by C. M. Cevis
“This just gets worse and worse, doesn’t it?” Nick said with a sigh.
Willow gave Nick a sad smile. “Sorry,” she said softly.
15
NICK HAD MADE A PROMISE to himself that he wasn’t going to be in his office past ten. It was currently midnight, and he was still there, still working. The precinct had quite a bit of foot traffic that time of night, but not as much as during the day. Most of the people on duty were out on the streets, especially as the bars and clubs began to empty. The sound of his door opening snapped him out of his work flow.
He looked up at the two men that walked in—not officers, and not familiar. He frowned.
“Officer Dukas, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” the one of the right said. He was pale, blond, and apparently Russian. None of that rang a bell.
“We’ve come to you for assistance,” the other said, a redhead.
The two men took a seat uninvited. Nick leaned back in his chair, staying silent.
“You’ve come into contact with a very powerful witch who has not registered with the Chamber. We’d like your assistance getting her to follow orders,” the blond said. His tone made the request almost a command—but not quite.
Nick narrowed his eyes. “The Chamber has spent years maintaining that you handle your own. You can handle this too. One witch shouldn’t be too difficult for the great and powerful Chamber, right?” Nick allowed one drop of sarcasm into his voice. He was pretty sure they were talking about Willow, but he had no intention of giving them anything. They could work for it just like everyone else.
“She moved into town a little while ago, and while we have requested that she register her abilities, she has refused. The New York Chamber, where she was previously, was much more lackadaisical than we are. She seems to make a habit of refusing to conform,” the redhead said tightly.
Nick cheered inwardly. Nothing about these two little pricks said that conforming was a good thing. Fight the power, Willow.
Nick made a get-to-the-point gesture. “Yeah, I don’t really care about any of this. This is Chamber business—handle it yourself. I have an entire city to keep safe.”
“And if we were to perhaps visit members of your family? Would you help us then?” Blondie said.
Nick was in the process of heaving himself to his feet to rip the blond a new one when Willow appeared out of thin air, leaning against the door of his office.
“I’m pretty sure I already told you two that I wasn’t interested in what you’re selling. Did I not make myself clear enough? Will you get the point if I rip off those useless dicks of yours and deliver them to the Chamber myself?”
She took a slow step toward the two men, and then another. The men’s faces grew red and their eyes bulged, and Nick realized they couldn’t move.
“I do not believe you actually came down here to threaten a police officer because the two of you can’t manage to do your jobs. So since you’ve decided to play tough, allow me to return the favor.” Willow moved to Nick’s desk and settled her ass on the edge of it. “Should you hurt anyone in the name of persuading me to behave, I will hunt you down like you stole something. And since you have no idea what I’m capable of, you have no idea how badly I’ll hurt you before I decide to kill you. Here is your one and only hint: You don’t want to find out what I’m capable of.” She smiled at the men before her. Nick almost felt bad for them.
“Why in the world is it so important that she register with you, anyway?” Nick asked.
Willow studied her nails like she hadn’t a care in the world. “The Chamber here does something to the witches in the area. Whatever it is, it diminishes their abilities. Meaning that Chamber leaders are forcefully making themselves the most powerful witches in the city. They can and will do whatever they want to. I’m not interested.”
“It’s for their own good,” the redhead said through clenched teeth.
“Oh Blake, you don’t really believe that, do you?” Willow asked. The apparent Blake looked surprised as Willow smirked. “Yes, I know who you and Robert are.”
“It keeps the witches in the area under control. Knowing that everyone’s power is controlled means that if something illegal is going on, we immediately know who it is. You choosing not to submit means that you are the prime suspect by default,” Blake grunted.
Willow chuckled. “That’s fine,” she said with a shrug. “I’m still not going to do what you want.”
Nick watched in surprise as Robert stood and took a step toward Willow. A gun appeared in Willow’s hand and met Robert’s forehead mid-step.
“Pay attention. We are still human. At this range, there won’t be much of your head left.” Her voice was calm.
Robert seemed to rethink his choices and took a step back, putting his hands up in surrender. “This isn’t the last time you’ll hear from us,” he said darkly as he and Blake stood and moved toward the door. They kept their eyes on Willow’s gun, still pointed at Robert. Nick stayed where the hell he was, since Willow didn’t seem to need any help.
“Remember the rule, boys. Fighting or fucking. Otherwise, leave me alone,” she said with a wink. Both men scowled but left.
“Is this normal for you?” Nick asked once their footsteps had retreated. Willow laughed and turned, holding out what he could now see was the gun from his chest strap. He had no idea how she’d gotten it, and he wasn’t going to ask.
“Here, yes. New York wanted order, but they weren’t interested in controlling you. That is not the case here. They want you docile and malleable, like they’re the ruthless dictators and we’re the peons. I won’t allow them to control me, but I know that my decision will probably continue to cause issues.”
“I respect that,” Nick said honestly.
