“Not for her,” Thorn said. “Go call. Now, Kinsley.”
My eyes flicked over to Lilith one last time, and I saw what Thorn saw for the first time. Lilith was so pale. Her lips were blue too. Something was very wrong.
I called 911 and told them to send the deputies and an ambulance. The dispatcher wanted me to stay on the line, but I told her I was married to the town sheriff right before I clicked off the call.
On my way back out of the house, I instinctively grabbed the blanket off the back of the sofa and a pair of slippers that I’d kicked off over by the door.
By the time I got out of the house, Thorn was standing next to Lilith with one arm around her shoulders. She was sobbing nearly uncontrollably, and it twisted my guts. I’d never seen her like that before, and it was terrifying.
“She’s hypothermic,” Thorn said as I handed him the blanket. “This is good.”
I helped him put the slippers on her feet. “We should get her into the house,” I said.
“Kinsley,” he said cautiously.
“What?” I barked back. “Help me get her into the house.”
“She’s…”
“She’s what?” I demanded.
He looked over at the dead woman, and I understood. She was a suspect, and possibly dangerous. Thorn didn’t want to let her into the house.
“She’s my Auntie,” I said. “We can’t just let her stay out here, Thorn. Who knows how long she’s been out here.”
“But your baby is in the house,” Thorn said. “Our baby is in there, and if she’s a suspect, I don’t know what it will do to the investigation if we take her inside our house.”
“I don’t care,” I said. “I mean, I care about Laney, but Lilith isn’t a threat to anyone. You can feel how frail she is. She did not do anything to that woman.”
“You don’t…”
“Don’t say it, Thorn Wilson. I do know. I know how this looks, but I don’t believe for a second that she hurt that woman, and I’m taking her into the house.”
But it was a moot point because the ambulance turned onto our street before I even got her up the front steps. They loaded Lilith onto a stretcher and started an IV of warm fluids after covering her with a mylar sheet and a thick wool blanket.
I couldn’t leave Laney to go with her to the hospital, and Thorn couldn’t leave the scene because of the dead woman. So, I called my mom and told her briefly what had happened. She was in shock because she and Dad were sleeping in on of the guest rooms at Lilith’s house. She’d managed to sneak out past them.
“You have to meet them at the hospital,” I said.
“I will,” Mom said. “Dad and I will get dressed and go right now. I’ll call you as soon as I know something.”
After I hung up, Thorn and I went back into the house. He just went in for a pair of shoes and his jacket.
“Stay inside,” he said. “It’s too chilly for you to be hanging around out there anyway.”
I was going to protest, but Laney started to cry. Guilt twisted my gut. It felt like I’d forgotten her for a second. Add another thing to the pile of stuff I’d beat myself up over when I was trying to fall asleep at night.
“I’m coming, baby,” I called up the stairs.
She quieted at the sound of my voice, and while I found her awake when I got upstairs, Laney wasn’t fussy. I scooped her out of the cradle and went to one of the second-floor windows that overlooked the front yard.
When I opened the curtain to look out, I jumped back and nearly fell on my butt. For the narrowest portion of a second, it looked like there was something in the hanging tree. I saw a black creature with red eyes peering back at me, but when I blinked, it was gone.
“Did you see that?” I asked Meri. He’d jumped up on the windowsill and was watching the scene below.
“See what?” he asked.
I relaxed a little. It must have been my imagination. There was still enough adrenaline running through me that my brain was making things out of shadows.
From what I could see out of the window, Jeremy was running the scene. Thorn stood back and watched, but Jeremy was conducting the investigation and calling the shots. It made sense since the crime scene was literally in our front yard.
Thorn looked up a couple of times and saw me in the window. I couldn’t read his expression. He wasn’t angry or anything like that, but he looked sort of perplexed.
After the coroner took the body away and he came back inside, I’d find out why. “She wasn’t stabbed,” Thorn said.
I felt my knees go weak. The knots in my stomach unclenched, and I took a deep breath. “So Lilith didn’t kill her,” I said it as a statement, not a question.
“I can’t say that for sure, but the victim wasn’t stabbed. Lilith isn’t under arrest, though, because we can’t even be sure that her being here had anything to do with the body,” Thorn said.
“You can say for sure that Lilith didn’t kill that woman, Thorn,” I said.
“Kinsley, please. I know this is hard, but I have to do this the right way. I cannot show any hint of being biased or I won’t be able to go anywhere near the case. I already can’t investigate it, but do you want the state or feds to step in and shut me out completely? How can I protect her then?” he asked.
“You’re right,” I said.
“I need to get ready for work. I need to get into the office,” Thorn said as he squeezed the bridge of his nose.
