One Bad Witch

by Danielle Garrett

  Lacey wasn’t one to drink human blood; she survived on the haven-sanctioned faux varieties. It was against haven law for any vampire to drink from a human, but it was a law that went widely ignored and was nearly impossible for the SPA to enforce unless a vampire got greedy and killed their dinner in the process.

  It was fairly obvious that the inside of Lord Bracken’s fridge wouldn’t contain bottled faux blood.

  “The Brackens prize money above everything else,” Lacey continued. “That’s really the only leverage I think you’ll have with them. Why did he kill the wolf?”

  “No idea,” I replied. “For that matter, I’m not even sure he did. The body was just found this morning. Everything is happening a little too fast.”

  Lacey let out a mirthless laugh. “Just like a wolf, to go tearing off at the slightest scent trail. And after a vampire … good grief. This Bruno wouldn’t happen to be one of Len Whitaker’s disciples, would he?”

  The dashboard made a beeping sound and Evangeline tapped on the screen. Lacey’s text message appeared with written directions. She slowed down as she considered them.

  “Who is Len Whitaker?” I asked Lacey.

  “He’s some tech tycoon in Seattle. He’s a wolf and word among those in the haven say he’s recruiting something of an army for himself.”

  “An army?” I twisted to look back at Adam. He looked just as surprised as I did and shrugged. I turned back and stared at the screen. “What in the Otherworld would he need an army of wolves for?”

  “No one knows exactly,” she replied, “but some speculate he wants to take werewolves public. As in, into the human world. They feel marginalized by the haven and feel that among humans, they would get their proper respect. He tends to attract alphas, using these self-help books that are all kind of written in code.”

  “Stars,” I said, pulling in a deep breath while I thought about the implications.

  “Might be worth looking into, and also something to warn Nick about.”

  “Sure thing. Thanks for everything, Lacey. We have the directions you sent and are on the way there now.”

  “I’m just glad you caught me because I’m about to go into a court meeting. Please call me later. If things get nasty with the Brackens, I can send help.”

  “Thank you, Lacey! You have no idea how much we appreciate this,” Evangeline said.

  “Anytime,” Lacey replied. “Just promise me you’ll all be safe. Even you, fleabag.”

  Adam chuckled. “I’ll behave.”

  “You’d better.”

  We said our goodbyes. Evangeline clicked off the call and then let out a long, pained exhale. “Sounds like Nick is surrounded by dangerous people on both sides.”

  I nodded and then turned my attention out the window. It was pitch black on the back-country roads with nothing but farmland and forest for miles. Without an exact address, it was hard to know exactly how long it would take for us to reach the Bracken’s cabin.

  All I could do was hope we’d make it in time.

  Evangeline killed the lights when we found the turnoff Lacey indicated in her thorough directions. The Bracken House crest was imprinted on a sign hanging over the gravel road that, according to the directions, would lead us to the lodge. She slowed down nearly to a stop. “Should we go on foot?”

  Adam leaned forward and stared out the front windshield. Two spotlights showcased the sign overhead, and a series of garden lamps illuminated the boundaries of the driveway. “Looks like it’s probably a half of a mile up to the cabin. I say we turn around and leave the car here in case we need to make a break for it. Let’s come up with a code word. If anyone says it we retreat, no questions, and meet back here.”

  “Warthogs!” I burst out.

  Adam and Evangeline stared at me but then nodded slowly.

  “I don’t know, it was just the first thing that came to mind,” I said sheepishly. “Probably heard it on the Discovery channel or something.”

  “Uh huh.” Adam patted my shoulder. “Gorgeous, remind me to introduce you to Netflix one of these days.”

  I shot him a look. “Let’s worry about that after we get Nick out of here before he’s turned to mincemeat.”

  “All right. Warthogs and we run. Got it?” Adam said.

