The Cursed Crow and the Deadly Hex

by Kelly Ethan

  “Shame, I was a bit peckish.” Braun smirked at Xandie and retracted his bear claws. He frowned when she failed to respond. “What’s wrong?”

  “Other than the fact there’s a murderer on the loose, a prejudiced government agent stalking my mother and my grandmother seems to have disappeared again? Nothing.”

  Every person in Xandie’s vicinity paled, and a few curse words drifted on the breeze. She nodded grimly. A disappearing Elspeth was bad enough. But Elspeth on a hunt was even worse.

  “We need to get out of here and find Elspeth,” Holly whispered to Lila and Xandie.

  “How? Those damn ASP agents are everywhere now in Point Muse. Not to mention, all the Paladin and PIG agents on the lookout for Harrows. Besides, where do we start?” Lila shifted on her seat and pretended to stretch as she looked around the dining room in Harrow House.

  “We need a diversion,” Xandie hissed and then smiled sweetly at Braun, Buchanan, and Jackson who all stared at the women suspiciously. “And I think I have an idea where she might have gone.”

  “For those of us without Librarian brains, would you care to share?” Lila coughed to cover her words.

  “The killer has been one step ahead of us all along. We know that Hellacious has been working with a female. The same woman getting key people out of town with that cruise.”

  “And?” This time Holly coughed.

  “Whitburn and his partner are watching us. I think they want Elspeth off kilter, upset. They want her to make mistakes. They’ll force her to meet them in the one area near Point Muse that will hurt her the most. Where the killer Knight chased my mom off the cliff. I think that’s where they’ll be waiting.”

  Xandie pretended to have a fit of coughing. They needed to escape the house and get out to the bluff before Elspeth did something they’d all regret. And before Whitburn got his hands on the last piece of the Morpheus Amulet. But first, they needed to shake their law enforcement bodyguards. It’d be better if they didn’t interfere in whatever plan Elspeth had going on.

  “Somehow I don’t think you’re getting a cold. So how about you just tell me what you’re plotting?” Buchanan growled.

  Lila stood. “Sorry, girls. I agree with them. We need to let the agents handle this.” She turned her back on the men and gave her cousins a large wink.

  This had the hallmark of a Lila Harrow diversion. Xandie grabbed Holly’s hand under the table and squeezed.

  Holly jiggled her hand, acknowledging Xandie’s sign.

  “What? You sugar addicted traitor. What happened to all the Harrows standing together?” Holly jumped up and shoved Lila.

  “I’m looking out for you and Elspeth, you death-loving lunatic.” Lila tripped Holly over and danced around like a prize-winning boxer.

  Braun wandered over to Xandie and leaned in close. “Just ask Harrow House to keep Buchanan and Jackson in. But you need to let me know where to send the troops for your back-up.”

  His honey-scented breath tickled her nape. His warm, solid, shifter body pressed against her side. Damn bear had a way of discombobulating her. Fine, deal it was. “The bluff where my mother fell from. Just tell your men to stay out of the way until we signal. We don’t want them caught in Elspeth’s crossfire,” she whispered to Braun while Jackson and Buchanan were pulling Lila and Holly apart.

  Braun nodded and straightened. “Thanks for the show, ladies, but Xandie needs your help in the hallway. She needs to find a map to see where Elspeth might have gone.” He grabbed the women by the elbows and pointed them toward Xandie. “Right, boys. I got a plan in place.”

  Holly and Lila scuttled over to where Xandie now hovered in the hallway near the front stairs.

  “Now, House.” Xandie snapped her fingers and the house’s frame quivered before a solid wall slid over the dining room opening, closing the agents in. “Let them free when it’s time or when Braun tells you to, House. Thank you.” Xandie patted a wall.

  “What just happened?” Holly frowned, confused. “I thought our diversion was going well.” She shook a fist at Lila. “I had a really good right hook ready for you.”

  “Looks to me like our little Xandie is in cahoots with the bear shifter. Is this a prelude to your coffee date?” Lila squinted at Xandie. “What’s gotten into you? I know I was encouraging you, but you haven’t even gone on that date yet and you’re collaborating with the fuzz? It would devastate Elspeth.”

