"Grayson told me that you'll be out of town by tomorrow night, I'm assuming it's PIB related."
I see that the vampire PIB agent had been keeping tabs on me. "Yes. Undercover from what I understand, but that's all I know. I'll be going to Luna Grove."
He groaned. "I want to send Mario with you."
"No." I tried to leave no room for argument. "I can't trust Mario to have my back, and there's a chance him being around will blow whatever cover I have."
"You're going alone then?"
"Simon will be going with me. I promise I'll stay safe."
Another bout of silence had me wondering what he was thinking. "Okay, I will trust Simon to keep you as safe as he can, but if Ira shows up or your case goes wrong, come home."
"I promise any sign of Ira, and I'm out of there."
"Thank you." He disconnected the call, and I put the phone back on its charger and rolled over to sleep.
∞
The next morning, I dragged my ass out of bed and to the office. I wasn't late, but I had skipped picking up coffee on my way. Luckily for me. Liz had two cups sitting on the conference table in the briefing room. She sat at the table with folders in front of her and looked up when I entered.
"Good morning, Agent Collins."
I nodded to her. "Morning." I eyed the coffee on the table, and she motioned to it.
"Enjoy it. You're going to need it for this." She tapped the folder. "I was able to pull information that was beyond your clearance."
I didn't like the sound of that. "Like the patterns of the deaths in Luna Grove?"
She nodded. "Yes." She handed me a folder. "As you know, undercover jobs tend to take a lot of work to build you a new persona, a new past, new everything, but we're going about this a bit differently."
I opened the folder. I hadn't gotten a chance to take a good look at it before Simon walked in the door. He gave an apologetic look. "Sorry I'm late, I had to make sure the pups were comfortable being alone while I was gone and Travis was running the pack."
I nodded and went back to my folder as Liz handed Simon his.
"We know that there are truth spells all around the city, so we had to make your stories as close to the truth as we could," Liz stated. "Simon, you're there to talk to the alpha there, which is the truth because he invited you to speak to him after the death of his wolf."
"Abigail. You're there to see an old friend while you're-"
I saw the words on the paper before she even said it. "On administrative leave? For what?"
"Grief counseling," Liz said easily. "Because you lost a good friend on your last big case and it has started to affect your work."
It really wasn't a far stretch of the truth. I looked over the papers. "And who am I going to go see?"
"Ana Marsh, you graduated with her from the academy."
I smiled a little bit. Ana and I had been in many of the same classes, and she was a talented witch. I scanned the document for a moment. "She's the agent on the case." I saw that info in the file. "I'm not sure if we're going to be able to get away with this. People know I'm a PIB officer."
"Yes, but they don't know she is. Two college buddies getting together while one is on vacation." Liz jerked her head to Simon. "You tagged along with him because it was better than doing nothing at home."
Simon snorted. "Sounds like Abby. She can't sit still for more than an hour without looking for trouble."
I hit him playfully in the shoulder. "If anyone has access to PIB's database there, all they have to do is run my name through the system and find out that I'm not actually on leave."
"It'll show you on leave as of today. You're to drop you badge off to Boss Man so that anyone here that might leak information sees you doing it. The security system and everything will point to you being on leave."
I glanced at the camera in the room.
"Not active, you know sometimes technology just doesn't work in new buildings." She winked at me.
The building was new because it had blown up a couple years ago thanks to a witch who'd placed a spell in the elevator. The blast had taken out most of the build, and supposedly my last partner. Though recently I had confirmation that he was alive. I tried not to think about it as I focused on the file before me. How much trouble could I get into playing this facade? It'd been years since Ana and I had even spoken to each other, but maybe we could pull it off.
"Okay, when do we leave?"
"First thing in the morning. Go see Boss Man now, and turn in your badge. The truth is on a need to know basis, so your cover will be safe."
Which made me wonder how Agent Grayson Yorkingson had found out, but I'm sure he had his ways. "Okay. Then that's what we'll do."
"Find out what you can. If we can bring in the witch or warlock that's doing this, okay, if not, you just bring back information and let Ana figure it out. You won't have your usual access to the PIB databases, and contact between the two of us needs to be limited or from a secured line."
I doubted my phone counted as a secured line. I looked at Simon. "What is your role in all of this?"
"To strength your cover it looks like. I found out that you're on leave and I needed to go visit the alpha. I invited you to go with me." He shrugged.
"Simon will provide another layer of protection because typically we wouldn't send a wolf into a magical situation. In this case, it's just a nice coincidence that you dated him for a bit and that he's involved with the case."
I bit my lip. "I'm worried that's still a pretty close connection."
"The alpha doesn't know anything about PIB's involvement yet. I told him that I was on the case and we were handling it from here."
Okay, that helped a little bit. I took a deep breath. "Okay, I guess I'm turning in my badge and going to pack." I glanced at Simon. "You ready for this?"
He snorted. "As ready as I'm ever going to be."
I nodded and tucked the folder under my arm and grabbed my coffee. "Then let me go talk to Boss Man, and I'll see you out in the parking lot."