He started to leave the room and stopped. Thorn reached into his pajama pants pocket and pulled something out.
“Thorn, are you okay?” I asked because he’d begun to rub the back of his neck nervously with his other hand.
“I did something,” he said. “I did something I shouldn’t have done, but I had to.”
I crossed the room to where he stood in the doorway. When he opened his hand, Thorn revealed one of the little black spell bags. It was just like the one I’d found at the shop.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “Where did you get that?”
“It must have been tied to Lilith somehow because it fell onto the road when I had my arm around her,” Thorn said. “It must have been tied to her nightclothes. I picked it up and put it in my pocket. It’s possibly evidence, Kinsley. I took it from the scene… but I figured it was the best thing to do. Given everything that’s going on, I didn’t think you’d want my deputies to find it.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“I need to get ready for work,” Thorn replied. He kissed me again and then went to shower and get dressed.
I took the black magic spell bag and put it in the binding box where I’d kept the other one. Since I was up, I went down to the kitchen and started some coffee.
While Thorn finished getting ready for work, I made him a breakfast sandwich to go. I also packed him some leftovers for lunch. Given everything he had going on, I figured it was best if he ate well. Plus, it made me feel like I was helping.
“What’s all this?” he asked when he came into the kitchen and found two paper bags and a large Thermos of coffee waiting for him.
“Making sure you eat today,” I said. “Plus, as far as I know, the coffee at the station still sucks.”
“It does, thank you,” he said. “I’m not upset, by the way. You didn’t have to do all of this.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I thought maybe you felt guilty because I hid evidence and gave it to you,” he said.
“Why would I feel guilty about that?” I asked and then thought about it for a moment. “Oh… you’re doing things that are out of character on my behalf.”
“You’re corrupting me, Mrs. Wilson,” he said with a mischievous smile.
“It wasn’t my intention,” I said earnestly.
Thorn let out a hearty laugh. “I just bet it wasn’t,” he said, and I swore his eyes were twinkling. “I can’t be the husband of a witch and father to another while walking around with a stick up my butt. We have a talking cat. I thin
k it’s beyond time for me to adapt.”
“You came up with all of this while you were in the shower?” I asked.
“It’s been coming on for a while, I guess. Ever since Laney was born, I realized that I was accepting who you are, but I never embraced it. And I walked around thinking and acting like I was doing you a favor for that. I was a jerk so many times, but the baby has made me see the light. It’s not enough for me to just accept it. I was always on the outside, but the Coven is my family now too. My daughter is going to be the leader someday. It’s time for me to fall in line. I think we’ll all be happier if I do,” he said. “So, if I find out anything about the murder or those spell bags that will help you guys out, I’ll call you.”
Then he kissed me, took his food and Thermos, and left for work. I stood there for a few minutes completely stunned.
“Did you hear all of that?” I asked Meri when he came sauntering into the kitchen.
“You did a number on that man,” Meri replied.
“It’s about time,” I said with a chuckle.
“You don’t even feel bad, do you?” Meri asked.
“Not nearly as much as I probably should,” I said. “It will do him good to lighten up, right? I mean, it’s not like I was ever going to be someone else. Even though I frustrated him, he always loved me for me. Now he’s just embracing that.”
“We’ll see,” Meri said.
Chapter Five
Thorn was off at work. Mom was at the hospital with Lilith. It was just me, Meri, and Laney at home.
I was bored.
Not only that, but I was worried about Lilith. Mom had texted to say that she was doing all right and that they had her sedated and resting comfortably.
While that was good news, it wasn’t good enough for me. I had to figure out what had happened to her and fix it. I knew my mom was busy, so I texted my father.
Are the other Aunties as bad as Lilith? I sent.
No, he texted back.
So, it was probably a direct attack? I asked.
Looks that way, he answered.
I need to talk to the dead woman. I held my breath before I sent the message, but I eventually found the courage to hit send.
I’ll be right there, was his response.
Good old Dad. Not many witches, other than Lilith, were as comfortable with darker magic like my father. He’d danced with it close enough that it had almost taken him in the past, so he had unique skills when it came to the left-hand path.
While I was waiting for my father to get to Hangman’s House, I strapped Laney into her baby sling and headed out into the front yard.
“What are you doing?” Meri asked as he followed me out the front door.
“Dad’s coming over to help me get in touch with this dead woman. I need something from her,” I said. “I need some of the dirt from where she died too.”
“Something from her?” Meri asked.
“She had to have lost a hair out here,” I said as I stood near where the woman’s body had lain. “Some blood in the dirt would be good too, but I don’t know if she bled. I still don’t exactly know how she died. I just know she wasn’t stabbed.”
