by D. N. Hoxa
Murphy went really pale the next second. “If you want to see the light of day again, I suggest you tell us everything you know, right now.”
But the threat couldn’t get to my head through the anger and the disbelief. “I called Asshole Connor to help him. I told him I’d share with him everything I had. Instead, he sent me to hell and hung up the phone. Why on earth would I want to help you now?”
“That’s not what Agent Connor reported,” Murphy said.
“What Asshole Connor reported isn’t my concern because I’m sure you’ve listened to the phone call a thousand times by now.” The ECU tapped the phones of their agents like they owned every word that came out of their mouths. “Instead of ruining my office and arresting me, you should have given me a fucking call!”
“Tell us what you know, Miss Wayne, because your time is running out fast,” Murphy said through gritted teeth—the first sign of anger.
“No.” It didn’t get any simpler than that. Sure, I would have jumped from joy had the ECU given me the benefit of the doubt and talked to me before arresting me, and I was going to have to tell them what I knew eventually, because I did want those beasts caught. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t drag them by the nostrils for at least a day. They had to be taught a lesson somehow.
“No?” Murphy raised his brows again, half a smile on his lips.
“No,” I confirmed with a nod. “Not unless you take these things off me and let me go.”
Arresting me just because they were arrogant assholes and couldn’t admit that one of their own had screwed up wasn’t something I could take lightly. Murphy could see it, too.
“I’m afraid we can’t do that, but we can come to an agreement if you speak to us.”
“You can shove your agreement where the sun don’t shine, Detective. The only way you’re getting anything out of me is if you release me now—and with an apology.”
We both knew that was never going to happen. Not even if the apocalypse loomed on the horizon. That didn’t mean I couldn’t ask.
“Prison isn’t a very nice place for a fairy, Miss Wayne. A woman like you wouldn’t want to be there. Take my word for it,” Murphy said and stood up. “I’ll let you think about it a little longer. Just remember that people’s lives are at stake here.”
“And you take my word for this: Asshole Connor is the only reason we’re in this position. I specifically told him that people’s lives were in danger—as I’m sure you already know—and he didn’t give a shit. If you want to arrest someone for obstruction of justice, it should be him.”
I thought I’d regret saying it, but I didn’t. Not even close. That man deserved it. If he’d listened to me, we would have probably had those beasts by now.
“Think about it, Miss Wayne. I’ll be back,” Murphy said, and with his friend on his tow, he left me all alone in the room again.
Twenty two
If I thought the first wait lasted a year, the second lasted ten—and I was still counting. I was tired from sitting down all day long, hungry, and very pissed off. I almost called out to whoever was guarding the door to tell them to get Murphy back so I could tell him everything, then get out of that damn room. Its walls were closing in on me by the second, and I had no idea how much longer I was going to be able to hang on.
My beads swirled around my fingers, and I was this close to unleashing them against my chains. I also wanted to use one of the stones in my braid very badly, but by some miracle, every time my own head convinced me, I bit my tongue and let it go. There was no way they were going to just let me get out of that building, and I’d be in even more trouble than now. Any kind of arrangement would be off the table, and I was guaranteed to really go to prison for the first time in my life.
When the door finally opened and Murphy and his friend walked in, I almost sighed in relief. I did want to drag the ECU on forever, but I couldn’t stand to sit there any longer and do nothing. Unfortunately, I was going to have to tell them everything I knew and hope to God they’d let me go so I could help.
I expected Murphy to sit down and stare at me again. Instead, his friend walked over to the table, and with a small key in his hand, he unlocked my cuffs.
What the fuck?
I looked at Murphy. Was this some kind of a joke?
“You’re free to go, Miss Wayne,” Murphy said, rather reluctantly.
“Excuse me?” Were my ears still working well? Or had the room gotten to me even more than I’d realized, and now I was imagining things?
“I said, you’re free to go.” The man stepped away from the door and waved for me to get out.
He didn’t need to say that again. I stood up, and my legs shook a bit. I wasn’t used to sitting in one place for that long. Looking at the other guy, who’d folded his hands in front of him and was now just standing there, I slowly made for the door. Even when I got out in the hallway, I still expected them to start laughing and put those cuffs back around my wrists.
But nobody laughed.
Three ECU werewolves were around me. No guns in their hands. They just looked pissed off to see me walking, unchained. I didn’t get it. I really didn’t, but I looked at the two hallways in front of me and I couldn’t decide which one I’d come in through. One of them ended with a door, so it had to be the other. The two windows told me that night hadn’t quite fallen yet. The exit seemed so far away, I was eager to start running.
“Not so fast, Wayne,” someone said from behind me, and when I turned around and saw Bender walking to me, my face broke into a huge smile.
“What the hell is happening?” I asked him.
Murphy closed the door to the interrogation room I was just in, locked it, then without even a look my way, took off down the hallway on the left with his friend. The three soldiers remained.
“Relax,” Bender said, grinning. “Just look at that door over there.” He pointed at the hallway to the right and to the door at the end of it.
