The Lost Ones (Here Witchy Witchy Book 12)

by A. L. Kessler

  “I see that you still bow to his whims.”

  I snorted. “I’ve never completely bowed to ‘his whims’ as you put it. He always checks in when he’s worried about my safety.”

  “Two worlds, Abigail. You walk between two worlds, and one day you’re going to have to choose.” He disappeared, and I put Osiris down on the couch.

  Once Nick had been gone for a moment, Osiris shifted in a haze of magic, leaving Merick in his place.

  Merick ran a hand over his black hair, trying to calm it a little. His dark, tanned skin stood out against the white shirt he was wearing, and he blinked brown eyes at me. “I barely had time to shift before Nick appeared. I’m not sure how he got in.”

  “How much sooner did he get here than me?”

  “Long enough for him to make you a cup of coffee and tell me to behave myself.” Merick shrugged. “I was here to greet you and let you know that I’ll be returning here soon. Things are calming down in the Cult, and Raina is healing well from her time with Christof.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. It’ll be nice to have your company here at home again.” I sniffed the coffee. “Did he put anything in this?”

  “Just milk and sugar.”

  I sipped it. “Hm, not bad.” I went back to the living room.

  “Does Levi actually know you’re back?” Merick sat on one of the chairs.

  “Nope, just sounded good. I don’t want to sit here and listen to Nick’s half-ass apologizes and excuses about what happened. I get he didn’t have a choice, but he could have figured out how to warn me instead of just…” I waved my hand in frustration.

  Merick laughed. “Glad to have you home, Abby.”

  I sipped my coffee. “Did you really just come here tonight to tell me you’d be returning?”

  “No, I have an invitation for you.” He reached over to the coffee table and handed it to me.

  I looked down at the Eye of Ra that decorated the envelope, gold leaf against black paper. I looked at him and raised a brow. “Am I going to get hexed again if I open this?”

  “No, no hexes.” He shook his head.

  I slipped my finger below the flap of the envelope and pulled out a small card.

  “The Cult of Ra invites you to the official ritual of welcoming a new high priest.” I read out loud. “Huh, I would have thought you’d be sworn in by now.”

  “Well, it’s been a long three months.” He shrugged. “It would honor me to have you come.”

  I smiled. “I’d love to.”

  It was a pleasant reminder that Merick and I were friends, he wasn’t just ‘part of the team’ or ‘ordered to watch me.’ We’d grown into a friendship.

  My phone rang, and I glanced down at it. “It’s Levi.”

  “You should probably answer that.”

  I grabbed it. “What’s up?”

  “I heard you’re home?”

  “Liz update you?”

  “Yes. I wish you would have sent me a message I would have met you at the house.”

  Levi also hadn’t seen me in three months. Melisandra wouldn’t allow him on her property. So there had only been phone calls and my promises that I was alright.

  “Sorry, honestly, I just wanted to get home.”

  “Are you alone?”

  “No, Merick’s here. He was dropping something off at the house when I got here.” I wouldn’t mention Nick. It’d only make him angry. I sipped my coffee. “You’re welcome to stop by if you’d like.”

  “I have a council meeting soon, but we’ll stop by after. I just wanted to make sure you were safe and not alone.”

  I snorted. “Nope, still following your wishes, someone with me at all times.”

  “Good. Samuel…” He paused and then called away from the phone. “I’ll be ready in a moment. I’ll talk to you about it later.”

  He disconnected the phone, and I looked at Merick. “I see nothing in the vampire world has changed.”

  “I’m sure you’ll get a briefing. I guess I’m hanging out until Levi and Mario get here?”

  I glanced at him over my coffee. “I would appreciate it. There’s just one other person I need to let know that I’m home.”

  “Simon?”

  “Simon.” I confirmed. I dialed Simon, and it went straight to voicemail. “Hey, just wanted to let you know I’m home. I love you.” I disconnected and sighed. “He must be busy with pack things.”

