by Melody Raven
Voss sat back in his chair, considering the offer. “Narcotics isn’t going to want to let Parker go. She’s a closer.”
“They owe you enough favors. I’m sure you can work something out,” said Parker.
Sam was more than grateful for the woman’s help, but she wished like hell that she wasn’t just as self-sacrificing as Derek. At least Derek was getting regular sex out of the deal. Angela Parker had only seen magic when Jackson was using it to try to awaken a darkness that could overtake the entire city. Sam would really appreciate it if the people she knew started having less of a hero complex.
Everyone was silent for a few moments as Voss mulled the situation over. Finally he said, “I’ll see what I can do.”
A collective sigh of relief went out in the room and Sam just wanted to roll her eyes. She knew that this was a great thing for the city and for any innocent people who might get hurt by her kind, but hadn’t Derek already risked enough?
Voss looked to Derek and pointed an accusing finger. “Now stop wasting time with your girlfriend and go get some work done.”
“On it,” said Derek before he ushered everyone out of the office. As soon as they were out of the office and walking along the cubicle section of the detective floor, Derek and Angela talked in hushed tones about what their next move would be while the captain got things moving.
“Well, I feel unneeded.” Claire fell in step next to Sam.
“You were backup,” insisted Sam. She was stronger than ever, but her powers were still unpredictable. If Voss had demanded some sign or proof, Claire, now flushed with power since she took down Jackson, would be able to give him any magic trick he wanted to see.
As they reached Derek’s office, he and Parker kept whispering to each other and Sam stayed put. She really didn’t want to hear what the two heroes were talking about.
“That doesn’t bother you?” Claire leaned in close.
Sam blinked in surprise. “What doesn’t bother me?”
She pointed to where Derek and Parker were talking. “Your super-hot boyfriend and the super-hot girl who’s about to be his partner.”
Sam snorted. Angela Parker was definitely a looker. Her naturally dirty-blonde hair was pulled back in a no-nonsense ponytail, but even her loose-fitting shirt and dress pants couldn’t hide her considerable curves. And, really, super-hot was the only acceptable way to describe Derek Pierce. He was the definition of tall, dark, and handsome, and his perpetual five o’clock shadow just made him hotter to her. But was she really threatened by him spending so much time with Angela Parker?
“Watch this.” Sam walked toward Derek and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, Claire and I are going to head out.”
He held up a finger to signal that he’d be back with Parker in a second and then he closed the distance between him and Sam, taking her mouth with his in a devastating, soul-searing kiss. Her eyes were just drifting closed when he pulled away. “I’ll see you tonight?” he asked.
She nodded wordlessly as she tried to get her bearings back.
“See you later, Derek.” Claire trapped Sam’s arm and started to pull her away. “Angela,” she said with a nod.
Sam gave a weak wave good-bye as she and Claire both made their way to the elevator.
As soon as they were a few steps down the hall, Claire asked, “What the hell was that?”
Sam shrugged innocently. “Hey, ever since we killed Jackson, Derek has been like that.”
“Hot and horny?”
Well, as far as she knew, that was just Derek’s default setting. “No. Every time we touch, it’s like he’s never going to see me again.” They reached the elevator and Sam hit the button for the lobby.
“So… not threatened by Angela then.”
Sam shook her head as she checked her phone. Angela could be the most famous swimsuit model in the world and Sam wouldn’t care whether Derek was working with her twenty-four hours a day. Which was good, because she already had a thousand things to worry about. She didn’t need to add an unfaithful boyfriend to the list.
“Want to grab lunch?” asked Sam as they stepped into the lobby of the police precinct and made their way to the streets of Manhattan.
“No. I need to get back to work,” said Claire, not sounding nearly as depressed as she should be about going back to work at the DMV.
But Sam knew exactly why Claire was more than happy to go there. “And is Dante working today?”
Claire tightened her lips as she tried to prevent a smile. “Why, yes, Dante is working today.”
“Fine. Abandon me for your boyfriend and respectable job.” At that moment, Sam’s phone, which was still in her hand, chirped, alerting her to a text message. She quickly read it and cursed. “It’s Garrett. He wants me to check on Abigail.”
Claire winced. “How’s your mom doing?”
Well, there was no easy way to answer that. “Her mother just used her one daughter’s boyfriend to shoot her other daughter in the head. So I think ‘bad’ would be an understatement.”
“Ugh, that’s so rough.” Then Claire frowned. “Want me to go with you?”
“No. Abigail is old-fashioned. She’d want family business to stay in the family.”
“I hate to say it, but it’s nice to know that with you around I’m not the most messed-up person in the room.”
Sam raised her brows. “Well, I live to serve. Can you get to work okay?”
Claire nodded. “I’ll call a cab.” She was quiet for a second before she added, “And what about you? How are you doing?”
