Lucky Witch: A Beechwood Harbor Magic Mystery (Beechwood Harbor Magic Mysteries Book 5)

by Danielle Garrett

  In hindsight, I’d wished we’d gone with a different drink, because an appletini actually sounded good. I took a seat at the bar and ordered a cranberry vodka instead and was surprised when the bartender took the time to add a spear of fresh cranberries to the drink. For a dive bar, they had class.

  I fidgeted on the scuffed up wooden stool and sipped at my drink, my eyes swirling back to the front door in thirty second intervals.

  Finally, Marco entered the bar. He was wearing a dark sweater and his shoulder-length hair was pulled back into a tail at the base of his neck. He zeroed in on me right away and stalked across the room like a man on a mission. My pulse raced and I felt Nick’s assigned code word dancing on the tip of my tongue.

  “You came,” he said, settling onto the stool beside me. He glanced around behind him, measuring our position to any nearby patrons. He lifted his brows and turned back to face my profile and I took that as a stamp of approval on the seats I’d chosen.

  Unfortunately, this wasn’t my first rodeo.

  “I’m here,” I replied, bobbing the stick of cranberries through my drink. “Start talking.”

  Marco ordered a Guinness. When it was placed in front of him, he relaxed his shoulders. “Grady was my brother.”

  “By blood? Or you mean … the pack?”

  “Both.” Marco gulped some of the dark beer. “He was my brother by blood and we got cursed together. Camping trip gone wrong. We got lost in the woods and took shelter in a cave for the night. Little did we know that something more dangerous than the rain was already inside.”

  My breath hitched. “A werewolf.”

  He shook his head. “A woman.”

  “What?”

  Marco glanced over his shoulder and then slowly dragged his eyes back to mine. “She was some kind of sorceress.”

  “Sasha,” I whispered, recognition dawning.

  He nodded. “That’s right.”

  “What happened?”

  “She had a wolf with her. It was a full moon. She ordered the wolf like he was some kind of trained pet. The wolf scratched both of us and she told us that we belonged to her. We could either fight for her, or she’d kill us.”

  “Stars…”

  “She let us go back home, but warned us that we needed to be prepared. We were so terrified, we didn’t know what to do. We tried to run, leave town, but she caught us. Something about the magic made it easy for her to track us.” He tossed his head. “I still don’t know how it all works. After she caught us, she took us to meet the rest. The pack. All of her wolves.”

  “That’s how you know Ben.”

  Marco nodded. “Ben was just like us, except that Sasha hadn’t been the one to curse him. He’d been a wolf when they met. I still don’t know how she got him under her spell.” He scoffed. “Well, I have my theory. He was in love with her. Infatuated and intoxicated by her beauty and power.”

  I reared back. The Ben I’d eventually met was a broken man. Torn between two worlds and unable to live his own life. Now, because of Sasha and his devotion to her, he was in prison. I’d seen hints of a deeper relationship between the two of them, but all that had been erased the night she’d had him cowering in the forest, threatening to end his life. Surely he wasn’t still in love with her. He knew who she really was.

  “Ben was the one in the cave that night,” Marco continued. “He was the one who cursed my brother and me. But when he was a human, he told us we’d be all right, that he’d keep us safe from Sasha’s wild mood swings.”

  “Did he?”

  “Yes and no. Eventually, we got used to our new life. We made friends in the pack and for years, it seemed that Sasha had all but forgotten us. Then, a few months ago, she showed up with Ben. He was … different.”

  “How so?”

  “Angry. Dark. I asked him about it but he wouldn’t tell me what happened.” Marco pushed the frosty pint between his palms, the glass sliding in the pool of condensation underneath. “From what Ben’s told me, you know the rest of the story.”

  I nodded. That fit the timeline when Sasha had him spying on me following the murder of Harvey. I still wasn’t sure how much of a role he’d played in that. He’d lured Harvey from the haven, but there was part of me that wondered if he’d fully known what Sasha had intended.

  “So, you’ve spoken with Ben since he was incarcerated?”

