Aidan glanced around the room, his gaze stopping when it reached the kitchen table. “Or someone didn’t give her a choice.” He pointed at the laptop. “Who’s Danny?”
“My old partner, why?” Surprise tightened his throat. Only two people in Wicks Hollow knew his dead partner’s name. For Alex to use it was significant, but how? What was she trying to tell him? Frustrated, he picked up the paper. A small USB drive rolled off the keyboard and landed on the table.
He took a seat and stuck the drive into one of the computer ports. A few keystrokes later and he’d accessed the information on the device. Gwen Montgomery’s file, along with the files of the other missing women popped onto the screen.
He sensed Aidan hovering over his shoulder. “I don’t even want to know how she got her hands on these files.”
“What are they?” Mason asked.
“They look like the records the coven keeps on all their members. The highly confidential files only the high council or the campus dean have access to.”
Over the past couple of days, the woman had surprised him with her tenacity, intelligence, sharp perceptions—things he’d grown to admire about her, including the extent she’d go to in order to save lives and solve this case. He clicked on the first file and scrolled through the information. “Any idea what we’re looking for?” Mason asked.
Aidan tapped his shoulder. “Wait, scroll back.” He pointed to a small highlighted area on the screen. “There. Trevor Mitchell. Does that name mean anything to you?”
“Yeah. A nerdy kind of guy. He showed up in the park yesterday acting very nervous and wearing an excessive amount of cologne. He seemed to have a crush on Alex.” Mason clicked on the next file, then scrolled until he found another highlighted list with Trevor’s name on it.
“Do you think he’s our warlock?” Aidan asked.
“Not sure.” At the time, his wolf had been agitated, acting as if there was something off about the man. Mason thought his animal was being overprotective of Alex. Now he wished he’d paid more attention.
“You don’t think she went after him alone, do you?” Aidan asked.
“I don’t know.” He rubbed the tense muscles in his neck. He knew she was determined to prove to Drake she’d make a good investigator. Was the clue enough motivation for her to go after Trevor by herself?
He honestly didn’t believe she’d be stupid enough to risk her own life to prove a point to her uncle. “Maybe she doesn’t know he’s a warlock, or maybe you’re right and she had no choice.” Either way, she didn’t stand a chance, not without the ability to control her magic.
“That could explain why she used Danny’s name and not yours. Maybe she realized what she was dealing with, wanted to warn you, but was afraid to write down a name he might recognize.”
“It’s a plausible theory. If Trevor is the warlock, then he’s probably done his homework and knows everyone associated with Alex, and after yesterday, that includes me,” Mason said.
Aidan took a step back. “Makes sense. We already determined she was a target because of her elemental powers. It would be smart to assume he knows everything about her.”
Mason pushed away from the table and got to his feet. “Including the kind of car she drives.” Slicing her tire, then sending the creatures after her in the parking lot where anyone could happen upon them was a bold move.
So far, all the women had disappeared from an isolated location. Was the warlock’s decision to take Alex based on her magical lineage alone, or was it fueled by emotion rather than rational calculation? The more Mason thought about it, the more Trevor being their warlock seemed to fit.
The man hadn’t done a very good job of hiding his jealousy when he’d stumbled upon Alex and him in the park. Now Mason wondered if Trevor’s appearance had really been an accident or if he’d been following Alex all along.
Mason pulled out his phone, ran his thumb over Drake’s name, and put the call on speaker so Aidan could participate in the conversation.
“Tell me you have news on my niece.” The other man’s agitated rumble filled the room.
Mason fought to keep his inner turmoil under control and his voice calm and steady. “We think she may have found our warlock. Can you have Chance pull up any information he can find on a Trevor Mitchell?”
“I’m right here. Tell us what you’ve got,” Chance said, joining the conversation.
“According to the information we found, he’s a teacher’s assistant and also works in the mentor program for the college,” Aidan said. “He’s listed as a tutor for all the missing women.”
