Broad Daylight (The Veiled World Chronicles Book 1)

by LJ Rivers

  “I think so. Maybe.” His forehead creased in thought as he scratched at the stubble on his chin, and part of me was happy to find I wasn’t the only one with questions. “Is that why Camryn didn’t turn?”

  That caught my attention. Turn into what?

  “A vampire’s teeth are a part of them,” Saga continued, “like the wildcat is a part of Nova. As the toxin that turns a person into a vampire is magically activated, it stands to reason Camryn wouldn’t be affected by it. Besides, vampires rarely turn anyone these days, Leon, you know that.”

  “They rarely drink from unwilling humans anymore, either. Historically, those kinds of feedings usually involve siring a youngling.”

  “It’s more likely he simply wanted to taste her blood. There are still rogues out there who feed on unwilling humans, who have no interest in siring. In either case, magic isn’t really something to be understood, but we can usually make sense of how it works, even if we don’t always know exactly why it does.”

  “It’s just … the way he latched onto her. It seemed like he wanted more than a taste.”

  I kept petting the … werecat … a while longer, trying to make my brain catch up with what my eyes were seeing. The phrase ’I believe it when I see it’ didn’t quite hold water because I was still having serious trouble believing any of it. At the same time, I couldn’t deny what I’d seen. My attacker, his eyes, speed, teeth. And now Nova. It was impossible, yet I found myself starting to think it might all be true. That, or my kidnappers had injected some pretty crazy drugs into my system.

  I inhaled sharply and caught Saga’s probing gaze. “I have so many questions. Say I believe you, say magic is real, and that there are witches, werecats and—” I swallowed before saying the word I could hardly make myself think. “Vampires.” I exhaled, but I had to know. “Then what else is out there?”

  That brought a smile to Saga’s lips. “For starters, werewolves. In truth, most creatures with magic have witch blood in one form or another, save for the vampires, which is why I have an obligation to the wolves and the cats, as well as my witches. The wolves still answer to their Alpha, and the cats to their Solis, but they, in turn, report to me. As for the vampires, they don’t answer to me directly. You could say we live in a somewhat shaky truce with their kind, though Ursula and I are on more or less friendly terms.”

  “Hold up. I’m just trying to process this. There’s a lot of information to take in all at once.” The werecat arched her back underneath my touch, and I took to scratching behind her ears.

  “My apologies,” Saga said. “It’s rare for someone with witch blood to not be aware they have it. Of course, there are those with a very small spark of magic in their veins who never learn to use it, or are aware they even have a trace of it, but for those with true power, it would be nigh on impossible to hide.”

  Trying to piece everything together, I decided to go back to my main area of interest. “I’m guessing since I’m a, what did you call it, a shield witch?”

  Saga inclined her head, and I picked up my train of thought.

  “I have no active magic of my own, so there was never any chance that I would accidentally use magic and discover this for myself.” I had no idea how any of this worked, but it sounded plausible enough, didn’t it? I looked from Saga to Leon and back again. The two of them shrugged, but it was Leon who answered.

  “From your file, we were able to trace your mother back to a coven in Scotland. She specialized in scrying, like Sigmund—what we call a revealer witch—so you didn’t inherit your shield ability from her, and being a shield kind of cancels out any chance of you having other abilities. As for your father, we weren’t able to find much. Which is rare.” He added that last part as an afterthought, as if realizing he shouldn’t have mentioned there was stuff they couldn’t find out. It didn’t matter, I was way past that now. “It makes sense that he is a shield—like you. We’re not sure what happened or why he disappeared, though.”

  “Listen,” Saga cut in, “I know this is a lot to throw at you, but I think it’s important you should know at least some of your history. If you don’t mind.”

  I waved a hand at her and slumped further back into the soft cushion.

  She plucked a juniper-colored herb from one of the jars on the shelves and went to crouch by the hearth, proceeding to grind the herb between her fingertips, sprinkling it into the cauldron. I rose from my seat and squatted beside her.

