Conjuring Quantico (The Federal Witch Book 1) (3 page)

“We have many resources available to us. We can get most anything that you would need.” I smiled. She did know what was in there.

“So, you do know what is in my lab.”

I looked past her to a trio of men in suits peering at my lab. I could feel the magic coming off them in waves. “You might want to tell your Merc’s to leave my shield alone.” As I watched one of them stuck his arm inside and was unable to pull it out. “Oops. Too late.”

The SAC turned and made a face as she watched the three men trying to remove the man’s arm. “Where did you get those three?”

“Those are some of our best contractors! They have saved many lives.”

“Uh, huh. Let’s see if they can get his arm out.”

The three men struggled some more and finally a second man’s leg became stuck too. They were starting to attract attention from the military now.

I shook my head. “That is why you need me. Those three would kill everyone here to get at what is inside that building. My grandmother sent what I would need to protect myself and perform my duties for the FBI. Before you say anything, listen. The supplies that are available commercially are shadows of themselves. The pure forms are the real deal. Look around you if you don’t believe me. This has happened before. It is why they put the signs up. While I am here on the base, the traps I set are mostly non-lethal. If I leave they are not. Only I or my grandmother can release them. They are that powerful.” I turned and pointed at the three Mercs. All three were now stuck.

“How did you know they tried to break in?”

I smirked. “It is the only way the trap would have triggered. Someone has to either attack the building or attempt to get inside without a key. The wards are set to allow certain people and animals into them. As I said we have had issues in the past.”

“Can you release my people?”

“Of course.” I muttered a phrase to myself, careful to not speak the whole thing aloud. Some secrets should remain secret. I waved my hands and made the gesture for release. The result was dramatic.

The first to drop was the three Russian mercenaries. They were followed by the MPs then the Marines close to my building. The rescue squads rushed in along with the ambulance teams to check for injuries. I only had eyes for the Mercs. The three of them made a beeline straight for my lab. This close they would be able to sense some of what was inside.

I took two steps to my left getting the SAC out of my line of fire. “Stop.” I said it loud enough for them to hear. They continued to rush forward toward the prize of a lifetime. Dammit! I held out my hand, and it burst into flame. I cried out ‘halda’ and took a step toward them. The taller of the three heard me and froze. He noticed my right arm.

“Ms. Blackmore what is the meaning of this! I demand you stand down!”

“Sorry Special Agent, but your hired help have scented out my stuff and now that my defenses are down they are trying to take it.”

She looked at the three men as they approached the building. She yelled at them. “Vernut'sya k avtomobilyam.”

They looked in her direction, but ignored her. I shook my head. It was up to me. The building had a failsafe, but everything would be gone. I needed that stuff!” They won’t follow your orders. My stuff will make them kings back home and they know it. Step back please.”

I spoke ‘halda’ again and threw a fireball at them. It exploded between them and the building. The taller Russian pointed in my direction and muttered to his companions. They spoke words aloud and began tossing spells in my direction.

Idiots! I spoke ‘skjald-borg’ and a shield wall formed, separating us from the mundanes. It was one of the first laws. Protect the innocent. None of their spells impacted upon me. They hit my protections and bounced off. I powered up another fireball and reinforced it with a shield of electricity. I watched as it burned through their shields and electrified the taller man. He fell to the ground in convulsions. One down, two to go.

~~~~

SAC Mills strained her eyes to see inside the wall that suddenly appeared between her and the Witch. She shook her head. It may have been a mistake to send in troops to break in. Her predecessor really had left garbled instructions regarding the witch student. Her bosses had left instructions too. Test the witch. Her only experience with magic had been with the Mercenaries that the FBI hired. This girl was something else.

“Happy with yourself?” The Special Agent looked behind her. A slim young looking girl stood behind her. She was pointing at the Witch. “You do realize that if you get Agatha killed before she finishes her training the Witch Council will most likely never work with the FBI again. No matter how much you beg.”

Studying the girl, the Special Agent asked who she was.

“I’m Agatha’s roommate. Catherine Moore - nice to meet you. So what happened to piss-boy? He retire?”

Piss boy? “Did you know the former Director?”

“Sort of. He tried to have Agatha killed on her first day at school. He claimed it was all a misunderstanding, but she had him upside-down thirty feet in the air for over an hour. Scared the piss right out of him!” Cat was peering at her roommate through the shield.

“Chuck? Go make sure those three idiots don’t have an escape route.” The giant man standing behind the small girl walked over to the Merc’s car and casually ripped the doors and tires off it.

Madeline swallowed and looked back at Cat. “He’s handy to have around.”

“He is, isn’t he? Get ready, Agatha has them on the run.” The three men were now trying to hide behind the MPs’ car and were tossing all sorts of spells at her. Agatha was still responding with fireballs. The men suddenly ducked down low as she fired one off. She quickly tossed a blue ball that froze the entire area, including the three Mercs. Suddenly the shield dropped and Agatha Blackmore stepped over to her friend.

~~~~~

“Hey Chuck, good work on their car!” The large man ducked his head and blushed.

“So, Special Agent Mills. Shall we continue our conversation about my lab?”

Special Agent in Charge Mills looked at the scorched earth and the frozen Mercs on the ground. She shook her head, no. “Are they dead?”

“No, they are only frozen. The Council of Witches will have a bone to pick with those three so I’m saving them for the moment. They threw the first fireball without putting up a shield. In my world that is a major no-no. Innocent people are supposed to be protected.”

“Oh, OK. Uh, what about Major Smart over there?”

I looked to where she was pointing and saw the Major and his goons. “Oops. Sorry.” With a wave they weren’t frozen anymore.

