Screams echoed through the crowd and the sound of squealing tires could be heard. A lot of the crowd scattered as a rust covered dented panel van jumped the curb and headed towards the podium. We scattered, dodging the van by jumping away. My feet hadn’t found solid ground yet when a vampire plowed into me. My breath rushed out of me and my head bounced off the concrete with a sickening sound. I’d be lucky if I only ended up with a concussion. I reached for my gun but his hand wrapped around my wrist. He bared his fangs in a wide mouth snarl.
Shots rang out, but before I could pinpoint the source the world around me changed. In a blur I went from a screaming crowd to an empty metal entrapment. My mind spun for a moment as I tried to get my bearings. Whatever I was in bumped and moved with me in it. The vampire pinned me to the floor, holding me down with his body and his hand on my wrist. Judging by the distance he managed to take me, I figured he was young, not strong enough to get me further away from the scene. Voices shouting directions alerted me to others that were nearby.
My heart pounded against my chest while my gaze scanned around. Rusted white walls went up to a celling. One side held a sliding door that creaked and squeaked with each bump. He’d transported me to inside the van. Shit. Over the vampire’s shoulder I could see another vampire waiting to the side and back of the driver’s head. I couldn’t move as fast as them and my chance of taking on vampires in close quarters and living was slim. I was either going to become a hostage or die. Even if someone had told Levi the moment I’d been taken he wasn’t going to be able to get to me before the vampires drained me. Both vampires in the back stared at me with blood-starved eyes.
I couldn't control the panic, my pulse sped up and my body refused to figure out how to breathe and that made the two vampires in the backseat with me grin. It pushed their blood lust further.
The one next to me grabbed my wrists and pulled me out from underneath the other one. He wrapped his arms around me from behind, pinning mine against my body. I forced myself to focus; I wasn't a damsel in distress. I was an agent in a bad situation. The one who had snatched me stroked my cheek and met my gaze with his crazed one.
"I get first bite." He grinned and I saw his fangs. One distracted vampire would help me, even if it was my blood distracting him. I hated being fed from and the fear that flooded through me did nothing to ground me in the situation. I needed to get control of my breathing and focus on the problem at hand.
The one behind me used one arm to brush my neck. My entire body tensed.
"We can share." He chuckled. "She's terrified."
"Remember, we need her alive." The person driving called out. I assumed he was a vampire like the other two, but it was hard to tell from my current position.
Them wanting me alive meant that they wanted me as a hostage, a bargaining chip, but at least it promised that I'd survive for a while longer. If I could take the two with me out, then I could survive this and escape a possible hostage situation.
Both of them bit at the same time, pulling me out of my thoughts of survival. I screamed and the one behind me tightened his arm around me. Thrashing would only add to the damage they were already causing to my neck. I needed them distracted and maybe, just maybe...
I felt his arm loosen around me. Witch blood was like a drug; they'd be lost to it. I slowly moved my hand and he didn't respond. I wiggled and managed to get my hand to my gun and get it out of the holster. Instinct kicked in at that moment and I shot the one in front of me and turned the moment the second one unlatched. I shot him and kicked his body away. It rolled against the metal floor and against the side of the van. I moved to the driver, ignoring the feeling of vampire blood on my body. I put the gun against the top of the back of his head.
"Pull over."
He jerked the wheel throwing me against the side door of the van, against the dead vampires. I raised the gun to take a shot. He turned towards me giving me a wicked smile to match the madness in his red eyes. A glance out the windshield told me what his plan was. He was going to make us crash. Fear choked me as I realized that I was going to die. The vampire disappeared and the car smashed into the tree. The passenger front door met the tree with an impact that rattled my bones. Screeching metal and shattering glass surrounded me. The impact forced the back sliding panel to jump off its tracks.