  Evangeline nodded and we exited the car. Adam shifted again and I let him out the back. The gravel crunched under his massive paws, and he moved to the grass on the other side of the lanterns to silence his steps. Evangeline and I followed behind single-file. Magic pooled at my fingertips and I knew Evangeline had a tight hold on her wand. There wasn’t time for pretenses and acting this time. Lord Bracken had likely already given his son a call to let him know we were on our way. He had to know we’d figure out a way, even though he hadn’t told us the cabin’s address.

  Angry voices cut through the cold night, and I turned to look back at Evangeline. Adam shot off ahead of us, and we broke into a run to keep up. Of course, neither of us were a match for his four paws and long strides, and when we reached the top of the hill, the frenzy had already started. A flood light cast a wide circle of white light, and underneath it, Bruno was on the receiving end of a powerful right hook. He sagged against the wall of an aluminum storage shed and shook his head. The man who’d punched him had to be Frederick Bracken. He was almost a clone of his father. I did a double take to make sure it wasn’t somehow Lord Bracken. He’d pulled a neat little trick back at his home in the hills. For all we knew, he had a secret portal to the cabin hidden away in his attic or coat closet. But when the vampire turned, grinning as his opponent shook off the sting, I noticed his jaw was even harder than his father’s, his lips fuller too. He was almost pretty in an old-world, Victorian sort of way.

  “You done playing games, wolf?” he sneered.

  Adam lunged into sight and snapped his jaws at the vampire. Frederick laughed, a cloud of mist following the sound across the yard. “My father told me I might want to call animal control. Where are your witchy friends, puppy dog?”

  “Right here!” I barked, balancing a ball of light on my palm. Evangeline stopped at my right side and sent a shower of sparks from the tip of her wand.

  Nick stepped forward, a pained look on his face. Bruno gave Nick a disgusted look but didn’t say anything. Nick would be punished for involving outsiders in pack business, possibly thrown out altogether. Which, considering everything, wasn’t the worst-case scenario in my mind.

  Adam circled in front of the group of wolves watching on the sidelines before coming to stand at my left side. The thick hackles on the back of his neck were still raised but he’d put his fangs away—for the time being.

  “This isn’t your fight, witch,” Frederick hissed.

  “It is now,” I replied, feeding more magic to the stunning spell gathering on my fingertips. “I can’t stand by and watch you kill someone.”

  “Oh, yeah? And why not? What do you care about a werewolf?”

  My eyes cut to Nick for half a heartbeat. He looked terrified.

  “Did you kill Breanna?” I asked Frederick, shifting a hard stare back to him.

  “As a matter of fact, no. I didn’t.”

  “Liar!” Bruno shouted, rallying to take another swing at Frederick.

  The vampire easily swept out of the way and Bruno went stumbling forward, off-kilter from the unsuccessful punch. “I didn’t accept the terms of the duel because I’m guilty of this crime, but because it would shame the Bracken House to refuse any challenge.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Stars above.”

  “You killed her!” Bruno demanded. “I know it.”

  Nick stepped forward. “Right before the last full moon, some of the wolves in the pack”—he shot a nasty sideways glance at two young wolves in the half-circle—“went after a vampire. A member of House Bracken. Breanne’s death was revenge. You’re the only one who could have ordered it.”

  “That’s a nice little fairy tale you have there,” Frederick said, looking at Nick with conte
mpt. “But, that’s all it is. A story. The vampire that was attacked by your runts never identified their assailants. Now that I know—” he paused and took a few intimidating steps toward the young wolves.

  The teenagers clamored back a few steps. “We’re—we’re sorry!”

  Frederick smiled, his fangs gleaming in the light. “You will be.”

  Bruno took the opportunity to make another run at Frederick and tackled him from behind. Caught off guard, the vampire toppled and the two wrestled on the ground. Some of the other wolves cheered their leader, and I looked away for a moment but snapped back when Adam growled and lunged forward.

  “This is for Breanne!” Bruno howled, producing a wooden stake from the inside of his vest.

  Adam knocked Bruno off balance and Frederick rolled away, his eyes dark pools of hate and rage. “You won’t live long enough to regret that, wolf!”