  Merick nodded. “Are you going back to work Monday?”

  “To do paperwork, yeah. O’Donald said his higher ups want me to take another test, this time under a truth spell.”

  “Isn’t that odd?”

  “Yeah, but I guess after the hell I’ve been through lately, it shouldn’t surprise me. I know how to fake a psych test. They probably know that.”

  He raised a brow. “Did you fake this one?”

  “No, I’m ready to go back to work. I don’t even have nightmares about my time with Annabella.” I shrugged. “Hell, I’m ready to get back to life.”

  Merick laughed and reached for the remote. “Then let’s waste time until Levi and Mario get here.”

  A couple hours later, Merick and I were enjoying pizza while watching late night television when Levi knocked on the door. Merick was the one who got up to answer it and let the two vampires in. Mario walked in first. His hair was slicked back, leaving his dark face exposed. He was tall, Italian as they came, and would be handsome to most women.

  I preferred my men loyal and not attached to their vampire sires. “Mario.” I nodded my head. I wouldn’t fight with him tonight.

  “Princess Abigail.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Why must you use the title?”

  Levi walked in with someone else. Not someone I knew, but his presence commanded attention. I almost jumped off the couch as his blue eyes landed on me. I met his gaze and my eyes traveled down his chiseled jawline. My eyes snapped up to his again.

  He smiled at me, and I swore I felt all the tension melt away. The moment I realized it, I knew it was his vampire powers. I let my magic rise enough to push the influences away from me.

  “Princess Abigail,” Mario said again. “This is General Zayne Barclay. The council has tasked him with your safety.”

  I raised a brow and looked at Levi. “I’ve gone from having a security team to a general?”

  “Abigail,” Levi started, but Zayne held a hand up.

  “Yes, Princess, because King Levi has his hands full dealing with vampire business, and he needs Mario at his side, they have offloaded the duty to me.” There was a slight hint of an accent to his voice.

  I studied him for a moment. He stood there with his hands clasped behind his back. His blond hair was trimmed short, almost too short to know what color it was. “How old are you?”

  “Old enough, Princess.”

  I glanced at Merick and he shrugged. “Levi, I really feel you should have talked to me about this.”

  “It was just decided tonight.” Levi’s voice was even and blank of emotions.

  I looked back to Zayne. “Look, I don’t trust easily. I’m not sure what arrangements you’ve made with the council, but I have my team and I trust them.”

  “Told you she wouldn’t go for this.” Mario shook his head.

  Zayne stepped right up to me, making me realize he was a little taller. “I have protected royal families for centuries, Princess Abigail. I will work with your team, but there will be other protocols in place, other people watching your back, and you will be under tighter security. I am not King Levi, and I have no softness for you. I am not against throwing you over my shoulder and locking you up if Samuel even thinks about entering this territory.”

  “Oh, big bad vampire, threatening to lock the little helpless princess away?”

  “You’re a witch, right now Princess, not helpless, but not strong enough to take on Samuel. Maybe when you’re finally a vampire that might change.”

  I swore I heard Levi and Mario suck in a breath. Or i
t might have been Merick. Either way, they knew Zayne had just pissed me off.

  “I am a witch. I’m one hell of a witch. Clearly no one has briefed you, General. But it’s in my will and my wishes to not be changed. Now, you are dismissed so I can talk to Levi and Mario about this, alone.”

  He looked the tiniest bit surprised. “I’ll be in contact with your team, Princess.” He let himself out of the house and I looked at Mario and Levi.

  “What the actual fuck?” I put my hands on my hips. “A general?”

  Mario snickered. “Here we go.”

  I cut a glare at him. “Don’t even get me started Mario, I just got home a few hours ago, I haven’t even really settled in, and you bring a strange vampire in here to take charge of my security team. And he threatened to throw me in a safe house. You both knew I wouldn’t be happy about this.”

