I turned the label to face me and read out loud, “Glazed donut flavor. Seriously?” I jumped up and kissed him.
The stunned look on his face was priceless.
“Thank you,” I said, sitting back down. “I had no idea this stuff even existed. I’ve been so busy—“
“Focusing on revenge that you were obviously blocked from by magic?”
“Yes.”
I clicked through a few more pictures before something caught my eye. It wasn’t much. It was a far off view and her head was turned to the side. But that was a face I could never forget.
“It’s her,” I said with a trace of growl in my voice.
Hugh stopped with noodles halfway to his mouth. “Who? You know Kathy?”
“That’s not the name she used before, but I know her. She’s the one who hired my mother and I for the job that eventually led to the warehouse where we were ambushed.”
“Is she Kathy or someone buying a house that got caught in the picture?”
I zoomed in on the picture. She was wearing a nametag that said, “Kathy Sutton Realty.”
“If it isn’t her, then she works for her. Either way, this is the woman I’ve been looking for.”
“Oh,” Hugh said. “Well, this is definitely a step in the right direction.”
I could feel my pulse racing and knew my eyes were burning red. “My heart hasn’t beat like this in a long time. I’ll never forget her story, it was so convincing. She told us that a vampire had murdered her grandson, Trevor. She even had a photo of him, dead with bite marks on his neck. She was so intent on revenge. I never questioned it and I don’t think my mother did either. We even agreed to take her on at a reduced price because she was so distraught. That fucking bitch.” I wiped a hand across my face and realized I was crying when I saw the faint pink traces of tears. “I wonder if she had that poor child killed too. It’s unthinkable.” I wiped my face again and pulled myself together. “Her office is probably closed by now.”
“We could check it out and see,” he offered. “Because I get the impression you’re going to sit here and think murderous thoughts regardless.”
“It’s that obvious?”
“Your eyes are glowing and your fangs are out. Yeah, it’s obvious.”
“I hadn’t realized my fangs were out. I’ve got to get myself under control, even if all we do is scout it out for later. I can’t go in there like this. I’m not used to working a job that’s so personal.”
“I understand, trust me. But you’re right.”
“So, what’s the plan?” I said, half joking.
“Go in and bash her with a hammer.”
“I like this plan.”
“I’m joking.”
“I know. I’m bringing a hammer anyway.”
Chapter 16
A short time later we were in Hugh’s SUV and we were almost at Kathy’s office.
“I can’t kill her,” I said. “Not yet anyway. I need to know why she set us up and who else was involved.”
“Agreed.”
I looked down at the gloves Hugh insisted I wear. They matched his.
“If she’s not there and we search the place, we might find everything we need,” I said.
“I won’t say a word if you want to tear her apart once you get what you’re looking for,” he said softly.
“Really?”
“That’s what I did to the werewolf who killed my grandmother. I tore him limb from limb, just like he did her.”
As he spoke his blue eyes began to glow and I realized that he really did understand what I was going through.
We parked the SUV two blocks away and using a cloaking spell I’d put on my bracelet, jogged through the surrounding woods. Her office was in a nice affluent part of town, with lots of wooded areas left for decoration and dog walking. It wasn’t difficult to stay out of sight, even without the spell.
When I saw there was still a car parked out front I felt light headed with excitement. I might get my revenge now. The moment I’d waited for might finally be here.
“Stay calm,” Hugh whispered. “Let’s go to the back entrance.”
He used a lockpick on the back door and as soon as we walked in I saw her sitting at a desk. The name plaque on the desk read, “Kathy Sutton.” She turned immediately to face us. She hadn’t changed. She was very tall and insisted on wearing ridiculous heels to match her tacky, loud colored suits. Her fake tan had gotten darker and so had the circles underneath her eyes. Her short dark hair was as over-styled as ever, and her makeup looked like a pack of crayons had gangbanged her face.
Obviously my cloaking spell had somehow been nullified. So much for the element of surprise.
“Hello, Jessie,” I said, using the name she gave my mother and I.
She looked terrified, but that quickly passed as she seemed to regain control of herself.
“Well, you haven’t changed,” she said with a sneer. “Same horrible fashion sense. She rose to her full height as if I gave a shit that she towered over me. “Those boots don’t exactly scream, ‘throw me down and fuck me.’”
“They do if I’m the one doing the throwing.” I then used said boots to drop kick her right in the chest.
She went flying backward over the desk and landed with a satisfying thud.
“Fucking bitch,” she spat.
I noticed with some satisfaction that the heels of my boots had punctured her skin.
