Spellbound Murder Complete Trilogy (Spellbound Murder Box Set Book 1)

by Amanda Booloodian

  "He doesn't have my husband." The woman hung her head. "No one does."

  "Then you're helping him for nothing." Feeling was starting to come back to Mira. The numbness faded.

  "He took us all."

  "Andrea and Kevin escaped last week."

  The woman's head snapped up and she glared at Mira.

  Mira kept on. "I was here. Gabriel and I got them out."

  "He took them somewhere else. After Tyler—"

  "We took Tyler out of here, too." Something clicked in Mira's memory. "And Andrea and Kevin said they hadn't seen you. They didn't know if you were still here."

  It took the woman a little longer to respond. "They didn't see me. He let me see them, to make sure I knew the threat was still there. Tyler died after—"

  "Tyler's alive." Mira winced. "At least he was when I left."

  The woman started breathing heavier. "My kids aren't here?"

  "Gabriel and I rescued them." Mira put as much scorn into the words as she could, wanting to condemn the woman who had helped John do this.

  "Wait here." The woman disappeared.

  "Like I have a choice, you stupid woman."

  She appeared again moments later and unstrapped one of Mira's hands.

  The arm hung limply. Ghosted pain spread across her chest. Wishing for the numbness to return, Mira realized what she had done.

  This was her fault. She had come here instead of letting Emmit. It was hard to remember why. She stared at her useless arm and began to weep.

  Mira had been trying to channel the blame to the woman, the thing, that was in front of her. But it was Mira’s own fault.

  Why? Why had she come here?

  With tears running down her face she watched the creature disguised as a woman. It was pouring a thin vial into a cup but seemed to be having difficulty.

  Agony, whether real or remembered, once again receded.

  The woman shoved something in her pocket and came to Mira again. Mira couldn't even muster the strength to glare at the woman.

  "Drink this."

  Mira only stared at her.

  "Look, he'll leave us alone for a short time, but he will be back. This will help."

  "Help me or him?" Mira asked.

  "Us. You and me. He doesn't know I have it. He makes us... make things. I put this together with what I could manage to sneak past him."

  Mira shook her head.

  "Wait, look." the woman put a hand down her own shirt and for a moment.

  Mira's nose curled up as the woman seemed to grope herself.

  Seeing Mira's face, the woman started to blush. "He won't search a woman. Not really. It's... strange. Anyway. He made me search you, and I found this." She held out Mira's ring.

  Fresh tears welled up and Mira wasn’t able to take her eyes off the gleaming metal.

  "I figured it was important, and I could see the magic." She slipped it on Mira's finger.

  Mira found the strength to lift her hand and her eyes locked on the shining silver.

  "I have the feathers, too, although I have no idea what they are."

  "Give them to me," Mira demanded.

  The woman seemed taken aback by the fierceness in Mira's voice, then she held out the cup. "Drink this first. I added Relief, or the best version I could make of it."

  It seemed a small price to pay for the feathers, so Mira reached for the cup. The woman had to help her hold it.

  The viscous fluid made it into Mira's mouth. She gagged and choked. The woman pulled it away before Mira dropped it.

  "I know it’s awful, but it's all we have. There's no water here. Well, there's a little that he brings in, but that's all."

  "This… this isn’t water. What am I drinking?"

  "I... I... I've been afraid to ask. I don't want to know. Just drink it, quickly."

  Mira took it once again and downed the foul concoction.

  The woman set the cup aside and began to untie Mira's other hand.

  "The feathers," Mira demanded.

  The woman unbound Mira and handed over the feathers.

  Mira bit her lip and began to shake. After staring at them, she shoved them into her pocket.

  "We have to go," the woman said.

  "I'm in no rush to be shoved into a room somewhere."

  The woman looked surprised.

  "What?" Mira asked.

  "That bastard doesn't have my kids. We're getting the hell out of here."

  Mira stared at the woman but allowed her arm to be put around the woman’s neck. The woman helped Mira to stand and immediately began to move.

  They didn’t head toward the entrance to the hall, as Mira had expected, but behind a tattered-looking curtain and through a door behind. There was a small office and another door, which led them to freedom.

  "Your name is Mira, right?" the woman asked quietly, looking out the door before helping Mira outside and into the open.

  "Yes."

  "I'm Jean Henderson, but I guess you already knew that."

  Mira didn't say anything. She was starting to feel a little stronger and was beginning to walk more on her own. When Jean got them to an alley, Mira pulled back, steady enough on her own.

  "Where are we going?" Mira asked.

  "Away."

  It was good enough for Mira. At least at the moment.

  Two blocks away, they started down a new alley. Every muscle in Mira's body seized as phantom pains scorched their way through her. When her body started to return to some sense of normalcy, she found herself lying on the ground, panting, with Jean standing nearby, keeping watch at the alley entrance.

  Mira let her head fall back and watched the sky while she worked life back into her limbs.

  "Can you still walk?" Jean hissed.

  "I... I think so." Mira used the wall to help push herself up.

  "We need to move. Fast," Jean said then grabbed Mira's arm and urged her forward.

  Mira staggered before catching her footing and walking again, but there was nothing fast about her pace.

