Cursed Lines (A Peg Darrow Novel Book 2) Read online

  I hadn’t even thought of that. My eye began to twitch. “How have they not been caught?”

  “Humans don’t like us very much, Sug, as you well know, and the McAllisters only drain witches.”

  “Just peachy,” I muttered.

  3

  A hard knock reverberated through my house at seven on the dot. Griselda stood on my doorstep, looking cheerful. At least as cheerful as someone who didn’t smile could look.

  “Good morning, Griselda, before I offer you coffee just promise me you don’t have a black bag on you?”

  The corners around her mouth pinched. “Of course not. I’m just bringing by the file the queen promised.”

  “Well, come on in.” I opened the door wider.

  She shoved a leather-bound binder at me. “That won’t be necessary.”

  I fumbled to grab the binder as she turned swiftly on her heel, marching to her black sedan without a farewell. Snorting, I closed my door and walked back to the kitchen where the coffee was conveniently located. Coffee that I didn’t have to share with anyone. I set the binder on the table and poured myself a large mug along with some pumpkin creamer. If that was basic, I didn’t want to be complicated. Sleep had eluded me the night before. Not wanting to make small talk with Deval and his date, I’d left the party directly after my tête-à-tête with Pammy.

  Taking my coffee to the table, I unzipped the deceptively hefty leather binder. The only thing I found inside was a very thin manila folder with about ten pages in total. I flipped through them, staring at them incredulously, suddenly wishing I could rewind twenty-four hours and turn Delmy down. She hadn’t said it would be easy, but I didn’t have time to play super sleuth now that Lola was in danger. Taking a deep breath, I remembered that Pammy said we had some time and looked closer at the pages that had been provided.

  They were surveillance notes from a PI. If Delmy had a Private Investigator, why did she need me? Then, I realized that whoever took these notes likely hadn’t retired down to Tucson. Goblins were good at hiding bodies, earth magic and all that. I swallowed and began a thorough read through. The majority of the surveillance had been on Gregar and Vegard, Faxon’s two sons. I had met them a couple of months ago when I had been investigating the theft of the goblin safe.

  Vegard had been pretty nice in the few moments I’d spoken to him. Gregar on the other hand had been a total tool. Both brothers appeared to frequent nightclubs but different ones. According to the sparse notes done by the P.I., the brothers didn’t get along. The investigator believed that Gregar followed his father’s mindset and believed he was heir to the throne. Vegard didn’t seem to care, which angered Gregar.

  When I saw the places that they liked to frequent, it was pretty clear who I would target first in my investigation. Gregar’s hangouts of choice were boy’s club cigar bars and strip clubs. Since I didn’t have dollar bills to throw around and was no aficionado of cigars, I decided to hit up Vegard’s hangout, The Ranch. The place was an upscale roadhouse. An oxymoron, I knew. It had a huge indoor space with a large dance floor, plus it took advantage of the Arizona weather and offered a large outdoor area complete with bonfires. The place was known for its craft beer. If I attempted to order domestic beer there, I would be shunned.

  I yawned and took another sip of my coffee. I considered a nap but remembered that I had something even better than coffee to give me a boost in my step. It felt sacrilegious to even think it, but it was true. I set my empty mug in my sink and went to grab the winter parka I had purchased while in Illinois and slid my feet into some slippers. In the living room, I eyed George, my artful metal chest slash secret goblin plane, with awe. I ran my fingers over the gold and bronze and silver scroll work. The chest seemed to vibrate in appreciation at my attention. I opened the lid and took the stone steps that only I could see down into the chilly desert landscape that was all mine.

  I found my sleeping stone, which was more of an almost accidental death stone because I had fallen asleep on it before when I hadn’t been used to George’s magic and nearly died. Shrugging, I sat cross-legged on it and pretended to meditate, all the while feeling my magic get topped off and my energy levels soar. It was an energy drink without a crash. Goblins could pull magic from their planes from a distance. My strange surprise heritage didn’t allow that, but it was way better than having to sleep a day and eat a steak to recharge…well, maybe.

