by Tegan Maher
“No,” I corrected, “Let me do the talking. Steph’s my friend, and she’s grieving. Still, she has a healthy respect for justice. Plus, we had a deal. She won’t go back on her word.”
“Destiny!” she bellowed from outside, then pounded on my door so hard I was afraid she was gonna knock it off the hinges.
I cringed but replied. “C’mon in, Steph! It’s open. I flicked my wrist to release the ward, and she strode inside, righteous fury etched on her beautiful face. Her golden bracelets were glowing, and her expression was so fierce that I admit without shame to being at least a little scared of her. I was more afraid of what she’d do, though, so I stepped between her and Charles.
“What’s up?” I asked as if she’d just moseyed up to the tiki rather than stormed my house.
“What’s up,” she said, not even sparing me a glance, “is that your friend there killed Liz, and I’m here to take him in.”
“Actually, he did not kill Liz,” I replied, as nonchalantly as I could. One of us needed to be the calm, cool-headed one, and it didn’t look like she was in enough control to do it.
She peeled her gaze away from him and pinned it on me. “He was seen arguing with her by two different people at two different times today,” she replied. “Had you been out asking questions rather than sitting here having tea and crumpets with her murderer, you’d know that.”
I pulled a deep breath in through my nose and released it through my mouth, struggling to rein in my own temper. “I don’t even know what a damned crumpet is,” I said, “and we just got here. As far as sitting around, we’re here because I’ve already interviewed at least a dozen people, gone through her room, and found this guy hiding in her closet.”
Considering murder crossed her features, I figured I’d better rush to explain the latter.
Charles beat me to it, though. “Liz and I’ve been dating for the last few months,” he said. “And when I overheard Destiny and Colin say she’d been murdered, I freaked out. I just ... ended up in her room.” Realization crossed his eyes. “We need to go through her room and make sure there are no files related to—” again with the fishy mouth. He growled and drew his brows down, struggling to find a way to say what he wanted without setting off the binding spell. “She liked to take work home with her,” he finally said.
“What’s wrong with him?” Mariah, who’d been silent, asked. “And what sort of work? Liz didn’t work. She didn’t have to; her family left her enough money that even her great-grandkids aren’t going to have to work.”
Charles shrugged and looked helplessly around, his palms facing up.
I stood and walked to my liquor cabinet and pulled a bottle of fine tequila—a tip from a grateful pack of Guadalajaran werewolves—down. This seemed like a situation that required a little more than wine.
“He’s under a binding spell,” I said, splashing a bit of the liquor into six rocks glasses. “He literally can’t tell us what he’s talking about.”
“Or he’s lying,” Mariah said, taking the glass from my hands.
“He’s not,” Blake countered. “I don’t sense any deceit coming from him at all.”
“Look,” I said, “this is counterproductive. We’ve already spoken to him, and we’re inclined to believe him. Now, was there another Valkyrie with you two at the luau? Somebody said there were four of you rather than three.”
“For a while, yeah,” Mariah said. “Liz’s half-sister Veronica came down to hang out with us. Why?”
“Where is she, now?” I asked.
“She had to go back to work. She had guard duty over a bunch of our soldiers tonight.”
“Where?” I asked, but they shrugged.
“Top secret,” they said at the same time.
“Seriously?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” Steph said. “Not that now’s the time to discuss it, but we had to adapt just like every other species. We’re goddesses of war. It’s literally why we were created. Now, some of us contract with governments as guards or elite fighting forces.”
It took me a second to process that. I’d never actually taken the time to consider where her money came from, but I suppose everybody had to have it.
Blake surprised me when he cut in. “I need to speak to her. Sooner rather than later. We found a hoof print not far from Liz’s body. And nowhere near where you two landed.”
Wow. That was a bombshell I hadn’t seen coming.
Stephanie waved an impatient hand. “Probably from a unicorn or a centaur. It’s a forest. That’s where they like to hang out.”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t cloven. It was from a horse. And it was huge. War-horse huge.”
“That’s ridiculous. Veronica left well before she was murdered.”
“Be that as it may, there were only four Valkyries here today,” he said, careful to keep his voice calm. “We know it wasn’t either of you. That leaves Liz’s sister.”
She glared at him for the span of a few heartbeats, then clasped her bracelet. It glowed, but nothing happened. She growled. “Thanks to your stupid security, I can’t open a portal to go get her, and it would take most of the night to fly there and bring her back.”
Blake glanced at me. He didn’t know her the way that I did. He wanted to know if I thought she would do as she said, and I nodded. Even enraged, Stephanie was honorable.
He muttered a few words in Latin. “The wards are down, just for you and one other being, and you only have five minutes.”
She grasped her bracelet again, and this time when it glowed, a swirling vortex opened in the middle of my kitchen.
“I’ll be right back. Then you can get this ridiculous notion out of your head and find proof of who really killed Liz.” With that, she stepped into the portal and disappeared.
Chapter 11
AS SOON AS THE VORTEX closed, Mariah strode toward Charles. “They may believe you, but I don’t. Start talking.”
