White Witch (Haven Book 1)

by Lil Hamilton

  The spell spun out of my aura in a flick of light that smacked Peter in the back head. He tottered a bit and then fell over. Timber! Most Unseelie fae had some inborn resistance to some Seelie magic and so I needed to tag him with the spell that would bind him to Faerie for a century before he shook the paralyze. A binding oath spell couldn’t be broken and a hundred year term was the sentence for most crimes. In a hundred years no human would care if they came back.

  I rushed over to them, dispelled my invisibility with a quickly uttered trigger word and gave Peter a stern look.

  “Naughty boy. Peter, I swear we have had this conversation before.”

  “She did, Pete, I was there,” Dill added.

  “This is your second offence within the last ten years. You didn’t even try to wait until I forgot. You didn’t even move to another city. That’s dumb, man. Seriously. So you are recalled to Faerie for a sentence of a hundred earth years.”

  I should’ve seen it coming, but in my defense I assumed the spell would affect him fully. I think I was too astonished to move when he leapt at Dill and kissed him. I mean, he kissed Dillian. How could that not shock me for a moment? I might have giggled. Peter pulled away, smirked and then bolted. Obviously my spell had slowed his speed, since he was running at a human speed with a bit of a drunken stagger to it.

  “Dill, you alright?”

  Dill just gave me a dopey grin. Fantabulious. He was buzzed off the kiss. I was never going to let him live that down.

  “We got a ruuunnner!” I yelled, waving one arm enthusiastically. “I’ll be right back.”

  Chapter 2

  Game is a foot! Or something similar to that. It is running anyway.

  I dashed after Peter, who looked like he was making for a main street and likely a crowd to blend in with. Idiot. Any spell I cast I could see as clear as day and so could trace the residue of it. Peter was still faster than me and was out of sight in moments. I would really have liked to blame that on his racial traits or the fact it was dark out, but the fact was, I don’t do much running. I ended up a street lined with liquor stores, bars and check cashing stores.

  I slowed down to a fast walk, trying to ignore the stitch in my side and the burn in my lungs. My spell trail was a bit blurred from the people around me and certainly Peter had altered himself just enough for me not to recognize him. Now a detective would have remembered the specific details of his clothing. I had only noticed he wore an ugly red jacket, which of course it would make sense to take off. Take off, douse in gas and torch.

  I walked the street slowly, ignoring everyone and just following the sparkling trail of my spell. Not much of an energy trail really, just popping sparkles of blue and white particles. When that trail stopped at a bar I made sure Peter had not actually doubled back by assessing the lightness of the trail behind me. Obviously, he thought the change in appearance would do it. There was a group of humans smoking close to the door, but none of them were Peter. For one thing, it would take a great deal of effort for him to change himself into a woman, let alone strip some woman of her clothing. The men were not similar in dimensions and besides that, their energy aura was pure human. That left the bar. I hurried in and found myself inflicted with country music and a bar crowded with people doing some sort of odd dance in a line. I spotted Peter slowly weaving through the tables, making his way to the back. He had taken off his jacket and completely changed his complexion, but it was him.

  I grinned widely and ran right at him. I tackled him to the ground and wrestled with him until he was on his back and I had him pinned. His species was not all that strong and I had the added strength of being a demon-fae half-breed. He let his features slide to their natural coloration of pale grey eyes and silver hair. His eyes were what drew me. In fact, I seemed lost in their depths for a moment. Smoky, storm cloud grey eyes of mystery and seduction that lured me inward. I jerked my eyes away and gave him a light slap.

  “None of that now,” I said. I held his hands in a firm grip and from the pleasurable tingle going up my arm I knew he was releasing his toxin in great amounts. Not that it was toxic to me, but certainly gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. Ooh babe, bet he was fun in bed. I resisted the temptation to rub myself all over him, but just barely. I made sure I was not in a kissable range, after seeing the effect of that. “You had to make me run after you.”

