Spells & Life

by Rachel Medhurst

  “Why didn’t you tell me that you’d had a run in with the Essex Obsessor?”

  As the air rushed from my lungs, I sat next to her, my body slumping into the seat. “I’d meant to, I’m just a little... My head is up my arse today.”

  Hoping she didn’t mention the argument with my mother, I dialled Dave and put the phone to my ear before she could reply.

  “I told him to ring you,” Dave shouted as he answered. “I’m with Jake. We’ll be there in five. Don’t worry your pretty head about it.”

  “Don’t talk to me like that,” I snapped.

  His intake of breath was enough for me to know that he’d understood my ire. Okay, so I was kind of taking my frustration out on my team. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.

  “I mean...” I stuttered, almost unable to get out my words. “...that’s great, thank you. We’ll keep an eye this end. If you need us, let me know. I’m particularly interested in the wedding dress. I want an extensive report on it.”

  I could trust the men to find the evidence. Kate wouldn’t be any help to them with the dodgy drunkenness vibe that the demon killer left behind. And, it was probably a good idea for me to delegate every now and then.

  “On it.” Dave hung up, his sharp response echoing in my ear.

  “Another body?” Kate asked, her teeth biting down on her bottom lip.

  Glancing at the video screen we’d been monitoring, I froze. A figure moved across it, checking over his shoulder.

  “Joseph!”

  Pointing, I traced the outline of the vampire leader as he rushed into the building. It was a very swanky hotel. The back entrance CCTV had been tapped into at my request. In fact, the vampire Archie Roberts had emailed me a tip off that the leader of the PFF had been frequenting the hotel. Now we knew exactly where he was. It was time to bring him in.

  “Let’s go,” Kate said as she swung out of her chair.

  Her swift movement inspired me to follow her. If Joseph Cambridge was in the hotel that moment, we had to get there fast. We had been tracking him for days, ever since he had threatened me at the library. Not that I remembered what had happened. The others had told me the details, but my memory was still shot.

  Grabbing my holster, I clicked it around my chest. My gun and dagger were in their place, tucked into their individual pocket. I would do anything to drag the vampire leader of the PFF in for questioning.

  “We need to work together to get him,” Kate muttered as she checked her own gun.

  Muttering an affirmative, I held out my hand. She paused in her preparation to stare at me. It wasn’t often that I used my magic to transport other beings. However, in this case, I wasn’t going to waste any time.

  Zipping up her black leather jacket, Kate fluffed her hair one last time. “I kind of like this new Gemma,” she said. “Even if she still wears book T-shirts that say Book Nerds Rule.”

  Glancing down, I grinned to myself. Even though I couldn’t remember what had happened in the last few days, I wasn’t about to change who I was. Except the posters, those had to come off of my ceiling. Ever since Dave had seen them, I’d cringed when I thought about the look on his face. Not that I cared about what others thought, but it was a reminder that I was no longer a teen.

  Kate’s fingers wrapped around my hand, jolting me out of my reverie. Closing my eyes, I opened my connection to the ley line and tugged on the magic that thrummed beneath my feet. Although the connection was weaker, I was still the protector of the line.

  Magic, warm and tingly, filtered through my feet and up my legs. When it hit my hands, Kate shuddered. Taking a deep breath, I whispered the transportation spell and braced my feet.

  “I’ll never get used to that.” Kate glanced around, immediately on alert.

  I’d flashed us to the alleyway around the back of the hotel. Luckily, we were hiding behind the refuse bins. It was quiet all around us, no sound alerting us to Joseph or anyone to do with him.

  “It is a handy trick,” I said, taking my phone out to put on silent.

  The sound of a door opening nearby made us go still. Kate’s eyes grew wide before she stuck her head around the dumpster. Following her movement, I looked to see who came out of the hotel. Joseph Cambridge strode away from the door, towards the street.

  “Freeze!” Kate shouted as she jumped out from our hiding place.

  Moving close behind her, I yanked out my gun and aimed it at the vampire. Not that it would do any harm if I did shoot him.

