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

  Megan didn’t even seem to notice. “I can’t get this pod to crush.” She had the most determined look on her face.

  “It’s okay, Mark,” Mira said. “You can talk around Ian.”

  Mark looked at his mother for confirmation before turning back to what he was doing, giving sideways glances at Ian from time to time.

  “Why won’t you crush?” Megan said, her face scrunched up.

  “Want me to help?” Mira asked.

  “No,” Megan said, “this is my job. What does this spell do, anyway?”

  Mark cast a nervous glance at his sister and then Ian.

  “It’s called Fortitude,” Mira said.

  “What’s that?” Megan asked.

  “It’s kind of like courage,” Mark said.

  “I thought there was a spell for courage,” Megan said, looking accusingly at everyone around her.

  “This is a certain type of courage,” Mira said.

  “Oh,” Megan said, seemingly satisfied. “It’s narrowed the… the…” She struggled and stared at the ceiling.

  “Narrowed the focus of the spell,” Robin supplied.

  “Right.” Megan took notice of Ian. “Who are you?”

  Mira mentally crossed her fingers but didn’t answer, forcing Ian to say something.

  “I’m Detective Ian Burke,” he said.

  “You’re a police officer?” Mark asked.

  “I am in law enforcement,” Ian replied.

  Once that was out, Mira’s niece and nephew started peppering him with questions. “Do you catch bad guys?”

  “Do you carry a gun?”

  “Can I see your badge?”

  Kids around the country probably asked police officers and detectives the same questions, which is exactly what Mira wanted. She wanted Ian to see that they were normal people. They just happened to also be witches.

  Then came the other questions.

  “Are you friends with Aunt Mira?” Mark asked.

  Ian glanced at Mira. “I am. We went to college together.”

  “Are you a witch?” Megan asked.

  “Megan,” Robin’s voice warned. “We’ve talked about this.”

  “Oh, right.” Megan said. “Sorry, Mom. Hey, can you help me crush this?”

  Megan forced the mortar and pestle into Ian’s hands. He looked at a loss for what to do.

  “You just take this and grind the ever loving—”

  “Megan!” Robin yelled in that ‘we’re going to talk about this later’ kind of way that all mothers seem to know.

  Megan frowned and crossed her arms. “That’s what Grandma says.”

  “Well, you don’t,” Robin said.

  “Fine,” Megan said. “I’ll show you what to do.”

  Within the next ten minutes, Ian became a master of the mortar and pestle and then the kids began to clean up.

  “I’m glad you could stop by,” Mira said to Robin.

  “I’m glad I could help,” Robin said. “It was nice to meet you, Ian.” Robin shook his hand and spent the next five minutes wrangling the kids, mostly Megan, into their coats. After hugging Mira, Megan hugged Ian’s leg and then ran out the door as though embarrassed.

  Once Mira had waved them off, she closed the door and looked at her visitor.

  “Can I get you anything?” Mira asked.

  “No,” Ian said. He looked much calmer than he had when he first entered the apartment.

  “Good,” Mira said, flopping down on a chair, “I’m pooped. I don’t know how my sister does it.”

  “That was a low blow,” Ian said.

  Chapter 11

  “What?” Mira asked, feeling like she’d missed something.

  “Gabe’s my partner and I couldn’t tell him, my captain, or anyone else about last night.”

  Mira sighed.

  “I was waiting until tonight to tell you exactly what I thought about that, but you played the kids card.”

  Finally getting it, Mira laughed. “And I should have waited until you could vent?”

  “It only seemed fair.” Ian dropped into a chair. “I’m sorry about last night. No, not sorry, but I should have at least been sober.”

  “Sober would have been nice, but at least Emmit was there to cool things down.”

  “I needed to ask you about that,” Ian said. “Your niece reminded me when she asked if I was a witch. Why is that something that people don’t ask? Why hide it? From each other, I mean.”

