“What was the deal with Fowler? Why would someone want him assassinated?”
“Dark, old, and twisted—I would have vanquished him if he came to town. Don’t know much about him still. Not sure if Jackson does either. He was English originally. Some of those old country enemies must have found him in Texas. Why?”
“Hey, I can hear you two from half a graveyard away,” Zach said as he jogged up to them, bow strapped to his back.
“Well, you were late for patrol,” Stace countered, nose up.
“Maudette called out, Jackson isn’t answering his phone, and I had to wait for Laurie to find a babysitter.”
“Guys.” Red waved her friends on. “Moon’s out, goons out. There’s weirdness in the air tonight.”
“I feel it.” Stace rolled her shoulders. “Makes me kinda itchy.”
“Not tingly?”
Zach shushed them.
Falling silent, they crept through the boneyard, passing old moss-covered crypts and the memorial pond. Red looked through her third eye, piercing the haze to look for auras. It seemed like the dead were truly resting in peace tonight. Was it due to the explosive tithing? Maybe the supes decided to stay in and veg in front of the TV. Wise demons knew to tiptoe in the shadows when vamps battled.
The Charm Cemetery stretched to a pristine pebble shoreline that the teens called Ghost Beach. With a view pretty enough to convince some idiot to build a cabin, only a deal with the devil must have kept it from developers. It was isolated enough for any murderer to get cozy. Moving into a patch of firs, the smell of the sea grew stronger. Black waves broke beyond the trees.
Zach put his hand out to stop them, finger to his lips. He pulled a bow off his shoulder harness.
Red stopped beside Stace. Tapping into her magic, she threaded it through her mother’s ring, readying herself.
Motions precise and soundless, he reached back into his quiver and loaded. His heart chakra glowed green. He released the arrow toward the beach, firing another without missing a beat. “Vamp.”
Stace sprinted ahead, pink sparkles trailing, leaving the others jogging in her wake.
Breaking out of the trees, Red skidded down the slope to the pebble beach.
Pale blond hair gleaming in the waxing moon, the dead man straightened at their approach. Shadows elongated an already gaunt face. Two arrows poked out of the side of his pinstriped suit. Unlike at the country club, he wore no glamours this time. His malignant aura swirled around his shoulders like a cloak, nearly black. Only the outline of his long fingers was visible under a dark miasma. A thoughtful composure graced the vampire’s aristocratic features as he plucked the arrows from his flesh.
Josh the bearded comic shop guy lay bound and shirtless at the edge of the pit. Eyes rolling with terror, muffled by a gag, he pleaded with them. He seemed paralyzed. Blood oozed from the Etruscan scratched into his chest. White selenite crystals circled the violent tableau.
Stace sputtered. “It can’t be.”
Zach reached his hand out toward the vampire, the green glow intensifying over his heart, “You should be afraid.”
The demon hissed. Cringing, he snatched Josh off the ground, pivoting to flee. Rage came over his face. He flashed his white fangs. “I won’t be manipulated, empath.”
Stace charged forward.
Snarling, the vampire threw Josh into the Hero’s arms. “I can offer Orcus better.”
Red rushed the wet and trembling man away from the supernatural fray, sliding on the wet rocky shore to a fallen log. She put her jacket over his shoulders, half carrying him along as the enchantment on his body made him too slow. “Who is that?”
“I can’t believe it!” Zach gave them cover, firing at the killer.
Dodging arrows and fists, feet nimble even in the tide, the vampire chortled. The high pitch was startling from the dead face. A dark realization came across his thin features. “How foolish I’ve been, how cowardly. Of course, the one who slew my sire should open the door.”
Stace tossed a punch that sent the vampire flying back into the surf. “Isaac, you should be dead too.”
Red pushed Josh to run on his own to the trees and turned back. Her friends needed all fighters on deck. She’d read about Isaac Gruber, written him off as a suspect because his final death had been recorded. How could Alaric’s childe have survived, hidden even to the Brotherhood and the Blood Alliance?
He brushed seaweed off his collar. “Rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated, by choice.”
Stace unsheathed the sword on her back. “We can make them true tonight.”
