by Lily Webb
“You care to tell me what the heck is goin’ on around here, Sugar?”
“Don’t worry. Heath will lay it all out for everyone soon. But if you’re observant enough, you can probably figure out what happened.”
Grandma glanced around at the gathered council members and counted them on her hands. “Somebody’s missin’. I mean, besides Dawn.”
“Bingo.”
The chamber doors slammed shut, sealing us in, and doubt gnawed at the corners of my mind. Had Heath thought this plan through? It didn’t seem like it to me because whoever went after Blaine did so in his own office while dozens of people were around, so what made Heath think these walls would protect any of us?
“Thank you for coming on such short notice, everyone,” Heath said. He looked worn down and defeated, his eyes sagging. I couldn’t blame him; I hadn’t been sleeping well either. How could any of us while knowing one of our colleagues had vanished, seemingly without a trace? Blaine’s additional disappearance didn’t help.
“What’s going on?” Grace Magnus asked. “Has something happened?”
Heath nodded. “I didn’t want to say anything to anyone individually, but I’m sure you’ve reasoned it out by now. I won’t sugarcoat it: Blaine is missing and Nazarr is dead.”
“What? How did this happen?” Grace asked over the startled murmurs of the eight other council members.
“We aren’t sure, but that’s why I asked you to come back. It’s clear that whoever is behind these attacks is targeting council members, so I couldn’t risk any of you being next. I’ve already told the gargoyles to beef up the security around the perimeter, and Raina is working on enhancing the protective spells. Nothing is perfect, but I can’t think of a safer place for any of us to be right now.”
Lorelei Riddle swished her beautiful flowing blonde hair over one shoulder. “This is ridiculous, Heath! You can’t keep us locked up here forever. We have lives to live and families to tend to. How long are you planning for this to last?”
“I understand your objections, but until we know what happened to Blaine, I don’t want any of you leaving. We can’t be too safe,” Heath said. “I’ve already spoken to the police and their investigation is well underway.”
Judging from the looks on the council members’ faces, none of them took comfort in that — and neither did I. My own experiences with the MGPD had proven that, while the werewolves who made up the force were dedicated to their jobs, they weren’t particularly good at them. On almost every occasion, I’d beaten them to the punch on their own investigations, so I had no reason to believe that they would be any help to us now.
A knock on the chamber door echoed throughout the room, making all of us jump.
“Speak of the wolves, I suspect that’s Chief Mueller now,” Heath said and nodded to Vaxis to open the door. The gargoyle shouted something in a guttural, angry sounding language to his fellows outside, and slowly the door cracked open. As predicted, Chief Berric Mueller stood in all of his houndlike glory, his droopy nose plucking at the air around him like he was already sniffing for clues. Officer Ewan Barrett, his partner-in-crime-busting, smiled and nodded at us from behind Mueller.
Mueller tipped his police hat at us. “Good evening, folks. I wish we’d gotten together for better reasons but such is life in Moon Grove, right?” he joked, but nobody laughed. Mueller had never seemed like someone who could read a room. “Right. Let’s get down to business. Barrett, question the rest of them while I check out the scene.”
“You got it,” Barrett said and whipped out a pad of paper.
Heath beckoned Mueller in his direction and they headed for Blaine’s office. Anxiousness seized me. If I didn’t get the chance to look inside the office now, I might never, and Lilith only knew what clues might be waiting. Besides, the game had changed. When I was still a reporter, Mueller frequently chased me away from his investigations and purposely withheld information because he could — but now that I was Head Witch, he couldn’t refuse if I insisted on coming with them.
Saying nothing, I followed Heath and Mueller through the chamber and down the western hall. No one noticed or questioned my presence until we stopped outside Blaine’s closed office door.
Heath stared at me. “Did you need something, Zoe?”
“I want to see it too. I mean no offense, Chief Mueller, but even with that superpowered nose of yours, you’ve missed a few details in other investigations. Maybe I can help you fill in the gaps.”
