Wardens of Wisteria (Wisteria Witches Mysteries - Daybreak Book 1)

by Angela Pepper

  Sitting next to Charlize was Agent Rob. In his human form, Rob looked like a guy who worked in an office, at a desk. You’d never guess by his small frame and slim arms that he could transform into an enormous black bird. His shifted form was similar to a crow, but much larger, and with supernatural strength.

  Next to Rob was his best friend, Knox. Out of the three DWM agents, Knox was the only one who looked tough in his human form. He was tall, broad, and roped with muscle. He had dark-brown skin, large facial features, and a smooth-shaved head. His shifted form of a giant eagle was intimidating, but his human form came pretty close—unless he was smiling. If Knox had a grin on his face, which he often did, thanks to his wisecracking sidekick Rob, it gave away his nature as a gentle giant.

  Sitting to my right, on the birthday girl’s side of the table, was Detective Theodore Bentley. I’d teased him about dressing up special for the occasion, though he wore his usual gray suit. Bentley didn’t know the other three agents well, but he’d been talking to them over the week to arrange the evening’s very special birthday party.

  “I have eaten too much cheesecake,” Knox said, puffing out his six-pack abs. He patted his belly, pretending the wall of muscle was actually body fat. “I should be at the gym right now.”

  His best friend, Rob, laughed and clapped him on the back. “You just came from the gym, big guy! Have another piece of cheesecake. Pretend you’re doing digestion reps. Give that stomach a workout.”

  Knox gave Rob a wary look. “I will have one more small piece... if you promise to meet me at the gym in the morning.”

  “Let me think about it,” Rob said.

  “You can sit in the hot tub after you lift weights for forty-five minutes.”

  Rob wriggled in his seat. “How about I lift weights for twenty minutes, then we sit in the hot tub?”

  Knox reluctantly agreed to the terms.

  Charlize chimed in. “Can anyone join you for the weights plus hot tub, or is it boys only?”

  “You should come,” Knox said. “The gym is good for everyone, men and women. I would be happy to have some company. A sweaty workout with friends is the best way to start your day.”

  “Sounds fun,” Charlize said. “I’ll be there.” The blonde gorgon caught my eye across the cheesecake. “Assuming we are all still in one piece when the sun comes up.” She glanced upward, then quickly back at me.

  I held up my hands to show her my fingers were crossed.

  She cleared her throat and flashed her powerful blue-gray eyes as she glanced at the cafeteria’s entryway.

  Steve Adebayo walked in, buttoning the single button on his fashionable, body-hugging suit jacket.

  “Abeda-yooo,” Charlize called out in a friendly greeting, as though cheering on a favorite member of a sports team.

  “Lookin’ good, my man,” Rob said to the newcomer. “You got here just in time to get some cheesecake before it disappears. Knox is going to show us how fast he can eat the rest of it.”

  Knox frowned. “I could not eat that much of any kind of food in human form.”

  Charlize and Rob slid their chairs apart, freeing space around an empty seat for the lawyer. Steve looked at the seat, but then chose a spot next to me, at the end of the table.

  “I can’t stay long,” Steve said, pushing his tortoiseshell glasses up his low-profile nose. “Happy birthday, Zara. Any special plans to mark the occasion?”

  I laughed lightly. “Besides seeing how much cheesecake we can get into Knox? Not really.” I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. “But I should do something special for myself. What do you think of me getting a tattoo from your girlfriend?”

  “From Carrot?” Steve looked down as he served himself a small wedge of cheesecake. “If you do have your heart set on getting a tattoo, it should be from her. She’s the best artist around. And she could use the business. People have been avoiding her since her brother died. It’s a shame when people don’t know what to say to someone in grief so they choose instead to avoid them.”

  “How’s she doing?” I asked.

  “Fine, considering.” Steve took a bite of cake. “What sort of tattoo are you thinking about getting?”

  “A broomstick would be too obvious, right?” Nobody laughed. I shot the others a look. Act jovial, I thought. Act jovial or Steve’s going to know something’s up.

