Witch on Second: A Jinx Hamilton Mystery Book 5 (The Jinx Hamilton Novels)

by Juliette Harper

  “What can I do?” Anton asked.

  “We have a surprise in store for Kelly and Gemma at the carnival Saturday night,” Seraphina said. She grinned, revealing her fangs. “Be there on the square as night falls and we will tell you what you must do.”

  “I’ll be there, honey,” Anton said, adding hesitantly. “Maybe between now and then you should remain hidden for your safety?”

  “Oh, we’ll be safe, Daddy,” Seraphina assured him. “We left a nice little calling card for the witches. We want them to stew in their own cauldron between now and Saturday night.”

  She began to giggle, and Ioana joined in. The cackling turned Anton’s blood to ice, but he forced himself to smile.

  “You’ll be so proud of us, Daddy,” Ioana said. “We’re going to turn the streets of Briar Hollow red with blood. Have you ever tasted blood?”

  “No,” Anton said, “I haven’t.”

  Ioana’s eyes flattened into black pools.

  “Oh, you will,” she said. “And you’ll like it.”

  29

  In the aftermath of Danny’s death, we stepped up the GNATS surveillance. Tori and Chase spent a good hour punching buttons on one of the iPads and fiddling with wires, but when they were done, the display on the big screen TV was split into two rows of four boxes each.

  One drone stayed on the lumberyard and only changed position to follow Scrap’s truck wherever it went, which amounted to one destination — home. Thanks to the video feed, Tori had to watch as her father carried boxes of his possessions out of her childhood home. When I tried to talk to her about it, she shook her head, and whispered in a choked voice, “Don’t, Jinksy. I gotta keep it together until this is over.”

  I was starting to get the uneasy feeling that no matter how well we resolved the crisis at hand, the issues in the Andrews house weren’t going to be so easy to mend.

  Three drones hovered over the Ionescu compound 24 hours a day. That left the bottom four video feeds on the screen for the GNATS cameras watching the square. The whole set-up gave the lair the feeling of a war room, but since I felt as if we were under siege that seemed appropriate.

  All of Thursday passed peacefully. Things in town were gearing up for the two-day Halloween celebration starting Friday night. The citizens of Briar Hollow, blissfully unaware of what was going on right under their noses, were having a high old time.

  Thankfully, none of the other ghost tours yielded any viral-quality evidence, although the group from Charlotte staking out the cemetery swore they captured “credible” electronic voice phenomenon.

  Beau listened to the recording on the festival website and chuckled. At his feet, Duke cocked his head as if he recognized the voices as well.

  “What do you hear?” I asked.

  “The more strident of the two voices belongs to Miss Lou Ella, the hairdresser,” Beau said. “She is arguing with Mrs. Walters, the lady in the blue gingham dress.”

  “About what?”

  “I was only able to pick out a few words,” Beau said, “but having mediated many of their spats, it would seem Miss Lou Ella is quite taken by one of the young men on the ghost hunting team, which offends Mrs. Walters’ sense of propriety.”

  “They know not to let things get out of hand again, right?” I said worriedly.

  “Yes,” Beau said, “they have been duly cautioned.”

  “Okay, I’m going upstairs to check on things,” I said. “Come get me if anything happens.”

  When I opened the basement door, I found Tori and the moms standing in a straight line staring at the front window. “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “He’s what’s going on,” Tori answered, pointing to a man on the sidewalk staring into the store.

  “What’s he doing?” I asked.

  “Just standing there,” Tori said. “Your mother thinks he’s one of the Ionescus.”

  A cold chill passed over me. “Are you sure, Mom?”

  “Not really,” she said. “Anton used to come to the football games to watch Seraphina and Ioana cheer. He always had a man with him everyone said was his bodyguard. That was a long time ago, and he was a lot younger, but I think the man out there is the same guy.”

  “Well,” I said, “there’s only one way to find out.”

  Before they could stop me, I was out the door and in the man’s face. “Something I can do for you, mister?” I asked.