  "Here," Jean said, leading Mira to an alcove made between a building and an add-on garage. "Sit. Rest for a few minutes. We're out of sight here."

  The pressure to move on made Mira hesitate, but in the end, she wasn't sure she could. Mira sat on the ground, pulled her knees up, and rested her head on them. Her muscles felt weak and watery.

  "It gets easier," Jean said.

  "Easier? Did you... did they put you through that?"

  Jean looked uncomfortable. "They needed someone to complete their spells. Since I wasn't a real witch, they chose me. But I saw the others, Sybil and Tyler, go through it."

  "It didn’t look like Tyler was having an easy time." Mira couldn't help but let scorn eke into her voice.

  "The... aftereffects. It gets longer between incidents."

  "It goes away?"

  "I'm not sure."

  Mira closed her eyes. "I need Gabriel."

  "I think we can find a way out of the Ether—"

  "He's here. Where would they keep him? Back at the..." Mira couldn't bring herself to say church. There was nothing church-like about that place.

  "I'm not sure I've seen him." Jean was keeping her voice very careful.

  "He's a big guy. Tall, blondish hair, he has an over six feet wingspan."

  "Wingspan?"

  "Mostly white wings. Your daughter is a big fan of his."

  Jean looked stricken at the mention of her daughter.

  "She's safe," Mira said, softening her tone. "But Gabriel isn't."

  "Before you arrived, they did mention someone, though I don't know if it was him."

  "What did they say?"

  "They were ordering everyone, everything, to stay away."

  The first hope Mira had felt since being in the Ether started to kindle. "From where? Stay away from where?"

  "I don't know."

  "Think! What exactly did he say?"

  "Um... uh..." Jean looked around nervously. "Something about..
. something about him not being able to get out. John said he'd be at home at the place and killed some of those creatures there."

  "Gabriel doesn't kill," Mira snapped.

  "I’d kill them."

  "These things don't count."

  "It counts to them."

  Mira laid her head back against the wall and looked at nothing. "You're right."

  They sat quietly for a while. Mira tried to get her mind away from what had happened to her and instead concentrate on Gabriel.

  "Do you know where he was when he killed them?" Jean asked after a while.

  "Everywhere he had to." Mira thought through all the nightmares they had faced together. "He may have killed some of them last night at his house, back in our world."

  "Could they hold him there?"

  "I doubt it. Lance's house wouldn’t work either. Mine for the same reason. There's no way Gabriel wouldn't be able to get out."

  "The place must be important in some way. Where did he kill most of them?"

  "The street. Or maybe Lance's."

  "And the most recent ones were at his house?" Jean asked.

  "Maybe. Also my store, earlier that night."

  "Is there a place in your store?"

  "The freezer, maybe, but I doubt it. Is there any place that you've noticed them avoid?"

  Jean shook her head. "They only take me where they want me to work. Where was he when he killed his first... thing?"

  "The street, I think." Mira thought back and realization struck. "No. It was a parking garage."

  "Those are open spaces."

  Mira pushed herself to her feet, her body protesting. "But it was at the police station, where he works."

  "Is it nearby?"

  "A couple miles, maybe," Mira lied. She knew they were over five miles away. Whether she was trying to fool herself or Jean, she wasn't sure.

  "They'll be out looking for us by now," Jean said.

  "Do you have any idea how long I've been here?" Mira asked.

  "I've lost any sense of time in this place. There's no day, no night, no weather, no seasons. It doesn't help that some minutes feel like hours, but some hours, especially when they leave you alone. Those hours go by like seconds."

  "I have no idea how long I was out of it." Mira touched the spot where her head had been slammed against the ground. "We should go."

  "Can Gabriel help us leave this place?" Jean asked.

  "He can help keep us alive while we're here."

  Jean didn't look convinced. "We don't have any magic or weapons."

  "I'm not going anywhere without him." She kept the fact that she had magic to herself. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't fully trust Jean. There was no way she could trust the woman who had helped strap her to that board. Just remembering that made her take a step away from the woman. "Let's go."

  Mira didn't wait for a response. At the alley entrance, she watched the street for a while before darting across. Jean stuck close by.

  Everything they did seemed painfully slow. They were always looking over their shoulder and trying to find any hints of a pursuit. Even with the paltry progress, it wasn't long before Mira needed a break. This time, she stayed on her feet, only allowing herself to lean against the wall for a short time before moving on.

  They were granted a brief reprieve when Jean spotted movement in the distance. The two took cover, taking a chance on one of the buildings. Going inside was something that Mira wanted to avoid. It was not only possible that something was claiming the place as home, but it was leaving the buildings that bothered her most.

  They listened closely while Mira sat in a corner, close to the door, trying to focus on nothing but getting to Gabriel. If she concentrated on him, there was less room for the jumble of emotions that welled up when she left even the tiniest of space for them.

  The strange light and haze of the world seemed even more unnatural inside the buildings as well. It seemed as if there was no difference between inside and outside.

  "When we find your friend," Jean whispered, "do you have a plan for how to get out?"

