“She was the one who showed me the model house. Her name was Morgan? Megan? No, Monica. Yeah.” He nodded as if finally deciding on it.
“Have you had contact with her since?”
He shook his head. “She sent one of her associates to sign the closing papers.”
We’d be able to put a better timeline together once we knew Monica’s time of death.
“When did you discover the body?”
He took a long sip of his beer. “Look, I told the detective, I climbed up there because I thought the house felt a little drafty and I wanted to make sure that the extra insulation I paid for was up there. Instead, I found a dead body and bare minimal insulation.”
“Okay, thank you, that’s all.” I stood and Liz followed my lead. I stopped outside the house and took a deep breath.
Liz laughed. “A body in an attic and crashing through the ceiling. I love how fun cases are with you.”
“At least it wasn’t a basement full of corpses.” I cringed. “That still haunts my dreams some nights.”
Liz nodded. “I only saw the pictures, and it haunts me.”
That had been the case that had led us to the discovery of Ira’s labs and his desire to create the perfect hybrid. Dread filled me as I thought about it and everything that had come of it. “Come on, let’s get me home before Zayne questions where we’re at.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t come.”
“I think he’s working on something for Catalina. He was pretty quiet while we were working.”
We ducked under the tape and walked to her SUV. I froze and put my hand on my gun when I saw someone in the shadows, leaning against the SUV. Liz did one better and had her gun out and pointed at the figure.
“Step away from my car.”
“Is that anyway to greet me?” Mario stepped into the light with his hands held up.
I swallowed. “Mario, you’re supposed to be with Hannah right now.”
“I know, and I am. I’m here with her blessing.”
I doubted anything Hannah did was a blessing, more like a curse in disguise. “That doesn’t answer my question. What are you doing here?”
“We’ve come up with a compromise.” He took a step forward and stumbled a little. His face pinched in pain. “You, for us. A trade,” he grounded out. “Run,” he muttered as he took another few struggling steps toward us. “Go. Please.”
Hannah appeared behind him, almost like a puppet master behind her puppet. “You weren’t supposed to warn her, Mario. Now you’ll suffer more.”
There was no outrunning the vampires. They were between us and the car, so popping over there wasn’t an option. I met Hannah’s gaze. “Using Mario to send your messages now?”
She nodded. “But the message isn’t complete. Is it, Mario?”
He stood, almost frozen, and I had a feeling he was trying to fight whatever order she gave him.
“Too much of a coward to attack me yourself?” I guessed.
Liz hissed in my ear. “What are you doing?”
“I’m not a coward, Abigail. I can take you alone, but not both of you. I know you won’t really hurt Mario.”
She had no idea what I would have done or what I was capable of. Liz raised her gun before I could come back with a retort.
Hannah looked at her. “A gun, how… human. You can shoot, but I’ll command Mario to move in front of the shot. You’ll end up killing him.”
She was right, but I didn’t think that Liz would care if it meant also killing Hannah. Liz hesitated a moment and then Zayne appeared in front of us before either of us could react. Zayne growled at Mario and Hannah. “Attacking and threatening the Princess is a crime against vampire law.”
“Didn’t you know Zayne? War follows no laws. You should know that, General. How many innocent people did you slaughter during your time at war? How many children begged you to spare their lives?” Hannah laughed.
“No more than you, slave owner,” Zayne shot back. “You disgusting, vile creature.”
I wasn’t aware either of them knew the other’s past, but Hannah looked livid at Zayne’s words. Mario suddenly jerked back to life and met my gaze. “Run.”
Then I felt it. The magic. Liz and Zayne must have felt it too, because they both turned toward me the moment it struck. I fell to my knees, trying to figure out how to breathe as magic struck through me, not just around me. Pain wrapped around my heart, trying to stop the beating.
I couldn’t even cry out as I fell completely to the ground. I called on my magic, trying to burn out Hannah’s magic. How had she managed such a spell without me knowing?
Red light swirled around me, and I realized I had been standing on a rune. She had to have drawn it before we got back to the car. Something had to be shielding us from the emergency crews that were nearby because no one was running.
I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think. Black dotted the edges of my vision, and all I could do was meet the terrified gaze of Mario, who stood there and watched.
Liz said something and spun back around, but my world narrowed and went black before I could figure out what it was.
CHAPTER NINE
“She’ll wake.” Merick’s voice was soft. “And as a witch,” he promised.
That was reassuring. Though it wounded my pride that none of us had realized what kind of trap Hannah had set. My whole body hurt, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the attack or from falling out of the attic.
“I know she will.” Catalina’s voice felt out of place. Typically, in this situation, it was Levi that was next to me worried about if I would survive.
“I’m not dead,” I muttered. “Not sure I can open my eyes, but I’m not dead.”
“Open your eyes, Abigail.” It was Catalina that answered.
I forced my eyes to open and looked up at her face. Concern creased her features as her eyes wandered over my body. “What?”
“No physical harm from Hannah, yet your body is reacting like you’ve been in a battle.”
The wording was so odd, but I let it go. “I was. I tried to push Hannah’s magic off with my own. Clearly, I won because I’m still alive.”
