Lunging from my spot on the floor, I gripped the handle of my dagger, ready to throw it. I couldn’t use too much ley line magic here. It would ruin the ancient artefacts in the room.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” the woman said as the sculpture disappeared.
The two hooded thieves stood side by side, their faces covered by the darkness. Gerard was on his knees on the marble floor in front of them.
He held his head, his eyes wide as I appeared. They’d either stolen the sculpture from under us or made it see-through so we could talk.
“You may think that you know what this is,” a voice came from the person on the right.
She was smaller than the other, which was obvious because the warlock could only be a man.
“What-?”
“No questions!”
Waving her hand, the female tilted her head before they both puffed into thin air. The sculpture returned, blocking my view of Gerard.
Rushing to him, I checked his head. It was bleeding a bit, but the wound was only skin deep. He thrust from his knees as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket. Running a hand over the sculpture, I cringed as I forced myself to feel the magic that coated it. Warlock magic was only ever physical, so it had to be witch magic that cloaked it.
“They got away,” Gerard barked into the phone.
Glancing at him, I swallowed hard as my heartbeat started to find its normal rhythm. How had they escaped so easily? We were agents of the Hunted Witch Agency. We knew how to capture our targets.
“Yeah, they stole a lot more than we bargained for.”
Frowning at Gerard’s words, I was about to protest. As far as I was aware, they hadn’t stolen anything. Going closer to him, I went to speak. He nodded his head towards the wall, his eyebrows raised.
Turning, I gasped in a breath. Every single painting that had been hanging in their place when we’d come into the room was gone.
Chapter 2
“I can’t believe they got away,” Gerard murmured as we waited for Justina and Kurt to join us in the library.
The agency building was beside the River Thames. Its medieval structure was still completely intact and laid between the more modern buildings of London. The library had a wall of CCTV screens on the right hand side of the room. Justina’s desk was at the end of the room, right in front of the window, but facing inwards. The back wall was lined with books from hundreds of years ago, including my grandmother’s grimoire, which was now mine. Not that I had used it much. I was only just getting used to being connected to the ley line. As an Essex witch, I’d inherited the job of protecting the ley line not so long ago.
Mr. Hunky Pants – that’s short for Gerard – wasn’t helping the situation. Yes, we’d let the art thieves escape. However, he was the one who had been hit around the head. If anyone was to blame, I’d secretly blame him.
“Well, you did get hit around the head.” Maybe that wasn’t very secretive.
His scowl was followed by the shake of his head when I grinned a pretty smile. Or what I thought was pretty. It probably looked like I was cringing or something.
“What happened?” Kurt demanded as he and Justina came into the room.
Justina wore her trademark black cat suit. Her straight blonde hair had just been cut to her chin. Although she towered over me, I would say that I was her equal. Well, sometimes. She was the leader of the agency, a witch who had sworn to protect society from the rogue witches who threatened to reveal our existence to the humans. And, those who hurt their own kind too.
“They got away,” I said, trying not to shrink into myself.
“State the obvious,” Kurt quipped before his lips pulled into a thin line.
The man was the most blunt and sarcastic witch in the world. And, yet, we were good friends. Not because I was as witty as him. Not even anywhere near it. But, because we’d both been through hard times. In fact, all four of us had. Which was why they’d embraced me when I’d started to work with them.
“Okay,” Justina said. “Let’s look at the evidence.”
Sitting down behind her desk, she frowned as she failed to find the folder she was after. She was usually so meticulous, unlike me. My room constantly looked like a bomb had hit it. Even my pet rat, Kingsley, complained about it. His little squeaks when I tried to find something reminded me that I should clean more often. Kingsley was my baby. He was supposed to be my familiar, but I’d never had the heart to connect him to me.
Snapping his fingers, Kurt got everyone’s attention, including Justina’s. “The evidence is here, darling,” he said, waving the folder that was in his hand. Aw, although Kurt was an arse to everyone else, he was so lovely to- “Are you blind?”
Spoke too soon.
Flipping him off, Justina waved her other hand, indicating that he should hand her the file.
Sitting back in her chair, Justina opened it and held up a photo. “Okay, so forensics took photos of the museum this morning. Devon, you mentioned that the first painting looked strange.”
Getting up from my seat, I went over and grabbed the photo. Wait. I was confused. Which wasn’t hard, admittedly, but still. “This is completely different to how I saw it. The grass was purple, and the water was red.”
“You also said that the sculpture disappeared.” Kurt’s voice was tight, unconvinced.
Handing me another photo, Justina stayed silent. My mouth gaped open as I studied the sculpture.
“That’s nothing like what I saw in there. This is really strange.”
Coming over, Gerard glanced over my shoulder, his warm breath hitting my neck. I held back my shiver as goosebumps lined my arms. His manly scent was making me all kinds of giddy. Why did Mr. Tattoo-man have to be so distracting?
“Devon, I’m sure you-” Gerard started, balking when he saw the photo. “Wait, that is completely different. There was a reclining man there, not a... what is that?”
“It’s one of those abstract pieces. Apparently, the artist connected with the inner soul and all that malarkey.” Trust Kurt to be skeptic about souls when he was a witch.