  Mira shrugged. “A few hundred years ago you’d be hard pressed to find any witch that would admit what they were. Even to each other. It wasn’t that long ago that we were burned at the stake.”

  Ian’s eyes widened. It was obviously a new insight for him.

  “It’s been like that throughout history,” Mira continued. “Werewolves were hunted down and slaughtered. Druids were nearly wiped out. Vampires were dragged out into the sun.” She thought about that a bit. “Well, okay. The vampires were pretty out of control at the time.”

  Looking stunned, Ian shook his head. “I never thought about it that way.”

  “We’re people, like anyone else. People get slaughtered for their beliefs and for who they are all the time. The Christians were once hunted, and even in recent history, the Jewish population was decimated by Hitler.”

  Ian looked thoughtful. “It’s a lot to take in.”

  Mira nodded. “Normally, we wouldn’t introduce someone into the community like this, but in this case, we didn’t seem to have a lot of options.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that too. Do you think it’s one of you that’s been doing this?”

  Mira crossed her arms and looked at him. “It’s not us and you, or us against you. Like I said, we’re all just people.”

  “Sorry, but do you think it’s a... supernatural?” he asked, taking the name for a spin.

  “I’m not sure,” Mira said. “I don’t know anyone that would kill people. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt Sally.”

  “What can you tell me about Sally and the others?”

  “Sally was human, but she was also clairvoyant,” Mira said, wishing she had already taken the Fortitude. “She could touch something and know about a person.”

  “That explains a lot. Sally got on the bad side of a lot of people.”

  Mira’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

  Ian held up a hand. “Can we wait on the case? I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around all of this. Tell me about who I saw last night. Is that even okay to ask?”

  Mira relaxed and smiled. “They agreed to show you what they can do, so it’s okay to ask. I think it started with Della. What did you see?”

  He grimaced. “Sparks popped out of her eyes and they glowed fiery red. Her hair went all wild, like it was stuck in the wind, but it was a calm night. Also it looked... darker around her, like a storm was gathering over her head.”

  “Illusions,” Mira said. “They take a lot less energy than something physical.”

  Ian looked puzzled.

  “Della is a sorcerer and makes things happen. Magic. They conjure something from nothing. They just need a few symbols to unlock the spell. Sometimes it’s real; sometimes it’s only an illusion.”

  “How is that different from a witch? You are a witch, right?” he asked.

  “Yes. I’m a witch as well as the rest of my family. As you saw tonight, we make potions and spend time with spells.”

  “Who was the guy I saw next?” Ian asked.

  “That would be Tyler. He’s also a witch.”

  “So he planned what he did ahead of time?”

  “Not exactly. He planned specific spells ahead of time, but not for something like this. He could only work with the ones he had available, since there wasn’t time to create anything new."

  “So sorcerers are more powerful than witches?” Ian asked.

  Mira tried not to roll her eyes, reminding herself that he knew nothing. “It’s not that simple. Della can make so
mething from nothing, but it saps her strength. She can draw symbols on the air and make one big display, like she did last night, but she pays a price for it. She probably slept half the day away. If she had created something physical, she might have had to sleep for more than a day to regain her strength and she’d be hard pressed to do any more magic for a few days longer. With some prep time, Tyler or I could cast spells and pass out potions for days on end without it affecting us, but we have to have the prep time. The more rushed we are, the more of our own energy we have to throw into the spell and we can’t pull something from nothing.”

  Ian nodded, but he looked like he was having trouble absorbing everything. “And the last person. Was that... who was that?”

  “That was Noah. He’s a werewolf, as you may have guessed. Helen was also a werewolf.”

  Ian sighed. “That’s another mystery solved.”

  Mira wasn’t sure what he meant but didn’t ask. Ian looked like a heavy weight was weighing him down.

  “What can you tell me about Dennis Simmons?” Ian asked.

  “The name isn’t familiar,” Mira said.

  Ian frowned. “What about Yvonne Childs?”

  Mira shook her head.

  “Karen Green?”