“I think not, fairy wench.” He dodged her blade, hands clasped behind his back, first left and then right. Slapping the katana from her hand, he grabbed her by the neck. He grinned. “This is justice. The gods will smile on my sacrifice. You will be the vessel to resurrect the past glories of the Alaric Order.”
“Live in the now.” Twisting her ring finger, Red imagined spinning the wind around herself, and her magic made it a reality. She flung the cyclone at Isaac. There was too much juice behind the spell; the gust hit both fighters. Oh fuck. She still needed practice with this thing.
Stace stumbled to kneel in the waves, searching for her fallen sword.
Isaac righted himself first, kicking her in the face before she could raise her grasped weapon, sending her back onto the slope of the beach. An arrow impaled him in the shoulder, narrowly missing the heart. He growled, ripping it out and launching it back to hit Zach in the arm.
Red ran to cover the archer. “Are you okay?”
Breathing heavily through his nose, Zach pressed against the embedded arrow to stem the bleeding. “Peachy. Go get him.”
She summoned another gale, whipping up a small waterspout.
Jumping away of it, the vampire crowed, “No one can’t stop destiny.”
Stace bolted for Isaac, slashing her sword across his chest. “That’s what your sire said. Look how that turned out.”
He backhanded her, fangs out. “The ghouls will feast on your corpse, girl.”
Stace laughed, kicking him in the knee, slicing his arm with a swipe of her sword. “It’s been nearly a decade, and you still can’t win. You’re finished.”
“You’ve finished nothing. It’s only begun.” He growled, picking her up and throwing her into the water. “A decade ago, my portal opened in the wrong house, but I learned from my failures. Alaric’s vision will be manifest in me. The Everlasting Ones will feed on this town.”
“The wrong house?” Red whispered.
The hair on the back of her neck rose as her pulse drummed in her ears. Sharp facts gathered from long hours researching slashed through her mind. Days after the housefire, Gina McGregor had noted a bloody hand found in the nearby cemetery, along with some selenite. The coroner’s report captured the gory details of a riftquake. Her mother’s smiling face flashed in her mind. She’d died in an inferno that could melt asphalt.
The world tilted.
Grimacing, Zach gripped her shoulder. “Emma.”
Red shook him off. That wasn’t her name. That girl was murdered along with her mother. She stalked toward the fairy fighting the aged vampire on the rocky beach. Her hand raised without conscious thought, ring burning her skin as power coursed through it. Energy rumbled inside her like a thunderstorm. Her intention honed to a razor-edged purpose—make him pay.
The ground shook. Dark foam bubbled on the beach as the water sucked back. Her heartbeat throbbed in her head. All she could see was her mother. All she could think about was what Isaac had cost her. All she could feel was pain colder than the Pacific waters.
Splashing up in a dark arc, a ten-foot wave slammed against the shore.
Freezing shock and primal instinct forced Red to swallow a gulp of salty air before the black water towed her under. She saw Isaac tossed back in the swells before the stinging sea forced her eyes closed. Even as she swam for the surface, the unnatural current dragged her under.
---
A firm pressure on her sternum roused Red from her stupor. Unconsciousness faded as burning saltwater scraped her raw throat. She spat and coughed, cheek pressed against sharp pebbles. Soaked and shivering, she blinked up at the figures coming into focus.
Zach paced, phone to his ear. “Your girlfriend nearly died tonight while you weren’t answering. Get to Ghost Beach now, Jackson.”
Dripping with brine, Stace held out her hand. “Are you with us, Red?”
She nodded, pulse echoing in her ears. Coughing again, she tried to ask where Isaac was.
“Thank God. We thought you drowned.”
“He fucking killed my mother,” Red gasped, squeezing the offered fingers, trying to pull herself up. Her eyes rolled from the effort. Darkness consumed her as unconsciousness crashed like an endless wave.
19
Eyelids fluttering at the soft snick of a closing door, Red shifted, elbowing a cushion, feet catching on a blanket.
She was on the living room couch at Stace’s house. Her muscles were weak as if she had trained in the gym for hours. A low fuzzy headache halted the creep of awareness. Voices broke through the cotton in her ears, muffled as through a wall. Was that Aisha Callaway in the kitchen?
