by Ruby Loren
I nodded, unwilling to say more. I would rather forget the terrible sights and sounds I’d witnessed that night.
“What about Maureen? No one’s heard from her since she was exiled,” Heather said, shooting Zoe a suspicious look.
Zoe shook her head. “As far as I know, she’s just respecting her excommunication from the coven. I only go after the guilty. I did my research before pulling the trigger. Maureen was nothing more than a scared follower of Giselle.”
“Maureen’s still listed as missing,” I said, remembering the file.
Heather tilted her head at me. “It can be checked, but I’m actually inclined to believe Zoe. I don’t think Maureen was responsible for much back then, either. Excommunication means you leave town without saying your goodbyes.”
Zoe raised her hands in defeat. “What’s going to be my punishment?” She looked at me and I saw there was still defiance in her eyes. I’d thought her an ally, but now I could see that she, too, didn’t believe I was tough enough to be the high priestess. She thought she was going to get away with murder.
“What justice are we going to deliver?” Aurelia asked with a dark glitter in her eyes. “A life for a life. That is the witch way and what Bridgette herself would have wanted. You heard what she said about the blackmail threat. It’s only right we carry it out.”
“Do you really want to kill someone with the police still sniffing around town?” Emma said, frowning over at Aurelia and receiving a murderous look in return. The coven needed to go invest some time in group bonding… but not at the cabin in the woods.
“Zoe Linden, you will answer for your crimes in a court of law. Detective Admiral, you can come out now!” I called.
A moment later the detective himself walked down the stairs. “Zoe Linden, you are under arrest for the murder of Bridgette Spellsworth. You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.” He walked over to Zoe with his handcuffs out. “Everything you have confessed to has been recorded and can be used as evidence against you.”
Zoe’s eyes flashed with contempt. “I’m not going with him.” She smirked and gave me a triumphant look, believing I’d proved my weakness by involving the police.
I saw her magic fan out and form up around her when she started to mutter the spell. It sounded like a curse, but I was too busy reaching for my own magic to work out what it did. At the same moment she flung her hands forwards, throwing her magic at the detective, I swung down on the cloud of purple with the gladius sword I’d conjured. I watched it absorb Zoe’s magic, making it disappear.
The detective stared at the sword… as did the rest of the coven.
“I thought she was going to attack you. It’s just a decorative one. It hangs on the wall,” I said, gesturing vaguely to the kitchen cabinets behind me.
“Right,” the detective said, not making eye contact with me.
Zoe was so surprised by my act of magic, she allowed herself to be handcuffed. I took the opportunity to smile back at her. I wasn’t the weak high priestess she’d mistakenly believed.
The supernatural and inexplicable elements of this case had made it a tough one to get proof for - beyond the murder weapon that I’d found. There wasn’t even any evidence of blackmail, because Zoe had never paid up. That was why I’d needed to force a confession that could be recorded.
Zoe thought she’d been confessing to her coven to receive witch justice, but really, she’d been confessing to the police. I only hoped the detective would be able to cut the deal with her that we’d planned. Whilst the tape contained a confession I was sure no one would doubt, when paired with the murder weapon and anything that could be recovered from it, it would also raise a lot of questions - including questions about the coven and possible insanity.
Detective Admiral had agreed to try to get Zoe to plead guilty to Bridgette’s murder for a reduced sentence, and they would forget about the rest. Some secrets were better left buried.
The more I thought about it, the more I understood why witches liked to settle things their own way. The outside world just didn’t understand.
“Those hags got their comeuppance,” Heather muttered, breaking the silence that had settled over the remaining coven members. I knew she was talking about Bridgette and Giselle. She gave me a knowing look. I had the creepy feeling that the psychic witch had been following my own thoughts, but I was surprised to hear her give such a damning opinion of anyone.
“I did what I thought was right,” I said, knowing what she was getting at.
The old witch looked at me, her blue eyes narrowing in thought. “I’m sure that you did,” was all she said.
“Okay, seriously… is no one going to mention the fact that we all just saw her pull a sword out of nowhere?” Adelaide jumped in. “What are you… a party magician?”
“Don’t be a child, Adelaide. It’s her magic,” Heather informed the other witch. “Hazel Salem is not like other witches. That’s why we chose her to be our high priestess.”
“Is it?” I heard someone mutter. I shared their sentiments. Either Heather had known more about my magic than I’d known myself, or she was a master at bluffing and had wanted me in control for another reason. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to find out which it was.
“I can’t believe she invited a man to a coven meeting. My sister was kicked out for trying to do the same thing,” Aurelia announced in carrying tones, making a big show of examining her manicured fingernails.
To my surprise, Heather laughed. “Your sister wasn’t strong enough to keep this coven together. She was due a challenge even before she invited that fool into our inner circle. If anyone wants to challenge Hazel, now is the time to speak up.”
I looked around the room. No one met my gaze. If the same thing had happened even a day before my witch trial, I would have been in deep trouble, but a lot had changed in a short amount of time… and I had a feeling that the changes were only just beginning. In fact, it was time I made some of my own.
