Midnight Blood

by Adam J. Wright

  Destroying the sorceress’s heart within the box was the only way to stop a man named John DuMont from raising an army of the dead. Mallory stabbed the heart with an enchanted blade, even though she knew that doing so would attract a death curse that allowed her only one more year to live.

  And now she’d spent three months of that year fighting for survival in Shadow Land. I couldn’t even imagine the horror she’d experienced there.

  I felt the heavy weight of guilt for most of what had happened to Mallory after the Bloody Summer Massacre. I’d tried to help her track down Mister Scary when the best course of action might have been to let Mallory heal over time without the need for revenge.

  If it wasn’t for me, she’d never have come into contact with the Box of Midnight and contracted the curse that numbered her days.

  And if I hadn’t fallen for her and entered into a confusing relationship with her, she might still be living in Dearmont. The confusion between us had eventually driven Mallory to undertake a quest to find Mister Scary on her own and that had ultimately led her to Shadow Land.

  As far as I was concerned, I couldn’t do enough to help Mallory because I was the cause of some of her problems.

  I closed my eyes and ran over the events of the day in my mind. Other than Mallory getting safely home, the entire day had been a bust. My quest with Merlin had come to a dead end even before it had started and all I’d succeeded in doing was making enemies of two Shadow Watch agents.

  I couldn’t be sure if Todd and Honoka had come up with the idea of questioning me about my father or if Michael Chester had suggested it to them when he’d requested that I join them on their case. What did I really know about the guy other than the fact that he was my dad’s secretary? For all I knew, he could be one of the Cabal infiltrators the Society was trying to weed out.

  And speaking of my father, where the hell was he? He’d been gone for weeks now and no one had a clue where he was. Even though he and I didn’t exactly get on like best buddies, if he was in trouble or if he had a secret to share, I was sure he’d contact me before anyone else. We did have a kind of grudging mutual respect.

  That said, my respect for him had taken a nosedive after I’d found out that he’d had some sort of magical runes and writing carved onto my bones by witches when I was a child.

  That kind of thing can sour a father-son relationship.

  I must have fallen asleep in the chair because the next thing I knew, there was a knock on the door. Moving quickly to answer it, I found Felicity on the stoop. She was surrounded by shopping bags.

  “Wow,” I said. “It looks like you went to town both literally and figuratively.”

  “Well I wasn’t sure of her size,” she said, picking up an armful of bags and coming inside. “So I brought a number of things for her to try on. Anything that doesn’t fit can be taken back to the store.”

  I grabbed the rest of the bags and manhandled them into the living room. “There’s still a lot of stuff here.”

  She rolled her eyes jokingly. “It’s obvious you’re not a woman. You said she needed clothing but there are other things to think about as well. Underwear. Makeup. Shampoo. Beauty products. The list is endless.”

  I looked at the mountain of bags in the room. “So it seems.”

  “Is she still asleep?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t want to disturb her so I’ll just leave these things here and she can try on whatever she wants and I’ll return the rest.”

  “This is really good of you, Felicity. You didn’t have to go to this much trouble.”

  “Nonsense. Mallory is family.”

  “How are you getting on with the Hawthorne case?”

  “We’re looking into a car crash that happened on the same night as Jane Hawthorne’s Fall party last year.”

  “Oh? You think that has something to do with Charles saying he saw a car wreck in that smoke?”

  “It’s possible. It’s a slim lead but it’s all we have to go on for now so we’re following it. How about you? How did you get on with Merlin?”

  “It was a total bust. It seems the Shadow Agents who agreed to take me along with them had an ulterior motive; they wanted to question me about my dad.”

  “Oh, that’s a disappointment.”

  “Yeah, and the guy they were chasing isn’t even a Cabal member. He’s an occultist who attended a couple of meetings at Lucy Hawthorne’s house and thought he was being groomed for greater things. The Watch would have found that out eventually. Probably after they’d tortured the poor guy.”

  “Oh no, that’s horrible.”

  “Yeah.” I shook my head at the thought of what Todd and Honoka might have done to Gerald Garland if they’d had the chance. “Do you ever wonder if we’re on the right side?”

  “You mean you think we should be working for the Midnight Cabal?”

  “No, I don’t mean that. I mean do you think we should be working for any organization at all. We have the Society and Cabal at opposite ends of the spectrum, fighting all the time. Meanwhile there are innocent people stuck in the middle who are getting caught up in the war through no fault of their own.”

  “You long for the good old days,” she said. “Before you even knew the Cabal existed.”

  “I guess so. One of those Watch agents was trying to humiliate me by suggesting P.I.s just hunt ghosts and deal with the occasional werewolf but actually, that’s not humiliating at all. I enjoyed those simple cases. A hint of a mystery and a monster that didn’t have political affiliations. Maybe save a life or two. Those were good times.”

  “Perhaps one day, those times will return.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” I said wistfully.

  “I’d best get back to the office and see what else Leon has unearthed about this car wreck a year ago.”

  “Okay. Is Amy helping you out too?”

  “She said she’d drop by after work.”

  “Cool. I guess I’ll see you later then.”

  “If Mallory wakes up and wants any help trying on the clothes, let me know.”