Now that was a loaded question. Sam looked out at the street where people were going around as if everything were normal. As if they hadn’t so narrowly avoided utter destruction. As if Sam hadn’t just seen Heather’s life flare out right in front of her face…. She blinked away the thoughts and looked at Claire. “I’m getting there. I have Derek.” Which helped more than anything, really. He was such a strong, steady presence. Despite their murky past, she didn’t know what she’d do without him. “And I have you. Everything else will… work itself out eventually, for better or worse.” She could see the sympathy cross over Claire’s face and Sam quickly changed the subject. “Claudia said the families are starting to arrive, so soon enough we’ll have a better idea of what’s going to happen.”
Sam didn’t even want to think about it. She already knew that the Collinses would be there, and considering Sam herself had gunned down Tommy Collins, they were going to be going after Claudia with a vengeance. If they could get enough people to support them, Claudia wouldn’t be able to stay on as the matriarch of the families.
But Claudia wasn’t there because she was appointed. She was there because she was the strongest. It wasn’t as though they could just politely ask her to step down. But every time Sam started to become worried about Claudia’s fate, she remembered the bullet hole in Heather’s head. A bullet hole that Heather had more than earned, but Claudia had put there. Fuck, she needed to get out of town. She wasn’t equipped to deal with all this. Was anyone really equipped to deal with all this?
Sam took a few steps back before Claire could see how much things were getting to. “I have to take care of this.” She held up her phone as some sort of strange evidence. “I’ll text you later tonight.”
Claire didn’t look comfortable at all, but she gave a forced smile and waved good-bye.
Sam sighed as she walked back to her car. She could do this. One day at a time. After all that had gone down with Heather and Claudia, things had to start getting easier, right?
Garrett glanced through the crack left open in the door to where Abigail stared at herself in the mirror. She had been staring at herself for two hours straight now, and in a long line of creepy shit he’d seen his boss do, this was raising the bar.
He knocked on the door softly, but she didn’t jump or startle. The only signal that she heard him at all was that she blinked, something she hadn’t been doing at all.
“I wanted to let yo
u know that Sam is coming over.” He hoped to shock her out of whatever trance she seemed to be in.
But she didn’t move. Just kept staring at herself in the mirror endlessly. Garrett was about to give up and back away when she called to him. “I need your help.”
He had known Abigail Harris for almost thirty years now, and he never once hesitated to come to her when she called. Until now. For a brief moment, he debated just getting the hell out of there and going for the door, but he reminded himself of the loss she’d just suffered and that she didn’t have to be acting normal right now.
Garrett pushed the door open and took a step into his boss’s oversized bedroom. He’d been here before, but never alone with her. To be fair, he wasn’t picking up any sexual vibes from Abigail, but he still knew something wasn’t right. He looked up and down the pastel purple walls and pristine white curtains, trying to determine what was giving him that vibe, but when he saw that Abigail still hadn’t moved, he was certain the only thing wrong in this room was her. “What can I help you with, Ms. Harris?” he asked formally, feeling the need for any type of distance he could get.
“I think I have something in my eye. Can you take a look for me?”
Her eye? That might explain why she’d been staring at herself for so long, but she hadn’t been tugging at an eyelid or rubbing at an ache. Just sitting, unmoving. Get a grip, he ordered himself and approached Abigail. “Sure. Which eye?”
She pivoted on the stool in front of her vanity and pointed to her right eye. “I’ve been looking for hours and can’t get a hold of it.”
Garrett gave her eye a quick once-over. “I don’t see anything.”
“Pfft, you barely looked. Come in closer.”
All the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, but he tamped down the fear and leaned down until her green eyes were just a few inches from him. “I still don’t….” Then the white of her eye seemed to swirl until it was taken over by a black abyss. He started to jump back, but her hand shot out and her nails bit into the skin at the back of his neck. His hands curled into a fist and he called his magic to him, but it was too late. Before he could scream, punch, or anything, he felt his muscles go limp. When he looked back at Abigail, it was as if a stranger were there. Her blonde hair had transformed to an inky black that matched her eyes and the nails on the hand that wasn’t currently stabbing his neck.
And as the pain sunk deeper into his bones, she smiled. “I’m getting better at this.”
The door opened before Sam could even reach the bell. She frowned but wasn’t surprised. Abigail Harris always ran an efficient household. The surprising part was that there was no one behind the door when she walked in. “Hello?” she called as she stepped into the entryway.
The Harris estate was lavish. When she was a kid, places like this would feel homey, but ever since her self-imposed exile, walking into the echoing marble-filled entryway was a reminder of how much she didn’t belong.
Was that true now? Everything that had led to her leaving home—the sporadic bursts of power, the fire that had taken so many innocent lives—everything could be traced to the fact that Jackson had been sucking her power away like a leech. Now that he was gone and she was getting a steady flow of energy from her, um, time with Derek, she was getting stronger and stronger by the day.
Out of habit, she didn’t use her magic all that often, but she could tell she was regaining more control. Maybe she should find somewhere secluded and private to put that theory to the test….
Garrett appeared at the head of the stairs that flowed down to the entryway and stared down at her. He was stiff and strangely silent as he took her in.
“No hello?” she asked.
There was a second too long of quiet before he finally said, “Sorry. I’m distracted. Hello.”
