No More Black Magic

by A. L. Kessler

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  We stopped by some fast food joint and ate cheap burgers as I drove to his house. I dropped him off and promised that I’d be home not long after dawn. It was weird to have someone that would be waiting for me to get home. Nothing sexual or romantic about it. It was kind of like a roommate and I found myself wondering if I should find a roommate if only for the fact that someone would care if I didn’t return home one day.

  Then I thought about that roommate possibly finding my dead body one day and decided that a roommate was a stupid idea. Maybe I would get a cat instead.

  I parked in one of the many empty parking spots. This late at night ,during the week, there weren’t many people wandering downtown. The vampire should be easy to spot. This particular street used to be known for hookers and prostitutes, and the cheap motels that littered the area still spoke to that time. The signs creaked and were only half lit. All of them had vacancy illuminated, but the chipped paint on the doors and the unkempt parking lots probably turned away even the most desperate tourist.

  A big neon Native American sign waved at me with its fake moving lights. The effect wasn’t even right. I shook my head and got out of my car. I moved my badge so that it was hooked on the back of my pants, hiding behind my jacket. I wouldn’t need it, but I never walked around without it. Having it had saved my ass more than once.

  I cringed as I approached the hotel with the sign. I couldn’t even see the sign that actually had the name on it. I looked around for the office and found it at the end of a row of badly painted brown and orange doors. I smiled; glad to see someone was attending it.

  I walked in and the person didn’t look up, didn’t move his big work boots off the counter top and didn’t even fold the newspaper down. I rapped my knuckles on the counter. “Gotta question for you.”

  “Unless you’re getting a room, I don’t care.” Still no eye contact. Nothing.

  I rolled my eyes. “Really, could you be any more rude? I could be a damsel in distress and you wouldn’t care.”

  “You aren’t in distress and no damsel says ’gotta’.” He finally dropped his feet to the ground and folded his newspaper. I knew the blond hair and blue eyes that looked at me. I prayed he didn’t remember me from high school or my night could go very wrong.

  “Abigail!” He gave that award-winning smile he had as the star football player.

  Crap.

  “You’re looking good Abby, I heard you work for the state now. Who would have thought that awkward little witch in high school would work for the state.”

  I forced a smile. “It’s nice to see you, John. Been busy?”

  “Not tonight, too damn cold, but things will pick up as the snow rolls in. We’re the last ones to fill up, but we do eventually.”

  Ski season brought people into the city occasionally, but it was more of a pit stop between slopes. Not a whole lot here for tourists during the winter. “That’s great. I’m actually looking for someone. You know, working and all.”

  “Yeah figures, a pretty woman like you wouldn’t be caught dead on this side of town so late willingly.” He shrugged and then leaned forward on the counter. “What can I help you with?”

  Maybe he would be useful, but I hated when I ran into people that I knew. They always assumed my business was state and normally they were right. Except for this. This was Levi business, but there was no need to let John know that.

  “There’s a vampire around here who’s been selling stuff to people. Know who he is?”

  He nodded. “They call him the Wizard, what he sells he calls “Thrills‘’.”

  “And what is Thrills?” I crossed my arms and rested them on the counter.

  He shrugged. “Hell if I know. I assume it’s some type of drug. The working women around here love it and say it makes them feel more alive while they are, well, um...working.”

  “Great, any of them tell you where he can be found?” I didn’t even want to touch the prostitute thing. Apparently this part of town was clinging to its history.

  He nodded. “Nevada and Fifth.”

  Right before the crappy motels started. It wouldn’t be a long walk, just a couple blocks. Or I could drive, but that would tip the vampire off that someone who wasn’t a buyer was coming. No one would risk their car being seen near a drug deal.

  “Thanks.” I turned to leave.

  “Wait!” John called and I turned back around to find him scribbling something down. He handed me a piece of paper. “Call me sometime, I’d love to have a cup of coffee with you.”

  I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered or terrified. He’d spent most of high school picking on me and now he was hitting on me? In what world did that make sense? “Thanks.” I stuck it in my pocket and wasn’t sure what else to say so I spun around and left.

