"Why?"
"For cheating on him. I promised him I would stop. I did stop. But then he came home after the coven meeting and told me he fucked her in the closet of the firehouse."
"Okay, first. Ew. Your husband is a pig. I would rather sleep with a mule. Secondly, I didn't. That much I can fucking promise you."
Cindy looked utterly confused. "What?"
Apparently, Cindy wasn't playing with a full deck.
"Is that why you killed Dane and Richie, Cindy? Because you slept with them?"
"No? I didn't kill them. Except the woman. She had to die. She wanted my Blake. I couldn't let her take him. Burned her, I did."
I'd briefly spoken to Cindy at the firehouse and she'd seemed almost normal. She'd gone from zero to fruit bat in zero-point-three seconds. She stared at me and her eyes glazed, her irises going almost opaque. I snapped my fingers in front of her. She focused on my face, but just stared.
"You killed Rebecca?" Chief's voice sounded colder than the air outside. A shiver of fear ran up my spine.
"Yes. She wanted my Blake. He told me all the nasty things she wanted to do to him. He was afraid."
Chief drew his gun and I jumped in front of him. I didn't even blink as he screamed at me. I could see the gun shaking in his hand as his eyes went wide and all the rage he possessed threatened his sanity. He almost fired through me to get to her. I reached out and took the gun from his hand. "Easy, Chief. This is almost over."
I didn't blame him. I would have shot her, too. I still might.
Something still wasn't adding up. Especially the dim light in her eyes. I reached out, touching her head and immediately felt it. A spell clouding her judgement. "What the hell."
I felt like an idiot. I should have checked everyone for spells before. The only saving grace was her shield wasn't in place. That made things a little easier. "Soiléir intinne."
It was like watching somebody remove cataracts. Her eyes went from milky to clear in an instant. She even shook her head and blinked. I expected her to be confused. Maybe even ask why she was there. She started sobbing uncontrollably instead.
"Cindy?" I repeated her name several more times. Finally, I cracked her across the cheek to get her to stop. She looked up at me, tears streaming down her face and the left side of her jaw swelling from my blow. "You there?"
She nodded. I ignored the look of hatred she gave me.
"Why did you kill the guys you slept with?"
"I didn't, you dumbass. Fucking Blake did it. He's probably after the other two right now. He used me as a distraction to get you away from the house. Hell, if he hadn't cast a beacon spell on the Chief's Jeep, he wouldn't have known you were there. He killed the other two." She turned and gave a little sigh of regret before turning her attention to Chief. "He made me kill your wife, and now he wants me to do the same thing to your new piece of ass."
She snarled and struggled against her bonds.
"Chief…"
"Leave her for now. Text Josie and have her come home and hold a knife to her throat. If what she says is true…"
"I know. We'll deal with it after." What?
"One way or another."
Chapter 27
I was out of the car before Chief put it into park. I ran for the front door ready to blast Blake into the ninth pit of hell. The front door had already been kicked open and my heart sank that we were too late.
I trudged through the trashed house, not even bothering to step over the smashed glasses, mugs, and pictures. I headed straight for where I knew I'd find their bodies. Jimmy, lying dead in his bed, was already etched into my mind. I closed my eyes and turned the corner. His mattress was flipped and his room destroyed, but he wasn't there.
I dashed to Dennis' room and found the same thing.
"What the fuck is going on?"
Chief was standing there holding his gun pointed at the ceiling. My phone rang.
It was Jimmy.
I'd called him thirteen times on the way over and he never answered.
"Where the fuck are you?"
"Hello to you, too?"
"Now is not the time, Jimmy. Where…are…you."
"Just leaving the bar. Sorry I didn't hear my phone."
I dropped to my knees in the middle of his living room and started hyperventilating. They were still alive. "You're an asshole. I thought I lost you." The tears started streaming down my cheeks.
"What's going on?"
