by K E O'Connor
Esmeralda screamed and shot a ball of fire into the air.
“That is one unstable lady,” Wiggles whispered.
I nodded. “She’s sick and greedy. She’ll do anything to get her hands on that money.”
“Even killing her oldest friends,” Wiggles growled. “I need to bite her.”
Frank stirred inside me. “Having problems with a greedy, old witch?”
“Something like that,” I muttered.
“I always enjoy teaching witches a lesson,” Frank said. “If you’d like me to play with her, I’ve nothing better on this afternoon.”
I was tempted to let Frank go to town on Esmeralda. It was no less than she deserved. “Let’s see what she has to say before you have your fun.”
“Be careful,” Wiggles said. “She’s already killed two people, people she was supposed to care about. When Esmeralda finds out that you know what she’s been up to, she won’t hesitate getting rid of you.”
It hurt to hear that, but it was the truth. Maybe the sickness had stopped her from thinking clearly, but Esmeralda had to be stopped.
“We’ll see about that.” I stood and was about to confront Esmeralda when a figure dressed in black darted from behind a stone. They threw themselves at Esmeralda, taking her to the ground.
My eyes widened as I stared at this unexpected arrival.
Esmeralda shrieked and rolled over as the black-clad attacker shot magic at her.
I shook my head. What was going on?
“Whoever jumped Esmeralda knows how to fight.” Wiggles winced as a blast of gray light pinged off Esmeralda and made the surrounding colors fade and the air cold.
“Come on. We need answers from Esmeralda before this stranger kills her. We have to stop this.”
Chapter 20
Esmeralda shrieked and hurled a spell at her attacker as we hurried closer to the standing stones.
I slowed, my eyes wide as I watched Esmeralda fight this stranger. Her attacker was tall and slim, and from the fit of her ninja-style clothing, looked female. Whoever it was, they were fast, strong, and using magic with lethal abandon.
“Have we made a mistake?” I asked Wiggles.
“I never make a mistake.”
“I mean, we thought Esmeralda was the killer.” I flinched as a bolt of jagged red magic flickered around the stone circle. “Maybe we got it wrong. This is the killer, and she’s after Esmeralda.”
The ninja attacker was blasted off her feet but spun in the air and landed in a crouched position, her hand extended, ready with more attack magic.
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Esmeralda screamed. She blasted another spell.
Her attacker threw up her arms, and the magic bounced away before striking.
“This can’t be any of the magic users Auntie Queenie and the others identified. They’d be ancient by now and not capable of moving like that ninja.”
Esmeralda raced toward the attacker, her hands flaming. She grabbed her as she dodged away and wrapped her hands around her neck.
“Look! That’s how Caprice and Bastille were killed.” I stepped closer as I watched Esmeralda strangle her attacker, her fingers blazing white hot.
The black-clad attacker wrestled with Esmeralda before blasting her in the chest with a spell and sending her flying. She smacked against the side of a standing stone and fell to the ground.
The ninja stalked toward her, flickers of green magic sparking on her fingers.
I edged closer with Wiggles, keeping an eye on the attacker. I couldn’t let Esmeralda die. I was still uncertain if she was innocent or guilty, and she had a lot of questions to answer.
Esmeralda tried to get to her feet but staggered and fell. She held her hand against one side, and her face was pale. Still, she was a fighter, and flames flickered on her hand as she held it out to ward off her attacker.
The ninja stood over Esmeralda and raised her hands.
“That’s enough!” I stepped out from behind a stone and entered the circle.
The attacker wheeled and crouched.
“Oh! Tempest! You have to help me.” Esmeralda struggled onto her knees. “This is the person who murdered the others. She’s trying to kill me.”
The attacker didn’t move, but her attention remained on me. “This isn’t your business. Leave now.”
“I’m going nowhere,” I said. “Why are you attacking Esmeralda?”
“I’ve told you,” Esmeralda spluttered. “This is the person you want. She murdered Bastille and Caprice.”