  Properly restored, I headed back upstairs to shower and wash my hair. An early start was necessary, and I needed to get the time-consuming process of blow-drying my hair finished. After a much-too-rushed shower, the laborious activity began. Head down, ass up in the bathroom I heard a muffled noise. Straightening, I turned off the blow dryer and realized someone was knocking on my door. Since Griselda had already brought over the file, I wasn’t expecting anyone. I walked to the front door. Cheddar, decided to rise from whatever nook he had been napping in and come with me to investigate. Three feet from the door, he went all Halloween cat on me, tail up, fur bristled, spitting at the door before taking off to return to one of his hiding spots. The hair on the back of my neck to stood up.

  Only one person—Monster, I corrected—would cause that reaction. Fane Dimir. Head of the local vampire clan and my personal stalker. Taking a breath, I reached out with my magic, making sure my wards were held strong. They were.

  I considered not answering at all, and then Fane’s voice cut through my front door.

  “Peg, I know you’re home. Don’t you want to see me?” His voice had a childlike pout in it. He was trying to appear harmless when he was anything but. I didn’t want to open the door, but it wasn’t smart to run and hide from predators. It only piqued their interest.

  I opened the door. “Fane, what an unpleasant surprise.” I made a special effort to avoid eye contact him. Witches had lost their immunity to vampire glamour when they lost their immortality to a curse during the witch trials.

  He smiled showing off his second incisor that while sheathed just looked a little sharper than average and made for a toothy grin. “Come now, Peg, you know you missed me. I know I missed you when you went out of town and didn’t tell me. What a naughty little bunny you are.” In the past when I had spoken with him, he’d appeared a little less insane. Maybe a vampire’s way to show affection was to let all the crazy out. Not, looking through someone’s phone crazy but straight up psychotic stalker crazy. Yep, that makes sense.

  “Fane, I liked the flowers, but I’m never going to be your plaything. This infatuation will lead nowhere. I’m not my aunt, and I have no desire to be anyone’s blood slave. I work for Pammy, who wouldn’t let me be taken without coming after me. I’m friendly with the goblins as well. Do you really want to start an incident?”

  Fane held up a hand and waggled a finger at me. “Don’t be silly, pet. You’ll love it when you come with me, well, until you don’t love it, but I’ll love the part that you don’t love, so we’ll both be happy.”

  “Let me guess, the part I won’t love is torture?” I crossed my arms and gave a hard stare at the bridge of his nose, avoiding eye contact, pretty much the most aggressive look I could give with our curse in place.

  He chuckled. When Fane laughed all of the pretenses of being human melted away and some primitive part of my brain told me to run. I clenched the doorknob more tightly, glad that my hand was hidden from view behind the door.

  “I really like you, Peg. I wish we could start our courtship now, but I came to tell you that I have matters I must attend to. Namely, I told Alice that I knew what she is, and she had the audacity to leave town.”

  “What?” My eyebrows drew together.

  “Oh good, you didn’t know. I don’t like it when my toys talk to one another too much. It gives them ideas.”

  The fear momentarily fled as my hand not holding the doorknob flexed into a fist. I was nobody’s fucking toy. “I could say this has been a pleasure, Fane, but it hasn’t. I hope you have a lovely trip, drive off a cliff, and are deca
pitated in the process.” I ended on a smile.

  “Bunny, you say such lovely things. Though I may need to punish you later. I may be gone a week or two. Stay out of trouble.” He reached out as though to pat me on the head, but the wards stopped him. He frowned, “We’ll need to do something about those.” With that he turned and strode down to a waiting SUV. Looking over, I saw that he didn’t have another vampire with him. Unsurprising given how territorial vampires were. It was a miracle that they had managed to form any government at all.

  The burst of adrenaline that had rushed my body at the interaction with Fane faded just as quickly leaving me nauseated and shaky. I hadn’t realized that Alice was out of town. After our standoff with Grant, the cursed human that had stolen Deval’s safe, Fane had told Alice that he had known what she was but I had no idea what that meant. To me she was simply a scholar, and my teacher, slightly nutty but in an endearing way. After closing my door and locking it, I grabbed my phone, calling Pammy. She answered on the third ring.

