The King's Gambit

by A. L. Kessler

  CHAPTER TWO

  Four Years Later

  Something was wrong. Elizabeth hadn’t called yet, and it was long past dusk. For the past four years she’d always called him, and if not her, Tobias. Levi paced the floor as a strange ache in his heart started. He needed to check on them, but he’d sworn not to step foot into the house unless it was work related. The further away from him they were, the better. Especially with a child involved.

  Abigail. His Abigail. He glanced over at the picture of the child in question. She was a mere babe last time he got to hold her and feel her little hand wrapped around his finger. He tore his gaze away from the photo as the door to his office opened. “What is it Mario?” Levi’s eyes shot to the tall Italian vampire. The man’s hair was slicked back from his olive-skinned face, leaving his dark gaze clear.

  “I’m required to go visit Hannah tonight. I thought I would check to see if you need something?” Even after so many years of not speaking Italian, the accent was still there.

  Levi hesitated a moment. “I need to go speak with Elizabeth and Tobias.”

  “Something wrong?”

  He didn’t know how to explain it. “I don’t know. In case something is wrong, I’d like you to come with.”

  “You’re allowing yourself to get mixed up in their lives again. It’s dangerous, for everyone involved.”

  Levi tried not to snarl. “I know, better than you, I know the consequences. But if something is wrong, I would never forgive myself.” Because they were the last things he had to hold onto in this world.

  Mario looked like he wanted to argue but thought better of it. Levi nodded. “Thank you.”

  He closed his eyes and used his abilities to take him to the Collins’ house. He stood in front of the three-story custom-built farmhouse. He’d commissioned it for Tobias and Elizabeth when Elizabeth had given birth to Abigail. They needed a home away from the vampire king.

  Mario appeared next to Levi, but he barely noticed. All he could focus on were the soft cries of Abigail and the lack of heartbeats and noises from inside the house. Without a warning to Mario, Levi transported himself into the living room of the house.

  “Elizabeth? Elizabeth!” He demanded her to answer, but he knew already. The scent of blood overtook his senses, and he knew that it was hers. He’d tasted it enough times. He found the basement door open and rushed down to see the bodies.

  Sorrow filled him, and he tried to stop the tears burning in his eyes as he felt the pain in his chest explode. Elizabeth was stretched out toward the couch, her dark wavy hair matted with blood, her dead eyes rolled back to whites. Her beautiful face pale. He looked to find Tobias’ body flung over the couch, coated in blood.

  “Abigail?” he called, his voice shaking. He heard her soft sobs. “Abigail, it’s Levi, you can come out.”

  Mario appeared next to him and looked at the bodies. “The child?”

  “Hiding.” Protected if he knew Elizabeth well enough. “Call the police.” He had no choice but to let the human police get involved because there was a child who needed protecting and he couldn’t just disappear with her without becoming a suspect.

  “This isn’t his work, Levi. I know what you’re thinking.”

  “I know, this has the look of witch hunters. No magic, blunt force trauma, no claws or tears.” Levi shook his head. “I will find who did this and I will murder them. Now go, call the police and then go to Hannah.”

  “What about you?”

  Levi turned away from the bodies. “I will stay with Abigail until I know that she is safe.” He walked up the basement stairs and then took the main stairs to the top floor, following Abby’s cries.

  There in the bedroom was the tiny tot. Four years old now, same dark wavy hair as her mother, Abigail’s eyes had changed to the same deep-set brown eyes as Elizabeth, and same heart shape face. “Abigail?” He put his hand against the purple magic circle that was protecting her.

  She looked up at him and tried to wipe her tears. “Mama?”

  Levi swallowed trying to find the words. “Abigail, can you pull the circle down?”

  She shook her head. “I tried. Where’s mama? Where’s daddy?”

  He’d never gotten used to her calling Tobias dad, but that was the way it had to be. He put his head against the circle. “Let me see if I can get a witch here to pull this down.”

  “Don’t leave.” She pressed her hand against the circle where his was. “I’m scared.”