  “A long time ago, the shields were hunted. There was a war more than two centuries ago, which was supposed to have wiped out all of your kind. There was a lot of talk about all shield covens being summoned to France. Later, I recall my clan leader at the time informing us about how the shield witches were no more, though I don’t know exactly how it unfolded. I resided in Iceland and wasn’t a clan leader back then, so I didn’t get involved in the politics of it—especially not the goings-on in Europe—but I do remember the rumors. About twenty years back, I heard about a possible shield witch living in Prague for a while, but he vanished before I could verify his existence.”

  “I’m sorry.” I held my hand up again, feeling like I was back in my makeshift classroom taking algebra, which I still didn’t really understand. “Two hundred years ago? How old are you exactly?” I was under the impression that she was younger than me, and now she claimed to be old as dirt?

  “Oh, I can’t really recall the exact year. I was born in Iceland in the sixteenth century, though. My longevity is a part of my gifts, you see. All witches have a prolonged life expectancy compared to humans, due to the magic in our blood, but it’s uncommon for anyone to live past a hundred and fifty. I have the rare ability to transform energy into, well, life.” The fire flickered, showering her skin in orange hues. “The way it works with all witches is that we rely on the surrounding energy to perform magic, taking something to gain something else. For me, I can take the life essence from a bird or a stag, or even from an ant, adding years to my life in exchange for theirs. I can surely die, mind you, I’m not invulnerable, but I have avoided getting killed thus far.” She smiled wryly.

  My head was spinning, and I plopped down on my ass. I mean, my mind had been sort of spiraling for a while now, but I was beginning to get a sense of information overload. “I think I need to let this simmer, if that’s all right?”

  She studied me for a long minute. “As I told you earlier, any witch in my territory needs to be accounted for, and as long as you’re here, you report to me. While you have no active magic, you are still a witch, and judging by your file, you have extensive training and experience that could be of use to me. In addition to that, you already know Petra, and I need to find out if the attack last night was meant for her or you, or if it was a random assault. The latter is highly doubtful, and if either of you were the target, I need to know if Ursula sanctioned it, or if any of her vampires have gone rogue. Best-case scenario, I have at least one vampire in my city who isn’t supposed to be here. Worst-case … there’s a war coming.”

  I rubbed my temples, then pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’m still not sure what you want from me.”

  She stood, held out a hand, and helped me to my feet. “I know all my witches and their abilities, apart from yours. It would be beneficial to know the extent of your power, so I can get an understanding of what place you might find in my clan. Every witch who is not a shifter needs a coven, and I’ll have to consider what the best fit would be. For you and the covens. You’ll need a strong Prime—a coven leader—and careful guidance.”

  “You said it yourself, I have no active powers. Is there really anything else to know?”

  “Ah, but you see, magic can be surprising like that, and there had to be a reason your kind was hunted down. If you didn’t pose a threat to anyone, no one would be batting an eyelash, yet the shield witches found themselves at war.” Before I could ask a follow-up question, Saga touched Leon’s arm and something shifted in his syrupy eyes, as if there was some kind of communica
tion happening between them that the rest of us weren’t privy to. “Leon will take you home for the night, and the two of you will start your investigation in the morning.”

  I rested my hands on the back of the armchair. “Investigation? Me?”

  “You got something better to do?”

  She had me there. “But I’m not an investigator.”

  “Yet you’ve been trained to spot threats, look for disturbances, read body language. The list goes on.” She sighed. “We both know you’re out of a job at the moment. And not to worry, I’ll pay you for your services. If you prove to be as skilled as your file suggests, I might hire you again. Besides, now that you know magic exists, don’t you want to learn more?” She smoothed down her long skirt and went back to the shelves, picking up a mortar. “Leon will help you navigate our world. I bid you a good night, Camryn.” She continued to pluck items from the various jars as Leon put a hand on the small of my back to show me out.

  Nova meowed and Sigmund waved her to the open doors. She bounced happily away and pranced into the growing dusk.

  Maybe it was all a dream, and I would wake up any second. I doubted I would have any luck.

