Shamelessly Spellbound (Spells That Bind Book 2) (8 page)

Rather than looking pissed at my bitchy attitude, he flashed
a sheepish smile. “I apologize for being so rude, Ms. Blackwood. I was told you
were my contact during this investigation, so I assumed you at least knew what
had happened.”

“Fucking Leo,” I muttered under my breath.

The detective let out a startled bark of laughter. “That is
who told me you’d be my contact. Let’s start from the beginning. Amber Tate’s
body was found with a stake through the heart,” he explained. “According to
security, they don’t have any record of her being here, and her car was not
here. It was a security guard doing his rounds who called to report the murder.
Can you think of any reason she might have been here late last night or early
this morning?”

That explained how the human police had gotten involved. Lot
security must have found the body, and they were all humans who knew nothing
about the preternatural cast and crew on
Night High
. When we were
filming or had rehearsals, our own security worked, but no one should have been
here last night or this morning. “I’m not sure why she would have been here. I
suppose it’s possible she forgot something, but her car would have been here if
that was the case, right?”

He shrugged. “One would assume she’d driven herself here.
Had she received any threats?”

“I don’t know,” I replied. “To be honest, I’m not sure I
ever spoke to her. I know who she played on the show, and that’s about it.”

“So, you can’t think of anyone who might have wanted to put
a stake through her heart?” he pushed.

“I can’t figure out why someone would put a stake through
her heart like she was a vampire,” I replied before remembering who I was
talking to. “You don’t think there’s some crazy person out there who believes
in vampires, do you?” Any member of the preternatural community would have
known she was human, making it more likely another human had killed her.

“It’s possible one of your fans has started to believe the
actors are actual vampires, werewolves, witches, and whatever other nonsense
you have on this show.” He shook his head. “Sorry. That was another asshole
statement.”

I waved off his apology. “It’s fine. You aren’t a fan of my
show. Was there anything else you need from me, now that you know I can’t help
you find the killer?”

“I was also told you could help me contact Amber Tate’s
family.”

“I don’t work in personnel.” I had no idea who to even
direct him to in the personnel office. Actually, I didn’t even know if that’s
who would have the information, even if we did have a personnel department.
“Listen, I don’t know who keeps track of that, and I wasn’t close to Amber
Tate.”

“I might be able to help,” Cassie, one of the witch makeup
artists, said from the door to my office. I didn’t know her well and was
surprised to see her at my office. “Amber lived with her grandma. I don’t know
the number, but I’m sure it’s listed as the emergency contact in her files.”

“Thank you, Cassie,” I told her. “You heard what happened?”

“Not really,” Cassie replied with a shrug. “We’ve all been
guessing. I just heard Amber’s name when I was walking by.” She hurried off
without waiting for a response.

“There you have it,” I told the detective.

Detective Giovanni let out an exasperated sigh. “It would
really help if someone could tell me how to reach her next of kin.”

When I said nothing, he nodded and set a card on my desk.
“I’ll track down the show’s producer again. Call me if you can think of
anything that might help with the case.”

I pulled out one of my own cards and handed it to him. “I’m
not sure what I can do to help, but call me if you think of anything.”

He nodded. “Thank you again.”

I nodded and watched him walk out the door, torn on what to
do next. Much as I wanted to head back to Trevor, I needed to deal with the
script issues Amber’s murder had created. Mentally going over the schedule for
the week, I realized she had a lot of lines.

This was supposed to be Amber’s big break, and I wiped my
tears, annoyed that my delayed reaction to her death had decided to rear its
ugly head while I was still at work.

“Ms. Blackwood,” the detective said, popping his head into
my office again. His face softened when he saw my tears, which I was trying
hard to cover. “Sorry for barging in on you,” he continued, pretending he
hadn’t noticed me crying. “Do you have a business card for your producer?”

I nodded, handing it to him. After taking the card, he
hurried out of my office, this time closing the door behind him.

I wondered if Amber’s death had been because some human
believed there really were vampires after watching the show. That had me hoping
the killer would go after one of the real vampire actors. Wouldn’t the killer
be surprised when they realized vampires were much more capable of protecting
themselves than poor Amber had been?

My first kill had been almost as good as sex. When Zahrel
had told me he needed death magic, some instinct had driven me to the place
where
Night High
was filmed. Normally, I wouldn’t have been able to slip
past the guards, but thanks to Zahrel’s magic, they hadn’t noticed us driving
through the gates behind another car. Going there had been a gamble, and I
hadn’t been sure I’d find anyone worth killing. As it was, Zahrel was annoyed
that we’d only been able to kill a human.