  The stranger regarded me impassively. “My name is Cezar Ionescu,” he said. “My cousin Anton sent me to speak with you. Since your store is warded, I had no choice but to stand here until one of you came out. If you would be so kind as to take down the barrier, perhaps we could sit down and have a civilized conversation.”

  “Yeah,” I said, “not happening.”

  He regarded me with mock-innocent eyes. “Do you really wish to stand on the sidewalk here on the courthouse square and discuss vampires?” he asked.

  He had me there.

  “Stay here,” I ordered, “I’ll be right back.”

  I went inside the store.

  “Is that him?” Mom asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “He says his name is Cezar Ionescu.”

  Tori rolled her eyes. “Of course it is,” she said, “because nobody in Romania is named Tom, Dick, or Harry. What does Cezar want?”

  “He wants me to let him into the store so we can talk,” I said.

  Mom gasped. “You’re not thinking about doing that, are you?”

  “Of course not,” I said, “I just came back in to get my own bodyguards.”

  Tori frowned. “Greer and Lucas?”

  “Exactly,” I said. “Greer said they’re here to work with me, so I’m going to give them something to do.”

  Stealing a look at the window, she said, “Cezar is still watching. You should stay here and keep talking to the moms. Makes it look more like you’re the boss lady in charge. I’ll go get Greer and Lucas.”

  In just a minute or two, the two DGI agents joined us. “Problem?” Lucas asked.

  Nodding toward the window, I said, “That guy out there wants to talk. He’s Anton Ionescu’s cousin. You two feel like playing hired muscle?”

  Greer reached into her seemingly bottomless leather pouch and brought out a pair of jet black sunglasses. She slipped them on, letting her face turn to ivory stone. “You mean like this?”

  “Exactly,” I said.

  Lucas flipped open a pair of Ray Bans with one hand and slipped them on, assuming an equally impassive face. “Let’s do this thing,” he said.

  We walked back outside, Lucas and Greer flanking me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chase leaning casually against the wall of the cobbler shop. No one broke stride, but we all registered the fact that we had a backup if we needed it.

  “Okay,” I told Cezar. “Now I’m ready to talk. Follow me.”

  I led them around the corner to the abandoned bus stop. As we went by the grocery store, a kid with an open package of Twinkies in his hand said, “Whoa! You guys coming as the Men in Black to the Halloween carnival?”

  “Don’t make me flashy thing you, kid,” Lucas warned as we passed.

  When we reached the bench, I inclined my head to Cezar. “Have a seat.”

  “Quaint,” he said, taking out a handkerchief and dusting off the wood before he sat down.

  Sitting down opposite him, I said, “Okay. Talk.” As I said it, I let my eyes roam across the abandoned building across the street. I could just make out Chase’s dark shirt in the deep shadows of the interior.

  “I understand that you have little reason to trust me,” Cezar began. “Anton sent me. He would like to enlist your aid to stop Seraphina and Ioana.”

  That statement won him a skeptical, cocked eyebrow. “Really?” I said. “He’s the one who turned them loose on us in the first place.”

  “No,” Cezar answered seriously, “he didn’t. Anton never meant for them to rise in this form. He can no longer control the girls. They’re planning to stage a blo
odbath at the carnival. Anton knows that cannot be allowed to happen.”

  “Why should I believe you?” I asked.

  “Miss Hamilton,” Cezar said, “did the aos si ever warn you about us?”

  Reluctantly, I admitted Myrtle never mentioned the Strigoi as a threat.

  “There’s a reason for that,” Cezar said. “We want only to live in peace. After having been hunted by the Church for centuries, we have no desire to be targets of bigotry or hatred ever again. Anton let his love for the girls cloud his judgment. He did not bury them properly, but he could not have anticipated that your spell would run so badly amuck and resurrect them.”

  As much as I might have wanted to counter that, I couldn’t. The idea might be hard for me to swallow, but my irresponsible use of magic was the undeniable wild card that set much of the current series of events in motion. Cezar saw what was going through my mind.

  “You already know this, don’t you?” he asked.

  “Most of it,” I said, “but you just confirmed the theory for us.”