Willow grinned, popping her hip to the side. “Careful. You might make me think you actually like me.” She took a step toward him and held out her hands. His heart stuttered. Damn, she was beautiful.
“Let me put a protection spell over you so that if they come again, I’ll know,” she said.
Nick hesitated. “That’s all it’ll do?”
Willow moved closer, and suddenly her legs were between Nick’s, trapping him in the chair where he sat. He had to look up to meet her coy gaze.
“Well, there’s one that’s a bit more potent, but it requires a bit more skin to skin contact. I wouldn’t mind putting that one over you, but I didn’t think you were interested.” Her eyes bore into him as his body temperature shot up.
“This one is fine,” he said, quickly taking her hands. Willow snickered but gave his hands a squeeze and closed her eyes, lips beginning to form the words of the spell.
16
WILLOW OPENED THE DOOR TO her condo. The sound of the girls laughing made her smile before she saw them. This sleepover had been planned the moment that her condo renovations had been completed. She'd made sure that all three girls had apartments in areas that suited their interests and had room for their various hobbies away from work. Tonight was just a girls’ night in. From the wonderful way that her place smelled, Kim was indulging in one of her favorite hobbies.
“There you are! I thought you said that you weren’t going to stay late tonight?” Isis said, bounding around the corner and into the entry way at the sound of Willow’s stilettos on the tile.
“Yeah, I know. I got caught up in some work that I’d been putting off. I didn’t even realize that I was late leaving,” Willow said, chuckling as she kicked off her shoes and slipped her feet into the soft house shoes that she kept by the door. Outside dirt was a no-no in her place.
She intentionally left out the part about her detour to the precinct. There was no reason the worry the girls about something that she’d already handled.
“Kim is making fish tacos,” Isis said, grabbing Willow’s hand and pulling her further into the condo.
Willow laughed, allowing herself to be led. “I thought I smelled something amazing.”
“We went past the store on our
way here since Kim said you don’t ever have any food around to cook with,” Bianca called from where she sat on the couch, feet tucked under her. “She picked up what she needed for dinner, and I picked up shit that we probably shouldn’t eat if we want to keep our figures, and a few movies.” She smirked.
“Eh, if we get worried, we can always go to the gym in the morning.” Willow plopped down beside Bianca with a happy sigh.
“Oh whatever. Every man prefers a bit of jiggle, regardless of what Hollywood tells you,” Bianca said, resting her head on Willow’s shoulder.
“Bee does have a point. I don’t think I’ve ever met a man who didn’t like my jiggle,” Kim said from the kitchen. The room erupted into laughter.
This was their relationship, and it hopefully always would be. The four of them loved each other like they were family and told each other just about everything. No one went through anything alone, not even Willow. When Kim’s father had passed without so much as a word from her family, it was the girls that sat with her in the dark and cried. When Isis’s ex had decided that her breaking up with him was a good reason to escalate his abuse from mental to physical, it was the girls that had beaten the snot out of him. And when that ignorant piece of shit had broken into Penny’s place and…
“Stop it.” Bianca was almost nose to nose with Willow, and she hadn’t even noticed.
“What?” Willow asked, making herself smile. A tear ran down her cheek before she could even wrap her mind around doing something about it, and Bee sighed, wiping it away gently.
“There was nothing that you could have done to stop what happened to Penelope,” she said softly. Isis appeared behind the sofa and wrapped her arms around Willow.
“I know,” Willow whispered. And she did, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t miss her.
“Nope. We are not doing this, Willow.” Kim walked around the couch, and almost shoved a taco into Willow’s mouth. “You’re going to eat this food, watch these movies, eat too much sugar, and drink too much wine. And tomorrow, we’re all going to do what we do every day while regretting what we do tonight.”
Willow grinned through a bite of taco, and once again thanked who or what had brought these wonderful people into her life.
“All right,” she said, swallowing and standing. “Make plates. I’ll pop open a bottle.” She moved to the wine fridge.
“That’s what I like to hear. Someone find the wine glasses,” Isis said, trotting into the kitchen. Willow shook her head, laughing, and pulled out two bottles. This seemed like a night that was going to call for more than the normal amount of alcohol.
~ ~
WILLOW WOKE UP THE NEXT morning in a pile of arms, legs, and hair. Everyone had fallen asleep watching something scary, even though none of them liked scary movies. They’d piled together in an effort to get themselves through the scary parts and ended up falling asleep that way. Willow allowed herself just a moment to lie there with the people she loved and feel like all was right with the world.
Then she slipped out from under the others and tiptoed into her bedroom, closing the door softly behind her to get ready for her day.
Thirty minutes later, she walked into the precinct. It was busy, like it normally was when Willow arrived for one of her presentations. By now everyone was used to seeing her. She tossed a glance here, a wave there, and made her way down to the room where the DCS team would meet her. Her head was halfway on its way to be a marching band due to the wine the night before. She’d stopped on her way to the precinct to pick up a big cup of better coffee than they served in the station, a bottle of Excedrin, and a pastry from the junk food aisle. That was enough to tide her over.
