I mocked him as he walked down the stairs. It wasn’t as easy as he seemed to make it. If it was only a PIB case, I’d locate the vampires and bring them in for questioning.
I paused.
Wait, it couldn’t be that easy, could it?
I picked up my phone and called Torrid.
“Have something for me Agent Collins?”
“I was just wondering if you’ve located any of the vampires and brought one in.”
He was silent for a moment. “Not yet.”
“When you do, I’d like to come in for the interview.”
“Understood. I’ll let you know when I locate one.” He hung up, and I leaned back, wondering if it would be that easy.
Feed the vampire, ask them questions, get my answers. I chuckled at the thought.
Suddenly Merick popped in right next to me, causing me to jump and pull my gun. He held his hands up. “I have news.”
I tried to calm my beating heart and a moment later Zayne popped into the room, and I swung the gun around.
“Jesus, Abby. Vampires can’t just pop in here, who else would I be?”
I put the gun away and jerked my thumb at Merick. “He just scared the shit out of me.”
“So I heard. Which is why I came up here.” He looked at Merick. “How come you get to pop in and out?”
Merick shrugged. “It’s my magic that’s keeping this place protected.”
“So what’s the news?”
“One of our missing elementals came back. He needs to talk to you.”
My heart leaped. “Where is he?”
“Resting at our clinic. I’ll have to take you there.”
I nodded and grabbed my phone. “Let’s go. Zayne stay here and finish the shutters. I’ll be back.”
He said nothing, but turned around and went back downstairs.
Merick put a hand on my shoulder, and my house disappeared. We reappeared in a white hallway, and I wrinkled my nose.
“It smells like hospital in here.”
“It’s our clinic, Abby. Did you think it was going to smell like roses?” He chuckled. “Come on.” He started walking down the hall, and I followed him.
Closed doors were on either side of us. Occasionally someone wearing a white coat or colorful scrubs would walk out of a room, but no one bothered us or asked us questions while we made our way down the hall.
He knocked on a door and a woman answered. “Oh, Merick, you’re back quicker than I expected. I’m just now finishing up changing his bandages.” She stepped to the side and let us both in.
A man lay in the bed, and the woman went back to wrapping his arm. The glimpses of flesh under the bandages told me he’d been burned. “You must be the agent that Merick told me about.”
I nodded. “He said you had something to tell me?”
“Yeah, it’s time we get you guys involved. Titan didn’t want to, but we have too many people on the line now. Please sit.” He motioned with his good arm to a chair in the corner.
I sat down and met his gaze. “So you know Titan?”
“Yes, an excellent man who has only the best of intentions. I work at the house with him, Aaron, Martha, and a handful of others.”
“So, what’s going on?”
“Someone attacked the house. Someone betrayed our location and the names of the children living there. Then they started disappearing before we could find another safe home. Titan wanted us to handle it ourselves, but then Martha was attacked and Lisa taken…”
Martha hadn’t said anything about being attacked. I made a mental note to talk to her about that.
“Then this lady was poking around asking about us.” He shook his head. “It’s too much for us to handle.”
“Were you attacked?”
He nodded. “Yes, I was in this place, and it was awful. They have someone there that can bend our abilities to their own will. Like they can control all the elements, not just their chosen one. So my fire came back after me.”
My fire came back after me. Those words sat there for a moment, and my mind went back to the video on the cam footage. “If I could get you a photo, do you think you could recognize who it was that attacked you?”
“Yes.”
I pulled my phone out and texted Liz that I needed a still photo of the man from the video. I pulled up the image from the first murder that Ross had in her file. “This person is named Daniel Pointe. Do you know him?”
He swallowed. “He was at the complex with us. Holy shit, he’s dead?”
I nodded.
“He could control air. I’d never seen it before. The most common elements are fire and water, but he could turn air into weapons, daggers, projectiles. It was amazing.”
And he died by fire. “Do you know where this compound is?”
He shook his head. “At first, I thought it was the government ran one. I thought people were rounding us up because they located us, but it was too unorganized to be anything official.”
“How so?”
“They’d often bring people to my room or take me to the wrong room. They didn’t check identifications before handing us meds they thought we should be taking. No names and birth dates like a regular hospital or facility like that. Everything was just off a little with the people who were observing us.”
I leaned back in the chair. I wish I knew where this facility was so I could see it. “Where there children there?”
“I couldn’t see them, but I could hear them being dragged through the halls.”
“How did you escape?”
He met my gaze. “I’m Cult. They left me alone long enough for me to gather enough magic to get outside the compound. I found a road and followed it to the city.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Do you know where about you were?”
“I do. I was south, off highway 115.”
Interesting. That’s where I was attacked, and we found the half-burned body. “Thank you, that information is extremely helpful.” I stood. “Merick, I need to get back home, and our friend here needs to get some rest.”
“Of course.” Merick stepped out with me and took me home.
The moment we appeared back home, I pulled out my phone and called Liz.
“Abby, it is midnight, and unlike you, I sleep,” she muttered.
