That I had to agree with. “We know he’s alive, though.”
“Yes, and my guess is, if they haven’t killed him yet, there’s a reason.”
I didn’t want to think about that reason. “I’ll call Travis with the news. I want to ask him a few questions as well.”
“Sounds good. I’ll get this stuff cleaned up, so no one realizes we were playing with magic today.”
I laughed a little and checked my watch. We still had a few hours before sundown, which was good, because it meant that Levi and Mario wouldn’t be popping in anytime soon, but eventually Oliver would be back with pizza.
I went back into the house to find Oliver sitting in one of the chairs. “Did you two have a good time?” He asked without looking up from his book.
“When did you get here?”
“About two minutes ago.” He closed the book. “I was honestly expecting the spell to take a bit longer, but I’m assuming he’s still in state?”
I nodded. “Mountain town.”
Liz came in and crossed her arms. “Back already? You and Melisandra sure finished up quick.”
“I know how to satisfy a woman, if that is your concern, Liz.”
I shook my head. “Okay, little mountain town, Black Hawk.”
“I mean, population wise, it’s little, but it’s a bit touristy. Maybe our werewolf faked his accident to get away from life.”
I glared at Oliver, and Liz let out a frustrated breath. “You are not helping here.”
“Did you make headway with the evidence?” Oliver asked and put his book down and looked at us both. “Or did you just play with magic tonight?”
I shrugged. “We combed through the evidence and didn’t find too much. Might link back to Devon.” I wasn’t going to mention the man in the picture, because I didn’t want Oliver looking too close at the evidence.
“Interesting. Devon’s dead. I believe the only living magical person in that family line left is Nick. Nick’s mother is also still living, but not blood-related to Devon.”
I’d forgotten that Devon’s mother hadn’t been a witch, but I had also forgotten that Nick’s mother was still alive. “Does anyone have her contact number?”
“Nick’s mom?” Liz shook her head. “Nick’s paperwork didn’t have his next of kin listed.”
Oliver stroked his chin. “I don’t, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to get. Let me see what I can do for you.” He stood. “I’ll be in my room working on that.” He walked away and up the stairs. I looked at Liz.
“I’m going to call Travis. I really don’t think Simon would take a joy vacation right now.”
“Yeah, me either.”
I grabbed my phone off the counter and called Travis.
“Do you have any news on him?” Travis asked without waiting.
“We have a location according to the spell. It’s in a town called Black Hawk, up in the mountains before you hit Vale Pass.”
He let out a growl. “Any idea what we’re looking at?”
“Nothing yet. Liz and I are going to do some research and then we’ll go in.”
“I have to stay with the pack. It’s my job as second to act as Alpha if something happens to Simon.”
I hesitated a little. “Travis…”
“Don’t even say it, Abby. I owe Simon my life. If I wanted his spot as Alpha, I wouldn’t make him mysteriously disappear. I’d challenge him. Let me know what you find.”
The phone went dead in my hand and I closed my eyes as I felt tears gather. I couldn’t push the thought of Simon dying out of my mind.
“We’re going to find him, Abby.” Liz put a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll bring him home.”
I hoped she was right. I shrugged her hand off and nodded. “I know. I’m just ready to get out and do something about it.”
“I know. I’m going to talk to Oliver about grabbing us some pizza since he came back empty-handed.” She jetted toward the stairs.
“Play nice,” I called after her and sat on the couch. I felt a bit run down after the spell, but it wasn’t bad at all. Nothing like it should have been.
For a moment, I wondered if it was the vampire blood that was aiding in the magic's healing. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, trying not to entertain that idea.
Liz came back down a few minutes later and sat on the couch next to me. “Oliver is going to grab pizza. He said he found Nick’s mother, but the line attached to the address was disconnected, so it might have been an old landline.”
“Maybe we should just ask Nick. With his DNA also showing up at the crime scene, he has to know that someone is going to ask him.”
“They did. He said that he wasn’t in contact with his mother anymore, not after he came back from the dead.”
I raised a brow. “She might not even know he’s actually alive?”
“I guess not.”
I tried to think about how Levi would have reacted to that and had to laugh.
“What?” Liz asked.
“I’m just trying to imagine Levi in a situation like that. All I could think of was a lecture of how I put myself in danger by faking my death.” I shrugged. “Just one of those things.”
She gave a slow nod, like she thought I was going insane. She reached for the remote and clicked on the television. “Let’s give our brain a break and see what’s on.”
I leaned back and tried to enjoy the sitcom that came on to distract us.
#
Oliver had come back with pizza, only to disappear again when he realized that we had moved from sitcoms to reality television. We watched some dancing show while we picked at the pizza. I had my laptop up on the coffee table, and I scrolled through random information for Black Hawk. Other than its appalling crime rate and small tourist attractions, there wasn’t a lot.
No news articles came close to mentioning something that sounded like a werewolf spotting. I couldn’t pull up any information on a local pack.
The crowd on the screen erupted with cheers and shouts as the couple on the floor finished their dance. I glanced at Liz, who was asleep on the couch.
