The Hex Files: Wicked Moon Rising

by Gina LaManna

  We returned to the borough to find most of the day had passed. Evening stretched into the distance as I came to a stop outside the pizzeria with Sienna and Willa.

  “You’re welcome to stay here tonight,” I said to them. “Both of you. Things have been a little crazy lately, and I’d understand if either of you didn’t want to be alone.”

  Sienna thrust The Hex Files package at me. “You must be kidding. I’ve got so much work to do. I spent yesterday frozen, and I trudged across the city with you two. I’ll be in the lab tonight.”

  “You need rest!” I called after Sienna, but she was already walking away. “Anita will kill you!”

  “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” she said over her shoulder. “You know, when I’m not busy haunting Willa, I should say.”

  The two women exchanged smiles. Then Willa turned and gave me a more sheepish one.

  “I think I might actually get going home,” she said. “Juno will probably be around—he, er, well... took care of things while I’ve been at the hospital. Cleaned and straightened and... the rest.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked. “You know you’re welcome here. You can have my bed, or there’s the couch, or whatever would make you comfortable.”

  “Actually...” Willa twisted her hands before her body, then glanced suddenly over my shoulder. “Jack was planning to come stay with me. For comfort and moral support, of course,” she added quickly.

  “I see,” I said as the door to the pizzeria opened and Jack appeared outside. “Well, don’t let me keep you. Take as long as you need off work.”

  Jack leaned forward and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “Good to see you made it back in one piece, sis. Never know with you.”

  “Lovely.”

  Jack turned to Willa and gave her a smile too private for the public eye. I rested my hand on the doorknob and cleared my throat.

  “We should be going,” Willa said, clasping Jack’s hand in her own. “Thank you, Dani, for everything. I think... I think you’re right. It’s going to be okay.”

  I forced a smile back. “I’m glad.”

  The two turned and strolled down the road, Willa’s head resting softly on Jack’s shoulder. Jack murmured something into her ear, and Willa gave a quiet laugh.

  Yes, I thought. Things would be okay.

  I pressed through the somewhat bustling pizzeria, stopping for a quick hello to Jimmy and my twin brother as I slid by them and climbed the staircase to the second floor. Maybe I’d head down to the kitchen later to help out if I needed the distraction. For the moment, however, I just needed a break.

  I entered my apartment, once again stunned by the quiet. I made a mental note to get Felix out here to take some samples and revive my furniture, now that the mess with Lemont was in the past. It was ridiculous that I was lonely for them. The only solution was to get them talking again so they could remind me just how badly they annoyed me.

  It wasn’t until after I laid the box containing the master file to rest on the table that I caught sight of the quiet figure examining my couch. “Felix!”

  “Sorry!” The tech wizard jumped to his feet. He popped earbuds out of his ear. “So sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn’t break into my apartment.”

  Felix frowned. “I didn’t break in. I mean, I sort of did, but I had permission.”

  “From who?”

  “Matthew.”

  I blinked. “Does Matthew live here?”

  “Not exactly, but he might as well,” Felix said, and then colored. “Or, whatever. I don’t mean to come between the two of you, but Matthew asked me to come over here and take samples. See if I could figure out what got into your furniture.”

  “And?”

  “And I can fix them,” Felix said with a grin. “They got a little stunned after the Choker that came after you, but it’s nothing a little customized antidote won’t fix.”

  “That’s great,” I said. “But I’m still confused. I thought Matthew owed you a favor. How did you get back to owing him?”

  Felix waved a hand, brushed back his long-ish hair, and shoved his hands into the pockets of jeans that were pulled up just a little too high. “He’s lending me his assistant.”

  “Doesn’t he need her?”

  “Not while he’s in New York,” Felix said. “He’ll have Lemont’s old assistant for the time being.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Felix’s face paled. “Oh, crap. You hadn’t heard about the temporary re-org?”

  “As a matter of fact, I haven’t,” I said. “Tell me more.”

  “Erp, can’t,” Felix said, backing away from my apartment so quickly he tripped over the rug on the way out. “Gotta go. Will return your furniture to talking by tomorrow. Will knock next time. Adios, muchacha.”

  I watched Felix scurry down the staircase, and then when the hall was cleared, I slammed the door behind him.

  “New York didn’t go well?” A voice asked from behind me.

  I turned, held a hand to my chest. “Matthew! How’d you get in here?”

  “How’d Felix get in here?” he parroted in a non-answer. “I’m telling you, your apartment is a revolving door for supernaturals. You should come live at my place. Permanently.”

  “You should tell me what Felix was just babbling about. You’re lending him your assistant?”

  Matthew sighed, ran a hand through his thick black hair. I was overwhelmed with relief to see that his wounds were healed to nothing more than light pink scars. Another few days, and the scars would fade to a mere memory. The love of my life had scraped through catastrophe once again.

  “I wish you hadn’t found out through that idiot,” Matthew said. “Felix cannot keep his mouth shut.”

  “He shouldn’t have to,” I said. “He probably assumed that your girlfriend would know what was happening before he did. Not a false assumption, I’d say. Except, you know, I hadn’t heard anything.”

