Spells & Life

by Rachel Medhurst

  Closing my eyes, I chanted the first spell that came to mind. It was an ancient spell cast to calm those who were going to be hung when the witch trials were held back in the days when humans knew that something was going on with magic. Their lack of knowledge led them to mainly kill humans, accusing the wrong people. King James I knew that there were witches in his country, so he set up crusades to try and eradicate them. Unfortunately, his men were easily overcome with magic. Witches didn’t care much for humans back then, considering how cruel they were to those that practiced witchcraft, so the collateral damage was swept under the dusty rug. The only saving grace they gave to humans about to be hung or burned alive was to cast a sedative spell over them to calm their nerves.

  That was the spell I was casting in the arena. I braced my boots on the ground as I held my arms to the side. Magic from the ley line poured into every inch of my body, transforming into an energy that left me and filtered into the air.

  “It’s not enough,” I said through gritted teeth. “Get Dave.”

  Jake had no idea what I was doing, but trusted me completely. Closing my eyes when he nodded, I concentrated on creating a stream of magic that continuously came into me from the line. Those around us started to calm, their frantic energy cooling slightly. It was working, but it would take a massive blast to fill the whole arena.

  “They’re dying,” Dave called as his voice came nearer. “What’s she doing?”

  Holding my hand towards him, I gestured for him to place his palm in mine without opening my eyes. He did as I asked, his fingers linking with mine. As my magic pulsed into him, he jolted, almost yanking his hand away. He would never have felt such power.

  “Please,” I said as loudly as I could. “Chant with me, push the spell outwards.”

  As soon as he listened to the spell a couple of times, Dave started the chant. The magic from the ley line intensified as it went through me and into Dave’s body. The spell was double the strength.

  “It’s working,” Kate said nearby. “I can see people relaxing, pulling away from the exits.”

  The muscles in my legs started to shake. If I wasn’t careful, the spell would drain my energy completely. A movement behind me alerted me to someone close by. Jake’s scent filtered into my nose before his arm came around my back and under my shoulder.

  “I got you,” he called into my ear. “Keep going.”

  The feel of blood dribbling from my nose made me lose focus for a second. Dave shook my hand to get me back on track. Our chant was drowned out by the screams of terror, although they were starting to die down.

  “Please, ladies and gentleman,” a voice came loud over the tannoy. “Keep calm and stay where you are. There is no risk to your life. Someone has played a prank.”

  As the spell increased, the magic travelled over the soundwaves. Opening my eyes, I sucked in a breath as the humans instantly stopped panicking, each one either staying where they were, or moving off the people they were trampling.

  “They’re dead!” someone shouted, and yet, they remained calm. “Get help!”

  Dropping the spell, I clung to Dave’s hand, unable to let go. The serial killer’s video had been cut, the big screen now black.

  “Are you okay now?” Jake asked.

  His question brought me back from where I’d been in my head. The killer had been successful. Those who now lay on the ground, crushed to death, were an extension of his vile hatred towards me. It was personal, I just knew it.

  The doors suddenly burst open on all sides, the loud noise echoing in the now reasonably quiet venue. All the humans would be scarred for life. Trauma on this scale was inevitable.

  Releasing Dave, I blinked before bringing myself back down to earth. “We need to go and help those below. Jake and Kate, I want you to talk to security. Keep checking for anyone suspicious. We need to find this bastard.”

  Jumping over the seats in front of me, I made my way down to the floor. The stairs were full of people who had been rushing to try and get to the exits. They were milling around now, almost in a daze. Security were escorting people out of the arena, their calm composure a testament to their training.

  A group of people by the door and the stage were dragging bodies out of the piles. My stomach rolled as I counted ten people already laid out. Shit, the wanker had mass murdered at a concert of all places.

  “Gemma.” Dave grabbed my arm as I went to run forward. “We need to get that footage. These people are mainly human. We have to let the authorities deal with the deaths.”

