“Let me guess, you contacted someone, didn’t you? Was it Jake?”
He reaches in his pocket to turn his phone on, and now I know why I couldn’t reach him. “Damn, Riley, that worried about me?” He comes up to me, climbing on top of me so that his scent is intoxicating, that strange ashy smell that shouldn’t be so sexy but is, like his own brand of demon cologne. “Or did you just need my body back?”
It is damn tempting. With little else to do here, training has been broken up with a lot of that. I can’t name many places in here we haven’t done it, but I need to focus and let him know who is coming so he is prepared for our cover to be blown if Miriam finds out or another member of the Magistrate does.
“As much as I do want that, you’re not going to want me when you find out that I contacted Kagan in a panic. I was worried about you and well…he wants to come talk to me.”
“Please, tell me, you didn’t tell him where you were.” Dru jumps back, anger flaring in his eyes. At least I can combat his hellfire if he unleashes it by accident, but I would rather not go through that at all.
“No, but he is going to ask Julian how to find me. He seems like he wants to help. I was upset because of what I read in this.”
I throw the final journal into the floor like a tantrum, and it pops open to the back page.
On the last page I see something I don't expect.
“Wait, is that spell?” I ask, the problem of the moment forgotten.
“Not many can spell paper like that, but I would guess someone like your father could figure it out if anyone. What do you think it does?” Dru asks, approaching it. I snatch it up first and make the mistake of tracing the outline of the spell before I can inspect it.
I know I will regret this as I feel a strange detachment from reality, but my father must have left it for me, or maybe my mother.
I have a right to know what it means.
I am no longer at the apartment in Vegas but standing in a muddy field. I look down at my hands and see they are ghostlike.
Wherever I am, I won’t be able to interact, only observe.
I heart voices, and I follow them.
“I thought there was supposed to be some group of vampires here stalking the town every night.” I am behind two males, probably in their early 30s, maybe late 20s. I circle around to get a good look and gasp when I realize the one not talking is my father.
It’s a memory, and I want to beg and plead to go back and get out of this spell because this has to be it. The night he died.
The other man is covered in a cloak, so it takes me a moment to register his face in the dark. But then his eyes and his smile get to me, sending chills down my spine.
Reyes.
“Maybe we’re in the wrong place,” my father says, pulling out his phone probably to call a superior or double check the location. “Surely if it was bad enough to send the two of us specifically, we would be swarmed with them by now.”
With one flick of his wrist, Reyes knocks the phone out of my father’s hand.
“Reyes, what was that for?”
“The only vampire here tonight is me, though I had thought about having you actually die in battle. I have plenty of vampires at my command and soon will have demons, so you can rest assured even if you would get to live, you’d never stop me.”
“Reyes, I don't understand. We’re partners. Friends.”
My dad is trying to be smart, play dumb, the same way I have. Now I see how exactly stupid that was. It’s a game of cat and mouse that Reyes likes. He knows. He knows that I’m not stupid, that no daughter of a Graywood would be.
“You’re right, you don’t understand which is why you are now dangerous to me. You want a new era, but it is not mine. You would side with them rather than your friend and have me killed.”
“Reyes, we can…”
My father doesn’t even have a chance. Ursula growls, the first I’ve seen of her, and attacks Reyes’ leg, taking a large chunk from him. Reyes screams, and my father, he runs.
Such a brave man, and he spends his last moment running.
Ursula is easily knocked out. This is Reyes. A trained hunter and a vampire, and it becomes clear my father doesn’t want to fight his friend even after Reyes had clearly gone rogue.
I am jolted back into my body at the end of my father’s life, a wail coming from my throat I can’t control, blood from my tears staining the chair I’m in.
Dru doesn’t know what to do with me, so he just lets Ursula handle it, howling with me every once in a while.
It’s not something I could explain to anyone. It’s a memory I bear alone, but he left it as proof. He knew something was going to happen to him.
I hope my mother had never seen this, that the archives locked these up before she could get her hands on it. But part of me knows this is what did her in.
Chapter Fifteen
I am cuddled under a blanket for comfort, a hot chocolate in my hand made from magic, not the kind of crap you can get at stores here. I’m trying to recover from watching the memory of my father dying, that he left, I guess for me? Or maybe just to prove that Reyes is the one who did it. I can only guess at his reasoning for putting that spell there.
The word traumatizing doesn’t even begin to cover it.
My phone buzzes, and I had almost forgotten the conversation with Kagan earlier.
I’m in the building. I can’t seem to find or get to you. I’m assuming it’s a spell. You need let me in.
Kagan’s here? That was fast, and I’m not exactly in the mental state to fight with him right now. But I don’t know that I should let him wander the halls just looking for me neither.
I walk to the living room to find Dru in there with Willow and Ursula, working with them on something. “Dru, Kagan’s in the building. He wants me to let him in. Should I?”
That was a dumb question. I know, if it was up to him we would never see each other again. He does not like the fact that Kagan behaved the way he did. He thinks that Kagan was a jerk and took me for granted.
It may be true, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to maybe solve it or at least get closure here. It also doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to be a part of the battle that’s coming. The battle that’s likely to start any day now.
