by Tegan Maher
“I get that you all work together,” Colin said, “but doing what? I mean, Mila, I’ve met you several times in the last few months, and you’ve always had your whole heart in this shop. And Michael, I don’t know exactly what you do, but I do know it doesn’t have anything to do with supplying quality potions or magical shampoos and body lotions, unless you’re busting gargoyles selling poisonous versions on the black market.” He glanced back and forth between them. “Where do those two professions possibly intersect?”
Mila pulled in a deep breath and released it. “You’re forgetting my primary talent that allows me to make all these awesome potions—I’m an earth witch. An elemental. I know I’ve chosen to use it for something that isn’t exactly life-changing, but that’s because I didn’t want to, not because I couldn’t.”
“I know that, Mi,” I said, holding up a hand to soothe her defensive tone. “Nobody’s doubting your mojo. We come from one of the most powerful families in the country. And if you want to use your powers to make nothing but cotton candy-scented bath bombs that make the user giggle, then that’s your prerogative. We’re not being judgey. We’re just trying to work it out because we’re worried about you, and we have a murder to solve.”
“Yeah,” she said, her shoulders slumping. Exhaustion etched her face, making her look older than her twenty-nine years. “I know. It’s just been a brutal couple months. Sit down and let me tell you all about it.”
“All about it?” Kat asked, eyebrows raised as she twisted her hair into a knot and secured it with a pair of flowered chopsticks, one black one white. “Do you think that’s wise?”
“Probably not,” Mila said with a tired smile. “But you don’t know Destiny. It’s written all over her face. If I don’t come clean with her right now, she’ll dig ’til she figures it out for herself, and that could get her killed. Plus, these souls are striking close to home, and I refuse to leave her unprepared. She has the lives of a lot of people in her hands. So yeah, all about it.”
“Great,” I said, satisfaction and relief washing over me. What she did with her life was her business and I respected that, but when it came to her wellbeing, I needed to know she was safe. That last comment about leaving me unprepared struck a note, though, because I felt the same way about my guests. A lot of them were like family to me, too, and if they were at risk, I needed to know so I could work with Blake to protect them.
“Everybody take a seat,” Mila said, following her own directions. “This is gonna take a minute.”
Once we were all relatively comfortable, she gave a sharp nod. “Okay, so I’m gonna need you to be open-minded.”
“I work at a resort that caters exclusively to supernaturals,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I think that speaks to my open-mindedness.”
She cocked an eyebrow at me. “Yeah, well how many souls of evil, youth-stealing old crones do you deal with out there on a regular day?”
I huffed a disbelieving breath out my nose, then realized she, Charles, and Kat weren’t laughing. Not even smiling. “You’re serious?”
“Dead serious,” Charles said. “You wanted to know why Liz had her bow there? That’s why. We’ve been hunting them for the last two months. She wouldn’t even take a day off at a highly warded resort without taking it with her.”
“But how?” Colin asked, shifting his weight on his stool. He seemed to be reaching conclusions faster than I was. “You said souls. Souls don’t wander around killing people, because they’re contained. Or at least those types of souls are.” We did have a decent-sized ghost population, but that was different.
“Yeah,” Kat said, repeating what we’d been discussing before she’d gotten there. “You know why this city is called Abaddon’s Gate, right?”
“Of course,” I replied, afraid I knew where she was going. “It’s named after the gate to the Valley of Lost Souls.”
Mila cringed. “Well, that’s sorta right. It actually IS the gate to the Valley of Lost Souls. And some idiot fallen angel decided she couldn’t let her boyfriend rot in there for eternity, so she went for a jailbreak. She was a bull in a china shop about it, though, and rather than rescuing just him, she accidentally let a bunch of others out, too. Some of the worst offenders in magical history.”
That was horrible for sure, but I still didn’t see what it had to do with an easy-going witch who ran a potions and lotions shop. I said as much, and she ran a hand over her face.
