by Melody Raven
In the blink of an eye, Bastian’s hand was on Derek’s throat and he slammed him against the wall. The cheap artwork from the eighties shook with the pressure. “Watch. Your. Tongue,” warned the guard dog.
It wasn’t just a warning. Derek couldn’t get any air in. Even though his sidearm was still in reach, he kept himself still, staring down Bastian and waiting for him to back off. The guy was bluffing. Even though Claudia might be doing everything in her power to get him out of their lives, Bastian knew he was useful.
Sure enough, after a few seconds, the pressure finally lessened as Bastian let go. Derek rolled his shoulders and stretched his sore neck, but didn’t touch it. “Next time you do that, it will end differently,” warned Derek.
“One can only hope.” Bastian’s words dripped with threat.
“There are ten dead innocents in the other room, but please, keep up your pissing contest,” said Sam. “This will definitely help matters.”
“Here’s the deal. You’re looking for someone and magic isn’t working. That means you need the police. You need me. And if Claudia has a problem with that, she can come here and tell me herself.”
Suddenly, Claire was surrounded in a cloud of misery. One moment, she was in the warm sunshine of summer in New York City and then it was gray, dull, and impatient. But she supposed the DMV had never been known for being a happy place.
She slowly walked around the perimeter. It shouldn’t be hard to find who she was looking for considering the description…. Then she saw the flash of bright green and knew she’d found him. Claire walked past the line and right to the counter. Everyone working there seemed to be following all the rules and regulations of working for a government agency except for this one.
He sat behind a computer with his head down and not looking up as his fingers rapidly moved over the keys. When Claire approached the counter, he didn’t look up or react to her presence at all. “Excuse me?” she said.
“You have to have an appointment and get a number,” he said without looking up.
“Dante, right?”
Finally he glanced up at her and didn’t seem impressed. For someone with bright-green hair, a nose ring, and just the edge of a tattoo peeking out from the collar of his shirt, he sure did seem judgey.
“Who wants to know?”
“Claire Washington. I’m friends with Sam Harris. She sent me here to find you.”
“Oh. I didn’t think you were going to show up.”
“Why?”
He glanced around them, at the annoyed faces surrounding them. “Because she sent you here for a job. Meaning you’d be working here. Voluntarily.”
“Well, I don’t have a trust fund like she does, so if I want to stop being a bum, I have to work somewhere. She said that contacts in government help.”
Dante smiled and let out a little laugh. “Help. Yep. That’s why I’m working here too. To help.”
The sarcasm in his voice wasn’t missed. But when he smiled, a little dimple in his cheek was revealed and Claire wondered what he’d look like if he wasn’t hiding behind the hair and piercings and tattoos. Like the rest of the workers, he wore a blue government-issued shirt, but he seemed to be the tallest person there. “So you’re not here by choice?”
“There’s always a choice. Come on back.” He moved to the door that allowed Claire to go behind the counter.
“Should I talk to a supervisor or something?”
“I didn’t actually think you were going to show up.”
“So I don’t really have a job?”
“You will. I have to find out what openings there are and then make sure you’re the only resume considered and the rest find their way into the trash bin filing cabinet.”
“Someone isn’t going to get a job because of me?”
“Welcome to the top of the food chain, hun.”
Top of the food chain…. The image of her hands around Heather’s wrists as she fell back in pain came to her all of a sudden and she blinked it away. Top of the food chain. She was going to have to get used to that.
Sam looked through her phone. No pictures of Derek. Nothing to signal that she knew him. Not even a phone number. Though that would be one of the easiest pieces of him to erase.
“Anything we can use?” Bastian turned the key in her sister’s apartment door.
“No.”
“Okay. I gave the head detective on the scene your number and they’re under orders to call you if they discover any natural causes for the deaths. Let me know if anything pops up.”
She narrowed her eyes at him as the door to Heather’s apartment fell open. “You know I wasn’t looking for that.”
He ignored her and stepped inside. Neither of them were on guard. Heather’s apartment had already been searched. She wasn’t there.
They weren’t really looking for her at the moment, but for any sign of where she could be. Still in the city… still on the continent….
“Stop, Bastian. We’re not going to avoid this any longer.”
“Your sister could be out killing people right now to complete the ritual to bring dark magic fully into the world, after which she’ll kill your grandmother and who knows how many other people. Trust me, we can avoid your other personal shit for decades if it means we find Heather.”
She didn’t respond to that. It was too painful when he put Heather’s recent actions to light like that. Instead, she bulldozed ahead with the question she’d been wanting to ask all day. “Derek. Why don’t I remember him? Is he right? Were we together?”
Bastian ran a hand through his short hair and looked at her. “He’s dangerous, Sam.”
“My sister is dangerous. My grandmother is dangerous. Hell, you’re dangerous. So don’t evade the question and answer me. Were Derek and I together?”
He looked her right in the eye. “No.”
She blinked in shock. Somehow she’d been so certain he’d say yes. Why lie? She was going to find out the truth sooner rather than later. “But I do know him.”
“I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t know what happened to your memories. It could be Claudia; it could be Heather fucking with us for all I know. So let’s stay focused and find her.”