"Leave the bar. Blake is on the loose and he's trying to kill you. Chief and I are at your house. Meet me at mine. If you see Blake, run or scorch him from the earth."
"Roger. On our way."
"So, if Cindy had the car, how did Blake get here? It's not like Jimmy's house is within walking distance. They live on the other side of town." Chief's voice still had an edge to it. He was out for blood.
"I don't know. They only have one vehicle?"
"This is Cedar Falls, Dot. Most people only have one vehicle."
"Maybe he stole one? I don't know."
"That's going to make finding him a little difficult."
"We won't have to. He came here and Jimmy and Dennis weren't. He's heading to my house to see if we are there and finish off Cindy if she failed!"
We raced to the car and got back in it. I was tired of being a day late and a dollar short. Chief gunned it and flipped on the siren. I white knuckled the dash all the way back to the house, only letting go to text Josie. She assured me they were fine. She and Candace were watching Cindy and the windows. My phone rang as we screeched to a stop in the front of the house.
"We're here, Josie."
"I know. I saw the blue lights and figured it was time to end playtime. See, that's the thing about texts, Lady. You're never quite sure who is on the other end…"
"Blake?"
"Yes."
"Where is Josie?"
"Alive for now. I see you caught my failure of a wife."
"Yeah. She wasn't exactly all there."
"She's had years of spells layered upon her mind. I'm surprised she doesn't drool on herself."
"Why?" I flipped my phone on speaker so Chief could hear.
"Why what?"
"Everything. Why are you doing all this?"
"Well, she deserved it."
"Who?"
"My cheating whore of a wife. She killed Becca. She slept with every man she could dig her hooks into. I wanted to make her life a living hell before I wiped her off the face of the earth."
"Have you?"
"Oh, yes. Quite well. I don't think I could have tormented her any more. I wanted to kill her last two lovers, but I don't even think she had enough sanity left to truly appreciate what I've done. Such a pity. That just means she has nothing else to live for."
Bang!
"Blake! What did you do?"
"Put her out of my misery. That chapter is over. Now it's time for me to go. I need you and the Chief to back away from the Cherokee. I'll be taking that to make my getaway."
"Like hell you will," Chief growled angrily.
Another gunshot and a scream echoed from the inside of the house. The screaming continued long after the shot was fired.
"I killed the little blonde. I still have your best friend. She will be accompanying me to the edge of town. In the Chief's car. If we don't see anyone following us, I'll let her go. You may pick her up after I'm gone. I'll let her have her phone back."
"How can we trust you?"
"You can't. But you don't have a choice. I can shoot her now, if you prefer?"
"No! Come out. We're backing away from the vehicle now."
I got out and waited for Chief to do the same. He did, albeit reluctantly. "This is a bad idea. He's going to kill her anyway."
"No, he's not," I answered firmly.
"How do you know?"
"Because I'm going to kill him."
"What are you going to do, Dot? Dot?"
I ignored him.
"Throw the gun up by the door, Chief
."
Chief sighed and lightly tossed it into the tuft of juniper by the walkway. "There."
"Now go stand over there," he pointed with the gun to the neighbor's driveway.
We started backing up. The further we got, the more he came out the front door. He had one arm around Josie, the gun pointed at the side of her head. When they made it halfway, I started walking toward him. He paused and made a threatening gesture with the arm holding the gun. I held up my hands.
"I'm not trying anything stupid. I want you to take me. Leave Josie. I'll go with you. Same plan, different hostage."
"Fine. I'd rather have you, anyway."
"Dot, no!"
"Not your choice, Chief," I called back sadly.
"Come stand in front of me and turn around."
I did exactly as he said, blocking Chief's view. Keeping my arms up, I felt the barrel of the gun press against the base of my skull.
Blake pushed Josie to the ground. She didn't move, other than to cover her head with her arms. Blake's arm wrapped around my waist and he backed us up to the open-doored Jeep waiting for his escape. He pushed me down into my seat, never taking the gun off me as he walked around the front of the vehicle. I didn't move.
