"Like Mario and Hannah." I nodded. "What has you so worried? Meet with him and come home."
He ran a hand through his hair and finally looked up at me. "He knows about you."
"No, he knows that I'm your witch." I tried to keep my voice even. There was no way that I was going to ask if this was possibly the same vampire that had attacked me. Not when Levi was so visibly distressed. "Had he known who I was to you, he would have said so."
"Why do you think that?"
"Because he's the one who taught Ira to be the bastard he is. Ira would have put it down in writing to tease you. Cause you to worry. Samuel would have done the same." I saw Levi flinch at the name. "What did he do to you that you're such a mess over?" For once I realized that there was something that Levi feared enough to drop his carefully crafted 'I fear nothing' facade.
He shook his head. "It's in the past, but if you do not come with me, he will make us pay dearly." He met my gaze. "But I do not know if you're up to the task."
I raised a brow. "I'm up for anything you can throw at me."
There was a moment of silence, and then he cracked a small smile. "Faced down a high-level demon and think you can handle anything?"
"Maybe it's just time to raise the stakes a little bit. Figure out the details and let me know. I have a case, but I'm sure I can work in a quick trip somewhere in there."
"You're not taking this seriously, Abigail. This isn't a demon, this isn't Hannah or Ira. This is my maker, who has tortured witches and killed innocent humans by the village." His voice was back to being serious. "I've seen…" he paused for a moment. "I've seen what he's done to witches."
"We'll be there under a truce. Let's not complicate this more than we have to right now. Look, you can leave me here, and we face those consequences, or I can go with you and can deal with whatever he has to say." I reached out and touched his hand. He looked up and sighed.
"I don't want you close to him."
I had a feeling I had already been close to Samuel. "You can't hide me anymore, Levi."
He nodded. "I've tried to protect you."
"Well, we know how that's turning out." I stood. "Like I said. Just let me know the details."
Levi stood and did something he rarely did. He pulled me into a hug. I let him just hold me for a moment like a father should. He released me, and I looked at him to find that his careful blank mask was back in place. "I'll have Mario take you back to the office."
"Thank you. I'd like to beat Simon to the house."
He smiled a little at the name. "I'm glad you two are making it work."
"Even if it means no Mario to guard me?"
"Even if it means no Mario to guard you. I can trust Simon, but while he's gone, I would like for Mario to be at your side at night."
That wasn't going to do much against a day-walking vampire. "No, don't force it. Please. Know that I have my own protection, and if things get to the point that I can't handle it, then I'll come to the mansion."
"Like your friend who put the spell on the house?"
I nodded. "Like the friend that put the spell on the house."
"I'm going to trust you this once."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm back to work now too, that helps."
"It does. Thank you, Abigail." He walked to the door and opened it.
I walked out, and he followed me. We found Mario standing in the kitchen. "I'd appreciate it if you take me back to the office now."
Mario glanced at Levi before he looked at me. "I will." He held his hand out.
I looked at the offered hand and debated for a moment. Something in my gut twisted.
"What's wrong Abigail?"
"Nothing." I shook my head and took his hand.
The world changed around me, and I found myself standing next to Mario in the parking lot of PIB. "Thank you." I took a step away from him, and he put a hand on my shoulder.
"Abigail, do not take Levi's words lightly. I've never seen him fear anything as much as he fears his maker." He disappeared without another word, leaving me in the dark parking lot, alone.
∞
I drove to my house and walked in to see Simon and Merick both sitting on the couch together. "You know, some girls dream about two men waiting for her at home. Sorry I'm late."
Merick stood. "I was simply keeping Simon company until you got home. I have things that need to be taken care of." He met my gaze. "I trust you had an interesting day at work."
He probably knew about the Cult member coming to visit. I smirked. "Interesting doesn't even cover half of it."
He chuckled and walked out of the living room. I went and flopped down on the couch next to Simon. "Have you ordered pizza yet?"
"Nope, I was waiting on you. Everything okay?"
I debated what to tell him. "I'm going to need wine for this conversation."
"Not coffee?" he asked with a laugh.
"Nope, I'm giving away secrets. I need something a bit stronger." I patted his leg and stood up to get some.
He followed me to the kitchen looking at his phone, and I assumed he was ordering the pizza. I got two glasses and the wine from the counter. Finding the corkscrew, I tried to decide on how I was going to let him in on the big secret. Levi had stressed how important it was that no one knew that he was the king of the vampires. However, I was tired of lying to Simon.
"Abby?" Simon's voice interrupted my thoughts, and I realized that I had stopped in mid-search for the corkscrew. I shook my head and grabbed it out of the drawer.
"Sorry, I was just trying to figure out how much trouble I'm going to get in by doing this." I rubbed my eyes and then went to open the bottle of wine.
Simon grabbed my hand. "Let me do it. With the tension coming out of you I'm worried you're going to break it."
I surrendered the wine bottle and corkscrew to him and sighed. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Whatever you're trying to say is obviously not easy. Maybe I shouldn't have pushed."
