White Witch (Haven Book 1)

by Lil Hamilton

  Wow. Talk about timing. Vincent just so happens to locate Lily and decides he wants to turn her, hires her boss to snag her but my cousin happens to be shagging her at that moment. They fight off those vamps. Then Warren, or some mystery witches do take her, all with a few days. It was like all the Hide-Me wards she had suddenly reversed themselves into bright neon look-at-me signs. I didn’t like the coincidence of it all. Not one bit. Usually this meant I didn’t know a crucial piece of the puzzle that other people clearly did. Or it was a case of the criminal underworld grapevine, which worked quite quickly, narrowing in on the same damn person.

  “Compensated? What, like you owned her just cause she worked for you?”

  He flashed me a smile that had nothing to do with amusement. It made him look inhuman which of course he was. “She was mine if I said she was mine, dove. That is the way it is. I’m not old enough to turn, but I had an interest in cultivating her for when I am.”

  “I see,” I said flatly. Damned possessive vampires. I wanted to flash my demon eyes and tell him I could own him, eat his soul and spit it out. But I didn’t want him to faint. “Pity that was not the case. I could take her from you quite easily; given you have no Estate to back you.”

  He made an odd hissing sound and flashed his fangs, while those pretty green eyes seemed to glitter. I cocked my head and studied him like I would any intriguing creature. Fifty odd years in the mortal realm really had not given me much time to study vampires. Viv gave me the basics, but I liked to really understand things. Demons were all driven by strong instincts and emotions; I really didn’t comprehend that all that much either and I was part of it.

  “Do I amuse you?” he snarled.

  “You intrigue me. If you amused me, that would not be a good thing for you. The best defense from my kind, just as a friendly pointer, is to cause us to yawn.”

  “Trust me, you would not be bored.”

  I smiled slightly. “No, I expect not.”

  “What will you do now, fae? Hmm. When it is entirely possible the Master has made Lily his new pet? He has an impressive Estate.”

  I slouched in my seat. What a mess we were in if Vincent had already done so. After all he could have hired the witches. “Indeed, I could not take her without poking the hornets’ nest. I might anyway, since I have more claim on her than he does. He has no right to take what belongs to my Queen as his own.”

  “She is a witch more than anything. All witches have some fae blood. Perhaps she has more, but that does not make your claim stronger.”

  “Rather does. If my Queen says it does. Just the way it is, I‘m afraid. I don‘t make those rules.”

  Maybe Vincent knew of the bond and knew if he turned Lily, he would have also had my cousin… two for the price of one. What would happen in that case? If the demons got riled up about it they would kill any vampire, including the one that claimed her, in order to free her of their influence. This was not good at all. Finally I looked up at him and said, “You know her, and have known her well. Does she have any routines, hangouts, friends? I need to know everything.”

  He did not give me much, because Lily didn’t set patterns. She had even changed residences five times in the decade she had been living right under my nose. It did give me a few leads assuming she hadn’t been taken by Vincent. I could only hope his wife only saw the witch and not the Seelie breeding. God knows what Liona would cook up if she had a fae half-breed like Lily to play with. Liona Summers was not in the Queen’s court, as my mother had been, so her bloodline was not as pure. She would welcome any edge she could get. Tossing the Queen this unknown half-breed would win her some political points. Not that it would do her any good, stuck as she was, in the border realm.

  I leaned back and studied him for a moment, let the atmosphere of my plot sooth him. He was really quite handsome when he was relaxed; if one ignored the fact he was the owner of such a scuzy blood joint. “Your Master may not have won the prize. I bet the reason he was in such a rush to do so was because he heard there are harvesters in town, snagging up all the good turning potentials. And he heard they were on to Lily.”

  Matt shrugged. “If that’s true they didn’t hear it from me.”

  “So you have seen them around then.”

