Hex and the Single Witch (Vehicle City Vampires) (22 page)

Mel and I looked
at each other, she spoke first, “Have there been any attacks yet? Any
casualties?” After Carla shook her head no, Mel said, “I’ll gather weapons,
shields and spell detectors for everyone so hopefully we can keep it that way.
Carla, I need you to send a couple officers down here to help me with
everything.”

I was scared and
couldn’t think of anything else to say so I said, “I’ll get Malone. Carla, have
you called for backup yet?”

“Anyone who
wasn’t in the building has already been contacted and is now in the field, but
we may need to send shields and detectors to everyone who’s already out there.”

After Carla ran
upstairs Mel looked at me again. “I’ll call Satinka Tala and find out if she
knows what is going on.”

“Okay, Mel, I’ll
meet you upstairs.”

I had a really
bad feeling about this. I wondered if this was the big bad Sati had referred
too. Goddess, I hoped not, we weren’t ready for this. I expected Samhain would
be the day we needed prepared, but that was still over a week away.

My world
crumbled right before I hit the stairs, when Mel yelled to me, “Galen’s gone,
Wyn.”

Chapter 29

I ran back to
Mel’s office. “How? I thought he was safely tucked away in his little prison?”

“Everyone left
Satinka’s mansion to respond to all the disturbances in the area. Somehow in
the confusion no guards stayed to watch over Galen. Now he’s gone, but the room
is still sealed tight. Nothing shows up on the cameras. One minute he’s in the
room, next minute, poof, he’s gone.”

I sank into a
chair; my heart pounded so fast it threatened to jump right out of my chest. I
knew something was wrong, something was bad, really bad but I couldn’t sort
through the fog to really see it. “Mel, have you had any luck removing the
layers of binding spells on me?”

“Oh, yeah, about
that, uhm, no, but I do have something to tell you. I traced the magick of the
last couple spells put on you. They have the same magick signature as the
murder victims.”

“Not good at
all.” I sighed. Then a thought popped into my head. “Mel, have you scanned the
newest spell yet?”

She followed my
line of thinking and ran back into her spell room and quickly photographed the
remnants of the spell and uploaded the image into her computer. “You’re right
Wyn, it’s the same signature, but why, why is the murderer trying to take away
your power and keep us all wrapped up in sex and nonsense?”

“I think it’s
all about distraction. The murderer wants the P.I.T. Crew distracted long
enough so he can do something. I just don’t know what. I’m so close, like when
a memory is right there, but you’re just not able to grasp it. That’s where I
am, but I can’t reach the answer. The binding spells are holding strong, and I
can’t get through the fog.” I put my elbows up on Mel’s desk and my head in my
hands. I wanted to cry. “I just don’t see why Galen is being targeted. I mean
he has to be the target right? All the murders connect to him and now he’s
gone. Why? What does it all mean?”

I wasn’t used to
frustration like this. Usually it was me with the answers, not the questions.

Mel’s phone rang
and it shocked me out of my thoughts. I pulled myself together and stood up as
she reached for her phone.

“I’m going to
find Malone and see what I can do to help out there.”

Mel nodded her
head in an okay motion, and then answered her phone, “This is Mel…uh
huh…really? I’ll let everyone know. Thanks, Sati.”

When I heard her
say Sati I stopped moving toward the stairs and walked back into her office. “What
did Satinka say?”

“The fires are
all illusions, glamours—image spells. That’s why the fire departments aren’t
having any luck putting them out, they’re not real. Nothing is actually getting
burned but it is getting wet from the hoses. We need to call the fire stations
and tell them to quit having the trucks hose everything down. Then we’ll
address the other issues, but first things first.”

My eyes must
have been filled with questions because hers told me I needed to be patient. I
tried, damn was I trying.

I called
Malone’s cell and relayed the message about the fires. Then I called upstairs
and relayed the info to Carla, between the four of us we should be able to
reach all the fire captains and chiefs to stop the deluge of water which wasn’t
dousing any flames.