I almost breathed a sigh of relief when he got into the car and started the engine. He put it in gear and gunned the engine, slamming the doors shut with the inertia.
He kept the gun pointed at me all the way to the end of my street. There was one thing I'd noticed about Chief's vehicle. The power steering on it was a stone-cold bitch. Chief's muscular forearms probably wouldn't be half as impressive if he didn't spend so much time in his beloved Jeep. It almost made me sad for what I was about to do.
Halfway through the turn, when he absolutely needed both hands to avoid hitting the large oak a little too close to the curb, I whispered, "Craiceann cosúil le cloch."
He felt the power of the spell before he heard my canting. Blake let go of the wheel, not caring if we hit the tree or not and swung the gun in my direction, pulling the trigger.
"Seomra dócháin," I called out in a grating voice.
The bullet left the barrel of the gun in a tuft of fire, spinning as it sailed directly at my chest as time slowed to a crawl. The corner of my mouth lifted in a wicked grin as the bullet struck me and shattered. Most of it went outward, shattering the windshield as the interior of the Cherokee became an inferno. My first spell had turned my skin into stone, much like Chief had done to my walls. It would only last for a moment before shattering with my need to breathe. My second spell turned Chief's Jeep into a combustion chamber, the fire of the gun being the only catalyst needed. The temperatures reached a thousand degrees instantaneously, sucking all the air out of it before extinguishing itself.
A second later, we crashed headlong into the Oak tree he'd been so desperate to avoid. The air bags went off. My increased mass shattered mine like a water balloon. Blake hit his and cracked like a husk, all the moisture having been flashed from his body.
The wheels of the Jeep went round and round, burning the tires down on the rims as we had nowhere to go. When my spell finally wore off, I reached over and shut the engine off before I fell out the door, landing on the pavement below. I puked the entire contents of my stomach and lungs onto the street. Looking up, I saw several figures running toward me. The image burned itself into my brain as I passed out.
Chapter 28
I woke up, staring at my familiar ceiling. I was lying in the middle of my bed, Chief on one side of me and Jimmy snoring soundly on the other. Both were holding some part of my body. It was a nice way to wake up.
"How you feeling?"
"I've been better, Chief. What happened?"
"Your little stunt almost cost you your life. Your spell protected you from the blast of fire, but it only protected your skin. Some of the flames found their way into your lungs. You might want to cover your face with your hands next time."
"There isn't going to be a next time. That was my Hail Mary pass. Once in a lifetime play. Gonna rip that page out of the old playbook." I hated sports. I just hoped I didn't sound like an idiot to Chief.
"I like that plan even better. By the way, you're still kind of hot bald."
"Wha?" I reached up and felt the top of my head. The skin tingled under the palm of my hand. "Fuck."
"Relax, you can magic it back."
"I know, but still. You've been having to stare at my bald ass all night."
"Yep. Your ass is bald. There isn't a single hair left on your body."
"And how do you know all this? Did you actually check, perv?'
"Didn't have to. You canted a stone skin spell on yourself. Next time you might want to combine that with a stone hair and clothes spell."
"Shit. I should have just gone with the stone shield again. That worked better."
"No. Stone shit might hurt coming out. I was constipated once. Nasty business."
Chief made me smile. I leaned over and gently gave him a kiss.
"Can I get one of those?"
I looked behind me at Jimmy, smiling at our exchange. I leaned over and gave him one, too. Very happy to see him very much alive. I sighed and leaned back on my pillow.
"So. How bad is everything else?"
"Town is calling you a hero. You crashed the kidnapper's escape vehicle into a tree, just as it caught fire and narrowly getting out yourself. He wasn't kidding, though. He put a bullet through Cindy's head."
I gulped, fearing the answer to my next question. "Candace?"
