Cut to the Crone (A Spell's Angels Cozy Mystery Book 4) Page 15

  “Food,” Sami answered automatically, hopping in the road, used to amusing herself. “They probably went on a low-carb diet and lost their minds without potato chips. That’s why I’m never going low-carb.”

  Aric snickered. “She gets that from you,” he informed his wife with a wink. “As for the theory that the vampires were hunting for food, while that’s possible, I don’t know if it’s probable. There are better ways to feed, ones that don’t involve leaving a wrecked vehicle and a mystery behind.”

  He had a point. I moved closer to Zoe, who was fixated on something on the ground. “What do you think?”

  “I think there were shifters here.” She straightened. “The prints are obvious.”

  Aric jerked up his head and focused on his wife. “Where?”

  She inclined her head and he crossed to her, his eyes trained on the ground. It was obvious the moment he saw the evidence she was referring to. “More than one shifter.”

  Zoe nodded and met Rafael’s gaze over the hood of Aric’s truck. “At least five. What did you find when you were out yesterday? You’ve been conveniently tight lipped about things.”

  Rafael let loose a sigh that was more weary parent than annoyed friend. “I have sources all over the state. Just because I’m loyal to you, that doesn’t mean I can out the others.”

  “I’m not asking for names,” Zoe snapped. “I want to know what information you managed to uncover.”

  Rafael shifted from one foot to the other, clearly uncomfortable. “I told you I’m still waiting for my sources to get back to me.”

  “You’re hiding something.” Zoe folded her arms over her chest and jutted out her chin. “Spill.”

  “I have nothing to tell you. As soon as I get actionable information, you’ll be the first to know.”

  Zoe rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You’re so full of it.” She went back to studying the vehicle. “This makes zero sense.” She strode to the passenger door and tugged. It refused to open.

  “It’s locked,” Sami said sagely.

  Zoe pinned her daughter with a “well, duh” look. “I never would’ve guessed.”

  “Don’t be snotty,” Sami complained. “It’s not my fault Rafael won’t tell you. It’s because you have such a big mouth. I’ve been telling you that since I was born.”

  “Another trait you get from your mother,” Aric muttered under his breath. He dropped to the ground, eyes narrowed. Gunner was right next to them and they were obviously intrigued by something they found in the gravel.

  I decided to let them work together for a bit and focused on Sami. “Come over here,” I instructed, holding up a hand. “I want to show you something.”

  Sami didn’t immediately acquiesce. “You’re not a pervert, are you?”

  My mouth dropped open. “What the ...?”

  Zoe chuckled low in her throat. “Unfortunately, she gets that lovely part of her personality from her father. He’s so worried about boys that he’s warped her brain.”

  “I heard that,” Aric called out. “I’m not the one who warped her brain. That was that stupid show you let her watch.”

  “What show?” I asked Zoe.

  “Outlander,” Zoe replied with a smirk.

  “Jamie Fraser is so hot,” Sami gushed, taking on a far-off expression. “He’s a hero to boot.”

  “Sami just watches the show for the ‘history,’” Zoe teased.

  All traces of mirth fled Sami’s delicate features. “It’s true. Jamie is a hero and he does heroic things, but the history is what I’m interested in.”

  “That’s why he’s shirtless on your screensaver,” Aric taunted.

  “It’s historic!” Sami’s tone turned shrill. “People didn’t wear shirts in the olden days.”

  Despite himself, Aric looked amused and caught Zoe’s gaze. “Did you tell her that?”

  “She didn’t have to tell me,” Sami fired back. “I know because I’ve seen the pictures from when you guys were in college. You’re hardly wearing a shirt in any of them.”

  Aric was clearly perplexed. “That’s hardly the olden days.”

  “Mom says you had to watch movies on discs back then,” Sami argued. “That was totally the olden days. And you had to listen to music on discs, too. That’s just barbaric.”

