by Willow Mason
“The supernatural authority has no mercy.” Leo’s lips curled and he spat on the side of the track. “Do you know what it’s like to live in a world without another living being? Three seconds ahead in time might as well be a million years. There’s no one to talk to. No one to hold me close.”
“No one to torture or dismember,” Muffin said, swishing her tail low. “The others might not have placed you yet, but I recall the perpetrator behind the vampire carnage in Timaru three years ago. You tore the town apart.”
“They wanted it,” Leo snarled. “Everyone we brought into the nest loved it and those that didn’t had their chance to run.”
“It was a disgrace. The streets ran red with blood after you were so gorged you couldn’t swallow another drop. That wasteful extravagance cost dozens of people their lives and you want to whine about how there’s no one to hug you in prison?”
“Perhaps the authority could arrange for a companion,” Rosie said, arms folded, with her mouth pinched in a thin line. “I’m sure there’s a monster in another time zone who’d be happy to make your acquaintance.”
Leo’s eyes flickered, and he glanced into the swirling vortex behind him. His shoulders drooped, and I caught a flicker of fear as he spun back to face us. Then he stiffened his spine and glared at the twins. “I don’t fear anyone in that prison. And you should all be thanking me since I cleared two monster hunters out of town.” He bent forward, tipping an imaginary hat during his bow. “You’re welcome.”
“Why did you kill them?” Despite Leo’s earlier warning, I shuffled closer. “Surely, they weren’t a threat to you.”
“Huh. Neither one of them could fight their way out of a paper bag.” Leo glanced over his shoulder again. I could see a faint shimmer, close to skin tone. Before the colour coalesced into an obvious shape, it disappeared, swallowed by the whirl of lights and blackness. “I mistook Blake Stone for someone else, that’s all. Poor fool turned up in the wrong house at the wrong time.”
“And Mr Phillips?”
Leo smirked. “The police were halfway toward blaming those teenagers for Blake’s murder, so I followed them online. Once I found the house they planned to prank next, it was easy to break in and plant a nice diversion.”
“A diversion?” Posey sounded horrified. “Old Mr Phillips was a valued member of our community. Not some red herring.”
“He was a monster hunter.”
“Was he?” I pointed a finger at Leo’s chest. “Or did you plant some potion where Syd would find it and draw the wrong conclusion.”
The vampire’s eyes twinkled, flashing an even brighter red. “You’re one to watch, aren’t you?” Leo wrinkled his nose before giving a soft laugh. “That was just for extra credit. Blake Stone had a stash of it in his jacket pocket and I didn’t think he’d miss it. Why limit the police to one group of suspects when I could point the finger at two?”
“Who did you mistake Blake Stone for?” Muffin strolled right up to Leo, staring boldly into his face.
“Just…” Leo waved his hand, giving another nervous glance over his shoulder. “Just someone. It doesn’t matter.”
The vortex swirled and the strange skin-coloured image shimmered again. Arms. The shape was like a pair of watercolour arms, hung up before they were dry, so the paint ran and distorted the image.
Disembodied arms that sent a paper aeroplane flying out of the vortex to strike my chest and fall at my feet.
“It’s the other prisoner, isn’t it?” I snagged the paper and unfolded the note. “You were afraid he was coming for you.”
“I’m the one who found out how to distort the portal so I could get back to normal time. He did none of the work, but now he wants to take advantage of my success.” Leo snarled and shook his head. “If he’d just stayed put, nobody would ever have known.”
On the page, a vampire in a black cape had a stake through his heart and black crosses for his eyes.
“The supernatural authority would find out,” Rosie stated. “When they come by to check on the prison, they’ll see something wrong straight away.”
“When they come by to check,” Leo said in a mocking tone. “Those members are so lazy, they’ll never bother. Every one of them thinks they developed a fool proof system. Their egos couldn’t handle being wrong.”
Leo shoved his hand into his cape pocket, bringing out a handful of sparkling dust. “Now, if you don’t mind, I must be going.”
