Hunted Witch Agency Box Set Books 4-5 (Hunted Witch Agency Set Book 2)

by Rachel Medhurst

  I’d have to try both. As each one zipped into me, I kept a rein on it, pushing the power back down, away from me. I only wanted a little bit. Enough to help me trace the magic in the building. If it worked, of course.

  “Are you okay?” Gerard called.

  Ignoring him, I allowed tentacles of magic to pulse outwards, somehow using my intuition to feel my way through each room without going there.

  My eyes flipped open when I felt something push against my probing. It was further down the hallway. I was through the door before I knew what I was doing. It was as if the magic was taking me along for the ride, not the other way around.

  “Everything alright?”

  Gerard followed me as I marched. Justina and the team were calmly leading employees away, towards the elevator.

  “I can feel it down this end of the floor,” I said to him as he caught up to me.

  No questions were asked as I stepped into an empty room. Going to the desk, I searched around it. Gerard opened filing cabinets, upended bins and looked in bags. Nothing. The magic was fairly strong in here, but I didn’t fully trust myself.

  Going to the office opposite, we did the same. No, it was cooler in here. My skin tingled as we worked side by side, easily in unison. We didn’t have to speak, we knew what each other was going to do. We made quick work of the room before moving on.

  “There’s six more offices down here. Can you tune in to any of them more specifically?” Gerard’s tone was soft, not demanding.

  Shaking my head, I frowned. “It’s weird. It keeps getting stronger, then fading away, before coming back.”

  It was true. My heartrate increased as we sped up, our hands rifling through every possible place a bomb could be hiding. We didn’t even know what it would look like.

  “That’s odd. I wonder why it keeps fading. We’re moving closer to the end of the floor.” Gerard’s hands shook ever so slightly as we ran into the next room. We were moving through them quickly, but so far, there was no sign of what we sought. How long was left on the clock?

  “What are you doing?” a woman pleaded as she came down the hallway. “I’ve got a deadline. I can’t leave now. Who are you?”

  She stopped abruptly to stare at me, her light brown eyes darkening when something clicked in her brain. “I know you. You’re that half agent that people are whispering about. I demand to know what’s going on here.”

  Taking her arm, Justina propelled her away by force. I stood, stunned for a moment. Her judgement was instant. Was that how I viewed people? Instantly making a snap decision about who they were?

  “Let’s go.” Gerard almost shoved me down the hall and into the next room.

  My feet screeched to a halt. The energy was extremely strong here. Wait. No, it was fading slightly, as if it was pulsing almost.

  “It’s not in here.”

  My partner was already rifling through the drawers. He paused, his eyebrows raised when our gaze met.

  “Next door.”

  Pivoting on the spot, I thrust back into the corridor. The next office was a lot bigger than the rest. It took up a whole section at the end of the floor. Slamming the door open, I almost fell back when my insides heated. The bomb was in this room.

  “You can feel it in here?” Gerard asked, his hand squeezing my arm briefly as he passed.

  The heat evaporated as the feeling dropped out. “That’s so strange, it’s like…” I couldn’t put my finger on it. “Never mind, let’s search.”

  My breath was short now, panic almost setting in. What if I was wrong? What if it wasn’t in this room at all?

  “When this is over-” Gerard broke the silence.

  “Look!” I exclaimed as I turned, the elevator in the corner catching my eye. “Someone’s coming up.”

  As the numbers cycled up, the heat in my body intensified. What was going on?

  Holding my dagger out in front of me, I indicated that Gerard should join me. He did, his gun aimed at the doors as they pinged open.

  “Well, well, well,” Mackenzie said, putting his foot out to stop the doors from closing again. “I wondered how long it would take you to find me. I must admit, I was getting worried.”

  The warlock was holding a box. Oh, shit. He had the bomb in his hands. I was about to speak when he twisted it forward so we could see the top. Five minutes and twenty seconds.

  “You need to step out of there,” Gerard said, his arm held completely still.