“You look like you’re dragging today,” Nick said, sneaking up behind her. He probably hadn’t actually snuck, but she hadn’t heard him coming over the roar of her headache. She turned with a tired smirk and popped two pills into her mouth before chasing them with a swig of coffee.
“A little too much wine and togetherness with my girls last night,” she said.
Nick grinned and nodded. “I’ve been there. I’ve never been so sideways that I took headache meds with coffee though.” He indicated the large coffee cup with his gaze.
“The caffeine helps the meds work faster,” she replied without missing a beat.
“Really?” Nick raised his eyebrows.
Willow snorted. “I have no idea if that’s true, but I read it somewhere, and I’m hoping that it is.” She and Nick laughed.
“Are you okay for this?” he asked.
Willow found herself surprised that he cared, yet again, but answered honestly. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just don’t expect any yelling.”
Nick nodded and walked to the back of the room, and Willow took stock of the room. She nodded at a few officers as they entered and found seats. By now, there were officers not on the team that came down to listen to her. And Nina had started smiling and nodding in greeting, instead of giving an annoyed look and a grunt. Progress.
“Is everyone here?” Willow asked, getting the room’s attention. There was a mumbled “Yes” or “Yeah, I think so” here and there. Good enough.
“Good. Today, we’re going to talk about shifters,” she began. “If you want to know about how a shifter will behave, your first stop should always be how their animal counterpart behaves in the wild. If you’ve encountered lion shifters, look up lion prides. Wolf shifters, look up wolf packs. While the behavior won’t be the same, it will be similar. The difference is that the human portion of them has a will that may change things.” She paused for those taking notes and used the opportunity to sip from her coffee cup.
“For example, most large meat-eating mammals in the wild travel in packs or herds. Likewise, most large meat-eating shifters belong to a pack of shifters locally. While the hierarchy isn’t quite as rigid as, say, vampires or witches, or even humans, there is always a leader, there is always an enforcer of some sort, and they will always take care of their own. Those who are new are supposed to spend their first full moon with their pack, as those are the people who will keep them in control of themselves. New shifters account for a good chunk of the shifter murders that you see. Those are the ones too stubborn to listen to their elders.”
A hand to the rear of the room stopped her, and she indicated to the young woman to go ahead.
“What exactly happens on the full moon?”
“Excellent question. Unfortunately, since I am not a shifter of any flavor, I can’t give you too much detail, but I know the animalistic instinct is heightened, and that everyone will shift that night, eventually. Those who are older can hold it off until later in the night, when they have the freedom and time to take advantage of it, but eventually the change is thrust onto them. Newer, younger shifters are going to shift when the feeling hits, whether they want to or not, and are often not in their human minds at all when this happens. Meat eaters normally hunt in the wild, so that they don’t stumble onto a human. There are some idiot humans that want to use the night of the full moon to hunt shifters as if they are animals. Don’t be those people—they normally get eaten.”
Another hand.
“I’ve heard that the full moon effects other beings as well, is that true?” another female officer asked.
“Yes, actually. For example, the closer we are to a full moon, the more difficult it is for me to be around powerful emotions or situations, as they will scream out to me so loudly it makes concentrating on anything else just about impossible.”
Nick visibly started. She knew what he had realized—he had called her to a crime scene the night before a full moon. “Necromancers will be more powerful as well, though most people just lump them together with witches. If you want a necromancer to do something that takes a bit more oomf, schedule it on the night of a full moon. They’ll have a bit of metaphysical help. The moon cycle does not affect vampires, though. It’s just another night to them.”
With that, the hands shot up, and Willow, caffeine and E
xcedrin dulling her headache, started answering questions. She was going to be there a while.
17
A WEEK AFTER VISITING THE crime scene, Willow finally managed a full twelve hours without thinking about her throat cut. Then Nick called, and it all went to shit.
“We got a call from one of the guys across town. He headed to what he thought he recognized as the location from your vision. When he got there, he found another body.”
Nick’s voice was tense, and Willow made a face.
“Text me the address. I’ll be there as soon as get this Vaseline off of me and change,” she said absently, then winced. She hadn’t actually meant to say that much.
“Vaseline?”
Willow hesitated. “I’ll be honest with you, you probably don’t want to know.”
Pause, then a laugh. “Right. See you when you get here.”
Willow walked out from behind the wooden folding wall divider and walked over to her client, who was currently sitting in a mass of buckles and leather. He asked something around the ball gag that sounded like “Is everything okay?” but she couldn’t answer him. He was a judge, and this was a police matter, which might have created a conflict of interest later.
“Everything’s fine, but unfortunately I’m going to have to cut this short. I’ll send Bianca in to help you out of that, alright?”
~ ~
THE SCENE THAT WILLOW THOUGHT was the inside of an abandoned warehouse in her vision was actually an alleyway behind a mostly demolished warehouse. Willow parked far enough away to avoid the growing traffic jam of onlookers and hopped out to walk the rest of the way.
