Coven of Lies (The Bayshore Witch Legacy Book 2)

by C. J. Beaumont

  Coven of Lies

  The Bayshore Witch Legacy: Book 2

  C. J. Beaumont

  Copyright © 2020 by C. J. Beaumont

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  For Crystal Wood-Davis, Summer Atchison-Puckett, Shelby Clemmons, and all my Alpha Witches. You are literal lifesavers, and I love you for it.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Author Portrait

  Also by C. J. Beaumont

  We will purge all wickedness from our shores.

  The threat echoed through my mind. I shuddered as Dr. Abrams and Ray exchanged a grim look across the autopsy table.

  "Does this mean what I think it means?" Ray's hoarse question reverberated in the space between us, far too loud in the morgue’s still atmosphere. I half-expected Olivia’s body to flinch but forced my gaze back to the coroner’s taut expression to keep from staring at the waterlogged corpse. Dr. Abrams’ lips pinched into a thin line and her gray eyes turned flinty.

  "I can't say for sure." shook her head and sighed.

  "I'll say it," I said around the hard lump of terror in my throat. "Someone has declared war on the Bayshore Coven."

  The foot I injured when I jumped out of Ray’s window throbbed, aching more intensely with every beat of my heart. I shifted my weight, trying to ease the pain. A chill tore down my spine and my vision blurred as a wave of dizziness swirled through me. I swayed on the spot, blindly reaching for Ray. Shapes, colors, and sounds that didn't belong in the morgue assaulted me.

  I haven't had a vision since before my suicide attempt.

  My mind raced as I tried desperately to make the blurred images come into focus. I concentrated with everything I had, but it did no good. Things remained filmy, as if there were several gauzy curtains between me and whatever I was supposed to be seeing. Pressure built in my ears, as if I dove far too deep underwater without equalizing the pressure.

  Then I heard garbled voices but couldn't make out what they were saying. It was all just senseless noise. A pain seared between my shoulder blades. A loud, hissing sizzle assaulted my ears, and I smelled something burning...

  Flesh.

  I gagged, sickened by the stench and the mind-numbing pain. Black spots danced in front of my eyes. The sound of harsh voices, sharp enough for me to hear, clung to me and churned my stomach.

  "That's enough!" Something about the man’s voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't pin it down.

  "No, it isn't. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. You hunt the bitches for a living, so I'd think you'd hold that tenet sacred," another man growled.

  "I do, brother, but we need this one. If you kill our only lead now, we'll never be able to eradicate them all properly."

  Just as suddenly as it started, my ears popped and I blacked out.

  Persistent, annoying beeps woke me. I squinted at my bright surroundings, dazed and reeling. Why am I back in the ER? A nurse checked my vitals and Ray sat slumped in a plastic chair beside my gurney.

  “What happened?” My dry throat ached, and my voice cracked.

  Ray shrugged. “You passed out while we were speaking to Dr. Abrams down in the morgue.”

  I scowled down at the IV line in my arm and darted a frustrated glance at Ray as I cleared my throat, and then turned my attention back to the nurse.

  "Would you mind giving us some privacy for a minute?"

  Her pitch-dark eyebrow almost got lost in her cloud of dark curls. "I'll be done in just a moment, and then I'll be happy to."

  She pursed her lips and shook her head at me, but didn't voice any further opinions about my brusque request.

  I jiggled my uninjured foot as I waited for her to finish up and exit the ER bay.

  The second she snapped the curtain closed behind her, I pushed up into a sitting position and glared at Ray. "The ER again? Really? Don't you think that if I was fine enough to hobble down to the morgue, I was okay to leave?"

  Ray stared up at the ceiling for a long moment and a muscle in his jaw ticked. "You passed out, Roxanne. Dr. Abrams called an orderly to come get you and chewed my ass while she was at it. You needed treatment, whether you wanted it or not." He crossed his arms as if that meant the discussion was over.

  "Look," I hissed, swinging my legs off the side of the hospital bed. "We don't have time for this, Ray. I didn't black out from my injuries. I blacked out because I had a vision."

  "You what?" He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. "What kind of vision?"

  "It was blurry. Muddled. I couldn't see clearly, couldn't make out what was being said, either. At first, the only thing that was clear was the hissing, burning, and that stench." I shuddered and suppressed a gag. "The smell of burning flesh. I think that's what was happening. Burning or branding, maybe in an attempt to extract information from the witch they were discussing. And I could feel it. The longer I felt that awful pain, the clearer the sounds became." I leaned closer.

  Ray pressed his lips into a hard, grim line. "Do these kinds of things happen often?"

  "I haven't had a vision since—" I paused and cleared my throat, my heart stuttering at how close I'd come to saying something about my suicide attempt, and worse, about Shadow. "It's been seven years since I had one."

  "Do you know what triggers them? Did what you managed to overhear offer any clues, anything that might help us find Kat?"