The attacker’s head tilted. She wore a black fitted face mask, so I had no idea who she was. “I’m here to kill one person. Esmeralda DuPont.”
“Why?” I inched closer and felt Frank’s energy spiral up my spine as he felt the power of the mystery woman.
“Be careful of this one,” Frank cautioned. “She has a higher authority backing her.”
“How do you know?” I whispered.
“It’s my job to know trouble when I see it.”
“Help me!” Esmeralda said. “I can’t fight her on my own. Between us, we can take her down. This is who we’ve been searching for. We have to bring her to justice. For Bastille and Caprice.”
“I’m here to administer justice today, not you.” The attacker turned and blasted Esmeralda onto her back.
I sparked my own magic. Being in the center of the stone circle enhanced my power. The stones were ancient and full of magic. They’d seen thousands of years of supernatural activity. They absorbed it and held onto traces of power.
I touched a stone and felt a satisfying throb of energy before blasting out a bolt of green light and knocking the attacker off her feet.
She bounced up like she was made of rubber and raced toward me, blasting spells that weren’t meant to miss.
I dodged several but was spun off my feet when one caught me in the side.
I gritted my teeth as a hot, jagged lance of pain ripped through me. This assassin wasn’t playing fair. Her magic had a gray tinge, suggesting she had experience with darker powers.
I dodged around a stone and dragged in air. Wiggles sat looking up at me.
“Any time you want to blast the attacker with fire, you’re most welcome,” I gasped.
“That happens on special occasions and is rarely under my control,” Wiggles said. “You’ve got this.”
My eyebrows rose. I wasn’t so sure. This assassin’s magic was strong. She also wasn’t a demon, and that was where my speciality lie.
I glanced around the stone to see the ninja attacker turn back to Esmeralda. She must have thought she’d scared me off, but I wasn’t done yet.
I ducked out from behind the stone and blasted her in the back with a swirl of magic zapping energy. She staggered forward but remained upright as she pivoted toward me.
“That’s not good,” Wiggles muttered as he peered around the stone. “It’s like she barely felt that spell.”
“Get back.” I nudged Wiggles to safety just before I was flung backwards and pinned against a stone. My arms and legs were splayed, and I couldn’t move, no matter how much I struggled. The binding magic slid over my body like rancid, sticky tar.
The ninja attacker glided toward me like she was walking on air. “Stay out of this. This isn’t your business. I don’t want to kill you, but I will if you keep getting in my way.”
“Why are you here?” I struggled against the power in her binding spell. “If you’re only here to kill Esmeralda, why kill the others?”
The assassin glanced back to where Esmeralda was slumped. “I’ve killed many times, but this time, my assignment is the death of one witch. If other murders have taken place here, they’ve not been by my hand.”
I glared at her. “Why should I believe you?”
“I’m paid per kill. I don’t do freebies. Now, sit back and enjoy the show.” She patted my cheek before turning and striding toward Esmeralda.
I wasn’t sure who to believe, but the assassin sounded certain. She ha
d a job to do and was here to carry it out. There was also no reason she’d lie to me. Someone had sent her here to kill Esmeralda. This all came back to the money Esmeralda was trying to get out of the Magic Council.
I struggled to get free, but the spell held. “Wiggles, how are you doing?”
He poked his head around the stone, his red eyes glowing with excitement. “Don’t worry about me. All I need is popcorn and this will make for great entertainment.”
“This isn’t for your entertainment. I could die.”
“Do you want me to take on the assassin?” He moved closer and growled.
“No! She’s too strong. We need reinforcements.”
“I can run back to the house and get help.”
“We don’t have time for that.”
“What do you need?”
I gritted my teeth. I needed Frank. His extra energy could break this spell. “Don’t get too close. Frank’s coming out.” I let down my barriers and encouraged his power to fill me.
He wasted no time sliding up my spine and over my head. As he took over, I felt his lust for a fight.