  My hand was shaking, the implications of what could go down in five minutes daunting. No matter how tough an agent I was becoming, life was at risk. A lot of it. Including mine and Gerard’s.

  “You see, I’m expecting a bullet through my head at any moment, so… maybe not.”

  Throwing the bomb into the room, Mackenzie removed his foot and allowed the doors to close. Gerard raced forward and caught the bomb. It was literally a black box with nothing but an electric ticking timer on top.

  Handing me the bomb, he got his walkie out. “Justina, Mackenzie just handed us the bomb. He escaped down the private elevator. Someone needs to get to the bottom now!”

  “Copy that. You need to bring that thing outside. We’ve not broken the barrier spell.” Her no nonsense reply made me smile for a second.

  Gerard turned back to me. “Why are you standing like a statue?”

  I was frozen to the spot, unable to move. I held a bomb in my hand. And, there was only four minutes left on the clock.

  “Let’s go.” Coming over, Gerard grabbed my hand.

  Flashing outside, I almost squeaked as we landed in a crowd just outside the main door. Oh crap, the people were trapped by the spell surrounding the building.

  “Great, we can’t get out either.”

  Blood magic was a bitch to break. If my mother couldn’t do it, then the witch who had cast the spell was powerful. It was probably Mackenzie’s woman. Why would she tip us off but not lift the spell?

  “Let’s go over there,” Gerard said, pushing through the crowd.

  “That’s a bomb!” someone shouted when they spotted the box in my arms.

  I ducked through them, trying not to get mobbed as they panicked and pushed. Justina appeared beside me, ushering me out of the crowd and into a quieter corner. Other agents were on the scene, ferrying the people away from us.

  “I need to try and break it with my magic,” I said, my hands shaking so badly, I almost dropped the bomb.

  Placing it on the ground, I tried to shut everyone else out. Linking into my witch magic, I dragged as much pure energy through my feet as possible. Using the dagger to slice my palm, I held my hand above the bomb as droplets of my blood dripped onto it.

  “Devon, let me help.” My mother took my hand, instantly intensifying my connection to the ley line.

  “We’ve got Mackenzie,” my father shouted from somewhere behind us.

  My whole body shook as the timer counted down. If we didn’t break the magic bond that connected the fuse to the explosive, we would all die. Magic bombs could act like nuclear bombs, exploding ten tons of nastiness outwards. Why would Mackenzie want to cause so much damage? Hurt so many people?

  “There’s only a few minutes left!” someone shouted. “We’re all going to die!”

  Tears prickled my eyes as I drowned them out. Ignore them, Devon. You can do this.

  Everyone disappeared as I started to whisper a spell to break the magic. It was another blood spell. It would take all of our magic to be able to dissolve it.

  Heat poured through me as the box started to rock. My mother joined the chanting, the Latin words flowing from her lips at the same time as mine. Our voices rose as wind suddenly whipped around us, our hair flying into our faces. I couldn’t see, but I couldn’t stop either.

  “Keep going,” Justina said from beside me.

  It wasn’t working. My senses pushed into the box, feeling for the cord of magic that would trigger the explosion. It was strong, tight, like a rope. We were trying to energetically cut the
cord before it pulled the pin.

  Screaming resounded around us as the counter ticked down. My heart beat rapidly as I shouted the words to undo the spell. Sweat expelled from my pores as blood trickled out of my nose. The cord was stretching, pulling, as if we were playing tug of war with it.

  “Devon, we can’t…”

  My mother doubted that we could do it. There was only a minute left. “Keep going!”

  Thrusting as much magic out of me, I pulled it through my body. My muscles shook so badly as we chanted, I almost dropped to the floor. The heat that licked my insides was so strong, it was as if a fire had started from the embers that often burned in the pit of my stomach.

  “I’ve got you,” Gerard whispered as arms came around me.

  He held me tight, like he always did. His magic poured into me, giving me the support I needed. My mother screamed at the same time I took Gerard’s power, linked with my mother, and shoved it all at the ethereal cord that was about to flip and kill us all.