“Do you think we should rat each other out to the police whenever someone steps out of line? Or is that just your privilege as the detective’s little lapdog?” Aurelia sniped.
I looked at her. “Crime is crime, no matter who commits it. Zoe’s actions are a great example of what happens when the group becomes divided and pits witch against witch. I’ve been on the wrong side of this coven before, and it is that which makes me say we could all do with thinking a little more before we act. All of us,” I repeated, definitely including myself in that judgement. “This coven was betrayed by Zoe and witches are not above the law. I know what witch justice demands, but I refuse to be an executioner when there’s another way to get justice.” I looked around, daring anyone to contradict me.
Aurelia snorted. “Urgh. As if this coven couldn’t get any more boring. Let me tell you exactly what I think of our so-called leader-ARGH!” The rest of her words were lost in a scream when a black shadow fell through the ceiling and landed on her head, clawing like a beast gone mad.
Hemlock would later tell me that he’d been upstairs snooping in my spell book again, trying to find a way to make himself fly. He’d messed up the spell and had dissolved the floor beneath him. He’d clawed Aurelia because he’d thought he was going to drop right down to the centre of the earth.
Even though he’d wanted me to know that it wasn’t a favour, because he definitely didn’t do favours for free, it hadn’t stopped me from cracking open a can of tuna when the dust had settled and the witches had left.
It was late at night when the detective returned. I’d expected him to come back after catching the killer, but I’d imagined it would be the next day when he visited to tie up all of the loose ends.
“Did everything go okay with Zoe?” I asked, suddenly worried that she’d managed to do something terrible to him, even after I’d whipped out a sword.
“She
went quietly after you stepped in, and she agreed to make the deal. You’re off the hook with the recording. I’m so glad it’s all over… and relieved that it was a witch all along. I was dreading having to turn the investigation on the Witchwood shifters and maybe trigger a turf war. It would have risked all kinds of questions from the others on the force, too,” the detective said, before a light frown creased his forehead. “That sword wasn’t actually hanging on your kitchen wall, was it? My brain tells me it was, but…”
“It wasn’t,” I confirmed for him. I knew all about the non-magical mind making logical excuses for things.
“Right. Well… thanks. I know it was an unorthodox move, but I have a feeling you saved me from something nasty.” He looked sideways at me with his grey eyes.
I smiled. “Unorthodox is what I do best. I’m glad we were on the same page this time. Speaking of pages…” I pulled out a notebook. “How about an exclusive post-killer catching interview?” I was only half-joking.
“Maybe later. I actually came here because I don’t think we’ve covered everything in this case.”
In hindsight, Detective Admiral even vaguely agreeing to give me an interview should have set alarm bells ringing, but it had been a long night already, and the second sentence hooked me in.
“What is it? Did we miss something?”
Sean nodded, but despite my best efforts, he didn’t explain. And that was how I found myself crouching behind the bushes close to the town hall with the detective, wondering what the heck I was doing there.
I was about to tell Detective Admiral to explain himself, or I’d start pulling out weapons, when something finally happened. A door at the side of the town hall opened and the mayor walked out onto the lawn.
Sean smiled a dreamy sort of smile. “Right on time.”
I watched Gareth Starbright stride towards our hiding place. Just when I thought we were going to be pulled out of the bushes, or stranger still, joined there by the mayor, a second person appeared from the small woods that the hall backed onto.
“Who is that?” I muttered, not recognising the shadowy figure of a woman. She definitely wasn’t from Wormwood.
“Do we have a deal?” the mayor said without any preamble.
“Have you agreed to the terms?” the mystery woman replied.
The mayor thrust a sheet of parchment paper towards her. “It’s all here with my signature at the bottom. I hope you don’t intend to double-cross me the way your associate did.”
“We work alone. My deal is with you.”
“Right. Of course,” the mayor said, gesturing that the other woman should accept the piece of paper. “When will this all be over?”
“When the time is right.”
The mayor shook his head. “How convenient. I mean what I say about not double-crossing me. The last one who tried it is going to regret it very soon indeed.”
“We have a deal, Mr Starbright. I am bound by it, and so are you. The same applies to all deals made.”
“We’ll see about that,” the mayor said. I saw his fist clench.
“That is your business. Enjoy your deal, Mr Starbright. While it lasts.” The mystery woman smiled and tilted her head in such a way that I saw her face for the first time… and her amber eyes. The next second she was gone, disappearing into a swirling mass of shadows - as if I’d needed any more help in drawing the parallels between Jesse Heathen and this mystery deal-maker.
“What am I doing here?” I heard the detective mutter.
I turned to him in surprise to find he was trying to push himself to his feet… and into view of the mayor. “Stay down!” I warned him, feeling certain that to be caught now would mean total disaster. The mayor may not have murdered Bridgette Spellsworth, but he was up to something fishy…
“Why are we crouching behind bushes? Are we near the town hall?”
I focused on Detective Admiral properly… and then I saw it - the last few traces of gold leaking out of his eyes and away into nothing. “You were glamoured,” I said, finally putting the pieces together.