My body grew uncomfortably warm then agonizingly hot from the inside as his powers burned away the spell trapping me against the stone.
I dropped to the ground with a gasp, sweat running down my back as Frank gained complete control and the world took on a red tinted glow.
“Who shall we deal with first?” Frank asked.
“I have to talk to Esmeralda,” I said, my own voice echoing in my head. “Keep her alive.”
“And the assassin?”
“Is just that, an assassin. A hired killer. She must know the risks of such a profession.”
Frank laughed. “Tempest Crypt, you’re giving me permission to kill?”
A big part of me wanted to say yes, but I was intrigued by this mystery woman. Who hired her to come after Esmeralda? “Keep her alive.”
“I promise nothing,” Frank said. “Let’s go dance with danger.”
He was always so dramatic. I headed toward Esmeralda and the assassin, Frank’s power bubbling through me.
She turned and shook her head. “You don’t know when to quit.”
“I could say the same for you.” My voice sounded deeper when Frank was in charge.
The assassin’s head tilted. “You’re different.”
“And you’re dead.” A dark, sticky power shot from me and blasted the assassin onto her back.
It took a few seconds before she struggled back on her feet. Frank’s power always had a nasty sting to it. She shook her head and backed away. “What are you?”
“Your executioner.”
“Easy now,” I said to Frank. “We need her to talk.”
I felt Frank’s excitement curl through me. He always enjoyed a good throw down fight. “Who sent you to kill Esmeralda?”
“I never talk about my clients.” The assassin continued to back up, her knees bent and arm splayed. Magic sparked on the tips of her fingers, but she didn’t throw anything at me.
“You don’t like to talk, but I love to make people confess their sins.” I dodged from side to side as Frank tried to spook the assassin with fast, jerky movements.
“The vibe you’re giving off is unnatural.”
“I take that as a compliment,” Frank said. “Why don’t I show you how unnatural I am?” He lunged me through the air, and I wrapped an arm around the assassin’s neck.
She flipped me over her head, and I rolled out of the way as a spell slammed into the ground an inch from my ear.
I shook my head, trying to dislodge the loud ringing sound.
The assassin threw several spells, one after the other. I dodged, jumped, and weaved in an unnaturally fast pattern, thanks to Frank’s flood of power and control over my movements.
“Take her down,” I muttered to Frank. “You’re playing with her and me.”
“I like to play,” he said. “You don’t let me out often enough.”
A stream of black energy flew from me and wrapped around the assassin’s neck like a lasso. I hauled her toward me as she tried to burn through Frank’s energy with her own magic.
But Frank was an ancient demon. His ability was strong and dark and not easy to conquer.
The assassin sank to her knees, choking as her hands fell to her sides.
I approached and stared down at her. “Frank, let me talk to her.”
“I’ll handle her.” He forced my arm to move and yanked the mask off her head.
The woman revealed was in her thirties, with pale blue eyes and cropped blonde hair. She glared up at me, her breath gasping out as Frank’s energy continued to drain her.
“Who are you?”
She shook her head. “That’s not important. I’m here to do a job, that’s all.”
“Who hired you to do this job?”
The assassin looked away. “I don’t remember their name.”
I knelt until I was eye level and growled in her face. “As you noticed, there’s something wonderfully unnatural about me. On the outside, I look like some cute little witch, but there’s more going on than you realize. You’re lucky I don’t twist your head from your scrawny neck.”
“No removing of heads,” I whispered to Frank.
He grunted in response. “Tell me who you work for and why they hired you to kill Esmeralda.”
The assassin grimaced but didn’t say a word.
“Speaking of Esmeralda,” Wiggles shouted from his spot behind the stones, “she’s making a run for it.”
I jumped up and looked around the stone circle.
Esmeralda was running toward the trees. Once she got into the forest, she’d be impossible to find.
“Hellhound, get after her. Don’t let Esmeralda go.”
