Spellbound Murder Complete Trilogy (Spellbound Murder Box Set Book 1) Read online

  “Tell me what happened,” Emmit said while he started to clean the area around the cut.

  How do you even go about approaching a subject like this? Mira thought of and discarded several ideas. Gabriel had said not to tell anyone until they had spoken, but she had questions for Emmit and had no intention of listening to Gabriel where Emmit was concerned.

  “How is the spell I did working?” Mira asked.

  “I hardly think this is—”

  “Emmit.” Her voice was sharper than she had expected. How long had it been since she slept? She tried to lighten her tone. “Just tell me. Please?”

  Emmit’s lips twitched into a semblance of a smile. “It is working beautifully. I felt twinges from the Ethereal Plane late yesterday, but after that, I have been balanced.” He stopped long enough to take her hand. “I cannot thank you enough for what you have done.”

  He looked at her, and there was something in his eyes that she had seen hinted in the past. Even after she had performed the spell and he had kissed her, it was only a glint compared to this.

  Love may be a strong word, lust as well. But they were there. She wanted to keep them there.

  When he tried to let go of her hand, she gripped it, not wanting to lose contact with him. It was a comfort, and one that she wanted, needed, right now. She wanted this less guarded version of himself that he now showed.

  She wanted him.

  But she also needed answers.

  Emmit gently removed her hand from his, but he maintained in contact. His hand rested on her thigh beside the wound. Goosebumps rose when he rubbed the area gently, almost unconsciously, as he finished wiping the blood away.

  “I believe you were picked up downtown,” Emmit prompted in a low voice. “No coat, freezing, and bleeding. I have people searching the area for your things.” His eyes began to turn gray and his voice hardened. “And to find who did this.”

  “What?” Mira snapped. “Tell them to stop.”

  “Mira, your store is on fire. Well, it’s been put out by now. You were only a few blocks away. It’s not hard to put the two together.”

  She closed her eyes and rubbed her head, trying push the fog away. “Put what two together?”

  “You being injured and your store on fire. Whoever wrote those letters has become more adamant about wanting you to leave.”

  Mira let out an exasperated sigh, which Emmit must have mistook for something else.

  “Don’t worry.” Emmit’s voice was soothing and he rubbed her leg again before bandaging it. “I’ll stay with you today, ensuring nothing happens while other arrangements are being made. I’ll take care of this.”

  “You’ll take care of this?” The idea made her irrationally angry, which was good for her on multiple levels, the best being that she wouldn’t fall apart in front of him if she were mad enough.

  “Do you have any other injuries?” Emmit asked.

  “The two aren’t related,” Mira said, ignoring the question. “My store and this,” she gestured to her leg, “are two different things entirely.”

  “Tell me,” Emmit said, not rising to her anger. “We’ll work it out.”

  This would have been tricky if she wasn’t upset. “Why do the creatures from the Ether hate you so badly?”

  There was a long pause before he said, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  Mira dove in with the truth. “They said I had placed myself on the side of the Harker family. What exactly does that mean?”

  Emmit’s face paled. “You talked with something from the Ethereal Plane?”

  He sounded accusatory, which Mira didn’t appreciate. “I guess you could say that. Mostly, I ran from them.”

  “You walked on the other side?” He stood up abruptly. All of Emmit’s usual grace and good manners were gone. “I should never have asked for your help. Had I thought you would actually attempt to go there—”

  “Hey!” Mira balled up her fists and tried to reign her temper in. “For your information, I didn’t try to go there. I was sucked over there by creatures that you seem to be dealing with!”

  Emmit started pacing the room. “That is not possible. They could not have pulled you there without help from the Elders, and the Elders are sound asleep. Besides, had you been drawn to the other side by the creatures, you would not have survived.”

  Mira glared at Emmit. “I’d say I’m insulted, but after being there, I agree. I wouldn’t have survived—not long, anyway—if I had been on my own.”

  “You took someone over with you?”

  “Took?”

  Emmit looked away and tried to compose himself. “Perhaps you should start from the beginning.” Apparently, composure wasn’t an easy task when Emmit was upset.

  The beginning? He wanted to hear what happened?

  There was no way she was going to relive the full nightmare right now.

  “I’m not sure exactly what happened, but I can take a good guess,” Mira said, deflating a little. “I went to the police station this afternoon. The silk we had used to mark the circle was in my pocket.”

  “That’s how they pulled you over?” Emmit asked.

  Now that she had said it out loud to someone beyond Gabriel, it sounded crazy. “It’s the only connection I can think of.”

  Emmit looked like he was adding pentagrams and getting crosses. “Why did you have it with you?”

  “After you left, I performed another spell. Nothing to do with the Ether—or you,” she added quickly with an edge to her voice. “It was a perspective spell.”

  Emmit looked confused.

  “For the case,” she said. “I was trying to find out who is killing people.” Mira tried to think back to why she had been at the police station in the first place. “Anyway, I thought Tyler was in trouble... or something.” She shook her head at the foggy recollections. “I was with Gabriel when those, those things, started to come into focus.”

  “Gabriel? They took him as well?”

  “He’s the only reason I’m alive.”