  “There was no time to talk to you about it. One of my people has been spying on Samuel and learned of his plans. We cannot let Samuel’s plans come to fruition, so we decided it was best to have Zayne take over your security.” Levi sat down. “It was a decision made tonight when we got the news about Samuel.”

  I sat back down. “And what are Samuel’s plans? Other than changing me and making you suffer because of it?”

  “He’s gathering witches. He intends to experiment on them, just like Ira.” Levi crossed his arms. “His ways though, they are much more… primitive than Ira’s. You are his end goal.” Levi took a shuddering breath. “He has detailed plans laid out for you.”

  I tried not to think about Samuel’s love for torturing witches. “Nothing has changed.”

  “Levi’s softness for you impedes the protection that you truly need. The council has decided that it is time for you to step into the role as Princess officially, even if you refuse to be changed.” Mario said.

  I glanced at Merick and then at Levi. “And exactly what does ‘officially’ mean? I’ve gone to the meetings, Levi announced his position, everyone seems to know my unofficial relationship…” I paused. “You aren’t planning on announcing I’m your blood, do you?”

  Levi shook his head. “No, but they expect you to appear at my side when I handle official business. You’ll be traveling with me more, helping me with cases from the vampire side of things as well as PIB.”

  “I’m not officially back to work yet.” I held my hand up. “I’m not sure if I want to be both PIB and Princess.”

  “Then you leave PIB,” Mario said easily.

  I sat there in silence for a moment, and Levi cleared his throat. “Abigail, it’s not that often, but the council thinks it’s important for you to play your role. It’s the best card in our hand right now. Samuel will know you are in the limelight now, so eyes are always on you. He won’t be able to snatch you as easily if people in both the human and the supernatural world know who you are.”

  “I’m not a vampire, Levi. Me running around as the Vampire Princess will not help the illusion that people seem to think I’m going to change my mind about becoming one.” I reached for my cup of coffee and found it empty. “I’m also not sure what PIB will think of me being in the spotlight that much.”

  “We have a meeting with O’Donald Monday to talk about it.” Levi’s voice never changed or hesitated. “I’m hoping that you’ll be able to keep your job at PIB even with Zayne being around.”

  “Is Zayne a day-walker?”

  Levi shook his head. “No, he wants to request that if you don’t give up your job as PIB, that you work night shift only.”

  I snorted. “Murder and mayhem don’t work like that.”

  “I know.” Levi nodded. “I’ll let you know how the meeting with O’Donald goes. Until Zayne knows how to contact and place your team, it’s business as usual now that you’re back from Melisandra’s.”

  I sat back on the couch and looked at Merick. “Guess you’ll be staying for a bit.”

  “Good thing I was planning on coming home then.”

  Mario nodded. “Simon, Merick, or Liz need to be at your side during the day. At night, extra security will be me or Catalina.”

  I swore Levi bristled a little at the name. Interesting. “I thought Levi needed you at his side.”

  “Temporary arrangement until Zayne has it figured out.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Until Zayne has it figured out. I go back to the office Monday…” Something crashed over me as it touched the magic around the house. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and looked over at Merick. “What the hell?”

  “Mine too. Someone’s outside the circle.” All of us went to the front window to look out. There wasn’t much I could see past the glow from the security light above my door, but I knew the two vampires could see something.

  “That’s a PIB containment van,” Levi said. “And a PIB SWAT team.”

  My heart pounded. Why the hell would they be at my house. “I guess I should go see what they want.” If they couldn’t get past my circle, it meant they weren’t here for a friendly visit.

  “Stay inside the circle,” Merick whispered.

  I gave him a look that said ‘no shit,’ and Mario stepped by my side. I wasn’t going to argue with him. I’d be happy to have someone with me in case things went wrong.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I stopped just inside my circle and stared down a team of PIB SWAT. “What can I help you agents with?”

