by D. N. Hoxa
My ears rang. “Chain marks?”
Bender shook his head. “Arthur had no marks on his body when we got to him. The night she found him, it was raining and there was practically no light out there.”
“So you didn’t believe her.” A dumbfounded smile took over my face, and my hand instinctively wrapped around my throat.
“She said it herself. There was no light. It was raining. She could have easily seen shadows and taken them for marks. Nothing was there. I’ve seen the body myself. I’ll show you the pictures.”
“I don’t need to see the pictures, Bender. I had a chain around my throat just last night.” And I was betting my life, right now, that it had been the same chain. I had no marks around my neck, either, but I’d crossed it off as this weird fairy-healing thing my body was doing ever since I grew tips on my ears. But maybe…maybe the chain was enchanted. And maybe Arthur’s girlfriend really saw the marks, but they disappeared before Bender got to the body.
A moment of heavy silence. My brain was putting everything together into a nice little puzzle. Was I so desperate to solve this case that I was just making stories up now, or was this real? For a second, I couldn’t even tell.
Bender cleared his throat. “Page sixty-one,” he said, dragging in the smoke from his cigarette. “Melanie Rivera was found in the garage of her house, in the backseat of her car by her mother.”
Shivers washed down my back. I could only imagine how the mother must have felt to see her own daughter like that. “Alice Rivera claims that dogs were in the garage when she first went in there. The light was broken, and by the time she found a flashlight, they were gone.”
“Dogs?”
“The smell. She said she recognized the smell of wet fur.”
I grinned, though it probably wasn’t the time. “And you didn’t believe her?”
“I did. We searched for werewolves, turned both the Brigham and Kayne packs upside down, but all we found was a dead dog three houses down from the Rivera house with very thick fur, soaking wet.” Bender raised his brows as if to tell me he was right.
“I’m not buying that,” I said. “Everything you’ve told me so far makes perfect sense. It all points right to those beasts. They did it. They killed these people, and now they’re doing it again with the Greens.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” Bender whispered. “Do you know how many times I thought I cracked the case, only to end up empty-handed?”
“But you never had me with you before, did you?” I said to try to lighten up his mood. “And you never knew exactly what you were looking for. Come on, you can’t ignore all these details. They’re as clear as a summer sky!”
“Even if I did believe you, this isn’t proof. Everybody saw all of these reports before. A lot of people knew them by memory.”
“So let’s get proof.” It was pretty simple, if you asked me.
Bender laughed dryly. “You make it sound so easy.”
I knew exactly where he was coming from. He’d spent his whole life putting the pieces together and not getting anything, and a fairy came out of nowhere, telling him she knew exactly who’d done it. It was hard for him to believe it, but even if my instincts were not to be trusted, the details he just showed me fit perfectly. If anything, it was worth a shot. How much did we have to lose?
“Look, I know this sounds crazy, but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe we can do this. We can bring the people responsible for this to justice. All I’m asking is for you to take a chance. Maybe I’m wrong and it will all be for nothing, but what if I’m right?”
Bender turned his head the other way. He looked at the bottle of vodka by his feet, and I could see his fingers shaking. He wanted to grab it, but he also knew that was a bad idea. That gave me hope.
“How would you even begin to look for proof? Nobody is going to believe you—you said it yourself,” he finally said.
“There has to be more you can tell me. I want to read the autopsy reports, too. And I want to know exactly where the bodies were found on a map—and when.”
“I know what you’re thinking.” Bender patted the two books he’d put on the table together with the folders. “These here contain pictures of every ritual ever designed by Blood, Bone and Green witches. I got them from the ECU, and I never returned them. There’s nothing in there.”
“But if we look at it with a fresh set of eyes and with the new information, who knows what we might find?”
He smiled and shook his head. “You’re stubborn. I never liked stubborn people.”
“Because you were one yourself?” I grinned.
“Absolutely,” Bender said. “And since you insist, I’ll show you the autopsy reports, but for the maps, there’s someone who can do a much better job at explaining it to you, someone I haven’t spoken to in a long time.”
“Really?” Bender didn’t look like he had too many friends.
“He worked with me on the case for a couple of months. Studied the maps you mentioned, and the few details we had about the murders to see if they matched the requirements of any ritual out there. He got nothing.”
“But now that we know who did it…”
“Now that you think you know who did it, he might have some other ideas.” Bender flinched.
“So let’s go see him.” I was as ready as ever.
“I don’t even know where he lives anymore,” Bender mumbled.
Something told me that wasn’t the problem so much as the fact that he actually had to get dressed and leave the house.
“But you know where he used to live. Sounds to me like a good place to start.” Talking to him was like talking to a kid. We both knew what we meant but we both chose to walk around the truth.
Bender took a deep breath and threw the cigarette butt on his already full ashtray without bothering to put it out. He looked at me and shook his head, but he wasn’t mad. His mouth opened but for a long second, no words came out. Then he said, “Let’s just check out the autopsy reports first.”
