The world changed back to the modern times, and Merick and I stared at each other. "Was that you?" I was almost too scared to speak.
Merick shook his head. "No, I thought it was you at first."
I looked down and saw a glowing rune and growled. "Cult."
Merick followed my gaze. "From that night. They expected you to try something like this."
"Swear to me Merick-"
"It wasn't me." He shook his head. "It wouldn't have reacted to me like that."
Well that was good to know. "Your father's?"
"Possibly, I know he set the original runes on the house."
That made me cringe. I had the door and the drywall downstairs replaced because of the runes. "Great. Remind me to get new flooring when this is all said and done."
"Did you guide it to that day?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. I was thinking about Clarissa, and that's where it switched to."
"Well, now you have your answers." He sighed. "About Levi that is."
I nodded. I didn't know what I was going to do about that, but I was going to have to approach it somehow. How did one approach their actual father? I rubbed my eyes and heard the keypad on the front door beeping.
Merick and I both met Simon by the front door, and Oliver walked back in. I snarled and pulled my gun. "You bastard, you knew."
Oliver grabbed my wrist and slammed me against the entry door hall. I slammed my elbow into the side of his head, and he shoved a hand into my stomach, causing me to cry out and stumble.
"You're injured, Abigail, attacking me was the wrong choice."
I wrapped an arm around my stomach and snarled up at him as I hunched over in pain. "You. Fucking. Knew."
"What are you doing back here, Oliver?" Merick crossed his arms. "I thought you had some place to be."
Simon came to my side, I grabbed my discarded gun and holstered it.
"I swore I felt Elizabeth's magic. I wasn't far." He looked at me. "What did you trigger?"
I shook my head. "Fuck you." I tried to catch my breath, but the pain in my stomach was almost too much.
"Abigail, whatever it is that you are accusing me of knowing, I swear to you there are reasons that I didn't tell you or I honestly didn't know."
I let Simon guide me to the couch, and I closed my eyes. Oliver and Merick followed us, Merick and Simon kept themselves between Oliver and me.
"You knew Levi was my father." I ground out and glared at him. "You denied knowing anything about that."
Oliver opened his mouth to say something, but then frowned. "Abigail, how did you learn that?"
"Trace spell."
"You did a trace spell. In the house?" He sounded hopeful for a moment. "Did you see who killed them?"
I wrapped an arm around my stomach again; the pain was starting to fade. "No, the images shifted to that night, but it seems that someone was ahead of us on that curve."
"That was the magic I felt."
"It was a Cult rune," Merick stated.
"Elizabeth was familiar with your language. It's possible she placed it there."
It made sense with Tobias being a linguist. "Can we go back to the part where you knew about my parents?" I sat up and tried not to flinch at the pain.
"Levi told me he'd kill me if I let you in on that little secret." Oliver sat on the coffee table and held his head down. "That's why I watched after you from afar. You should never have been left with him. I should have taken you and hid you."
I took a deep breath. "You could have found a way to tell me. To warn me that all these crazy people would be coming after me. You work for him; you had to have some idea of what was going on."
"Levi denied everything. The moment Devon showed up and I learned he was an elemental, I knew what was going to happen. When Tomes showed up with the zombies and the blood-starved vampires started making their appearances, I knew Ira was after you." He growled. "Levi didn't want to admit to it, he wanted just to go on as things were normal."
My life was never normal, but you know there was no point in interrupting my uncle right now.
"Lizzy…Elizabeth was my best friend. She was the only one who did not look down on me when my magic started going darker. When I found out she was pregnant, I was ecstatic, except then I found out Levi was the father." He licked his lips. "Not that I would love you any less, Abigail, or fight to protect you any less. No. Children of vampires, especially vampires and witches very rarely survive, and if they do, they turn out like Keira or Drake."
I shivered at the thought of those two. "So you helped my mother save me."
"How do you know that?" He finally looked up to meet my gaze.
"You wouldn't have watched my mother go through that grief. Losing a child would have torn her apart." I wasn't sure how I felt about all of this. "How did you two do it?"
He shook his head. "I won't answer that."
"Tell me. I'm tired of lies and secrets Oliver."
He hesitated for a moment. "The tablet your parents were translating, it was one of the oldest known rune bases." He looked at Merick. "Older than your cult's. And it was on how to infuse a life with magic, wrap it around the soul so that it could make it stronger. Save it."
My blood seemed to rush in my ears as my heart sped up. I was the result of life magic. I was what Drake had been trying to achieve with his daughters.
"Abby?" Simon asked.
"Let her process," Oliver answered. "She's processing everything."
"Life magic," Merick hissed. "That is what you people have been hiding from her?"
"You aren't innocent in all this Merick," Oliver snapped back, and I realized that the world had gone tunnel-visioned. I wasn't seeing them, only hearing them as the shock settled in and things started to connect in my brain.
"What would have happened if you bound my magic?" I looked at Oliver. "That can kill a normal witch."
He nodded. "You would have been fine; it would have been just a physical bind. I made the offer to help Levi because I didn't trust him to find you proper training."