It was his way of giving me an out, and I knew that. I shook my head. "No, you deserve to know, especially since it's bound to cause problems."
He poured us each a glass, and we walked back to the living room. I sat on the couch and looked at the clear liquid in the glass. I took a big drink of it and sighed. "Levi is the king of vampires."
Simon about choked on his wine. "What?"
"Which makes me the princess, technically, despite not being a vampire. So he sticks Mario on me to guard me." It wasn't the whole truth, but enough truth that he'd understand Levi's need for me to be safe.
Simon sat back on the couch with a look of disbelief. I'm not sure what thoughts would run through his head about this. He had an alliance with Levi, and I wasn't sure how much of that would change if Levi had to be outed as the king, or what would happen if Levi knew I told Simon. "Wow. That would explain a lot of things."
I nodded. "A lot of them." I took another big swig. "So that's why the whole fake dating thing. That's why Mario is always trying to get in here." I sighed. "That's why Levi has always been so fucking protective."
Simon chuckled. "Can you imagine if you'd actually grown up as the vampire princess?"
I rolled my eyes. "No, no I can't. Remember I'm a daytime creature."
Simon snickered. "We could turn you into a creature of the night."
"Nope. Don't want to be changed." I snuggled into him. "I rather like being a witch, even if things get strange."
He kissed my head. "I rather like you as a witch too."
The doorbell rang, and Simon stood. "That has to be the pizza."
I nodded. "Nothing else is going to get through Merick's circle right now."
"I love how the pizza guy can make it in, but no vampires." Simon opened the door and accepted the pizza.
I leaned back on the couch to wait for him. He'd taken the news about Levi rather well, but I guess t
here wasn't much more he could do other than accept it. Just like I had been forced to.
CHAPTER THREE
My alarm shrieked at me the next morning. I put a hand to my head and sighed. Time to get up and get going. I didn't want to though. The weeks of sleeping in had spoiled me. Simon and I were going to have to stop staying up late and watching so much television.
A knock came at my door, and I sat up. "Yes, Merick?"
"Do you have time to talk before work?"
I had been planning on hitting the snooze button, but now he knew I was awake and that would probably be rude. "Yeah, I'll be down in a second." I heard him walk away from the door and I sat up, turning the alarm off on my phone. I made sure I looked decent enough to go to the kitchen for coffee and made my way downstairs.
Merick, in typical fashion, already had coffee ready on the table. He sat in his seat, hands folded, and looking at me expectantly. I wondered how long he'd been awake. I sat down and pulled my coffee toward me. "You were out pretty late last night."
"I was having a meeting with my father and some of the other high priests of the Cult. I've been informed that you'll be helping them with a case as PIB."
I nodded. "Yes, all official, no favors needed, no pulling strings. However, your father still owes me information. I helped him solve the last case he needed help on with the promise of him telling me who gave the Cult the order to kill my parents."
Merick nodded. "That was brought up in the discussion as well. It was thought that you needed more time to heal from the demon curse before you met with my father. They finally reached an agreement on what information they could give."
I rolled my eyes, and Merick sighed. "This is not a joke, Abigail. The information my father is giving you isn't given lightly."
"I faced down the demon that killed your Cult member's spouse," I snapped. "I almost died twice while killing it. Giving me the information is the least he can do for my services."
Merick looked taken aback for a moment, his eyes wide, his brows nearly arching into his dark hair. "That is true."
I closed my eyes and counted to ten. "Let's start at the beginning here. You met with your father and the priests, and now you know that I'm on the case for the missing member."
"Correct, the Cult has our own theories about what has happened to Zayden, but none of our leads have gotten us anywhere. I wish you the best of luck locating him or his remains." Merick peered into his coffee. "But I fear this will draw you further into the Cult."
"Further how?"
He hesitated for a moment, and I took a sip of my coffee, giving him a minute to process his words. "You may have to come into our temples, watch our ceremonies, be with our coven."
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up at the thought. "Essentially, become part of your Cult."
"More like an honorary member, but I'm worried that some of our actions will not align with your morals."
So there was the truth. He was scared of what I would see when working with the Cult. "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I can't promise you anything."
"And I don't expect you to. It was more of a fair warning." He sipped his coffee. "My father will be coming into town at the end of the week, he would like to meet with you then."
I nodded and sipped my own coffee. "The end of the week might work. There's an event with Levi that I have to go to at some point, but it should only be one night."
"Levi doesn't like you at his events."
I laughed. "Oh, I know, but this is special. His maker has invited us to a meeting. Levi can't turn it down, and if I don't go Levi believes the consequences might be dire."
He stared at me. "His maker? The one he's never mentioned before this?"
"And get this, he has the same name given to us by the supposed assassin." I lifted my mug to my lips and paused. "No, I did not mention that to Levi," I answered Merick's question before he could even form it.
He shook his head. "I doubt that his maker would come after you in such an obvious way."