I scrolled
through my official list of local government employee cell phone numbers, a
requirement to keep stored in our work phones, and made the necessary calls.

After at least
ten different conversations Mel and I were finally off the phones.

I sat back down
and looked at her. “What else, Mel? The fires are taken care of. I guess the
fires and the crazy spell here at the station were all distractions, but why?
What else is going on?”

“Satinka spotted
some activity in Glenwood Cemetery. A real fire and a circle. Someone was doing
magick, but by the time Satinka landed they were gone. She said it was like
they disappeared into thin air.”

“I thought being
able to teleport was one of those urban legend powers, no one can really do it?”

“Very few can,
but Wyn, rumor has it Roark could teleport and supposedly he could take others
with him as well. That really adds fuel to the demon fire. Demons can teleport.
If Roark is back and he can teleport, then we definitely have a demon on our
hands. A pissed demon gunning for Galen.”

“Galen? Oh my
goddess, Mel, you said he disappeared out of his quarters at Satinka’s,
disappeared into thin air. Mel, Roark took Galen, I know it. We’ve got to get
to the cemetery now. I have to find out if I can get any visions.”

Mel grabbed a
bag and reached in, searching for something, she pulled up a set of car keys. “I
got my keys, let’s go. We’ll sneak out the back, now is not the time to have
Malone following us.” Mel looked freaked out, which freaked me out, because Mel
was the calm one when it came to things like this.

****

Satinka waited
just inside the main cemetery entrance off West Court Street. She climbed into
the backseat of the car and told us to drive around past the old tombstones and
beyond many of the plots, all the way around until we reached the creepy
mausoleum covered with vines and leaves. I guess at night everything in a
cemetery was creepy, during the day the place probably appeared quite stunning
especially with all the fall colors brightening up the stone gray of tombstones
and grave markers.

Nestled in the
middle of a residential neighborhood surrounded by black wrought iron fencing,
Glenwood was the oldest cemetery in Flint. In it lay all of the influential
people whose names still adorned street signs, buildings and landmarks: Mott,
Crapo, Dort, Whiting, Atwood, Whaley, even the founder of the city, Jacob Smith
was lain to rest in Glenwood.

I spotted a lot
of gravestones. They looked like miniature Washington monuments. Weird. Some
monuments so old they fell over, others completely crumbled. The place held a
still but powerful energy and a quiet reverence one could find in places filled
with history. But I could tell the energy had been disturbed tonight, the power
hummed painfully like something ripped through the once seamless and peaceful
fabric.

“Do you feel
that?” I asked Mel and Satinka quietly.

“Yeah, someone
has disrupted the peace here. The energy of this place was used for something
dark. We better get out and find out what happened here.” Mel shivered making
no move to open the car door.

Finally, I
opened my door and stuck my foot out. A dark cloud filled the air, my mouth
suddenly tasted like sulfur, I almost choked on it. The dark magick was so
thick, so strong it threatened to gag me. Mel pulled me back into the car.

“Wyn, you okay?”

“Whatever was
done, it is bad, Mel. Once I get a solid read on it you are going to have to do
a cleansing, the serenity of this place has been soiled. I’m not sure if it can
cleanse itself.”

“Let’s find out
exactly what was done. Let me and Satinka get out first. We’ll help shield and
ground you against this so it doesn’t take you over as you try to read it.”

In theory it
sounded good but one foot in and I was overwhelmed, pain rippled through me. I
really didn’t know if I could do this.

Mel squatted
down in front of the open car door. “You can do this Wyn. You have the power to
get through it. Come on girl, this will help us find Galen.”

With the mention
of his name, it reminded me of why I was doing this in the first place, to save
him. Whether or not we ended up together didn’t matter right now, what I cared
about was making sure he was alive and keeping him that way. However alive a
vampire could be.