“Did you hear the way that pathetic human screamed when she
realized we were going to kill her?” I asked Zahrel with a laugh.

Lounging in a chair in the corner, he was barely a shadow
now, but his silky voice glided across the air, stronger than before the kill,
but still weak. “Her pathetic human blood was not enough to satisfy my needs.”

I frowned, annoyed that he was complaining when I felt such
a rush of power. I hadn’t been able to sleep since I’d plunged the stake into
her heart. The stupid human enjoyed playing vampire, but she didn’t seem to
enjoy dying like a vampire.

“If you don’t find me more potent blood soon, I’ll be
useless to you,” he warned, and it seemed that his shadowy eyes glowed red for
an instant. “I may even be pulled back to my prison before either of us gets
what we want.”

I glared at the annoying demon. “Don’t worry. We’ll kill
someone else. This is all I could manage on short notice.”

He glared right back at me. “You could have managed a better
kill had you not been so determined to kill someone associated with that
ridiculous television show. What was your reasoning for going all the way down
there?”

“Melina Blackwood works on that show,” I spat out. Saying
her name made me want to kill someone else. I’d wanted to kill her, but I’d
have to be satisfied with sending the slut to a demon prison as Zahrel’s
plaything.

What was probably a booming laugh came from Zahrel, but it
sounded like faint echoes bouncing off the walls of the room.

“I am fine with you finding me victims tied to my female,
but I will not be happy if I am forced to survive on human blood again,” he
warned.

His attitude pissed me off, and I decided it was time to
remind him who was in charge. Standing, I sauntered across the room until I
stood close to him. “Try to remember, demon, you may be powerful, but I’m the
one who summoned you, and I can send you back just as easily.”

Zahrel’s entire form glowed red, and I saw the flames
licking around the shadows. Still, he said nothing. While the demon might not
like it, I was the one in charge. I had summoned him, and he could do my
bidding or return to his prison alone.

The flames were instantly extinguished, and Zahrel faded
into wisps of smoke that glided around the room. “As you say, Mistress.”

I shivered as his voice slid along my body, wondering if
perhaps it would be smarter to send him back to his prison. Zahrel was weak
now, and I was almost afraid to find out how strong he would be once I obtained
more powerful blood for him. The one thing that prevented me from sending him
back to his prison was the knowledge that he could not only help me get Trevor
but also make the slut pay. Dangerous or not, I was willing to feed Zahrel’s
power to get Trevor.

A tremor ran through my body, much like when I’m extremely
turned on. Soon, I would get to enjoy another kill. I’d bet the slut was trying
to figure out how to deal with the fact that one of her actors had been
murdered. It was unlikely she cared much since the actor was human, but it
would still be an inconvenience.

“I need to see Trevor,” I told Zahrel. “I’ll be back later.”

I could swear I heard Zahrel hiss at me before calling me a
fool, but I ignored him. I couldn’t wait any longer to see Trevor. Zahrel’s
ethereal form trailed along behind me, which was annoying.

“You don’t have to come with me,” I snapped at him.

“Don’t you know anything about summoning a demon?” he asked.

I hated him for bringing up my ignorance. I didn’t know much
about summoning a demon, but I refused to admit that. “I know I can send you
back.”

“Unless that is your wish now, you can’t be away from me,”
Zahrel stated.

That stopped me in my tracks. “I have work tomorrow. I can’t
bring a summoned demon with me.”

He chuckled at my distress. “For every ten hours you spend
away from me, you must spend at least ten with me. You really should have
learned more about summoning demons.”

“Fine,” I snapped, seething at his condescending attitude.
“Let’s go see my warlock.”

I was sitting on the sofa with Mr. Whiskers, watching
television after finishing our pizza. I’d also needed to search for his breath
freshening treats before cuddling with him on the sofa. Since the first time
I’d met him, I’ve been amazed at how easy it was to bond with Mr. Whiskers. A
California condor is a somewhat intimidating bird, and I’m not a bird person to
begin with. None of that seemed to matter, and I’d ended up petting him and
chatting with him that first day. Sure, I couldn’t understand him, but he could
clearly understand me.

“After I convince Melina to marry me and go through with a
bonding ceremony, I’ll be able to understand what you’re saying better,” I told
him, rubbing the soft feathers on his back.

Mr. Whiskers’ head bobbed up and down excitedly, and he
jumped off the sofa to do a little dance, proving how much he loved me. Now, if
I could get our witch to love me this much, we’d be doing great.

