Fried Chicken & Fangs

by Bella Falls

  The corner of his mouth twitched. “I’ll do my best.”

  We went through the same motions, and I waited for the detective’s ring to appear in my head. Nothing. No line of connection. No sense of the piece of jewelry at all.

  “That’s what I thought.” I let go of Mason, shaking out my hands, my adrenaline pumping through me. “Go tell Beau to leave the ring where it is but to stay in the same room.”

  When we tried for the third time, I still came up with zero. “Amazing.” Finding out the reason why my magic didn’t work filled me with relief. I wasn’t broken at all. My spirit soared, but we had more to do.

  The three of us did a few more tests, moving Beau further and further away from the ring’s hiding place. When my roommate stood outside on the porch with us watching me use my talents, I could get a faint sense of the ring’s location. “Beau, really? The bathroom?”

  “What can I say? I had needs. Did your experiment work?” he asked, heading back inside.

  My heart thumped hard in my chest. “Better than I expected. Mason, all those stolen item reports at the same time as the election. My inability to find things like Raif’s pug or Ms. Alma’s ring. And the sudden return of them to find Mrs. K’s brooch. Someone is playing a clever shell game.”

  “And you think it’s a vampire,” he said.

  “Not just any vampire,” I continued. “The one who wants to win more than anything and who conveniently hasn’t been affected. And now that you’ve helped me narrow down how things might have happened, you know that I’m not accusing out of personal bias.”

  “You know, you’re incredibly inspiring when you get going like that.” Mason brushed his thumb against my skin again, reminding me that I still held his hand.

  I let him go, my cheeks heating. “I’m a girl of many talents,” I dared in the moment.

  “And it’s a privilege to discover more and more of them, Miss Goodwin.” He took a step closer.

  Beau returned. “Your ring, Detective.” He held out the valuable jewelry piece, and Mason returned it with care to his wallet. A round worn spot in the leather marked where the ring usually rested. Too many questions, not the right time.

  His spell phone rang, and he answered it. “Detective Clairmont. What, Lee? When did he…we’re on our way. Yes, I’ve got Charli with me. Tell everyone to get out of his way.” Ending the call, he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to his car. “We’ve got to go. Now.”

  “Why?”

  “Because we have to get to Raif’s house.” He started his car. “Before a mad troll destroys him and half the town.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  A roar of indignation thundered from inside Raif’s home. Glass and other breakables smashed in loud explosions. A few nervous wardens gathered on the front lawn, waiting to come up with a plan to handle the dangerous predicament.

  “I should get in there.” I pushed through the crowd of magic enforcement.

  Mason grabbed my arm. “What are you thinking? There’s a raging troll in there, and there’s no telling what he’ll do.”

  “It’s Horatio. If anyone has the ability to think through a situation, it should be him,” I said.

  Zeke approached the two of us. “We found Juniper at home with him. When we took her away, he, uh, didn’t approve.” The young warden flinched as a wooden table smashed through a side window and landed in pieces on the ground outside.

  “Somebody has to calm him down. We need to talk to Raif, and that’s not gonna happen if Horatio knocks him out or does anything worse.” I didn’t want to consider the possibility that my verbose friend might turn savage, but I’d seen what a misfired potion could do to his intellect. No telling how pure rage might affect him.

  The rest of my gang except Blythe showed up and broke through the throng of onlookers. They gathered around me, my girls offering me their support while Mason pulled Lee aside for a word.

  “I got here as fast as I could from the warden station. What’s going on here?” asked Ben.

  “An angry troll and a guilty vampire don’t mix well,” I offered, looking up at my tall friend.

  “Oh, good. So potentially more clients,” he said with a furrowed brow. “This day keeps getting better.”

  When he finished, the detective attempted to usher all of us away from the house.

  “You all need to stay back,” he insisted.

  I ducked under his upheld arm. “Do you have a plan?”

  “Not yet.”

  Another piece of furniture shattered another window and landed on the grass in front of us.

