whiskey witches 02 - blood moon magick (22 page)

Sven glared.

Oriel tore open two sugar packets, spilled the contents on the table, and began tracing something with it. “Come back.”

“You know I can’t.”

“Surely you can find a way to repent.”

Sven slid his gaze out the window, his lips twisted in disdain. “No.”

“Well. What are your plans for the summoner?”

“You actually think I’m going to tell you?”

“If you feel you’re going to regain entry without His permission, think again. You wouldn’t make it even with her help.”

Sven chuckled, but his eyes lacked mirth.

“Ah. So that is why you opened a door to Hell within her soul.”

Sven shook his head.

“It won’t work.”

“Says you.”

“You’ve tried?” Oriel raised his head and tipped it to the side. “I’m sure you have. It didn’t work. Did it?”

Sven turned his face away so Kris couldn’t see his expression.

“You will only gain entry back to Hell though Him.” Oriel glanced at Kris and waved his fingers. His gaze rose and connected with Paige’s as she stared out through Kris’ willow-eyes. “Leave the summoner alone.”

“I’ll do as I please.”

“You always do.”

Sven glanced at Kris.

“No worries, Seven Tails.” Oriel rose from his chair. “I took care of her memories. Stop being so sloppy.”

The vision ended.

Paige pulled back. Had that been…just a little too easy?

Kris’ willow straightened, her branches swaying. “That is all the information we have for you. We hope it is enough.”

Paige nodded and blinked her vision back to normal. She swallowed and turned to Sheriff Karl. “That was very helpful.”

The scribe wasn’t working with Sven.

And Sven was trying to get back to Hell. Through her.

What did all of that mean?

K
arl frowned at her, but nodded. Her eyes trailed to Kris as she left. “What was that? First with Kevin and now with Kris? What are you doing? Are we safe from you?”

Paige waited for the door to close, buying herself time to get her thoughts and heart under control. She finally knew why Sven had cast the spell into her bones. That helped. Kind of. “Safe? Yes.”

“Were you controlling Kevin’s animal spirit?”

“No.” Paige looked up, her eyes unfocused as she tried to find the words. “I just see the spirit and by acknowledging it, they come out.”

“You can see our spirit animals?”

“Yes.” Paige held out her hand, palm up. “You have a soothing pink soul and you calm people with it. You’re also a fox.”

Karl flinched.

“Your element is…” A sharp bite of hot copper laced her tongue and stung her nose. “Fire.”

“So, you could control me.”

“Why would I?” The thought pissed her off. Her fingers flexed, but she fought to keep that emotion off her face. “Why would I do that? What purpose would that serve? No. It’s stupid.”

“And immoral,” Dexx said, stepping into the office. “Hey, just wanted to let you know that another couple of shifters showed back up. They’re waiting out front.”

“That’s great. Thanks.”

“Which ones?” Karl asked.

Dexx shrugged. “Don’t know. Emily is processing them right now.”

“That’s Officer Jakobs to you.”

“Or Emily for those of us not on the Force.” Dexx cocked a lopsided grin at her.

Karl narrowed her dark eyes, studying Paige for a long moment. “Fine. Let them know I’ll see them in a minute.”

Dexx exited the office.

“But you.” Karl thumped her fingers in a stiff cadence against the desk. “I need to get to the bottom of what I saw.’

“Me, too.” Her shit storm just kept getting deeper.

“I’m not talking about the case. Paige.”

Oh. First names. Serious.

“I’m talking about the treaty.”

Oh. Paige thought they’d been over this, that Karl was okay with everything. “What do you know about it? Have you seen it?”

“We know it.”

That didn’t sound good. “Do you know where it is?”

“Hidden somewhere safe.”

Paige raised her face to the ceiling before returning her gaze to the sheriff. She had to be able to work this case. Not because her job was on the line if she didn’t. Mostly likely, her job would be on the line for working it.