  Aric grimaced. “She definitely got that from you, Zoe,” he groused. “That’s why she’s using the word ‘barbaric.’ That’s what you said this morning when you realized the hotel didn’t provide a hair dryer.”

  “I still maintain that’s true,” Zoe deadpanned. “It’s cruel and unusual punishment. Hair dryers are part of the deal now.”

  I had to agree with her. “Total bummer. I might be able to track down an extra hair dryer if you need it.”

  “Thanks, but I’ve found a work-around.”

  “She used her magic to create a small tornado in the room and it dried our hair in two minutes,” Sami volunteered. “Dad’s still mad because it blew potato chips everywhere.”

  “Dad is mad because you ate potato chips in bed,” Aric shot back. “If you’re going to sleep with us — you’re way too old for that, by the way — then you can’t eat potato chips in bed.”

  Sami made a frustrated whiny sound. “Since when is that the rule?”

  “Since the great Barbecue Chip Fiasco of 2019.”

  “That was Mom!”

  “She hardly ate three bags of chips herself.”

  “She had PMS.”

  “She wasn’t the only one.” Aric’s expression soured. “No more potato chips in bed. I’m going to have to tip the hell out of the maid thanks to you and your mother as it is.”

  “Blah, blah, blah.” Sami shook her head back and forth, earning a fond smile from Rafael.

  “Come here, junior mage,” he instructed, holding out his arm so Sami could scoot under it. He used the fingers of his free hand to comb through her hair. “You’re letting your emotions get the better of you. You must learn to maintain in the face of the enemy.”

  “Since when are we the enemy?” I asked.

  “I’m talking about her parents,” Rafael replied evenly.

  “Oh.” The dynamics of this particular family continued to escape me. I was intrigued, almost enthralled, but I still couldn’t entirely wrap my head around everything. “I guess that makes sense.”

  “Totally,” Sami said, her lower lip poking out. She rested her head against Rafael’s shoulder. “This is why I’m going to marry you when I’m older. You get me.”

  Rather than chafe under the declaration, Rafael smirked. “I thought you’d moved on to Gunner.”

  “He’s cute but he’s in love with her.” Sami jerked her thumb toward me. “It’s depressing because all the hot guys have girlfriends. Except you. That’s why we’re perfect for each other. You’re clearly waiting for me.”

  Rafael dared a glance toward Aric and found him glaring. “I think we should table this discussion until you’re older.”

  “How much older?”

  “At least four years.”

  Aric growled.

  “At least ten years,” Rafael corrected automatically. “We’ll discuss your feelings again then.”

  “You can do whatever you want,” Sami said. “I’m going to keep planning for our wedding. I plan to wear white. How do you feel about a purple tux?”

  “As much as I’m enjoying this conversation, and I am because Aric has that vein going in his forehead,” Zoe said with amusement, “we have serious things to discuss.”

  “I thought we’d already come to the conclusion that shifters were to blame,” Rafael said. “You said you found tracks.”

  “We did,” Aric confirmed. “There are multiple tracks here.” He hesitated and then barreled forward. “Vampires were here, too.”

  Rafael jerked his head. “How can you be sure?”

  “The scent is obvious,” Gunner replied. “No offense, but you guys stink.”

  “You told him to say that,” Rafael accused
Aric, his lip curling. “The more time you spend with Zoe, the more you get off on torturing me.”

  “You stunk long before I fell in love with Zoe.” Aric grinned. “I believe I told you that, too.”

  “You were in love with the mage from the start,” Rafael muttered. “There was no before. You saw her and that was it. That’s why you threatened me with castration long before you two were an item. I’m not an idiot. Your intentions were obvious from the start.”

  “That doesn’t change the fact that you stink. I don’t know what to tell you. Vampires have a very distinctive smell. It is what it is.”

  “You do,” Sami agreed. “It’s like chocolate and peanut butter.”

  Aric shot her a look. “More like death and decay.”

  “Um, no.” Sami gazed up at Rafael. “Chocolate and peanut butter.”