  We were drawing quite the crowd, which was just fantastic. These sorts of things were not to be seen by the human population. This meant I would have to make them all forget what they saw. That made me cranky. I had not pre-spun a spell to handle human interference, which meant it would take a little to complete one on the fly.

  “It is not right,” he said, in Gaelic, which suggested he had spent some time with our European cousins. “Why should I have to choose a different human each night?”

  “Hmm. Maybe because you kill them if you stick around, you freakin dumbass.”

  “They’re just human. I’ll starve if you bind me to Faerie.”

  “Should’ve thought of that before, ya greedy nitwit. Maybe you’ll remember when you’re released. Besides, you can always go to the court to overrule my decision, but then the Queen might just kill you for insolence. Up to you really.”

  I placed my hand on his forehead. He tried to buck me off him but before he managed to get free I would have him.

  “Boundis domum parump centuri. Non contineo terra pro tentatiom. And presto spamo you are ensnared, my friend.”

  I felt the spell burn into him and his body shook as it seeped into his essence.

  I stood up and I dispelled the paralyze spell with a few muttered words and a flick of my fingers. I would have to remember that spell only slowed his kind down. Jot that down into my ever expanding database. “You have maybe an hour to get back to Faerie before you feel the weight of that binding. I would not recommend dawdling, cause if you‘re here when it does, your ass is fried. Nasty spell.”

  Peter stood up and spat out a few curses, then bolted. I stood up and brushed myself off. People were already beginning to ask me questions that I had no ready answer for. I also had no ready spell to spin at them either. I had to make sure no one left while I spun one out.

  “You wouldn’t believe the night I have had. If someone will by me a beer I’ll tell you all about it,” I said, releasing my outer shield just enough to draw the attention of everyone in the room, but not enough to totally bombard them with my fae essence. Technically that was illegal, letting a human feel the full force of my essence, but in times like this there was no choice. Crowd control was a little more vital than overwhelming a few people for a little bit.

  The fact my stalling actually worked was likely because the humans living in Newhaven were a little more used to seeing unusual events than people in the rest of the country. I took a moment to text Viv, so she could collect Dill and then set myself to weaving an entertaining tale while constructing a spell that would affect them all.

  By the time Viv staggered into the bar holding Dill around the waist I had managed to control the occupants of the bar. I was rather pleased with how I had managed it. Just a little memory wipe spell threaded into a round of free shots. Thankfully, this crowd and staff wasn’t the sort to turn down a free drink. Or at least not when I gave them a subtle push to do so. All a smidge illegal, but all for the cause. And, hey, they all got free drinks. My pocket suffered the consequences for this clean up.

  “Hey,” I greeted as Viv helped Dill sit down and then made herself comfortable.

  “Jeez, what a dive,” Viv said. She turned her liquid amber eyes on me and flashed me a grin. She looked ready for the club scene with her tight black leather pants a flimsy turquoise blouse that dropped obscenely in the front. There had to be some sort of tape situation there holding the cloth from exposing her at any sudden movement, right? “I’m totally dying to know what happened. You wouldn’t believe how I found Dill. He’s all hot and bothered.”

  Dill had a lazy grin on his face that was
just so out of place, as was the sort of spaced out glaze to his eyes. His blue dyed hair was all tussled in a bed head sort of way, but not in the intentional way. And… goodness… he was purring.

  “Dill, man, how are you doing?”

  He muttered incoherently and then slumped forward.

  “That good, eh?” I said.

  “What the hells are you doing?” I snapped at Viv as she pointed her phone at Dillian.

  “Come on! I have to have evidence.”

  “Yeah, right. Then you’ll have it all over Facebook and your blog. Tweet it, Instagram and email it.”

  She reluctantly put her phone down all the while giving me a pout.

  I slowly smiled. “I’ll let you, but only if you send me a copy. I need a new screen saver.”

  Viv snapped a few shots off. One of him slumped on the table. Then one with me holding his head up and smiling. Then I shot one of Viv the same way. By the time we were finished we were both laughing so hard we had stitches in our sides and tears rolling down our face.