I threw the blanket on her and took care of our pizza dishes and the rest of the pizza. When I came back, Levi and Mario were in the living room. I put my finger to my lips and motioned to the stairs. I didn’t want to wake her. She’d been working way too hard the last few nights. The least I could do was let her sleep.
The men followed me upstairs, and I stopped in my room and then looked at them. “Good evening.”
“We wanted to check in on you and make sure you weren’t doing anything ridiculous today.” Mario crossed his arms.
“Well, Oliver had to take me to the PIB office for an interview as a suspect, but other than that insanity, today has been pretty quiet.” I sat on the bed. I wasn’t lying, nothing exploded, there was nothing loud that had happened today. They didn’t need to know about the spell.
Levi nodded. “Why is Liz here?”
“Okay, so she ended up having to pull me in on the case today. I know it’s a day early, but all we did is research.” I shrugged. “Then we had pizza and watched some trash television.”
Levi frowned. “You ordered pizza?”
“No, Oliver brought it to us. I know how important it is not to compromise the safe house. I’m not stupid.” I shook my head. “Liz told me there was a vampire who was killed.”
Both of them seemed to become eerily still. After a moment, Levi nodded. “Yes, we told her we wanted to keep PIB out of it, which is why I want to bring you in.”
“I need everything on the vampire’s background. For instance, how they were involved with my parents.”
Mario chuckled. “Oh boy.”
Levi cut him a glare. “Why?”
“Because the other victims were.” I crossed my arms. “Levi…” I tried to mimic the tone he used when I was in trouble.
“He was the one who found the tablet.” Levi pressed his lips together. “He was lead on the team I created to translate it.
” He shook his head. “I don’t think that has anything to do with it though.”
I looked at Mario. “What do you know about this team?”
“Why would I know anything about this team?”
“Because you were tracking my mother’s death, too. Levi said there were some things you didn’t put on your board in case I walked in on it.” Which I had.
Mario glanced at Levi, and I stood. I wasn’t as tall as either vampire, but standing made me feel better when the two of them frustrated me. “Look. No more fucking secrets. That was the deal after Ira attacked me at the mansion.”
Levi nodded. “Jacob was the lead on the project for the tablet because he had located it. I took over the project because I didn’t want Ira near the information. It was right after your mother, Tobias, and I left Ira’s community. We were hoping it held the answer to the problems we were trying to solve, to make the monsters less… monstrous and create a peaceful community between supernatural creatures and humans.”
What they found was the key to life magic. I would wager that it was probably the source of the magic. “Do we still have the tablet?”
“I had it destroyed.” Levi shook his head. “I have Tobias’ pictures of it, but I locked them away.”
Of course, Tobias had put the runes in a PIB training book too, so I wasn’t exactly sure if the pictures of the tablet were safe.
“I want to see the pictures, please. Also, I need pictures of any runes found around the vampire victim.” I drummed my fingers against my arm as I thought.
“You’re going to look him up in the database.” Mario shook his head. “We don’t want PIB to know.”
“Well, the thing is, even when I work as one of Levi’s people, I use the PIB technology because I have access to it. No one monitors what I search for unless I hit any red flags.” I paused for a moment. “Is he going to raise any red flags?”
“No, not that I know of.” Levi shook his head. “I’ll get the information to you tonight.”
“Thank you, I appreciate you being willing to work with me.” I smiled at the two of them. “Now, anything else?”
They exchanged glances, and I shook my head. “Let me guess, it has to do with Samuel or Hannah.”
“Samuel is causing problems with the council, petitioning for his old land and territory back.” Levi pressed his lips together as if choosing his next words. “This means that he wouldn’t be under the restrictions of another territory leader.”
“He would still have to answer to the King, right? Or the council could go after him?”
Mario nodded. “In theory, yes, but his territory is fairly secluded. Honestly, it’s on the records as abandoned.”
“But secluded means no neighbors to turn him in if he’s causing problems.”
Levi nodded. “Exactly, but because we have no concrete proof, we can’t deny him his wishes.”
It could turn into another case of Ira. Samuel would have the room and the privacy to start the experiments again. “And if the King wanted to check in on him, you’d have to play by the rules and let him know you were in the territory. Which would give him a chance to clean up any messes.” I growled. “Fuck.”
“So you see what the problem is.” Mario shrugged. “But the council’s hands are tied.”
Unless I could get the evidence we needed. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Levi repeated, and I nodded.
“I can’t invest energy into something I have no control over right now. I’ll control what I can and then deal with the vampire mess. Get me my information so I can start my research.”
Mario stared at me for a moment. “I expected you to protest.”
“Like I said, I don’t have the energy. Simon’s missing and people are being murdered. There’s a lot more for me to worry about than Samuel.”
Of course, if Samuel was involved with either one then maybe I could get the executioner task force to go after him, and then the council would have a reason to not grant him his old territory.
“Thinking of something interesting?” Mario asked.
I smirked. “Wondering if I can take care of two birds with one stone is all. Look, I’m exhausted. I’m going to head to bed and start fresh in the morning.”
