Defender (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill Book 11)

by Christine Pope

  “Trust me, she’s not going anywhere,” Jack said. In his pocket, his phone buzzed again, reminding him that he had a voicemail he needed to listen to. “If that was all you needed?”

  “Until I think of something else.”

  Deciding to ignore that somewhat ominous response, Jack nodded and then headed out of Larry’s office and down the hall to his own. As he walked, he pulled the phone from his pocket and checked his missed calls. Kate’s number. Damn it.

  He went into his office, although he didn’t close the door behind him. Larry didn’t like closed doors. He was all about transparency. Jack shuddered to think what his boss would do if he ever found out that one of his top detectives also happened to be a warlock. As secrets went, that was kind of a biggie.

  As soon as he sat down, he tapped his phone’s screen to listen to Kate’s voicemail.

  The Santiagos. The prima killed. What did that mean? Had Beatriz Santiago died in an accident? Had she been murdered? With everything that had been going on, Jack suspected the worst.

  Jesus Christ.

  At once he got back up from his chair, shoved the phone in his pocket, and began hurrying for the exit to the parking lot. In the hallway, he passed Grace Pedersen, who lifted an inquiring eyebrow at him.

  “Going somewhere?”

  “Uh, yeah — a possible lead in the Nichols case. I shouldn’t be gone long.”

  “A new witness?”

  “Something like that.” He hated lying to her, but he sure as hell couldn’t tell her the truth.

  “I hope it pans out,” Grace said. “Because when it comes to physical evidence, we’re pretty much screwed. Ian and I went back to Nichols’ apartment and did another pass, and we still found bupkis.”

  “I’ll keep you posted,” Jack responded, and then offered a smile and kept going. He didn’t have time to hang around the station and hold her hand. Yes, it was frustrating to be completely stymied like that, but it was also part of the job.

  Since he didn’t know how long he was going to be gone, or what might happen next, he took his own vehicle rather than the unmarked car assigned to him. Gunning the Jeep and racing out of the parking lot would only attract attention, so he did his best to drive with care — at least until he was a few blocks away from the station. Then he sped up, although not to excess. Luckily, Luz’s home was only about a half-mile away from his work. He’d be at his destination in a couple of minutes.

  When he stopped in front of the gracious hacienda-style home, he saw Alex’s black Pathfinder parked in the driveway. Good. He wouldn’t have to wait on Alex and Caitlin and Kate, but, more importantly, they’d gotten here safely, hadn’t been blindsided the way Kate had been when she’d tried to drive away from the impound lot.

  Jack got out of his vehicle and all but ran up to the gate that opened into the courtyard. Since he was family, he let himself in, ignoring the buzzer mounted into the stucco wall next to the gate. He did knock at the front door, simply because he knew Luz always kept it locked, and he knew better than to use his powers to waltz right in, no matter how urgent the situation might be.

  She answered his knock right away, almost as though she’d been standing next to the door, waiting for him. Although she looked, as usual, like she’d just come from lunch at the country club or something, in her linen sheath dress and low-heeled sandals, he didn’t miss the tension in her posture, or the strained expression in her eyes.

  “Thank God,” she said, closing the door behind him. “I was just about to try calling you again, even though Kate said she left a message.”

  “I was talking to my supervisor when she called,” he explained. “I retrieved the voicemail as soon as I could, and then came straight over here.”

  “Everyone’s waiting in the living room. And I’ve tried to call the number I have for Beatriz and Simón Santiago, but it just rings and rings. It doesn’t even go to voicemail.”

  As Jack gave the prima a grim nod, Luz led him out of the foyer and to the room in question, where Kate and Alex and Caitlin sat on the couch. A pitcher of iced tea and matching blue-rimmed glasses sat on the coffee table, but it didn’t look as if anyone had helped themselves to the beverage yet.

  Jack did what he could to prevent himself from looking at Kate first, but it was difficult. He still needed to reassure himself that she was okay, that she hadn’t suffered any lasting harm from the car accident the day before. Although she appeared paler than usual, and her wide, friendly mouth was set in tense lines, she otherwise seemed to be just fine.

