After I dropped Reggie off at her house, I went back home to relax until I heard from Thorn. His text came a few hours later while I was watching a movie and eating that cheddar and caramel popcorn mix.
Mud’s gone, but I blew a tire. Might be late. Trying to figure out what to do, Thorn texted.
Let me come get you, I texted back.
You don’t need to do that, he answered.
I know I don’t need to, but I can. I want to. You said the mud is gone, so it won’t be difficult or dangerous, I responded.
It was a couple of minutes before he answered me. I figured he was thinking it over.
Alright. The little dirt road the cabin is located on is navigable with GPS now. I’ll send you what you need, he finally replied.
My heart began to flutter at the thought of seeing Thorn again. It had only been a few days, but I honestly did miss him more than I’d let myself believe.
“I’m going to get Thorn,” I said to Meri. “He blew a tire and needs help.”
“He didn’t have a spare? That seems pretty irresponsible,” Meri said.
“I can ask him about that when I pick him up if you’d like. Or, you’re welcome to come along. Did you have any big plans for the rest of today?”
“I was going to nap down here until the sun moved to the other side of the house, and then I was going to nap in the upstairs hallway,” he said. “Very important stuff.”
“So, are you coming with me? Or, are you staying here to do your nap thing?”
“Doesn’t he have any friends he can call?” Meri groused.
“I suppose he does, but I volunteered,” I said.
“Whatever. Let’s go.” Meri stood up and stretched.
“You really don’t have to go,” I said as I got my purse off the hook by the door and slipped my shoes on.
“I know that, but without me you probably won’t make it. I can just imagine you lost out in those woods. Can’t happen.”
“I have GPS,” I said as we stepped out onto the porch.
“Doesn’t fill me with a ton of confidence.”
“Whatever,” I said and opened the passenger side door for him.
“Whatever.”
The GPS in the car got us to the little dirt road that led to the cabin just fine. Meri had worried about that for no reason, but I still appreciated his concern. I wouldn’t tell him that because he’d been a snarky butthead about it, but I did appreciate it.
The dash map said I was about halfway down the road to Thorn’s cabin when I saw something in the trees. At first, I thought it was an animal and slowed down. The last thing I needed was a family of deer darting out into the path of my car.
If I knew they were there, it was better to just slow down and let them pass safely. I knew if I did hit an animal, I could heal it and use magic to repair the damage to my car, but I hadn’t thought to bring snacks. By the time I did that and fixed Thorn’s tire, I’d be depleted.
Meri had warned me not to use too much magic while I was carrying the baby. My energy needed to be focused on the little peanut growing inside me.
When the shape behind the trees moved again, I realized it was a person. They came out long enough for me to see them as I passed and then darted behind a tree.
“You should probably keep going,” Meri said. “Maybe a little faster.”
He was up with his back feet on the door handle area with his paws clinging to the car’s window ledge. I’d never seen him do that before, but it was the only way he could look out the window in his tiny kitten form. Whatever it was out there, whoever it was, had a strong enough pull to get his attention without me saying anything.
I didn’t dare put the pedal down, but I did go a bit faster. An icy chill ran down my spine as whoever it was hiding came out from the trees again. Without thinking, and completely ineffectively, I reached out and turned down the car’s air conditioner.
When I glanced into the rearview mirror, the man was standing in the middle of the road. Out in full view like that, I recognized him instantly. It was Richard Jordan.
I hit the brakes a little too hard.
“What are you doing?” Meri asked as he tumbled onto the passenger seat. He’d been trying to climb down from the window, but I’d made the transition much quicker. Completely to his dismay.
“It’s Richard Jordan. That’s who was in the trees. He’s in the road now. I wonder if he needs help,” I said as I put the car in park.
“Maybe we should call someone,” Meri said. “This seems like the setup to a horror movie.”
“I’ll send Thorn a text,” I said. “We’re like a half-mile from the cabin. He can jog here or something.”
“Maybe call the police,” Meri said as I picked him up and put him in my bag.
“I don’t know that we need the police. Maybe he just got drunk and lost,” I said. “We’ll see if he needs a ride. He looked sad, but he didn’t look hurt.”
“We’re going to get murdered,” Meri groused.
“We’re not because I’m still a witch and you’re still a familiar. Plus, Richard is a drunk, not a serial killer,” I said as I walked down the road toward where he was standing.
“You don’t know that for sure.”
“Hey, Richard,” I said and waved at him. “Do you need some help?”
Completely unexpectedly, he took off running back toward the trees. He hit the tree line and the forest swallowed him up. It was as if he vanished.
“Well, now we should definitely follow him into the forest,” Meri said sarcastically.
“We’re just going to take a quick look,” I said. “We won’t go too far in.”
“I was joking,” Meri said.
Half-mile up the road. Richard Jordan in trouble. Going to try and help him. I shot the text off to Thorn as I walked to the trees.
“I texted Thorn. I’m sure he’ll be here soon,” I said. “We’re just going to have a quick look. I swear.
“I can’t just leave him out here,” I said. “He looked distressed. We can handle anything that’s out here.”
“Fine,” Meri relented, but I hadn’t been waiting for his permission.