  “Not in Eastfalls. I wouldn’t have let them sniff around my people. They are not welcome around here. But they have been crawling all over the Gutters causing a big ruckus. A few greys in Midtown flats tangled with those harvesters over one of their witches if you can believe it. It was a freakin blood bath. Then I heard the Nihilo coven is all stirred up and moving into the Gutters as a result. And you know what started it all? Some witch hired those harvesters. A lone witch who hooked up with some black coven. She’s a mongrel. Everyone keeps calling her a faeling because you can tell she has the breed in her but trust me that one is a witch to the effing core, to the blackest effing core. Vincent has more than a few of us down there watching what is going down. She is strutting around like she owns the place, but has enough mojo to block her scent, her trail and her location. And we haven’t been able to figure out which coven she is working with either.”

  Either my plot was really soothing him or he wanted to direct me away from Vincent. However, it was information I needed anyway for my missing faelings.

  “Sounds to me like he didn’t get her after all,” I said pretending to fall for his line. Hell, it could be true anyway. But I was going to check my buddy Vinny anyway.

  If the faeling was also a witch then that would make sense how she was covering her tracks so well. I would have to find the location of the brothel myself, if it existed. It was just a matter of hitting the streets and looking for strong illusions. Or clients, cause clients would have a card, or something, that would lead them to the location and be able to see through the illusion. Or I could get Inter’s help at that point. Leave them the brothel. Because I knew if Lily and Nemnae were taken they would be held with all the recent ones, in a warehouse likely at the main coven. I wanted to hit that first.

  “Well and good, Matt. I wish we had met under different circumstances, but that’s life.”

  When I twisted my finger and activated the return trip circle we materialized back in the room to find absolute chaos. Lan was slowly choking one vampire, pure rage in his glittering obsidian eyes, teeth bared in a feral snarl. I blinked and took in the rest of the room; broken furniture, unconscious and bleeding vampires. Quite impressive indeed. He sure got his rage on. Hope that worked out some of his tension from inactivity.

  “Oops,” I said, realizing my disappearance must have shown on the demon’s radar.

  As soon as he heard my voice Lan dropped the vamp and swerved and with blurring speed stood in front of me. He flicked a warning gaze at Matt, gripped me by the shoulders and gave me a once over that made me smile in amusement. It was the sort of scan a warrior did to see if there were any gaping wounds. He let out a deep breath between clenched teeth, anger following up quickly on worry. “Where the Hells were you?”

  “Not the Hells actually,” I said dryly. “Just a slice of Faerie.”

  ‘That was not part of the plan.’ With the mind speech came a taste his emotions, so primal and protective. And so very pissed. I had a mind to be insulted. Obviously he thought a few low level vampires could potentially pull one over on me. If they had physically jumped me, that would have been a challenge, but in the mental arena I rocked.

  ‘The plan was you wait while I get information. I thought a little demonstration of fae abilities and he would fold easier. Which he did. If needed, I could spin a spell on him better on my home ground. Unlike you, I have to rely on spells not strength and speed.’

  “Fine,” he said, then took a firm grip on my arm and began escorting me out. I felt resistance at this point would be childish, but as I left I flashed Matt a wide grin. Thinking he could mess with me, when I came from pure blooded demon and pure fae. I suppose he thought I wouldn’t be able to do anything outrageous since I was t
he regional fae rep and his Master had a fae wife, which only meant he didn’t quite understand the fae like he thought. He had obviously felt secure with four of his vamp buddies with him. Lesson learned. Next time if he wanted to play aggressive he should have attacked physically, which would be my weak point compared to them.

  Lan propelled me forward swiftly without a passing nod to the guards. When we were in the car he asked, “And from this dramatic posturing of power, what did you learn?”

  I ignored his tone. The sort that said when you were doing something foolish did you at least get something for it. Besides demons were all about posturing. Being generous I decided not to mention his huge over reaction as well.

  “Something interesting. Matt used Lily for assignments so they knew each other well enough, as well as anyone did. It seems the Master of the city, our own beloved Vincent, had locked onto her as a bait potential and assigned Matt’s crew to the task. Either Vincent has her or she went underground knowing he was after her or the slavers have her. This lady is skittish and spent her whole life hiding from others. And so, I must meet with Vincent and see what he knows. I’ll have to bring Vivica at least, maybe Chera, so we can tell if the girl is there or if he is lying. His stable is well protected and large.”