  A snap in my mind made me collapse to the ground. Gerard’s arms were gone as the timer ticked over… and nothing happened. I was on my hands and knees as I breathed hard. Energy drained from me as I let go of the ley line.

  Voices were talking, people were moving. A surge of energy rushed into me, forcing me to my feet. I ignored everything around me as I went over to the box. It wasn’t my imagination. We had snapped the spell, broken the blood bond. Saved everyone.

  A grin spread on my lips as I recovered. Sound rushed to my ears. I stayed staring at the box. Excitement bubbled through my chest. I couldn’t look away. I’d achieved a feat no witch had ever done before, or rarely, anyway.

  A snort of amusement escaped me. “Yes, we did it! Cameron’s in prison. We busted the drug ring, and we caught our killer. That’s how you say, case closed!”

  Spinning, I chuckled in glee… until I saw the worried look on Justina’s face as she bent over Gerard’s prone figure. He lay on the concrete ground, his eyes closed, his chest only just rising with his breath.

  “What happened?” I stuttered.

  My father rushed over to my lover, falling to his knees next to him. Putting his hand on Gerard’s wrist, he felt for his pulse, even though he was breathing.

  “He was helping you. I think… I think…” Justina sucked in a sob. “…he drained himself of his magic.”

  No. Shaking my head, I came closer, almost walking in a daze. When a witch drained of magic completely they died or….

  Joining the others on the ground, I stroked his cheek. We hadn’t made up. I’d not had a chance to say sorry. I’d not been able to tell him that I loved him, no matter what the ancestors said.

  “Devon,” my father murmured as he placed a hand over mine. “I’m afraid Gerard’s in a coma.”

  Magically Blended

  Book 5 in the Hunted Witch Agency Series

  By Rachel Medhurst

  Copyright 2018 © Rachel Medhurst

  Chapter One

  His breath was shallow, uneven. The paleness of his skin made it seem as if he’d passed into the spirit world. And, yet, I could feel his faint heartbeat against my fingers where they rested over his wrist.

  “He’s lucky he didn’t die,” Kurt said, hobbling over on his crutches.

  It felt like forever since we’d disarmed a bomb outside of an office building in Edinburgh. But, here we were, only five days later. Kurt was healing quickly, his shattered legs setting beautifully back into place.

  “You say that to me every day.” My sigh was audible.

  Shaking his head, Kurt handed me a pestle and mortar. This had been our routine for the last few days. I’d sit, feeling sorry for myself, praying to mother earth that Gerard would wake up. And, Kurt would distract me by forcing me to grind herbs for his healing elixirs.

  “I say it because he needs to hear what a fool he is.”

  “No,” I said as I ground the cardamom seeds. “He doesn’t need to hear that while he’s in a coma. He needs to wake up so we can tell him to his face.”

  Thumping the pestle down into the stone mortar, I gritted my teeth and pushed as hard as I could. Anything to try and get the anger out. Why had he been so stupid? We were coping with the bomb. He didn’t need to help me, it would’ve been better if he’d let me die.

  The energy drained from me as I slumped into the chair. A slight breeze wafted in from the cracked window, bringing the smell of the Thames with it. We had relocated back to the agency building as soon as we could.

  “I’m working on an idea to help him regain his magic. You’ve tried to give him some of yours, the way he did when you were low. But, his body is too weak to accept it.” Kurt came and sat next to me.

  Handing me a sprig of dried green herbs, he gestured for me to add them to the mortar.

  “What idea is that? Also, am I going to blow myself up here?”

  Crushing the ingredients together, I eyed my boss suspiciously. He’d tried to help me learn in his herbology lessons, but it was going straight over my head.

  “Firstly, you’re preparing the spices for tonight’s curry, you’re not doing a potion. Do you really think I’d let you make an actual herb spell?” His tut was accompanied by a wink.

  Placing down the pestle and mortar, I sighed as I leant over Gerard, placing my chin on his arm. I’d been staring at him for days. His eyelashes rested on the sunken bags under his eyes. Kurt didn’t know if he could hear us, but he encouraged me to speak to him anyway. So far, I hadn’t known what to say.

