Mist, Murder & Magic

by Dionnara Dawson

  ‘Good. Bait set,’ Hella said, thinking of Azazel.

  ‘That was a good idea. He really believed we were keeping you here against your will?’ Harrow asked, folding his arms over his chest. Amara had found him new clothes: a cleaner black long-sleeve top and better quality jeans.

  Hella nodded. ‘Yeah.’ She shrugged. ‘But, I mean, he’s a demon.’

  ‘Did he say anything?’ Harrow asked.

  Hella glanced at Tessa. ‘He…uh, wanted me to find out who my father is. My birth father.’

  Harrow pulled up a chair to sit next to them in the alcove. ‘Huh. That’s weird. Why would he care about that?’

  ‘He said he wanted to know—or, he wanted me to know—where my power comes from.’

  ‘That is weird,’ Tessa echoed.

  ‘Well, it’s beside the point right now. Did Hunter and Lola finish that spell?’ Hella said.

  Tessa stiffened. ‘She didn’t tell you? They said it didn’t work. That the warlock and his sister are protected somehow. They can’t find them, Hella.’

  ‘Damn. Well, it was worth a try. For the moment, we need to go and alert the outcasts. Who’s coming?’ Hella got to her feet.

  ‘I thought the Houses were sending envoys to do that?’ Harrow said, rising from his chair.

  ‘Well, yeah, but I’m going too,’ Hella said.

  ‘Why?’ Harrow reached out for her.

  ‘Because it’s my plan. It’s my responsibility.’

  ‘They’re just vampires and werewolves, Hella. They’re dangerous, and you should be getting to Grace to get her to round up the kids, then to the store.’

  Hella blinked at him. ‘They’re not just vampires and werewolves,’ she said slowly. ‘They’re people, of sorts. Some of them might be innocent. Look, if Tessa hadn’t discovered that the demon was guarding the tunnel, we might never have known that there was a safe way out for everyone. But we do, and now we can use it. Don’t tell me you would just leave them here to die in the blast with the demons?’

  Harrow’s blue eyes looked up at her ruefully.

  ‘And I thought you got your soul back,’ she said, and left the room.

  What she had said to Harrow had been harsh, she knew. But it would be on her own conscience if there were people around who were caught in the blasts that she and Piper used on the demons, and she could not live with that blood on her hands.

  Tommy caught up to her in the foyer. ‘Hey, how did everything go?’ He was dressed and ready. He would be leading one of the envoys. Tommy wanted no innocent blood shed, either.

  ‘Yeah, Azazel bought it,’ she said, trying to smile.

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  She paused. The council members had broken off and returned to their families and spread word of the plan. Now Faerie House was filled with unease. She could feel it in the air. ‘Harrow doesn’t seem to think we need to bother with the envoys.’

  Tommy’s jaw clenched. ‘Well, he’s wrong. This is the right thing to do.’

  Hella nodded.

  Tommy put a hand on her arm. ‘I’ve got to gather my group. Meet you out the front in five?’

  ‘Yep,’ Hella said, as Piper approached her. ‘Hi.’ Hella sighed. It was going to be a very long day. She wished she could see Grace and Elliot right now, but that would have to wait until later. They already knew what was happening. They were packing right now. ‘What’s up?’

  ‘I like the outfit,’ Piper said, eyeing the black leather pants, similar to her own, and the striking red top. Hella had tucked her athame it into the waist band of her pants, but it was uncomfortable. Piper took out a blade from a sheath around her thigh, then handed over the strap. ‘Here, this will be easier.’ Hella took the sheath, and Piper tucked the blade away somewhere else.

  ‘Thanks,’ Hella said, strapping it to her leg and sheathing the athame. ‘I’ll have to pick one of these up.’

  ‘Keep it. I have more.’ It was an oddly nice mother-daughter weapons moment.

  ‘Can I ask you something?’ Hella asked. Now was probably not the time or place, but she was running out of both.

  ‘Sure,’ Piper said.

  ‘Who’s my father?’

  Piper’s normally impassive face cracked. ‘Why do you ask?’

  ‘Well, he’s my father. I think I have a right to know. Is he still alive?’

  Piper’s mouth quirked, and the nice moment was sucked into the ether. ‘He is.’