“We do mind.” I popped the top off the container in my pocket and shook out half the contents. “We mind very much.”
The vampire smeared pixie dust over his hands and up his arms, then wiped it across his face. “You can’t believe how good this stuff feels. It’s been decades since I last had my fill of magic.” He flexed his fingers. “Oh, the things I can do.”
He flung a spark at my feet that exploded, sending twisted metal from the track flying into the air. Even with my body tensed for an attack, it surprised me. My magic turned into a weapon against me. My mouth went dry with anger while blood flooded into my cheeks.
With an image of Leo bound and gagged in my mind, I blew pixie dust towards him. Instead of forming into a cloud of smoke, the dust dropped to the ground. “What’s happening?” I asked Rosie in a strangled voice. “It’s not doing what I want.”
“Oh, poor pixie,” Leo trilled, bursting into high-pitched giggles. “The universe doesn’t agree with your vision, so your magic is useless.” He licked dust from his palms, turning his tongue into a glitterball. “Mm, tastes like unicorn. I can feel you inside me.” He rubbed his stomach and gave me a lecherous wink. “Me on the other hand, I don’t need the world’s permission to cause damage.”
He flung another explosion to my side, shattering the wall of the ride. Sunlight streamed through the gap, blinding me. I stumbled, putting my hand into the middle of a papier-mache skeleton.
“How do I stop him?” I turned a pleading face to the twins, searching for an answer. When they shook their heads, I glanced at Muffin whose entire face was flooded with concern.
“We should get out of here,” she said, backing up a step. “If the universe isn’t on board with us stopping him, we have no protection.”
“But why?”
Leo spun in a circle, his body turning into flames where it caught the sunlight. “Because the punishment inflicted on me and my ilk is UNJUST. That’s why. It’s time for me to seek retribution.”
“We didn’t imprison you,” I shouted, spinning around in a desperate search for something else to use. A shovel? A wrench? I bent and scooped up a handful of pebbles, the best I could do.
“You didn’t free me, either. I had to do that myself. All the supernaturals alive are complicit in the authority’s misguided decision-making.”
“He’s wrong,” Muffin said, her fur standing so far on end she looked three times normal size. “The universe couldn’t care less about his punishment. It’s because he’s undead. The standard rules of magic no longer apply.”
“Whatever.” Leo flapped a hand at us, turning his attention back to the portal. “The universe made me undead, so it all comes out the same.”
I dropped my voice to a whisper. “He’s not the only one around here that’s undead.”
Muffin stared at me blankly for a second, then nodded, jumping out through the newly created hole in the side of the ride.
“You should go, too,” I told the twins in a louder voice. “There’s no need for us all to be in danger.”
Leo gave a maniacal laugh worth of any super villain. “Yes, go! I’ll send your pixie home to you in little boxes so you can all keep a piece of her in remembrance.”
Maisie floated through the gap as the twins departed. Leo didn’t react to her appearance, so I guessed he couldn’t see her.
“Now what, little pixie?” Leo held his hands up like a boxer. “Do you want a fist fight? Cross my dead heart I won’t cheat.”
I pulled the last of the pixie dust from my pocket, then cup
ped my hands. Maisie repeated the gesture, and I emptied the container into her palms. To my relief, she could hold it. “Now what?”
The question made me smile. Yeah, I’d like to know the answer to that, too.
Leo had ingested pixie dust. Tying him up probably wouldn’t hold him for more than a few seconds.
I saw the shimmer of arms coming out of the vortex again. “Push him backwards. Let his fellow prisoner decide the punishment for his crime.”
An expression of confusion crossed Leo’s face, then Maisie blew the dust towards him. A cloud hit him in the centre of his chest, propelling him backwards into the vortex.
The arms became fully fleshed, grabbing Leo around the middle. His puzzlement turned to horror as they clasped him tight, dragging him backwards into the hole.
A faint cry sounded, then the vortex snapped shut.