  “Okay.”

  She left the house and closed the door behind her. I watched her get into her Mini and drive away. My relationship with Felicity also ticked the box marked “Confusing.” There was something between us that would appear for a brief moment and then disappear again.

  Nothing had happened other than a couple of brief kisses that had occurred and then been relegated to the zone of things that were never spoken of. Maybe that was a mistake. Or maybe the kisses had been the mistake and should never have happened in the first place.

  Since Felicity and I seemed to have an unspoken agreement not to talk about it, it was difficult to decide one way or the other.

  I heard Mallory stirring in bed and went up to see if she was okay.

  She was sitting up in bed, comforter clutched to her neck, eyes wide and frightened. When she saw me, she relaxed a little. “Alec, I didn’t know where I was for a second. I heard voices.”

  “You’re safe,” I said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “You probably heard me talking to Felicity. She went shopping and got some clothes for you.”

  “That’s nice of her. Felicity is a good person.”

  I nodded. “She is. I’ll bring the shopping bags up so you can go through them when you’re ready.”

  “Alec, there’s something I have to tell you.”

  “Sure, what is it?”

  “When I left, right after I destroyed the sorceress’s heart, I wasn’t being totally honest with you.”

  “Mallory, it doesn’t matter why you left. It’s in the past.”

  “It does matter because it isn’t in the past; it’s affecting me right now. It’s something I’ve had to live with every day since stabbing that heart.”

  “What is it?”

  She took a deep breath and said, “The sorceress is living inside my head.”

  11

  Darkness was falling when Felicity got back
to the office. She ascended the stairs from the street to find Leon settled at her desk where she’d left him earlier and Amy sitting in one of the chairs in the small corridor at the top of the stairs, a laptop perched on her knees.

  When he saw Felicity, Leon said, “I think we’ve got something with the car wreck theory. A few things fit into place which may explain the events at the party.”

  “Sounds interesting,” Felicity said, taking a seat next to Amy. “What have we got?”

  He came out of the office and stood before them. “Okay, picture the scene. It’s a dark and cold October night. Charles Hawthorne should be at his wife’s Fall party but instead, he’s driving his Rolls Royce Silver Shadow—a classic car, I might add—along a seemingly deserted road that winds through the woods. He’s had a few too many and his speed is in excess of the posted speed limit. We’re not sure why he’s driving when he should be partying but anyway, there he is, tooling along the road in his Rolls.”

  He held up an eraser in his left hand. “This eraser is Charles.” He then held up a pencil in his right hand. “And this pencil is a 1987 Chrysler Town & Country station wagon belonging to the Libby family. It isn’t a classic car by any means, in fact it’s a beater, but it’s served the Libby family well and right now it’s transporting Mason Libby, 26, and his brother Owen Libby, 29. We’re not exactly sure where they’re heading but the important fact is that they are on the same winding road as Charles Hawthorne’s silver Rolls.

  Leon brought the eraser and pencil together and dropped them both on the floor while he made an “explosion” gesture with his fingers. “What happened when these two cars met on that icy road isn’t known for sure but the Libby’s car ended up in the woods and Mason Libby ended up dead. Owen survived but was paralyzed from the waist down.”

  “That’s terrible,” Felicity said. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like to have your life so horribly changed in an instant like that. “What happened to Charles Hawthorne?”

  “Charles Hawthorne hired Jeffery Rose and Seb Powers, two of the best lawyers around, to ensure he wouldn’t be implicated in or held responsible for the crash in any way. Rose and Powers did whatever it is that high-powered lawyers do and they got Charles off the hook. The entire thing was swept under the carpet.”

  Felicity thought about that for a moment. “So if Charles Hawthorne is responsible for the death of Mason Libby, then Owen might be taking revenge.”

  “He could be,” Leon said. “Or it could be the boys’ mother Abigail. It makes sense that she or Owen are the ones taking revenge because Owen became wheelchair-bound after the accident and a spell was cast on Charles that put him in the same situation.”

  “It sounds like someone is taking an eye for an eye,” Amy said.

  “Do we know how to find Abigail and Owen Libby?” Felicity asked.

  Amy nodded. “They live on a farm outside of town.”

  “Maybe we should talk to them and determine if our theory is correct.”

  “Sure,” Amy said. “We can take my car.”

  Leon’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and checked it. “I’ve got a text from Brad Hawthorne. He wants to meet me urgently.”

  “You should go,” Felicity said. “It might be something to do with the case.”

  “Sure, but in Brad’s world an urgent event could be nothing more than the release of a new game.”

  “You should still meet him just to make sure. Amy and I will visit the Libbys.”

  “Okay,” Leon said, heading down the stairs. “Later.”

  It was getting late so Felicity turned off the lights in the office and followed Amy downstairs to the street. She locked up and climbed into the passenger seat of the police cruiser. Amy started the engine and they drove through town toward the highway.

  Dearmont was getting ready for Halloween. Most of the stores along Main Street had incorporated cobwebs, pumpkins, and skeletons into their window displays and a banner spanning the street announced that the Dearmont Halloween Parade would be held on the 31st.

