Blood Catalyst

by A. L. Kessler

  Merick caught my gaze. "We aren't evil, Abby. We do what we must to make sure the magical world does not fall out of balance."

  "Like kill those who summon demons."

  "And those who misuse magic for purposes that could destroy mankind." He shrugged. "What happened with your parents was a tragedy, and my father is working on fixing what he can."

  Which wouldn't bring my parents back, but I guess that really didn't matter now. "A vigilante cult."

  He nudged me. "You can't complain. I've saved your ass several times and didn't use black magic."

  It was true. A teenage girl came running up and threw her arms around Merick. He squeezed her and then stepped away. "This is Mira. Mira, this is Abigail."

  Mira gave me a hug too, and I patted her on the shoulder awkwardly.

  "Mira's parents were killed by a pair of witches who were murdering white witches. They were left without justice, and Mira's extended family didn't want her."

  So the Cult took her in. It went without saying. I looked around the room and wondered how many other people ended up here that way. Mira's aura was still pure and clean. I could feel it when she hugged me. Zayden had been innocent too, even if Jon had practiced questionable magic.

  Maybe we all had the wrong idea about the cult. Seth came up and put a hand on Mira's shoulder. "Please, gather the children and take them upstairs."

  Mira nodded and started to walk through the crowd gathering up the children who followed her like ducks through the crowd. I glanced at Merick. It was never a good thing when people sent the children away.

  "We have a murder to discuss. Would you want your kid here for it?" Merick asked.

  I snorted. "I don't have kids. I have a cat."

  He rolled his eyes at me and then motioned for me to take a seat. I sat down and turned to watch Seth walk in front of the group.

  "As you know, our branch of the coven," Merick used the word cult to describe them so often I forgot that they were considered a coven, "has received a great blow. One of our own has been used for a curse. Zayden Serif has lost his life due to the whims of a witch who simply wished revenge."

  Interesting. I hadn't revealed too many details, and it sounded like Seth knew a lot more. I leaned back in my chair and watched him.

  "We need to know who tattooed Zayden, and what he was trying to control. None of you will talk to me, and I fear it's because of repercussions, so I have invited Special Agent Collins to our gathering tonight. Please feel free to speak to her. She has no pull over punishments, and she will not reveal to me who spoke out."

  Damn right I wouldn't. I wasn't sending anyone into the hands of Cult justice. Fuck that. A few heads turned to me, and I nodded.

  "The witch who killed Zayden will be served justice. It just won't be by our hands. We chose to bring PIB in on this case because they have resources we do not. With Zayden turning up dead, it seemed a wise choice, because Ra would have placed the case into PIB's hands regardless."

  And there was no promise that it would have been me on the case. There was a murmurer over the crowd, and a few more heads turned to look at me. I turned around to see if there was something else they were staring at. Nothing there.

  Seth cleared his throat, and the room quieted down. "Now, please mingle, and please make Abigail feel welcome."

  Everyone stood up and started talking to each other. No rituals tonight, no magic, just the gathering of friends and coven. It was an odd feeling because I was less on my toes here than I was when I was part of my own coven.

  "No one here judges you for what magic you possess," Merick said.

  "Can you read my mind?"

  He shook his head. "No, I can read your body language. You're not exactly relaxed, but you're not nearly as tense as I thought you would be."

  "I think it would be different if there were any magic being performed tonight."

  "Yes, because you wouldn't know what to expect." He smiled and motioned to the back of the room. "There's coffee and snacks back there. Really just think of this as a big gathering. No one is going to try and kill you. In fact, you're probably safer here than at the house."

  Which was another strange thought since we had put so much work into making the house safe. Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I spun around, coming face to face with an older man. His graying hair was pulled back at the base of his neck in a tight ponytail. His skin was a fading tan, and it was impossible to tell if it was caused by the sun or if it was in his heritage. The warmth of his eyes put me at ease when he met my gaze.

  "Greetings, Abby." His voice had an odd foreign ring to it that I couldn't place.

  "Hello." I smiled.

  "I'm Carlos, and I'd like to speak to you for a few minutes."

  I glanced at Merick who nodded. "Okay, let's find a quiet place to chat. Let me grab a cup of coffee first though?" Maybe coffee was my security blanket, or maybe I was just using it to procrastinate going to talk to another Cult member alone.

  He nodded and let me walk by him toward the coffee. I found a few pots sitting on hot plates and then located a cup. I was in the middle of fixing one when a woman approached me.

  "I've heard so much about you. They teach us about you and your parents in our classes."

  I cringed a little bit. "So I've heard. There's a full book on me."

  She smiled. "It's not as bad as it sounds. It's taught to us because you are a powerful witch that doesn't hide from her obstacles. You're also a warning to us because you show exactly how much power a witch has in PIB."

  I wasn't sure how I should feel about that. I'd been told several times that the Cult had documents about me, but it always felt so far away. Now standing in front of me was a woman who'd read my life story as someone else perceived it. "It's not just witches who have power in PIB." Was the only thing I could think of to say.

  "Of course not." She smiled and then someone came to pull her away. I finished fixing my coffee and made my way back to Carlos who was still chatting with Merick.