  Before we could do anything, Joseph started to run. Springing into motion, both Kate and I went after him. He was about to exit the alleyway when I whispered a barrier spell, bringing it up right in front of his face.

  Ploughing into it, he almost screamed. The sound was unusual considering he was a powerful vampire. Falling to his knees, he clasped his face in his hands. Kate was beside him before me. Taking something out of her pocket, she threw it at him. A puff of fine dust covered him, making him scream as it hit his skin.

  “Sorry, mate,” she said, aiming a gun at his head.

  Reaching the pair, I held my hand out towards Joseph and incited a binding spell. His hands were forced together, his wrists joined by an invisible cord. His legs moved, forcing him to lay down as his ankles were tied too.

  “Vervain.” My muttered word was joined by an impressive nod towards Kate.

  Vervain was the only plant that could hinder a vampire. It wasn’t exactly the easiest to get hold of, although Paranormal MI5 had plenty of the stuff. As a seer, I wouldn’t have expected Kate to be interested in using plants to bring down a vampire. Although, her experience with them wasn’t exactly something to be taken lightly.

  “Joseph Cambridge, you are wanted for questioning regarding the murders of the witches, plus your extremely illegal activity regarding the demon you summoned from hell.”

  Even though I couldn’t remember being threatened by the vampire, I trusted my colleagues to know that they would be telling the truth. The demon incident sounded petrifying to me, considering I’d never seen one before. I really had to sort out my memory so I could get things clear in my mind.

  “You’ll pay for this,” Joseph squeezed between his clenched teeth as he stared up at me.

  The burns on his face gave me a slight satisfaction, although, it didn’t last long as the sound of the door opening behind me put me on alert.

  Turning, I stood my ground as four vampires came to an abrupt halt down the alleyway. Kate stayed beside Joseph, ready to guard him. No matter how much they tried to get their leader back, we wouldn’t allow it.

  Growls came from the male vampires as they bared their extended teeth. They would know who I was, so it was commendable that they were prepared to take me on. And yet, my insides quivered as I pulled magic into my body once more.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I shouted, a small part of me trying to avoid bloodshed.

  If they were members of the PFF, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill me. Their hatred towards Essex witches was all too evident.

  Clocking the movement of their feet before they started to run, I clenched my hands and shouted. “Incendia!”

  A high wall of fire shot out from the ground, directly between us. Their hisses as they collided with it reached me through the thundering sound of flames flicking in the air.

  “We need to get out of here,” Kate said to me, her stance ready for fight, even though her words were ready for flight.

  She was right. There was no point in fighting. However, I wouldn’t be able to transport both Joseph and Kate at the same time. The vampires would find a way around my wall, which meant she would be in danger.

  “Go!” The seer pushed me towards Joseph where he struggled on the ground.

  “I can’t leave you,” I protested.

  Her shove forced me nearer our captive. My legs reeled as I almost stumbled to the ground. Only just managing to right myself, I reached for Joseph.

  “Kate,” I hesitated.


  “Go!” Her hair moved as she spun towards the wall of fire.

  Her gun was cocked, ready to fire if any of the vampires got past the wall. She wouldn’t go down without a fight.

  “Just one second of indecisiveness will get someone killed.” Joseph was grinning to himself, despite the damage to his skin.

  Before he could say anything else, I took hold of his arms and pictured the MI5 prison block. As we landed, my favourite security guard jumped out of his skin, his gun aimed at my head before I could rise from my crouch.

  The cool air of the unit brushed the skin of my arms as I gestured to Joseph. “Lock him up, right now.”

  Without waiting for a reply, I flashed straight back to Kate’s side. The concrete under my boots didn’t yield as I landed, jolting my knees as a vampire thumped straight into me. Kate was throwing punches nearby, her grunts of exertion a reminder that she wasn’t a powerful supernatural. She had to rely on her fighting skills to stay alive.

  “Get off!” Throwing my elbow back, I cringed when it connected with a nose bone... and sharp teeth.

