whiskey witches 02 - blood moon magick (8 page)

T
ony didn’t have a lot to say as they went back to the precinct. He went into the building, leaving Paige outside.

She zipped up her jacket tighter, closer to her neck. Colorado spring was chilly, especially since it was threatening to snow. She hated snow.

Had she overstepped her boundaries? Had she given away too much information? The thing about secrets, though, was that you couldn’t keep them secret forever. She’d learned something in Texas. People
in this line of work weren’t stupid.

When Tony came out of the precinct, the metal door clanking hard behind him, he motioned her toward his car. A charcoal grey 2015 Dodge Charger. Everyone in the department crowed about it, jealous. She couldn’t say it was horrible. It was a Charger, which was part of the same family of her favorite car, the Challenger. The Charger had four doors, which made going out on investigations easier. Though, if she had the money after Leah was grown—

She stopped herself. Leah would never sit in the backseat of her car.

The drive to her apartment started off quiet. Paige waited until they got onto Santa Fe before trying to talk to him. “I have my reasons for not hiding the information from him.”

He grunted.

“In Texas, we had a lab tech. I couldn’t always catch or contaminate the evidence before it made it to her lab.”

He narrowed his eyes, gripping the wheel tightly as he slowed to a stop due to traffic.

“She’s smart. She caught onto the fact I was tracking something different. I lied to her, but she saw right through me.”

He settled back into his seat, the leather creaking.

“She went on investigations on her own, looking for reasons behind the evidence she’d been able to gather. And she found it.” Paige shifted, recalling that night. She’d just happened to be in the area, by pure accident, tracking down another demon. If she hadn’t arrived when she did, Ethel wouldn’t still be Ethel. She’d be either be dead or possessed.

“She found trouble. I can smell it on you.”

“That nose. I’m not going to like it, am I?” She needed to divert his emotions, needed to get him to open up again.

“Probably not.”

She turned her attention to the slow-moving cars.

He remained quiet.

“You need to understand something,” Paige said. “You may have years and years more experience than I do hiding this thing, but it doesn’t show. If you want to be truly invisible, you need to follow the rules.”

His lips pulled up. “No.”

“Then you need to get better at not leaving a trail of red flags all over the place. You were commanding Barn to break protocol. Not once. Not twice, but a lot.”

“I did what I had to.”

“You could have cost him his job.”

“Better his job than his life.”

“Hmm. His life.” She turned her attention back to the window. “No job. Thinking you’re a nutcase. Trying to prove to the world that you’re not so you can get your old life back.” She turned back to him. “Think about, Tony. You were going to send him into the paranormal world alone anyway.”

“I can’t trust people who aren’t in our world.”

“They’re a lot more fragile than we are and unable to protect themselves against what we face.”

“Like demons.”

“And vampires.”

His lips pinched shut for a minute before he spoke. “So, do we take responsibility for their lives, too?”

Paige shrugged. “We have to. We stepped into this role, being the law and protectors of our—” The word “people” sounded just plain wrong, but she couldn’t think of anything else.

“Yes. We are the protectors of our worlds. Against humans.”

She’d never thought of it. She’d been raised where being an open witch was safe, and it was hard to really
get
that witches had once been burned at the stake for small things like knowing which herbs healed, or being able to do math and read, or for making whiskey. Humans
were
something to be feared.

The ignorant ones were, anyway. And how did you battle ignorance?

Share the knowledge.

The same knowledge that could get them killed?

Yeah. Pros and cons. Pros and cons.

Dexx met them on the corner. His leather jacket was only half-way zipped. Large snowflakes landed on his shoulders. He slipped into the back and said, “Okay. Where are we going?”

“I have a case I could use your help on,” Tony said, his tone less closed-off. He pulled a u-turn and headed back to the highway.

Dexx grunted. “So, we’re on those terms now.”

“It’s a long drive.” Tony glanced at his rearview mirror. “We all have questions. Like, what happened in Louisiana?”

“I already told you,” Paige said. She needed information just as much as he did. “How long have you been a vampire?”

