Prelude to a Witch

by Amanda M. Lee

  “You had plans to take Bay out there and act dirty in those cabins and you know it,” Aunt Tillie challenged. “You don’t care about the garbage.”

  That elicited a weak smile from Landon. “Those cabins are death traps. I wouldn’t risk taking Bay in them.”

  “Oh, you’re so full of it.” Aunt Tillie shifted her attention to my father. They had a tempestuous relationship, which was putting it mildly. “Jack.”

  “Tillie.” Dad held her gaze a moment before turning to me. “And my favorite daughter.” He beamed. “How are the wedding plans coming?”

  “They’re going well,” I replied. “It’s hard to believe it’s only a few weeks away.”

  “Yes, well, I’ve been wondering about that.” He shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable. “Is there a reason you have to get married so quickly?”

  The question caught me off guard. “What do you mean?”

  “I thought maybe ... .” He didn’t finish the sentence, instead tipping his head to where Clove was being helped out of the car by her father, Warren.

  “I think he’s asking if you’re pregnant, sweetie,” Landon said. “My guess is that he’s looking for a reason to hate me again.”

  “I don’t need a reason,” Dad shot back. “The way you look at my daughter is reason enough.”

  “Your daughter is going to be my wife in about a month, so get over it.”

  “And I’m not pregnant,” I added, horrified at the thought. “You have to wait a bit for that.”

  “Totally,” Landon agreed. “We want to be in our new house before we add kids to the mix. That’s still a few years off.”

  “Hey, a father can dream.” Dad’s smile was charming. “A little one to spoil would be fun.”

  “Then spoil Aunt Tillie,” Thistle suggested, gesturing toward our wily great-aunt who had been steadfastly edging her way toward the inn. I saw she had mayhem on the brain, because she glared at Thistle for drawing attention to her. “She’s little and acts like a child.”

  “Keep it up, mouth,” Aunt Tillie warned. “I’ll put you on my list if you’re not careful.”

  “That’s no longer a threat.” Thistle was blasé. “I’ve been on your list for more than twenty-five years now. Guess what that means to me. Absolutely nothing. As in there’s nothing you can dish out that I can’t take.”

  I shot her an incredulous look. “Why must you say things like that?” I demanded. “You know that’s just like waving a red flag in front of her face.”

  “She says it because she needs constant attention,” Aunt Tillie replied. “Now that Clove is about to give birth to the first baby of the next generation and you’re engaged to the boy wonder over here, she feels left out.”

  “I do not,” Thistle shot back. “I love my life.”

  “If you say so.” Aunt Tillie’s gaze never left Thistle’s face. “You know what? Screw it. You’re on my list. Does that make you feel better?”

  “It doesn’t make me feel anything,” Thistle shot back. “Being on your list means nothing.”

  “We’ll just see about that.”

  Sensing that the conversation could derail and venture into the “I know you are but what am I” realm, I asked, “You have a body?”

  Landon’s smile slipped. “We do, and I need your help.”

  Yup. That definitely wasn’t good. “Dad and Uncle Warren are here, so I assume Uncle Teddy isn’t the victim.”

  “Teddy is inside baking,” Dad said. “He’ll want to see you before you go, Thistle.”

  Thistle nodded. “If he’s baking, you don’t have to twist my arm.”

  “Me either.” Clove’s cheeks turned rosy. “Is it cookies? Or wait ... cake? Even better, is it cheesecake?” She was fixated on food these days, but I really couldn’t blame her. If I had an excuse to eat nonstop without judgement, I would run with it.

  “I believe it’s bread.” Warren shot Clove an apologetic look. “Sorry.”

  “There are fresh doughnuts inside,” Dad offered brightly. “Can I entice anybody inside for those?”

  Clove’s hand shot in the air. “Me!”

  “I figured.” Dad turned to me. “What about you?”

  I risked a glance at Landon, who kept his face neutral. There was enough worry lurking in his eyes that I shook my head. “I don’t think I’ll have much of an appetite after Landon shows me what he needs to show me.”