  Those teeth clamped down on my arm, the sting making me suck in a breath. As soon as I was able to breathe, I muttered a spell that squeezed the brains of the four vampires. The teeth that were latched onto my skin released as the one attacking me fell to the ground, clasping his skull.

  Turning, I kicked my boot straight into his bleeding nose, making his head snap back. The sharp crack of his neck made me cringe as he collapsed in an unconscious heap.

  Concentrating on my spell, I focused on Kate. She was standing in the centre of three of the vampires, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Blood lined her arms, her nose dripping the red liquid onto her tight black top.

  The men were on their knees, holding their heads as they gritted their teeth. Holding up my hand, I formed my hand into a claw and squeezed my fingers slightly, making sure that the grip of my spell didn’t release them, but caused them more pain.

  “Thanks for coming back.” Kate huffed as she went behind the nearest vampire.

  He went to protest, but her hands grabbed his head and wrenched to the side, breaking his neck with a loud crunch. Vampires healed fairly quickly, so we had to be quick. Going to one of the others, I swallowed hard as I buried my hand into his hair, put my foot just below his neck, right between the shoulder blades. Allowing the fury of my forgotten memory, and the threat of their hatred for Essex witches, to take over, I kicked my leg forward at the same time as yanking his head back. The snap was satisfying.

  “I think I’m becoming a little sadistic,” I muttered when Kate dropped the last vampire and stalked over to me. “I enjoyed that far too much.”

  Pointing at my arm, Kate bent over and leant her hands on her knees. Her breath rasped as she tried to speak. “The bastards deserved it. They’re the type of vampires who are planning to plant a terrorist bomb to kill innocent people. Plus, they’ll be awake in a few hours.”

  Rubbing the blood from my arm, I tried not to get it on my T-shirt. The Book Nerds Rule was one of my favourites. The grey wouldn’t look good with smeared blood on it.

  “We better hide them,” I muttered.

  Going to take a step, I faltered when my ley line connection weakened. The pull of energy wasn’t something I recognised.

  “Are you okay?” Kate came over when she saw me staring at the ground.

  “The ley line feels odd.”

  Almost dismissing me with a wave, she went over to the nearest vampire and tugged him to the side of the alley. “Oh, you’ve said that the Essex Obsessor is trying to drain it. He’s probably doing that again because he’s killed another witch. I wonder if the witches’ magic is giving him access to the ley line somehow.”

  Helping her move the next vampire, I frowned as we worked. “You might have a point there. Mary, the seer in Edinburgh, keeps telling me to look for the link between the women. We’ve researched them and found that the only thing they have in common is being single women who had a wedding ring on. We assumed it was the ring.”

  Once we had the area fairly clean, apart from the unconscious vampires, we walked towards the back entrance of the hotel. It was time to ask the management a few questions about Joseph Cambridge.

  “Maybe their magic is important, too. I know Dave would’ve checked everything, but I just get a strong feeling about the connection.” Kate rubbed her jaw, cringing in pain. A dark purple bruise was already starting to show.

  Even though my bitten arm throbbed, I ignored it as our gaze met. Grabbing hold of her arm, I pulled her to a stop. She’d had to remind me of the story she’d told me about her kidnap by the vampires, and what she’d had to do to escape.

  “Kate,” I blurted, suddenly unable to keep the secret. “I think the serial killer has a personal connection to me.”

  Her mouth dropped open despite the pain it must have caused her. A smile replaced the shocked expression as she took my hand in hers. “Of course it is, we know that he hates the Essex witches from the coat of arms he always leaves behind.”

  “No...” Looking at the ground, I blinked hard to try and prevent water rushing from my eyes. “... I think he knows that I’m actually a prize in a bet lost by my father.”

  Frowning, Kate pulled on my hand to get me to look up at her. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

  As our gazes clashed, I sucked in a deep breath and allowed the words to flow. “I’m betrothed to a man I don’t even know, my father promising me to him. Not only that...” Tears came to my eyes, forcing their way down my cheeks. “... my first born child is in danger, even though it’s not even been conceived yet.”