I still couldn't think past the life magic. Someone had to have given their life to save mine. My mind traveled to Clarissa and thought about what Agent Grace had said "She was sacrificed to try and bring someone back to life."
"Someone has those translations."
"They can't have all of it because Tobias threw a fit and burned most of them."
"The dumbass put them in PIB training manuals," I growled, and my vision began to widen again. "Oh my goddess." My eyes grew wide as my mind raced. Someone the cult was after was also using the runes, someone here was. "How many people have gotten their hands on this?"
"Abigail, I swear to you that Tobias destroyed the vital parts."
It made me wonder if Levi had the full translation. "That's not stopping people." I stood and started pacing. "There was a scene when we were at the lab, where my mother was there with Ira and Levi."
Oliver's jaw locked. "I remember."
"He said something about breeding. Was my mother pregnant then?"
"I don't know Abigail." He shook his head. "Lizzy would not have shared a spell like that. She was gray when it came to her magic, but that would have gone far beyond walking the line of white and black magic."
I couldn't wrap my mind around it all; my phone rang, breaking my train of thought. Simon handed me my phone and frowned. "It's Liz."
I swiped to answer it. "Special Agent Collins speaking."
"I sure hope you're resting, Abigail." There was something sharp in her voice that I didn't understand.
"I'm resting. Don't worry. Did you need something?" Even to me, I sounded exhausted.
"Yeah, PIB just recovered a body, a body that's been deceased for about five years."
I ran a hand over my face. "I've been down this road before. Necromancy?"
"That was my first
thought, but our only locally known necromancer is locked up tight."
I sat down on the couch. "Grace was his partner; I have a feeling she got her hands on a nasty spell through him, and she's having the warlock help her out."
"How nasty?"
I met Oliver's gaze as I answered. "We're talking about bringing living beings back to life. Soul and all without flaws."
He bowed his head and stood.
"Abigail, that's stuff of myths and legends."
"Not any more Liz, hold on to your hat because that tablet information Levi gave you? Yeah, that's the spell."
Chapter Fourteen
"What are you saying, Abby?"
"Tobias Collins translated that tablet, according to my sources, and it's a spell to bring people back to life. It requires a human sacrifice for the life force though.'
"As does any life magic, I studied your raptor case."
Ah, good old Rodger the raptor. "This is on a much bigger scale than that. I'm pretty sure Clarissa was the sacrifice that was meant to raise the person you found.'
"It didn't work though, so what went wrong."
"Tobias supposedly burnt the vital parts of the spells."
"And where does the demon summoning come into play?"
"I don't know yet. Do you have an ID on that victim yet?"
I watched as Oliver let himself out. I wanted to call for him to come back. I still had a thousand more questions I wanted answered, but I had to focus on my case first.
"I don't; I'll let you know as soon as I do."
"Good, I plan on getting in some research on Starla Porter after I finish lunch. I'll let you know if anything useful turns up, but it seems like she's been a ghost until as of late."
"Look for another alias; maybe Grace was hiding under another name. I have to go; Mason's waving me over."
I wanted to be on the field with her. I wanted to be out there looking at the body, trying to identify it. I wanted to be working, not sitting here dealing with a family crisis.
I sat back down on the couch and Simon pulled me close to him. "You okay?"
"No. And now I have another dead body on my case, a meeting with Ira, and a very big elephant in the room to address with Levi."
Merick patted my knee. "I'll go get you a fresh cup of coffee."
It was a start to making things a little bit better. Neither one of them had spoken about what I had just learned. I wondered if Simon was even aware of what it all meant. Hell, I was still trying to process most of it.
Merick returned with my mug, and I took it with my good hand. "Thank you for your help."
"I learned a lot too, today. I have some things to address with my high priest." He bowed his head. "I'm trusting that Simon can take care of you?"
I laughed. "Yeah, he can. I'll have to head back to the mansion soon anyways. Levi normally starts wandering around a little bit before dusk, and he'll want my answer on who will be by my side tonight."
"Where is the meeting?"
"The mansion."
Simon tensed beside me. "Why would Levi agree to have Ira there?"
I had a feeling it probably wasn't the first time Ira had been there.
"Because it's his ground. He can monitor it without having to be in the room." That was my best guess. "It'll be okay. I'm going to head out." I stood and grabbed my bag. My stomach was sore from where Oliver had used my wound against me. I still wanted to shoot him, but part of me understood that he was worried about his own life.
Simon followed me out. He kissed my cheek as I got to the Hummer. "Be careful?"
"I will, thank you. Sorry if you felt like the odd man out."
He shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Go take care of things. A couple nights from now you can come ward my bar."
I smiled. It was so simple, warding his bar from human eyes, but I wanted to do it. It was familiar, safe, and had nothing to do with my past. "Sounds like a deal."
I got in the Hummer and started the engine. I had time before I had to head to the mansion, and I could hit up the coffee shop to do my research. If I was honest with myself, I was avoiding facing Levi after learning what he hid from me. Part of me was angry, the other part of me was trying to understand where he was coming from.
