Witches' Brew: Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series (Vampires and Wine Book 1)

by Morgana Best

  “Vampires?” I echoed, once more faking my astonishment.

  “I saw you move when the snake struck at you,” he said. “Only a vampire has that speed. I hadn’t suspected you up until then, Pepper. Now tell me where my brother is, and I’ll let you go.”

  I did not believe him. I did not believe that he would let me go, not in the slightest. I knew what he intended to do to Linda, too. What’s more, I didn’t know how successful a vampire would be in a fight against a Shifter, and I didn’t want to find out. After all, I had no idea how to control any of my nascent abilities. Gosh, the only ability I knew I had was the fast movement, and I had no idea how to replicate that.

  He growled, so I thought I should speak. “As you know, I’ve just moved to town. I arrived only moments before that body fell through the roof. I don’t know what’s going on. I told you, I hadn’t visited my aunts for years, and my parents didn’t like them.”

  He appeared to be thinking it over. I hoped he would think I didn’t realise I was a vampire, but that was a slim hope. Finally, he spoke. “No matter, I’m holding you to ransom. I’m going to make an exchange for Ethan, my brother. In case you haven’t figured it out for yourself, I destroyed that note you wrote for your aunts.”

  “But why?” I asked. It didn’t make sense. He said he’d only known I was a vampire when I moved quickly away from the snake, but he had destroyed the note prior to that.

  “I thought Marius was the vampire who’d captured my brother,” he said, narrowing his eyes, “and Linda Williams was in it with him, only I hit her too hard and she wasn’t talking. I caught her following me. I thought you would lead me to where Marius was holding Ethan. If that was the case, then I’d have to do away with you, so that’s why I destroyed the note. I had no idea at the time that you were involved in my brother’s disappearance.”

  “But I wasn’t,” I said, my voice sounding small to my ears.

  “I didn’t know there were other vampires in Lighthouse Bay, or I never would’ve moved here.”

  “Other vampires?” I asked him.

  “Your aunts, whatever they really are,” he said flatly. “I knew about Henry Ichor, of course, and his Witches’ Brew.”

  “Is that why you killed the wine scientist?” I asked him. I was choosing my words carefully, in case Linda had regained consciousness.

  He made a rude, snorting sound. “You’re a bit slow on the uptake, aren’t you? Of course that’s why my brother and I killed Talos Sparkes.”

  “Did you kill Henry Ichor, or was that really an accident?”

  “Of course it wasn’t an accident!” he said with derision. “Ethan put a bomb in Henry’s car, and he ended up over the side of a steep cliff in northern India.”

  I didn’t want to irritate him, but I had to know. “Why did you kill Henry Ichor and the wine scientist?”

  He sighed as if I were particularly stupid. “The Witches’ Brew, of course. It’s exported to you vampires all over Australia. It heightens your powers.”

  I still was none the wiser. “I don’t get it,” I said honestly. “I don’t believe in mythical creatures,” I added for Linda’s benefit, “but why would you care if vampires have heightened powers?”

  “Vampires are always a threat to Shifters,” he said.

  Something occurred to me. “Do you mean Shifters in general, or just those Shifters engaged in criminal activity?”

  He laughed and pointed at me. “You got it! My brother and I were going to set up a nice little business here. He was buying that car dealership, and we were going to transport the cocaine in the cars. Lighthouse Bay is half way between Sydney and Brisbane, so we can do a good trade in cocaine. Police never look at small towns for this sort of thing; they always concentrate on the Gold Coast, places like that. There are no other Shifters in Lighthouse Bay, so it was ideal. We just had to make sure vampires didn’t interfere. There are so many vampires in law enforcement, mostly lawyers.”

  “But surely the Ambrosia Winery isn’t the only one that makes the Witches’ Brew?”

  Owen rolled his eyes. “It’s the only one that makes it in decent quantities. It’s the most notable winery of its kind. There are some wineries at Margaret River in Western Australia, and wineries in the Hunter Valley as well as in Victoria that make the Witches’ Brew as well, but the Ambrosia Winery is by far the best.”

