Wizard Hall Chronicles Box Set

by Sheryl Steines

  We should have brought our team in. Annie sighed softly.

  “We know this area.” Fabien continued to speak in a condescending tone as if Annie and Spencer were stepping on the toes of the French Wizard Guard. They understood the boundaries between the Wizard Guard units. Staking a vampire was one thing, but keeping secret the murder of several nonmagicals crossed that line of proper protocol.

  “We must send someone to Platja d’Aro. We must clean that mess before it gets out.” He exhaled deeply at the inconvenience.

  Fabien dialed his phone, speaking in rapid French. Before he had a chance to hang up the phone, a female wizard guard, short like Annie and also with long curly brown hair, teleported to the cubicle. She gracefully entered and stood beside the desk, offering the visitors a quick crack of a smile that was neither friendly or angry. Annie smiled in return, assuming this would be the officer meant to clean up the mess. She observed the girl carefully almost as an adversary. She first noted the same pin on her lapel, but secondly, she couldn’t help but notice that when the girl tensed when she saw Louis; her palms balled into tight fists before she relaxed and let go.

  She knows him? Woman with brown hair?

  “Marielle, this is Annie and Spencer, our American counterparts. They brought along the vampire Sturtagaard and a nonmagical, and they might be in trouble.”

  For ease, Fabien explained to Marielle in French. Though Annie didn’t understand the conversation, she was well aware of their body language and tone.

  He thinks we screwed up.

  Marielle nodded obediently, glanced at the visitors with caution and again directed a long gaze at Louis before turning her attention back to her instructions.

  “I have my team available. We will go to the house and deal with the bodies.” She nodded once to Fabien and bowed to Annie and Spencer before leaving the cubicle; her last look was on Louis. Annie and Spencer exchanged glances.

  “If the bodies have already been discovered, we take care of memory modification,” he said and clapped his hands together. Turning in his chair, he cleared his desk and unfurled a map of France.

  “Let us see here.” He circled the town of Dinan and the location of the Van Alton mansion, the seaside cottage in Platja d’Aro, as well as Paris, where the princess was first discovered. “Now you said she had gone to the Amborix castle. Your Grand Marksman, he’s managed to contact the Amborix Witches Council then?” Fabien unfurled another map of Amborix and circled the location of the castle.

  Annie scrolled through her texts. “Yes. The Amborix Wizard Guard has briefed them; they’ve been on the phone with Ryan Connelly. They’re fully aware of the situation and are dealing with the death of the queen.” Annie’s hands shook.

  How did this get so out of control?

  She scrolled through her email, assessing the content for new material. “There’s nothing new as of yet. We do appreciate your help with the princess. She’s been slippery, and we simply need to deal with her. The rest of this mess, we’ll clean up.”

  Fabien glanced at his counterparts, resting his chin in his hands. “I should think you’ve handled it enough. We can take it from here. Stake the princess. Handle any of the fallout.”

  Annie balled her hand into a tightly wound fist and bit her tongue as to not speak without thinking. Sturtagaard snickered behind her.

  “I appreciate your willingness to help,” she started cautiously. “But the murder of the princess was my case and it still is.” She paused for a moment, glared at Sturtagaard before beginning again. “What we are asking of you is your help in capturing and killing the vampire formerly known as Princess Amelie Maxillian of Amborix. We require nothing else from you, and we will be with you in this mission.” She summoned the written request and handed the scroll to Fabien. While he read the carefully worded request, she took a deep breath, dispelling some of her wayward energy. “If you need further explanation please contact Milo Rawley to discuss.”

  She and Spencer exchanged glances both aware that bringing in the French Wizard Guard may not have been the smartest idea.

  I should have brought in my own team, consequences or not.

  The Wizard Guard units all over the world had no problem working with each other until someone issued anything that remotely seemed like an order to the host country’s Wizard Guard. Annie knew this would not go over well.

  Amborix is not their issue.

  “So you are issuing orders in France then, eh?” Fabien countered.

