Defender (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill Book 11)

by Christine Pope

  If there was anyone around who could help.

  Another burst of energy whizzed overhead, but it seemed to stop while halfway across the room, halted in its tracks by a billowing plume of black, foul-smelling smoke that appeared to have come from nowhere. Which, Kate supposed, it had. That was how magic worked.

  “You can’t defeat me,” the Escobar witch said, her tone almost bored. “I’ve spent many years studying these arts. I have my father’s strength. You are soft, like the rest of your clan. You do not know what it is to suffer for your art.”

  “True,” Jack replied, sounding amused. An act, Kate knew, but one she hoped the witch might fall for. “Around these parts, we prefer to take joy in the use of magic. If you’re suffering for it, then I think you’re doing it wrong.”

  This verbal salvo must have angered the Escobar witch, because she snapped out something in Spanish. Immediately afterward, a bolt of reddish lightning zinged through the air, striking Jack in the shoulder. He cursed and fell to his knees.

  Kate wanted to scream his name, but she didn’t — she knew that would only distract him, and he had to keep all his focus on the witch, on keeping his defenses up. Luckily, the Escobar witch didn’t appear to be paying any attention to Kate as she crawled her way across the floor, possibly for the same reason. For now, the woman had to maintain her own defenses. She probably thought she would have plenty of time to deal with Kate and her mother later.

  “Had enough?” the witch asked. “I do not need you for this spell, de la Paz warlock. You can walk away from all this. That is what my father told your misguided prima, after all. Let us rule things in California, and we will leave you alone. Forget this woman, this ‘civilian,’ as you call them, and just walk away.”

  “I don’t think so,” Jack replied. His voice was tight with pain, but it didn’t waver. “You see, I’m a cop. My job is to protect innocent people like these women here from criminals like you.”

  The Escobar witch drew herself up, red-painted lips curling. “A criminal? I am no criminal. My cause is a righteous one.”

  “Tell it to the judge, lady.”

  He made an odd motion with his hands, holding one steady while he pushed outward with the other, and immediately Kate’s ears popped, as though Jack had somehow displaced half the air in the room. The burst hit the Escobar witch squarely in the midsection, and once again she stumbled, this time catching her foot on one of the steps that led into the sunken living room.

  That wasn’t enough to deter her, though, because she countered with another of those lightning strikes, two of them hitting Jack simultaneously. At once he collapsed face first on the carpet, smoke rising from his shirt. A few yards away, Lynda gasped. She didn’t really know who Jack was, and had to be out of her mind with fear, but clearly she understood that the man who’d just been struck down was the only person who could help them.

  No. No, Kate thought. This can’t be happening. He has to get up.

  But he didn’t move. By that time, Kate was only a few feet away from him. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw the Escobar witch getting to her feet, unsteady, but with a malevolent smile touching her full lips and a triumphant light in her coal-black eyes. Limping, she began to make her way across the room to the spot where Kate crouched.

  Clutched in the woman’s right hand, hidden before now by the long black robes she wore, was a curved, evil-looking knife.

  Shit.

  Kate backed away, scrabbling now on her hands and knees. So close to Jack. He had to get up. But he wasn’t moving.

  But there, mostly hidden by his body, was his gun in its shoulder holster.

  “It doesn’t hurt,” the Escobar witch said, her voice almost friendly. “What I did to your husband…that hurt, I’ll admit. But I had to bring my assistants to this plane. Now that they are here, it takes less to appease them.”

  “Oh, really?” Kate replied, not caring how inane she sounded. Her fingers reached for the holster, fumbled with the snaps that held the gun in place. “Still sounds like they’re kind of high-maintenance. Maybe you should look for different friends.”

  “I assure you — these ‘friends’ are very useful.”

  There…the 9mm was free, sliding cold and heavy into Kate’s desperate grasp. “Then make sure you say hi to them for me.”

  A click of the safety, and she lifted the gun, aimed directly at the witch. Head shot? Kate didn’t know if she’d be able to pull that off. Better to shoot her right in her cold black heart.