  Alex and Caitlin held hands, and sat very close to one another. Well, Jack could see why the seer would need as much reassurance as possible, after witnessing something like what Kate had mentioned in her voicemail.

  After nodding at all of them, Jack took a seat in one of the empty armchairs that faced the couch, while Luz settled herself in the one remaining chair. “Caitlin,” he said, and she startled slightly, and grasped Alex’s hand even tighter, as though she feared what Jack was about to say. “Was this a real-time vision, or a glimpse of the future?”

  “Real time,” she replied, her voice shaky, although she hadn’t hesitated before answering him. “That is, the text I got from Lucinda came through just a minute before the vision did. She must have been hiding in her room when it happened.”

  Damn it. Jack ran a hand through his hair. He’d been hoping against hope that the horrors Caitlin had seen were something which could be prevented. No such luck, though.

  “What are we supposed to do now?” Alex asked. His eyes went to his mother, who sat still as a statue on her leather chair. “Has anything like this ever happened before?”

  Luz moistened her lips, then shook her head. “No. At least, not in any of the history of our clan, which goes back more than three hundred years. I suppose it’s possible that in less civilized times, these sorts of coups against a prima and her family might have been attempted, but I’ve never heard of such a thing. To murder a prima — it goes against everything that witch society is built on.”

  “Well, clearly this person didn’t have any scruples about committing such a crime,” Jack said grimly. He shifted his attention back to Caitlin, who looked as if she was in need of a much stiffer drink than iced tea. “Caitlin, were you able to tell whether Simón or Beatriz tried to defend themselves?”

  A small silence as the seer frowned, clearly trying to wring every detail out of the horrible vision she’d just endured. “I — I think I saw Simón lift his hands, as though he was trying to cast some sort of spell, but nothing happened. And afterward, the man who killed him took him by the neck and lifted him right off the ground. That’s when his neck snapped. Beatriz was sitting across the room in her wheelchair, and again, it looked like she was trying to do something — her lips were moving — but it didn’t seem to have any effect.” Caitlin stopped there, fear and worry twisting her pretty features. “I don’t understand how that could happen. I mean, I know that as far as primas go, Beatriz Santiago wasn’t all that powerful. But she still should have been able to stop that man from killing her husband, or herself. It was almost as though none of their magic was having any effect.”

  Listening to those words, Jack felt a chill go through his body. A terrible suspicion began to form, although he wasn’t sure he wanted to acknowledge it. Doing so would mean they’d all have to confront the fact that this murderer possessed a magical gift which hadn’t been seen in generations, one that could do terrible harm if the person born with it didn’t do everything in his power to curb his talent.

  Ignoring the problem wouldn’t make it go away, however. Better to face it head on, and try to come up with some way to solve it.

  “It sounds like the attacker is a null,” he said.

  “A what?” Alex asked, his brows pulling together. Obviously, he’d never heard the term before. And, judging by the equally bewildered expression Caitlin wore, neither had she. Kate also looked mystified, but that was to be expected. She knew a littl
e of the witch world, just because her brother had married into the McAllisters, but she certainly wouldn’t possess this kind of knowledge. Nearly forgotten concepts such as a null would never have been mentioned to her, because so few people knew of them.

  But Luz obviously understood. Her body went stiff, even as she gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head, as though she didn’t want to acknowledge what Jack had just said. Her hands knotted together in her lap as she twisted the gold wedding band on her ring finger. “A null,” she said, in a clear, precise voice, as if discussing the topic in a nuts-and-bolts fashion would make it a little less difficult to deal with, “is a witch or a warlock whose talent is suppressing all other magic around them. It’s very likely that both Simón and Beatriz did try to defend themselves, but were unsuccessful because the null’s gift — if you can call it that — canceled them out.”

  “A null is powerful enough to defeat even a prima’s magic?” Alex asked, his tone clearly skeptical.

