Tony replied, “No idea, I haven’t heard from…” he trailed off as Kevin’s phone went off.
Kevin looked at it and grunted, “Tom’s been suspended, they should be here soon. He warned they might send out a fire inspector, and a detective to look into your parents’ deaths.”
I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.
“Monica?” I suggested.
Amber pursed her lips in thought for a moment.
“I don’t think so. We don’t know how deep this goes yet, and if they just walk away and forget about it others could take notice, especially if there are reports in the police computer system. It may come to that, but we need to know the full extent of things before we can fix the cover-up. Any idea what went wrong Kevin?”
Kevin grunted, “Tom’s voting for demon involvement. To get you out of the house, or maybe even arrested and split up.”
“Arrested,” I squeaked, and then blushed.
Kevin nodded, “The fire inspector won’t find a trace of the carbon monoxide issue, or see any recent repairs. He also won’t fail to notice the carbon monoxide detectors. Your parents were worth millions, and the detective will see motive in that. Not to mention the quick cremation of the bodies, there’s no way to do a full autopsy now, and that will make them suspicious. It’s all circumstantial, but it’s enough that they’re alarm bells will go off, and they’ll want to push you all for a confession.”
I sighed, “Damn Kevin, now I think I’m guilty.”
Amber snickered.
We pulled into the driveway, and it looked like the door had been forced. Of course, the fire department would have an override for the gate code, but it looked like they broke into the house. Which meant they must have a warrant. Was a judge involved in this, or just a dupe?
Sherry said, “I think Amber’s right, we need to go with the flow for now and see where it leads us. But what if they try to arrest us? We need to be hunting demons.”
Amber sighed, “I don’t know. Our wards will keep them out, but we’ve always had at least one person home before now. Without us here they could toss fire bombs or something, without ever crossing the ward. The more I think about it, the more it’s a clever strategy to both get us and our house in a vulnerable position.”
I frowned, “Maybe, but they could have done that this morning with us all out at the funeral, without trying to blow up our cover story, and risk exposing the supernatural world. Not that demons care about that latter part.”
Amber nodded, “That makes sense, so most likely it’s just targeted as us. Divide and conquer.”
Sherry said, “They probably want the house too, to keep the gateway hidden from humans. They won’t burn the house down.”
I hoped she was right.
A man in a brown suit walked out, and came toward the two cars pulling in. He was about six foot one, with blond hair and brown eyes. He was handsome if older, I’d guess around forty. His suit jacket was open, revealing both his side arm and his badge. He also had a slight paunch, but otherwise looked in good shape.
The ten of us got out of the car, and I winced internally when Monica looked to Amber for direction, who simply shook her head. I wasn’t the only one to notice the byplay, and the man’s eyes narrowed.
“I’m Detective Timothy Rice.”
Amber said, “Do you have a warrant to be here detective?”
Timothy studied her for a few moments, and reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, and handed it over.
Sherry asked, “What’s this about, we’ve just come from a funeral.”
Timothy shrugged, “Probably nothing. The investigation into your parents’ deaths was badly handled, and I’m here to make sure nothing was… overlooked? The fire inspector is ensuring whatever took the lives of your parents, isn’t still a danger. You all live here together?”
Amber said, “My sisters and I, yes. These are my neighbors, who have been very supportive in our time of grief.”
Timothy nodded, “Is that right?” he asked in a drawl as he turned to Kevin.
Kevin smiled, “Yes. Our families have been close friends for generations.”
I suppressed a giggle, much closer now. The detective didn’t seem to notice, he was studying Kevin and Amber for the moment. I imagined he’d picked up on the vibe that they were in charge, was that an odd thing in his experience? Probably. Most families wouldn’t look at one person for their lead like that, we acted more like a military unit looking to their commander for orders than a normal family.
Not all the time, but the last few days had brought that out, we were all in defensive mode.
