Witch Hunt, A Paranormal/Urban Fantasy (The Maurin Kincaide Series) (31 page)

“I think that’s enough for one day,” I said standing up to leave.

“That was enough for a lifetime. I’m just sorry I wasn’t there to see it through,” he said with remorse.

“Apart from having to deal with Masarelli, I’m glad that you weren’t,” I told him.

“Yeah, well, you better get used to dealing with him because he’s your primary contact for awhile,” Matthison said, putting an end to the mushy stuff before it even got started.

“I can handle him,” I said as I walked out of the room.

“That’s what worries me,” he said, laughing.

I walked out of the hospital still torn between feeling angry that Matthison had been given vamp blood without knowing it and being grateful that Agrona had given it to him.
In the end, grateful won over angry. It’s like that old saying about the gift horse. I doubted that Agrona gave gifts like that very often – if ever. Matthison wasn’t questioning his recovery. As long as there weren’t any ill effects then who was I to complain?

“What is the point of me giving you a cell phone if you refuse to answer it?”
Aidan asked.

I jumped at the interruption of my thoughts.
“What are you doing here?”

“Making an unnecessary trip.
But since you won’t take my calls, I’m left with no choice,” he replied.

“I turned it off in the hospital.
How’d you get here anyway?” I asked as I fumbled through my bag for his car keys.

“I have other means of transportation,” he said, trying to sound mysterious.

“Nice try. Too bad for you I know vampires don’t fly,” I responded.

“Some of the elders can move so fast that it feels like flying,” he said dryly.

I thought about that for a second.
How old did a vampire have to be to be considered an elder? Aidan was at least 150 years old. Did that qualify? Probably not. Agrona’s at least twice his age and I’ve never seen her move that fast.

“I used the Council’s car service,” A
idan confessed, putting an end to my internal debate. “Where’d you park?” He held out his hand for the keys.

With a pout on my face, I reluctantly held out the keys. "You’re pathetic, you know that?"
he chuckled.

I closed my hand around the keys and hauled ass across the parking lot.
Aidan was leaning against the passenger side of the car before I got within sight of it. I was totally out of breath, but he hadn't even broken a sweat.

"No fair," I panted.

"Vampire," Aidan said, pointing to himself. "I even gave you a head start."

"Yeah, because you wanted to follow me to the car," I grumbled.

"You're the one who tried to outrun a vampire," he teased.

"I kind of thought that you'd let me win,” I whined.

"What would you learn from my letting you win?" he asked.

My new pet had previously been lying down on the floor in the back and picked that moment to hurdle over the front seat and press his huge paws against the passe
nger side window. Aidan jumped at the unexpected sight of the ethereal beast materializing in his car. Arawn said that it was my guardian and that it wouldn’t leave my side, and so far he had been true to his word. Luckily the Cwn Annwfn could switch to its ghost-like form at will, or Animal Control would have come into the hospital looking for me. 

“You didn’t have to sick your dog on me, Maurin.
I was going to let you drive anyway,” Aidan said.

Maybe having a
 
dog 
wasn’t going to be that bad after all, I thought. 

We pulled up in front of the station with ten minutes to spare.
Aidan peeled his fingers out of the dash and got out of the car. 

"You may not be aware of this, but it is possible for me to die in a car crash," Aidan said, looking a little green.

"I don't think cars catch on fire or explode anywhere near as much as they show on TV," I said. "Do we have enough time to grab a coffee first?"

"Not really.
I'll get you a cup inside," he said.

"You've obviously never had the coffee here," I told him.

“Your dog isn’t going to eat my car, is it?” Aidan asked, genuinely concerned for the classic car.

“I don’t think that he eats at all.
He was fine at the hospital. I’m pretty sure that he’ll be fine until we get back,” I said, trying to be reassuring.

“Pretty sure?”
 he asked.

I just shrugged and headed inside.
Masarelli was waiting for us. The door barely closed behind us as he shuffled us into the briefing room.

"I was hoping that you'd get here early.
The team will be coming in a few minutes. This is going to work, right?" Masarelli asked, obviously having second thoughts.

"It definitely will," I assured him, hoping for the best. "We'll wipe their memories to the point where I came back.
Then, instead of remembering me grabbing Mahalia and disappearing, they'll think that we all walked out together."

"No they won't," Aidan said coldly.
Masarelli and I turned to stare at him.

"What?" I asked, totally confused.

"You two didn't work this out before you came here?" Masarelli asked in disgust.

"I didn’t think that we'd disagree on the details," I told him.

"They will have no memories of their own from the time that Mahalia started the banishing spell," Aidan explained.

"Why do you need to wipe their minds that far back? Most of them weren't even inside the warehouse then," I said.

"Are you a witch?" Aidan asked.

"No!" I answered, even though I knew that he already knew that.

"Are you a demon?" he asked.

"Through and through," I said, giving the stupid question the stupid answer that it deserved.

"Maurin," Aidan said calmly.

"No. We don't need to go back that far. It's too much of their memory to take," I said with conviction.

"We're arguing over semantics. If most of them weren't in the warehouse anyway, then there isn’t much to wipe. We're taking them back to the beginning of the banishing spell. They will only remember the demon being banished and that will be the end of it."

"What gives, Vamp? Why don't you want them to remember anything after the banis
hing spell started?" Masarelli asked, not even bothering to hide his suspicion.