  Xandie spluttered. “He knows Elspeth is our best bet. And our craziest liability. She’ll spook if she sees all the law enforcement agents. His men have orders to wait until we signal. That was the best compromise I could make. Our focus is Elspeth and getting all the pieces of the Morpheus Amulet.”

  Elspeth would have conniptions if she dated a policeman, even a bear shifter one. But it wasn’t like she was planning a future with him…right?

  Lila shrugged. “Right. That’s all I needed. Everyone into the bakery van. We have a supernatural Apocalypse to stop and a crazy grandmother to protect.”

  The Apocalypse was the easier choice.

  Eighteen

  “Why did we have to park a marathon length away again? My calves are killing me.”

  “Maybe you should lay off your own sweets, Baker Girl?”

  “Could you two be quiet? I’m trying to concentrate.” Xandie squinted. It was dark, but between the mostly full moon and Holly’s Banshee eyes, which flickered silver every few minutes, they could see enough to walk.

  “I’m just saying, we could have gotten a little closer. Save some time.” Lila rubbed her calf muscle.

  “We need to check the situation out before dropping in on Elspeth’s scheme.” The cliffs where her mother disappeared weren’t far away. From now on, they had to keep a sharp eye out. Who knew what Hellacious and his female partner had planned?

  A low moaning somewhere to Xandie’s left froze her.

  “Did anyone else hear that?” Lila stopped and gripped Holly, pushing her in front.

  “Why am I the meat shield?” Holly wailed.

  “Because you deal with dead things all the time, that’s why.”

  “I think moaning’s a good indication of life.” Xandie hushed her cousins and concentrated. The whimper came again, only a few yards away. “This way.” Xandie took point cautiously. The whimper sounded again, coming from the foot of a large Red Oak tree. “There.” Xandie pointed to a shadowy, crumpled form at the base.

  Taking a chance, she sped up. Whoever was moaning needed help. She knelt next to the figure and slowly rolled the body over into the moonlight. The missing Lucien Benoit, vampire and ex-Morrigan Coven member, and Elspeth’s crony. “It’s Elspeth’s vampire, and he’s still alive, but hurt badly.”

  Holly and Lila pressed in next to Xandie. Holly quickly ripped off his shirt and exposed the gaping wound in his upper chest. She tore strips from his shirt and pressed against the wound. Lucien squealed and sagged against the ground, unconscious. “It’s not life threatening, but he needs blood and a good healer. A silver knife was used to cut out the amulet tattoo. Vamp systems don’t like silver, so the wounds take longer to heal.”

  Hellacious had Benoit’s amulet piece. She had no choice but to go on, leaving Holly and Lila to help the vampire. Elspeth would never forgive them otherwise. “Lila, you need to grab the van, pick up Holly and the vampire and get them to a healer.”

  “What about you?” Lila bit her lip, torn between keeping the vampire alive and staying with her cousin.

  “I’ve got Elspeth somewhere out there with an evil plan. Plus, Theo got into the Library, and he’s monitoring the situation. He’ll let Harrow House know when it’s time to send in the troops. He’ll get Braun ready to go, so get out of here.” Xandie patted Benoit’s uninjured shoulder and stood. She had no doubt her errant mother was lurking in the shadows, watching. Whether Miranda Harrow remembered them was another story. She’d helped them once and Xandie had to hope she’d do it again.

  With a nod goodbye, Xandie followed the
almost non-existent path to the bluff. She sped up as bushes rustled to her left and a high-pitched panting noise came from behind her. She came to a full stop, hands outstretched, ready to fake karate chop anything that came her way.

  “Geez, dollface. If I’d known it was a hike, I’d have rethought this whole rescuing the damsel in distress plan.” Colin stumbled out and dropped to the ground, rolling into his back as he wiggled his paws in relief.

  “Colin? What on earth are you doing? And since when has Elspeth been a damsel in distress? She’s more likely to be the wicked witch.” Great, the mouthy pug wasn’t her picture of a warrior riding to Elspeth’s rescue. He made too much noise for anything covert.

  “She is wicked, but everyone needs a helping paw every so often.” Colin rolled over and pushed himself up. “I’m ready for my rescue attempt now.”

  His? “You mean my rescue plan?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Same difference. Tally ho.” Colin trotted off to the right.

  Xandie cleared her throat, “Back this way.”

