“Except for whoever you told.” Barnett let his irritation show through.
“I told Anabelle. She didn’t tell anyone.”
Barnett threw his napkin in his plate. “This is just great. I was hoping to have more time.”
“Do you have any leads?” Abel asked.
“Police business,” he said dismissively.
“Barnett, this isn’t about me,” Abel pleaded. “There’s so much more at stake.”
“I have one lead,” Barnett glowered.
“Who is it? Blake?” Abel leaned forward.
“Blake? Calvin’s son?” Barnett was shocked at the suggestion.
“Yeah, seems they’d have a lot to gain from all this.”
“Calvin’s a loner and Blake’s a half breed. They don’t have much to gain at all and without Amon. He was the reason they were allowed to live so close to town even though they weren’t pack members.”
“But didn’t Blake request membership in the pack a few months ago?”
Barnett sat back and thought for a minute. “He did, but that doesn’t mean anything. Maybe he wants to be part of something bigger and not feel like an outcast.”
“Still seems like quite the coincidence. You just said it yourself, with Amon gone them staying at the ranch is in question.”
“I doubt Blake had anything to do with this.” He shook his head reluctant to say his next piece. “I do have one lead.”
“Who?”
“I’m lookin’ at him.” Barnett glowered directly into Abel’s eyes.
“Me?”
“Yeah, you.”
“You know I would never hurt Amon. He was like a father to me,” Abel protested.
“Way I figure it, you’re the only cold-blooded killer that could’ve gotten close enough to Amon to take him down.” Barnett held his hand in the air. “Can I get the check please?”
Abel shook his head. “You have to know better than that.”
Delight scrambled over with a cup of coffee “Here you go.” She slid the check on the table.
Barnett picked up the check and pinned Abel with a deadly look. “All I know is you came back to town and now I’ve got bodies cropping up. You tell me what I should think.”
“I wasn’t here when Amon was killed.”
“I don’t know that.” Barnett slid out of the booth, paid his check, and pushed the door open.
Abel ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.
Delight came over. “Don’t listen to him, he’s just cranky.”
“I need him to listen to me.” He nodded and dug in his pocket for a few dollars. “Thanks for the coffee.”
“It’s going to be fine.” She shoved the money in her apron pocket. “Things always have a way of working themselves out in this town.”
“I hope you’re right,” he said, walked out onto the sidewalk, and headed toward the B&B.
“Abel?” Stasia called from behind.
Abel stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Stasia.” He tried to hide his disdain. “What are you doing in town so late?”
“I had to pick up some supplies.” She held a brown shopping bag up.
“Supplies?”
“Phaedra asked me to make a few dishes for the reception,” she answered.
“I’m not sure if there will be a reception.” Abel thought about the conversation earlier.
“Of course there will be a reception.” Stasia smiled. “And Amon was part of the coven and we’ll honor him with a feast.”
“I think we should respect the girl’s wishes if they don’t want a reception,” he offered, “But I guess Phaedra does what she likes.”
“She does what she has to for the coven.” She pulled her shoulder to her ear. “Like she could’ve let you stay if you had agreed to join the coven. It’s not too late, you know.”
“I have no desire to join the coven.” Abel started back toward the B&B. “I don’t know why you’d want me to after what I did, you of all people.”
Stasia struggled to keep up with Abel’s long strides. “Because I know my father had gone astray and was in the wrong. You were protecting Ayrabelle and your son.”
Abel stopped at the mention of Maynard. “What do you know about my son?”
“Well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. Ayry shows up five years later with a son that’s just under five years old.” Her gaze fell downward with a hint of sadness. “I would kill to protect my family too.”
“It’s not something you ever want to think about or have to do.” Abel continued walking.
“You should think about it. Then you could stay,” she said, nearly pleading with him. “I’m sure with the power you have now Phaedra’s invitation to join is still open.”
“Once Ayry’s gone, there’s nothing here for me.” His cell phone buzzed in his pocket. “Silas?”
“Yeah. We need your help,” Silas said with something short of panic in his voice.
“Okay, where are you?”
“We’re down by River’s Bottom. East side of the falls.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” he said, snapping his phone closed. “I gotta go.”
“What happened?” she asked, trying to keep up with him.
He didn’t answer. He dialed a number on his cell. “Hey, I’m going to be longer than I thought. Silas needs me…yeah.” He looked down at Stasia and felt her intruding on his conversation. “I’ll be back later.” He hung up the phone, slid it in his pocket, and left.
“I hope everything’s okay,” she called after him.
Chapter 9
Ayry sat on the parlor floor with books strewn about. She was reading one and making notes and cross referencing notes her father had made.
Anabelle stood in the doorway shaking her head. “How long have you known?”
Ayry didn’t look up from her notebook. “Probably as long as you did.”
“What do you mean? I just found out.”
Ayry looked up with a sarcastic look. “Anabelle, you’re not stupid. How could you not have known?”
Anabelle steps into the room and plops down in the oversized chair with her shoulders hanging forward. “I just thought you were Dad’s favorite.”
“And you never had a clue that Dad was basically binding my magic the whole time?” She raised a brow at her sister.