When my phone buzzed, I figured it was Melina calling to
tell me she was stuck at work. Having seen her there several times in the past,
I knew how devoted she was to her job. The show and her familiar, who was
currently fighting with a throw pillow, were her babies. Looking at the screen,
I didn’t recognize the number, so I sent the call to voicemail. If it was
important, I’d call them back later.

My lips twitched when a bit of stuffing from the pillow hit
me in the face. The pillow was definitely losing the fight.

“I feel the same about those pillows, but my sister, Jessa,
is going to be pissed the next time she visits me.” Mr. Whiskers looked at me,
cocking his head to the side to study me. I figured he was wondering why anyone
would care that much about a pillow. This time I was guessing. He might have
been wondering who Jessa was.

“You live with a witch, so you must understand throw
pillows.” Then I realized I hadn’t seen a single throw pillow in Melina’s condo.
“Okay, Melina might be the perfect witch and not believe in these things, but
my sister bought these pillows for me because she truly believes my house needs
them. I can tell you from experience she takes them very seriously.”

Mr. Whiskers climbed up on the sofa with me, looking for
more of an explanation.

“It’s not really a long story,” I began, smiling at the
memory. “Jessa said I needed these throw pillows, and I waited until she turned
away from me to toss one at the back of her head. She wasn’t at all amused. I
thought it was funny as hell since they call them throw pillows, but Jessa got
pissed at me. When Jessa gets pissed, she spends a long time coming up with
evil ways to get back to me, and that’s why I now have probably a hundred throw
pillows, most so ugly I cringe when I look at them. When I threatened to toss
them out, she cried. I fucking hate it when my little sisters cry, and I’m
still not sure if that was an act to get me to keep the damn pillows, or if I’d
really hurt her feelings.”

I chuckled at the perplexed way the condor was studying me.

“Okay, it’s more than the crying, although, that does bother
me. Jessa also makes the best cookies, and she never brings me any when she’s
mad at me.”

I had three baby sisters—Julia, Jessa, and Jolie. They were
all technically adults, but I still had trouble accepting that most days. To
the best of my knowledge, my sisters were still fairly innocent when it came to
men. Dylan had accused me of being delusional about my sisters more than once,
but I was fine with that. It was probably best if I never heard about any of my
sisters dating. It made it much less likely I’d try to get Melina to cast one
of her impotence spells on every unattached warlock, possibly some of the
attached ones, as well.

My phone buzzed, and I saw that it was Dylan calling this
time, which came as a surprise since I hadn’t expected to hear from him for the
next couple of weeks.

“Hey, Dylan,” I answered.

“Hey, Trev,” Dylan said by way of greeting.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on your honeymoon?” I asked my best
friend and business partner.

“Damn! I knew I’d forgotten something.” There was no missing
the sarcasm in Dylan’s voice.

“So, why are you calling?” I asked.

“Am I interrupting anything?” Dylan sounded amused. I hadn’t
mentioned my bet with Melina, but it seemed he thought I was up to something
interesting.

“Just watching television,” I told him.

“I was wondering if you’d hooked up with one of your exes at
the wedding,” he remarked.

“Why would you think that?” I asked.

“You were acting strange at the reception,” Dylan explained.
“Allie figured you’d managed to corner Mel and convince her to give you a
chance, but I told her that couldn’t be the case or you would have been all
over Mel for the rest of the evening.”

“Wouldn’t I have been hanging around one of my exes if I’d
hooked up with them at the reception?” I asked Dylan.

He snorted. “Nah, you’d have been doing your best to make
sure I didn’t know about that so I couldn’t tease you when you remembered why
things hadn’t worked out.”

“For the record, I had no trouble resisting the temptation
to hook up with one of the witches from my past,” I assured him. “Do you
honestly think I’d have been humping Melina’s leg the whole reception if I’d
tracked her down to talk?”

“No one has forgotten how obsessed you were six months ago.
I suppose it’s possible you cornered Mel, and she turned your ass down again,
but it looked like you were about to get lucky. You went from brooding to
smug.” I decided it was crazy to argue with Dylan since he’d known me long
enough to make that call. “So, is it a new witch you met at the wedding?”

Dylan wasn’t going to let this go easily, and normally, I’d
just tell him, but if Melina hadn’t told Allie, I didn’t want to be the one to
do it. It was a little early in this agreement for me to piss Melina off, so I
decided to give a vague answer in the hopes of dissuading Dylan from pushing.

“I’ll introduce you to her when you get back,” I assured
Dylan. “She’s definitely something special.” That response seemed good. I
hadn’t technically lied, unless you wanted to consider it a lie by omission.

