He’d still stepped in to raise me; I wasn’t sure why it was so important to me to hear him say it out loud. That I was his by blood, not by paper, but there was something in me aching to hear it. “You’re so calm and collected about this.”
“I got to raise you, and I raised you as my daughter. The adoption was paper, Elizabeth trusted me to do what needed to be done. You are my daughter Abigail. You always have been.” He stepped up to me. “And now you know the truth.”
I still had a lot of questions about him and Ira. I stood. “Ira said he was your brother.”
“We are, which means you have two crazy uncles, not just one.” Levi’s mouth twitched into a smirk, and I realized he was making a joke.
“I don’t think I can handle two of them.” I shook my head. “He also said he loved my mother.”
Levi’s smile fell. “He did, and she loved him. Until she realized that he was planning on using her in his experiments.”
“Like the ghost at the house.”
Levi nodded. “Exactly. Your mother had her flaws, Abigail. She wanted a better world, and until we met, she thought the way to do that was through changing everyone. Until she saw your face, she thought the world was dark and cruel.”
He pulled me into a hug. The door opened, and Mario cleared his throat.
“The Cult member has left.”
I pulled away from Levi. “I need to go take some painkillers. I’ll stay here tonight, but I’d like to return home tomorrow.”
Levi looked like he wanted to argue but nodded. “How did things go with Melody Grace today?”
“Seems she got her hands on part of that tablet translation and a warlock as a partner. The working theory is that they are trying to bring back someone close to her.”
He sighed. “I should have destroyed the rest of those notes.”
“How would someone have gotten them?” I raised a brow. “Oliver said my…Tobias burnt the important parts.”
“He did because he didn’t want anyone to perform the spell. I wish I knew how the translation got out Abigail.” He shook his head.
My phone rang, and he raised a brow. “You brought your phone into the meeting with Ira?”
“Remember that whole married to my work thing?” I answered it. “Special Agent Collins speaking.”
“Abigail, do you happen to still be in town?” Liz’s voice came over the receiver.
“No, but I can be there. What’s up? What happened with Grace?”
She called something over her shoulder. “You’re not going to like the looks of this. But she’s dead and our other suspect? Gone like a ghost.”
Gone like a ghost. “You mean her lawyer?”
“Yes, he just…faded away.”
“Like your spell?” I could hear the panic rising in my voice a little bit.
“Yes.” Which made sense if he was involved with the Cult somehow. Merick had never gotten back to me on how to draw Carson out; maybe he couldn’t get approval from the other Cult members.
“How was she killed?”
“She was shot. Nothing fancy.”
“I have a strong feeling he was using her to get those translations. False promises to bring back her loved ones.” Much like Tomes had promised with his necromancy. But I felt like that was too neat of a death, and had a feeling Carson had something to do with it. “But we’re not going to get answers?” I looked at Levi, and I could see the sadness forming in his eyes.
“We got answers, Abby. Meet me for coffee so I can fill you in?”
I glanced at Levi, and he nodded. “Okay, give me a couple hours, and I’ll meet you at my regular shop.” I disconnected. “Melody Grace is dead.”
“Are you all right?”
“I’ll be fine. I always am.” I went and picked up my blade and put it back in my boot. My magic had calmed down now, but I didn’t know if I was going to be able to trust my emotions the rest of the night. “Levi?”
“Yes, Abigail?”
“No more secrets?”
“No more secrets,” he promised. “I’ll answer anything you ask honestly. Now that you know.”
Now that I knew I was his daughter, the last part of that statement hung in the air.
“Okay. I’ll be back tonight.”
“You can stay home if Mario can stay with you tonight.”
I shook my head. “I’m not quite ready to trust him again. I might just stay home today anyway.”
“Don’t take your pentagram off.”
I nodded. “Promise.”
I drove down to the coffee house and walked in. Liz was sitting in the corner with two cups of coffee sitting in front of her.
She looked at me and raised a brow. “You look exhausted.”
“Yeah, well, it’s been a long night.” I tried to force a smile. “He killed Grace, didn’t he?”
“Yes, and she killed Clarissa. It turned out that Starla was her sister and Nick was on the case, it was before he went into PIB. She and Carson killed everyone that was a suspect, using the demon, in order to have a human sacrifice for that spell. I believe that Carson was the one wielding the magic since Grace was a shifter. I think you’re right, that he was using her because she had the resources to get the spell.”
I cringed. “Why Clarissa?”
“Abigail, Grace hated you. She had something against you the moment she met you, and it turns out that she knew all along that Clarissa meant the world to you. So she thought it only fitting —”
“To use her against me in the attempt of a black magic spell.” I hung my head. I had always worried about people being used against me. It’d happened a few times over the years, and now Clarissa was dead because of it.
“I have to close Clarissa’s case out since we got a confession out of Grace. Your demon case is considered open though, and they are pretty sure that Carson is the serial killer. Why he’s killing, they aren’t sure. But Grace didn’t seem to know that.”
“Of course she didn’t, all she saw were his lies and his promises to bring back her sister. Carson’s long gone, I’m sure, but I’ll work on it until it officially becomes a cold case.”
She reached across the table and squeezed my hand. “You’ll get your guy.”
I leaned back and sipped my coffee. I wasn’t sure what to tell her because I knew the truth. He was gone, long gone, probably to kill someone else with a demon. I snorted.
“What?” she asked.
“I guess everyone really does have their demons.”
Liz laughed and shook her head. We sat there and enjoyed our coffee, and for a few minutes, I felt that everything in my world hadn’t crashed down over the last week.
The End
About the Author
A.L. Kessler is the author of the best-selling series Here Witchy Witchy. She resides in Colorado with her family and pets. Her addiction to coffee and chocolate fuels her creativity to bring her readers wonderful stories.
Other Series by A.L. Kessler
Here Witchy Witchy
The King’s Game
Parlor Tricks
Children of the Apocalypse
The Case Files of Abigail Collins
Normalcy
The Syndicate (with Mia Bishop)
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