“I have to go,” Detective Admiral announced just as the mayor disappeared back into the town hall. “I have a murder suspect to question and a ton of paperwork. I shouldn’t be out here.”
I opened my mouth to say something to stop him, but the truth was, I didn’t want him to be mixed up in any of this. Even though he knew about the hidden world that existed, in spite of his inability to see it, it didn’t feel fair to bring him in to any of this. As much as I’d recently started to change my mind about the detective, there were bridges between us that had been burned, and I wasn’t sure they would ever be rebuilt.
And maybe that’s for for the best, I thought, watching him walk away. If bringing him into this meant he got manipulated, I wanted him to stick to the normal world of normal criminals.
“This is ridiculous,” I said, thinking about the mayor sneaking around and all of the strange and suspicious deals he seemed to be cutting. I could continue snooping and hope to hear a snatch or two of something that might prove useful, or I could march into the town hall and say something like ‘tell me the truth, or I start pulling weapons out of thin air’. I may as well use my magical talent for something productive.
“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you,” a voice came from the lawn behind me.
I turned around, unsurprised to see Kieran standing there. After all - he was surely the one who’d glamoured the detective into bringing me out here. The question was, why?
“You brought me here so I would hear the mayor making some kind of deal. I’m just finding out the truth,” I said.
“By beating it out of him?” Kieran smirked. “I thought you were more subtle than that.”
I stuck my hands on my hips. “I’m just fed up with people lying.”
“I wouldn’t lie to you. Vampires don’t lie.”
“Fine. Avoiding the truth. It’s basically the same thing.”
His lips curved up into a real smile. “Believe it or not, I’m doing you a favour. You should know what the guy in charge of running this town is up to. He’s not the man you think he is.”
“The same could be said for a lot of people around here. I don’t suppose you’re going to enlighten me? Why have you been having so many meetings with him? You have your own deal going on, am I right? And it’s something to do with Jesse Heathen.”
The vampire looked down at the ground before meeting my eyes again. “My contract with the mayor has reached its conclusion. Think of this as community service.” There was a glint in his eye that I instinctively knew to distrust.
“I think you wanted me here to see something that would make me jump to conclusions.”
Kieran raised his eyebrows. “And did it?”
“No. Why do you think I’m about to go in and interrogate the mayor? I want real answers.”
Kieran moved faster than my eyes could follow. Suddenly he was in front of me, blocking my way into the hall. “Think about what you saw. You already know the answer. You just don’t want to admit it, perhaps even to yourself.”
I looked him dead in the eye. “I don’t trust you.”
“That’s because you’re smart, but that doesn’t change the fact that I like you.” Kieran’s eyes narrowed slightly when he said it. I wondered if it was true that vampires didn’t lie. I wasn’t going to stake anything on it.
Kieran moved closer, close enough that I felt his hands on my waist and the warmth his body gave off. Something about that surprised me. “Is it so unbelievable? You’re like a shining star in this dull town. I’m just amazed that no one else has seen it.”
I looked up at him. “Nice try. I think you’re as in the thick of it as everyone else in this town. I can’t shake the feeling that you’re using me for something…”
“That’s because he is,” another voice said from the shadows next to the town hall.
18
A Familiar Face
In the blink of an eye Kieran’s
hands were off my waist and around my throat. All of the pretend warmth had gone from his eyes. Instead, I was opposite a coldblooded killer, who would achieve his aims by any means necessary.
“I thought this might work to get you out of the shadows,” Kieran said, turning slightly to face Jesse. He kept his hands where they were.
I couldn’t believe I’d been stupid enough to let him get so close to me. I felt my magic boiling, but the chances of getting some kind of weapon into my hands and through the vampire before he could snap my neck seemed minuscule, and he knew it.
“Don’t even try,” he muttered, whilst still looking at Jesse.
“You’ve got me right where you want me. Why don’t you let her go, and we can settle this the way you want to settle it?” Jesse said, slowly raising his hands. He was playing it cool, but I could see in his eyes that he was more serious than I’d ever seen him before.
“I think I’m holding all the cards. Or in this case, the girl,” Kieran said, looking coolly back at him. “It’s nothing personal. An old friend of yours wanted me to prove that you took advantage of the terms of their deal. You know the consequences of doing that.”
“My old friend is no stranger to a double-cross himself. I’m guessing he forgot to tell you that the deal he made with me wasn’t his first? He forgot to tell me that, too.” Jesse kept his hands in his pockets, but I noticed him shift just a couple of millimetres forwards. Judging by the quirk of Kieran’s mouth he’d seen it, too.
“That is not my area of interest. I do a job for the powers that be, and I collect my bounty. That’s it. Or at least, it was… until I found something interesting.” Kieran looked from me to Jesse. “It’s obvious that you’re attached to Hazel for some reason, but it took me way too long to figure out why. Now I think I know. The colour of her eyes, weird things happening around her… the question is, have you told her yet?” Kieran grinned a pointed smile.