Hexed Hit: An Urban Fantasy Mystery (The Lyon Fox Mysteries Book 4)

by Ann Denton

  Flowers stomps off to the living room to help Bennett and the others deal with the house occupants, pumping the Nappies out of their system with one spell, then turning them human with a potion. I get a decent view of it all from the kitchen as I scan the walls and countertops.

  Grasshorse, the tiny grasshopper horse from the cage on the table, turns into a huge black guy with a green mohawk. He’s naked, too. This time, though, I’m not protesting the nudity. Grasshorse is ripped. (Which I hardly notice, BTW. I am a professional.)

  Flowers slaps cuffs on him and carefully recites, “You’re under arrest … using an illegal substance.” (I notice he just skips over the word ‘for’ completely.) “And you need to answer questions in connection with a homicide.”

  “What?” Grasshorse bursts out. “This was my first time here, dude! I didn’t do anything! I didn’t kill nobody.”

  Flowers doesn’t answer, just has another lackey on the force haul the guy to the huge police van purring outside.

  Grasshorse is upset the whole way, trying to convince the other officer he’s innocent. “I just needed to relax, man! My girl’s been stressing me out. Dammit, I need a damn cigarette,” His voice fades as they get farther away. I watch through the front window as Grasshorse takes a seat on the van bench next to a naked chickie pup.

  “We’re gonna need to bleach our van,” I mutter, thinking about all the naked asses that are touching it tonight.

  “How nice that you volunteered,” Flowers says.

  “You’re a camel toe,” I grumble under my breath.

  “What was that?”

  I turn and scan the countertop, trying to act like I don’t hear Flowers.

  It doesn’t work. He comes up behind me. “Want to repeat that, Lyon?” he growls.

  “Not particularly,” I mumble.

  Flowers opens his mouth to cuss me out. At the same time, a furry creature skitters across the kitchen counter. Flowers lunges and grabs it. It looks like a furry black lizard, only the head’s all wrong. It’s—I lean forward to get a better look—got a bear head. A fuzzy lizard with a bear head. A lizard-bear.

  Flowers holds the lizard-bear up triumphantly. “Haha. Got you, you sorry -ucker.” Flower’s lips thin and I can see a vein in his neck throb.

  “I like to substitute in the word duck, personally,” I offer helpfully.

  That just makes Flowers give me the look of death again. Which would normally be way more intimidating, but suddenly the lizard-bear’s tail falls off. It wriggles on the ground like a furry caterpillar.

  Both Flowers and I curl our lips.

  “Gross.” I swear, as cases go, this is turning into the weirdest one yet.

  Flowers marches out of the room with the lizard bear, leaving the wriggling tail for me to deal with. I step carefully around it and I get back to scanning.

  My light hits the cutting board. The red pulse from the milk carton is bright but the red starburst from the knife on the board is nearly blinding.

  “Crepes!” I shield my eyes.

  Bennett runs into the room. “Ly, are you okay?”

  I nod and point at the veggie knife. Some symbols are glowing on the side of it. Not just runes. But a complicated-looking magical equation full of numbers and symbols. “Commander, I think I found the murder weapon.”

  Bennett shields his eyes and looks at the knife. “Definitely looks hexed. Nice work.”

  I pull an evidence baggy out the toolbox Flowers carried in here and I bag the knife. I’m about to write on the baggie when someone nearly bowls me over from behind. I go sprawling next to the toolbox. My face slams into the linoleum and I get an up close view of the hairy lizard tail. Super gross. There are like red tubes plopping out of the middle where the tail used to be attached. You know those toddler duplo building blocks? It’s like an ooey goey version of those sticking out of the black furry tail. I have to tamp down on my gag reflex.

  “Sorry, Loser,” Seena hauls himself off me and offers me a hand so I can stand up. That’s when I notice that I fell right onto the hexed knife. Thank goodness I was holding it flat. Otherwise … I shiver.

  “What the funion?” I ask Seena. Why the hell is he shoving into me?

  He straightens his glasses and points at the ceiling, where a panel hangs down on two hinges. “Secret passageway. Dumps out here.”