Another man walked out, this one in light brown pants and a fire department t-shirt that hugged his body tightly. He also had a cap on. He was attractive, almost a fireman cliché, with a well-built body, and handsome face. He had black hair, green eyes, and a perfect smile.
Unfortunately, I had a different man stuck in my mind’s eye. I still had no idea what to do with Derek. Derek had black hair, and brown eyes. He was also undeniably sexy, well built, and was extremely attractive. He was also a man slut, who got caught checking out my sister. Normally that stuff didn’t bother me, but in his case, I had to admit to myself I was insanely jealous. How could my sister steal the attention of my own mate? How was that at all fair?
I didn’t like the feeling, shouldn’t my destined mate be staring at me? Was that shallow, that I wanted to be irresistible to him, so much so he didn’t even look at other women? Goddess, he wasn’t even here and I couldn’t think straight.
I wasn’t a violent person, but I wanted to go on a murder spree and kill every woman that ever touched him, and then him too. Of course, that would probably highly depopulate the area. I hated feeling like this, I didn’t know what to do with any of it. He brought out a part of me I didn’t like, and that I’d never known even existed.
The fireman said, “I’m Fire Inspector Steven Marron. I’m sorry for your loss.”
He handed a folder to the detective and said, “Those are the results.”
The detective asked, “Did you find anything?”
Steven shook his head, “Not in the usual places, it looks like everything’s taken care of. I’d advise the family stay somewhere else, until it can be gone over thoroughly.”
Timothy hummed, “That’s downright interesting, no problems you say?”
Steven said, “Well, no. Did you folks get a professional to look at it?”
That was a sticky question, we’d never imagined we’d need to manufacture proof for the cover up. Normally this type of thing didn’t go anywhere, supernatural deaths were covered up all the time.
Kevin said, “No. One of the vents were obstructed.”
My head turned at the sound of the engine. Of course, it was Tom, Derek, and Adam. Adam didn’t get out though, just the former two. Adam immediately put it in reverse and left.
The detective said, “Deputy Foster, what brings you by?”
Tom replied coolly, “Personal,” as he took Jennifer’s hand.
Well, wasn’t this fun? It looked like Derek was trying to catch my eye, I ignored it for now. Even if I knew what to say, and could resist slapping him again, this was hardly the time to have our personal issued aired.
Steven said, “I’d highly advise you to get a professional out to look at it.”
Amber nodded, “Are we free to go inside?”
Timothy shook his head, “I need to search the premises, Steven here was just making sure the house was safe for me. It is safe, isn’t it?”
I didn’t like the insinuation in his voice. Of course, he was right about one thing, it hadn’t been carbon monoxide poisoning that killed my parents. But then, it hadn’t been us either.
Steven said, “It appears to be, there isn’t any abnormal buildup of CO inside. I am curious about something though, what are those designs on the basement floor about? You ladies witches or something?”
He lau
ghed at his own joke.
Monica said, “Detective, inspector.”
They both looked over to her, and Timothy said, “Yes miss…” and trailed off.
Monica smiled, “Monica, Monica Perry. You gentlemen do your job, but ignore the marks on the basement floors, don’t even mention them or write it down. Oh, and stay out of the library.”
That was a good call, it was best not to stop it altogether or we’d trip flags for others, but we didn’t need them looking through family journals or spell books. At best, they’d commit us to a mental institution, at worst they’d think we were some kind of occult weirdos that killed our parents for their money.
Both men nodded a little dreamily.
Kevin said, “Let’s go to my place, when do you think you’ll be done detective?”
Steven seemed to have recovered, “Don’t rightly know. I’ll be respectful of your property, and that will take time. I imagine it’ll be safe enough come tomorrow morning. I’ll be in touch.”