“That wasn’t there. How...? I’m so confused.” Giving back the photo, I leaned over the desk as Kurt laid out the rest of the evidence file.
There were a couple of write ups from Justina, and a report from the human police about previous break ins.
“If what you’re saying is true, then there must be an explanation as to why you saw something different. But what?” Justina moved some of the papers around.
Frowning as I read a record of the first burglary, I zoned in on one thing. “Here...” Pointing at it, I jabbed my finger a few times, just to make sure everyone was paying attention. “It says that the guard at the British Museum thought he saw artefacts move right in front of his eyes.”
Rubbing his dark blonde shaggy hair, Kurt looked at Justina. “Everything points to magic, but what type? If they were able to take the paintings without these guys even noticing, they’re pretty powerful paranormals.”
“Yeah...” Gerard crossed his tattooed arms over his chest. “If they can get away from us by fooling our senses, I’d say they are extremely powerful.”
My heartbeat sped up as his eyes landed on me. Something about his energy made me all fuzzy inside, especially because he was being all agenty. He was hard to resist when he was in that mode.
“What do you think?” he asked me, bringing my mind back to the matter in hand. Yes, I had to literally force myself to stop day dreaming about Mr. Dreamy.
I picked up the photo again. “Well, it seems that the warlock and witch have teamed up together to create a criminal mastermind. The only way we’ll catch them is if we outsmart them first.”
Kurt snorted. “We’ll come up with a plan then, shall we?”
The glare that I threw in his direction made him raise his eyebrows. He was about to open his mouth when Justina cleared her throat. “Before you get into a fight, children, let’s not forget one thing.”
We
all looked at her, our concentration fully on our boss so that we didn’t get told off. She held up her tablet, waving it around. “If we don’t know the magic they’re using, we won’t know how to stop them.”
“And, if we don’t stop them,” I said, trying my hardest not to sigh. “The human government won’t allow the Hunted Witch Agency to stay open.”
Chapter 3
“They’re there now?” I asked as the van swerved through the streets of London.
The handle of my dagger was pressed into my palm, the sweat lining my skin making it harder to grip. The weapon was an Essex witch heirloom, meant to help those witches who were ancestors of the oldest line of witches in the world. And, I was one of them. I never bragged about it. Well, not too much. But, who could blame me for letting one or three people know that I was descended from an amazing bloodline?
“Yes,” Justina replied, tapping something into her tablet as Kurt put the brakes on the van.
Gerard’s arm came out to stop me from falling off the bench. The back of the van was lined with two wooden benches, weapon boxes and chains for those paranormal creatures who were breaking the law.
“We’re here.” Justina banged the partition between where we sat and the front of the van, where Kurt drove.
Opening it, he shouted over the loud rock music. “I know, I know, I’m just making sure the van is out of sight.”
It was still light outside, although the sun was on its way down. It took some balls for the thieves to attempt a robbery in the daytime. Although, how they got the pieces out of these buildings was still a mystery to us. One that was starting to get on my tits.
“You know the drill,” our boss said as the engine stopped and the music shut off. “We’re going in stealth. Kurt and I will lead, you two follow.”
The back doors opened, allowing sunlight to flood straight in. Tightening the laces on my boots, I tucked my dagger into the inside pocket of my leather jacket. Gerard and Justina jumped out ahead of me. About to leap myself, I stopped when Gerard offered me his hand. What a gentleman!
“Why, thank you,” I cooed as Kurt shut the doors.
The group gathered, all four of us. We were parked up the road from the building. Plenty of traffic was on the road in front of it, although trees lined the front of the museum so it wasn’t that easy to see in or out.
“Paranormal MI5 have had a report from the police that there’s a disturbance in the building. A guard called it in, said that he’d heard noises, but couldn’t find the location of them. They’ve asked us to go in because they’re working on a bigger case right now. And, because one of our suspects is a witch, they figured we could get the job done. However, as you know,” Justina glanced over her shoulder as a human walked past. “The government are watching us closely. There’s no reason for them to close us down, so I don’t know why they’re being tetchy with us. Just... get the job done.”
Each one of us nodded. The paranormal world was hidden from human society. Some of them knew we existed, but the majority didn’t. That was how the government wanted to keep it. They were human themselves, so they bargained with us to make sure our existence was kept a secret.
“Let’s go,” Kurt said as he got out his gun and held it by his side.
Following, I left my dagger in my pocket. We were meeting the guard around the side of the building so he could lead us to where he heard the noises. We had to make sure no one saw us, especially if the thieves were there.
Ducking through an employees entrance, we made our way towards the guard who stood by a door. Looking around, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. There was no truck or van ready to take items. There were no people in the grounds at all. The museum had been closed for hours, all the employees, bar the guard, gone home.
“Hello,” the guard, who was a tall heavyset man, greeted Justina.
Nodding, she whispered something to him. I didn’t hear it, but it was probably something like... take us to your leader. Well, okay, maybe not that, but I had to amuse myself sometimes.
“When we get inside,” Gerard whispered to me. “Use your magic to feel for the source of the noise.”