Simon nodded and took his own folder before walking out before me. Liz cleared her throat before I walked out of the room. "You'll be required to take a psychology test before they officially release you from your leave."
I glanced over my shoulder. "I figured. I'll be able to handle it. I've handled grief before."
"Yes, but what about all the other shit that's been thrown your way." The way she said it made me wonder if she knew exactly what had happened.
I tried not to tense. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, really? You took on a case for the king of vampires, I've seen the cases that he deals with. They are never pretty. I've seen the color changes in your circles, there was the vampire bite you came back with, the dark rings under your eyes…" she let it trail off. "You need to take care of you. I'm not only speaking to you as a team leader, but as a friend."
I closed my eyes. "Thank you. I promise I'll take care of myself." I walked out and headed toward the stairs that led to the top floor. Boss Man's office had always been up there.
I climbed the stairs and stood outside his door. I took a deep breath before knocking.
"Come in."
I opened the door and walked in. "Agent Jefferson said you wanted to see me, sir."
The little nameplate on his desk read Boss Man. It'd been that way for years. No actual name given, and most of us just accepted it. In PIB a lot of people had reasons for their secrets. I didn't think Boss Man was any different. His slicked-back black hair was starting to thin a little bit, and it didn't help his already rat-like appearance with his beady eyes and pointed nose.
He met my gaze and folded his hands on the desk. "I did. I'm sure she has already briefed you on your leave?"
I nodded. "Yes sir, and she was very clear that I need to make sure to take care of myself while I was
on leave." I unclipped my badge from my belt and nerves slid through me. What if this was the last time I had any claim to being a PIB agent? What if I couldn't pass the psychology test and officially be part of the taskforce again.
"Worried, Agent Collins?"
I shook my head and sat my badge on his desk. "No, just thinking about what to do with my leave." The dialog was for anyone who would check the paper trail and the security footage.
"Learn to enjoy the art of doing nothing." He laughed. "We'll see you when you're ready to come back." He looked back down at the paperwork on his desk, and I walked out of the office, shutting the door behind me.
Technically I was free for the day, and I could go to breakfast or I could go home and go back to bed.
∞
Simon was waiting by my car in the parking lot when I walked out of the building. He was reading through his folder, leaning against the driver's side door. He barely looked up at me when I approached.
"How does it feel?"
I raised a brow. "How does what feel?"
"Being on leave? Knowing that you have to go home and do nothing?"
I snorted. "I have plenty of things at home to keep me busy when I'm away from work." I pulled out my keys and unlocked the car. "I'm going out for breakfast. Want to join me?"
He shook his head. "No, I need to make sure that all the clubs are taken care of. I'll pick you up in the morning though. Okay?"
I raised a brow. "I can take my car."
"We'll be flying."
I wrinkled my nose. "Flying? I can't take any weapons on the plane."
"It's a plane, Abby, nothing is going to happen that you're going to need to shoot or stab someone."
I gave him an unamused look. "You clearly don't watch the news enough."
He shook his head. "It'll be fine. Just a quick flight, it'll be easier than driving and be a bit more authentic. If you fly in and not drive in, then they are less likely to suspect that you're working."
He had a point. I sighed. "Okay fine, we fly."
He chuckled. "I'll see you in the morning then."
I got in my car and decided that picking up breakfast was going to be the better idea. I could go home and look through the information that Liz had collected for the file without worry of anyone looking over my shoulder. The fact that she was cautious of anyone in PIB worried me. I had worked on worse cases, but this still had me nervous.
I started the engine and made my way back to the house, stopping to grab breakfast on the way. I waltzed into the house with my food to find the kitchen empty. My guess was Merick was off doing something else because he wasn't expecting me to be home any time soon. I put my food on the counter and set the coffee up to brew. Coffee with some sweat creamer would go perfect with my breakfast sandwich. I went to my fridge and found it empty except for creamer and some type of leftovers that I had no guess what they were.
I needed to go grocery shopping, which was nothing new. That went back to the taking care of myself thing. I ran a hand over my eyes and sighed. When the coffee was done, I sat at the breakfast bar and opened my file. The first couple pages were what Liz had gone over with me in the office. The next few pages were details on the deaths that seemed to form the pattern. I looked at the time of deaths which were almost exactly twenty-four hours apart. Liz had said they were hoping that I would be there in time to stop the next murder, but it had already been twenty-four hours since the murder here.
I pressed my lips together and looked back over the details. I wouldn't get to have my files or access the PIB database while I was there, so I needed to memorize what I could now and make note of what to ask Ana when I got to Luna Grove.
I was working on the time and dates a couple hours later when Merick appeared in the kitchen. I looked up at him and raised a brow. "So that's how you avoid the security system."
He nodded. "I see you're home early from work. Liz send you home to start preparing for your case?"
"Something like that." I closed the folder and went to refill my coffee cup for the fifth time.
"How long are you going to be gone?"
I shrugged. "However long it takes me to gain the information or solve the murders." I looked down at the folder. "Oh and pass a psych test."
