“Oh, how lovely!” Evangeline exclaimed.
The foyer of the home featured twenty-foot ceilings, with a wide staircase and intricate tile work that glittered under a sparkling chandelier that looked as if it might be worth more than Evangeline’s car. It was surprisingly light and bright for a vampire lord. They tended toward the old-world style, and thanks to their photo-sensitive irises, preferred dark. The home we’d stepped into was modern and sleek, with tasteful artwork on the walls, and thick rugs in the two hallways that led to opposite sides of the main floor.
“This is a beautiful home,” Evangeline said, taking it all in with a slow circle. “Who is the owner?”
“Benjamin Bracken,” the woman answered. “Please, this way to the phone. You can use the one in the den.”
She gestured toward the hallway on the left, but the tracking spell was pointing down the one on the right. A wave of anxiety clutched at me as we started to follow our reluctant hostess. The golden ribbon of light was even more faint, and I feared we only had a few minutes left until it would vanish entirely. And then what would we do? In his beast form, Adam enjoyed an amplified sense of smell and was an excellent tracker, but if Nick left—voluntarily or not—in a vehicle, it would be tricky for Adam to follow the trail using just his nose.
Why hadn’t I thought to bring the vial of Nick’s hair? I’d been in such a hurry and hadn’t even considered we might need to refresh the spell. Stupid. Some SPA secret agent I was turning out to be. Agent Bramble really should have put someone more qualified on the case. Or at least put me through some kind of secret agent bootcamp. Having a penchant for finding trouble and murderers hardly seemed like a sufficient prerequisite.
The woman opened a door to an informal room that looked like it was mainly used for TV watching. A couple of comfortable-looking couches sat in an L shape, focused on a TV that had to be close to the size of one of the garage doors we’d seen outside. Why anyone needed a TV that big was simply beyond me. But I knew Adam would be drooling if he saw it.
“Here’s the phone,” the woman said. “Please, make it as quick as you can. I don’t mean to be rude, but the master of the home is very private and he doesn’t like—”
“What don’t I like?” a smooth baritone voice drawled from behind us.
Evangeline and I snapped around in unison and found a tall man dressed in a navy suit tailored to his wiry frame. His face was angular and sharp, matching the leanness of his body.
“Maralee, what’s going on here? Who are these ladies?”
Maralee stepped forward, wringing her hands, and I felt a prickle of guilt. I hoped she wouldn’t be punished for letting us into the home. “My lord, these women had some car trouble and needed to come in and use the phone to call for help. I know you don’t like unexpected company, but—”
Lord Bracken’s thin lips curled into a smile. “Nonsense. I’d never turn away two damsels in need of a rescue.”
Maralee didn’t look relieve. If anything, she looked more panicked.
That couldn’t be a good sign.
Chapter 12
“In fact,” Lord Bracken continued, striding into the room. “You’ve had the fortune of arriving just in time for dinner,” he purred, the predatory look on his face making it clear he wasn’t thinking of serving us chicken cordon bleu.
Evangeline reached for her wand and shot me a sidelong glance. I nodded and she pulled it from its holster and held it out at Lord Bracken. His cold smile shattered like ice and he swore. “What is this? Witches?”
I held up one hand, magic pooling on my palm. “That’s right. We’re here for our friend, Nick. My tracking spell shows he’s somewhere in this house. Perhaps another one of your dinner guests? We’re not leaving without him.”
Lord Bracken scowled. “Unless Nick is short for Nicollete, I can assure you, your friend is not on my guest list.”
“He’s here in this house,” I said, ignoring the bile surging up into my throat. There were good vampires in the world, but it didn’t appear as though Lord Bracken was one of them. Why did I always stumble across the blood-thirsty types?
Lord Bracken shot a dark look at his housekeeper. “I suppose you’ll have to ask Maralee, as she appears to be in quite a hospitable mood the evening.”
Maralee blanched. “I didn’t let anyone else in, my lord! And I made sure their dog stayed outside!”
“Their dog?” His eyes snapped back toward Evangeline and me.
“He’s not a dog,” I said. “He’s my boyfriend.”
