now, but I can’t tell her to step away.”
“I’m surprised O’Donald didn’t pull her from the case.”
“He assigned someone to help her with it. We don’t have many members on the Task Force. With me on vacation and his weird need to keep me from the case, he didn’t have much choice.”
Levi sighed. “He assigned Nick?”
“Yes, but I’m not worried because I’m not on the case. He doesn’t know that Liz has information on you. He’ll keep up whatever game he’s playing because he needs to keep up the facade.”
“What are you going to do about him being your partner?”
“Well, I have a failsafe in my office. He won’t be able to get into the office if he means me harm. The doll has a protection rune on it.” I shrugged. “I made sure I added protection the last time I was magically attacked in the office.”
Levi smirked. “I would love to see his face if he can’t get in.”
“Me too, but since I’m not there, I don’t get to see that.”
“What of O’Donald? Can he walk into your office?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’ve been wary of him. Liz thinks that he was behind the shooting.”
Levi hmmed for a moment. “Why does she think that?”
“She didn’t really get a chance to explain.” I shrugged. When the tea finished, I put the tea bags in the trash and picked up the cups. “And I’m not going to bring it up tonight. Tonight, I sit with her and let her be.”
Levi nodded. “Okay. I’ll chat with you later.”
He disappeared before I could respond or thank him for cleaning up the mess.
I took both the teacups to Liz’s room and used my foot to knock.
She opened the door and gave me a forced smile. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” I handed her a cup of tea. “Let’s just sit and enjoy our tea.”
She cupped her hands around it. “Did I make too much of a mess in the kitchen?”
“No, Levi had most of it cleaned up before I went back. That’s not the worst thing that kitchen has seen. So don’t worry about it.”
She raised a brow.
“What? I was a human teenager, cooking was an experience. Once I exploded popcorn in the oven.”
She blinked at me. “In the oven?”
“It was an experiment.”
Liz started giggling. “Really?”
“We didn’t have a microwave at that time. Levi bought one the next night.”
She sipped the tea. “This is amazing.”
“It’s what Clarissa always brought me when I was going through a rough time or trying to heal.” I gave a small smile. “There’s nothing like it.”
Liz took another sip. “I wish I could get the recipe.”
“Me too.” Grief suddenly hit me hard, and I looked at the tea in my cup. “It’s late. We should probably get some sleep.”
She nodded and downed the rest of her tea. “Thanks. I’ll have myself put together tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry about it. Things take time.” I stood from the bed. “Sleep well.”
I took her cup and walked out into the hallway. I shut the door behind me and let out a small sigh. One more night before my party. I could do this.
I woke up the next afternoon to my phone buzzing. I had meant to wake up earlier, but I hadn’t set the alarm.
I groped around for my phone and picked it up. “Agent Abigail Collins speaking.”
“I need you to return to work. Today.” O’Donald’s voice was way too loud for before coffee.
I rubbed my eyes. “I’m sorry, I’m currently out of town until Monday morning.” It was a lie, but I wasn’t going to tell him Levi wouldn’t let me leave. “Is it something I can do remotely.”
“I can send you the files, and you can look them over. Nick pulled them, and one of them is one you were sorting through. I think it’s connected to the case that Liz is currently on.”
I hmmed for a moment. “You were pretty instant that I shouldn’t be on that case.”
“I don’t have much choice.”
“Email me the file, and I’ll take a look at it. I need details on the case you have, and I need my access to the PIB database back, please.”
“Done. You’ll have the file within the hour. Thank you, Agent Collins.”
“Thank you, Agent O’Donald. I was getting bored on my vacation.” I disconnected the call and leaned back in my bed. That worked out too well.
My phone rang again, and I looked down to see Nick’s name on the screen. “What do you want?”
“To talk about the case. It’s been a while since we’ve worked a case together.”
“That’s what happens when you die,” I shot back. “I’m out of town for now.”
“Word is the King has the Princess on lockdown.”
I snorted. “You know me, I wouldn’t bow to Levi’s wishes like that. Never have, never will.” There was no need for him to know.
“Then where are you?”
“On vacation. Enjoying myself.”
He hmmed for a moment. “Fine. Once you look over the files, you need to call me to keep me up to date. Do you know where Liz is? She’s not answering her phone.”
“My guess is taking the day easy. She was just released from the hospital. I’m not sure what happened, but it had to be a doozy. She sounded shaken.”
There was an agitated noise on the other end. “You know more than you’re letting me know.”
“No, but I would think if you’re working with Liz, you’d respect the fact that she just got out of the hospital.”
“You used to work in the hospital.”
“Not everyone is a workaholic like me, Nick. Give her twenty-four hours. Then she’ll be back to her old self.” Or at least back to pretending everything was okay.
Nick snorted. “Know her so well?”
“We’ve been through a few tough spots together. Look, as soon as O’Donald gets me the files, I’ll look over everything and tell you what I think.”
“Okay, I have one more question.”
Here it was, I’d have the truth on if he had intentions of hurting me or not in the office.
“How come O’Donald won’t go into our office?”
That’s not what I was expecting.
“I have no idea. He hasn’t wanted to go since he took over for Boss Man.” I shrugged, even though Nick couldn’t see it. “I’ll talk to you after I get the files. For now, I’m going to go make coffee.”
I disconnected the
call. This was going to complicate things more than I wanted, but I would have to do deal with it.
Throwing off the covers, I got up and headed to the kitchen. It was empty, but there was a fresh pot of warm coffee and a mug waiting. Either Levi preplanned my wake up, or Liz was up for the day.
I fixed myself a cup of coffee and headed down to the chamber. I’d let Liz have her space if she was awake.
When I entered the chamber, I found her sitting in the middle of the floor, a cup of coffee in front of her, and her eyes closed. Her hands were open, face up on her crossed knees, and her breathing was even and deep.
Meditation.
The lines in her face were eased out in relaxation as she continued to focus. I tried not to make a noise, so I wouldn’t disturb her. I slowly started back up the stairs.
“You can stay. I’m just finishing up,” she said before I’d even gotten two steps up.
“Okay.” I came back down and sat against the wall, cradling my coffee in my hands. I sipped on it as she finished whatever breathing routine she was working on. After a few moments, her eyes opened.
“Good morning.”
I looked at my watch. “It’s barely still morning.”
She picked up her coffee and nodded. “I think we both needed the sleep.”
“I would have slept longer except O’Donald called me.”
“Yeah, he was blowing up my phone early this morning.”
“So you know that he’s pulling me back in?”
She nodded. “I pushed for it. I wanted someone I could trust completely at my back and not just Nick. I’ve never worked with him, so even if he hadn’t died and come back from the dead, I wouldn’t have trusted him at my back.”
“Yeah, he called me too. I’m not sure how I feel about him being back, but he was able to get into the office.”
She looked at me. “Past the protection spell?”
I nodded. “So I think I’m safe from him while at the office.”
“Doesn’t mean he won’t fuck up on a mission and get you killed,” she muttered.
“I know, so I’ll be cautious.”
“But now you get access to the files and everything you and I need to get through this.”
A Little Blood Magic (Here Witchy Witchy Book 10) Page 14