Here Witchy Witchy Box Set 2

by A. L. Kessler

  He placed hands on either side of my face forcing me to look at him. “Abigail, what did it feel like when he bit you.”

  “Like fire in my veins, it was different than the first time he bit me.”

  Osiris jumped up on the table and meowed at me. Levi gave him a glare. “Not now, cat.”

  Osiris hissed at him.

  “What does it matter?” I asked to bring Levi’s attention back to me.

  “It’s part of Ira’s abilities; he can cause flashbacks to the feeding as he sees fit. He uses it as a way to control people. Elizabeth had a potion or a spell, something that helped with it. Were you wearing your pentagram?”

  I nodded. “I rarely take it off anymore.”

  “Then it wasn’t something that she worked into that protection spell.” He growled and let go of my face. He paced the room. “You’re coming back to the mansion. Get your stuff and your cat.”

  Oh god, that could go so bad now. “I’m not going there right now. Cases? Remember?” I shook my head.

  “I want you to be at the mansion until Ira releases you from his power. He’s just toying with you, so I have a feeling he will release it at the truce.”

  I resisted rolling my eyes. “I’m fine at home.”

  “Abigail. Please. I have seen him drive people insane with this ability.”

  “Can you stop it?”

  “No.”

  I met his gaze. “Will being at the mansion stop it?”

  He hesitated slightly. “No.”

  “Then there’s no point in me going there. Besides I have a demon on the loose. I have things that I need to do.” I kept my voice calm, but I left no room for argument.

  “Look through your book and see if you have something to stop them. If Clarissa were here, I’d just have her whip something up.” The anger in his voice hit me hard.

  “Well, she’s not,” I snapped. “Also, when were you planning on telling me that she was the witch who let me out that night?”

  He became completely still. “Who told you?”

  “Her mother, at the memorial.” I turned away from him. “If you’re done trying to drag me home, you can leave. I’m going to finish my coffee and go through my book tonight.”

  He grumbled something before disappearing. I took a deep breath and went to get my book. I got back to the living room, and Merick was sitting on the couch again.

  “I wonder if your uncle healing it would have helped.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, but I have a feeling that he left it on purpose.”

  “Your uncle would never intentionally harm you.”

  “If you think that, you don’t know Oliver very well. If it suits his purpose, he’d let Ira kill me or at the very least torture me.” I moved my coffee and opened the book and started to flip through it, looking for anything that might pertain to a vampire bite. “I wish my parents would have used this as a journal too; maybe I could get some insight on things.”

  Merick looked over my shoulder and pointed to one, “A cleansing ointment might work. Can you make it?”

  I looked over the ingredient list. “I think so. I think I have everything for it. It has to sit for twenty-four hours. I’ve dealt with this for twenty-four hours already, so what’s another day?”

  He nodded. “Look for something else in case it doesn’t work.”

  A familiar itch started to crawl through my neck, and I put my hand to the bite mark. I met Merick’s gaze, but he faded away, and it was Ira’s eyes I was seeing.

  I was frozen in place again, this time pain flooding through my entire body before it hit the bite mark. Ira disappeared, and I couldn’t breathe. My body started to freeze, the cold chasing away the burning pain.

  “Leave Abigail alone, Ira. Please.”

  I could hear my mother begging.

  “She’s a child, how dare you feed from her.” This time my father’s voice. “How dare you use your ability.”

  Ira’s laugh filled the room, and I felt tears on my cheeks. “You should have protected her better. She’s part of this. All of this.”

  The pain suddenly disappeared, replaced with a whole new pain in my wrist. The world came back, and I saw Levi gripping my wrist and feeding from me.

  Panic crawled through me, and I called on my magic. I let my circle push Levi away from me, it tore him from my wrist, but I didn’t care. What the fuck? I tried to breathe through the panic as Levi looked up at me with wide eyes.

  “Abigail, I was trying to push his power out of you.”

