Dark Coven

by J. C. Diem

  Wincing at a final stab of pain in his head, Mark nodded. “Six witches and warlocks are killing young, attractive people. They’re stealing their life forces to prolong their own lives.”

  “It looks like you’ll have to sit this one out,” Reece said. “The wards didn’t affect the rest of us.”

  “So it would seem,” Mark said as he removed a handkerchief from his pocket and attempted to mop the blood from his face. “Their spells must only be targeting humans.”

  “Yay for us,” Kala said with a factious grin. “They’re not going to know what hit them when we show up and tear their faces off.”

  “There will be no tearing of faces,” Mark said sternly. “Not until we have verification that the coven is responsible for the disappearances. We only have speculation at the moment.”

  Flynn asked a pertinent question. “Why hasn’t anyone investigated the missing people before if it’s been going on for so long?”

  “They’re very good at covering their tracks,” Mark replied. “They don’t just take people from Bradbury. They trawl the surrounding towns as well. They’ve only come to our attention now because they chose the wrong victim. One of the missing women is my superior’s niece. She was on vacation from work and planned to pass through West Virginia on the way to visit her parents. She disappeared a week ago. After my research turned up so many missing people from this area, I determined that Bradbury is the most likely point where she vanished.”

  “How many people have gone missing in the area so far this year?” Reece asked.

  Mark didn’t need to consult his tablet. He’d stored the knowledge in his brain. “Three who match the profile.”

  “They’ll already be dead by now,” Kala said with what would have seemed like clinical detachment to anyone else. I knew it was just her innate animal practicality because I felt the same way. It was sad that so many people had lost their lives, but crying about it wouldn’t bring them back. Finding proof that the witches were responsible and stopping the coven from performing any more sacrifices was our focus.

  “What sort of time frame are we looking at between each disappearance?” Flynn asked.

  “They always begin in November at the rate of one per week,” Mark replied. I’d lost track of time and realized that we were in the final week of November now. “Another person will go missing sometime this week.”

  “Since you’re out of commission, Lexi will have to team up with me,” Reece said.

  I bristled at his commanding tone. “I think we’ll call less attention to ourselves if Kala and I pair up,” I countered.

  We had a short staring match before Reece grudgingly gave in. “Suit yourself.”

  “Yep, she’s going to be an alpha alright,” Kala grinned. She lifted her hands in surrender when I cut a glance at her. “You don’t need to bend me to your will, oh Great and Powerful Overlord. I’ll be a good little minion,” she said in false panic that made Flynn snigger.

  “I’m not going to become anyone’s overlord,” I said crankily. “Besides, you’d be a terrible minion.” She couldn’t decide whether to be amused or offended by that comment.

  “I’d be an awesome minion,” Flynn decided. “Constrictors aren’t as flighty as wolves and cougars.” He winked to indicate he was kidding.

  Kala immediately bristled. “I’m not flighty! I could be a good puppet if I wanted to.”

  “Sure you could,” Reece teased. “You could become Lexi’s pet kitty.”

  Before she could object again, Mark cut in. “I’ll head back to base and do some more digging into the coven. Report in every fifteen minutes, unless something happens,” he instructed.

  We climbed out and I checked that the gun that I’d hidden in a pocket of my cargo pants wasn’t showing. My pants hung more heavily on the right side, but it wasn’t obvious that I was packing.

  Normally, we’d keep in contact via small earpieces. Since we were moving around in broad daylight, there was a chance that they might be spotted. We’d all been issued with PIA cell phones. In the unlikely event that we ran into trouble, our team mates were only a phone call away.

  We split into two groups as Mark slid across into the driver’s seat. We waited for him to drive away before we recommenced our journey. Reece and Flynn entered the woods to circle around to enter Bradbury from the east. The bond ensured that I could always feel Reece, but I had to concentrate to pick up on his thoughts and emotions the further apart we moved.

  My shoulders tensed in anticipation as Kala and I crossed back over the town line. I felt nothing, but that didn’t mean we hadn’t been noticed. For all I knew, we’d just triggered a magical alarm warning the coven that we were coming for them.

  I glanced at Kala to see she was still sulking about being ganged up on. “I’m sorry I said you’d be a terrible minion,” I said contritely.

  “You all think I’m just a ditzy blond who can’t follow a simple order without being reminded constantly,” she said with bitterness that took me aback.

  “No one thinks that, Kala.” I was shocked that she’d reached that conclusion. “What would make you say that?”

  Silent for a few moments, she blew out a sigh. “Because it’s true.”

  “What are you talking about?” I was genuinely flabbergasted.

  “I have the attention span of a turnip,” she confessed. “I get bored easily and lose track of what I’m supposed to be doing sometimes.” She sent me a wry look. “Why do you think Mark gets us to check in with him every fifteen minutes?”

  “Because he cares about us and he’s concerned about our welfare?”

  “It’s partly that, but he knows what I’m like.”

  “Is your lack of concentration due to your cougar nature?”

  She nodded and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “When I have a target in sight, I can stay focused until I’ve taken them down. That part is easy for me because I enjoy the chase. The rest of what we do tends to bore me to tears.”