  Tears exploded in my eyes as I saw a young pre-teen girl being pulled across the floor to lay next to an adult male. They wore matching band shirts with Dad and Daughter written on them.

  “No!” I pushed through my teeth when Dave tried to pull me away. “These people have died because of us. We have not done our job. I will not rest until we catch him.”

  Storming away, I swiped at the tears that tracked down my cheeks. Heat was boiling my skin, making me want to punch out at whoever got in my way.

  “Move,” I shouted when one man struggled to get a body out from under the stage.

  Taking hold of the deceased male’s arms, I pulled gently as snot ran from my nose. Sobs escaped me as the man who had been trying to help got hold of the dead man’s waist and together we tugged him out.

  All of them had suffocated from lack of air. Being trampled must have been horrendous. As we lined him up, my gaze met the human’s. His eyes were red, his hands shaking badly. Going over to him, I threw my arms around his neck. He squeezed me as tightly as I was holding him. Two strangers, two species, united in tragedy.

  “Gemma?” Dave’s voice was soft behind me.

  Letting go of the human, I turned to him. His hair was messed up from where he’d tugged on it. Worry lines were edged in the corners of his eyes as he watched me, his hands fumbling together in front of him. He was right, we needed to get on with our job.

  “Let’s go.”

  Marching towards the stage, I ignored the rest of the humans. Blocking out their cries and their words, I set my mind on the goal. Get the evidence, get the killer.

  “I couldn’t have done that without you,” I said when Dave fell into step beside me.

  We worked our way backstage, hunting for the stage manager who we’d been in contact with earlier in the day. He wasn’t answering his phone, although that was pretty understandable.

  Clearing his throat, Dave nodded abruptly. “You’re welcome.”

  I wasn’t lying. In the past, I would’ve easily been able to cast the spell on my own. I never would’ve struggled to harness the power needed to control the energy of an entire arena. And yet, I’d had trouble to keep hold of my link at times. My heart thumped hard in my chest. I wasn’t alive. My link to the ley line was superficial, which was why I was weaker.

  “I’m running out of ideas.”

  “Maybe you’re in denial.”

  Huh? My boots skidded to an abrupt halt in the corridor leading to the office. What was he talking about? Why would I be in denial?

  “Now is not the time,” he said, not bothering to stop. “We’ll have a heart to heart later.”

  Why did he have to be so right? We had to get on with our job, not talk about me being in denial. Which I wasn’t, by the way.

  “There you are!” the stage manager called down the corridor as we started to jog. “You need to come and see this.”

  Rushing towards the door he indicated, we followed him inside. Two security men were standing by the equipment. A screen on the wall played a video of the stage. Wait, it wasn’t in real time, it was a recording.

  “See there?” The stage manager pointed at a shadow just under the big screen. “It’s a woman. She’s planting something. My team are on their way to check it now, but look...”

  As the woman turned, I caught the profile of her face. I knew that nose, it was regal, almost snobbish. A bright red light flashed before the darkness enveloped her.

&n
bsp; “I’m sure she’s just planted a bomb.”

  Leaning further towards the screen, Dave coughed loudly. “It is a bloody bomb. We need to get everyone out of the building.”

  “That’s exactly what we’re doing.” The stage manager’s back was straight, his glare ignored as Dave asked the tech guy to email him the footage so we could use our system to get a reading on the culprit. Not that I would need it.

  “It’s the PFF,” I told Dave when he started tapping on his phone.

  He frowned, not bothering to look up. “How do you know?”

  Sighing, I ran a hand over my ponytail when it flicked into my face as I spun to leave. “Because that was Helen Cambridge. We need to disarm the bomb.”

  A hand yanked me back before I could get through the door. Dave’s growl was low in his chest as he pulled me close to him. I snarled as I attempted to dislodge his fingers from around my wrist.

