A Handful of Skulls (Here Witchy Witchy Book 9)

by A. L. Kessler

  Mario started to the door without question, and I was starting to think I was off the hook.

  “We’ll talk later about this situation.” He walked out with Mario, and I leaned back on the couch, feeling like I’d dodged another bullet.

  Osiris walked into the room and jumped on the couch. I knew Merick was taking a moment to make sure that Levi and Mario were truly gone before he transformed again.

  After a few minutes, Osiris flashed into Merick, sitting next to me on the couch. “I wonder what’s bothering him?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, but I have a feeling that it’s my fault.” I pulled out the picture of the skull for Merick to look at. “Anything familiar.”

  His eyes darted over the picture, taking in each detail. He touched the image with his fingertips and pressed his lips together. “This is an old language, about as old as the Cult’s.”

  “Do you know where it’s from?”

  He nodded. “Ireland. I’ve only seen them a few times when studying files.”

  “Can I see those files?”

  He hesitated. “They are Cult files, Abigail. I can only give you so much access.”

  I was going to have to join this Cult. I let out a sigh. “The only way I can get full access is if I join, huh?

  “You know it’s going that direction anyway.”

  I pressed my lips together. “What can you tell me about this skull without me jumping in and joining the Cult?

  “I can tell you that it’s black magic. The skull itself wasn’t actually carved. The skin and everything was attached to it. The magical bomb is what stripped the flesh from the skin, burning the runes into the skull.”

  I raised a brow. “That is a lot of detail for just seeing them a few times.”

  “It was a detailed file.” He turned away from me. “You’re dealing with a very dangerous warlock.”

  “Not a witch?”

  He shook his head. “I need to go speak to my father.” And with that, he simply disappeared from the room. I pulled up the PIB database and typed in skull and explosion.

  To my surprise, results showed up.

  I scrolled through them. Most of them were news articles dating to the early nineties. I clicked on one.

  An explosion had destroyed a house killing a mother and their young child.

  I clicked to the next one, and it was a very similar situation. I sighed. This case went a lot deeper than we thought. Shit.

  I picked up my phone to call Liz, just to find her name flashing across the screen already. I answered with a swipe of my finger.

  “I was just getting ready to call you.”

  “Turns out that there are other situations that involve this. But I can’t get to all the files.”

  Interesting. “I was able to pull up some articles about skulls being in the center of explosions and Merick was able to describe some details to me about how the spell is done.”

  “Why would he know how the spell is done?”

  “He said it was in some Cult files.”

  “Lovely, then you know we’re dealing with something nasty.”

  “Indeed.”

  “We’ll meet in the office tomorrow, unless you’re under house arrest again?”

  I laughed. “Nope, Levi said nothing about me staying home tomorrow, but he seemed to have a lot on his mind. I might actually be the least of his concerns right now.”

  “That’s kind of a scary thought. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She disconnected the call.

  I went back to reading the files that I could access. After some digging, I found that Liz was right, some came up as corrupt files and didn’t allow access. I had a feeling those ones were related to the Cult. They had people that were capable of doing that. I let out a frustrated growl, what were we missing?

  Motivation.

  An actual suspect.

  All I had were a handful of skulls and some dead bodies.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The next morning, I sat at the table with a mug of coffee in front of me. My body ached for no apparent reason other than sleeping really deep, but my mind was not so rested.

  I kept thinking over the people in the case that could be involved, but I kept questioning who was real and who wasn’t.

  That question led me to wonder who in Levi’s council betrayed him this time.

  Which lead me to wonder when the next attack from Hannah was going to come.

  I put my head on the table as all the thoughts started to make their circles again.

  Merick also hadn’t returned last night, or he left again early in the morning. Either way, I wanted to know why he was so suddenly elusive. Typically, he was at the table with coffee trying to make sure I had survived the night.

  “Long night?” Merick’s voice caught me off guard.

  I lifted my head and looked at him. He was still wearing the same clothes he was in yesterday. His normally carefully gelled hair was sticking out as if he spent all night running his hands through it. “Clearly not as hard as yours. What’s up?”

  “I spent last night combing through all the files I had on those runes. I need you to come with me.” He held his hand out.

  I stared at him for a moment. “I’m not interested in becoming Cult.”

  “I know, and this won’t make you Cult. But we need your help.” There was something in his voice that I had never heard before.

  I picked up my coffee and stood.

  He shook his head. “The coffee has to stay here.”

  I tried not to make a noise that resembled a toddler not getting their way.

  “There are documents there, and many of them are original copies, I don’t want you accidentally destroying something.”

  I snickered. “Have you met me? If I destroy something, it isn’t by coffee, it’s by explosion.”

  “Yeah, that better not happen either.” He shook his head. “Come along.”

  I set the mug down and took his hand.

  The world around me swirled and disappeared. When it reappeared, we were standing in a well-lit room with long wooden tables in the middle. Books, files, and boxes full of stuff were stacked on the edge of a couple of the surfaces. Ceiling to floor shelves lined every inch of the wall with fancy ladders to get to the top.

  “Where are we?”

