Witches Be Burned: A Magic & Mayhem Novel (2 page)

T
HREE MONTHS LATER…

The bright flash of blue light cleared from Kyden’s eyes as the intense, suffocating wind caused by teleportation from the Otherworld began to fade. The alternate universe parallel to Earth, or the Earthworld, as it’s known to supernaturals, could be accessed by any supernatural at the gateway of the runes of Saint Andrews Castle in Scotland, or a much faster way, through a doorway located in the Otherworld’s castle, a portal designed by the original witch, Gwendolen, who signed the treaty of allegiance with Earth’s supernaturals, who sought a more peaceful life.

Kyden looked about at the suburban, tree-lined street. He noted that the Earthworld was vastly different from the Otherworld—even their smells. Plus, the sheer size of Earth astounded him, as the Otherworld was a speck of a planet as small as Vatican City with its population of eight hundred.

A light breeze brushed across Kyden, and the sword strapped to his bare back banged against his skin, reminding him of the job he had to do tonight. He surveyed the street, noting the eerie silence. At night most humans in the Earthworld slept. Nighttime in the Otherworld was when everyone awakened, including the Council’s Guard, as this is when they hunted killers.

Energy stayed at Kyden’s back, keeping the portal to the Otherworld open for his return home. Moving forward, he stepped out of the shadows that had kept him hidden through teleportation.

The wretched scent of garbage forced his breathing to go shallow as he strode beneath the light post, focusing on the red-brick bungalow and the vampire sitting on the steps wearing a grim expression. To the vamp’s right, Kyden noticed a werewolf, who he’d worked with before on cases in Salt Lake City. Dressed in army pants and a black sleeveless T-shirt, the lean, athletic werewolf tracker Alazar looked lethal.

Kyden stepped onto the curb, nodding his head at Alazar. “Good to see you again.”

The wolf’s amber eyes blazed as he raked a hand through his dark hair. “Not under these circumstances, believe me. It’s a bad case.”

Kyden’s muscles flexed in anticipation as he turned to the detective, offering his hand. “Detective Myles?”

The vamp nodded and rose, returning the handshake. “Thanks for coming so quickly.” His pale blue eyes were alert, his thin lips pulled into a straight line. “The scene has been cleansed. We’re ready to move ahead.” Which meant that the vampires in the Council’s Guard had erased memories and implanted new ones in the minds of any human police called to the scene and any witnesses who’d seen or heard the murder.

Each member of the Council’s Guard played an important role. Werewolves depended on their heightened sense of scent to track killers. Vampires used their mind-altering abilities to glamour minds. Witches used magic to assist guardians when needed. And guardians hunted and destroyed murderers.

While the Otherworld suspected that the highest levels of Earth’s mortal government knew of supernaturals’ existence, they also assumed those officials knew that the Otherworld destroyed any supernatural threats. Kyden remained unsure if the government knew that the Council’s supernaturals had infiltrated all major cities’ police departments to keep on top of their crimes. Though he believed it didn’t matter much if they did, the system worked to keep mortals safe, as well as to keep the truth about supernaturals a secret from the human population.

The last thing the Otherworld needed was trouble that mirrored the history of the Salem witch trails, which was when Earth’s supernaturals realized they needed a change or they would be annihilated. The treaty to keep the secret of supernaturals’ existence from the population safeguarded against that tragedy ever happening again.

History had proven that mortals couldn’t cope with the existence of supernaturals. Secrecy was the only way to ensure that the supernatural races thrived.

Those dark memories tainted Kyden’s mind as he glanced to the house with the cherry-red door, not seeing or hearing any movement inside, indicating that only the dead remained. Biting back the urge to make assumptions, he turned to Myles. “Anything I need to know about the case?”

“It’s unusual, to say the least,” Myles replied briskly.

Kyden’s adrenaline spiked, rushing like rich energy through his veins. “All right. Show me what we got.”

Myles trotted up the steps and entered the house, and Kyden followed behind Alazar. He crossed the threshold, and as the all-consuming scent of death filled his nostrils, he coughed to rid his lungs of it.

Once past the dining room, Kyden entered the living room, finding wood paneling on the walls, an old unused fireplace, and Victorian-inspired furniture. No threat remained, so he turned to the dead mortal lying on the floor near the glass coffee table.