Lord Bracken snickered. “Oh, love, perhaps you should stay. I promise, one night with me and you’ll have much higher standards.”
Welp, there went whatever was left of my appetite. Probably for the next decade.
“Come closer, I’ll give you a sampling,” he said, taking a calculated step forward.
I raised my hand and he shifted his attention to Evangeline. “What about you, blossom? You’re exotic. I like that. Would you like to stay and share a meal with me?”
A pulse of energy washed out from him, a palpable wave, and in the blink of an eye, Evangeline started to lower her wand.
“That’s right,” Lord Bracken whispered, taking another small step toward her. “You’d like to stay, wouldn’t you? I promise you a feast beyond your wildest dreams.”
Evangeline’s wand slipped from her fingers and hit the plush carpet at her feet.
“Stop!” I barked.
He turned toward me. “It seems you’ll take some convincing. That’s all right. I do so love the chase!”
Magic surged from my fingertips, a stunning spell. It landed right in the middle of his chest and propelled him back. He stumbled, but didn’t fall. When he righted himself, his gleaming fangs shone and his eyes were pitch-black pools.
“Oh, no, Holly. What did you do that for? You’re going to ruin our dinner plans,” Evangeline said, her voice a hazy whisper.
Fear trilled through me. She was still sucked under the vampire’s glamour. To have taken completely control of her so quickly, he must have been an extremely powerful—and old—vampire. Just peachy.
“Evangeline! Snap out of it!” I screamed, gathering another blast of magic.
“Come on, dear, what will it take to convince you? I swear I’d only like to share my table with you,” Bracken continued, advancing on me again. “There’s no need to get nasty.”
I needed back-up. Now! Where the heck was Adam?
“Let her go,” I demanded.
“Or what? You’ll stun me again?” He laughed. “I wasn’t made yesterday, love. I’ve tangled with witches before. It always starts out unpleasant but the ending can be very sweet. Come on, I’ll show you.”
I waited as long as I could, calling magic up from within me as quickly as I could, and then hurled a second spell at the vampire. It found its target and Lord Bracken froze in place. His eyes were wild, but his arms and legs were stiff, unmoving.
“It’s my turn to talk,” I snarled, stalking closer. I fished a vial from my pocket and held it up a few inches from his frozen face. “See this?” I asked, giving the vial a shake, letting the neon green liquid swirl and dance. “This is a little potion I whipped up in my spare time. Highly potent and illegal under at least six different haven council laws. One drop and your body will melt from the inside out and reduce you to a puddle, right here on your overpriced Persian rug.”
Lord Bracken’s eyes widened, the black coals blazing with a bottomless evil.
“Now, I’ll release you and we will be on our way, prepared to forget all about this unpleasant evening, but you have to help us. Blink once if I can count on you to answer my questions and release my friend from your glamour.”
He resisted but after a frustrated minute of fruitless struggle, he blinked.
I took a step back but kept the vial in my hand and made a show of uncorking it before I waved my other hand and released my hold on him. He sputtered back to life and glared at me. I cleared my throat a
nd he muttered something under his breath before flicking a frustrated glance at Evangeline.
She blinked her eyes a few times, clearing away the daze. “Holly? Wh—what happened?”
“Our pal here was just going to tell us what he knows about Nick. Weren’t you, Lord Bracken?”
Before he could respond, Adam bounded into the room, teeth bared. There was a gash across his brow but it didn’t look too serious. He circled Lord Bracken and growled, a low rumble that felt like it could shake the whole room if he tried.
“This must be the boyfriend,” Lord Bracken said, glaring at the dog. “I’ll tell you what you want to know, but you really should take me up on my offer and ditch the mongrel. This beast isn’t even purebred.”
I scoffed. “I’d rather drink a drain-cleaner smoothie, but thanks. Now, where is Nick?”
“I’m assuming your friend is one of the wolves that were here earlier?”
My heart jumped. “Yes,” I said, trying not to sound too desperate.
“Aha. Well, they’re not here anymore. My son, Frederik, said he had business with them.”
“Is that a normal thing for him?” I asked.