“It sounds like you found the connection we were searching for.” Drake’s response held a hint of enthusiasm and maybe a little hope. “Someone employed by the college would be able to obtain information about the students and use it to get close to them.”
“I’ll get right on it after I…” Chance said right before Mason heard rapid clicking on a keyboard.
“What about the GPS?” Mason figured Drake would have said something already if they had a location, but felt compelled to ask anyway.
“Working on it.” Chance paused his typing. “I’m picking up unusual interference, probably magic based.”
Aidan furrowed his brow and asked, “Do you think he’s using dark magic to keep us from finding her?”
“Yes, but by doing so”—Drake’s pause was filled with a gasp by Chance—“he’s provided us with a general location.”
Chapter Twelve
The fog surrounding Alex’s brain started to fade when she heard garbled noises and felt something jostle her arm. “Alex, please wake up,” said someone who sounded a lot like Paige, yet lacking her normal enthusiasm.
But it couldn’t be Paige. She was missing. No, not missing. With Trevor at the school. Alex lurched and her eyes flew open as she tried to make sense of her fragmented thoughts.
It took a few seconds for Alex to realize Paige hovering over her, eyes glistening, with a dark bruise on her left cheekbone, wasn’t her imagination. Her friend grabbed her hand, giving it a tight squeeze and blowing out a relieved breath. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”
She lifted her head, her attempt to sit up thwarted by the sharp pain radiating across her skull. “What happened?” she asked, sifting through her memories, trying to remember how she’d gotten here—wherever here was.
“That traitorous piece of crap Trevor zapped you with some kind of sleeping spell after you attacked him.” Paige ran her hand along her arm, fingering a tear on her sleeve, and wincing at the cut beneath it. Her narrowed crystal-blue gaze was a good indication she was secretly plotting his demise for ruining one of her favorite shirts.
“Great.” Alex rubbed her temples. “I don’t suppose I caused any damage before he knocked me out, did I?” That part of her memory was still fuzzy.
“Nothing notable.” Paige helped her into a sitting position. “But you get points for trying.”
After a few minutes, her dizziness and pain subsided. She lowered her arms, then blinked several times to clear her blurry vision. She glanced at her surroundings, noting the inside of a tall square cage made of thick iron rods with barely enough space for them to move around. Outside the cage was a room the size of grade school gymnasium with white-washed concrete-block walls and overhead fluorescent lighting.
A similar cage sat on the floor about ten feet away. Two women were huddled inside, their backs braced against the bars. She recognized them from the pictures in the agency’s case files—Francesca and Megan, the other missing witches.
Alex frowned, her gaze returning to Paige. “Are they okay?” she whispered.
Paige wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think so. I tried talking to them earlier but couldn’t get Francesca to say more than a few words. Megan hasn’t spoken or moved since I got here.”
Alex’s brief run-in with the creatures was enough to give her months of nightmares. She didn’t want to think about what kind of horrors the woman must have wit
nessed to force her mind into a shell.
“Do you know where we are?” On the floor opposite the cages, she could see a ten-foot wide red circle drawn on the floor. Since Trevor was practicing dark magic, the line was probably drawn with blood—human or otherwise. Black candles lined with melted wax were positioned on the floor every few feet outside the circle. There were four distinct symbols she didn’t recognize drawn on the floor inside the ring, each an equal distance from the center and from each other.
“We’re somewhere underneath the museum.” Paige leaned back against the bars, pulling her knees up to her chest.
She’d been to the coven museum hundreds of times, even worked there as a cashier in the souvenir shop one summer during high school. She didn’t recall there ever being a basement. “Do you remember how you got here?” Alex asked.
“You mean after Trevor sent one of his beasty things after me?”
“Yeah.” Alex didn’t need to hear the details or make her friend relive her encounter with the creatures. She wanted to know if there was a way to get them all out of here.
