The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum

by Wendy Saunders

  ‘We’re still not sure exactly what he gave you. It must have been some kind of sedative so you’re going to feel pretty sleepy until it wears off completely. We’ll monitor you for the next twenty four hours and then you should be okay to go home.’

  ‘How long have I been here?’ Olivia frowned.

  ‘Several hours already,’ Theo replied.

  ‘Where’s Beau? You shouldn’t leave him at home on his own, he’s only a puppy.’

  ‘Relax,’ Louisa replied as she scribbled some notes on Olivia’s chart, ‘he’s fine. He’s in the staff lounge being spoiled rotten by my interns.’

  ‘Oh,’ she smiled, ‘okay then.’

  ‘Olivia,’ Mac stepped forward. ‘I know you’re tired, but I really do need to ask you a few questions.’

  ‘Me first,’ she replied, her eyes narrowing.

  ‘Shoot.’

  ‘Where’s Walcott?’

  ‘We haven’t found him yet,’ Mac admitted. ‘Unfortunately for us he grew up in those woods, he knows them better than just about anyone. It may take us a while to find him. But the good news is, he has no food or supplies. He can’t hide out in the woods indefinitely, especially with the weather turning. Sooner or later he’ll surface and trust me, we will find him.’

  ‘Why should I trust you?’ Olivia snapped crossly. ‘Look what happened last time.’

  ‘I know you have no reason to trust me Olivia, but I really am on your side here.’

  She sighed and shook her head. She knew it probably wasn’t the guy’s fault, but she’d really had enough of cops and Thomas Walcott in particular. However, she wasn’t stupid enough to ignore the situation. She knew as long as Walcott was on the loose she was in danger, so whether she liked it or not she needed the police on her side.

  ‘Fine, ask,’ she shrugged.

  ‘Why don’t you start by telling us what happened?’

  ‘I was down in the parking garage, waiting for a ride home,’ she glared at Mac pointedly. ‘Erica went outside to make a phone call. I heard a noise and the next thing I knew I woke up in a small cabin in the woods with Thomas Walcott for company. You know he was crazy before, but now he’s almost completely unhinged. He’s convinced the body you found today was James Talbot.’

  ‘His lover?’ Mac clarified.

  ‘You know about that?’ she replied with some surprise.

  ‘Jake told me.’

  ‘Did he,’ her gaze locked on Jake’s.

  ‘So he’s confused?’ Mac pulled her attention back.

  ‘It’s like he’s getting the past and present mixed up. The victims then and the victims now are all the same and he’s also getting me mixed up with my father. At one point he was convinced I killed James. He couldn’t seem to reconcile that I was a child at the time. He sees me as I am now, but back then, if that makes sense. He’s completely lost touch with reality. He was using me as bait.’

  ‘Yeah we pretty much figured that,’ Mac scratched his chin thoughtfully.

  ‘The cabin was the place he hung out with my dad and James when they were kids. He knew my dad would find him there. He planned to kill my dad and then put a bullet in my head, his words not mine,’ she added dryly. ‘He said he couldn’t trust the system so he’d have to take matters into his own hands. He pretty much planned to keep me alive long enough to get to my dad, then he was going to kill me.’

  ‘That’s not going to happen,’ Mac shook his head. ‘I’ve assigned an armed guard to watch you at all times until Walcott is in custody.’

  ‘Not good enough,’ Olivia replied. ‘I want Jake.’

  ‘Sorry I can’t do that, I need him. The department’s in a hell of a mess. I need him on the murders. He seems to have a remarkable level of knowledge on the case seeing as he wasn’t actually assigned to it,’ he cast a dry glance at Jake.

  ‘I thought someone should actually be investigating the murders since Walcott seemed to be busy amusing himself by stalking Olivia.’

  ‘Exactly, that’s why I need you, as you seem to be the only one in the department with a brain.’

  ‘As flattering as that is,’ Jake’s eyes narrowed, ‘I need to know Olivia is going to be safe.’