Bite marks littered the human’s body and blood coated her flesh, peeking through her torn clothing. Now understanding Alazar and Myles’s dismay, he frowned at the woman who was lying flat on her back with her eyes wide open. “Christ, she died violently.”

Before anyone could reply, a sweet soft voice carried through the room. “Sorry I’m late.”

Kyden glanced over his shoulder, discovering the Council’s Earth Witch, Haven, entering the living room. Typically bubbly, with big, bouncy brown curls and pansy-blue eyes, she shuddered at the dead body. “Okay, that is disturbing on every level.”

Kyden agreed with her.

Blinking away from the victim, Haven scanned the room and then color swept across her cheeks when she looked at Kyden. “Oh, buddy, you are
so
dead for leaving Nexi behind.”

He sighed in understanding.

His lover would raise hell when she realized he’d gone on an assignment without her—
again.
But Kyden held no regrets; he wanted her to be safe in the Otherworld. While he might love her beyond anything he thought himself capable of, Nexi had a flaw: She put others’ safety above her own.

Perhaps some would think that was an honorable trait, but it had become a serious pain in Kyden’s ass. He wanted the woman he cherished above all else to stay far away from danger, even if she disagreed with him on that point.

“Oh, look,” Haven mused with a beaming smile. “He’s lost in the shit-storm he knows is coming his way.”

Pulling back from his thoughts and realizing everyone was watching him, he nodded Haven on. “Yes, I’m well aware she’ll be pissed. Please show me what happened here.”

“On it.” In her cute, bouncy way, Haven settled over the body, her expression becoming pinched as she stared at the corpse.

Kyden folded his arms, torn by Haven’s appearance tonight. He cared for Haven deeply—feeling almost brotherly toward her—and she wasn’t cut out for the violence she saw working for the Council. Her soul was too sweet, too soft, and too gentle. Yet her abilities were an asset to the Otherworld. She helped them catch killers in record time. But more often than not, Haven closed her eyes when faced with gruesome deaths, which was exactly what she did now.

Eyes shut, she raised her hands high above her, calling on her Earth magic to reenact the crime. The witch’s raw energy brushed over Kyden’s flesh, raising goose bumps, as the vision from the past was brought into the present.

To those who didn’t know better, the vision appeared much like a replay on a sports channel, but this was more of a parallel reality. Haven’s magic tapped into a moment of time, bringing the horrific event back in front of them, almost as if they were now part of those minutes the death had unfolded.

The air became thicker and prickled at Kyden’s skin seconds before the vision solidified, the bodies in the room turning from apparitions to dimensional figures, like a 3-D movie. He hadn’t taken any guesses as to what had happened to the victim, though when the vampire appeared to stalk the woman, it surprised him that only one vamp had inflicted her wounds.

With fangs exposed, the vampire circled the young terrified woman. Then, with a feral growl, he lunged, attacking the woman with wicked wildness. Instant awareness settled deep into Kyden. “He’s newly awakened,” he offered.

“Appears so,” Myles agreed gruffly.

A vampire suffering bloodlust from rebirth was clear-cut—so crazed for blood the new vamp acted more animalistic than human. Typically when vampires awakened, their sires would give them the bagged blood in the amounts they needed to regain control. This vampire had been left alone with no idea of how to feed properly.

Kyden’s jaw tightened as the vamp bit the victim, trying to locate a vein, and missed many times in the process. Thrashing out in agony and fighting for her life, the woman shrieked, reflecting both shock and pain. Her attempt to free herself was useless. A hungry, uneducated vampire was the most dangerous of all.

Done with the disgusting scene, Kyden broke away from the mortal and scanned the room, noticing a witch standing near the staircase. She frowned at the vampire killing the woman, and then not a second later she exited the house.

“Alazar, track the witch,” Kyden ordered, snapping his focus back to the vampire. He didn’t know who the witch was, or if she had any involvement in this killing, but she needed to be questioned.

Kyden heard Alazar’s deep sniff behind him, as he was clearly catching the scents in the room, and then the front door opened. Kyden stayed focused on the killer brutally ending this poor woman’s life.

