“But why would he lie?” Evangeline pressed.
Adam shrugged. “To keep his job?”
She shook her head. “Maybe, but I can’t let this go. We have to find a way to help him.”
I chewed on the corner of my lip, searching for an idea.
Adam perked. “Wait one second. I may have something.”
Without elaborating, he bolted up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Evangeline and I exchanged a puzzled look but neither one of us said anything. Adam bounded back down the stairs a moment later, a scrap of lined notebook paper in his hand. “I have Sasha’s address.”
“You do?” We said in unison.
“I was trying to track down more information about her. She lives in the haven.”
“What were you planning to do? Spy on her?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “Hey, that’s what Nick would do. Although, I’m pretty sure it’s called surveillance in that case.”
He had a point.
“You’re right. That’s far less creepy,” I said.
Evangeline handed Adam her keys. “You drive!”
“Can’t we take the portal?” Adam asked me.
I shook my head. “They aren’t open when the SPA building is closed up for the night. It won’t work.”
With a grin, Adam held up Evangeline’s keys and jingled them. “Then I guess we’re road trippin’!”
Adam drove Evangeline’s car all the way to Seattle. With his lead foot and Evangeline’s cloaking spells, we practically flew there in less than three hours. Every few miles, Evangeline dialed Ben’s number again but she never got through. By the time we saw the city sign, she was on the verge of a breakdown.
Traveling from Seattle proper into the haven was a breeze when going on foot. In a car, things got a little more complicated. One person slipping into an enchanted doorway was easy to hide in plain sight. No one suspected anything. Hiding the fact that an entire car disappears is a much more difficult feat and requires more planning.
Luckily, Adam knew what to do. He maneuvered down a few side streets and we shot out onto a road that wound along the waterfront, away from the sparkle and glow of downtown. A few minutes later, we arrived at the shipping docks. It was dark and he slowed down to carefully consider his next turn down a long driveway. We pulled up to an iron-barred security gate and Adam rolled down the window and typed in a code.
The gate lurched and shuddered open. Adam waited until it was completely clear to creep forward. He drove slowly, his eyes scanning the dark outlines of the storage units. Light fixtures were dispersed throughout the rows of cement buildings, but somehow got swallowed up in the darkness of the night. Adam carefully counted off the gates of the different units. When he reached the one he was looking for he idled, staring at the door. “All right, ladies. It’s now or never.”
“Where are we?” Evangeline asked from the back seat.
“This is the portal into the haven when traveling by car.”
“Should I get out and open the door?” I asked, peering up at the solid structure.
Without a reply Adam slammed his foot on the gas. The car flew forward toward the door. I yelped and squeezed my eyes closed. “Adam!”
I waited for the crash but it didn’t come.
Adam let out a victorious whoop and I peeled my eyes open one at a time. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized what had happened. The storage unit was the portal. “Stars!” I exclaimed.
Evangeline gasped. “I thought you’d lost your mind!”
Adam laughed. “Not yet!”
I laughed and we started down the street that had opened up before us. It wasn’t familiar, but as we drove on, it became obvious where the portal had spat us out; we were a few miles outside of the main hub of the haven. After about a mile, we reached a fork. To the left was the haven. To the right, a highway that led to the suburban area inhabited by those who worked in the haven but didn’t want to live in the trendy condos or apartments.
“Still nothing,” Evangeline announced following her latest attempt to get Ben on the phone. “It’s been hours. Where could he be?”
“Hopefully at Sasha’s,” I said. “Considering we’ve come all this way.”
“Well even if Ben isn’t, eventually she will be,” Adam pointed out, taking a right turn. “I think it’s time we introduced ourselves.”
We drove in silence for a while. I rolled down my window and let in some of the cool night breeze. My nerves weren’t completely soothed, but the brisk air helped some.
“Here we go,” Adam said, finally breaking the silence as we turned onto a side street that fed into a upscale neighborhood.
I whistled low under my breath. “Apparently being a council member comes with a pretty fat salary,” I noted, staring at the hulking outlines of the massive houses that lined the street.
Most of them had lights on in one or more rooms. However, Sasha’s was a bright beacon. From the street it looked as though every light in the house had been turned on. Was she having some kind of party? There weren’t any cars in the driveway in front of the garage. Curtains blocked the view into the front room of the house, but I thought I could see flutters of shadows on the other side.
Evangeline started to open her door. “Ready?”
“Wait, wait,” Adam said. “We don’t know what’s going on in there.”
“Or who she’s with,” I added.
The answer came seconds later. Evangeline closed her door again and Adam killed the headlights. Orbs of light hovered along the street, casting bright, blueish-tinted light over the sidewalk. We all stared, faces pressed to the windows, as a trio of people walked down the sidewalk and up the front steps of Sasha’s house.
Adam leaned closer. “Those kind of look like—”
“Vamps,” I said.
“Bat wings.”
“Vampires?” Evangeline said.
The trio reached the front door and stood under the porch lights. Angular features, dark, glittering eyes, and—
“Definitely vamps,” I said, startled when one threw his head back, laughing at something the other had said, and revealed long fangs.
