Something Wicked (Here Witchy Witchy Book 11)

by A. L. Kessler

  Nick hadn’t been part of that case.

  “He gave me your case files.”

  My eyes darted to Nick, asking him a silent what the fuck. Nick avoided my gaze.

  “You’ve used some very interesting talents along the way.” Christof smiled at me. “Abigail Collins, I need your help to complete one of your father’s spells.”

  I smirked and looked up at him. “Go to hell.”

  That was clearly the wrong thing to say because pain shot through me, stealing my vision and leaving the taste of blood in my mouth.

  When my vision cleared, Christof was no longer smiling at me. Nick’s eyes were clenched shut, and Annabella was smiling, almost like she was enjoying what was going on.

  “You act like you have a choice in this.” Christof put his hands on the arms of the chair and leaned forward so he was nose to nose with me. “You will help me, or I will torture Simon until he dies begging you to save him. And then after that, I will slowly drain your magic until the light in your eyes dies out.”

  This wasn’t going to end well for anyone. “Where does Nick play into this?”

  “I wanted my son back at my side. I pulled him out of that explosion, called him back to me like I should have done for Devon before you killed him.”

  “You sound like a vampire, not a warlock.”

  “Black magic, Abigail. It can help you achieve almost anything.” He grinned at me. “We’re more powerful than the vampires, we’re superior to the wolves, and your parents knew this. The ancient witches and warlocks knew it. That’s why they created the tablet, to write down the ultimate spell, to cheat death.” He laughed. “And you’re going to help me complete the translation.”

  So he didn’t know that Tobias and my mother had managed it. That was good, because chances were that I was going to be slow as hell with the translation. I said nothing.

  “Go get the wolf, Annabella, and take him to the office where Abigail will be working.”

  Annabella nearly bounced off. Once she was out, the red eased up a little and Christof crossed his arms while he looked at me. “Annabella will supervise you. If she thinks you’re planning anything or plotting something, she’ll hurt your wolf.”

  Not if I could get Simon out of here before that happened. I could play nice for a bit. That’s all I could do, buy time and hope that the trackers all worked.

  #

  Christof led me to an office. I paid perfect attention to the directions on how to get there from the stone room. He said nothing to me as we walked in. But I had a question for him.

  “Did you kill my parents?”

  “Yes.” He smiled at me. “They were so powerful, Abigail, that when they decided to no longer work on the tablet that Ira and Levi had us translating that I knew they needed to be put down. First, I tried a demon. I set him after Elizabeth, and she came down with the curse in her blood. It forced Tobias to summon the demon and kill him to save her.” He paused for a moment. “I didn’t think he’d actually summon a demon, but clearly I underestimated him.”

  “And then you sent the Cult after them.” I put the pieces together. “Then faked your death. Is the timeline right?”

  “I knew if the Cult found out what part I played in it, they’d kill me. I volunteered to go after them, because I knew I could get into the house. They trusted me, even after they left the project.”

  I’d gotten enough out of him to have a confession, and I knew the questions to ask once we got him into interrogation. He nudged me to a desk against the far wall. “You work from dawn to dusk. If Annabella Louise and I even think you’re fucking around, Simon pays for it.”

  “Understood. I’m going to need access to some things so I can compare the runes.”

  “I have copies of all of Tobias’ notes in the desk drawers, will that do?”

  I glanced at him. “How on earth?”

  “Tobias and I shared an office. We all shared notes and findings. It’s how a team works.”

  I guess it made sense. “Okay, that will do.” I resisted saying thank you. He was forcing me into this, and for the next twelve hours, I was at the mercy of my parent’s killer. “Can I have a clock?”

  “No.”

  Well, fine then. I sat down at the desk and looked at the photos there. This wasn’t the tablet like I expected it to be. This was something completely different. The photos were of handwritten runes on paper. “What is this?”

  “Like I said, it’s a spell from Tobias.”

  The door to the office opened and Annabella walked in with Simon on the end of a fucking leash. My blood boiled at the idea. Simon ripped away from her and skidded to a stop at my side. I bent down and put my nose to his. “I’m okay. I promise.”

  I felt his entire body relax at my words. I looked at Annabella. “Simon stays by my side.”

  “That’s the plan.” Christof motioned to Simon. “If you step out of life, wolf, I hurt Abigail.”

  And other than my elemental ability, I was pretty much helpless.

  Simon snarled at him, and I tried to put my hand on him to tell him to play nice, but Christof caught my wrist.

  “Want to test me, Simon? I slaughtered her parents. I have no love for the Collins family.” Christof pulled a dagger from his belt and sliced my cheek in a matter of seconds. I refused to cry out at the quick move.

  Simon’s snarls died down, and I put a hand to my cheek. “Keep slicing me up and I won’t be able to translate anything for you.”

  “Sit down, shut up, and work.” Christof growled. “Annabella, come. We have one more person on our list.”

  I was going to ask him who it was, but I was sure I’d find out later. The two of them walked out, and I heard a lock click in place. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before turning to the runes on the pictures.