  ‘She will be,’ Mac answered. ‘How about two armed guards brought in from outside. We’ll borrow a couple of guys from the county sheriff’s department.’

  ‘Okay, done,’ Jake nodded.

  ‘Uh, when you two are quite done deciding my life for me,’ Olivia frowned.

  ‘We just want you safe,’ Mac turned back to Olivia. ‘You said you saw your dad at the cabin?’

  ‘Yes I did.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘I didn’t really hear much of what they said, I was pretty drugged up,’ she shook her head.

  Actually she’d heard every single word, but they didn’t need to know about that. She certainly couldn’t mention magic in front of Captain Macallister or he’d think she was crazy too. She’d have to tell Theo and Jake later when they were alone.

  ‘My dad wasn’t alone though, he had the pale haired man with him. He called him Davis.’

  ‘The man the Feds think helped him escape Morley Ridge?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Okay I’ll run the name Davis and see what we come up with,’ Mac replied. ‘Although if your father is the killer, we’re now into uncharted territory.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ she frowned.

  ‘The murders stopped after the fourth victim in 1994. The body they found this morning was victim number four. After this, we have no idea whether there is going to be any more bodies, or if the murderer will go to ground again.’

  Unfortunately Olivia did know. If Theo’s premonition was right there would be five murders, the last one would have his heart removed and it would take place after the first snowfall. But there was no way to explain to Captain Macallister how she knew that.

  ‘I’m going to head back in, give you a chance to rest,’ Mac turned to Jake. ‘Deputy Gilbert?’

  ‘Jake,’ he replied. ‘I’ll meet you back at the station.’

  Mac nodded in agreement before slipping quietly from the room.

  ‘Okay Olive,’ Jake turned back to her, ‘what didn’t you want to say in front of the Captain?’

  ‘Walcott knows how to cross my protection lines. He knows I’m a witch.’

  ‘How?’ Theo frowned.

  ‘He’s knows I’m a witch because my dad is and my mom was. As for crossing the line, he had a Mojo bag. His grandmother was a Hoodoo woman, she taught him her secrets, which means he can counteract some of my power. I’m not sure how much, as Hoodoo isn’t my specialty. I just don’t know enough about it.’

  ‘Damn it,’ Jake swore.

  ‘There is something else,’ she breathed heavily. ‘It’s about my father.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘He said something to me, before they knocked me out,’ she hesitated. ‘I asked him flat out why he killed mom and why the others had to die, and he said that I would understand soon.’

  ‘I don’t like the sound of that.’

  ‘Neither do I,’ Olivia shook her head.

  ‘I hate to say it Olive,’ Jake breathed heavily, ‘but it’s starting to look more and more like your father is the killer.’

  ‘I know,’ she replied in a small voice as she stared down at the blanket, ‘but why would he want to turn a demon loose? That’s the part I just don’t understand.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Look I’m going to head back to the station and go back over the cases.’

  Olivia nodded quietly.

  ‘There’s one more thing Olive,’ he took a deep breath, bracing himself for her reaction. ‘I’m going to pull your mom’s file.’

  ‘What?’ she frowned. ‘Why?’

  ‘To see if they missed anything,’ he answered, ‘just think about it. What if your dad is the killer, maybe she found out?’
r />   ‘You think that’s why he killed her?’

  ‘I’m not sure yet, but Captain Macallister mentioned that he was there the night your dad was arrested and that he was ranting something about demons and a devil’s trap. I’m going to check out your dad’s arrest record as well. It’s all connected, we just need to figure out how. Now that Walcott is not here to hinder us, we might finally have a chance to do that.’

  She nodded mutely, not trusting her voice.

  ‘I’ll check in on you later,’ he leaned over the bed and dropped an affectionate kiss on her head. His eyes met Theo’s for a second and a silent understanding passed between them. He would not leave her side again, not until Walcott was in custody.