“Fifty years.” He glanced at her, his expression guarded as he pulled onto the entrance ramp. “How did the demon cast a spell on you? I thought you were strong and a demon controller.”

“Demon summoner,” she corrected. “And he caught me off guard.” That part was still kind of a blur with the drugs he’d given her. She couldn’t recall which parts were real and which were hallucinations. “Were you bitten? Do you have a sire?”

“I was born this way. Were you possessed?”

“Yes. How were you born this way?”

“Do I even have to answer that?”

She shook her head. The heavy, revolting snow piled up on the windshield under the wiper.

“I have a question,” Dexx said, scooting to the middle of the bench seat in the back. “You’re out in daylight.”

“That’s not a question,” Tony said.

“How?”

Tony shrugged, glancing at his driver’s side mirror. He skirted around a semi-truck. He turned the wipers up to beat the road wash coming off the truck’s wheels and sped up to pass faster.

Paige forced herself not to grab at the door handle. She hated driving on slick roads. Hated snow. Hated slush. Hated being unable to see out the frelling windshield. And to top it all off, they were on snowy roads in a Dodge Challenger. They weren’t known for their snowmobile-like abilities.

“If a vampire is made via biting, then they can be sensitive to the sun for a while, at least until the transformation is complete.”

“But no death by sun?”

“There have been a few rare occasions of people being allergic to the sun. After they were turned, that allergy was amplified.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Paige’s shoulders hurt from being tense so long. She shook them out.

“No.”

“People allergic to the sun?”

“It does happen. Though, they’ve all been gingers.”

“Garlic?” Dexx asked.

“Please be serious.”

“Stakes through the heart.”

Tony grunted and nodded. “Can be uncomfortable and deadly if the situation is right.”

“So, how do we kill your kind?”

“What are you again?” Tony asked.

“Demon hunter,” Paige and Dexx said simultaneously.

“Ah, well.” Tony took in a deep breath and merged back into the right lane. “You don’t need to know how to kill us.”

Dexx leaned forward, placing his elbow on the arm rest. “The way I figure it, there are good and bad ones in every lot; humans, bears, vamps, geese, cats, weres. Mice. Spiders.” He gagged and shivered. “Actually, I don’t think there are any
good
spiders.”

Tony chuckled.

“So, it’d be good to know how to handle one of your lot if we come across one that goes bad.”

“I see. Well, for now, you leave that to me.”

“How’d you get to be the go-to guy for this?” Paige asked, gesturing in a circular motion with her hand.

“The paranormal world is tightknit. We have to be in order to remain invisible, and that’s where we need to remain.”

Invisible. He had a long way to go to remain that way, like figuring out which rules to follow so he didn’t raise any red flags. Which brought another question. How had those red flags never set off any alarms?

Tony licked his lips and tipped his head to the side. “It’s getting worse out there. I know you think it’s safe to trust humans with knowledge of our existence, but we can’t.”

“Why?”

“Have you seen the news? We’re damned close to witch hunts.”

It would never get to that. It was 2016, for crying out loud. “It’s not that bad.”

“You haven’t been reading the right headlines, Pea.” Dexx shook his head and sighed. “Some people really aren’t comfortable with our current President.”

Paige screwed up her face at him. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“It means,” he said, giving her a frank look, “that if the uninformed people of our great nation are scared because they have lost faith in their leader, then they’re going to take it out on those they can reach. They can’t reach the President. They can reach you.”

“Then we teach them.”

“And those who don’t want to be taught?” Tony asked.

Dexx rubbed his eyes with one hand. “I think it’s time for the Whiskeys to get out of Texas.”

She’d heard political rumblings coming out of her home state. They were rewriting history, which was pissing people off. They were teaching abstinence instead of real reproductive information. But that didn’t affect her family. “Why?”

Tony raised his eyebrows. “You really need to start paying attention, Paige. Texas is getting ugly right now. So-called God-fearing people are inflicting their beliefs onto the masses.”