“I’m surprised you called.”
Stace answered, “I know this is a weird favor, but I didn’t want her to be alone when she woke up.”
“What do you expect me to do?”
“Distract her, please. I don’t want her hurt more tonight.”
Full consciousness ignited like kerosene. Red struggled to sit, grabbing the back of the couch, barely aware of the dimly lit surroundings or the unfamiliar pajamas she was in. They were going after her mother’s killer. Isaac was all she could focus on. They couldn’t leave her behind. She reached for her magic, touching her hand to find the ring missing.
“Easy, Red, it’s on the coffee table.” Vic stood from a nearby recliner, exhaling wearily. He rubbed his tired face, crouching to make eye contact with her. “You did one hell of a trick tonight.”
“I need to find that son of a bitch.”
Head shaking, he watched her arm tremble as she tried to lift herself. “Not in this shape. You tried to dump the ocean on him.”
“I’ll do it again. Where is he?”
“Lost him in the waves. The wolf is combing the shore, waiting for us to get Zach patched up. Stace had to carry you here.”
Strength collapsing, Red fell back against the couch cushions. She glared at the ceiling.
“I know what you’re feeling right now.”
She hated that phrase. How could anyone? It was meaningless, but not from Vic’s lips. She hadn’t understood his dark and conflicted emotions of cold grief and hot fury when they were connected in the ceremony in the diner. Now she understood completely. “How do you think about anything else?”
“I’m not the poster boy for healthy coping. You’ve seen my mistakes.”
“Isaac practically bragged about creating the riftquake. He waited out the heat from the Blood Alliance to try again.” Shoulders trembling, she couldn’t cry. Had she spent them all at the beach, drowning Isaac in tears instead of sea water? If anger hadn’t spiked through her, she’d have flattened under the weight of her grief. She bowed her head. “It killed my mother. We don’t even know what it did to me.”
“Isaac is butthurt about his daddy. No one ever documented him as magic user, so this is a new hobby. He might have been talking shit to spook Stace.”
“What if he’s not?”
“Keep it together, and you’ll stay at the planning table. The last time I ran up against a blood mage, it took five of us to hack him apart. Don’t go off half-cocked like you complain that the rest of us always do.”
“Yeah,” she said bitterly, “I get it. Isaac could enchant the stake in my hand if he had a drop of blood in him to power a spell. I’m not strong enough yet for him.”
“Not what I meant.” Vic lifted his eyebrows, considering her odds. “You might be able to kill him by yourself, but you can’t capture him solo and find out exactly what he did or where he sent you.”
Red laughed harshly. “I doubt he knows. It was his first attempt at playing wizard, probably. He destroyed my world because he got the wrong girl’s house. I lost everything, but he never gave us a second thought.”
“Then you already know you won’t get closure. Good.”
“One less thing to be disappointed by.” Her forced chuckle came out a sob.
“This is going to be the hardest hunt of your life, intern. And it starts once we walk into the kitchen. You’ll hear a lot of things for your own good, and you’re going to hate each and every one.” Vic held out his hand.
She took it, leaning on him to hobble out of the living room. All the magic use hit like a sudden flu. She leaned against the kitchen doorway, flinching against the bright light.
Josh huddled by the fridge, stress eating a bag of chips. His bandaged belly peeked out of a black shirt that was a size too small. His mouth moved silently as if he were arguing with himself, and concentration on his own thoughts made him cross-eyed. He muttered. “How did I get to Ghost Beach?”
Zach turned his head, grimacing at the movement of his injured arm. Or the emotions that he sensed blowing off Red.
Changed from wet clothes into a baggy neon windbreaker and yoga pants, Stace taped gauze to his arm and helped him into an unbuttoned black flannel. “Okay, you should be good until you get to a real professional.”
Aisha Callaway, out of uniform in a white sweater and jeans, examined the first aid over their shoulders. “You could wrap it a little tighter.”
“I hear Josh’s ride coming. Could you escort him?” The half-fae asked the sheriff tightly.