  “Probably not,” Landon agreed. “I know I don’t have much of an appetite.”

  “Even for Teddy’s new maple bacon doughnuts?” Dad challenged. “He had you in mind when he started experimenting. He pretty much has the recipe perfected.”

  Landon pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I’ll try them another time.”

  That’s how I knew this was serious. Finding a body was always serious, of course, but whatever was in the woods behind the Dragonfly had killed my future husband’s gluttonous appetite. That meant it was bad. Likely really, really bad.

  “Let’s get this over with,” I said.

  Landon held out his hand. “Why don’t the rest of you head inside? Terry is on the scene now. The medical examiner will be here shortly, but we need Bay to see something before they get here.”

  Dad stopped him. “Why are you forcing Bay to look at dead bodies?” There was an edge to his voice that I recognized.

  “Dad, we’ve talked about this,” I replied. “I’m a witch. Sometimes I have to do witchy things.”

  The statement only served to darken his expression. “This is a murder, not a witch thing.”

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  “I found the body.” Ghosts whipped through the depths of Dad’s eyes, showing me exactly how haunted he really was. “It’s terrible, but there’s nothing magical about that scene.”

  Instinctively I reached over and patted his shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to see it.”

  “I don’t want you to have to see it.” Dad was firm. “She’s not a police officer, Landon. This is your job.”

  Landon chewed his lower lip. “I need her to see it. I’m sorry you’re upset.”

  “Why does she need to see it?”

  Landon just stared back at him.

  Dad growled and then took a step back. “Do what you want. This is between the two of you.”

  “It is,” Landon readily agreed. “Take the others inside. I shouldn’t have Bay out there too long. You can spoil her rotten when we get back.”

  Dad and Landon had worked themselves to a relationship in which they didn’t overtly attack one another regularly. I didn’t know if they would ever be friendly, but they had made terms. “Fine, but you owe us for babysitting Tillie.”

  “Hey!” Aunt Tillie was almost to the front door when she pulled up short and glared at my father. “I don’t need a babysitter. In fact, I was the babysitter when your kid was little and you were never around.”

  Dad let loose a sigh. “I stepped into that one.”

  Landon tugged me toward the woods. “We shouldn’t be gone long. Keep an eye on Aunt Tillie until we get back.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

  Landon was quiet until we moved past the foliage line. He released my hand and started rubbing the back of my neck. “I really am sorry about this.”

  “Don’t be sorry. We’re a team.” That distinction had been harder for him to accept. He was taught that law enforcement personnel were supposed to go it alone, not include civilians in their investigations, but in our time together he’d slowly changed his outlook.

  “We’re definitely a team.” He slowed his pace to study my face. “I love you.”

  The naked emotion I found overtaking his features tugged on my heartstrings. “I love you too. What’s wrong? I know this is bad. Just ... tell me.”

  Rather than tell me, he reached out to push the branches in front of us aside. I registered several things straight away. The first was that I’d been to this clearing before. The local teenagers had been dr
inking in this spot for weeks, taking advantage of the location to party hard. The second was that the body of a woman lay spread eagle on the ground.

  “Oh, geez.” My heart clogged in my throat as I registered the regret on Landon’s face. “Is that ... ?” I recognized the girl. Not long ago she’d tried to take us on with magic she couldn’t correctly wield. We stopped her, modified her memory, and then let her return to her life.

  That obviously hadn’t lasted very long.

  “I’m sorry.” Landon sounded tortured as he moved in front of me to shield my view. “I thought you would want to know.”

  “Paisley.” It was the only thing I could manage as I pictured the girl’s predatory smile from our previous altercation. “Paisley Gilmore.”

  Landon nodded as he brushed my hair from my eyes. “Are you going to be sick?”

  “I’ve seen dead bodies before,” I reminded him.

  “This is different.”

  “How?”

