Minor Magic, page 7
part #7 of Xoe Meyers Series
“Unless I’m a half-vampire and don’t even know it,” I sniped. So maybe I was still a little bitter about it.
“You’re not a vampire,” Allison cut in, moving past us to ascend the stairs. “You would have eaten me by now. I’m sure my blood is quite exquisite.”
“Let’s cut you open and try some,” I replied, following her up with Alexius in tow.
We reached the door to our room.
Allison inserted the key card and grinned at me. “You better be careful with your jokes or I won’t invite you over the threshold. You’ll have to sleep on the balcony.”
She opened the door and I strode past her into the room. “That’s it. I’m definitely going to bite you now.”
Everyone followed me inside. The bed looked incredibly appealing, but I knew I wouldn’t be lying in it anytime soon. I glanced down at the folder in my hand as the door shut behind Chase, then settled for sitting on the foot of the bed to peruse it. Alexius hopped up and snuggled near the pillows, as if mocking me.
As soon as Chase sat beside me, I looked over at him expectantly. “We should probably call Sam sooner rather than later to see if he can find any information. The sooner we figure this mystery out, the better.”
He nodded and silently retrieved his phone from his pocket.
I noticed Lucy watching us from the other bed as Chase scanned his contacts for Sam’s number, even though Allison had the TV back on in front of them. I’d suspected before that she might have a bit of a crush on Sam, but I hoped I was wrong. He may have been useful, but he was also bad news. I’d have to needle her about it later.
I shook my head and looked back down at the file as Chase stood and walked further away from the TV to speak with Sam. From what I had gathered in my preliminary glances, the wolves had nothing in common except for being part of the same pack. Three were younger, four older. Five females and two males. Occupations ranging from waitress to lawyer. I had no idea where to even start, so I studied the photos stapled to each sheet of information. Figuring I should review the photos often to memorize the faces, I pulled out my phone and took a picture of each. That way if we happened upon one of them, I’d be able to verify by appearance. While I was at it, I went back to Eric’s card and entered his number into my phone, just in case something happened and I lost the information.
After a hushed phone call, Chase came to stand before me, a chagrinned expression on his face.
I raised an eyebrow at him.
“He’s coming here,” he explained.
I groaned. I did not want to deal with Sam tonight.
Lucy once again flicked her gaze to us. “Why is he coming here? We need him to ask around the underground for information.”
Chase’s chagrined expression deepened. “He claimed he simply couldn’t miss out on an adventure where assassins are involved.”
I groaned again. “We don’t even know that assassins are involved. Call him back and tell him we probably won’t be risking life and limb at all.”
An eerie feeling pervaded the atmosphere. Chase sighed. “Too late.”
I recognized the odd feeling, akin to standing in the middle of a graveyard. Ghosts. Gre-at. A second later there was a knock on the door.
“Maybe we shouldn’t answer it,” I suggested.
Chase moved toward the door, shoulders slumped in defeat. “He’s been able to track me with ease ever since I started sensing ghosts,” he explained. “He knows we’re in here.”
He opened the door to reveal Sam, standing out in the darkness. Even after the time we’d spent together, I was still always taken aback by how much Sam and Chase looked alike. Sam was several inches shorter, his jaw a little more square, but they were clearly brothers. Sam wore all black to match his hair and accent his dark gray eyes, the same shade as Chase’s.
“I hear we’re looking for kidnapped werewolves and perhaps an assassin or two,” he said upon entering the room.
Allison scoffed and rolled her eyes at him.
Lucy pawed nervously at her hair.
“Yes,” I answered, rising from the bed, “and we were hoping you could look for information . . . underground.”
He raised a dark brow at me as Chase shut the door behind him. “Now what sense would it make for me to look around from down there? My guess is your missing wolves aren’t in the demon city.” He paused and glanced around at everyone staring at him. “They aren’t, are they?”
I clenched my jaw in irritation, then resigned myself. He was right. He was probably more useful to us here. I turned toward the bed and shuffled the papers back into the folder, then handed it to him. “Acquaint yourself.”