  The rune language was familiar to me. It’d been in the binder that I spent hours studying after my case with Devon. I could almost see the binder in my head. I wasn’t nearly as good as Tobias or Merick, but this was something Tobias created, and I knew it because I studied the language.

  In theory, it would only take me a couple hours to decipher the spell, but I needed to buy time. I pulled out the first file Christof had of Tobias’ notes and started flipping through page after page, acting like I was comparing runes and bases to it.

  Certainly, I could spend twelve hours on pretending to translate.

  I paused though in the fake work to focus on what the spell was actually for. The death rune showed up several times.

  This wasn’t a spell to cause death, though. It was made to prevent it. To call the soul back. It was almost a light version of what I believed to be on the tablet. I moved the images so I could see more. It was a different spell. A spell to cause true death from a distance.

  It specified true death and gave me the theory that it was a spell for a vampire. What the hell was Tobias getting into?

  Simon suddenly sat on his hunches and growled at the door. I looked up as Nick walked in.

  “Oh look, my partner.” I let the anger drip out of my voice. “You came back to the land of the living knowing that your father was alive. You knew what he was planning.”

  Nick shook his head. “Abby.”

  “Do you fucking Abby me.” I stood up and faced him. “Your father is alive, and you knew that. Through the entire case you knew that he could be a suspect.”

  “Annabella’s magic is in me, remember. I couldn’t do anything without her knowing.”

  “Yeah, well, the bitch’s magic is in me too,” I snapped. “You let this shit happen without even trying to warn me.”

  He hung his head. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have come back to PIB. I should have just stayed in the Underground and worked for my father there.”

  I let out a frustrated growl. “This is a disaster.” I threw my hands up in the air. “Nick, I wanted to trust you. I grieved for you when you were supposedly dead. This…”

  The door opened again, and Christof
walked in. “Are you two having a little heart to heart?”

  Nick shook his head. “No, I just came in to check on her progress.”

  I wasn’t sure if it was true, or if he was just lying to keep the peace.

  “Well?”

  Nick said nothing, but I shook my head. “No.”

  “No?”

  “I can’t translate this spell. It’s not a rune base I’m familiar with.” Though in reality I couldn’t give that power to someone.

  “Hm. You’ve only been at it for a couple hours. Get back to work.”

  “It’s fruitless.” I growled.

  Christof held his hand up and my body felt like it was being dragged down to the ground by gravity. I hit the floor on my hands and knees, trying not to whimper.

  In a flash of fur, Simon jumped up and bit Christof’s wrist. My eyes widened. “Simon, no, it’s not really hurting me. He’s just playing games.”

  Simon let go and moved in front of me protectively.

  “You want to play games?” Christof chuckled. “We can do that. Nicolas, go get Annabella Louise.”

  My heart sped up. He needed me alive. He believed I was the only one who could translate the runes and the spells. If not, then he wouldn’t have gone through so much work to get me here.

  Christof’s magic finally let up and I could stand. A couple minutes later Annabella walked in with Nick.

  “Abigail needs to be reminded of what’s at stake.”

  Annabella clapped her hands in delight.

  “Please make sure she’ll still be able to continue her research and don’t kill the wolf. Yet.”

  “Of course, my love.” She threw her hands up and a red circle surrounded me, runes swirling around the edge.

  “Abigail, Abigail.” Christof walked right through the circle. “Seth said he’d make things right and kill you. The vampire who gave the order, the one I worked with after I faked my death, was so disappointed that you survived.”

  Samuel.

  “You couldn’t get through my mom’s circle that night.” I met his gaze, and it flashed back to me. “You came up and were right against the circle.”

  He cupped a hand over my cheek and ran his thumb over the slice there. “Killing a child is unforgivable, but the order was clear. No member of the Collins family could live.” He backhanded me hard enough that I tasted blood.

  Simon snarled and then whimpered. I turned to see he was now trapped in a circle. Annabella was standing there with a silver knife, blood dripping down the blade.

  “Why not have Nick kill me?”

  “His heart is conflicted,” Christof said easily. “Now, enjoy your time with Annabella, then we’ll get you back to research.”

  He walked out of the circle. Pain engulfed me, making me feel like something was tearing me from the inside out. I cried out and heard Simon snarl again. “No, Simon. It’s okay.” I grounded out. I tried to reach for my magic but was greeted with more pain.

  A slice appeared on my stomach and I touched the blood. The hell?

  Annabella laughed. “I can harm you with my magic as long as you’re in my circle. I hope you’re ready for some fun.”

  #

  Fun would not have been the word I would have used for what Annabella could do. In the end, I was on the floor on my hands and knees, gasping for breath with blood dripping under me. My body ached, and I wanted my magic to help heal me quicker. Hopefully, the vampire blood kicked in and dulled the pain soon. Simon was unconscious on the floor next to me. Various wounds on his body.

  Annabella wiped her hands on her pants, leaving blood smeared there. “That’s just play time. Get back to work.” Her phone buzzed, and she pulled it out and looked at it. “Never mind, we have a guest. Back to the cells.”

  Nick came to help me up, but I pushed him away. I didn’t want him touching me. I had nothing but anger for him and the situation right now. Annabella led us back to the cells. Nick put Simon in his cell while Annabella shoved me in mine.