  “Then let me try to talk to him. I’ll stay in the foyer, far enough out of the danger zone,” I promised.

  “I doubt that.” In frustration, Mason gave in with a sigh. “Fine. I’m coming with you. The second you could possibly get hurt, it’s over. If I tell you to leave, you do it. No questions.”

  “Sure.” I rushed up the steps of the house and entered through the opened door. Approaching with caution, I stuck my head around the corner. “Horatio? Are you here?”

  “Yes, he bloody well is,” replied Raif, his face twisted with hysteria. “Get him out of here before he destroys another antique.”

  Something wooden splintered in the other room. “Tell me why you set my Juniper up and I might spare your furniture. Don’t, and I might not spare you,” Horatio bellowed.

  “I’ve been trying to tell you, it’s not me, but you won’t listen. Do not touch that vase,” the vampire implored. More shattering.

  I crept toward the living room, but Mason held me back. “Do not go in there,” he hissed at me.

  “I need Horatio to listen, and my best way to do that is to see him face to face. You’ve got my back. I trust you.” I slinked around the doorway. “Horatio, stop throwing things. I’m coming in.”

  The noise of destruction ceased, and I spotted the troll holding another item in his hand at the ready. “Charli, you must have deduced by now this scoundrel’s guilt. He acts like he is superior to the residents in our humble town, but he robs them behind the scenes.” He pointed his finger at Raif. “‘False face must hide what the false heart doth know.’”

  “Quoting Shakespeare doesn’t make you any less of a monster right now,” Raif replied, no longer cringing against the beveled glass hutch.

  “You might not want to use words like that right now,” I suggested. “Answer his questions, and maybe we can end it right here.”

  The vampire threw up his hands. “I have. I didn’t set up the fairy. I don’t even know what he’s talking about.”

  Fed up with his game, I fired off my list of accusations. “He’s talking about all the valuables disappearing from people’s houses. Mrs. K’s brooch ending up in Flint’s cookie jar. The pile of stolen goods planted at Juniper’s place of business. Oh, and a dead body lying in the library. Are you telling me you had nothing to do with any of that? You’re the only one who benefits from it all.”

  “You have reached the exact conclusion I came to, Charli,” agreed Horatio.

  Raif regarded me with a level of loathing I’d yet to see from him. “You come to my house, daring to speculate? Where is your proof? The death of that poor deluded woman, while tragic, had nothing to do with me.”

  “You wanted me out of the running, just like you desired to take out Flint and my darling Juniper.” Horatio tossed a nearby lamp in the vampire’s direction for good measure.

  “Watch it,” warned Mason from behind me.

  “If you think I’m so guilty, then why don’t you have her find all that stuff? If she thinks it’s here in my presence, then make her prove it by using her so-called talents,” Raif demanded. “Otherwise, all of you need to exit my domicile. Now,” he said with sharp authority.

  Pixie poop. The vampire had called my bluff. If he did have the stolen goods in his house, I wouldn’t be able to find them with my magic.

  Mason patted my behind, catching me off guard. “He’s got you, but you need to focus
on keeping Horatio calm and getting him out of the house.”

  Ignoring my surprise from the strange contact from the detective, I called out to my enormous friend. “Cooler heads need to prevail here, Horatio.”

  “But we are far from finished. The inimitable Sherlock Holmes was not wrong. ‘Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.’ He has to be the one behind it all,” he insisted.

  Raif sneered. “Neither one of you is Holmes or Watson.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “And you’re not out of the clear yet. Horatio, let’s go outside and discuss this further. Leave Raif to the wardens and his sweet precious pug.” Looking around, I didn’t spot his beloved pet. “Where is Barklay?”

  “It’s Sir Barklay.” A trickle of pink sweat dribbled down the Raif’s temple. “The big oaf must have scared him away.”

  “And you didn’t run after him in a panic?” From what I’d seen after the candidate speeches, the vampire should be inconsolable from losing his dog.