  “I need details, sugar plum. I can’t mock him without all the juicy details.”

  I tried to smother a smile. “I can’t be expected to keep track of every trait in every Unseelie breed. There are thousands of them. I‘ve never even encountered this one before. I had to do research on it. Okay, there was the time prior, but he didn‘t put up a fuss that time cause it was just a warning.”

  “Of course,” she readily agreed.

  “I knew this particular breed were quick buggers so it made sense to paralyze him.”

  “Totally following you.”

  “It more like slowed him down. Still, got up fast enough to kiss Dill. I‘m talking full out kiss. There might have been some tongue action too.”

  The look of utter astonishment on Viv’s face had me laughing.

  “I think the tactic threw off Dill’s game, but also took him out of the game. I had to run Peter down here and tag him. Then do my mojo on the crowd here. Really, quite an easy tag aside from that amusing part. So how did the rogue go?”

  “Not nearly as entertaining. Never are though. Thirsty, certainly, but not any challenge. This one wasn’t groomed for the Turn. He was accidentally turned by some true born vampire. Dude woke up at his own autopsy and freaked.”

  “Really. I wonder why,” I said blandly.

  “You know Vinny doesn’t like a Turned vamp that isn’t tied to his maker. He’ll pay us well for not getting fined by Inter for it.”

  Back when I opened my agency and hired my manic but fun vampire friend we had waited to be contracted to go after a rogue and then get paid. Viv now found it easier to troll the city, find a rogue and take care of business with no fuss and then demand payment from Vincent for saving him the trouble. It was ingenious and I wish I had thought of it.

  “Don’t call him Vinny. You know he hates that,” I said with a smile. The interesting confrontations Vincent had with Viv were far too amusing for me to stop them. Viv was a Master in her own right and not tied to his hierarchy, which made her autonomous and a pain in Vincent’s ass. He tolerated because he knew her longer than I had been in existence and because Viv was a Master without an Estate, as in she had yet to Turn anyone.

  I had to deal with the local Master vampire because the man had the audacity to choose a Seelie fae to mate with. One that had land rights in Haven. Which only meant I had to pretend to be nice to him while I carefully watched his wife and made sure when she played her glamour games no one was aware of it.

  She rolled her eyes. “Pompous, arrogant ass is what he is. Ever since he grew his estate he has gotten a huge ego. Now that he has claimed Haven there is no controlling it. I totally don’t get why older vampires abhor nicknames or short names. I really don’t. So melodramatic, don‘t you think?” She hardly gave me a chance to answer even had I been inclined. She gave me a sly look. “You know Vinny and I had a thing back in the day. During the war.”

  “What war?” I asked, sparing myself the details of that affair. The only war that concerned me was the one between demons and the fae. It was currently at an uneasy truce, but the last little outburst of violence, fifty years past, had been what made humans so very aware of the other races living amongst them. Totally changed all the rules.

  “World War I, of course. I love human wars. So gory and intense. Vincent has fought in every major war since he was born. So did I, once us females were permitted. And what a rush.”

  “How would you even control your bloodlust?” I wondered out loud, knowing how even a vampire with a full stomach would leap on a wounded human. Predators and wounded prey.

  Dill let out a loud groan before Viv could reply. He sat up abruptly and looked like he had been slammed over the head by the hangover fairy.

  He furrowed his eyebrows and he slanted in the chair until he rubbed shoulders with Viv. He gave her a startled look. “What the heck?”

  “Indeed,” I said, smothering a giggle. “Knocked out by a kiss. From a man.”

  Dill quirked an eyebrow up. “Yeah? Some paralyze spell.”

  “We’ll have to put that in our database. Gancanagh not fully affected by paralyzing spells. Kiss that totally rocks a shape shifter‘s world.”

  While Dillian sobered up I filled in the gaps. Viv felt the overwhelming need to insert her opinion on the matter until Dill’s face darkened and his eyes narrowed.

