Dark Moon Magic

by Jerri Drennen

  A rustling from behind stopped his heart.. He turned in time to see Nathan ducking out from under a tree, his gaze on the light. He spotted Trace and pointed toward the fire.

  Trace nodded, and they headed in the direction of the light, the chanting getting louder and louder, the voices blending together as one.

  When they got within twenty feet of the group, they dropped to the ground and crawled toward the fire’s glow. Trace scanned the crowd, and his jaw dropped.

  So much for Sharon Evans being kidnapped. She must have been the one spying on him from the window when he came to see Brighton. He moved on to the next person, not all that surprised to see Rayland next to her. After all, the two had dated in high school. Why not be in a satanic cult together?

  This whole thing was surreal.

  Trace’s attention slid to the person next to Rayland. No. He had to be seeing things. Sylvia Heart? No way. Why would a woman like her be a member of something so evil? Next to her was none other than Sharon’s mother, Carol. So all that crying over her daughter had been nothing more than an act. He’d have to give her props or an Oscar. He’d fallen for it. Hook, line, and sinker.

  His gaze advanced to the next robed person, and he did a double-take. What? He had to be seeing things this time. The last time he’d seen the man standing next to Carol, he’d shared a cubicle with him.

  Everything from eight years ago came crashing back. The man in the glowing circle had been the one to find him the job as sheriff of Groves in the first place, said Trace was meant to live in the small town. He’d wished him the best and shoved him out the door. But why had his ex-partner wanted him here?

  “Recognize anyone?” Nate whispered beside him.

  Trace didn’t know what to say. He recognized pretty much everyone in the group. He went around the circle, suddenly realizing Brighton wasn’t there? Where was the man?

  “Trace.” Nate shook his shoulder.

  He turned to the detective. “Yeah, I recognize most of them. But Brighton’s not here.”

  “He’s not?”

  “No, and that worries me.”

  A scream pierced through the chanting, then a shadowed man pushed two females into the center of the circle. Both fell to the ground, stirring up dust.

  Trace’s heart stopped. Regina and Tiah.

  Nathan looked at Trace, his eyes widening. They were in big trouble. Somehow they had to save Regina and Tiah without getting themselves caught … unless they wanted to die. Trace doubted this group would have any qualms about killing them all and hiding them here with whomever else had died at their hands.

  Nathan flipped open his phone, then shook his head. “I can’t get any service.”

  Great. No cell phone reception and Trace had left his two-way in the car. They were on their own in rescuing the girls, and somehow they needed to get them to safety before calling in backup.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Regina glanced at Tiah, then at the group circling them, her heart racing at breakneck speed. When her gaze connected with Rayland Grimes, her heart screeched to a stop. The lustful gleam in his dark eyes spoke volumes as to what she and Tiah would endure prior to the coven killing them. But before that happened, she wanted some answers. Like why the dead birds, the rock, and the poppet? Why scare her? Why draw all this attention to Groves when on the outside, the place looked so picturesque? It made no sense.

  Her attention diverted to the woman standing next to Grimes. Her blue-green eyes were filled with rage. Regina had never seen such hatred in anyone before. What had she done to deserve it?

  “We should do her first.” Sharon pointed at Regina. “She’s the reason Keith had to be killed and stirred up our quiet, little town.”

  Regina had no idea what the woman was talking about. What had she done to get Keith Walsh killed? She’d only met him once, and that was after the birds were found next to her place. How could she be blamed for that?

  “What are you saying? I did nothing to you.” She stared hard at Sharon, whose mother, Carol, came and stood next to her, both looking at Regina with fire in their eyes.

  “Pfft.” Sharon huffed, glaring at her. “The minute you flew into town on your white light, you caused trouble for us. Your good energy disrupted our bad. We lost some of our power.”

  Regina couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. If they’d felt her energy, why hadn’t she felt theirs? Or had she?

  “How did I do that? I had no idea there was something so dark here. You were the ones who let your anger—for whatever reason—reveal this dark force. No one would have ever known about it had you not started a vendetta against me.”

  The woman lunged toward her, ready to claw her with her long fingernails, but was pulled back by Rayland.

  “Stop,” he said to her. The anger in her eyes faded away. Sharon clearly loved this man more than anything. That much was obvious.

  Did he know that? How could he not?

  “This is all your fault.” Carol poked a finger at Grimes. “You and your fascination with the bitch. We allowed you to marry and have children with that fat wife of yours to keep up appearances, but when you started watching this woman,” Carol glared at Regina, “you knew what would happen.”

  What the heck were they talking about? Regina had no idea.

  “You know she can’t control herself,” Carol continued. “It was Kelly all over. Why did you have to start this again?”

  “I can’t help that your daughter has no control over her jealous rages, Carol. Just because I was her first and only, doesn’t mean she has to be mine. You of all people should know that, since you were hardly Carl’s only.”

  Carol’s eyes turned to glowing embers as she glanced at the ex-sheriff.

  Regina turned to Tiah, who looked as confused as Regina. This whole thing was crazy.