  He looked at her round eyes. “I won’t let anything hurt you. I just have to go downstairs to use the phone.” He could hear the sirens in the distance. Soon the house would be swarming with police and forensics people.

  Abby sat back on the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest. “I want mama.”

  Levi sighed and stepped away from the circle. “I’ll be right back.” He went back to the main level, trying to ignore the soft sobs that started up again. There was nothing he could do for her if she stayed trapped inside the circle. Elizabeth had been working with a woman. If he could find the phone number, then maybe he could get them to help.

  Flashing lights reflected through the window as he grabbed the address book. He was never fond of the human cops, but he had to work with them. For now.

  He walked out front and greeted them, hands up to show he was unarmed. Officers moved around him, except for one. He stepped up and held his hand out to Levi. “I’m Detective Steven Lance, are you who called?”

  “Yes,” he lied to save having to explain where Mario had disappeared to, luckily for him the cop didn’t question. “There are two bodies downstairs, Elizabeth and Tobias Collins. There’s a little girl upstairs who’s trapped in a magical circle. Her name is Abigail Collins. I need to locate a witch who can bring down the Circle.”

  Detective Lance nodded. “Let my men secure the scene. I know a young witch that will be able to help us out.”

  “I would rather have someone the girl knows.” Levi tried to keep his voice even. “She’s scared as it is.”

  “I understand that, but this is my crime scene, and I’ve come here to find you, two dead bodies, and a trapped child. We’re handling it my way.”

  Levi pressed his lips together to keep from protesting. “Fine,” he gritted out.

  “Thank you.” Detective Lance turned away and started giving orders to the officers around.

  “May I go sit with her?” He knew better than just to go waltzing into the house. He could piss off the people investigating.

  Lance nodded. “I’ll be up there in a moment. I’d like to speak with her.”

  “Of course.”

  Levi spun to walk back into the house to go back to Abigail. He didn’t want a witch he didn’t know to take the circle down. He didn’t want the officer to talk to Abby and take her from the scene. She needed to stay by his side.

  The house phone rang right as he passed by it. He picked it up without thinking. “Hello?”

  “Levi?” A male voice came over the phone with an unfriendly hiss. “What are you doing there? Where’s Elizabeth?”

  Ah, the bastard brother. “She’s dead, Oliver.”

  Silence for a moment, for once he was speechless. “Abigail…?”

  “Alive and in a circle. Stay away from this, Oliver.” He hung up before the man could respond. Oliver had been nothing but a pain in his ass from the moment Levi fell in love with Elizabeth. Always whispering in her ear about the dangers of getting involved further with the vampires.

  He put the phone on the counter and went back upstairs to find Abby fast asleep in the circle. He had no idea how long she had been trapped. Was it just a couple hours? All day and night? He sat on the floor next to the circle and watched her sleep. When she woke up, her world would be a nightmare, but for now, he’d let her have some peace.

  Though the detective had said he’d be up in a few minutes, it was nearly two hours before Detective Lance walked through the bedroom door. By his side was a teen girl, with big rou
nd blue eyes and unkempt hair dressed in fleece pajamas.

  “This is the witch?”

  “Clarissa is already a master with protection. She’ll be able to pull the circle down and sit with Abigail while you and I talk.”

  Levi glanced at the sleeping child and then to the officer. “I’m not leaving her alone.”

  “Social services are already on their way. Simply protocol when there’s a child involved.”

  The thought of being separated from her almost threw him into a panic. There was no promise that whoever killed Elizabeth and Tobias wouldn’t come after Abigail.

  “They will sit with her while I ask her questions so that she has an adult with her.”

  “She’s four. She’s not going to be able to tell you anything,” Levi snapped. “She needs to know what is going on and be comforted.”

  “Levi?” Abigail’s voice made him turn to her. “What’s going on?”

  Before he could say anything, Clarissa stepped up to the circle. “Hey, sweetie.”