  I looked down at my bleeding wrist, trying to process everything. “How did you know?”

  “I felt you panic when I left. I came back to see what was wrong. This. This is why I want you to come back to the mansion.”

  I pulled my magic into me, bringing the circle down. “This wasn’t from the last time. I don’t think.”

  “What?” He sat on the couch next to me. I didn’t know where Osiris had run off to, but I assumed he changed in time to not alert Levi to his other form.

  “I heard my parents’ voices.”

  Levi shook his head. “Elizabeth never would have let Ira near you. There was one time that Tobias made a mistake, and you got out of the car, but Ira didn’t feed from you then.”

  I thought that had just been a nightmare. “What else aren’t you telling me?”

  “Ira was out of yours and your mother’s life quickly. Your father learned from his mistake.” He shook his head. “Find a spell to fix this, please. Before he drags you out of the territory to kill you.”

  “You said he was toying with me.”

  “He is, or he would have already caused harm.” He went to the kitchen and came back with a paper towel. “Your wrist.”

  I took the paper towel and put it over the bite. “I’m looking for something now; I’ve found a cleansing balm, but that’s it so far.”

  He started to say something, but then his phone rang. He answered. “Levi.” He made a few noises of agreement before hanging up. “I have to go. I will send Mario.”

  “And I will put him in a red circle. Just let me have some space, please.”

  He looked hesitant. “If it gets worse, you call.”

  “Promise.” I nodded, and he disappeared again. I sighed and went back to my book, flipping through page by page. Osiris never reappeared, leaving me alone to my research.

  By dawn, I had found a spell, a potion, and the balm that could help with the bite issue. I had fallen asleep reading my mom’s notes on each and woke up about noon. What I woke up to were a cup of fresh coffee on the table and an empty house. I wondered where Merick had run off to for the rest of the night and the morning.

  I sat and sipped my coffee. I needed to find my demon and figure out what to do about Agent Grace. I trusted that Levi handled the notes for Liz, but only because it was Clarissa’s case. I also needed to get the stuff for the potion. The spell was a cleansing spell that required a group, much like the cleansing spell that took the hex from me a few years ago, but I didn’t trust the coven to help me now.

  “You’re deep in thought.” Merick walked in. “You fell asleep on the book last night.”

  I glanced at him. “I needed to find a solution.”

  “And?”

  “I found three, two of which I can do myself.”

  “And the third?”

  “Requires at least two people.” I glanced at him. “Which is not happening.”

  “I could grab a few members and help.”

  I wasn’t sure if he was serious or not. “Just because I trust you doesn’t mean I trust the rest of your cult.”

  “Ah, Abby you honor me by placing your trust in me. I was joking, I know you’d never let them near you, but if you show me the spell, I’m willing to bet that your uncle and I can perform it.”

  “That’s assuming I can get a hold of him.”

  He nodded. “Text him and tell him the situation, and I bet he appears within twenty-four hours.”

  I co
uld only hope that he was right. I wasn’t sure if Oliver read my messages or not when he decided to go MIA. No matter what, I needed to get this straightened out before I went to my meeting with Ira in a couple days. It was creeping up on me, and I had no idea what I was going to do or if I was walking into another trap.

  No. Ira made it clear that he was bound by the truce down to what he was allowed to discuss with me.

  “I’ll try.”

  “Want to cover all your bases?”

  I nodded. “Yep, so I’m going to head down to Manitou to grab the items that I need.”

  “And?”

  “And see if I can’t figure out how to summon a demon.”

  “Abigail!”

  I cringed at the high pitch tone he suddenly hit. “Fuck Merick. I meant as in a circle, to banish it. Not from the hell realm.”

  He shook his head. “You can’t just pull him through. Especially not the kind of demon you’re dealing with.”

  “What do you know about the demon?”

  “He’s breaking out of the summoning circle, isn’t he?”

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  “Has another murder happened?”

  I shook my head. “Not yet.”