“I’m glad you’re finally moving on from Mel. We’ve all been
concerned about how fixated you’ve been on her,” Dylan admitted, sounding like
I’d alleviated some huge worry. “I was about ready to beg her to go out with
you for a couple of weeks so you could get her out of your system.”

“That wouldn’t have been humiliating,” was my dry response.

“Humiliating or not, I was getting desperate,” Dylan
admitted. “I’m glad you’ve accepted that Mel isn’t the witch for you.”

If I kept talking to Dylan about this, I’d end up telling
him all about my bet with Melina or arguing that she was the only witch for me,
so I decided to change the subject. “Did you call to talk about my love life?”

“Nah,” he said. “I got a call from Demetrius Talbot.”

Demetrius Talbot was Allie’s uncle, and he was also sort of
related to Melina. He’d been married to Melina’s mom until she’d gotten tired
of him fucking every witch willing to spread her legs. The Talbot men had a
history of fucking around, and it had been one of the reasons Allie had been so
reluctant to trust Dylan. I suspected it was part of the reason Melina had
avoided getting involved with warlocks until now, even if she hadn’t said as
much.

“What did he want?” I asked.

“I don’t have any idea, but he insisted it was urgent,”
Dylan explained. “When I suggested he call the office tomorrow, he told me he’d
just stop by your home.”

“Arrogant bastard,” I grumbled, and I might be tempted to
refuse to meet with him tomorrow if I didn’t know he’d show up at my home,
which could create problems with Melina. I’d feed his ego to protect my witch.
“When is the meeting?”

“I had Sage set up an appointment for him at nine tomorrow.”

“Nine in the morning? Why so early?” I asked.

“I already know you rescheduled all of your early morning
appointments for the week, and Demetrius was anxious to meet with one of us,”
Dylan explained. “The fact that you’d rescheduled the early appointments is how
I knew you had a witch staying with you.”

I bit my tongue. “Fine, I’ll go in at nine.”

“Thanks, Trev,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get to meet this
new witch when I get back.”

His meaning was clear; he wasn’t sure I’d still be dating
this witch when he got back. Given my history, I couldn’t fault him for his
assumption.

We made a little small talk before finally ending the call.
As I was about to set my phone on the coffee table, it buzzed with an incoming
message.

MELINA: I know you’re going to think I’m doing this to avoid
you, but I have to do some work here before I come back to your place. Things
are a mess.

ME: I understand.

I didn’t understand, but that was because I felt like a
selfish ass who wanted Melina to only think about me. It was easy to justify
that when this was our first night together, but I got that she hadn’t asked
for an emergency to come up with the show.

MELINA: One of the actresses was murdered.

That, I hadn’t expected. I’d figured it was an actor not
showing up for rehearsal or last minute rewrites because something didn’t look right
in rehearsals.

ME: I’m sorry, honey. Was it related to the show?

MELINA: Maybe. I can’t talk about it. I need to do some
rewrites and get new scripts out to the actors before we film tomorrow.

I knew enough about Melina to know she’d be doing her best
to appear strong and unaffected by all of this, which made me want to be there
for her even more. Granted, there was a very real possibility she would push me
away, but I still had to try.

ME: How about if I bring dinner?

That seemed like an innocent enough offer. I expected her to
turn me down, but I figured it was worth a shot. The long hesitation on her
part made me think it was even more likely she was either going to turn me down
or pretend she hadn’t gotten my message. I could picture her trying to come up
with a reason I couldn’t go down there that I wouldn’t argue with. I’d already
decided that if she turned me down, I was going to accept it. I’d pushed my
witch enough in the last couple of days.

MELINA: That would be great. Don’t bring Mr. Whiskers. There
might still be a human police detective here. The last thing I want to do is
explain why I’m in possession of an endangered species. He’ll be okay on his
own for a couple of hours.

ME: What should I bring?

MELINA: I don’t care, as long as it’s not a salad. Surprise
me.

I grinned, happy that I was going to get to bring my witch
dinner. Maybe I was getting somewhere with her. I sent a quick message to
Dylan’s mom, asking if she could watch Mr. Whiskers for a few hours so I
wouldn’t have to leave Melina as quickly. The reason I picked her instead of my
own mother was simple; Dylan’s mom was the only person who knew I’d tracked
Melina down at the reception, and she probably wouldn’t be surprised that
Melina was staying with me. It wasn’t that I didn’t plan to tell my own family,
but telling them would delay me. My mom would definitely have questions.