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

  "Why are there extra people?" Mira asked, figuring she must have missed an event.

  "It's the weather," the man said. "The forecasters and news people are in town because no one knows what's going on. People in the surrounding areas are mostly looking for a bit of a break from the winter."

  "Is it warmer here than the surrounding area?"

  "Ha! Go too far out of the metro area and snow is still on the ground. Meanwhile, we can put on our shorts here."

  "I hadn't realized," Mira said.

  "Ah, it's good for business, though. The shops are full, the museums are full, and every taxi driver in the city is busy busy."

  Mira felt a momentary pang for the fact that her shop wouldn't see any of the benefit. "No one knows what's causing it?"

  "Everyone has a theory, but no one knows. Personally, I think it's one of them sun spots."

  "Sun spots?"

  "Yep. Radiation from the sun is heating us up."

  "Interesting," Mira said, not believing a word of it.

  "Yeah, and it messes up radio signals, which would explain the cell phone outages the other day."

  "I thought the earthquakes caused that."

  "Well, they thought it was the earthquakes, but it warmed up right after."

  "Interesting." She said it because she had nothing else to say. Mira was pretty sure the meteorologists would know about a sun spot, though. And she didn't think for a moment that one could heat the city.

  "We're almost there. No trouble at all," the driver said. "Will you be needing a ride back?"

  "No," Mira said quickly, "I'm visiting someone down the street."

  The car pulled to a stop and Mira passed up her debit card. The driver swiped it and handed her a small tablet for her to sign.

  Seeing the tip when she passed it back, the man smiled. "Well, be careful out there and call us again if you need anything."

  "Thanks for the ride," Mira said, jumping out of the car.

  As the cab drove off, Mira looked around. On the map, she had been looking at the area from above and assumed it was a neighborhood. Instead, it was more of a business district. She turned north and crossed the street.

  These businesses weren't the ones that people went in to buy something from. These were the places people went to build things or store them.

  She passed a small metal building with a few cars parked out front. It read, Perkins Wood Works, and gave a website. Across the street was a gated storage place that took up half the block.

  Not a lot of cars were on the streets. She heard noises from some of the buildings, but she felt alone and isolated walking through this part of town.

  She tucked her purse tighter to her and cursed herself for being here in the first place. When her phone rang, she jumped at the sound and scrambled to get it, just at the chance to talk to someone.

  "It's Ian," he said when she picked up. "Noah wanted to meet over in Aken. Are you free?"

  "Um," she glanced around and continued to walk, "yeah, I'm free. I'm not at home, though." She stopped and stared at the wooden building next to her. The street address caught her eye. 3929 Short Street.

  "Where are you? I'll come by and pick you up," Ian said.

  Mira was barely paying attention. Across the street was an old brick building with the numbers 3928 in black fixed to the side.

  Chapter 14

  "Thirty-nine twenty-eight," Mira murmured.

  "Thirty-nine twenty-eight, what," he said.

  The building was two story, but it had some sort of addition off to the side that was a single story. It must have been added much later than the rest of the building, because the brick didn't quite match up. Curtained windows lined the addition.

  "What?" Mira asked.

  "Where are you?" Ian asked again.

  "Oh," Mira said coming back to herself. She kept an eye out to see if anyone was watching her. "I'm at thirty-nine twenty-eight Short Street."

  "What are you doing over there?"

  "It was something..." she trailed off, looking more closely at a curtained window that fluttered open.

  "Well, Gabriel is meeting with one of the officers from last night to get an update," Ian went on, "but I'm on my over to pick you up."

  "It's Barney," Mira said as the curtain twitched back shut again. She was imagining things, but just for an instant, she could have sworn she saw Barney's face.

  "What's Barney?" Ian asked.

  "Oh," Mira said, not trusting herself, "it's nothing."

  "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah." She checked for traffic and scampered across the street.

  "Will you be ready when I get there?"

  "Yep," she said. "I'll see you soon." She hung up and muted the phone.

  There were no cars in the gravel parking lot, but a small alley wrapped around the building and it was possible someone had parked back there. She went up to the front door and hesitated. The sign said New Horizons, but below it, someone had affixed another sign that said Members Only in black letters.

  If Barney were kidnapped, this would be dangerous, right? Mira thought through the various spells and grabbed a silver coin and silk thread out of her pocket, holding them tightly in her hand, ready to cast if needed.

  If he had been kidnapped, she reasoned, it wasn't likely that he'd be poking his head out the window.

  Crap, she thought. He hadn't been taken, he ran away.

  She grabbed hold of the indignation she felt and let it push some of the raw terror away, which made a sudden appearance when she thought about kidnappers.

  When she cracked opened the door, she did so as quietly as possible. She held her breath and listened for any sound in the building, but only heard her heart trying to break out of her chest.

  She slid inside and made sure she was alone before softly closing the door behind her. She was in a small foyer. A wooden staircase—painted white—was there, but the rest of the space sat empty. She ignored the two hallways leading off the room and padded over to the double doors that must have led to the new addition. They were stained dark wood and shone as though someone routinely polished them.

