Witch Hearts

by Liz Long

  The sarcasm and bark of laughter made Ruby’s heart hurt. Courtney wasn’t a cynical or angry person. Being a spirit didn’t seem to agree with her. Ruby’s face must have shown question because Courtney rolled her eyes, crossing her right leg over the left knee with an exaggerated kick. If she’d really been there, instead of in ghost form, her foot would’ve knocked into the coffee table but her leg went right through.

  Ruby shook her head to refocus. “What else did the note say?”

  Courtney tapped her chin thoughtfully. “What else, what else. Okay, so Dear Courtney, Your brother took something from us…we suggest you convince him to return and give us our money back…”

  “Us? We?” Ruby interrupted again, this time ignoring Courtney’s dirty look. “That means there might be more than one guy involved with this?”

  “If the two events are related at all,” Courtney said with a shrug.

  Ruby found it hard to believe they weren’t, not when Courtney got a note right before she died, a note that sounded vaguely similar to the one left in the apartment. The writer for that note only spoke in first person, though. As she told Courtney this, she noticed Courtney begin to shimmer and her hair now swayed around her chin.

  “I forgot to ask,” Ruby blurted out. “Did the ritual—”

  “Murder,” Courtney corrected.

  “—Involve water? They found you in the river, the other girls too. Do you know what any of that means?”

  Courtney shrugged, a slow, languid movement that didn’t match the annoyance in her voice. “I was sort of dead at that point, so I have no idea.”

  Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but even as Courtney shimmered out of existence, she managed to get the last word in. “Your theory would explain why I feel like I’m underwater, though.”

  “Court, wait!” Ruby said, throwing her arm out to stop her best friend from disappearing. Her hands once again met air.

  Ruby sat up on the couch with a start and scared Cooper out of his deep sleep. He popped up beside her, nearly knocking her off the couch.

  “What’s the matter? Is he here?” he mumbled, rubbing his face to get a better look at the front door.

  “Everything’s fine,” Ruby said. When he squinted at her and read the expression on her face, he seemed to wake up.

  “You’re a shitty liar. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Cooper took one look at her grimace and sighed. “Courtney.”

  “Yeah. And you’re not gonna like what she said.” Ruby repeated back her dream to him, every detail after Courtney’s initial teasing.

  “And she’s mad, Coop,” Ruby finished, grabbing his arm. “She’s a really pissed off spirit and I’m afraid for her. What if she can’t move on?”

  He shook his head. “She’s never been one to let things go. She won’t leave until she’s avenged.”

  “You need to tell me everything,” she urged him. “If there’s any connection between the two, it might be our only lead.”

  “I didn’t see any connection and I’ve considered all the angles, believe me,” he said, his tone a bit nervous.

  “Now is not the time to keep secrets from one another. You need to tell me. Now.”

  Cooper climbed over her, stretched out the kinks in his muscles before sitting back down opposite Ruby. She brought her knees up to her chest and waited. Cooper cleared his throat, this time meeting her eyes.

  “I’m the reason Nate was killed. These guys we worked for, they wanted money. It was always about money,” he said, bitterness in his voice. “Just your average mix of angry adult witches, abusing their talents to get ahead in life.”

  He gave her a sad look and she knew he included himself in that group.

  “They used my dreams, made me interpret what I could in their favor, even for an afternoon at the dog track. When I told you “we” both got into dark magic, I really mean me. They pushed dark magic on me to better focus the dreams; Nate disagreed but knew he couldn’t stop me. So my dreams became realer, to the point where I could interpret them with no problem. It was easy. At first it was lottery numbers or sports games and I gave them up willingly. With all the dark magic pumping through my system, it was like a drug high, better than any stimulant I’ve ever done.”

  Ruby bit her tongue, knowing this was neither the time nor the place for an admonishment of his past crimes. He paused to take a sip of water, sat back and rubbed his hands over his face again. For a split second, Ruby saw all the guilt he had and regretted the conversation. Courtney’s revelation might lead Cooper into an even deeper pit of despair if he had anything to do with her death.