  “Gosh, how many vampires are in Australia?” I said in shock, more to myself than to him.

  “You really are new to all this, aren’t you?” he said, baring his teeth.

  I recoiled. “You could say that.” I didn’t know whether or not he intended to kill me, but I thought I was safe so long as my aunts had his brother. “Let me get this straight: you and your brother killed Henry Ichor and the wine scientist to stop them making the Witches’ Brew?”

  “Yes, I’ve already explained that to you, Pepper.” His tone held a considerable degree of disdain.

  “But wouldn’t there be a formula for it, like um, a recipe on someone’s computer, and wouldn’t it be backed up to the Cloud?”

  “Thankfully, that’s not the case or I would be in rather a pickle.” He laughed. “You really don’t know, do you?”

  “Know what?”

  “Vampires have a different skill set, and...” His voice broke off. “How can I explain this? You can’t learn to make Witches’ Brew. There is no formula for Witches’ Brew. People are born with the knowledge.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  He shot me a long hard look, probably to see if I was faking my ignorance, only my ignorance was entirely genuine.

  “It’s an ability someone’s born with. You can’t learn to make the Witches’ Brew. Someone is born with the knowledge, and they can’t tell anyone else how to make it. They do it by intuition, and they have to oversee the process in person.”

  A wave of irritation flooded over me. I was learning more about vampires in a few moments with my attacker, a Yowie Shifter, than I had from my aunts, though to be fair, they had mentioned the genetic ability to make Witches’ Brew. I just hadn’t taken it all in at the time. “But the wine scientist? You’re saying he wasn’t really a wine scientist at all?”

  Owen made a strange sound like a grunt, and I hoped he wasn’t in the process of transforming into a Yowie. “No of course not, that’s just what they called him. He was a witch-vampire, just like Henry Ichor.”

  “And is Lucas O’Callaghan a wine scientist, too?” I asked him.

  “Of course not,” Owen said again, “or he would’ve been working in the business already. No, he’s just a mundane person who’s inherited a winery that he thinks is selling mundane wine.” He laughed in a guttural manner, and this time I truly was afraid he was shifting. “And real wine scientists don’t actually have anything to do with Witches’ Brew; that’s just a cover. He was Henry’s nephew.”

  I pretended I didn’t know. “Lucas’s cousin?”

  “From the other side of the family,” Owen said. “That was clearly the vampire side.” He was speaking reasonably, as if we were simply two acquaintances having a conversation about the weather, or some such thing.

  “So by killing Henry Ichor and the wine scientist or whatever he really was,” I said, “you have pretty much shut down the making of Witches’ Brew at the Ambrosia Winery?”

  “That’s right.”

  “You’re not going to go around Australia killing all the makers of Witches’ Brew, are you?” I said, worried.

  “The rest are all small wineries, nothing to worry about,” he said dismissively. “I’ve already told you that. Ambrosia is the main winery, and their line of Witches’ Brew was immeasurably superior to anything else produced in Australia. You really are quite the ignorant one, aren’t you!”

  “So Marius Jones isn’t a Shifter?”

  Owen did not respond to that. “I’m going to go and have a little word with your aunts. I’m going to make arrangements to trade you for Ethan.”

  I was going t
o make a half hearted attempt to say that my aunts didn’t have his brother, but I thought it too late for subterfuge. He already seemed to have a good idea of the facts. “Why is Linda Williams here?”

  “She saw me, of course. You helped me by saying Linda held a grudge, so it will look like she started the fire. No one will hear you if you scream, so don’t even bother trying,” he continued. “But if it makes you feel better, go for it. I live out of town, and no one comes out this way. If you scream, only the goannas will hear you. But go ahead if you want to—knock yourself out.” With that, he uttered a guttural laugh and left.

  Once again, I was left in the darkness, but once more, I could see easily. I looked around for anything I could use. Clearly, he hadn’t intended to take any prisoners on short notice, because the room was a mess.