  The sound of the gun going off was louder than anything Kate could have imagined. Of course — the only other time she’d shot a gun, she’d been wearing ear protection. The noise echoed in her ears, ringing like some infernal bell.

  And then — there was the witch, slumping to the blood-spattered carpet, her black clothing wet with the stuff. Her dark eyes were wide, startled.

  Knees shaking, Kate got to her feet and approached the wounded woman, gun held at the ready. The witch’s eyes met hers, narrowed with pain. Incongruously, she smiled.

  “I will not live to see my father’s dominion,” she whispered. “But my blood on its own is enough to complete the spell.”

  With one swift motion, she raised the curved blade she held, whispered a few words in a language Kate didn’t recognize, and then drew the edge across her own throat. Blood, red-black in the dimly lit room, gushed from the wound, further soaking the carpet.

  A harsh keening sound. The sensation of cold, leathery wings beating at the air. The ground trembled underfoot, and from somewhere in the house came the tinkle of broken glass.

  Then, just as suddenly, as it had come, the supernatural disturbance ended. Whatever the Escobar witch’s death had summoned, it was gone now.

  Kate let out a hiccupy sob and ran back over toward Jack. After making sure to engage the gun’s safety once again, she set it down on the coffee table. “Jack? Jack!”

  Blearily, his eyes opened. They focused on her first, and then moved toward the lifeless figure of the woman lying on the floor. An expression of incredulity moved over his features, and she couldn’t help laughing. Laughter tinged with hysteria, perhaps, but still.

  “See?” she said. “I told you I knew how to shoot.”

  Epilogue

  Jack set down his phone and looked across the patio table at Kate. Despite the losses she’d suffered over the last few weeks, she now appeared almost serene, as though she was ready to put the past behind her and look forward to the future.

  To a future with him.

  “That was Luz,” he said.

  “Oh?” After all the necessary cover-up of her father’s true cause of death, after the dust had settled and the dead had been buried, Kate made the decision that she couldn’t live in Scottsdale anymore. Too many terrible memories, too much to remind her of what she’d lost. Her parents’ house had been put on the market, and Lynda had moved up to Clarkdale to be near her new grandson. The shock and sorrow would always be with her, but at least she could try to focus on the newest member of the family, a welcome distraction from the horror of her husband’s murder.

  And since Jack refused to remain in Scottsdale without Kate, he’d resigned his commission with the police department. What he was going to do with himself, he wasn’t sure…but if what Luz had just told him was true, he had a feeling all of them were going to be very busy for the foreseeable future.

  Watching Kate carefully, he said, “We had to be discreet about making inquiries, because this is going to turn out to be an embarrassment for everyone involved, but it seems that the Escobar woman’s spell did what she intended it to. About a week after the night she died, apparently Matías Escobar walked right out of the prison in Florence and disappeared.”

  “He what?” Kate set down her coffee cup. Even though she’d been working outside in the yard the past few days and had begun to pick up something of a tan, she now looked deadly pale. “How is that even possible? Wasn’t he in a maximum-security prison?” />
  “His sister’s death provided the energy needed to restore his gift. Remember, his power was controlling people with his voice, getting them to follow his commands. He probably wanted to take some time to experiment with it, to make sure that it truly was working the way it used to before Connor and Angela took it away, but once he’d determined that he was back in the game….” Jack paused there and picked up his own coffee. It had gone lukewarm during his conversation with Luz, but right then he just wanted the caffeine. The shock of the news the prima had just shared made him feel far too tired. “Matías would have used his power to charm a few guards to let him out and walk him out of there. Once he was free, he could have found someone in the town near the prison to literally give him the shirt off their backs, most likely a car, too. No doubt he’s already joined up with dear old dad in California.”

  “But….” Kate drew in a breath, the worry clear in her face. “But what are we going to do now?”

  “I’m not sure,” Jack replied. He reached across the table to take her hand in his. Her fingers felt cold, fragile. In that moment, he vowed that she would never suffer harm or loss again, no matter what happened.

