“What I’m getting at,” Mira said, redirecting the conversation, “is that I can use Bind, but the spell isn’t going to make him believe me. Being subtle isn’t going to work.”
“Do you have anything flashy set aside for a rainy day?” Tyler asked.
“Nothing. You?”
“I have a few things that might fit the bill,” Tyler said. “This could be fun.”
“Just remember that we don’t want to scar him or anything. We only need him to believe.”
“I’m willing to throw out help in that area.” Tyler was wearing an impish grin that made Mira worry about his intentions. “But it’s going to take more than a witch.”
“Do you think the werewolves…” Mira trailed off, uncomfortable with asking something that big from them.
“Hell yes. You didn’t see them last night. If it helps them get closer to the murderer, they are all for it. I’ll talk with Noah.”
“Thanks,” Mira said, starting to feel better about the idea. “I’m going to ask Della to help out as well. I don’t think she’ll go for it, but it’s worth a try.”
“The elves?” Tyler suggested.
“They might be convinced, but I'm not sure we’d be able to rein them in if they let loose, though,” Mira said.
“Good point. I think we’d need to rule out Lance for the same reason.”
“Agreed.”
“With three of us, we can cover the convincing part,” Tyler said. “I’ll call Noah and then we can discuss your lack of lavender.”
Mira grinned. “I’ll go ahead and call Della as well.”
Before Mira picked up her cell phone, it rang. The number was unfamiliar, but she answered.
“Hi, this is Ian.”
Mira glanced at clock in the kitchen. “I was expecting a call from you or Detective Flint much earlier.”
“That’s why I was calling.” Ian’s voice sounded drained, as though he’d gone without sleep for days. “We haven’t received your file yet.”
“I bet that made Detective Flint a happy camper.”
“Well, there’s plenty of other things to do.” Ian didn’t sound enthusiastic about it. “Anyway, I know you thought I’d have questions this evening, but I won’t. You can expect us to see you tomorrow, though.”
Mira glanced around the kitchen with all the spell materials strewn about. She really didn’t want to wait on this. Another day could mean another person’s death.
“There are a few things I need to tell you,” Mira said uneasily. It’s vague suggestions like that, made to cops, that can get a girl in a lot of trouble.
“About the case?” Ian asked.
“It might be related,” Mira said, trying to think of a way to get Ian to come without his partner.
“We can be over in—”
“No,” Mira said, inventing quickly. “Look, it might not be related at all, and if it’s not, I don’t want Detective Flint all bent out of shape over it.”
Ian sighed. “I told you, he’s not a bad guy once you get to know him.”
“Well, until that day, I’d rather talk to someone who isn’t going to get all huffy with me.”
“Huffy?” For the first time, Mira heard a grin in Ian’s voice.
“You know what I mean.”
“Okay. Where would you like to meet?”
“At the shop around seven-thirty tonight if you can make it.”
“I’ll be there.”
Mira felt elated when she hung up. She instantly called Della and filled her in as surreptitiously as possible over the phone.
Once Della was recruited, Mira and Tyler finished dickering about the spell. When they finished and Tyler left to meet Della and Noah, Mira went to her store, confident that the plan would work.
The store had closed its doors at six, so when Mira arrived, it was empty, as she had expected.
She had a few minutes to get ready, but that was all she needed. Even with the base spell already created it had taken hours to get the spell ready. In theory, it should have taken days to complete the spell and Mira had put a lot of herself and her own energy into the spell to finish it quickly. She felt worn as a consequence.
Now, all she had to do was cast it. For that, tea was essential. She had it brewing when a knock sounded at the door. Something in her stomach was fluttering as she let Ian in.
“Hi,” Ian said as he entered, “I wasn’t expecting the store to be closed.”
He was wearing jeans and a dress shirt, and she noticed as he walked past that he smelled like a dream. He looked tired, but seeing his handsome face made her smile.
After too long of a pause, Mira realized she was staring at him.
“Um, yeah, uh,” she stammered, “we closed at six. Come in and have a seat, I made us some tea.”
As Ian settled in, Mira snatched the two tea balls that she had specially prepared and served the tea with some leftover brownies that her partner had set aside for her.
“Thank you,” Ian said, “I haven’t had a chance to get dinner.”
“Anytime,” Mira said, pouring the tea.
The potion part of the spell was in both cups. Now all she had to do was activate it, which was the harder part. For this particular spell, he had to say his part. It was a small price to pay for a rush job, especially since the words weren’t out of the ordinary, but he also had to mean them.
“It looks like you had a rough day,” Mira said.
Ian shrugged. “It wasn’t the greatest.”
Seeing Ian made Mira second-guess her plan. She’d thought about it from many different angles, but hadn’t really considered what having this secret might do to him.
“Do you think you’re close to finding out who killed Sally?” It felt awful leaving Helen’s name out, almost as if she didn’t matter. If all went well tonight, though, Ian would know how the two were connected.
