by Jayne Hawke
He was so reasonable. I felt my anxiety and fears wash away with his calm certainty. Of course he was right. Matt was part of one of the most dangerous packs in the territories, nothing was going to do any real harm. And I hadn’t thought about the note from that angle. Mom had been very interested in rituals and philosophy; maybe she had just meant that literal sparks flew between them. It wasn’t unreasonable to think that god magic and witch magic could be volatile together. Of course, that could make difficulties for me, but I’d face those when they arose.
“You’re right of course. And maybe. I haven’t seen any signs of her dabbling in alchemy, but there’s no reason she couldn’t have meant it on a similar level. Or even had it as some weird love note. Maybe she wrote that while she was falling for Dad. I don’t remember seeing a date on that section.”
Ethan grinned.
“See, nothing to worry about.”
“You’re so good to me,” I whispered.
“We all need an anchor sometimes. I’ll make sure that nothing sweeps you away.”
FORTY-ONE
The elf was waiting for me outside the back door when I got up for my morning coffee. He was casually leaning against the doorway like he was waiting for an old friend. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was supposed to do about him. At least he hadn’t broken in to make more pancakes, I reminded myself.
I chose to ignore him and go about making my coffee. Ethan, however, took a more direct path. He swung the back door open and growled at the elf.
“What do you think you’re doing here?”
“Waiting to become a member of your pack.”
Ethan exhaled slowly.
“I dispatched three bounty hunters over the last twenty-four hours. Each of them hunting your girlfriend. You’re welcome.”
Ethan growled again.
“Just let the stupid elf in. It’s cold out there,” Kerry said.
Ethan narrowed his eyes at her.
She did have a point, though. A thick carpet of snow lay upon the ground, and the temperature in the kitchen was plummeting.
Ethan stepped aside, and Sin stepped in. The elf looked around, clearly checking every entry, exit, and potential weapon. I was already regretting Ethan’s decision.
“Why is it so ridiculous that I might join your pack?” Sin asked.
“You’re an elf,” Ethan said flatly.
“You have no problems with cait sidhe, mongrels, and whatever she is,” Sin said gesturing to me.
Ethan ignored him and poured himself a cup of coffee.
Sin leaned back against the doorframe and crossed his arms.
“Your safe house isn’t as safe as you’d hoped. As I said, I already removed three attempted bounty huntings over the last twenty-four hours. Word is spreading about her existence. People are eager to get their hands on her. Her blood, magic, whatever they think they can use.”
“I am aware of the situation,” Ethan said.
“So you’re aware that having me on your side is a good thing.”
Ethan handed me a couple of danishes. I didn’t turn my back on Sin as I walked to the kitchen table and settled down to eat breakfast.
“You’re aware that if I challenge for your bond and allow you into my pack, you will bow to me,” Ethan said.
“I know how packs work, yes,” Sin said.
“And you are willing to do that?” Ethan pushed.
“I have been guarding your girlfriend and risking my own life to do so. This isn’t something I’m doing for a laugh, as you say.”
“Your application will be considered,” Ethan said stiffly.
Sin smiled.
“Then I shall continue my guard.”
With that, he left. I swore I heard footsteps up on the roof, but I couldn’t be entirely sure.
“Can he at least sleep in a shed or something?” Cade asked.
“He makes really good pancakes,” Matt said.
“I do like pancakes...” Cade said.
Ethan rolled his eyes. I tried not to laugh at the prioritisation.
“I have an appointment with Ryn,” Ethan said.
“When?” I asked.
“Soon. We haven’t pinned down exact dates and times, but soon. We’ll see what he thinks about the cursed elf. As an elf himself, he may choose to dissolve his bond and get him out of our hair,” Ethan said.
“News just came in. Two more highborn fae dead at the hands of the witches,” Dean said.
Ethan’s lip curled.
“When? We’re sure it was the witches?”
“Twenty minutes ago, and yes. Exact same mode of death - completely drained of blood. They were killed in an office at a bank headquarters,” Dean said.
Ethan groaned and dragged his fingers through his hair.
“And I assume that means the court fae are up in arms and baying for heads,” Ethan said wearily.
“Afraid so,” Dean said as he accepted a cup of coffee from Cade.
“What exactly does that mean for us?” I asked.
“It means that the court fae will start hunting down anyone and everyone they think might have some vague connection to these killings. They might try and push some awful law through. It’ll be a blood bath,” Kerry said.
“So, we need to find these witches and fast,” I said.
“Exactly. What do we have on that front? We need more information. There are too many ifs and maybes, too many potential dead ends,” Ethan said.
“I’ll go back through Mom’s grimoires, maybe she put a name in there that I missed,” I said.
“Matt and I will trawl through social media looking for any signs of the witches finding willing donors,” Kerry said.