“No, Liz won,” Merick muttered. “But you’re both basically out of commission now.”
I shot up at that and instantly regretted it as pain shot down my spine. “What? What happened?”
“Take it easy, Abby.” Merick came to the bed so I could see him. Dark circles were under his eyes, his hair was unkempt, and he slouched his shoulders a bit. I wondered how many nights he’d been awake because he looked awful.
“I don’t want to take it easy. I want to know what happened to Liz.” I went to move my feet off the bed. Holy shit, my legs didn’t want to work without pain that shot up to my hips.
This time I cried out. Catalina sat on the edge of my bed and laid a hand on my leg. “She did her duty as your guard. She fought off Hannah, magic to magic, until Hannah retreated. Zayne couldn’t get into the circle to get you free of the spell and get you out, so it was up to Liz.”
“Is she okay? Where is she? Hell, where am I?” I rubbed my eyes. “Merick, I need some painkillers, please.”
“Liz is with the Cult right now. Our people are taking care of her. She’ll be okay with time.”
With. Time.
Guilt hit me. “And where am I?”
“You’re at my house for now.” Catalina’s gaze searched my face. “You can return home as soon as you can get out of bed unassisted.”
I took a deep breath. “How long have I been unconscious?”
“Just a day.” Merick bowed his head. “I need to go check on Liz. I’ll be back with painkillers soon.” He disappeared, and I slowly laid back down.
“I’ve never seen Hannah use that spell before. She somehow laid a trap for us without any of the emergency crews noticing. I literally walked right into it.”
Catalina nodded. “You stopped breathing at some point. Liz was barely conscious. Zayne got you breathing agai
n and brought both of you here.”
“My general was helpless, wasn’t he?”
She chuckled a little. “He would have been more useful if Mario had been the one to attack instead. I will have him bring you some food in a few minutes. Be gentle on him, he feels guilty.”
“He has nothing to feel guilty for. This is why we have a warlock and witch on my security team as well.” I slowly turned to my side. “I hurt so much.”
“As you should.” Zayne walked into the room. “Whatever spell Hannah was using, it was nasty.” He held my phone out. “Someone named Jason keeps calling.”
I sat up again and snatched my phone. “That’s our medical examiner.”
“Abigail.” Catalina used the same tone that Levi used on me when he felt exasperated.
“Don’t even use that tone.” I glanced at her. “I’m going to call him back. He probably won’t need me to come down there, but I can’t just ignore him.”
Zayne put a hand to his mouth to hide a smile, and Catalina shook her head. “You’re just like Levi.”
I raised a brow. “How so?”
“Just as stubborn and you don’t care what happens to you.” She spun and left the room.
I glanced at Zayne, who pulled a chair up to the bed. “Don’t worry about her. She gets this way when Levi’s gone.” He shrugged. “Make your phone call and I’ll see if I can hunt down some food for you.”
“And coffee,” I added as I dialed Jason.
“And coffee, Princess.” Zayne rolled his eyes at me, but then started texting on his phone.
“Agent A, you haven’t answered your phone in over eight hours. During daylight hours.”
I sighed. “Yeah, it was a rough night and day, but I’m calling now. What do you have for me?”
“So Monica Parks' time of death was about twenty-four hours before you found her. Cause of death is multiple stab wounds, and like our other two victims, she seems to have been tortured beforehand.”
“So if he’d closed on the house two days prior, someone else would have had the keys to that house.”
“I know when I bought my house, I changed all the locks right off the bat, just in case someone had copies of the house keys. Maybe it’s someone who has a copy?”
There was a sound of crashing metal trays, and Jason let out a yell. “No, no, no, don’t touch that! Gotta go Agent A!”
The line went dead, and I scooted back so I could lean against the headboard. I sent Mason a text to get me a list of all the people involved in that house that might have a key.
I glanced at Zayne. “Food?”
“Going to be delivered, and coffee.” He grinned. “These modern apps are amazing. You can have anything you want delivered.”
I laughed. “Yeah, they’ve been a lifesaver.” I took a deep breath and slowly moved my legs off the bed. This time the pain was less, even though it was still there.
“Take it easy. We don’t know all of what Hannah was trying to do to you.”
That was fair, but I needed to get up and moving. More importantly, I needed to go to the bathroom and wash my face at the very least. “I have to use the restroom.”
His eyes widened like he hadn’t thought about that. “Oh, right.”
Zayne helped me walk to and from the bathroom, where I took care of business and washed my face. I also took a moment to stare at myself in the mirror. I looked exhausted, and there was a small bruise on my face that I assumed was from falling down.
I sat on the bed with my feet hanging off the edge and ran my hands over my face. “Okay, I need to go home and do some research.”
“You’re not walking on your own yet,” Zayne pointed out.
I nodded. “I will by morning, though. Luckily the one thing I got from Levi was the vampire speed healing.”
“Good.”
Merick appeared suddenly, with Liz at his side. I let out an enormous sigh of relief as I saw her standing with him, leaning against him, but still standing and alive.
“Oh, thank the goddess.” I moved over so Liz could sit on the bed with me. “I thought they’d make you stay with them.”
