He nodded. "I will do what I can; I would never put you in harm's way."
Except I wasn't sure what his alliance change would actually mean. Part of me hoped that it was just a cover to get more information on Ira, but knowing my uncle, there was something else.
"What's in this for you?"
Merick started laughing. "She knows you well."
Oliver let out a small laugh. "Oh, Abigail, you always know."
"Information? Power? A chance to bring my mother back?"
He acted as if I'd slapped him with the last guess. "I would do anything to bring my sister back, but I have yet to find a way to do it where she doesn't end up as a monster."
"Power then." I decided. "I was fine without you for twenty years, you disappearing again won't be too much of an issue." But I didn't trust him not to come after me on Ira's behalf now.
Something crossed Oliver's eyes. "Let's heal your arm up."
"And undo what you did to my magic."
He got up to get a bowl of water. "I told you that will fade in a couple hours, and if it doesn't, your cat can help you with that."
Merick rolled his eyes, and I reached for my coffee with my left hand. Oliver sat back down and dripped some of the water onto my wrist. He cupped his hand around it, and I felt the warmth spread through me and cringed at the sound of the bone snapping back into place and the muscles tightening around it as it healed.
He let go of it, and I flexed my wrist back and forth, glad to have the use of it back. Oliver stood. "I'll be around Abigail; it just won't be at Levi's bidding."
"You know Levi is going to think you betrayed him."
He nodded slightly. "That might be the case, but if I had let Ira drain you, he would have thought I betrayed him still. There was no winning in this situation."
He let himself out, entering the code on the keypad and then walking out. I sat there cupping my coffee with both my hands.
"What did he do to my magic?"
Merick sighed. "He used his darker magic to shove your magic back into you and temporarily bind it there."
"My uncle used black magic to weaken me."
Merick nodded. "That's pretty much it."
"That's a hell of a night. Ira, Hannah, Mario, and Oliver." I set my coffee down. "I need my big book of everything."
"I'll grab it." He stood and disappeared out of the kitchen.
I tapped my fingers against the table, trying to think through everything. He reappeared and had my book and the notes on the runes.
"I heard that Liz was going to stop by." He set them on the table. "You said once that you'd seen these runes before, do you remember where?"
I shook my head. "I haven't been able to yet."
"Okay." He spread them out, and I noticed that he had the ones from Clarissa's death now too.
My life was really falling down around me, the one person I would call was gone, and I was stuck trusting a person who masqueraded as my cat the majority of the time. I went to flipping through the pages of my book, looking for any signs of what Ira said being true.
"Abigail?" Merick sounded excited for a moment, and I looked up from the book. He grinned at me. "I've got the translation of the bases figured out."
"No way. How?" I closed the book and looked over his notes and saw the way he'd scratched out the runes and the words they stood for.
"This one here." He pointed to one that had been drawn off to the side. "This one is similar to what the cult uses to contain magic to an area. It's less noticeable than a circle and only activates when the magic touches it."
I looked at it and then the one he'd drawn with the base. He was right; they were similar. "And that gave you a place to start. Is it based on the Cult's then?"
"No, it's based off one from Europe. Now that I can see it, I've got it figured out."
A knock came at the door, and I got up and checked the security footage to see Liz standing there with a folder. She bounced between her feet looking around as if something was going to jump out and get her.
I opened the door and let her in. "Good morning."
"You look like hell." She touched my neck. "Holy cow, Abby. You let him bite you?"
I shook my head. "That wasn't from him."
Her eyes got wide. "What the hell happened last night?"
"I walked into a trap is what happened. I really can't talk about it, come in though. I called in a friend to help with the runes, and we think we've figured out the base."
Merick was still pouring over his notes when we walked in.
"What was the lead you mentioned?"
"The local coven said that they had a visiting warlock, they were from Europe and were only here for a few days. But they met Clarissa at her shop the night before she left. No one thought anything of it, but, I looked into it and the coven he came from. These are the runes their priest sent me."
She held out a sheet of paper, and I looked at them. "Almost identical."
My heart jumped. "But he's in Europe now." Shit. I looked at Merick who looked up. "You need to talk to the local Coven."
"Clarissa's memorial is tonight. I guess I can ask about it."
Liz put a hand on mine. "Do you want some moral support tonight?"
I about choked on my coffee. "I was originally planning on bringing Mario, but seeing how last night went, I could use some different company."
"Oh good, because I think it would be awkward if I just ended up running into you there. I was planning on crashing it."
I snorted. "Glad to know you're being nice and asking me about it."
Merick cleared his throat. "What coven did you say those runes came from?"
"The Rising Moon."
Merick jumped up and ran out of the kitchen. I blinked. "Well, um okay then."
Liz sat down. "Your magic is faint."
"Don't ask."
"Abigail. What are you mixed up in?"
I shook my head. "Nothing that is up for discussion. I was promised it'll be better in a few hours."
She nodded. "Is it case related?"