  ‘Well, who is he?’ Hella pressed, knowing that her five minutes were probably up and she should be meeting Tommy out the front of the building.

  ‘Now’s not the time, Hella. After.’ She turned to face her daughter. ‘We’ll win this. After, we’ll talk.’

  Hella sighed. Why were parents always so cagey about everything? ‘Fine, I have to go meet Tommy. I’ll meet you at the store later.’

  ‘Be careful,’ Piper called after her.

  ‘Are you sure you know where the vampire nest is?’ Hella said, after they had circled the abandoned factory for the second time.

  ‘I’m sure,’ Tommy said. ‘There was a report just last night in this area. They’re probably just hiding.’

  ‘Vampires aren’t burned by sunlight, are they?’ Hella asked.

  ‘No, of course not,’ Tommy said, giving her a funny look, as though the idea were ridiculous.

  ‘Well, you never know, apparently,’ she said. Tommy smirked. The rest of their group was comprised of teenagers like themselves who had gone through some basic training. They were all armed—either with their own warlock powers, or a blade given to them by Hunter and Piper from the store. Something moved in the corner, and Hella whipped out her athame as Tommy shimmered. There were two people in the shadows, the factory only lit by the daylight that crept under the metal doors and through a cracked pane in the ceiling.

  ‘Hello?’ Hella called. ‘We’re just here to talk,’ she said. ‘Maybe I should put this away?’ she whispered to Tommy, indicating her athame.

  He nodded as they approached the two in the corner. The rest of their group had fanned out around the building, firmly instructed to only deliver the message to leave.

  ‘We just want to warn you,’ Hella said. ‘There are demons approaching the area. You all need to move out.’

  There were hushed whispers: two distinctly different voices, one male, one female. The male stepped forward.

  ‘Holy shit,’ Hella said, her voice carrying.

  The boy, now a little older, looked more like a man. His blond hair was still sandy, but longer, and his face was covered with a beachy-looking stubble. He was slimmer than she remembered, and he had never looked at her like this: with distant confusion. He tilted his head, first at Hella, then at Tommy, and moved to stand between them and the girl crouched behind him.

  ‘Who are you?’ he said. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘James?’ Hella said, still frozen.

  He frowned at her. ‘Do I know you?’

  ‘Oh,’ Tommy said.

  Hella ran at him and jumped on him, embracing him with a bear hug. He held his arms out, befuddled, and said again, ‘Woah, uh, lady do I know you?’

  She climbed down. ‘James, it’s me, Hella. Oh, my god. Where have you been? Where’s Alexa? Is she okay?’

  A raven-haired girl peeked out from behind James, her eyes wide. ‘Who are you?’

  ‘Alexa!’ Hella moved to hug her but stumbled back when her ex-best friend bared her sharp fangs at her.

  Hella screamed. ‘Oh, my god!’ She got up and ran back to Tommy, who planted himself firmly between them.

  ‘Is she a vampire?’ he asked in a ridiculously calm voice.

  ‘Yes!’ Hella squealed.

  ‘And she wasn’t like that before?’ Tommy asked.

  ‘What? No! She was not a vampire before. Why is she a vampire? Were you attacked by a vampire? Why don’t they remember me?’ She looked from Tommy to James and Alexa and back.

/>   ‘She was bitten by someone,’ James said, still frowning. Hella could indeed see the white of a bandage at Alexa’s throat. James stepped a little closer to her, peering at her necklace. ‘That looks familiar,’ he said, pointing at her amulet. ‘What is that?’

  ‘The Force must’ve erased their memories of you, Hella,’ Tommy said sadly. ‘We need to keep moving.’

  Hella opened her mouth, then closed it again. Staring at her two best friends in the world, who she thought might have been dead, who stared back at her without recognition. ‘We’re friends.’

  James shook his head. ‘We’re missing some pieces of memory. We were in some trouble, and then Alexa was attacked and then she… Turned.’ He peered at her amulet, and Hella thought that maybe, he might recognise it somehow.

  ‘But you’re not a vampire?’ Tommy asked him.

  ‘No,’ he said.

  ‘Well, good job on not eating him,’ Tommy said to Alexa, glancing at James. ‘But we need to sort this out later. You need to evacuate right now. Go down by the park, follow the underpass to the tunnel, you’ll find others there. You need to leave town. Now.’

