by Elle Adams
“But you like him.”
Her cheeks turned pink. “He’s a newly turned immortal. I’m not an idiot. I know where this is going. And neither of us has made a move.”
“Yet.”
“Hey.”
“I don’t judge,” I said. “I just cornered the guy I like at a police station and then threw up over a dead body.”
She laughed. “You know, that does help.”
“I’m an eternal reminder that it’s possible to sink lower.” I smiled and shook my head. “I’m also supposed to be practising conjuring spells right now. Not running after werewolves. I don’t think they have anything to tell us, but might this new vampire know anything?”
“Not likely,” she said. “Like I said, Keith is totally new at being a vampire. He spent his whole life training as a wizard and now this.”
I blinked. “Wait, does that mean someone from town bit him?”
“He doesn’t know who.” She heaved out a breath. “Obviously, it’s a crime, so that means the vampires will have a mess on their hands if they find out who did it. I have no intention of getting involved in that. I’m just there to help a patient who needs me—which, by the way, is why I have no intention whatsoever of making a move on him at all, if ever, until he’s out there in the vampire world.”
“Would it be a real stretch to link whoever bit him to the murder?”
“Probably,” she said. “Unless the person who bit him also killed his fellow vampire…”
“Or the guy who died was the one biting people without permission?”
She tilted her head. “I know where I’m beaten. Luckily, Keith’s allowed visitors. I can bring you in to talk to him, if I get permission. Vamps are generally pretty good witnesses, so it’s possible he picked up on something we didn’t.”
“Right… the enhanced hearing,” I said. “Doesn’t that mean he might have heard the killer outside the room? Is he close by?”
“Close enough to hear? Yes, but I doubt he knows one set of footsteps from another. He’s pretty new at this. Anyway, you get one round of questions and that’s it. And if the police are there, we’re leaving.”
“Of course,” I said. “Don’t worry. We’ll go when it’s definitely safe, if you’re sure. Not today. We should go to the lake instead. That’ll take both our minds off things, right?”
“Not if you go wandering over to the waterfall,” she said. “I know you, Blair.”
I didn’t argue—yet.
However, when we reached the path down to the lake, two large gargoyles blocked our way. “Where are you going?”
“To the lake,” Alissa answered.
The gargoyle grunted. “The forest’s out of bounds. So are the falls.”
“Really?” I said. “But—”
“No exceptions.” The gargoyle spread her wings. I got the message, and Alissa and I headed down to the bank instead.
In their shifted forms, the gargoyles looked even more brutish and scary, leathery wings etched against the pale blue sky. If my family had left another note, or a sign of their presence at the falls, I hadn’t a hope of getting past the gargoyles to see.
Alissa pulled me into a hug. “I’m sorry you missed your chance. But you know, you have a family. You have me.”
I did. But I couldn’t help wondering, all the same: had the killer been after my family?
4
At work the following day, my head was emphatically not in the right place to deal with clients.
“Hi, Blair,” said Callie, the receptionist, when I walked into Dritch & Co’s office. “I heard you had an interesting weekend.” Her usual perky smile was missing, and she looked about as tired as I felt.
“I guess they found the body near your territory, right?”
She bowed her head. “My dad… let’s just say he’s being a little overprotective.”
I could imagine, given how he’d handled the incident when his daughter had been stuck in her wolf form.
“It’ll pass,” I said, though frankly I couldn’t imagine what might be lurking in the woods that even the wolf shifters were wary of. Didn’t want to imagine. And the fact that Nathan had to be the one to deal with it had given me another sleepless night. I still hadn’t actually heard from him since he’d had to cancel our date. “Did you hear about the vampire, too?”
“Yeah, word reached the pack. I can’t imagine who might have killed him.”
“You don’t mind vampires?” I didn’t think so. Callie was pretty laid-back, as far as shifters went.
“No, I think the rivalry is a bit ridiculous,” she said. “It started as a territorial issue, but the werewolves have all the territory they need. That said, they’re being absolutely absurd about Nathan being on our territory.”
Oh no. I should have seen that coming. “What’s the issue with the hunters? Do all werewolves hate them? Your cousin accused him of being a murderer when he was ranting at me while you were stuck in wolf form.”
“A friend of his was put down by the hunters for breaking the law,” she said. “Obviously when a werewolf goes wild… it’s bad. They lose control, all reason, and to keep people safe, the hunters are forced to act. It’s a thankless job.”
“I can’t even imagine.” And now I was back on Nathan again. Maybe we’d been doomed from the start. A hunter and a paranormal—a weird one with no memory of her own history—wasn’t a match made in heaven, and when you added any number of dead bodies into the mix, it was no wonder that we’d never had the chance to have a deep discussion of our histories.
“Anyway, Nathan’s fine. I don’t see him as a killer. Nor does any sensible werewolf. My cousin isn’t one of those, but don’t tell him I said that.” She winked.
That wrung a laugh out of me. “I won’t tell him to his face, don’t worry.”
I went into the office with my spirits slightly lifted, though Callie’s comments on her family had reminded me of my missed opportunity all over again. I shoved those thoughts behind a door and went to deal with today’s client list.
