Vervain and a Victim Read online

  He wasn’t alone.

  The tall, blonde vampire who’d come into my shop was with him. I felt a satisfied smile play on my lips. This was too perfect. Finally I might start to get some answers about who this guy was and what he was doing in Wormwood… and right after a murder.

  I nearly fell through the glass when someone touched my arm.

  “Hi Hazel… is that… blood on your arm?” Jesse Heathen looked back at me from his position on the roof. I hadn’t even heard him approach.

  I glanced down at my arm for a second. I’d forgotten all about the injury. With any luck, that meant it wasn’t too bad. Or so bad I had nerve damage. I’d worry about it later. “Witch trial,” I muttered, not wanting to expand upon any of it with the man currently sharing the rooftop with me.

  “You didn’t die,” he remarked before pulling a thoughtful face. “I guess your aunts must have taught you well. Gold star for you.”

  “I guess so,” I said, not wanting to admit anything close to the truth to Jesse. He never told me anything. I was just returning the favour.

  “What are you doing up here?” I said when the silence became ridiculous.

  “The same thing as you, I assume. I’m up here to enjoy the view.”

  I glared at him. “Do you know why the creepy dead guy is in town?”

  Jesse smirked. “You hadn’t met a vampire before this one rolled in?”

  “No. So?”

  “They’re not always as bad as you think. But if you give them a reason to be angry, then they’re much, much worse. The lynch mob that was running around town wouldn’t stand a chance against a vampire like him.”

  We both looked down at the blonde vampire below, keeping our voices to less than a whisper.

  “Why are you here?” I asked again.

  But it was then that the mayor finally stopped typing away on his computer and spoke to his companion.

  “Please tell me you’ve found out something useful. So far, I am not satisfied with the service I’m paying you for,” Gareth Starbright said. From my vantage point looking down through the skylight, I saw his hands grip the edge of his desk and tighten so much his knuckles went white.

  By comparison, the vampire calling himself Kieran looked relaxed and poised like a deadly big cat. “It’s all in hand. I made further enquiries tonight, but I don’t think you need to be concerned.”

  “We had a deal,” the mayor growled. He sounded a far cry from the suave and sophisticated man that was the subject of so many of Wormwood’s female residents’ fantasies.

  Not mine though, of course.

  In the past, I’d have even said that Gareth Starbright was one of the more boring members of the community. He was an accountant and the mayor. His life was hardly full of scandals and wild times. Recent developments were starting to suggest I’d been wrong about that. But then… I was starting to think I’d been wrong about everything.

  “Get out of here and come back when you have something worth my time to discuss,” the mayor said, dismissing the vampire like he was nobody.

  I noticed Kieran’s shoulders stiffen, before they relaxed again. It was like watching a mouse bite a lion. “Yes, Mayor Starbright. I’m sure I’ll have some useful information next time we meet.”

  “I don’t want information. I want my problem solved.”

  I could almost sense the vampire’s smile. “You’re the boss,” he said, before sliding out of the room, leaving the mayor behind with a stack of paperwork that he got stuck into.

  “That was a lot less interesting than I’d hoped,” Jesse confessed, lying back on the roof, looking up at the distant stars.

  I turned and looked up at them with him for a moment. “It’s so inconsiderate of villains to not repeat the specifics of their evil plans right when we’re listening,” I agreed.

  Jesse made a sound of amusement. I looked over to my right and realised he was watching me with his head propped up on his hand. “Something happened tonight, didn’t it? I can tell. You’re different.”

  I checked my magical aura and was reassured that it was still hidden. Whatever changes that may, or may not have happened out in the woods… they wouldn’t be visible that way.

  Jesse shot me a look that said he knew exactly what I was doing.

  “Why couldn’t I just be a normal witch?” I said without thinking.

  Jesse grinned. “Because you’re better than that. Are you going to tell me anything more? You look like your arm was half-ripped off.” He reached out and touched my torn sleeve, and for the briefest of moments, I felt some sort of spark, some kind of connection when our amber eyes met.