And maybe at least he could tell me about what’s happening outside of here to help us make the decision on when or where, I should be starting. I don't think I can handle waiting here all winter doing nothing.
I close off the spell for only a moment, sending him a text message at the same time to let him know where to find me. Moments later, he bursts in the door, and I note that he doesn’t look any different than the last time I saw him.
I don’t know what it is about being away from someone for a little while that you used to love it that makes you think that they’re going to be any different when you see them again. But it always surprises you when they aren’t. And all the memories come rushing back, and it makes it hard to push through the moment and not just want to go back to old habits.
Kagan comes up to me, pulling me against his chest. I don’t reciprocate. I am too taken aback to respond in any way. This is the old Kagan, the one who loved me. The one who was willing to share me with two other men and asked me to be open with him. But I am not the same Riley. I have come into my demon powers and blood. I am more sensual, more powerful, more determined to win this.
And I know now that my father was murdered by the Magistrate, namely Reyes, but I don’t think he’s the only bad guy. He had to have help, or they would have revolted against him long ago.
I think of what my father said in his journal about Reyes wanting to work with demons, and I start to wonder, is that what he’s doing now? Is that why there are more demons around? Why he wants to keep more Blood Witches alive?
Kagan has been speaking to me and worrying over me this whole time while I’ve been off in another world. I can’t pinpoint anything specific he’s said.
"Rile
y, talk to me. You’re scaring me." He holds me at arm’s length as Dru passes in my peripheral, anger plain as day on his face. I know not to take it to personally. It’s just that he wants me to not get involved and get hurt again. I don’t want that either.
"I don’t know what to say. I haven’t seen you in a long time, since before we went into hiding. I don’t know how to feel."
"You don’t know what it’s been like, wondering if you’re alive or not. My father wouldn’t tell me anything in the beginning. He wanted to keep me out of it and not bring anyone else in on the secret of where you were and what you might be doing, until I needed to know. But when you never came back to class, and after seeing you with all those injuries after disappearing, I knew something horrible had happened. Adriel wouldn’t even tell me."
"You’ve seen Adriel?" I perk up at the mention of his name, the connection we formed calling to him as if my body has just now remembered it.
"Not much. He’s stayed away and kept his hands out of what’s going on at the academy. That’s been mostly up to Julian and me to secure it. Adriel has been watching the Magistrate for what moves they’re going to make next. Now that their headquarters is gone. They lost several staff members and archives in the fire. They’re crippled in a way right now, but they will rally. Are you ready to fight yet?"
So many questions and so much to think about, my head is spinning. I walk way from him to sit down, and Ursula joins me, her fur standing on end. She knows to be alert, not just with Kagan here but in case we learn something that makes us spring into action.
Willow howls his high pitched bray and jumps at Kagan, happy to see someone he is closer to, than us. "You’ve been protecting her, haven’t you?" Kagan asks, laughing and petting Willow.
"He has. We've connected, actually, same as I have with Ursula. I can use them both."
There is a sparkle in Kagan’s eyes when he looks at me, slowly making his way to sit next to me. He is hesitant, like I might bite him, or maybe he thinks I will tell him not to sit here, to go away.
I'm not that rude, but I can feel my heart locking itself away and preparing to hear lies and pretty words.
"You truly are special."
I roll my eyes, taking it with a grain of salt. Not to mention the fact that being special was the exact excuse he had for wanting to be with someone else. "Kagan, why did you come?" I ask him.
"You don’t love me anymore, do you?" he asks me, his head hanging low.
"I don’t know," I answer honestly. "I have compartmentalized everything with you. I knew I wouldn’t see you for a long time. I also knew you were with someone else, someone who could give you normalcy. So, excuse me when it feels like an insult when you call me special. It’s not what you want. You thought an angel and a demon could handle me better, so that’s what I have, and I love them. I won’t apologize for that."
I turn my head, feeling Dru’s presence watching me. I had thought he’d gone into the bedroom, but he’s in the hallway, listening.
It’s not something we’ve really said to each other, not after what we’ve done together. I smile at him, and him at me. I can tell he’s proud of me for standing up for myself and through the moon, that I said I loved him.
Kagan clears his throat, reaching for my hand. "The fight we had took me off guard, Riley. I didn’t expect it to fall apart so easily. And I didn’t expect to spew such hateful things at you. My heart may have been in the right place, but my actions weren't. And I’ve been wanting a chance to tell you that ever since I saw you at my apartment, drenched and battered."
I scoff. I almost was willing to listen, to give him a shot, but he didn’t feel anything til that night, the night I had to watch his girlfriend all over him, staying at his house. "You and Mariam look great together. Both real pieces of work. I think we both know that’s where you belong. Where does she think you are tonight?" I ask him, boring into him with my eyes. He’s not getting away with this.
"Riley, I don’t have..."
A knock on the door stops the conversation, and Ursula and Willow both jump up in unison, their stance lethal, teeth bared.
"Who followed you?" I ask Kagan, standing up as Dru cuts through the living area to the door.
Kagan shrugs and stands up.