“I have a break in the case. Merick had a Cult member who worked with the group home. He escaped some facility that’s near the Petersons’ property.”
“You don’t think they have something to do with this, do you? Why would they report the death? Why not bury the body and take care of the evidence?”
I shrugged. “To make it seem like they are less guilty?”
“Wonder if Mason saw anything in their house?”
I was reminded of the underground of Christof’s house suddenly and shuddered. “I’ll call him in the morning.”
“Okay, get some sleep, Abby.” She disconnected the call, and I walked up to my room. I threw my phone on the bed. I wasn’t sure how I was going to sleep knowing we had a lead, but it’s not like I could just go storm the property and pull a rescue mission off on my own. Assuming there was anything there to find.
I was in the middle of changing my shirt when a knock at the door made me jump. “Give me just a moment.”
I grabbed a long t-shirt and threw it on before I opened the door. Zayne stood there, his arms crossed. “Catalina would like to see you.”
I motioned to my shirt. “I’m tapping out for the night.”
“Samuel has responded.”
Oh fuck.
“Let me change my shirt.” I let out a long sigh.
“It’s just Catalina, come on.” He grabbed my wrist, and we disappeared.
When we reappeared, I growled at him and pulled my wrist away. “Warn me before you pull that crap.”
“He’s just trying to get you here and then back, Abigail.” Catalina walked out of a room. “He understands that you have to sleep and that you’ve already had a long day.”
I nodded. “And tomorrow is also going to be a long one, but he said this had to do with Samuel.”
“Yes, I have his response already. It’s surprising.”
“Surprising how?”
“He’s agreed to our terms. All of them.”
That was surprising. “Is there something we missed in the negotiations?”
“They were reasonable. Either he thinks he’s winning or he’s letting us have a foothold. Either way, you’ll be going to Samuel’s and Hannah’s for three months. Levi and Mario will return tomorrow night. I’m sure the king will want to see you.”
My mind searched for what was wrong with this entire situation. Samuel agreed to the negotiations, which meant there was another plan. Levi and Mario were going to be back tomorrow night. It seemed too smooth, too easy.
Everything seemed too easy lately.
I had a momentary thought, wondering if I was in some type of fever dream.
“Abigail?” Catalina brought me out of my thoughts.
“Sorry, I just feel like this is too easy.”
“He got what he wanted, you in his territory for three months. We’ll figure out why when you get there.”
I nodded. “Okay, this is one of those meetings that could have been an email or a phone call. Can I go to bed now?”
She chuckled. “Yes, sleep well. We’ll take you tomorrow night to see Levi.”
I wasn’t even going to think about that right now. I looked at Zayne. “Let’s go.”
He took me back home, and I rubbed my eyes as we walked to the house. “I know you guys do emails and texts, why a meeting for that?”
“Catalina thought it best you were told in person. I didn’t question.” He shrugged. “Get some sleep. I’ll be staying here during the day since the shutters are done now.”
“Okay. Thanks.” I wasn’t even sure what I was thanking him for. All I knew is I wanted to crash.
I finished changing into pajamas and crawled into bed. Exhaustion ate at my mind as sleep dragged me under.
The world around me swirled in magic and power. I could feel the magic biting into my skin, ripping it.
“You can’t stop him, Abigail,” Christof’s voice echoed in my head. “You can’t save him from himself.”
I looked up to see Nick on the other side of the magic, trying to tear me apart.
“I still control him.” Christof laughed. “Even from containment. Even though you cleansed him. He will always be loyal to his father.”
In a flash of light, Christof turned into Samuel, and my heart seemed to stop beating as blood coated my skin from an unknown source. “You’re mine, Abigail.”
The surrounding magic faded, and I fell to the ground.
“You’ll be loyal to me and only me by the end of our time together.” He grabbed me and tilted my head to the side. I couldn’t fight him as he pressed his lips to my neck and bit me.
I woke, crying out and fighting my sheets. Zayne was there in an instant. “Princess?”
I shook my head. “Nightmare. You’re going to have to get used to that. Typically Simon is there to soothe them away.”
“Your wolf is not here, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t come back at all.”
I winced. I hadn’t realized how much better my sleep really was with Simon here. At Melisandra’s, I used tea to help. “He’ll be back.”
“If Travis has his way, I have a feeling he won’t be.”
“Not really a comforting thing right now.”
“Not here to comfort you. I’m here to make sure you weren’t being attacked in your sleep.”
I let out a grumble. “Nope, just nightmares. Get used to it, because Melisandra and Oliver are out of town and I didn’t think to ask for some sleepy tea.”
He nodded and walked out of my room. I put my head against my knees and took a few breaths. It was just my mind playing tricks on me. Samuel wasn’t in my head, Christof wasn’t there either, but it reminded me I needed to look at that file tomorrow.
I laid back on the bed and forced myself to focus on my breathing until my mind calmed down enough to fall back to sleep.