  Merick searched my face as if looking for a reaction of some sort. "Everything alright?"

  I nodded. "Yeah, just a lot to take in is all."

  "I'm just a moment away if you need me, but go talk to Carlos."

  "Alright." I turned to Carlos. "Lead the way."

  He nodded and led me out of the room and into a hallway that led to different smaller rooms.

  Opening a door, he let me enter first. Inside sat a few chairs scattered around a table. I took one of them and then turned to face Carlos.

  "What would you like to talk about?" The question made it sound like an awkward first date.

  He sat down and hung his head. "I'm the one that gave Zayden his tattoos. and I am afraid that it led to his death."

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  I jerked at that. "Let's start with why he wanted the tattoos."

  "He went to a friend's house and said that he could hear the voices and the spirits all around him." Carlos paused for a moment. "He's never had the sixth sense before, and suddenly it came from out of nowhere. When abilities do that they can be maddening."

  "So he came to you, asking for it to be bound."

  He nodded. "I gladly did the tattoos, but while I was doing them, he was telling me what the spirits had said. It was almost as if he was babbling. The people that had been killed, they couldn't move on because their organs were sacrifices." He shook his head. "It made no sense. Your organs have nothing to do with the afterlife."

  If it did, we would have had a lot more ghosts running around. I motioned for him to go on.

  "I know nothing of ghosts and spirits, but I encouraged him to go back to see if he could find out any more by looking around and gathering information, like a mission. He never returned." There was so much sorrow in his voice.

  I put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you for sharing with me, and nothing
here is your fault. You cannot be held responsible for other people's choices."

  He nodded but said nothing else. I stood and left him on his own. Grief and I weren't friends. I couldn't even handle my own, never mind someone else's. I shut the door behind me and leaned against it, closing my eyes. When I opened my eyes, Seth was standing in front of me.

  "A confession?"

  I looked him straight in the eyes and shook my head. "No, just someone who wanted to talk about the past." He'd promised no repercussions, but there was no way I was going to hand over the information anyways.

  He stared at me as if he didn't believe me, and I wondered for a moment if he was going to call me out for lying. There was an awkward moment of silence before he turned and continued down the hall into the main room.

  Carlos came out. "You didn't have to lie for me."

  "I didn't, what's done is done. It's in the past." I looked at him over my shoulder. "It's just how things are. You shouldn't be punished for Zayden's mistake."

  A small smile turned up the corner of his lips. "You are something else, Agent Collins."

  I shrugged. "I'm just a witch trying to do my job. Nothing more."

  "Oh, you are so much more than a witch." He chuckled and walked off. I frowned at his words. There was no way the Cult knew what I was unless Merick shared that information. Of course, I showed no other signs of being more than a witch. I still wasn't convinced that I was a hybrid of any sort.

  Merick came down the other direction and stood next to me. "You look concerned."

  "You didn't tell them about my past right?"

  Merick raised a brow. "Which part? There's not much the Cult doesn't know about you."

  "My origins."

  He shook his head. "No, you are the child of Tobias and Elizabeth."

  That was good. "Carlos just said something interesting is all." I brushed it off and turned to go back to the community room. "So, just another day at a Cult meeting huh?"

  "I had someone to talk to while you were speaking with Carlos." Merick looked down the hall. "Do you have what you need?"

  I nodded. "Yeah, we can mingle a bit more before we go, so it doesn't look suspicious."

  He guided me back to the community room, and I sat down with a fresh cup of coffee. Several people approached me, but mostly just to say hi and welcome. The whole group was strangely friendly, but I reminded myself that many of them practiced black magic in a vigilante style and that's what got Zayden killed. Trying to be the police of witches and warlocks and failing.

  Merick wandered away a few times, but he managed to stay in my sight, most likely making sure that I wasn't going to wander off or try to disappear. A couple hours later, when I felt enough people had approached me to not place too much suspicion on Carlos, I stood and stretched with a yawn.

  Merick smiled. "Okay, I get it, let's go."

  "I have to be at the station first thing tomorrow to do an interview. I'd like some sleep before then."

  He shrugged. "You don't sleep a lot anyway. What's one night with just a couple hours?"

  I rolled my eyes. "Just take me home."

  Merick put his hand on my shoulder and did just that. When I opened my eyes, we were standing in the kitchen in peace and quiet and alone. I let out a sigh. My first Cult meeting wasn't so scary.

  ∞

  The next morning, I walked into the station ready for a fight. I wasn't sure what Cynthia was going to do, confess, fight against me, try magic again? There were very few officers at their desk this morning, but Mason was standing in the interrogation hallway with two cups of coffee.

  "You look very determined this morning." He handed me the cup.

  I nodded. "I got some information last night that I needed to piece Cynthia's story together. I know who did the tattoos and why. So some of Cynthia's story is lining up." I motioned to the room. "Shall we go see what she has to say?"

  Mason smirked. "Ladies first."

  I opened the door and walked in. Cynthia sat in the chair at the table, her hands folded on the surface. Her lawyer stood tall next to Cynthia. She had her hands clasped in front of her, and she met my gaze as I shut the door.

  "I'm Special Agent Collins." I held my hand out to shake hers.