“There’s a hidden entrance behind the building and a tunnel that leads to this room.”
Somewhere no one knew anything about, with concealed access wasn’t promising news, but it did explain why no one had been able to find Francesca and Megan after they’d been taken. “Where’s Trevor now?” Alex asked.
Paige tipped her chin toward a door at the far end of the room. “He left maybe twenty minutes ago.”
Alex wanted to know what Trevor was up to, but if the end result meant they’d all end up like Gwen, she didn’t want to stick around and ask. “We need to find a way out of here.” Grabbing the bars, she pulled herself to her feet, her stomach pounding with a new wave of nausea. She braced her forehead against the bars and inhaled short breaths until the urge to throw up had passed.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Paige got to her feet and placed a comforting hand on Alex’s shoulder.
“I’ll make it,” Alex said as she moved to the side of the cage, where the bars formed a door. There was a small metal panel located about four feet from the ground.
She slid her hand between the bars, feeling her way along the outside of the smooth panel until she found an opening she assumed contained a lock. A lock she might be able to open since she still had Aidan’s pick set in her backpack.
She still had her jacket, but after quickly checking her pockets and the inside of her boot, she knew he’d removed all her belongings. “Do you know what Trevor did with my things?”
“They’re over there.” Paige pointed at a table on the opposite side of the other cage.
Alex groaned, frustrated that he’d put everything too far away for her to reach.
A door slammed and heavy footsteps echoed through the room, causing Paige and her to jump. A man who resembled Trevor, yet different, walked toward them. He was alone, not a creature in sight. Not that it made him any less menacing.
His hair color and facial features looked the same, except the skin across the cheekbones was taut, not rounded. He no longer wore wire-rimmed glasses or his usual oversized sweater. Instead, a black silk shirt and dark jeans clung to a slimmer, more athletically defined body.
As he got closer, Alex also noticed that his familiar and overpowering musky odor was missing. Sometimes dark magic gave off offensive odors. After a brief moment of clarity, she realized he’d used his cologne in excess to mask his spells.
If her assumption were correct, he’d also used a transformation spell to alter his appearance. Very few witches were able to manipulate that kind of magic, especially for long periods of time. Someone that good would almost need to be—a warlock. The thought made her gasp.
“I’m glad to see you’re finally awake.” He stopped several feet from the cage. “Though I’m not happy that you tried to disobey me.” He sneered and ran his fingertips along some scratches on his cheek.
He must have misinterpreted Alex’s stare as appreciation, because he smiled and asked, “So tell me, do you like the real me?”
She wasn’t about to admit he wasn’t a bad. Instead, disdain flowed easily across her tongue, and she snarled, “The new you is just as disgusting as the old you.”
“You will have changed your mind by the time I’m done with you.” He laughed, an exuberant sound, self-assured and arrogant. “By the way, how’s your head?”
A vague memory surfaced, and she lowered her gaze to his crotch, then smiled. “How are your…” She remembered nailing him with her knee after he’d tried to kiss her, right before he’d cast his spell.
He gritted his teeth, his jaw muscles twitching. Raw energy sizzled around the cage, and overhead lights pulsated from yellow to red. Paige backed away from the bars. The women in the other cage whimpered and huddled closer together, if that was possible.
She decided to change the subject before his anger turned violent. “Why am I—why are we here?”
“Because I need to combine your magic with mine,” he said.
She frowned at his reply, having expected him to say something crazy like ritual sacrifice. “Well, good luck with that.” Sharing the fact that she couldn’t control her magic and refused to use it would put her at a disadvantage. She crossed her arms and glowered at him. “There’s no way I’ll use my powers to help you with a spell.”
His scowl offered nothing but contempt and loathing. “I didn’t say I needed your help only that I wanted to use your magic with mine. Or, more specifically, I plan to use your power to help me control the demon fire.”
“What is demon fire?” Paige asked.
