by A. L. Tyler
Dangerous Hexes
Driftwood Mystery Book 2
By A.L. Tyler
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Dangerous Hexes
Jette Driftwood Book 2
Text © A.L. Tyler 2018. All rights reserved. CopperHarpyPublishing.com
Edited by Sarah Read.
Cover art by Fiona Jayde.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination and used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
For Chris, Teddy, and Ozzy.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
About the Author
Prologue
“MS. DRIFTWOOD, YOU were the top of your class at the Academy, is that correct?”
I nodded. My throat had gone dry, and even sitting in the memorabilia-laden apartment that Nick called home, I couldn’t quite get comfortable. Vampires had that effect on people.
Not Nick. He was a daywalker, enchanted with certain human characteristics that allowed him to serve the Bleak better. He didn’t need to fear the sun or be a slave to his blood cravings, but he had also lost a lot in return. The Bleak knew that vampires were fast and deadly even when they were hampered, so they prohibited them from entering private homes uninvited. They kept them blood-dependent. They removed most of their hypnosis abilities.
Some vampires were more altered than others, though. It was all about what the Bleak needed.
Mr. Arnold Whent was one such example. His skin was pale and his eyes were hungry. He had scheduled my interview—more of an interrogation, really—well before dawn.
And Mr. Whent’s powers of hypnosis were fully intact.
“Ms. Driftwood,” he spoke in a quiet, almost lyrical voice. “I need you to answer aloud for the record.”
I nodded again. The cushion of the low-back chair covered in well-worn upholstery felt brutally lumpy beneath me. I dug in my fingers. “Yes. I graduated at the top of my class.”
Judith Platt, a witch of short temper and few words who was sent to keep the interrogator in line, manned the recorder and took notes.
“You were assigned a position in records, and then moved into an internship as a breaker six months later?”
“I did.”
“You met Alexander Edward Mordley on November nineteenth the year your apprenticeship began?”
I blinked. “I don’t recall the exact date.”
This time, Mr. Whent’s eyes contracted. I couldn’t look away as the dark pools of his eyes widened and time stood still. “Does the date sound approximately correct?”
I couldn’t have moved if I wanted to, but he wasn’t after my blood. He wanted the truth.
That’s okay. Tell him the truth. Remember the plan, Jette.
“Yes,” I said obediently. “The date sounds approximately correct.”
“You began a romantic relationship.”
“Of sorts.”
“Clarify.”
What I would have given for Nick to not be standing right there while all of this happened.
“Mr. Mordley desired a romantic relationship. I did not.”
Whent leaned back in his chair. He shared a small, amused smirk with his counterpart. “I wouldn’t call that a romantic relationship.”
“Nor would I,” I replied. “But I know how it appeared to everyone else. I’ve seen my file since my return. I know what the Bleak had to say about it.”
“You’ve read your file, then. Thank you for disclosing that.”
“I didn’t really have a choice, I think.”
Whent’s crooked smile widened. He leaned forward, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Nick shift his weight.
“You’re living with Nicolas Warren now, aren’t you?”
“Temporarily.”
“You were one of the best breakers the Bleak ever employed.”
“Yes.”
“You were promoted out of your internship in less than a year.”
“Yes.”
“And then you broke our laws and stole the cache of magic stored in the Jarvais Topaz while posing as restoration and maintenance.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
I licked my lips. You have to tell the truth. He’ll know.
I had practiced for this. Gods, it was harder than I thought it would be.
Nick crossed his arms. “She’s here to give a disposition on what happened with the human cop and the wake, Whent.”
Whent held up his hands. “Curiosity.”
“We’re on a schedule. We have somewhere to be.”
“It’s fine!” I nearly shouted. Not answering under hypnosis was painful. I shut my eyes and hoped that Whent thought it was due to the feeling of my brain rubbing a cheese grater. “I stole it because I didn’t want Mordley and his crew to have it.”
I opened my eyes again, heaving a sigh. It worked.
Whent’s eyes fell in disappointment. He shared another glance with Judith.
It wasn’t the whole truth. And as long as Whent didn’t ask, I didn’t have to tell.
Nick tapped his phone. “We have a case, and she’s with me. This is my time, so finish up or reschedule.”
Whent glared at Nick. Nick glared back.
Angry vampire hypnotism is the only thing more uncomfortable than normal vampire hypnotism.
“You were in hiding after the theft of the Jarvais. A murder occurred.”
“Yes.”
“Due to your unique skill set, you determined the murder was entwined with the privileged community.”
“Yes.”
“You encountered Nicolas Warren while attempting to take down the culprit.”