My body hit the dirt and I gripped my gun, feeling grateful for the pain and pressure in my body because it meant that I was still alive. I couldn’t breathe around the sheer agony of being thrown to the ground, but I forced my eyes to open and my body to feed off the adrenaline coursing through me.
The driver materialized a few feet from me and sauntered towards me as I raised my gun. Squeezing the trigger, I put two bullets in his head before my arm dropped to my side. With half his head gone and most of his face missing, he still moved towards me. His mouth moved and a gurgled voice escaped.
"In life or death, we serve no king." Two shots rang out and they weren't from me. My body had given up and I was lying back in the dirt. All feeling of pain and fear fled from me as the world started to fade away. "Hang in there, Abigail." Oliver's voice was the last thing I heard and the only thing I could think of was 'what reason did he have to be right there?'
CHAPTER SEVEN
They say that when you die, you see a white light. I opened my eyes and saw a fire. Though fire wasn’t the right word. The coals of the logs glistened with red and orange crackling embers of the fading flames. The fireplace wasn’t familiar to me; I wasn’t at Levi’s then. Clearly this wasn’t home, but I was more focused on figuring out how I got here without dying.
"Can you move?" Oliver's voice caught me off guard. The memories came crashing back to me and I closed my eyes.
"I don't know. How am I alive?" The van had to have been totaled and everything had happened too fast for me to put up a circle. I wasn't wearing a seat belt and Goddess only knew how fast we were going. What happened to the vampire? I remembered shooting him, but I also recalled him talking to me. I opened my eyes and debated sitting up. I didn't feel a ton of pain, but I was willing to bet that when I sat up it would hit me like a ton of bricks.
"You were lucky I was there. I was able to heal some of your wounds." He said simply and came into my view. He looked just as always, a black three-piece suit, dark hair and dark eyes.
I thought back to the book my father left me. "You don't have that ability. It skipped you; you have the elemental ability like me." I took a deep breath and sat up slowly, using my arms to support myself against the mattress. My body was sore and pain sliced through me.
"Been reading your father's book, have you? I have the ability, it's not as great as your mother's, but I have it. I was able to heal the worst damage, to save your life. If I had healed all of it, you'd have a lot to explain when you return to work."
He didn't want to bring attention to himself; I'd have to explain it somehow. "What did you tell people when you found me? There were at least thirty reporters at the press conference. Someone else had to have followed the van hoping for a story."
"I followed the moment they grabbed you, I was there before any of the reporters. As far as they know you're at a private hospital. Levi knows that you're here and we paid off a few hospital workers to tell your superiors you are there."
I shifted so that I was sitting on the edge of the bed. "I would have been dead if you weren't there."
"Or you would have had a very long road to recovery." He handed me a glass of water. "What did they want with you?"
I shook my head and the room moved a little bit and my head pounded. I closed my eyes and took a breath to steady myself. "I assume they wanted me as a hostage, they wanted me alive."
"And you managed to kill two." He pressed his lips together. "Self-defense of course. I shot the third when your bullets failed."
I opened my eyes and sipped the water. "Of course. I had two vampires feeding from me. The last thing I wanted was to become their hostage. I've seen hostage situations wi
th paranormal creatures, it normally doesn't end well."
"I've heard of a few cases." He sat next to me. "Levi wants you to stay away from the case and let Agent Tomes and Grace handle it on their own."
After being thrown into a van and fed from I was actually willing to listen. "It seems to be a continuation of their case, they can have it. I have another case to work on." I stood and found that both my legs were sore, but not incredibly painful; however, I felt a sharp pain in my ribs. "It's a good thing people believe in miracles."
"You came out with some bumps, scrapes and bruises, and maybe a broken rib. They'll call it a miracle."
But we knew better. "I need a shower and anything that survived the crash, like my gun and my phone."
The more I moved the more I realized how stiff and sore I was. Dull aches and pains worked their way through my body. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what I'd look like when I stripped my clothes off.