“They’re not all that way.” Paige gritted her teeth. “I know several real, God-fearing people out there. They’re wonderful. Beautiful.” But in her heart, she knew they weren’t the ones making changes. Or headlines.

“And rare.” Tony checked his mirror. “All paranormals are getting out now while they still can.”

“It’s still the United States of America.”

Tony pursed his lips and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye before returning his attention to the semi-slick highway. “You’re blind if you think that.”

“Okay.” Time to get the subject away from politics. Who knew that political instability could adversely affect the paranormal community? “So, you were born a vampire. You can go out in daylight. Are there a lot of you?”

“Yes.”

“Do you drink blood?”

“Yes.”

“Often?”

“Daily.”

“Human blood?”

“Yes.”

“Donor?”

“Sometimes.”

“Sex slaves?”

He slid her a sly smile as he merged into the slowed traffic. “You have a dirty mind.”

“She reads too many paranormal romance novels.” Dexx batted his eyelashes. “That ancient vampire who wants to drain my blood and oppress my soul is so hot,” he said in his best girly voice. “Really, I must throw myself at his feet. Fang me, baby. Fang me.”

Tony snorted into surprise laughter. “Fang me?”

Dexx pulled the corners of his lips down and nodded—guyly.

Paige rolled her eyes. “Seriously? It’s not
even
like that, and the question’s still valid.”

“No,” Tony said with a laugh. “No. We don’t have over-wild sex drives. We don’t need to procreate often. We don’t melt women’s panties with our saliva.”

“That’s a relief,” Paige muttered.

Tony smiled and slowed due to the traffic. “We don’t need much. We usually have some blood in our fridge. We know how to maintain a low profile.”

She clamped her lips shut.

“Yeah, low profile.” Dexx scooted even further forward. “We—” He flicked his thumb at Paige and himself. “—haven’t heard of your kind outside of fairytales, fiction, and rumors. How?”

“I haven’t heard more than that about demons.” Tony watched his rearview mirror, his eyes narrowed. “Our two worlds never mix.”

Paige glanced at the side mirror, curiosity and wariness warring inside her. “Witches, though? You keep your presence hidden away from witches?”

Tony paused before he answered, his brow furrowed. “We work with the elements. We’re bound to them.” He glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. “You control them.”

“But I wouldn’t control you.”

“You? Maybe. Others?” He tightened his lips and wrung the steering wheel.

“Are you trying to tell me that other
have
bound you?”

“Yes.”

How had Paige never heard of this?

“To be fair, we were equally as ruthless.”

An entire history she’d never known about. “What does it mean that you’re bound to elements?”

“It means,” he said, pulling forward a few feet, “exactly what I said.”

That didn’t answer her real question. How did it work? But she didn’t push it. He seemed wary of
her
. They’d been partners for five years. They’d shared a lot of things. He was one of the few people she worked with that had earned the right to be called by his first name. And
he
was wary of
her.
That answered a few questions she hadn’t even voiced yet.

“Your turn,” Tony said. “Did you catch the demon you were after in Louisiana?”

“No.” She let her head fall back and pinched the bridge of her nose. “He got away.”

He frowned at her. “What did he want?”

No sense in keeping anything back. Not if she wanted to build a partnership built on trust. “The key to the Gate of Hell.”

Silence reigned in the car for a long, pained moment.

Yeah. Hearing it said out loud didn’t make the impact of her failure any less.

Tony cleared his throat. “You’re kidding, right?”

She shook her head.

“And you got it. Right?”

She pursed her lips and continued shaking her head.

“Seriously. You let a demon get away with the key to the Gates of Hell.”

“You do recall he caught me, cast a spell into my bones that created a door to Hell, and that’s he a frelling demon, right?”

Dexx leaned forward, his cheeks sunk in as he stared daggers into her.

She still hadn’t told him that she’d traded that key for his life. “To be fair, the key is broken and doesn’t work. And, we did have it. It was in my possession.”

“Then, what happened?”

Dexx studied her from the corner of his eye.

“It was in my pocket, and then it wasn’t.” Crappiest fucking lie ever. “That’s all I know.”