Wiggles’ legs were a blur as he raced after Esmeralda, who limped as she ran and still clutched her side. He reached her and grabbed the back of her skirt in his mouth.
Esmeralda shrieked but kept running, dragging Wiggles behind her as he dug his paws into the ground and held on tight.
Frank moved me away from the assassin. He raised my hand, and a black ball of what looked like sticky mud shot toward Esmeralda.
It slammed into the back of her head, and she face-planted into the ground.
Wiggles flew over the top of her and rolled across the ground. He jumped up, shook out his fur, and glared at me. “I was on top of things.”
“My apologies, my little hellhound.”
“You owe me for that, Frank,” Wiggles grumbled. He turned to face Esmeralda and growled at her, but she was going nowhere. She was stuck to the ground and covered in a toxic looking mud.
I walked over and flipped Esmeralda onto her back. She lay there blinking at me. “Why did you attack me? I’m the innocent party.”
“You were running. Only the guilty run.” Frank wasn’t gentle as he laced my fingers around her ankle and pulled her back into the stone circle.
The assassin was crawling away on her hands and knees. A quick warning blast of magic halted her slow escape.
“My turn, Frank.” I had to be in control of the questioning. His lust for blood was growing, and I couldn’t have either of these women killed before all the questions were answered.
He growled in my head and pushed against me but slowly faded, and along with his energy, all the murderous thoughts he fed me vanished.
I dragged Esmeralda over to the assassin. “Start talking,” I said to Esmeralda.
“This is who you should interrogate.” She pointed a wavering finger at the mystery woman.
“You’ll both get interrogated,” I said. “I overheard you. You’re trying to get money out of the Magic Council.”
Esmeralda licked her lips. “I was making a deal for everyone.”
“Everyone affected by the dodgy potion given to you by the Magic Council?”
Her mouth fell open before she snapped her jaw shut and sighed. “Queenie showed you the book.”
“The g
roup told me everything. Well, everything they could. I know about the potion.”
She raised her chin. “We deserve fair compensation for what happened. The Magic Council is in the wrong. They have to pay.”
“And they offered you a group settlement,” I said. “Wasn’t that enough?”
“It was more than enough.”
“For you.” Wiggles trotted over and sat by my heel. “So long as you don’t have to share it.”
Esmeralda glared at him. “That money is for everyone left in our group.”
“How much are we talking about?” I asked.
“It’s ten million,” Esmeralda said.
My eyebrows shot up. “Ten million each?”
“No, between all surviving members of the group. Anyone who had direct contact with the potion will receive a share of the money.”
“Notice she said surviving members,” Wiggles muttered.
I nodded. “Which means, the fewer members in the group, the more money you’ll get. That’s why you killed Caprice and Bastille.”
Esmeralda refused to meet my gaze. “They’re my friends.”
It didn’t sit well with me that Esmeralda was the killer, but the evidence was overwhelming. “Are you having money problems? Is that why you did this?”
“Of course not! I intended to take what I’m entitled to.”
The assassin snorted.
“Have you got something to say?” I asked her. “Who are you? I can’t keep thinking of you as the assassin.”
“My name’s not important. Besides, that’s an accurate description of what I do.”
“Your name will be important when I hand you over to the angels for attempted murder,” I said.
She shrugged. “They can’t hold me.”
“Let’s call her Daisy,” Wiggles said. “She looks like a Daisy. Sort of cute and harmless.”
“You mangy mutt. I’m not called Daisy. I’m—” she snarled at Wiggles and looked away.
“You see, cute as a button,” Wiggles said.
“Fine, I’m Daisy. Whatever you like,” the assassin, now known as Daisy, muttered.
I shrugged. It was as good a name as any. “Okay, Daisy. What do you know about these murders?”
“I’m only interested in Esmeralda. She’s my target. That’s who I’ve been watching since I arrived in Willow Tree Falls yesterday. I just needed an opportunity to get Esmeralda on her own.”