  Mira was hesitant to tell Jean that someone would be waiting for them at Lance's house. There was a slight possibility that Jean knew where the house was—or in this world, where the house used to be. Trusting Jean was out of the question, but like it or not, she needed the woman.

  "Don't you want to go back for your husband?" Mira asked. "And there's Sybil to consider as well."

  "My husband is gone."

  "But John said—"

  "His body is still there." Jean seemed to shiver and made herself smaller. "After... well, after Tyler started to weaken, my husband was the one that took his place." Jean's face scrunched up as if she were in pain. "He didn't last long." Her voice cracked.

  "I'm so sorry," Mira said softly.

  "But they thought his body might be of use. They had already tried once on Sybil, and it didn't work on her, so they tried my husband."

  "Tried what?" Mira wasn't sure she wanted to know, but she didn't want to leave anyone behind. She needed to understand.

  "John's body was badly damaged. He needed help on the other side. Help he could trust. They tried to possess another human’s body."

  Mira put a hand to her mouth, feeling ill.

  "No one is sure what happened to Sybil. The woman Sybil was is gone, but the creature that tried to possess her... it seems to be gone as well. Only a shell of a person is left."

  Jean was shaking and Mira wasn't going to push her any further, but after a while, Jean continued on her own. "With my husband, the creature survived... in a way. It was as though the bodies fused together instead of their minds. The... the... thing that was created screams almost nonstop and mutilates itself and anyone around it. They keep him... it, chained up."

  She sunk to the floor and wept, although there were no tears. It had probably been a week since the woman had much in the way of water.

  "I am so sorry." Mira felt it was a weak reply, but what could she say? What could anyone say in the face of something so horrendous?

  The sat in silence, each trapped in their own thoughts. Mira had no idea how long they sat there, but Jean's nightmare had caused horrible visions for Mira and she needed some time to push them aside.

  When she had her mind firmly on Gabriel again, she pushed herself to her feet and took the chance to peek outside. She even studied what she could see on the neighboring rooftops.

  "We should go," Mira said, keeping her voice low and her eyes on the street.

  Wordlessly, Jean got to her feet and followed Mira. They ran softly to the next alley entrance and began to make their way through the maze of streets.

  Mira held up a little longer after their break, but being on constant guard was wearing her down. She knew they were getting close, so she forced herself to go a few more streets. Again and again, she told herself one more block, one more, another.

  Without warning, her body seized. She wasn't sure if she managed to stay quiet—she tried—but there was nothing but agony. Even thoughts of Gabriel were swept from her mind. It built and built until it felt as though every nerve ending was on fire. She wanted to black out, be knocked unconscious, anything to take her away from herself.

  The feelings began to ebb. This time had felt like more than just phantom remembrances of pain. When mental processes began to coalesce again, Mira realized she was on the ground, curled into a little ball sobbing.

  It took more than a few steadying breaths before she could get herself under control. Jean was nowhere to be seen, but at that moment Mira didn't care. There was something wrong—something seriously wrong inside her. She didn't know what it was, but the ideas of what it could be frightened the hell out of her.

  Shakily, she moved to a wall and leaned against it, closing her eyes. At the sounds of running, they shot open again and she jumped to her feet. The wall was the only thing that kept her standing, but it felt better than being on the ground.

  Seeing Jean r
unning forward, Mira leaned down and took her piece of string and wire out of her sock. She pushed the wire into her pocket and balled the string up in her hand so that the light glow of magic looked as though it was coming from her ring.

  Jean looked behind her several times, tripping over her own feet in the process. Mira could see fear in the woman's eyes, but she couldn't see a cause.

  "We have to go," Jean whispered fiercely to Mira.

  "What happened?"

  "I went to check the area," Jean seemed to blush and didn't look at Mira, "Just in case. And I saw that."

  She pointed toward the sky before tugging on Mira's hand. Mira stumbled, but caught herself and started to move with Jean—slowly at first, and then with more confidence once she confirmed her body was working correctly.

  "I don't see anything," Mira said.

  "It's there, the sky, the whole area."

  Mira looked and saw the same endless haze and dim light radiating everywhere.

  Chapter 22

  "There's a mass of darkness and shadows." Jean stopped and looked at Mira uncertainly.

  "What is it?"

  Jean's eyes were wide and her hands were shaking. "I've never seen anything like it. But, but… you do see it. Don't you?"

  "I don't see anything." Jean’s uneasiness was spreading. Mira looked behind her one more time, striving to see even a speck in the sky. "Let's get moving. Tell me what it looks like on the way."

  "It's a shadow, a pillar of shadow moving through the city."

  Mira started moving faster, her heart beating quickly. "The thing from the city?"

  "I don't think so," Jean said. "I've never seen this."

  They took more twists and turns than necessary. Mira tried to keep moving, but she was beginning to slow and lose steam fast.

  "It's following us," Jean hissed, tugging on Mira, trying to urge her onward.

  Mira looked back, still seeing nothing. Her muscles were shaking from exhaustion now. They crossed a wide street, never moving in a straight line. At the cross street, Mira couldn’t continue and fell against the wall.

  "We can't stop," Jean pleaded.

  "Where is it?" Mira asked.

  "It's not far behind us. We have to keep going."