  Hella never thought she would see James and Alexa again, living breathing reminders of what her life had once been. Even they didn’t remember how everything used to be, she thought sadly. Hella and Tommy left them to get to the tunnel on their own, catching up with the rest of their group who assured them that they had warned all the vampires that they could find. Another two envoys had taken the other nests on the other side of town, as well as a local werewolf pack. Now it was time to say goodbye to the rest of her original family. Tommy came with her to the Corvime house.

  Chapter Seventy-Six

  Maddie

  ‘There’s only one tunnel in and out,’ Maddie told Luca. She had spent the day scoping out the old entrances and exits of the tunnels built a hundred years ago.

  ‘Just one?’ Luca asked. He rolled over. They were in Luca’s bedroom, Maddie crashing on the pull-out sofa against the wall. She had spent many nights on that couch.

  ‘Yep, the rest have crumbled or caved in over time. I don’t think they’d have time to clear them all. There’s just one,’ Maddie confirmed. ‘Did you talk to Abby?’

  ‘Yeah, she still thinks I’m on board with this. She’s sticking to the deal she’s made.’

  ‘Why?’ Maddie couldn’t fathom why their pack leader would sign them up for genocide.

  Luca rubbed at his eyes. ‘She thinks it will make her look strong to the rest of the Cambions.’

  ‘She’s going to kill the rest of the Cambions.’

  ‘That, too. I don’t know. She’s always been a hunter,’ Luca said. ‘There’s no chance we can talk her out of this. We’ll just have to work around her.’

  ‘How do you propose we do that?’ Maddie sat up, her short hair falling into her eyes. ‘I am not cool with being a part of this, Lu.’

  ‘Neither am I, Mads, but we’ll have to pretend. I’ve felt out the others of the pack. They’re mostly on the fence. You know how badly we’ve been treated by humans and the other Cambions. They just think we’re feral, diseased dogs.’

  ‘Abby’s really gonna prove them wrong,’ Maddie said.

  ‘Yeah, that’s not helping,’ Luca said. ‘Look, if we can convince Abby to guard another entrance, maybe, or something.’

  Maddie closed her eyes. ‘I don’t think that will work. But I have an idea of what will.’

  Luca’s hazel eyes shone golden in the light of his bedside lamp. ‘Mads, are you going to do something stupid again?’

  Maddie tried to smile. ‘As usual,’ she said. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Not without me, you’re not.’ Luca’s cheeks dimpled as he grinned at her, then let his head flop to the white pillow. ‘Get some sleep, Mads.’

  Maddie got up, brushed her hair and her teeth in Luca’s little bathroom, then had a quick shower. There was always dirt on her somewhere after she Changed, either just from walking on her bare paws, or from rolling around. Maddie emerged from the shower, clean and fresh-faced. She dabbed on some eyeliner and shrugged. That’ll do. More important things to worry about today.

  She looked out the window of Luca’s lounge room. The sky was painted in shades of blood. The wolf let her eyes fall shut, wishing there was a better way to do this. Luca would be mad that she’d left him behind, but she wouldn’t risk his butt too. Abby was a force to be reckoned with, and she didn’t want the demons to know that one of their pack had reneged on their deal (even if he never personally agreed to it). Maddie crept out of Luca’s house and into the cool morning air. Autumn had kissed the tops of the trees in Luca’s messy, overgrown backyard. Despite being an animal, he was not a green-thumb or interested in nature.

  Maddie pulled out her phone and sent a text message to Abby, luring her. Abby had taken control of their pack against Maddie’s—and pretty much everyone else’s—wishes, the traditional way, by killing the previous pack leader. There was no vote or democratic polling. No choice. And the choices Abby had made for them was never discussed. It was just done that way. And it was wrong.

  Maddie walked down to the tunnel entrance and shifted into wolf form. Like this, she could sense the magic at the other end of the tunnel (it naturally led out of Mill Valley, but the exit had been changed slightly, she could tell). Maddie sniffed at the air. She wouldn’t let anyone be slaughtered here. She didn’t know what the witch’s plans were for the demons, but they would need an escape route for all those who weren’t going to be fighting, and Abby knew that would lead them right here.

  The dirt down here was soft under her paws, freshly turned over. Maddie pawed at it. It was like cool sand under your toes. She smiled.