  The wind had picked up and I wondered if we were going to get our first snow tonight. It bit my skin and stung. Luckily for me, vampires didn’t feel the pain of cold wind. They were dead and they were already cold. I briskly walked the couple blocks and found a figure standing on the corner right where John had told me they would be.

  I wrapped my arms around myself and walked over to him. He was tall, lean, and looked like he walked out of a classic vampire flick. His face was sunken, eyes dark, hair wispy, and it took me by surprise. I hadn’t seen a vampire that bad off in a long while.

  “Heard you sell Thrills.” I smiled.

  He snarled at me enough to show fangs. “I know you.”

  I put my hand behind my back and touched the butt of my gun. “Yeah? Most people know me on sight.”

  “You’re Levi’s little hunter.” His voice had a slight British accent and his motions were showy. Wild waving arms, whole swaying body, he reminded me a bit of a certain pirate in the movies.

  I raised a brow. No one had really referred to me as a hunter before, but I was starting to think he wasn’t in his right mind. “Something like that. Heard you’re selling stuff to the humans. They’re calling it Thrills.”

  He put a hand up to his chin like he was pretending to think. “My dear, I don’t know what you are talking about. All I do is give them happy thoughts. Do you want to try?” He put a hand under his jacket and pulled out a clear vial. “You look like you could use some happy thoughts.”

  “Nope, drug free. Here’s the deal, find another territory or I’m going to have to kill you. Levi doesn’t want you selling anything to the humans or supernaturals. Got it?”

  He smiled and I saw the points of his fangs. His mood had completely changed from when I first approached him. “Oh, the always noble Levi, he’s not as great as you think, love. Everyone has their past.”

  “That has nothing to do with the fact that you are selling drugs in his territory. I won’t be so nice next time I find you.”

  He chuckled. “If you can find me again.”

  “You underestimate me.” I shook my head.

  He bobbed his head for a moment and his eyes rolled to the sky like he was listening to something or debating something in his head. I took a step back as he took a step forward.

  “What’s wrong? Scared of me?” He held a hand out, the one with the vial. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Yeah, like I could believe that. I wrapped my hand around the grip of my gun. I took comfort in the steel. “Do you understand that you are no longer welcome in this territory?”

  With a whoosh and a thump I hit the ground. Luckily for me, I had moved my arm and now he was pinning me to the ground. The glass shattered near my head and his fingers dug into my arms with a bruising grip. I hated when they fought back and I was this close to them.

  I got my knees between us and kicked him away. He jumped back and landed in a crouch, watching me. I flipped up to my feet and pulled my gun out. Squeezing the trigger, I took two shots at him, but he was gone. Fuck. My gaze scanned the area. He wasn’t anywhere close that I was able to see, but that didn’t mean anything.

  I knew I should have just shot
him in the first place, but my damn morals got in my way. What the hell was this guy up to? I brushed the dirt off me and holstered my gun again. I grumbled and picked up one of the shards of glass. I’d be able to take it to the lab and have it analyzed. I had delivered my warning and it wouldn’t be hard to find him again. All I had to do was look where the next case of the Thrills popped up.

  I headed back to my car. Once I got there, I pulled out a bag from my glove compartment and put the glass in it. I locked the doors and started the car. I wasn’t sure what I would tell Levi about the vampire, but I’d have to see what happened. Maybe he’d grow a brain cell and find a new territory. If not, I was going to have to kill a vampire. Not my favorite pastime.

  I went to the office instead of Simon’s house. I had access to the lab and needed to see the hand still. If I could get some more information then I could possibly find a lead in the case, because this random body part thing wasn’t doing a whole lot. I slid my key card and slipped into the building. Kathy, our night receptionist, was leaning back with her legs up. I cut her some slack because it was a crappy shift and the fact that she wasn’t sleeping was impressive.

  “Hey Agent A!” Her brown eyes brightened as she saw me come in. She sat up and her black hair fell over her shoulder. If she stood, she’d be my height. “I actually have a message for you. Detective Mason said that he left you some notes from the hand. He’d follow up tomorrow.”