  “Then it’s just as well we work as a team. I won’t let you lose focus and you can teach me how to be more effective when we’re hunting down our targets.”

  She grinned and bumped my shoulder with hers affectionately. “I’m really glad you’re on the team. It was kind of lonely being the only girl living with three guys.”

  “I’m glad, too.” I said and meant it. This wasn’t the career path I would have chosen, but at least I wasn’t stuck in an office filing all day. That was my personal idea of hell.

  “Why do I get the feeling that something happened between you and Garrett in New Orleans that you don’t want the rest of us to know about?” she asked. She already knew that we’d had to strengthen our bond by having sex again. Only one other thing had occurred that no one else knew about. It mystified me how she knew we were hiding something. I felt ashamed when I realized I had thought of her as being a bit flighty.

  “Do you remember Officer Mallory?” He and his partner had been plain clothes detectives. They’d followed us around a couple of times when we’d been investigating the zombie raisings. They’d suspected that we knew more than we’d been letting on.

  Kala nodded. “He was the young blond cop with the pale, creepy eyes. I had the feeling there was something off about him.”

  “You’re not wrong. It turns out he was a serial rapist and murderer.”

  She almost tripped in surprise, but her reflexes were good enough to save herself from falling. “How did you figure that out?”

  “He cornered me when Reece was checking one of the cemeteries. He told me what he’d done to some other girls and he said I was going to be his next victim.”

  Kala shook her head in amazement at his stupidity. “Did you kill him, or did Garrett do the deed?” She knew both of us well enough to guess that we hadn’t allowed him to live. Neither would she if she’d been in our situation.

  “Reece beat me to it,” I admitted. “He choked him to death, which was far quieter than the plan I’d ha
d of blasting his head apart.” I scowled that I’d been denied the kill.

  Kala chuckled in amusement. “You really are one of us now. It’s hard to believe how easily you’ve assimilated into becoming a shifter.”

  “What do you mean?” I knew very little about our kind. What I’d learned had come from reading through the archives and from firsthand experience.

  “I went through hell when I first turned,” she said as we walked past a house with a six foot high fence. A menacing growl came from the other side. I was pretty sure it was directed at Kala. “I was only fifteen and I didn’t have anyone with me when I went through the process.”

  “Neither did I,” I reminded her. “I didn’t even know what I was until Mark told me.”

  “That makes it even weirder how well you’ve taken to it,” she replied. “At least I knew I was going to turn long before it happened. I went through all kinds of mental torment for months afterwards. It was only when the guys turned a year later and we could all share the experience that I was finally able to come to terms with it.”

  Once again, I’d proven to be stranger than the rest of my kind. My hand rose to my right shoulder and rubbed the fresh scar. Maybe being bitten by a vampire when I was so young was to blame for my apparent ease at becoming a shifter. My body had already been compromised when I was a baby. There was a good chance that that had helped to prepare me to become a monster.

  “What did you do with Mallory’s body?” she asked, breaking me from my maudlin thoughts. We were walking along the main street, heading towards the center of town. Few pedestrians walked the streets. They flicked nervous glances at us before hurrying on about their business. Strangers seemed to be fairly rare. Their town was off the beaten path and it wasn’t easy to stumble across by accident.

  “We dumped him in the swamp.” We shared a smile at the poetic justice. “He was already being snacked on by alligators before we left.”

  “Serves him right,” Kala decided. “You should tell Mark about it. He’ll make sure the police are aware of what the cop had been doing in his spare time. I’m sure the girls’ families would want to know what happened to them.”

  “You’re right,” I realized. It worried me that I hadn’t automatically thought of the suffering that their families were going through. How much of myself had I lost when I’d become a shifter? Would I one day lose my compassion altogether? None of the others had so far, but we all knew that I was different from them. Who knew what I would eventually turn into, or if I’d be able to retain any of my humanity at all?

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Nine

  It was mid-morning on a weekday and the town was fairly quiet. There was nothing unusual about Bradbury that I could see. The nearby businesses included a hair salon, a gas station, several clothing boutiques, a used book store and a convenience store.

  Kala pointed to a café on the next corner and we crossed the street to take a closer look. The sign above the door read ‘Kate’s Kafé’.

  “I hate it when they use atrocious spelling like that,” I complained. It was probably supposed to be eye catching, but it just grated on my nerves.

  “You mean that’s not how you spell café?” Kala asked, pretending to be the dumb blond she thought she was. A bell jingled overhead as she pushed the door open.

  Two customers sat at one of the small round tables. In their late seventies, the two old women glared at us suspiciously as we walked past them on our way to the counter. If this was the welcoming committee, then I could see why the town had so few visitors.

  The woman behind the counter turned around and I saw one of the faces from the old photo at Dawson’s Retreat. I struggled to hide my alarm that we were standing so close to one of the witches.

  “Hi there. I’m Kate. Are you new to town?” she asked in a falsely bright tone. Her dark brown hair was pulled up into a neat ponytail. It was far less severe than the bun she’d worn in the old photo. Her mouth was smiling, but her cold green eyes assessed us both carefully.

  “We’re just passing through,” Kala replied. She hid her reaction far better than I did.