  “Yes. He gets visiting hours once a month. Grady and I went together a couple of times.” The glass stilled, his hands wrapped around it as though it were the only thing keeping him from sliding off his bar stool. “I went alone this month.”

  “Right.” I swallowed hard. “He asked you to come and find me?”

  “Something like that. His interest was in your friend, Nick.”

  I stiffened. “Oh?”

  Marco shrugged one shoulder. “He feels guilty, I imagine. Wanted to make sure his first change went according to plan. That’s what Grady was doing in those woods that night.”

  The pieces snapped into place and stabbed me in chest. The man in the woods had indeed been a wolf. One who was looking out for Nick and got caught in the crossfire. A heartbeat later, a new thought flashed into my mind and jerked the sharp point, twisting it. “You don’t think…” I trailed off, unable to finish the terrible question.

  Marco winced. “That’s what we have to figure out. If someone knew Nick would be changing in those woods, the shooting might not have been an accident. That silver bullet might have been meant for Nick.”

  Icy fingers clenched my spine and shook it. Glancing at Marco over the rim of my drink, an even more startling thought hit me. “Wait, how did you know it was a silver bullet?”

  Marco shrugged one shoulder. “I could smell it in the air. Trust me, a werewolf doesn’t mistake that scent.”

  “Oh.”

  I sipped my drink, trying to hide it, but knew the blood had drained from my face, giving away the effect his words had on me. “So, you saw Grady … that night? Afterward, I mean.”

  Marco dropped his chin. “When I realized he wasn’t at our normal meeting place, I knew where he must have gone. He’d told me about Nick’s plans. I should have realized he would have gone that night. I should have been one step ahead.”

  I softened. “You couldn’t have known what would happen.”

  He hesitated, staring at the hand wrapped around his glass. “By the time I got there it was too late. There were sirens in the background. I didn’t have time to get him out.”

  “Have you called the police to tell them who he is? Right now, they’re working with very little information. They don’t even know who he is.”

  “I wanted to talk to you first. I’ll deal with the police later.”

  I bobbed my head and took another drink. “Something doesn’t make sense to me. Sasha and Ben are the only ones who know that Nick was even scratched that night. They were both taken away by the SPA immediately after it happened. She wouldn’t have had a chance to tell someone. Ben might get visitors, but my agent has assured me that Sasha’s in a secured SPA prison. She doesn’t get to make calls or see visitors. So, how could she have sent someone after Nick?”

  A cold smile twisted Marco’s lips. “You think she couldn’t figure something out?” He scoffed. “Underestimating someone like Sasha is a dangerous mistake to make.”

  I lunged forward and grabbed at his forearm. “Then tell me! My friend could still be at risk!”

  Marco tensed but didn’t jerk away from me. “What do you think I’m doing here? This is a warning. As well as an offer to help.”

  I released his arm and slumped against the bar. “Is it possible that Sasha had another ally? A partner? Besides Ben? From what I gathered, she treated Ben like a knight, a foot soldier. He wasn’t her equal. But with all of her power, she had to have other connections. Other sources. There’s no way she could have learned and honed all that dark magic by herself.”

  Marco shook his head. “I only ever saw her with Ben. There were …
whispers.”

  “About?”

  He tensed his jaw. “She was half-vamp. Some said that powerful vampires always work in pairs.”

  My eyes bulged. Lacey’s whispered words echoed back through my ears.

  “There’s a vamp! In the woods!”

  Marco stared at me, his own eyes going wide, an effect that only made him look more skeletal. “How do you know that?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I replied, forcing an edge to my tone. I’d already dragged Nick into this mess. I wasn’t about to bring Lacey in, too. Besides, letting a pack of werewolves know where a vampire lived wasn’t exactly the smartest plan. Sure, Lacey was more than capable of taking care of herself. I’d seen the hardware first hand. Still … it just wasn’t done.

  Marco narrowed his stare but then looked back into the foamy dregs of his glass. “Fair enough.”

