Love Nip (10 page)

I couldn’t speak after Riley had told me the story. I felt blinding guilt and respect.
To Ezra I was giving him life, but he was so set on living he couldn’t see that he was actually dying. I dropped her back off at the office and drove over to my mom’s house. After parking, I walked in.

“Mom, I can’t stay long I have a meeting to go to
,” I yelled as I walked in. I found her in the kitchen baking dinner.

“Oh, darn. I was hoping you would stay for dinner
,” she greeted me. She was dressed nice with an apron tied around her waist.

“Smells good. Maybe I can stay a while
,” I stated. Shopping all afternoon had made me hungry.

“I have a surprise guest!”
she exclaimed, being her normal dramatic self. And Robert wondered where I got it from.

I rolled my eyes. “Mom, I already
know about Ro—” I was interrupted by the doorbell.

She threw he
r hands up in the air and scrambled out of the room. I followed after her, mentally preparing myself for what was coming. She fluffed her hair and threw the door open. In strolled a tall, thin man. He wore a cheap tan suit that was three inches too short in the legs. What hair he had left on his head was dark brown and combed over the shiny bald spot he clearly tried to hide.

“Emily, this is
your uncle, Tom. He just got out of jail!” Mom introduced.

After introductions with my newly freed uncle we sat around the table to eat. Turns out
Uncle Tom had several accounts of pirating DVDs. I never knew you could actually go to jail for that kind of stuff, guess you learn something new every day.

“So
, Tom, how did they treat you in there? I’m sure it was just awful,” Mom asked. She looked worried as she picked a fuzz ball from her shirt. I wasn’t sure if she was sincerely curious or if she was asking if he was ever turned into someone’s boy-toy in the slammer. Maybe that is just what I wanted to ask.

“Ah, it was nothing. The movie
s play it to be something that it ain’t.” He laughed nervously, like he had just told us a bad joke.

Boy
-toy. Check.

“Did you ever try to escape?” Mom asked dramatically. I wanted to tell her he was in the parish
prison not Guantanamo Bay.

“Once I did
, but I didn’t get too far. I still got scars on my thigh from the fence. That is some serious barbed wire up there at the top. Not like the stuff you buy at the hardware store. Must’ve been made in China’er or something,” he explained. His country accent was so thick it took me a moment to translate what he had said. I didn’t realize that China was spelled with an R.

I rolled my
eyes; I had to change the subject. “So, Mom, will Robert be joining us for dinner?” I asked, letting her know I was in on her little secret.

“Robert? Why would he be coming over? Did he say something?”
she asked with a twinkle in her eye as she began teasing her curls.

“Your date last
week and the cookies?” I questioned.

“Oh Betty,
you’re dating again? Well good for you!” Tom chirped.

“I had a date with Francis from church, not Robert. I made the cookies for him
,” she explained.

I let out a big sigh of relief.
I wasn’t sure who the mysterious cookie maker was in Robert’s life, but I was glad it wasn’t my mother.

“So
, Emily, your mother tells me that you’re a witch.”

I choked on my food. “Wiccan is the correct term. We chant around a fire and sacrifice chickens. You know, the normal stuff.” I shot my mother a glare. She knew she wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. She wouldn’t be able to keep a secret even if she caught HIV from a bum on the street, she would go to church the next week bragging.

“You think you could do a spell on me to make me rich?” Tom let out a snort
as he adjusted his boring tie. He was making fun of me.

His comment made my blood boil. I wasn’t quite used to being a witch
, but I was still one and I didn’t like being made fun of. “No, but I could make a bunch of illegal DVDs magically show up on the hard drive of your computer,” I warned.

I would later tell that story as ‘the first and last conversation I ever had with my
Uncle Tom’.     

*
**
*

I
drove home with pride written all over my face. It was wiped clean when I noticed a white envelope taped to my apartment door. The word ‘sorry’ was written on the outside. Inside the envelope was a black and white picture of myself running. It was a great picture. I looked happy and care free. I got a text from Axle later that afternoon reminding me that we were going at six to meet the coven. I had completely forgotten. I took a quick shower and got dressed. Just as I finished getting ready there was a knock at my door. I opened the door to find Kimmy standing there. She was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt that said ‘I play with my food’.

“Holy smokes! Kimmy
, what are you doing here?” I asked as I pulled her into a hug.

“I figured she could use
some time away from her cell, and maybe she can help us with our case,” Axle answered from behind her.

“Yea
h, let’s go get some witches,” Kimmy replied, linking arms with me and dragging me from my apartment. Axle locked up as we headed to the car.

So the plan was that we would ask the questions and Kimmy would use her new vampire mind reading skills to figure out who kidnapped the girls.
It was a genius plan. The fact that we could actually capture the culprit filled me with an enormous amount of adrenalin. We arrived a few minutes after the meeting started. We wanted to surprise everyone, keep them on their toes. Ash was the only person that knew we would be attending the meeting. The coven met every Friday at a church. To me that felt a little strange, but who am I to judge.

“Everyone
, this is Emily and Agent A. They wanted to come by and talk to us about Maggie and Charlotte’s disappearance. Please answer all of their questions so we can find our two precious sisters. And I’m sorry, we haven’t had the privilege of meeting yet. What’s your name?” Ash introduced us and turned to Kimmy.

“Back in the big house they call me Carrie, Carrie Oaky,” Kimmy stated
, shaking Ashley’s hand.