  “What can I get you?” the witch asked. She wore a demure skirt with a flower print and a virginal white blouse. If I hadn’t known what she was, I’d have had a difficult time believing she was evil. I knew she’d cast a spell that made her look like she was in her fifties, but she looked like she was in her late twenties to me.

  “I’ll have a vanilla milkshake,” Kala ordered.

  “And you?” she asked me.

  “I’ll have a chocolate one, thanks,” I replied with what I hoped was a friendly smile. I was beginning to realize there was far more to being an agent than simply blowing holes in the bad guys. I’d have to become an accomplished actress to prevent tipping off our targets that we were hunting them.

  “Take a seat anywhere and I’ll bring them right over,” she said.

  I followed Kala to a table near the window. We could easily overhear the two little old ladies talking on the far side of the room as we took our seats.

  “Did you hear that a tourist went missing a few days ago?” one of them said. “Apparently, she stopped in Kate’s Kafé for a meal. She went missing shortly after she left town.” I’d be willing to bet that she hadn’t left town at all. The coven had kidnapped her and used her for their nefarious means. One of the witches would have hidden her car where it wouldn’t easily be found.

  “What a terrible shame,” the other woman replied. “Someone should do something about all the crime in this country.”

  Neither mentioned the other people who’d gone missing over the years. They didn’t show much actual concern about the tourist’s disappearance. I cocked an eyebrow at Kala. She had a theory ready for me. “The coven has probably laid a hex over the entire town. Their spells could be preventing anyone from questioning the disappearances too closely.”

  “Witches have that much power?” I asked skeptically.

  “These ones seem to,” she shrugged. Our conversation broke off when Kate appeared. I was reluctant to drink anything that one of the coven members had prepared. Feeling the same way, Kala furtively smelled her drink and took a cautious sip as the witch walked away.

  “Do you remember our mission?” I asked her when the witch was safely behind the counter again. It was the only way I could think to check that Kala hadn’t been fed a mind wiping potion.

  “We’re here to conquer and destroy,” she replied woodenly, then smirked at my alarm. “Just kidding. We’re on the prowl for the coven.”

  “Speak of the devil,” I murmured when another familiar person strode past the window. One of the warlocks pushed the door open and entered the café. He nodded amiably at the two old women then strode over to the counter. The elderly pair tittered coyly behind their hands. They were admiring the handsome man who they thought was only twenty or so years younger than they were. They clearly had no idea that he and his circle held the entire town captive by their black magic.

  Kala took her cell phone out and sent a text message to Mark, checking in as ordered. She continued to play with her phone while listening in on the quiet conversation between the two coven members. I watched their reflections in the window as they spoke in hushed tones.

  “One of the wards was tripped about twenty minutes ago,” the warlock said in a low voice. His hair was the same shade of dark brown as his sister’s. It hung at chin length and fell forward to half-hide his face. I caught a glimpse of his glittering green eyes and suppressed a shiver of dread. I could practically feel power emanating from the pair.

  “Have they been reset yet?” Kate asked. She didn’t look particularly concerned. This obviously wasn’t the first time they’d been threatened. The fact that they still remained undiscovered meant that they were well practiced at facing their foes. So far, they’d always emerged as the victors.

  “I just took care of it myself,” he confirmed. “I checked the roads in and out of town and I didn’t fi
nd any bodies this time. I don’t know how they managed to escape before dying from an aneurism.”

  “Do you think these two are involved?” she asked and sent a suspicious glance towards our table.

  He looked over his shoulder at us and was silent long enough for my shoulders to tense up again. “I doubt it,” he said finally. “I’m not picking up anything suspicious from either of them.” To me, they looked similar enough to be twins. They had the same eyes, nose and pointed chins.

  I didn’t allow my shoulders to slump in relief when he looked away. Instead, I took a sip of my milkshake. Kala rapidly sent a message, presumably to the others to warn them that the coven was aware of the breech in their defenses. We’d have to be extremely careful to remain under the radar now. It might be best if Reece and Flynn remained out of sight altogether. She received a message a few seconds later and turned her phone around so I could read it.

  Reece had responded to her warning with confirmation that he and Flynn would keep a low profile. Mark had been right when he’d warned us that five strangers would be noticed. Only two of us had been spotted so far and we’d already drawn too much attention to ourselves.

  “What’s their story?” the warlock said and nodded towards us.

  “The blond said they’re just passing through.”

  “Watch them to make sure they leave. I’m going to run a sweep of town and see if any other strangers are lurking around.”

  I stiffened and Kala darted a warning look at me not to blow our cover. She sent another message to the guys and received a reply a few seconds later. “They’re going to bring the SUV to the café,” she whispered almost beneath their breath. Only someone with supernatural hearing could have made out what she was saying. “Reece will park it around the corner then head back to the B&B on foot.”

  “How long will that take?” I asked.

  “At least half an hour.”

  While we could run very fast when we wanted to, the guys would have to remain out of sight while they retrieved the SUV. That would slow them down, which meant we needed to stall for time. “I’m hungry,” I whined loudly enough for the witch to be able to hear me. “Can we have breakfast before we leave?” My tone was annoyingly wheedling.