  If Sasha was working with another vampire, that would explain a few things. He or she must be quite a bit older than Sasha. Maybe someone who knew her mother.

  “I need to talk to Ben. How could I do that?”

  “You’ll have to wait. Visiting hours are only once a month. You just missed it.”

  I nodded but knew that Agent Bramble could pull some strings.

  Marco leaned forward, his eyes taking a tour around the room. A strange sensation crept up my neck, wondering if he feared we were being watched. “What about your friend, Nick? Where is he now?”

  “He’s safe. He’s staying at the manor until we figure this out.”

  “Good. Keep him there.”

  I frowned. “Are there any wolves in the pack that were cursed when the moon wasn’t full?”

  He dropped his eyes. “None that lasted very long.”

  “What do you mean?” My heart raced, figuring I knew the answer.

  “Sasha said the curse wouldn’t take right if the moon wasn’t full. Anyone cursed without the full power of the moon was put down. To use her phrase.”

  I winced.

  Swallowing hard, I bobbled my head. “Listen, I appreciate you telling me all of this, but to be honest, I’m not sure there’s much I can do to help. If Sasha had a partner, and he was the one who shot and killed Grady, it’s a matter for the SPA. I can turn over the information, but I’m not in a position to go vampire hunting.”

  “If it’s a vampire hunting down the pack, you won’t have to find it. It will find you. More specifically, Nick.”

  Chapter 15

  Nick jumped like I’d shot off a cannon when I yanked open the passenger side door and dumped myself into the front seat.

  “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you,” I told him as I shut my door and buckled in.

  He laughed but the sound was feint and airy. “Scare me? Nah.”

  I placed a hand on his, noting how tightly he was gripping the clutch. “Nick, it’s going to be okay. I promise.”

  He raked his other hand through his hair and puffed out his cheeks, exhaling slowly through pursed lips. After a moment, he nodded, still staring out the front windshield. “What are we supposed to do now?”

  I licked my lips. “I don’t know yet. But step one is always don’t panic.”

  “Sure. Sure. I mean, why would we panic? It’s not like there’s a crazed vampire storming around town, hell bent on clearing up Sasha’s mess.”

  “Nick—”

  He whipped around to face me. “Holly, were you not listening to the same conversation I was?”

  I drew in a breath, gathering as much patience as I could muster. “I’m not going to let them find you. You’re going to have to trust me.”

  He stared at me for a long moment before shifting his eyes away. “I should leave. Get out of town. Maybe I’ll go back to Los Angeles. I have friends there. I can couch surf my way around until I figure out my next move.”

  He continued muttering, making plans I had no intention of letting him keep. But, for the time, I let him carry on, using the time to start shuffling together a plan of my own.

  “What about the haven?” Nick asked, snapping his attention back to me. “Is there some kind of asylum? I mean, sure, there are vamps there, but they’re the nice ones, right? Like Lacey?”

  A startled laugh erupted from me. “You do realize that up until about a month ago, Sasha Pringle served on the Haven Council, right?”

  Nick paled. “Right.”

  “You’ll come back to the manor. We’ll gather everyone together. Someone would have to be packing some serious magical mojo if they were able to step a pinky toe—or claw—onto the manor’s property. You’ll be safe there.”

  He nodded, but the tension lines at his mouth didn’t fade. If anything, they deepened as he absorbed the full impact of the conversation he’d overheard.

  I started to reach over, going for the keys that were stuck in the ignition, when he turned to me again. “Why did this have to happen, Holly? I’ve always thought that things happen for a reason. When I lost my job at the paper, down in LA, I thought it was an opportunity. I could explore some haunted houses, make some side money while I started my PI business. Then, by some random chance, I stumble into all of this…” A cold, sinking feeling gripped me.

  I dropped my hand back to my lap and fought back a surge of emotion. “Uh—well, I—”

  “I didn’t mean that like it sounded.” Nick jolted and grabbed for my hands. He clasped them tightly between his as his wide eyes frantically searched mine. “Holls. You gotta believe me. Meeting you is never something I will ever regret!”