  Charlize seemed to receive my nonverbal message. “Zara, I know what you should get,” she said, grinning. “A beautiful snake!”

  The others murmured in an almost jovial way.

  “Or you could get a crow,” Rob said.

  “Or an eagle,” Knox said.

  We all turned to Bentley. “Get whatever you want,” he said grumpily. “Don’t look at me. I’m not really a tattoo guy.”

  “Big shocker,” I said, which got a chuckle from Charlize.

  Bentley frowned and touched his faux bullet pendant through his shirt.

  I turned back to Steve, who was already pushing the final bite of cheesecake into his mouth.

  “Look at you put that cake away,” I said. “You do get hungry when you’ve been working all day.”

  He gave the group a bashful look. “It’s worse when I’m in my chimera form. I’ll eat anything.” He licked his lips. “As you may have heard.”

  I had heard. There was a lot more to the shifter chimera than met the eye.

  In a casual tone, I said to him, “Speaking of chimeras, I have a question to ask you.”

  He pushed his chair back. “Another time. I really should get back to my work.”

  I leaned over, dropped my hand on his wrist, and squeezed, stopping him from getting up. “Not so fast,” I said. “It’s Friday afternoon, Steve. I’m sure that whatever you’re working on can wait.”

  Steve glanced around the table at the others then down at his lap. “Very well, then. I can stay for a few of these questions of yours, as long as they’re not too personal.”

  “Great. There are props, too. Hang on.” I reached into my big tote bag and pulled out the karambit I’d borrowed from Maisy Nix. The blade was wrapped in a burlap coffee sack, tied with twine. I pulled off the makeshift sheaf and placed the weapon on the table. The glinting blade curled around Steve’s empty dessert plate.

  Steve’s chair scraped on the cafeteria floor as he recoiled, shifting back another inch. “What’s that doing here?” He cast an angry glare around the table. “What’s going on?”

  “Dr. Lund says the blade wasn’t affixed to the bone handle by any man,” I said, trying to keep my tone even. “He says the blade and bone appear to have grown together.” I picked it up by the handle. I held the handle between two knuckles as I curled my hand like a cat’s paw. “Meow.”

  The table was utterly silent. At the edge of the cafeteria, a lone janitor was mopping near the buffet station. The slip slop of the mop over the floor was the only sound. Slip slop. Slip slop.

  I pawed the air with my single sharp blade again. “Check this out,” I said. “I’ve got one tenth of a Wolverine costume.”

  Steve pushed his glasses up his nose. His face was covered in a sheen of sweat. In a low, gritty voice, he said, “I’m not sure where you’re going with this, Zara. Halloween isn’t for a few months.”

  I flipped the blade so I had a secure grip on the bone handle, brought it down on the table, and scraped the surface, leaving a deep, clean groove.

  Nobody else was cutting in, so I continued, as per our plan.

  “Dr. Lund believes this knife is a hunting souvenir. It’s made from the claw of a chimera,” I said. “Specifically, a large iguammit.”

  Steve took in a deep breath, then let it out audibly. His glasses slipped down and he didn’t push them up. “And I suppose you want me to change form so you can check that I still have all my claws?” He forced a laugh. “That’s ridiculous. The iguammit this came from must have been two or three times my size. My own claws are tiny by comparison.” He looked around the group. “That... That atrocity is not mine. It
isn’t.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bentley nod. We almost had him.

  I pressed on. “But you agree with Dr. Lund’s assessment that it did come from an iguammit?”

  Steve leaned forward, looked at the blade, then straightened up. “Sure. It could be. The curve is right.”

  Bentley spoke up. “It’s a shame you didn’t mention that observation to us the first time you saw the blade.” He leaned back so he could look directly at Steve without me in the way. “Mr. Adebayo, you must remember the time I’m referring to. It was here, in the cafeteria, last week. We showed you the blade and you nearly vomited. I would imagine that to someone such as yourself, it would be like me seeing the severed hand of another man.”

