Chapter Eight
Maverick
“I can’t believe this,” I muttered, tapping the manilla folder spread out on Tally’s kitchen table. “How the spell did Aurea get it in my car? Her aura should have set off every ward in the coven house. The warning shots alone would leave her extra crispy.”
Taliyah pursed her lips in distaste but didn’t comment. I knew she personally disapproved of some of the nastier traps I’d set on the property, but she couldn’t complain. Her job had net us both a lot of enemies, and I’d rather turn a rampaging werewolf into a grease stain than risk harm to any of the people I cared about.
“Could we refrain from talking about justifiable homicide?” she asked with a wince. “As much as I’d like Aurea to get what’s coming to her, I can’t condone revenge. We have to do this the right way. And besides, the boys should be home soon. They don’t need graphic details about what your magic is capable of.”
That was fair enough, I supposed. Her kids seemed to accept what we both were at face value, but that wasn’t the same as understanding it. There were aspects to Tally’s position that they couldn’t begin to grasp. Parts of her job were so frightening it would give them nightmares for years to come. She stood as a stalwart shield against it, keeping the worst details of our world away from sensitive eyes and ears.
Taliyah bent to check the casserole in the oven. The French toast casserole smelled amazing. I had a hunch Poppy had baked it. She’d been horrified to learn Tally rarely had time to eat a cold-cut sandwich, let alone make something filling and nutritious. As I understood it, Poppy had been prepping meals for Tally ever since, taking the worry off Taliyah’s shoulders.
Okay, I could grudgingly admit Poppy was a decent person. I’d never eat crow in front of my cousin, but I could finally see what Wanda liked about her. She was a kindly little barnacle, latching onto the people she cared about and refusing to let go.
It was admirable, even if it wasn’t smart. Loving people made you vulnerable. In our business, that could be deadly.
“Be that as it may, Aurea’s trespassing should have been noted. How did she weasel around our wards?”
“Mirrors,” Taliyah answered, leaning one hip against the counter. She had oven mitts ready when the casserole was through baking. “We got to Blood Rose through a mirror. She’s got a talent for that kind of magic, right?”
“Right. So?”
“So, the rearview mirror is still a mirror. It’s big enough to slip the folder through if she got creative. It’s about the size of a mail slot.”
It wasn’t often that I wished my beautiful wife was wrong. If she was correct, it meant I had even more work to do this week than I’d initially thought. On top of stitching spellwork for Wanda, catching bad guys for Tally, and tutoring Astrid on potions, I now had to set up wards on every car that the coven owned. If Aurea could toss a folder into my car through the mirror, she could toss in a grenade just as easily. I didn’t want to become red mist in the front seat of the car, leaving a twisted hunk of metal for someone to deal with.
I cursed under my breath. “Perfect. Just perfect. More warding.”
“Don’t be so hasty,” Tally responded. “I’d rather send word through the Council that people need to monitor their mirrors with cameras, if possible. If we can catch her in the act, there’s a chance this entire farce could end without bloodshed.”
Not likely. Even if the headmistress was arrogant enough to stroll into the Hollow, she wouldn’t leave it in one piece. No one threatened my family without consequences, and I had the receipts to prove it. Anyone who’d ever hurt someone I loved was dead.
“I’m warding your place. That’s non-negotiable.”
Taliyah rolled her eyes, but couldn’t quite hide her smile. “Worry wart.”
“As your husband, I take threats to your life seriously. If that knife is the genuine article, it would kill you instantly.”
“And you,” she said quietly, fiddling with one of the oven mitts. She wouldn’t meet my eyes directly. “The bond could drag you down with me. Maybe you should—”
I pushed away from the table, crossing the room in two long sides. Taliyah’s breath caught when I caged her in against the counter. I captured her pointed chin and tugged her face up, forcing her to look at me.
“Don’t finish that sentence. I don’t care what the bond costs me. Keeping you safe is worth whatever price I have to pay.”
Taliyah blinked rapidly, tugging her chin out of my grasp so she could turn away from me. I let her. She’d never forgive me if I watched her go to pieces. “I don’t understand that.”
It’s because I love you, woman, I wanted to scream at her. Was she blind? Could she really not see what was only inches in front of her face? But the words got lost somewhere between my brain and my lips. What came out was an underwhelming, “I know.”
Tally risked a glance up at me, her expression almost shy beneath all the bluster. I’d never wanted to kiss her more than I did at that moment. Any vulnerability she showed was a gift. She cleared her throat awkwardly and pretended to tuck a lock of loose white hair behind one ear to disguise the single tear track she wiped away.
“Okay, this has officially gotten uncomfortable. How about we get back to that folder.” She breathed in deeply and then nodded, like she’d gotten ahold of herself. “What’s inside? You didn’t say.”
“Because I haven’t looked. It’s a large Manilla folder sealed closed with witch wax. I recognized Blood Rose’s crest on the seal.”
The spell was loosely knit, and I only needed a fraction of my power to unravel the working. The scarlet wax peeled away with unnatural ease, leaving an ordinary manilla folder behind. I flipped the folder open and almost immediately wished I hadn’t. I wasn’t even sure what I was looking at. The shape in the photo was mottled dull red and purple, and so hunched in on itself that it looked misshapen. I raised the glossy photo for her inspection.