  “Please Mister?” Lance let the sentence trail off so Levi could answer.

  “Falcos.”

  “Mister Falcos, come downstairs so we can talk. I promise she won’t be left alone.”

  He looked back to see Clarissa talking softly to Abby and nodded. “Okay, downstairs.”

  Detective Lance led the way down the stairs and into the living room. Levi sat on the couch making sure that he sat straight and the exhaustion he was feeling didn’t slouch his shoulders. He met the detective’s gaze. “Abigail is my main priority here.”

  “Why are you so concerned with her? Who are you to her?”

  He wanted to confess to being her father, but that wasn’t going to work here. “I’m a close friend of her parents. My worry is that whoever killed her parents will come back for her.”

  Lance made some notes on a tiny notepad. “What made you visit tonight?”

  “Elizabeth calls me every night after she and Tobias get in from work. She didn’t call tonight so I wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

  “Why not call her?”

  Levi shook his head. “It never occurred to me.”

  “How do you know her parents?”

  “They do research work for me from time to time. Tobias is a linguist and Elizabeth a very talented witch.” Obviously her magic failed her tonight though. Except in protecting Abby. Elizabeth’s power had started to lean toward protection ever since she’d given birth.

  “Where were you during the day?”

  These were the questions he was waiting for. “I’m a vampire. I’m confined to my house during the day. I have several staff members that will confirm that for you.” He kept his voice even. The rush of small footsteps down the stairs and screaming echoed through the house. He turned to see Abigail flying down the stairs and taking the sharp turn to get to the basement steps.

  She was going for her parents. Levi jumped off the couch and used his ability to appear behind Abby, catching her the moment before she threw herself at her mother’s body.

  “Mama.” She wailed and tried to wiggle her way out of Levi’s arms. “Mama, wake up.”

  He held her tight against him. “Abigail, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

  “Mama.” She settled after a few minutes of being held. She turned and snuggled into him as she sobbed. He tried to hush her and rocked her a little bit at the bottom of the stairs.

  He had no words of comfort, nothing he could say that would take away her pain, and she would live with the grief for the rest of her life. He looked up at Lance. “Are we done with the questions?”

  “For now. But we still need to talk with Abigail.”

  Levi nodded, not wanting to let her go. What he wanted to do was break down with her. He’d lost almost everything in one swoop of death. He felt Abigail’s little fists clinging to his shirt as the sobs still shook her body.

  “Abigail? This nice Detective wants to talk to you.”

  Clarissa came down the stairs. “I have some tea for her.”

  Tea? At a time like this? Levi looked over his shoulder giving her a look that said exactly what he was thinking.

  The teen smiled at him. “Tea helps calm the nerves. Her mother had everything in the cupboard to make it.”

  “Abby, do you want some tea?”

  She nodded against him. “Mama’s tea?”

  “It’ll be close,” Clarissa promised. “We can have some while we wait for social services to show up.”

  Abby uncurled from him and slowly climbed the stairs, glancing once behind her.

  Levi nodded. “Go on.”

  Levi paced outside the kitchen where the officer was talking to Abby and Clarissa was cooing to her. The little girl had no idea what had happened or who had been in the house. Elizabeth had simply told her to wait and put her in a protective circle. Shouting outside caught his attention, and he went to look out the front window.

  A man stood there yelling and shouting at the officers, and Levi sighed. The dark hair was the same as Elizabeth’s, but the man was much more narrow in the face, more sinister than Elizabeth had ever looked. He walked out of the house and approached the crime tape.

  “Oliver, I told you not to come.” He kept his voice even, and the man glared at him.

  “Where is Abigail. What have you done with her, you leech?” He snarled. “What did you do to bring death to Elizabeth.”

  The officer put a hand on Oliver’s chest to get him to back up. Levi sighed. “I don’t know. It looks to be witch hunters.”

  That calmed Oliver a little bit. “You don’t deal with witch hunters.”

