whiskey witches 02 - blood moon magick (9 page)

“I was sick,” Dexx’s said quietly. “Doctors said my recovery was a miracle.”

She bit her lips, her nose whistling.

“I know what you did.”

She screwed on her detective’s face and turned to him. “What did I do?”

“You traded that key for my life.”

She tipped her head with a smirk as a cold dread washed over the right half of her body. “If only I had, I’d feel a lot better about having the key taken. But that’s not what happened. He somehow stole the key and you miraculously woke up.”

He lowered his jaw, his lips shut, and turned his focus elsewhere.

She didn’t want him to know she’d endangered the world for his life. It was stupid. It was, by all rights, the dumbest decision she’d ever made.

Well, short of raising a demon to kill her mother instead of just doing it herself and hiding the body. Outside of
that
, trading the key to Hell in exchange for Dexx’s life had been wrong, stupid, and immature.

But she needed him. He was the best friend she’d ever had.

“It was broken.” Why couldn’t she come up with something better than that?

Tony clucked his tongue. “Right. So, is anyone interested in shapeshifters?”

Paige tried to shake off the tension. “Shapeshifters? Not werewolves?”

“Well, there are werewolves. You met one last night. There are also werebears, werecats, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.”

Paige ran a hand over her head, leaning up against the cold window. “Are they born as well?”

“Most are.”

“The next moon is a super moon, and it’s three days away.” Paige flicked her fingers as if that could slough off the excess energy charging the air. “How’s that going to affect them?”

“The older ones? Not as much.”

“The younger?”

“Super moons are hard.”

How would it be for her? Her magick was different, more powerful, and the moon
was
calling to her.

Tony glanced over at her as he drove into the little town of Golden. The foothills were so much bigger close up. The flashing deer-crossing sign glowed in the falling snow. “Are you doing okay?”

She’s always wondered why there weren’t vampires and werewolves—shapeshifters—in their world. Witches were real. Demons and angels were real. Why not werewolves and vampires? And, for that matter, all the other paranormal creatures. Water wraiths. Those tree thingies. Oh! A weredragon. That would be amazing.

What about fairies? Elves? Gnomes?

She hoped not because there were a lot of
rules
with the faye folk.

“I think I’m doing okay. I am, however, still concerned that I hadn’t heard about you before this.”

“Well, your family was pivotal to the creation of the treaty.”

Then, why hadn’t she heard anything about it?

“The Whiskey family lost a lot in the war.”

Paige screwed up her face in disbelief and shook her head.

“Because they sided with the shapeshifters. Just, leave it to say that if you didn’t hear anything about it, it was because your grandmother was protecting you.”

“From
what
?” She wasn’t being dense. She heard what he was saying. Things had been “bad” during the “war.” Why was he being so damned
vague?

“Did she tell you about the other witch families?”

A ping of surprise shook off her anger for a moment. Mark, her husband and the father of her daughter, had been an Eastwood. Alma had mentioned the Eastwood witch line. Once. And Alma had always treated him differently.

If Mark had been an Eastwood witch, then…

What did that mean? That there were
more
secrets Alma was keeping from her? Had Mark known about their history? Had he kept it from her, too? Why?

Tony raised his eyebrows. “So, no?”

She needed to change the subject. “You keep saying elements. Which ones and how?”

“All of them, and it depends on which one bonds with our soul.”

She could understand that. Kind of. Most witches were only able to control one element. She could control all of them, though not with equal ability. Leslie could control two. Amanda, for sure, could control one. Some of it depended on the gift they were born with, but there was another part of it, too, one that no one really understood. “How do they work with you?”

“Well.” Tony let out a long breath as he pulled away from the light, his tires slipping a little. “Let’s just say that when we get to our destination, if the storm hasn’t moved away on its own, it will by the time I get done with it.”

Weather magick? In her circles, that was considered pretty powerful stuff. “So, you control the elements.”

“More like, I reason with them and they bargain with us.”

“And if the storm doesn’t want to leave?”

“I’ll offer it something for it to let up.”

“Like what?”

He shrugged. “Possibly the tear of a mother, or a breath from a newborn.”

Paige frowned. “Why would a storm want any of that?”

“Because we’re not speaking directly to the storm, Paige.” Tony raised his eyebrows as they passed the last gas station before the long span of nothing until Boulder. “The elements are merely the Earth’s way of speaking with us. She’s showing she cares.”

Now, it was time for Paige’s eyebrows to rise. Incredulously. “Vampire.”

He tipped his head to the side and returned his full attention to the highway.

She tried to wrap her mind around everything she’d just learned. Wow. Just…wow.

T
he snow didn’t seem to want to stop. Great.

“So, what can you tell me about Elizabeth Harwood that I wouldn’t find in the file?” Paige asked.

“Bigger picture. Shifters are disappearing.” Tony paused at the light in the middle of nowhere and turned onto a two-lane road that led into the foothills. “Elizabeth Harwood was one of them.”

“I did notice the missing person’s report.” Paige surveyed the wide flat landscape at the foot of the mountains. “Where are you taking us?”

“Nederland.”

“I don’t have jurisdiction in the Netherlands.” They needed to go to Nederland, a town in the mountains, and question the brother and sister, and anyone else who might be connected to Elizabeth Harwood. Paige simply didn’t know
where
Nederland was. Before yesterday, she’d never even heard of the place.

“You’re adorable. No, you don’t. But the local sheriff and I are buds. She asked for my help.”

“Isn’t this the town with the frozen dead dude?” Dexx asked.

Tony visibly cringed. “He’s cryotized and, yes, this is where he’s stored.”

“He can’t be very frozen anymore with all the issues that have cropped up, can he?”