  He swallowed hard, his eyes darting about him. “Er, I had other problems to deal with.”

  An enraged troll definitely counted as a problem. But I still questioned that Raif wouldn’t gather up his pug to protect him. “Where’s your dog?”

  At the mention of his pet, the vampire’s indignant mask slipped a little. His lower lip quivered. “He’s gone.”

  “I don’t believe that he ran away without you chasing him. He’s the most precious thing to you, and you let him go?” I pushed.

  Raif contemplated his choices, glancing around at each of us and realizing his options were dwindling. “You don’t understand. He’s gone. Taken.”

  Mason pushed past me. “Who took him?”

  The vampire slumped into a nearby chair, holding his head in his hands. “Damien,” Raif groaned. “He’s the one you’re looking for.”

  “Isn’t he your friend?” I asked.

  He sat up in his chair, sniffing. “Damien Mallory is no friend of mine. It was not my choice for him to be here. Some demon from below must have it out for me. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that he would find me in this small town. Of all the places in the world, I never knew why he chose to come to Honeysuckle, but he did. As soon as he laid eyes on me, I understood that my life as I knew it would be over.”

  With no more items crashing, more wardens filed in through the door, taking watchful places around us and on the other side of the room. Mason held up his hand to hold them in place. “Why didn’t you come to the station and give a report if you suspected him? By staying silent, you’ve been complicit in whatever he’s done.”

  Raif leaned forward in his chair. “At first, he passed off his presence as wanting to find a new place to live. Knowing his affinity for a more luxurious lifestyle, I didn’t believe him. However, he convinced me of his usefulness if I let him stay with me to explore the town more.”

  “You mean, you thought he could help you win the election,” I clarified.

  “Yes,” he nodded. “I confess, his ability to, shall we say, manipulate the situation at hand did entice me not to protest. He possesses a shrewd mind and knows how to win people over. With Lady Eveline visiting her family in Europe, I needed someone on my side. Damien’s skills at helping me shape my campaign made me a front-runner if not the clear choice. After all, we wouldn’t be having an election without my insistence in the first place.”

  Mason started talking, but I spoke first. “When did you begin to suspect him? There’s so much more than an election at stake. A life was taken.” My stomach churned, wondering if the vampire had remained quiet in order to stay ahead.

  “Let me do the questioning,” the detective murmured to me. “But answer her,” he directed at Raif.

  “I would never have kept quiet had I been sure he was behind Mrs. Kettlefield’s demise. I thought the unfortunate woman had done herself harm,” the vampire said.

  “Despite you benefiting from what the Honeysuckle Holler did in implicating me,” added Horatio.

  “Yes. I figured if foul play was at hand that our team of capable wardens could solve the issue.” Raif took a petty shot at Mason and the others in the room. For someone running for office, he didn’t have a clue how to win fans. Perhaps Damien had been beneficial to his campaign in toning down the obnoxious side Raif couldn’t quite contain.

  Mason tensed beside me. “You didn’t answer the question. When did you suspect Damien?”

  “I heard some concern that someone was breaking into their houses when I was talking to the people. They wanted to know what I would do about the town’s safety. And my knowledge of Damien’s past suggested that he might be involved,” Raif continued. “But when I finally confronted him about it, he turned on me. Threatened to end my chances in the election and my ability to stay in Honeysuckle if I didn’t keep quiet. When it got to be too much, and I was going to report him,” the vampire paused to compose himself, “he threatened my precious pug. And now, they are both gone, and I may never see my sweet baby again.”

  With a few nods and silent direction, Mason instructed the other wardens, who moved forward on both Horatio and Raif. “Now that things are quieted down, let’s all go back to the station. We need to figure out where Damien Mallory has gone and exactly what his involvement is.”

  I tugged on the detective’s sleeve. “We don’t have time for official procedures. Raif, do you have any idea where he might be?”