  “Anyway, the further we went, the deeper it got. Pretty soon they were asking for bank vault numbers, security codes. They figured with me, they couldn’t lose. Then they started using dark magic on innocent people, hurting them if they got in the way, threatened them to get what they wanted. Maybe they were always doing that and we didn’t notice before, I don’t know. Nate and I, we didn’t sign up for that, so we decided to get out.”

  “I’m guessing that didn’t go over well.” Ruby arched an eyebrow at him as he shook his head.

  “It gets worse,” he warned. “I only wanted out, but Nate, he wanted to get back at them, to pay for using us and hurting people. They had around two million. I told him not to do it, but he took their money.”

  Ruby’s jaw dropped. “He took it? How much?”

  He looked at her with a puzzled expression, as though the answer were obvious. “All of it.”

  “How?”

  Cooper’s shoulders went up to his ears in a shrug. “He never told me and I never asked. We split the bills down the middle and stashed it, but as you can figure, they caught up to us.”

  She didn’t want to hear this part of the story, but knew it was coming. She told herself not to flinch at Cooper’s hard expression. When he spoke, she heard a thick wall of tears in his rough voice. His hand went to his throat, his fingers running over the scar there.

  “They slit Nate’s throat because he stole from them. Then they took a slice out of me - didn’t mind if I lived, they said, since I was a talented witch they might want to borrow later. All the same, they left me for dead in that garage. I wanted to die; they killed my friend because I failed him. Because I was weak, got so caught up in my own obsession for dark magic that I could hardly see straight.”

  He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, his pained look bringing more tears to Ruby’s eyes. She blinked them back, hadn’t realized she’d come so close to crying. It seemed as though she was always on the edge of tears these days. Seeing Cooper this way was a new experience for her and not one she particularly enjoyed.

  “How did you live through that?” she asked.

  “Some couple parking their car found us and called an ambulance. After they sewed me up, I skipped out, grabbed my shit and left town.”

  “They knew about Courtney, though. Why did she get that note?” Ruby heard the suspicion in her tone, dreaded the answer that she didn’t want to believe.

  He blinked hard, hesitated long enough for Ruby to understand. “I gave the money to Courtney. She hid it.”

  Ruby deflated, her breath whooshing out of her in a sudden release. “That’s why you searched her apartment. Is her spell book even really gone?”

  Her question hit a nerve, because the look he gave her was ice cold. “What, you think I took it for dark magic purposes? I would have my book for that, genius. Yes, it’s gone. And yeah, I tried to find the money while I searched for her book.”

  If Michael had talked to her like that a year ago, she would’ve cowed down and apologized. She’d known Cooper far too long and well to take his crap, however, so instead she jutted her chin out and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “That’s not exactly how I meant it. But how could you not have mentioned this a little earlier? Like, as soon as you got back?”

  His gaze went somewhere over her left shoulder as he spoke, muscles twitching under his throat. “
I don’t know. I didn’t want it to be related. It’s all I could think about on the way here…what if I’m the reason she’s dead?”

  He ran a hand through his hair, gripped it against his skull for a second. Ruby made to speak, but Cooper’s breath exhaled in a rush as he waved her off. “After the detectives told me about the other murders, about the witch hearts, I figured it had to be something else. The ritual stuff isn’t exactly their style; they’re more…physical. They’d beat their heads in and be done with it, ya know?”

  “Who were they?” she pressed.

  He shrugged. “I didn’t know all of them. There was some sort of hierarchy I was never privy to. All I knew was I was glad to never meet the heads of the club. They sound pretty vicious.”

  “Either way, your guys and/or the murderer like to leave love notes.”

  “Court didn’t seem to think the two things were related. Could she be right?” Even Cooper couldn’t hide the twinge of desperate hope in his voice.

  “She said it was only coming back in pieces,” Ruby reminded him. “I don’t know if we’ll have that answer until we find our killer. We can’t rely on her to get us anywhere, not the way she is right now.”