  I shook my head. "The woman who I think was being tortured didn't say anything. Something about the male voices sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why." I picked at the adhesive around the IV port, contemplating ripping it out. "We don't have time for me to be trapped here, Ray, not if there’s a chance it was my sister they were hurting."

  "It can't take that long." Ray's stern scowl made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. "Besides, you're no good to your sister in an injured state, Roxanne."

  I leaned back, studying him through narrowed eyes. "What, exactly, are you trying to say?"

  He held up his hands in a placating sort of gesture and slumped down a little further in his chair. "I'm saying that you can't rescue anybody or be at the top of your game if you're injured. Even if you don't want to do the smart thing and take a step back from the investigation until we know who firebombed my condo and why, at least let the doctors here patch you up before you dive right back into the line of fire."

  I stared at him, unblinking. He looked everywhere except at me. I drummed my fingers on the gurney mattress for a long moment. "Why would I ever take a step back from the investigation, Ray? My baby sister is missing, possibly being tortured out of her mind right now."

  "I—" Ray started, but his voice faltered into floundering silence. He clasped his hands and
stared down at them, still avoiding eye contact with me. "I just meant that maybe you could take a breather, step back. Would it be so bad to work things from the safety of the office and let me go out, let me be the one in the line of fire instead of you?"

  "That's very...chivalrous of you, but I'm going to be in the line of fire no matter where I go until this thing gets solved. I will not sit on the sidelines or use you as some kind of human shield when I could be out there, helping you find Kat and bring her home safe."

  Ray tilted his head and tapped his index finger against his lips, his dark, unreadable eyes boring into me with unsettling focus. I squirmed under the dissecting scrutiny and picked at the hem of my hospital gown, tugging it down while a self-conscious flush crept up my neck.

  "Why are you looking at me like that?" My voice was hoarse and breathy, and I cringed at how air-headed I sounded in that moment.

  There was a time in your life when you would have given anything to have Ray Hammond this interested in you. Now look at yourself, still secretly desperate for his approval, but you know you're never going to get it, don't you? Shadow's taunting, sing-song tone made the hot blush in my cheeks a thousand times more uncomfortable, and I cringed, silently pleading with her to shut the hell up.

  "There's something I still don't get about this whole situation and it's bothering me." He pursed his lips and gestured at me. "I know you said you don't do magic anymore because things got too dangerous for you. That's all well and good, but if you're genuinely desperate to find your sister and you're in danger anyway, I don't understand what's stopping you from practicing magic again. It can't be more dangerous than people who'll firebomb a condo in an attempt to burn you alive."

  I glared up at the ceiling. "What part of 'too dangerous' did you miss, Ray?"

  I balled my hands into fists, staring down at my taut white knuckles as I spoke through gritted teeth. "The last time I willingly performed magic, it almost killed me. If I'm no good to my sister injured, I'm certainly useless to her dead."

  Ray sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Magic didn't seem that dangerous when Olivia demonstrated it to me. I'll admit I wasn't so much a fan of seeing your granny's ghost, but that was freaky, not overly threatening. So, I can't help feeling like there's something you're not telling me, here." Ray crossed his arms. "At the very least, you could have protected yourself, even if you couldn't stop the fire in my condo. You told me witches can levitate without a broom. I feel like that definitely would have been a better option than jumping out a window and hurting yourself needlessly."

  "I can't, okay?" I hissed the words through clenched teeth, my whole body trembling with white-hot anger and shame. "I haven't been able to willingly do magic for the last seven years, and I wouldn't even if I could!" I shuddered as I struggled to contain the emotional shit storm his words ignited.

  Ray's lips twisted into a disgusted scowl and he shook his head. "That doesn’t track with the rest of your behavior. I don't get why you won’t use the one thing that could probably help us find your sister before another witch—potentially her, by the way—turns up dead."

  "Seriously?" I screeched, wincing at the piercing volume of my voice, but somehow unable to modulate it. "How is the fact that I almost died not enough information for you?"

  "I just don't understand why you're being so secretive. Were you involved in something bad or what? Did you make a mistake? Just explain to me why the thing that is obviously the simplest solution to our problems isn't an option for you."

  I almost choked on a bitter laugh. "I'm sorry your condo burned, really, but I don't owe you an explanation, Ray."

  Besides, it's not like he'd understand. He was one of the ones who drove you into Kris's arms. He didn't believe the truth back then, and you have no reason to believe he'd understand now.

  I pressed my hands against my temples, wishing I could crush my aching skull and rip Shadow out of the shards with my bare hands.

  "Just shut up, will you?" I snapped.

  Ray jumped and then glared at me through narrowed eyes.

  "All I've done is suggest that you try to preserve your personal safety and ask you why the simplest solution isn't something you're willing to do. There's no need to yell at me," he said. His face was red, and a vein pumped furiously in his neck.