Paige twisted around to frown at Dexx. “Where do you get this stuff?”

“Hey, some of us actually dig for the news.”

Once upon a time, you could turn on a news station or open a newspaper. But, anymore, the news was bought by people with lots of money, and it showed. Paige didn’t put much credence in news anymore, unless she knew the reporter. Like, Danny Miller. She read his articles.

Tony leaned against the door. “These shifters have been disappearing primarily from the same location. Around Nederland. A lot of shifters migrated to the area. It’s a small mountain town. Low key.”

“You’ve been sending all the bodies from
your
cases there,” Paige said. “So, I’m guessing Nederland is more than just a low key town. It’s gotta be a central hub of some sort.”

Tony narrowed his eyes.

“How long have they been disappearing?” Dexx asked.

“A few months.”

Paige leaned forward to peer at the foothills. They unfolded and then folded back around the car. The falling snow made it seem like something from a
Lord of the Rings
movie. “Elizabeth Harwood.”

“She was one of the first to disappear. Having her show up like that, and then be murdered?” Tony shook his head and shrugged.

“By a demon?” Paige added.

“Right after you get back from Louisiana?” Dexx asked.

“Seems coincidental,” Tony finished.

Dexx flopped back, shaking out his arm. “Was she malnourished?”

“No.” Paige sat back. “She was in good health. She was dressed for a party. Good clothes, but nothing flashy.”

“A party?” Dexx asked. “You were home early. It must have been some party.”

“I don’t know. The lab technicians haven’t come back on anything found in her purse and I didn’t get a good look at it.”

“Don’t detectives normally get
those
details?” Dexx asked.

“We do.” Paige winced. “I was collecting other information at the time and didn’t even think about it.”

“You’re slipping, Pea. What are the other details?” Dexx asked. “Is it possible they’re all just going somewhere else? Could they be running away?”

Tony shook his head. “It’s a wide age group. One of them owns the local coffee shop. He doesn’t even take vacations. He loves that shop.”

Paige chewed on her thumb. “Is a certain shifter type being targeted?”

His eyebrows rose in appreciation. “No. Two large cats, a bear, a wolf, two birds of prey, one aquatic, a snake, a fox, a coyote, a horse, and a tree.”

“A tree.”

“She was bitten and that’s the spirit form that chose her.” Tony held up one hand. “It’s odd. I will admit, but it happens more often than you might think.”

“Hmm.”

They passed a tiny town that, had she blinked, she might have missed it. They’d made it into the mountains and it had been less than an hour. Colorado was amazing for that, at least.

“Where is Nederland?”

“Just up the road. Trust me. We’re nearly there.”

“Good,” Dexx said. “I have to pee.”

They drove the rest of the way in silence. Tony reached behind him and pulled out several case files. They had all the names and faces of those who were missing. A shop owner. A straight-A student. A nearly failing high schooler. A boy who had just enlisted in the Marine Corps. An eleven-year-old girl in a foster home. There were twelve total.

“Why isn’t this getting more attention?” Paige asked.

Tony pulled into a town that was built around the winding highway as though it were a river. “We don’t want the Feds involved. There aren’t many in the paranormal society in those ranks.”

She nodded and continued reading, handing Dexx everything she’d completed.

“Could you read faster?” Dexx muttered.

“Shut up.”

Tony stopped the car and put it in park. He released a puff of breath.

Paige looked up from Kevin Felter’s file. The mountain folded around the cabin. Tall pine trees stood like sentinels on either side of the wide porch. The rest of the house was hidden except for a gable above the porch.

“Wait a minute.” Paige frowned. “This is an entire town of paranormals, right?”

Tony nodded, his eyebrows raised.

Paige looked around. “I didn’t feel a ward, any type of protections.”

“Ward?”

“Yeah. How do you keep people away? Witches? Demons?”

“We don’t have magick, Paige.”

“I understand that. But how do you keep normal people out, or those who want to kill your kind?”

Tony released a breath and flattened his lips. “They mark their territory in pee.”

Unexpected. Sounded like the punch line to a joke. “And that works? On humans?”

“Seems to.”

“Interesting.” Probably not on demons, and she hadn’t felt any affects as a witch, which seemed odd since they seemed hell bent on keeping themselves protected against her kind. She turned back to the cabin. “Who are we interviewing?”

“Sam Waugh.”

“That name isn’t in any of these files.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Hey, Paige. Be careful of what you say. You’re a witch. Moreover, you’re a Whiskey.”

She’d gotten the history lesson. She knew, kind of, what was at stake. “I thought the Whiskeys were the good guys.”

“They are, but…” He ran his tongue along his teeth as he paused. “But you’re still the second strongest witch family in the U.S. And we know who Leah’s father is, so, you’re connected.”

“What?”

“Leah’s a Whiskey and an Eastwood. She’s the product of the two strongest witch lines.”

Paige narrowed her eyes, staring out the window, not really seeing the cabin. What if…

What if Rachel hadn’t been after Leah to “save” her? What if Rachel had wanted Leah for her power? What if the angels had backed her because of it?

How could Alma have kept that from her?

“The Eastwoods did the most damage,” Tony continued. “And you’re connected to them. And we know that. So, just be careful.”

She really needed to get control over her anger at being left in the dark. But it was hard to do so when everyone else seemed to know more about her family than she did.

It didn’t help that she was already pissed at her family—namely Alma—for stripping away her memories of her daughter for five years. This only fueled that.

But she needed to get over it because they had a case and she needed to deal with that. With her Big Girl Panties on. It was time to stop whining and woman up. “I really only want to help.”

Tony nodded and opened his car door. “Keep telling
them
that. If you’re going to make it in Nederland, you have to get Sam’s approval.”