Ashley smiled and walked back to the group.

“Carrie Oaky? Seriously?” I fussed.

“I don’t get out much. Plus
, aren’t you bored of having the same name every day? She doesn’t know me. I could be Carrie to her.”

We walked around talking to everyone
, asking them the same questions. Richie was there wearing a camouflage t-shirt, big surprise there. He gave me a big grin as I walked past. Dee-Dee smiled politely at me and I smiled back. I couldn’t be mad at the girl; I didn’t really believe that she knew that I worked for the FBI. She was a nice girl and I felt a connection to her. The group broke up into groups of three after we finished.

“Ok
ay, so now were going to try a new spell tonight. Use your inner guardian and don’t forget about your third eye, remember we talked about that last week.” Ash explained to the group

“Damn, I forgot my
third eye at home,” Kimmy whispered.

“So this one is called ice spell, I
found it online,” Ash stated proudly as she placed a glass on everyone’s table and filled them with water.

“Wow,” Axle chuckled. We sat down to watch.

“I’ll demonstrate,” Ash placed her hands on the glass at the nearest table to her. Her face changed; she squinted her eyes and took a sudden deep breath. She squeezed her eyebrows together and looked severely constipated. “Wind and fire, rock and stone, turn this water cold as bone.”

Nothing happened.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Axle mumbled, placing his hands on his face.

“Hmm, maybe you can’t use tap water,” Ash
murmured. “You guys go ahead and give it a try. At least we can practice the words of the spell.”

“Should we get out of here?” I asked
, ready to leave. I was slightly disappointed that it hadn’t worked. I wanted someone else to have powers like my own so I didn’t feel like such a freak.

“Wait
, we should try. I might be a witch,” Kimmy replied, running to a table nearby and grabbing a glass.

Axle looked at me and shrugged.
I walked over to watch. She said the chant a few times and nothing happened. She tried the constipation look and chanted again. Nothing.

“I
guess tap water doesn’t work. Here, you try, Em,” she said as she pushed the glass my way.

“K
immy, I don’t want to do this. I’m tired, let’s go home,” I said as I pushed the glass back to her. As I touched it a cold sensation crept down my arm and immediately froze the water solid. I snatched my hand back and looked up to see if anyone saw what I had done.

“Whoa, you really ar
e a witch,” Kimmy yelled. Everyone’s eyes shifted to see what the commotion was about. I felt my face redden.  

“Guess tap water works just fine
.” Axle laughed.

I wasn’t in a laug
hing mood, I was embarrassed and scared of myself. I didn’t say a chant or even use my third eye. I only touched the glass and it turned to ice. I turned around, grabbed my bag, and ran out. I wanted to go home. I really was a freak and I felt like I would never be able to control when my powers decided to make an appearance. I opened the door and tripped over something big, landing flat on my face. Pain shot up my hands and through my arms. Tiny pieces of gravel were embedded into both palms. I knew I would be covered in bruises the next morning. I groaned and rolled over, looking to see what I had tripped over. There was a girl lying on the ground. Blood flowed from her neck from two tiny holes. I knew immediately what kind of creature’s bite looked exactly like that.

Vampire.

The police had the scene taped off
before Robert and Gavin showed up. The body was identified as Charlotte’s. I was being questioned by a police officer who looked way too young for the job and a little green. I wondered if he had ever seen a dead body before. Robert tapped him on the shoulder, spoke in his ear, and the man left.

“Are you al
l right?” Robert asked.

“Yea
h, I’m okay, just a little shook up,” I stated, looking over at the black bag that housed Charlotte’s body. The image of her dead body swam through my mind. The horrific expression plastered on her face would be a memory I would never forget.

“Gavin and I will take care of this
. You guys go home and get some sleep,” he said as he pulled me into a hug. His affection surprised and flattered me.

We dropped Kimmy off back at the station
; she still refused to go home and I didn’t feel like arguing about it. We didn’t say much the entire drive home. Axle pulled into the parking lot of my apartment building and turned his car off.

“Are
you sure you’re all right?” he finally asked. The only light came from a streetlight he had parked in front of. It lit his face and all I could really make out were his brown eyes, they seemed more golden than normal. His stare could melt chocolate.

“Yea
h, I just wish we could figure this out. I don’t even know where we go from here. Maggie is still out there, maybe even dead,” I said, disappointed.

“We will find her
, Em. The bad guys never win.” He kissed the top of my head.

“Seems like they just did,
” I mumbled and got out of his car.

I slept like a baby that night. Meaning I woke up every two hours
, and even though I didn’t cry I sure wanted to. I woke the next morning to someone banging on my door. I jumped out of bed and scrambled to answer it. Peeking through the hole I spotted Axle on the other side. I opened the door, frowning at him.

“Whoa, baby. You look pretty scary
, rough night? I should have stayed over to keep you company,” he joked as he walked past me, inviting himself in. In his hands were two coffees and a white bag that I knew from previous experience was doughnuts.

“The apartment has a strict no dog policy
,” I stated and grabbed a coffee.

“I
take it you’re not a morning person?” he questioned. He was wearing dark jeans and a white button-up shirt. The white against his skin made him look tanner than usual.

“I take it you are?”
I groaned and stuffed a doughnut in my mouth.

“I have something for you
.” He pulled a small black box out of the bag.

“What’s this for?” I asked curiously.

“Happy Birthday,” he said as he handed me the box.