  I looked away. “There’s nothing to tell. I’m sure it was no different from any other witch trial. Bad stuff happened and I managed to survive. The end.”

  “Hazel…” Jesse started to say, but I cut him off.

  “You never tell me anything. Why should I share anything with you? I don’t even know who you are. What you are. You can do things. Magic things. But… are you a magician?” I knew it could be my own inexperience that meant I was getting something obvious wrong, but when it came to Jesse, I had a strong feeling that nothing was too obvious.

  “It’s complicated. I have business in Wormwood. I can’t tell you…”

  “Have you told Natalia?”

  “What? No. It’s not like that.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “You haven’t even told your girlfriend what you’re doing in town? That’s harsh. Even Natalia doesn’t deserve that.”

  Jesse’s mouth quirked up into that annoying grin of his. He never seemed to take anything seriously. “Are you jealous?”

  “Excuse me? Don’t try to make this into something it’s not. I want to know who you are and what you’re really doing in Wormwood. I don’t care that you’re dating my worst enemy.”

  Jesse laughed, a soft and slow sound that resonated in the late night air.

  “Are you even investigating Bridgette’s death? You’re supposed to be a detective. Or are you not even bothering to pretend to be that any more?” I had no idea why I was so angry but something about the way Jesse just continued to avoid answering my questions got under my skin. Correction - something about Jesse got under my skin.

  “Of course I’m investigating, but it’s tough when you’re still the prime suspect. If I poke around too obviously, it will hardly do wonders for my case. I have to be careful. Even I can’t get out of a murder charge,” he said, his eyes flashing.

  “Is there anyone you trust?” I asked him.

  His amber eyes met mine, steady again. “Only myself. I thought you and Detective Admiral had the case pretty much wrapped up. He still thinks I did it, right?”

  I frowned. Had Jesse Heathen been spying on me? “That’s not why he came to see me. He wanted to know if I knew anything about the cauldron and the coin… because he thinks I’m weird enough to know these things.”

  “You are from Wormwood,” Jesse said with a slanted smile.

  I gave him a look. “Funny. But that’s all it was. I don’t think the detective wants anything to do with either of us. We were both at the scene of the murder. I’m probably a person of interest in this case, the same as you are.”

  “I don’t know about that… you did immediately sell me out.”

  I shrugged. “Can you blame me? For all I know… you did do it.”

  Jesse inched even closer to me. “Shouldn’t you be afraid right now? Out here on the roof with a potential killer?” His voice said that he was joking, but his amber eyes were serious and fixed on mine.

  “Perhaps you’re the one who should be afraid,” I joked back, equally sincere.

  Jesse’s eyes narrowed for a second, but even though I waited for him to ask the question, he disappointed me by just continuing to watch my face.

  I frowned as I remembered something important. I may not be Jesse Heathen’s number one fan, but I still wouldn’t keep something like this from him. “Do you know that Hellion Grey’s be
en trying to curse you? I thought he might have been the one who killed Bridgette, so I confronted him about it. He told me that he’s out to get you. And that he didn’t kill Bridgette, but I don’t know about that.” I didn’t trust anything Hellion had to say… apart from when he was talking about the people he was currently cursing.

  “Huh. I hadn’t noticed,” Jesse said raising his eyebrows.

  “You don’t look that surprised.”

  He shrugged. “Men like Hellion aren’t man enough to say anything to your face, but they’ll curse you into the ground the moment your back is turned.”

  “So you… took precautions?”

  Jesse looked thoughtful for a second “Actually, I found a protection charm in my pocket the other day. I guess someone was looking out for me. You don’t need to worry about me. It’s sweet that you did.”

  “Shut up,” I automatically told him. “It was just the decent thing to do.”

  “Yeah, right. You care about me.”