"I would hope so. My question is, Oliver had said that the assassin hadn't been sent by Ira. So if it is Levi's maker, who put him on my tail?"
Merick set his empty mug down. "It could be anyone, Abigail. It's no secret that you are connected to Levi."
That was true. The supernatural community all knew that he had adopted me, so there really was no short list on who could have sent Samuel. "Some days I wish I could just be a normal person."
"But then your life would be so boring."
He was right. The last few months had been a glimpse of what normal would be like, except normal people didn't try to solve their parents' murder.
He checked his watch. "It's time for you to get going if you're going to make it to the office in time."
I downed the rest of my coffee. "I'm going, I'm going."
∞
When I walked into the PIB building, Liz stood there, arms crossed, leaning on the reception desk, just like she had been the day before. I stopped and stared at her. "Is this going to be a new thing? Are you checking to make sure I'm getting to work on time?"
She cracked a smile. "No, I wanted to give you a heads up that Jon was upstairs waiting for you."
"Why today and not yesterday?"
"Because today his magic is wild, and I didn't want you going in blindsided." She pushed off the desk. "I also was informed that you'll be pulling double duty." She didn't sound happy about this. Her voice was low, concerned, maybe with a hint of anger.
"I've handled dual cases before. No biggy, if I need help, I'll call you in on back up." I shrugged. "I know it's not the caseload you wanted for my first week back, but Liz, I'm fine."
She still didn't ease down at all. "It's not that I don't think you'll be fine. It's not with the task force. It's with Special Agent Yorkingson."
Oh fuck me. That meant it was vampire business. Grayson Yorkingson was a King's Guard. He watched my back in PIB many times without me knowing about it. "Well fuck."
She raised a brow. "Well fuck?"
"He's a vampire. I've worked a case with him before. I have a feeling I'm not going to be thrilled about the next information about the case."
"You'll be working with him and the King's Guard on a vampire case."
Yep. I was going to kill Levi. He could have given me a heads up. "Lovely. I'll meet with him when he gets in tonight." I tried to contain the annoyance in my voice.
"You've worked a case with the King's Guard before, so I'm sure you know what to expect and how to treat it?"
I nodded. "With the utmost secrecy." I gave a forced pleasant smile. "Wouldn't want to upset the vampire politics."
She snorted. "Go on, Abby. I'll talk to you later." She was shaking her head as she walked off, and I headed toward the stairs. I grumbled the whole way up the stairs about the damn case. Why the hell hadn't Levi warned me? Did he know that Grayson was going to call me in?
I opened the door that led into the hall and magic rushed past me. Not threatening, but not in control either. So that's what Liz had meant. "Jon?" I called. I could see him down the hall standing in front of my office, but I didn't want to startle him and become the unintentional target of his out of control magic.
He looked at me, and the black stripes in his eyes seemed darker than they had been yesterday. I held my hands up. "I need you to rein in the magic. I'm not here to harm you."
The magic rushed passed me as he pulled it back in. It seemed to singe the hairs on my arms, leaving me rubbing my skin. "Thank you."
"Special Agent Collins." He bowed his head. Today he wore another baseball cap pulled down low and a long leather jacket.
I nodded to him. "Shall we talk in the office?" I motioned to my door and turned my back on him to unlock it. The skin on the back of my neck itched as if anticipating an attack. I pushed my door open and stepped to the sid
e so he could get in.
He walked passed me and pulled his cap off. He took the seat in front of my desk and put his hat on his knee. I caught myself staring at all the runes tattooed on his bald head. I shook myself out of my daze and went to my desk and sat down.
"Did you bring me the items?"
He nodded and pulled out a large Ziplock bag with clothing it in from under his coat. "We need some sign that he's alive."
"And if there are no signs?"
He bowed his head, and his power started to leak again.
"Get your emotions under control," I said gently. "I don't need your magic blowing up my office."
"If we find no signs that he's alive, then the Cult will not permit you or me to go after him."
I leaned back in my chair. "Is there any reason Zayden would go AWOL from the Cult?"
"No, the Cult has been our family since we were young. He wouldn't turn his back on them."
Interesting, I hadn't seen anything in their documents that mentioned the Cult taking them in at a young age. Of course, maybe that wasn't public knowledge. "Any place he would have gone that could be magically hidden from trace spells?"
He thought for a moment. "Not that I know of. Have you run into that before?"
"I knew a witch who was able to block my tracking spell." I shrugged. "It's always a possibility. I'm just trying to cover my bases. What happens if the Cult won't let us go after him?"
His eyes flickered down. "It means that he will no longer be considered Cult."
No support, cut off from his tribe. "Why?"
"Because, as you know Special Agent Collins, the Cult deals in what many witches and warlocks consider darker and questionable magic. We don't know what he would have gotten himself into. He was not given a mission from any of the priests, so there was no reason for him to leave home."
I nodded. "Okay, I'll need a list of anyone that he has had contact with or would contact. Anyone he's been hanging around with. His phone if you have it."
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