  “You went out of your way to save her a week and a half ago,” he replied. “You thought you were doing the right thing, giving her a life despite what she tried to take from us. Now she’s gone.”

  I sucked in a bracing breath. “I don’t blame myself for this, Landon. I didn’t do it. It’s likely she did it to herself.”

  “I don’t think she did this to herself,” Chief Terry said from behind Landon. I could hear him but I couldn’t see him.

  I wrapped my hand around Landon’s wrist and squeezed. “You did the right thing calling me out here.”

  “It doesn’t feel like the right thing,” he grumbled.

  I forced a thin-lipped smile that felt hollow. “I have to look at her now.”

  Landon nodded and stepped aside. “Don’t get too close, okay? We’ve got a forensic team from the state on the way.”

  My mouth was dry as I moved closer to Paisley. She’d been a vibrant girl, full of life. I hadn’t particularly liked her — actually, I’d outright loathed her — but I’d admired her energy. Now there was nothing but an empty husk that had once been a human being. “She was stabbed,” I said.

  “She was,” Chief Terry agreed as he moved to my side. He was a father figure for me. He’d helped raise Clove, Thistle and me when our fathers disappeared from our lives years ago. He was obviously unhappy with my presence. “You don’t have to be here, Bay. I told Landon this was unnecessary.”

  As much as I loved Chief Terry, his determination to protect me was occasionally a sore point. Unlike Landon, who was learning, Chief Terry wanted to keep me out of his investigations. Landon had figured out that I was good at the witch thing, even though it hadn’t been all that long since I’d been ignoring my powers. My future husband and I still butted heads about appropriate safety measures when investigating but he’d grown into an accepting individual. That’s why he’d called me out here today. He understood something Chief Terry didn’t.

  “It is necessary,” I argued, shooting him a rueful half-smile. “Not only did we fight with this girl less than two weeks ago, she was killed in ritual fashion.”

  Chief Terry’s expression never changed. “How do you know about that?”

  “I watch a lot of television.”

  Landon snorted. “She does like old reruns of that Criminal Minds show. I think she’s hot for Shemar Moore, but she also pays attention to the profiling angle.”

  “It’s not just ritual in that way,” I argued. “It’s ritual in a witchy way.”

  Landon was taken aback. “What do you mean?”

  I pointed to the trees surrounding the clearing. “Someone used her blood to draw runes on the tree trunks.”

  Landon moved closer to the nearest tree and frowned. “I don’t see anything.” He removed a flashlight from his pocket and switched it on, viciously swearing under his breath when he finally got a good look. “You’re right. His gaze was steady when it locked with mine. “How did you see that?”

  “What answer will freak you out the least?”

  “The truth.”

  I bit back a sigh. “Things are different for me now,” I explained. “Since the necromancer stuff kicked in, I’m more powerful.”

  Landon tugged on his bottom lip. “So ... you can see blood that other people can’t?” he asked.

  “I can see the remnants of death,” I corrected.

  Landon’s expression shifted into one of horrified sympathy. “I’m sorry.”

  I laughed even though it felt out of place. “Why? I was born this way. Besides, I’m pretty sure you’re the reason I can handle it now. Before you, this would’ve freaked me out. Because I have you, I know more than I did before and I can accept it.”

  “Oh, that’s ridiculously cute and makes me want to retch,” Chief Terry drawled. “There’s nothing I love better than watching you two fawn all over each other.”

  I slid him a dubious look. “But?” I prodded.

  “But I need to know what these runes mean.” He gestured toward the tree. “I can’t see what you guys are talking about.”

  “We may have to use luminol to light it up for photos,” Landon said. “I can get copies of the photos for you, baby, if that helps.”

  I nodded. I edged closer to Paisley, but not so close I risked treading on their evidence. “Her eyes are open. She saw what was coming.”

  “I don’t know how long she lived after the initial blow,” Landon said. “She was stabbed multiple times. The medical examiner will be able to tell us about that.”