  “Whatcha got for me?”

  I sat on my couch, my legs still feeling wobbly. Cheddar came out of his hiding spot to headbutt me reassuringly. “Actually, I hoped that you would have something for me,” I said while I reached over to scratch Cheddar’s head.

  “Hmmm, what’s that?”

  “Fane stopped by.”

  There was a long pause on the phone before Pammy responded. “When it rains it fucking pours. I hoped that his obsession with you would be fleeting.”

  “Apparently not,” I responded.

  “Well, what are you asking for? A good old-fashioned vampire hunt? I’m not going to lie to you, sweet cheeks, I don’t think the Arizona witches are prepared for a war right this minute.”

  So reassuring. “I don’t need to worry for a week or two. He’s hunting someone else at the moment. He just came over to tell his ‘pet’ that he would be out of town for a week or two and to behave in his absence.” I cringed.

  There was a pause. “Well, that is not good.”

  “Yep, but I already knew this would be an issue. I’m more worried about Alice right now. She’s the one who’s on his radar.”

  “Alice isn’t even in town right now,” Pammy paused. “Ah shit, he’s chasing after her now, too?”

  “Yup, Fane has decided to seek her out, and I don’t think it’s to ask her to research ancient vampire lore.”

  “Alice is a powerful witch, and I’m sure that her blood would give Fane quite the boost, but she is well loved and connected. What aren’t you telling me?” Pammy’s deep voice took on a rough edge.

  I hesitated only a second before I spilled the beans. “When we were trapped by Grant, and Fane came and killed him, Fane told Alice that he knew what she was. I’m not sure what he meant, but when he said it, he sounded like he coveted whatever that was. I’m not sure if he wants to cage her or kill her.”

  “Could be a million and four different things. Vampires like to collect, people, things, powers, whatever. Alice got a disposable cell. I’ll give her a call and tell her to be on the lookout.”

  My hand relaxed on the throw pillow I hadn’t realized I’d been clenching. “Thank you.”

  “No thanks needed, Sug. Alice and I have been friends for decades. I don’t want anything happening to her either. Also, despite my dire pronouncement about not being ready for war, don’t think that I won’t fight for you. What kind of sheriff would I be if I didn’t take care of my own?”

  “Thank you, Pammy. That’s very reassuring.”

  We hung up, and I sat in my living room in the quiet. I wasn’t reassured in reality. Trouble had been marking me for a while, but I pushed at the ever darkening clouds, trying to focus on the here and now and not the possible gruesome eventualities that currently haunted my mind.

  So lost in my own melancholy, I jerked off the couch when a knock sounded on my door yet again. My racing heart slowed the minute I heard Lola’s cheerful voice.

  “Open up, Peg. I brought Bosa’s.” She referred to a popular local donut chain.

  I opened the door. “Woman, don’t you have a key?”

  “Yep, but hell if I know where it is.”

  Great, just what I needed.

  She scooted past me, taking the cardboard box to the kitchen. “Have you started coffee yet?”

  “Of course I have, but the pot’s empty. I didn’t expect to see you this morning.” Despite the surprise visit, seeing Lola alone, her normal self, safe in my kitchen, eased a weight of worry off my chest.

  Setting the box and her purse on my small kitchen table, she went about making another pot of coffee. “Of course, I’m going to come see you today! I’ve missed you. I have so much to tell you.”

  “I missed you too,” I said, sitting down at the table and opening the box. Eleven donuts sat before me. “I see you that you got hungry on your way over.” I laughed.

  Lola looked up from measuring out the grounds a mischievous grin on her face. “If you can resist the smell, then you’re not a person I want to associate with.”

  I nodded in agreement, taking a simple glazed donut from the box. I enjoyed variety in my baked goods, but sometimes simplicity won. The light fluffy texture hit my tongue, and my eyes practically rolled back in appreciation.

