When I tried to answer her, the words stuck in my throat. Shaking my head and blinking back tears, I managed to croak, “Don’t. I can’t do tonight if you make me cry.”
Tori took my hands in hers. “Just so you know,” she whispered. “I’m scared out of my mind, too.”
“Good to know,” I said. “Now let’s go get our mothers.”
25
Even though the killer now had two hostages to wrangle, he could still be watching us. We needed to be careful. Beau slipped off the Amulet of the Phoenix and handed it to me. Until we reached the trailhead, he would be traveling in spectral form. I slipped the amulet in my pocket and put the Orb of Thoth in Tori’s bowling ball bag.
“Ready?” I asked Beau.
“Lead the way,” he said.
Swallowing hard, I stepped into the evening twilight. Tori had pinned heavy blankets around the seats to hide the deep gashes, so thankfully I didn’t have to look at the torn upholstery in my Prius.
As soon as I closed my door, Beau appeared in the passenger seat and gave me the thumbs up. As we backed out, I glanced toward the store and saw my father’s worried face framed in the window of Tori’s apartment. We held each other’s gaze for a long moment and then he let the curtain fall back in place.
Beau and I enjoyed an uneventful drive to the cemetery. I parked by the low wall that encloses the burial ground and followed Beau through the gate. The instant we set foot on the grounds, a throng of excited spirits surged forward in welcome. The baying of a ghostly coonhound drowned out the babble as Duke plunged through the crowd, hit Beau in the chest, and sent them both to the ground.
“Easy there, boy,” Beau said, trying and failing to avoid the dog’s enthusiastic licking. “Let me up now.”
The hound complied reluctantly, but he didn’t stray far from the Colonel’s side as we made slow progress forward. Finally, Beau put his hands up. “Dear friends,” he said, “this is, alas, not a social call. We are here on an errand of the gravest import. I promise to return in a few nights to hear all your news and concerns, but on this evening, Jinx and I must leave this bag hidden beneath my obelisk. Until we return, I beg you to watch over it and to come for us if anyone seeks to disturb its hiding place.”
The request met with enthusiastic promises of support. The crowd made way, and I was able to quickly dig at the base of the obelisk and bury the bag. We grabbed a nearby floral arrangement, with apologies to the owner of the grave, and used it to hide the disturbed earth. Within half an hour, we were back in the Prius and headed up to the trailhead.
The vague reference to “the pass” in the killer's note meant nothing to me until Chase told me the killer was referring to the high pass at the top of the section of land known locally as Mary’s Meadow. I vaguely recalled some folk tale about star-crossed lovers associated with the spot, but the important thing is that I now knew where I was going.
“Why there?” I’d asked Chase.
“Because it’s one of the secret portals to The Valley,” he’d responded grimly. “It sounds like the killer spent some time studying those maps of Fish Pike’s.”
There was a public parking area at the trailhead, but I pulled off the side of the road about a hundred yards away and eased the Prius down a gentle slope, so it wasn’t visible from the road. We got out, and I handed Beau the amulet. The instant his hand touched the artifact, he became solid again. As we walked, he tucked the amulet inside his shirt.
A few feet from the parking lot, Tori stepped out into the road. “Hey,” she said softly, “how’d it go.”
“No problems,” I said. “It’s safe for now. Where are Chase and Festus?”
“We’re here,” a deep voice said. Peering into the shadows, I made out two pairs of amber eyes. Chase and Festus padded out of the darkness, both in mountain lion form. They were equal in size, but gray fur outlined the contours of Festus’ muzzle.
“You came shifted?” I asked.
“No,” Chase said, “but we changed as soon as we got here. We need to be ready for anything.”
I looked at Tori. “The same goes for us,” I told her. “Let’s make sure our batteries are charged.”
We joined hands and allowed an electric blue light to flow up our arms and light our eyes. “All systems go,” Tori said. “Lock and load.”
“I want to get one thing straight,” Chase said. “When we find this guy, he’s mine.”