But these people were being attacked by demons. Probably because of her. Kind of. Sort of. Something inside her wouldn’t let her leave until she knew they were all right. “Look, all that documentation was lost on our side. We barely know the treaty existed.”

“Exists.”

“Okay.” She needed a different approach. “What I really meant was, I don’t know what rules I’m breaking just by being here.”

“Several.”

Paige rolled her neck, stretching it. “Then, why haven’t you done something about it sooner than this?”

Karl straightened her back, grimacing. “I was politely reminded of it.”

“By ‘polite,’ you mean, not so much.”

Karl nodded.

“People are scared.”

“They are.”

“Oh, man.” Paige smiled and fell back in her chair. “Scared of me. That’s rich.”

“You
are
a powerful witch.”

“Yeah, but, Jennifer—” If the sheriff could play the first name game, so could she. “—you have an entire community. I’m outnumbered.”

“We have the stories. We’ve always outnumbered your kind and it still didn’t turn out well for us.”

“But I’m a Whiskey. My family fought for your side.” Not that she had the full histories or anything. She was just repeating what Tony had told her.

“You gave birth to an Eastwood.”

That was the third time that had been brought up. “Mark had been estranged from his family for years.”

Karl bit her lip, but didn’t say anything. “We can’t just ignore that.”

“What?”

“Your connection to the Eastwoods.”

Paige looked down. “Why?”

Karl narrowed her eyes.

“Like I said, our records were destroyed. We don’t have the histories.” Time for a little honesty. “The only reason I even know about this is because Tony told me. Why are the Eastwood so important, and who the hell are they?”

“You really don’t know?”

Paige shook her head.

“Okay. Well, when the war came to the Americas, the witches and the paranormals found a kind of peace.”

Her stomach twisted, but why, Paige didn’t know. “That sounds good.”

“Yes.” Karl lifted one hand, palm up. “It was. They settled in the most remote place they could find, at the time. Portland, Oregon. They made a life for themselves, created a society.”

“Paranormals?”

“Paranormals and witches.”

Surprise trickled through Paige. She’d been led to believe that the war had been bloody for hundreds of years. Okay. Well, even if it was only since the settling of the America’s, it was still hundreds of years.

“Merry Eastwood took power of the Eastwood witch line.” Karl flicked her eyebrows. “At about the same time a Whiskey girl fell in love with a shifter.”

That sounded like a bad skit of
Romeo and Juliet.

“Merry wanted power. The Whiskeys were the most powerful line and they were going to taint that line with the blood of a shifter.”

With the blood of a shifter? Paige sat up.

“Merry Eastwood restarted the war. She took over Portland, and nearly destroyed the Whiskey line.”

“If they refused to play, then she’d destroy them?”

“Kind of.”

“Then, again, I don’t understand why you’re so scared of me.”

“I’m not done. Your ancestor brokered this treaty. No witch is to speak to a paranormal. No paranormal is to speak to a witch.”

“But this case…”

“I know. We really need your help. But Merry wanted to make sure the Whiskeys and the shifters didn’t rise up against her. Again.”

“So, we don’t tell the Eastwoods. Besides, she’s dead.”

“She’s not dead.”

Whoa. How could a woman survive hundreds of years?

Black magick.

Fuck. Definitely not someone she wanted to mess with. She might have a demon door, but she didn’t do black magick. “Okay. Yeah. Definitely, we don’t tell her.”

“You don’t have any contact with the Eastwoods?”

“No. Like I said, Mark was cut off for years before I knew him, and then he died before Leah was born.”

Karl’s frown lessened. “I’m sorry.”

“He was a good man.” She struggled to wrap her head around the idea that he came from a family that practiced black magick. Well, one witch. And he ran away from her, so that said something about the man she’d loved.

“I have to make sure.”

“I understand. But I don’t know the Eastwoods. They never contacted me. As far as I know, they haven’t contacted anyone else in my family.”