  Steve whipped off his sliding glasses and stuffed them in his suit pocket. “I, uh... Perhaps I didn’t make the connection on a conscious level.”

  Charlize spoke next. “Say, Adebayo, wasn’t your father who recently passed away a lot larger than you? He’d been taking that serum Dr. Bob was producing. Gosh, with the amount he’d been taking, he must have been twice your size.”

  Everyone looked down at the karambit.

  Steve leaned forward in his chair and started to stand. Agents Knox and Rob jumped up, swerved around the table, and got behind Steve so quickly they were a blur, even to my witch eyes. Each of the duo rested a hand on Steve’s shoulders.

  “Not so fast,” Rob said. “Tell us why you killed Greyson. Was it to protect his sister?”

  “I’m not answering any more questions,” Steve said. “This whole line of inquiry is preposterous.”

  “It was revenge,” Knox said, his deep voice booming.

  “Revenge,” Rob said. “That’s right.” To Steve, he said, “You don’t have to answer with your mouth, smart guy. I can feel the truth in the vibration in your body. You must have found out Greyson was part of the hunting party that killed your father. That’s how your father died, right?”

  “My father died in an accident,” Steve said through gritted teeth. “There was no need for revenge because there was no wrongdoing.”

  Charlize asked, “Then why did you give your girlfriend a sleeping pill last Friday night, then sneak over to Greyson’s house and give him a close shave plus a, you know...”

  Everyone looked at Charlize with puzzled frowns.

  Charlize rapped on the table with her knuckles. “Shave and a head cut, two bits.”

  Knox said, “It’s shave and a haircut, two bits.” Then, a few seconds later, “Oh. Head cut.”

  Steve let out a high, long giggle. “Shave and a head cut,” he said. “Good joke, everyone. Very theatrical. Thanks for the cake and the amateur theatre, but I can’t play along. I didn’t do anything to Ishmael Greyson.”

  “No?” It was my turn to spring the trap. “Then why did you sabotage the projection unit before you dropped it off with the tech department?”

  The trapped chimera shifter blinked. “I did no such thing.”

  I pulled one more item from my purse. It was a battery-operated black light. I flicked it on, and aimed it at Steve’s hands. His palms and fingers glowed bright blue under the special light. He gasped in shock and tried to rub the glow away but it wouldn’t budge. That was sort of the point with invisible ink.

  Bentley got to his feet, came over to look at Steve’s hands, and nodded. “Bank Robbery 101,” he said sagely. “There’s always an invisible ink packet inside the things you’re not supposed to touch. The interior of that little box Zara trusted to your care was rigged with simple invisible ink. Nothing high tech or even magical. It’s the kind of mundane tool we use to catch the dumbest bank robbers.”

  Steve gave me a wide-eyed look. “You set me up. You weren’t lost, Zara. You set me up!”

  “Since we’re letting the cat out of the bag, so to speak,” I paused to chuckle at the irony. Steve was half lion, half cat. “The box doesn’t do surveillance,” I finished.

  “But...” Steve’s head jerked from side to side. “But what about the memo? The alert went out over the company-wide bulletin.”

  “Not really,” Charlize said. “It only looked that way.” She put her hands on her hips and huffed. “And what do you mean amateur theatre? We’re professionals, Adebayo. Admit we got you. Heck, being a known killer around here isn’t the grounds for dismissal you might think it is. When the department discovers special skills in agents, sometimes those agents get reassigned.”

  Bentley’s jaw dropped. “What?”

  Charlize blinked at the detective and smiled enigmatically.

  Steve made a sputtering sound.

  Knox tapped Steve’s shoulder with one big hand. “We have to go somewhere else now. Rob and I will escort you. Please remain calm.”

  But Steve didn’t stay calm. He tore free of Knox and Rob. He dove under the table, changing form as he did. With one massive lion’s paw, he yanked Charlize’s chair out from underneath her. Before she could hit him with her stone powers—before she could even cry out, he’d cracked her head against something hard. An instant later, Charlize lay still on the floor, her head tilted limply to the side, her blonde hair fanned out like a limp halo.