We walked a few hundred feet into the forest when a horrible smell hit me like a truck. I turned and wretched but fortunately held it together. Laced with the odor of death was some sort of spicy incense and the smell of burnt candle wicks.
“Okay, now will you go back?” Meri asked. “Come on, Kinsley.”
“Richard?” I called out as I completely ignored Meri. “Richard, it’s Kinsley Skeenbauer. I can help you, but I can’t find you.”
Despite Meri’s warning, I walked deeper into the woods for another minute. That’s all it took to come across a clearing with what looked like an abandoned campsite in the middle.
Except that at that point I had to use a bit of magic to cover the smell coming from the area because it was nearly enough to make me dizzy. My mind didn’t want to believe what I’d found, so I just told myself that campers had left their site and their food had rotted.
“But what does that have to do with Richard?” My brain was starting to put the pieces together as to what I’d stumbled upon. I wasn’t quite there yet.
“What?” Meri asked as he clawed his way out of the bag and dropped to the ground. “Kinsley, seriously, we need to get out of here. We should back out the way we came.”
“Richard!” I called out. “Man, I hope he didn’t have anything to do with these people abandoning their campsite.”
“Are you okay?” Meri asked. “Why am I asking that? Of course, you’re not okay. Kinsley Skeenbauer, for the good of your child, turn around right now and walk back the way you came,” he demanded.
“What?” I asked. “Why are you acting like this?”
But before he could answer, my mind cleared. The scene before me snapped into focus with what almost seemed like an audible click in my brain.
“We should go back out to the road,” I said.
For the briefest moment, I considered whether I should go over to Richard and make sure he was dead, but I knew he was. When I saw him in the trees and in the road, I’d seen his ghost.
While I knew it wasn’t likely that anyone or anything in those woods could hurt me, I could’ve still been in danger of an attempted attack. The smell of the candle smoke told me that they had only recently gone out.
It was more likely that the murder had happened in the middle of the night. The perpetrator or perpetrators had left them burning. I couldn’t know that for sure, though. While I told myself that I could easily handle an attack, it was better to not take the risk.
After all, some things could hurt me. My mind flashed back to being stabbed in the back with the Voodoo knife as I fled the woods as quickly as possible.
Once I got back to my car, I got in and locked the doors. What had I been thinking? I started the car and began driving in the hopes that I’d soon run into Thorn on his way down the road.
I didn’t have to go far to meet up with him. He was sweaty, red-faced, and out of breath, and it was apparent he’d been full-on sprinting to get to me. I pulled the car over and unlocked the doors so he could get in.
Meri jumped onto the center console as Thorn slipped into the passenger seat. He immediately reached over and cranked up the air conditioning.
“I forgot to bring drinks or snacks with me,” I said. “Let’s go back to the cabin and get you some water.”
“Don’t you still have the emergency kit in your trunk? The one I put in there for you?” he asked in between breaths.
“You’re right. I do,” I said as I popped the trunk. “I forgot about that.”
“There’s water in it. If you don’t mind me having some, I promise I’ll replace it.”
“Of course, I don’t mind. You put it in there anyway. Let me get it for you. Just rest for a minute in the AC,” I said. “Richard’s dead, by the way. I found him in a clearing through those trees. Looked… like some sort of ritual murder.”
“Kinsley, baby, I can get the water myself. I’m not that out of shape. I want you to stay in the car in case the killer is still around.”
“How about we both get the water,” I said and gave him a wink.
I could tell Thorn was about to protest, but I was out of the car before he could actually say anything. He joined me at the trunk as I opened the large black case containing the kit and retrieved two bottles of water. Thorn downed the first one in a couple of gulps and then slowly sipped the second.
“This heat is insane,” he said. “You should drink some too. If I’m this depleted from running a half-mile, you know it’s bad.”
Thorn was accustomed to running several miles most days of the week, so what he said was true. I’d only been out of the car for a few minutes when we walked into the woods, and the trees had protected me from the worst of the blazing summer sun. Standing there on the road, I could already feel my shirt getting damp.
“Alright, I’ll drink some water, but we’ve got to get back out to the main road so you can call this in,” I said.
“Yeah, let’s do that, and then you can show me where he is,” Thorn replied.
We both got back into the car, and I turned around to head for the main road. As we drove past the spot where I’d entered the woods, I made a mental note. I knew as time went on, I’d start to forget where I’d seen Richard’s ghost. The trees would blend together. I quickly memorized some yellow flowers I saw at the base of the two trees.
As we got closer to the main road, I lamented that Thorn and I’s reunion had been interrupted by another death. I’d so hoped that he’d wrap me in his arms and kiss me until I was sure we were okay. Of course, there wasn’t any time for that. We had to get the body reported as soon as possible, and Thorn had to be the law enforcement professional that he’d trained to be.
Still, he put his hand on my knee, and when I looked over at him he smiled at me. “Are you okay?”
I felt my shoulders relax. “I am,” I said. “This is getting to be old hat for me, unfortunately.”