  “The name sounds familiar, but I don’t know who she is.”

  “So the other victims weren’t supernatural, um... people?”

  “It’s hard to say,” Mira said. “No one has mentioned them, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t supernaturals.”

  “Wouldn’t you know?” Ian asked, looking confused again.

  “It’s a big city and easy to hide in. I can ask around, though—if that’s okay, I mean. How does this work? Am I allowed to talk to others about those names?”

  Ian sighed. “How am I supposed to know how this works? As far as I can tell, it doesn’t.”

  Mira’s temper rose. “Can I ask people if they knew the others or not?”

  “Go ahead,” Ian said. “Ask your people to be discreet if they can.” He sounded dismissive, which only aggravated Mira more.

  “I’m pretty sure that supernaturals can keep a secret,” Mira said.

  Looking tired, Ian rubbed his hands over his face and then leaned back in his chair. “Of course they can.”

  “We need a plan,” Mira said.

  “I’m going to have to talk to people. People who knew Sally, Helen, and the others if you find anyone who’s familiar with them. Can you get me a list?”

  “I can take you around to talk to people,” Mira said.

  “You’re not joining me on this,” Ian said.

  “Then no one’s going to talk to you,” Mira said.

  “This is obstruction. You know that, right?”

  “You throw that around a lot.”

  “That’s because you keep doing it.” Ian looked like he was trying to rein in his own temper.

  Mira drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair. “Look at this from our point of view. No one knows who you are. They aren’t going to talk to you unless someone they know is there.” Plus, Mira could check the spell for loopholes, but she wasn’t going to mention that.

  “How is that going to look?” Ian asked.

  “It’s going to look like you’re taking an expert along to talk with people. It’s probably pretty obvious that I’m not fond of your partner,” Mira said.

  “You seemed to get along today,” Ian mumbled.

  “He wasn’t jumping down my throat today,” Mira said.

  “Gabe isn’t a bad guy. He knows you’re keeping things from him, though.”

  “Doesn’t everyone?” Mira asked.

  Ian sighed, but didn’t say anything.

  “Don’t you two work apart sometimes?” Mira asked.

  “It’s the only way to get stuff done,” Ian said.

  “What’s the problem, then?”

  “You’re…” Ian shook his head. “It’s not the way things work.”

  “I don’t know if it will work bringing your partner along with us,” Mira said.

  “It won’t.” Ian sounded resigned. “We’ll have to make this,” he motioned to Mira and himself, “work. Somehow.”

  The ‘somehow’ made it less likely to have a stellar start, but Mira didn’t want to make things worse by saying it. She began having second thoughts, though. Could the supernaturals have investigated on their own?

  Probably not.

  “It’ll be fine,” Ian said. “We can do this.”

  Mira nodded, but didn’t feel any better about the situation.

  “So,” Ian said after a few moments of silence, “Fortitude?”

  “What?” Mira look confused, but she caught up fast. “Oh, yeah.”

  “What’s that one going to do to me?”

  “Nothing,” Mira said. “You’re a detective—trained for this kind of thing. The spell is for me.”

  “But you’re a witch,” Ian said.

  “Which means what, exactly?”

  “I don’t know. You’re magical or something. What do you have to worry about?”

  She gave Ian a pitying look. “Someone is killing off people in my community. I’m only a person, remember?”

  “So you cast spells on yourself and not just on other people?”

  “Yes,” Mira said. “If I can help in some way or if someone asks, then I’ll spell other people, but otherwise, I steer clear.”

  “So spelling me was you helping?” There was a weak smile on his face, and Mira didn’t hear any accusation in his tone.

  “I hope so,” Mira said.

  “I’m curious. What keeps a witch or sorcerers, or any other kind of... person... what keeps them from doing whatever they want to people? Why aren’t you just forcing people to do what you want? Like confess to the crime?” Ian sounded excited about the last prospect.

  “It’s complicated, but in short, we can’t go around spelling people any way we want. There are consequences to what we do.”