“They needed help with a certain faction of witches who’d survived for centuries by stealing the essence of other witches. They were magical cannibals, for lack of a better description, and they also weren’t too kind to humans. The boring details aren’t relevant to the story, so I’m skipping them, but at first, they needed me for my healing skills and to unravel the potions these witches were using. Then some cases cropped up that required more hands-on help.” She shrugged. “I’m the most qualified witch for the job, at least around here. And with my link to Michael, I didn’t require the intensive, time-consuming vetting that others would have.”
“So, what,” I asked. “You’re working with the Paranormal Crimes Investigation Bureau now? For good?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m working with a special task force that was established specifically to deal with this mess. And no, it’s not permanent. Only until we contain all these witches. Or witches’ souls. Or whatever. So now you know.”
“Wait,” Colin said, coming to stand beside me, arms crossed. “What does this have to do with the resort? Do you think there’s a chance they can breach the security there?”
I shook my head. “No way. That place is protected seven ways to Sunday. The security spells and measures were created by some of the greatest magical beings in existence.”
“Soul magic is different,” Kat said, her brown eyes meeting mine. “There would have been no reason to ward against it because until recently, it’s never existed on this plane. Or at least not in centuries.”
My mind was whirring. I needed to talk to Blake. “So how immediate a threat are these witches? And what is soul magic? Do they have regular magic, too?”
Charles shook his head. “Not yet, at least. Soul magic is like a shadow of regular magic, but rather than coming from natural sources like ours does, it comes from residual energy from the Gate. It’s dark, but it’s also weak. It can still be lethal, though, especially if somebody doesn’t know how to counter it.”
“And you four are like a superhero squad or something?” I asked, giving Mila a smile to let her know I was okay with it. I wasn’t really, because I loved her. If I could choose a place for her, then a happy, successful magical version of Bath and Body Works was infinitely preferable to being a magical ninja for a super-secret soul-hunting agency. But it wasn’t my choice. She was a big girl and made her own decisions. If she’d agreed to do this, then she had her reasons and I’d support her.
She laughed. “Nothing nearly as exciting as that. Charles and Kat are our researchers. They keep an eye out for anomalies and disruptions that might indicate one of the souls is active, then Liz and I hunt them down.” A shadow crossed her face. “Or at least we did. I’m not sure what’s going to happen now.”
Mila turned to her team, and in that moment, I was super proud of her. A little sad because the happy-go-lucky girl I knew and loved was nowhere to be seen, but the strong, commanding woman standing in her place was a thing to behold. “Kat, you may have to go in the field with me until we can find a replacement.”
Michael nodded in agreement. “That’s probably the best decision. I’ll start looking today, but it’ll likely take a little bit to find somebody and bring them up to speed.”
“I’m a researcher, not a fighter,” Kat said, protesting. “I’m not equipped to go in the field.”
Mila gave her a reassuring smile. “I wouldn’t have chosen you for this team if you weren’t equipped. I know it’s not ideal, but if something crops up before I have a replacement, we can’t just call in sick, an
d I can’t go in alone.”
“I’ll put a rush on it,” Michael said, “and if I’m available, I’ll go with you.”
That made me feel much better. My brother was a magical badass, and I knew he’d have her back. I didn’t know so much about Kat. She seemed nice enough, but so was the little old gnome who kept the gardens at the resort. Nice wouldn’t keep one of the people I loved the most alive in battle.
“I can fill in in the interim if you can’t,” I said to Michael, and he raised his brow.
Before he could say anything, though, Colin spoke up. “Oh, you mean when you’re not bartending, managing the tiki, or filling in for Blake?”
I started to protest, but Mila held up a hand. “He’s right, Des. And besides, this is some crazy crap. Sheer power, which you have in spades, is only a part of it. No way would I drag you into a knock-down, drag-out with one of them until you’d been briefed and trained, and that would take weeks.”
I snapped my mouth shut. I was a lot of things, but reckless and arrogant weren’t two of them. She knew what I could do, and if she said I wasn’t prepared, then I took her at her word. I refused to be a liability that got her killed.