“It’s the kind of thing I didn’t want to believe, I guess.”
“No one wanted to believe it, that’s why it was so easy to hide.” She picked up one of the books.
“Dad knew there was another necromancer.” She opened the book to a page that had been dog-eared. “And knew he was coming for him.”
“What makes you say that?” Anabelle craned her neck to see the book.
Ayry shook her head. “You can’t read it. Only a magus can.”
“Convenient.”
“No, smart.” She pressed her finger on the page. “He was working on modifying a spell.”
“Dad hadn’t done magic in years.” She cut a half smile into her cheek. “Not since you’d left.”
“He was doing magic and he was preparing for something that was coming. He was worried about the necromancer finding out about the anomaly in the bloodline.”
“For good reason.”
“What does that make me?” Ayry questioned.
“The first female magus?”
“No. I’m not the first. It’s rare, but it happens.” She rolled her eyes. “Obviously. It’s like a recessive gene.”
Ayry unfolded herself from the floor and slid the family bible off the shelf. She opened up to the Family tree page and brought it to Anabelle. “Apparently, I’m not the first. I’m betting Dad wasn’t aware of this, but Mom’s side of the family had magus blood. The gene had lay dormant for four generations.”
“Okay, did Mom know?” Anabelle asked.
“Someone did.”
“How do you know?”
“Dad made a reference to the family bible in hi
s journal. He wanted me to find this.” Ayry inhaled a deep breath.
“Why did he want you to know? I mean, what does it matter now? All we need to do is keep you safe from the necromancer. If he wasn’t ready for him, how are you going to be ready?”
“Because a magus is the most vulnerable to become a necromancer.”
“I don’t understand.” Anabelle looked over Ayry’s shoulder at the Holy Bible.
“Necromancer and magus are a balance of magic. It’s said that you can’t have one without the other. But if there is a lack of balance and a power-hungry magus, they can turn to the darkness and obtain power through ritual killings.” Ayry explained.
“Wait, a necromancer is a magus gone bad?”
“In some cases, yes. Once they perform a ritual killing to obtain the power, their blood becomes tainted.” She watched her sister for understanding. “Like Saul was a half witch half magus. He wanted the full power of the magus, but I think he did it all wrong. He learned about the power that could be derived from the killings of magical beings and how he could become all powerful.”
“Mommy.” Maynard stood in the doorway rubbing his eyes.
“Maynard, what are you doing up? You’re supposed to be sleeping. It’s eleven o’clock.” Ayry scooped him up in her arms and held him thinking he came down for comfort.
“The smiling man woke me up,” he said in a sleepy tone.
“The smiling man is going to have to deal with me if he doesn’t let you sleep. Now let’s go upstairs and get you tucked back in.”
Maynard wriggled out of his mother’s hold and ran across the room to the family bible. “This book is special. Read it to me.”
“I’m not reading to you right now. You need to go to bed.” Ayry leaned down to be eye-level with him.
“The smiling man says you need to read that book to me.” He looks up at his mother with pleading eyes.
“I’ve already read to you tonight and it’s way past your bedtime.” She picked him up again. “If the smiling man doesn’t let you sleep, I’ll make him go away forever.”
“He says, ‘Yes ma’am’.”
“Good, let’s get you in bed.”
Ayry came back down the stairs. “That kid sometimes…”
“He’s pretty special.”
“In so many ways.” Ayry smiled.
“And loves when you read to him?” She laughed.
“He really does love story time. He’s always begging for one more book.” A soft smile changes her expression.
“He’s pretty desperate if he wants you to read the bible to him.” Anabelle closed the bible.
“Anyway.” Ayry went back to the pile of books. “Dad was working on something that would…I don’t know exactly what he means here, but the spell reads:
Here but not there.
There but not here.
Everywhere and nowhere.
“What the hell does that mean?” Anabelle questioned.
“I don’t know. But I need to figure it out. It was the key to defeating the necromancer.” She scratched her head.
“We need to figure it out.” Anabelle glanced up the stairs. “You don’t want to be on the run forever.”
“No, I don’t and whatever Dad was working on wasn’t enough.” Ayry wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m not nearly as strong as him. I’m only twenty-five years old. Dad was much older, wiser, stronger and he couldn’t…” Emotion formed a lump in her throat and for the first time since hearing the news that her father was gone she felt a deep sadness.
“Ayry?”
She forced a flat smile and choked back her tears. “I’m okay.”
“Is it hitting you? Just now?” Anabelle came and sat on the floor with her sister.
Ayry nodded and the moment Anabelle put her hands on her shoulders the flood gates opened. She began to sob. “I -I- I was so unkind to him. So caught up in my own stupid anger and pride that I let the last years of his life go by without so much as saying a word to him. He never got to meet his grandson and now he never will. Maynard will never meet Dad.” Her body shook with grief.
“It’s okay. He knew you had your reasons for leaving.”
“Yeah, my stupid childish anger. I should’ve never left him.” She bit her bottom lip. “I never forgave him. I blamed Dad and I shouldn’t have. It was all Abel’s doing. Abel made those decisions and Abel made the decision to leave without so much as a word.”
