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

  Mira held her breath while the world trembled. The unnatural movement seemed to go on forever, but couldn't have lasted more than a few minutes.

  When the ground stilled, no one moved. Something shattered in the kitchen. She let out a shuddering gasp.

  "Gabriel?" She couldn't bring herself to speak loudly, almost fearful that something else might fall. When he didn't answer her voice rose in panic. "Gabriel?"

  He released a quavering breath of his own. "I'm okay."

  His tone pulled at Mira. Trapped beneath him, she saw nothing but books and broken glass.

  "Gabriel!" Ian's voice was tight. Mira could hear him trying to shift the bookcase. "Mira!"

  Mira pushed some debris away; her arms were sore and her muscles stiff. Some of Gabriel's weight shifted off her and she dragged herself out from under him, turning when he slumped back down on the floor again.

  "Ian! Come help me!" Mira moved some books off Gabriel.

  "I'm fine," Gabriel snapped in a louder voice.

  Ian came around the desk and pulled Mira to her feet. Gabriel kicked stuff away and crawled out from under the remains of the bookcase.

  "Good christ," Ian said, looking over Mira and Gabriel, "are you all alright? You could have been killed."

  Mira ignored him and watched Gabriel get up. He winced and shifted pressure off one of his legs. Mira felt unsteady, as though ice stabbed through her heart.

  "Let's move to the living room," Ian said, "you need to sit down, both of you," he added, sizing up his partner.

  He held Mira's arm and guided her to the other room. Gabriel hobbled along behind them.

  "Did you..." Mira shook her head and tried to gather her thoughts around the guilt and panic. "Are you okay?" she asked Ian.

  "I don't know what the hell just happened," Ian said. "Nothing fell on me, though."

  Gabriel took a chair and Mira watched him closely, not sure of what to say.

  "You have some quick reflexes," Ian told his partner.

  "He does," Mira said in a quiet voice. "Thank you."

  "You okay?" Gabriel asked.

  "Yeah," Mira said automatically.

  He winced.

  "I'm not hurt or anything," Mira added. "Just shaken."

  "That's one word for it," Ian said. "What was that?"

  "An earthquake," Mira said.

  "I've never been in an earthquake," Ian said.

  "I have," Gabriel said.

  "Yeah, but we don't get earthquakes here." Ian reviewed the room covered in contrary evidence. "At least, I didn't think we were supposed to."

  "Did we find anything in the house?" Gabriel asked.

  "It's going to be impossible to see if anything else is out of place, now," Ian said, avoiding the question.

  "We should take another look around," Gabriel said. "One of us should check the cellar to see if it's still standing."

  "Good point," Ian said. "I'll go. I'm not sure anyone checked it earlier."

  "Don't go in if it doesn't seem safe," Gabriel said. "We'll take a last look around the house."

  Ian hesitated, glancing at Mira.

  "It's set away from the house," Mira said. "You'll see the mound and a clay pipe sticking out of the ground." When he still didn't move, she added, "I'll finish checking the house. It's no problem."

  "I'll be right back," Ian said, leaving from the front door.

  Gabriel snorted when he left. "He doesn't want you and me to be alone."

  "He's afraid he'll have to explain something," Mira waved a hand around, "unexplainable. He doesn't like lying to you."

  Gabriel shrugged. "I'm not ready to say anything."

  "You wouldn't have to," Mira said. "We can just tell him I told you the truth."

  "I'll think about it."

  Mira nodded and didn't push it.

  "You're sure you're not hurt?" he asked.

  "You were right," Mira said. "You came in from another room to put yourself between me and something ready to pummel me. This can't continue."

  "Just answer the question," Gabriel said, not letting her detour him.

  "I'm not injured," Mira said, standing up. "I'll go check the rest of the house."

  In Tyler's office, she saw that Ian had dropped Tyler's spell book. She picked it up, checked the cover, and riffled through the spells, examining the pages for bends or tears. Seeing it wasn't harmed, she put the book under her arm and went to the kitchen.