  Jake slipped from the room and Theo stood slowly, stretching his legs and easing the kink in his neck. He wandered to the window and stared out into the darkness. The sun had set and the sky was a great empty vastness. There were no stars tonight. It seemed the heavens were as black as his mood. No matter what he did, he couldn’t shake the images from his dream, of Olivia lying on the ground, and the crisp white snow deep in the heart of the woods, stained crimson with her blood. They were running out of time, he could feel it.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ he heard her ask sleepily.

  ‘Nothing love,’ he murmured turning back to her. ‘You should get some sleep.’

  He was just dimming the lights and removing some of the cushions propping her up, when they heard a small polite knock and a nurse popped her head around the door.

  ‘Sorry to disturb you, but I’ve got some more flowers that were delivered to the front desk. Can I bring them in?’

  Theo nodded and she disappeared, reappearing moments later with a vase, which held a bouquet of stunning deep blue tulips.

  Olivia forced herself upright in bed, staring at the flowers with wide eyes.

  ‘They’re so unusual,’ the nurse settled them on the table at the foot of the bed, directly in Olivia’s eye line. ‘I’ve never seen them this color before, they must’ve been dyed. I’m afraid there was no card with them.’

  She turned and smiled at Olivia.

  ‘I’ll just let you get some rest then.’

  She disappeared back through the door and clicked it closed behind her.

  ‘What is it?’ Theo asked as her face paled.

  ‘They’re from my father,’ she murmured.

  A memory seared through her mind, white hot and without warning, and for a brief heart stopping moment she was back in the house the night her mother died. She gave a gasp, dragging a deep lungful of air in as Theo watched her with troubled eyes.

  ‘He was holding them, the flowers,’ her voice was so quiet he almost missed the words. ‘He came home that night holding them in his arms, a big bouquet of them. They were mom’s favorite. He was smiling, I was sitting on the stairs with Truman and he winked at me and held his finger to his lips. He wanted to surprise her.’

  ‘He didn’t intend to kill her,’ Theo spoke quietly moving closer. ‘You told me that night you woke because you heard them arguing and you came downstairs.’

  ‘I did wake because I heard arguing and I crept downstairs,’ she shook her head trying to clear her thoughts. ‘But I know I was sitting on the stairs when he came through the door.’

  ‘Then who was she arguing with, if it wasn’t your father?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she tried to remember. ‘I followed him into the kitchen.’

  ‘What happened? If you saw him come through the door and you followed him into the kitchen that means you saw everything,’ Theo sat on the bed beside her, taking her arms gently in his hands.

  ‘Olivia... you saw the murder.’

  She shook her head, trying to block out the pain. In her mind she could see the flowers strewn across the floor their stems snapped and their delicate petals crushed, turning a darker shade as they absorbed the blood they lay in.

  ‘Olivia,’ Theo spoke more firmly as she became lost in the panic of an eight year old child. ‘What happened next?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ her desperate gaze locked on him, ‘I don’t remember.’

  She shut her eyes against the onslaught of images. The blood was everywhere, it was all over her hands and the flowers, the overwhelming sickly scent of them was choking her and she couldn’t breathe.

  ‘Get rid of them,’ she whispered brokenly, ‘please.’

  He slid off the bed, scooped the flowers up and disappeared from the room. She could still smell them, her heart pounded in her chest and she could see her mother lying on the floor in front of her. All the pain and heat went straight to her hands and with it came a shocking realization.

  When Theo came back into the room, the look she gave him was filled with utter devastation.

  ‘It was me,’ her voice was so low he had to step closer. ‘It was me all along,’

  ‘What was you?’ he sat on the bed next to her.

  ‘The fire was my fault, I couldn’t control it. All the hurt and confusion and heat went straight to my hands,’ she looked up at him as a tear slid slowly down her cheek. ‘I started the fire.’

  ‘Livy love,’ he whispered, cradling her face gently in his hands as another tear slid down her face. ‘It wasn’t your fault.’

  ‘But I started the fire,’ she shook her head.

  ‘Livy,’ he forced her to look at him, his expression grave, ‘they were already dead. It made no difference.’