She seemed to only then notice Hugh and as he transformed beside me she gasped, “You found him.”
“Actually, he found me. Now, why don’t you tell me what the hell is going on?”
“Well,” she said, adjusting her hair. “You can find me because he found you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I’ve been casting spells of confusion on you for years. Why else do you think that someone who hunts people down for a living couldn’t find me right under her nose?”
With those words she pulled off her necklace and threw it on the desk. Smoke filled the room and my vision blurred.
“Silver nitrate,” I hissed.
I couldn’t see clearly, but I heard her going for the door. I also heard Hugh running to stop her.
I followed the sound and just as he reached for her I said, “Allow me.”
I threw her through the wall to our right and into what looked like a meeting room. She skidded across the table and hit the far wall. Now that I was away from the smoke in the other room my sight was quickly returning.
She reached for a bracelet that I assumed also contained some kind of potion or spell and I slid over the table, feet first. I kicked her back into the wall where she bounced off and crumpled to the floor.
“Why did you do it?” I asked before slamming my fist into her face.
She spit out blood and three teeth. “You’ll need to be more specific.”
I punched her again as way of reply.
“I was hired.” I grabbed her by the front of her shirt and shook her. “They lied to me,” she continued. “Bastards never paid.”
“What was your fee?” I’m not sure why I asked this. I suppose I wanted to know what my mother’s life was worth.
“Eternal life.”
“Why keep working for someone who never paid you?”
“I wasn’t. The spells I’ve been working on you were for my protection. You were never supposed to survive.”
“Why try to kill me again now? Why hire the werewolves?”
“I thought if I did, they might finally pay up. I’m getting old,” she said, tears pouring down her face. “Just look at me.”
I did look at her, but all I could see was the face of that little boy. “Did your grandson really die or did you kill a child to set us up?” I asked.
“He was my neighbor’s child and I didn’t kill him.”
My voice shook as I finally asked, “Who hired you to kill us?”
With a piercing scream she pulled a knife out of her coat and
stabbed me in the arm. As I released her she yelled, “I will have my fee!”
She went for her bracelet again (who knows what it did), but before she could do anything I pulled the knife from my arm and stabbed her through the underside of her jaw. The large stiletto knife went straight up through her mouth and into her brain.
Chapter 17
For a moment I just stood there shaking. I looked at the hammer I had strapped to my thigh and sighed, frustrated that I had forgotten to use it.
“Shit. I didn’t mean to kill her. I’m certain she had more information.”
“And I’m certain she hit a silent alarm.”
I walked back into the hallway where he stood and he pointed back to a blinking blue button on her desk.
I took off my shirt and began wiping my blood off the table. The bleeding had already stopped.
“Damn it. Search the place, let’s see what we can find,” he said. “What are you doing?”
I licked the blood from my arm and spat it into the room before whispering a chant.
“Will that hide it from a test when police scan the room?”
“No. It made my blood evaporate without a trace.”
“Wow.”
I was grateful that he’d insisted we wear gloves. At least I didn’t have to be concerned with fingerprints.
I started tearing out desk drawers and used my unnatural speed to go through the majority of her filing cabinets. Unfortunately, she sold a lot of real estate and kept detailed files.
Just as I heard sirens in the distance I found it. At the back of one of her filing cabinet drawers was a large leather-bound book.
“What the fuck?” I ran my fingertips over the black cat burned into the cover. “This was my great, great, great grandmother’s familiar. All the spellbooks my mother has of hers are marked in the same way.”
“Well, grab it and let’s go. The police are almost here,” he said, putting his arm around me. “We have to leave, now. We can come back for my SUV later. Can you do a cloaking spell again or reactivate the old one?”
While he said this we hurried to the back door. As the cold night air hit me I remembered taking off my shirt. I was still clutching it tightly in one hand, with the spellbook in my arms.
“Yeah, no problem.” I said a brief spell while Hugh took off his gloves and stuffed them in his pocket.
“The spell won’t last long, not like it would if I used a potion or other enhancements. That’s what I’d need to reactivate the one on my bracelet.”
“It’ll do,” he said.
He pulled off his shirt and tied it around his waist.
“You’re going to fly us out of here? But we’re only parked two blocks away.”
“And the police will scour every inch of these woods almost as soon as they find her body. They don’t know she was an evil witch. They only know that a prominent businesswoman has been murdered in her own office.” He took off his boots and held them in one hand.
He shifted form quickly and fluidly. Pale gray stone seemed to spread over his skin, reaching outward from the middle of his chest. He flexed his shoulders and large wings spread from his back. As he shook out his long hair horns extended from his forehead.