I had to
connect, read the energy no matter how dark, see the vision. I needed to find Galen.
With the help of Mel and Satinka I made it out of the car and into the charred
remains of the fiery circle, now just smoldering ashes. I knelt and put both
hands on the ground while Satinka and Mel each had a hand on my shoulder to
ground me. I knew Mel was casting a protective circle around us. I could feel
their energy surround me, protect me, making my own shields stronger, my own
magick work harder. Normally, we would need salt and tools but since Mel was
more powerful than your average witch, she cast spells with nothing but the
magick within her and the power she tapped into through the elements around
her. She spindled it through her, pulling on the elements, combining them with
her own strength then pushing them out to create a powerful circle to shield us
from all of the negativity.

I let go of my
puny shields I had automatically thrown up when the blast of negativity rip
through my foot. As soon as I let go of my shield I probed the locale to see
what I could learn. I sifted through old tears, grief, decades, even centuries
of pain and sorrow. Some so old they were barely whispers, some so fresh I
could feel the grief threaten to tear through me. I pushed past those emotions
until I found a flash of Devlin. But the new memories were blocked. Devlin used
the same old magick to mask his activities that he had with the murders.
Bastard.

My shoulders
slumped in defeat. I wouldn’t be able to break through his mysterious dark
magick.

Then hands were
on my shoulders, both Satinka and Mel reached out to me, lending me their
power.

I again focused
on the image of Devlin and Galen while pulling energy from Satinka and Mel.
Images flashed through my mind like a slide show: Galen with Devlin, Galen tied
in silver cords, Devlin casting the circle, Devlin morphing into something
else, and then fire, lots and lots of fire… like the gates of hell opened. I
pushed, trying to see more. I put my palms to the earth drawing on the magick
and memories of the cemetery. I held the link to Satinka and Mel and pulled
more from them. Power filled me, more power than ever before, I hummed with it.
My body almost ached from all the energy flowing through it. I couldn’t hold it
for long. I pushed at the visions trying to see more. But nothing more came.

I couldn’t hold
the power any longer. As I pulled my hands away an image of Galen writhing in
agony flashed in my mind. I told Mel and Sati what I had seen as pain spread
throughout my body. Darkness filled me, my brain fogged up and I couldn’t think
straight.

“Filthy bastard,”
Satinka cursed. “I should have known he was up to no good. Devlin has always
been a power hungry fool. He’s trying to cross Roark over, to bring him back to
the flesh in this dimension. I just don’t understand why he needs Galen.”

That was all I
heard before the wave of darkness washed over me and I passed out.

Chapter 30

I woke up the
next morning tucked into the guest bedroom at Mel’s house, a room very familiar
to me. I kept spare clothing tucked into the closet and my own toiletries in
the adjoining guest bathroom, my home away from home. I had spent a lot of time
here with Mel in the past. Some place to go when I didn’t want to be alone. I
briefly wondered why it had been a couple months since I’d stayed with her
last.

After showering
and eating a quick breakfast Mel convinced me to try on the gown for the
Vampire Ball.

“Mel, how I can
attend The Vampire Ball tonight with Galen still missing and us not having a
clue about what is going on in this city?” I whined, too tired and completely
mentally drained. Being pathetic after yesterday’s activities, I knew it but
was feeling lost and totally confused. I wasn’t exactly in a party mood, in
fact, more like a curl up with a blanket in front of the television mood.

Mel looked up at
me from her kneeled position as she adjusted and fluffed the layers of metallic
blue taffeta and black lace around the lower half of my dress, which was
beautiful and so me, exactly like she said it was.

“Anyone who is
anyone in Flint’s preternatural world will be at the Ball tonight along with
some important Others from several local territories. If you want to know
something, The Ball is the place to be. You can spend the night reading people
while I get magickal signatures from everyone. No one will even be the wiser;
they’ll think I am taking normal photographs.”