  “Enough!” Sylvia stepped into the middle of the circle. “We’re not here to rehash your love lives. Some of us have sacrificed a lot for the power we have gained. I’m not about to lose it now because some red-haired bitch came to town and caught Rayland’s and clearly our sheriff’s eye. Killing Keith Walsh was a huge mistake. Now we’re going to have to lay low for years to regain our freedom to coven. All in the name of jealousy.” She turned to Sharon, who cowered at the look she gave her. “Now, let’s get on with this. I’m tired, and I want to go home.”

  A tall man with dark hair Regina had never seen before stepped out and shook his head. “Do you think killing these two will put an end to it all? The sheriff and that detective from Chicago is out here somewhere. His deputy knows they’re here. Half the town could know by now. Killing more people won’t cover it up. We have to get out of the state, maybe even the country. Tie them up and then let’s decide where to go next. We need to start over somewhere no one can find us.”

  “My son is right,” Sylvia said. “We’re going to have to relocate. Move the coven to another part of the country.”

  “But they know who we are.” Carol again pointed at Regina. “They’ll hunt us down.”

  “Not if we all separate for a while and change our identities. I think if we do that, then agree to meet somewhere, say five years down the road, then all will have been forgotten.”

  Regina couldn’t believe this. How could they think they could get away with murder and expect to not pay for it?

  “No,” Sharon said, her voice filled with rage. “She is going to die. This was all her fault. I tried to warn her. We need to kill her for tempting my man away from me.”

  “Control your daughter, Carol, or I’ll take care of her once and for all. It was acceptable to find runaways from Chicago or our own born,” Sylvia’s son said, glancing at his mother, who seemed to lose some color. “But to kill people who will not go unnoticed was a mistake. Kelly Marley’s disappearance caused a lot of trouble for us. I was hoping we’d never have that concern again. But after Keith saw you watching our new shop owner and confronted you, you apparently thought the only thing you could do w
as kill him. One stupid mistake after another. All because you can’t handle seeing Rayland look at another woman. Jesus-frickin Christ. I wish I could put you out of your misery right now. Stupid bitch.”

  Carol stepped in front of her daughter and glared at the man. “You have some nerve talking to my daughter like that. Who started this coven? Her father’s family. Not yours.”

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass who started it, I’m trying to save my own from going to prison. Everything was fine until your daughter came of age and lost her head to Rayland. The man had children with another woman for God’s sake. Why be envious of the woman Trace was smitten with? I moved him here to Groves to keep the peace and get him out of my hair in case he caught on to my snatching those teens off the street. All things were going as planned. She,” he pointed a finger at Regina, “would have kept the sheriff out of our business. It was the best of both worlds, and yet, you blew it with your idiotic jealousy. I, for one, don’t plan to pay for that. I’m getting the hell out of here before every law enforcement agency from here to Timbuktu shows up. I don’t care what you others do. Mom and I are out of here.”

  Regina was relieved they all seemed to be turning on one another. Maybe they’d forget about her and Tiah and run.

  A glint of light caught her eye, and Tiah screamed next to her.

  Regina turned just as Sharon lunged at her, a long, silver blade clutched in her hand. She was going to die all because some guy had looked at her a few too many times.

  A gunshot rang out from somewhere, and all hell broke loose—the people surrounding them scattering in every direction, except for Sharon, who slid to her knees, blood oozing from her chest, a look of disbelief on her face.

  Regina watched in horror as the knife slipped from the woman’s hand, and she fell face-first onto the makeshift altar the coven used for sacrifice.

  Why did that seem like the fitting end for a woman who’d clearly lost her mind over an unworthy man?

  How many women had done that in the name of love? How many men? Far too many. Including her ex.

  Trace dropped down beside her and pulled her into his arms, rubbing her back. He released her and asked, “Are you all right?” His warm eyes were filled with concern.

  She nodded. “Is she dead?”

  Trace turned to Nathan, who was feeling Sharon’s neck for a pulse.

  He shook his head.

  Regina released the breath caught in her chest and glanced around, noting even Carol had disappeared. For a woman who seemed to care about her daughter, you would have thought she’d have wanted to know if she were dead or alive.

  Regina turned to Tiah, who allowed Nathan to help her up, and a strange look passed between the two. Something was going on there, but Regina didn’t have time to think about it now.

  “We need to get back to the car and call in backup before every one of them gets away. It’ll be harder to find them if they leave the county,” Trace said, reaching out to help Regina from the ground.

  She took his hand, and he smiled, giving her heart a jumpstart. She seriously loved the man standing in front of her—more than she’d ever loved anyone.

  But did he feel the same? She hoped so.

  He held tight to her hand and tugged her forward. They needed to hurry, so that everyone paid for what the coven had done—not just Sharon.

  * * *

  At the car, Trace radioed Garrett.

  “What do you need, boss?”

  “Call the state patrol and get them out here at Brighton’s place. We have a crime scene. Also, we’ll need a BOLO called on him, Rayland Grimes, Carol Evans, Sylvia Heart, and her son, Scott Kennedy. All were involved with who-knows-how-many ritual killings over the past fifteen or so years.”

  “I’m on it. Are you okay?”

