A Witch Called Red: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Red Witch Chronicles 1)

by Sami Valentine

“No need,” Lucas said as he opened the hotel suite door.

  Quinn stepped inside, shoulders hunched, bruises on his face. “Lost them after Ventura Boulevard.”

  “Thank God for LA traffic then. Never thought I would say that.” Vic shook his head. “How did you guys escape that lair?”

  Lucas furrowed his brow and looked down. The cloud of guilt was palpable around him, but then he smirked at Red, proud. His words came out husky. “Don’t be modest.”

  Quinn folded his arms, but a tiny smile ghosted his lips. “Lucas and I were backed against the wall with two dozen minions at our throat.”

  Lucas put his hands in his pockets. “Then I see this van mow through the crowd. Had enough time to jump to the side and run.”

  “I might have put bricks on the gas pedal of a couple of vans.” Red shrugged, looking away from Lucas.

  “It got us out,” Quinn said. “Now, lay low. Our stunt is going to attract attention.” He gestured to Lucas. “We have explaining to do.”

  Lucas grinned as he walked up to Red. “Don’t let the old grump fool you. You did good.” He ran a hand down her arm. “I should have known that you’d handle yourself.”

  “Yeah, yeah, Greg, ‘atta girls all around.” Vic crossed his arms. “Get to stepping and use that charm on the supreme.”

  “And the role of my big brother will be played by Vic this evening.” Red cocked her head. “But he’s right. We’re not flying under the radar anymore.”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time, Red.” Lucas chuckled and turned on his heel to join Quinn, striding for the hotel suite door. He closed the door behind him.

  Vic shook his head. “Oh, to have the confidence of a mediocre white male vampire. I admire your ability to get those chuckleheads out of a sticky situation, but did there have to be an explosion?”

  “The tables have turned on the pyromania, I see.” Red chuckled. “You’re not the only one that can make things go boom.”

  Vic smirked, then asked, “Was it cool?”

  “The vans didn’t explode as much as they could have.” Red grinned, shrugging.

  “Wiped that smug look off Greg’s face?”

  Red laughed as she shook out her long hair. “His name is Lucas.”

  “Oh, no. Can we not joke about Greg anymore? Has it gotten there?” Vic put his head in his hands with a dramatic sigh. “When I told you to play nice with the souled vampires, I didn’t mean to go and get a crush on one. This doppelgänger stuff is going to your head.”

  “Hey, don’t go analyzing me. Your love life isn’t any more normal. I remember a certain pastor’s shapeshifting daughter.” Red shrugged and forced herself to yawn. “Oh, look at that, time to go to bed.”

  “Fine, fine, we don’t need to paint our nails and talk about boys. You just look like you came from a first date, not near death from a vampire mob.” Vic settled back on the couch. “Be careful.”

  “You’ve gone from big brother to Mom,” Red said, smiling as she walked over to her bedroom.

  “I feel like a single mother,” Vic grumbled playfully as he turned the TV back on.

  Letting herself fall into her nighttime routine of brushing her teeth and taking a shower, she went out onto the balcony off her bedroom when she finished. The lights and sounds of the city bounced off the concrete jungle. Wind blew the hem of her white robe back. She braided her towel-dried hair as she zoned out, staring ahead.

  A whirl of a helicopter overhead broke through her distraction. A searchlight beamed from it. The light ran over the top of the five-story building next to the Pandora Hotel before the helicopter zoomed away.

  Red squinted as she looked over the balcony rail. Even four stories down on another building, she recognized him. Kristoff.

  Hands behind his back, wearing another stylish dark suit, he nodded to her before he turned and walked away on the rooftop.

  She backed into her room and closed the balcony door, then pressed her forehead against the glass. “Oh God, this is getting complicated.”