Mueller and Heath looked to each other for an answer, but when none came, Heath shrugged. “I don’t see why not. You’re Head Witch now; you deserve to know as much as I do.”
Mueller grunted but didn’t verbalize any dissent, so Heath threw open the door and ushered us inside. A gasp escaped me when I took it all in. The office looked ransacked, nothing like it was the last time I’d visited. Someone had overturned Blaine’s desk, and dozens of books and the pages torn from them littered the floor. Near the desk, countless hunks of rock in varying shapes and sizes were sprinkled among the debris — the remnants of Nazarr.
“Forgive me, but I’ve seen enough of this already. I’ll leave you to it,” Heath said and ducked out of the office. Mueller stood rooted to the spot, his eyes raking over everything as if he were afraid to move and disturb a piece of evidence. I couldn’t believe my eyes. How on earth had someone gotten into Blaine’s office and caused all this damage without anyone noticing? There were more people than I could count gathered for his self-defense course, so surely someone saw or heard something.
As I dared to take another look at the hunks of stone, all the warmth seemed to drain from my body. Maybe the attacker timed their move to coincide with all the visitors — so they could get Blaine and Nazarr alone without notice. If they’d tried anything within earshot of the other witches and warlocks, they wouldn’t have stood a chance. But then again, Blaine himself wasn’t exactly a pushover.
“What are you thinking? What do you see?” Mueller asked.
“I’m just trying to piece it all together, no pun intended,” I said, grimacing at my poor phrasing. “It doesn’t make sense. Say what you will about Blaine, but he’s a tough, knowledgeable warlock. He wouldn’t have been tricked into something like this, so I think whoever did it must be someone he knew. But Nazarr followed him everywhere he went, and maybe the attacker didn’t account for that, which is how the poor gargoyle ended up as a pile of rocks.”
Mueller nodded and stroked his chin. “You’re right. Dawn’s disappearance, while puzzling, makes more sense than this.”
“I’m glad you brought that up. What do you know about her?”
“Not much, unfortunately.”
“Do you think these are connected?”
“I don’t see how they can’t be. But I don’t know who would want to target two council members.”
I scowled at him. “Really? The council members are some of the most powerful, influential people in all of Moon Grove. If you were trying to make a point, wouldn’t you consider going after us too?”
“You sound like you already have someone in mind,” Mueller said, and I clammed up. I did, but I wasn’t ready to share that with him. Besides, it was nothing more than a hunch; hardly anything he could use.
“I didn’t even know it was possible to kill a gargoyle, much less do this to them,” I said, gesturing at the stones by the desk to change the subject.
“No species is completely immortal, gargoyles included.”
“If you had to guess, what do you think happened in here?”
“Just based on what I see? Whoever did this must’ve been one powerful magician or someone with superhuman strength,” Mueller said, and I turned rigid. Besides the gargoyles themselves, there was only one paranormal species I knew of that had the strength to tear apart stone — the vampires. Though it was possible another gargoyle killed Nazarr, I couldn’t imagine any of them wanting to attack one of their own. They seemed way too fraternal for that.
Which left the vampires as the primary suspects, and one stood out in my mind above all the others: Julien Delroy. I desperately wanted to talk to him, even if he gave me nothing usable, but how could I pull that off now with the town hall crawling with other council members — and the cops?
Then I realized: the only way I’d get to Julien was if I showed up at the vampire’s mansion he now occupied, and I knew exactly how to do it despite the lockdown. But before I did that, I wanted more answers from Mueller while I had his ear. “I still don’t understand. How could this have happened to a gargoyle? What did the attacker do, punch Nazarr to pieces?”
Mueller chuckled and shook his head. “Hard to say, but you might be on to something. It could’ve been a spell that blasted him to bits, but I don’t think so. If that was what happened, the pieces would be scattered further, and you’d probably see damage in the room from other attempts that missed. So no, I don’t think the attacker killed Nazarr with magic or by punching him; I think they tore him apart.”
I couldn’t imagine what that would look like, nor did I want to. I shook my head to fight off the chill that had crept up the back of my neck.