  “The bomb squad is here,” the head of security announced as he joined us. “They said that the timer is set to go off in two hours’ time. They think they’ll have it disabled within ten minutes. We just need to get the evacuation finalised first. Looks like the killer actually did us a favour.”

  Every pair of eyes in the room stared at the hulk of a human. Not one of us laughed, but the irony in his words was apparent to everyone.

  “Well,” he muttered, ordering some of his men to join the escorting efforts. “You know what I mean.”

  “We need to leave,” a police officer shouted into the room. “Evacuation order is for everyone.”

  Ducking out of the room, I grabbed Dave’s hand as we walked. He was watching something on his phone, his brain analysing the footage.

  “Shit!”

  “What is it?” I asked, tugging my phone out and messaging Jake and Kate.

  We all had to get together so we could flash out of the building. Jake replied, they were already outside, the police forcing them to leave.

  Taking Dave’s hand, I flashed us to their side, not bothering to let him know what I was doing. He almost stumbled when we landed, although his eyes never left his phone.

  “There you are!” Kate went to throw her arms around me, but I held out a hand.

  No time for theatrics, we had work to do. I was done feeling sorry for myself. Dave’s denial comment had hit a nerve, one that I’d have to explore at a later date.

  “Guys,” Dave said when I indicated that we should head back to the office. “There’s something you need to see.”

  Bending over his phone, we watched the video that had been playing on the screen of the arena stage. Fast forwarding it, Dave tapped the screen. “Listen.”

  The demon mask moved as the man spoke. “You have five days to find me.”

  As my mouth dried out, I tried to swallow. He was giving us time? Why would he start doing that?

  “If not, I’ll kill again. Just remember... she belongs to me.”

  Chapter 7

  “How’s the library?” Brianna asked.

  Leaning back in my office chair, I pressed my phone to my ear. I didn’t want the others to hear my conversation.

  “It’s good.” I tried to put enthusiasm into my answer, but my friend knew instantly.

  Tutting, she sighed down the phone. “Come now, Bella, you sound exhausted.”

  The vampire had phoned me for a catch up. The team had been working hard to put our evidence together to get some sort of lead to our case. It wasn’t promising. At least we knew we had a few days before the Essex Obsessor would strike again.

  “Overworked, underpaid, you know the score.”

  Looking over at the others, I watched as Dave handed Jake a printout. Some joke was made as they both shook their heads. Kate reached for the paper, frowning when she struggled to get a reading. The killer really was covering all his bases.

  “I heard about the horrible event at the arena last night. Twenty people died. So sad.” Brianna’s voice was heavy with sadness, although something about her tone put me on edge.

  “Oh, I know, it’s awful.” My own tone shocked me. Deadpan. So very deadpan. Where had my passion gone? Maybe passion was reaching a little. I hadn’t exactly been an enthusiastic person... probably ever.

  “So, Archie said that he hasn’t heard from you. I hope you’re not avoiding him because he’s a vampire. That would be discrimination, no?” Her thick accent grew stronger.

  What was wrong with her? There was something palpable in the air between us. Was she annoyed that her matchmaking didn’t work? Surely, she understood that Archie was not my type of person. Well, not really, anyway. His love of books was hot as hell, but still... me and vampires were not a good mix. Me and men weren’t really a good mix.

  “Brianna...” I sighed, tempted to tell her to mind her own business.

  “Sorry, my darling, I’m sorry,” she quickly interrupted. “That was rude of me. I just want you to find a lovely man. I want to see more of you, but you’re so addicted to your books...”

  Allowing the sentence to hang, I gritted my teeth together. My friend was supposed to support me, not bash me about my hobby. My escape. Reading was the only thing that kept me alive. Well... and the ley line now, obviously.

  “I’m sorry, I have to go,” I said, not allowing her to talk anymore.

  Our goodbye was swift as I shut down the call.

  “We have our profile,” Dave muttered as he wandered over.