He looked down at the folder, then up to me. “I thought we could just go look at your murdered uncle then go from there.”
I looked past him to Chase. “Was it necessary to tell him everything?”
Chase shrugged as Lucy asked, “Uncle?”
I glanced over my shoulder to explain, “Art. He was my uncle . . . allegedly.”
Her mouth formed a soft ‘oh’ of understanding.
I turned around and offered the folder once more to Sam. “If you’re going to actually be useful, you should at least know what the missing wolves look like.”
He sighed and took the folder, then walked past me to sit on the bed beside Lucy, muttering something like, “I’m always useful.”
Lucy stiffened as soon as he sat, and suddenly seemed at a loss as to what to do with herself. Funny that the most capable person in our group was so horribly nervous around boys she liked.
Sam flipped through the pages one by one while we all waited. As he reached the last he looked up at me. “Am I supposed to find anything out of the ordinary in here?”
I shook my head. “Not unless you’re far more observant than I. As far as I could tell, there’s no link between any of them, except that they’re all members of the same pack.”
“So someone targeting the pack as a whole,” Sam deduced.
I nodded, then resumed my seat on the bed opposite Sam, Lucy, and Allison. “I figured we’d start in the morning by questioning the other pack members. We’ll speak with the last people to see them, and maybe visit the places they were taken from. I’ll be counting on your ghosts to spot anything mortal eyes might overlook, and I was also hoping you could try contacting Art’s ghost, just in case it’s still hanging around.”
He glanced past me at Chase, who still stood by the foot of the bed, then returned his gaze to me. “You know your boyfriend over there can do all of the stuff you’re asking for, right?”
I turned my gaze to Chase as he moved to sit beside me. I knew he could see ghosts, but I wasn’t aware of how far his powers had come. “Is this true?” I questioned. I almost felt bad for asking since he never seemed to want to talk about his powers, nor had he offered to demonstrate them, but it felt odd that I didn’t know.
He cringed. “Yeah, though I’m not really adept at using them as much as he is.” He nodded in Sam’s direction.
I frowned, but accepted his answer. I could always grill him for more details later.
“I’ll search for your uncle’s ghost,” Sam acquiesced, “but don’t get your hopes up.”
Lucy cleared her throat, then blushed when Sam looked at her. “There’s just one problem. How are we going to do all of this investigating with Abel’s people following our every move?”
I thought about it for a moment, then lifted a finger in the air as a lightning bolt hit me. I moved the finger to point in Lucy and Allison’s direction. “You two can take them to dig up more information on Art under the pretense that we’ll get more done if we split up into groups. That will leave Chase, Sam, and I free to investigate the missing wolves without anyone reporting back to Abel.”
Allison tilted her head in thought. “So we’d basically be leading them on a wild goose chase to keep them busy while you snoop about?”
I shrugged. “Or you might actually find some information on Art. Either way, it will help our cause.”
Allison smirked. “Sounds fun enough. I’m in.”
Lucy looked like she wanted to protest, but didn’t say anything.
“What about Nix?” Chase questioned.
Sam’s eyes widened. “The crazy chick that came with us to the dream realm?”
I bit my lip. Had I really seen her? I wasn’t sure. “I thought maybe I saw her earlier today, but it was just a glimpse. It could have been anyone watching us.”
“Do you think your ghosts could track her if she really has returned to the human world?” I asked.
Sam inclined his head. “They can try, though she’s a slippery one.”
I nodded. “Trying is good enough. It probably wasn’t her, but if it was, I want to know. I have no desire to relive my first encounter with her.”
“Done,” he replied.
We all nodded, our plans settled.
When Sam remained seated on the bed, I eyed him expectantly.
“What?” he questioned.
“It’s late,” I explained. “Some of us aren’t partially nocturnal.”
He glanced up toward the pillows on the bed, then turned back to look at Lucy and Allison. “I’m pretty sure we could all fit. We’d just have to squeeze in real tight.”