  Allowing a warden to escort him toward the door, he shook his head. “No. But, Miss Goodwin, if you can find him and my Sir Barklay, I will forever be in your debt.”

  The temptation of having something like that in my back pocket to keep the vampire from bugging me again interested me. But there were more important issues at hand than his selfish desires. I stood out of the way for the apprehensive wardens taking care of the troll to make their way out.

  “You are smarter and supremely more talented than Holmes, Charli. Follow the path to its end,” Horatio charged me.

  While Mason and the rest of his team were busy handling things, I took the opportunity to snoop around, trying to find anything that might offer a clue to where Damien might have gone. A shimmering movement out of the corner of my eye captured my attention.

  A rip in the space of Raif’s parlor sparkled to life, and a hole opened. Moss, flew through it, hovering in front of the door. Behind her through the veil of the fairy path, I caught a glimpse of Blythe tied to a chair with a gag around her mouth, holding a terrified pug for dear life.

  I started to yell for Mason, but the small fairy held up a tiny finger in front of her lips. “One word from you, and I will close the path. The safety of your friend depends on the choices you make in the next few seconds.”

  Anger roared to life, and rage and power surged through me. “What choices?” I gritted through my teeth, speaking low so no one else could hear me.

  “Come with me willingly, and you can save her. Don’t come, and you choose to risk your friend’s life.” Moss’s normal sour face morphed into a more menacing mask.

  “Those aren’t choices,” I hissed.

  “You must decide now,” insisted the fairy.

  Keeping my eyes trained on Blythe and without looking back, I ran toward the shimmering door.

  “Charli, no,” Mason screamed from behind. His protest trailed off as my feet landed on a rotten wooden floor and the portal closed.

  Not taking in any of my surroundings, I rushed to kneel in front of my friend. “B, are you okay?” My fingers fumbled to check her body for injuries and to set her free. Blythe looked up at me, her eyes full of regret and dread.

  A smooth voice with an impeccable British accent responded. “I wouldn’t worry about her, Miss Goodwin. Her safety rests completely in your hands.”

  “Damien, what have you done to her?” Standing up, I prepared to face him with all of my wrath.

  He ceased pretending to be the gentleman vampire, a sneering grin plastered on his face. “I
t’s no longer what I did to her as much as what you choose to do for me that will determine her fate. And yours.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Why don’t you let me take care of the both of ‘em,” snarled a large man, entering the room of the small abandoned house. I recognized Butch, one of Dash’s attackers from the other night.

  The vampire frowned, unhappy to be interrupted. “The two of you need to finish loading everything into the truck and get out of here. Moss’s sleeping spell may not last long on the gate guard, and you need to be long gone to meet up with our contact on the outside.” With a grunt, Butch shot me a dark gaze and left.

  “So you’re just a petty thief,” I accused, my gut tightening. “Everything that happened was so that you could steal things from our town? You murdered someone.”

  “I am far from a simple thief. What I do takes skills that few possess,” bragged Damien. “The old woman wasn’t as beneficial of a target as I’d hoped. She provided the first domino in my deception, upsetting the election from the first event and providing an excellent cover for my real motives. But her mind would not allow her to fully accept my control. I had to stop her before she broke completely and alerted anyone to my game.”

  “A person’s life is not a game.” I rested my hand on Blythe’s knee, giving her the comfort of my presence as she groaned and struggled against her bindings, Raif’s dog whimpering in her grasp. “Did you influence her, too?”

  He scoffed. “You witches continually underestimate others, creating communities to live in supposed harmony and expecting everyone to live by your rules and authority. I am a vampire, and we should not be living a less-than-ordinary life, trying to fit in with others. We were made to take lives.”

  Damien paced as he talked. “Sweet, simple Blythe here was a much easier target. So eager for someone to pay attention to her. Did you know that she is jealous of you because you hold two men’s interests? It hardly drained me at all to manipulate her. Such interesting information she has, working that menial job and interacting with so many from your town.