Luckily, we had four people in the office once again, now Blythe’s replacement had stepped in. Lena, a blond Eastern European woman whose impeccable outfits put mine to shame, had settled in well enough with our unconventional office space. Lizzie sat beside her, her black hair pulled into a braid. Our resident technological expert was the creator of the office’s magical coffee machine, which conjured up a motivational coffee when I hit the button. Picking it up, I carried it to my desk.
Meanwhile, there was Bethan, who occupied the desk next to mine. As the daughter of the boss, she’d inherited her multitasking skills as well as her ability to track down information none of the rest of us had any hope of finding. She had several pens sticking out of her fine dark hair and a small mountain of papers on her desk. I moved my chair out of the way of the slightly open drawer under her desk, which seemed to have been fitted with an expansion spell. Textbooks rattled around as she closed it, along with a faint squeaking noise.
“Morning, Blair,” she said.
“Hey. What’s on for today?”
“The usual. Veronica wants to discuss your progress with magic, by the way.”
“Ah.” My progress, if you wanted to call it that, was stuck on pause. I’d spent a few hours practising with Alissa by the lake yesterday, but I had too much on my mind to concentrate. “I’m still in basic lessons. And I probably will be for a while.”
Right now, my skill level was below that of a five-year-old starting at the witches’ academy. Rita had wanted to move me up to taking group classes soon, but I dreaded the idea of anyone being around to witness my shoddy wand-work. The only reason we’d avoided any major accidents was because Rita always cast a shielding spell on herself. And the classroom.
“Oh, and Alissa texted me about her near-miss on Friday night,” added Bethan. “You were there, right?”
“Yeah. Bad luck for Alissa. She just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Steve
would jump to the conclusion that the most innocent-looking person in the room was responsible.”
She winced. “Yeah, it’s not surprising they let her go. Nobody wants to cross Madame Grey. I’d say another vamp did it and decided to drag everyone into their feud.”
“Really?” I asked. We didn’t get many vampire clients, probably because ‘a job for life’ was true in a literal sense for immortals. They were pretty close-knit. “Why would another vampire turn on their friends? They’ve all known one another a long time.” Apart from the new guy, that is.
“Because they’re unpredictable and violent, mostly,” she said. “Not in an overt way, either. They’ll plot revenge for centuries, I heard. Most people think vamps are creepy, but you don’t cross one of them if you want to keep your head. My mother isn’t keen on them, either.”
“I only found out recently that most of them were paranormals before they turned,” I admitted. “Wizards.”
Bethan nodded, the pens in her hair bobbing up and down. “They would be. Our rules about not biting humans have been around for a while, in addition to the secrecy rules. They have their own law book, and to be honest, they follow it for the most part. I don’t know what might have gone wrong.”
The new vamp? No, Alissa was far too sensible to date a potential killer. Though she’d made questionable decisions before as far as her dating life was concerned. Bryan being a prime example.
“I heard it might be part of the werewolf-vampire feud,” I said quietly.
“Callie doesn’t think so,” said Lizzie, who’d apparently been listening in. “And the two of you probably ought to avoid ticking off the boss today. She nearly bit my head off when she caught me messing with the coffee machine earlier.”
“Noted.”
I worked through the list of clients as efficiently as I could in the hopes that Veronica at least wouldn’t be able to berate me for being behind. Today didn’t involve any cantankerous wand-makers or tetchy unicorn handlers, so by the time my meeting with the boss rolled around, I was more or less on top of things.
I walked through the reception area to the boss’s office, and knocked. The door swung inwards, revealing a woman who looked like an older version of Bethan with straight silvery hair, wearing a crisp suit.
“Ah, Blair,” she said.
Every time I went into her office, she’d decorated it completely differently. It was disconcerting to walk into a room covered in fluffy kittens, and then enter the next day to find it decked out like a neon-coloured space station. In celebration of the solstice, she’d opted for an outdoorsy theme—sky blue ceiling, green carpet patterned to look like grass, desk set out like a picnic table. Luckily, she’d opted against conjuring rainclouds inside the office to represent the usual weather conditions in the north of England.
I sat down at the picnic table, which looked downright weird with a computer and a tangle of wires on it.
“You wanted to talk to me?” I asked.
“I wanted to check on your progress in your magical lessons. How’s it going?”
“I’m learning conjuring spells at the moment.” My lack of skill aside, I was at a disadvantage because I was the oldest student and the only non-competent adult witch in town. The others were kept within the confines of the academy, and nobody was allowed to use their wands outside of the school’s boundaries until they passed the basic tests. Everywhere else, when you saw a wand, you had a reasonable amount of confidence it wasn’t about to explode in your face. Not so much with mine. Wands were sensitive, and the slightest movement could set off a spell if you weren’t careful. Mine would be more likely to backfire on me in a crisis than not. It was a blow to the self-esteem, to say the least.
Veronica leaned forwards. “What else have you covered so far?”
I rattled off the list of spells: levitation, colour-changing, locking and unlocking charms.
“And have you started working with the others yet?” she asked.
Not quite. If anything, the other pupils should probably keep a safe distance from me for as long as humanly possible.