  Ruby didn’t want to blame Cooper or make him believe he had a part in Courtney’s death. This would be hard enough without adding guilt on top of that. She didn’t think, however, that they should give up on this lead just yet. Even if it wasn’t the same group, perhaps they could point Ruby in the right direction.

  If she had the guts to try and face them.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  A million dollars. Courtney had hidden a million dollars for her brother and never once mentioned it to Ruby. Aside from that initial surprise, how would she and Cooper know where to begin looking? Ruby wanted to confront these men that had left Courtney that note, but Cooper argued against it. If he didn’t have the money, he said, they would kill him on the spot. He didn’t say what they might do to Ruby.

  The idea was a bad one, Ruby knew, but it was the only plan they had. Where else were they supposed to get information on Courtney’s murder? She even suggested she go alone but Cooper wouldn’t hear it. After a short debate, he grudgingly agreed to call in a favor to an old friend.

  They agreed to meet the next day in a coffee shop. Mutual territory, Ruby guessed, but that was fine with her. Cooper, who hadn’t said much since Courtney’s visit, spent the entire morning out of her apartment. They arrived earlier than the agreed time so that Cooper could pick the booth. It was only when they sat with their coffee that Ruby decided to ask what she’d been wondering since the plan came together.

  “Who is this guy? And you know him how?”

  Cooper shot her a warning look. “He’s…a guy I knew back then.”

  “I know that much,” she said, swatting at the air in annoyance.

  He frowned, considered his next choice of words. “Darren gets mixed up in stuff when he thinks there’s money in it for him, but he’s also a coward. He’s been lucky to survive as long as he has but he knows it.”

  Ruby’s head cocked to the side in question but Cooper abruptly motioned to stay quiet. Footsteps sounded beside her as a figure maneuvered around a table and slid into the empty side of their booth.

  Cooper’s friend wore a battered old jacket, unzipped to show his worn AC/DC shirt. She saw only the top of a stained trucker hat, its owner looking down at his lap as he whispered to them. “We okay here man? You sure?”

  Cooper chuckled. “Darren, you know I don’t want that kind of heat. I’m careful.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s definitely no secret you’re back in town. They know one was your sister. I’m sorry for your loss, by the way.”

  Darren lifted his head to look at Cooper as he apologized and Ruby saw his face. Darren had to be in his late forties, his gaunt face covered by the hat brim and a coarse, graying brown beard. Darren’s hazel eyes flicked toward her for a split second and went back to Cooper. He jerked his head at Ruby.

  “She good?”

  “Darren, man, you gotta relax. This is my friend Ruby.” Cooper rapped the table with his knuckles; Darren’s attention jerked back to him, away from the front door where all was calm.

  “What? Oh, Ruby, yeah.” Darren swung his gaze to Ruby and nodded at her in greeting. “So why am I here, in broad daylight in a coffee shop?”

  “That’s exactly why you’re here,” Cooper said, rolling his eyes. “Skulking around in the alleys in the dark is shady as hell and something I don’t do anymore. Tell me what you know about the murders.”

  Darren shrugged, a twitchy motion that also came with ex-junkies, Ruby realized. Much like Cooper way back when, this guy was hooked on magic surges and right now he was going through withdrawal. She shot a look at Cooper who ignored her pointed glare and prompted Darren again. The tired old witch sighed, gave another look over his shoulder and back to them.

  “I don’t think it’s them, man,” he said, putting special emphasis in his facial expression to Cooper. He shrugged in jerky little motions, the words spilling out of his mouth as fast as possible. “This don’t feel right, don’t feel like them. Too…I dunno, they’re so cold about shit, they’ll slit your throat and walk away.”

  Too late, he realized his words and winced at Cooper as though waiting for an explosion, but Cooper remained still. Too still. Ruby saw him swallow hard and she stepped in to officiate.

  “So you’re saying these murders, the girls, it seems too personal?”