  Even though Felicity dealt with monsters and ghosts as part of her job, she enjoyed the fake versions that made an appearance every Halloween. They were so safe and cute, far from the reality of the real thing.

  This was as close as some people would ever get to things that go bump in the night and that was fine with Felicity. Not everyone could handle reality.

  Alec had once told her that the thing he liked the least about being a P.I. was the fact that he sometimes had to tell his clients that monsters were real. He believed that ignorance was bliss as far as the paranormal was concerned and although Felicity had disagreed with him at the time, believing that everyone had a right to know the truth about the world they live in, but when she saw the cute ghosts and smiling pumpkins at Halloween, she sometimes wondered if it was better that most people’s knowledge of the paranormal extended no further than cute characters that appeared every October.

  She wondered how Mallory was doing. From what Alec had told her, it sounded like the poor girl was in a bad way. Felicity liked Mallory. There had been a time not so long ago when she and Mallory had vied for Alec’s attention but Felicity didn’t hold that against Mallory. In fact, she chided herself for acting like a silly schoolgirl.

  She liked Alec a lot but the more she thought about the times they’d kissed or the times she’d looked at him with longing, the more she realized that she wasn’t ready for a relationship with anyone yet.

  After all, it was only a few months ago that she’d been considering moving to a cottage in Essex with her fiancé Jason. She couldn’t flit from one man to another like that; it just wasn’t her.

  “What do you think?” Amy asked, pulling Felicity out of her thoughts.

  She realized she’d missed part of the conversation. “Sorry,” she said. “I was miles away. What did you say?”

  “I asked if you thought it might be a good idea to get the Blackwell sisters involved in the search for the Midnight Cabal. It seems to me that they know a lot about what’s going on in the magical world. Maybe they can cast a spell or something.”

  “It’s certainly something to keep in mind,” Felicity said. They drove out of town and onto the highway. “Amy, can I ask you a question?”

  The deputy nodded. “Of course.”

  “Do you wish you’d never learned that magic and monsters are real?”

  Amy seemed to think about the question for a minute before answering. “At first, I was terrified. My entire world was turned upside down. I didn’t know what was real anymore. It was like someone had pulled a rug out from under me and revealed an endless abyss beneath my feet.”

  “That’s totally understandable,” Felicity said.

  “Then I started to just accept it,” Amy continued. “I adjusted to my new world view and got on with living my life. But I think I understand why my mom kept me in the dark, even when she knew for a fact that the paranormal was real. She was trying to protect me. I guess the irony is that her death finally opened my eyes to reality.

  “It took some time for me to adjust, though. At first, I was so angry that this knowledge had been given to me without me even asking for it. It felt like someone had dumped bag of stinking garbage on my lawn and I had to deal with it.”

  Felicity nodded. “You’ve adjusted really well.”

  “Thanks.” She turned into a narrow road that wound through the trees.

  Felicity realized this was probably the road where the accident happened. The trees crowded in on both sides of the road and Amy had to slow down for each tight corner. Felicity tried to imagine how treacherous the road would be when it was icy, like it had been a year ago.

  “That’s the Libby place ahead,” Amy said after a couple of minutes. “How are we going to handle this?”

  “We should talk to them about the accident,” Felicity said.

  “They might not want to talk about that if it brings back bad memories.”

  “In my expe
rience, when people have an axe to grind or they think they’re the victims of a miscarriage of justice, they’re usually all too willing to talk about it.”

  “Okay, let’s try it.”

  “I have this as well,” Felicity said, showing Amy the crystal shard she was carrying in her pocket. “It glows if it detects magic or magic residue. This should let us know if the surviving Libbys have been taking revenge by magical means.”

  “Why would they do that?” Amy asked. “It would be easier to shoot Charles Hawthorne wouldn’t it?”

  “I asked myself the same question when I first learned about the magical attacks. I suppose the answer is that they can only ensure they get the exact result they want if they use magic. For instance, if they want to take Charles’s use of his legs away in revenge for what happened to Owen, they might put a bullet in his spine. But that could kill him. Or it might not paralyze him at all. It’s too hit or miss. If they use sympathetic magic, though, they can be almost surgical in their precision. A spell will do exactly what you tell it to; a bullet won’t.”

  Amy nodded. “I guess that makes sense.”

  They arrived at the farmhouse a couple of minutes later. The house sat in darkness. “Looks like no one’s home,” Amy said. She drove closer and parked the cruiser by the front porch. She killed the engine. “We’ll take a look inside.”

  “Should we do that?” Felicity asked. “Shouldn’t we just wait until they get home?”

  Amy shook her head and pointed at the door. “The front door’s open.”

  Felicity got out of the car and saw that the front door was ajar and the screen door was hanging precariously from its top hinge.

  Amy took a flashlight from her belt and shone the beam over the front of the house and then the door. She stepped up onto the porch and aimed the light down between her boots. “Looks like the porch is covered with dirt.”

  Felicity joined her and inspected the dark patch on the wooden porch boards. It did indeed look like soil and possibly something else as well. “Is that blood?”

  “Could be,” Amy said, unholstering her gun. “Try not to step on it. We don’t want to compromise any evidence if this is a crime scene.”