“What do you…” My voice trailed off when the door opened, and people began to come out.
I didn’t recognize the first man, but I knew exactly who the second was. Joseph fucking Davis. And behind him was Caroline, his wife. And behind her was Alice Rivera, followed by Catrina Hughes. And behind Catrina was Theodora Sullivan.
With my mouth wide open, I turned to Bender. “Are they…”
“Yep. The leaders of all three covens are here,” Bender said. The smile he had on made him look at least ten years younger.
I could hardly believe my eyes. Amelia was there, too. As the leaders of the Bone coven, the Green coven and the three strangers—who I guessed were the Bloodies—walked towards me, Erick Adams—the ECU board member I’d met in Finn’s office when I got back from the fairy realm—and one other guy I didn’t recognize stood by the threshold, looking at me like they wanted me to die already. I’d flip them off if the leaders weren’t looking right at me. Instead, I just smiled until my cheeks hurt.
When they all stopped in front of me, some looking more positive than others, I realized what had happened. If the Blood leaders were here, too, that meant Bender had done it. He’d spoken to them, and they’d agreed to help us.
“Never thought I’d see the day when a goddamn fairy would bring us all together,”Austin Marshall said, shaking his head.
“That goddamn fairy has a name,” Amelia said.
She wasn’t smiling, but she did wink at me. It made me feel all kinds of butterflies in my stomach.
“So I’m really free to go?” I asked because I still couldn’t believe it. The leaders of all three covens had gone directly to the board members of the ECU to free me. Talk about feeling special. I’d developed wings and I was flying now, though I knew they were only here because, without me, they’d have no way to bait those vampires and find the beasts.
“You are,” Bender said. “And so is Peterson.”
“Really?” When he flinched and looked away, I knew something was up. “What’s the bad news?”
Shivers washed down my back. Shit. They’d done it. They’d managed to kidnap the last witch.
“We’ll find him.” I was more sure of it now than ever, or perhaps it was just the joy of being free that was making me think things that weren’t real.
Theodora Sullivan walked to me and put her hands on my shoulders. Her eyes were hollow, but she offered me a smile, one I couldn’t bring myself to return because of all the pain written in every line of her face.
“You’re free now, Winter. Go find our children. Bring them back to us,” she said in a whisper.
I didn’t hesitate. “I’ll do my best.”
That was a promise.
Twenty three
I was sitting at the bar at Dirty Joe’s, about to drink my second margarita. Alvin was more than happy to serve me after Austin Marshall had a word with him and Joe in the back. It was like nothing at all had changed. He even tried to start up a conversation with me three times, but I hadn’t forgotten how many times he’d thrown me out. I wasn’t just going to be buddies with him again. Marshall had either paid him or threatened him. The werewolf’s peace offering was definitely not genuine.
It was already ten o’clock. I’d been there an hour now and still no vampires, though the bar was half full. People could see me. I was sitting in the middle of the room for that purpose. Still, with my margarita in hand, I was patient and excited enough to not even think about the stares and the bad jokes.
It was still a shock to me that I was even there after what the ECU pulled on me just that morning. As soon as they’d taken me, Bender had called the Blood coven leaders and he’d gone to meet with them. He’d told them everything—me included. It had actually been the idea of one of them to go talk to the board members. And the best part? When all the leaders agreed to help find those beasts and bring them down, they officially kicked out the ECU.
“Can they do that?” I’d asked Bender on the way back.
“They’re coven leaders,” he’d said with a laugh. “More than half of the ECU is made of witches who were born and raised in covens led by them. Of course they can do that.”
So they demanded I be released. They demanded for Peterson to be released, too. In the end, the ECU had no other option but to back down and agree to treat this case as a coven internal affair—just like in the beginning. Which meant they weren’t going to play boss now, but they were also not going to help us.
Considering that we now had almost sixty witches as backup, I didn’t think we even needed them anymore. And two of Finn’s agents had agreed to come work the case, as well. I didn’t know them—they were new—but I trusted Finn. He wouldn’t have offered them the job if he didn’t think they were worth it.
So now, as I sat at the bar with a tracking spell on me—Blood magic, strong stuff—waiting to lure some bloodsucking vampires in, I had fifty-six people around the entire neighborhood. Not all of them were trained witches, but at least half were. It was more than I could have ever imagined, and as soon as those vampires showed up, there was no chance in hell they’d be able to disappear without being followed.
“The next one’s on the house,” Alvin said with a fake smile plastered all over his face as he nodded at my margarita. This was his fourth attempt to strike up a conversation with me.
“This will be my last.” I’d have loved to have two more, but if everything went right, I’d be fighting beasts in a few hours, and I did not want to be intoxicated when doing so. Too intoxicated, anyway.
“How about next—”
“Winter Wayne?”
Cold shivers washed down my back as the voice reached my ears. Alvin backed away and went all the way to the other side of the counter.
The smell of deadness, overran by the smell of alcohol and cigars, reached my nose when I turned around to face four vampires, including the one I’d spoken to in front of Bender’s house—before he burned it down.