He opened the folder and looked through the papers. "Ah, so you're on leave."
I snorted. "Yep. Think I can pass a psych test?"
"Depends, are they going to use a truth spell?"
I hadn't thought about that. "I certainly hope not. I have secrets that don't need to be shared."
He nodded and handed me the file back. "One of those times listed matches the time of the murder we found the runes at." A while ago, the high priest of the Cult had asked me to help with translating some runes they found somewhere. They had been pretty closed lips about the location, but it seemed now Merick was willing to talk about it a bit more. At this point, all I knew was the runes matched the ones found where Clarissa was killed.
"Really?"
He nodded. "Seems like this has been going on for a while."
"Judging by the dates, yes. It also seems that the information surrounding it in Luna Grove is very well guarded. So I'm sure the locals are tight-lipped about it." I sipped my coffee. "I'm going in with no authority, no badge, no connection to Levi, really nothing to save my skin if I need it."
"That's not true. You and I have been working on using your magic as a weapon. You could easily defend yourself that way."
I nodded. I had once managed to wield my magic into a metaphysical whip to save my skin. Merick and I had been working on controlling that over the last few months as the danger level of my life rose. "I hate using my magic that way."
"As long as you don't kill with it, you'll be fine." He patted my hand. "Now, you have a day off, and you need a break. Go take a nap, watch some television, and then pack."
I snorted. "Okay, okay. Feel free to go grocery shopping while I'm gone."
He mumbled something that I couldn't understand, but I let it go. I settled onto the couch and flipped on the television to find something to watch. Finally I found a channel with old sitcom reruns, and I sat back to watch.
∞
Dusk had fallen, and I still hadn't moved from the couch, except to get a couple snacks, and Merick had joined me at some point with coffee. I had been enjoying the silence and losing myself in fictional worlds where everything turned out perfectly fine. Something that rarely happened in my world.
The doorbell rang, and Merick and I looked at each other. He instantly turned into a cat as I got up to look at my alarm control panel. Levi stood there with Mario at his back.
I opened the door and raised a brow. "I was going to call you."
"Grayson just told me that your case was handed off to Liz and PIB suspended you."
I rolled my eyes. "He's being dramatic. They did not suspend me. The paperwork says that I'm on administrative leave."
Levi walked in, and Mario followed him. "The paperwork says?"
I nodded. "A cover-up. It's fine. I didn't kill anyone, I didn't blow anything up." I shut the door behind them. "But that really doesn't warrant a visit. I'm honestly getting ready to pack. Simon's picking me up in the morning so we can fly out to Luna Grove."
Levi sighed. "How come Grayson doesn't know that you're going undercover."
"It's a need to know basis. They think that someone in PIB might blow the cover."
Mario snorted. "PIB is becoming more and more corrupt."
"Like you're one to talk," I shot back.
"Abigail, please." Levi held a hand up. "I think it is a good thing that you're going out of town and that the paperwork says it's on leave. Ira will think that he has gotten to us, while you'll be safe. Hopefully, with you being out of town, he assumes we moved you to a safe house."
I rolled my eyes. "I don't need a s
afe house from Ira. He's batshit crazy, but again, he's not out to kill me. Which means that if he takes me again, I'll be alive and able to escape."
Of course last time, I had been lucky to escape. Levi had come after me, I controlled the fire in the lab so I didn't die, and Ira was injured. He now carried burn marks on his face from me.
"There are so many worse things than death, Abigail." Mario took a step toward me. I didn't back down. I stared him straight in the eyes.
"Like being held powerless against your will? A vampire feeding on you and shoving his power into your body to torment you for a week?" I snapped at him.
Levi sighed. "Abigail."
I shook my head. "Don't 'Abigail' me. I'm still mad about him betraying me to Hannah and Ira. I'm glad you think it's good that I'm going out of state, but even if you didn't, I'd go anyways because it's my job."
Levi nodded. "As I expected. If you need me, call me. I need to call the local vampire to let him know that you'll be coming into town. What shall I tell him?"
"That I'm going on vacation to see an old friend."
"And who is that?"
"Ana Marsh. I went to the academy with her. She's undercover as well." I shrugged. "So there, I'm visiting an old friend while trying to get my shit together."
Levi nodded. "Then I shall inform him that you'll be there. Thank you."
"Thank you for not trying to talk me out of this."
He shrugged. "As long as Ira doesn't come after you, I won't regret it."
"If you'd just let me kill him."
"Not an option." Levi glanced behind him at Mario. "Let's get going. I'd like to call the territory leader and look into the deaths Ira's been leaving us."
"Did you want my help on that case?"
"You're on leave, Abigail, they won't send you to help me." Levi laughed. "Do what you need to for your case. Mario and I will be fine."
I gave him a thumbs up and started toward the stairs. "I need to pack and then I should probably get some real food to eat."
Mario disappeared without a word, and I assumed he was pouting. Levi put a hand on my shoulder. "One of my associates saw you down by Clarissa's shop yesterday."
Between the Lines (Here Witchy Witchy Book 7) Page 3