Nathan cleared his throat. "Abigail, what you saw last night -"
"Was an attempt to summon a demon with a demon trap and without a sacrifice." I cut him off. "I'm not dumb, I've studied demon summoning as well as banishing." Apparently their spell of silence was only to keep people from talking to those who didn't know what happened at the Coven.
"Just a bit of fun, we do it on occasion, to impress guests."
I laughed. "I'm not very impressed. I don't find dark magic impressive."
He put a hand over mine. "I'm sure I could convince you otherwise."
I pulled my hand away as a shiver crawled up my back. "I'm not interested."
He laughed. "Before you leave, you will be. You'll be begging to stay in our little town." He stood and put the chair back. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around."
He walked away, and I pulled the menu back in front of me. "Well, that was interesting."
"Your power would add a lot to the coven, and you would feed from their power. You could grow stronger, and with his guidance, achieve almost any dark spell you can imagine." Ana pulled her own menu closer.
"Are you trying to convince me?"
"No, I'm trying to tell you what he's capable of." She looked up as the waiter came back with two steaming cups of coffee.
"Here we go, ladies. Are you ready to order?"
I gave up on the menu. "I guess I'll have the Eggs Benedict."
"A good choice. And you, Ana?"
"I'll take the same. Thank you."
He nodded and walked off to the kitchen to place the order.
I settled back into the booth and wondered what we'd talk about while in public.
∞
An hour later we were still talking. "Do you remember the time we stayed up all night cramming for the final while drinking?" Ana laughed. "Oh my gosh, I fell asleep in the hall and almost missed the test, and the hangover was awful."
I nodded. "Yeah, I fell asleep right after, waiting for you to finish and then we both fell asleep in the courtyard and missed our next class." I snorted and finished what was left in my mug. "I got home and had another test to cram for. Levi found me sleeping with my head on the table."
"How is he?"
"Levi? Grumpy as always, over-protective, bit of a worry wart nowadays." I shrugged. "Not much else I can say. I don't really see him often."
She checked her watch. "Oh shoot, I need to get to the bank."
I waved her on. "Go ahead. I've got breakfast. I can find my way back to the hotel."
"I hope you have a good day. Come see me for lunch if you get bored." She waved at me as she got out of the booth. I sat back and dug some cash out of my bag to pay for breakfast. The waiter approached the table and sat three pieces of paper down.
"The bill." He motioned to it and then walked away.
I picked up the papers and noticed that the bill had totaled out to zero, and a receipt behind it read customer copy, but the third paper had been folded up and had instructions written on the outside. "Leave tip, read when alone."
I folded up the receipt around the note and stuck both in my bag. I threw down ten dollars for the tip and then got up to leave.
I stepped out of the building and expected the sidewalks to be empty like they were when Ana and I first got to breakfast, but now people were covering the sidewalks, walking to their destinations with a bit more haste than I was used to seeing when it came to pedestrians. An occasional old model car drove slowly down the street, adding to the old small town feel as I walked to the hotel.
I did the tourist-y thing and stopped and peered into shop windows. Nothing interesting caught my eye. Some shops had silly souvenirs, like a shirt that said "Come howl at Luna Grove" with a wolf's head in the moon.
I stopped a couple shops away from the hotel when I smelled coffee. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was rich, bold, and calling to me. I looked up at a shop with a purple overhang, with 'café' written in the window in white cursive. I swore I hadn't seen it before, but I couldn't resist the smell of coffee. I walked into the shop, and a bell above my head dinged. Something wrapped around my aura and squeezed me, almost as if the magic was hugging me.
A woman looked up from behind the counter with a look of confusion that was quickly wiped away with a knowing smile. "I think you might be the first witch in this town that can cross that threshold."
I motioned to the door. "That's an interesting little spell you have there."
She laughed. "My shop only welcomes those with clean auras. That means you. Or if you're human, which you are most definitely not."
Her smile and laugh were infectious. Her dark hair was pulled away from her face and had a small streak of blue in it.
"Can I get a cup of coffee?" I asked as I walked further into the shop.
She nodded and turned her back to me. "You're obviously not from around here, what brings you to this run-down little town?"
"Just visiting a friend." I shrugged. "Trying to get my mind off things."
"Mm, yes, I sense some sadness to you." She turned back around and handed me a to-go cup.
I pulled out some cash and handed it to her. She rang up the coffee and then handed me some change back.
"You know, the sadness fades after time, and if you need a safe place in all this darkness, you're safe here." She nodded to the door. "No one can cross that if they have bad intentions or too much tint to their aura. No spies, no stalkers, nothing."
I smiled. "Thank you."
"What's your name dear?"
"Abigail. You?"
"Riley." She turned and grabbed a small pouch. She tossed it to me. "If you need some tea, there's some, on the house. It'll help with the sleep."
I caught it and snorted. "Do I really look that tired?"
"I can read it on your soul. Now go. I'm sure you have important things to do on your so-called vacation."
I stuck the bag of tea leaves in my pack. "Thank you for the coffee."
"I'll see you around."
