Spells & Death

by Rachel Medhurst

  “The bomb,” I muttered.

  “Shit,” Dave said. “That’s going to be a huge bomb. Peter was right. We need to bring her in. Now.” Dave was already typing something on his keyboard, I could hear the tapping.

  He was probably asking my mother permission to bring Helen in. Joseph already had a warrant out, although it was proving difficult to find him. Jake and Kate were currently watching millions of CCTV cameras to see if they could trace him in London.

  When the video had finished, Alfie put his phone on the table. “The bomb is going to kill many innocent people, I’m sure. I’ve been trying to keep track of their movements, but it’s proving difficult. I see Joseph every other week to catch up. He rarely speaks about the PFF, but every now and then he lets something slip. He trusts me. That’s why I know about what happened in that warehouse. Well, most of it. I don’t know what happened after he left.”

  “And you never will, mate.” Dave was being typical Dave.

  Glancing down at my red dress, I clenched my hands in my lap when the colour reminded me of Brianna. “And, what about my best friend? Will you leave her alone? I don’t want her involved in any of this.”

  Scratching his clean-shaven face, Alfie glanced at the waiter when he came over to take our order.

  “I’m not staying.” My impulsive words were met with raised eyebrows from both men.

  Not bothering to look at the menu, Alfie smiled at the waiter. “I’ll have my usual.”

  Once we were alone again, I folded my arms on the table. “Thank you for showing me that video. So, if I’m understanding correctly, you want us to arrest Joseph? You know that the government doesn’t tolerate terrorists in either paranormals or humans, so they’ll execute Joseph, like they do any paranormal who threatens humans.”

  “Yes, that’s right. When Joseph turned me, I was a young reckless lad. However, I had a daughter who was barely six months old when I ‘died’. My regrets over having to leave her and my wife made me do things I’m ashamed of. When my grown daughter showed up at my door one day, I almost had a heart attack. Well, I would’ve if I’d been alive.” The small laugh was joined with a look of happiness.

  Something in my chest squeezed hard. He’d loved his daughter, there was no doubting it. There was something sexy about a family man. Even if he was a vampire.

  “My life turned upside down then. She’d somehow found out that I’d been turned into a vampire, and yet, still wanted a relationship with her father.” He stared at the wooden table surface, lost in memory. “I watched her grow old and die.”

  A lump came to my throat when tears came to his eyes. Oh boy, this was getting dangerous. It was as if he was reaching out of a book and into my heart. Bloody men!

  “The day she left the planet, I swore to protect humans and paranormals from harm. I had to make up for the amount of lives I’d taken and ruined in the process.”

  Not able to say anything, I sat in silence. Even Dave was quiet in my ear. The vampire was a bloody good actor if he was lying, but my bullshit detector was good. He was real. He was bloody real and bloody gorgeous. It was time to get away from him.

  “I promise to look into your claims thoroughly and try to stop the PFF.”

  Blinking, Alfie snapped out of his reverie. Glancing at me, he smiled gently before sitting up straight and tapping his fingers against his thigh. “I need your info to send this proof. It warrants a search and arrest, no?”

  Nodding, I pulled out my phone and insisted that he gave me his details. Our transaction went smoothly as we swapped information. The vampire had my email. To be fair, Dave had a tight security wall around it so he could vet those who contacted me.

  After exchanging a lingering look, I got up from my seat and glanced down at him.

  “This is quite vomit inducing,” Dave muttered. “But, why are you leaving already?”

  “Thank you for the evidence.” Ignoring Dave, I gave an awkward wave towards Alfie’s phone. “I have to go now.”

  I wasn’t going to sit and play happy evening with him all night. There was something about him that put me on edge. Not only the fact that he was a fellow book nerd but his vampire connections to the man who had threatened me made it hard to trust him.

  Alfie threw me a smile, although it was less smarmy than before. “I can tell you don’t trust that I’m being genuine. I wish you wouldn’t rush off. However, I understand. I will show you that I’m on your side. I promise.”