  “His stable?”

  I flicked him a look, saw the anger flicker in his eyes and knew he knew what I meant by the term. “Yeah, like a harem, but full of humans being groomed for the Turn. I know, it sounds nasty, but I made the harem remark because it is not like a stable has to be a bad place to live… it can be downright comfortable. And most people in it are there willingly.”

  “Not all.”

  “Well, no. I mean they lock on to humans that are special in some way, or brilliant or rich. Many of them are witches actually and while some witches love the idea of near immortality, some view demons as evil or parasitical. Point is his facility is well guarded in many ways. I know where it is, but it is literally a void space when it comes to spells designed to spy.”

  I felt Lan’s frustration at the slow pace. He wanted to hunt, break some heads and do what was needed to make things right. Considering what I was learning of our witch mark, I suspected he would get his chance. Breaking someone out of a Master’s stable was extremely dangerous and the consequences of it could be equally dangerous. Unless you took that person and put them into some sort of vampire protection program then they would be reclaimed anyway.

  I started up the engine, wondering if I could snag Viv and arrange a meet right away or if we had to wait for an appointment. Vampire protocol being what it was and Vincent being who he was an appointment could take a while. Being young for my kind I was known to be impatient, but that was only relative to other Long Lived races.

  “Vincent it is then. I am sure he will be thrilled to meet me.”

  “Oh no. You’re not coming this time. First, if his wife has the slightest indication you have been sent to see if I can bond, she’ll report to the Queen. And secondly, no way Vincent will allow one of your kind there.”

  I could see it now. Lan being all dominate and demon arrogant while forty born vampire charge him with swords in hand.

  “I believe we had this conversation.”

  “Not going to happen.” There was always the hope that being treated like luggage would make him so frustrated he would go back to the Hells of his own accord. His patience so far was rather remarkable and made me what to push it more. Before he could reply my phone rang. I looked at the call display. I was expecting one of my team and instead it was Detective Hanson from Inter-squads Enforcers. I held the phone on my left ear, as far from Lan as possible, and steered with my right hand. Ever the multi-tasker. There was a lot of static and a beeping noise that concerned me. “Hello, Detective, it’s been a while.”

  ‘I need you down here now, Ray. We have a problem. A big problem and I need you to tell me what caused it,’ the Detective said and I could barely hear him though the bad interference my demon boy was stirring.

  “I have a bit of a big job myself right now.”

  ‘Bigger than some beast on a rampage, shredding people? Three vics. Just get down here.’

  “Oh damned fried fairy balls.” I glanced at Lan. “I’ll bring a friend along.”

  He gave me the Midtown Flats address which I plunked into my GPS, hoping it would not crap out on me, but it was actually quite close by. I had no sense of natural direction and the narrow, twisted streets of Haven totally messed with where I thought I was going. “No rest for the wicked. We gotta go look a crime scene. I’m a consultant really, known for my diplomatic status and knowledge of fae races. Try not to be so arrogantly demonish male protective. You‘ll ruin my cred.”

  That earned me a dark scowl.

  I speed dialled Viv and waited for her to pick up.

  ‘Yeah?’

  “Hey. The biter says Vincent had an eye on our witch for bait. She on the lists?”

  ‘Actually, no. I checked and she is not showing under that name as being off limits. I thought she might be listed under a different alias, but Vincent doesn’t have anyone marked to be groomed, other than those living in his stable.’

  “Sounds like it was a recent inclination on his part. No time for cultivation. As in he knew someone else has an interest and tried to get there first.”

  ‘Still should be on the lists, unless Vincent lied to him and wanted her for another reason. Like his fae-bread wife thinking of selling the half-breed to her Queen.’

  “I had the same thought. Frightening how we are on the same wave length.”

  ‘Great minds and all that.’