“No. I’m doing this for Claudia. If she wants me to work for her, I need to know I can trust her. Someone got inside my head, Bastian. Do you have any idea what that feels like?”
“More than you know,” he said, without elaborating.
“I— How can I keep going without knowing?”
“You keep going because you’re not just doing this for Claudia. Last time there was a run-in with the darkness, over a million people died. Think about that.”
Okay, Sam hadn’t been the best student in school, but she would’ve remembered something like that. “What are you talking about?”
“There are certain significant events in history that don’t go down in history. They get buried, where they’re supposed to stay. If you want to know more, you’re going to have to talk to Claudia, but trust me on this. We need to find Heather and stop whatever she’s planning.”
Sam bit her lip. There were so many things wrong with... everything. Everything was wrong. Her sister was psychotic. Her grandmother might have violated her mind. Her partner talked in half-truths and lies. And the body count just kept growing.
“Samantha, I know you don’t know who to trust right now, but you’re Heather’s sister. This is her place. You need to help me figure out where she is. Look for anything that’s missing, out of place, anything that can help us. Do it for those ten bodies.”
“Twenty,” she said softly. “Heather was there with Tommy Collins. She was using him to do her dirty work.” She remembered the dark impression she’d gotten when she took the potion in the gardens. The two distinct figures. Now that she knew the second presence was Heather, it fit. Even though she had no concrete proof, she knew Heather was there. Not just in spirit, but physically present while Tommy raped and murdered those five wom
en. Then when he failed, she took on the ritual herself, throwing distractions and magic at the police as she killed five men she didn’t think society would ever miss. And today was… the blowout. The warning. The sign that she would keep killing until she got what she wanted. “She’s killed twenty people and she doesn’t even care.”
“That’s what dark magic does. It corrupts until there’s nothing left. No love. No family. No empathy. Just greed and corruption.”
Sam ran a hand over her forehead, where a headache pounded right behind the temples. She pulled her hair out of the ponytail and rubbed at her scalp for a second. “Fine. I’ll stay.”
He nodded and turned as he started to search without saying another word. Probably because he didn’t want to evade any more of her questions.
Sam put her hair tie on her wrist as she went farther into her sister’s apartment. Even after all the horrible things Heather had done, Sam felt guilty for invading her privacy. How many fights had they gotten into as teens about privacy? They were always borrowing each other’s stuff without permission.
Heather was only two years older than Sam, so from middle school on, they’d been about the same size. Heather was shorter and was considerably better endowed than Sam, a fact she pointed out frequently during their fights, but that hadn’t stopped the non-consensual clothing exchange program between the two of them.
Sam started out in Heather’s bedroom. The large window overlooking the city let in lots of natural light, and the hardwood floors were polished so hard they shined. The bed had a clean white down comforter with a pink blanket folded at the foot of the bed and white pillows. Sam took a deep breath; it even smelled like Heather. For a second, the emotions bubbled up and she sat down on the bed. She ran her hands over the smooth, soft comforter and just stayed there. Screw Derek. Screw Claudia. And damn it, screw Heather. It was so… she hated to even think it, but unfair.
And if Derek and she really did have something, it was horrible to think that there was someone she was supposed to be able to talk about this with. Someone she could lean on and trust. Was she missing a hole in her heart like that? She didn’t feel… different. But she supposed that was the point.
Sam finally pulled herself out of her own self-pity and stood. She started by going through the jewelry on top of the dresser. Nothing seemed to emanate power or stand out. From there, she looked through all the drawers. Everything was strangely neat, which was in character for Heather. Even her underwear was precisely folded. This wasn’t just a good housekeeper. Heather had always been this anal. Sometimes it was hard to believe they were related.
Soon enough she’d been through every drawer in the room and not one thing stood out. After a quick glance in the closet, Sam was about to move on when she saw the one part of the room she hadn’t been through. The dirty clothes hamper. Maybe there’d be a receipt or something in a pocket she could use? Whether Derek was crazy or not, it would be nice to have a detective giving her search tips right now. She tipped the hamper over and looked through the pile of clothes. Not a receipt to be found, but she finally saw the one thing that caught her attention. A black t-shirt. Heather owned plenty of black items, but this was obviously cut for a male.
It wasn’t as if Heather was a prude. As a powerful witch, she slept around on a normal basis to keep energized. But if a lover left a shirt over, wouldn’t it just be thrown out? Maybe Heather had a serious guy in her life. Probably nothing, but if she could talk to someone who had been spending time with Heather lately, maybe they could get a lead on where she’d run off to. Or maybe she was hiding out with this guy now.
Either way, it was something. And something was a lot better than the pile of nothing she had.
Derek walked past the line and right up to the counter at the DMV and held up a picture. “Have you seen this woman?”
The poor girl behind the counter looked at him, wide-eyed, and Derek cursed himself. He was better than this. He had an asshole voice and a nice guy voice. This woman who’d done absolutely nothing wrong didn’t deserve the asshole voice. “Sorry,” he said, correcting his tone. “This is a friend of mine and she was supposed to start working here today. Do you know where I can find her?”