“What is a witch doing throwing a house party for a bunch of vamps?” Adam asked.
Sasha came to the door and invited the three in, a cruel smile on her face.
Before I could even attempt to scrape together an explanation, another group of lanky party-goers waltzed up the front steps.
“Is this really happening?” I said, watching vampire after vampire walk up the front steps.
Adam turned over the engine and the zippy little car purred to life. “I think we need to go. We can’t storm a house full of vampires and expect to walk away alive. We’ll go back to the manor. You can call that agent you know, Bramble, and send her over here to figure this out.”
He put the car in reverse, preparing to leave, but I lashed out and gripped his arm tightly. “Wait!”
“Holly?”
I jabbed my finger at the window. He followed my eyes, my icy stare, up the front walk of the well-groomed yard, and saw Ben standing in the front window, peeking through the curtains. His eyes glowed yellow, a flicker of something else lurking underneath the surface of his handsome face.
“We gotta go!” Adam hissed.
We waited for the curtains to fall closed again and then Adam hit the gas. He flicked the headlights on after we were a few blocks away from the house.
“We’re leaving him there?” Evangeline asked, craning around in her seat to look out the back windshield.
Adam sighed. “Evie, there’s nothing we can do. If he’s in real danger, why would he have been standing there at the window? He looked like more of a guard dog if you ask me.”
“He’s a werewolf in a house full of vampires!” she objected.
“Not all vampires hate werewolves,” I replied. “Lacey doesn’t.”
Even as I said it, a million questions of my own swirled through my head.
; Evangeline gave up arguing by the time we went back through the portal into Seattle proper and headed back to Beechwood Harbor. Adam insisted on driving and picked up the speed even more as we flew down the highway back to the coast. By the time we got back to the manor, it was creeping up on midnight and I was more confused and exhausted than I had been in quite some time. I was ready to have a cup of tea and go to bed.
Posy floated through the ceiling as we all trooped inside. She greeted us and then gestured at a large bank box sitting off to one side of the entryway. “That came for you earlier, dear. I had Lacey bring it in before she left for the night.”
“What is it?” I asked, not expecting an answer. I kicked out of my boots and went to inspect the box. “It’s from Harriet. These must be the files Teddy asked for. Or at least copies. I imagine the SPA isn’t willing to part with the originals.”
“Should I wake Teddy up?” Evangeline asked. “I’m sure he’d be eager to see these.”
“No,” I replied. “Let him sleep. We’re not going to solve anything tonight. I just want to take a quick peek.” I crossed my legs and started digging through the stacks of papers. “Looks like this top section is notes and photos from the SPA raid at Raven.”
I flipped through some of the images. It was strange to think it had all happened only six weeks before. So much had happened since. One image showed Harvey, reading a vampire his rights at the side of the transport van.
Adam and Evangeline sat beside me and helped dig through the contents. “I wonder if she found anything that will help your hearing,” Adam said.
I reached the bottom of the stack and was about to put it back into the box when another image caught my attention. My heart slammed against my ribs as I reached for the photo with shaking fingers.
“You guys … ,” My hand trembled, sending ripples through the photo as I lifted it. “Look at the name on this one.”
Adam took the page from me. His mouth dropped open. “Carlotta Pringle? As in—?”
“It has to be!” I stared, unblinking at the picture. “She looks like a clone of Sasha! Adam, that listing you found said her mother’s name was Marla.”
“Could this be her aunt?” Adam asked. He dug his phone out of his pocket and started typing frantically. “We just added new pages to the database. Let me see ... .”
After a few tense moments he shook his head. “You’re not going to believe this.”
“Try me.”
“No one named Marla Pringle has ever lived inside the haven system.”
“Which means she doesn’t exist.” I shook my head. “Not if she was married to a council member. She wouldn’t have been able to stay out of the haven life.”
Adam ran a hand through his hair. “So that means her mother must be ... .”
“Wait. Wait.” Evangeline frowned. “What are you saying? That Sasha is some kind of witch-vampire? Is that even possible?”
I shook my head and stared at the woman in the processing photo. “If you had asked me yesterday, I would have said no. But now … after seeing this?”
“Guess that explains the little shindig at her place tonight,” Adam said as he inspected the photo. “Dead-ringer if you ask me.”
“Her mother is a vampire and was arrested in the raid on Raven.” I reeled back as though a board had smacked me in the face. “That’s why she hates me! I’m the one who told the SPA about the Vampire Council. I’m the reason that raid even happened!”
No one argued with me. Adam and Evangeline stared at one another, not blinking.
“No wonder she wants to ruin my life. She thinks I’m the one responsible for her mother getting arrested and trucked off to some SPA prison.”
“Surely if her daughter served on the council she could wiggle out of it,” Evangeline said.
“Not if she doesn’t want anyone to know who her mother is. Right now, everyone thinks her mother’s name is Marla. No one knows the truth.”
Another bolt of recognition hit me. I stared down at the picture. I flipped it over. There, in big black letters: Sasha Pringle???
My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach. “No one except Harvey.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Frantic pounding on the manor’s front door ripped me from a deep sleep. Boots sat up in bed, his ears tilted forward, on full alert. “What in the Otherworld?” I mumbled sleepily to myself.