Allison snorted in reply. Lucy didn’t comment.
I stood, then grabbed his arm to haul him off the bed. “We’ll see you in the morning,” I said tiredly. “If you’d like it to be a pleasant day, bring coffee. Oh,” I added, letting go of Sam to tug Alexius’ collar to remove him from the bed. “And take Alexius to Dorrie. I don’t want him getting caught in any of the crossfire.”
Sam crouched down to pet Alexius, who seemed to like him. Imagine that. Here I thought dogs were a good judge of character. Sam kept one hand on Alexius and gave me a mock salute with the other before shadowy figures enveloped him. As he began to fade from sight, he cheerfully said, “Aye aye, captain.”
I started to reach out to stop him. I hadn’t expected him to leave so easily, and hadn’t said goodbye to Alexius, but I was too late. They had both disappeared.
“Tomorrow is going to be a long day,” I whined, resuming my seat on the bed.
Chase wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Try being his brother.”
I turned to eye him seriously. “You make me very glad to be an only child.”
“He’s not that bad,” Lucy muttered.
I reached to the top of the bed, then threw a pillow at her. “You only think that because you’re in lo-ove with him.”
She caught the pillow and crushed it against her lap. “I am not!” she argued, her face beet red.
I rolled my eyes, then said jokingly to Chase, “You should have seen the hard time these two gave me when they were forcing me to admit my feelings for you.” I turned back to Lucy. “It’s only fair that I get to do the torturing this time.”
“I am not interested in him,” she said more firmly.
I chuckled, then rose from the bed to search my duffel bag for pajamas. “Please. You’re forgetting that I’m the queen of denial. It enables me to spot it a mile away.”
Lucy blushed harder, but didn’t argue.
“Hey,” I said, tapping her arm as I walked past her on my way to the bathroom. “Don’t feel bad. Sam may be a pest,” I glanced back at Chase, then back to her, “but he has good genes.”
She continued to glare at me, though there was a hint of a smile on her lips. She would forgive me for the teasing. That’s what best friends are for.
That, and distracting three nosy werewolves from interfering with my paranormal investigation.
Chapter Eight
A knock on the door woke me. I turned and wiggled loose from the circle of Chase’s arms to glance at the bedside clock. 7:30 am. What unholy monster was awaking us at 7:30 am?
When no one else so much as twitched, I forced myself out of bed and placed my bare feet on the floor to stand. I grabbed my phone from the beside table out of habit, then winced when I saw a text from Jason. I’d forgotten to text him the previous night to let him know we were all still alive.
I stood and made my way to the door, muttering curses under my breath. I’d call Jason as soon as I had a moment. The door’s peephole revealed Sam, carrying a cardboard drink carrier with four cups of coffee, and a fifth in his free hand.
I opened the door. “Early,” I stated.
He lips tilted into a crooked half smile. “Yes it is.”
I looked down at his hands. “Coffee.”
“Yep.” He handed me the drink carrier and I turned away. “One of them is decaf,” he explained to my back. “I figured you could have fun guessing which one.”
I glared over my shoulder at him. “Death.”
“Oh come now,” he said good-naturedly, stepping inside to shut the door behind him.
Everyone else was finally getting out of bed as the smell of coffee seeped into the room. I looked down at the coffees, wondering if one really was decaf.
“They’re all caffeinated,” Sam whispered as he strolled past me, his own cup in hand. “I know not to risk death so early in the morning.”
I took one of the coffees out of the tray, then handed the rest to Chase as he moved to stand beside me. I held the paper cup up to my face, inhaling the aroma through the plastic lid. I instantly felt less annoyed. Really, back when I’d been learning to control my temper to keep from setting things on fire, my friends should have just kept coffee nearby at all times. It soothed me like nothing else could.