The Major opened his eyes wide as he realized the subject of his ire was not in front of him anymore. He stared at the empty space in front of him for a moment and quickly looked around searching for me. His gaze landed on me and the others. “Sergeant, arrest that woman!” The three military goons looked confused, but turned and headed in my direction.

I sighed and turned back toward the Director. “I’m about to piss off the Marine Corp. Do you want to handle it?”

Director Mills just stared at me. I shook my head and turned to confront the three Marines. At the last minute Chuck and Cat stepped in front of me.

“Hey, what are you doing? This woman just saved your asses! Don’t listen to that bozo.”

The three Marines stopped and stared at the two in front of them. They started to push through when Director Mills snapped out of whatever transfixed her. “Freeze! I am FBI Academy Director Mills and these people are under my command. Tell Major Smart that he cannot arrest MY people.”

The resulting argument lasted for over an hour. More Marine Brass was called in and now Director Mills was under the microscope as General Varmkorv yelled at her for breaking procedure and rescinding orders without his knowledge. The general was a large imposing man with white hair. The air around where the conference was happening practically shivered with each scathing yell. I found it quite interesting, actually. The only way that would happen naturally was if the person yelling was a paranormal of a certain persuasion. It made me wonder how a Frost Giant managed to become a Marine General.

Through it all I sat on Chuck’s 1971 green Buick Riviera trying not to leave any marks on the surface. You could tell he loved that car. It was carefully polished with imported car wax every week. The unusual humped back part of the trunk was scratch free. It was a very unique looking car. Chuck claimed he saw it in an old television show and just had to have it. His father helped him search the internet and sales rags across the country to find one.

The field across from my lab usually had a top growth of clover and foot-high weeds on it. I could see none of that. What I could see were three medium-sized animals similar to rabbits eating every green leaf in sight. As they moved, I could glimpse the antlers on their heads. It made me wonder how far exactly that spell had travelled. Somehow I just knew that was going to come back and bite me in the ass.

“Watcha looking at girlfriend?” I shook my head and looked to my right. There was Cat and Chuck; she had a goofy grin on her face.

I pointed at the field. “I was looking at the…” The three animals were gone. “I was looking at the field. It looks like they cut it early this year.”

“You need to get out more if cut grass make you happy. We can probably go inside soon, the general is winding down.”

“Oh? How do you know that?” I glanced in the direction of the Director's car. From what I could see he was still yelling at her.

Cat tapped her ears. “The ears hear all and know all. It will be over in a minute. Bet on it.”

As we watched General Varmkorv said his last few words and left Director Mills standing next to her car. His men gave orders to the last of the MPs and they all cleared the area. All that was left were the three frozen russian mercenaries, us, and Director Mills.

She looked at the three of us and shook her head. “I need to apologize to you three. I put you into needless danger. I have been informed that had I asked, the General himself would have given me the ‘lowdown’ on the magical situation.” She looked at me. “Can you tell me what happened last time? The General wouldn’t say.”

I chuckled. “That may be why you were left in the dark. Your predecessor was not a fan. When he got word that I was coming to work for the FBI he initially was happy and passed the word to welcome me. It was like a game of telephone gone wrong. His assistant passed it to the next one and so on. When I arrived they tried to place me under arrest and grabbed me.”

SAC Mills visibly winced. “What happened?” Her voice was noticeably lower.

“About what you would expect. I left the building, they shot at me. If Grams hadn’t equipped me with protection spells, I might not have survived. They were not very happy with me. The director himself came down to get to the bottom of the destruction. In my own defense I did try to explain what had happened to me.”

“What did he do?”

“It’s more of what he said. He didn’t recognize who I was and called me a little girl. I was already pissed off, so he found himself upside down about thirty feet in the air. His guards too.”

I smiled. It had been really funny. “The agent who recruited me showed up and took care of the issue. Apologies were made and I eventually let the man down. But not before he pissed himself. He earned the nickname ‘piss boy’ from those of us in the Para community here on base.”

“You didn’t really call him that, did you?” She was cringing.

“Just a couple of times. He got his revenge though. I don’t mean this mess either. He broke FBI protocol and gave several interviews in the local and national press describing how out-of-control I was and naming me to the press.”

SAC Mills nodded. “That makes a certain amount of sense. I understand now why he trashed the files so much. He was on the way out and he knew it.” She looked at the three mercenaries. “What did you mean when you said they broke the rules?”

I just shook my head. For a government organization they were so dumb. I was about to answer her when Cat did it for me. “There are rules. Even we know that. The FBI gets us to join and help you police other Para’s but you still don’t understand. The rules were set down over a century ago. Each race must follow them. For magical users they are to protect the innocent or the mundane whenever possible. That rule was in place before the Purge. Those three cast at Agatha without regard to all the soldiers and other mundanes around here. Didn’t you notice that the first thing she did was cast a shield spell?”

“What will happen to them?” She looked back in their direction.

“No idea? If I didn’t report them Cat or one of the other Para’s could report me for not doing my own duty. It’s a matter of survival. We police our own for the most part.”

She looked at the three of us. “I don’t understand. Why did they attack you in the first place?”

“Before I answer, why did you bring them with you?”

“They are part of my protection detail. The bureau pays them to assist with magical investigation. They swore they could break the spell.”

I snorted and shook my head. “That spell is one of Gram’s. The Council would have a hard time breaking it. The reason they attacked was they wanted my stuff. They could sense it. There is a reason I have a lab way out on the edge of our assigned area. Come on, I’ll show you.” I began walking toward the building. Reluctantly Director Mills followed me.