“All right, then,” Charles said, breaking a silence that had stretch a little too long. “What’s the latest data? Is it possible something got onto the resort and killed Liz?”
Kat wobbled her head side to side. “I suppose it’s possible, but not likely. Like Destiny says, the security out there is insane. A lot of it was constructed by angels, for Pete’s sake. I can’t imagine they wouldn’t have prepared for everything. After all, it’s happened before. Only once, eons ago, but angels have long memories. That was a particularly bad situation, so I doubt they would have built their little playground without adding that to the long list of things that could go wrong. Do you have a specific reason to believe it’s something supernatural?”
“I don’t have enough information to answer that with any level of certainty,” I said. “I need to get back and talk to Blake about all this, but I need to know if there’s anybody who would want Liz dead. You know, a regular resident of this existential plane.”
Mila thought, then shook her head. “I know it’s cliché in a case like this, but everybody liked Liz. She was easy to get along with and didn’t poke people.”
Kat shifted her weight and looked like she wanted to say something. When she didn’t, I prompted her. “Kat, can you think of anybody? Or anything that might have happened recently that may have gotten her killed?”
She pressed her lips together like she was thinking. “Her sister Veronica,” she said. “They’ve been arguing lately, even worse than usual.”
“Kat!” Mila exclaimed. “You don’t honestly think Veronica would do something like this, do you?”
Kat shrugged. Now that the cat was out of the bag, she seemed more than willing to talk. “I don’t know, and can you honestly say you don’t, either? Veronica was beyond pissed when you picked Liz over her. Then again when you picked me over her. She and Liz were at odds even before that, and everybody knows she’s a hothead.”
Mila worked her jaw, and I gave her a few moments to weigh the possibility.
“I suppose I can’t in good faith rule it out, no,” she finally said. “But she wasn’t the first person my mind jumped to.”
“Who was?” Colin asked.
She shook her head. “That’s just it. Nobody.”
“We talked to Veronica last night,” I said. “She seemed truly remorseful. She admitted to being at the scene but said she’d just gone there to work things out with Liz. For what it’s worth, I didn’t pick up so much as a fib and neither did Blake.”
Kat lifted a shoulder. “I’m just saying she and Liz have been at it hard. The last time they spoke, less than a week ago, she sure didn’t show any signs of wanting to make up. They almost came to blows because she wanted the bow so badly.”
“What is it with that bow?” I asked. “Everybody keeps mentioning how awesome it is, but nobody says why.”
Mila raised her brows. “It was a gift from her father to her mother. He had it forged as a companion to his own.”
“Okay,” I said. “So what?”
Michael grinned, enjoying dragging it out. “Her father was this Greek guy named Apollo.”
“Get out of here,” I scoffed. “Now we’re getting into Greek mythology? No way.”
Mila laughed. “Stop it, Michael. She’d dealing with enough as it is.” She turned to me. “No, her father wasn’t Apollo, but the bow has similar powers. Nobody knows where it really came from, but it really was a gift from her father to her mother. And nobody knows who he is. Her mother would never say.”
“So he could have been Apollo,” Michael said. He’d always been a huge fan of mythology.
Mila threw a decorative worry stone from a little basket on the desk at him. “It wasn’t Apollo. The bow’s powerful, but it can’t cause plagues. Oh, and Apollo is a myth!”
“Well,” Colin said, “strictly speaking, Valkyries are myths, too. And so are unicorns and gnomes and ... well, just about every other creature that we deal with on a daily basis.”
“Point taken,” Mila said. “It’s still not Apollo’s bow.”
“Okay,” I said, “As much as I’d love to sit here and engage in ridiculous conversation for the rest of the day, I have a murder to solve before three angry Valkyries decide they’d do a better job than I have. If any of you have any idea who may have killed her, please do tell.”
Mila shook her head. “I don’t have a clue who would have killed her, but I can assure you it wasn’t Charles.”