Beside me, Evangeline shook her head as if her ears were ringing and then stooped down and picked up her wand.
“My son’s business is his own,” he answered.
“Drop the cagey routine. You’re a vampire. There’s not a chance in Hades that you don’t know exactly what he’s up to, especially if it involves werewolves.” I raised the open vial. “Remember our deal, Lord Bracken. You don’t want to push me any further.”
Adam growled and lumbered forward.
A figure moved at the corner of my eye and Maralee jumped for my hands. She grabbed for the vial and shrieked as it spilled down her hands. “Run, my lord!”
Adam lunged toward the woman and in her hurry to get away from the dog, she tripped over an ottoman and went crashing to the floor.
“Adam!” Evangeline screamed. She shot a spell out, snapping her wand like a whip. The magic trapped the vial and the escaped potion in an orb, keeping it from spilling on Adam as he barreled into Maralee.
Lord Bracken rolled his eyes. “You fool!”
I conjured a stunning spell and held it with both hands, letting the red magic glow and pulse as I stepped closer to the vampire lord. “We had a deal, Lord Bracken. You don’t want to break it. Now, tell us where your son is!”
“He’s not here,” Lord Bracken said.
“Then where is he?” I demanded, glancing at Maralee in case she made another move. Adam had her backed into a corner, and I turned my attention back to the vampire.
Lord Bracken narrowed his eyes. “He’s gone to our cabin up in the mountains.”
“What for?”
The vampire lord’s black eyes gleamed and his wicked smile returned. “The alpha of the pack challenged him to a duel. If it weren’t for a late night business call, I’d be up there myself, taking a front seat to watch my son tear that beast into scrap meat.”
I shuddered. Was that what Bruno meant when he’d said the pack would deal with Breanne’s killer? A duel to the death?
Every muscle in my body tensed and pulled tight, even as my stomach did a free fall.
“When did they leave?” I demanded.
He frowned but relented to one final question, “Five minutes ago. I wished my son luck, not that he needs it against a mangy wolf—”
Adam growled and snapped his teeth.
“Easy, Fido,” Bracken drawled. “After he left, I heard your voices and came to introduce myself. But now, I really do think it’s best we say goodbye.”
He raised a hand and placed it on an obsidian sculpture of a raven.
“Where is the cabin?” Evangeline asked.
Lord Bracken ignored her question and closed his eyes. He spoke a few nonsense words and I felt a pair of invisible hands grab me by the waist. I started to scream but in the blink of an eye, found myself flying through the air. I landed in a heap of tangled limbs, some human skin, the other … fur?
I sat up and realized we’d been pitched from the home into the front yard.
“Do come back some time, we could have some real fun.”
I jerked around and spotted Lord Bracken’s silhouette under the iron lantern illuminating the front of the home. He didn’t wait for a reply before shutting the door.
“What was that?” Evangeline asked, sitting up.
I rubbed the elbow I’d landed on and winced. “One hell of a protection ward. I didn’t catch all the words of his spell, but it sounded like an old magic tongue. Whoever placed those wards must be a card-carrying member of the old fogey wizard club.”
“Why didn’t he use it after you first stunned him?” she asked, retrieving her wand.
“Best guess? He thought he had a chance.” I grinned at Evangeline. “It’s twice as fun when they underestimate you, isn’t it?”
She squinted at me. “Um, sure?”
Adam whined and I remembered the blood I’d seen on his head. I muttered a spell and sent up an orb of light to inspect the wound. It looked shallow and clean, as if from a shard of glass. “Are you okay?”
“Come on, let’s get back in the car,” Evangeline said, pushing off the cold grass. “I don’t want to wait around and see what happens if we linger.”
We scrambled across the street and we let Adam into the backseat and then climbed in the front. A pulse of magic filled the space and Adam shifted back into his human form and began to get dressed again.
“How’s your head?” I asked, twisting around as he pulled his shirt on.
“I’m fine,” he grunted. “I had to bust a window to get inside and got caught when I jumped through.”
“Is it a deep cut?” Evangeline asked. “I have a first aid kit in the trunk.”