I walked out the door and shivered as her warm magic left me to the cold, unfeeling town. I glanced at the building and noticed that it looked like nothing but a rundown house. Wards, damn good wards, because now I couldn't even smell the coffee. I glanced down at the generic to-go cup in my hand and shrugged. This town had a lot of odd things in it. What was a magical coffee shop?
I finished my walk to the hotel and took the stairs up to the floor our room was on. I fished the key out of my pocket and opened the door. Simon was pacing the room on the phone.
"Yes, I understand. No. No. let the pups see if they can solve it on their own. We aren't their parents." He met my gaze and smiled at me when I walked in. "And if it comes to that, then it's fine. Not every pup is ready to face the real world again at the same time. I have to go, Abby's back." He disconnected the call an put his phone in his pocket.
"Problems at home?" I dropped my bag on the bed.
He gave me a quick kiss on the lips. "Yeah, the pups are nervous, but Travis can handle it." He sat down on the bed. "How was breakfast?"
"Well, Nathan joined us, and he thinks it'd be a good idea for me to join the coven here."
To his credit, Simon didn't even flinch. "Did you tell him to go fuck himself?"
"No, because that wouldn't have been polite." I sipped my coffee. "I told him that I didn't want to join and that they had nothing to offer me." I shrugged. "I'm sure he'll keep on trying. He wanted to know why I was really here, seems to have done some looking into my past."
Simon moved the bag and pulled me into the crook of his arm. When I was faking a relationship with Mario, nothing felt natural. With Simon it was different. He knew how to read my moods and my signals and react to them. Mario was oblivious to all of them.
I leaned my head on his shoulder. "We had a lovely time at breakfast after though, it was really nice
to chat and catch up. We reminisced about our time together in college. Retold some old stories."
Simon snorted. "I don't imagine you as a wild college student."
"I wasn't because I really wanted to prove myself and be independent of Levi, but we still had good times." I pulled my bag to me and dug out the note I had gotten when I was at the breakfast place. It had said to read it when I was alone, but with all verbal communication and digital communications possibly being monitored, I wanted Simon to be able to read it with me.
We both had our backs to the window so anyone that might have been looking in that way would think we were simply snuggling together. I unfolded the note and looked at the writing.
There was an address written on it, nothing more. 5433 Spacewood Dr. I glanced at Simon, and he shrugged. "Ready to go check out the town?"
I nodded and put the note back in my bag. "Yeah, let's go. Maybe we can find a local place to have lunch. None of the food here has been disappointing so far. With the exception of being interrupted by Nathan every time I sat down to eat..
Simon wrapped his hand around mine as we made our way down the hall and the stairs together. Just your average couple getting ready to check out the town. Simon stopped at the hotel door by a rack holding brochures about the local attractions. He picked up a couple, looked at them, and then joined me again.
He held them up. "Can't hurt?"
I wasn't sure if he was seriously wanting to check them out or putting in a true effort on our cover. I plucked one from his hand and looked at the front. "A charming river walk with a magical touch." I raised a brow and flipped it opened. The river walk ran right near Spacewood Dr. I shrugged. "What's the other choice."
He held up a pamphlet to a haunted house.
"Okay, river walk it is." I shook my head. "I've had enough ghosts to last me a lifetime."
Simon laughed. "I thought it'd be fun to see if it was really haunted."
"Okay, maybe after the river walk. It's a beautiful day out, we should enjoy it."
We held hands again as we walked down the road, occasionally glancing at the map for the river walk and following it. With it being so close to Spacewood Dr., it'd be easy to claim that we got lost.
It wasn't long before the smell of water was in the air. Not the smell of rain, but the smell that came when you were near a large body of water. There was the small trickling sound of a river, and I was amazed that we hadn't noticed it when we first arrived because the river ran right along the edge of town.
We walked up to the worn-out faded sign that read 'Luna Grove River Walk, magic awaits you.'
I looked around and saw no other tourists. The only thing the river walk had going for it was that the river ran clear and nothing seemed to disturb it.
Simon snorted. "What a letdown."
I nodded in agreement. "Looks like it hasn't been a big tourist spot for a while. No vendors, no boats running on the river. Nothing."
We turned away from the faded sign, and I looked over my shoulder one last time, wondering if maybe it was all just hidden by magic like the coffee shop. Nothing made my skin crawl, nothing touched my aura, there was no sign that magic was hiding anything.
We walked hand in hand to Spacewood Dr. The contact was starting to feel more natural even though it'd only been a day since our relationship was created.
Multistory well-kept houses lined Spacewood Drive. The paint looked fresh and new, the lawns nicely trimmed, and the cars all shiny without any sign of aging on them. I imagined that this was the part of the town that they took pictures of to entice people to move here. Look how pretty this place is. Just kidding it's only a small stretch, and you probably can't afford it.
"I'm guessing that this is the swanky part of town."
We paused in front of the address, and I looked at Simon. He shrugged. "Go knock?"
I stepped off the sidewalk and on to the pathway of the house and paused as the shiver of magic went through me. It wasn't dark or malicious like the magic before, but it was there to protect. Simon walked up next to me and didn't even flinch. We continued up to the door hand in hand, and I tried to calm my heart. I had no idea what was waiting for me on the other side.