  Chapter Twelve

  October 29th, 2018, After Sunset, Quinn Investigations, Culver City in Los Angeles, California

  Standing by the filing cabinet, Red looked inside the messy top drawer. She had gone from cabinet to cabinet in the row, but each was crammed with files, loose papers, and faded receipts. If there was an order to them, she hadn’t found it. The routine organizing calmed her, but she couldn’t help but be aware of Lucas reading the computer screen over Quinn’s shoulder.

  Vic had insisted that they come to Quinn Investigations to show Julia Crispin’s research to Quinn. They hadn’t a chance last night. After regrouping at the hotel from the explosive mission to the illegal bar in Gianni Construction, Quinn and Lucas had left to go tell Cora Moon about the mystery vampires in the Valley. Red knew they could have emailed the research, but Vic was getting cabin fever.

  Red felt eyes on her. She looked up to see Lucas smiling at her. She shook her head and smiled back. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping me dig up the files on vampire attacks?”

  “Can’t help but be curious to see what the Bard chit wrote about me,” Lucas said.

  “Impulsive, rude, and occasionally heroic. She has your number, boy.” Quinn’s reserved expression flickered as amusement twisted his lips.

  “We already know about you, Lucas. Its other vampires that we need to learn about. With Quinn’s sources at the LAPD keeping quiet, we’re relying on your record keeping.”

  “Bloody hell.” Lucas looked away.

  “Vic wanted us to make some progress when he stubbornly went on the food run alone.” Red grumbled. “He’s even hitting up the butchers for you, too.” Red shook her head, letting the mysterious overcompensating ways of her mentor go. She glanced back at the files. “I’m really trying to find an order, but your logic escapes me.”

  “Simple. I stuffed them in a folder once we finished the case.” Lucas pointed at the second drawer of one file cabinet. “I started stuffing them in around ‘93.”

  “Weren’t you drunk for all of ‘93?” Red asked.

  “Sounds about right.”

  “He was a charity hire,” Quinn said sheepishly.

  “The really interesting ones, I put here.” Lucas walked over to the file cabinet next to her. He opened the top and flipped through at vampire speed, his eyes moving quickly as he scanned the messily written labels. He pulled one out. “This is a weird one. Lots of tentacles in places you wouldn’t expect.”

  “Unless that ends with a vampire attack, I don’t think it’s what we are looking for.” Red leaned next to him to investigate the drawer. She reached out when she spied a label reading “vamps in Venice,” and her hand brushed Lucas’s. Biting the inside of her cheek, Red looked down. “This one looks more promising.”

  “Yeah.” Lucas studied Red, voice lowering. “Maybe we’re onto something.”

  The door opened, and a powerful feminine voice dryly replied, “Or maybe you’re just pissing the wrong people off.”

  Red’s heart picked up, and her shoulders tensed as she looked over at the open doorway.

  Delilah put her hand on her hip as her head tilted. She looked like a femme fatale from a noir film coming to see a down-on-their-luck private dick. Long loosely-curled blond hair framed wary blue eyes. Her classical features were poised except for a trace of annoyance in her pursed crimson lips. Tapping the door closed with a red-bottomed heel, she sauntered into the office in a blue Chanel dress that fit like a second skin. Delilah was a nearly 400-year-old vampire and radiated the confidence of one.

  “Sire.” Quinn stood up, his head lifting as he looked the vampiress up and down. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  “You might look like a male model, but you’re smarter than that. I asked you to find the culprit killing my best girls, not to have a car chase on the freeway!” Delilah crossed her arms. “This has to stop.”

  “The case has gotten more complicated, as I told Cora last night,” Quinn sa
id, his voice silky and conciliatory.

  “Some vampire is growing an army of minions in the Valley.” Red matched Delilah’s stance.

  This case was too important. Was everyone forgetting the most important part of the story, a rogue vampire on a murder spree? Julia Crispin wasn’t a wrong-place-wrong-time situation. She was on the trail of something big. More than half the research encrypted on Julia’s laptop had been stolen from her hotel suite, but they had seen enough to validate her suspicions. This case had too much momentum to stop now.