  ‘They were already dead,’ he repeated more softly.

  The first sob escaped as he pulled her into his arms and drew them both down on to the bed, holding her tightly.

  ‘Stay with me,’ she whispered her voice shaking with hurt.

  ‘Always,’ he murmured.

  She felt as if she was flying apart at the seams and the only thing holding her together in that moment was his arms. Unable to hold it in any longer, she buried her face in his chest and cried as though her heart were breaking.

  They were so wrapped up in each other, neither noticed when the first few errant flakes of snow descended in the darkness outside her window.

  26.

  Olivia stood at the window, staring out as the snowflakes drifted down on ghostly wings and settled onto the thick blanket coating the ground. Beau fidgeted in her arms, reaching up and licking her jaw as she stroked his soft golden coat. Putting the puppy down, she watched as he ambled over to his cushion in front of the fire. He climbed on top of it, padding it down by turning in circles until he finally settled down, tucking his paws under his face and regarding her with big brown eyes.

  Turning back to the window, she stared out with a hollow gaze. They were almost out of time. Theo’s premonition put the last and final murder after the first snowfall. The problem was, without a definitive timescale to work with, they had almost no hope of stopping her father from raising the demon.

  Frowning to herself, she wandered back to the shabby old couch and dropped down, folding her legs underneath her. Beau, excited at the prospect of snuggling, scrambled up next to her and plopped himself down. Stroking his head absently, she picked up Hester's Grimoire from the small coffee table and laid it in her lap.

  It was a big heavy book, bound in thick dark leather and inlaid with intricate designs. The pads of her fingers traced the triple moon design on its face and down to the ornately inscribed tree of life beneath it. As it had before, the book rippled beneath her fingertips like it was shivering at her touch. When she opened it, the whisper of the dry crackling pages sounded like a sigh, as if it had been waiting for her somehow.

  Once again the black curly script swirled across the page until it formed words she could read. Written in the same handwriting as Hester’s journal she felt a profound sense of connection. So far, she had been the only one able to read Hester’s Grimoire and it made her feel as if she were bound in an intensely personal way to the ancestor she’d grown up hearing everyone talk about.

  Flipping idl
y through the pages, her gaze once again rested on the spell Hester had created to trap the demon. She’d read it and re-read it many times, but half the words didn’t make sense. Sighing in frustration, she was about to turn the page, when she noticed the illustration in the top right hand corner. It was a crescent moon but it seemed to be facing the wrong way, like a mirror image. Turning back to the previous page, there was a large inverted ‘c’ at the top of the page. With her mind working furiously, she looked across to the left hand page. There was another large ‘c’, this one facing the correct way, and on the page before that another crescent moon facing the right way.

  Very carefully and not quite believing what she was considering doing to such an old valuable document, she folded the pages inwards so that the two ‘c’ shapes met and formed a circle, then she folded in the two pages either side so that the two crescent moons were placed either side of the circle. She suddenly found herself staring at a hidden illustration of a triple moon and beneath it the words, which had not made sense before, were now perfectly aligned.

  She scanned down the now familiar handwriting to the message it revealed.

  ‘On a night under a blood moon, when the moon overpowers the sun, shall the door be opened.’

  Under a blood moon, she chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. A blood moon…a full lunar eclipse…it had to be, during a full lunar eclipse the direct sunlight would be completely blocked by the earth’s shadow. The only light seen would be refracted through the earth’s shadow and it would appear red, like the sunset. Frowning in concentration she re-read the message.

  When the moon overpowers the sun, she rubbed her forehead, careful to avoid the bruising. The moon overpowers the sun, she mused, a day when the night was longer than the day maybe…the solstice…the winter solstice?

  Jumping up from the couch so abruptly Beau yelped and scrambled across the worn cushions, Olivia strode purposefully over to the desk and opened her laptop.

  Bringing up the current lunar calendar for the year she realized there would be another eclipse the night of the solstice. If there had also been one the night Hester originally trapped the demon that would mean…she brought up the lunar calendar online for 1994.