  “Right. What’s the plan then, Library girl?”

  “Get Elspeth and the amulet and try not to get killed?” Hopefully.

  “Short and sweet, like me.”

  Xandie slapped a hand over her nose as a low rumble sounded from in front of her. “Can’t you keep it in until we get to the bluff? We might be able to use your stench as a weapon.”

  “Hey,” Colin objected. “I have stomach issues. But that time it wasn’t me.”

  The noise came again, accompanied by a stench of garbage as a white-tailed deer with a dented side pulled out from the bushes. On the other side, a gray fox with patches of pealing fur gave a sharp yip.

  Hellacious Whitburn’s creepy animal necromancy was herding her and Colin with dead animals. Xandie shuddered but forced herself onward. She had no choice, Elspeth needed her.

  Xandie and the pug broke through the underbrush out onto the flat cliffs. The same cliff where a killer Knight chased her mother to her supposed death. Xandie shuddered, her hands moist, crazy imps turning cartwheels in her stomach.

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Meyers. Truly sorry.”

  Xandie turned in the direction of the lisping male voice, noticing that despite his bulk and radioactive flatulence, Colin had slipped away undetected.

  “I never wanted to hurt anyone, but she gave me no choice.” A disheveled, cadaver-like Hellacious Whitburn stood to her right. Close to the cliff edge. He looked worse for wear. Clothing torn in places, his black shoulder-length hair greasy and knotted. His skin sagged in places where he’d lost too much weight too quickly.

  “Hellacious Whitburn, I presume?”

  He nodded in a jerky robotic fashion. “Tell Elspeth it wasn’t personal. It was all her, Proctor’s daughter.”

  “Killing your coven members wasn’t personal?” Yeah, keep telling yourself that, psycho necromancer. And denial was a river in Egypt as Elspeth would say.

  “No, no. Not me.” Hellacious started for a moment. “She knew I needed money. She contacted me, offered a lot of money. I just needed to do a few things for her first.”

  “Like kill people?”

  “I arranged the car bomb for Hannah, the hexed donor for Benoit, even organized the cruises, but she dropped off the tickets. I got a great deal on that singles’ cruise. Your aunts will love it.”

  He seemed almost eager to please. Wanted Xandie’s thanks for a job well-done. Elspeth really could pick them. “And killing Henry, Minerva, and Bridget? Did they love what happened to them?”

  “She hates Elspeth for what happened to her father. Would have done anything for him. Even hiding from everyone who she truly was. Then her dad and her half-brother killed themselves. She stayed quiet and plotted. She’s been planning this for a really long time. Once she has Elspeth’s amulet piece, she’ll destroy Paladin, PIG, and the supernatural world.”

  A sparkly blue and yellow cloud exploded with a pop over Whitburn. He screamed and grasped his throat, trying to speak. Pure babble streamed from his mouth. A look of horror spread over his face and he fell to his knees.

  Xandie rushed forward and grabbed him as he tried to force words out. “Purple nose donkey peak.” He pounded on the ground. “Snark. Snarky bark.” He pointed behind Xandie.

  “He was always a talker. I could never shut him up. Now he can babble to the last breath in his body. And it will be the last. Your grandmother’s babble hexes are elegant in their killing efficiency.” Delilah from the diner, with her curves, platinum blonde beehive, and blood-red nails, stepped out onto the bluff, dragging a gagged and bound Elspeth Harrow.

  Whitburn moaned aloud and toppled aside, dragging Xandie down to the ground.

  “Can’t say it’s nice to see you, Delilah.” Xandie gently shook off Whitburn’s hand and stood. She wasn’t kneeling for anyone. Certainly not a fake-blonde, blood-crazed killer.

  “What? No exclamation of surprise? No how could you?” Delilah smiled.

  “You’re new to town, someone died in the diner you waitress in and then you mysteriously disappear? And every time you saw me you tried to pump me for information. It wasn’t hard to make the connection. How did you trap Elspeth?”

  Delilah dumped the rope she’d been leading Elspeth with onto the ground. “Typical. Always thinks she’s smarter than everyone in the room. She never expected little old me to come wringing my hands about this poor wounded vampire I’d found. She didn’t expect me to hit her on the back of the head with a rock.” Delilah giggled, proud of her handiwork entrapping the unsuspecting Elspeth.