  Delilah met Red’s eyes before dismissing her with a quick eye roll. She focused on Quinn as she stepped up to his desk and leaned against it. Their glance exchanged a silent communication honed over centuries. She then studied Red like a person observing a zoo animal. “I can’t decide if this is like the good old days or an utter perversion.”

  Red tightened her arms around herself. She could already tell that Delilah wasn’t nearly as impressed with her as her general manager had been.

  “It still takes me back.” Delilah smiled, an act devoid of amusement. “Is she writing your letters too, Quinn?”

  Lucas stepped forward, his body partially shielding Red. “Bugger off with that. If you’re here to scold us, do it. Don’t drudge up the past.”

  “The girl is a rake. She is dredging it up with her very face.” Delilah stared hard at Lucas.

  Red felt her face and frowned before shrugging her shoulders under her tank top straps.

  Noticing the bandage on Red’s neck, Delilah rolled her eyes. “I can see Kristoff got ahold of her. Fabulous. Are you going to destroy his bar like you did Fabio Gianni’s? Because Gianni is billing the supreme for the damage.”

  “I’ll have you know that I was following the law. Unregistered minions and all. I did Cora a favor.” Lucas gestured, flapping one hand and putting the other in his pocket.

  “A favor? Even the LAPD was able to follow your trail, especially the daredevil in the convertible.” Delilah glared at Quinn at the last sentence, but her lips puckered up into a repressed smile.

  “Guilty. Now, when I told the supreme that I found over a dozen rogue vampires in the Valley, she wasn’t displeased with me. What changed?” Quinn asked.

  “You’re lucky that Kristoff sent his own to turn back the rabble. Between the two of you, that three-car pile-up might have been cleaned up. Except every human has a cellphone these days.” Delilah shook her head. “Michel tried to repress the news before the Blood Alliance found it. Then a short video went viral locally. Hashtag trending, boys.”

  “Bullocks.” Lucas said, turning to Quinn. “You didn’t say Kristoff helped you.”

  “Your dick measuring contest with Kristoff isn’t the point, Lucas. The video of Quinn racing down the freeway was scrubbed off Twitter already, but it’s enough to have tongues wagging. The Halloween Ball is in two nights. Cora didn’t even want to look at me when I caught her at Hot Yoga,” Delilah said. “Then she was…” She looked away from Quinn. “...reminded of Lucas challenging Kristoff’s claim in public. She might appreciate the intel, but the collateral damage is a fucking mess. The Master of Portland is her most visible ally among the unsouled, and you sucker punched his ambassador, Lucas!”

  “Michel told her, didn’t he? That bastard will never forget Paris, will he?” Lucas asked.

  “Why would he?” Delilah shook her head. “Let’s not quarrel. He has been patient with you, Lucas, at my insistence. He’s not the one you need to worry about yet, unless you keep pissing him off.”

  “You can say his name. I know full well he’s your lover,” Quinn said slowly as he sat down. “The warning is received, sire.”

  “Oh, don’t be cold, darling. I came here because I cared. You like to stay aloof now, leaving me in the thick of it,” Delilah cajoled. “I’m off to another PR event tonight, trying to drum up support for Cora and keep our family on her good side.”

  Quinn raised his eyebrows. “You always liked center stage.”

  “You don’t know what it’s like. Vampires have been coming in for the Blood Summit since August. Bloodliners and Doves, all agitating in every planning committee. It’s pulling pragmatists like me to the extremes.” Delilah lowered her voice. “Be careful. Cora now knows someone has gone rogue, and she won’t forget that you brought the message, but neither will whoever is turning those minions.”

  “I hear you, Delilah.” Quinn crossed his arms.

  “Let’s see if you listen.” Delilah pushed her blond hair over her shoulder before standing up. She strutted toward the door without a glance back.

  “Do you still wear the necklace that Alaric gave you? The ouroboros?” Quinn asked softly from his desk.