  All is totally forgiven. My near death. The lizard-tail trauma. I had a serious mystery addiction in my pre-teen years. And secret passageways are like the holy grail of mysteries. I stare up at the ceiling in awe. I’ve never seen a real-life secret passageway before. “Show me!”

  Seena clears his throat. “Umm … actually, I need to speak with Commander French.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Because I found a second body. And it’s a dragon.”

  Chapter 5

  I follow Seena but stay a few feet back as he tells Bennett what he found.

  The blood drains from Bennett’s face and Zoe touches his arm.

  Dragons are hard to kill.

  If a dragon’s dead here, it won’t be an accident.

  And if a dragon’s dead, Bennett’s gonna flip.

  I watch my ex take a deep breath. His green eyes flash with red-hot flames for a second. But he controls himself and doesn’t shift in public. He breathes deeply through his nose a few times and then nods at Seena, wordlessly telling my friend to lead the way. Seena leads Bennett down the side hall, past the HAZMAT team.

  Zoe follows. So do I.

  We file past the guys in suits carrying out jars of yellow and clear liquid. A foul smell wafts from a cracked jar. Damn. It smells like cat piss! I bury my nose in my elbow. I don’t wanna get sick. I hold my breath until my eyes water and then gulp air. Luckily, the rancid pee smell is gone at that point and I can focus on the matter at hand: dragons.

  Seena goes carefully up the half-smashed stairs and into a bedroom that’s full of human baby cribs crowded so close that the sides touch. Luckily, the room is empty.

  Seena walks right into the closet and presses on the wall. A panel opens. He flicks on his flashlight and shines it into the secret passageway. Unlike the secret passageways from my imagination, this one is not coated in dust and cobwebs. It might be cleaner than the actual house. (Which is a low bar, sure, but still.) Open-topped wooden crates full of straw line either side of the aisle. I can see different illegal potions peeking through the crates. Seena ducks his head, because the passageway isn’t full height, and walks in.

  The rest of us follow.

  My heart thrums in my chest. I hope Seena’s wrong. For Bennett’s sake, for the dragon’s sake … for all our sakes, I hope he’s wrong. Dragon vengeance is brutal. If there is a dead dragon, his clan’s retaliation won’t end until everyone associated with the murder has been flamed.

  I duck into the dark passage and switch on my own flashlight, shining it so Zoe and I can watch where we step. We shuffle forward.

  The air inside the cramped secret hallway is stale. And there’s a sickly-sweet smell that I hope is not what I think it is.

  The passageway widens and Seena leads us all around the corner. There’s a small alcove, just above the kitchen. On the far side of the alcove, the floor gapes open with the trap door that leads to the kitchen. Light streams up through it.

  Against the wall of the alcove, curled up in a ball, as if he were just sleeping, is a tiny baby dragon. But unlike a live dragon, which is full of iridescent color, this dragon is grey. The sickly-sweet smell is coming from him. Seena was right. The dragon’s dead.

  Crap. I look at Bennett; his shoulders are tight. His right hand shakes.

  I push past Zoe and latch onto Bennett’s hand. His breathing is heavy, and he squeezes my hand as if he’s trying to crush it.

  I make eye contact with him and just hold it. There’s nothing I can say.

  His dragon instincts are going haywire. I can see his scales flicker like shadows underneath his skin. I just try to hold eye contact and breathe
deep through my mouth as he fights to get a handle on himself.

  Zoe rubs her hand down Bennett’s arm, giving me a look, but I ignore her. This isn’t personal right now. Bennett’s freaking. His dragon instincts are raging. He needs a focal point, so he doesn’t full-on shift at a crime scene. I start counting out loud as I inhale and exhale and he matches his breath to mine.

  When Zoe sees I’ve got Bennett calming down, she goes over to examine the dragon. She snaps on some gloves, which causes Bennett’s skin to heat up and me to have to start the whole calming process all over again. (Dammit woman, don’t you know anything about hot-headed dragons?)

  Seena just runs his flashlight awkwardly over the space. “Hmm,” he crouches and pulls an evidence baggy out of his pocket.

  “What is it?” Bennett rasps, smoke curling out of his lips as if he’s smoking a cigar. But he’s not. He’s simply smoking.