  “They need a temporary acting chief for the NYPD,” Matthew said. “Chief Newton suggested me for the job.”

  I stared blankly at him. “Why didn’t Newton take the position?”

  “They need him here,” Matthew said. “I’m considered more disposable than he is.”

  “I’m sure there are plenty of people in New York hankering for the job. Let one of the mortals take it.”

  “You know we can’t have that,” Matthew said. “It will take some time to get a new chief in place. Lemont wasn’t around long enough to have a protege or to have chosen a successor. In order to keep a mortal out of the spot, we have to bring in someone from the inside.”

  “How do you explain where you come from?” I asked. “Or, you know, the fact that you’re immortal.”

  Matthew smiled. “I’ll be transferred from a top-secret agency. The paperwork has already been submitted. It’s just temporary, Dani. I didn’t think you’d be so upset.”

  “Temporary, like, a day? A week? Two years? Time is a little different for me than it is for you. I have a finite amount of it, after all.” I threw my hands in the air. “I guess it just would have been nice to have been asked about your decision to move from the borough instead of being told about it.”

  Matthew considered me for a long moment. “I’m sorry. Truly. But if it helps to know, I only just found out about it this morning. The chief told me he was sending me unless I objected. I didn’t feel as if I had much of a choice.”

  “I’m an objection,” I grumbled. “I just got you back. I don’t want you gone again so soon.”

  Matthew reached for me, pulled me close. “I know, sweetheart, but I’ll be here all the time. I don’t need to sleep, remember. I’ll be in bed with you every night. If I’m needed here, I’ll be here. For any reason at all.”

  I sulked, but I couldn’t resist resting my head against his chest. “I guess it’s fine,” I said, “but if Newton keeps you there longer than a few weeks, I will go nuts on him.”
<
br />   Matthew laughed, stroked my hair. “I hope you do. You know I love you, Danielle.”

  “I know,” I said. “I love you, too.”

  Matthew stepped back, surveyed me. “How did today go?”

  I bobbed my head from one side to the next. “It was hard. I mean, Willa’s doing surprisingly well considering, but I’m sure the shock will hit her at some point. At least for now, she’s got Jack.”

  Matthew crooked an eyebrow.

  “Exactly,” I said. “Apparently they’re in love.”

  Matthew barked a laugh. “It’s good she has someone.”

  “Yeah, it is.” I leaned against him.

  Eventually, we made our way over to the couch and sat down. I wasn’t sure how to make the transition to my next question, but fortunately, Matthew took care of it for me.

  “Grey took off for a bit,” he said. “I had a conversation with him, and it went about as well as you might’ve expected it to.”

  I pursed my lips, shifted uncomfortably. “You know there’s nothing between him and me.”

  “Hey.” Matthew tilted my head up for a kiss. “I can hardly blame him for falling in love with you. You are the most wonderful person I’ve ever met in all my years, and there have been hundreds of years.”

  “Do you know if he’s planning to come back?”

  Matthew ran his fingers casually over my arm. “I’m sure he will. If not for you, then for The Hex Files. He’s got too much honor to let the borough go to hell if he can stop it.”

  “The Hex Files aren’t...well, they’re not a moot point?” I asked hopefully. “I knew it was too much to hope for that by locking away Lemont’s imposter, we’d have our guy.”

  “Speaking of the imposter, we discovered an identity this afternoon.”

  “Oh?”

  “He shed Lemont’s body. It seemed involuntary.”

  “Maybe when Willa helped Lemont move on,” I said. “Whatever spell he used might have expired.”

  “I imagine you’re right.”

  “How’d he impersonate someone without there being Residuals?”

  “Because it’s who he is. What he is,” Matthew said darkly. “His name is Victor Ruiz. A centuries old ghoul.”

  “A ghoul?”

  “Historically, ghouls are skeletal creatures who kill, and then take the form of their victims after ingesting them.”

  I shuddered. “Are you telling me—”

  “No, Victor didn’t have to resort to such drastic measures.” Matthew’s eyes showed relief. “Ghouls have evolved like the rest of our magical species. Hence the reason he needed to keep the bodies around. A few drops of the victim’s blood sprinkled into a potion did the trick for Victor.”

  “So, each time there was an attack,” I said, “he transformed into a different creature. A vampire, a werewolf, and then back to Lemont.”

  “Essentially, yes.”

  “Why not just use one vampire and one werewolf?”

  “The plan backfired a bit,” Matthew said dryly. “Vampires and werewolves apparently don’t have blood that ‘keeps’ with the same shelf life as witches, wizards, and—”

  “Illusionists,” I finished. “That’s disgusting. So, he had to kill again, hence the reason there were multiple different creatures in the attacks.”

  “And the same reason he had to silence Sienna,” Matthew said. “She’d begun figuring out that it wasn’t just one vampire, one werewolf, terrorizing the borough. But before she could share that information, he got to her.”

  We sat in silence, digesting the awful monster who’d almost succeeded in his quest for The Hex Files.

  “I imagine you’ll keep him in the most secure prison cell there is?”