  I nodded. “She would’ve seen it all.”

  “Bay ... .” Landon reached out, but then dropped his hand. “Is her ghost hanging around?”

  I cocked my head, considering. “I don’t see her.”

  “You could call to her, make her come if she’s around.”

  “I could,” I agreed, “but I prefer not to.”

  He studied my face before nodding. He knew better than anyone that forcing ghosts to do my bidding was uncomfortable. I’d had more than a few nightmares about it. “Okay. There’s one other issue we need to consider.”

  I waited for him to continue.

  “Even with the blood on the trees, there’s very little on the ground. Given the number of stab wounds, there should be more blood.”

  I’d been around him long enough to know what he wasn’t saying. “You think someone took her blood.”

  “It’s a distinct possibility.”

  “That means a blood ritual.”

  “Which leads us back to witches,” Chief Terry mused. “I don’t suppose you can give us a heads up on what all this means.”

  I shook my head. “No, but I’m going to find out. No matter how troubled Paisley was, nobody deserves to die like this.”

  Chief Terry let loose a heavy sigh. “This is a mess.”

  3

  Three

  Chief Terry stayed with the body to wait for the medical examiner while Landon and I made our way back to the Dragonfly.

  “I really am sorry I had to bring you out here,” Landon offered in a quiet voice. “Terry didn’t want me to. I debated, but ... I felt it was important you see how she was staged before the medical examiner moved her.”

  “You did the right thing,” I reassured him.

  He linked his fingers with mine. “I don’t want you having nightmares because of this.”

  It wasn’t the first time he’d brought up my bad dreams of late. It was clear he didn’t want to hurt me. I appreciated the sentiment but found it completely unnecessary. “I’m stronger than I look. Bad dreams won’t bring me down.”

  “Bay, you’re the strongest person I know.” He pulled me to him for a hug right outside the door that led into the Dragonfly kitchen. “I just don’t like it when your dreams chase you.”

  We had that in common. “It’s fine. Maybe what happened to Paisley explains why I’ve been having bad dreams.”

  He pulled back to study my face. “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve felt antsy the last week and a
half. I thought it was because of Brian and Rosemary. What if they weren’t the reason?”

  A scowl took over his face. “They’re reason enough to be upset. Don’t kid yourself on that front. I’m curious if you’re upset because you think you could’ve stopped this?”

  “I really wasn’t thinking that. I guess maybe I should.”

  He vigorously shook his head. “This isn’t on you. That’s not what I meant. In fact, I was saying the opposite. I hate when you blame yourself for things you can’t control.”

  “I don’t do that.”

  “Oh, please.” He slung his arm around my shoulders and pressed a kiss to my forehead as he led me toward the inn. “I love you more than anything, but you always blame yourself for things you can’t control.”

  “You’re exaggerating.”

  “I’m not.”

  Everybody was in the kitchen, grouped around the small table opposite the counters. Somebody had put out quite a spread — doughnuts, cookies, cake and brownies — and Clove was elbow deep in sweets.

  “It was horrifying,” Dad said. He hadn’t realized we were standing behind him. “I don’t understand why Landon feels the need to show her something like that.”

  “Probably because Landon correctly ascertained that it was a ritual killing and we need to do some research,” I answered, feeling a small jolt of amusement at the way my father’s shoulders jumped.

  “I didn’t realize you were back.” Dad hopped to his feet and glanced between us. “I thought you would be out there longer.”

  “I don’t enjoy torturing your daughter by making her look at dead bodies for hours on end,” Landon muttered as he sank into one of the open chairs. “I wasn’t saying that,” Dad protested.

  I growled, the sound cutting them off before they engaged in a full-on snipefest, and walked to the drawer at the end of the counter.

  “What are you looking for?” Teddy asked, his brow creasing. “If you’re hungry, I can cook something for you – if you’re not interested in sweets.”

  “If you are interested in sweets, you should get them now,” Thistle added. “Clove will devour them all soon.”