The Hex Files: Wicked Moon Rising

by Gina LaManna

  “Detective—I know!” Chief Newton slammed a mottled fist on his desk and stood. “I know what I’ve done, and I’m sorry. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

  I was shaken by the look of frustration in his eyes. “I don’t need an apology, sir. I just... I don’t know why I came here. But Matthew almost died this morning. Do you know how hard it is to kill a vampire?”

  “As a matter of fact, I do, Detective.” Chief Newton expelled a huge breath and sat back down. “Though I’d prefer not to ever have to do it again. Will you have a seat?”

  “I’d prefer to remain standing.” I spoke through clenched teeth. “I have orders to follow, after all. From you.”

  We both remembered the napkin yesterday.

  “I know I should have stood up for King,” the chief said, “but I had to choose my battles. I sent you to the scene.”

  “For what? There was nothing to see.”

  “You determined it was a real vampire attack which is quite troubling.”

  “So’s the fact that Matthew took the fall for it,” I said. “I expected a little more backbone from you, sir.”

  “My hands are tied.” The chief’s face was turning an ugly shade of reddish purple. “I have orders from the greater NYPD. I have someone to report to.”

  “So do I,” I said. “And I thought justice came first, not politics.”

  “King’s the only vampire in Wicked! What do you expect?”

  “I don’t expect the greater NYPD to know any better,” I said. “I understand why they might be suspicious of Matthew. They don’t know him, but you do.”

  “Hence the reason I gave you instructions...” The chief meaningfully cleared his throat. “To stay away.”

  “Right.” Again, the napkin instructions burned bright in my mind, and I could see the chief was thinking of it too. “What good are those instructions if they get your best homicide captain killed?”

  “What should I do, DeMarco?”

  “It’s too late now. He’s near-dead in the hospital. I have orders not to pursue the case. There’s nothing more that can be done. I hope you’re pleased. You can publicly clear Matthew, but I doubt that will do anything. The damage has already been done.”

  “You know I can’t do that without a proper investigation.”

  “Don’t you trust Matthew?”

  “He didn’t have an alibi. He was home alone.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Just... do your thing, Chief. And I guess I’ll do mine. I’m taking some personal time.”

  “Dani!”

  I was halfway down the hallway before the door slammed shut behind me. Stomping toward my office, I let the jittery feelings of confrontation wash over me, slide off as my temper evened.

  I had known I wouldn’t accomplish anything by going to the chief; I knew there was no way he’d clear Matthew without a proper investigation. I even understood that was procedure. But I couldn’t forgive him for leaving Matthew to the wolves.

  “There you are!” Willa’s overly peppy voice startled me as I entered my office. “Did my mom tell you I was looking for you?”

  “You startled me,” I said, closing my office door behind me. “How’d you get in here?”

  “I’ve been waiting around awhile. Nash let me in earlier. Is everything...” Willa hesitated, her cheeriness replaced by a shadow that darkened her features. “How is Matthew?”

  “He’s okay,” I said on a sigh. “But I would prefer to be distracted from everything. Why were you looking for me? Tell me the pizzeria hasn’t blown up.”

  “It’s not important, really. Not with everything you’ve got to deal with at the moment.”

  “I welcome the distraction.”

  “In that case, no. The pizzeria hasn’t blown up.” Willa’s forehead furrowed. “At least, I sure hope not. It’s my favorite job ever, and I really don’t want to update my resume. You know how much I suck at job interviews.”

  “You don’t suck at job interviews,” I said. “So, if the pizzeria is fine, what brings you around?”

  “Um, friendship?” Willa dodged the question and popped a lollipop into her mouth, her cheek bulging as she tucked it off to one side. “I’m allowed to spend time with my BFF, right?”

  “BFF?”

  “Best friend forever,” she said. “It’s all the new lingo. Unless that’s too much pressure for you, then we can just say BF’s or something. I know ‘forever’ has a whole new meaning considering you’re in love with a vampire and all that.”