"Should be up in a few days. He shot her in the chest, thinking that would simply be the end of her. As soon you left in the Jeep, she came stumbling out of the house, wheezing, but very much alive. Apparently, because of her fae blood, she doesn't take a whole lot of damage from metals that aren't iron. I keep mine loaded with silver. It kills bad guys and the occasional werewolf. I learned that lesson the hard way."
"You've actually had a werewolf terrorize the town?"
"He was a transient. Nice enough guy until the full moon."
"We have a family in Ashville. They spend full moons in the local jail."
"I'll keep that in mind next time one comes into town."
"What about Josie. She okay?"
"She's fine. Taking care of Candace. Happily, I might add."
I nodded. Satisfied. "Dennis okay?"
"Yeah. He went home to start cleaning up the house. Chief told us what happened," Jimmy said angrily.
"Well, I need a shower. I smell like a barbeque."
"Need some help?"
They both asked at the exact same moment…
I said, "Okay," and crawled over Chief. I shucked the tank top and shorts someone had slipped on me and waltzed my bald ass into the bathroom.
I looked over my shoulder to find Chief and Jimmy staring at each other across the bed.
"You guys coming?"
Epilogue
I smiled at the witches gathered at my table. Even though the killers had been caught, I figured a little celebration was in order. I sat myself at the head of the table and lifted my glass of wine.
"A toast to the Coven of the First Moon. We were tested even as we began, and we survived. We are fewer in number and lost friends along the way. May our future be brighter and safer."
They all lifted their glasses, expressions sad and hopeful.
"My bookstore will be done in a few months. This is the first step on a long road to recovery. Josie and I come from a small town where witches and humans live together in harmony. It is a prosperous town filled with fun and happiness. Most of our strife was centered around my mother and her love of tormenting opponents, human and witch, with carefully planned spells left to humiliate. That is what I want for this town, minus the pranking. I want to see Cedar Falls as it should be. I'm going to need the coven's help with this. Are you all in agreement?"
"Aye," was shouted from the nine of them in front of me.
"Good. Let's dig in. It's Italian night!"
>
They stood and chatted as they got in line, serving themselves from the giant foil pans Herb had delivered. The food smelled delicious.
"Not bad for the first week in town, huh?" Josie laughed.
I looked over at her and gave her a crooked grin.
"Oh, sweetie. Don't smile like that without the hair. You look like a deranged bowling ball. When are you going to grow it back?"
"Probably tonight. I kind of liked the feeling until I went outside. Screw that. I think my brain froze a little."
She started chuckling, rubbing Candace's shoulder as the smaller woman wrapped her arms around her from the side. The sight of the two of them together warmed my heart. Candace had become a part of the family in every way.
"What are we talking about?" Jimmy slipped up behind me, wrapping his arms around me and giving my neck a kiss.
"Growing my hair back."
"Soon?"
"Tonight."
"Sweet."
"You don't like my bowling ball?"
"Well, it's not that I don't dislike it…"
His double negative wasn't lost on me. I swatted his arm and faked a good pout. He kissed the top of my head and then polished it with his sleeve.
"Just kidding. You'd be beautiful with a purple mohawk. I'm just partial to sexy redheads."
He left to get in line and fill his plate.
"Purple mohawk?" Josie asked with an evil grin.
"Bet your ass," I replied, nodding.
Candace giggled conspiratorially.
Chief ran his hand over my back and gave my butt a little squeeze as he sneaked past me, getting in line behind Jimmy. His intimate gesture didn't go unnoticed by Josie. She cocked an eyebrow at me and shook her head.
"How the hell do you have two boyfriends that are totally okay with it?"
I shrugged. "Just fucking lucky, I guess. That and I'm a queen bee or something."
Candace let go of Josie and wrapped her arms around me, pressing her face against my chest. I was getting used to it. She craved the affection. I stroked her hair and continued my conversation with Josie until the doorbell caught everyone's attention.
"That's weird. I'll get it. Everybody keep eating."
First Moon : A Reverse Harem Tale (Lovin' the Coven Book 1) Page 20