“Yes.”
“You convinced him of your innocence.”
I cringed. “No.”
“She escaped my custody to take down the murderer alone,” Nick said. “That’s what convinced me. Are we done?”
“No,” Whent growled. He turned back to me. “Is what he said true?”
“I don’t know.”
Whent laughed lightly, pressing his index fingers together before pressing them to his lips. “I do love the lively ones. Did you escape custody?”
“Yes.” Technically.
“And you attempted to take down a wanted murderer alone?”
&
nbsp; “Yes.” Inadvertently.
“And when you found yourself trapped with no escape, you took down five men, including Phineas Kane, an informant of Mr. Warren?”
I hesitated.
“Ms. Driftwood?”
“I’m... not sure how many there were. I’m not even sure they were all men.” My nightmares had repainted the whole event a few times since.
“You killed Kane?”
My voice caught in my throat. I didn’t want to answer.
The streetlights that night flashed before my eyes. Tell me I’m not going to pull the trigger.
I could feel my hand closing around his ankle and hear his screams echoing off the alley walls, and all I could see were flames against the darkness.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Yes, I killed them all.”
Whent straightened his shirt. “And as to the matter of Bailey Gosling—”
“We’re done.”
Whent looked over at Nick.
“As you can see, Ms. Driftwood’s loyalty to the Order of the Bleak extends above and beyond the call of duty.” Nick squared his stance. “You’ll need to reschedule if you have further questions.”
Judith stood up. “We’re not finished.”
Nick’s eyes never moved from Whent’s intense focus on me. “Then reschedule.”
He saw them to the door. I was gone by the time Nick came back.
I collapsed onto the bed in Nick’s spare room. All my clothes were still stuffed into a bag and the drawers in his cabinets were empty. Maybe it was because I was used to sleeping on the floor in a nondescript apartment, but the blue comforter and soft green walls were the most welcoming thing I’d known in a while.
I knew it was temporary. I even had a moving date, but I didn’t like to think about it.
None of my plans were working out recently.
Back when I was a fugitive in hiding, the plan had seemed so simple. I needed to find a handler who could be convinced that I was repentant for what I had done. Someone malleable, who would plead my case to the Bleak, and convince them that I was worth more to them alive than dead due to my particular talents.
But Nick wasn’t that person. He was stubborn, and suspicious, and all around too good at his job. He took me down expertly. He saw me for who I was behind all of my lies.
And then he let me go. He vouched for my loyalty and innocence. He had a lot of faith in me.
He believed that I was a good person.
Being back in the good graces of the Bleak was even better than the probation I had hoped for. Breaking my father out of prison would be all the easier.
Down the hall, I heard Nick shut the front door, and the apartment settled into quiet. He moved with an unnerving silence and speed—all vampires did—but I wasn’t bothered when he was suddenly standing outside my room.
“I’m making breakfast,” he said.
I twitched. Vampires didn’t eat. “You don’t need to do that.”
“You can eat or not. I’m still making it.” He walked away.
Lately, none of my plans were really working out.
Chapter 1
“SO, YOU’RE HERE TO laugh at my story, too?”
For a man surrounded by movie monster masks, he was being awfully serious. Just over his left shoulder, a deranged clown was staring me down. I cocked an eyebrow, looking over at my partner.
To his credit, Nick was just as serious as the bank owner. “Mr. Frazier, I don't consider bank robbery to be a laughing matter.”
Mr. Frazier glanced uneasily back and forth between us. He offered his hand. “Call me Steven.”
Stephen typed away on his computer before pulling up a file. He turned the monitor toward us.
“When I first saw it, I wasn't sure what to think,” he said.
A video played on the screen. A woman walked up to the bank vault. She turned and looked directly into the camera.
Millie Corum was a blonde bombshell with a thing for cat eye makeup and expensive accessories. She looked like the vapid daughter of rich parents who had done her no favors by fulfilling every material wish.
She was anything but.
The twisted grin she flashed the camera hinted at the criminal genius that lurked beneath her polished exterior.
“There!” Steve exclaimed, as though we needed prompting. Millie turned away from the camera, still grinning, and walked straight through the security door to the vault.
She was Alex Mordley’s ex-girlfriend. The woman he’d dumped just before he’d asked me out for coffee. But what was she doing here? Fallvale wasn't a big enough score for her. We didn't have a large population. Even robbing the whole bank, she couldn't have gotten away with much.
“How much did she steal?” I asked hesitantly.
I watched Millie reach her hand into every single safety deposit box that lined the walls of the vault. Her fingers passed right through solid steel and pulled out the contents, which she stuffed into a large designer handbag slung over her shoulder.