  I rubbed my eyes. “Did he say why he didn’t call me?”

  “He said he thought you were on a date and it was time for you to get out.” She said with a straight face and I knew she wasn’t lying to me.

  The stupid bastard. “Thanks, I’m heading up to my office now. Do you know who the ME on duty at the morgue is?”

  “Um,” She put her feet down and pulled out a sheet. Her finger ran over the list of names and then she stopped. “A Dr. Lambsburg.”

  Ugh, he wasn’t going to be happy to see me again. “Great, thanks. Do me a favor and call him to let him know that I’ll be down tonight.”

  “Tonight? Must be important.” She picked up the phone and dialed the numbers with her black painted nail. I walked down the hall to the elevator. I didn’t have to wait for it, and the ride up was almost too quiet.

  The PIB was open at all times. We got to call on the morgue in the wee hours of the morning, some of us only worked nights, and others worked around the clock. Even though we were federally funded, we also weren’t regular investigators. We worked with all teams and they worked with us. No one liked to call us though, because it meant that a case was over their heads.

  I got out of the elevator and walked to my office. I swiped my badge over the scanner and walked in. I sat down and saw the stack of notes on my desk from Detective Mason. Someone had to have let him into my office. My guess was my boss who I never saw. Just a faceless name that I was supposed to listen to. I picked up the folder and leaned back. Our newest victim, or at least the one the hand belonged to. There were no results for the blood tests, so I assumed we were still waiting on them. Her fingerprints however were in the system.

  Jade Maclamore.

  My heart dropped. I knew that name. She was one of Clarissa’s close friends. It was someone from the coven for sure now. Fuck. I hoped that the blood at the scene matched because I didn’t want to imagine the coven losing two members in the same day.

  Jade, of course, was a witch. Not one high on the totem pole, but the coven was family. They would all grieve no matter how powerful she was.

  She wasn’t married, no kids, and no in town blood family. The person who was listed as her emergency contact on any records was Michele. Which explained the connection, sort of. I was going to have to go talk to the priestess tomorrow.

  I groaned. If they didn’t have a reason to hate me before, now they would. And they’d be all over my ass to solve this. It wasn’t going to be fun or pretty and for a moment I contemplated changing my phone number.

  The hand had been removed with magic. I could run another tracking spell, but that seemed to have only led to more murders and the place the magic was performed. I needed to get a step ahead of them, not behind.

  I closed the file and tossed it back on my desk. Reaching into my bag, I grabbed the plastic bag that held the shard of glass. I put it on my desk and got a lab bag from my desk drawer and transferred the glass to it. I sealed it and put my name and date on it. I could drop it off on my way out.

  I spun around in my chair, honestly not sure what else I could do at this point. Mason already did most of the legwork for me. Tomorrow I would expect a call from a grieving Clarissa, and I would visit Michele. I stopped spinning and glanced at the clock. Three AM, so scratch that. Today.

  A quick trip to the morgue and I would head back to Simon’s house. Eventually I would need to check my home to see if it was going to explode when I walked in or not, but that wasn’t going to happen until after this case was over.

  I got out of my chair, grabbed my bag and the glass shard and went back downstairs, opting this time for the stairs and not the elevator.

  Running down the stairs I looked through the small window. Across the way was a stranger getting into an elevator. I frowned. It was late no one was usually in the building during this time. My hand hesitated on the door as an uneasy feeling slid through me. He was tall, dressed in a three-piece-suit and had impeccable brown hair. I flattened myself against the wall and out of the way of the window when he started to turn.

  The elevator dinged and I gave the doors long enough to shut him in and hide me. With a deep breath I opened the stairway door and ran to the reception desk. “Kathy, who was that man?”

  “He didn’t give a name, said you had a meeting with him.” She shrugged. “Figured you’d know who he was and that it might not be all official like if the meeting was this late.”

  She was smart, I’d done it before, but that wasn’t helping me. “So you didn’t sign him in.”