  Mira tried one of the knobs and found it locked. The other yielded the same result. She had Push ready to go, but blowing open doors would be really loud, and more importantly, it would be obvious witchcraft, which was a no no in public. Although, it might be easy to explain away. A gust of wind in the freak weather, maybe?

  She glanced around the foyer. There were a few decorations, but her gaze landed on a frame next to the door. A big old key hung from a pretty ribbon inside the frame. That wasn't even what she'd call hiding in plain sight. It was just in plain sight.

  She took the key out of its frame and tried it on the door, jiggling it a few times before she heard a click. There was still no one around, but if anyone came in, they'd probably notice the missing key, so she put it back on its nail in the frame.

  After spending a few moments listening at one of the doors, she slowly pushed it open.

  The room appeared empty. Slipping inside, she closed the door before taking a good look around. Rows of seating were to the left and right of a wide carpeted walkway that ended at a wooden podium at the front of the room.

  The carpet hid her footfalls as she slipped silently between the rows of benches.

  Pews, she thought. These are pews.

  The place didn't seem much like a church, but someone was definitely trying hard with the pews and aisle.

  Mira froze at the sound of someone moving. Frantically trying to find the source, she found nothing, so she crept forward, a little faster, intent on checking the room quickly. As she neared the first row, however, a head came into view.

  She edged slowly closer. The person sat on the floor in front of the pew, not on the seat.

  When the head turned her direction, her heart leapt into her throat. The fear that froze her quickly melted away.

  "Barney!"

  He jumped to his feet. "Shh," he hissed. "Real or n
ot, you need to be quiet or they'll come again."

  Mira glanced nervously around the room and closed the space between them. "I'm real. Who are they?"

  Barney's eyes darted around the room. "They are the voices in the air." He giggled.

  Somehow that strangled little laugh made Mira even more afraid. "Have you been here all this time?"

  "What time?"

  "Barney, no one has seen you in two days. People are really worried."

  "The voices find me when I go outside," Barney said.

  It seemed as though she should have felt sorry for him, but unease insinuated itself deeply and wasn't going away. "I'll protect you from the voices. I'll get you some tea. You'd like that, right?"

  "John says you feed me tea to poison me and keep my gifts locked away."

  "Tyler and I would never do anything to hurt you," Mira said. "You don't have to drink it. We only want to help."

  "John says he wants to help, too. He brought me here."

  "To hide you from the voices?"

  "They come when I try to leave and they say terrible things. The voices John brings say nicer things." He stared around, turning in a full circle before leaning to her and whispering, "I think they are the same."

  Mira had a hard time keeping up with his delusions. "The voices are the same?"

  "They say they aren't. John says they aren't." Once again, he leaned forward, eyes constantly looking fearfully into shadows, and he whispered, "But they are the same."

  She couldn't help but stare into the shadows as Barney did. "Let's go. You can fill me in on the way back to my place."

  "They won't let you leave," Barney said.

  "They won't be able to stop us."

  Barney stepped back and his eyes sought after something on the floor. Mira followed his gaze and found a line of silver glinting in the weak light. She followed the line as it went around them and disappeared under the pews.

  The doorknob rattled, and Mira frantically searched for somewhere to hide.

  "Too late," Barney said, his voice tinged with regret.

  Both doors opened wide and six people entered wearing shiny mustard-colored robes edged in deep red. They wore hoods pulled low, so their faces couldn't be seen. All six people lined up silently at the back of the room. Mira gripped the coin in her hand and grabbed Barney's arm with her other, trying to drag him behind her.

  Two more people entered. They also wore robes, but theirs were a shimmer of maroon, lined with black. They walked forward and knelt on the floor, causing Mira to lose sight of them.

  The two hidden men spoke together in unison, but Mira didn't understand the words.

  Power flared, and the silver line behind and around her erupted with energy.

  A final person entered, in all black.

  The robed figures had their heads bowed, causing their faces to be completely indistinguishable.

  "Barney," Mira said in a voice as quiet as she could make it, "are these people holding you against your will?"

  "John brought me here," Barney said. "It hurts when I try to leave."

  "Stop saying that," Mira said. "John is dead."

  Barney looked at her as though she was the one who was mad and pointed at the figure in black. "He's right there."

  "Possibly both are correct," came the response from the hooded man.

  Mira shivered. The voice was almost John's, but a slithery sound was there, which belonged to the leathery creature that had repeatedly tried to kill her in the Ether.

  "Who are you people?" Mira knew the answer really didn't matter, but her brain seemed to be stuck on the voice.

  The man with John's voice raised his hand and the six robed people lifted their heads and began to chant.

  When the chanting started, it too sounded frighteningly familiar. The last time she heard the noise it was on the wind, whirling around her apartment. Emmit had put a stop to it when they sent the possessed John back to the other world.

  Mira gripped Barney's hand and stepped back. She felt... something. The chanting wasn't only reaching her ears. It snuck inside and tried to latch itself to her bones.