“I remember you.” I squinted my eyes as if I were surprised to see him there. I breathed deeply to try and keep the beating of my heart under control. I didn’t want them to hear with those super ears of theirs.
“We’re going to need you to come with us,” the vampire said, not a trace of emotion in his eyes and face.
I raised my arms up. “Look, man, I really don’t want any trouble.”
I reached for the pocket of my jacket. The other three vampires had already pulled out their guns by the time I took the ring out. God, was I glad to give that thing away.
“Here’s the ring.”
I offered it to the vampire, but he didn’t take it at first. Instead, the suspicion in his eyes grew, and he began to look around the bar. Useless, since the people who would follow him were all outside.
“I’m serious. You burned down my friend’s house, and that wasn’t very nice. I’m going to have to pay for half of it. Not only that, but some ECU goons blasted my office and arrested me this morning.”
I only told them this because I was sure they already knew all about it.
“I really am done for at least the next ten years. Just take the ring and leave me alone. I’m done with all of this.”
Slowly, the vampire reached for the ring on my hand. When he grabbed it with only the tips of his fingers, he moved his hand away too fast for me to see.
“We’ll be watching you, fairy,” the vampire spit.
I almost rolled my eyes.
“Watch all you want,” I called after them when they headed for the door. “And for your information, James gave that ring to me himself.”
The vampires didn’t even turn to look at me. When they finally walked out the door, I could breathe easy again. I felt light as a feather. Part one of our mission was already completed. Now, all we needed to do was follow those assholes until they took us to the beasts. After that, it was only a matter of good planning and good fighting. By the time the sun set again, I’d be going home to my wrecked office to get some sleep.
The phone in my pocket vibrated. They’re waiting for you outside, said the text from Bender. Goosebumps covered my arms. Shit. Can’t say I was surprised because this had always been a possibility—one Bender insisted would happen—but I’d still hoped for some damn luck.
Let’s give them some time, I texted back. Maybe they’d get bored when they’d see I wasn’t coming out. Maybe they had believed me.
Right.
If they don’t leave? Bender texted.
I bit my lip to at least try and talk myself out of the stupidest idea of the century. I couldn’t really be serious about letting those vampires capture me, could I?
But I could. I could because this was the best chance we would ever get. All three covens were working together for the first time ever—that I knew of—against a common enemy. If I let this night go to waste, who knew if they’d be willing to do this again?
And even if they did, the Green witches were still with the beasts, and they were certainly not having a good time. They were suffering, and they were going to die if we let them.
No, this couldn’t wait. If it meant getting myself in way over my head, so be it. Those beasts were not going to win.
Tell me where they’re hiding, I texted Bender then sipped the last of my margarita.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Bender replied and I rolled my eyes. What was it with this guy and this phrase?
How the hell would I know what you’re thinking? I even inserted the angry face emoji.
You’re going to let them take you, said Bender’s text. The witch already knew me too well, and I wasn’t sure I liked it. Then: Go left.
Just make sure to follow. I hit send and left a twenty on the counter next to my empty drink. Alvin didn’t deserve the tip, but I was too impatient to wait for the change.
Before walking out the door, I deleted all the messages with Bender, in case the vampires got curious and checked my phone. With my hands in my pocke
t and a forced smile on my face, I walked out of the bar and turned left. It was hard to make myself not scan the crowd to look for any signs of danger. It was going against my very nature, but I kept my eyes ahead and my beads in check. With any luck, this would be over soon.
I smelled them before I heard them, though in the crowd, it could have easily been another vampire just walking by. I wondered where they’d take me, or how they’d take me there. I wondered how long it would take for our small army to follow them.
I wondered, and then something hard hit me on the back of my head. Darkness swallowed me whole in a blink of an eye.
***
My head hurt like it had been run over by the wheels of a Hummer. There was a ringing in my ears, too, but that faded as I blinked to chase the darkness away. After several attempts, I realized I couldn’t because darkness was spread all around me.
I was lying in dirt. Fucking dirt. Some of it had gotten into my mouth, too, and I couldn’t even spit it out because I had no idea who was there to listen to me. I had no idea where I was, either.
The sky was full of clouds so there was no moonlight to help me see, not even a little bit. But when the ringing in my ears faded completely, I was able to hear. Footsteps. Two pairs, coming from both sides of me. I could barely make out the silhouette of a building in front of me, maybe fifteen feet away, but in order to see how big it was, I’d have to move my head. Since I was dealing with vampires, moving was a no-no until I could actually see them and be able to point my beads at their faces.
A thick rope tied my hands behind my back, and my feet together. It was cold out there, and I was thankful. It helped keep my heartbeat in check. Trying to untie the rope from around my wrists was useless because it was too tight. Panic rose within me when I realized that I didn’t have any other options but to move—and alert the vampires.
By then, another set of footsteps reached my ears. It went slow first, then fast, then faster. Before I could blink, something hit the ground hard, and it sounded an awful lot like a body. Shivers washed down my back when the sound of someone fighting for their lives reached my ears. A second later, another body hit the ground.