Wrath and Magic (Spells and Sins Book 5)

by Melody Raven

  A few glanced in his direction, but he didn’t acknowledge them. He was sure they didn’t know what to make of him, and he didn’t know what to do with them either. Sam was their boss now. Their leader. Part of him wanted to step in to help her. He had headed up teams before and was experienced. But this wasn’t his world. He didn’t have any actual authority over them.

  So he was going to hang back and try to let her take the lead. Whatever she wanted from him, he would do.

  Once he reached his car, he popped the trunk and pulled out the crime kit he always carried around. A few minutes later, he was back in the room with Sam and the diary.

  “Where did you go?” asked Sam.

  He held up the kit. “Trying a higher-tech/low-tech.” He opened up the kit and pulled out the flashlight.

  “More light? How is that going to help?”

  “It’s a different type of light.” He flipped it on while at the same time turning off the main lights in the room. All the light colors around them took on an eerie blue glow under the black light and he pulled the diary close.

  “You really think this is going to work?” Sam leaned in close.

  For a second, he was distracted by the scent of her. Work. That’s what he was doing. Even so, he leaned in close as he shone the light over the pages. When the words appeared on the worn paper, he had to admit he was surprised.

  Detective work was mostly ruling out theories that you already knew weren’t accurate. That’s what he thought he was doing. Ruling out a theory that didn’t work. But sometimes, even with magic apparently, you got lucky. Which was good, because they could use all the luck they could get right now.

  Sam leaned forward over the table until she was just a few inches away from the now bright letters. He let her take the light and stepped back, doing what he could to read the letters from over her shoulder.

  Flipping through the pages, they each silently counted the hidden pages. “This is crazy,” breathed Sam.

  “It’s clever,” he pointed out. “The question is can it help us?”

  “Hold on....” The pages went by quickly because the handwriting was so large the pages didn’t take that long to get through. “Here. She’s talking about all the research she’s been doing. Coming up empty at every turn. It’s more that they couldn’t find anyone who has dealt with the darkness before.”

  “I can relate,” he deadpanned.

  “But the darkness slipped up. Let something out that it shouldn’t have.”

  “Something we can use?”

  “I don’t know....” She shut the diary and leaned back. “That wasn’t what I thought it was going to be.”

  “What was it?”

  “Claudia isn’t the one who put the darkness in its prison.”

  Derek frowned. “Was it the apprentice?”

  She shook her head. “It was more darkness.”

  Derek winced and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “I like to think I’m an open and understanding guy, but I’m lost. What did they do?”

  Sam looked over at him. “They said the darkness was supposed to be doing something. We’ve always assumed it was one being, right? One thing that took over Abigail, but according to this, the thing inside my mother is just one of thousands. A worker bee. So they went to the big boss and told on it. When bossman came up, he’s the one who put the hurt on the darkness from back then. Claudia didn’t use her magic to win. She used the darkness.”

  Derek nodded, but that in no way meant he understood. “Fight fire with fire. I can kind of understand. But why did she bring me back? I was supposed to be some sort of weapon, right?”

  Sam’s lips tightened and he knew he wasn’t going to like the answer. “You’re here because you’ve been brought back with darkness. You’re basically our walkie-talkie into the underworld. You’re how we’re going to communicate with the darkness.”

  Walkie-talkie? Well, that didn’t sound so bad. It could be a hell of a lot worse. “Fine. Tell me what we need to do.”

  Sam opened her mouth, but before she said anything, the door to their research room opened and bright light filled the darkness. Derek winced, but he recognized the silhouette in front of him. “Bastian. The guys downstairs causing you trouble?”

  “They’re about to come in handy. We have a visitor approaching.”

  “Who?”

  “Garrett. The old head of security.”

  Sam looked at the monitors to where her childhood friend sauntered up the driveway. By childhood, she meant she had followed the grown witch around like a lost puppy for years as she harbored a huge crush for the handsome blond head of security for her mother.

  Now that they were both adults, the relationship had turned to mutual respect and friendship, which was why seeing him like this, taken over by the darkness from head to toe, was all the more painful. “We need to get him.” She pushed away from the monitors and started to leave.

  Derek stopped her with an arm around her waist and pulled her back to the screens. The fact they were watching him made the knife twist all the more, because this was his domain. He was the one who would make sure nothing got past the security of the Harris compound. Now they were behind his desk, watching a broken-looking body that could barely remember how to walk.

  “Give it a minute,” warned Derek. “We don’t know why he’s here. And we don’t know why he’s so... out in the open.”

  “It’s not like her zombies were subtle the last time they came here,” reminded Sam. Then the horde had driven to the front door like half civilized people before streaming in through every hall and room and not leaving until Claudia was dead. So what was the lone zombie doing walking up? Had he walked all the way from the city? Had Abigail dropped him off? Or.... “Maybe he’s getting better. Maybe he came for help.”

  “The sentries and I have gotten a gate installed around the perimeter. He’s going to have to get through that.”

  “How did you get that done so fast?” asked Derek.

  “Magic,” said Sam and Bastian at the same time.