I woke up around ten the next morning, but I didn’t feel rested. My mind tossed and turned all night, bouncing between being trapped at Christof’s and Samuel trying to kill me. I rubbed my eyes as I walked down the stairs, trying to shake the sleep from my mind.
Merick was in the living room looking through some notes. “Good morning.”
“Morning.” I moved passed him to the kitchen to find that coffee was already made. Thank the goddess for Merick.
As I made my coffee, I wondered if there would be coffee at Samuel’s. I shook my head. Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as my mind was making it out to be.
Maybe I’d learn something.
Maybe I’d kill Samuel.
That thought made me smile as I walked into the living room and sat on the couch.
“You have a murderous look on your face, Abigail.”
I nodded. “Entertaining the idea of killing Samuel.”
Merick snorted. “That’s a nice daydream. Do you think you’ll manage it?”
“I have no idea. I’m not sure if either of us will survive three months together.”
I saw him cringe.
“I’ll be here when you come back,” he promised.
I pulled my bag toward me. “What do you know about Christof and the branch of Cult he belonged to?” I pulled out the black file that I’d gotten from the office.
Merick shrugged. “Not much. It’s one of the branches that’s given us our bad reputation. They walk on a lot darker side of magic.”
“Do they band together much?”
He gave me a confused look.
“Would they try to get Christof out of containment?”
He leaned back in his chair and pressed his lips together. “It’s possible, and they probably have the magic capable of it, but that would mean Christof would have to disappear.”
“He and Nick both faked their deaths and disappeared for a while once already.”
He nodded. “Just to come back to be an issue.”
That was putting it lightly.
I opened the file and started glancing through it. Most of it was things that I already knew because Liz and I had put the file together. But there was a spot in the back that Liz and I hadn’t added.
I studied the details of my parents’ death and my heart seemed to seize up as I saw the evidence laid out there, the list of other suspects, and a confession from Christof.
“Abby?” Merick asked.
“Christof confessed to the murder of my parents.” My voice shook. “Nick was hiding a confession. He signed his name to it alongside an agent I don’t know.” There was anger there. “I don’t know if he had any intention of returning the file or not.”
Merick was silent for a moment. “With the way he freaked out about you having it, I doubt he was planning on it. This would seal his father’s fate.”
I nodded. “Christof still has a hold on him. That’s the only explanation.”
Merick didn’t say anything, and I wasn’t sure what he could say at this point.
I swallowed. “I need to call O’Donald.”
We had a confession. No one even told me Nick had gone in there, even with another agent at his side. This was finally going to end.
“Abby?” Merick asked.
“Sorry, I just never thought I’d get closure for this.” I grabbed my phone and dialed O’Donald.
“What’s up, Abby?”
“We need to chat, with Nick there. I found out what was in the file. He got a confession from his father. It’s in the file, signed, dated, documented.”
“I saw that when I glanced through it. I wanted to know if you think it’s real or if Agent Avarin is planting a false file.”
I hadn’t thought of that. Was Nick trying to make amends by adding fake documents? “We won’t know unless we talk to him or Christof.”<
br />
“Do you want to do that?”
“Yes, I want to talk to both of them, but I want to do it with an active truth rune.”
O’Donald chuckled. “Not going to let him skirt around it, are you?”
“It’s been a very long few days and I’m going to be gone soon helping the vampire king with something, so I’d rather get this taken care of sooner rather than later.”
O’Donald was quiet for a moment. “The king hasn’t put in a request for anything yet.”
“He will soon.” Levi would have to, or I’d lose my job. “I’ll be in the office in a couple hours, snag Nick for me, please.”
“I will.”
I disconnected the call and stood up. “I’m going to need another cup of coffee to go.”
“You’re going to need a boat load if this is what you’re dealing with.”
I nodded and put the file back in my bag. “Well, come on, let’s go.”
Merick stood from his spot and we walked out the door. I paused as I realize the Hummer was there.
“When did that get here?”
“They dropped it off a couple hours ago while you were sleeping. Part of their services. I checked it out. It’s all good, no magic bullshit on it.” He tossed me the keys, and I smiled.
I climbed into the driver’s seat and pulled the seatbelt on. “Like new. Now hopefully it stays this way, and we don’t breathe a single word to Levi about it.”
Merick nodded. “We didn’t get the precious Hummer hurt, got it.”
I put the Hummer into gear and headed to the highway.
Merick and I walked into PIB and waved at Mandy. She motioned us both through without having Merick sign in. I didn’t question it. He’d been here enough he might as well be honorary PIB at this point.
We went right up to O’Donald’s office, but I paused before knocking when I heard Nick screaming from the other side.
“You had no right to go through desk. I had that file set out for a reason.”
“You had the file in your desk drawer, Nikolas, and you never signed it out. That alone is reason for suspension.”
I knocked on the door, interrupting the yelling.
“Come in, Agent Collins.
I looked at Merick. “Wait here.” I walked into the office and gave a wide berth to Nick.
The Lost Ones (Here Witchy Witchy Book 12) Page 18