"Of course, bathroom is attached to the room. You’ll find your phone, gun, and badge on the nightstand. I'll let you be, you should be okay alone now."
I touched the back of my head. "Still tender, possible concussion."
"The rest of the internal damage has been healed though." He promised. "Despite what Levi thinks, I don't want you harmed."
"He doesn't think that or he'd be here with me now." I slowly made my way to the bathroom and closed the door. I leaned against it and took a deep breath. Hexes I understood, most paranormal creatures I understood, but almost dying in a very human way scared me.
I turned on the water to let it heat up while I undressed. I looked in the mirror and part of my face looked like it had skidded across the ground. I was lucky I hadn’t lost an eye. Bruises continued down my shoulder and my ribs looked like someone tossed red and purple paint over them. I brushed my fingers over the bruises and cringed, even that hurt. I looked down at my legs, at the scrapes there. They'd heal and probably look better once I got the dried blood off.
I stepped into the shower and tried to relax under the hot spray.
Oliver drove me home and left it up to me to call those who needed to know I was alive. I was starting to wonder if exploding cars and kidnappings were going to become a bi-annual occurrence. I sighed as my phone went off with missed messages and voicemails. I carefully sat on the couch and the cat decided to join me.
"Yeah, buddy, I'm sure you're hungry. We have another meeting tonight with someone who thinks you belong to him."
He mewed in protest. He rubbed up against my rib and I groaned. "Easy there, kitty. Let's get you fed, and I'll make some phone calls."
I texted Nick first.
I'm alive and out of the hospital.
I hit send and wondered if I should have expanded on it. After a moment I sent him another one.
Update me on the case, please.
It was daytime, so Levi was going to wait. I texted Simon.
I have a Craigslist person coming over today about the cat. Care to keep me company? And bring me food? Then I'll tell you all about how I survived.
I hit send and it wasn't even a minute when I got a return text.
I'll be there in ten.
I smiled at that. Company would help keep me out of my own thoughts. I didn't want to dwell on my second near death experience in the year. I fed the cat and sat back down on the couch, this time he curled up next to me when he was done eating. Simon knocked on the door ten minutes later.
"It's open."
He walked in and his eyes widened just a touch. "Well..." He shut the door behind him.
"I look good for being in a van that hit a tree, huh?" I asked and stroked the cat.
Simon pressed his lips together. "I saw the press conference, that car managed to hit six reporters."
"Was Stephanie one of them?" I motioned to the recliner and he sat down.
"No. In fact, the fiasco made the front page of her paper."
Of course it did. "Damn, a girl can dream I suppose." I mumbled. "I'm kidding. Are they okay?"
He nodded. "A couple broken bones, but they'll heal. Nothing like you."
I wasn't sure what he was getting at. "Hey now, I'll heal. I escaped with bumps and bruises, and a broken rib."
"Abby, what is going on in your life to lead you to getting kidnapped for a second time?" He put his head in his hands.
He was genuinely worried about me. I frowned and put a hand on his knee. "I promise this isn't a normal occurrence. In this case it seems to have been random. I was the closest agent, and they were planning on using me as a hostage."
"Until you got wrapped around a tree." He looked up at me.
"To be fair, I was thrown out." Even though that had been caused by the impact. “And the van hit the tree, it wasn’t wrapped around it.”
Simon blew out a puff of air. "Seriously, Abby, how are you walking around right now? How are you alive?"
"Oliver followed the van. He was able to heal a lot of the damage, but he doesn't want attention drawn to himself, so the story is that I'm a miracle and that I was in the hospital for the night." I shrugged and it pulled on the muscles in my back and then on my rib. I was going to need something for the pain until that healed. "On a different subject, how was the rest of the party?"
He leaned back in the chair and chuckled. "Uneventful, and Mina was very interested in yours and my relationship. It made it hard to enjoy the rest of the night."
"You know that she's a witch, right? Powerful, scary, tainted aura." I ran my hand over the cat.