  Sam then turned to Bastian. “How strong is the gate?”

  “Strong enough to stop a car from slamming into it. Not strong enough to stop Abigail or a horde.”

  “But it will stop Garrett, right?”

  “That’s hard to say. It’s not like we gave it a bunch of tests.”

  “Well, let’s find out.” She looked at the screen to see that Garrett was just a hundred yards or so down the driveway from the house. They’d find out soon enough whether he was going to get through.

  She’d prefer a front row seat.

  “I’ll get the men ready,” said Bastian as he started out.

  Derek leaned in close once they were alone. “This is a distraction,” he warned. “We know what we should be doing. Don’t you have a ritual to prepare for or something?”

  “I do. I’m going to need to get backup first. Head to the gate. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Before he could ask where she was going, she used her newest trick and closed her eyes before feeling the world tilt and shift around her. A moment later, she opened her eyes and she was in her old apartment. It looked a little worse for wear, what with the giant hole now in the ceiling and the bloodstains on the floor of the kitchen from where Phillip and Claire had both been shot. She glanced around but didn’t see any sign of her friend. Damn it. She took out her phone and dialed her last hope. Angela.

  The cop answered on the second ring. “What’s wrong?”

  “We’re worried Abigail is going to try something. Where are you?”

  “We’re at Allen Hospital right now, looking for any blondes admitted for treatment of a bullet wound.”

  Sam knew where that was. “Where exactly are you?”

  “Just walking through the front door.”

  “All right.” Once again the world fell and shifted and then she stood outside the bright-red overhang and walked inside. It was easy to see Angela because she was standing next to Dante and his br
ight-green hair. Dante looked pretty rough, but she was pretty sure they all looked rough at this point so she didn’t say anything. “I need Claire,” she said without any preamble once she reached them.

  Angela’s eyes widened. “What the fuck do you think we’re trying to do?”

  “The darkness is scared of her, and I think Abigail is about to make her move. I need her now. I trust that you’re doing everything you can, but if possible, I’m going to need some more pep in your step.”

  “Fine,” said Dante in a gruff voice. “We’re going to do what we can. Now let us work.”

  “I’m not just here to boss you around. I have something to help.” She reached in the back pocket of her skinny jeans and pulled out the small crystal. It looked like a basic amethyst, but she could feel the power vibrating through it. She handed it to Dante. No offense to Angela, but Dante was the magically inclined of the two. In fact, considering the state he was in, she’d really prefer to be giving something so powerful to Angela instead.... “Use this to get to me. It will take you anywhere, but you need to focus on me for it to work.”

  If Dante was fuzzy in the head, he didn’t show it as he plucked the crystal away and held it up to the light. “Where on earth did you get this?”

  “It’s Claudia’s.” She winced. “It was Claudia’s. It’s mine now.”

  “Can I keep it?”

  Angela shoved her elbow into Dante’s side, eliciting a grunt but absolutely no guilt.

  Sam didn’t have time for this, though. “Listen. You bring me Claire and we get my mom back tonight, yes, you can have it, no problem.”

  “You’re going to try to get your mother back?” Angela’s look of concern told Sam exactly how possible the detective thought that option was.

  “Derek and I are onto something. It could solve everything, but I’m going to need Claire there.” She looked at her phone and saw that she’d been gone too long. “Bring me Claire. Please.” Without saying anything else, she shifted back to the Connecticut house and prepared herself to face Garrett and whatever Abigail had planned for her.

  Angela plucked the crystal from Dante’s hand and was half surprised that he let her. She shifted it to her pocket and turned to the front desk of the hospital. “I can’t believe how greedy you are,” she muttered as they walked together.

  “That thing you just stole from me, oh not greedy one, is worth probably a million dollars. Maybe more. Imagine having the ability to go wherever you wanted, whenever you wanted. Just close your eyes, click your heels and, boom, there. No flights, no baggage claim. Just half a second.”

  “Isn’t that what magic does?”

  “Yeah, hard magic. Sam can only do it because her grandma hooked her up with the family magic juice. For the lowly plebs like myself, knickknacks like this are how we truly make it in the world.”

  “Okay, I respect why you could want it. Still, you could’ve waited until she wasn’t under duress before you asked.”

  “But then she wouldn’t have said yes. And I like to get things I ask for, even if that includes stacking the deck in my favor.”

  Angela paused as she gave him some major side eye. “Isn’t stacking the deck cheating?”

  “Wow, lots of judgment hitting me over here.” He kept on walking and made it to the front desk. The woman sitting behind the computer was middle-aged and had what could only be described as the Kate Gosselin haircut. Angela had never been a fan, mainly because she was so vain about her own shoulder-length blonde locks, but this woman had the cheekbones that made it work. Angela smiled in greeting but stayed quiet as Dante got to work.

  “Hello,” he said calmly. “We’re looking for a new patient. Blonde, disgustingly pretty even with a gunshot, would’ve given a fake name and was a really bad liar. No insurance, no identification.”