  Delilah paused before she looked over her shoulder. “A lady always keeps the jewelry. Much more faithful than the giver.”

  “Two of the victims had a snake eating its own tail carved on them.” Quinn said.

  “Strike you as familiar?” Lucas crossed his arms.

  “You’ll want to keep Juniper 2.0 out of sight, Lucas.” Delilah glanced at Lucas, raising her eyebrow. “The Blood Alliance is what concerns the supreme, not the Brotherhood. Right now, she has precious few allies for her peacenik agenda. Cora will grant sire rights if it suits her.”

  The phrase sire rights rang in Red’s ears echoing like a death bell. LA County, land of the fluffy reformed vampires, wasn’t a sanctuary. Not anymore… if it ever had been.

  Delilah paused like an actress waiting for her cue before she stepped out the door and closed it behind her.

  Red released the breath she was holding. Delilah had soaked up the energy in the room, leaving it spent when she left. Red was happy with the intensity being dialed back down a notch. The silence grew as the three of them found themselves lost in thought as if alone.

  The door slammed open minutes later, and Vic strode, bent over his arm of cloth shopping bags. “Din-din, motherfuckers. I have lo mein and cow blood.”

  Forcing herself not to jump, Red put her hand on her chest then rushed to take some of the bags off his working arm. “You’re a real mule. How did you even get this out of the car?”

  “What? Not hungry?” Vic asked.

  Red filled Vic in on Delilah’s visit while Quinn and Lucas retreated to a corner of the office, speaking quietly.

  Vic rolled his eyes at Delilah’s warnings, but he held his tongue until the end.

  “Well, we knew the case might blow open or, more accurately, up. Didn’t think it was going to be some vans,” Vic said as he put the cartons of takeout and plastic pints of blood on the desk. “Maybe it might spook the rogue master into doing something stupid. Now that Cora is on guard, her people might end up catching him.”

  “You’re assuming they’re the same person. If I was a vampire creating a secret army, why would I drop bodies where someone would get curious? Leaving a dead girl at the official nightclub of the Blood Summit isn’t very sneaky,” Red said, feeling like they had a version of the same conversation over and over. “Why wouldn’t this rogue master keep her in a dungeon for a while, learn her secrets? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Point.” Vic sighed, then picked up his takeout and fork before moving to a couch along the wall. He called out to Quinn and Lucas, “Hey, boys, secrets don’t make friends.”

  Red joined him with her portion of greasy Chinese food.

  “The drive made me think,” Vic said. “The last few entries in Julia’s files were around Club Vltava. She had a photoshoot there with Kristoff and noted some weird tension between Delilah and Kristoff. Said a whole group of vamps were having a powwow in the club including Michel and what seems like all the vampires from Portland. No word on if they looked like hipsters or not. Is it just me or do we have too many suspects?”

  “A city full, in fact.” Red didn’t look to Quinn. A poking thorn of suspicion grew in her mind. If half of the vampires in Los Angeles could be suspects, then the other half would protect their friends… or sires.


  “The motive could be anything,” Vic said, chewing his noodles. “There are other former members of the Alaric Order in town, dissidents looking to rile up the authority before their big shindig, and what vampire wouldn’t want to eat a model?”

  Red began to launch into an idea she had been picking at since she had changed bandages on her neck this morning. “I know. I have an idea on how to narrow it down. There is a fang mold database. We could—”

  “You need to get back to the hotel,” Lucas said. “Stay there until my bloody progeny leaves town.”

  “Lucas will flank the van en route,” Quinn said.

  “Delilah says close the case and run, so we’re supposed to listen to her?” Red set the food carton next to her and crossed her arms. She struck a determined hunter stance, then realized she had a piece of noodle on her face. Wiping the bit of Chinese food off her lip and blushing, she looked away from Lucas. “I’m a hunter. This isn’t my first rodeo with vampires. I signed on to this job, and I intend to finish it.”