  It was a mess. A cabinet hung awkwardly on the wall, some doors had jostled themselves open, and debris littered the floor. Mira explored the disaster, unconsciously straightening things as she went.

  Mira didn't immediately notice Gabriel. She found that he watched her while leaning against the doorframe.

  "You should stay off your leg if it's hurt," she said.

  "I'm fine."

  "So you can lie, but no one else can?"

  Gabriel rolled his eyes and came into the kitchen. "Nothing’s broken, anyway. On me, I mean. This place is a mess."

  Mira nodded and turned her back, putting on the pretense of checking the contents of a cabinet. Tyler didn't keep anything important inside, but her eyes were starting to water and she didn't want Gabriel to see.

  She tried to think of something else. Something besides the fact that she stood in one of her best friend's house, worried she would never see him again. Thinking about Gabriel and Ian sucked as well. She had damaged their relationship and wasn't sure how to fix it.

  Then there was Gabriel himself. She was stuck with a guardian angel that shouldn't be guarding her. He was going to get himself hurt and it was her fault.

  "It looks like a tornado tore through this place," Ian said. "Not an earthquake."

  Mira didn't look up. She only moved to another cabinet, one where Tyler kept a few important—although benign-looking—objects.

  "We've been called in," Ian said. "Everyone has. The whole city was hit hard."

  "Let's talk in the other room and let her do her thing," Gabriel said. Louder, he added, "If there's anything you need to check, check now."

  Mira nodded and they left. Finally alone, Mira gripped the edge of the counter and squeezed her eyes shut. The earthquake had been too reminiscent of the earthquakes that had hit the shadow the city cast in the Ether. One more thing to add to the gaping hole she’d dug for herself. Seeing Gabriel limp out was another source of regret.

  One more thing for karma to grab hold of and raise her debt.

  She pushed the thought out of her head. Tyler was what mattered here, and stopping Gabriel from throwing himself in front of the karmic bus was more important than earthquakes.

  Concentrate on what you can do, Mira told herself. She didn't know how to break Gabriel's promise, but maybe there was some way to lesson his exposure. Her hand strayed to her neck where her pentagram used to lay. The trip to the Ether and the fight with John drained the ward it had contained, which was no small feat. It was reduced to a regular necklace and the memory of the boy who made it for her.

  Nevertheless, the protection had helped when it counted. If she made one for Gabriel, it might be possible to reduce his risk. Once she thought that over, she figured making one for Ian couldn't hurt, either. The case was almost as dangerous for him. Once she got home, she would start the process of creating wards for the partners.

  She didn't know many of Tyler's secret compartments, but she didn't see any that had popped open under the strain of the earthquake, which was good.

  She took one last glance around the room. Mira was fairly certain Tyler didn't keep the important stuff in the kitchen, and there was no way to tell if anything had been moved around before today, because everything had shaken itself up. On her way out, she pressed on molding, tapped the floor with her foot at a few likely spots, and knocked on the doorframe. Everything seemed normal. In the hall, she heard Ian and Gabriel talking from the living room. Knowing they were busy, she slipped into Tyler's spare bedroom and looked around.

  There wasn't as
much wreckage here. Mira's chest relaxed a little, seeing that not everything of Tyler's was ruined. The hardwood floors squeaked as she moved across the room to the closet to the only private spot Mira was aware of.

  Witches rarely shared all their secrets—not even with other witches. Family was the only exception most witches would make. Still, she and Tyler had worked together quite a bit, and they’d each shared some of their spells and hiding places. Inside the closet, Mira shifted some boxes aside and crouched down. She pushed hard on the floorboards until they creaked, and then, while pushing down, she lifted up the wide baseboard.

  It was tempting to poke her hand straight in, but after the earthquake, she had no clue what bottles had opened and mixed. For that matter, she also didn’t know what Tyler might have stashed in there. She patted her pockets for her phone before realizing she had left it in the ruins of her store.