Levi nodded. “You have twenty-four more hours before you can go on the field.”
“Oh, I know, and Oliver has made it impossible for me to leave here or go anywhere other than a walk. I don’t know where I am, and I don’t have a car to even try to drive to the city. I’m well and truly stuck.” I shrugged.
Levi looked at Mario. “Then it’s time we take our leave.”
Mario disappeared first, which was unusual. Normally he stayed behind to lecture me about something that I had managed to fuck up. Levi sighed. “You’re truly okay?”
“I’m fine. I can feel my magic humming again, and I promise I’m not going anywhere until tomorrow night. Liz doesn’t have her car either, so she can’t sneak me out.”
“And the interview at PIB?”
“Well, Balin was convinced it was me, but I was under a truth spell. So that took out any theories he actually had. He pulled me in because they found my hair at Michele’s crime scene.”
Levi shook his head. “I don’t like this.”
“It’s leading back to mom’s murder, and that’s why you don’t like it. But if it really is connected, then this is our chance to get the person who killed her and Tobias. I want that.”
Levi closed his eyes. “You want the closure.”
“Yes. And I know you do too.”
He nodded but said nothing as he disappeared.
CHAPTER NINE
I woke the next afternoon and came downstairs to find Liz and Oliver pouring over a map. I came and sat across the coffee table from them. “What’s the plan?”
“Black Hawk is a small town. There aren’t a lot of places to hide a werewolf, especially on the full moon.” Oliver’s fingers danced over the map. “There’s the town itself and then some homes scattered in the surrounding area. We checked what records we could and there’s a house that’s off grid, but according to satellite information has had activity around it.”
“So there’s a good chance that’s where Simon is.” I looked at where they had circled on the map. “Can we get there and back in a day?”
“If we don’t run into trouble, yes.” Oliver stared at the map. “But we’re going to run into trouble.”
We were going in for a rescue mission, of course we’re going to run into trouble.
“Magically, Abigail, are you up for this?”
I nodded. “My magic has been humming in me. It’s ready to go. We didn’t have any problems with the tracking spell yesterday.”
“If we’re not back by nightfall, Levi will kill us.” Liz shook her head. “We can’t go today.”
I smirked. “No, but we can go tonight. I’m off house arrest tonight. And Oliver can pop us there and back.”
Oliver shook his head. “Black Hawk is magically protected, and I can’t promise I can pop us out if there is trouble.”
Well crap. “Okay, so we travel by car.” I glanced at Oliver. “Think Levi would let me have the Hummer?”
“I think the Hummer is going to lead to more attention than we want.”
I shrugged. “Not my fault, Levi painted it yellow. I much preferred the dark green.”
Oliver mumbled something under his breath. He was about to say something when Liz’s phone rang.
Liz grabbed it. “Special Agent Jefferson speaking.” She paused for a moment and then frowned. “Where?” She jotted down the address. “Okay, Abby and I will be on our way.” There was a moment of fast chatter from the other end, loud enough that I could hear it.
“Yeah, I know, but she’s working it on the King’s behalf and before you say anything, no I can’t share details.”
There was another second of angry words and then the line went dead.
“Nick says it’s your ass if you get in trouble
with O’Donald.” Liz shrugged. “Before I take you down there though, I need to know if you’re going to be okay going.”
“I’m fine,” I muttered.
She shook her head. “This murder is in Clarissa’s old shop.”
I frowned and took a moment to consider how I felt about it. “Do we know who it is?”
“Nick didn’t say.”
The shop had sat vacant since Clarissa’s death. There was probably some stigma against buying a business location where a murder occurred, especially one done by black magic. “This case is personal. I don’t like it.”
“It’s going to make you feel uncomfortable,” Oliver said. “That’s the problem when people learn about you, they learn how to use places, people, and anything else against you.”
I nodded. “Not many people knew about Seth and Michele.”
“Which means it’s someone close to you, or like we originally thought, the person who murdered Lizzy.”
I wasn’t sure which option I preferred.
Liz looked at Oliver, “please take us back to the house so I can drive us to the crime scene.”
Oliver nodded. “Okay. I need to go visit Melisandra as well. I’ll meet you at Abigail’s house before nightfall.”
We needed to be back here because Mario and Levi would check in and none of us wanted to get a lecture on how I shouldn’t be out of the house yet. Levi was pretty adamant about me staying in for the full forty-eight hours. I frowned.
“Oliver, has Samuel been in town since I was magically attacked.”
“Why would you ask that?” He met my gaze.
“Because Levi is very intent on me staying for the full forty-eight hours, and I’m wondering if he’s trying to keep me hidden from Samuel. He mentioned Samuel was petitioning to get his land back, but I’m not sure that’s something that’s done in person or through mail.” I crossed my arms.
Oliver said nothing.
“He is, isn’t he?” I glanced at Liz and she shrugged.
I was going to kill someone. “You two are impossible. Okay, we function as if the answer is yes, that he is in town. Which means I have to be careful. I don’t think he’s stupid enough to attack when we’re around PIB, but he’s a day walker, so we have to be careful.”
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