I stepped in front of Charles. I didn’t know him, but I did know my brother. He never would have vouched for him if he hadn’t been certain. The woman’s arrogance was grating, and my magic surged unbidden to the surface. It didn’t pay to let anybody bully you when it came to supernaturals, not that it was in my nature to be a doormat, anyway.
“Your emotions are clouding your judgment,” I said. “This isn’t how this is going to go. We’re investigating it. At this point, we have no more reason to suspect Charles than we do your friend. You don’t get to come in here and throw your weight around just because you’re grieving.” I softened my tone. “I get it. You want justice. As hard as it is, let me handle it. I promise, we’ll find who killed her, then you’ll get it.”
My ears popped as another vortex opened up and Veronica stepped through alone, irritation etched on her face.
“Stephanie said I was needed here. No matter that I’m guarding a team of soldiers so that they can get some badly needed rest. She’s standing in for me, so here I am. Make it quick. Did you find who killed my sister?” Her eyes locked on Charles. “Is this the man you caught trying to steal her bow?”
I put my hand up to stop her, trying to decide how best to handle her. I decided she deserved the benefit of the doubt. She was, first and foremost until I learned differently, a grieving sister. Blake stepped forward, but I shook my head at him. Valkyries were a fierce army of women, used to dealing with other women. She would respond better to me.
“We’re working on it,” I said, keeping my tone measured. “We found a hoof print next to her body. A big one, likely from a warhorse. Were you there?”
She stood there, her brow furrowed with indecision.
“We can’t help Liz if we don’t know the whole story,” Colin said.
Her shoulders slumped and she pulled in a deep breath, then released it through her cheeks. She strode to my liquor cabinet and poured two fingers of tequila into a glass, then tossed it back. All traces of the arrogant woman she’d been when she’d stepped through the vorte
x were gone. The person before us was clearly a woman in mourning.
“I was there,” she said softly, glancing toward Mariah. “Liz and I applied for this government job. She got it, I didn’t. I tracked her down to tell her I was sorry. We’ve been fighting for months, first because Mother gave her the bow instead of me, then because she got a position on the witch’s team and I didn’t. I was jealous and hurt. But sitting on rooftops in the desert gives a person time to think. Mother did the right thing by giving the bow to Liz. In my hands, it would be a weapon of destruction. My temper would overcome my logic and I’d abuse its power. Liz knew how to use it for good. I wasn’t suited for the bow or for a position on the team. I’m a warrior. I rush into situations ready to fight. That’s not the type of person they need, and I realized that.”
She pulled her hair back from her face, resignation making her look older than she was. Or rather, older than she usually looked. “I put my pride before my relationship with my sister. She was patient and kind, and I was harsh and mean. I followed her into the woods that night before I left, hoping to fix things.”
A tear ran down her cheek. “I was too late,” she whispered. “When I found her, she was dying. I asked her who did that to her, and all she said was that she loved me. That’s it. Then she was gone.”
I didn’t think to call anybody. Grief and rage consumed me, and I left before I burned the whole place down.” She gave a small humorless smile. “See? I’m not suited to any position that requires stealth or a calm mind. She was the rational one of us. The better of us, and now she’s gone.”
Her jaw clenched with the effort to hold herself together while questions swirled through my mind.
“What team?” I asked. “What powers does the bow have?”
Veronica glanced, unsure, toward Charles. “You haven’t told them?”
“I can’t,” he said. “I’m bound, unable to speak of it.”
She tilted her head, then turned to me. “Then for once in my life, I’m going to take a page from my sister’s book. If he’s not allowed to tell you about it, then there’s a reason. It’s not my place to reveal another’s secret, especially without knowing her reasoning. Good luck, Destiny.” All signs of softness left her face, replaced by the fierce warrior who’d first stepped through the vortex. “Find who killed my sister, then leave them to me.”
She turned to Blake. “You have her bow?”
He shook his head, but I stepped forward. “I have it.”
“May I have it?” she asked. “Not to carry because the weight of that responsibility is, as I’ve already said, too heavy. But I’d like to have it back. It’s all I have left of my sister and my mother.”
I pondered. She’d readily admitted she was incapable of wielding it responsibly even before her sister was killed. With her emotions raging, I didn’t think now was the time to hand it over. “I’ll keep it safe until this is over. Then I’ll gladly give it to you.” It was, after all, her family’s legacy.
“Be careful with it and guard it well. Now that Liz is gone, others would have it to serve their own purposes, and I can’t overstate its power.”
She turned and stepped back through the vortex, and a few seconds later, Stephanie returned.
“Now you’ve spoken with her,” she said. “Are you satisfied that you’ve tormented a grieving sister while you could have been searching for the real killer?” she turned to Charles. “Or perhaps you’ve already found him.”
I pulled in a deep breath, grabbing ahold of my fraying patience with everything I had.
I swirled the pale amber reposado in my glass and chose my words carefully. “You gave me forty-eight hours. That time’s not up yet. When it is, I’ll hand over her murderer.”
Her gaze settled on me, and something passed over her face. I couldn’t tell whether it was irritation, indignation, or something else but whatever it was, she tossed the shot of tequila back and slammed the crystal glass down so hard on my table that I thought for sure it would shatter.