  “Welcome, Abigail Collins, to the library of the Coven of Ra.” Merick made a huge gesture with his hands.

  I looked around, trying to take everything in. “How do you guys gather all this information?”

  “Some of it we’ve rescued from abandoned libraries around the world throughout time. Some of it we research ourselves. Some of it is donated by members.”

  “And here I thought you were all just evil assholes.”

  “You only think that because our people killed your parents,” Seth’s voice came from behind us.

  I turned around. “That does paint you in the quite the bad light for sure.”

  “Your uncle and Levi have also taught you to be cautious of us.”

  “They taught me to be cautious of everything.” I crossed my arms. “Something I can help you with?”

  He laughed. “You’re in my domain Abigail, I should be asking you that, but Merick has already filled me in on what is going on. It seems that you’ve stumbled across an old enemy of ours.”

  I licked my lips trying to decide what to say. “My murderer?”

  Seth nodded. “He took the lives of people very close to us. Your bomber included.”

  “You talk like there are two people involved in this situation.” I watched him closely. “Are you hiding information from me?”

  He shook his head and pointed to a stack of books on the table closest to me. “Everything we know about the person behind the skull bombs. The only thing we’re missing is his name and location. The person paralyzing the victims and encasing them might be the same person, or it might be someone different. It isn’t unusual for serial killers to up their game as time goes on.”
/>   I looked at Merick. “Your mother and brother? I saw the news article.”

  He nodded. “My twin.”

  Oh shit. I looked back at Seth. “What do you want in return for helping me?”

  “Nothing, this is purely personal. You get him, we get justice.”

  I went to the table and sat down. “Looks like I’m going to be here for a while.”

  Merick laughed. “I’ll be with you as well. I’d like to go through the information with you.”

  Part of me wanted to refuse, but he’d been with me now through my own journey of finding my parents’ murderer, so I didn’t want to refuse him. “Get comfy, we have a lot to cover here.”

  He sat down next to me, and we both started pulling books towards us and working through the pages.

  Hours passed as we made our way through every page, note, and picture that had been gathered. There wasn’t much more than what PIB had except for details on the spell. I paused as a picture slid out of a page, I picked it up and pressed my lips together. I’d seen this person before. I studied the young man that stared back at me.

  His hair was a mess, and he had a smile that would scare most people away. I stared at it, there was something there that I knew. A younger version of someone I’d seen before.

  Merick looked over my shoulder. “That’s him.”

  “I had no idea that you had something like this in your past.”

  “It’s why my father joined the Coven of Ra, so he could help bring people like this to justice. It was before PIB, so we had no one to turn to. No one would admit there was anything supernatural about the deaths.” His voice sounded far off. “It wiped out half our family. We were lucky. My dad, sister, and I were all out of the house when it happened.”

  I sat there in silence for a moment as I tried to think of something to say. “Fuck.” Was what I ended up with.

  Merick snorted. “Indeed. But now we have a second chance of catching the guy. Now, do you know him?”

  “There’s some part of my brain that does, but it hasn’t connected the lines yet though. It’s a younger version of someone I’ve seen, that much I know. Trace spells do nothing. From the reports here, tracking does nothing as well. So, we know he’s powerful enough to protect himself. There’s nothing in here about doppelgangers though.”

  Merick raised a bow. “Should there be?”

  I nodded. “Yes, because of the situations and new victims in my case. I think we are dealing with the same person. Powerful, terrifying, and able to use doppelgangers.”

  “That changes things quite a bit. Oliver can use a corpse doppelganger.”

  I stared at Merick. “What now?”

  “Ah, another thing you don’t know about him. That’s how he escaped Ira at one point.”

  My mind went back to the phone call Oliver and I had after he’d been attacked by Ira. ‘He’ll realize that the thing he has isn’t me.’ I shook my head. “I guess he just keeps surprising me. So how do we figure out who’s image he’s taken? Can this sort of thing just be done with corpses?”

  Merick shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. Tell me about the case.”

  “We thought it was Kris’ brother, but when he appeared on scene and Kris shot him, the person changed into someone we don’t know. Kris knew it wasn’t her brother because her brother was dead.”

  Merick held a finger up and went to a bookshelf. I tried to wait patiently as his fingers moved over the spines to find something.

  He stopped and pulled a book out and brought it to the table. He dropped it. “I don’t know why we didn’t think of it. Remember Drake?”

  I cringed. “How could I forget? Living souls tied to people.”

  “There’s something similar. Magical puppeteering, if you would. Cast a spell on the person, take them over. Think of it like a voodoo doll, without the doll.”

  “There has to be an item of focus for a spell like that, and then what? Cast a glamour spell on them?”

  Merick nodded. “I’m thinking that’s what it is. The focus object could really be anything. Is there a connection with the victims?”

  “I’ll check with Liz and see what’s come up.” I pulled the book closer to me so I could read over it. “These are some dark spells.”

  “Black magic is much scarier than most people realize, Abby. Even you.” He shut the book. “We’ve spent enough time here. Promise me something?”

  I met his gaze. “What?”

  “You get the bastard.”