  I nodded and tried to shove aside the horrible feeling clawing around my stomach. “I—I know that.”

  Nick squeezed my hands. “I don’t know what I would do without you to help me with all of this. Even when the world is crashing down around me, you’re always standing there telling me it’s going to be all right.”

  A tear slipped free when I smiled.

  Without hesitation, he reached up and brushed it aside with his thumb. “You’re my best friend, Holls. Is that totally cheesy?”

  I laughed. “Totally.”

  Nick grinned.

  “Let’s get out of here,” I said, glancing out the front. “Because friends don’t let friends get eaten by vampires.”

  He laughed, even though it was a little stilted, and turned over the engine.

  He pulled away from the curb and headed back up the hill towards his condo building. I followed him up and waited in the living room as he packed a bag. We didn’t say much to each other since both of us were still lost in processing the conversation. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I also came to the realization that I was going to have to tell Adam what we’d been doing and that we weren’t out of the metaphorical woods yet.

  Nick drove us to the manor. My stomach knotted up when I spotted the lights on in Adam’s room on the second floor. “Bat wings,” I said quietly. “He’s going to kill me.”

  Nick glanced over and followed my gaze. “Adam? Why?”

  I sagged back against the seat, overwhelmed by a wave of exhaustion. “It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, he doesn’t want me chasing bad guys anymore.”

  “Can’t say I disagree with him,” Nick said, snorting softly.

  “He wants to move away from Beechwood,” I added.

  “What?”

  “Yeah. He sprang the idea on me a day or two ago. I don’t know how serious he is, to be honest.”

  Nick hesitated. “And are you—I mean, is that something you’re considering?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t want to lose him, but I’m afraid that if I run away from my problems, I’ll lose a little piece of me.”

  We sat in silence for a lingering moment.

  Nick reached over and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll say it was my idea. That I’m the one who went into the bar and talked to this Marco guy. Adam can rail at me for taking you with me. I can take the heat.”

  I smiled sadly at him. “Thanks, Nick. But I’m a big girl. I can handle this
fight on my own.”

  Hu ducked his chin and didn’t press further.

  We climbed out of the car and Nick rushed around, glancing over both shoulders, before popping the trunk and retrieving his suitcase.

  Evangeline and Lacey were in the kitchen but their conversation died as soon as Nick and I entered the room. I looked at both of them, wondering if we should backtrack, but Evangeline hopped up from her seat and offered to put on the kettle.

  “Where were you two?” Lacey demanded, eyeing us with a healthy dose of skepticism.

  I drew in a deep breath. It was going to be a long night.

  “I was meeting with a werewolf who had information about what happened that night out in the woods.”

  Evangeline spun around, the kettle dangling from one hand. “You what?”

  I pulled out a chair and sank down slowly. If my feet had been killing me earlier in the afternoon, they were officially dead and gone now. May they rest in peace.

  “He approached me outside Siren’s Song. He said he knew Ben before … everything. I went to find out what else he knew. Nick went with me.”

  Evangeline shot Nick a scathing look before going to the sink to fill the kettle, her movements jerky and abrupt, replacing her normal fluid grace. Even the flick of her wrist as she turned on the water was highlighted with a sizzle of irritation.

  I tore my eyes from her and shifted them to Lacey. “That night we went into the woods, you said you felt a vampire. Explain that. How did you know?”

  “Vampires can feel each other to an extent. It’s the same way shifters usually recognize other shifters, even in human form. A sixth sense.”

  “Do you think you could find them? If they’re still out there, I mean.”

  She folded her arms and raised one perfectly-manicured brow. “I could. But why?”

  I flicked my eyes to the ceiling and wondered if I should go get Adam. He was going to hear about it one way or the other and it would save me some time…

  “I’ll be right back,” I told them.

  Heaving a sigh, I got out of the chair and went upstairs. Adam’s door was closed so I knocked softly before turning the handle and opening it. “It’s me.”