Thirteen
Night had already fallen by the time Bender stopped dragging this on and agreed to go get dressed. My stomach growled as I looked at the interrogation files over and over again, my mind far from food. I’d began to really worry. After reading all the autopsy reports twice, I still had no idea where those beasts were or how to even look for them. I was so sure I’d have at least a clue by the end of the day, but so far that hadn’t happened.
Bender took his sweet time, and when I finally heard his footsteps coming to the living room, I sighed.
“About time,” I mumbled. Then, he walked in and I stared. Really stared like a stalker, and I didn’t even care.
The Eli Bender in front of me was a whole different person from the one I saw just an hour ago. His black hair was cut short, but some strings still fell on his forehead and around his temples. The ugly beard was gone. The smooth skin of his cheeks glistened and his brown eyes shone. He looked so clean.
The dirty shirt was gone. In its place was a new one, black with white buttons, and a navy jacket on top. His black pants looked old, but they were clean and perfectly pressed. I could hardly believe my eyes.
“You’re hot,” I said with a laugh. Blood rushed fast to Bender’s cheeks.
“I’m old enough to be your father,” he reproached.
I laughed harder. This guy was amazing. “I wasn’t hitting on you. I was just stating the obvious.”
He looked away from me, his hands pulling up in fists. “Let’s refrain from stating anything about the way we look.”
“No fun being stared at, is it? Imagine what I go through every day.” I tried to make it sound like a joke, but we both knew it wasn’t.
“We should grab something to eat on our way,” Bender said.
He looked so uncomfortable, I wondered when was the last time he’d showered and dressed like a normal witch. I doubted he remembered.
“Agreed,” I said with a cheeky grin. I didn’t exactly enjo
y making him squirm like that, but it was a lot of fun to watch. I’d missed some good ole fun like this.
“Let’s just go,” he said with a sigh, and he put the two books in a paper bag, together with the map of Pennsylvania, where he’d marked the places where the bodies were found in red.
Excited, I followed him to the door and out. Before, I’d been used to working on my own. I liked it that way, but then I met Julian. Working with him, though he lied to me pretty much the entire time, was enlightening. So much easier and healthier. I’d missed having someone to talk to about a case.
“Aren’t you going to lock the door?” I asked Bender, just as the smell hit my nostrils.
Instinctively, my hand went behind my back and my beads rose all the way to my face. I breathed in again, and the same smell of deadness filled my nose. Vampires were nearby.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Bender whispered.
He could smell them, too. He left the plastic bag on his porch and slowly walked out in the yard. The lampposts around the street provided enough light to see the five vampires walking towards us as if they had all the time in the world.
My heart fell all the way to my heels. Their faces, the way they held themselves, and their leather jackets made them look similar to those vampires I’d killed in the alley in Manhattan. With my gun and a knife in hand, I stepped forward and stopped right next to Bender.
The vampires stopped by the fence, and for a second, they just looked at us.
“Can I help you?” Bender called. His voice was strong and unwavering. He didn’t sound the least bit afraid.
“Not anymore,” the vampire in the middle said. His blond hair shone silver under the lampposts, and his black eyes looked as dead as the rest of him. “Our business is with Winter Wayne.”
Goose bumps covered my arms. “I don’t think I have any business with you, though.”
“We’ve been looking for you, Miss Wayne. You’re charged with the murder of three vampires in the city of Manhattan.” Ah, hell. “We’re going to need you to come with us.”
I grinned, though my stomach was a knotted mess. “James ratted me out, didn’t he?” I said reluctantly. That bastard. I’d saved his life, and now he’d endangered mine. I think I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again anyway: all vampires are assholes.
“You have something that belongs to us,” the vampire said. “We advise you to hand it over right away.”
I narrowed my brows. “I have nothing that belongs to you. You must have me mistaken for another Winter Wayne.”
Bender cleared his throat to make me look at him. When I did, he widened his eyes. I wish I knew what the hell that meant.
“Please hand over the ring you took from James and follow us, Miss Wayne. We do not want to cause any trouble, but we will if we have to.”
The ring? “What ring?” What the hell was he talking about?
Then I remembered. The ring James had claimed was enchanted. He’d given it to me as payment for delivering the package to Julian Walker, together with three gold coins. I’d thought the ring was useless. It was in my office somewhere. I wasn’t even sure if I threw it out. But now that these vampires were asking for it…
“We will not ask again,” the vampire said, and his eyes began to change color. They became lighter and lighter until they reflected the light around him. If he opened his mouth, I was sure he’d have his sharp teeth ready.
Damn it, I really didn’t need this. Those vampires had caught me at the worse possible time.
“Listen, fellas, this is just a misunderstanding. I did kill those vampires, but only because they threatened to kill me. I would have never done it otherwise. I did ask them to let me go, but they refused,” I ranted.
Even though this was the truth, I knew they wouldn’t believe me. Or they would—it just wouldn’t matter.
“Very well,” the vampire said, and when he nodded, I already knew I was in trouble.