  “Just know that I’ll always be here for you. I’ll always protect you. And if the Escobars bring the fight to us…we’ll be ready.”

  The Witches of Cleopatra Hill series will continue with Deep Magic, due out in October 2017.

  Sign up for Christine Pope’s newsletter and get an exclusive Witches of Cleopatra Hill prequel short story!

  The Arizona Witch Clans

  This list does contain some minor spoilers for earlier books in the series. Married names are indicated with parentheses.

  The McAllisters (Jerome, Arizona, and the Verde Valley)

  Angela McAllister (Wilcox) – prima, or head witch, of the McAllister clan

  Rachel McAllister – Angela’s aunt

  Bryce McAllister – one of the McAllister clan’s elders

  Allegra Moss – one of the McAllister clan’s elders

  Margot Emory (Wilcox) – formerly one of the McAllister clan’s elders, now married to Lucas Wilcox

  Sylvia Emory – Margot’s mother

  Ruby Lynch – former prima of the McAllister clan

  Henry Lynch – son of Ruby McAllister and Patrick Lynch

  Tobias Miller – fiancé of Rachel McAllister

  Sonya McAllister – Angela’s mother, deceased

  Boyd Willis – a McAllister warlock

  Micah Landon -- an absentminded artist

  Floyd Barnett – lives above the store next to Rachel’s

  Rosemary McAllister – lives on the other side of Rachel’s store above the tea shop

  Susan Callery -- an artist with a studio in the same building as Tobias’ flat

  Efraim Willendale -- runs the post office

  Wyatt McAllister -- owns a B&B on Paradise Street

  Dora McAllister – Great-Aunt Ruby’s caretaker

  Jocelyn Riggs -- the clan’s strongest medium

  Kirby McAllister – a cousin of Angela’s and one of her “caretakers”

  Tricia McAllister -- the new clan elder after Margot Emory steps down

  Richard McAllister – Tricia’s husband

  Caitlin McAllister (Trujillo) – daughter of Tricia and Richard; a seer

  Michael McAllister – Caitlin’s older brother, a chef

  Roslyn McAllister -- Caitlin’s first cousin; youngest sister of Jenny and Adam

  Marcus McAllister -- Tricia McAllister’s older brother, father of Jenny, Adam, and Roslyn

  Lysette McAllister – Marcus’ wife and mother of Jenny, Adam, and Roslyn; a civilian (non-witch)

  Jenny McAllister – eldest daughter of Marcus and Lysette McAllister

  Adam McAllister – only son of Marcus and Lysette McAllister

  Roslyn McAllister – youngest daughter of Marcus and Lysette McAllister

  Evan McAllister — a distant cousin of Angela’s; the clan’s “fixer”

  The Wilcox Clan (Flagstaff, Arizona, and the northern third of the state)

  Connor Wilcox – primus (head warlock) of the Wilcox clan

  Damon Wilcox – former primus of the Wilcoxes, now deceased

  Lucas Wilcox – a cousin of Connor’s, now married to Margot Emory

  Mason Wilcox (McAllister) – Connor’s cousin and a friend of Angela’s; now married to Adam McAllister

  Danica Wilcox – Mason’s younger sister

  Joseph Wilcox – Mason and Danica’s father

  Olivia Wilcox – Mason and Danica’s mother

  Andre Begonie – Angela McAllister’s father

  Marie Wilcox (Begonie) – a cousin of Connor’s, the Wilcox clan’s seer

  Eleanor Garnett – the clan’s healer

  Darrell Wilcox – a Wilcox warlock gifted with heating the area around him

  In the 1880s:

  Jeremiah Wilcox – the Wilcox clan’s primus

  Nizhoni – Jeremiah’s second wife, a woman of the Navajo

  Jacob Wilcox – Jeremiah and Nizhoni’s son

  Samuel Wilcox – Jeremiah’s brother

  Edmund Wilcox – Jeremiah’s brother

  Nathan Wilcox – Jeremiah’s brother

  Emma Garnett – Jeremiah’s only sister; children are Louis, Susan, Marcus, and Jeffrey