Boots growled and I sat up beside him, my eyes working overtime to adjust to the darkness.
“What is it, Boots?” I looked over at the glowing clock on my bedside table. It was past midnight.
A thump sounded. Boots was on the floor. I jumped from the bed, slid my feet into my waiting pair of slippers, and grabbed the robe off the top of my dresser on my way to the door. It was open a crack and Boots pushed it open wider as he left. In the hall, he let out another low growl.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
More pounding. Louder this time.
I craned around to look up the darkened staircase. I wanted Adam at my side but I also didn’t want whoever was at the door to wake up the entire household. Especially if it was Nick with more questions. I didn’t want to start that conversation all over again.
Boots was at my feet when I pulled the door open. I straightened, surprised, when I realized it was Ben. In the yellow glow of the porch lights, his face looked sallow. His brow was covered in sweat as though he’d ran several miles. “Holly! I saw you tonight. You have to help me!”
“What’s wrong, Ben?” I tightened the sash on my robe against the chill pouring in through the front door.
Boots brushed past my leg and planted himself between me and Ben. I glanced down at him and saw he was glaring up at Ben. I nudged him with my foot. He wasn’t a huge fan of strangers—especially not ones that had anything to do with dogs or large, predatory animals. The fact that he’d accepted Adam was nothing short of a miracle.
“Listen, I don’t know what exactly you’ve gotten yourself into, but as someone who’s been around the so-called Vampire Council, I would advise you to run fast and run far.”
Ben’s face shifted. He lunged forward and caught me by the shoulders. “You have to help me, Holly! I barely got away from her!”
Boots hissed and took a swipe at Ben.
Get Adam! Boots, go, get, Adam!
“Ben, please, let me go,” I said. Boots reluctantly backed up, turned, and bolted for the stairs.
“She’s a killer, Holly!”
I tried to take a step back but Ben’s grip on my shoulders only tightened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ben. Please, just let me go. We can talk! I promise I’ll listen to anything you have to say!”
Ben’s eyes flashed, suddenly glowing like red-hot embers in a campfire. His head twisted to the side so violently I almost expected to hear a snap. I sucked in a quick breath and then dared to look away to see what had so capture his attention.
My heart stopped cold.
No. It couldn’t be.
Nick was across the street. He was stopped at the corner of the neighborhood, his hands stuffed inside the pockets of his thick winter jacket.
Ben snarled and released me with a violent shove. I heard fabric tear. Ben lunged down the sidewalk, loping like a half-beast. I glanced down at myself and saw that the shoulders of my coat had been torn to shreds.
His fingers had turned into claws. Claws that carried the dark and twisted were curse.
“Nick, run!” I screamed. The boom of my voice bounced off the dark outlines of the neighboring houses and returned to me. My pulse skittered into a frantic rhythm, and for a moment I thought it might explode from my chest. “Nick, run!”
Nick turned and ran but Ben was closing the distance, moving too quickly.
Nick was in good shape but wouldn’t be able to outpace him. I surged forward, hands raised, as magic sprang to my fingertips. With a cry, the spell ripped from me and surged toward Ben, a stream of red and blue sparks. The spell hit Ben
and he lurched to one side.
Ben scrambled to get back on two legs and then tore off again.
“Ben! Stop this!”
If he heard me, it didn’t phase him. He got his feet under him and plowed forward. I tried another stunning spell. It missed.
“Holly!” Evangeline’s voice cut through the pounding of my pulse in my ears.
I whipped around and saw her on the manor’s front steps. She had her wand raised, a light coming from the tip filled the yard. “What in the Otherworld is going on?”
Boots streaked past her legs. A huge black dog followed.
Adam looked up at me, his eyes even darker in his beast-form. “Ben! He’s after Nick!”
Adam launched himself from the porch, his huge toenails sending chunks of wood flying.
Posy was going to kill us all.
Adam tore into the night, Boots on his heels. Evangeline jumped down the steps and we raced after them.
With the help of the powerful beam of light from Evangeline’s wand, I could see all the way down the steep hill that led from the center of town up to the bluff where the manor and neighboring houses stood. Adam and Boots were gaining on Ben as he loped around the corner where the residential sidewalk stopped and the main strip through town started.
Where was Nick?
For once, I envied Lacey. She had supernatural speed and could have covered the distance in a split second. As it was, I couldn’t seem to make my feet move fast enough—of course, it didn’t help that I was wearing bedroom slippers that I’d been gifted last Christmas that were a size too large.
“What does he want with Nick?” Evangeline panted as we ran into town.
“I don’t think it was personal.” My heart raced all the more as I remembered the way his eyes had glowed and how quickly his head had snapped around when he’d scented Nick. “He’s changing into the wolf!”
Evangeline didn’t ask anything else but her pace quickened.
We rounded the corner and slammed to a stop. Both of our heads swiveled frantically but there was no sign of any of them. I hoped that meant Adam and Boots had caught up with Ben before he got to Nick.
Witch Way Home: A Beechwood Harbor Magic Mystery (Beechwood Harbor Magic Mysteries Book 4) Page 16