  Nodding curtly, I left, my fake persona completely out of the window. A few people stared after me as I clip clopped out of the restaurant, making far too much noise in my little heels.

  “You could’ve got so much more information out of him. “

  Marching across the road to where Jake sat in the car, I quickly got inside. He jolted awake as soon as my hand was on the door handle.

  “Having a nice nap?” I asked, grinning at him when his cheeks blossomed red.

  Dismissing me with a wave, he started the engine. “I was resting my eyes. Plus, Dave set up a camera in here a while ago, so he sees all. You were perfectly protected.”

  Sighing, I leant back in the comfy leather chair and kicked off the irritating shoes. I couldn’t wait to get back into my boots. They didn’t strangle my feet.

  “Go well?” the shifter asked as he sniffed the air. “You don’t smell like you ate.”

  Frowning, I smacked his arm. “That’s gross. You use your nose to find out what people ate?”

  “It can come in handy sometimes. Although, it does have a way of biting me in the arse. When I’ve been in a club and a couple comes out of the bathroom, I can smell-”

  “Stop!” I shouted, the one word echoing around the car.

  Dave’s chuckle made me grit my teeth. Men were so crude. Not that I minded often, but there was only so far it needed to be taken.

  “How did it go?” Jake asked seriously.

  Trying not to sigh again, I crossed my legs on the seat, not caring that the dress rode up my thighs. “Really well. I think...” I paused, not really wanting to jinx it. “...that we have a credible witness who’s close to Joseph Cambridge. If we can confirm that he’s on our side, we might just get the lead we need to end the PFF.”

  Chapter 15

  “Keep back!” Dave shouted as I readied myself.

  As if I would let him have an easy ride. He was going to get punched and kicked until he had no breath left in his lungs.

  “You were the one who suggested we have a training break.”

  We were in the park not far from the Paranormal MI5 building. We’d been putting our case together all morning. Jake and Kate were currently getting ice creams from the local shop. Yep, it was a bit of heatwave and we were all tired of being inside.

  Running for Dave, I threw my leg in the air, propelling off the ground when I was close to him. He caught my ankle, twisted and grunted when my fist connected with his head. Dropping me, he laughed when I ended up on the ground, my ponytail flipped over the top of my head and touching the dirt.

  “Okay, you’ve been distracted for good reason, but it’s time to use those kickass skills to summarise. First, tell me what you’ve been doing to try and fix your little situation.” Waving me up, Dave rubbed the side of his head.

  His hair was tied in a man bun, his jeans and T-shirt casual because it was too hot to wear a suit. When he was careless, it made me like him more. He had been a constant thorn in my side, but ever since he’d known about my problem, he had been a little less frustrating. Even if he did still live opposite me. To be fair, I hadn’t seen him outside of work once since he’d moved in, so he was obviously living his life fine.

  “I’ve not really had a chance to work it all out. I’m more worried about the serial killer, especially since he hasn’t done anything for a few days.”

  A bleeping on my phone made me pause my impending attack on my desk friend. Picking it up from where it rested on my bag, I froze. “Shit, spoke too soon.”

&nbs
p; “Another body?” Jogging over, Dave grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

  The others were making their way across the park, deep in jesting conversation. Kate laughed, Jake pushed her. We were getting more comfortable with each other, which was nice.

  “Guys,” I called, throwing my hand up in the air. “We’ve got news.”

  Rushing the rest of the way, they gathered around. Dave had his tablet out, the information coming through from my mother. She rarely rang to speak to me, instead using technology to keep that distance.

  “Another one, exactly the same as before. She’s been found by a member of the public in a shopping centre. Oh jeez.” Dave cringed as he turned his tablet to show us the picture.

  Biting my lip, I studied the image that Logan Hill had sent. We would need to go and investigate the scene, even though we all knew what we’d find. The killer wasn’t sloppy, he would have everything else in the same position, including where he left his trace of magic.