Trevor quirked a brow, an action he used when he was in mentoring mode. “A set of ancient artifacts capable of manipulating demon magic.”
Alex cringed and gripped the bars tighter, afraid she’d drop to her knees if she let go. Demon magic was the deadliest of all magic and had been outlawed centuries ago. If he’d found a way to use it, the outcome would be very bad, like world destruction kind of bad. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but had to ask, “How exactly are you going to carry out your plan?”
“By harnessing the power of three witches.”
It took her a few seconds to grasp the meaning behind his words. Harness translated to take, as in drain their magical life forces. A witch without her powers was a dead witch.
There were also four of them, which meant one of them would suffer from having the magic sucked out of her body, but Alex remembered how Gwen had died and was certain Trevor would use the creatures to end the extra person’s life. Paige must have reached the same conclusion, because she paled to the color of chimney ash and sagged against the bars.
Alex draped a protective arm across her friend’s shoulder and whispered, “It’s going to be okay.” She glowered at Trevor, determined not to let him hurt someone she cared about, or either of the other women, at least not without a fight. A fight she probably wouldn’t survive.
Her mind flashed to Mason, her thoughts filled with regret and the possibility of never seeing him again. He’d called during her drive to the campus. She’d been tempted to answer but hadn’t wanted to risk Paige’s life, so she’d let his messages go to voice mail.
The man scored points for determination by persistently following up the call with several text messages asking, then demanding to know where she was.
Luck was never something she relied on, but in this instance, she truly hoped a little would guide Mason to her apartment so he could find her clue. Even with her family’s help, there was no guarantee that any of them would track down her location. And if they did, would they find the secret entrance in time to help?
She needed to figure out a way to stop Trevor before he had a chance to steal their powers. The only way to gain more time was to keep him distracted, appeal to his massive ego.
“I’m curious about the other night in the park. Were you responsible for the light display? And Gwen’s death?”
Interest spark
ed in his gaze, letting Alex know she had him.
“Quite spectacular, wasn’t it? Though I’m afraid I wasn’t entirely responsible. It was the result of using the demon fire. A small portion of it, anyway.” His lips twisted into a maniacal smile as he strutted toward her.
“Gwen, the stupid little bitch, managed to escape. She thought if she destroyed one of the pieces, she’d be able to stop me.” He wrapped his fingers around one of the bars and leaned closer. “We were chasing her when you showed up.”
Which was how he’d known Alex had been late for class and taken the shortcut through the park. Paige took a step back. Alex straightened her shoulders and stayed where she was, refusing to let him intimidate her. “When you say ‘we,’ you mean the creatures, don’t you?”
“Yes, members of the techie nexus.”
“Those things are people?” Paige muttered.
“It’s amazing what a little dark magic can do to wolf shifters,” he sneered.
Her mind raced, trying to focus on ways to keep him talking. “I showed up and interrupted your party, so you send the hounds from hell after me. To do what exactly?”
“I ordered them to chase you. To scare you. They wouldn’t have hurt you.” He reached through the bars and twirled a lock of her hair around his finger. “Using your magic was never part of my plan. At least not at first. You were different from the other witches. You didn’t look down your nose at me. Not like the others on campus.”
Great, Trevor was a warlock and a stalker. Bile threatened to rise up her throat, and it took all her willpower not to flinch.
“Then you betrayed me.” He yanked his hand away tugging on her hair hard enough to cause pain. His pupils darkened, and the overhead lights flickered again. “When I found you and that”—he flared his nostrils—“smelly wolf groping in the park, I knew, knew you were the same as the rest.”
Paige shot her a questioning look. Alex shook her head, a signal not to say anything that might anger Trevor further.
When he blinked away his anger, the emotion fading from his eyes. It was like watching an old horror rerun. “With Gwen dead, I needed another witch. What better way to make you pay for your deceit than to use you in the ritual?”
Hexed by Fire Page 10