  Aric beseeched Zoe for help. “Tell her.”

  “I don’t smell anything when I’m around any of you,” she said to her husband. “I’m sorry to burst your bubble but it’s not the scent tipping me off. It’s this.” She waved her hand in the air, unleashing a short burst of magic that was both pretty and powerful. Various footprints were illuminated on the ground when she was finished. “The blue are vampires,” she explained, grim. “I’m counting at least three. If you look over there, it’s more like five or six.” She gestured toward a crop of trees. “The brown are shifters. There are at least three sets of shifter footprints.”

  “That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Gunner said. “This area is thick with shifters. It could be pack members tracking the vampires. My father might’ve alerted others before tracking me down.”

  “That’s entirely possible,” Zoe conceded. “It’s also possible the shifters and vampires were together.”

  Gunner immediately started shaking his head. “No. Shifters and vampires don’t work together. Everybody knows that.”

  I cleared my throat and moved my finger between Aric and Rafael, offering up a wry smile.

  “That’s different,” he argued. “This vampire is obviously … different.”

  “He is,” Zoe agreed. “He’s born. That doesn’t mean he’s the only different vampire out there.” She hesitated, her gaze boring into Rafael. “He has sources up here, after all. Odds are his sources are like him.”

  It made sense. “I didn’t realize we had born vampires up here.”

  “There are born vampires everywhere,” said Rafael, his dark gaze never moving from Zoe’s pointed features. “Our numbers are falling but we’re nowhere near extinct.”

  “And born vampires are good?” I asked.

  The sigh Rafael emitted was long and drawn out. “Black and white terms like that are hardly helpful. Vampires, like humans and shifters, can be multiple things. Good or bad is a state of mind, and also unrealistic. You can be more than one thing.”

  His words were both truthful and annoying at the same time. “I don’t need a cultural sensitivity lecture, Rafael. I want to know why you’ve partnered up with a mage and a shifter. If shifters and vampires never join forces, why are you two best friends?”

  Aric balked. “Best friends?”

  Rafael looked absolutely horrified at the prospect. “That is the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard.”

  I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead and reminded myself to remain calm. “I get that you guys are ... whatever it is that you are. There’s some dire need to keep up appearances I don’t particularly understand, but it’s there. We don’t have time for that. You’re friends. In fact, you’re extremely close friends, enough so that you trusted him to protect your daughter when you thought you might die to cover their escape.”

  Aric worked his jaw, obviously annoyed. “He’s not my best friend. Zoe is my best friend.”

  I didn’t bother to hide my eye roll. “Whatever. The point is, you’re friends. I want to know how that happened.”

  Aric hesitated, holding Rafael’s gaze, and then shrugged. “We had common interests. We agreed to work together long before there was any hint of friendship.”

  “The friendship, and I don’t know that I would call it that, occurred long after the fact,” Rafael added. “It was a gradual thing. Even now, we fight all the time.”

  “That’s a guy thing.” I waved it off. “You insult each other and play around because you enjoy it. That doesn’t mean you’re not friends.”

  Zoe snorted while the men uncomfortably eyed one another. “Oh, look, they’re speechless.” She was genuinely amused. “As for vampires and shifters hanging out, Rafael told you the reason. Common interests. It’s probably these particular shifters and werewolves are working together because they have a common goal. We have to find out what that is.”

  “How do you suggest we do that?” I was genuinely curious. “We’re going to have to track them down, right?”

  “We are, but we need to come up with a plan first. That means we have to put our heads together.”

  Sami’s hand shot in the air. “I want to be in charge of the planning session. I’m good at it. My first decree as leader of the planning session is that we need potato chips to brainstorm. And some cupcakes.”

  Aric made a growling sound deep in his throat. “She definitely gets that from you.”

  Zoe merely shrugged. “Cupcakes sound good.”