“We have a contact not too far from here we can push for information. It’s a stretch, but he might have caught something,” Dean said.
Ethan nodded.
“I’ll join you at the library and see if we missed any important books or documents,” Ethan said.
There was an electricity in the air. This had changed from an irritation and something of a joke to something with imminent dire consequences. The mongrels and lower born humans would be the ones to suffer most if the fae did choose to lash out. Who knew how hard they would try and hit the witches, and the witches would, of course, fight back. That amount of magic flying around the city would result in hundreds of deaths and the gods only knew how much destruction.
Time was slipping through our fingers. We needed to find those vampires and put an end to them.
FORTY-TWO
Sitting around trying to find some important scrap of information was eating at me. I wanted to be out there kicking asses and saving innocent lives. Instead, I was pacing around in front of the wall of books in Mom’s library. Once again, I was looking through her grimoires trying to find something that might be of use to us.
She had mentioned the witches a few times, but the details were vague. We needed a name of the leader, something we could hunt down.
After an hour of sifting through the information again, I began looking at the rituals. Maybe there was something there that I could use. That idea was quickly thrown out. The rituals were huge, complicated, and exhausting. I didn’t have enough time or control over my witch magic to pull something like that.
My god magic was thrumming in my veins, urging me to go out on the streets and just find the witches. Of course, that was completely useless, we had no idea where they were. They could be out on the moors or right next door.
Trying to calm myself, I re-focused on the words before me. Mom had to have given us something to work with. We needed her to have. I re-read the sections I’d been over many times before, how the witches came to be and how they were broken. I was about to close that book and move onto the next when something caught my eye. There was a small note and a little arrow. I followed the arrow two pages over to a section that I had thought was on the philosophy of magic.
Maeve Planer, The White Rose. Leader. Dangerous. She is too far gone
to help.
I read it twice to be sure.
“Ethan, I think I have something!” I said holding the book up.
He grinned at me.
“So do I.”
We walked towards each other and showed each other the sections we were looking at. Ethan had found a note about a small coven of corrupted witches that were thought to have crossed the lines of magic. They were rumoured to live at the White Rose pub. Ethan’s book was a narrative history of the city through the last decade or so. It hadn’t really fit with the rest of the books on the shelves that I’d seen. When I looked more closely I realised there was an entire section to odd non-magical books. They ranged from cookbooks through to gardening, vampire novels, ancient archaeology, philosophy on the nature of the gods, and more.
I showed Ethan my note and that was it. We knew we had something.
“Now to find the White Rose,” I said.
Ethan pulled out his phone and rang Kerry. He gave her the information. Judging from the furrow in his brow, Kerry hadn’t given him the news he was hoping for.
“She said there are five White Roses in York. We need to narrow it down somehow. She’s looking into the Maeve Planer angle. Are you ready to head back?”
I looked around the space and nodded. I needed to sit down and really explore there, but it wasn’t the time. My god magic was pounding within me making me eager to bring the witches to justice. They had been wronged, but killing innocents purely because of their bloodline was wrong.
When we got back, Kerry was furiously typing on her laptop while Matt helped Cade make some food.
“I think I have her. The White Rose was a small hotel, but it was sold and repurposed into fancy apartments. She seemed to disappear, but there was something weird so I fell down the rabbit hole. Give me five more minutes,” Kerry said.
I was practically bouncing on the balls of my feet, eager to dive into the fray. Part of me was curious to face off with the witches. Just how close to my Mom and her magic were they? She had said that they were broken, but did that just mean that they needed to consume blood or was it more?
Ethan wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led me into the kitchen.
“Don’t burn your energy before the fight’s started,” he said as he guided me into sitting at my usual spot.
He was right. I was allowing my god magic to interfere and wind me up. I needed to get it back under control. Slowing my breathing, I mentally wrenched the magic back to the depths within me and shoved it down. Mom’s note about my father’s magic being dangerous flickered in my mind.
I wished she were around to explain what that meant. I had thought they were perfect. They were my idols. I didn’t know if I could handle another big secret.
FORTY-THREE
Kerry managed to find deeds and ties between Maeve Planer and a building two roads over from the White Rose. It looked as though the coven had moved to a larger building. Maeve had strong ties in the city, a small business owner with rumoured connections throughout the fae court. I hadn’t heard of witches being favoured by the court fae, unless of course you counted those that were bound to them.
The entire thing made the politics difficult, but the hum of my god magic was still in the back of my mind pushing me to dive into the fight.
“Kerry has gotten into the surveillance and believes that the entire coven is in the building right now. We go in, find evidence it’s the right coven, and put them down,” Ethan said.
We all raced off to our respective spaces and prepared for a big fight. I grabbed the Aphrodite witch gauntlet along with a few daggers. I didn’t trust my god magic to behave well enough to risk going without a few back-ups. Dean handed out health potions and Matt gave us all a small blue tablet he’d apparently made himself.