When I looked at him, I knew my magic still filled my eyes. I could see the azure glow reflected in Chase’s golden gaze. “And I want you to get one thing straight,” I said in an even, level tone. “I don’t give a damn about some werecat pissing contest. We will do whatever we have to do to save our mothers and if your ego doesn’t like it, too damn bad.”
To my complete astonishment, Chase growled at me. Before I could say anything else, Festus lifted one massive paw and smacked his son hard; Chase went down — only to roll to his feet with a menacing hiss.
“If you think you’re big enough, boy,” Festus said, his lips curled to reveal wicked fangs, “do it. Otherwise, calm down. You’re letting your temper get the better of you. I didn’t raise you to be this stupid.”
Chase stopped, but his tail continued to twitch angrily. “I’ll take point,” he said, starting up the path. “Everyone stay sharp.”
Beau spoke to me under his breath. “Are you sure you want me to remain behind?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “We don’t want anything coming up this path and surprising us.”
As we started up the trail behind Chase, Festus fell in beside me. I looked down at him. “What the hell was that all about?” I asked.
“Just what you said,” Festus replied. “It’s a pissing contest. Chase’s hormones are running away with him. He thinks he’s protecting his mate.”
“I am not his mate,” I said firmly.
“I know that,” Festus said. “He’s giving in to his instincts, which is what I’ve been scared about all along. If you get a shot at that lunatic, take it. We’ll deal with my boy’s ego later.”
“Don’t worry,” I said, “I will.”
We reached the clearing at the mouth of the pass exactly at midnight, as the waning moon slid from behind the cover of the clouds. The scene revealed in the light made me clench my fists in impotent rage. Both mothers knelt on the dirt-bound and gagged. One of Gemma’s eyes was swollen shut, and my mother had a cut on her forehead. The man standing behind them was lean to the point of emaciation. He wore a long leather duster, and each hand was encased in a gauntlet spiked with steel talons.
“Stop right here,” he ordered, as we stepped out of the woods. “Evening, Festus,” he added. “It’s good to see you’re still up for a fight.”
“Do I know you?” Festus asked.
“You should,” the man said. “I’m Malcolm Ferguson.”
“Jeremiah Pike’s nephew,” Festus said flatly. “Why would you kill Fish? He was your own kin.”
“He was a halfling bastard,” the man spat. “Your father should have let the clan kill Jeremiah and his hybrid brats. They ruined our family. This was Pike territory and you high, and mighty McGregors took it. Since you took everything that should have been mine, I’m taking what’s yours.”
“I won’t fight you over territory, Ferguson,” Chase said.
“Oh, but you will,” Ferguson said, “because I took pains to ensure I have incentives. Which one would you like me to kill first, the mother here or that human whore you’re sleeping with?”
Before Chase could answer, I drew back my arm to hurl a ball of flame into the trash-talking scum. My eyes never registered Ferguson’s motion. One minute he’d been standing perfectly still, the next he’d jerked my mother upright and was holding a single razor-sharp talon against her throat.
“Temper, temper, witch,” he said. “I’m not quite ready to slit her throat, but I will if you don’t put that fire out.”
I closed my hand and extinguished the flame.
“How’s that?” Chase said, stepping forward.
“If you kill me, you get everything you want,” Ferguson said. “And if I kill you, I also get to kill all of them, and I get everything I want.”
“Hell of a deal,” Tori muttered under her breath.
Ferguson’s sharp ears caught the words. “Oh,” he said, “it is a hell of a deal. You see, your mothers are kneeling inside a closed protective circle. When I step outside the circle, the spell becomes activated. If one spark of magic is generated during the fight, they will burn to death inside the circle, and there won’t be any way you can stop it. After all, we do want a fair contest, now, don’t we?”
“And what happens to the circle if I kill you?” Chase asked.
“The moment my heart stops beating, the circle will be broken,” Ferguson answered.
“We’re just supposed to believe that?” I asked tightly.
“Do you have a choice?” Ferguson asked pleasantly.