  “Oh, yes,” Jack said. Across from him, sitting quietly on the sofa, Kate straightened, her worried hazel eyes meeting his for just a second before she glanced away. What he saw in those eyes…well, he didn’t want to acknowledge it. Especially not right then, with Luz and Caitlin and Alex watching him. “A null is sort of like a black hole, except what he pulls into himself is magic. Other people’s magic. You can’t defeat that. It doesn’t matter how strong your own gift might be. Now, if the null is an honorable person, a good person, then they won’t use their talent to harm or take advantage of others. The problem is when you get someone like the man Caitlin saw in her vision.” He shifted in his chair, directing his next words to Luz. “Have you ever heard of a null in Santiago territory?”

  “No,” she replied. “Not that our clans ever had that much communication — you know as well as I do that we tend to keep to ourselves. But such a thing…such a terrible talent…that might have come out. I have heard of no such person, though, not from the Santiagos, certainly not from any of the Arizona clans, and not from the Castillos in New Mexico, either. Wherever this man came from, it is nowhere around here. The question we must ask is, why did he attack the Santiagos now? To what purpose?”

  “Well, wouldn’t he be trying to take over?” Kate asked then, prompting everyone else to send a curious look in her direction, as though they were surprised she would comment at all on a subject so far outside her own experience. “I mean, that sounds like the most logical explanation for his crimes. Didn’t Matías Escobar try basically the same thing, by attempting to kidnap your prima-in waiting?”

  “And eliminating my mother through the use of vile blood magic,” Luz said, the bitterness clear in her tone. “Yes, you are right, Kate. No doubt that is his goal, although I am not sure what he plans to do with the Santiagos’ prima-in-waiting. She is young — in her middle twenties — but still, she has been bonded with her consort for several years. It is not as though this interloper will be able to have a true consort bond with her.”

  “But he doesn’t have to,” Alex pointed out. “Matías knew he probably wouldn’t have the bond with Zoe, either, but it would be enough to be with her, to control her. He’d still have the power he wanted.”

  “Who is the prima-in-waiting for the Santiagos?” Jack asked then. Already he worried that they were too late, but they had to do their best to try to contact her…if there was any time left at all.

  “Marisol Valdez,” Luz replied. “She is Beatriz’s niece, and also lives in Pasadena. But I don’t know if I have her contact information.”

  “Check anyway.”

  A nod, and Luz got up from her chair and headed down the hallway toward the secondary bedroom that Jack knew she used as her office. After she was gone, Alex said, “Is contacting her really going to do any good? I mean, if what you said about a null’s power is true….”

  “It would give her a chance to run,” Jack told him. “That’s about all she could do. But she could leave, and come take refuge with us.”

  “Could we protect her, though?” Caitlin asked then. She still looked far too pale, but her gaze was steady enough as she met Jack’s eyes. “Could anyone help her?”

  “I’m not sure,” he said truthfully. “Even a null might think twice about facing down a large number of witches and warlocks. But I don’t really know. It’s been so long since we’ve had to deal with this kind of magic that we don’t have any real data.”

  That reply certainly didn’t reassure her; she shrank up against Alex, who let go of her hand and dropped an arm around her shoulders. That shifting of her position made Kate look even more alone as she sat at one end of the couch, back straight, hands folded in her lap. Right then, Jack had a foolish but nearly overwhelming urge to go to her and hold her the way Alex held Caitlin, just so she’d know someone was here to look out for her, but he could only imagine Kate’s reaction — not to mention the reactions of his family members — if he were to do such a thing.

  Luz returned then, a small address book in one hand and the handset for a cordless phone in the other. “I actually do have her number. But I just tried to call, and it went through to her voicemail.”

  Of course it did. Anxious tension knotted the muscles of his neck and shoulders, but Jack kept his voice calm as he said, “Try again. She might just be out running errands, or picking up her kids from school.”

  “She doesn’t have any children,” Luz said.

  Right. Luz had told him that when they were discussing the Santiago clan just the day before. “Grocery store, then. Whatever. Just try.”