  I smiled. “Of course.” I knew how much I wanted to find my parents’ murderer. I kept telling myself it wasn’t for revenge, but part of it was. I knew how Merick felt in this situation, and I wanted to give him that taste of justice I would probably never have.

  Merick and I appeared in the house only to come face to face with my uncle. Oliver sat at the counter with a cup of tea and a couple used tea bags on a small plate.

  “It’s about time you two got back. Abigail, did you enjoy your trip to the library?”

  I opened my mouth to ask, and he held up his phone. “I have a tracker in your phone, remember?”

  I shut my mouth and gave an irritated growl. “Yes, I enjoyed my trip to the library. Now, why are you here?”

  “I told you I’d contact Vlemeinheil on your behalf, so you can ask him about Cornelius.”

  I perked up a bit. “Yeah, did you get a hold of him?”

  “Hello, Abigail.” Vlemeinheil walked in from around the corner, and I drew my gun.

  “How the fuck did you get past everything?”

  Merick stepped up next to me, but he remained silent. I wondered if he was trying to figure it out too. Both of us should have felt something, anything.

  “The library blocks your magic, Abigail. I’m assuming Merick forgot to mention that? It’s not as obvious as most spells are, but it’s still there.” Oliver looked at Merick. “You took a huge risk by taking her there.”

  “The information was worth it.” Merick jerked his head toward Vlemeinheil. “What the hell is he doing here?”

  “Abigail wanted some more information on Cornelius.” Oliver shrugged. “I’ll make some coffee while you two chat.”

  I sat down at the table and motioned to the chair in front of me. “Please, join me.”

  Vlemeinheil sat down and folded his hands on the table. “What did you want to know?”

  “Cornelius wasn’t looking for immortality, was he? He was looking for something else. Something to do with his sister.”

  Vlemeinheil smiled, and the look went straight through me. I glanced at Merick, who had his arms tightly crossed, and he wouldn’t take his eyes off Vlemeinheil.

  Oh shit. I had a murderer in my house.

  I kept my face blank. “A cure, perhaps? For her paralysis.”

  “Something like that.” He stood. “I think it’s my time to leave, Agent Collins.”

  If he left, I had no way of tracking him down. If I confronted him now, I had back up.

  I threw my hand out and a circle wrapped around him, red in color, letting him know I was serious. Merick stepped up next to me. “Not here,” he whispered.

  Vlemeinheil raised a brow at the circle and touched it with his toe. He laughed, and it was terrifying. “Nice little trick. You think you’re a big bad witch. You have the underground shaking in their boots. The King Killer, they call you.”

  “Vlemeinheil —”

  He knelt down and swept his hand over the circle. My magic shot back into me, piercing me, and knocking me back into the breakfast bar.

  “Do not test me, Agent Collins. You are no match for my magic.” He walked out of the room as I was trying to relearn to breath after the pain in my chest.

  I slid to the ground, grasping my chest as the pain increased. Burning moved through my body, and I felt my magic swirling around my chest as if it was trying to push out whatever was causing the pain. I clawed at my shirt as I cried out, my body bowed of its own accord.

  Merick rushed to my side
and grabbed my wrists. “Abigail?”

  “Fuck.” Was all I could mutter as I tried to claw at my chest again. “It hurts.”

  Oliver was suddenly pinning me to the ground. His wide eyes scanned my body as if trying to find something physical that was harming me. “What did he do to her?”

  My body started growing cold. “My magic,” I growled. The pain still in my chest. “It’s absorbing my magic.”

  Merick knelt next to me. “Hold her still, Oliver.”

  In my experience, any time that was said, whatever was going to follow, was going to hurt like hell.

  Merick put his hand where the magic had struck me. He started muttering something, but I couldn’t pay attention to it because the pain in my body exploded, and I bucked against the ground screaming as he pulled whatever it was from me. When I opened my eyes, I saw a red spike made of magic hovering above me. I couldn’t catch my breath as I focused on it. Was it my magic, or was it Vlemeinheil’s?

  It blew away from Merick’s hand like dust, leaving me on the floor, sore, aching, and really confused.

  Oliver let go of my wrists and helped me up. “Taking on Vlemeinheil was stupid.”

  “I couldn’t just here and do nothing. Who knows how many people that monster has killed,” I growled out and rubbed my chest. “What the fuck did he do to me?”

  “He used your magic and turned it against you.” Merick shook his head. “Vlemeinheil…” he paused as if trying to come to terms with learning about the man who killed his family. “Plays dark.”

  “Clearly.” I looked at Oliver. “Did you know about this?”

  He shook his head. “I wouldn’t have brought him to you if I did.” He glanced at Merick. “Did you know?”

  “Not until I saw his face.” Merick sighed. “Now, Abby, what are you going to do with this new information?”

  I sat down at the table. “I’m going to figure out how to trap him somewhere and bring him in. But first, I’m going to call Liz.”

  “Good call.” Oliver nodded. “Now that Vlemeinheil isn’t welcomed here, he’ll set off all your alarms. But just in case, Merick, stay with her.”

  Merick rolled his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. Unlike you, I know how to complete my missions.”