  “Pack of matches,” Seena shrugs. “Might not be anything, but maybe we can lift a print…”

  Bennett nods and breathes out, releasing a long stream of smoke right into my face.

  I can’t help it. I start coughing.

  “Sorry,” he releases my hands and pats my back awkwardly.

  I smack my chest and turn away from the smoke, my eyes watering a bit. “No problem. You good?”

  “Yup. Thanks.” He clenches his fists but I don’t see scales wavering under his skin anymore, so I think he’s telling the truth.

  “Anytime,” I cough once more and then turn to Zoe. Technically, she outranks me since I’m still at the Academy. But I ask anyway, since I’m not sure Bennett can talk just yet, “What does it look like?”

  She narrows her eyes at me but turns to Bennett and says, “I’m not seeing any hex like the old woman’s finger. Given the fact that he’s baby-sized and his pupils are blown out … I’m guessing he mighta’ overdosed on Nappies.”

  Seena crouches and stares around at the ground. Then he snaps on some plastic gloves and swipes a finger over the dragon’s body. “It’s hard to tell with all our footprints, but he’s got some dust on him. Looks like he might have died elsewhere and been stashed here. Maybe in one of those cages. Like they gave him too much.”

  A low growl rumbles in Bennett’s chest. “You mean they realized he was dead and didn’t wanna deal with him.”

  Crap! That growl’s a warning. He’s on the edge. I grab Seena’s hand and push Zoe back the way we came.

  “Any fire resistance spells?” I whisper to Zoe. “Those would be good right about now.”

  “Remember,” I tell Bennett, even as I get everyone to back away, “if you shift, you’ll destroy evidence and we won’t be able to find the killer.”

  Bennett’s hands clench. His whole body starts to shake as he tries to reign the dragon part of himself in.

  Zoe whispers in my ear. “I’ve got a calming spell. Should I try it on him?”

  I nod. “Yup.” Idiot woman. I take back all the smart-jealousy I’ve had. Why the hell didn’t Zoe mention a calm spell earlier when I was doing the whole zen breath thing? Did she think that was just for funsies?

  Zoe whips out a wand and draws some silvery lines in the air.

  I warn Bennett so he doesn’t freak any further, “Calming spell coming your way.”

  The silver lines float over to him. I don’t see them do anything really, but Bennett stops shaking. Gradually, he stops smoking.

  He takes one last look at the body and grabs the radio on his shoulder. “Flores, get up to the second floor. I’m off this investigation. You’re it.”

  Bennett doesn’t wait for a response; he just shoves his way past us out of the secret passageway. I can hear him stomp down the stairs.

  Seena and I make eye contact.

  “I’m pretty sure secret passages have been ruined for me forever,” I say.

  Seena just shakes his head, glasses gleaming from my flashlight. “I’m pretty sure babies have been ruined for me forever.”

  Good point.

  Chapter 6

  Evidence collection is a bitch. Or I’m evidence collection’s bitch.

  My back hurts, my hands hurt, and I feel like bathing in a tub of bleach after going through that house. I’m not a clean freak by any means, but even the vents in that place were covered in grime. It was literally blowing dirty air all over that house.

  I shower at home, trying very hard not to look at my hands or my skin. My fingers hurt from using the tweezers so much. I vaguely wonder if I can file a worker’s comp claim for finger strain. There were at least a billion hair samples. Apparently, Flowers was right about shifters loving Nappies. So, so many hairs. And even though I scanned the murder weapon almost right away, Flowers made me magically scan every other utensil in that kitchen.

  He did relent on other evidence collection, though. With two bodies and the size of the house, it would have taken me weeks to do it alone. A couple wizards came in and put my by-hand techniques to shame. They had that place scanned in a couple hours.

  I wish I was a frickin’ wizard.

  “Flowers is a stinkin’ glitter bomb,” I mutter as I soap up, annoyance eating at me.

  I have to pause during my hair washing three times. Yes, my fingers hurt that bad. No, I’m not just being dramatic.

  When I finally finish with my shower, I blow dry my hair and check my texts.

  I had texted Bennett just to check on him but he hasn’t responded.

  I had also texted Luke. And he did answer.