  A jolt of electricity seared her back and tossed her forward onto the ground. It took a few moments for the static pop to work itself out of her. Panting, she pushed herself unsteadily up to a sitting position.

  From under the dark hood, laughter rang out. It seemed as though the chanting dropped just enough to allow the malevolent chuckle to sound more formidable. When she squeezed her hands into fists, she realized she wasn't holding onto Barney anymore. Looking around, she saw that he sat back on the floor in front of the pews.

  Probably for the best, she thought.

  Her knees quivered and threatened to buckle when she stood.

  "You cannot step out of the circle," the voice under the black robe wheezed. "Not one created by nine. As a witch, you should know better."

  It may have been built by nine, but only two held it, she thought. Or maybe those chanting were helping, bringing the total to eight. But unless someone hid in the shadows, Mira was sure there weren't nine.

  "It will allow me to enter, however." The black hood was pushed back and Mira saw the face she feared.

  "You're dead," Mira said.

  What had been John chuckled. "Would that make things any better for you?"

  Mira glanced around the enclosure, seeing power rise from the silvery circle, but she never let her eyes stray completely from John.

  She had a few spells, but they'd never make it out of the circle. If he stepped in, though, maybe she could put an end to him.

  How do you kill a dead man? Emmit hadn't managed to slay the thing. Mira wasn't sure what Emmit had done, but the thing inside John was certainly still alive.

  She glanced at the cowering Barney and around at the circle once again.

  "What should we do with you?" John asked in a taunting voice. "We had such plans back home."

  Mira shuddered, remembering a few of those and clutched for the ward that was no longer there. Death would be better.

  "Although, there are plenty of things I wouldn't mind trying here. But," John mockingly sighed, "the others would appreciate the amusement of a witch. For one as powerful as you, we could develop unique torments. I think we should send you back."

  Mira noticed John glance down, perhaps at the two men holding the circle.

  The circle belonged to them, her thoughts whizzed by, frantic in her own mind. John put his arm into the circle.

  Mira would die before letting that thing get near her. She plunged her hand into her pocket and grabbed the crystal.

  John glanced down once again and hissed something at the two men. Mira saw the circle shudder slightly to allow John to come all the way through.

  One thing stopping her. Barney. There was a good chance that they could both die here. She knew that. The vague idea of what they had in store for her made her want to cast the spell anyway. When she glanced at Barney, he nodded sadly at her.

  It was all Mira needed. She had no idea if Barney knew what was coming or not. When she muttered a few words, heat began to build around her as power gathered.

  A part of Mira noted that John didn't seem to notice, at least not immediately. Someone chanting broke rank, however.

  There was a witch there.

  John did notice that. He turned and spat orders at the person and they fell back into line. With an irate glint in his eye, John smiled at Mira again before putting his arm through once again.

  Mira gripped the stone’s sharp corners hard enough to cut into her hand. A small part of her thought blood added to the spell might be a mistake, but the idea was drowned by a keening terror that tried to encompass the rest of her brain.

  As John began to step through, Mira released the fire.

  Flames erupted along the circle. Mira and Barney were inside the circle, true, but fire flowed along the wall of their enclosure, rubbing up against the silver one as though they were longtime friends sharing a gree
ting.

  John screeched. He tried to pull back, but the flames grabbed at least part of him, greedily eating his robe, and Mira fervently hoped, some of his skin.

  Their own circles stripped the fire from John’s arm as he exited the barrier, but John was pissed.

  Mira gave him her own derisive smile.

  "Keep the circle going!" His glare told her he was going to try to make her pay. He studied her for a moment before turning. "Lock her in!"

  When he stepped out of the door, he turned to glower at her a moment longer before disappearing.

  Mira had been giving John all of her attention. It wasn't until he was gone that she noticed the chanting had grown louder. If the others were meaning to lock her and Barney inside the room, though, they seemed in no hurry to do so.

  Barney began to cough.

  They might not have been in a hurry to leave, but chanters also weren't trying to reach the pair.

  Not that they had to. Unable to move out of their circle, the fire began to move inward, and even the smoke wasn't finding an escape.

  The melody that dipped inside her seemed to solidify.

  Mira went to Barney and knelt down with him. He covered his face with his shirt as best he could and she copied him, although the material of her shirt was much thinner for such a warm day.

  "We need to move toward the center of the circle," Mira said. "I can make a new one to keep out the worst of this until they drop theirs.” Seeing their circle tremble, she thought that might not even be necessary. If they dropped theirs, she could use Push to get her and Barney out.

  Her arms began to tingle and she rubbed them distractedly. It took tugging on Barney's arm a few times before he began to move with her. The magic surrounding them trembled and dropped away. Some of the trapped smoke began to billow out.

  When she crawled to the aisle, keeping low to the ground, she saw the robed figures walking out of the room. They were still chanting, but they were leaving, which was the important part.

  "Come on, Barney." She moved unsteadily to her feet and would have fallen, but for Barney holding her up. Mira had no idea how the spell had taken so much out of her, but she had turned it into a blood spell at the end. It was sometimes tricky how much power those spells used.