And soon the victim’s eyes went black and lifeless.

Then the vision froze.

Haven opened her eyes but didn’t look to the dead woman as she gestured toward the vamp with a flick of her hand. “He’s all yours.”

Kyden moved closer and studied the rabid vampire. This ability was why the Council cherished Haven, and why the secret of her gifts was highly protected. While the werewolf trackers could locate scents and follow them, identifying the killer right away made the investigation part of the job quicker. There weren’t any mistaken identities or long interrogations anymore.

He stared into the vampire’s young brown eyes, his adrenaline evaporating—nothing about hunting this kid appealed to him. Whoever sired him had abandoned him, leaving him with no understanding of how to control his bloodlust. Pushing away his disdain, Kyden memorized the vamp’s features for later and then said to Haven, “Done.”

She gave a tight smile and headed for the front door, and the vision instantly faded, returning to the quiet living room with the mortal still lying dead on the floor. “Be safe,” she called, right before the door slammed shut behind her.

The sword at Kyden’s back rested heavy against his skin, nearly calling for the blood of the vampire who had killed an innocent.
Not yet.
“Why would a vampire turn a kid this young?” he asked Myles. “Then leave him to fend for himself?”

“Offering immortality is a gift,” Myles replied in a disgusted voice. “A vampire is proud of those who share his bloodline. Turning a mortal, then walking away”—he shook his head slowly—“something isn’t right about all this.”

Kyden’s instincts agreed.

Before he could say as much, Alazar reentered the room and said, “The witch’s scent vanished.”

Puzzled by what he saw here tonight, and now even more perplexed by Alazar’s statement, Kyden asked, “What do you mean ‘vanished’?”

Alazar shrugged, his raised brows reflecting his deep-rooted surprise. “The second I hit outside, the scent was just
gone.
But I’ve caught the vamp’s trail.”

Scents didn’t simply vanish—there had to be more behind that—but Kyden also knew that without knowing who the witch was or being able to track her, she would be impossible to find.

He ran a hand across the back of his neck, easing the tension in his taut muscles, and replied, “Not much we can do there, so let’s go with what we’ve got.” He drew his sword from his back, slamming the blade down into the woman’s stomach.

The magic conjured on his sword by the witches in the Otherworld dripped with bright blue light, pouring into the victim’s body as a gentle hum filled the room. Before his eyes, her wounds stitched back together. Instead of the fang marks littering her body, she now had a deep slit on her neck with a pool of blood beneath her.

Cruel as it was that her loved ones would never know what had truly happened to her, it kept the Otherworld and the supernatural community safe. This magic was part of the reason the Earthworld agreed to the treaty—Otherworldly creatures possessed abilities that could cover up crimes, making them appear human in nature.

“We off to hunt, then?” Alazar asked.

Kyden stared with a heavy heart at the woman lying dead at his feet. He hungered for revenge for her. Two innocent lives were lost tonight, stirring the razor-sharp urgency to find the one responsible for creating the new vampire and leaving him with no help.

The blood was on the sire’s hands.

He nodded. “Let’s go.”

Hot irritation burned like a blast of Fire magic through Nexi as her feet connected with the grass below. She snapped her eyes open the split second the raw energy from the portal vanished. Dressed in her typical female guardian gear of a brown leather bra and kilt, with a scabbard across her shoulder that held her sword on her back, she nearly stepped forward but then noticed Haven approaching. Heady amusement nearly stole her irritation, but that emotion didn’t belong to her. It belonged to Haven.

More important, it belonged to their soul-bond.

A deep connection gifted these two witches belonging to the same coven. The link was a sensitive one, allowing for emotions to be shared, making them closer. Nexi often wondered if that’s why the bond existed—it made the ties to a coven that much tighter.

As Nexi caught sight of Haven’s smile, she grumbled, “This is so
not
funny.”

“Yeah, it kinda is.” The softness in her voice was just so Haven, as was the warmth in her stare. “I told Kyden he was dead for leaving you behind.”

“
Dead
is an understatement.” Nexi shook her head in pure frustration, gazing around the tree-lined street. When silence greeted her, she added, “You think he’d know better than to piss a woman off who carries a sword and damn well knows how to use it.”