  “We’ll continue to deal with the Amborix Witches Council, the royal family, and the government of Amborix,” Spencer reiterated.

  “But Amelie is in France,” Fabien reminded them.

  “We’re here as a courtesy,” Annie said. “We need the manpower to help us find and kill Amelie. That is what we need in this country. Don’t make this a pissing contest.” She had the backing of the American Wizard Council, which had been the largest in the world for many centuries. Somehow that gave Annie a sense that the American Wizard Council was indeed bullying the smaller French unit.

  But Amborix isn’t an issue for France to deal with, she thought, justifying her actions.

  Fabien puffed up his chest. “I’ll contact the Wizard Guard of Amborix for, shall we say, clarification. We will direct all efforts from here. And let you join us.”

  “First, if you do that, we will contact our Wizard Council of which I am a member. We’re here because nothing in Amelie’s autopsy jumped out at me to think she was killed with anything other than the murder curse. I observed no track marks on her wrists, feet, knees, or neck. That is our mistake, and it is our responsibility to fix. Do not make this more difficult than it already is. She’s out loose and killing as far as we know. Three people were brutally murdered in France. I have the bodies of two more we found in her coffin in Amborix. That doesn’t take into consideration countless victims for food. Please help us stop her.”

  Behind her Sturtagaard grunted. The three wizard guards turned toward him. “Wanna go home, jackass, keep inserting those comments,” Annie warned.

  This made Fabien crack a smile, a small one. His eyes grew less hostile as he sat back in his chair. “What can we do to help you?” he asked, almost conceding.

  Annie returned to the map of France and stared at the circled locations where Amelie had been. “Louis, come here, please.” She handed him a red pen. “Circle all family locations.” He bent over the map, carefully drawing rings around the family holdings throughout France. His handcuffs jingled as he reached across the map.

  “Can you run a report on any Van Alton family holdings in France? We should verify these locations and see if there are any others that Louis may not be aware of. Actually, when you run that report, we should have a list of all Amborix royal family residences as well. Any other thoughts, Sturtagaard?”

  The vampire strolled over, his neck stiff in the collar. When he bent over the map, he folded his tall lean body from the waist for a better look.

  “As a new vampire, she has not totally adapted to hiding in crappy places. I expect this is a good place to start. Might you have anything from Amelie to scry for her?” He stood back up.

  Annie summoned the inside lining of Amelie’s coffin. “I can scry, but we’ll need that list of homes,” she said.

  Fabien pursed his lips. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have the ability to pull what you want.”

  “No computer unit, telecommunications?” Annie asked.

  “No, I am sorry,” Fabien said with a shake of his head. “We are mostly magical here. No unit as you describe. I see you utilize other means to find what you want. I fear we might be of no use to you at all.” His eyes diverted as he glanced at his messy desk. “You will need your Wizard Hall for help, I’m afraid.”

  Annie thought he might be actually sorry that they wouldn’t be able to help as completely as Annie and Spencer would need. “We still need your assistance. Believe me. We’ve been with her twice already, and she’s managed to esc
ape. She beat us to the triple murder. We need help. But I think we’ll take a bit of the lead and get moving on locations.”

  Fabien sighed. “Yes. I believe we are not up to your standards.” He offered a wan, tired smile. “But we will assist with what you need. Can I pull a team together for you?”

  “Trackers would be great. Skilled vampire fighters would also be helpful.” Annie turned to Sturtagaard. “How familiar are you with vampire locations in France?”

  “Enough. I can give you possible locations. Scry for her. See if she appears,” Fabian suggested.

  Annie held the lining in her palm, wrapped the scrying crystal around her balled fist, and let it swing wildly. She moved the contraption across the map from northern France to southern France. Amelie wasn’t there.

  She summoned a map of Amborix and started the process again. Just as it did with France, the scrying crystal hung in her hand and swayed without dropping on a location.

  “Any other locations outside of France that your family owned, Louis?” Annie asked. His jaw hung open in surprise as she summoned another map. It materialized before them.