  Her expression dubious, Luz entered a number into the keypad of the phone, then held it up to her ear. Even from where he sat, Jack could hear the phone ring and ring, and then a cheerful woman’s voice say, “Hi, this is Marisol. Tony and I can’t take your call right now, but if you’d like to leave a message….”

  Jack shook his head at Luz, and she took the phone away from her ear and pressed the button to end the call. As she set the handset down on the coffee table, she shot him an inquiring glance.

  “If the null has already gotten to her, the last thing we want is for him to know that we know what he’s up to. We have to hope he doesn’t know anything about Caitlin’s powers, that we have the ability to see what he’s done, even though he’s hundreds of miles away from us.”

  “I saw one thing,” Caitlin said, her voice gloomy. “Just one thing. This is what I hate about this damn talent of mine. It shows me what it wants to show me. Life would be so much easier if I could just make it show me things on command. Then I would be able to see what this bastard is doing right now.”

  “I know it’s frustrating,” Jack said, as Alex hugged his wife a little tighter. “But even that one vision gave us a whole lot of information. We could be flying completely blind in terms of this coup within the Santiago clan. Thanks to you, though, we do know something. Don’t sell yourself short.”

  “But….” Caitlin stopped there, her body going rigid within Alex’s embrace. A strangled-sounding gasp emerged from her throat, and she stared at Jack with white-rimmed eyes that reminded him of a startled horse.

  “Oh, shit,” Alex said. “Another one.” He continued to hold Caitlin, as though he knew she would fall over if he didn’t prop her up. “They don’t usually come this close together.”

  “Let’s be glad they have this time,” Luz said. “Perhaps she will be able to give us more information so we can help Marisol.”

  Jack agreed, although he had to admit it was unnerving to watch Caitlin while she was in the grip of one of her visions. This was the first time for him, and there was something very disconcerting about seeing the way she completely lost contact with the world around her, as though her body was still there but her mind was ranging someplace very far away.

  And he could also tell that it upset Kate, though she didn’t move from where she sat, made herself remain quiet and still, clearly worried that any movement on her part would knock Caitlin loose from her vi
sion. Once again her eyes met his, only this time they were wide and frightened, seeking some form of reassurance in a world that must have felt as if it had gone completely mad.

  Then Caitlin gasped, and sat bolt upright. She looked around, as if she needed to remind herself where she was. Her chest heaved, and tears stood out in her eyes. “Tea?” she whispered, voice hoarse.

  At once Alex reached for the glass that sat before her on the coffee table, then placed it gently in both hands and wrapped her fingers around it, as though he worried that she might drop the iced tea if she didn’t have a firm grip on it. “What is it?” he asked, soft but urgent. “What did you see?”

  A teardrop slipped from the corner of one eye and ran down her cheek. “We can’t help her,” she replied. She raised the glass of iced tea to her lips and took a large swallow, then another. “He has her.”

  “The null?” Jack said.

  She nodded. “He — he went to her house. Walked in just like he did at Simón and Beatriz’s home. Marisol was sitting on the couch, crying. I guess — I guess it must have been because she sensed her aunt’s death, felt the prima powers come to her?”

  “Probably,” Luz put in, her voice quiet and calm, although Jack could see the way the muscles in her neck tensed as she swallowed. “The prima-in-waiting can always feel it, even if she doesn’t have the privilege of being at the prima’s side as she dies.”

  “There was a man with Marisol,” Caitlin continued. “He was comforting her, and had a set of car keys in his hand. It looked like they were about to leave and go find out what had happened. But then….”

  Alex pushed a lock of fiery hair away from his wife’s face. “Then the null came?”

  “Yes. He walked right in, just as he did at Beatriz and Simón’s house. Marisol started to get up, to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing, but the null ignored her and went to the man with her. Dragged him away, and broke his neck just like he did to Simón. Marisol screamed, and the null went to her and pulled her close. She struggled, but he whispered something in her ear, and for some reason, she stopped fighting, went limp in his arms. Then he picked her up and carried her down the hall, away from the living room. The vision ended there.”