“We’re doing everything we can.” He crumbled up a corner of his brownie, keeping his eyes on the food. “Listen, are you really an expert on the occult?”
“Why does that question keep coming up?”
Ian didn’t respond.
It had to be something odd they had found out about Helen. “Yes, I’m an expert.”
“How does someone become an expert in that?” Ian asked.
“It happened in college.” Mira started choosing her words very carefully, knowing this was her chance to get him to say what was required for the spell. “Regarding me as being an expert, the file will tell you everything that Detective Flint will need for the case, but there’s more to the story. That’s the part that I think you’ll have questions about.”
“Do you want to give me an idea of what that might be?”
Mira looked him over. He appeared at ease, more so than she was, but he also looked worn down by the case.
Who knows, maybe this would help.
“The problem is,” Mira said after her moment of hesitation, “that this doesn’t only involve me. Quinton played a part.” She tensed, hoping she was picking the right words. “Before I can tell you what happened, everything that happened, even if it doesn’t help you with the case, I need you to swear that you won’t tell anyone what I’m going to tell you.”
“Gabe may need to know,” Ian insisted.
“Everything related to the police case I worked is in the file. The rest is... more personal.”
He looked at Mira for a few moments, really studying her. “Okay. I promise.”
Mira had no idea what he saw in her and she wasn’t going to ask. Instead, she smiled. “That’s really not enough. Say, ‘I swear I won’t tell anyone’. ”
Ian sighed. “I swear I won’t tell anyone.”
That had been easier than Mira thought. “How long did you know Quinton before you ran into me?” She watched the spell stretch over him.
Ian shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “About three years.”
The spell needed time to sink in, so Mira told him about the past that she had kep
t hidden for so long. “I met Quinton about six to eight months before that Logic class. We didn’t know each other well, but we sort of hung out together. You know?”
“Sure,” Ian said, “he mentioned once that you helped him with something.”
“Did he seem like he was having difficulties during that time?”
“It’s hard to say. Most of the time I think he was happy.” Ian looked lost in thought. “Sometimes, I wondered if something might be going on, though.”
Mira nodded. “Happy may be an understatement. We were, um,” she cleared her throat, “we were taking something called Bliss.”
“Drugs?” Ian’s face turned stern.
“Something like that. It did exactly as it describes. It makes you happy and you don’t care about anything else. There was nothing I gave a damn about for almost nine months.” Mira felt her face start to turn red. “Until you came down, of course. Then real life came rushing back and you found you had let your stress and problems pile up. Each time was a little worse, so each time, you wanted more Bliss to make it all go away again.”
“I had no idea he was on drugs.”
She shook her head. “That’s not surprising.” Mira checked the spell, seeing that tendrils were sinking in deeper, through the bone, through the soul, but were not yet anchored in place.
“And you helped him?”
“It was the least I could do.” Mira looked down at her hands, twisting them together, but she really didn’t see them. Her mind was cast back. “Bliss was something that I made.”
When Mira chanced a look up, Ian’s face had gone rigid.
Chapter 7
“It was something that already existed,” Mira hurried to explain herself, as though that might make it better. “So I made some and... shared with a friend when they were having a hard time. That friend brought another, and then there were more people around.”
“One of them being Quinton,” Ian said.
Mira shook her head. “I stopped making Bliss after a month or two.” She shrugged, still studying her hands. “Actually, I’m not exactly sure how long it was.”
“Then how—”
“Someone else stole the... um... recipe. Being away from it was difficult and the group grew larger. I was shut out for a while, but it was always there. Always around. When I started taking it again, Quinton was there.”
Ian had his arms crossed and was leaning back in his seat.
“The new stuff was harder to come down from,” she continued. “The group was different, too. It was bigger and the person making the stuff, which you’ll see in the file, was making all sorts of weird rules people had to follow in order to get some. For him, it wasn’t about money—or even the Bliss—it was about the power.”
This was harder to talk about than she’d thought it would be. She’d blocked so much of it away for so long that it was difficult to relive, so she fast forwarded a bit to get it over with. The spell was there. Ian was bound and it was time to get down to business.
“When I tried to come off the stuff again, it was noticeable. Not only to those outside the group, but those on the inside weren’t happy about it either. I’m not sure who did it, but someone turned me in.”
“We didn’t see any arrests on file,” Ian said, rather stiffly.
“It was covered up. Quinton’s mom had a lot of pull, even then. I agreed to get Quinton out and turn everyone else over. If I did that, then the only thing the record would show was me being helpful to the police.”
“How did you get Quinton out when you were already out?” Ian asked.
“They wouldn’t let me near them until I begged and pleaded and found my way back in. They-” An involuntary shiver ran through Mira. “It was difficult, but once I was there, I was able to draw Quinton away.” She clasped her hands together and rested them on the table, stiff, with her muscles clenched tight.
“You make it sound like a cult. You went back into that?”