"I said who followed you here, Kagan? Our cover is going to be blown because you wanted one last hurrah with me!"
Dru opens the door to reveal a woman leaning against the doorframe. She’s in a skirt, pair of heels, and a shirt I recognize to be one of Kagan's.
It’s Mariam.
"You’ve got to be kidding me," I say to him, throwing my hands up. "You're still with her and trying to convince me that you didn’t mean to fight like we did. Telling me what you did was wrong? So, how many times have you slept with her to make her believe in your 'fake' relationship?" I ask him, not caring that Mariam can hear.
She waltzes into the room before Kagan can say anything. He finds himself caught between two stories, and he’s going to have to come clean to one of us or risk losing us both.
"What does she mean by fake relationship?"
"Riley, I swear, it never got that far with her," Kagan says, directing the words at me.
I look at Mariam for confirmation. She sighs. "I wondered why. I thought maybe you were still a virgin or something. Though, we’ve gotten close. You should know I've been living with him. Sleeping in his bed. I wouldn’t buy much of what he says then," Mariam offers nonchalantly. But I don’t think she’s any happier than I am about the ordeal.
"So, just because you haven’t had sex you want me to believe this hasn’t gone beyond your original intention?" I don’t expect an answer. I just want to point out that he is being ridiculous. I want no questions as to why I am about to kick him out of this place and out of my life.
"Look, just like I said before, you can fight with us in the war, but that’s as far as it goes." There’s no point in hiding anything from Mariam now, she’s already found my hiding spot. All I can hope is she'll take our side.
"So, it’s going to come to a war, then?" Mariam asks, a strange, amused chuckle coming from her throat. It doesn’t sound like her typical voice, warbling, gargley, and her eyes flash a different color, a dark brown, I swear.
Something’s not right here. How did she even find me? The spell should have recovered once I let Kagan in and no one else.
Only someone extremely powerful could get through behind him, that, or a familiar that connected with him...
"Oh, I can see the wheels turning. Humans are so funny," she says, her voice warping more. "If only you were smarter, you could have avoided what’s coming. Expect Bianca to know where you are now. And what you plan."
Then, before our eyes, she changes into something I never could have expected, but no one looks more horrified than Kagan.
Chapter Sixteen
Before us now stands a roaring Bengal tiger, and I look at Kagan and the others for help to understand what is happening. Other than familiars, shapeshifters didn’t exist as far as I knew.
"What is this? Who is she?" I ask over her loud roar. She paces back and forth as if deciding who to attack first, and we are all as still as possible, waiting to see what happens.
"I don’t know how..." Kagan breathes, "But that’s Bianca's familiar. It means she’s been pretending to be a Cattrell the whole time, and that maybe the whole family is in on it." Kagan looks like he might cry, and I can’t blame him. He’s been fake dating a familiar who has been using him to spy on us, waiting for the moment Kagan would find me and get my plan. She doesn’t have much to go on, but I get the feeling either she will get us to talk through torture, call Bianca to us, or she will just kill us so we can’t enact anything.
"So, Bianca knows where we are." Dru's voice is flat, unemotional.
The tiger roars, and I know she means to attack, but that’s when Willow and Ursula both meld into something else, someone else.
She's glorious, looking at her, and they attack in
unison, not even needing me.
Mariam, or whoever she is, must have thought she would have the advantage as a tiger, ripping through our flesh. She must not have known I would have Willow or that Ursula would suddenly have the ability to transform.
I back her up with my magic, protecting her as she plays a game of cat and mouse with the tiger, Willow getting at it from the other end.
Ursula is lithe, her hair long and in a braid the same color as her purple fur. She wears a bodysuit, all black, looking like she is some kind of paranormal spy.
I can’t believe she has finally done this, and at just the right time.
The tiger flees, not ready to take us all on, but that means that Bianca will still come. Possibly Reyes and the others too.
"It's time to go," I tell Dru, nodding to him. He nods back. He knows what I mean.
I don’t just mean we need to leave. I mean, it’s time for war.
"Kagan, we can talk about the rest of this later. Right now, I need you to get a hold of your father so he can get Jake and Adriel ready. We need them right now. And even Phaidra if she is so willing to go against Reyes."
Kagan pulls out his phone, dialing without a word. I know there will be things we need to solve, and hopefully, we will both be alive to have that chance.
For now, I calm myself, looking inward. Deep breathing allows me to clear all thoughts but those of Willow and Ursula as they retake their animal forms. I need them both willing to accept fighting with me right now. Together, the three of us will have to take down Reyes. He is the key to it all, I know it. And he will strike to kill now.
All traces of us are gone in less than an hour as we leave out the fire escape of this third floor apartment. It’s time to go back to Salt Lake and face the enemy. I just hope they haven’t gathered anyone else to their cause since I’ve been gone.
***
The power of illusion is not easy. It is more a demon power, using the power of manipulation to make everyone around you believe that you don't look like yourself. I remember my thought about Jedi mind tricks and have to stifle a laugh as we get on this train going back to Salt Lake.
Demon Witch (Paranormal Hunter Academy Book 3) Page 11