Bone Coven (Winter Wayne Book 2)

by D. N. Hoxa

  “Bone,” he said when he picked up.

  Sooner better than later, I thought.

  “I need to hire you. I’ve got the money.”

  A second of silence. “You want to be my client?”

  “Yes, and I’m going to pay you,” I said, just in case he hadn’t heard me. I really needed him to say yes. Witches were good, but trained paranormals who had experience in combat were better.

  “I heard that. Can you tell me what the job is?”

  I flinched. “Information. And two agents.”

  “What kind of information and what kind of agents? And don’t go in rounds, Bone. I don’t have all day.”

  “I need everything you can find on the Blood coven leaders. Who they are, where I can find them. How I can reach them. And I need your best fighters, too.”

  Finn sighed. “You’re going after them, aren’t you?”

  “I’m going to need everything you have, Finn.”

  “In case you forgot, you killed three of my best people.”

  “And you probably got twice as many by now.”

  I knew how he operated. I’d worked for the guy for three years.

  “I’ll put the call out. I need the details.”

  I would have kissed the werewolf if he’d been close to me.

  “I’m going to have to get them to you later. I’m still not sure how everything’s going to happen, but in the meantime, get me the info on the Bloodies.”

  “I’ll prepare the contract in your name,” Finn said. “And the invoice.”

  I smiled. “Go ahead and do that. I’ll call you with an update.”

  “I’d tell you not to do anything stupid again, but you’re not going to listen to me. Break a leg, Bone.”

  “It’s good to work with you again, old man.”

  Finn laughed. I hung up the phone and sighed loudly.

  “He’s in,” I said to Bender. The relief was clear in my voice.

  “Good. Now, all we have to do is get the Bones in, the Greens in, and the Bloodies in,” he said. “It’s going to be a heck of a party.”

  One I looked forward to, nonetheless.

  ***

  The meeting was being held in one of the leaders’ homes. It was three streets away from Amelia’s house. Bender knew the place by memory—he grew up in Bloomsburg—so when he parked Turtle in front of a four-story building with floor to ceiling windows all around the ground floor, I was sure we were in the right place.

  “This is the house of Alice Rivera and Sean Mitchell,” Bender said as we made our way up the driveway.

  It didn’t surprise me that there were no protective spells around the house. Alice Rivera was expecting guests.

  “I think it’s better if you let me do the talking.”

  “Because I look like a fairy?” My looks were defining everything around me more every day, and I didn’t like it.

  “Yes, and because you have a very bad temper. Just don’t let anything they say get to you. It’ll be easier for everyone,” Bender said and knocked on the door.

  “I never really liked easy,” I mumbled.

  The door opened. A man, probably in his fifties, stood in front of us. He was as tall as Bender, his hair more grey than brown, his light blue eyes very alert. He visibly cringed when he saw my face. I would have rolled my eyes, but Bender was right. I’d feel better if I didn’t let anything get to me. What mattered was that we got people to help us. Everything else came second.

  “Sean, it’s good to see you,” Bender said and offered the man his hand.

  “It’s good to see you, too, Eli. You haven’t changed much.”

  They shook hands and neither wanted to be the first to smile, so they both ended up looking weird.

  “This is Winter, daughter of Adeline Wayne,” Bender said.

  “Yes, I know who she is,” Sean Mitchell said, and he didn’t sound nice, either. “Follow me.”

  Bender winked at me before going in, which meant I’d been a good little sheep to have kept my mouth shut. Definitely not comfortable with this, but I swallowed hard and walked inside the house.

  The dark hardwood floor of the hallway shone as if it had just been polished. The crystal chandelier made me squint when I was under it. The place was beautiful, but it was cold, too. Nothing about it made it feel like a home. Almost like the walls hadn’t heard laughter in a long time.