Chase didn’t let me speak, and really nothing I could have said would have changed what happened next.
“Fine,” he said, “you have a deal.”
Ferguson shoved mom roughly to the ground and took a step back. When he did, a wall of red light rose around mom and Gemma, closing over them in a crackling dome. We watched as Ferguson carefully unbuckled the gauntlets and rolled them inside a length of soft leather, which he tied with rawhide cords. Shedding the duster, he looked toward the moon and shifted. I thought he’d be a mountain lion, but instead, a massive black panther with glowing green eyes stood in his place. Ferguson and Chase were roughly the same size, but the ebony cat’s corded muscles glistened menacingly in the moonlight.
“Chase?” I said uncertainly.
He looked up at me with a regal, impassive stare, and then, without a word, went out to meet Ferguson.
As the two big cats approached the center of the clearing, they both sprang at the same moment, locking bodies in mid-air and crashing to the earth in a flurry of slashing claws and harsh shrieks. Chase used his weight to get Ferguson under him. I knew the maneuver from watching my own cats stage mock battles. He wanted to use his strong hind legs to tear at Ferguson’s soft belly, but Ferguson anticipated the move and lunged for Chase’s throat.
I’d like to be able to narrate every nuance of the battle for you, to describe the way their cries split the night and silenced the forest animals. I wish I could find the right words for the pain I felt when Ferguson opened the first gaping slashes in Chase’s tawny pelt or my horror at watching and wanting my boyfriend to kill his opponent. But it all happened too fast — at least until the moment when the crack of splintering bone echoed through the trees and Chase fell backward favoring his right front leg, which Ferguson had just shattered.
The black panther snarled and gathered himself for the final lunge. Chase’s eyes flicked toward me and held my gaze. He was telling me goodbye, and there was nothing I could do if I wanted our mothers to live. A blur of motion surged past me as my mind frantically searched for an option.
Festus hit Ferguson from behind and slammed him hard against the ground, ripping out his throat with one vicious tear. As his life’s blood pooled beneath him, Ferguson shifted back to human form. He seemed to be struggling to speak, but if he said anything, I couldn’t make out the words.
The red dome around our mothers melted and then simply vanished. Tori and I both bolted for them, undoing the restraints and pulling away the gags. I could see Tori’s hands shaking as she freed her mother. Before Tori could say a word, Gemma was reassuring her. “It looks worse than it is,” she said. “He decked me when I tried to stop him from taking Kelly. I’m fine, honey, really. I’m fine.”
My mother took in a gasping lungful of air once her gag was gone. She gave me a quick hug and then reached for Gemma. The two friends embraced, and Mom said, in a choked voice, “Gem, we are getting too old for this crap.”
Leaving them, I made my way to Chase and Festus, laying my hand on Chase’s head. “Are you okay?” I asked him.
He was panting from the pain, but his eyes were remarkably clear. “It’ll heal when I shift,” he said.
“Then shift,” I said.
“I don’t have any clothes,” Chase replied.
He picked a hell of a time to get modest. Spotting Ferguson’s cast-off duster, I said, “Will this do?”
Chase curled his lips back. “It stinks of that murdering scum,” he said, “but I guess it’ll do. Throw it over me.”
When his body was covered, Chase shifted, groaning as the bones contorted and reformed. Once back in human form, he sat up and slid the sleeves of the duster over his arms. He looked tired, but even the scratches on his face were gone.
“That was a hell of a risk you took,” he said to Festus.
“No, it wasn’t,” Festus said. “You weren’t listening, boy. He said magic would trigger the shield. I was already shifted, so I didn’t use magic. I killed him the old-fashioned way.”
Impetuously, I threw my arms around Festus’ neck, oblivious to the blood staining his fur. “Thank you,” I said into his neck. “I love you, Festus.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” he grumbled, but under my ear, I heard him purring.
From across the clearing, Tori asked, “Can we go home now?”
“Unfortunately,” Chase said, “we can’t. We have to come up with a story and call John Johnson.”