I shook my head. "No, it's more family related."
She gave me an even more confused look.
I did the only thing I knew to distract her. "Want a cup of coffee? Since you drove all the way out here to compare the runes?"
"Sure. What's got you pulling your book of shadows out?" She motioned to the book on the table.
I went around the breakfast bar and got her a mug. "It's my family's book. I was looking into something I learned last night."
"You weren't kidding about the family stuff." She traced the edge of the book. "Protected by magic and everything. It's a nice book."
"Thanks." I came back with the coffee. "Did you stay up all night working on this?"
She nodded. "I haven't slept much since the start of the case."
"Thank you."
She sighed. "I'm glad that we finally have a break in it."
"Me too. I got something on my demon case."
"Oh?"
"Might be connected to a human serial killer case."
She wrinkled her nose. "That sounds like it's going to get complicated."
"Probably, but hey, it could be worse." I could be dealing with Ira and blood-starved vampires.
She sipped her coffee and closed her eyes. "How do you like it on our team?"
"So far so good. Where'd Grace end up at? Since she didn't end up as my partner?" Grace was an agent that had insisted that I needed a partner to keep me inline. She and I had gotten into a fistfight over my old partner's supposed death.
Liz snorted. "She's currently on administrative leave because she was caught trying to gain access to things that were outside her clearance."
"Oh?"
"Vampire king stuff. Said that she had a hunch that she needed to follow."
Oh, I just bet she did. Though it was go
od to know that her clearance didn't go that high either. "Interesting. He seems to be a topic of interest as of late."
"You did a case with him, yeah? Did you meet him?"
I shook my head. "No, it's all very hush hush, I worked it with another warlock and two of the king's guards." It wasn't exactly a lie. Levi told everyone he had been a guard of the king.
Liz and I sat in a comfortable silence drinking our coffee. Merick never returned to the table, but I did notice that he had taken a couple of the papers with him when he ran off. Once she finished her cup of coffee, Liz stood. "Will you be in the office later?"
"I think I might work from home. My computer was fried so there's no reason for me to go in. I think I'll take it easy here today. Do some research on the serial murders and suspects to see if anything pops up."
She nodded. "I'll see you tonight."
I let her out and closed the door behind her. I armed the system and turned around to see Merick standing there. "I know who it is."
"Who who is?"
"The person that killed Clarissa, and I know how to get them back to the States and even back to the scene of the crime."
Chapter Nine
I stared at him. "Do you care to share who?"
"Carson Trimm."
I rubbed my eyes. "Should I know the name?"
"No, you shouldn't, but he's been someone that the Cult has been trying to track down for years. I just got off the phone with my father; he'll be sending back up to Agent Jefferson."
When the Cult got involved, it normally meant things were going to hit the fan. "Okay, keep me updated." I went back to the kitchen and refilled my coffee.
"What are you planning on doing today?"
"Research on serial killers." I sat down with my coffee. "Family research."
"Something Ira said is getting under your skin. Do you think that maybe was his intention?"
I nodded. "I'm sure it was, but I have to know."
"What is he claiming?"
I sighed. "That Levi is my biological father."
"Abigail, you know as well as I do, that if he had managed to get Elizabeth pregnant that the child wouldn't have survived."
I pressed my lips together. There were only rumors of vampires being able to sire children, and in theory, the magic would have fought to keep me alive, while whatever powers made vampires would have fought to kill me.
Any case of vampire children, they had been turned, or the human that carried a vampire child lost the baby.
"Yeah, I know."
"But?" he prompted.
"Something just doesn't feel right about this."
"You had a rough night. Let it be for today. Focus on the case."
It was logical, the night's stress had probably gotten into my head as well. I leaned forward and put my head on my book. "I'm at a loss."
"I don't think I've ever seen you this defeated." Merick sat down next to me. "It isn't just Ira and Clarissa is it?"
I shook my head but didn't look at him. "I feel like everything is falling apart."
He chuckled. "Abigail, it has been falling apart for the last three years, ever since Devon came after those who wronged him."
"Yeah, I guess so." I pushed myself back up. "Okay, back to the case." I got up and went to get my laptop out of the bag. "What are you doing today?"
"I'm going to go offer my assistance to PIB until my father can get others here to help Liz."
I nodded. "Okay, I'll be in town in the afternoon."
He stood and left the kitchen. I went to the living room with my laptop. Turning it on, I started to get to work, trying to push last night's events out of my head. The bite on my neck burned and I growled. Vampire bites normally didn't bother me, they healed up on their own, and never got infected. Being a witch helped with that. This one seemed more irritated than normal, but maybe it was just because I kept dwelling on it.
I had been completely helpless when Ira fed from me. The feeling of Hannah's magic seemed to wrap around me again, and I felt a scream bubble up in my throat. My chest tightened, and I couldn't breathe past it as my heart thumped trying to get the blood moving through my system to make me flee the panic. Except it wasn't working.