  “He won’t ever be getting out,” Matthew said. “He helped Dimitri Margolis, the last vampire who tried to take power, in his quest to find The Hex Files. This time, Victor decided to try for himself.”

  “So, it’s just him,” I said, “and this is over. We can hide the files again...until the next time.”

  “I’m afraid not,” Matthew said, “because he wasn’t working alone.”

  “I thought you just said he wanted to try for himself.”

  “He did, but he didn’t succeed at first,” Matthew said. “He took on a master.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Matthew shook his head in disbelief. “I’ve no clue. He just kept saying his master would free him, would get us, would finish the work he started.”

  “Wonderful,” I said, sitting back on the couch. “So, we’re just getting started.”

  EPILOGUE

  “You are on fire!” Marla trilled. “What are you trying to do, give your vampire a heart attack?”

  “Don’t be an idiot,” Fred said, grumpy as usual. “His heart doesn’t beat.”

  “She can jump start it,” Tammy shot from her corner on the counter. “She’s like an electric pulse straight to his love zone!”

  “That’s disgusting,” Carl said.

  “His heart!” Tammy said, quivering in her electrical outlet. “Get your mind out of the cushions, Carl.”

  “Well, I think you’re hot, toots,” Marla said. “Personally, I think she’s trying to keep Matthew in town.”

  “That’s the goal,” I admitted, spinning before the mirror mounted on the back of my bedroom door. “So, this is okay?”

  A cacophony of cheers and a few grumpy remarks from my fridge sealed the deal. Felix had come by last week and revived my furniture. For better or worse, their snooze had revitalized them and more. It felt like they were making up for lost time in both chatter and enthusiasm.

  This evening, I had a date with Matthew at the most lavish, expensive restaurant in all of Wicked. It was his last official night here before he took the temporary position of Chief of NYPD in New York. The department was putting him up in an apartment there—though Matthew promised he wouldn’t be using it.

  Grey hadn’t shown up in the week since he’d taken off. As I grabbed my purse and headed for the door, I thought it quite ironic how less than ten days before, I’d been complaining about Matthew and Grey trading off as my babysitters.

  And now both men in my life—my love and my friend—were leaving. And I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.

  “It’s okay to be sad,” Marla said. “You don’t have to be strong all the time, Dani.”

  “I’m not sad,” I snapped. “It’s just temporary. And it’s not like he’s being deported to The Isle or something, cripes.”

  “There, there,” Marla said. “Your angry words are just your fears in disguise.”

  “I’ll give you something to fear if you don’t pipe down,” I said, yanking the door open. “Good night.”

  Matthew was waiting for me outside. He looked as fine as ever, dressed in his best suit and darkest smile, his eyes brightening as they saw me. He stepped forward and took my hand in his.

  “You look incredible,” Matthew said, pulling me in for a hug that sent my mind spiraling to heated places. “You know, I had plans to take you out tonight, but I changed my mind. I hope that’s alright with you.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  Matthew took me to the rooftop of his house. He’d had someone—probably his housekeeper—prepare a most delectable dinner with an adorable cafe-style setup. Candles were lit, soft music played, and two glasses of wine sat ready for consumption. Starlight glittered above, and the soft glow of the moon cast a shimmer over Matthew’s features.

  “If you’re hungry,” Matthew said, waving a hand. “Otherwise...”

  “I choose otherwise,” I said quickly. “Please.”

  Matthew took my hand and led me down the spiral staircase and into his bedroom. He laid me on the sheets and held me to him, and as the flickers of bright glinted off his skin, his eyes locked with mine.

  “You know this isn’t an ending, don’t you, Dani?”

  I leaned forward, kissed his cheek and slid my mouth to his ear, where I whispe
red. “It’s just the beginning.”

  THE END

  Author’s Note

  Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed spending a little more time in Wicked, and the special crossover with characters from the Magic and Mixology Mystery Series! If you’re interested in reading more about Lily Locke, Ranger X, Poppy, and Zin—Hex on The Beach is available for order on Amazon now! Click HERE to read more.

  To be notified of the next release featuring Danielle DeMarco, please sign up for my newsletter at www.ginalamanna.com.

  Thank you for reading!

  Gina

  Now for a thank you...

  To all my readers, especially those of you who have stuck with me from the beginning.

  By now, I’m sure you all know how important reviews are for Indie authors, so if you have a moment and enjoyed the story, please consider leaving an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads. I know you are all very busy people and writing a review takes time out of your day—but just know that I appreciate every single one I receive. Reviews help make promotions possible, help with visibility on large retailers and most importantly, help other potential readers decide if they would like to try the book.

  I wouldn’t be here without all of you, so once again—thank you.

  List of Gina's Books!

  Gina LaManna is the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Magic & Mixology series, the Lacey Luzzi Mafia Mysteries, The Little Things romantic suspense series, and the Misty Newman books.

  List of Gina LaManna’s other books:

  The Hex Files:

  Wicked Never Sleeps

  Wicked Long Nights

  Wicked State of Mind

  Wicked Moon Rising

  Lola Pink Mystery Series:

  Shades of Pink

  Shades of Stars

  Shades of Sunshine