  Sean took us to a room in our right. It was the dining room with a very long black table and twenty-four chairs around it. Two of those chandeliers graced the ceiling and fresh flowers had been arranged in vases on both sides of the narrow room. They still didn’t make the environment any less cold.

  Good thing nobody gave a shit about the environment. Eight people sat around the head of table, including Sean. One of them was my aunt. She didn’t give any sign that she even recognized me when we entered the room. Her face was stone cold, and if I hadn’t known her, I would’ve bet my life that this woman had never smiled before in her life.

  “Good evening,” Bender said and bowed his head to them. I didn’t bother. “Thank you for answering our call tonight.”

  “We only did so out of respect for you and your work, Eli,” the woman sitting at the head of the table said. I could only guess she was Alice Rivera, Sean’s wife, because he was sitting right next to her. It was easy to see that she had once been a beautiful woman, but she hadn’t aged well. Her dress looked very expensive, but her grey hair was barely brushed and there were blue bags under her eyes. When she looked at me, it was almost like I was being stared at by a vampire.

  “I appreciate that, Ms. Rivera. I assure you we wouldn’t be here if this wasn’t important. May we?” Bender said and waved for the table.

  “Please,” she said with a nod.

  I would have preferred to stand, but I didn’t want to say anything that could offend these people so I kept my mouth shut and sat down next to Bender. My aunt was across from me. She was looking at me, too, but there was no expression on her face still.

  “It’s good to see you, brother,” the woman sitting next to her said. So this was Bender’s sister, wife of Joseph Davis. It was easy to see they were related. Their eyes were exactly the same, but she was much younger than Bender, or so she looked.

  “Good to see you, Caroline. Joseph.”

  Bender nodded at the man sitting next to his sister, then moved on to my aunt.

  “Ms. Wayne.”

  My aunt only returned the nod without word.

  “Ms. Reigns,” Bender said to the other woman sitting across from us—Catrina Reigns. Her hair was white and cut close to her head. The designer glasses on the bridge of her nose made her look much older than her wrinkles. Then, Bender turned to the woman and the man sitting on our side of the table, right next to him.

  “Ms. Raymond, Mr. Turner.”

  Monica Raymond was the oldest of the bunch. Her hands were folded in front of her on the table, full of wrinkles and blue veins. When she nodded at Bender, it was almost like she was going to fall asleep any second now.

  It didn’t surprise me how these people looked. They’d all lost their children, except for my aunt, who wasn’t technically part of the coven leadership, but still a Wayne. Just the thought of their suffering made me want to cry. For both their sakes and mine, I hoped I got to kill all those beasts with my own hands.

  “You said you had some new information about the murders,” Catrina Reigns said.

  She was the only one—again, except my aunt—without a partner. I wondered if her husband had already passed.

  “We do,” Bender said. “I’ll start from the beginning so that you know the whole story.”

  He turned to me then, as if to ask for confirmation one last time. I’d told him everything I knew about the Green coven, information I was obligated not to reveal under contract, but go ahead and ask me if I gave a shit. Go right ahead. I nodded at him. I’d told him in the car to not leave any details out. If the ECU wanted to come after me, they
could sure as hell try. I’d run from them once. I would do it again if I didn’t have a choice.

  “Winter was hired by William Peterson, leader of the Green coven, a few days ago to investigate the kidnappings of the children of three leaders.”

  I watched closely for the reaction of the former leaders while Bender spoke.

  “Unfortunately, the ECU has taken over the case, and she no longer has access to the coven. She came to me for help yesterday because she believed the kidnappings of the Green coven were connected to the ones that happened to us, ten years ago.”

  My heart was in my throat as all eyes in the room turned to me.

  “She was right.”

  “What do you mean?” Joseph Davis said, shaking his head.

  “I mean that they are. We believe that the same people who kidnapped and murdered your children are doing it again to the children of the Green coven leaders,” Bender explained. He spoke so slowly and so clearly, I seriously envied his patience. I’d have been shouting and waving my arms all over the place by now.