“It’ll give you a magical boost. We don’t know how strong these witches are,” he said with some pride. He stopped me as I went to leave and tied a bag to my belt. “Conflagration Express potions from my master’s own hands. Don’t stand too close.”
“It goes without saying, but make sure these witches do not get any of your blood,” Ethan said as he looked at us.
There was an electricity running throughout the pack. This was the fight we’d been building to. We were going to put the witches down, and the political nightmare would dissipate, leaving us to return to more mundane bounties.
Sin was waiting for us by the cars.
“I’m coming with you,” he said matter-of-factly.
Ethan’s lips pursed, but he didn’t argue. He simply nodded to the back of his truck. I wasn’t entirely happy about having the elf behind me, but there were bigger things to be worrying about.
The city was quiet at that time of night. The roads were clear. We were at our destination within ten minutes. My magic was unfurling within me when I felt like something was wrong. There was a gathering of beings nearby. Not witches. Fae.
Ethan parked hastily and we all got out of the trucks.
“It’s them! They’re the ones who’ve been draining our fellows of blood!” a pixie screamed.
It looked like the witches had pulled together a backup plan.
We all shared a look, hands on weapons that were still undrawn. I didn’t want to kill people for being confused. Ethan was probably thinking about the politics of exterminating a crowd of fae. Either way, no one wanted this fight, except possibly Sin who was smiling and stopping just short of juggling his swords over his head.
“Get back in the cars, this isn’t necessary,” Ethan said.
They were getting close, too close. I threw three potions in a wide arc and watched them fly, willing them to fall between us and the enemy and not incinerate anyone that could be dissuaded. They landed perfectly, a wall of glorious overkill. Everyone but me snapped their heads to look. Sin and I were both laughing, and soon most of the pack had joined us.
“Well, that should buy some time,” Ethan said dryly, shoving people into the cars and away from the light show.
No one followed us, but we took a circuitous route to the safehouse anyway, the mood a mix of relief at not having to kill innocents (or die trying) and frustration at the missed chance. By the time we got back, everyone was serious, ready to get back to work to find our real targets and put this to bed.
FORTY-FOUR
Dean grudgingly held the door open to let Sin join us inside. He had, after all, fought alongside us. I still wasn’t convinced that it wasn’t some weird game, but I had to admit it was nice having him fight with us.
Matt came rushing over as we entered, surprised to see us.
“It was a setup,” I said. “They convinced a bunch of fae we were the bad guys. We used your fire potions to create some convenient area denial and left before we had to do anything we’d regret.”
Ethan stood.
“Firstly, thank you, Sin, for your help.” He nodded to the elf who was sitting on the armchair furthest from the pack. “Secondly. We underestimated the social pull this woman has. She has demonstrated that she knows we’re coming, and she has the ties to be able to counter us. We need a different tactic. First we’ll shower and sleep. Tomorrow we will find a way to bring her down.”
Sin looked up at Ethan with his head slightly cocked.
“Where exactly have you been sleeping?” Ethan asked Sin cautiously.
“Your roof.”
Ethan sighed.
“We have a spare room. If you so much as think anything vaguely murderous, we’ll kill you without a second thought.”
Sin grinned.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
As much as it didn’t quite feel right, I had to admit the elf had been pretty good to us. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to sleep much knowing he was under the same roof as me, but I had to try. The body count was rising, and now we knew the witch had the ability to cause real damage with her connections.
“It looks like she might be as well connected as to have the local lady’s ear,�
� Cade said grumpily.
We’d already had our first pot of coffee and a large breakfast. It was time to figure out our next move.
“How did she pull that off? Surely she can’t hide her witch magic?” Dean said.
“I don’t know, but she did something. Maybe it’s part of her blood magic?” Cade said.
They turned to look at me. I shrugged.
“I have no idea. I haven’t had a chance to really sit down and figure it all out.” I said.
“Would she not need some of the lady’s blood to control her?” Sin asked.
“It makes sense to me, but blood magic is powerful and complicated,” Ethan said.
“I think she only needs the lady to let her guard down so she can snatch a thread of her life essence,” Kerry said.
“That’s still quite a feat. Have you ever heard of a lord or lady relaxing?” Ethan said.
“Wait, doesn’t the lady have a penchant for screwing low born women...?” Kerry asked.
Everything fell into place.
“Ok, but how does that help us take her down? We need evidence and a lot of it,” Ethan pushed.
“Why?” Sin asked.
“To stop the political fallout,” Ethan said.
Sin laughed.
“You’re out of touch with the courts. Just demonstrate that she’s a blood witch, that will be enough. They want your Kit because she has both blood witch and god magic. A pure blood witch is nothing to them. At best they’re on par with mongrels, at worst they’re a pest to be executed,” Sin said.
Well that made things a little easier.