  Bruno fought to get out from underneath Adam, but the giant dog had him pinned, the wooden stake having been pitched aside in the tackle.

  Evangeline swirled her wand like a lasso above her head and when she cast the spell, a crackling sound rose through the chaos, and a thick layer ice spread across the ground. Frederick took a charge at Bruno and Adam but slipped on the ice and went down hand. He landed with a hard crunch and a string of curses, a mix of modern and ancient.

  “That’s enough! All of you!” I screamed. “No one is killing anyone. I want the names of the wolves who attacked the House Bracken vampire, I want that vampire’s name, and Bruno, you will call off this duel.”

  The wolf snarled at me. “Like hell!”

  Adam growled and lowered his snout until it was practically touching Bruno’s nose. He dug his paws into the wolf’s shoulders and Bruno yelped.

  “Why are you even here?” Frederick grumbled, getting up gingerly from the icy-coated ground. “How is any of this your business?”

  His dark eyes narrowed but quickly went wide again as I ripped an official SPA badge from my pocket and flashed it at him. “This clear it up for you?”

  The magically enhanced security clearance badge glowed and I wasn’t sure it was the magic or the SPA emblem that made the vampire scuttle back a few steps. “My father didn’t mention you’re—”

  “That’s because we never got around to discussing it before we were ejected from your family’s home,” I snarled.

  “Whoa, you have a badge?” Evangeline exclaimed, sounding entirely too excited considering the circumstances.

  “I’m here on SPA business,” I snapped at the crowd, zeroing in on Frederick. “You will answer my questions now, or I’ll have you brought into custody. Trust me, that won’t go well for you.”

  Frederick looked over his shoulder to where Adam had Bruno pinned. “Consent the duel forfeit,” he said.

  Bruno hesitated and Adam pressed into him. “Ouch! Okay, okay! Fine, it’s forfeit!”

  I smiled and pocketed the badge. “Lovely. Let’s get started.”

  It was a strange group that assembled in the expansive living room of the Bracken’s family lodge. The vaulted ceilings seemed to go on forever, only second to the floor-to-ceiling picture windows that lined one side of the room. Frederick Bracken didn’t slip into full-on host mode, but he did allow the wolves inside and turned on the river-rock fireplace.

  “Let’s get this over with, witch,” he said, crossing his arms once the fire blazed to life.

  “Holly,” I supplied with a crisp tone. “As for getting started, you know what I’ve asked for. Who was the vampire that was attacked? I’ll pass it on to the appropriate department.”

  Frederick eyed the men sitting on his couch. There were a total of eight wolves, counting Bruno and Nick. It wasn’t the entire pack as there wasn’t a female among the group—which I thought was a little strange. I’d seen female wolves fight before and they could be just as tough, if not more brutal, than male wolves. But for whatever reason, they appeared to have been left behind. Surely, Breanne wasn’t the only female in the pack. I made a mental note to ask Nick about it later.

  “I don’t think that will be necessary,” Frederick finally said. “We’ll consider the matter resolved on the word of your alpha that he will deal with his underlings.”

  Bruno’s lip curled back but he thought better of whatever insult he’d come up with and shifted his expression. “Consider it done.”

  No matter what punishment Bruno dealt, there was no question it would be more merciful than leaving the young wolves to the vampires.

  Frederick gave that Cheshire grin and turned his attention back to me. “You see, we’re all just the best of friends again. So, are we done here? It’s going to take me all day to get the smell of wolf out of the upholstery,” he sneered.

  A couple of the wolves snarled at him, which only seemed to entertain him further.

  “One more question,” I asked, raising a finger before the arguments could boil over again. “Bruno, is there some other evidence that pointed you to Frederick? If what he said is true, and he didn’t know it was your wolves that attacked one of his members, then is the matter settled?”

  “Hardly!” Bruno snapped, still glaring at the vampire from across the room. Tension crackled, filling the large room. “Maybe the motive was wrong, but I have an eyewitness who told me he was with Breanne last night. This morning, she shows up dead. You do the math.”