  The first thing I noticed was that there was no window, not even a small space crack that I could call through, but if he was telling the truth about being out on the edge of town, no one would hear me, anyway.

  I looked through the barred door and saw a big metal key hanging on a hook on the far wall. Surely that couldn’t be the key to unlock the door? I had seen so many movies where people found something in a prison cell and threw it over the key on the far wall, and managed to drag the key towards them. I had always wondered why someone would be silly enough to leave a key there.

  But then again, where else would he put it? It was a huge metal key, so he could hardly put it on his key chain.

  “Linda, are you awake? There’s a huge key hanging on that far wall.”

  Linda muttered something incomprehensible, but I was pleased to see she was still sitting up, propped against the wall.

  I kept looking around the room for something I could use. There were some old bricks, so I picked one up. It had a fat red back spider on it, so I screamed and dropped it. The spider scurried off. I cautiously picked up all the bricks, first examining them one by one for the small yet highly venomous red back spiders, and took them over to the door. I planned to throw them at the key and see if I could dislodge it, but what I really needed was a broom or rake.

  Sadly, there was no such implement in the room. There were plenty of cartons, so I searched through them all. They looked like they had been there for years—the Australian Women’s Weekly magazine, several fishing magazines, and cartons of children’s toys. I was worried about my aunts. I knew they weren’t elderly ladies, but then, Owen clearly knew that, too. Plus he had the element of surprise on his side. They probably didn’t even know I had gone.

  I kept searching through boxes, finding more dust than anything else. Finally, I hit the jackpot, a piece of rope. This was an old, inflexible rope, but it was better than nothing. I crossed to the bars and poked my hands through them, one hand holding the brick. I threw the brick as hard as I could against the hook holding the key. It hit it, but the key remained there.

  I really needed a long pole to push the key up and over the hook, but I didn’t have anything like it, so I threw the next brick. Again, it landed on the hook, and again, the hook stayed upright. I wondered just how far into the concrete wall the hook had been screwed. Probably a long way, by the look of it.

  I picked up the last brick and flung it as hard as I could against the hook. This time, the hook partially dislodged from the wall and hung down at an angle.

  “Finally, I’m getting somewhere!” I said to Linda. However my high spirits deflated when I realised I didn’t have any more bricks. I looked back through the boxes for something else. It wouldn’t take much to dislodge that hook.

  I found some cricket balls, and took them over to the door. With my first throw, I missed entirely. I aimed again, and scored a direct hit this time, but the hook did not so much as shudder.

  I threw the next ball harder, and managed, more by luck than by skill, to hit the hook. To my delight, the key fell to the ground. Now I just had to move the key over to the barred door.

  I grabbed the heavy rope. I pushed it through the bars and tried to throw it as far as I could, but it was a thick stiff rope and not flexible in the slightest. I tied a knot at the end—a difficult feat given its thickness—coiled it up, hung onto the end and then flung it as far as I could. I missed, but it had made the distance, so I knew I was on the right track.

  “Is that a car outside?” Linda said urgently. “Hurry!”

  Was Owen coming back for me to make the swap? I coiled the rope and threw it urgently.

  This time, it landed directly on top of the key. I jumped with delight. I carefully pulled the rope towards me, and the key started to move. I held my breath. I pulled the rope once more, but it slipped over the top of the key.

  I could see the problem at once. While the floor inside the basement was concrete, the area outside was flagstones, and the key had lodged itself in between the flagstones.

  Although it was counterintuitive, I realised I had to push the key back away from me.

  I flung the rope once more, and this time, achieved what I wanted. The key did leave the groove between the flagstones, but I had thrown the rope too hard and the key landed against the far wall.

  “Pepper, someone’s coming! He’s back!”

  I made one last desperate attempt to throw the rope again.

  It landed on the key and I managed to pull it in such a way to avoid the groove in which it had lodged on my previous attempt. Once more, the rope slid off, but I was fairly sure I could reach the key. I bent down, but it was just out of range.

  I lowered myself to the floor, and pushed my shoulder as hard as I could into the bars. My fingers closed around the key ring. I pulled it towards me.