Karl flexed one hand and bit the inside of her cheek. “Would you refrain from talking to them about this?”

Oh, shit. “Um, I can’t. I already discussed this with my sister.”

Karl’s shoulders dropped, her lips tight.

“I needed help.” Paige shrugged deeply. “But, good news, she’s pregnant and no one wants to talk to her, so I’ll just send her a quick text.” She pulled out her phone.

“I don’t mean to imply anything.”

Paige understood where the woman was coming from. “I get it. I do.”

Karl grunted.

Paige swyped,
Don’t tell anyone about the shifters. Grandma included,
and hit send, looking up.

“I really think you’d be a good resource in this.”

“Well,” Paige clasped her hands. “I do know demons and that’s what you’re dealing with.”

“Yeah.”

Paige’s phone chirped. She looked down to read,
Does Tru count?
She smiled and texted back,
Nope.
“We’re good. Leslie didn’t tell anyone.”

Karl ran her fingers over her hair. “Good,” she said relieved. “Well, now that we both understand the war we could start by working this case together…” She let that thought trail off.

“Right?”

“Could you do something for me?”

“Um, sure?”

Karl walked around her desk, and perched against the edge of it, gripping it with both hands. “Do to me what you did to Kevin and Kris.”

Paige’s eyes widened. “Uh. I didn’t do anything. I just looked at them.”

“Yes, but I need to experience it so I can tell others that it’s safe.”

“But you know it’s safe because I looked at your spirit already.”

“Kind of, but we didn’t react the same way. You didn’t override me to get to my fox.”

“Well, yes. There is that, but I don’t know how I didn’t.”

Karl shrugged. “I need you to try.”

What could go wrong here? Everything. Paige didn’t understand how her shifter vision even worked, how it affected them. “Okay.”

Karl nodded once, straightening her shoulders. “Okay.”

Paige squared off with her. She turned on her witch vision, seeing Karl’s pink soul. Pools of mauve and dark, muddied red hung heavy in spots like mildew.

Good to know Paige wasn’t the only one nervous here.

The fox spirit looked up, her head shooting off a fiery array of smoke as she twisted to the left and then to the right.

“Hello,” Paige said quietly.

The fox said nothing, but continued to look at Paige, first with one eye, then with the other, as if trying to see something she knew should be there.

Paige dampened her witch vision, not quite turning it off, but simply turning it down. The fire and the pink soul-flare merged into the physical version of Sheriff Karl, her expression pinched.

The fox jerked.

Karl flinched, her eyes widening minutely.

“Hello,” Paige tried again.

The fox tipped her head, leaving pinkish-orange smoke trails. “Hello,” she said through Karl’s mouth.

Sheriff Karl opened her mouth, then closed it.

Paige didn’t move, didn’t add anything.

“Fox?” Karl asked, her eyes wide as she rose from the desk.

“Yes?” the fox answered, using Karl’s mouth.

It looked, for all intents and purposes, like Sheriff Karl was talking to herself.

“I’ve never felt you like this,” Karl said, her voice filled with wonder. “Unless we were shifting.”

“The strange witch,” the fox said with a whispery tone, “gives us more control than I would have suspected.”

Karl’s gaze lifted to Paige. “What are you doing? Are you calling on the elements? Are you controlling my animal?”

Paige shook her head. “No. Honestly. With Kevin, I did call on elements because I thought, maybe, I’d have to, but with you? No. This is just me seeing your fox. I’m not
doing
anything.”

“This is strange,” the fox’s thin tone said. “But I do not feel as though we should fear her. Her intentions appear clean. Her soul—” The fox looked at Paige’s chest.

Where the door was.

“—good.”

Paige swallowed hard. Had the fox seen the door? If so, why hadn’t she told the sheriff?

“Would you be willing to give us a blood oath?”

Oh, blood oaths were bad. Well, they were fine. Until you inadvertently broke it.