  “Anton thought they could be cured,” Cezar said. “Now he knows that isn’t possible. We know you hid their latest kill. Help us to ensure there are no others.”

  “Not so fast,” I said. “Did your cousin hire Malcolm Ferguson to come after us?”

  Cezar’s face registered surprise. “Not that I am aware of.”

  “Did it ever occur to you that your cousin might not be telling you the whole truth about his business?” Greer asked.

  Cezar turned to look at her. “You are not a hired bodyguard,” he said.

  “No,” Greer said, slipping off her glasses. “I am not.”

  “What business has the baobhan sith here?” Cezar asked.

  “None she cares discuss with you, Strigoi vui,” Greer said in an icy voice. “Now answer my question.”

  Paling slightly, Cezar said, “It is quite possible I do not know the full scope of Anton’s dealings with you, but he is telling the truth about the girls. He loves them, and he does not want them to live as they are now.”

  “Well, Cezar,” I said, “here’s the deal. Your cousin has a vendetta against my mother. He shattered my family, sent my brother into exile, and possibly turned a sociopathic murderer loose in my town. Sorry if I’m a pint low on trust for the guy.”

  “That is fair,” Cezar responded, “but I have done none of those things to you. I speak not just for my cousin, but for the majority of the clan. We do not support Anton’s curse against your mother, and we will not enforce it. If Anton makes a move against you, we will not assist him.”

  “Not assisting him isn’t the same as helping us,” I responded.

  Cezar nodded in acknowledgment. “That is true,” he said, “but would you rather face a single Strigoi or an entire clan of us?”

  Okay, so I was looking at an offer that evened the odds and might give us a way to take out the Strigoi Sisters. It was worth hearing.

  The plan Cezar sketched out for us was so crazy, it just might work. To stake and behead Seraphina and Ioana without a lot of collateral damage, he suggested incapacitating them with electricity.

  “Our people will be handling the ambulance,” he said. “Rather than being taken to the hospital, the girls will be returned to their crypt and buried properly so that they are never a threat to you or us again.”

  “And all the witnesses on the square?”

  Greer provided the answer. “You’re planning to mesmerize all of them, aren’t you?” she said.

  “Yes,” Cezar said. “Stirgoi viu will be stationed around the square. The people who attend the festival that evening will remember the light show only.”

  “Light show?” I said.

  “Yes,” he said, “my man Petre is an electrician. He will arrange to be working with the musical entertainment that night. He will direct the charge at Seraphina and Ioana.”

  That was the part I still couldn’t quite believe.

  “You are seriously planning on electrocuting them?” I asked. “With all those innocent bystanders potentially in the way?”

  “Miss Hamilton,” Cezar said, “if there is one thing we Strigoi know how to do, it’s channel electricity with pinpoint accuracy. No one on the square will be harmed.”

  Lucas spoke up for the first time. “What role do you expect our people to play?”

  “That’s simple,” Cezar said. “Bait.”

  30

  It probably won’t come as a big shock to you that not everyone in the lair reacted well to the word “bait.” Chase topped that list, bristling when Lucas said amiably, “Calm down, McGregor. It’s a good plan.”

  Both men were standing near the fireplace. Chase wheeled on Lucas and for just an instant, I thought they might come to blows. “I don’t need you to tell me how to do my job,” Chase barked. “You are not charged with protecting the Daughters of Knasgowa.”

  Lucas didn’t flinch. “Actually,” he said in the same pleasant tone of voice, “I am, and so is Greer. We’ve been assigned to work with Jinx by the Mother Oak. If you don’t like the arrangement, I suggest you take it up with her.”

  Before I could intervene, Greer did it for me. “Gentleman, I believe this situation calls for more focus and less time spent measuring your egos.”

  Chase turned angry eyes toward her. “Nobody asked your opinion, baobhan sith.”

  From the hearth, Festus said quietly, “Chase, either get your head in the game or get out.”