“What just happened?” Maisie asked in a reed-thin voice.
“Justice.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Why doesn’t my batter look anything like yours?” I asked Rosie two days later, staring with suspicion into my bowl.
“You’ve forgotten something,” she said with a quick glance.
Posey giggled and pushed a carefully measured cup of milk towards me. “Perhaps this might help? Unless you poured yourself a drink.”
I rolled my eyes while Muffin stared with increasing concern at the activity. “We still have the bakery on speed dial, right?”
“We do,” I assured her. “But wouldn’t you rather have scrumptious muffins straight out of the oven?”
“I would,” she agreed. “And I don’t doubt your enthusiasm.”
“Just your capabilities,” Brody said with a grin.
“How about everyone leaves the kitchen?” I suggested with a frown. “I think my baking skills might be inversely related to the size of my audience.”
“It’s not batter unless it has flour in it,” Rosie said, ignoring everyone but me. “Please tell me you haven’t added that yet.”
“Of course, I haven’t. It’s waiting in the other bowl with the apple.”
“Does apple sound like a dry ingredient?”
Was this a trick question? “Dry-ish,” I said while Muffin clapped a paw over her eyes.
Rosie sighed. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. Just add everything else now.” I tipped the rest of the ingredients into my bowl and stirred until she barked at me to stop. “Don’t overmix. It’ll turn into chewy bread.”
“That doesn’t sound bad.”
“If you’re trying a chewy treat, it’s fine, but the object of baking is to end up with what you intended to create.”
“A happy accident is okay with me,” I insisted, wiping up a smear of batter from the side of the tray and sucking my finger. “Mm. I could eat this raw with a spoon.”
“Don’t! You’ve got eggs in there.”
My eyes flicked to the empty egg tray before I gave a relieved nod of agreement. “I sure do.”
“I’m just gonna say salmonella and we’ll leave it there.” She put the two trays into the oven and turned the timer on for fifteen minutes. “If today’s batch doesn’t succeed, we’ll keep trying until one does.”
“Anybody home?” Lucas called out from the front door.
“Yes,” we called out. “Come on in.”
“What’s that delicious smell?”
“Muffins, we hope.” I wiped my hands on my blouse. “What can I help you with?”
“Just keeping you up-to-date on the case. Leo Matthewson still hasn’t been apprehended, so continue taking extra precautions.”
Posey’s face turned a dangerous shade of red and Rosie gave her a push towards the lounge. “Thanks for the information. We’re all watching out for each other.”
“Good to know.” Lucas put his hands on his hips and stared around the room. “Well, if you don’t need anything…”
“I appreciate you stopping by,” I said while escorting him back out the door.
“No problem.” He continued to stand on the stoop, glancing up and down the street.
“Was there something else?”
Lucas rubbed the back of his neck and pulled on his ear. “My memory’s coming back in fits and starts.”
“Good. It must be awful to have a blank spot. Hopefully, you’ll get everything back in time.”
“I think I said a few things to you that probably weren’t fair.”
His embarrassment was palpable, and all I wanted to do was put him out of his misery. “How about we chalk it up to an accident? It’s hardly your fault you got knocked out on the ghost train.”
Lucas nodded and shook my hand. “Okay. It’s a deal. See you around, Miss Hamilton.”
I waved until he reached his car and drove out of sight. Muffin strolled onto the porch and nuzzled up to my ankles. “Don’t worry. There are plenty more men in the sea.”
“Only if you want to date a merman which, for the record, I don’t.”
“They come with a steady supply of fresh fish.”
“For a kitten who only eats muffins, I don’t see why that would be an advantage.”
As I turned to head inside, Syd pulled up at the curb.
“Welcome to the second police officer to turn up in less than ten minutes,” I said in greeting. “My neighbours will think I’m a serial killer at this rate.”
“Just keeping our local vampire hunter in the loop. The supernatural authority has scoured the site of the portal and made temporary repairs to keep the prisoners where they should be. Over the next few days, they’ll have to decide on how to keep them imprisoned going forward, but for now, we’re safe.”