You know that show, How to Get Away with Murder? Keep reading. I’ll tell you how we did it.
26
So is it murder when you kill a murderer? I don’t have an answer for that one yet. Staring down at a body cooling in the moonlight didn’t thrill me, but Malcolm Ferguson hadn’t left us many choices. We had to either get rid of the remains ourselves or explain Ferguson’s death to the Sheriff in such a way that Fish Pike’s murder would be “solved.”
Surprisingly, my mother came up with the best suggestion. “Go home,” she said. “Leave us here.”
“Are you out of your mind?” I said. “Why would we leave you here?”
“Because this is where we will have been miraculously saved by a mountain lion who killed our abductor,” Mom said. “For some unknown reason, it chose to leave us alone. Once we were sure the big cat was gone, we freed ourselves, rummaged through the kidnapper’s pack to find our cell phones, and called the Sheriff. We will give him a slightly hysterical but believable account of how a young man who appeared to be in trouble flagged us down on the road and proceeded to kidnap us.”
Who was this woman who looked like my mother?
“Is that what happened?” Chase asked.
“Yes,” Gemma said. “We shouldn’t have stopped, but the guy was convincing. We thought he was hurt. When we got out of the car, he made a grab for Kelly. I tried to get between them, and he decked me.”
“Why didn’t you use your magic?” I asked.
“Because he had one of those fake claws of his to Gemma’s throat,” Mom shuddered, “and he said if we went with him, he wouldn’t hurt you and Tori.”
“And you fell for that?” Tori said. “That’s the oldest bad-guy line in the book.”
“We didn’t believe him,” Gemma said, “or at least I didn’t. I don’t know what Kelly was thinking. I figured if we could just stay alive, sooner or later we would be able to use our magic on him.”
“Where did he take you?” Festus asked.
“It was a cabin somewhere within walking distance of this place,” Gemma said. “He dragged us through the woods for about 45 minutes to get us here.”
“Okay,” Festus said, “I’ll locate the cabin and make sure there’s nothing incriminating there.”
As he started to walk away, Mom called to him. Festus stopped and looked back at her. “Thank you,” Mom said. “After all these years and everythi
ng that’s happened, you’re still taking care of me.”
“It’s my . . . ”
Festus hesitated. I expected him to say “job,” just like Chase would have, but instead his features softened. He cleared his throat and tried again. “It’s my pleasure,” he said. With that, he disappeared into the shadows at the edge of the forest.
“You sure you’ll be okay?” I asked Mom.
“We’ll be fine,” she said. “Get back to the store and make your father go home, or better yet, tell him to go back to the river. He can’t act as if he ever knew we were missing.”
Chase, Tori, and I started back down the mountain. No one had much to say. I attributed the silence to post-adrenaline letdown. Beau was waiting for us right where we’d left him. He took in Chase’s appearance, Festus’ absence, and the fact our mothers were nowhere to be seen and assumed the worst.
“No, no,” I assured him, “the killer is dead, and we’re all okay. Festus is checking out the cabin where the guy was holed up. Our mothers are set to call the Sheriff and feed him a fake story as soon as we’ve had time to get back to the store.”
Since Chase’s clothes were in his car, he started in that direction. Tori made a move to follow, but Chase cut her off. “Ride back with Jinx and the Colonel,” he said.
We watched him stride away, the long ends of the leather duster flaring around his bare legs. Tori looked at me. I shrugged. Whatever was going through his mind, it would have to wait.
Dad just about blew a gasket when I told him he had to go back to the river and pretend to be fishing. “I want to see your mother now,” he said. “Tell me where she is.”
“You can’t,” I replied. “The man who abducted them is dead, and the Sheriff can’t know any of us are involved. Mom’s plan is a good one. Please just do what she says and wait until we get a call. I imagine the Sheriff will want Mom and Gemma to get checked out in the emergency room.”
Witch on First: A Jinx Hamilton Mystery Book 4 (The Jinx Hamilton Novels) Page 21