  “Is this a joke?” Alice Rivera asked, but she wasn’t smiling.

  Words were at the tip of my tongue, but I controlled myself.

  “Absolutely not.”

  “Can you tell us the rest of your story, Mr. Bender?” Amelia said.

  Though she already knew what had happened to the Green coven, she was still very curious to hear the rest.

  “Gladly,” Bender said and pulled up his sleeves, excitement coming in waves off him. “While Winter was still on the case, she managed to capture and speak to one of the…creatures that were after the children of the fourth leader.”

  Elisabeth’s memory was as clear as the sky in my mind. I hoped to God she’d be okay, just for a little longer.

  “Something it said made her believe that it had done the same thing before, and to our coven. When she came to me, we were able to put all the information together, and we began to see the pattern.”

  “The pattern?” Monica Raymond asked.

  “The dates, to be more precise. The dates of each kidnapping that occurred in the Green coven this year and the last match the dates your children were kidnapped over ten years ago.”

  That’s when the first spark of curiosity began to light up the leader’s eyes. Amelia looked at me, eyes wide. I gave her a curt nod to tell her to just be patient. They were going to hear the rest of it soon.

  “After all this time,” Alice Rivera whispered. “Why should we believe in anything anymore?”

  “Because we can prove it,” Bender said without hesitation. “The dates aren’t the only thing that matched. We went through all of the testimonies given by you and by the people who’d seen the bodies. Things we’d never noticed before are now very clear. They match the beast Winter saw and fought with, and we’ve already spoken to Trevor Ammic. We think it’s a ritual—”

  “Excuse me, did you say beast?” Sean Mitchell said, a dumbfounded smile on his face.

  “I did. It’s a wolf, a large beast unlike any you’ve ever seen before,” Bender said.

  “A beast kidnapped and killed my daughter,” Catrina Reigns said.

  “What’s the point of all this, Eli? Why waste our time?” Joseph Davis hissed.

  “I’m not wasting your time. I’m telling you that these beasts are responsible for the murders, and we know exactly how they are possible—”

  But they wouldn’t let him finish.

  “I let you into my home out of respect for your work, but you’ve crossed all limits with this nonsense,” Alice Rivera hissed and stood up.

  Shit. This wasn’t going the way it was supposed to. Not at all.

  “Ms. Rivera, I promise you, I am speaking the truth. If you’ll just listen to me—”

  “I will not be fooled by the likes of you,” Turner, Monica Raymond’s husband, spoke for the first time. “Is it not enough that I’ve lost my son?”

  The ring in my pocket burned a hole through my skin.

  “This is outrageous,” one of them said.

  My eyes squeezed shut. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to put that damn ring on my finger again, but I had to. And fast, before they kicked us out. With shaking fingers, I reached for it. The metal was cold against my skin. A lump formed in my throat as I stood up while the rest of the leaders and Bender kept shouting at each other. It’ll be over soon, I said to myself, and put the ring on my pinky. I definitely hadn’t missed it. Not one bit.

  “Winter, what are you…” Bender started, but his voice trailed off when he saw my ring. It was now or never.

  I held onto him with my eyes and sent a surge of my wild magic to the ring. He didn’t need to tell me if it had worked or not. The gasps and screams of the leaders around the table were enough of a confirmation.

  The room fell silent. Everybody was on their feet, their eyes wide, looking at me like I was a monster. Oh wait. I was.

  Taking in a deep breath, I broke the cold silence. Bender wasn’t going to like it.

  “This is how the beast looks. This is what I fought and captured, and it told me itself that he’d done it before. To you, to your coven, but you were too busy blaming each other to see what really happened. They got away with it once. We’re here because we can’t allow them to get away with it again.”

  I wasn’t one for speeches, but I spoke from the heart, for once, not caring if they were being offended or not. It was the truth, and none of them could deny it.