  Chapter Six

  Leon showed me to a different car from the one I had arrived in. It was one of those newer, fancy electrical ones, but I had never really been good with vehicles, and my knowledge of them extended mainly to which I liked the look of and how to fill the tank. So for this car, all I really knew was that it was a deep blue with the standard five seats and a big trunk, and that I was likely to ruin the engine if I tried filling the tank with gas. Come to think of it, I would have a hard time finding a hole for the fuel pump hose. On any other day, I would at least have taken the time to figure out what make it was, but I was simply too fried.

  Leon let me ride in the front. He didn’t bind my wrists, blindfold me, or restrain me in any way, and I was grateful for it. He took a sharp right turn away from Saga’s property, giving me a cursory glance.

  “I owe you an apology,” he grumbled. “I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”

  I grimaced, the almost kidnapping having become the furthest from my mind. “There were definitely other options, but I get it. Kind of. Plus, I’m thinking this makes us even after what I did to your nose, which, by the way, looks completely healed already.” And now that I was looking at it, I realized the bend on his nose had been there from the start and had nothing to do with my fist. “Besides, Saga is your boss, right? So you had to report to her about me. Trust me, I get the concept of chain of command, plus I wasn’t making it easy for you by storming off earlier.”

  He briefly touched his healed nose, mirroring me. “We’ve got a great coven of convaler witches. They’re few, but powerful.” Seeing my puzzled expression, he added, “They’re sort of like magical healers. And again, I truly am sorry about my part in this. You must have thought I was some crazy stalker.” His lips turned upwards at one side, and I soaked him in, unable to help myself. The man oozed something raw and sensual I didn’t entirely understand. A faint scar I hadn’t noticed before split his upper lip. He looked like a black version of Joaquin Phoenix, though less tortured than his interpretation of Johnny Cash. Not your typical model type of handsome, but charismatic in his own way.

  “I thought you might have escaped from a straitjacket and needed to be tied down.” I gave a short laugh and fell back in my seat as if all the air had suddenly gone out of me. It had been a very long day. “I’m going to drill you with questions tomorrow, partner.” I stifled a yawn and closed my eyes. While I hadn’t accepted Saga’s proposal, neither had I turned her down, and she didn’t exactly leave much room for an objection. Besides that, I had to admit I was curious, not to mention out of a job. At least, I had been. Now, I was hired to partner with an empath, investigating a bona fide vampire attack. Imagine that.

  “I’d expect nothing less. You have a lot to learn, mon sorcière silencieuse.”

  I opened one eye. “My French is a little rusty, but did you just call me a silent witch?”

  “I did.” He was smiling wholeheartedly now, and though I was beat, I forced myself to stay awake a little longer.

  “Why?”

  “Because, with you, there is no noise.” His hands slid down the steering wheel before taking a firmer grip again. “I’m an empath, Camryn. I know you’ve been told a lot of things tonight, so I don’t expect you to—“

  “No, I’m good, I want to know.”

  “Well, as an empath, I feel everything, every emotion and sometimes intentions of others. I have learned to control it more over the years, but there is always this kind of hum from people, even when I shut out their true emotions. With you, there’s nothing, just peace and calme. I’ve never had that before, and I must say it’s refreshing. It’s why I knew something was different about you from the moment we met. I didn’t mean to come off as a creep, but touching you was the only way to make sure you were the cause of the silence.”

  It was a good thing that he couldn’t sense how I was feeling when I looked at him then, because there was a definite butterfly storm going on in my stomach. Granted, he was a little intimidating, but now that I knew he wasn’t a total loon, I was able to look at him like a regular man. Only, he was neither regular nor just a man, but an empath witch. My world had taken a one-eighty, and all I could do was eyeball the man across from me.

  “We’re almost there,” he said, pulling me out of my hormone blitz.

  “Hell’s bells.” I sat up, remembering the destruction I had unwillingly left behind. “What about my door? Your crew back there broke it.”

  “That was Nova. Werecats are incredibly strong, even in human form, and much stronger than their animal counterparts. Don’t worry, though, she explained it to me when she drove you to Saga’s. It’s been taken care of.”