  Of course the man would accuse him of being involved. “Exactly, this wasn’t vampire business, Oliver. Abigail is inside talking to the detective. She has another witch by her side.”

  “She comes home with me.” Oliver tugged on his jacket as if realizing he needed to compose himself.

  Levi shook his head. “No, she doesn’t. Once social services get here to check on her welfare, then she’ll be going home with me.”

  “You know the implications of that?”

  “Better than you, but I know that it’s in Elizabeth’s will because of the circumstances that surround Abigail.”

  Oliver shook his head and then looked at the officers that were around. “This isn’t over Levi. You will not be keeping my niece.”

  Over his dead body. For once Oliver’s hands would be bound by the human courts, and Levi could keep the man out of Abby’s life, for good.

  A black car pulled up, and a woman in a skirt and jacket got out and talked to one of the officers. Levi could only assume that she worked for social services. An officer escorted her to the house, and Levi sighed. He was in for a long night, and a long day.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Twenty Years Later

  Levi looked up when a man walked into his office. The light brown of his hair hadn’t changed over the last few years that he knew the werewolf. His height rivaled that of Abigail’s, tall, strong, and perfect for protecting Levi’s daughter.

  “You summoned?” Simon gave a small smirk. “I hope there isn’t an emergency. Greg is getting tired of you summoning me for shit.”

  Levi snorted. “Greg is lucky you haven’t killed him and taken his place. No, I called you because Abigail will be coming up tonight, and I think it’s time you two try again.”

  Simon held his hands up. “Look, she’s not interested.”

  “I’ll talk to her first this time. Maybe if I give her a little bit of a reason, she’ll be more willing to try. Simon, you know how important this is.”

  Simon crossed his arms. The wolf wasn’t in on the full secret of who Abigail was, but he knew what she meant to Levi. “You want someone there to protect her because in your mind someone is out to get her.”

  “You make me sound paranoid.” Levi shook his head. “I’m cautious.”

  “You’re acting like an overprotective father. If you want someone near her, and y
ou want her safe, maybe you should stop having her do stuff for you.”

  Levi shook his head. “I give her just enough to keep her busy and typically nothing dangerous.”

  “You mean more dangerous than PIB.”

  He tried not to sneer. Abigail had insisted on taking a job with PIB. Right out of high school she went to the academy, and he swore it was going to be the death of him, and her. The amount of preparation and manipulation that went into keeping his position as king and her origins a secret were unbelievable. He’d even went as far as to enlist Oliver’s help, despite the hatred between him and the warlock.

  Simon’s gaze went to the screen behind Levi. “So um…turn around.”

  Levi raised a brow and turned to see the news on the screen showing the repeated image of a barn blowing up, and not far from the blast stood a tall, dark, curly-haired woman with a magical purple circle around her. Abigail. Just a stone’s throw away from being a crispy witch.

  Levi closed his eyes and reminded himself to stay calm.

  “Well, at least she wasn’t in the barn,” Simon said.

  Levi spun around and faced the wolf. “This is what I’m talking about.”

  “I’m sure it had to do with the case. I see where Abby gets her paranoia now.” Simon shook his head. “I’ll be in the lounge waiting for Abby. Try not to lose your shit when she gets here. Her being grumpy makes her harder to convince to go on a date.”

  “You’ve never convinced her.” Levi turned back to the screen.

  “Exactly.”

  The barn images played on repeat, and Levi found himself wondering what kind of magic Abby would be facing. The fact that she was on a case was good because the council was coming soon to celebrate his anniversary of becoming king and the vampires’ transition into the human world. All supernatural creatures were out in the human world now. A little over twenty-four years ago the council had decided that he would step up and become the king, leading them into the new world.

  Which was why Abigail had to stay hidden. Why she couldn’t know. He couldn’t have that big a weakness running around. He reached for the remote and turned the television off. He needed to focus on other things. The council coming, rumors of blood-starved vampires overseas, but leave it to Abby to have something blow up. He turned to find the wolf gone. Levi sat at his desk and started attending to his work.