  I refused to cringe in pain as she did. The bars echoed as she slammed them shut. She looked in at me. “I have to go clean up the blood before our visitor gets here.” She grinned. “Don’t want Detective Balin to get suspicious now, do we?”

  So Balin was on the right track now, too. Perfect. Once she was out of sight, I sat against the wall and tried to take stock of what was hurting. Everything hurt at this moment. I didn’t have time to wallow in the pain. I needed to get us out of here.

  I heard a whimper and knew that Simon was awake. Good, hopefully he could walk. I was trying to think of a plan when Nick walked in the front of my cell.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Well, you know, I just spent some time in the magical equivalent of a blender, found out that your father slaughtered my parents, and they are working with Levi’s maker. I think I’m doing okay.” I glared at him. “Nick, I’m running on fumes here. I’m in a lot of pain and I won’t translate that spell.”

  He raised a brow. “Won’t?”

  “Can’t,” I corrected. “How do we get rid of Annabella’s magic?”

  “She was the one that attacked us that night, that’s when she linked her magic to us.” He shook his head. “I’ve always been linked to my father. He just never took advantage of it. He wanted me to convince Devon to join him.”

  “Which is why you were in town during that case.”

  He nodded. “Then he found out you were there, but I didn’t know what he wanted with you. I pulled some strings to become your partner. It was rough, Boss Man was suspicious.” He laughed a little. “He was super protective of you. When O’Donald replaced him, I knew that it’d be easier to get in again, so it was time to come up from the Underground.”

  “When you knew your father wanted me dead.” I shook my head. “You saved my ass at the haunted house against the assassin. Why?”

  “Because at that point, I knew he needed you alive to help with the spell. This wasn’t how I wanted things to end ,Abigail. You know either way you and Simon are both dead. Either you finish that spell, or you don’t and die sooner.”

  He didn’t know that PIB and my entire security team were coming. “If they are going to kill us anyway, then why should I finish that spell?” I met his gaze. “Why shouldn’t I just force their hand in killing me?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not even sure how Merick got you here. I assumed that you’d resist and know to keep him away from you.”

  I snorted. “He lives in my house. There’s not a lot I can do to keep him away. He’s safe there, I couldn’t just kick him out.”

  “And that was your downfall, wasn’t it?” Nick laughed. “Your bleeding heart allowed him to drag you here.”

  I wanted to tell him off, but I stayed silent, letting him think he was right. “Look, if I’m going to be stuck here, can I at least have some coffee?”

  He rolled his eyes and walked away. I took that as a no. I leaned back against the wall, waiting for him to be out of earshot.

  There was something small and shiny on the ground where he had been standing. I walked over to it and reached through the cracks and found my necklace. My fingers wrapped around the pentagram and small cat charm. The warmth spread through me as I felt it push off Annabella’s magic. I didn’t know if Nick dropped it on purpose or Annabella had accidentally dropped it, but it didn’t matter. I had it back now. I put it on and tucked it under my shirt. The escape was either now or waiting for PIB.

  I wrapped my hand around the bar and called to my elemental ability.

  It took a little, but I melted through enough for me to squeeze out.

  I glanced up and down the hallway before going straight to Simon’s cage. “Simon?”

  He looked up at me with blood-coated fur. One eye had a slice through it. My heart fell. It hadn’t healed yet, so I knew silver had done it. “Come here.”

  He limped toward me, and I reached out and unbuckled the collar. He snarled, and a moment later I was pulled away from the cel
l and slammed into a wall. Fuck.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  I cried out and called a fireball to my hand, throwing it at whoever was in front of me. I didn’t want Annabella to know that I had my magic back, not yet.

  She dodged the fire ball. “Oh, an elemental.” She stepped back. “That’s a pretty good escape plan. None of our records said that rumor was true.”

  She glanced over my shoulder. “I still have your wolf under my control.” She held her hand out, and I grabbed her wrist, using it to twist her arm behind her back.

  “You have me here, leave Simon alone. You harm him any more, and you’ll have an entire pack of werewolves after you.”

  She slammed her head back against mine. I cried out as it collided with my forehead. I stepped back, the narrow hallway not giving me far to go.

  “Had I known you were a fire elemental, I would have put you somewhere else.” She dropped her hands and red rope dropped down.

  I wasn’t in a fair fight without using my magic, and even then, since she used black magic, I wasn’t sure what all she was capable of.

  She snapped one rope, and I dodged it. “I’ll make sure to put you somewhere else. Away from the wolf. You’ll suffer, Abigail. Your family took everything away from Christof.”

  “Really, I have nothing to do with that.” I held my hand out and called fire to it. “I was four when he slaughtered my parents. Four fucking years old.”

  She cracked her rope at me again, and this time I didn’t move fast enough. It wrapped around my wrist and numbness went up my arm, causing the fire in my hand to go out.

  What the hell.

  She used it to pull me toward her. I tried to break through it, but it wouldn’t work with just brute strength. Like hell I was going to let that woman put me back in any kind of cell. I called to my magic and shoved up a purple circle.