  Ian looked troubled. “Consequences?”

  “Forcing someone to do something they don’t want to do can have big repercussions, especially if they fight the spell. Even casting when the person knows it’s being cast can have backlash.”

  “For the person being spelled?”

  “No, unless that was the intention of the spell. It doesn’t matter what the spelled person does. Whatever happens, if it’s because of the spell, the caster pays the price.”

  “How do you get around it?”

  “You don’t,” Mira said. “You can’t.”

  “But you did something to me and nothing happened.”

  “Like I said, it’s a simplistic explanation. The results aren’t immediate. You could say that the universe stores things up. When it’s ready, it’ll let it go.”

  Someone knocked on the door, which was a welcome relief to Mira.

  “Coming,” she called.

  “Wait,” Ian said as she went to the door.

  “It’s been a long night,” Mira said, hand on the doorknob. “For both of us.”

  “I want to know what’s going to happen.” Ian stood up, looking cross again.

  Mira shook her head and opened the door. Her bad mood disappeared when she saw Emmit.

  “Hi,” Mira said, “I’m glad you came by. Come on in.”

  “Did I arrive at a bad time?” Emmit asked when he spotted Ian.

  “Yes,” Ian snapped.

  “No,” Mira said, ignoring Ian.

  “Fine,” Ian said. “I’ll be here at seven a.m. tomorrow. I can bring you to the station to take a look at a few more things. Gabe won’t object to that.”

  Emmit watched, plain faced, while Ian put on his coat.

  Ian watched him just as closely. “I’ll have to ask you a few questions, too.”

  “Let me know when and I’ll be sure to make myself available,” Emmit said, and then a hint of a smile appeared. “Or I can call on you anytime you’d like.”

  “I’ll be sure to let you know,�
� Ian said, glowering. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mira.” He hesitated. “Unless you’d like me to stay.”

  “Like I said, it’s been a long day.” Mira said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  With one last glare at Emmit, Ian left the apartment.

  “Forgive my intrusion,” Emmit said as soon as Mira had returned from seeing Ian out, “but are you sure you want to work with that man?”

  Alchemy and Oracle came out from wherever they had hidden themselves and sat next to Mira.

  “Sure. I don’t get along well with his partner,” Mira said. Oracle dodged the scratch behind the ears that Mira attempted, but Alchemy was more amenable.

  “But you get on well with Detective Burke?” Emmit asked.

  “You caught him at a bad time. He’s trying to learn a lot all at once.”

  Emmit didn’t look convinced.

  “Have a seat,” Mira said, changing the subject. “Can I get you anything?”

  “No, thank you,” Emmit said.

  Mira noted that he didn’t take off his coat when he sat down.

  She smiled at him in the hopes of putting him at ease. “I’m glad you came by.”

  “I will only be here for a short time,” Emmit said. “I have another engagement this evening.”

  Mira couldn’t help but wonder what Emmit did at night, or during the day for that matter.

  “Well, it’s good you stopped by, anyway. I have a few questions for you.”

  Emmit didn’t react, but there was a difference in the atmosphere. It was as though the weight of the air began to bear down on the room.

  “I will answer if I can,” Emmit said.

  Mira took a deep breath, because it felt as though something sat on her chest. “First off, are you allergic to anything?”

  “You are asking about allergies?” Emmit asked, sounding as though he were unconvinced.

  “Yes,” Mira said. “Some supernaturals are very sensitive to certain ingredients or even specific aspects of spells. I don’t want to make you sick.”

  “That is... thoughtful,” Emmit said carefully. “I have no known allergies.”

  “Okay. Is there anything regarding your... nature... that I may need to know about ahead of time?”

  Oracle issued a low growl that rumbled up and out.

  Mira kept an eye on the cat, but continued when Emmit didn’t say anything. “For example, I wouldn’t do a spell that strictly used the energy of fire with Noah around. It might cause more agitation than he can handle.”