She tilted her head as she tried to figure out whether she was missing anything. “Are you okay?” She approached the stairs.
“Everything’s fine.”
That was it. No casual joke. Not even the smiles she was used to seeing from her mother’s head of security. Maybe he was just extra somber because of everything that had been going on…. “Is Mom okay? You said she was acting weird in your text.”
“I was mistaken. Everything is okay.”
Well, this isn’t good. Sam carefully climbed the stairs, and Garrett’s gaze followed her every move. He didn’t seem all that threatening, but Sam was a hundred percent sure something wasn’t right, which made her want to get to her mother even more. “I’m just going to go check on Abigail,” she said carefully as she started to walk by him.
His head turned as he followed her movement, but besides that he didn’t move. “She’ll want to see you.”
As soon as Sam was past him, she quickened her steps and ran down the hallway without stopping until she reached Abigail’s room. She knocked even as she pushed the door open, but Abigail wasn’t there. Sam looked at the empty vanity and the closed curtains. She didn’t remember Abigail ever having the curtains closed. She was kind of a freak about natural light. Sam crossed to the curtains and pulled them open in a quick motion, immediately flooding the room with sunlight.
“What a pleasant surprise,” said Abigail from behind her.
Sam twisted around and immediately let out a sigh of relief when she saw her mother. “Hey. I….” She tried to figure out where to start. “Have you talked to Garrett today? He’s being weird.”
“Considering what’s happened, I think we’ve all been a little weird lately.”
Not this weird. Before she could say anything, Abigail reached toward her nightstand and picked up a stiff piece of paper. “I was going to have a messenger deliver this, but since you’re here, I might as well cut out the middleman.” She let out a little giggle but Sam must’ve missed the joke.
She went around the bed to take the card from her mother and looked it over. “You’re throwing a solstice party tomorrow? But it’s not the solstice.”
“Well, I know that. But with the families in town, it would be a good opportunity to show what we Harrises have to offer.”
She wasn’t wrong, but it really didn’t make any more sense. “But Heather just—”
“These things happen. It’s how we react that will affect the trajectory of the next few weeks. I’m not about to let the families see our weakness, especially when they’re going to be going after our throats.”
Once again, completely logical, but Sam still couldn’t get her head around it. “Mom, I think that—”
“Honey, you seem stressed. Come here.” Abigail held out a hand and all Sam could do was stare at it. She had no idea what sort of comfort Abigail was trying to offer, but the unease was finally too much for her.
“I have to go,” she said abruptly as she pushed past her mother and made it to the hallway.
“I’m here if you need to talk,” said Abigail, wide smile in place.
“I….” There were no words. Sam struggled for the simple, “I’ll call you.” Garrett was thankfully gone and there was a clear path to the door. The second she stepped outside, she couldn’t help but feel a rush of relief.
Her first thought was to call Derek, but she stopped herself from reaching for her phone. What would she say? Garrett was now a robot and Abigail was completely normal? Derek had already been through enough, and there was still a very real possibility that all the weirdness going on was just a normal reaction to all the witchy shit that had happened. Besides, Derek didn’t need any more witch drama right now.
“You can’t be serious,” said Parker as Derek printed out another file.
“It might be nothing,” he admitted as he took the paper off his printer and added it to the growing pile on a table in the middle of the conference room they’d commandeered.
She leaned forward and riffled through all the cases they’d earmarked so far. “We’re never going to get anywhere with this,” she muttered.
Derek agreed, but he wasn’t sure what else they should be do
ing. After a lot of back and forth that morning, they figured the best way to move forward was to look back. Namely, look back on cold cases that seemed like there might be some supernatural element involved. A prospect that seemed perfectly reasonable at the time, but now that they were digging through the cases everyone else had given up on, it was becoming apparent that any case that wasn’t solved looked as though there could be magic involved.
It was so easy to make a human forget the important details. To coerce someone to give an airtight alibi. To tell the police officer in charge that the droids they were looking for weren’t there.
“You’re right,” Derek admitted, running a hand over his eyes and thinking of the hours they’d wasted so far.
Parker stood and paced around the table. Her jacket hung off the back of her chair and she’d untucked her shirt a few hours ago, leaving it hanging loose around her waist. “Okay,” she said out loud. “Let’s think about this again. We want to keep the city safe from your girlfriend, right?”
Derek rolled his eyes. “From her family, yes.”
“And even if we found a case that could be explained by magic, there’s not much we could do about it.”
“I think that if a human was hurt because of a witch, Claudia would punish whoever was involved.”
“Claudia?” asked Parker skeptically. “The one who wiped Sam’s memories? And the one who used you to kill her granddaughter?”
“I’m not going to argue that she’s a good person or that we should trust her. But Claudia Harris does have a warped code of ethics she follows. She’s not afraid to hurt people, but she’s not trying to either.”
“Morally neutral is not morally good,” she pointed out.
Derek couldn’t argue with that so he kept his mouth shut.
“But we do know people who are morally bad in almost every way, right? Heather Harris and Jackson Benedict.”
“As far as I know, those are the two who the darkness was using to try to get free.”