  “Then they haven’t been banished again. It must be banished in order to be summoned again.”

  I guess I hadn’t thought about that. “I need to check out Agent Grace’s house.”

  “I’m due in town to help Liz out, seems that Levi dropped the information off at her desk.”

  I relaxed a little. “Good, I know he wants to make sure that Clarissa’s murderer is brought to justice.”

  “What about the person who stole the information?”

  “I don’t know; I still haven’t figured that one out.” I finished my coffee and then transferred the ingredients I needed to my phone.

  “Be careful while you’re out. I’ll be in town, so just text me if you need something.”

  I nodded. “I’m going to text Oliver now and tell him to get a hold of you.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  I didn’t miss the sarcasm, but I knew he’d work with my uncle, and somehow I’d survive this without Ira causing too much damage.

  I went upstairs to get ready for the day, and after a quick shower, I was feeling better. I’d grab food on my way into town and figure out what I could do about needing to get into Agent Grace’s apartment. Breaking and entering was normally frowned upon.

  I got in the Hummer and smiled. I knew exactly how I was going to get in. I pulled up the information from her file on her current address and put it in my GPS. Hopefully, I could catch her off guard with being nice instead of hateful.

  Or I was going to get another punch thrown at me. Either way, it was promising to be an interesting afternoon.

  After stopping for food, I pulled up to the modest house. From the outside, it seemed normal. A dull yellow painted house with white shutters, a big window in the front, and Agent Grace’s car sitting in the driveway. I had a hard time imagining her living in such an unassuming house.

  I got out of the Hummer and walked to the door. I didn’t miss the magic pushing against me as I approached. The problem was Grace was a shifter, not a witch. I swallowed my paranoia, and I raised my hand to knock, but she opened the door before I even got a chance.

  “What do you want?”

  She looked a little worse for wear. Her normally neat blonde hair was sticking out of the messy bun on the top of her head, and her eyes were shadowed. “I wanted to come and apologize for my reaction to your…grief.” It was the best word I could come up with. She had accused me of getting Nick killed and had some made up a story about how he was engaged to her sister, and he broke her heart, and now she was messed up because Nick was dead.

  There had been too many holes in her story to be true, but pretending to make amends was the only way I was going to be able to get into the house.

  She looked me up and down. “You could have called me.”

  “Would you have picked up?”

  She shook her head. “Come in for a cup of coffee?”

  “Sure.”

  She stepped out of the way and let me in. The magic that had been pressing against me disappeared, but now there was a new magic, it was faint, but there was a slimy residue that clung to my aura. I tried not to squirm at the uncomfortable feeling. I wondered for a moment who she had back there working magic. I kept my guard up as I followed her to the kitchen.

  “Sorry to hear about your suspension.”

  She snorted. “It’s ridiculous, and now someone’s searching me in the system, trying to dig things up.”

  For a moment I was wondering if it was me.

  “They are trying to tie Tomes to me in other ways, other than me being his partner. I left everything in my old life to take on that case, and this is how PIB repays me?”

  I cringed realizing that she hadn’t been talking about my digging. No, she was talking about her suspension case. “That sucks. I heard there were some issues with the paperwork.”

  She looked at me. “Yeah, you got your hands on it. That’s what it was.”

  I raised my brow. “I wasn’t informed that my additions screwed it up, my bad.”

  “You’re the poster child for PIB Abby; you can do no wrong.”

  That wasn’t really true, seeing as I was blackmailed into my current position, once I had been suspended for shooting a suspect, and there’d been a couple occasions that I was sure Boss Man was shaking his head. “I think you’ve been listening to rumors.” I kept my voice even.

  “No, I haven’t been, because all the rumors say that you’re a dangerous witch and you’re out of control.” She met my gaze. “Are you?”

  “Dangerous or out of control?” I challenged her.

  She was hesitant for a moment. “They can go hand in hand.”

  “They can, but they don’t in my case.”