My gun was in front of me, but so was one of the vampires. He grabbed my arm and knocked my wrist against his knee. Bye-bye, gun. My beads were on his face before the gun hit the ground, and though the vampire moved fast, my beads followed. When he was just a foot away from me, I swung my arm and buried my knife in the side of his neck. Cold blood wet my hand, and as my beads continued to attack his face just enough to keep him distracted, I freed my knife then hit him again with it. I was going to do it a third time, too, but one of his friends was already by my side.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me back. I flew two feet in the air, but I never managed to land on the ground, because a third vampire was already behind me, and he made sure I fell right into his arms. When his teeth bit into my shoulder, a cry escaped my lips. The asshole. I hated vampire bites.
The first one was trying to get rid of my beads, and the other was right in front of my face, hissing like a damn snake. I didn’t hesitate. I pulled my head back then hit him square in the nose with my forehead. It wasn’t going to do much damage, but if I was lucky, it would win me a second. To the other who was holding me back, his teeth still in my flesh, I kicked my leg back as far as I could until I hit my mark—his balls. Vampire or no vampire, balls hurt like a mother. They hurt him enough that he let go of me, and I jumped forward, out of his reach.
I grabbed two more knives from my belt, and I called my beads back around my hand. The three vampires circled me. The plan of attack was already crystal clear in my mind. I didn’t hesitate. I just acted.
Two of my beads went for the eyes of the first vampire at full speed. The remaining three went for the second vampire’s throat, while I jumped the third, swinging my arms as fast as I could.
He pushed me back, but I did cut his face and neck a couple of times. When he jumped at me again, I let go of one knife and grabbed his forearm, pulled him forward and buried my knife on his back—once, twice, three times. Another grabbed me by my braid and pulled, but his friend’s arm was still in my hand so I pulled him with me.
When I fell to the ground on my back, I didn’t let go, and the vampire fell on top of me, the back of his neck right in front of my face. A second later, the blade of my knife slid through his skin, and the next, he was dead meat.
My beads continued to attack the two others until I pushed the dead vampire off me and jumped to my feet. Running to the one whose neck was a mess of flesh and blood, I put my hand on the back of his head while he tried to push my beads off. I pulled him forward and down, until he fell to his knees. My knife cut through his brain a second later, and his face fell on my boots.
Calling back my beads, I stepped in front of the last vampire who could barely see from all the blood, though his eyes were already healing. I had enough time to bend over and grab my gun from right next to his feet, then fire a bullet in the middle of his forehead.
When he fell down to the ground, I could see the remaining two vampires again. They were still by the fence gate, just looking at me like I’d performed the show of their lives for them. I walked forward, angry as hell, and I shouted:
“Stop coming after me, or you’ll be next!”
By the time I made it to the street, both vampires had already disappeared. The fuckers had left me with a few bruises and a fucking vampire bite on my shoulder. Damn it. Running after them was useless, but I wanted to. God, how I wanted to. Instead, I turned around and found Eli Bender sitting on his porch with his hands in his pockets like a true freaking gentleman.
I raised my arms in question. “Enjoying yourself?”
He smiled like there was nothing wrong with having three dead vampire bodies in his front yard. “Absolutely.”
Shaking my head, I walked over to him. “A little help would have been appreciated.”
“Didn’t look like you need it,” Bender said with a shrug. “Besides, I wanted to see what you were made of, see if that threat you made before had any weight.”
“And?”
“A lot more than I thought, but still very little.” Bender stood
up and took the paper bag in his hands again. “Ready?”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “I totally killed three vampires on my own!” Without magic, even.
“You also got bit on your shoulder and knocked down more than once,” Bender said and he didn’t even look back at me.
“I don’t need to prove myself to you,” I mumbled and followed him out the gate. “Are you sure you want to leave three dead vampires in your yard?”
“A pretty decoration, don’t you think?” Bender grinned.
I had created a completely wrong impression of the guy, it seemed.
“Halloween was two months ago,” I reminded him.
“We’re witches,” he said. “Every day is Halloween for us.”
Couldn’t say I didn’t like this version of him better.
Fourteen
Trevor Ammic was the only real rituals specialist, according to Bender. He was so good, the ECU kept the details of his studies on old rituals under heavy lock, far away from any witch’s reach. I’d believe him when I saw it, but the knowledge definitely got my hopes up. If there was even the slightest chance that we were dealing with a ritual, it was going to put us one step ahead of the beasts. It was more than I could have asked for.
It took us twenty minutes to get to Ammic’s old address, and when we got there, Bender didn’t even let me get out of the car.
“Are you kidding?” I asked because you never knew how strange one’s sense of humor was.
“Of course not. You’re a fairy. I don’t want anyone shutting the door in my face. I’ve spent years locked inside,” Bender said, his brows narrowed. “I need my confidence back, and that kind of a situation isn’t going to help.”
“You…” He slammed the car door shut and ran to the other side of the road before I could finish. Calling him an asshole when he wasn’t listening kinda lost its point so I saved my breath.
Bender knocked on the door of the nice two-story house that used to be Ammic’s. A woman came out right away. I couldn’t see the details of her face, but she was tall—taller than Bender—and she definitely didn’t look happy to see him. A sigh escaped my lips when Bender turned away, and with his head down, walked back to the car. Ammic wasn’t there.