I turned my gaze to Chase as I took my first sip. His black hair was rumpled from sleep, sticking out in all directions. His plaid pajama pants were one of the only pairs he owned. He’d worn them regularly on Sundays, our lazy, wear pajamas all day movie day. Having retrieved his coffee from the holder, he held out the last two cups to Allison as she approached.
She looked just as rumpled as Chase did, and twice as cranky as I felt. She’d never been a morning person. One of our few shared traits.
Lucy quickly did her best to straighten her hair before taking her offered coffee from Allison.
I knew I should get dressed and get on with the day, but figured a few cozy coffee moments couldn’t hurt. I sat back down on mine and Chase’s bed, while Sam resumed his seat from the previous night next to Lucy.
“I did a little bit of investigating last night,” he began.
“Don’t you sleep?” I interrupted.
He smirked. “Rarely. As I was saying, I did some investigating hoping to dig up a little bit of info on what we’re dealing with. There haven’t been any reported disappearances anywhere else in the supernatural community, so I think this is isolated to Spring Valley, and to the local werewolf pack specifically. I haven’t found any information that would suggest Art’s death is in any way linked. Now, if we find any of the wolves with matching daggers sticking out of them, then we can alter that assertion. Finally, I was not able to find any sign of Art’s ghost, though I had little to go on in tracking him, so that’s not saying much. Most likely, he’s already moved on.”
I took another sip of my coffee as my half-asleep brain sifted through everything he’d said. I didn’t have high hopes in tracking Art’s ghost, but hearing the news that Sam couldn’t find him was still a letdown. “Any idea where we should start looking for the wolves then?”
He shrugged noncommittally. “Honestly, I’d start with the pack leader. She’s their connection. This may all be because someone has a vendetta against her.”
I nodded. “Maybe I’ll call Eric, her pet vampire. He said he’d give me any more information I might need.”
Chase made a hmph sound. “He seemed like he would be loyal to her, and probably won’t let anything slip if she’s to blame. Though you never know. Perhaps it was all an act for her benefit.”
I nodded. “It’s worth a shot, at least.” I shifted my gaze to Lucy and Allison. “Maybe you guys can snoop around the RV park? See if there’s any evidence remaining? That ought to give the rest of us at least an hour or two to speak with Eric.”
“If we can even convince Abel’s people to come with us instead of you,” Lucy muttered.
I sighed. “Yeah, that might be a problem. We’ll just have to do our best. Although speaking of them, I’m surprised Matt hasn’t come to bug us yet.”
I retrieved my cellphone from the night stand and searched for the text he’d sent me last night, then dialed the number. Everyone waited while I held the phone to my ear. A moment later, I lowered it. “Straight to voicemail,” I explained before dialing one of the two numbers he’d sent me, either Jessica’s or Chris’. Hopefully Jessica’s.
Another voicemail. I dialed the third number. It just continued to ring until telling me the user was yet to set up their voice mailbox. “We’ll that’s portentous.”
Lucy’s eyes widened. “No answer from any of them?”
I shook my head. “Did anyone see what room they went to?”
Lucy stood. “I did. I’ll go check.”
“Take Sam with you,” I advised before really thinking about it. He could at least transport her away from any danger with her ghosts, but I didn’t necessarily trust him to do so.
Allison stood beside Lucy. “I’ll go too.”
Sam didn’t speak. He simply stood and followed Lucy and Allison to the door. A moment later, it shut behind them.
Once we were alone, I turned to Chase. “I don’t like this. Not one bit.”
He nodded, looking down at the forgotten cup of coffee in his hand, then back to me. “If they’re missing we’ll have to tell Abel, and that will lead us to divulging everything about Iva’s missing wolves.”
“I know, but let’s wait to see if they’re actually missing first.”
My phone buzzed in my lap. Maybe it was one of them calling me back. I lifted it to see Devin’s number and felt suddenly nervous. Had Abel already somehow divined that his people were missing? Maybe he’d tried to call them for a status update.
“Hello?” I answered, lifting the phone to my ear.
“Xoe,” Devin breathed. “Thank goodness you answered.”