∞
I had settled myself on a comfortable chair with my laptop to work. The coffee house was quiet for once, and I relaxed in it. I logged into the PIB databases and started a deeper search for Starla Porter.
Nothing more had come up with her name or a cross-reference with Melody Grace. I sighed and went back to the serial murder.
I read through each article, looking at each victim and picture I could find. After pages of scrolling and studying, I found a picture with Grace, standing behind a gurney that held the victim. Except Grace's face was tear-stained, and she held a hand to her mouth like she was trying to hide her grief.
She had to have known the victim. I looked at the caption below. "Starla Mortin, eighteen years old, newest victim," was what the tiny caption under the picture said.
So Grace had taken on the name Starla from the victim? Where did Porter come from then? Who was the victim to her?
My phone rang, and I picked it up. "Liz, please tell me you have something? It's killing me not being there."
"Yeah, I have Melody Grace in custody, and I have an ID on the body we found."
"Can I take a stab at who it is?" I didn't take my eyes off the article in front of me.
"Sure."
"Starla Mortin, eighteen years old at the time of death, victim of a serial killer."
"How did you know?"
"I'm looking at an article about her right now, and in one of the pictures stands our Melody Grace. Can I come in for the interview with her? Please?"
There was hesitation on the other end. "I have her in connection to both our cases, which means I'll be asking her about Clarissa."
"Do you think you can charge her? What about the demon? Was that around? And the man that was with her at the house?"
Liz let out a noise that was part laugh and part sigh. "Okay Abby, just come in. If need be, I'll send you out of the room."
"Deal, thank you. I'm just down the road at a coffee shop. I'll be at the station soon."
She grumbled. "You were supposed to be home resting."
"I was, then I got cabin fever."
I'm sure she was shaking her head at me. "I'll see you in a few minutes."
I packed my stuff up and finished my coffee before going back to the Hummer. She'd managed to bring Grace in. Liz hadn't answered my questions about the demon or anything, but we had at least one person in custody.
I drove to the police station, threw the Hummer in park, and nearly danced my way through the station. We were going to get her, and if we were lucky, Grace was also responsible for Clarissa's death. A sick satisfying feeling rolled through me. There would be at least a little bit of justice served today.
I greeted a few of the officers that I knew and found Mason standing in the hallway in front of the interrogation rooms. "Hey."
"Shouldn't you be resting?"
I smirked. "Couldn't miss this." I motioned as Liz came waltzing down the hall. The Liz that joked around with me was gone and replaced by a determined PIB officer who wasn't going to take crap. I nodded my head to her. "Agent Jefferson, thanks for letting me sit in on your interrogation."
"It's thanks to you that we've made some connections. The strand of hair from your case matched Grace's DNA; we found a hair at our crime scene as well." She nodded. "You ready for this?"
Holy shit, we got her. Now, all we needed to do was get her partner. I tried to hide my smirk, I was still riding a little bit of the magical high, and it was making me feel a bit cocky. "Let's do this."
We walked in together, and Grace looked up from the silver table she was bound to. I knew her cuffs were magically en
hanced to block her from shifting.
"You look awfully good for being shot twice, Collins."
I smiled sweetly at her. "I bounce back quickly, and your man missed my vital organs. Is he who helped you with the spell to bring back Starla Mortin?"
She twitched a little bit at the name. "I'm not talking. I want my lawyer."
Liz nodded. "You called him already, right?"
"Yes, he should be here soon."
"Well, you've already admitted to knowing Special Agent Collins being shot. Let's talk about that."
She tried to settle back in her chair and kept her mouth shut. I was itching just to use a truth rune, but I needed to follow Liz's direction on this.
Liz gave a wicked smile and started chanting, drawing a rune on the table with her finger. I watched as a glow followed her motions.
"I'm not stupid enough to touch your truth rune," Grace snapped. "Parlor tricks, I know them well. That's all you can do as a PIB agent."
Liz raised a brow and put her hand on the rune, with a flick of her wrist the rune grew and the glowing spread to cover the floor. I felt the magic crackle around me; I kept the gasp from escaping my mouth as my hair rose on my arms. I'd never seen anything like it before. "Really? Parlor tricks? Did you not read the handbook about working the Black Magic Task Force? As witches, we're allowed to do a lot more. But you're a shifter, so maybe you didn't think to look into that."
I wasn't aware there was a handbook, but I had a feeling I was going to get a lesson I didn't ask for. Judging by the look on Grace's face, she was going to get one too.
"We have permission to use a little bit of extra force. I do have to inform you though. Melody Grace, alias Starla Porter, you are now under the influence of a truth spell that affects all members of the room."
Oh fuck.
Grace started laughing.
"Now, I can't ask you anything that you haven't brought up and may require your lawyer, but I can ask you about witnessing Abigail getting shot."
Grace's lips formed a straight line. "Your Agent came to my house uninvited. He was just protecting our property."
Everyone has Their Demons Page 18