  “Well, that’s done at least. Nice easy tag, just the way I like them. Aside from one minor complication. All the fun parts happen so fast. Thanks for helping me track him.”

  “Nothing to it,” he muttered. “Since I was the one that called you in.”

  “Meh. Semantics,” I said with a wave of disinterest. I looked around the room. It felt like everyone was staring at me, but given my nifty glamour, they were likely just ogling Viv. I flared my nostrils slightly. “Is it me, or does it smell like sweat in here?”

  Viv flashed me a grin. “It does. Air conditioning is out I think, plus there is a table of five rather deliciously sweaty men behind you.”

  “That doesn’t sound nearly as appealing as you make it sound, but then, I talk about chocolate the same way. Shouldn’t an all human bars be closed by now?”

  Dill gave me a look of pure disgust. I thought that was a little uncalled for until I saw the glyph painted above the door. “Honestly, I’m shocked and appalled. Witches are now encroaching outside of Haven? What has gotten into people these days?”

  “Not our problem,” Viv said with a shrug.

  “Not now. When witches take over the world it will be your problem,” I said with a laugh. “I’ll just boot it back home.”

  I smiled at Dill. It was the sort of smile that made him frown. “I’m off to meet with Sarah, who says she’s got big news for me. There’s always a first. I would like you to go check on Liona’s place and then track Mel.”

  I only kept a close eye on the Seelie fae with land rights, as they were the ones that could cause the most trouble. Liona was the one who had married the local Master vampire and spawned some intriguing vampire fae half-breeds. Since that was media worthy it meant I had to pay special attention to her actions. In general anyone who lived and interacted with humans outside of the District warranted my attention. The District was warded and protected. We had been given our own rights within it and people could not enter without a pass. The fae could do as they pleased within it.

  Dill grimaced. “Babysitting again?”

  “Fraid’ so. Viv did her job for the night and now it’s your turn. So man up, kitty cat.”

  He shrugged. “No sweat off my balls if you want to pay me fifty bucks an hour to watch Mel make an ass out of himself.”

  I grimaced at him. “Please refrain from mentioning your sweaty balls.”

  “Yeah, I think I gagged a little,” Viv said.

  Mel, which would be Vincent and Liona’s eldest, was a genuine party boy who played up on the press fae seemed to attract. He often treated my agents like his own
personal body guards. Still he was the most likely to cause a trouble for the sheer fun of it and less likely if Dill threatened to bite his head off. Which apparently he was now in the mood for.

  “It’s great that you’re back in town, but I could do without these trailing the vamp kiddies’ runs. So how did it go with the Bitch Queen of Faerie?”

  “Yeah, what’s up with that? You were gone like a month this time,” Viv said.

  “My report went well. The only reason she demands I go to her directly to report fae issues is so that she can torment me. Apparently my mother did or said something that pissed her off and somehow I got punished with her. She has been sent to some Unseelie area and I got thrown in the hole.”

  “That hag has gone over the deep end, Ray. Bitch gets crazier every year,” Dill said.

  “Yeah, I know it. Hells, everyone knows it. If she gets any loonier she could lose her focus and control. If there are no high blooded Seelie fae around when that happens, then Faerie could fall apart and disintegrate.”

  I shivered a little. It felt like I shouldn’t have said that out loud. The air had ears. Still Newhaven was safer for such remarks.

  “There are still high bloods around to take her place if need be. If they weren’t such chicken shits they would take her down.”

  “Sure, easy to say, but a tad harder to do. Considering how the last rebellion went and the slaughter afterwards.”

  He snorted dismissively, but then he had been a warrior in the Seelie fae army. War was all fun and games to him. It was before my time but most fae still trembled from the mention of the Dark Days. “I’ll let you know if Mel does anything stupid and you can let me know if Sarah manages to come up with some useful Intel.”

  “She might,” Viv said. “I was hanging out in the local vamp bars, just getting my groove on before you texted me about the rogue. Something has the vamps all edgy. I was going to see if I could hang with Vinny to see what was going on when you got me to get Dillian.”