  Aaron Garnett – Emma’s husband

  Grace Wilcox – Samuel’s wife; five children are Benjamin, Addie, Esther, Clay, and Dorothy

  Lida Wilcox – Edmund’s wife; their three children are Kathleen, Annabelle, and Wyatt

  Jennie Wilcox – Nathan’s wife; their four children are Oliver, Calvin, Levi, and Victor

  The de la Paz clan (Phoenix, Arizona; Tucson, Arizona; and the southern third of the state)

  Maya de la Paz -- prima of the de la Paz clan up through Protector

  Alex Trujillo -- Maya’s grandson

  Diego Trujillo -- Alex’s older brother

  Alicia Trujillo – Alex and Diego’s little sister

  Letty Trujillo – Diego’s wife

  Luz Trujillo – Alex and Diego’s mother and Maya’s daughter; prima of the de la Paz clan after the end of Protector

  David Trujillo – Luz’s husband and father of Alex, Diego, and Alicia

  Valentina de la Paz – the de la Paz clan’s healer in the Tucson area

  Alba de la Paz -- the healer in the Phoenix area

  Zoe Sandoval – the de la Paz clan’s prima-in-waiting

  Zander Sandoval – Zoe’s little brother

  Luis Sandoval – father of Zoe and Zander

  Andrea Sandoval – mother of Zoe and Zander, Alex Trujillo’s aunt (Luz and Andrea are sisters)

  Luis de la Paz – Alex’s cousin; works at the family’s store

  Jack Sandoval -- Luis Sandoval’s youngest brother; a detective with the Scottsdale P.D.

  Miguel de la Paz -- a private detective

  Oscar de la Paz -- with the Tucson P.D.

  Also by Christine Pope

  THE WATCHERS

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Falling Dark

  Dead of Night

  Rising Dawn (June 2017)

  THE WITCHES OF CLEOPATRA HILL

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Darkangel

  Darknight

  Darkmoon

  Sympathetic Magic

  Protector

  Spellbound

  A Cleopatra Hill Christmas

  Impractical Magic

  Strange Magic

  The Arrangement

  Defender

  Bad Blood (August 2017)

  Deep Magic (October 2017)

  Books 1-3 and Books 4-6 of this series are also available in two separate omnibus editions at special boxed set prices.

  THE DJINN WARS

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Chosen

  Taken

  Fallen

  Broken

  Forsaken

  Forbidden

  Awoken (July 20
17)

  The first three books of this series are also available in an omnibus edition at a special low price!

  THE SEDONA FILES

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Bad Vibrations

  Desert Hearts

  Angel Fire

  Star Crossed

  Falling Angels

  Enemy Mine

  The first three books of this series are also available in an omnibus edition at a special low price!

  TALES OF THE LATTER KINGDOMS

  (Fantasy Romance)

  All Fall Down

  Dragon Rose

  Binding Spell

  Ashes of Roses

  One Thousand Nights

  Threads of Gold

  The Wolf of Harrow Hall

  Moon Dance

  The Song of the Thrush (November 2017)

  Books 1-3 and Books 4-6 of this series are also available in two separate omnibus editions at special boxed set prices.

  THE GAIAN CONSORTIUM SERIES

  (Science Fiction Romance)

  Blood Will Tell

  Breath of Life

  The Gaia Gambit

  The Mandala Maneuver

  The Titan Trap

  The Zhore Deception

  Refugees (September 2017)

  To be notified about new releases by Christine Pope, please sign up here.

  About the Author

  Christine Pope has been writing stories ever since she commandeered her family’s Smith-Corona typewriter back in the sixth grade. Her work includes paranormal romance, fantasy romance, and science fiction/space opera romance. She fell under the Land of Enchantment’s spell while researching her Djinn Wars series and now makes her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

  Sign up for Christine Pope’s newsletter and get an exclusive Witches of Cleopatra Hill prequel short story!