Liz nodded. “I’m going to, but I wanted to see with my own eyes that you were alright.” She sat next to me. “Much to Merick’s dismay.”
Merick shrugged. “Magic, hexes, magical battles, you’re exhausted. Both of you are.”
“There’s no one else to hand our case to.” I shrugged. “Liz can help me with research if she’s up for it, and then I’ll be back to field work soon.”
Merick nodded. “I was worried about that. I’ll have to go with you since Liz can’t.”
Zayne nodded. “But that takes another person out of commission on your security team.”
“It’ll be fine. After we finish the case, I’ll stay at home like a good little princess.”
“Tomorrow night you have a meeting with Lady R as well,” Zayne muttered. His phone dinged, and he stood up. “That would mean the food is here.” He disappeared, and I looked at Merick.
“You’re not pleased with me.”
“Neither of you, honestly. Liz told me about the spell and the death hex. Hannah could have killed you, and you could have changed right there. Liz was in rough shape when I got to her.”
Liz raised a brow. “You’re not normally this upset about things.”
“A death hex, Liz. That’s Cult business. That’s misuse of magic.”
I let a sly grin cross my face. “That means that Cult can help us now.”
Merick nodded. “Yes, but I’m still pissed at you two for trying to fight.”
“Hannah didn’t really give us a choice. I walked into her rune, and she activated it.” I shrugged. “Liz was saving my ass.”
Liz nodded. “It was unexpected, and Abby didn’t know that Hannah knew a spell like that. Or she would have said something.”
“That’s true. She never tried that before.” And hopefully she didn’t get to try it again.
Merick opened his mouth to say something and then shook his head.
Zayne walked in carrying to two bags of food. He set them on the nightstand and then started handing out containers.
Liz looked like she could devour the entire meal in one bite. I realized I wasn’t as hungry as I should have been, and I stared down at the food.
“Are you okay, Abby?” Merick asked. I pulled myself from my thoughts.
“Yeah, I’m just not as hungry as I thought.” I started picking at the food. “I think I’m just tired still. Coffee will help. “
Zayne nodded. “That’s on the way too.”
“We need to figure out who had keys to that house so we can start our list of suspects. The new owner of the house, Carlos? He’s on my list too.”
“Yeah,” Liz agreed and then went to eat.
We ate in silence. At some point, Zayne went to get the coffee that was delivered. When we finished, Liz stood and Merick came to her side.
“We need to go, I’m getting exhausted.”
Merick looked at me. “Make sure you rest. If I could, I’d take you back to the cult as well, but Zayne says it’s best for you to stay with a vampire.”
I shrugged. “I don’t even know what’s safe at this point, but I know that I’m acting ruler, so it’s probably better.”
Zayne nodded. “I’m just trying to keep the princess safe. If Hannah used Mario against her again, Samuel probably isn’t far behind with Levi. Our goal is to take Hannah out first. To do that, we need the princess in fighting shape and doing her duty to the vampire people.”
“But she’s not a vampire,” Liz snapped. “You guys are acting like she is. Like she’s already accepted the throne and will just turn around one day and ask to be changed. You people have brought nothing but danger to her.”
I stared at her after the outburst. I had no words, but she was saying what I’d felt every time I got pulled into the political world of the vampires.
Zayne shrugged. “You are misdirecting your anger.
You should yell at Levi, he’s the one who started this mess.”
Liz started to say something, but Merick had them disappear before she could get anything out.
I glanced at Zayne and set my coffee down on the nightstand. “I’m going to get some sleep before something else needs my attention.”
“I think Liz’s outburst needs your attention.”
I raised a brow. “I think Liz is entitled to her outburst after getting her ass kicked by Hannah. Don’t you?”
He didn’t respond. I laid back down and closed my eyes. I was done with the bullshit already.
The next morning, things were looking a little brighter. Merick was sitting by my bed, and I didn’t feel like a truck ran over me repeatedly. Maybe just once instead of twice.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” Merick stood and stretched. “They have cleared you to leave Catalina’s.”
“Oh good. Let’s go do some leg work on this case.”
He laughed. “Oh no, I said they cleared you to leave the vampire’s house, not cleared to go back on the field.”
I tried to keep my irritation in. “Come on, I just want to talk to Carlos again.”
“And you will, at the office.” Merick motioned to me. “Come on, let’s get you up on your feet and home.”
I stood and found the pain tolerable instead of unbearable. That was a good sign. “Okay, vampire blood is paying off again. I shouldn’t feel this good after the other night.”
Merick nodded. “I agree.” He put his hand on my shoulder and we appeared at my house.
I instantly felt better. I wasn’t in a stranger’s house. I was home, and my magic surrounded me. I closed my eyes and let it sink in for a moment. “Okay, I’m going to take a shower.”
“Let me know if you need anything.” Merick went and sat on the couch.
I made my way up the stairs and went to send Levi a text saying I was home, but I stopped mid-motion. He probably didn’t know that Hannah attacked me. I doubt Catalina messaged him about it because he was with Samuel. With a sigh, I put my phone on my dresser, stripped off my dirty clothes, and went to get in the shower.
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