  I looked at Jesse, before pushing myself to my feet in one decisive movement. “I don’t know why I’m hanging around here. You never answer any questions and I have no reason to tell you anything in return.”

  “I thought we were friends! I saved your life.”

  “You ‘saved my life’ at the moment that was most convenient to you. Friends trust each other. Otherwise, you aren’t friends.” I shook my head at him. “Bye, Jesse.” I turned to go.

  “Wait.” He reached out and touched my arm below where it had been clawed by the shadow slime monster.

  I raised my eyebrows at him, waiting for him to say even one redeeming thing that would make me change my mind.

  The silence stretched on as I’d expected it to.

  I pulled away from his hand.

  “Hazel… things are going to change,” he started to say, but whatever he’d been about to share was cut short by the gunshot that shattered the skylight.

  We all heard Gareth Starbright swear. “I have to do everything myself in this town!” he shouted before we heard the gun being reloaded, and then the unmistakable sliding sound of a drawer being opened and shut again. “Stupid thing. Safety should have been on.”

  Jesse and I looked at each other in the silence that followed. The mayor had a gun… and I thought we both knew exactly who he was planning to use it on.

  “We should go,” I said.

  He nodded. We walked back across the roof, both feeling that we’d brushed up against danger a little too closely tonight.

  “Hazel…” he started to say again as we turned the corner past a stack on the roof and nearly collided with the big blonde vampire standing on the other side with his arms folded across his chest.

  12

  Rehab for Wild Witches

  “We didn’t conclude our chat we started earlier before you disappeared,” he said, looking at me. “Did you come here to finish it?”

  I didn’t bother answering. It was clear that Kieran knew exactly why we’d been on the roof. The real question was, what was he going to do about it?

  “What happens now? Are you going to tell on us?” Jesse said.

  I shot him an incredulous look. Was he serious? He’d just told me that a vampire could easily take down an entire lynch mob, and here he was taunting a guy who definitely seemed like a weapon pretending to be a human.

  The vampire smirked and looked down at the ground for a moment, before raising his gaze to meet Jesse’s. I saw the confidence of a man who is very used to killing. “You need to be more careful. You never know when your time will be up.”

  “I know the mayor brought you into town because he’s trying to renege our deal. Did it ever occur to you that he might do exactly the same thing to you?” Jesse raised his eyebrows enquiringly. How was he so cool in this situation? Every sense I possessed was telling me to get out of there. I felt so powerless… so human.

  But I wasn’t a dud witch any more, was I?

  I fought to regain control of my old instincts… and then I found the magic inside of me. If this turned nasty, I would be ready.

  “Don’t,” Jesse said out of the corner of his mouth.

  I fought to keep control of my surprise. I’d been keeping my magic hidden. I hadn’t told Jesse anything. I wasn’t even completely sure what he was referring to.

  “Let me give you a heads-up. On the house. People like me have excellent hearing, so you two bickering like a married couple up on the roof was like lighting a flare in a dark room.” Kieran smirked at us. “This is going to be the easiest job I’ve ever worked. I don’t even know why everyone is so bothered about you.” He gave Jesse a cursory look up and down.

  “Anyone feel like telling me the truth about the games you’re both playing?” I said, not expecting an answer.

  The vampire just looked more amused. “Where did you find her? She’s far more interesting than you are.” He took a step towards me, fixing me with his black gaze. “I like people who surprise me.”

  “You watch what you’re saying,” Jesse said, stepping in front of me with his hands balled into fists by his sides.

  “I can take care of myself,” I protested, fed up with this macho nonsense that I was being forced to witness.

  “You don’t know what you’re saying,” Jesse growled, facing down the vampire, who looked more amused by the second.

  “You really want to do this right now? You do know you’re playing right into our friend’s hands… right?” The vampire’s mouth was twisted into a permanent smirk. With slow deliberateness, he turned and looked at me.

  Everything seemed to happen all at once.