“Wow.”
“Hold onto the spellbook and take this. It looks like her appointment book.”
I hadn’t even noticed him dropping it at his feet when we walked out, but considering that’s where he picked it up, he must have done so.
“Hold onto the books, I’ve got you,” he said as he swept me into his arms.
He still held his boots in one hand and as we lifted off the ground I fought the urge to squeal.
“I’m used to dealing with vampires. You burn their bodies or leave the remains out to meet the sun. Easy cleanup.”
I stiffened as we rose above the trees and he said softly, “Relax. We’re safe. I’ll land us in the park. Then I can run back without my shirt and if anyone asks, I can say I parked my SUV there to jog to the park and back. People do that all the time. Then, I’ll drive back through the park, pick you up, and go back to your place.”
“I’m glad you’re here. I hated her guts, but I’ve never killed a human before. It feels strange, empty.”
“This isn’t the first murder I’ve helped cover up.” Even though his tone was light, I could tell he wasn’t joking. “Maybe cover up isn’t the right way to describe it. When I caught up with my grandmother’s killer, I didn’t give him a chance to change. In my mind, it was fair. He never gave her a chance. I used my strength as a gargoyle to tear him apart. So, it looked just like a human being had been shredded by a monster. I made it look like a random werewolf killing, and I left him like he’d left her.”
“Just as long as you’re not a serial killer.”
He laughed. “No. That’s the only person, werewolf or otherwise, that I’ve ever killed.”
The park wasn’t far and as we touched down beside the jogging trail I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Are you afraid of heights?” he asked.
“No. I’m just usually in a plane or standing on something solid. That was different.”
“At least you got some answers. You know she was hired by vampires because they promised her eternal life. And you know the reason you haven’t been able to find her before is because she was casting spells against you.”
I shrugged. “That’s better than thinking I was incompetent. And we know that she recognized you, or at least recognized what you are.”
“And whoever she was working for wanted both you and your mother dead.”
“So the redheaded vampire whose face I scarred might have disobeyed orders.”
“It’s a possibility. I wonder if whoever ordered your deaths realized that would have turned me to stone.”
Hugh returned a short while later and stopped beside me. He leaned across the front seat and opened my door.
“Get in, I’ll go make you some coffee and we can look over those books.”
“I can’t open either of these,” I said, climbing inside. “I tried while you were gone. They must be sealed with magic.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he said softly.
Epilogue
“We need to find a code breaker, spell breaker, or something.” After studying the books for a few nights this was as far as I’d gotten. “Her day planner is magically sealed and so is this.” I tapped the cover of the leather journal again. “It’s frustrating to finally make some progress only to hit another road block like this.”
Hugh was propped against the counter eating cold Chinese food. Despite practically living off takeout, he still had that rock hard body. Pun totally intended.
“I can understand that. But how did it feel to finally get the bitch who set you up?”
I felt my eyes burn to red as I confessed, “It felt good.” I rose from the table with a sigh. “Maybe I’m looking at this all wrong. I killed the woman who led us into a trap. At least one of the people directly responsible for my mother’s death has been dealt with.”
“And we have something to go on to find whoever else might be involved.”
“We, huh?”
“Yes, we,” he said, putting down his takeout carton. “Kathy knew about me too, you saw her reaction. It looks like I was involved in this even before I knew it.”
“You’re right. There’s more to this than I imagined.”
“Now that the one casting confusion spells on you is dead, who knows what might happen?” He moved closer. “And of course, there is still our unfinished business.”
“And how do you propose we deal with that?”
“I thought we could start with an official date.”
I took a sip of the glazed donut coffee he’d made for me and smiled. “Hmm. Spend some one-on-one time with a sexy gargoyle while I sort things out?”
His wicked grin gave much away, but that’s not a complaint. “That’s the idea.”
“I like this plan.”
> The End
Thank you so much for reading Love me HARD, Book One in the Tris Grima series. The story continues in Book Two, coming Fall 2017.
About Tracey H. Kitts
This multi-published New York Times and USA Today best selling author has been writing stories for her own entertainment since she was a child. Tracey has always been drawn to the macabre, with a fondness for anything with fangs. She writes what she enjoys reading in the hopes that others will enjoy her stories as well. Her main goal as a writer is to put emotions into words. She wants people to feel something when they read her work.
www.traceyhkitts.com
Taming the Vampire: Over 25 All New Paranormal Alpha Male Tales of Contemporary, Military, Shifters, Billionaires, Werewolves, Magic, Fae, Witches, Dragons, Demons & More Page 155