"Abigail." Merick was suddenly by my side. His hand gripping my wrist.
I looked at him with wide eyes. "Sorry. What?"
"Are you alright?"
I shook my head. "No, I just had some type of emotional flashback to last night."
He touched the bite on my neck, and I flinched. "You should have had your uncle heal that."
"I didn't really want him touching me all that much. I'm not happy with him right now." I glanced at him. "Did you know? You warned me about going."
He shook his head. "No, I didn't know. I just don't like Mario."
I snorted. "I might shoot him next time I see him."
"And he would deserve it, but focus on the matters at hand. There's nothing you can do about last night."
It was true. It was done and over with, next time I would just make sure I didn't go anywhere vampire related without Levi.
I opened the PIB database program and put the first name of the serial killer suspects into the search engine. Information popped up almost instantly. Merick stood from the couch and walked out. I assumed he was going to get ready to meet with Liz.
The first person turned up deceased. The second person also deceased. Third, fourth, dead. Five and six were my two victims, and seven and eight were living nearby. I leaned back on the couch and used a filter to try and compare cause of death.
Demon.
How come no one had connected the dots before this? I looked further into each document and noticed it was a different detective on each one. Still, someone should have connected some kind of dots.
I found the contact numbers for the last remaining suspects from the serial killer. The first one being a Lars Stevenson. I dialed his number and waited.
"Sup." A deep male voice answered.
"This is Agent Collins from PIB."
"I didn't do nothing. Why are you people calling me again?"
"Sir, I understand why you might be upset to hear from me. But I have some questions regarding a current case, and I'm concerned for your safety."
There was silence on the other end, then finally. "I'm listening."
"Have you or are you currently associated with a witch or a warlock who is known to summon demons?"
"Demons? What the fuck are you smoking chick?"
I rubbed my eyes. "I'm going to take that as a no. Look if you see anything strange, make sure you call PIB."
"What kind of thing counts as strange?"
"Demons," I answered without missing a beat. "Someone trying to kill you with one."
There was silence again. "Them murders on the telly, they were also suspects with me. That what you talking about?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about." Thanks, media.
He mumbled something I didn't understand. Louder he said, "A'right. I'll watch my ass."
The line disconnected in my hand and I shook my head. I'm not sure what kind of person Lars was, but I wasn't sure he could take on a demon. I went to call the next person on the list, Andy Rice, but the moment I went to dial the phone number, my phone rang.
Mason's name popped up on my screen, and I answered it. "Special Agent Collins speaking."
"Abby, I've got another victim here."
I cringed. "Description?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yeah, it does, because I'm looking at the profiles of the serial killer suspects and I just got off the phone with Lars, so I'm going to assume the victim is Andy."
He grumbled. "Tall, African-American male, shaved head, eyes look brown, small tattoo on his wrist."
Which fit Andy's description to a tee. I sighed. "Okay, where are you at?"
"Do
wntown, about three blocks away from PIB. See you in a couple minutes?"
"No, I worked from home today. I'll be there as soon as I can."
He disconnected, and I pulled myself off the couch. Merick came out of kitchen. "Leaving?"
I nodded. "Yeah, another demon killing. I'll be back in a few hours and just hope I won't have to do magic."
Merick raised a brow. "I could undo that for you."
Oliver had said that too. "But I don't really want someone messing with my magic. If it doesn't come back, I'll let you do it. Until then, I'll just hope I don't need it."
"Quit being so stubborn." He grabbed my wrist, and I tried to pull out of his grasp.
I felt like something cold pierced through me, and I cried out. My magic swarmed through my body, warming it and wrapping around me. "Thank you."
"You're a stubborn witch, that's going to cost you your life one day."
Hopefully not today though. I put my laptop in my bag and headed for the front door. I glanced back at Merick who was right on my tail. "You can't come to this scene."
He shook his head. "Oh no, I'm on my way to help Liz. Don't forget the memorial tonight."
I wouldn't miss it for the world, my last chance to say goodbye to Clarissa. "Yeah, don't worry." We walked out together and then I turned to him. "How do you actually get places?"
He grinned and faded into the air. Someone was going to have to teach me that spell one day. I shook my head and locked the door. I climbed into the Hummer, cranked the music up, and went on my way.
∞
Mason had texted me the location while I was driving into town. He was right; it was close to the downtown PIB building. I pulled up behind the emergency vehicles and media vans, cursing that it took me so long to get there. I got out and hiked my bag up on my back.
A woman stepped in front of me the moment my feet hit the ground. There was no chance of avoiding her. Her hair was pulled back tight in a bun, leaving her angled face clear. Her black glasses were perched on her nose, a stark contrast to her red lipstick, but they matched the business suit she wore today.
"Agent Collins." Her shrill voice cut through my head, and I tried not to cringe.
"Stephanie." I went to step around her. "Excuse me, they're expecting me on the scene."
Everyone has Their Demons Page 11