  “Oh, OK, good. That door was expensive.” Not that I had paid for it myself. When I had asked Edwin about upping my security, he had taken it upon himself to fund my entire system, including the door. I owed my guardian so much. A debt I could never repay but would spend the rest of my life trying to redeem, nonetheless.

  Leon’s shoulders squared as he straightened his back. “I know you work as a bodyguard, but what exactly is it you need guarding against? No one with an average income would have anything like what you’ve installed.”

  I shrugged, not really knowing the answer. “Edwin taught me to be cautious. I mean, I don’t really have any enemies. Not that I know of. Though I suppose there’s a lot I didn’t know.”

  “He was protecting you from something. Maybe you should ask him. Now that you know what you are, he may be able to shed some light on the rest of the puzzle.”

  “You think he knows?” That thought had briefly passed my mind, but I didn’t want it to be true, so I had pushed it away. Saying it aloud made the possibility all the more real. Did Edwin know about magic? About me? Surely not. If only he would call me back. I had completely forgotten about the missed calls to my uncle during my meeting with Saga. Now, I scrambled to find my phone, which was thankfully still in the phone pocket in my jacket. Nothing. Not even a text. My earlier thoughts about him having a life of his own fled, replaced by a ball of growing worry in my gut. This wasn’t like Edwin at all.

  Clutching the phone in my hands, I stared blankly at the road ahead. “So, who are we talking to tomorrow?”

  “We have a few stops, but I think the pride is first on our list.”

  “Pride? As in the parade?” I said sheepishly. My people skills were sorely lacking, and I blamed my dry humor on the absence of peers when growing up.

  “The parade is in about a month from now if you have the need to celebrate. I was referring to the werecats.”

  “Ah, them. I should have known. Did you say Petra is one of them? I wonder why these werecats would hire me.”

  He dipped his chin. “That’s partly what we should ask Rosamund about. She’s the Solis of the pride. The equivalent to an Alp
ha,” he added helpfully. “If the pride hired you, it was on her orders or, at the very least, her approval.”

  “And after that?”

  “Well, we should have gone tonight, but,” he waved a hand at me, “it’s better we wait and see Ursula tomorrow. She’s the queen vampire of Germany.”

  “Queen? Really?” It sounded utterly insane.

  “Really. And they take rank very seriously.”

  “Wait, your leaders are all women?” I shook myself to stay awake, silently chastising my own prejudice. Why wouldn’t the leaders be women? I had never thought of myself as a sexist, but part of me had assumed the leader of the vampires had to be male. I hadn’t had a lot of time to process the thought, but still.

  “All except for the wolf Alpha, Albrecht, though his mate runs the pack as much as he does. Women have a different place in the veiled world than they do in human society.”

  The veiled world. “Cool.” I didn’t know what else to say, so I exhaled heavily as I rested my head against the window. My mind couldn’t process everything I had learned in the space of less than twenty-four hours, and though I had a thousand more questions, this wasn’t the time. Hopefully, this investigation I had been assigned—more like forced into, I supposed—would help me piece it all together.

  We drove in silence the rest of the way until Leon parked the car outside my building. “Do you want me to walk you to your door?”

  I hesitated, then shook my head. There were too many layers to his question, intentional or not, and I could take care of myself. Mostly. Deciding not to dwell on the fact that I had managed to get myself kidnapped, I plastered a confident smile on my face. If I didn’t convince myself, maybe I could fool him.

  “Very well. And before I forget.” He shifted in his seat and brought out my pocketknife from his jeans pocket and gave it to me. “I believe this is yours. You’ve got a new door, as I said, but you’ll need a new key and alarm system.” Next, he reached into his coat pocket and produced a keychain with four keys on it, handing it to me. “Don’t worry, I’ll have my guy install it within a couple of days. For now, though, you’ll have to settle for old-fashioned locks. Oh, and don’t be alarmed if you see a couple of guys hanging out in a red van outside. I’m sending someone to watch your building for a while, just to be safe.”