  I forced a smile, trying to keep the conversation light for Willa’s sake. It really was quite eerie how much she looked like her mother sitting there in my desk chair, her feet propped on the table and a sucker stick poking from her cherry-red lips.

  Willa clicked her shoes together as I hung my jacket on the coatrack in the corner. Which reminded me that I really needed to get to work on unfreezing my furniture. Poor Marla must be miserable without a voice, and Fred would have some charmingly disgusting remarks once I freed him from the effects of the Choker Curse.

  There was another click as Willa boinked her feet together on top of the desk and cleared her throat. I raised my eyebrow, looked past the stacks of teetering papers that I was an expert at ignoring, and scanned Willa up and down for a hint of what I should be noticing.

  She was like Jack when he’d been younger, trying to get one of his siblings to notice he’d pulled out a tooth. He’d run right up and smile crazily at us until we gave him a clap on the back.

  Finally, I spotted it. The puzzle piece that wasn’t quite right. “You’re wearing two different pairs of shoes,” I said, nodding toward her feet. “Can I assume this is your emergency?”

  “Finally! I practically had to shove them in your face!” She groaned. “I have a date tonight. Which do you like better?”

  “Sorta hard to tell when your feet are in the air. Why don’t you stand up?”

  Willa stood up, paraded her curvy figure around the desk, flaunting a hip this way and that as she watched me carefully for any sign of a reaction.

  “Who’s your date with?” I asked casually, examining her feet like I might a crime scene. Except this time, I didn’t know what I was looking for.

  “Oh, you know, some guy,” she said. “He came into the pizzeria and asked for my number.”

  “You don’t sound thrilled,” I said. “Judging by the fact that you’re struggling to remember his name.”

  “I haven’t been on a date in a while, and I really need to get back on the horse. If I ever want to get married and have a family and, you know, the rest of it.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Does this date have anything to do with the fact that Jack was behind the counter and listening when you accepted the offer?”

  “You mean, was I trying to make Jack jealous?” Willa looked down at her shoes, her cheeks pinkening. “Of course not. I’m so beyond that level of pettiness.”

  “Wear the red shoes,” I said. “They’re very cute.”

  “I want sexy,” she said. “Are they sexy?”

  “Sure.”

  “You don’t sound convinced.”

  I gestured to my all black ensemble. “Do I look like I understand fashion?”

  Willa frowned. “Well you have all these hot guys coming after you. It’s just not fair! I need to go shopping. I need new shoes.”

  “Well, I have to get going on a case,” I said. “I have to talk to Sienna and then head to New York.”

  Willa took a step back and bumped into the desk, collapsing with surprise and knocking over multiple three-foot-tall stacks of paper. I closed my eyes and waited for the soft whisper of flying pages to reach the ground.

  “New York?” Willa murmured. “Like, the city?”

  “Or state. I don’t spend much time in the human world, but I have to visit the NYPD. I have a bone to pick with them.”

  “I know just what you need.”

  “What’s that?”

  Willa righted herself and brus
hed off her stylish jeans. “An assistant bone-picker.”

  “A what?”

  “Let me come with you. Please! Pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top,” she urged. “I would really love to accompany you, Detective.”

  “You just want to shop.”

  “That too. But wouldn’t it be great to have a buddy? Power in numbers, and all that jazz,” she said. “Plus, I’m so completely unmagical I’ll help you fit into the city. Right now, you look a little like a warrior princess, and I’m pretty sure you’re going to draw attention.”

  I exhaled a huge sigh. “Do you know how to use the metro?”

  “Boy, do I ever,” Willa said, her eyes glittering. “Come on, Detective. Let’s get you ready for the Big Apple.”

  “But first, the morgue,” I said. “I need to get a report from Sienna.”

  “Dead bodies,” Willa said. “I’m in.”

  “You’re not invited.”

  “Well, now I am,” Willa said. “Face it, BFF. You need me. Now, which way to the dead people?”

  Chapter 15

  “Pink doesn’t really ‘go’ with death, does it?”