“Any idea what’s going on here?”
Taliyah peered at the picture intently. There was a slight flinching around her eyes.
“It’s got to be Vivian,” she said at last. “I’d say they didn’t locate the body until it had gone through active decay. The positioning is odd too. It looks like she might have been bound with rope or a cord of some kind to keep her still.”
I flipped through the folder, skimming the contents. There were more photos, each more grisly than the last, and finally, a preliminary findings report.
“She was sedated,” I read aloud. “So, whatever did her in didn’t make her suffer long. That points to remorse. Maybe she knew the killer.”
Taliyah tapped her foot, starting up a fast, tense beat as she thought. She wanted to pace but refrained because her pacing usually worried me. Anything she angsted about enough to elicit that response was sure to be unpleasant.
“Or maybe the killer knew he was dealing with a witch and decided to keep her too groggy to cast. Did she die of an overdose? That’s pretty common with a kidnapping gone wrong.”
I skimmed the report, quickly locating the autopsy file. “Preliminary results indicate that she died from massive blood loss. Most of her blood volume was gone, judging from the lividity marks.”
What little she’d had left had pooled beneath her, darkening her skin from ivory to burgundy in places in only a matter of days. The longer I stared at the photos on the table, the sicker I felt. Vivian Grimsbane had been an annoying pain in my ass, a bully, an obstructionist piece of garbage, but she wasn’t a villain. She hadn’t deserved to die like she had.
If the description disturbed Tally, she didn’t show it. She tossed her snowy white braid over one shoulder as her timer went off. She bent to retrieve the casserole. Her voice was muffled when she said, “Exsanguination points to a vampire as our culprit.”
“Or someone trying to make it look that way.”
Taliyah waved a dismissive hand. “Occom’s Razor, Mav. The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.”
I hated it when she was right. A vampire was the most likely culprit, but I was desperately hoping for some other explanation. Because this revelation made Aurea’s choice to blackmail Tally make a hell of a lot more sense. If one of Valserek’s loyalists somehow survived the purge, we had a bigger problem than one dead witch.
The targeting of Vivian hadn’t been random. It was a message. And that message was: we’re still here. We still want to kill you. No one is safe. Put in that context, Aurea’s actions were more understandable. She had a disaster of Biblical proportions brewing in that hell pit she called a school. If Vivian’s death became a public spectacle, tensions between the vampires and witches would reach a fever pitch. Blood would run in the halls, and a lot of people would die. Maybe strong-arming Tally into the job had been the least messy way Aurea had found to deal with the mess. I didn’t want to have to pity Aurea. I didn’t want to consider what harebrained logic had led her to this juncture. But now that the idea had latched onto me, it wouldn’t let go.
“Okay, let’s say you’re right and it was one of the sick freaks who took Astrid,” I started.
“I don’t understand why Aurea came to me,” Tally almost interrupted.
I shrugged. “You’re a kickass detective.”
“But there had to be others closer to the school who could look into this. You know, someone on the same continent. Coming here seems a bit… extreme.”
Tally set the casserole carefully aside and began taking plates and cups down for breakfast. Her kids would be up soon, and she was making damn sure breakfast was done right. It was one constant. Come rivers of blood or rains of toads, Tally would always prioritize her kids. It was one of the reasons I loved her.
I hid a grimace by swigging the glass of water she’d set in front of me. There was that word again. Love. It was an incredibly small word to mean so much. Just four honest letters that could destroy my world. She had to feel the same about me, right? I’d seen the way she looked at me. But I also knew she’d never confess before I did—if she even felt the same as I did. Yet, when I tried to say the word aloud, it stuck in my throat. If I was misreading the signs, I wasn’t sure I could handle the fallout. No, it was better we stay as we were.
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re the best at what you do,” I answered.
Tally turned and flashed me a brief smile that made my heart squeeze tight. “I’m glad you think so, but I’m no Columbo. There are people who have been in the crime-solving game a lot longer than I have.”
“But none of those detectives have your experience with the supernatural.”
“Fox does.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, because that dickhead is always so helpful when he arrives in the Hollow. Come on, Tally, you’re better than he is.”
Taliyah just smiled and began dishing up plates of casserole. She set a steaming piece in front of me and ordered, “Eat.”
“We have a case to solve.”
“We can think while we work. Food will get your blood sugar up and help you feel less groggy. You’ve been up all night. Eat, call into work, and then get some sleep.”
I didn’t want to close my eyes. If something happened to her while I caught eight hours of sleep, I’d never forgive myself, if I lived to tell about it.
“I don’t want to leave you,” I admitted, hating how small my voice sounded.
“Then don’t. I have a bed.”
“Would we be sleeping together?”
A fetching shade of pink dusted her cheeks at that. She pursed her lips. “I think that’s tempting fate. I have a sofa. I’ll use that.”
“No. I’ll take the sofa. You take the bed.”
“I don’t mind the couch.”
“I do.” I nodded. “I want you to get a good rest in your own bed. I can ward the door. No one will disturb you.”
“Not even you?”
“Well, I’m always disturbing, but you knew that when you married me. Now you’re stuck.”
She leaned her head onto my shoulder, playing with the food on her plate wistfully.
“Somehow, I’ll learn to live with that.”