Chapter 24
“Is that Reed’s boat?” I asked as we neared Reed’s cottage.
Out past the shoreline, maybe fifty yards from the dock, a boat drifted on the open water.
Flames crawled across the deck, sending a column of black smoke curling upward.
Even from this distance, I could see the figure on the deck.
She was tied to something near the bow, struggling, pulling against whatever held her in place.
“It’s Rayna!” I cried. ”He must have suppressed her magic somehow because otherwise, she’d be able to douse those flames in a second as a sea witch.
” I tore my gaze from the boat and looked at Reed’s cottage.
Through the side window, I could see movement inside.
A shape passed through the kitchen, and I recognized Reed.
”Reed’s still inside his place. Drop me off in his backyard, and you go save Rayna. ”
“I don’t like that plan,” Zane said as he descended. “We should go in together.”
“You can’t die, Zane. It makes more sense for you to land on the boat and save Rayna.” I placed my palm on the side of his face. “I got this. I’ll take Reed. And I’ll be careful.”
“We’ll cover Kara, lad,” Link said from my pocket. “Don’t worry.”
“Speak for yourself, Pixie. I make no promises.”
I bit back a smile and stroked Savage’s head. I knew that to be a lie. On more than one occasion Savage had not only fought along beside me, but he’d saved my life.
Zane sighed and nodded, lowering me to the grass in the backyard. “Be careful. All of you.” He gave me a quick kiss on the mouth. “Go get him, Valkyrie.”
Before I could answer, he shot back into the sky, barreling toward the enflamed boat and bound woman. Link shot out of my pocket, and Savage jumped from my arms.
“What’s the plan?” Link asked, unsheathing his dagger at his waist.
Savage lifted his right front paw and razor-sharp claws flashed out. “Yes, who am I filleting today?”
“His name is Reed Masterson.” I strode toward the sliding-glass door at the back of the house. “And we are bringing him down.”
I stepped up onto the wooden deck, Savage and Link on either side of me, and paused at the glass door. I could hear voices inside. At first, I thought maybe it was just Reed arguing with himself…but then I realized it was two distinct voices.
“Change of plans,” I whispered to my partners as I waved my hand in front of the glass and slid it open. “Zane and I have been wrong about everything. Stay alert. I think we have two killers.”
“Did you have to burn my boat?” Reed whined. “I loved that boat.”
“You’re the one who ditched our plan and killed Sasha without my approval!
” Eliza Nordic raged. “Do you know how long it took me to manipulate Mari into making me the trustee of her will? All that money would have been mine! By the time they figured out I was syphoning the money to me and not Jayla’s account, we’d have been long gone.
But, no! You had to go and kill Sasha last night without my approval!
Now we have to clean up your mess and get out of here before the fire department and police get here.
They’ll be bringing in those damn PADA detectives, and I’d already had them convinced I was just a helpless victim. “
“I was tired of the way they treated you, Eliza,” Reed said. “It’s no different than what happened fifteen years ago.”
“I allowed them to push me around last night so I could look innocent, you idiot!” She tossed something in the open duffel bag at her feet. “Now, let’s go. I have my boat hidden in the next cove over.”
“You two aren’t going anywhere,” I said, stepping into the kitchen.
“Dammit, Reed!” Eliza cried. “You brought PADA to our doorstep with your stupidity.”
Reed reacted first. He turned and backhanded me before I could even get the Binder off my duty belt. My plan had been to detain him and then fight Eliza.
I staggered backward and crashed into the slider, thankful I didn’t crash through. He’d hit me pretty hard.
“We’ll take him, lass,” Link cried, his dagger raised in the air. “You get her!”
I turned to Eliza and noticed for the first time that she didn’t have her cane handy. She stepped away from the duffel and widened her stance. “Let’s at least make this fair. Hand-to-hand combat. I’ve been training for fifteen years.”
Everything we’d thought was true about Eliza was obviously a lie—her innocence, her disability.
“So which one of you killed Mari?” I asked, slowly circling her.
“Don’t you want to know why?” she asked, motioning for me to make the first move.
“I think I’ve figured that out.” I heard Reed cry out, and I spared him a look.
Reed had picked up a knife and was swinging wildly at Link while Savage was swiping at him and shredding Reed’s lower legs.
The selkie shifter wasn’t going to last long.
“Somewhere along the way, you and Reed started seeing each other. He must have told you what happened, and from there, you two spent probably years hatching a plan.”
Eliza rushed me, and I realized with a sudden shock that she did, in fact, have supernatural vampire speed, and she moved faster than I expected.
One second she was standing three feet away.
The next, her boot connected with my chest, and the world tilted sideways.
The impact knocked the air out of me and sent me flying backward.
I hit the floor hard, my shoulder blades taking the worst of it.
I jumped to my feet, my hand going straight to my outer thigh. My fingers found the leather sheath and pulled the seax free in one smooth motion. The blade caught the light as I settled into a fighting stance, the weight of it familiar and grounding in my palm.
“So you got your speed back,” I said.