  “Excuse me?” I turned to Willa as we exited one of the borough’s magical trolleys at a stop just south of DeMarco’s Pizza. We’d make the rest of the journey on foot. “Pink what?”

  Willa peered at her extended hands. “You know, my nails. They’re sort of...bright. And my shoes—I wore the pink ballet flats. Really, I should have gone with the combat boots like you, or something darker. Even my red heels would’ve been an improvement. The color of blood.”

  “I’m going to let you in on a secret.” I rested a hand on Willa’s arm, gave her a faux-serious expression. “The dead don’t care what you’re wearing.”

  “No, but Sienna will probably be all ‘pink isn’t allowed in my morgue!’ or something like that. You know Sienna.”

  I thought of Sienna, and I thought of how many of the necromancer’s own clothing choices theoretically shouldn’t have been allowed in the morgue. To say Sienna gave few craps about professionalism was the understatement of Matthew’s lifetime.

  A lifetime that would be cut significantly shorter if I didn’t get to the bottom of the attack on him. Or, for that matter, the attack on the female wolf. The moment we returned from New York, I’d launch my own investigation into her life and death. Only when I found the true man or woman behind the murder would the tensions have any hope of diffusing.

  “I think your outfit is fine,” I said. “We’ll only be inside for a second, and then we’ve got to get out of the borough and over to headquarters. You really don’t have to come if you don’t want.”

  “Oh, but I want.” Willa’s eyes glittered. “A peek in the shop windows downtown! A Frappuccino! The hustle and bustle of all these cute little humans who have to move without broomsticks?”

  I gestured to our feet. “A whole lot like we’re doing right now?”

  “Yeah, I suppose.” Willa frowned. “Still, it’s different. So cool. You know, I once almost went to work for MAGIC, Inc. They’re in the human world, too. Minnesota.”

  “Your mom mentioned that,” I said, remembering a few weeks back when Willa’s mother had become ill and explained the situation to me. “By the way, I saw your mom at the hospital. She looks great!”

  “Doesn’t she?”

  “Have you considered reapplying to MAGIC, Inc. now that she’s feeling more like her old self?”

  “Oh, no.” Willa waved a hand in front of her face. “I’m an old hag. Plus, what would you do without me at the pizzeria?”

  “We’d have to close our doors,” I deadpanned. “Nobody can sling a slice of pizza like Willa Bloomer.”

  “Damn straight.”

  We were still laughing when we walked through the front doors, a pleasant change from the bombardment of depressing things happening around the borough. Willa had a way of finding the positive in everything. Sometimes it was annoying how bright she could be in the darkest hour. But I’d be stupid to take her for granted—she was the best friend, besides my family and Matthew, that I’d ever had.

  “What’s so funny?” Ursula snapped. “Quiet in the morgue. Sienna doesn’t allow laughter.”

  “We’re well aware,” I said. “I have Willa with me. She’ll be waiting out here while I have a chat with Sienna. She’s got a body, and I need information.”

  “I don’t want to wait out here!” Willa gave a light tap of her heels against the linoleum floor. “Come on! I am your assistant on the case.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  Willa leaned forward. “You’re not technically on the case, are you?”

  I hissed back. “Where’d you hear that?”

  “The chief bellows very loudly when he’s angry,” she said, then glanced at her baby pink nails with a smug smile. “Plus, I gossip with Matthew’s receptionist. Nobody likes gossip as much as Helena.”

  “Really?” I blinked. “I always thought she was sort of... old. Out of it.”

  “It’s an act,” Willa said. “So, don’t think you can pull the wool over my eyes, missy. I’m coming back there with you.”

  I sighed and turned to Ursula. “See if Sienna will allow it.”

  “Sienna doesn’t allow anything,” Ursula said. “I suggest you have a seat.”

  However, apparently even the dark and sassy necromancer couldn’t say no to Willa. A few minutes later, Willa and I had our names signed into the guest log and were hauled back to the lab by a very surly Ursula.

  The purple-skinned monster rapped her knuckles against the lab door and waited for it to swing open. Once the necromancer stood before us, Ursula blobbed her way back to the front desk.