“It shouldn’t be that way,” Thorn said. “I’d say we should move to a nice, safe small town to get away from all of the crime…”
“But, Coventry is already supposed to be that place,” I said through a tight smile. “I love our little town, and we are safe.” I wasn’t sure if I was trying to reassure him or myself at that point.
“How’s the little one? Everything good?” he asked.
“Peanut is great,” I said. “It’s so weird because normal women usually have to wait until they are much farther along to feel their baby move, but I can already feel them.”
“But, they’re too small for that, right?” Thorn asked me as I turned onto the main road and pulled the car safely onto the shoulder.
“They are,” I confirmed. “But, I’m guessing he or she is using magic to make the fluttering I feel. They can project their feelings outward. Babies have so much raw magical power. Some of them even more than the most accomplished witch.”
“So, you think that the baby is going to be a witch.” Thorn said. “Not a vampire.”
There wasn’t a trace of malice in his tone. He was merely curious. My heart constricted with love and gratitude for Thorn in that moment. He was not going to let jealousy ruin things between us, and I had to awe at what kind of man it took to be that strong.
“I think it’s possible that they will be a combination of both. What that will be, I don’t know for sure, but I can definitely tell they’re a witch. I can feel that energy.”
“I guess we’re going to find out together,” he said, and took my hand. “Our little peanut will be something extraordinary.”
“I’m so glad you see it that way,” I said.
“There isn’t any other way to see it. That baby is a miracle and a gift from the universe, Kinsley. I refuse to see it any other way, but I do have to call in the murder. Okay?”
“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean…”
“Don’t apologize,” Thorn said as he got out of the car. “We’ll have more time to talk later. We have all of the time in the world.”
Thorn got out of the car and quickly placed a call to the county sheriff. When he got back in, I drove back to the spot where I’d entered the woods.
“It’s straight through there?” he asked and pointed at the spot where I’d entered the woods, chasing Richard’s ghost.
“Yeah. It’s maybe a few hundred feet in. I’m not exactly sure how far, but you’ll come to a clearing.”
“Alright, you stay here. I’m going to go find it and start marking off the crime scene. Did you approach the body?”
“No, I stayed at the edge of the clearing. It was obvious he was dead. You’ll see.”
“I don’t have my cruiser here, so I’m just going to take what I can from the emergency kit and set up an initial perimeter. I’ll do what I can until the county sheriff arrives.”
A couple of minutes later, Thorn had taken what he wanted from the trunk and set off into the woods. I sat in the car with the air conditioning running while Meri snoozed along beside me. His gentle snoring lulled me into a nap too. I hadn’t realized how tired I was until the sound of cars driving up the dirt road behind me rattled me from my light slumber.
Thorn emerged from the tree line, and I assumed he’d been waiting in the shade. He came over toward the car first.
I got out and met him halfway. “Why didn’t you come sit in the car?” I asked.
“You were sleeping, and I didn’t want to wake you. I was fine in the shade. It’s not so bad.”
“Let me get you another water. There are still a few more in there.”
“Then you should go home,” Thorn called after me as I walked back to my car to retrieve the water from the trunk. “I can catch a ride with one of these guys or call one of mine.”
As if on cue, one of the Coventry Sheriff’s Office cruisers rolled up the dirt road. I grabbed Thorn another bottle of water
and closed the trunk.
“I’m not leaving you out here again. I’ll wait,” I said. “I’ll go back to the hunting cabin and have a look at that tire. I don’t suppose you have any food?”
“I’ve got a bunch of canned goods. Some soup, chili, stew, and a bunch of canned fruits and veggies,” he said. “Pancake mix and powdered milk too.”
“See, I’ll be fine,” I said. “I’ll go wait there.”
“You can go with her too, Thorn,” a man said from behind us.
I hadn’t noticed, but the county sheriff had walked up behind us. Jim Halperin stood just over six-three. He was in his sixties, but you’d swear he wasn’t a day older than forty-five. His blond hair had a hint of ash gray around the temples, but otherwise it stayed the same golden rich hue of someone much younger.
“You’re taking over the case, then?” Thorn asked. “That area could technically still be inside of Coventry.”
“We’re discussing that, but as of right now it’s a county issue. I want to bring you in, though. We’re stretched as thin as we can be. I don’t have the manpower to run an investigation like this. Plus, the man is a Coventry resident, yes?”
“He is,” Thorn responded. “Should we get the GPS coordinates of his location? We can figure out the jurisdiction for sure.”
Sheriff Jim sighed. “No need for that, Wilson. If you want it, it’s yours. Like I said, I don’t have the manpower to deal with this anyway. I can leave a couple deputies to assist you with the crime scene if you want, and then we’ll back off.”
“I appreciate it, Jim,” Thorn said.
Deputy Lincoln Raines stepped out of the Coventry’s Sheriff’s Office cruiser that had pulled up. His face was grim and his mouth pulled in a tight line as he hurried over to where we stood.
“I’ll let you tell your man,” Jim said as Lincoln approached. “Do you want me to have one of my guys go out to the main road and call in more of your deputies?”
“I would appreciate that too,” Thorn said.
“Great. Thanks, Sheriff Wilson,” Jim said.
“What’s going on here?” Lincoln asked gruffly.
Book of Dark Magic Page 4