  Hell yes I want to see you. How is not seeing you even an option?

  He still wants to meet me at Wendel’s. My heart soars. I fist pump, I’m that excited. It’s almost dawn, but he says he’s got a spell to protect him from daylight for a few hours. I smile and savor that sweet giddiness of new relationships for a second as I picture his dimples.

  Then I pop an ibuprofen and slide into a cute sweater dress with chunky boots. I toss on a red jacket. My mother hates me in red. Says blondes shouldn’t wear red. So, obviously, I love it.

  I’m waiting on the corner for my Broomer when I see Tabby Blue and Sarah Snow strolling up the street.

  I wave. “What are you ladies doing out at the crack of dawn?” I ask.

  The pair slows down when they reach me. Sarah Snow’s my seventy-something southern sweetheart of a neighbor. She lives downstairs. Her BFF, Tabby Blue, is a pistol, a naughty old lady with bottle-thick glasses who’s rich as can be but doesn’t give two shits about little things like legality. She’s everything I wanna be one day.

  “Well, don’t you look dolled up, sugar,” Sarah smiles, “I like that dress.”

  I do a silly little spin. “Got a date with Luke.”

  Both women tilt their heads. “Aww, now isn’t that the sweetest. I knew he was a keeper. That’s why I kept nudging you two together,” Sarah says.

  I look at her oddly. It was over a month before we got together. And I don’t remember much nudging.

  Tabby rolls her eyes. “I still like the dragon, but I have to agree, your matchmaking sense was right on with this one.”

  “Matchmaking?” I ask. Sarah’s making it sound like she did something here.

  “Yeah, I kept him warm for you. Chatting him up. Little tidbits here and there … teasers. Gotta tease men, get in their heads.” She winks, “I’m an expert.”

  “You’ve got Clarence down at the bingo hall wrapped around your finger, that’s for sure,” Tabby nods.

  “How come you’re meeting Luke so late?” Sarah glances at the sky, which is already getting light.

  I sigh. “Kinda ticked off Flowers again.” I tell them about my night and how I accidentally used the ‘lost’ word.

  Sarah’s hand flies to her heart. “Well, surely, he knew it was an accident. You’re too galdarn sweet to have done something like that on purpose!”

  “Yeah, don’t think he sees it that way. He tried to make me do all the evidence collection for an entire house myself.”

  “That shit!
” Tabby pushes her glasses up her nose. “I should go kick him in the shins for you.”

  I smile, picturing it. “That’s alright, Tabby. But thanks for the offer. Maybe I’ll take you up on it after I clean the butt cheek prints off the police van.”

  “What?!” I enjoy their outrage as I tell them about how Flowers has arranged for tomorrow night’s torture as well.

  After the cursing has settled down, Tabby asks, “You didn’t get photos of all those naked shifters, did you?” she goes for casual, but I can hear the hopeful edge in her tone.

  “Nope. I wasn’t on photo duty.”

  She tsks.

  Sarah sighs, tapping her chin. “You know, this Diego Flores always seems to have it out for you, honey.”

  I roll my eyes as I spot my Broomer in the distance. “That’s because he thinks I don’t take work seriously enough. But you can’t take every second seriously.”

  Tabby shakes her head. “I had a husband like that. Number four. All he thought about was work, work, work.”

  Sarah cocks her head. “Well, now, I know you wouldn’t stand for that. How’d you get him to snap out of it?”

  “How do ya’ think?” Tabby raises her brows.

  I try very hard not to think about how she got hubby four to snap out of it. There are some mental images I don’t need.

  “Oh! Well, that’s it!” Sarah smiles and claps her hands. “We can fix this!”

  I raise up a hand, a little bit of worry sparking inside my chest. “Fix what?” I don’t think I want them fixing anything to do with Flowers.

  “Well, isn’t it obvious? Flowers needs to focus on something other than work.”

  “You mean he needs to get laid,” Tabby interjects.

  Sarah waves her hand. “More than that. He needs a girlfriend. He needs love. We can use my matchmaking abilities, I mean, they worked so well with Ly and Luke … we just have to find the perfect woman for him.” She smiles and I can almost see cartoon hearts blooming in her eyes.