  “What did you see?”

  Mira closed her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t want to go into details right now.”

  “Anything you say or heard could be important!”

  “The only thing important to me, right now, is making sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  Emmit opened his mouth to say something, then stopped and looked her over. When he approached, Mira wasn’t certain if he was walking with exaggerated slowness or if her brain had decided to start processing things slower. He took her hand and drew her to her feet.

  His eyes still had a hard edge to them. “I can assure you that you are safe right now. I’m sorry I pushed. You obviously need some time.”

  Chapter 27

  “I need a shower and sleep.”

  “Of course,” Emmit said. “You should rest.”

  She tottered on her feet. “And Gabriel?” she asked. “He’ll be safe?”

  Emmit pulled her tightly to him. “He is.”

  Feeling grimy, she wanted to push him away, but somehow that never happened. She closed her eyes and embraced him, leaning on him for support more than she thought she should, but again, her treacherous body didn’t listen to her.

  Closing her eyes was a mistake, and opening them was harder than she had anticipated.

  “Is there anything I can get you?” Emmit asked. “Anything you need?”

  “I need to get clean and burn my clothes.”

  Mira squeaked when Emmit picked her up without warning. It was involuntary and should have been embarrassing, but she was too tired for that.

  Emmit put her back on her feet outside her bathroom. He spent time looking over every inch of her that he could see. Mira suspected Emmit could see a lot more than she did.

  “When you wake up, there are a lot of questions that I’ll need to ask. You understand that, right?”

  “I do,” Mira responded, “because I have a lot of questions for you as well.”

  His
eyes hardened again for a flash, and then he shook his head. “You continuously surprise me.”

  It was Mira’s turn to look confused. “How so?”

  “People don’t demand answers from me.”

  “Demand?”

  Emmit looked frustrated. “Let me know if you need anything.”

  Mira tried to get her tired brain to say something, but it was rebelling.

  When she looked in the mirror, she regretted it instantly. How had she not cleaned up before Emmit came over?

  Remembering what happened before Emmit came over, she realized that there had been no time.

  Mira couldn’t remember ever being this tired, but she found, as she methodically scrubbed herself of all remnants of her ordeal that she was trying to think of what she could have done differently in the Ether. The feeling that she had been almost completely reliant on Gabriel didn’t sit well with her. She had never been a fan of offensive magic, but once upon a time, she would have been prepared at least to fight back long enough to get away.

  She wasn’t exactly sure what had changed, but she was certain that she had become too complacent.

  It was time for that to come to an end. Once she had scrubbed herself twice, she decided there was nothing she could do about it tonight. Or was it morning?

  When she thought about the haze clinging to her skin, she scrubbed herself all over again and surprised herself by reversing that decision. Gabriel wouldn’t always be there and she had no idea if Emmit could tether her in this world. Relying on him to do so didn’t sound like a recipe for keeping herself safe.

  Going straight to bed sounded divine, but she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep if she didn’t have something prepared. Sadly, her mind wasn’t functioning on higher levels, and the only thing she could bring to mind was Spark. Essentially, it caused glitter to glimmer for a few moments.

  She almost didn’t put the effort into the spell, because it certainly didn’t seem worth it.

  Nevertheless, it was something, and she had everything she needed close at hand.

  When Mira came out of the bathroom, the blinding sun was leaking through the shades. Emmit was in living room, pacing and talking with someone. Mira was glad to see, when she poked her head out of the bedroom, that he was on the phone. Company didn’t sound appealing right now.

  When he saw her, he stowed the phone in his pocket without a goodbye or ‘talk to you later’ sentiment.

  “You don’t have to stay around here all day,” Mira said, leaning against the doorframe to her bedroom. She mentally crossed her fingers, because she really didn’t want him to go. “I’m sure you had other plans.”

  “I’d prefer to stay. If it’s alright with you, that is,” Emmit said.

  She gave him a tired smile. “I’d like it if you stayed, although this isn’t exactly how I pictured us spending the day together.”

  “We’ll have to keep practicing until we get it right.”

  “I’d like that,” Mira said.

  Her smile grew, which pulled Emmit closer. He put an arm around her, settling his hand on the small of her back.

  “You should get some rest,” Emmit said. “Is there anything you need?”

  “You keep asking that.”

  “I’m afraid I’m not very good at this,” he said.

  “At what?” Mira asked.

  “Knowing what to do for someone.”

  She looked up at him, thinking of the different roads this could go down, depending on what she said. Since her tongue, along with her brain, felt clumsy, she settled for repeating his sentiment.

  “This will be good practice,” Mira said, resting her head on his chest.

  Comfort was exactly what she needed to push the beasts of the Ether out of her head. Eyes closed, she soaked up his warmth and somehow fell asleep.

  When Mira opened her eyes, hours later, she saw that the room was still brightly lit. Looking around, she tried to find what had woken her up.

  A thick shadow loomed in the corner. She grabbed her ward and screamed. Emmit was immediately beside her, seemingly appearing from nowhere.

  Breathing heavy, still pressing her ward tight to her skin, Mira’s brain caught up with what she was seeing. A thin bookshelf took shape in place of the figure in the corner.