  Lola finished her task and came over and sat opposite me. “I know we talked on the phone but tell me about your training.”

  I took her hand impulsively and sent a wave of power out. Her eyes widened. “Is that the training or your plane?”

  “Both.” I’d always been blessed with a large amount of magic, but between George the magical plain and my new control, it was stronger and better trained.

  “That is impressive, babe. I wish I could do that, but it would probably just tickle you.” She made a face.

  “Wanna sign up for Fortune Bootcamp?”

  She laughed, shaking her head. “I’ll stick with being a mining engineer. I have enough power.”

  I nodded in agreement. Lola truthfully was not on my level and wouldn’t be without some serious sacrifices, but she had a good level and was no weakling.

  “Any interesting Fortunes at this training?” She waggled her eyebrows.

  “There were some interesting people,” I hedged.

  “Mmmhmm, but you were thinking about Deval the whole time, weren’t you?”

  My skin heated. “Nope, after last night I’ve decided that’s off limits. We can be friends, but I really don’t want to be just another conquest. My novelty would wear off. Plus there’s the fact that I will age, and he won’t. I talked to Bruce about this before. It doesn’t end well.” I brought up our mutual shifter friend. The problem with being the only supernatural community with a normal human life expectancy was that it put us on an uneven playing field with people that should be our equals.

  Lola stood, returned to the coffee maker, and poured out two mugs, doctoring them to our specifications before bringing them back to the table. Setting my cup in front of me, she gave me a thoughtful look. “I don’t think you two can be just friends. There’s something there, and I would suggest exploring where it could go.”

  I took a sip of the coffee before responding. “There is, but if it’s something strong, then he should have been able to last six weeks out of my presence.”

  Lola rolled her eyes. “You two are not exclusive.”

  “I know that.” I started but Lola held up her hand.

  “Real life is not a romance novel. Relationships take time, and you can’t expect everyone to be on the same timeline as you. You didn’t even tell him you were leaving.”

  “Hey, I sent him an email. It was very last minute.”

  Lola let out a deep sigh. “Peg, I’d bet these donuts that he took that as a brush off. He may have attended the party with what’s-her-nuts, but once you got there, he couldn’t stop looking over at you.”

  “How would you know? You left with Michael the minute he said jump.” I regretted the words as soon as they left my
mouth. I did not want to start this conversation like this.

  Lola sat back abruptly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means nothing.” I lied. “I’ve just never seen you leave me so quickly for a man that you were dating.” I tried to smooth it over, but her eyes remained sharp.

  “This is about you feeling abandoned?” Her tone sounded harsh.

  I shook my head. “This is coming out wrong. I want you to ditch me for Mr. Right, but he seemed really domineering. I didn’t like the way he spoke with you. There are rumors—.”

  “There are always rumors when a new witch comes to town. I didn’t think that you would be the type to join the gossip. For the record, I’ve known Michael longer than I’ve known you.”

  “Yes, you mentioned knowing him as a child, but where has he been? Why have I never heard about him before, if you have such a strong relationship with this guy?”

  “Peg, I don’t share every little nuance of my life with you. I don’t like talking about before….” She stopped, swallowing.

  I saw it then, the unshed tears that shimmered in her eyes. Anger and sadness warred on her face. She was remembering the time before her parents died.

  “Lola,” I reached my hand out to her.

  She recoiled from me. “Don’t.”

  I pulled my hand back and looked down.

  “I’m going to go now. When you’re ready to be supportive then feel free to give me a call.” Lola snatched her purse and the donut box and left, slamming the front door.

  I picked up the half eaten donut from before and took a bite. It suddenly tasted too sweet and stale. The fault lay on the emotions rumbling through my brain and less on the quality of the donuts. Sighing, I stood placing the half-eaten donut in the trash.

  The argument with Lola could not have come at a worse time. I needed her to stay close to me, so I could watch her until we took care of her new boyfriend. Great, now I sound like I’ve joined the mob. Pammy might be amused if I referred to her as the godfather. She wouldn’t want to be called the godmother, as that brought the fairy godmother connotations, and fae we were not.