  “Who’s the eyewitness? Did they see the attack? An altercation?” I pressed, moving to stand between the wolf and the vampire in case the murderous look in Bruno’s eyes spilled over into action.

  “I don’t know her name,” Bruno replied, the words like the lash of a whip. “She didn’t say and I didn’t ask. I met her at McNally’s. She said she’d seen me in there the night before with Breanne and told me I should watch my back because she’d seen Breanne with something matching this fanger’s description, getting into a car that looks a helluva lot like his.”

  “Why would Breanne go willingly with Frederick?” Evangeline interjected.

  “Obviously she was glamoured. She would never have gone off somewhere with a parasite like him. She hated vampires. Thought they were monsters.”

  Frederick bristled, but I silenced him with a dark look before he could say anything to further agitate Bruno.

  I glanced back at the furious wolf. “What did she look like? Maybe one of the bartenders at McNally’s knows who she is. There has to be more to the story.”

  Bruno shrugged. “She was pretty, I guess. I’ve never seen a girl with silver hair before.”

  Across the room, Nick’s eyes went wide. He looked at me and Evangeline.

  There was only one woman wandering around Beechwood Harbor with that description.

  Chapter 14

  We barely made it outside before a new tussle broke out. Angry voices cut through the chilly night air, and I turned to see where they were coming from. Shock washed through me when I realized Nick was one of the new combatants. He and one of Bruno’s wolves, a lanky man with long hair, were tangled together in the driveway.

  “You should have stopped this!” Nick growled at the wolf.

  They were matched for height, but Nick had at least twenty pounds of muscle on him, and the other werewolf was struggling for purchase as his boots slid in the thick gravel. “Stay out of this, Rivers! You’re just some rookie who doesn’t know his snout from his tail yet.”

  Nick shoved back. “I’d never stand by and let my friend get torn apart by a vampire!”

  “Oh, yeah? I didn’t see you jumping in the fight!”

  “With Breanne gone, you’re his second!” Nick bellowed. “It’s your job to keep things like this from happening, not mine! You knew where we were going before we even got to Bracken’s house.”

  I looked across the driveway to Bruno, expecting him to step in and break up the fight. Instead, he looked almost pleased to watch his wolves squabbling.

  I rolled my eyes and stalked forward. “Nick, let’s go.”

  B
oth of the men snapped around to look at me. Fire burned in Nick’s eyes. What had gotten into him?

  For a moment, I thought Nick was going to tell me to beat it, but after a moment, he loosened his grip on the other guy and shrugged his shoulder. “You’re right, Holly. He’s not worth it.”

  “Oookay,” I said, sighing. “Evangeline’s car is at the bottom of the driveway.”

  Nick wasn’t the type to get into confrontations with people, but I chalked it up to adrenaline and fear. It had been a long night and none of us were in our best form.

  Evangeline and Adam led the way, Adam still in his dog form, and we walked to the entrance of the Bracken’s property and got into Evangeline’s car. Adam climbed into the backseat and flopped down with a heavy sigh. I’d never seen him shift twice in one night, and while I didn’t have any firsthand experience with the effort it must take to shift into another being, I imagined it was draining.

  Nick took the passenger seat after I crawled in beside Adam, and Evangeline pointed the car back toward Beechwood Harbor. “Do you need anything?” she asked Nick. “I have some aspirin in the glove box.”

  “All I want to do is get into bed,” Nick said, sagging against the passenger door. “Can you drop me at my car? I left it at my office.”

  Evangeline nodded. “Of course.”

  There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but my own energy was zapped from the adrenaline crash and I fell silent, leaning against Adam’s furry side. He placed his large muzzle on my shoulder and I exhaled slowly.

  “I’m sorry about all this,” Nick finally said. “I shouldn’t have dragged you all into this mess.”

  “Don’t say that,” Evangeline told him. “Who knows what would have happened if we hadn’t shown up when we did.”