  Xandie frowned at her grandmother who grunted behind the gag. “Frankly, that’s disappointing on all counts, Elspeth. But as a gesture of goodwill, why don’t you untie my grandmother and take me instead? I’m the Librarian.”

  “But she killed my father,” Delilah sneered and kicked the old woman in the side. “She has what I want. What I need. I’ll finish what my father started. And I don’t care who I hurt to do it.”

  Elspeth dislodged her gag. “Killer Barbie got the jump on me, I’m ashamed to admit it.” Elspeth shrugged. “Buchanan might have a point about my old bones. It would’ve never happened when I was young.”

  Hellacious drummed his feet against the ground and pointed at Delilah, babbling furiously.

  “That’s enough from you, Hell. Dead men tell no tales.” Delilah threw a silvery round ball at the man, who stiffened and let out an undulating scream.

  What the heck? Xandie scooted further away from the hexed necromancer.

  “Fear hex on top of the babbling hex. Plays torn from my very own hex book. Guess a lack of originality is something else you inherited from Proctor. Along with the psychotic gene.”

  Delilah bent down and spat on Elspeth. “You were always so dismissive of father. You laughed behind his back and complained when he asked you to do the littlest thing. Then you reported to Paladin and killed him.”

  “Didn’t he kill himself?” Xandie was positive Elspeth had said he’d died by his own hand. And something else confused her. Delilah’s words sounded personal. Not just a grudge from an abandoned daughter or inherited hatred from a dead parent. But a personal hatred of someone who’d worked with Elspeth. Knew how her grandmother operated. Her distinctive hexes.

  “Elspeth drove him to it. It’s her fault my brother and father died.”

  “My husband died too. You’re not the only one who lost family.”

  “You lost nothing,” Delilah screeched at Elspeth, but then managed to calm herself down. “That’s going to change.” Delilah sidled up to Xandie and patted her on the cheek. “You were so gullible, so nice to poor ol’ Delilah. You had no idea who I was. And now you’re going to help me get Elspeth’s amulet piece.” She smiled triumphantly.

  “I don’t think so, because I know your real name.”

  Delilah reared back, shock on her face at Xandie’s words.

  “That’s right. I’ve worked out who you are. You’re Alberta Burne, at least on y
our adoption records. I guess you decided since Whitburn used the alias Burne during World War two, it was also a good way to implicate him further in any crime you committed. Throw us off the scent. You were also Proctor’s admin assistant and his daughter. You were adopted, but I guess you decided to use Hannah Lynch as an alias, just in case anyone found out Proctor had another child. I’m betting he didn’t want anybody to find out who you were. You were the perfect mole. The coven’s administrative assistant and Albert Proctor’s illegitimate daughter.” Xandie wished she’d seen this earlier.

  “What?” Elspeth pushed herself to her knees. “A car bomb killed Hannah. Plus, she was a blue-eyed brunette beanpole. And she was a null, any hexes coming from her are nullified, canceled. She can’t throw magic; she can’t do magic. It’s not possible.”

  Delilah, a.k.a. Hannah, walked behind Xandie and grabbed her hair, holding her in place. “Well, well, well. The Librarian is a bit of a smarty-pants. You’re right, I am Hannah. Plastic surgery, a good hairstylist, a new eating plan and a gullible witch willing to sacrifice her life force to neutralize my null barrier. I still can’t do a lot of magic, but I can direct someone to brew a hex, so I can then throw it at my unsuspecting victims. I just went the extra mile like my father.”

  “Your father was a thief and a liar, and it doesn’t look like the apple fell far from the tree,” Elspeth sneered, wriggling like a worm on the hook to get at the ropes securing her wrists.

  Delilah/Hannah put her head on Xandie’s shoulder. “I get it. You hate to lose, Elspeth. But if you don’t help me and give me the amulet piece, I’ll flail every piece of skin off your granddaughter.” Hannah towed Xandie along with her as she walked closer to Elspeth. They passed close to Whitburn, who still writhed on the ground, terrified. And babbling.

  Xandie looked down as one particular word sounded almost like her name. Whitburn still shrieked, but a shred of sanity lingered in his eyes. He reached out a hand as Hannah frog-marched her past. Xandie forced her head straight and winked at Elspeth.