  “Abby it’s three in the morning. Really?” Kathy sighed. “Look if you don’t have a meeting, I suggest you get going. Because he’ll realize that you aren’t up there soon.”

  She had a point. I handed her the bag with the glass. “Can you drop this at the lab for me?”

  “Sure thing.” She grabbed it from me and then looked at it. “Do I want to know? It’s a tiny shard of glass.”

  “It’s from a bottle that held a drug. I just need it analyzed.” I shook my head. “I gotta run before that guy comes back down.”

  Kathy nodded and put the bag down on the desk. “I’ll run that there as soon as he leaves.”

  “Good plan.” I slipped out the front door and sprinted to my car. I had no idea if he was a good guy or a bad guy. Tonight, I didn’t want to test my luck.

  I pulled in front of the morgue and sighed. Dr. Lambsburg hated me, I knew that from our last meeting. Well, maybe it wasn’t me, but what I was. Nothing good ever came from people who hated witches. I got out and walked into the morgue. There wasn’t a receptionist this time; maybe they didn’t have one on their payroll this late.

  I walked down the hall and looked for a room with a light on. There was one all the way at the end of the hall. Dr. Lambsburg was standing inside the room looking down at the hand.

  I knocked and he looked up, his round eyes surprised, but he motioned for me to come in. I walked in and grabbed a pair of gloves from the box by the door.

  “No partner today?” He asked his voice low as if he was worried about someone overhearing.

  I shook my head. “Nope. Long story, but I’m just here to examine the hand, then I’ll be on my way. Did you find anything?”

  “No, it’s clean. Perfectly. I don’t understand it.” He motioned to it. “Whoever did this knew what I would be looking for. The arm was the same way.”

  I hated when things turned up that clean. “Well, I can tell you it was severed with magic, which is good for me, not for you. I can try a tracking spell again.”

&nb
sp; “I hear hesitation in your voice, Agent.” He met my gaze. “You don’t think it’ll work?”

  “Let’s put it this way, there are things at work here that I don’t want to piss off.” I looked at the hand and sighed. People were grieving over this victim. People I knew, which just made it that must worse.

  My phone went off and I frowned. I glanced at the screen and noticed Mason’s number. “Excuse me.” I turned away from the doctor and answered the phone. “It’s early for you. I’m at the morgue. What’s up?”

  “I just got the blood test back and it matched the hand.”

  In a way I was relieved because it meant just one more victim, on the other hand I was mortified. Our victim had lost a lot of blood and died painfully. “Thank you.” There wasn’t much else I could say at this point.

  Something pinched my neck and I raised a hand to it. A needle stuck out from my neck with something attached to it. Oh shit.

  “Peacock.” I turned around and saw the scared look of the doctor.

  My legs buckled and my phone clattered from my hand. The code word was one between the Detective and I. He’d know something was up, which was good because I started to lose feeling in my legs and the last thing I saw was the wide eyes of Dr. Lambsburg.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  I felt like someone had bashed my skull in. My head pounded and my body ached. The pain only became worse when I opened my eyes to be greeted by a bright fireplace. What the hell? I tried to raise my hand and touch my head, but it wouldn’t move. Rope bit into my wrist and I sighed. This just wasn’t my week apparently. I couldn’t hear anything but the crackling of the fire. No voices, no footsteps, nothing. I took a deep breath to calm my rising panic.

  I knew from the lack of bulk pressing into my back that my gun was gone. That didn’t matter though, I still had my magic and if I needed to, I could use that to get out of the situation. Around my neck was still my mother’s pentagram. I had a feeling that because of that the Cult of Ra couldn’t touch me.

  My thoughts turned back to my surroundings. The fireplace in front of me was stone, but with an elegantly carved mantel. There was nothing around it that would give me any idea of where I was or whose place this was, but it reminded me a lot of Levi’s mansion. My heart tried to jump out of my chest. If this was vampire business, I was screwed. I knew enough about the politics that if I fought back with magic it would get Levi in trouble with those more powerful than him.