Of Life and Death

by A. L. Kessler

  Liz nodded. “Let’s go take a look.”

  I pulled my gun out of the holster and held it by my side as I walked down the stairs. My foot went from carpeted step to concrete when I reached the bottom. I looked to my left where the glow was coming from.

  A person was standing in each one, except they were people who were supposed to be dead. Lark, Carmen, and Karen all stood there looking back at us, but with lifeless eyes.

  “Something’s off.” Liz stepped up next to me. “They don’t look right.”

  I shook the shock off and gave them glance closer look. Their faces seemed sleek and hard, with details carved out rather than changing with emotions or thoughts.

  Suddenly I realized something terrible. “Life Magic. Holy shit.”

  “He’s tying souls to dolls, animating them.”

  “I’ve never seen this done.” My voice raised a pitch. “I don’t even know how to go about fixing it.”

  Liz walked around the circle. “You’ve seen Life Magic before?”

  “Yeah, a kid accidentally brought a raptor back to life.”

  She stared at me from across the circle. “Mesa?”

  “Yeah.” I raised a brow. “I didn’t know that it made the press over here.”

  “It’s actually a case study. Nick submitted it to be one.”

  I hadn’t known that. “Well then.” I motioned to the living dolls in front of me. “We’ll make sure to submit this one too.”

  “You guys let the raptor live, I don’t think we can do that with these three.” She moved to another circle and walked around. “Why does he have them trapped?”

  I heard footsteps above me. “I don’t think I want to find out.”

  We both ran up the stairs but found ourselves trapped in the kitchen. Loraine stood in the other way out.

  “Hello, agents, I see you found my little experiments.”

  That wasn’t what I was expecting. “Yours?”

  “Well, they were my idea, I crafted the spells, the dolls, the circles, everything. My father merely brought me who I asked for.”

  Liz grabbed my arm. “Hang on.”

  I looked at her without thinking; my only thought was that we needed to get out. I wasn’t sure why she was holding onto my gun arm. Suddenly the world faded away and then resolidified around us. We were on the other side of Loraine. What the hell. My eyes grew wide. “You’re Cult,” were the only words I could manage to say.

  Liz shook her head. “No, I’ll explain later, come on, time to run.”

  I followed her toward the door, but it was shut and bolted. Liz ran her hand over it and a visible shock of electricity shot at her hand.

  “Can’t you take us out?”

  “No, I’m not that strong yet. I can only move short distances and not through solid objects.” The panic sounded in her voice.

  I pressed my lips together. “I’m going to do something, and you have to swear to all that is fucking holy you won’t tell.”

  “If it’s going to save my ass, you bet ya.” Liz scooted behind me. “I’m trusting you.”

  I nodded and focused on Loraine, and a circle of fire danced up around her, trapping her a few feet away from us. Liz stepped up to my side. “That’s impressive.”

  But the bitch actually laughed. She pushed her hand against the fire, and it disappeared. Holy shit. “Are you done with your little parlor tricks?”

  My heart dropped, and I raised the gun. I shot, but the bullet went off wild once it hit a barrier in front of Loraine.

  She laughed again, and Liz grabbed my arm, dragging me to the side where a glass bay window was. All we needed to do was get out and get to the Hummer. We both ran together and jumped through the window, using the bay bench to launch us forward. Glass shattered around us, the little shards tore at my skin and clothing, but we both landed on our feet and kept running.

  We jumped into the Hummer, and I wasted no time peeling out of the housing district. I slowed down once I was sure Loraine wasn’t following us anymore. My heart was still pounding in my chest, and my limbs were shaking.

  “So, um. That’s not Drake.” Liz gave a nervous laugh. “You’re an elemental, and that bitch is crazy strong.”

  I started laughing. “Says the person who can just transport us a couple feet. What kind of spell is that?”

  “A transportation spell, obviously.”

  Obviously, but I’d never heard of one. I’d have to ask her to teach me when things weren’t so crazy. We both started laughing uncontrollably as I drove. We’d sobered up a little bit by the time I pulled into the office.

  “So next time you need backup, give me a warning that it’s going to be that dangerous. Okay?” Liz unbuckled, but she didn’t move. “Are you okay going the rest alone?”

  I thought about it, was I okay with dealing with Life Magic and strangely animated dolls? “Yeah, for now. Right now, all I’m going to do is some research, talk to the ex-husbands, because I think there may be more on that angle. I’m betting Loraine has probably moved things already.” Unless she was like Keira who really just seemed to like to taunt PIB.

  “Let me know if you go back in there; I’ll make sure SWAT goes with you. I don’t want you to go alone.” Liz got out of the Hummer, and I followed.

  “Aye aye captain.” I saluted her and she rolled her eyes.

  “You’re something else, Abby.”

  We walked to the building together, and the receptionist stood. “Agent Collins. I have someone waiting upstairs for you.”

  I really hoped she meant outside my office and not in it. “Did they say what they wanted?”

  “It was a Mr. Jones, said he was here about a Ms. Jones.”

  I glanced at Liz. “If you would excuse me, seems like I’m going to get a jump start on the ex-husband lead.”