“I did. Took years of hard training, but my leg eventually strengthened, and little by little, the speed returned.” She stood across from me, her chest heaving and her eyes flashing.
”And to answer your other question, five years.
That’s how long I’ve known the truth. The truth about what they did to me.
” Her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
“Of knowing what that witch Rayna did to me. I got to know Reed when he was serving out his community service punishment on coastal cleanup. We became friends, then lovers, and that’s when Reed told me the truth.
He also told me what Mari discovered, how Rayna added an extra layer to the spell to really mess with me.
” Her jaw tightened. “And then how Mari suspected that Rayna used magic to keep me bound so the car would hit me. She was the one who was supposed to be framed for what happened. Rayna is the one who deserves the worst punishment.” A cold, satisfied look crossed her face.
“That’s why we used the jute twine from her shop. ”
I adjusted my grip on the seax, keeping the blade between us. “How could you have known Rayna wouldn’t have a solid alibi for the time of Mari’s murder?”
Eliza rushed me again.
She came in low this time, fast and precise.
I sidestepped the first strike, but she pivoted and threw a roundhouse kick that I barely got the flat of my blade up in time to deflect.
The force of it rattled up my arm. She followed with a combination, fists and elbows, each strike coming from a different angle.
I blocked and parried, using the seax to redirect her blows rather than slash, keeping her at range when I could, absorbing the impact when I couldn’t.
“You’re pretty good,” Eliza panted.
I snorted. “I’m a Valkyrie. I train like this every day.” I reached out and jabbed the back of my fist into her mouth. “You can’t beat me, Vampire.”
Eliza wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand and smiled.
It wasn’t a pleasant smile. ”Reed went into Rayna’s office that afternoon to discuss the valentine Mari had sent.
That’s when she told him they’d have to discuss it later because she had a business meeting from three to four.
” Eliza rolled her shoulders and popped her neck.
“He said if she was going to be at the marina later, he might stop by. She said she’d be there working until five. We knew we had plenty of time.”
“So you two did this together?” I asked.
“We have him now, Pixie!” Savage cried from somewhere behind me.
“We did,” Eliza said, unaware that Reed was about to be taken down by Link and Savage.
“As Mari’s friend, I knew she was making a special dinner for her husband, so I drove to her house after work, parked a block away, and used my speed to get to the back of the house undetected.
Reed docked his boat at her dock, and we went in together.
” She snorted, and for a flicker of a second, something almost like genuine sadness crossed her face.
“Mari was so surprised. All excited to see us. She was so sweet, asking if we were now dating.” She shrugged.
“I really did like her. It was a shame Reed had to kill her.”
My stomach turned. “So what? You just stood there and watched?”
Anger flashed in her eyes. “Yes. Just like they stood there all those years ago.” Her voice rose. “They could have done something. Hell, they could have not made the spell. But they did!” Her eyes narrowed. “They deserve everything coming to them.”
“That was clever to get Mari to make you the trustee of her will.”
She laughed. “That was Hunter’s fault. All I had to do was plant the seed in Mari’s mind that I thought Hunter was seeing someone else. I knew he was because Reed and I have been following their lives closely.”
“Why now?” I asked. “Why did you decide to kill Mari now?”
“‘I went to Mari last week and cried to her. Told her how I was having a hard time with what happened to me in high school. How I just knew there had to be more to the story. I told her I was thinking of going to the sheriff and telling him my suspicions.” Eliza tilted her head. “I had no idea she’d send valentines to everyone in the group, including herself. But when Reed told me that, I knew it was time to finalize the plan we’d spent years perfecting. ”
I kept the seax steady between us. “And Reed? You just forgave him?”
Eliza smirked. ”Reed served a purpose.”
A scream tore through the air behind us.
We both turned. Reed was on the ground, blood pouring from his body in a dozen places. His mouth was open, his eyes wide with shock, and his legs would never be the same.
Savage stood over him, chest puffed out. Link hovered beside Savage, his tiny wings glowing purple and green.
And I nearly laughed out loud when they bumped fist to paw.
“And now his purpose is done,” Eliza said softly. “Let’s finish this, Valkyrie. I want—”
I reached down and unhooked my Binder and tossed it at her before she even finished the sentence.
The magical bubble immediately stripped her of her vampire abilities.
It took Eliza a few seconds to realize what I’d done.
And when it finally did penetrate…she was pissed!
She screamed and raged and beat against the bubble.
The truth was, I could have done that at any time, but I also knew I needed her to confess for PADA. I could hear sirens in the distance and knew the fire department was on their way.
“I see I missed all the fun,” Zane said as he stepped inside the kitchen, a handcuffed Rayna by his side.
“I demand to know what’s going on!” Rayna hissed. “Reed came over to my house this morning, grabbed me, and then…” Her voice trailed off when she noticed Reed lying on the floor. “Oh, my goddess! Is he dead?”
I was saved from answering when the front door banged open and firefighters and paramedics came swarming in.
I lifted my hand and waved at Cade Wilder, Crystal’s boyfriend. “I think Reed’s going to need some medical attention.”