Adam shook his head. “No. It’s fine. We don’t have time for that. Where’s the tracker pointing now?”
Evangeline and I exchanged a dark glance.
“There isn’t one anymore,” I said after a moment. “It timed out.”
He swore. “Great. What do we do now? That creep up there isn’t going to give up the address, and it seems like his assistant or whatever is a loyalist.”
“Speaking of, is she going to be okay?” Evangeline interjected. “She got that potion all over her.”
I snorted. “Yeah. She’ll be just fine. It wasn’t actually poison, it was a sample of my new hiccup cure.”
“Stars, Holly!” Evangeline exclaimed, her eyes bulging. “I really thought it was going to kill her!”
“That’s my girl!” I laughed as Adam leaned into the front seat and kissed me. “But, quick spellwork with the vial, Evie. I didn’t get a drop on me!”
Still shaking her head, Evangeline started the car’s engine. “What do we do now?”
There was only one thing I could think to do.
“We need to call Lacey.”
Chapter 13
Lacey Vaughn was out of hiding, and in the few times we’d spoken since she left the manor, it appeared that her newfound freedom had done something of a one-eighty on her disposition. I knew she would help us if we called her, and as a vampire and former resident of Beechwood Harbor, I could think of few others who would have a better chance of knowing where the Bracken’s cabin might be located.
Evangeline dialed her number using the electronic touch screen imbedded in the dash of her car. While it rang, she turned over the engine and peeled out of the upscale neighborhood. Without the tracking spell, she didn’t have an exact direction, but seemed content to just put a few miles between us and Lord Bracken as we headed back to the highway.
“Evie! How are you?” Lacey answered on the second ring.
“Hi, Lacey. I’m actually here with Holly and Adam. You’re on speakerphone.”
“Oh?”
“Hey, Lacey,” I said, “it’s Holly. Listen, we don’t have a ton of time to catch you up, but Nick’s in trouble and we need your he
lp.”
“What happened?” she asked, all casualness drained from her voice. Back when she’d lived at the manor, she’d had a bit of a crush on Nick and had been the one to patch up his wounds after Ben attacked him. She was happily taken now, but I knew she would still want to help Nick.
“It’s a long story, but a werewolf was murdered, and it looks like the alpha of Nick’s pack—”
“Nick joined the pack?” she repeated. I could almost hear her fair eyebrows move into sharp arches.
“Unfortunately,” I said.
“Lacey, do you know Lord Bracken?” Evangeline asked.
Lacey groaned. “Ohh, yes. He’s a real piece of work.”
“Yeah, we just had the pleasure of being introduced,” I said, “and it seems that his son is the pack’s number one suspect in the murder. According to Lord Bracken, his son took the wolves to the family cabin for a duel.”
“A duel? That’s not good. Who’s the pack leader?”
“Bruno Carlisle,” Adam supplied.
“Hmm. The name doesn’t ring a bell, but things changed a lot after that whole mess with Sasha and Ben. Last I heard, the entire pack was scattered.” She paused, thinking. “In any case, it’s not nearly close enough to a full moon for a wolf to have a chance against a vampire. Especially not Frederick Bracken.”
I cringed and looked at Evangeline across the center console. She remained focused on the road, but tense lines showed at the edges of her mouth. She didn’t like the sound of that any more than I did.
“Please tell me you know where the cabin is,” I said to Lacey.
“I know where it is,” she said and we all let out a collective sigh. “Give me a minute and I’ll text Evangeline’s phone with the directions. But you need to be careful. The Brackens are an old vampire family, of pureblood descent. You need to get Nick out of there and let the pack fend for themselves. If this Bruno is dumb enough to challenge a vampire, then he needs to be a true leader and take the full consequences himself, not get his entire pack killed in the fray.”
I swallowed hard.
“Frederick used to hold long weekends out at the cabin,” Lacey explained, presumably as she typed. “A bunch of us would go there to party. Lord Bracken might have called it a cabin, but it’s more of a lodge. I’d say at least four-thousand square feet and with all of the modern amenities; spa, sauna, indoor pool, a ridiculous kitchen considering none of us actually ate anything.”
One Bad Witch Page 10