  “In which case Lily is fuckered and so way beyond my help. If it is for bait then maybe the second chance at capture succeeded. Could you check out Vincent’s stable and see if you scent her out? Or ask Chera to do a scry of the property? If Chera has some personal item maybe she can break through his shields enough to say whether she is there. It might take a little effort but snagging her back from him is doable.”

  ‘Will do. We have done it before, but I bet he beefed up security since then. What a rush that was.’

  “Oh, yeah, all fun and games to you. Out smart your friend, but I was the one that had to listen to Liona complain for a decade about it. If he has her, we’ll have a bitch of a time breaking her out this time, but I know you’re up to the challenge and then some. I suppose to be diplomatic about it, which unfortunately is my job, it is better to negotiate some terms.”

  ‘No, it’s better to take her and then compensate Vincent for her loss in some way. A Master would respect that. Negotiate and he’ll know she is valuable. He’ll think you’re weak. And then security will be prepared.’

  “As always you’re my in with vampires. I’ll follow that advice. But we gotta know first. Just because she caught his eye doesn’t mean he succeeded. I think he tried, failed. The harvesters swooped in and succeeded. Call Dill, I want him to see if he can borrow some of Malick‘s crew. Maybe the Ivandor Imps? I want him, and his nose, and the imps and their sneaky ways, down in the Gutters on spy duty. The faeling seen with our weasel is a witch and is the one who may have hired Warren. May have opened a brothel in the Gutters, holding our missing nymph faelings. She’s a loner who hooked up with one of the black aligned gangs, if I were to guess, to push people. Find her, what she looks like and track her movements as best he can. Buy some anti-confusion charms at the market first. I want to find that place, so after I find the coven and hit it, we can take that place down and get those faelings out of there. You can help when you are free if you want. I know how you hate those sorts of places. I‘ll let Dill fill you in on all the crappy details and when I know more I send you guys a text.”

  ‘Yeah, shit. I loath sex slavery trade. I’ll try and help find the place. Chera also knows a solid coven of greys that‘ll help for a price. She can give them a call see if they can start some scans for fae blood, or clan markers.’

  “Good call. Lan took pics of the new
territorial tags going up. I’ll forward them to you so you can pass along, might help pinpoint the gang.”

  ‘If Lily was smart she would have ditched Haven as soon as she suspected. But humans rarely are. They get attached to their lives and can’t imagine just starting elsewhere.’

  “Yeah, right, humans. Vampires get so buried in habit they don’t even bother changing with the times. You’re just special. Shed one life like you do fashion trends.”

  ‘Keeps me on my toes, sugar-plum. Stop moving and start dying. Dill told me he has some interesting info for you, on who Lily might have had contact with on the fae-witch social scene. Said it sounded important and something we ought to follow up on. Course he didn’t bother just telling me.’

  “Great. I’ve got a call from Inter, but will be back at the house in a few hours.”

  ‘If Vincent has her I’ll let you know.’

  “I’m almost hoping he does. If she is in his stable, that means she’s not turned yet. Get her out and it is a done deal.”

  ‘So, um, we are getting paid for this gig? Or are you giving the demons a freebee so they will boot it faster?’

  “When it’s done, I’ll write them up an extensive tab of expenses. And like it matters, I pay you from the Accord funds. And you’re rich anyway. I’ll keep in contact after this Inter crime scene review.”

  ‘Later.’

  “Yeah, see ya,” I said hanging up on a laugh. Obviously Chera was an influence of Viv as well as vice versa. ‘Later’ indeed.

  ***

  Chapter 9

  Everything happens for a reason and that reason is chaos theory

  They had already set up the police barricade and I saw a mixture of Inter agents and RCMP officers working the area and keeping back the curious neighbours. And the neighbors were damned curious by the looks of things. In a witch known area they would want to know what happened especially if it was coven members who lived in the home or covens they associated with. The Interracial department held a collection of Other races; a few minor demi demons, shifters, vamps, faelings and several small units of humans. Their operations tended to be seven agent groups that encompassed enough diversity to handle any unique situation. The department only had three or four detectives at a time to handle all magic or Other related suspicious deaths. That is why Haven depended on the cooperation of the Accords Council for any assistance they could provide.