Simon blinked. "What?"
"You didn't know? How could you not? Doesn't your wolf sense it?" I looked up as I heard another knock on the door.
"That'd be the pizza." Simon said easily and stood to answer the door. He paid for the pizza and set it on the coffee table. "And no, my wolf doesn't always sense a witch, unless magic is being actively used."
I nodded. "Do you think Greg knows?"
"If he does, he hasn’t mentioned it." He sat and grabbed a piece of pizza. "What do you make of it?"
"I don't know." I said honestly. "I didn't like the feeling of her. Like I said, her aura was tainted and that always worries me. It normally means she's caused harm with magic, possibly killed someone."
"Do you think she could be the power blocking you from the woman you're trying to find?"
I reached forward and took a deep breath as the pain ripped through my rib. "No, she feels different. Whoever is doing that, I haven't met yet. Or at the very least shook hands with yet." I took a bite of the pizza and had a hard time deciding if it was worth the pain of reaching for another slice. "I need to set up the spell for our Craigslist visitor."
"Are you up to moving around that much?" He asked and finished his slice.
No. "I'll be fine. I can't let the rib bring me down, I have jobs to do. I'll get Clarissa to whip up something for the pain. She's a lot better with potions than I am."
"You're planning on returning to the case?" He shook his head. "Do you ever take a day off?"
"Hey now, I took the day off when my car exploded. And yes, the case with the dead bodies. I'll let the other agents handle the vampires. I think I've had enough vampires to last me awhile." I finished my own slice and then stood up. My entire body was sore, but I'd work through it.
I pulled the chair over to the front of the couch and mumbled the spell over it. Simon watched me as he ate another slice. "Don't you think this is going through a lot for a cat?"
"He's an expensive cat; I don't want the wrong person to get him." I shrugged and looked up as the doorbell rang. Simon held his hand up as I moved to get it.
"Let me."
He opened the door and there stood a tall, slender woman. Her skimpy black dress barely left anything to the imagination. She pulled the little black shawl around her shoulders and shifted her weight so she leaned against the doorjamb, balanced on skinny black heels. “Hello, handsome.” She sashayed her way in when he stepped out of the way.
"Please sit." I mo
tioned to the chair.
"Darling, you look like hell. Is your man beating you?" She sat down and crossed one long leg over the other.
I glanced at Simon and caught his gaze following that line up her body. I tried not to roll my eyes. "No, I was in a car accident yesterday."
She looked taken aback and then gave a sly smile at Simon. "Like something you see?"
Simon cleared his throat. "I believe you are here about a cat."
"A cat?" The woman asked.
I raised a brow, "The sphinx? You answered my lost and found ad thinking it was yours."
"Oh, this is all a terrible mistake. I was told to watch out for a client who would say he lost his kitty. I was supposed to come and comfort him."
I wasn't exactly sure how she'd gotten it mixed around. "I found a cat, not lost one, and I am very obviously female."
"Well, this is awkward." She stood and sighed. "I am so sorry."
She shuffled away and out the door.
Simon looked at me. "Was she telling the truth?"
"Yeah, she was. Wow, there really are some bizarre things on Craigslist." I shook my head. "Okay, that leaves one more person."
"And if you can't find the person?" Simon asked and held his hand out to the cat. The cat simply stretched and then went back to sleep.
I shrugged. "I guess I'm keeping him."
"What are you going to call him? Other than cat?" Simon laughed. "He's going to need a name."
I shrugged and scratched the cat's ear. "What about Osiris? Seems fitting for the breed."
He pressed his lips together. "After all that business with the Cult?"
I hadn't thought about it. I knew that the Cult wasn't a true representation of the original Egyptian religion, but I could see how it would bother Simon. "Yeah, I think it fits." The cat meowed as if agreeing.
"Well, I guess as long as he agrees. What are your plans for this evening?" He leaned back in his chair.
Deathly Magic Page 10