The detective turned around and walked away. The fireman went to his car and drove off, as we got back in our cars and headed for the pack house. The cars were a little stuffed, they weren’t meant for six. Jennifer sat on Tom’s lap in the other car, and Sherry was on Tony’s lap. I was stuck in the middle, with my left side pushed up against Derek. It was all I could do not to scream at him, we definitely had to talk, but I really didn’t recognize myself. When it came to Derek I was a jealous angry mess. At least he was being quiet.
Amber said, “We should put up wards there, to keep the demons out, or at least wards strong enough to give us a warning.”
Kevin said, “That’s fine with me.”
I volunteered, “I can get that done, I’ll rope Diana and maybe Danielle into helping me, that will speed things up.”
It would also get me away from Derek. I needed to find my usual peace of mind before we had a conversation. I had to get over the fact that he’d slept with more than a lot of other women, and would probably be comparing me to them for the rest of our lives. I wondered just how far I would fall short in his mind to that kind of thing.
Tony asked, “It will?”
I said, “Of course, Diana is Earth. She can scribe the warding symbols into your foundation with a thought. It will make it more powerful, and more permanent, than chalk. It will still take her time to fashion each one, she can’t do it all at once, but it’s still a million times faster than a hammer and chisel would be.”
Derek asked, “Will it be as powerful as your outer wall ward?”
I shook my head, and replied in a strained monotone, “No. More like the circle wards in the basement, just in reverse and much larger and stronger. Keeping things out instead of in. It would keep out a concerted demon attack for several hours, and inform us of the attack. The outer ward on the estate is far more complex, and grows stronger just from our presence within the house. It’s been built up over generations. We can make this one stronger too, enough to be virtually unbreakable, but we’d have to feed it power consciously over a long time.”
It wasn’t like me to be so negative, and even if it was crazy, I blamed him for it, which made me angrier, which in turn made me blame him more. It was a vicious circle that I knew was stupid, but that I didn’t know how to break. I knew I needed to calm down and talk to him, if the goddess determined he was the best mate for me, I had to have faith in that. There had to be more to him than what I was seeing, a Neanderthal and womanizer, otherwise I was going to send him back for a refund.
Goddess help me, but there was also the fact his warm hard body against my left side, was driving me crazy. I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d rather be pressed up against someone else, and it was killing me because I was very attracted to him. Half of me wanted to choke him, and the other half wanted to mount him.
Thank the goddess the pack house was only two miles away. We pulled into the drive. It was a big house, maybe even a small mansion, but much smaller than home. That wasn’t a big surprise, it was meant to house a small pack, not seven families. Regardless, there would be plenty of room in the place for thirteen of us, especially since six of us were already sharing rooms.
Twelve of us that is, Adam’s car wasn’t here.
We got out, and I called my youngest sisters over and let them know the plan.
Derek said, “I can show you to the basement?”
I took a deep breath, something told me it wasn’t going to be easy to get away from him. Perversely, I was pleased by that fact, even while it made me want to scream.
I managed to say, “Thanks, that would be great,” and even sounded like I meant it.
I don’t know what I expected when I went inside, maybe more like a bachelor’s pad, but for a pack of shifters. I shouldn’t have underestimated Jennifer, the rooms were very well balanced with accents, knickknacks, pictures, and other things that made the house into a warm home. I liked the atmosphere, and felt welcomed by the home itself. That might sound silly, but to a witch it wasn’t. Homes had personalities, just like people. Just… most people couldn’t feel it.
He led us through the living room, into the kitchen, and then through a door down into the basement. I smirked at the man cave we walked into, it was what I’d been expecting upstairs. Big screen television, easy chairs, and an entertainment center. At first I was worried at the basement being finished, but there was a wide access walkway between the foundation and the sheetrock walls for easy access.
My sisters and I got to work, and as I feared Derek stayed to watch, at least he was silent.
Diana scribed the runes, while Danielle and I empowered them. It was a process, the rune had meaning all unto itself, but the added intent we embedded into it with magic would make it far more specific, and define it to stand against evil, hostile beings, and dark magic. It would also connect the runes together. We weren’t really empowering or charging the ward yet as a whole, all seven of us would do so when the three of us were finished. We were just laying down to framework to accept the power, and define the rules.