“I have another lesson tonight,” I said. “I’ll see what Rita says.”
She had a more realistic idea of my capabilities than anyone else did, but I had a lot to live up to, considering how powerful my mother had apparently been.
“I have a question,” I said clumsily.
“Ask away. I did say you can ask me anything.”
“Er, do you know if any fairies have ever come here, aside from the elves?” I asked. “I mean, they were here when my mother was, right?”
“Some of them, certainly, but they won’t have known her,” Veronica said. “If she did pursue a relationship with a fairy, it wasn’t someone who lived here. I wasn’t here myself at the time, and I didn’t know her that well when we were children.”
Right—I’d forgotten she and my mother would be the same age, give or take a few years. Veronica hadn’t spent all her life in Fairy Falls and had spent a few years travelling the world. She’d been married once, and had changed her surname to Eldritch after the divorce, but I hadn’t asked Bethan for any more details than that.
“So you both lived here as children?” I couldn’t help asking. “Er, were you in any of the same classes?”
“I don’t believe we were in the same classes, but we were at the academy around the same time. She scored highly on her exams, if I remember, but we went our separate ways after we graduated.”
Right. That makes sense. I’d been sure the boss would tell me if she’d known my mother, but being acquaintances with Tanith Wildflower was enough for her to be confident that I’d live up to her name. But there was no use comparing myself to her. I’d barely started my training, while my mother had had a witch and wizard as parents and grew up in this world. I might be a little slow, but my lie-sensing ability was almost faultless. Even without a wand, I did have some magical skill, if an unconventional one.
“What was her gift?” I asked.
“I believe it was some form of mind-magic,” said the boss, tapping her fingers on the desk. “Not all witches and wizards disclose their gift, and she’s been gone a long time. I’d ask your mentor if you’re curious.”
I already had, and even Madame Grey hadn’t been absolutely certain. Blythe, my former co-worker, was a distant relation, but I never wanted anything to do with her again. Besides, she was my age, so she’d never have met my mother.
Veronica rose to her feet. “Return to work,” she said to me. “And please, Blair, do be careful around the vampires. They’re not pleasant people, and always have a hidden agenda.”
And there I was, thinking I could get through this meeting without her picking up a hint that I might be interested in finding the vampire’s killer.
“Even Vincent?”
“Especially the elders,” she said, a wrinkle in her brow. “Nothing good can ever come of tangling with an elder vampire, Blair. Remember that.”
I nodded. “Sure. I’ll keep away from the elders.”
No need to mention my upcoming interview with the town’s youngest vampire after work. It was a long shot, considering the only thing he and the victim had in common was being vampires, but it was possible he might have heard something outside the ward that might point to the killer.
Rain pelted down, soaking me to the skin in the few minutes it took to walk to the hospital to meet Alissa and the vampire.
“Hey, Blair,” said Alissa, peering at me from beneath an umbrella beside the hospital entrance. “Keith is being discharged, so he agreed to come and talk to us somewhere public. Not outside in the rain. Maybe Charms & Caffeine.”
“Works for me.” Leaving the hospital would make the other staff less suspicious, at least.
When the young vampire joined us, we all headed for Charms & Caffeine. The hip coffee shop was owned by Lizzie’s sister, Layla, creator of the motivational instant-coffee machine.
Keith slouched in his seat and looked sadly at t
he drinks menu. “I’m never going to be able to drink coffee again.”
“Never?” I asked, ordering one of my usual blueberry smoothies. Like a lot of places in Fairy Falls, you just had to tap the menu to order rather than walking to the counter, unless you wanted to order something specialist. Like a lucky latte, for instance.
“No.” The vampire scowled at the menu. “Everything tastes like ash after the change.”
“Sorry,” said Alissa. “I didn’t think you’d want to have a discussion at the hospital, and I’m starved after my shift.”
“It’s fine,” said the vampire, in tones that suggested it was most definitely not fine. “I’ll get used to it. One day. In a few years.”
“You will,” she said, with certainty. “I’ll help you.”
I covered my face with the menu to hide my grin. At least one of them was totally smitten. Not that I blamed her. Keith had one of those faces which suggested he’d been highly attractive before he’d been turned into a waxwork model. His attitude, though, would have me looking for a coffin of my own before the end of the week. As it was, I might as well have worn a sign saying ’Third Wheel’. It was a position I was fairly familiar with, considering all my friends from school were married, so I sipped my drink and waited for Keith to stop morosely contemplating people’s lattes.
“We were wondering,” I said, “if you knew Lord Goddard. The guy who died.”
“I didn’t know him,” said the vampire. “The only thing the two of us have in common is that we were both wizards before being turned. He was hundreds of years older than me.”
“You can still use a wand, right?” I asked.
He shook his head. “It doesn’t recognise me now I’m undead.”
Ah. We’d dealt with a pirate vampire ghost—long story—who’d still been able to use magic, but maybe it was different for ghosts, and some of the more powerful witches and wizards could use magic without a wand.
“So you don’t know who bit you?” I sipped my smoothie. “Doesn’t that mean there’s another criminal at large?”