  “I’ll catch you later then. Remember what I said, Agent Collins. You don’t go back there alone.”

  “Don’t worry; I’m able to admit when I’m in over my head.” I kept the smile on my face, but we both knew I was serious.

  A man stood outside my office, his arms crossed and his head held down. His eyes were closed, and I wondered for a moment if he was saying a prayer.

  “Excuse me, Mr. Jones?”

  He looked up at me and gave me a small smile. “You must be Agent Collins. I was told you were in charge of the investigation on my ex-wife.”

  “I am. Please, come in and have a seat. Do you have some information for me?” I swiped my card and opened the door for him. He walked in and sat down.

  I went to my side of the desk and caught him staring at the doll. “Kind of creepy isn’t it.”

  “The likeness of you is uncanny, where did you get it?”

  “Down in Manitou.”

  “Oh yes, I bought my daughter a doll there, a couple years ago.”

  That was interesting. “You did?”

  “Yes, a lady there made it for her. It was kind of an ‘I’m sorry Mommy and Daddy split’ kind of gift.” He hung his head. “I was just trying to make things easier for her.”

  I wondered if the other children had dolls from the shop as well. “Did you or your wife know the owner?”

  “I didn’t. I don’t know about my ex; she seemed to know almost everyone. That was one of the reasons we divorced. She was always somewhere, doing something else, not worrying about our kid. Hell, I’d come home from work to find our daughter with a sitter instead.”

  “Were you aware your ex-wife was a shifter?”

  He slowly shook his head. “No.”

  “You’re going to want to keep that in mind when your daughter hits puberty. Carmen was a shifter; she showed up dead in a box at our other PIB office.”

  He sat back in the chair, his face a little bit paler than it was before, his lips were pressed together in a fine line. “How was she killed?”

  “Three puncture wounds on her back, right up her spine.” That was the only information I was willing to give. “Does the name Drake or Lo
raine Moll ring any bells?”

  He shook his head. “No, should they?”

  “Loraine is the lady who made the doll that you bought your daughter.”

  “You think she has something to do with this?”

  I knew she did, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. “We’re looking into every possible situation. Thank you for the information you’ve provided.”

  He stood up from the chair. “My daughter is seven, you know. Carmen, she wasn’t perfect, but I would never wish her dead.”

  Seven, just like Cynthia. Interesting. “I know. I’m sorry for yours and your daughter’s loss.”

  “If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know.” He walked out of the office, and the door clicked behind him.

  I leaned back in my seat and thought about what information he’d given me. I needed to figure out if the other children had dolls.

  I flipped through my notes and found Carl Tortania’s phone number again. I dialed it and waited for him to answer.

  “Mr. Tortania.”

  “Hello again, it’s Agent Collins with the PIB.”

  “Haven’t caught the bastard yet then?” There was something in his voice that I was unsure of. “If you can’t do your job maybe I should do it for you.”

  Well, that wasn’t how I was expecting the conversation to start out. “Actually, we have a new development, so I needed to ask you a few questions.”

  “I told you who killed my ex-wife, Agent Collins. There should be no other reason to go forward with that investigation.”

  I took a deep breath. “Mr. Tortania, your child, did you purchase a doll for them at Loraine’s Dollhouse at any point?”

  Silence on the other end. I wondered if he’d hung up on me for a moment before he finally answered. “How did you know that?”

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  “It looks just like his mother.” He sighed. “I was a sucker for getting it for him, but he was just so heartbroken that we split up that I had to do something.”

  “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s just another common link, nothing that caused her death.” So I hoped, but now we had another connection. I just needed to get a hold of Karen’s ex-husband to see if there was a doll there as well.

  “How old is your son?”

  “Seven.”

  The same age.

  “Thank you Mr. Tortania, that’ll be all.”

  We disconnected, and I searched my notes for the next name. A knock at the door had me pulling up from my notes. Liz stood there and motioned for me to let her in.

  I walked over to the door and opened it. “What’s up?”

  “The house we were just at, it’s on fire. Arson.”

  Of course it was. “We’ll need to recover what we can from it when they put the flames out.”

  She gave me a knowing look that clearly said you could do that.

  “Oh no, no, no, no.” I shook my hands. “I am not going out there to play with the fire. Do you know what they do to people like me?”

  “Abby, you’re talking about losing key evidence because you don’t want to embrace your ability.”

  I growled. “They put people like me in containment. To study.”

  “Yeah, I know, but that’s not going to stop you. Because you know it’s the one thing that can save this case.”

  I locked my jaw. “Fine, let’s go. You’re driving.” I grabbed my bag and headed out of the office.

  She snorted. “Why am I coming?”

  “Because if I’m going to use my abilities, I want someone there who can cover my ass.”

  She followed me down the hallway and to the stairs. “Okay, don’t worry Collins, I’ve got your back.”

  We pulled up as close to the house as the emergency crews would let us. Black smoke billowed over the end of the road, overtaking the sun. It didn’t seem anything the firemen were doing was helping the situation.

  “Magic,” Liz said, confirming my own thoughts.

  Great. “I don’t know if this is going to work.”

  “You’ve got to try because the fire is destroying our evidence.”