  “Okay,” I said, tugging on my Reading is my Life T-shirt. “Let’s profile him officially. I’ll pass it on to Logan when we get there.”

  The others nodded, waiting for me to go ahead. Okay, yeah, this was my job. Even if the killer had a personal hatred towards me, I had to keep a clear head.

  “Our killer is male. Our victims are female, which means that this man has a hatred towards women. Maybe it stems from a mother figure or a wife. He may have been jilted, hence the wedding rings. All women were not married, which is significant. Maybe he was supposed to get married but the woman called it off at the last minute. He either has a connection or hatred towards Essex witches. He has an obsession with death.”

  Okay, so I didn’t actually connect it to his threat towards me, which really wasn’t a good thing. I was only assuming the masked witch was the serial killer because he’d sent the same blood splatter of my blood to the office. What if it was a copycat?

  Dave put a hand on my shoulder. “He has a thing about the women being almost naked in a bed. That could mean that it’s sexually motivated, but there’s no evidence that he’s touched the victims in that way.”

  “He’s probably in his early thirties, and we know that he harnesses powerful magic. A witch, he’s obviously somehow accessing the ability to hide his tracks well. Not many witches are able to get that sort of power.” I wiped the sweat from my forehead as Dave typed everything up on his tablet.

  Jake growled low in his throat. “I can’t believe he’s done it again. Is there a way to strip away the magic that will no doubt be hiding the last twenty-four hours so Kate can see?”

  My heart skipped when they all looked at me. Technically, I might be able to use the ley line to do a spell to help Kate to do her job as a seer. I’d have to dig out my grimoire and ask Smudge to help me, considering it would take a huge boost of magic to help me perform a spell that strong.

  “Okay, I think that might be our best bet. Dave, send the profile to my mother and Logan Hill at the police department. Kate, Jake, please go to the shopping centre in Westfield and do the usual forensics. I’ll head home to get that spell done. Dave, if you head back to the office, you-”

  My phone started to ring, interrupting me. Both Jake and Kate gave me a thumbs up and headed towards the road where they jumped in the car and headed to the crime scene.

  “Hello?” I answered the phone when I saw Logan Hill’s number flash up.

  “How quickly can you get here?” he barked, his voice almost strangled. “I’ve got a man on the roof of the shopping centre claiming that he’s the killer. Said he’s going to jump. Quite frankly, I don’t care if he does, but he’s claiming to be a witch, so it’s your jurisdiction.”

  I was immediately reminded of a book I’d read recently when a man threatened to jump off a building. The angel who’d tried to talk him down failed, which meant they had lost their wings. Oh boy, was I now comparing my own job to one of my fiction books?

  “We’re on our way.”

  Hanging up, I grabbed my bag and Dave’s hand. “We’re needed.”

  He went to speak, but I transported us before he could. We landed in an alleyway next to the shopping centre. Dave stumbled as our feet hit the ground, his frame sending me flying. He managed to catch me before I hit the ground. Warmth radiated out from where his arms were wrapped around me. Looking into my eyes, he laughed briefly. “See, I’ll always rescue you.”

  Shoving him, I smiled as I righted my clothes and threw my bag on the ground. Taking out my gun, I clipped it to my holster. My dagger was next. “Whatever, hero,” I said, tightening my ponytail as I stood again. “We’ve got a man on the roof claiming to be both a witch and the killer. Let’s go get him.”

  Dave’s hand reached out and stopped me before I could charge past him. He looked down at me, his eyes sullen, searching.

  “What’s the matter?”

  It was unlike my desk friend to be sad. Well, there had been a few occasions actually. His gaze currently reminded me of his brooding moments. There was so much more to Dave than I realised. I’d wanted to get to know Jake and Kate better, but what about my right hand man?

  “I hate to ask...”

  When his gaze dropped to the concrete ground, I instantly knew the problem. Snatching his hand in mine, I enclosed my fingers around his. The slight nod I gave him was enough to reassure him that he was free to take my magic.