  Jesse lunged forwards, and the vampire moved faster… so quickly I could barely see him. At the same time, I’d reached inside and pulled out a weapon. I didn’t even realise it wasn’t a magical stake until I was throwing two golden lassos, one over Jesse and one over the fast-moving vampire. Both were caught in the golden magical circles, and both seemed just as surprised by that as I was.

  “Full of surprises. What did I tell you?” Kieran said with an evil grin directed at Jesse.

  Jesse’s face was ashen, until he noticed me watching him. “Neat trick. You’ll have to let me know what spell you used.” He said it casually, but I noticed the way all of his muscles were taut. He knew it wasn’t a spell, but for some reason, he didn’t want the vampire to know.

  I gave both men an unimpressed look and released the end of the lassos. I knew that they’d stay in place for a while, and I was in no mood to have anyone follow me down from the roof. Whatever games were being played, and whatever pieces were being moved around the board, I didn’t want to have anything to do with any of it.

  There was an unsolved murder and a killer still on the loose. I had an article to write, and a strong suspicion that something was turning rotten in Wormwood… and it wouldn’t be long before it spread its nasty tendrils into everything.

  So, when I saw Jesse Heathen’s amber eyes watching me from the shadows when I arrived home, I was less than impressed. He vanished in a whirl of shadows before saying a word to me, but I could tell I’d done something wrong.

  “Maybe if he bothered to tell me the truth,” I muttered, before shaking my head and putting anything and everything to do with Jesse Heathen out of my mind. I had bigger frogs to fry.

  When I walked down into the shop the next morning I was feeling sore in more than one way. I’d woken up late and stumbled down the stairs, hoping my aunts had opened the shop up for me. What I wasn’t expecting was to find them and a reasonable number of morning customers in the apothecary with party poppers that they let off as soon as I appeared.

  “Surprise!” everyone shouted.

  “Congratulations, Hazel. Your Aunt Linda and I are so proud of you.” Aunt Minerva walked over to me and pulled me in for a hug. I winced when she made contact with my injured arm. It wasn’t as bad as I’d feared, but it would still take some time to heal. Just like my reputation… if people interpreted the large banner
that my aunts had hung up in the shop the way I knew they would.

  “Congratulations on making it through your trial,” I read aloud. It wasn’t so much the wording on the banner that made it so ambiguous, but the psychedelic interpretations of magic that had been added in all the colours of the rainbow.

  It definitely looked like I was fresh out of rehab.

  From on top of one of the shelves in the shop, I heard the sound of a cat laughing.

  I was relieved when the shoppers went back to shopping, and only a few mildly alarmed looks were sent my way.

  “So… it went well?” Aunt Linda said, smiling at me.

  “It went okay,” I said, motioning to my arm.

  She shrugged. “I’ve seen worse. It’s still attached, isn’t it?”

  I nodded and then walked behind the counter, ready to start a normal day of shop work.

  “Uh… excuse me? Details?” Aunt Linda made an expanding gesture with her hands.

  “There were flaming arrows and a shadow and slime monster. But it was okay in the end,” I said, as briefly as I could. I still wanted some alone time to get to grips with all that had happened, all that I could do. I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell my aunts everything - especially not when Jesse had reacted so strangely to the lassos I’d conjured from thin air. What if there was something terribly wrong with me?

  “Tell them, or you’ll regret it,” Hemlock called from his hidden vantage point.

  I glared upwards but pretended that nothing had happened. If I just didn’t acknowledge that he was talking to me…

  “I will write it with my claw on the table in the kitchen if you don’t.”

  “We’re supposed to be in this together!” I called up at him.

  My aunts raised their eyebrows.

  “Did something go on between you and Hemlock? The witch trials can be tough on the both of you. But it usually brings witches and their familiar together,” my Aunt Minerva said, a light frown of concern on her face.

  “It probably would have done… if he’d been there.” I glared up again.

  My aunts did their favourite look exchanging.