  “Well, I was thinking. If you connect to the ley line, then link in to his aura, you might be able to push the magic into him the way you do the dagger.”

  My head whipped up, my eyes staring at him. He was a genius. Before, I’d only tried to filter my normal magic into him, but if there was a chance I could almost connect him to the ley line, it was worth a shot.

  “Let’s do it.” Getting to my feet, I tugged on Kurt’s arm.

  Grabbing my wrist, he squeezed gently to get my attention. “It’s risky, Devon. Not just for him, but for you, too. I’m concerned about…”

  His sentence trailed off as his face flushed. It wasn’t like Mr Blunt to hold back. He must have picked up on my little problem.

  Slumping back into my seat, I faced him. “I do have an addiction to the magic. I’ll be able to get a better handle on it when the warlock link is taken away in a few days.”

  Justina had kept in contact with Mary, planning the ritual for the solstice. She’d kept me updated, but my concentration hadn’t been the best. As long as I turned up, it would be fine.

  “Do you know anything about addictions?” Kurt asked me. “It’s not as easy as stopping when you feel like it.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you?” His gruff voice was tight.

  Taking a deep breath, I swallowed the lump that rose in my throat. Seeing Helena, a woman so crazed by addiction to magic, had put me off. And, yet, whenever I’d had the chance to use mine, I’d done it. Even since Gerard had been in a coma.

  My sideways glance was met with raised eyebrows. Kurt had become a mentor to me. He was grittier than Justina, able to understand me on a different level.

  A cough drew our attention to the door. We were in Gerard’s room, almost forgetting that there was a world beyond these walls.

  My father stood just beside the wardrobe, his hands folded in front of him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overhear.”

  Oh crap. My father was the last person I wanted to know about my addiction. It wasn’t exactly something I was proud of.

  Coming over, he took the seat Kurt vacated. “How’s he doing?”

  We both glanced at Gerard, who was as still as he had been for days. Kurt had made me leave every time they turned him to make sure he didn’t get bedsores. Tears burst into my eyes as I traced one of the number tattoos on his arm.

  “Not much better. Kurt has an idea to use the ley line. I think it might work to restore his magic enough to he
lp him wake up.”

  A wet splash landed on my bare arm from the tear that dropped from my cheek. Blinking, I smiled at my father when he put a hand on my shoulder. His calm nature always gave me comfort.

  “I heard what Kurt said about you being addicted. I’m worried about you.”

  I understood why the others would be concerned. The pull to use magic was getting stronger every day. If I didn’t do something drastic soon, like get rid of the warlock link, I would be in trouble. I could end up like Helena. And, that wasn’t something I was prepared to risk.

  “Dad, I don’t know-”

  “Do you know how many warlocks get addicted to their magic? When I worked with Isaac Senior, I was his support worker.”

  “Isaac had an addiction?” My frown was met with an amused smile.

  Shaking his head, my father took my hand. “No, I was the coven’s support worker. So many of them had addictions. They craved magic so much, they would go to the witches to bargain for a hit of theirs, just to make them feel high.”

  My heart rate increased. My father had been around addicts? He knew how to help them? That wasn’t something I knew about him. Although, that wasn’t surprising considering my parents hadn’t been in my life since I was ten.

  “I… I don’t do that.” My voice was weak.

  Sitting up straight, my father, in his grey jumper and black combat trousers, stared at me. His light brown eyes didn’t allow me to look away. The slight stubble on his soft chin made me want to reach up and stroke it, just like I had done when I was a little girl.

  “You’re in denial.” Kurt blurted from where he stood at his makeshift medical table. He held his hands up in apology when my father glared at him.

  “That she might be, but that’s not how we talk to people who have…” He couldn’t say it. I wasn’t surprised. His daughter succumbing to the dark magic that ran through her probably wasn’t what he’d expected. I hadn’t expected it either. I was Devon Jinx. Half witch, half warlock, a bit crazy. But, I’d never been into magic in a negative way. Not like Helena.