“Forgive me if I don’t place all my trust in their assessment. After all, they’re the ones who left the prison empty of guards who could warn the town in case of an escapee.”
“A point which I’ve explained to them at length,” Syd said, this time with a grimmer expression. “We have recourse to take the matter higher if we need to.”
“I hope they’ve got someone in there now,” Muffin said, leading the way inside. “All their assurances will fall on deaf ears if they don’t appear to take the matter seriously.”
“Two beefy security goblins are taking turns watching over the place.” Syd nodded to the others as he walked into the kitchen. “Something smells nice.”
“Muffins,” Rosie said with a pleased smile, whisking the trays out of the oven. My heart fell a little at the sight. Not as much as my muffins had fallen though.
“Don’t worry,” Brody said, volunteering for my pancake style treats. “If you need to practice a lot, I’m here to test them for you.”
His face turned wary as he chewed through the first mouthful and he gestured at Posey for a glass of water. “Tasty,” he gasped. “I’ll set the rest aside for later.”
“There’s no need to placate me.” I tore off a side piece and chewed with care. A hint of apple was well camouflaged by the stronger taste of something-gone-terribly-wrong. “I think we can throw these out for the birds.”
“What have the birds done to deserve such punishment?” Posey asked, then giggled. “But leave them out for the rats. It’ll teach them to stay away.”
After seating ourselves higgledy-piggledy on the sofas in the lounge, Syd gave us a rundown on the police investigation. “Since we’re happy nobody else was involved, we’ll work out a story for the humans in Oakleaf Glade and officially shut the case. A good result.”
I gave a sigh as I sat back, replete. “It’s not a good result for Blake Stone’s family.”
“Monster hunters don’t have any family,” Syd explained. “It’s a requirement of joining the order. Poor old Mr Phillips had a wife, but she died a long time ago. No children.”
“His neighbours and friends will mourn,” Posey said in a subdued voice. “He mightn’t have had family, but he was loved.”
“Maisie can pass on our condolences if she sees him.” Rosie gave her sister a hug.
“Ac
tually,” Syd stood up and walked to the hallway, beckoning me to follow. “There’s something else I wanted to discuss with you.”
“About Leo?”
“No. It’s about this.” Syd pulled a bottle full of blue fluid out of his back pocket and handed it across to me. “After we cleared Old Mr Phillips house, I had this as part of the evidence.”
“The monster hunter potion?” When Syd nodded, I turned the bottle over in my hands. “This will let him see the supernaturals around him?”
“Yes, it will.”
I gave him a confused stare. “Lucas fainted the last time a supernatural being ran towards him in broad daylight. Won’t this just make his symptoms far worse?”
“They might.” Syd sighed and stared at his shoes. “But his reaction was unusual. I’ve been working beside him for years and there’s never been a problem until now.”
“Because of me?”
“I didn’t say that.” Syd reached for the bottle, but I pulled it back. “Look, he’s had weird creatures fly straight at his head before and all he did was step aside. Didn’t even register in that human brain of his. Now, things are having an impact, but he still can’t see what’s really there.”
“Hasn’t it happened before?”
“Yeah. Humans get overloaded and their memories wipe out as a kind of protective mechanism, but folks are susceptible or they’re not. Lucas was never one to have his subconscious bothered by the supernatural world. Now, suddenly he’s fainting at a vortex and a vampire? It doesn’t compute.”
“What if this just makes him worse?”
“Then he’ll have to find another line of work. I can’t have police officers out in the field who’re sensitive to the supernatural. He can always relocate up north where our lot is sparser but in Oakleaf Glade? Impossible.”
“I’ll have to think about it,” I said, tucking the potion into my jeans. “And ask Muffin’s advice, since she’s been around longer than any of us.”
“Good idea.” Syd visibly relaxed and took a long sniff of the air. “Don’t suppose one of those muffins was earmarked for a hungry officer on duty?”