  “Mira?” Emmit’s concern was almost palpable.

  “I don’t—something—” She shook her head and tried again. “Sorry. I don’t know what…”

  She didn’t know what she was saying or even what she was trying to say. The aftereffects of the jolt of adrenaline left her shaky, and she was feeling stupid for screaming about a bookshelf.

  “I’m okay,” Mira said, letting herself fall back in the bed. “Bad dream, I guess.”

  “That’s understandable,” Emmit said. After a moment, he added, “It’s okay, though. You can drop your ward.”

  Mira nodded. When she let go of the necklace, Emmit stepped closer.

  They were both quiet, each unsure of what to say.

  “Would you like some tea or something to help you sleep?” Emmit asked.

  “I should get up,” Mira mumbled.

  “It hasn’t been two hours yet. Get some rest.”

  “We’re alone, right?”

  “Yes. Are you expecting anyone?”

  “I suppose Gabriel might stop by. We didn’t get the chance to talk when we got back.”

  They looked up when Mira’s home phone started ringing in the kitchen. Mira yawned and ignored it. The shaking had died away, leaving her feeling worn.

  “Get some rest,” Emmit said. “I’ll be in the living room if you need anything.”

  She wanted him to stay, but couldn’t say it. “Thank you.”

  Emmit hesitated before leaving.

  Had he wanted to stay? As much as Mira wanted him there, she didn’t want him to remember their first time in bed being because she was sleeping, scared, and twitching at shadows. Besides, what would he do? Lie there and stare at the ceiling?

  For that matter, what was he doing in the other room?

  The phone in the kitchen rang again. It was probably her mother or her sister, trying her home phone since she wasn’t answering her cell. She pushed it out of her mind and attempted to sleep.

  It might have been her business partner. Mira blinked at the ceiling. Her store had been on fire. She should be doing something about that. Instead, she rolled over and pulled the covers up around her. It’s possible that she should get up and face the world, but she was already feeling the pull of sleep.

  A knock on the front door made her blink. It was probably Gabriel. She should get up for him. They needed to talk, and Gabriel might be aggravated that she had told Emmit about the Ether.

  It wouldn’t be her mother, would it? Could she have heard about the store?

  Mira’s eyes snapped open. Crap. It could be her mother.

  It could be Ian or any number of other people.

  She tossed back her blankets and heard Emmit answer the door. Not wanting to leave him with her mother for long, she got to her feet as fast as her tired body could be forced.

  Halfway across the room she registered that Emmit was talking with someone that had a male voice.

  Gabriel? Her dad wouldn’t have heard about the store, right? She picked up her pace.

  A deafening blast filled the apartment the moment she stepped out of the bedroom.

  Mira froze.

  Emmit fell back.

  Mira screamed.

  The shotgun swung in her direction. “Don’t worry, this isn’t for you,” John Parnell said. “Not unless I need it, anyway. And I don’t see that in the next few minutes."

  John kicked Emmit’s leg back so he could slam the door shut.

  Emmit. She stared at him lying motionless on the floor.

  He hadn’t even needed to be here.

  “He shows up unexpectedly,” John said. “Well, he used to, anyway. Now, I guess not so much.”

  “John?”

&nbs
p; “I might get into a little trouble for that.”

  Mira’s brain tried to catch up, but it was having a hard time.

  “We’ve got work to do,” John said.

  “What are you talking about?” Mira managed.

  What did she have? It was hard to get past the thought that what she had was a gun pointed at her.

  “Well, I had a message for you,” John nudged Emmit’s leg a few times, “but that may be a moot point now.”

  “What kind of message?” Mira asked.

  Spark. Had she really expected to feel any safer with Spark? What the hell had she been thinking? Her kitchen phone began ringing again.

  “A message from the Ether,” John said. “The acolytes pieced it together this morning.”

  “From the Ether?” Mira snapped. The fact that anyone from that world would try to send her a message lit a small fire inside her. “How? Why?” The phone stopped ringing, which was good, the shrill noise was distracting her further.

  “The how is easy. PostsFromTheEther gets updated and the acolytes interpret. The why is problematic.” John nudged Emmit one last time. “Let’s go to the kitchen. Even with him being dead I don’t want to be around a Harker.”

  Mira looked at Emmit again, tears welled up, unheeded in her fear. Her heart felt like it was being ground under John’s shoe.

  “The kitchen!” John yelled.

  Mira jumped. She didn’t care about any message. Nothing John could say had any interest to her. Slowly, she moved in the direction of the kitchen.

  There was Spark and her ward. The kitchen was full of things she could make, but nothing was ready. Nothing planned.

  She needed Della. Something fast that didn’t need to be prepared would be helpful. Or Gabriel. He wasn’t an angel here, but he was a cop.

  Emmit. She was sure Emmit could have taken care of this. Even without knowing what he was, or what he did, it always felt as though he could take care of anything.

  What she had, though, was Spark, and herself.

  It would have to do.

  “What was the message?” Mira asked without turning to see if John was following. It was a struggle to keep her voice level, but she had a feeling that John wouldn’t notice.