  The woman raised an annoyed brow. “Listen. If you want—”

  Dante leaned forward and made eye contact. “I know it’s against a lot of laws, but you’re going to make an exception for me and then you’re going to forget this ever happened.”

  She blinked a few times and then she started to run her fingers over the keyboard. “We have a Jane Doe on level three in room 3026. Would you like directions?”

  “Yes please,” said Dante in his sickeningly sweet voice.

  Even though her badge would allow her to get access to gunshot victims, it wasn’t her job and there would be a lot of questions asked that she didn’t have the time to sort through right now.

  So Dante’s strange ability was, for the moment, welcome, even if his overall presence wasn’t. Even though the nurse said someone met the requirements Dante had listed, Angela remained skeptical. It was a big city and, as much as she hated to admit it, gunshot wounds weren’t all that uncommon in this city. Especially gunshot wounds to someone who refused to give insurance information or give a valid name.

  “Thanks for helping,” she forced herself to say as she and Dante started for the elevator.

  “You’re thanking me for using the power you hate? That’s surprising.”

  Of course he’d give her trouble even when she was thanking him. “I know it’s a tough night for you. I appreciate you coming out for me.”

  He didn’t look at her as they reached the elevator and he hit the up arrow. “I’m not stupid. I know this is about more than just me.”

  “Trust me. Of the many not-so-nice thoughts I’ve had about you, I’ve never thought you were stupid.” If anything, he seemed too smart for his own good.

  Once they were in the elevator, Dante held up the crystal and looked at it. Her eyes widened in surprise and she felt her pockets, verifying that it was the same one that Sam had given them. “How did you....”

  “I wanted it.” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “I should at least get something I want tonight, right?”

  She let out a sigh. She really should feel bad about his breakup, but right now there was only so much sympathy she could muster. “Please tell me you didn’t use your mind whammy thing on me again. You promised—”

  “Psh. I didn’t do anything to you. I slipped it out of your pocket when you weren’t paying attention.” He met her eyes. “Not all my tricks are magical.”

  Somehow that didn’t make her feel better. The elevator doors opened and she practically ran out and studied the numbers until she saw which direction they were heading. She heard Dante following her before he appeared at her side. “There are other things I want, though.”

  “Things you want and can’t have? I don’t believe it.”

  “Well, I haven’t asked her if I can have her yet.”

  She froze mid-step and stared at him. Her eyes were probably about to bulge out of her head because his cocky grin changed to a look of concern. “Everything okay?”

  “What’s happening? Is this real? Are you another ghost? Did you follow me here?”

  His brow furrowed in confusion. “What? No, I’m me. What did I say?”

  “It’s just....” Damn, this was embarrassing. “The guy, ghost thing that I saw back in Benton.... It was you.” He nodded at the small bit of information she’d shared with him already. But he didn’t know the full truth. “We were talking about... possibly doing something. And then he, um, he kissed me.”

  Dante, bless his cocky face, managed to not burst out in some smile or laugh. He remained stone-faced as he nodded. “I kissed you?”

  “Whatever that thing was attacked me. It happened to be in the form of a kiss.”

  “So it wasn’t a good kiss?”

  She sighed. “I ended up passing out. So no, not a good kiss.”

  “I saw you.”

  She took a physical step back, the surprise hit her that hard. “What?”

  “Claire left me and I went to the freezer, hoping the cold would help. Except it wasn’t cold since there hasn’t been power for decades and I’m a dumbass. But then you walked in all calming and saying exactly what I need to hear. Looking back, I never should’ve b
elieved it. But I did and then I ended up on that floor where Sam found me. Once again, not my proudest moment. But it’s kind of weird that the town picked us to torment each other with, right?”

  “Maybe it’s a sign that we have an unhealthy relationship,” she said dryly.

  “Maybe it’s a sign that we think about each other too much. And if absence makes the heart grow fonder, maybe that means we should spend more time together.”

  She scoffed. “You’re so full of shit. The only reason you’re asking me out is because you want to show up at your sick ex’s hospital bed to get back at her for breaking up with you.”

  “One, I broke up with her. Two, you know there’s something between us. I’m not just making this up out of spite.”

  Angela reached forward and plucked the crystal out of his hand. He let it go, but his fingers brushed against hers and she could tell he prolonged the contact. Hell, even she moved her hand away a little slower than necessary. “Let’s go,” she said softly before she turned away.

  He followed her and they made it to the room they’d been directed to quickly. It only took half a second to confirm that it was Claire on the hospital bed.

  “Hey, stranger,” said Angela carefully as she and Dante both entered.

  Claire glanced in their direction and Angela tried to determine how many drugs she was on. Better yet, whether any of the drugs were working. Hopefully the painkillers would do something for the poor girl.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked in a strained, tired voice. Yeah, Angela was willing to bet those painkillers weren’t doing a damn thing. When Dante approached, Claire didn’t even move away. She just stared up at him curiously. “You shouldn’t be here. I broke your heart.”

  “Yeah, well, my heart is kind of like a bouncy ball. You can slam it on the ground, but it doesn’t take a lot of damage.”