Anabelle held her tighter and allowed her the time that she needed to process her grief.
“Had you ever asked either of them what happened?”
“No. I don’t have to. I already know that some deal was made and Abel was happy to leave. Happy to walk away from me to save his own ass.” She pursed her lips. “If he had talked to me, at least came and said goodbye, I would’ve gone with him. But he obviously wasn’t interested in that or helping to raise his son.”
“That’s not fair. He didn’t know you were pregnant.”
“I never had the chance to tell him. He was already gone when I found out and I couldn’t find him. He left no clue as to where he would be. His cell phone didn’t work, he literally fell off the planet.”
Clouds gathered near the ceiling and the lights flickered.
“Um, Ayry, calm down. You’re doing the storm inside thing again,” Anabelle said with a calming tone.
Ayry let out a frustrated groan. “Fuck him. They did this.”
“Calm down.” Anabelle made a hushing noise.
“He never once tried to contact me. Not once,” she sobbed.
“Hold on.” Anabelle stood up and left the room. She returned with a small file box. She sat on the floor next Ayry and lifted the lid off the box. “Here.” She pushed the box in her direction.
“What is this?” She reached into the box and pulled out a smaller box.
“Every year for the last five years I would get two unmarked packages addressed to you. One at the beginning of September and one in May. I didn’t open them. But I knew who they were from.”
She carefully removed the wrapping from the box and opened it. The box was filled with colored shredded paper. She pulled the paper out carefully and found a gilded flower. “It’s a columbine.” She studied it. “Weird.”
She opened the note that had only two words on it. “Kmuskommunnuawuh Ktuh” Ayry smiled as she read the words out loud.
“English please.”
“You find my heart.” She smiled.
“What language is that?” Anabelle asked.
“Mohican.”
“Seriously? You know Mohican?” she questioned.
“No, but I know those words. It’s from my favorite book.” She took another box out and opened it. Another gilded flower. “Bitterroot.” Another note with the same inscription. She opened the next one to find a gilded prairie rose.
She dropped her hands in her lap. “He was sending me clues to find him.”
“Why didn’t he just call and say, ‘Hey, I’m in Las Vegas’.” Anabelle laughed.
“I don’t know.” She shook her head.
“Anabelle? Ayry?” Silas called from the back door. “Is it safe to come in?”
They both went into the kitchen and Anabelle laughed. “Yeah, you’re still invited.”
“I didn’t want to take any chances, That hurt,” he said remembering the pain.
Anabelle looked outside. “Where’s Abel?”
Silas furrowed his brow. “He’s not here?”
“No,” Anabelle said and scrunched her nose. “He called me and said he was on his way to help you.”
“No, Elias was there and so was Phaedra. The lower profile he has right now the better.”
“Then where is he?” Ayry asked in a panic. “Call him. Right now,” she demanded.
Anabelle picked up her phone and dialed the number. No answer.
“Try again.” Ayry was nearly hysterical.
Anabelle tried again. No answer.
“Silas, we
have to find him.” Ayry took her jacket off the coat rack.
“Oh no. you’re not going anywhere. You need to stay here where it’s safe.” Silas took Ayry by the shoulders. “We’ll find him. I’m going to call Levi and get the Pack Hunters on this.”
“We need to find him now.”
“Oh goodness!” A loud clatter at the back door startled them.
Ayry stopped when she saw her aunt standing outside the door with her designer bags in hand, her flaming red hair poking out from under her big floppy hat. “Isn’t someone going to help me in with my things?”
Anabelle and Ayry exchanged an annoyed look. Anabelle went to the door and opened it taking two of her bags. Jezabelle filled the room with her overbearing energy.
“Why the long faces?” She rested her bags in the corner and made her way to the coffee pot.
“I didn’t realize you had left.” Anabelle was partly stunned.
“I needed to pick up some things,” she sang.
She pinched Anabelle’s cheek.
“Aunt Jezabelle, really.” She leaned back away from her.
Jezabelle waved her hand and turned her gaze onto Ayry. “Did you enjoy your ride, dear?”
“We really don’t have time for this.” Ayry pushed past Jezabelle to the door. She rattled the knob. “What the hell?”
Ayry pushed against the door but it didn’t budge. She turned to Silas. “Open the door, now.”
Silas and Anabelle exchanged a confused look. Silas went to the door and tried it. “It won’t open.”
“What?”
“It won’t open,” he repeated.
“We’ve got to get out of here.” Ayry tried the door again frantically.
“Well, isn’t this a pickle. Never a dull moment in Dark Moon Falls. I’m sure this is one of your little witch friends playing a joke.” Jezabelle picked up one of her bags and motioned to the others. “Be a dear and bring those up for me. I’m going to unpack.” She left the room.
Silas wrinkled his nose. “Was she talking to me?”
“She was, but I’ll get it.” Anabelle was exasperated. “I’ll be right back. We’ll figure this out.”
“Silas, call Levi. We’ve got to find Abel,” Ayry begged.
Silas dragged his phone out of his pocket and studied the screen. “No signal.”
Dark Moon Falls: Abel Page 7