  He shook his head.

  “Okay. Next plan,” Annie said as she looked at Spencer who nodded in agreement though they hadn’t said a word between them. Annie placed a call.

  “Hey, Bucky, it’s Annie.”

  “Annie Pearce, how’s the vampire hunt going?”

  She explained briefly the finding of the princess and the subsequent losing of the princess. “So can you pull up anything on the properties owned by the Van Alton family, past and present, as well as the royal family of Amborix? I have a feeling she might go to family homes, older, run-down, abandoned.”

  “No problem, Annie. Milo said you’re the priority. Give me a half hour,” he said.

  “Thanks, Bucky.”

  “Okay?” Spencer asked. Annie nodded and surreptitiously pointed a finger toward Fabien, who was on a French phone call. Spencer shrugged. Louis had a smile on his face.

  “He doesn’t like us much, does he?” Annie asked him.

  “Not so much,” Louis responded. “He thinks you are, shall I say, pretentious.” He raised his eyebrows. Annie shrugged.

  When Fabien finished with his conversation, he glanced at Annie with a sheepish grin. “I will have two trackers. When you find the princess, you will have access to whomever you need.”

  “Do you have a conference room?”

  “Follow me.”

  Chapter 19

  Marielle Beauchamp slithered into Platje d’Aro across the sea. The house was as Annie from America had described it, except the house had been blanketed now in darkness and the stench of death found its way throughout the old home.

  “Oh my goodness,” Marielle cried. She covered her nose and mouth, and her face grew pale.

  “This vampire sends a message,” Roland, her partner, said as he entered the room and unfurled the first body bag.

  Marielle assisted lifting the Van Alton victim into the bag, stretching it around the slight man, also named Louis Van Alton.

  “This must be that other Louis Van Alton’s uncle,” Marielle suggested. Roland simply nodded.

  “Did they check for vampirism?” Roland asked as they laid the man inside.

  “Most likely not. They missed the princess. I don’t trust them,” Marielle said. She took out her holy water and let it drip on the man’s face. He lay there, still dead.

  She zipped up the plastic bag before moving on to his wife, Marguerite. Smaller and more petite, she fit easily into the bag. Again they dropped holy water on exposed skin before securing her inside, leaving the final victim, —a young girl of twelve years old, Elizabeth Van Alton.

  “So young,” Marielle said, dropping holy water on the girl before closing up the last zipper.

  “The Americans should have called us first, no?” Roland asked.

  “I suppose it wouldn’t have mattered. The vampire was too fast, and we’re too slow,” she commented as they lay the last body near the door, the three bags laid out in a neat row.

  “How is that even possible? She must have had help,” he suggested. Marielle shrugged.

  They surveyed the rest of the room, examining the dark bloodstains across the large Aubusson rug that covered the majority of the floor.

  “I don’t think a spell can remove that,” Roland surmised.

  “No. I think we shrink it and burn it back at the office,” Marielle said. She knelt beside the edge of the finely crafted rug. Her hand grazed the strong edge; the spell shrunk it inward, until all that was left was a tiny square. She placed it in a plastic bag and shoved it in a field pack.

  Marielle returned a silk-covered chair upright and examined the fabric for blood or unnatural rips in the material. Roland examined the floor for blood stains.

  With nothing else out of the ordinary, they moved on to the bed that had been torn apart.

  “How did the vampire subdue all three of them to kill them like this?” Roland asked.

  “I don’t know.” Marielle’s hands shook as she rummaged through the heavy bedding searching for blood and seeing none. “I don’t understand how she did this. Maybe the girl was here alone, and Amelie subdued and killed her and then the parents when they came in. However she did it is not important. Killing the vampire is.” Marielle hastily tossed the bedcovers across the lumpy mattress.

  Roland repaired the lamp that had fallen to the floor, leaving no marks or chips. “I think that is everything,” he said as he strode across the room to shrink the victims.