“You know, Zoe, I have to say I never thought we would end up working together like this — especially not now that you’re Head Witch.”
“Really? I never thought we would work together at all, under any circumstances. You made it pretty clear you didn’t like me early on.”
Mueller chuckled. “Oh, I wouldn’t say I didn’t like you. It was more that I wasn’t sure I could trust you, and I was obviously wrong on that. I guess what I’m trying to say is that though we make an odd team, I’m glad you’re on my side.”
“Likewise,” I said, though it pained me to admit it. “Well, I think I’ve seen all I need to see. You’re the professional, so I guess I’ll leave you to your work. I don’t want to contaminate the evidence or anything.”
Mueller eyed me like he knew I wasn’t being honest, but he grunted and nodded anyway so I returned to the main chamber to find Barrett interviewing Grace. Grandma had already taken Luna and her belongings to my office, and Heath sat in a chair nearby staring off into space like he couldn’t believe what was happening. Acting on a whim of bravery, I sat down beside him and prepared to cook up a story.
“Gruesome, isn’t it?” Heath asked without looking at me.
“That doesn’t begin to describe it. I didn’t know something like that was possible.”
He shook his head slowly in disbelief. “I thought once the election was over, things would go back to normal, the way they were before Claudette died. Lilith help me, I was wrong.” Claudette was Head Witch before me, but she’d died before I moved to Moon Grove. Heath paused and shuffled his feet against the marble floor. “I’m sorry, that probably made it sound like it’s your fault. It isn’t. I’m just overwhelmed.”
“I understand. But that’s why you have me now, to lighten the load a bit.”
He looked over at me with a faint smile on his face. “And I’m glad to have you. I just wish this wasn’t happening.”
“We all do. Anyway, I’m sorry to ask you this now, but I think my grandma forgot to bring some of my medicine,” I said, fighting the urge to avoid his eyes. It felt awful to lie to him now of all times, but he’d never let me leave otherwise, so I had to do it.
“Oh, not to worry, I’m sure I can send Vaxis or one of the other gargoyles to your house to—”
“No, they wouldn’t be able to find what I need. I keep my pills in a weird place, and besides, there are some other things I need to grab if I’m gonna spend the night here. You know, personal things.”
Heath eyed me suspiciously, but there was really no way for him to say no once I dropped the personal bomb. “Is it necessary? Can’t you live without that stuff for one night?”
“If you still want to have a Head Witch in a few months, no, I can’t live without it.”
Heath sighed. “Okay, if you insist. But I want you to take Obax and Vaxis with you, just to be safe, and fly directly there and back. Oh, and make sure you stay out of sight. I don’t want anyone to know the entire Council is hiding out here; it would defeat the purpose.”
I couldn’t believe he’d said yes, but I wasn’t going to say so. “I’ll be as stealthy and fast as a vampire, I promise.”
“Good. Hurry back.”
Chapter Ten
I stormed down the hall to my office to get my broomstick. Inside, Grandma sat at my desk with Luna in her lap.
“Well, what’s goin’ on? What did you see?” Grandma asked.
“Trust me, you don’t want to know. Anyway, I’m running home quickly before the lockdown takes effect to grab some of my stuff. Do you need anything while I’m there?”
That made two people I’d lied to without effort in one night. Maybe I wasn’t such a bad politician. Luna stared at me with her piercing eyes but if she knew I’d fibbed, she didn’t say so.
Grandma sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me what you needed before I came? I coulda brought you whatever you wanted.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I was in such a panic that I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just wanted the two of you here as quickly as possible.”
Grandma shrugged. “No, we don’t need nothin’. Thanks for askin’, though.”
“Sure thing,” I said and went to the closet by the door to fetch my broom.
“Be careful,” Grandma warned. I patted the broom’s handle and smiled.
“I have nothing to worry about with Destiny between my legs.”
Luna snorted. “Is that supposed to be a euphemism?”