  ‘What are we doing here?’ Abby’s voice came. She was in human form.

  Maddie Changed into human form too, stark naked. It wasn’t something she had always been comfortable doing, but she knew Abby would respect her more if she did. She said it was a wolf’s second skin, to be naked. ‘Abby, I have to tell you that I don’t agree with the deal you made with the demon. Why would you do that?’

  Her pack leader looked her up and down, her dark gaze like tingling fingers along her skin. She smiled a little, letting the movement crack her impenetrable face. ‘Why wouldn’t I? Why do you care what happens to some scumbag humans, or the Cambions that look down their noses at us?’ She slinked toward Abby. ‘Don’t you see, Madeline, that once the humans are gone, and the warlocks and faeries, that we will rule this town? I will rule.’ Confidence washed over her, straightening her back like marionette’s strings pulled tight.

  ‘I won’t help you kill a bunch of people, Abby.’

  Abby’s nose brushed her bare shoulder, inhaling her scent. ‘Is that fear I smell on you?’

  ‘No,’ Maddie said firmly.

  ‘Because I’ve seen you kill before, Madeline, why would you be hesitant now?’

  Maddie rounded on her. ‘That was different, and you know it!’

  Abby feigned a little bow of sympathy. ‘It was,’ she said. ‘But you chewed out his throat. Blood dripped from your mouth.’ Abby was walking slow circles around her, goading her. ‘And you enjoyed it. I know you did, Madeline. It’s only natural. That’s what you are now. You’ve been wolf for over twelve moons now, you’re not new to this. You know what we are.’

  ‘Just because the others think we’re feral animals doesn’t mean we have to be,’ Maddie snapped.

  ‘No,’ Abby said slowly. ‘We are much more dangerous than that. We are cunning, clever and we are Lycans.’ She snarled in Maddie’s ear, baring her sharp-wolf teeth.

  ‘I know you, Madeline, I know what you’ve been through. I know that being a wolf wasn’t your choice, and I know how you’ve suffered. But think of this as a second chance to prove your worth as a wolf. What other kind of Cambion can assert such dominance as us, now that we have Azazel as an ally?’ Abby’s smooth black hair trailed over her skin as she circl
ed her. ‘You’re one of my wolves, Madeline, and I would be very sad if I thought you had come here under any disloyal illusions.’

  ‘I can smell the magic,’ Maddie said. ‘The demons will come here soon, won’t they? And everyone will need an escape when the witch takes him out.’

  ‘What makes you think the promised witch can?’ Abby asked.

  ‘Well, she’s promised, isn’t she?’ Maddie shrugged. Whether she could or not didn’t matter so much. All the rest of them would still need to get out, and there was nowhere else.

  Abby tilted her head, looking at Maddie carefully. ‘You think you’ve suffered, little pup, try to cross me, and the scars you have now will be nothing compared to what I’d do to you. And before you swallow your nerves, and tell me you’re not afraid, I know you’re with Luca. I know he knows about this. He would share your fate.’

  ‘Luca has nothing to do with this,’ Maddie spat at her.

  Abby’s nose twitched, her lips curling up into a smile. ‘Of course not. So, it’s just you who’s come to betray me, then?’

  Maddie quickly shifted to her wolf-form and slashed out at Abby with her paws. But Abby was quick and sleek too, her dark fur shining in the rising sunlight. The two wolves slashed at each other with claws and teeth. Maddie closed her mouth over Abby’s arm and heard her yowl.

  I won’t. I can’t let you.

  Through their shared senses, Abby growled, furious.

  Maddie yelped as Abby’s claw raked deeply down her back. She felt blood stick in her fur.

  Abby shifted back, now naked. ‘Oh, little pup. I’d had such high hopes for you.’

  Maddie shifted too, her back in agony.

  Abby lowered herself to the ground to peer over her. She tutted in mock sympathy. ‘I did warn you about the scars, little pup. You know, I thought Turning you would’ve made you stronger, but you’re just as weak as before.’

  Maddie growled, low in her throat.

  ‘You didn’t know,’ Abby taunted. ‘No, you didn’t. It’s so hard to come across werewolves around here.’ Abby dug her finger into one of the scratches on her back and Maddie screamed. ‘I had to organise you all to be Turned myself,’ she said, as if exasperated.