  Closing his eyes, he stepped closer to me, bringing our forms in-line with one another. His breath rushed out as the skin on my hand grew red-hot. He was literally draining my magic. Luckily, my link to the ley line meant that it was replaced instantly. Thankfully, I could at least feel that. What had made it impossible for me to use my magic properly at the library? Was it Joseph himself?

  “Thank you,” Dave breathed, the air rushing from his lungs and hitting me in the face.

  Stepping back as I licked my lips, I tried to push down the feeling of intimacy that arose spontaneously in me, making my stomach flutter.

  “Let’s go.” My snappy awkward command made him smile.

  Holding out his arm, he implied that I go first. Yes. It was my job to go and talk to the man on the roof. Oh shit, I had work to do.

  Forgetting all about our little moment, I ran out from the alleyway. Logan was in front of the shopping centre, staring up at the roof. There he was, our alleged killer. I wasn’t so sure that he was legit, but I wouldn’t know until I was near him.

  “I’m going up there,” I told Dave when he caught up to me.

  “I’ll come.”

  Blocking him before he could go any further, I shook my head roughly. “No, that will take your magic straight away. I need you to stay down here. If he jumps, you need to throw up an illusion spell so the humans don’t see. We can’t have this getting out to the general public.”

  Chewing on the inside of his cheek, Dave clenched his hands by his side. “I hate not being more magical.”

  Stroking his cheek for some bizarre reason, I reassured him. “You’re a brilliant agent. I need you to stay here and speak to Logan. It won’t be hard for me to talk the man down. Even if I end up putting up a barrier spell so he can’t jump.”

  “You can’t do that, this is one of those freewill bullshit things you can’t interfere with.”

  Saluting him, I transported to the roof. He was right. If someone wanted to commit suicide, I wasn’t allowed to use magic to stop it. Every person on the planet had a choice when it came to life decisions. Mother Earth would never allow magic to stop something that was set in motion.

  “Who are you?” the young man barked as he looked over his shoulder.

  He’d obviously heard my boots hit the bits of stone and dirt on the concrete roof behind him. It was a large roof that stretched back across the whole building. The shopping centre was an old fashioned one in the middle of London. Which meant many people were roaming outside. The inside had been evacuated as soon as the body had been discovered.

  “I’m Ge
mma Abbott from Paranormal MI5,” I called. “I’m here to help you.”

  “Help me?” The man was about twenty years old with a short frame, glasses and light brown hair.

  Keeping my hand on the handle of my gun, I extended the other to show that I wasn’t a threat. He was standing right on the edge of the building, his toes just peeking over the top. Shit, if he went over, it would be ugly.

  “You can’t help me. I killed those women.”

  He glanced towards me, his arms held out to the side to hold his balance. Catching the glint in his eyes as they reflected the sun, I froze. He was high on something. Was it the same thing that the killer used to hide the women’s last moments before death?

  “Why did you kill those women?”

  Keeping my tone steady, I stepped forward two steps. He was a witch, alright, but he wasn’t the killer. I knew my killer, I’d smelt him, I’d felt his essence. So, why was he getting someone else to distract us? That didn’t fit the profile.

  The young man shuffled to face me, his arms still out straight to the side to keep his balance. If he was that worried about not falling over, it meant that he didn’t want to die.

  “I think I did it because I...” He clasped his head suddenly, hitting his skull with his fists. “...I don’t remember. I just know that I did it.”

  Great, the real killer had spelled him with a memory that wasn’t his. The cost of psychological damage would be huge. Seeing those images would damage his brain forever. Poor boy. Not only was the Essex Obsessor sick for killing people, but he was insane for allowing a young man to see such gruesomeness.

  “What do you see?” I asked him, my instincts taking me down a risky path.

  As he screwed his eyes shut, I took another few steps closer. His distraction helped me to get near enough to grab him if he did decide to fall. At least my physical strength could intervene with his choice.