“What? No, don’t be weird. Anyway, Heath is sending two gargoyles with me, so I’ll be back in one piece before you know it,” I said and grimaced as the image of Nazarr’s boulder-sized remains flashed in my brain. Thankfully, neither of them seemed to have picked up on the poor choice of words.
“See you in a bit,” I said and slugged my broom over one shoulder. I stepped out of the office and came face-to-ghastly-face with Vaxis and Obax.
“Ready?” she growled.
“I was born to fly.” Obax seemed confused by that, but she stomped toward the main chamber anyway, so I tried to keep up with her giant steps and Vaxis followed us. Heath hadn’t left his chair and barely registered us heading for the door.
“Keep her safe at all costs,” he called as Obax wrapped her claws around the door handle. I waved over my shoulder reassuringly, desperate to get outside before he changed his mind, and it wasn’t until I stood in the dark with the two gargoyles that I allowed myself to believe I’d pulled off the scheme.
Relieved, I mounted my broom with Vaxis and Obax on either side of me. Their wings pounded against the air, nearly knocking me over from the force, and they left the ground in a flurry of flapping, so I pushed off the cobblestone street and soared up to hover between them. Obax scanned the skies in every direction with her hawklike eyes, and when she’d concluded that no threats loomed, she beat her wings and cut through the air toward the house I shared with Grandma in the northwestern part of town.
I leaned forward to increase my speed and catch up to her. Over the roaring of the cool night wind in my ears, I shouted to get her attention. “Do you mind if we take a detour?”
“My orders were to take you directly to your home and back,” she answered without stopping, her great leathery wings slicing through the air like a hot knife through butter.
“It won’t take long, I promise. I just need to make a diplomatic visit.”
“The Head Warlock—”
“Who, don’t forget, is my equal,” I interrupted. Gradually, Obax came to a halt in midair, and I lingered beside her while she stared me down. “I can give you orders just as easily as Heath can, and I’m ordering you to take me to the vampire’s mansion.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Neither do I,” Vaxis agreed, his eerie yellow-green eyes flashing in the moon's light. Of the two of t
hem, I knew he would be harder to convince, but not even he could disobey a direct order from the Head Witch. The gargoyles stared at each other as if silently weighing their options, but eventually Obax grumbled and submitted.
“Fine, we will take you, but if anything happens, this was not our idea,” she said.
“I wouldn’t dream of blaming this on you, no matter how it goes.” Without responding, Obax changed course for the Vampires’ Quarter in the southwestern part of town and I darted after her. As Moon Grove whipped underneath us in a blur of lamplights, brick cottages, and winding cobblestone streets, I couldn’t shake the gnawing fear that I was making a terrible mistake, but there was no going back on it now.
We soared over Bellerose Enterprises, one of the tallest and most recognizable buildings in the Vampires’ Quarter, and as we passed, the impossibly tall gothic spires that made up the vampires’ castlelike presidential mansion pierced through the clouds to claw up at us like pairs of sharpened fangs.
Though neither gargoyle seemed thrilled about it, we descended slowly into the walled garden that surrounded the mansion and touched down on the drive that led from its imposing iron front gates to the immaculate courtyard at the mansion’s entrance. A pleasant smell of flowers flooded my nose, and it was so quiet that I could hear the water bubbling in the many marble fountains — and my heart fluttering in my chest. But as I took it all in, whizzing sounds echoed around us and by the time I’d blinked, six vampires wearing buzz cuts and crisp black suits and ties surrounded us. Evidently, Julien had his own undead secret service.
Obax growled and spread her wings to intimidate them, but I rested a hand on her arm to calm her. “It’s okay. I’ve got this.”
“Councilwoman Clarke?” one vampire asked, his French accent as cool and smooth as the night air around us. “What are you doing here?”
“I need to speak to President Delroy. It’s urgent.” Though I didn’t dare believe it, I hoped the vampires would be as easy to persuade as my guards were.
The vampire narrowed his eyes at me. “You should have called ahead of time. President Delroy doesn’t take well to uninvited guests.”