  “Dad . . . ”

  “I’m sorry, Chase,” Festus said, “but I’m going to say what everyone else here is dying to say. Get over yourself. You and Jinx were an item, and now you’re not. You’ve had your pout. Now you’re just acting like a jealous jerk. Grow the hell up. Jinx needs a functioning team behind her. You and Lucas were friends when you were boys. I have no idea what happened between the two of you and I don’t care. You’re grown men now. Act like it.”

  Lucas and Chase were friends once? That was an interesting tidbit to file away for later.

  From where I stood, Lucas was acting like a grown man, and he confirmed that opinion when he immediately held his hand out to Chase.

  “We’re on the same side,” Lucas said. “When this is over, we can get drunk and settle our differences with our fists if we have to, but now is not the time.”

  The muscles in Chase’s jaw flexed, but he shook Grayson’s hand.

  Then Lucas did something I liked. A lot.

  “Don’t you think you owe the lady an apology?” he asked Chase, nodding toward Greer.

  The argument could have re-ignited if Greer hadn’t taken control of the moment. “Who are you calling a lady?” she said, regarding both men with mock outrage.

  Everyone laughed at that, and the level of tension in the room eased down a notch.

  “I’m sorry, Greer,” Chase said. “I was out of line.”

  “You’re a McGregor,” she grinned. “Sometimes you can’t help yourself. Apology accepted.”

  After a few seconds of silence, I said, “Alrighty, then. Do we need to deal with anybody else’s objection before we move on here?”

  Dad held up his hand. “For the record,” he said, “I don’t like the idea of my wife and daughter being used like a worm on a hook. Or Gemma and Tori either for that matter.”

  “It’s not as bad as you think,” I said. “The plan really is a good one. It’s not like we’re going to be out there alone. Tori, can you enlarge one of the video feeds so we can get an overhead of the square?”

  “Sure,” she said, “no problem.”

  As I talked, Tori highlighted the areas around the courthouse where Cezar planned to position the Strigoi. “All we really have to do is be there,” I said. “We don’t know exactly what Seraphina and Ioana have in mind, but once they’re on the lawn, they’ll be surrounded by Cezar’s people. We have the elder amulets, so we won’t be affected during the mesmerization.”

  “How is the Petre guy going to direct the electricity?�
� Dad asked.

  “To be honest, Dad, I really don’t know,” I said. “Cezar just told us we have to keep the girls between the courthouse and the bandstand. That’s where Petre will be working with the sound equipment.”

  “And the rest of us?” Beau asked.

  “Will be right here in the store safely behind the wards,” I said.

  He started to protest, but I held up my hand to silence him. “No arguments,” I said. “The only other people who are going to be out there on the square with us are Chase, Lucas, and Greer. Beau, you and Festus will be in charge here at the store. You can watch the whole thing over the GNATS drones. If anything goes wrong, get Barnaby and Moira here as quickly as possible.”

  I don’t think he liked the assignment, but Beau is a good soldier. He simply nodded and said, “Understood.”

  So. We had all our proverbial ducks lined up. Cezar knew exactly how the whole thing would play out. Anton was on board — and then the Strigoi Sisters threw a monkey wrench in everything.

  Just after supper on Friday we were all down in the lair. Dad and Beau were manning the shop. I can tell you now it was that “calm before the storm” moment you always hear about, especially because black, scudding clouds filled the skies outside with thunder rumbling in the distance.

  Without warning, Glory suddenly snatched up her megaphone and started screeching, “Red alert! Red alert! Main viewscreen! Red alert!”

  Tori looked up from the herbs she was packaging. “Don’t tell me we’ve got Klingons on top of everything else,” she said.

  “Worse,” I said, looking at the video feed, “the Strigoi Sisters are early.”

  Everyone moved to get a better view of the screen. The sun was just setting, and the carnival goers were beginning to gather even with the threatening storm. In fact, Tori and I had promised Irma we’d come over later and take turns running the dunking booth and calling out the Bingo numbers if the event didn’t get rained out.

  Seraphina and Ioana stood in the center of the crowd appearing passably normal among the costumed festival goers. As we watched, Seraphina looked up and made eye contact with the drone’s camera. Her scarlet lips drew back in a feral smile. Raising one hand, she curled her index finger in the sign for “come here.”