  Darren nodded at her, his haunted hazel eyes resting on her. “Exactly. I uh, I’ve been askin’ around, I know some people who know people and overhear shit, you know, and what that bastard did to those girls…” He risked a glance at Cooper and pushed forward. “Well, it seems like he took some care with them. Sounds almost respectful; uniforms say they find ‘em in the river, but they’re tied down to something so they don’t float away. They’re face up, arms crossed, real peaceful-like and shit, you know?”

  Ruby didn’t know but nodded at him to continue anyway.

  “None of ‘em raped, some bruises and stuff around the arms and legs. So he’s not even beating them up and Coop, I ain’t gotta remind you, but you know that’s not their style. They like to draw blood, want to see red. They don’t care if you’re hurt.”

  Darren seemed to pull back into himself, concerned tirade over and suspicion back on. He straightened his back against the booth, risked a peek behind his shoulder again. His nervous, ragged fingers tapped the table and Ruby laid a hand over his to calm him. Darren looked up at her again and Ruby spoke with a quiet tone.

  “Let’s say it’s not them. Darren, I’m not asking any favors from you, but I considered meeting with your, uh, friends to discuss the possibility of who this guy might be or how to catch him.”

  Before she even finished her sentence, Darren was shaking his head, whipping it back and forth with panicked fervor.

  “Bad idea, Ruby, bad idea,” he babbled. Instead of withdrawing his hand as Ruby expected, he flipped their hands so that he was cradling hers, his shaky but strong grip warm on Ruby’s skin. “You don’t know ‘em like we do. They don’t like women and they don’t mind taking anger out on them. You’d be in danger and you’re too pretty for that.”

  Ruby bit back a smile at the shy grin Darren spared her, a pink blush rising to his cheeks. “Well, thank you Darren, but I don’t know what else to do.”

  Cooper finally spoke up, his low voice rough like gravel. “Tell us what else you know about the killer. He’s after Ruby now and I have to stop him.”

  “We have to stop him,” Ruby corrected.

  Darren laughed, a humorless sound that made Ruby’s heart sink. “You can’t stop him. He’s full of dark magic thanks to previous rituals and the only way you’re saving Ruby is to get the hell outta town, man. Take her far away and don’t tell no one where you end up.”

  “You keep mentioning dark magic. What makes this guy so dangerous, aside from the obvious?” Ruby
asked.

  Darren’s left shoulder twitched upward even as his face paled. “It’s what they’re saying on the street - that no witch is safe, that he can get through any barrier, any protection spell.”

  “But how?” Ruby pressed. “What’s this ritual involve, besides hearts?”

  “Witch hearts,” Darren muttered.

  He rubbed the back of his neck, repeating the phrase a few times under his breath. Ruby gave a sideways look to Cooper, who shrugged as if to say this was normal routine. So she and Cooper waited for him to rejoin the conversation; Ruby drank her tea while Cooper’s gaze flicked to the front door every so often. After a couple minutes of tapping his fingertips on the table and mumbling into his lap, Darren snapped out of it.

  “Witch hearts are only used in the darkest of spells,” he said, leaning over so far that half his body seemed to be on the table. He risked a look behind him before continuing. “It’s usually for a form of power - by using a particular witch’s heart, he takes their power from the source and folds it into his own.”

  Ruby and Cooper nodded; they had figured that much from what little information they could gather. They both stayed quiet, however, so that Darren wouldn’t get spooked or stop talking.

  “He’s only taken women, which isn’t necessary for the ritual. So if you ask me, that says he prefers women.” Darren shrugged and Ruby couldn’t stop the cynical bark of laughter that left her mouth. Darren gave her an apologetic look and she shook her head, motioned for him to go on.

  “The tool you mentioned…I asked around a little after you called me, Coop.” Darren nodded at Cooper, who remained still and silent. “You got a photo?”

  Ruby pulled her phone out and showed him the photo of Michael’s sketch. “We’re told it’s a silver piece, something he’s using for a ritual maybe.”

  Darren took a long look at it, studied the swirl and shape of it. He combed his fingers through his beard in thought. “Yeah, that’s what I thought, too.”