“It was my fault he was there. It was my fault everyone was there. There’s a price to pay for something like that and I paid it.” Mira pushed the thought out of her mind. “Anyway, I got him out and testified when it went to court. Quinton wasn’t involved with almost everything on file, but you will probably see his name in there somewhere.”
Ian was quiet for a while. “How did you get him out?”
His hand covered her clasped hands and she jumped, startled. He carefully drew back, but the soft, concerned look on his face remained and threatened to melt her heart.
Mira felt wrung out. She was done with this. It was time to tell Ian the truth.
She checked the spells tied to Ian and went on. “Bliss was treated as a drug, and it was a drug of sorts, but it was so effective because it was a spell. I got Quinton out because I created another spell to counteract it. Slowly, so it wouldn’t be as difficult.”
“I don’t understand.” He looked confused and Mira didn’t blame him.
Mira felt like a weight was settling in on her. “I’m not sure if this is making things better or worse for you.”
“I’m not sure what it is you’re trying to say.”
“Supernatural people exist in the world.” Mira took a deep breath and barreled on. “I’m a witch. Sally was technically human, but clairvoyant. Helen was a werewolf. They knew each other. We all know each other.”
He looked like he was struggling hard with what to say. “I’m still not sure I understand.”
“You’ll understand in time,” Mira said. “It’ll take an adjustment, but it’s important you know. We decided it was important for you to know. Sally and Helen have this secret in common and you had to know about it.”
Ian shook his head and pulled away from Mira. “Look, I’m not exactly sure what this is about, but maybe I should head out for the evening.”
This was the hardest part. Any supernatural that has ever told any normal person the truth about themselves faced this challenge. Normally, they’d ease the person into it, but Ian had to know everything all at once. He had a case to solve and the whole community needed him to get to work on it.
“Sure,” Mira said, nodding, “I understand. Before you go, though, you should know that I put a Bind spell on you. You will not be able to tell anyone about this unless you know they are supernatural in some way.”
“Look, Mira, just stop. Why are you doing this?”
She sighed. “We need you to know the truth.”
“Is… this another cult sort of thing? Is that what you’re trying to say?”
“No.” She looked on him with pity. “I know you don’t believe me and that’s okay. After tonight, you will.”
“Is that a threat?” Ian asked, his entire attitude turning ridged.
It was Mira’s turn to look confused. “There’s no threat. Remember that. No one is going to hurt you.”
“Whatever. Look, I’m out of here.”
“Be careful out there tonight,” Mira said before he could get to the door. “Call me when you want to talk about it.”
“You will definitely be hearing from me and Detective Flint tomorrow,” he said curtly and left the store.
Mira slumped back into her chair and stared at nothing. She hated admitting it to herself, but she had hoped that things would go well with Ian. Maybe she shouldn’t have gone into everything about Quinton, but she figured it was two birds with one stone. Now she had both pieces of knowledge out there to churn in Ian’s mind.
Coming out of her reverie, she texted the others. He’s all yours.
***
Mira didn’t want to go straight home. After she drove around a few streets of the city, though, she realized she had nowhere else to go. Tyler and Della were both busy, and there was no way she could eat with all the influences of her past deeds floating through her mind. They stuck no matter how hard she pushed them back.
Before she made it home, she received a text from Della. My part is done. I’m exhausted.
When Mira parked her car
next to the staircase to her apartment, she received another text. This one from Tyler.
I hope this worked. Noah had the grand finale.
Once she was ensconced in her apartment, she couldn’t sit still. After giving Alchemy and Oracle as much attention as they deemed appropriate, she started flipping through her mail. She found an envelope in the pile that had only her name on it.
A text distracted her. She looked down and found another note from Tyler. Noah’s done. He’s either a believer or too dense to be useful anyway.
Mira wrote back, Thanks for your help. We’ll know soon.
Frowning, she turned her attention back to the envelope and opened the note.
You’re not wanted in this city. You’ll regret it if you stick it out.
The envelope looked familiar, so she went to her coat and then searched the apartment until she found the envelope that had been left for her earlier in the day. Same envelope and paper. She opened it.
Ditch the store and leave the city.
Anger welled up.
Brian Benton did this. She knew it.
That slimy landlord was trying to get her to let go of her lease. Well, it would be a cold day in hell before she walked away. She wadded up the note and tossed it on the table, fuming. She dropped the other beside it.
Alchemy and Oracle watched from a distance as Mira paced the living room. Realizing that she continued to glare at the letters, Mira moved to the kitchen and began straightening things as a distraction. The cats padded to the doorway and watched, tails flicking and eyes bright as their person stalked around the room.
Mira’s anger fell to a simmer. It dropped further when Oracle let out a yowl and leapt to the windowsill.
“What’s up?” Mira asked.
He hissed and Alchemy joined him, which was rare.
A loud crash came from outside.
Seeing that it was after ten, Mira flipped on the outside lights and went to the deck.
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