“Uhh… Dante was taking over her training and he can disappear sometimes. Let me check the back for you.” She pushed away from the government-issued computer and walked a tad too fast away from the counter,
Derek knew she was still not comfortable with him barking orders. That’s fine. She didn’t need to be comfortable; she just needed to bring him Claire.
A few minutes later, the pretty blonde who he’d been depending on saving his ass finally emerged from the back room. Derek held his breath as he waited to see whether she’d even recognize him, but his fears were alleviated immediately as a smile broke out across her face.
“Derek! What are you doing here?” Then her smile fell and she narrowed her eyes. “You’re not supposed to be here. What’s wrong?”
“Can we go outside? We need to talk.”
Something with green hair and more holes than were natural in a human body held open the counter door for him. “Why don’t you head back here? It’s more private.”
No one around them seemed the slightest bit interested in the random man being invited behind the counter, but Derek had too much on his mind to fight with the guy. He needed Claire on his side right now. The punk guy led them into a small room with filing cabinets along the walls and a bare bulb up top, shutting the door when they were all inside.
“I don’t think we need to be this private,” muttered Derek.
“You’d be surprised. I rigged this room so no prying eyes, magically speaking, can spy on me. You’re welcome.”
“But your prying eyes are okay?”
“My prying eyes are your payment for letting you use this room.”
“Ignore Dante.” Claire set a hand on Derek’s arm. “What’s wrong? You’re wound up tighter than normal. And you’re the most stressed-out guy I know, so that’s saying a lot.”
It felt strange to be touched. A stark reminder of just how few friends he had. A stark reminder of the one person who had touched him recently who had no idea who he was. Derek decided to pretend Dante wasn’t in the room because nothing he said was going to be news anyway. “It’s Claudia. She went after Sam.”
Claire immediately stiffened. “Sam? Is she okay?”
“Yes. No.” He cursed under his breath. “I don’t know. Claudia messed with her mind. She has no idea who I am.”
“Wait—what?”
“She was supposed to come to my place last night and never showed. When I knocked on her door this morning…. You should’ve seen her face, Claire. She thought I was crazy. Hell, I’m half convinced I’m going crazy. And now Heather is killing people my dad works with and who the hell knows what she wants, and I can’t have Sam not knowing who I am. She needs me right now.”
“You need her,” said Claire softly. “Don’t worry. I’ll talk to her. I remember you.”
“You can’t go around Claudia, though.”
Claire raised a brow. “She’s not exactly on the top of my speed dial.”
“No, I think I have this figured out. You’re not supposed to remember me either. Bastian can lie to Sam since he’s in Claudia’s pocket. Abigail hates my guts so she’d be in on it. You’re the only variable. I bet you anything Claudia or Abigail was going to get to you but thanks to Heather’s little murder spree, they didn’t have time.” Derek turned to Dante. “I swear to God, if you use anything I say against me I will take my gun and shove—”
He held up his hands. “Hey, I already knew all this. I swear.”
Claire whipped her head toward him. “You knew Claudia messed with Sam’s memories?”
“I knew that an erase order went out….”
“How did you know?” asked Derek.
Dante shrugged. “I just hear things….”
Derek knew exactly what he meant. There were guys like
Dante all around the criminal world. It was easy to hate them, but they were normally essential to closing cases. Guys like him bartered in information. Dante stayed under the radar but still had his fingers in everything. No wonder he worked in the DMV. It would be annoying, but the details he collected on everyone’s identity and secrets were priceless. “What did you hear about me?”
It looked as though Dante tried to suppress a smile. “I know you beat the crap out of Jackson at a solstice party. And then you and Samantha Har—”
“Never mind.” Derek turned back to Claire. “I need you to get in contact with Sam, but most importantly, I need you to be safe. Don’t go home for a few days, okay? Not until I can get some things sorted out.”
She nodded tensely, as though she still wasn’t sold. “I’ll be careful.”
Damn it, Derek hated that he was doing this. Claire had been through more things in the past year than most kids went through in their entire life and now he was bringing more shit to her door. Derek wasn’t a toucher, but he went with his gut and wrapped Claire in a tight hug. “You have no idea how glad I am that you know me.”
She let out a soft laugh as she hugged him back. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you and Sam back together. I promise.”
He pulled back a bit. “Not just because of that. I’m glad to have you around. I mean it.”
She gave him a soft smile and squeezed him a little tighter. “I’ll be fine. Now go. I’ll call you as soon as I can give you an update on Sam. I won’t be happy until you two are making uncomfortable noises in the apartment above mine.”
“So that’s Derek Pierce, huh?” said Dante once Derek had left. “I can see why they call him the Beast.”
Claire frowned as she glanced back at him. “The Beast? Who says that?”
“Ohh… people.”
She could kind of see it. Derek was big, normally went a few days between shaving, and definitely had an intimidating air about him. Even though it was never directed at her, it was hard to miss. “That’s just wrong.” She leaned against the back counter. The day had been mostly boring as Dante walked her through the rules, both the government rules and the witch rules for working as a plant in the government, but now she just wanted to go back to those boring lectures.