I knocked, and the moment the door opened, something clicked over my magic, binding it, and I gasped as I felt myself cut off from my magic. The man behind the door put a hand on my shoulder to steady me, and I jerked out of his touch.
"Just a temporary spell to protect myself. Please, come in."
I reminded myself that I was in a different town, surrounded by witches and warlocks who summoned demons without batting an eye. Anyone who wasn't into dark magic had to take special precautions, and I was a stranger to them. Simon and I followed him into the clean house.
Without introductions, the man led us through an entryway and into a sitting room with a couch and a few chairs. "You're a friend of Ana's, so I assume you're here on PIB's behalf."
So much for being undercover. I opened my mouth to lie, and magic crawled through me. He had a fucking truth spell in the house. "My paperwork says I'm on leave." It was the truth, so the magic didn't zap me. I sat down on the couch, and Simon sat next to me.
The man nodded. "PIB, always covering their tracks, always taking precautions. My name is Xavier Marsh, I'm a retired PIB agent myself. Ana is my daughter."
He was old enough to have been in PIB when it first formed, maybe older, but I was hopeful he would be another helping hand out here.
"Ana told me you were visiting and that you were investigating the murders." He sat down in a chair across from Simon and me. "I want to tell you that you need to return home. Nothing good is going to come of this, and if Nathan knows you are working for PIB, he'll not only kill you, but he'll torture and kill Ana." He met my gaze. "My daughter took this crazy assignment hoping to avenge her mother.
"What happened to her mother?" Simon asked, taking the thought right out of my mind.
"She was killed under suspicious circumstances, and the coven was the only connection they could find to the murder. But there has been nothing that she can prove about this coven. And as much as I try to convince her otherwise, she insists that we stay and that she continues the work."
I shook my head. "I can't do that. There's been a murder of a wolf in my city, this could be connected to the death of a friend, and there are many other deaths that this coven is responsible for."
"You realize that it could cost you your own life, right?"
I swore Simon tensed and I snorted. "All I have to do is breathe in order to become someone's target. Look, I'll take care of Ana the best I can, but if she has her own reasons for keeping the assignment, I can't force her to give it up. If we can nail Nathan for his crimes then maybe she'll feel like she's at peace with the whole situation." I crossed my arms. "So, if you're done wasting your time, I have things to do, scenes to check out, and quite frankly, it's getting close to lunch, and I'd like to have an uninterrupted meal."
Xavier stared at me for a moment. "What would your father think about you putting your life in danger for a hopeless case?"
"Oh trust me, he's not happy about it, but I follow my own rules. Not his." I snapped my lips shut realizing I had almost screwed up. I glanced at Simon, he didn't say anything, but I knew he'd caught my slip up. He was too sharp to miss it. I cursed the truth spell and then stood. "Have a good day Mr. Marsh."
He chuckled. "Scared you'll end up spilling all your secrets?"
"Truth spells are tricky little things." I glanced at him. "But remember, they work both ways. What are your true intentions here, Mr. Marsh."
I could see him hesitate. There were two ways of getting around a truth spell. Give an answer that was technically the truth, like I had with my response about my paperwork, or refuse to answer.
I nodded. "That's a good enough answer." I turned to leave, and he grabbed
my arm and spun me around.
Simon hand his hand on Xavier's before I even had a chance to speak. "Do not touch her."
"Care for her, do you?" Xavier pulled his hand away from me. "Let me ask you this, how much do you care for her? Are you willing to risk your life for her?"
There was no hesitation. "Yes."
I gave him a small smile as I realized that it was the truth.
"This case will get you both killed." He shook his head. A knock sounded on the door, and I looked at Xavier. "You're working for Nathan, aren't you?"
"Yes." Xavier walked down the entry hall.
This was going to end badly. "We need to get out of here and quick." I couldn't use my magic until we got off the property.
"Mr. Marsh, you called and said you did as I asked?"
I could hear Nathan's voice and my heart started to race. Simon and I darted further into the house. The first logical choice was the back door, but of course we found it locked and the deadbolt wouldn't budge. My guess was magic.
Simon put a hand to his chest. "We have a problem."
"What's wrong?"
"Something's pulling out my wolf. I can't stop it."
The good news was that he tended to keep his human mind as a wolf, and he was stronger than the warlocks in the house with us right now. I cupped Simon's face in my hands and studied his face. Lines of pain creased his brow as he tried to fight the change. "Don't fight it. Let it go and be in control."
"Are you sure?" There was a hesitance in his voice I'd never heard before.
"Yes, I trust you." I nodded.
"If something happens, get out of here as quick as you can. I'll find you. Understood?"
"Yes." I didn't want to leave him on his own to defend himself, but without my magic, I really didn't have a choice.
With slick wet sounds of skin and bone moving, Simon started his transformation. His back bowed forward, and he held his head down as his face elongated into a snout. Fur covered him, but just gray wasn't the right word for it. Tones of gray, white, and black moved through each hair creating a blended look. In wolf form, he stood well above my hip, and had I not known it was Simon, I would have been a bit intimidated.
Between the Lines (Here Witchy Witchy Book 7) Page 7