  None of the uniformed agents spoke to me, but they parted when a man in a suit came toward the circle. I didn’t know him, but I rarely worked with SWAT. He stared at me and put his hand against my circle. It pulsed a bit, like he was just testing it.

  “Abigail Collins, you have a warrant out for you for the use of dangerous black magic and use of the fire Elemental ability.”

  I stared at him. “I’m sorry, what? I work for PIB, you can check my records. I don’t deal in black magic.”

  “I have orders to take you into containment, Ms. Collins.” He grasped one wrist with his other hand in front of him, perfectly calm.

  “Special Agent Collins,” I corrected.

  “Not right now, you’re not. You’re off duty. You can come with me peacefully or I can have SWAT tear down your nice protection circles. Your choice.” His gaze flickered to Mario. “Tell your pet vampire to stand down.”

  I stood there debating on what was going on. Someone was framing me, or they really dug up some dirt and found something out of context. “Tell your men to stand down and then we’ll talk. I’ll be more than happy to go down to the office for a chat.”

  “It’s not the office you’ll be going to, Ms. Collins. It’s containment.”

  Something in me panicked, and Mario shifted beside me. I wondered if he was debating on disappearing with me.

  They had a warrant. SWAT rarely did anything without evidence. There wasn’t a logical way out of this. “I’ll go with you, but I want to speak to O’Donald, tonight.”

  “Once you’re booked and in lockup, the agent on this case will come see you.”

  I glanced at Mario. “Let Levi and General Asshole know what’s going on.” I unholstered my gun and handed it to Mario.

  He shook his head. “Abigail.”

  “I’m not having him rip down the circles I’ve worked so hard on. Whatever this is, it’s a huge mistake and one night in containment won’t kill me.” I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Liz and then handed it to Mario. “They won’t let me have it in there.”

  He sighed and shoved my phone in his pocket. “I could bring Levi out here.”

  “No,” I met the agent’s gaze. “Agent?”

  “Daniels.”

  “Agent Daniels won’t stand for that, and if we resist, he’ll have SWAT in here and it’ll look as if I’m guilty of the charges.”

  Mario let out a curse. I stepped through the circle and held my hands behind my back so Daniels could cuff me.

  One of the SWAT members came up and shoved me to the ground, snapping magical cuffs over my wrists.

&nbs
p; My magic shuddered as it was cut off from me. I took a deep breath and tried to look up at the agent who had his knee in my back. “I’m coming peacefully.”

  “Abigail.” I heard Mario and saw his boot step forward a little.

  “I’m okay, Agent Daniels is just having his men show they are in control.” Of course, being cut off from my magic was weird, but it wasn’t harmful, not yet.

  Mario’s boots went off in the other direction and the agent hauled me up. Agent Daniels smiled at me. “Smart choice, Collins.”

  “I’m not sure what this is about, but I promise you I don’t use black magic.”

  “And what about the elemental ability?”

  I gave one shrug of my shoulder. “That’s not a crime. Technically, neither is black magic, and I know that your evidence or whatever sent you here doesn’t say I killed with it.”

  “So sure?”

  I nodded. “PIB would have sent the execution squad.”

  “You’re right, they wouldn’t have risked leaving you alive.” Daniels shook his head. “The great Abigail Collins, a criminal. Take her to the van.”

  The SWAT agent behind me shoved me toward the van.

  “Don’t push me, jerk. I’m coming willingly.” I walked to the van with him behind me and climbed in. I sat on the seat against the wall of the van. He hooked my cuffs to something, keeping me in my seat.

  They had brought me in a couple times as a suspect or to talk about a personal involvement in a case, but this just took the cake. A ride in the containment van to the containment center on bullshit charges.

  Agent Daniels came into the van and sat across from me. “Abigail Collins, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you…” he droned on, I had the rights memorized, we all did.

  “Do you want to tell me what this is about Agent Daniels. I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve been on leave for three months. I’ve been staying out of town recovering from my last case.”