  She went to the kitchen and searched Tyler's junk drawer, coming up with a small flashlight. Ian and Gabriel were still having their hushed discussion, so she went back to the bedroom to check the contents of Tyler's hiding spot.

  Everything that she expected to be there was there. She shifted a few packets of ingredients around. A few bottles weren't labeled, which was odd for any witch. It spelled a recipe for disaster if you forgot what you’d stored.

  Having blank potions wasn't unheard of, though. Tyler was careful, so if he didn't label something, it was probably for a reason. The labels wouldn't tell most people what was inside the bottle, but families had their own language for labeling. Mira knew many of Tyler's codes and symbols, and noted that the other mixtures were normal stuff.

  One of his more important spell books was here as well.

  A packet made Mira uncomfortable and she snagged it out, stowing it in her pocket. The seer's potion. Tyler often made it for Barney. She hadn't seen Barney in over a week, and with Tyler gone, wondered if anyone had made sure Barney received everything he needed. Maybe she could get Ian to stop by when he took her home.

  Satisfied, Mira slid the baseboard back into place and shifted the boxes back. She closed the door and looked around the room, not sure what to check next.

  There probably wouldn't be much of anything in his room. Possibly a grimoire, but everything else, witches tended to keep out of the bedroom. She gave the remaining rooms a quick glance, concentrating more in the laundry room. Tyler had added the room onto the house, so she knew he kept things in there. She just had no idea what or where it might be.

  The important thing was, nothing showed. Once she’d satisfied herself that Tyler wouldn't be exposed as a witch, she went back to the living room, finding Gabriel alone there, poking around the stuff on Tyler's entertainment system.

  "Where's Ian?" Mira asked.

  "He went in to work. I told him I'd catch up with him."

  "I'm surprised he agreed to that."

  Chapter 4

  Gabriel made a noncommittal grunt and continued his search. Mira watched and realized he was doing some of the things she would have done when trying to find a witch’s hiding places. He pressed the moldings and anything decorative, he ran his hands along the inside of cubbyholes, and checked above and below drawers.

  Mira grinned. "You've learned some bad habits. Stop that."

  He turned, looking surprised. "Isn't that what you're doing?"

  "No. I'm checking the places I know about already. If I open a concealed compartment that I’ve never seen before, how am I supposed to know if anything is out of the ordinary inside?"

  He shrugged and went back to inspecting the woodwork. "He could be hiding something."

  "Of course he's hiding something. He's a witch."

  "Do you think he could be keeping things from you?"

  "I know he is. That's the way we work."

  Gabriel kept prodding. "Did you find anything in the other rooms?"

  "Tyler didn't put away a spell book. It's not like him to do that. The spells are basic—ones he might show other witches—but Tyler wouldn't leave it out."

  "Mind if I take a look?" Gabriel asked.

  Mira hesitated, but realized she had already shown Ian, so she handed it over. "It's not something I would normally share, especially since it isn't mine."

  Gabriel flipped through the pages, occasionally stopping to read a few lines. "Find anything else?"

  "Not really. It's hard to tell if anything was disturbed in the kitchen."

  "Do you want to check anything else?"

  Mira glanced around the room. "No. I don't think there's anything further I can do here."

  "I'll take you home," Gabriel said, giving her the book back.

  "Mind if we make a stop on the way?"

  "I think that's going to depend on what it's like outside. I'm not sure what kind of damage the city might have, but I imagine the traffic is going to be bad."

  "It's important," Mira said. "I'd like to check on Barney." Mira explained about the seer and the spell she found which had reminded her Barney might need a refill.

  "We'll try to get there."

  Mira checked the back door, ensuring she’d locked it. On their way out, she made sure the front door was secure as well. The frigid air tried to bite into any exposed skin, but she still took her time on the icy stairs. The last thing she wanted to do was fall in front of Gabriel—especially after he’d stepped between her and a bookshelf.

  In the car, she waited patiently for the heat to kick on and her eyes were drawn to Tyler's empty house again and again.

  "We'll do all we can to find him," Gabriel said.