Looking up at him, I grinned. He’d gotten better at asking for my help with cases. Before, he would always take the lead, never allowing me to interfere. However, since I’d proven myself with my magic, he’d become a little less rigid.
“Okay,” Justina said quietly as she waved us through the entrance.
The guard stayed ahead, leading us down a corridor until we came to an arched entryway. He paused, pointing to the right. The others held their guns as we crept closer. My heart pumped adrenaline around my body, making perspiration line my palms. One hand held my dagger, the other hung by my side, ready to conjure a spell if needed.
The sound of voices came from the room ahead of us. Justina indicated that the guard should leave. He shuffled back down the corridor, throwing glances over his shoulder. Justina nodded at me, letting me know that I should cover us with an invisibility spell. Tugging on my magic, I did as she asked. The cool energy from the ley line poured through my feet and into me as I recited the spell in my head. It landed on our skin, making us disappear from anyone who wasn’t on our team.
Without saying another word, Justina crept through the archway and turned right. We followed suit, each one of us checking around for our target. No one was there, but the slight noise of scraping came from the corner of the room where a cabinet full of Egyptian artefacts stood.
Pointing towards the area, Kurt positioned himself a few feet away from where our suspects were hiding themselves. Going to the left of him, I stayed with Gerard as Justina went right. We now surrounded them in a semi-circle.
When Kurt gave us a nod, we all recited the unmasking spell that we’d practiced on the way over. We’d found it in my grimoire. An Essex witch ancestor had unveiled a spell powerful enough to undo any magic in the vicinity.
“What the...?” a female voice exclaimed just before she came into view.
There were three of them. A ball of red warlock magic instantly flew at me, forcing me to dodge to the side. The female witch disappeared as the warlock threw a string of blue magic in an arc towards the others. Jumping out of the way in time, they held up their hands, ready to conjure a barrier spell. Maybe we should’ve done that before we’d revealed them.
“I don’t think so!” the warlock’s face was covered by a mask, but his hiss echoed around us as he thrust up a colored wall between us.
Closing my eyes, I pulled on the pure magic from mother earth, asking her to surrender it over to me. She happily obliged, leaving my body shaking from the amount that hummed under my skin.
Opening my eyes, I concentrated on filtering the magic into my dagger, almost smiling when ethereal white flames licked the metal blade before sinking into it.
A laugh came from the warlock as he grabbed the person who was with him and shoved them towards the cabinet. The man, who was a witch, dug his hands into the cabinet and started to extract the items.
“Do it!” Justina told me as I extended my dagger towards the wall of magic.
I was hesitant to wield ley line magic in a place so vulnerable to, well, everything. Taking a deep breath, I lunged forward and swiped my blade through the magic. The wall collapsed as I thrust through it. The dagger was still extended as my momentum took me towards the warlock.
“You won’t win!” he cried just before he poofed into nothing.
The only person left was the man who held up his arms in surrender. The witch sweated as he watched each of us, his eyes wide and his cheeks bright red. The cabinet behind him had been smashed open, the glass lining the floor. That wasn’t what it had looked like when we’d first come into the room.
“Please,” the male witch pleaded as Gerard went closer. “Don’t hurt me. I’m not with them. They forced me.”
Indicating that he should hold out his arms, Gerard showed him the handcuffs he was ready to use. The man surr
endered easily as Justina and I checked the damage. Several spaces in the cabinet were glaringly empty. Somehow, the little witch and her team had got into the museum undetected.
“What exactly are you doing here if you’re not guilty?” Kurt asked our prisoner.
His hands were shaking as he glanced around at us. When his gaze landed on me, it narrowed. “She said that we needed to watch out for you.” Looking around, he sighed heavily. “All of you.”
“That wasn’t what I asked,” Kurt replied. “Speak, now. Where is she?”
“She could still be in the room, who knows. She’s a master.”
“A master?” I blurted, snorting so loudly it echoed around the room.
The others raised their eyebrows as Gerard went off to check the rest of the area. I watched him go, his stealth agent mode getting me all excited. Why couldn’t I look so calm and cool when I was staking a place out?
“Yes,” the witch said, bringing my attention back to him. “She’s a master illusionist.”
A what now? I had never heard of such a thing. If the man had grand visions of the woman who was obviously running the show, he would probably hold back on giving us information about her.
“Wow, I didn’t know illusionists still existed,” Justina muttered.
Nodding, the man glanced at the cabinet. “I’m a curator here. I would never work with her if I had a choice. However, she threatened my family, my job. I couldn’t say no, so I agreed to help her steal these items. I...”
“Should have called us,” Kurt said. “There’s no excuse for cowardice. Plus, she was probably going to reward you handsomely.”
Waving away his objections, Kurt dragged the man away. He would place him in the van and take him to the paranormal prison. A proper interrogation would help us find out more about this witch and the reasons behind her theft. Fingers crossed, I’d get to be the one to question him. I was ready to play good cop, bad cop with my boss Justina. We were a mean team when we tried.
Street Spells: Seven Urban Fantasy Shorts Page 6