  “I want to check one more thing,” Marielle said as Roland shrunk the bodies and laid them gently in his field pack.

  “What is it?” he asked as Marielle ambled to the desk covered in scattered papers.

  “This abandoned house shouldn’t have so much new paperwork I think,” she said as she read through some of the papers. “I think I shall take these.” She dumped them into a bag. She turned and glanced around the room, which was unrecognizable from when they had first arrived. “I think that is all for here. Now for the police officers in Dinan.”

  They snuck back down the stairs, through the cellar and teleported out of town.

  *

  The cramped conference room could possibly accommodate ten people if necessary, and probably not comfortably. A large table took up most of the space, with small metal chairs stuffed along each side. Annie sucked in a breath as she sat. Though she pushed the chair as far back as she could, she still felt wedged in. She unfurled two maps across the table.

  “It would’ve been embarrassing if he couldn’t come up with this list,” Spencer said as he noted a property in Southern Amborix. Bucky Hart had come through for them, sending them an extensive list which Annie and Spencer split.

  “I had no doubt,” Annie said. “There are a lot of properties belonging to the Van Alton Family Trust. I think I should have Bucky search for any living family,” she commented. “How many do you have for the Royal Family?”

  “There are about thirty locations. I’m almost done. Most of them are around Amborix and open to the public. There’s a few in France and one in Germany. Out of all of them, I’d say there are about ten good hiding locations,” Spencer noted as he circled his last property in green.

  Annie held the coffin lining in her palm and wrapped the scrying crystal around her hand. As it hung above the map, it gently twirled. Annie lifted the crystal and let it swing across both maps in wild turns and twists as it searched for the person belonging to the blood. When the momentum was complete, it hung limply from her hand.

  “She’s got help. You think you can get Louis to spill?” Annie asked.

  “Worth a try. Though now that he’s locked in their prison wing, I’m not sure how helpful he’ll be,” Spencer said. “Just out of curiosity, did you get the impression Marielle knew Louis?”

  “I saw the look she gave him. I didn’t see anything from him. Though I might not have watched him carefully enough. If yo
u want to question him, ask if he knows her,” Annie suggested as she watched her scrying necklace hang in her hand. “Her help has to be magical. Someone’s teleporting her from location to location. And now she’s being cloaked. There’s absolutely no proof other than the fact she’s moving around faster than we are. She shouldn’t be able to do that.”

  “You think it’s someone from here?” Spencer asked as Annie’s ringing phone reverberated throughout the room.

  “Hi,” she answered. “Well?” Her sister Samantha Chamsky was on the other end, and Annie knew it wasn’t going to be a social call.

  “Hi, grumpy. If you worded the request as I suggested, you’re fine. It is your case. You are asking for their help in the capture and staking of one Princess Amelie of Amborix, vampire. They have no control over this, and you acted accordingly.”

  Annie took a deep breath.

  Nothing I didn’t already know. But it’s always nice to have confirmation.

  “Thanks, Sammi. I get the feeling they feel we’ve stepped on their toes.” Annie dropped the scrying crystal necklace on the map.

  “You know how it is. You’d be a little defensive too. Anyway, it’s your case. How’s your head?”

  My head?

  “Long since cured. Even my arm feels better. Mostly I’m tired. We just need to find a way to stop her. I think she has magical help,” Annie said, lowering her voice. Her eyes darted across the room as she searched for possible listening devices.

  “Really? That’s a serious accusation,” Samantha said.

  “It’s a hunch right now. I won’t do anything with it,” Annie reassured her.

  The silence on the other end of the phone meant Samantha had more she wanted to say to Annie but wasn’t going to.

  Annie sighed. “You’re really quiet. Is there something else?” Silence again. Annie glanced at the phone and then at Spencer waiting for information.

  “Just remember, you’re not wrong. International Wizard Law is very specific on how departments should respond to each other. As long as you follow those laws. Put everything in writing, and be clear. You retain the lead; they assist as needed. Just ask nicely,” Samantha said.