  She took my hand and gave it a tight shake. "I'm Rae Mathis, I'm here to represent Cynthia Wild in this case. Detective Mason has already advised her of her rights, and we are ready for her to confess."

  Those weren't the words that I was really planning on hearing. "Confess?"

  "Yes, not to the murders, but aiding in them."

  Oh, this was going to go great. I could see it now. It could be a ploy, and they would both admit to aiding, but not the murder. "Okay, let's talk. Walk me through what's been going on."

  Cynthia nodded. "Virginia and I used to live with Lydia. We had this gallery of pictures, almost mean girl style, of people we wanted to hurt. Lydia was studying to enter the PIB academy, and someone loaned her a book of black magic to prepare for the entrance exams." She glanced at her lawyer who nodded. "It was supposed to be a joke. Just something to scare someone. Virginia and I didn't think it'd work at first. I mean who's stupid enough to put a curse like that and an organ removal spell in the same damn book?"

  Someone like my Uncle. I tried not to snort at the thought. "So it worked the first time and then what?"

  "It was addicting after that. I was too scared to try the spell at first, but once we lured the first victim in, we just kept going, like it was nothing." She hung her head. "I knew when Zayden came to the house and started screaming about the voices that we were being haunted by spirits. When he returned with the tattoos, I knew he was Cult, and I knew why he was there. I panicked and added him to our hit list. Virginia knew exactly who he was and thought it was a great revenge plan. She didn't think Jon would go to PIB with it."

  "We found the body as well as received a tip from Jon. We have letters from Lydia saying that you and Virginia framed her."

  She nodded. "Who better to frame than someone trying to join the PIB academy? It worked out well. Until now."

  "You killed her."

  "No, Virginia killed her. Not me."

  I let that sink in. It would be her defense in court, if she saw court. I glanced at her lawyer and then back to Cynthia. "I'll give the report to the DA and then it's out of my and Mason's hands. I can make a suggestion."

  Rae nodded. "That's all we can ask for."

  "Okay." My phone vibrated in my pocket. "If you would excuse me, I'll let Mason handle it from here." I stepped out of the interrogation room and took the call. "Special Agent Collins speaking."

  "Hey, it's Agent Lexing from the lab. The tests on your evidence came back, and all those letters are authentic. The Containment center has copies of them as well. We were able to match the handwriting of both people to other letters that were sent."

  "Perfect, thank you." I hung up on the call and sent the information to Mason in a text so he could finish dealing with Cynthia. I wanted to go file my reports and go home. A nap would do me good.

  I drove to the PIB building and practically bounced to my office. I walked in to find Liz waiting for me. The bounce in my step disappeared. "You're actually in my office. Am I in trouble?"

  She shook her head. "No, I wanted to congratulate you on a case well done. I've been informed that Virginia has been brought in and that Cynthia came in to confess."

  "By who?"

  "Mason called me."

  She wasn't on the case which made me wonder why he was informing her. I narrowed my gaze at her. "You were having him report to you this whole time?"

  "Not details, just on how you were handling the case, your stress level, your attention span. I was using him to make sure you were okay for returning to work."

  I tried not to be angry with her, she was doing something any good team lead would do. "And did I
pass your little test?"

  She nodded. "Yes, you did."

  "Glad to know that. I have reports to submit and an e-mail to the DA to write."

  "Thank you, I wouldn't have trusted anyone else with this case."

  I gave her a small smile. "How's Jon doing?"

  "Well, his pride is a little hurt, but he'll recover from the stabbing. Now that he's out of the hospital, we'll have a healer take care of it."

  I sat at my desk. "Good, I'm glad. Tell him I say hi."

  She snorted. "I'm sure we'll see him around." She walked out of the office, leaving me to my reports.

  ∞

  After filing my reports, I went home to an empty house and took a nap. The shrill noise of my phone woke me up. I rolled over and noticed that I hadn't just taken a nap, but I'd slept the day away. It was just after dusk. I sighed as I answered my phone.

  "Special Agent Collins speaking." It came out more as a mutter than a coherent answer.

  "You're not in the office," Grayson's voice greeted me.

  I took a moment to wipe the sleep from my eyes. "No, I'm not. I closed my case earlier today and came home to take a victory nap."

  "Well, while you were sleeping, PIB located Alfie."

  I shot up in my bed. "What? Why didn't anyone call me?"

  Grayson let out a laugh that sounded almost cruel. "You were done consulting remember?"

  Ah. There was that. "Touché." I shook my head. "Then why are you calling me now?"

  "Because he'll only speak to you. He refuses to speak to any other PIB agent. He wants the witch that promised him he'd be safe."

  Well fuck me, that didn't exactly sound promising. "Okay, I'll be down to PIB in a bit."

  "As soon as you can Abigail."

  There was something in his voice that almost sounded like a threat. "As soon as I can, Grayson." For a moment, I contemplated transporting myself there, but I wasn't even sure if I could make it past two feet, never mind all the way to PIB.

  I shook the thought off and straightened my clothes, checked my hair, and headed downstairs to leave. Merick was leaning against the counter as I walked into the kitchen to go toward the front door.