  “You broke the coven apart. You failed your people. You were desperate, I understand, but now, you have the chance to make sure this doesn’t happen to anybody else. You owe it to the people of the other covens, too. After all, Blood, Bone or Green, we’re all witches.”

  The leaders still looked scared shitless. Amelia did, too. I was afraid they hadn’t heard a word I’d said over the sound of their fear, but this was the best I could do. I turned to Bender.

  “Can I get this damn thing off me now?”

  “Please,” he said and smiled. Maybe he did like my speech, after all.

  When I took the ring off my finger, my heart began to calm down again almost instantly. Putting it back inside my pocket, I really hoped I’d never have to do this again. Though I physically felt nothing different, mentally, looking like a beast really took its toll on me.

  “Can we sit down again and talk?” Bender asked the leaders.

  I fell on the chair without waiting for approval this time. Soon, they all took their places again, though none of them looked less pale or less afraid.

  “Now that you’ve seen it with your own eyes, that thing and others like it were the ones who kidnapped and killed your children. It wasn’t a Bone family who did it. It was them.”

  “Who is it?” Alice Rivera asked with half a voice, her eyes filled with unshed tears. “Who is behind this creature?” She looked at me, almost as if she were accusing me.

  “We don’t know yet,” Bender said. “But we do know that they are working with vampires. We know they used this ring and probably others like it to get by protection spells unnoticed, spy on the leader families, then attack.”

  “How is this even possible?” Bender’s sister asked as her chin shook.

  “Wolves,” he answered. “They killed wolves from the Brigham and Kayne packs six years ago. We believe they used them in some sort of a ritual that enabled them to create the image of this beast and to use it as a disguise. And as a weapon.” Bender turned to me. “Winter fought one of them already. She says it’s the most powerful thing she’s ever come across, both physically and magically.”

  “Why haven’t we heard anything about killed wolves before?” Monica Raymond asked.

  “Because we like to keep secrets,” I said before I could help myself. “We don’t like to admit that sometimes, secrets can be deadly.”

  “You’ve kept what happened to our coven a secret all these years. Why wouldn’t everybody else do the same?” Bender said.

  I would have hi-fived
him if I could. Maybe once we got the hell out of there.

  “Are we really going to believe in anything she says?” Sean Mitchell said to the rest of the group. The asshole!

  “She is my niece,” Amelia hissed. “She’s a Wayne.”

  “She is a fairy!” Catrina Reigns shouted.

  “She’s also a Bone witch, the only one who wouldn’t give up on our case,” Bender said.

  “How can you trust a fairy?” his sister asked him.

  I rolled my eyes. Was I in a meeting with actual coven leaders or with fourth-graders?

  “We do not mix with those creatures. Never have and never will,” Turner said.

  It was all I could take.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I shouted at the top of my voice. “We’ve just told you that we know who killed your children, and you want to talk about how I fucking look? For God’s sake, get over yourselves. I’m a Bone witch, and I’m a fairy. I’m both and proud of it. If you have something to say to that, say it to my face.”

  “I do trust her but not because she’s a fairy,” Bender said to his sister. “Just like I don’t trust you, and it has nothing to do with you being a witch.”

  Oh. It looked like those two had some unresolved issues of their own. I expected Caroline to lash out at him, but instead, she sucked her lips inside her mouth and looked down at her lap. Guess we knew who was guilty in whatever had gone down between the siblings.

  “Winter, have you told the ECU?” Amelia asked, looking like nothing at all had even happened just now.

  “I have. They don’t want to hear it. They claim the investigation on the Green coven is private.”

  “So what now?” Joseph Davis asked, but he wouldn’t look at me. He would only look at Bender.

  “That’s why we’re here,” Bender said, not nearly as excited as before. “We’re going after the beasts ourselves, and we’re going to need your help to do so. Yours and the other two covens as well.”

  This surprised the leaders even more than the beast I turned into while wearing the ring. “How would we be of any help?” Monica Raymond asked.