Callaway nodded to Red, sympathy in her brown eyes as she led the townie out to the driveway.
Legs unsteady, Red dropped into a seat at the table. “What’s the plan? Have you told the Novaks?”
Stace waited until the door closed to reply. “Not yet, but we don’t have to talk about that now. Vic is taking Zach to the witch doctor while I return to the beach. We’ll find Isaac when he washes up.”
“I just need to eat, and I can get back out there.”
“Is that a good idea?” Stace said. “You look—”
“Bad,” Vic said shortly. “Sleep it off and take day shift.”
“I can at least scry for him.”
“Yeah, that’s a great suggestion. Better than playing poker.” Stace clapped her hands, bolting into the dining room.
Why would she want to play games right now? Red raised an eyebrow at Zach. “Poker?”
He shrugged. “You were a little card shark. Got it from your mama.”
“I should have hit the tables in Vegas then.” She frowned, a wave of fatigue hitting her. “I might not be able to do it. Text Claudia Benston to scry as a backup. We need the witches out of town too.”
Stace came back holding a carved wooden case and set it on the table. “My phone is fried from sea water so text Jackson what you find.”
“Then we’ll go after Isaac together.”
“You should sit it out until tomorrow at least,” Zach reasoned.
“Don’t sideline me on this hunt.” Red took a deep breath at Vic’s minute shake of his head, warning her to keep cool. She clenched her jaw, fighting the rest of the rant before it could escape.
Stace took her hand, squeezing it gently. “We’re not going to shut you out. It’s just what happened tonight… This changes everything we thought we knew about the case.”
“It sure fucking does! He killed my mom!” Red failed at rising from the chair on her wobbly legs. She loathed the pity in their eyes and glanced away to the broken clock on the wall. They were wasting valuable time. Arguing was pointless. They were right.
Isaac was a few centuries old, records said he could turn into mist so could be anywhere if he wasn’t caught by an ocean undertow. He had taken enough damage in the fight to
slow him down. A vampire’s power came from their blood, he’d have to heal with it before trying to shift or cast a spell. They had the advantage until he fed again.
She couldn’t fight in this condition. Even at full strength, she had been a liability. Emotions had triggered her magic, channeled by her mother’s ring, and forced her will over the water. Unfocused, it had nearly drowned her friend. That kind of elemental magic was usually beyond novices. It had weakened her for weeks unless she meditated with all the crystals in the magic shop.
Trudy had cautioned her about uncontrolled emotions, another warning like a curse in hindsight.
Red wiped her cheeks. “I can’t really stand yet, but I’m out the door once he’s found. For now, you guys go ahead.”
“We’ll get him,” Stace said, ducking to hug Red before she left. “I promise.”
Vic opened the fridge for a chilled bottle of merlot, setting it on the table next to the wooden case. “Take the edge off and then get to scrying, intern. I need to take this one to the doc.”
“Could you explain it all to Callaway outside?” Zach asked. “Start the van, I’ll be right out.”
Nodding, Vic left the kitchen.
“I know what you’re feeling.”
Red sighed grimly at the tired platitude turned literal. Yet again. Even if she put on a poker face, he’d see through it. Vic had known from experience, but the empath had the power.
“Fight, flight, or freeze. Those are your options, and you already chose,” Zach said. “I respect it, but you need to know who you’re up against. Isaac was one of Alaric’s Horsemen, his generals. Blood magic is a new skill, but he was powerful before. He’s wanted revenge on us, on this town, for a decade. I felt it on him. It wasn’t insanity—it was conviction. He’s ready to die for this, and now he has it in his head that whoever killed his sire is the key to the ritual. He’s right.”
“What? He doesn’t know the combination to the lock yet.”
“He has the selenite, the planets are in alignment, and the only thing he’s missing is a witch. I’ll tell Claudia Benston to warn the rest to take a vacation.” He leaned forward, mouth twisted from the pain. “Sacrificing you will hurt both Stace and Novak. He’ll do it for that alone even if he never finds out that you helped kill Alaric. Go after him tonight, and you’ll give him everything he wants.”
Small Town Witch: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Red Witch Chronicles 5) Page 21