“Forty-eight hours,” she said as she turned toward the door.
“Forty-six,” Mariah corrected, then followed her. A loud swoosh and a couple more flashes of lightning, and I was sure they were gone.
Now all I had to do was figure out who really did kill Liz so that I could cash the check my mouth just wrote.
Chapter 12
“WOW,” COLIN SAID. “THAT was intense.”
“No,” Charles said, shaking his head as he threw back the contents of his glass all at once. “That was nothing short of a miracle. Valkyries don’t back down. What you just witnessed was a freak of nature, a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.” He turned to me. “Thank you.”
I sighed. “Don’t thank me yet. I only bought us time. Now we have to use it.” I chewed on my lip, thinking. Time to test the boundaries of the spell that was holding him tongue-tied. “Let’s try this. Do you think somebody Liz has met professionally may have had a hand in this?”
He pressed his lips together and nodded in approval when he realized what I was trying to do. “It’s possible,” he replied.
Okay, so he wasn’t on total lockdown. Or at least, there were loopholes.
“Do you work with a wide variety of species?”
“We do.”
“Do you work for the government?” Colin asked.
He paused, then appeared to choose his words carefully. “I don’t work for the human government.”
“The Witches Council?” I asked, which would have made sense, seeing as how he was a wizard. Or was he? I’d just assumed. I sent out feelers but got nothing. That was weird. I could usually get at least a general sense of somebody’s species. “Or are you actually a wizard?”
“I’m half wizard, half shifter—hawk—and no, I don’t work for the Witches Council.”
“This is frustrating and pointless,” Blake said, pacing. He looked a wreck. His baby-blue polo was crumpled, and his loafers were coated in mud. On top of the five-o’clock shadow he was rocking, his hair looked like he’d raked his fingers through it so much that he’d caused a few permanent cowlicks. I’d never seen him look so frazzled.
He strode to my liquor cabinet and poured himself another drink. That was also out of character for him.
I pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was right. At this rate, it was going to take all night, and even if we did manage to pull a few threads, it was obvious the spell was well-crafted. We wouldn’t get anything useful.
“You said earlier that you were supposed to meet Mila here today,” I said, and Charles nodded.
“Yeah, we were gonna compare notes on some stuff.”
“So she works with you. Did she know Liz?”
“She and Liz are friends,” he said, once again picking his words carefully. “If we go see her, I’m sure we can clear a lot of stuff up.”
“Why? If you’re under a binding spell, surely she is, too,” Tempest said, frowning. She was not a happy camper, not that I wasn’t in total agreement. Just the thought of somebody messing with Mila or Calamity pissed me off. Mila and I were raised together and had a solid respect for our independence. Whatever she was into had to be critical if she was willing to let somebody put a gag on her.
He shook his head. “That’s not how it works.”
“But you can’t say how it really works,” Colin concluded, and Charles pressed his lips together.
“Trust me, it’s for a good reason, and I’m fully on board with it. Right now, it’s causing serious problems, but there’s no way we could have anticipated anything like this. I’ve never needed an alibi before.” He huffed out a breath. “But you can bet your boots I’ll put a contingency in the language the next time.”
“Wait,” Tempest said. “You’ll put it in the language? This is your spell?”
He nodded. “What we’re doing is serious and I refuse to have any harm come to my friends or coworkers because somebody pulls the mission from me without my consent.”
&nb
sp; I stared at him for several long seconds, and he got up and paced to the kitchen window. It was a lot to unpack, and the scenarios flashing through my brain ranged from some sort of super-spy agency to ... I don’t know what. What I did want to know was how Mila, a carefree soul who’d always been content to run her little Potions & Lotions shop, had gotten involved in something obviously way above that danger level.
“I’m going to Abaddon’s Gate tomorrow,” I said.
“I’ll go with you,” Colin and Charles said together.
“I think you should,” Blake said. “Have you thought to call Michael?”
I gave myself another mental slap for not having thought of that. Michael was my brother and worked for the Paranormal Crime Investigation Bureau, sort of the magical community’s version of the FBI. I pivoted to Charles.
“Would my brother know anything about this?”
“I’m friends with your brother,” he replied, his tone measured.
I took that as a yes and pulled out my phone. Since he was on speed dial, it only took a second to find him and fire off a text telling him to call me. I always hated to call him at this time of night because late nights were kind of a given in his job, and if he happened to have a rare night off, I didn’t want to wake him up.
I stuck with a simple Call me ASAP. 811 emergency
I used 811 because that was our code for anything imperative but not imminently life-threatening. It wasn’t two minutes later that my phone rang.
“What’s going on? Are you okay?” his tone had a panicked edge to it, so I rushed to put him at ease.
“We’re fine. We’re in a mess, though.” I went on to explain the whole murder thing, and also that Mila was semi-MIA. “She was supposed to meet this guy here, but she didn’t show. It took me all afternoon just to get a short answer from her, and she hasn’t responded since then. Do you have any idea what’s going on?”
He sighed. “I do. And I promise you, Charles didn’t kill Liz. I’m not talking about this on the phone, though. You’re gonna have to come to the Gate tomorrow.”