  She gave a laugh. “I guess you have to be to survive, dangerous that is.”

  “And you, Agent Grace?”

  “Maybe a little bit of both. Never forget that, Abigail.”

  I raised my mug. “I never forget that there are other dangerous people out there.”

  The magic pulsed around me and I felt my pentagram warm. I raised a brow at her. “Something you want to tell me?” Who was behind the magic?

  The magic pulsed again and a strangled cry made me cringe.

  She smiled and never broke my gaze. “I know why you’re here. I also know that your best friend was murdered, and I have all the evidence you and Liz worked to find.”

  “You sent the demon.” I narrowed my gaze. “You stole the information and the pizza?”

  “I’m not the one controlling him.” She gave a shrug. “I shifted to get into PIB undetected, and shifting makes me hungry. I wanted something to eat. Poor Clarissa, sacrificed to attempt to bring someone back to life.”

  “How do you know that?” My mind flashed to my uncle as panic crawled through me as the magic around me continued to grow. It wasn’t time to call on my own, not yet.

  “Because I have your research.”

  Something told me it was much more than that. “You stay away from that case.”

  Something crashed in the back room, and this time it was a snarl, not a strangled cry that came. I looked up to see the demon.

  Oh, fuck me.

  Grace laughed as I started backing away from him.

  “I don’t know what led you here Abby, but you’ve found our little demon.”

  Little my ass. The thing towered over me with its scale-covered back and drool dripping out of its mouth. I did the only thing I could think of. I ran to the door while pulling out my phone dialing 911.

  “Agent Abigail Collins, I need back up. Now.” A giant clawed hand hit me, slamming me into the wall of the entryway. The impact was enough to make my teeth rattle. My phone flew out of my hand, landing on the ground with a thud. Thank the goddess for life proof cases. I shouted
out the address right before Melody slammed her foot down on the phone. Yeah, it wasn’t going to survive that.

  I looked at the demon and then to Melody. “Death sentence Grace. That’s what this can end in. Even if you’re not summoning him, you’re helping.”

  “They have to catch us first, and with them worrying about your injuries, they won’t have time to send the execution team after us until well after we achieve our goal.”

  The demon rushed me, and I threw up a circle. It ran into it and bounced back. The thrum against my circle vibrated in me.

  The demon ran into my circle again, and I shuddered at the physical pain it caused. It wouldn’t be long until it broke through. I should have brought back up and not depended on Grace wanting a friendly chat and her being alone. Or I should have gone with a good old fashion breaking and entering.

  I could hear the sirens coming. The shrill sound breaking through the snarling of the demon.

  Grace growled. “We do not have time for you to try and protect yourself.” She ran her hand over something on the wall, and a rune glowed. She wasn’t a witch, but that rune was made to be activated by her. What the fuck. I glanced at the rune and realized the base of it was similar to what they found at Clarissa’s scene. Not exactly the same, but similar enough.

  The rune pulsed, and my circle crashed down, and the demon rushed me. Its clawed hand grabbed my throat. I struggled and grabbed my gun. I shot the beast in the foot twice, and it let me go with a howl. This couldn’t be the demon that had killed the others. It was much too dumb and clumsy.

  I shot it again, and it stumbled back next to Grace. “What are you doing you dumb beast, get her!”

  I threw my hand up to trap them in a red circle, but a bullet took me in the shoulder. I cried out and looked behind me to see a man standing there.

  I didn’t know him. His bald head only added to the intimidating darkness of his eyes. He stood there, bare-chested, arms held up to aim the gun in almost perfect form. There was a rune tattooed on his chest that matched the base language of the runes from Clarissa’s crime scene and the Cult’s pictures. Fuck. Me.

  Pain radiated in my shoulder as I stared at him. I could trap them all in circles, it’d take more energy, but my blood would aid it. I holstered my gun and called on my magic. I managed to summon two circles, one around Grace and the demon, but the stranger escaped it.