  Chapter 5

  The outer doors to the top floor of the Paranormal MI5 building opened slowly, allowing me entrance to the lobby. This was where the top dogs worked. The ones that we rarely saw, including my mother.

  “She’s ready for you,” the receptionist said before I even got close to the desk.

  Swinging to the right, I entered the corridor that led to my mother’s office. My teeth grinded as I kept my head high and my back straight. There had been bad feeling between us the last time we’d met, but she was the only one who could help me with my memory problem. I had to swallow my anger and be nice.

  Knocking on her wooden door, I waited for her to call me in. Instead, the door clicked open, allowing me entrance.

  “Hello,” my mother muttered as I closed the door behind me.

  The interior wasn’t unlike my own, although she did have more of a library office feel with her walls lined with bookcases. I wasn’t jealous of her office... not at all.

  “Don’t frown, you’ll one day inherit this place if you like it that much.”

  I wasn’t sure what miffed me more, the fact that she assumed that I’d take her place, or that she could feel my jealousy. Either way, the idea of working in this office made me shudder.

  “I hate to sound like the nagging mother, Gemma, but why are you wearing a T-shirt that reads You think I’m anti-social, but I just don’t like you?”

  Glancing down at the cartoon of a girl sticking out her tongue, I smirked to myself before growing serious. She was right, I had bought the shirt a long time ago. When I was a teenager. I’d just shoved it on that morning, not even taking notice of what was on it.

  “You’re right,” I said, taking it off and turning it inside out. “It’s not appropriate.”

  My mother stopped typing on her laptop and lifted her gaze. She was a professional at keeping a cool exterior at all times, unlike me. However, it was easy to see that I’d shocked her.

  “You’re here to ask for my help to get your memory back.” Not giving me a chance to answer, she got up from her seat and held out her hand.

  Without hesitation, I took it. If she was offering her help, I would accept.

  “Wow,” she whispered as she stared at me. “Your magic is weak, my child.”

  Before I could reply, she flashed us away from her office. My feet s
mashed on stone as we landed in a room I hadn’t seen for a few years.

  “You still use this place?” I asked, my fingers tracing the old grey stone wall.

  The crypt was owned by our family line. Laying in a hidden place in the hills of Essex, it housed the dead of every witch in my line, right back to the fore-sister.

  “Of course I use it. I know modern magic is powerful, especially with our link to the ley line, but I never want to lose my craft.”

  My mother grinned at me before she clicked her fingers. A long dark red dress took the place of her work suit, making her look every inch the old fashioned witch. A tiny pang of nostalgia made my chest warm. This was how I remembered my mother when I was a child. Caring, loving, free-flowing. Until she was made a top agent of the Paranormal MI5. Then it all changed.

  “Do you remember the first spell I taught you?” Moving closer to the stone table just off the centre of the crypt, my mother laughed gently.

  Flicking my wrist, I lit all of the candles, illuminating the whole dark room. The musky smell reminded me of times we would sit for hours, chanting incantations. Dried herbs hung from the walls, not far from shelves of artefacts and witchery tools. A stained glass window allowed the sunlight to flicker onto the stone floor.

  “Can you help me with my memory?”

  I didn’t want to reminisce. The days of making spells and having fun were long gone. My mother had pressured me too much over the years, making my work a chore I had no choice but to endure. The revelation of my father’s bet and my mother’s inability to release me from it was still sizzling under my skin. I had to keep my cool with her.

  Grinding a leaf of dried herb into a mortar, my mother looked over her shoulder and indicated that I join her with a nod of her head. “Mary told me that you needed to speak to the ancestors. For some reason, she said that you needed my help to do it. I’m not sure what’s going on with your link, but you need to fix it.”

  Biting my tongue, I resisted the urge to tell her that I was technically dead. Although it would get a reaction that I would surely enjoy, it would also ruin everything. She would have no choice but to tell her bosses, which would lead to me getting kicked off the case. And that was something I couldn’t let happen.