Danielle said, “I’m worried, the hot shifters are running out.”
Derek coughed, and turned away.
I knew my sister said it in a teasing manner, but I also knew she was serious. Danielle was the youngest, but out of all of us I’d argue she was also the most eager and ready for a mate. Goddess help the man once he got into her sight. Danielle was mischievous, full of life, and extremely stubborn about getting what she wanted.
Diana chuckled, “That, and we’re thinking we shouldn’t go back to college. I know Amber wants us to go, but we’d feel like we were abandoning the rest of you.”
I smiled, “You have to go back.”
Danielle scowled, “What if our mates are here somewhere?”
I smirked, “What if they’re back at the college?”
Danielle looked shocked by that idea, I guess she never even thought of it.
“That doesn’t matter, when it’s time to meet them the goddess will bring them into your lives. Maybe she already has, and its only now that we’ve reaffirmed our service that you’ll see who they are. What matters more, is your careers, once this big demon is out of the picture, we can get along without you two.”
Diana frowned, “You shouldn’t have to.”
I shrugged, “I’ve read some of the journals, about twice a year there’s a huge cosmic tide and major breakout that has to be fought back. I suspect that kind of tide is what overloaded the spell and killed our parents. That means we won’t need you to take care of the gateway with us for six months. You’ll both be in your next year of college by then. Even if we did need you sooner, Sherry can pop over and grab you for the hour it takes to clean house. I guess what I’m saying is there’s no reason you can’t do both, follow your dreams and be and do what you want, as well as serve the goddess and help us guard the gateway.
“Think about it. Monica and Grace have their careers as well, and we’ll pursue them once the current crisi
s is over and things go back to business as usual for our family. Only Amber, Sherry, and myself have work we can do from the mansion, which makes us feel fulfilled. We have our careers too, they’re just independent careers. It’s okay to be a little selfish, life is a balance, and we serve a higher purpose and goddess, but we’re also women with our own needs. We’ll wilt without balance.”
One thing I was proud of, was I was the older sister the younger ones brought their doubts to. Amber was the matriarch and in charge, Sherry was there to kick them in the ass, but I had my own niche as well. I was the healer, protector, and nurturer.
Diana asked, “Are you sure? If I go through with it I’ll work long hours as a vet.”
I nodded, “With all seven of us, and empowered by the goddess, our three wards will last most of a day. We can schedule around things, even if we have to fight demons on all our lunch breaks, or wait until later that evening. You need to go back in three days regardless, I don’t want you to miss finals.”
I changed the subject, “How about you Diana, looking for your mate?”
Diana snickered, “Nope. I didn’t play the field like you all did in high school. I’m still getting that out of my system. Don’t get me wrong, I won’t run from it if it comes, but I’m not in a hurry either. Fine, we’ll go back to college in three days for finals, but if this isn’t finished by then, and things go down with that powerful demon, you better get us.”
I smiled, “I promise. Back to work?”
Diana smirked, “I never stopped, you two are about ten runes behind.”
~ Chapter Four – Derek ~
My fists clenched and unclenched in frustration.
Given the scents off my mate, my first inclination would be to kill whatever was causing them. Of course, that seemed to be me, which didn’t make sense to me at all. I knew I’d screwed up, but that badly? My mate was in turmoil, and I had no idea how to fix it.
The anger made sense, trying to kiss her without even a hello had been stupid. It was the uncertainty, jealousy, and anxiety that didn’t make any sense to me. She didn’t show it in her demeanor as she talked with and counseled her younger sisters, it was obvious she both doted on and loved them both, but Danielle was giving her worried looks when she wasn’t looking. Just as obviously, Danielle was the empath in the coven and could pick up the actual emotions, not just scents.
Guardian Healer: A Taylor Coven Novel: Book 3 Page 2