  "I wasn't even yelling at you, Ray. I was yelling at her." I rocked back and forth on the edge of the bed, desperate for relief.

  "Her who? There's nobody else here." Ray motioned at the empty room.

  The curtain for my cubicle snapped open and the nurse planted her hands on her hips, blanketing us in her quelling glare. "I'm only going to ask you two to calm down this one time before I call security and have the one of you who is not my patient escorted out. Do I make myself clear?"

  "Sorry." I stared down at my hands.

  Ray, on the other hand, cleared his throat. "All I was doing was trying to convince her to stay and get the care she needs, rather than running out of here against medical advice again."

  I felt the nurse's sharp gaze burning over my body like a laser. I didn't look up but heard the click of the keyboard on the mobile laptop station. "Would you care to explain why you keep trying to bolt out of my ER despite your own best interests, Miss Cole?"

  I shook my head and shot Ray a baleful glare.

  How dare he throw us under the bus like that, Shadow hissed. He's the one who was pushing you about magic, trying to dig into things that are none of his damn business.

  Swift, hot anger rushed through me. As much as I hated to, I couldn't help agreeing with Shadow. I squeezed my eyes shut as the tidal wave of negative feelings grew. Energy boiled off me in waves. The instruments nearest me started vibrating in place.

  "What the hell?" Ray gasped.

  The frequency of the vibrations intensified. The nurse whimpered like a frightened, feral animal, and my eyes popped open of their own accord. They both stared at me with wide eyes and flared nostrils. The instruments levitated, swirling around me like ships caught in a maelstrom.

  Why don't you show Ray exactly why it's a bad idea to push you when it comes to magic? Why don't you show them you won't allow yourself to be bullied ever again?

  "Stop it," I whispered, desperate to regain control of the situation, even as the storm of flying instruments orbiting around me grew more frenzied.

  No. They deserve it.

  An otoscope smashed into Ray's nose and he yelped. Blood trickled out of one of his nostrils and he reached up to wipe it away as he jumped up and scrambled to the bay curtain. Locking eyes with me, he shook his head and his lip curled with disgust. "You wouldn't use magic even if you could, huh?"

  His unspoken accusation hung in the air between us. Liar. My chest ached and tears stung my eyes. I opened my mouth to protest, or maybe try to explain that I wasn't the one in control of the magic, but no sound came out around the hard lump of emotions clogging my throat.

  When I didn't manage to say anything, he shook his head and pulled my phone, insurance card, and driver's license out of his pocket and dumped them on the roll-away tray beside the bed. He turned to the still-frozen-with-shock nurse with a dark, frustrated scowl. "You don't have to bother to call security. I'm out of here."

  He stomped out without so much as a glance back.

  The nurse sprang into action, snatching the curtain aside and calling into the hall for help as she dodged the rolling stool that lifted off the floor to join the objects pelting around the room helter-skelter. Several more nurses rushed in and a doctor followed.

  "Somebody get me a sedative, now!" The nurse who'd been assigned to my cubicle shouted it directly in the wide-eyed doctor's face.

  The walls and floor of my bay started shaking as panicked adrenaline jolted through my system.

  Run! Shadow sounded desperate, and I realized she didn't want to lose the little bit of control she'd managed to assert through my angry outburst.

  I dug my fingernails into my palms and fought to stay ri
ght where I was, perched on the edge of the gurney. My nurse snatched a syringe out of the fumbling doctor's hand and did her best to dodge flying debris as she lunged for my IV.

  Whatever she pushed into the line burned its way up my arm like she'd injected me with hot lava. I cried out and reached for the IV port in my arm, ready to rip it out and make a break for it when the burning sensation reached the hollow behind my ear. In an instant, the whole world fell into dark, silent oblivion and the burning sensation snuffed out, leaving absolute nothingness in its wake.

  I groaned and tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids felt like they weighed a million pounds each. An irritating, repetitive beeping changed pace, fluctuating in time with my increasing awareness.

  Ugh. What the hell is that noise? Is it an alarm? Can I turn it off? I should try to turn it off.

  My muddled, sluggish mind struggled to register what was going on until I forced my eyes open. I winced at the blinding, sickening fluorescent lights and sterile smells of the ER. Instinctively, I searched for Ray, but cringed when my eyes landed on my ID, insurance card, and cell phone lying on the roll-away table beside the bed. The events that happened before I was sedated all bubbled to the surface and I squeezed my eyes shut with a defeated sigh. The EKG machine went nuts under the crushing wave of conflicting emotions that assaulted me. The same nurse from before eased into my bay, eyeballing me like I was a rabid animal.

  "I'm sorry about...earlier," I mumbled lamely.

  She cut a sideways glance at me, and then immediately turned her gaze back to my vitals. "I don't know what happened, and I don't want to know. All I can tell you is I'd really prefer that it not happen again. We're slammed and running low on beds, so it's likely you'll be discharged soon to make room, unless you make trouble again like you did before."