  This afternoon, Sienna was dressed in a surprisingly feminine outfit. Her shirt said something about girl power in alternative language and was a neon pink. It cut off above her belly button, revealing a dangerously pale swatch of skin between the ripped bottom of her shirt and the dark jeans that were barely holding themselves together for all the holes in them.

  Her boots somewhat resembled mine—in fact, mine had been a gift from her after a recent favor on a case—but hers were ten times cooler. There were little silver spikes and chains all over the exterior that resulted in a light clinking soundtrack as she moved.

  “That’s a rad shirt,” Willa said, her eyes widening. “I’m gonna find myself one of those in the Big Apple.”

  Sienna didn’t bother to smile, but the slight squint of her eyes gave away the fact that she’d heard Willa’s compliment. How she could hear anything at all through the thick pink headphones on her ears was more magical than all my Reserve powers put together.

  Without a word, the necromancer turned and stomped into the lab.

  “Not much for small talk, is she?” Willa mumbled, offended. “All I said was that I liked her shirt.”

  “Yeah, well,” I said. “She acknowledged she heard you, which is more than I get most of the time. Now, rule number one in the lab: Don’t ask any questions. She hates questions.”

  “But how are you supposed to get the answers if you don’t ask questions?”

  “What did I just say about questions?” I said. “If you’re going to pretend to be my assistant, you have to pretend to follow the rules.”

  “No questions.” Willa nodded. “But what if I see something about the dead body, and...” She trailed off mid-question looking sheepish.

  “Very good,” I applauded her. “You are a quick study.”

  “Bite here, bite here,” Sienna said, then snapped her fingers and her headphones vanished into thin air. “Without a doubt, it’s a true vampire bite.”

  “How can you be sure?” Willa asked, then smacked her forehead. “Dammit, Willa. Follow instructions!”

  “Does she always talk to herself?” Sienna raised mystified eyes to me. “It’s creepy.”

  “Yeah,” I said. Then shrugged.

  “Like you’re not creepy,” Willa muttered toward Sienna,
but she dutifully crossed her arms and stepped back from the table. “Carry on, ladies.”

  “It’s a vampire bite, no doubt. We studied them in school.”

  “You went to death school?” Willa asked. “Like, mortician school?”

  Sienna raised her eyes to me. “Can you control your assistant?”

  “She’s not my assistant,” I said. “And Willa, please. Just listen. Sienna will explain everything.”

  Willa’s eyes were wide as she made a zip-your-lips gesture. She daintily tucked the imaginary key in her back pocket. Willa didn’t do anything half-heartedly.

  “The markings are distinctly vampire. I don’t know anything that could imitate death by a vampire.”

  “What about an illusion?” I asked. “Any chance an illusion could have been involved?”

  “No,” Sienna said. “Do you have an illusionist in mind?”

  I gave a brief shake of my head, though I thought of the head of the NYPD—he was a well-known, powerful illusionist. I had yet to meet him, but already, he was on my crap list. He’d pulled Matthew off the case in a move that had just about gotten him killed.

  “There’s no way any of this is or was ever an illusion,” Sienna said. “If you’re trying to pin it on that, it won’t work.”

  “I wasn’t,” I said. “Just curious.”

  “How come you don’t get yelled at when you ask questions?” Willa asked. “You said no questions.”

  “I’m a detective,” I said. “That’s why.”

  “No questions all around,” Sienna said. “You’re distracting me. Silence, or I’m revoking your passes and getting Ursula to slime you.”

  “She can do that?” Willa’s tongue nearly fell out of her mouth. “Really?”

  “That’s a question!” Sienna barked. “Ursula—”

  “No more questions,” I promised her. “I swear.”

  Sienna heaved a breath of air. “True vampire punctures get purple around the edges. There’s a certain amount of blood loss, even if the vampire in question wasn’t thirsty—it’s the nature of their feeding routine.”

  I nodded and then shifted as Sienna’s eyes landed on me. It felt like she was staring straight through my skin and into my secrets.