“You’re going to need to know that,” Meri said.
“I’ll text Thorn,” I said. “Can you start looking for a hair?”
“You’re the worst,” Meri groused.
“I know, but I still need a hair,” I said.
“Fine,” he relented and trotted over to look around under the tree for a strand of the dead woman’s hair.
I need details on the murder, I texted to Thorn.
I slid the phone into my pocket and helped Meri look for hairs. It really wasn’t a fun task looking for hair in grass when the sun wasn’t totally up yet, but we found one.
Once we had that, I ran back into the house and grabbed a white candle and a silver coin. I took the candle back outside and lit it on the spot where she’d lain.
“Spirit, I need your help,” I said and placed the coin next to the candle. “I humbly ask for your assistance.”
Out of my other pocket, I took a small glass jar with a metal lid. It was only large enough to hold a couple of tablespoons of dirt, but that was all I needed.
My dad pulled into the driveway as I capped the jar and put it back in my pocket. “So, are we doing this in the cemetery?” I asked as dad got out of his car. “Maybe we can set up near the family crypt.”
“I have something else in mind,” Dad said. “I know that you’re used to seeing necromancy as something dark to be performed in basements and graveyards, but I’m going to let you in on some secrets.”
“Oh, okay,” I said.
“Go inside and get dressed,” Dad said. “Wear something colorful but dress the baby in all black.”
“Ooohkaaay,” I said.
“Trust me, Kinsley,” Dad said. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course,” I answered. “I’ll be back down in a few minutes.”
I rushed through getting dressed. My mind reeled at what my dad could be up to. He knew things I didn’t, though. Things I could have known if I’d taken witchcraft seriously when I was younger instead of insisting that the last thing I wanted to be was a witch.
But that was the past, and I had the chance to learn. Dad would teach me, and we would pass it all down to Laney. Because I figured out from the moment she was born that the reason I had been so important to the Coven was so that I would become her mother. I wasn’t some sort of chosen one, but I was chosen to be her mom. Laney was the one who was truly something special.
After putting on a yellow sundress and cornflower blue cardigan, I dressed Laney in a black onesie, sweatpants, and socks. She had several black outfits, thanks to the Aunties, so I tucked them into her diaper bag.
Then I chuckled. I was packing a diaper bag to go with my father and practice necromancy. What an odd place to find myself in life…
But it had to be done. It wasn’t just that I needed to prove that Lilith had nothing to do with the woman’s death. In the back of my mind, I wondered if the dead woman had something to do with the magic reset. Had she done some sort of ritual, cast a powerful ancient spell, or summoned a demon to destroy our powers? I had to find out, and if she had, I would undo the damage.
No amount of normalcy was worth what was happening to Lilith. Plus, did I even want that anymore? Thorn had accept who I was, so shouldn’t I?
I hurried down the stairs and outside to find Dad still waiting by his car. “You could have come inside,” I said.
“We need to go where we are going while her energy is still tied to this side of reality,” Dad said. “And before your husband goes there to search.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“The ley line is amplified in the town square because our ancestors used rituals to concentrate its power, but ley lines run all the way around the world,” Dad said. “For some witches, living near the lines is enough. Others go all the way and build a house on the line.”
“Are you saying the dead woman built her house on the ley line?”
“No, but she lived in a house that was. An old sanatorium built by the church. They probably detected the power of the ley line running underneath. Non-witches don’t always understand what they are feeling, but they can sense it. That’s why a lot of churches and other important buildings end up built on the lines.”
“We’re going to an old, abandoned sanatorium?” I asked. “Is that the secret? We could have gone to any secret or spooky place.”
“It’s not the fact that it’s an abandoned asylum that gives it the power,” Dad said.
“I was going to say, that’s not much of a secret,” I said as Dad drove us out of Coventry and into the countryside surrounding the town. “Also, that I probably should have worn pants.”
“You look beautiful, sweetie,” Dad said. “It’s perfect.”
“Are you going to tell me why it’s perfect?” I asked.
“Okay, so a lot o
f people associate necromancy and death work with dark and mysterious things. They practice it, like I said, in dark basements and graveyards. They light black candles and chant heavy, depressing dirges. Part of that is our fault. We want people to think that’s they way you work with the dead because it keeps them from accidently becoming powerful necromancers.”
“Accidently becoming powerful necromancers? So, that can happen?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s surprisingly easy to attract and interact with the dead once you know the secrets,” Dad said with a chuckle.
Haunted Hex (Familiar Kitten Mysteries Book 10) Page 4