  The night before, we’d all gone home deflated, each one of us drained from the case. The demon masked killer had covered his tracks consistently. Except, I was getting a stronger and stronger feeling that I knew who it could be. I just wasn’t sure if I was ready to admit it.

  “We’ll interrogate the Cambridges first,” I said, annoyed that our energy was split between the PFFs and the killer.

  They were linked somehow, yet it felt like we were fighting two cases. A couple of agents had dragged Helen Cambridge to Paranormal MI5’s building just an hour ago. We needed answers about the bomb before anything else. Just in case they were planning to make another attack soon.

  “Let’s go.” Nodding his head towards the door, he almost kept his eyes averted.

  Ever since he’d snapped about me being in denial, there’d been tension between us. I didn’t need him to tell me how to be an agent. Although, a thrum of sadness wound itself around my heart as he marched out ahead of me.

  “We’ll make sure this is tight for when you come back,” Kate said, a pity smile playing on her lips.

  Oh great, she could feel the atmosphere, too. If my team weren’t strong, we wouldn’t be able to work well together. I would have to speak to Dave to clear the air.

  Following my colleague out of the office, I marched right up beside him. He didn’t even glance at me when I tried to get his attention.

  “Dave? What is it?”

  The scoff that left him made me cringe. He was one of the most intelligent agents in the building, yet he was acting like a teenager.

  Waving at the other agents as we thundered across the floor, he did his best to keep ignoring me. Not bothering to acknowledge those who were trying to greet me, I tugged on his arm as we pushed through the doors.

  “I appreciate you keeping my secret.”

  Spinning, he almost knocked me over as he faced me. His eyebrows pulled low as his lips snarled. “Do you know how hard it’s been to keep your secret? Every day we work with Jake and Kate. Not being able to share what’s going on with you is getting harder. You are not acting like yourself. You won’t even admit that the killer could be-”

  My hand flicked, sending a spell across his mouth so it stayed shut. His eyes flared, anger sizzling deep within the blue depths of them. Taking hold of his arm, I flashed him away from the corridor that currently held a couple of agents who stared at us.

  Dave swore when we landed in a cubicle. Frowning, I glanced around us. Why the hell had we landed in a toilet cubicle? Not that I had thought too much about where we were going when
I had grabbed him, but still, a toilet cubicle was not what I’d had in mind.

  “What’s going on, Gemma?” Dave crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at me.

  Licking my lips, I looked anywhere but into his eyes. Could I really open my mouth and admit what was going through my mind? Being an agent had always been easy for me. Disconnection had been my middle name. However, this case was more personal than I cared to admit.

  Taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth. “It’s him, isn’t it? You are thinking that the killer is...?”

  Nope. I still couldn’t bring myself to say the words out loud. Dave would have to do do it for me.

  Reaching out, Dave’s thumb traced my jaw. The touch sent electricity through my skin, causing me to yank back. What was he playing at?

  Stepping forward, Dave pushed me against the cubicle wall without touching. Did he not know about personal space?

  “You’ve got to stop running away from what’s happening. You know full well that the man killing those women is the man you’re betrothed to.”

  And there it was. The truth of what I’d hoped was a lie. There were too many clues pointing to the inevitable fact that the Essex Obsessor was the son of the man my father had lost the bet to. And for some really weird reason, he was coming for me in an unconventional way.

  “I have to give myself over to him,” I muttered, still unable to look upwards.

  I didn’t want to see the beauty on Dave’s face. He was very good at hiding his emotions, but every now and then he would reveal himself through his eyes.

  “No.” His disagreement was sharp.

  About to reply, I was silenced when he put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed. Unable to move as he bent his head, I looked into his eyes. His face stopped a few inches from mine. His breath rushed over my face, tickling my skin. His brown eyes delved, searching my gaze, causing me to shiver.

  “We will find him,” he said fiercely. “I will not allow him to take you. You are your own person. No one owns you. Can you not see how powerful you are, Gemma?”