“Actually,” Charles said, stepping forward, “She can prove it. This is the alibi I mentioned before, but I couldn’t give it because of the binding spell.”
“How?” Mila asked. “I mean, I’ll vouch for you, but I wasn’t there. I can’t alibi you.”
“Because it happened when we were talking,” he said.
Her eyes lit with understanding. “Oh, in that case, I can show you my phone log. We FaceTimed for almost ten minutes while I gave him updates. If it’s within the timeframe she was killed, then he’s golden.”
I took a pic of the call log on her phone, then sent it to Blake along with a request for an update. Surely, he’d heard something since last night. He had to have; otherwise, we were still treading water, and we didn’t have time for that.
Chapter 16
“FIGURES,” I TOLD COLIN as we made our way to Chocolatte, the gourmet coffee and chocolate shop a couple blocks up the street from Mila’s. “The first time in forever that we both have an entire weekend off, somebody gets stabbed and we find out there are evil witch souls out there trying to suck the literal essence out of people. Not exactly the romantic retreat I had in mind.”
He smiled down at me. “What, you were just planning for a regular ole garden-variety murder?”
“Well, you know,” I said, giving him a lopsided grin. “No need to get all crazy.”
Gallows humor aside, I was worried. Blake still hadn’t answered me, and Mila had gotten what I supposed was the equivalent of a Bat Signal right after she’d finished explaining what was going on. I’d had to make a judgment call between bringing Charles back with us or letting him stay and help with the latest crisis. I’d chosen to let him stay. I knew in my bones that he wasn’t guilty, and Mila’s life may depend on his presence. Stephanie and Blake would just have to deal.
Besides, I’d left the magical tracker I’d put on him that morning in place. He wouldn’t be hard to find if he did decide to bail.
The smile slid from his face and he cast me a sideways glance. “Do you think there’s a chance one thing has to do with the other?”
“I’m not sure,” I replied. “The protection spells and wards on the resort are so complex and varied that I can’t believe they wouldn’t have thought of something like that. The security council has like thirty big hitters, and they meet at least quarterly to review and
tweak things.”
“I hear a but in there,” he said.
I sighed as I stepped onto the stoop of the shop. “But I don’t know how prepared you can actually be for something like this. Can their security measures even pick up soul magic? Do they know about? Would Margot be able to feel them? It’s just one big bag of unknown, at least until we hear from Blake.”
Tempest butted her head against my leg. “Let me up, please.”
I picked her up and she climbed onto my shoulder as I pushed open the door to the shop. The smell of coffee and chocolate blended together to make a seductive perfume that drew me straight toward the counter. Tempest was leaning forward so far to check out the daily chocolate specials that I was afraid she was going to fall off my shoulder.
“Hold your horses,” I grumbled when one of her claws pierced my backpack strap and scratched my shoulder. “You can get whatever you want, but if you scratch me again, all you’ll end up with is a side salad.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, eyes on the confection case. “Move down the row a little so I can see what’s on that end.”
I did as she asked and was tickled pink to see that Charlie, the chocolatier who owned the place, had made my favorite candy—orange nougat wrapped in silky dark chocolate. They were my guilty pleasure. Well, those and the salted caramels. Tempest and Colin always went for the chocolate-dipped bacon, which ran a close third on my list.
“Destiny!” a tall man with a hipster beard and waxed mustache said from behind the counter. His colorful suspenders and tall, lean frame gave him the exact look you’d expect of an eccentric candy maker. Well, maybe not the lean frame, but the rest fit the bill.
“Charlie!” I exclaimed. “It’s awesome to see you. You haven’t been here the last couple of times we’ve been in. How’ve you been?”
“Not bad,” he said, “just keepin’ on. I have something new for you to try.” He reached into the freezer and pulled out a carton of ice cream, then handed it to me with a wink. “That one’s on the house. I made it specifically for you guys, so let me know what you think of it. If you like it, I may just add it to the roster.”