  After what seemed an age, but was only moments, I had the key in my hand, and inserted it in the lock on the other side of the door. It didn’t turn easily. In fact, it took me a significant and frustrating amount of time to open the door, and I wasn’t helped by Linda urging me to hurry.

  I opened the door and stepped gingerly into the anteroom. There was only one way out, up the stairs to the right. “Linda, come on.”

  “You go and get help,” she said. “I don’t think I can make it.”

  I took the steps two at a time. At the top of the stairs, I flung the door open, momentarily blinded by the bright daylight. I took a step forward right into a hard, muscular body.

  Someone gripped my arms.

  I looked up into the face of Lucas O’Callaghan.

  Chapter 22

  I acted without thinking. I drew back my leg, and then kicked him in the shin as hard as I could.

  Lucas doubled over with a cry of pain. I made to run past him, but his hand shot out and took hold of my arm. “I’ve come to rescue you.”

  I struggled, but he was too strong. He seized my arms and pulled me back to him. “How do I know you’re not working with Owen?” I asked against his chest.

  He looked down at me and hesitated before speaking. “Because if I was, I wouldn’t pretend to rescue you. I would fling you over my shoulder and toss you back in wherever he was holding you.”

  I pulled away and looked up at him, blinking in the bright sunlight. His words made sense.

  His eyes looked me up and down. “Did he hurt you?”

  “Not too much,” I said, realizing that I’d had a lucky escape. “He hit me over the head with something.” My hand moved to the lump on my head. I winced as I touched it; it was a nasty lump. Tears pricked at my eyes.

  “Hey,” said Lucas said. “Hey. It’s okay. Pepper, look at me.” He placed a hand beneath my chin and lifted my head, so that he and I were staring into each other’s eyes.

  He has such lovely eyes, I thought. “Oh dear,” I whispered, trying to keep my knees from buckling.

  “What did you say?” Lucas tilted his head to the side.

  “Fine. I’m fine. I think. Probably.”

  “You’re not fine.”

  “I’m not?”

  “No.” I placed a hand on Lucas’s chest to keep from falling over. I could
feel his warmth through the cotton of his shirt. He did not speak, only looked into my eyes and covered my hand with his own. Before I knew it, I was in his arms, his hands now pressed into the small of my back. I buried my face into his neck and sobbed, shivering as I felt his hands run over my hair.

  “I thought he was going to kill me,” I murmured.

  He pulled me even closer to him. “You’re in shock.” He cupped my face. I barely had a chance to think before I was gone, lost to the warmth of his hands on my skin and the feel of his lips lightly touching mine. All of a sudden, he broke away.

  I was mortified. Did he think I had wanted to kiss him? Granted, I had wanted to, but surely it was just the shock of being kidnapped. I suddenly came to my senses. “Linda Williams is down in there.” I pointed to the way I had come. “She has a head injury.”

  Lucas hurried past me. By the time I reached the cellar, he was helping Linda out. “I feel a bit better knowing Owen isn’t about to kill me now,” she said to me.

  “He could be back any minute,” I pointed out.

  Lucas guided Linda into the car—Aunt Agnes’s blue Mazda—and helped her into the back seat, where she lay down as best she could in the cramped space. Before we drove off, Lucas called the police and told them he needed an ambulance for Linda. The ambulance was going to take a while, so they said they would meet us at Mugwort Manor.

  It was only when we were driving that I asked him, “How did you know where to find me?” I looked straight ahead, embarrassed.

  “Your aunts came looking for you,” he said. “They said you were missing. They were distraught, given that there had already been one murder at Mugwort Manor.” He shot me a sideways look. “And I’ve been doing a bit of detective work. My uncle mentioned Sergeant Carteron’s brother, Ethan, to me some time ago. He said Ethan had a personal grudge against him, but he didn’t say what. Ethan has a long history of violence.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked him.

  “I have friends in the police force,” he said. “When you went missing, I thought a good place to start looking for you would be Sergeant Carteron’s house.”