  Through his enormous reptilian mouth, Steve growled, “Nobody move or I cut the gorgon’s head off.” Sure enough, he had one of those fierce claws fully extended. The curve would fit a human neck perfectly.

  Bentley, who had his gun drawn and aimed already, fired off a shot. He managed to crack off two shots before the chimera with the body of a lion and the head of a reptile soared over the table and took down the detective. The shots sounded like they embedded in the beast’s body, but didn’t slow him. Bentley’s third shot went wild. There was a crack, and a tinkle, and glass rained down from one of the false windows. An instant later, there was an electrical crackle, and all of the artificial windows went dark.

  In the darkness, there was the awful sound of growling, snarling, flapping, and bones breaking.

  When the backup lights flickered on, I almost wished they hadn’t. There was blood everywhere.

  Charlize was still unconscious, possibly dead. Two enormous birds lay on the ground near her outstretched hand. They barely resembled birds. They were a heap of dark feathers.

  And Bentley. Poor Bentley. The human lay on his back, gasping for breath, his face twisted in agony. Both of his legs and one arm were—I could barely look at him long enough to make the assessment—broken in multiple places. Bones protruded from the fabric of his gray wool suit.

  The only thing moving was Steve, walking toward me on four lion’s paws. Now I saw every single one of the claws. Gleaming and metallic.

  Closer he walked. Tick, tick went the claws on the floor.

  I’d already tried blasting him with my blue plasma, as soon as he’d started changing. It hadn’t worked then, and it still didn’t work now. My magic was locked down. Why had we been so foolish to believe three agents and two humans with no powers could take down a mythical beast? We should have had more backup. So much more backup. Now we were all as good as dead.

  But not yet. I still had my human strength. Aunt Zinnia had prepared me for this. A witch couldn’t count on magic in every situation; she had to use her wits.

  There was a weapon within my reach. I grabbed the curved karambit from the table and pointed the business end at the approaching beast.

  I was fast, but he was faster. Before I could open my mouth to let off a verbal warning, he was on me. He pounced like a kitten, except he was no kitten. I fell backward helplessly. I managed to save my head somewhat, but it still struck the floor. My vision swam with stars. I couldn’t move. I’d been pinned. Tough as I was, my arms were no match for the powerful forepaws of a lion.

  “Stop this,” I said. “You don’t have to kill anyone else.”

  The reptilian face loomed over mine. Inhuman eyes stared down impassively.

  “Their blood is on your hands,” he growled. “Your hands, witch. You were the one who made the mistakes.
”

  I spat in his scaly face. “At least I’m not a cold-blooded murderer.”

  He licked the side of my face with his long tongue. “Tasty,” he said. “I do love eating delicious red candy.”

  I tried to kick him in whatever he had for a groin, but my legs wouldn’t move. He had me completely pinned.

  “Codex!” I yelled. “Hey, robot girl! A little help down here in the cafeteria?”

  The eerie mechanical voice replied, “There is a security incident occurring in the cafeteria.”

  “I know! We need some help!”

  She said, “The cafeteria is currently under lockdown.”

  And then I heard the banging on the other side of the door. Help should have been on the way, but it wasn’t. It was just me versus one extremely angry iguammit. And I didn’t even have the karambit in my hand. If only I had...

  Bentley’s gun!

  I rolled my head, scanning the ground near Bentley. The gun was in sight. It was two feet from his bleeding hand, and about five feet away from mine. But it might as well have been a mile, because there was no way I could reach it. Not without any magic.

  What a shame the dampener field doesn’t shut down shifters, I thought bitterly. It wasn’t so much a dampener field as an anti-witch field.

  I closed my eyes and focused on a name. Ishmael Greyson. Ishmael, if you’re going to help avenge your death, if you can do anything at all in the physical plane, come and do it now!

  When I opened my eyes, there was only my injured friends and the reptilian face hovering above mine. No Ishmael.