  She was right. I closed my eyes and focused on the heat of the fire. I couldn’t put it out without causing a lot of suspicion, but if I could find the threat of magic and break that.

  I tried to feed my magic into the pattern of the fire and contain it to the upper level. Sweat started beading on my forehead as I tried to force it. It felt like every time I used my magic to pull the fire, something else pushed it.

  “Oh Abigail,” My uncle’s voice caught my attention, and my eyes shot open. I saw him standing next to Liz. Where the hell did he come from? “You know you’re not ready to take on a fire this big alone.”

  He closed his eyes, and the water the firefighters used wrapped around the flames and more water came creeping up from the ground sinking into the house. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes again and visualized the flames bending to not only my will, but Oliver’s water. The heat and shouts died down, and I opened my eyes to see the fire gone and the fire crew moving in to control any hotspots that might be left. I looked to Oliver, his pale face and sweat told me that he was also exhausted from the fight. Fatigue crawled through my own body, but I realized that we actually made a decent team.

  “Family of yours?” Liz asked.

  “Yep.” I didn’t look at her, but met my uncle’s gaze. “Thought you weren’t going to be around?” I leaned against Liz’s SUV, trying not to give into my exhaustion.

  “Couldn’t let my niece try to handle a magical fire alone. Heard on the police scanner what was going on.” He sat on the edge of the SUV.

  I crossed my arms. “Thank you for the help.”

  “You don’t sound very grateful.” Oliver laughed.

  “Yeah well, we’ll have to talk about some things later.”

  Oliver shook his head. “There is no later. I’m leaving the country tonight. I have an appointment with someone.”

  “Someone who’s going to help you raise my mother.”

  Liz sucked in a sharp breath. “Okay, Abby, we’re on the clock.”

  Her words weren’t hostile, but it was a good reminder that now was not the time to deal with family issues. “You’re right.”

  “Abigail, remember the letter.” Oliver stood and pulled me into a hug. “I would do anything to protect you.”

  He let go of me and walked away. I watched him go back to his truck and pressed my lips together. I wasn’t sure what he was up to, but I knew I could trust him. Despite his plans.

  “Come on, let’s take a look at the damage. You can minimize the hot spots while we go through it.”

  I nodded and followed her up to the scene. We both flashed our badges and were allowed through.

  One of the firefighters shook his head. “I’ve never seen a fire act like that before, and the hoses.”

  “Magic,” another one stated. He looked at us and motioned to the house. “What does PIB think?”

  We both nodded. “Magic. We’re going to take a look around. We were out here earlier on a case.” I walked toward the blackened frame of the front door.

  “Be careful,” the firefighter said as we walked by him.

  I made sure to keep my magic active as I searched for hot spots. The main level was pretty much gone, but the basement seemed only to have smoke damage. “Call a containment team. I’m going down there for the dolls.”

  I heard Liz behind me as I went downstairs. There on the floor were the life-size dolls, but they weren’t moving, and there was no magic to them. “Never mind about the team,” I called up the stairs.

  Liz came downstairs and looked around. “Minimal damage. The dolls?”

  “Just dolls now. No life to them.” I motioned to them, laying on top of each other on the floor. This shit is creepy.”

  “No kidding. Call Mason?”

  “Yeah.” I pulled my phone out and waited for him to answer.

  “Detective Ma
son.”

  “Hey, I need a forensic team please.”

  “Abby, you sound exhausted. Where are you?”

  I sighed. “I’ll text you the address, and yeah, exhausted is a good word for it.”

  “I’ll get your team and see you down there in a bit.”

  “I’ll be around; I want to make sure there’s no other magic floating around.” I hung up and shot him a text with the address.

  Liz came up next to me. “I found this.” She handed me the old rag doll with a note pinned to it.

  “Catch me if you can.”

  I locked my jaw. She was taunting us. But there was a connection she probably didn’t know I had. Levi and Mario. “Can you handle forensics once I clear the house?” I put the doll in my bag to hold on to.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “I need to go see a connection and see what kind of information they can give me.” I looked down at the doll. “I need to call the mental hospital too and see if Cynthia is still there.”

  “You think they are making a run for it?”

  “I know they are.” I went back up the stairs and started making a tour of the house checking for hotspots and anything magical. By the time I finished, Mason was pulling up with several cop cars and a white forensic team van.

  “What happened here?”

  “Magical fire, it’s out now though. Liz is going to work with you while I talk to a contact of mine.”

  “Liz going to fill me in on everything else?”

  Liz walked up to us. “You bet. At least what Collins has told me.”

  “You’re my lead. I wouldn’t dare leave you without information.” I kept my voice light, so she didn’t realize that I had actually. “I’ll let you know if I get anything else on our lead.”

  Liz cleared her throat. “Agent Collins, I drove you here.”

  “Don’t worry; I’ll make a phone call as soon as the sun is down and I won’t need a ride.” I looked over at the sunset and smiled, it wouldn’t be long, and I was looking forward to laying all of this out in front of Mario and making him face his fledgling.

  I walked away from all the hustle and bustle and let Liz deal with Mason. I pulled my phone out and texted Mario to come get me.