“Everything,” Steve shrugged. “She stole everything.”
“May I?” Nick gestured at the mouse.
Steve passed it to him, and in fast forward, Millie stuffed everything from the vault into her bag—an impossible task. The bag was too small, and I knew she’d done a series of enchantments to make the contents lighter and smaller. It didn’t even bulge when she finally stuffed in the last fat stack of bills.
That was the kind of thing I’d seen a lot of in my past job as a breaker for the Bleak. Enchantments like that were supposed to be self-limited to prevent the bag from becoming a ticking bomb that would eventually explode, turning whatever was inside into bizarre shrapnel.
The Bleak licensed individuals to perform approved spells, but the spells they approved were few and weak. Licensed witches were rare and prohibitively costly.
And the black market ran rampant.
Millie left the vault the same way she’d come in. We watched security arrive in the morning and saw the moment when an employee realized something was wrong. Steve appeared, speaking excitedly into his cell phone, as they started to open the deposit boxes. Sometime later he ordered everyone out.
Nick glanced at Steve. “To preserve the scene?”
Steve nodded. “Fingerprints. When I called the police, they told me not to touch anything. And there—” Steve took the mouse back, skipping back and forth over a track of the film that showed a bright flash. “That’s when it all came back, I think. Like magic.”
His eyes were wide with wonder as he looked at us.
On the video, the police arrived. Steve and the employee who had first entered the vault walked an officer through the events of the morning.
Then they went to open a deposit box to demonstrate it was empty... And it wasn’t.
On the tape, Steve looked flustered. Box after box had magically refilled itself with its previously stolen contents.
Sitting before me, Steve still looked mystified. “We inventoried three times. We’re still missing a necklace and fifty dollars. That’s all.”
He stood up, straightening his tie before coming out from behind his desk. He ducked under a display of a Hollywood vampire bat and gestured for us to follow him. We walked past a row of campy horror movie posters showing chainsaw murders and dark eyes peering out of the woods on our way to the lobby.
“You like horror, Mr. Frazier?”
“Steve.” He looked back at Nick. “Please. Just Steve. And yes, I do. My grandfather was in the movies. At least, his work was. He did costumes and special effects back in the day.”
Nick paused, studying a werewolf mask. “Frazier...Reynold Frazier was your grandfather?”
Steve beamed. “That’s him!”
“You don’t think it’s strange to keep this stuff around in a bank?”
His smile faltered. “No, I don’t. A lot of the places around here put up sports decor. That’s what they like, and I fail to see a difference. The employees think it’s fun. Alice!”
A woman in a pencil skirt and kitten heels spun to face us. She pushed back a stray lock of auburn hair and smiled nervously. “Steve?”
“Alice, what do you think of the horror movie props?”
Her smile stayed fixed as she stared at Steve. “I think they’re wonderful. It’s an excellent homage to your grandfather.”
She continued to gaze at Steve, her smile becoming almost goofy as he looked at us, glowing from the compliment.
Nick gave me a look, and I knew what he wanted. I faked a coughing fit.
“Oh, my!” Alice stepped toward me, brow furrowed. “Here, let me get you some water.”
I gestured for Steve and Nick to go on without me and followed Alice into the employee lounge instead. She grabbed a cup from the water cooler and filled it for me.
“You’re here to investigate the robbery?” she asked nervously.
I drank the water and nodded. I tried to remember to smile.
Nick didn’t think that social niceties made a difference. I knew better.
“Well, I’m just glad that someone is finally taking it serious,” she said with a little, snorting laugh. She leaned back against the wall, hands folded behind her. “Steve was just losing his mind over it, what with all the fantasy we have around here, and then a real, live ghost shows up and robs the place.”
Laugh. Snort.
I smiled. “That is pretty funny. I’m sure there’s an explanation, though. That is a beautiful sweater.”
Her smile broadened as she pulled at the embroidered hem of her royal blue cardigan. “Thanks! I found it at Weyland’s, just across the street.”
“Beautiful color.” I nodded. My sensitive ears picked up a quiet melody, and I let my response hang in the air a moment as I picked up the tune. “Did you see anything that morning? Anything weird—or maybe just off, I guess, because I know the whole thing was weird?”
“Oh, I wasn’t even here yet.” Alice shook her head.
She wasn’t there, and—by the sound of the magic on her—Millie had put a gentle, general memory spell on the bank employees to further cover her tracks. The spell played like a quiet flute in the background, so light that I almost couldn’t hear it over the hum of the AC vents. It was subtle but recent. No one had seen anything. There would be no witnesses to help us.