  Fifteen

  We didn’t immediately leave the area as I expected. Gunner and Aric made a big show of circling the vehicle and putting their sniffers to use. It was the first time I’d witnessed Gunner actually utilizing his shifter abilities for something other than Spells Angels business, and it was enlightening to watch.

  “It’s a wolf thing,” Zoe remarked from her spot in the shade, her eyes obscured by sunglasses. She’d been silent for so long I thought she might have drifted off.

  “What’s a wolf thing?” I asked, shifting my attention from my phone. I’d been trying to message a friend in the Detroit area, a police officer, to see if he could run the license plate for me. He hadn’t yet responded.

  “What they’re doing over there.” Zoe inclined her head. “They get alpha when they’re around one another.”

  I found her response amusing. “I hate to break it to you, but that’s not alpha. I’ve hung around enough shifters to say, unequivocally, that things can get much worse.”

  “Oh, I have no doubt.” Zoe crossed her feet at the ankles and focused her attention to the other side of the clearing, to where Rafael instructed Sami on ... something. It looked as if he was trying to teach her how to follow footprints, but I couldn’t be certain.

  “They’re tight.” I gestured toward them. “They’re kind of cute.”

  “They are,” she agreed. “He’d die for her.”

  “That’s not all that cute.”

  “It’s reassuring,” said Zoe. “If something happens to Aric and me, she’ll have somewhere to go. My parents would also die for her, but they no longer have magic. Er, well, very much magic. Aric’s parents are shifters, but they don’t have standing in the pack like they used to.”

  That was interesting. I’d always been curious about pack politics. “Are you guys pack?”

  She shook her head. “There was a time, about two years ago, when we were under attack. We were willing to consider it for Sami but ultimately it wasn’t necessary.”

  The way she wrinkled her nose told me exactly what she thought about the prospect. “You must have been desperate.”

  “A parent will do anything to protect a child, even something that feels wrong.”

  “I’m glad things worked out.”

  “Me, too.” Her smile was back. “Although it’s difficult for Aric’s parents. I don’t want to paint them as bad people. They’re not. They were wonderful parents to Aric and they dote on Sami.”

  “Are you saying they don’t like you?”

  She shrugged. “I’m saying that they would’ve preferred Aric marry a wolf. They love me, although sometimes it’s a test, but they had
grand plans for him. All that went away when we were in college.”

  A memory of something she’d said before niggled at the back of my brain. “You were separated for a time. You mentioned pack politics.”

  It wasn’t a question, but she nodded in acknowledgement. “We separated because he was loyal to his pack. We reunited because I realized that by trying to be loyal to his pack and me, he was tearing himself apart. In the end, he chose me, and there’s been a small bit of guilt associated with that choice ever since.”

  “Guilt for you?”

  “I’ve always worried that he felt as if he somehow lost something.”

  “I don’t think he believes that.”

  “No.” She exhaled heavily and rubbed her forehead. “Tell me about Gunner’s pack. Do you think they’ll cause problems for you?”

  The conversational shift threw me. “He’s not part of a pack. He was at one time, but something happened and he and his father separated. I don’t believe they’re at war with their former pack — and one faction that split from their pack returned a few weeks ago to make trouble — but they’re not overly involved.”

  “That’s good. He made the choice before you hooked up. That makes things easier.”

  “But?” I prodded. She clearly wasn’t saying something.

  “Do you know why he separated from his pack?”

  I hesitated. It felt like I was talking out of turn, even though I knew Zoe wouldn’t use the information to her advantage. “There have been vague reasons. I think some of it has to do with his mother. She ... lost her head and was committed at some point. I’m not sure what that has to do with the pack, but I know Graham and Gunner are both touchy when it comes to talking about her.”

  “Lost her mind how?”

  “She … had issues. Mental issues. She tried to hurt Gunner when he was a child, almost killed him. His father saved him but it was hard on both of them.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. He seems like a good guy, although his fear of Sami is going to turn into a thing if he doesn’t develop a stronger backbone. She senses the weakness in him and will use it to her advantage.”