  "I know," Mira said. She couldn't muster a positive attitude, though.

  "You two are pretty close, I take it."

  "We are."

  "How long have you been seeing him?"

  "We never dated. We've been friends for years, though."

  "And he usually helps this guy, Barney, with spells?"

  "We both have at some point."

  Mira stared out the window. Too much seemed to be piling up at once. Tyler was still missing, Ian and Gabriel were at odds, bad karma lurked around every corner, and then there was Gabriel himself. His future held pain and agitation if he kept dragging her out of the way of anything that might harm her in some way.

  Karma could wait. Tyler and Gabriel couldn't.

  "Ian's going to your meeting tonight, isn't he?" Gabriel asked.

  "Um," Mira had to run the question through her mind again, "yeah, if he can get away from work. I guess." After a few heartbeats, she added, "You're invited, too, of course."

  "Why's that?"

  "You're one of us. All supernaturals are invited, assuming they stick to the rules."

  "What rules?"

  "Regular ones, really. No fighting or snacking on anyone. No turning inside the house. No spelling or using magic against someone. No magic if it might cause harm, um... there's no threats or vendettas, and killing is prohibited."

  Gabriel chuckled. "Those are normal rules?"

  "For supernaturals they are."

  "Is Ian going to be the only one there without super powers of some sort?"

  Mira laughed. "We don't have super powers. And there will be other humans as well."

  "How did they get an invite?"

  "Only humans with a little extra attend. Like Barney as a seer and John... well, there are lots of different abilities that humans might have that would earn them an invite. Seers, psychics, witch hunters—"

  "You mentioned witch hunters before. What are they?" Gabriel broke in.

  "They don't hunt witches anymore. William is a witch hunter, and he and Tyler are actually good friends."

  "We should talk with William."

  "He wouldn't hurt Tyler. He's just talented at spotting witches."

  "How does it work?"

  "I never wanted to know the details, but you know how you can tell someone is lying?"

  "Yeah."

  "It's similar. At least that's my understanding. Like I said, I didn't want to
know too much about it, and I didn't get the feeling William or his family wanted to share."

  Gabriel didn't say anything for a moment, seeming to let that sink in.

  "You know," Mira added, bracing herself to dive into the conversation, "if something goes wrong at a meeting, you can't come running in."

  "Can't?"

  "Absolutely. Can. Not. The rules don't apply if they don't know you."

  "And if they know me?"

  Mira sighed. "If most of them know you are a supernatural, it won't matter if you barge in. They'll assume there's a reason. That's really not the point I was trying to make, though. You were right last night. I'm not your responsibility."

  Gabriel winced.

  "I'm not sure if there's anything I can do," Mira continued, "but I'll try."

  Silence permeated the car. Mira wondered if she should say anything else, but since she had no idea what that might be, she stayed quiet.

  "It feels... important," Gabriel said after a while.

  "What do you mean?" Mira asked.

  "When something is about to happen, I feel the need to be there."

  "So, you don't feel like you have to be there, but you feel like you should be?"

  Gabriel gripped the steering wheel. "I haven't tried not to go. It just feels wrong if I don’t."

  "How do you find me?" Mira asked, interested, despite the fact she wanted his compulsion to end.

  "I just know where you are."

  "Do you see me or something?"

  "No. I get in my car and go. It's kind of like driving on auto pilot."

  A glimmer of an idea spring up. "That's how we could stop it. I could hide myself from you somehow."

  His knuckles went white and he concentrated hard on the road. "I'm not sure I like the sound of that."

  "It's worth a try."

  "Maybe," Gabriel admitted, and then he grinned. "Don't want me around?"

  "It's not that. You can come visit me anytime you want. It's just..." Mira grappled with words to match her feelings on the issue. "You shouldn't be compelled to pick me up beside the road at night or jump in the way of falling bookshelves. It's not right."

  "I wouldn't say I'm compelled—"

  "Good," Mira interrupted. "That just means it'll be easier for you to stop."