  “Yes. We’re all fine. While you’re at it, call Sheriff Shelton. He needs to be out here when the state boys show up to take control of the scene. I’m going to need to deal with Groves’ aftermath. I don’t have time to deal with Gatsby’s.”

  “Right away, Trace.”

  He turned to the small group standing beside him. “We’ll wait until the sheriff shows up and then head back to Groves. I’ll call a meeting to inform the town what has been going on under all of their noses, including my own.”

  Regina reached out to touch his arm. “How could you have known all this was happening, Trace? It could have gone on indefinitely had Sharon not showed their hand. You can’t blame yourself for any of this.”

  “I guess I should have seen through my ex-partner’s ruse. I mean, he was practically pushing me to leave Chicago. Why didn’t I even wonder about that?”

  “The man was supposed to be a friend,” Nathan interjected. “Who would question his motives?”

  Nathan was right, but Trace still felt responsible for not seeing something wasn’t right. How long had his partner been snatching runaways off the street of the windy city before Trace left town? When had he done this? The two had been practically joined at the hip for years—though he did recall him leaving town on several occasions. Maybe more than that, now that he gave it some thought. Had he taken a teen every one of those times?

  Holy hell. He prayed the man hadn’t.

  A siren in the distance brought him back to the present. It had to be Sheriff Shelton. He’d quickly fill him in on what had occurred, tell him if the state patrol needed him, he’d come back after his meeting with the mayor and the people of Groves.

  He hoped that once they all knew Sharon had murdered Keith, they’d leave Regina alone. Then, when all this mess settled down in town, he planned to tell Regina he loved her and prayed what had happened wouldn’t make her change her mind about wanting to live there. Not when he had plans for her to become the sheriff of Groves’ wife as soon as he could get a ring on her finger.

  Being single was for the birds, and he wanted to have children someday, and he wanted them with Regina.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Regina stood looking out the window of Healthy Glow. It’d taken two days to replace all the broken windows inside the shop and in her apartment. Luckily the work was done by the people who’d caused the mess in the first place—a way of making amends.

  Last she heard, they were still uncovering bodies out at Brighton’s. The whole county was in an uproar about it. Wanted to know how something like this could have gone on for so long before it was discovered.

  A warm tickle on her ankle had her looking down. Isis was rubbing against her leg, looking up at her.

  Regina leaned down, scooped him up, and nuzzled him next to her cheek. She was grateful he hadn’t been harmed in all the chaos. It had taken her almost a half hour to find him in her closet, hiding behind a pair of her black boots.

  “Are you hungry, little man?”

  She left the shop and walked into her apartment, quickly feeding the kitten.

  She hadn’t seen Trace since they’d parted ways, and she was beginning to wonder if she shouldn’t pack her bags and leave town.

  She loved him, but she had no idea if he felt the same. If she stayed in Groves and had to pretend she didn’t want to be with him, it might crush her spirit. She didn’t want that.

  The doorbell jingling had her rushing back to see who came into the store.

  She arrived to find Trace standing at the counter.

  “Hi,” she uttered when he didn’t say anything.

  He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants and shifted his stance.

  “Did you need something?” she asked when he still didn’t say a word.

  “I wanted to know what you were going to do now that all of this mess is over.”

  Regina swallowed hard. Was he hoping she was moving? “About?” She held her breath, waiting for his answer.

  He shifted again. He was clearly as nervous as she was. “Were you planning to stay in Groves?”

  Regina shrugged. What did he want her to say? She wished she could read his mind right now.


  “Look, I know the people here haven’t been all that hospitable but …”

  Regina started to laugh. That was a total understatement. The good citizens of the quaint, little town tried to burn her at the stake for a murder she didn’t commit. That was a far cry from hospitable.

  He rubbed at his chin. “Right, well, I’m sorry things didn’t work out.”

  Regina forced a smile. Was she going to let him walk away without telling him how much she loved him? “Did you get Rod off to Little Rock?”

  “Yeah.” There was a slight hitch in his voice.

  “How much time do you think he’ll get?”

  “That’s hard to say. I’ve seen something like this go both ways. Either a few months to a few years.”

  She braved a glance up at his eyes, and what she saw just about sent her to her knees. Was it what she’d hoped for—did he love her? If he did, then why hadn’t he told her?

  “You could go back to Little Rock and be safe, Regina, but I don’t want you to.”

  “Why?” She wasn’t taking anything for granted. She needed to hear him say the words.

  He cleared his throat. “I …”

  “You what, Trace?”

  “I can’t live without you, Regina. You have to stay and make me believe in love and trust again. Please, stay here in Groves and become the sheriff’s wife.” The words came rushing out so fast, Regina wasn’t sure she’d heard him right.

  “Did you just ask me to marry you?”

  “I believe I did, so please, don’t leave me hanging here, looking like a total dork.”

  Regina smiled at his reply. He’d asked her to marry him, but at no time had he mentioned he loved her.

  “I need to know why you want to marry me, Trace. I mean, if you just want a woman to trust, Becky would jump at the change to be Mrs. Langston.”

  “What? I don’t love Becky. I love you.”

  Regina raced to him and flung herself into his arms. “Yes. Yes. Yes. One hundred times, yes. I’ll marry you.”