"I suppose that you're an expert on
glamouring now, human. Look, the simpler the glamour, then the easier it is for the mind to accept it. Most of your team has had training to resist being glamoured, so we can't over-complicate things," Aidan explained.

"Maybe you're not the vamp for the job then.
Maybe I need someone capable of planting whatever memory I want," Masarelli challenged.

"Slow down.
You don’t need access to anyone or anything that can plant whatever you want inside someone else's mind," I said.

"I am capable of that and more, Dete
ctive. I could glamour you into quitting SPTF to pursue a burning desire to work an I-95 tollbooth. I can glamour the entire station if need be, but the more complicated and unbelievable the story, then the more likely it is that the subconscious will poke holes in it," Aidan said, trying to hide his irritation. "If you want me to do this, then we go all the way back to the banishing spell."

I tossed the idea of
glamouring Masarelli around in my head for a couple of seconds. I couldn't help it. It was tempting.

"It's really the best way?" I asked. A
idan simply nodded. "Okay. No more arguments from me," I said.

Aidan arched a brow.
"I doubt that very much," he teased.

"Fine,
 fine, agreed. Let's just get it over with." Masarelli walked away to round up his team.

"Is he always like that?" Aidan asked.

"Try working with him for three years," I said.

"I've had my fill of him, figuratively speaking," he joked.

Masarelli’s team filed in and filled the seats in SPTF's briefing room, ready to hear how a non-magical person had managed to make three people disappear. I walked over to the little podium where Matthison always set his copy of a case file and waited for Aidan. He didn’t say anything, but I knew he was doing his thing because every face in the crowd had gone slack. It was over almost as soon as it began. Aidan was nothing if not proficient. No wonder he was the go-to vampire for clean up and crowd control. He just wiped a roomful of SPTF's version of a SWAT team in under a minute. I was officially impressed.

Aidan released their minds and one by one they went from catatonic back to their normal selves.
An uneasy anticipation took hold of the room as we all waited for something else to happen. SPTF was waiting for us, while Masarelli and I were waiting on Aidan. He leaned in until he was close enough to whisper in my ear.

"They think that I'm here to personally thank them on behalf of the Council for their assistance. Introduce me as Council PR," he explained.

"That’s supposed to be more believable than my story?" I asked sarcastically. "When have you ever known the Council to thank anybody?"

"It's a new day.
The first of many where the Council works side by side with SPTF," he said with conviction.

"Really?" I asked, shocked by this rev
elation.

"No, not really. Did you forget to shield or something?" he said with a sa
rcasm that rivaled my own. "I believe that you were the one concerned about too much mind-tampering. You might want to introduce me before the window to tie up the loose end of us being here closes and I have to start all over again."

I quickly did my bit and cleared the stage for Aidan.
He delivered his little speech about working together to ensure that Salem was a city safe for Humans and Others alike with the cool confidence of the most seasoned politician. I watched Masarelli deflate like one of those unplugged lawn ornaments when it was obvious that Aidan's story had taken hold. He was quite convincing. Even the most hardened member of Masarelli’s team left the room looking inspired and determined to bring anyone who threatened our delicate cohabitation to justice.

"Thank you for coming today, Aidan.
I know it meant a lot to my team to hear that the Council appreciates their hard work," Masarelli said with his hand outstretched.

Aidan took his hand in a firm grip, but with enough care not to impose his
vampiric strength. "My pleasure, Detective. I am sure that we'll be working together again."

It took me a second to realize what had just happened.
Aidan grabbed my arm and led me away as the surprise started to show on my face.

"Did you glamour him too?" I whispered in disbelief.

"Yes, now keep moving," Aidan said, practically dragging me to the door when I hadn’t realized that my feet had stopped moving.

Masarelli called after me. Aidan's grip tightened and we kept walking as if we didn't hear him calling my name.
As the sound of Masarelli’s shoes hitting the linoleum floor picked up and his voice got louder, we had no choice but to stop.

"Damn, Kincaide, what are you - deaf?" Masarelli asked, forgetting the fact that a vampire could have heard him a block away.

"Sorry, we were deep in conversation. I guess I wasn't paying attention to anything else," I stammered.

"I've heard that vampires have that e
ffect on people," Masarelli said, his expression darkening for the first time since Aidan had tampered with his mind. "I wanted to give you this." he said, handing me my phone. "We found it in Ms. Costa's apartment."

"Thanks," I said somberly.

Masarelli didn't say that she was dead. He didn't have to. I had held on to a shred of hope that she was away visiting relatives or something, but deep down I knew the truth all along. I shoved the phone in my coat pocket and walked out of the station in silence. We drove back to my apartment in silence too. I wasn’t up for conversation. My dog - whom I really needed to name - rested his massive head on my shoulders in response to my mood. The lack of weight and warmth surprised me. So did the comfort that it gave me.

We pulled up to my apartment building and the black cloud that had been hanging over my head since Masarelli had handed me my phone darkened.
 I trudged up the stairs past Ms. Costa’s apartment, unable to bring myself to even look at her apartment door. I vowed to keep my life out of the second floor apartment as I made my way up the last flight of stairs with Aidan and my dog in tow.

I kicked off my boots and plopped on the couch.
“I need to give you a name,” I said, as my new best friend sat on the floor behind me.

“What?”
Aidan asked as he headed into the kitchen to make coffee.

“I was talking to the dog,” I said.
“I need to give him a name.”

“What about Conry?
It means ‘king of hounds’.” he called out from the kitchen.