Devious Magic (17 page)

“Never said you were,” he replied, but he did relax slightly.

I changed tack. “How did you know the Brotherhood were protecting their grounds with magic?”

“We’ve all felt it. There’s various charms protecting the house, but they aren’t particularly complex. I don’t think they’ll be hard to break.”

“That’s what I thought. I imagine they don’t expect an attack.”

“If they have your friend, they might be expecting an attack now.” Anders drained the last of his beer and tapped the glass thoughtfully against the table. “I suppose the charms might be booby-trapped. We’ll investigate further before we do anything.”

“What were you planning on doing anyway?”

Anders shifted uncomfortably. “I’m not at liberty to say.”

“I could just go to the house. They’re expecting me.” It sounded stupid even as it left my lips.

“You could, if you
were insane
. If you go into that house without help, you might not come out. You probably won’t even be the first.”

I slumped in my chair, folding my arms protectively across my body. He was right, of course. I could easily walk into the house, and find out what the Brotherhood wanted from me, but finding where Annalise was being held and getting us both out would be tremendously difficult, if not impossible. He was right. I had to think this through further, and spend some more time investigating before I did anything rash.

Anders went to the bar and came back with another round of drinks and some snacks. As he sat down, breaking open a packet of nuts, he asked, “What do they want with you anyway?”

“I don’t know, but they were pretty insistent that I come. I think they want to talk to me about something.”

Anders made a sceptical harrumphing noise. “Why would they want to talk to a witch?”

“Why would they protect the house with magic?” I countered. “They hate magic, but they
use
it? They want to kill all witches, but are determined to talk to me. Unless they’re hypocrites, there’s something really weird going on, Anders.”

“Agreed.”

My phone buzzed. I checked the screen briefly and put it back in my pocket. I still wasn’t in the dealing sort of mood.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?”

“No.” I eyed the snacks Anders brought over and he pushed a packet of crisps towards me. I really hoped he couldn’t hear my stomach gurgle. It had been hours and hours since I’d last eaten. Between mouthfuls, I asked, “So, what’s your plan for getting into the Brotherhood?”

“I have the plans for the house.”

“And?”

“To be perfectly honest, Stella, I haven’t made any effort to get inside. There are always a lot of men there and their fearless leader doesn’t leave often, so he’s not an easy target.” He hesitated, like he wasn’t sure what he should tell me. Probably in case I was a double-crossing spy. He seemed to think better of his reservations because he said, “There are floodlights on each side of the house. They patrol every hour in teams of two and they have dogs too, German Shepherds, I think. People come and go, men. I’ve never seen any women go in the house but that’s not to say there aren’t any. Occasionally, we’ve been lucky and gotten a decent picture. One of the coven has some police connections and they run pictures and names for us when they can do it without arousing suspicion.”

“Why don’t you just give the names to the police in an anonymous tip-off or something? Surely they would be interested.”

“You think we haven’t tried that? The police don’t do anything.”

“But these murders have been the biggest series of killings in decades! There can’t be a cop in Europe who doesn’t want to be credited for breaking the case.”

“Shh. Keep your voice down, Stella. I don’t know why nothing happens with the intelligence we’ve passed on.” Anders folded his arms and rested his head against the wooden wall of the booth. He looked as frustrated as I felt. “These aren’t just any people we’re dealing with. Our investigations have turned up all kinds of people working for the Brotherhood: murderers, bare-knuckle fighters, rapists. A lot of the henchmen have some kind of record; some have been flagged by Interpol. Any sighting should be followed up. The police force here would get a massive boon if they brought any one of these criminals in, never mind breaking the Brotherhood itself.”

“What about the people further up the food chain? I was contacted by someone calling himself John Jones.”

“Well that’s more original than John Smith,” Anders scoffed. “Don’t suppose you got a picture?”

I shook my head. “Sorry.” I hadn’t thought to.

“Doesn’t matter. The Brotherhood’s officers, as we call them, tend to have clean records. They don’t like to get their hands dirty. Or, if they do, no one finds out.”

“My friends think someone is protecting them.”

“That’s the only theory that fits. The only one I’ve come to,” agreed Anders. “I wish I knew who had that kind of power.”

I absorbed that then remembered there was something I hadn’t asked him. “You haven’t told me why you’re so interested in them yet.”

Anders was quiet for a moment. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a slim black wallet. Opening it, he extracted a small, square piece of paper and passed it to me. There was Anders, looking younger, his hair a little longer and a girl with her arms wrapped around him, grinning at the camera. They looked very similar. When I looked up, question marked on my face, Anders said, “They killed my sister.”

I didn’t need to imagine how she had died. I knew. It would have been terrible. “I’m so sorry,” I said simply.

We threw theories back and forth and my phone vibrated a couple more times, but I ignored it. Once, Anders excused himself to take a call, retreating to the foyer where I couldn’t hear. Finally, he left with a promise to return the next day and bring with him his plans of the house and a map of the locale, along with another coven member, if they agreed.

I stayed in the pub, ate dinner alone at the table and asked about the rooms. The landlady, Mrs. Peters, was happy to rent me one and showed me upstairs, insisting on carrying my bag for me after I retrieved it from the car, even though I didn’t need her to. The rooms covered the space above the pub and the one she allocated me was basic but clean, and not too expensive, which was good enough for me.

Standing alone, once she’d fetched towels and pointed out the door to the bathroom, I looked around. My room had a double bed with a thick duvet, an old-fashioned dresser with a mirror mounted on top and a small desk with a chair under the window. I dumped my bag on the chair, peeking outside. There was a single streetlight and I could just see fields stretching away as the road curved towards Hawksley village. I tugged the curtains shut and flicked on the lamp.

Since I packed hurriedly and at distance, I didn’t have any pyjamas, meaning I would have to sleep in my tee, so I shucked my jeans, folding them over the chair and climbed into bed. I was too tired to brush my teeth and my eyes closed as soon as my head hit the pillow, even though my head was whirring with thoughts.

I wanted to make plans, I wanted to locate Annalise and get her away from that house. I didn’t want to sleep but that’s what I did.

Five minutes later, I woke up. At least, it seemed that way, but one look at my watch told me I’d been asleep for hours and hours. I rubbed my eyes, yawned without bothering to cover my mouth and stretched to ease life into my limbs, my mind already buzzing.

My thoughts alighted first on Evan and how angry he must be, not to mention worried. Annalise was either frightened or in a shallow grave. Gage was probably going crazy with anxiety. Étoile was... probably putting her make up on and rallying the troops. She might be pissed, but she always came through for me. I wondered if Kitty were safely at home.

I thought about Anders in his quasi-black ops gear and if he’d spoken to his coven about me. I wondered if the Brotherhood already knew I were here and if they were expecting me.

Reaching for my phone, I checked the call log. No new phone calls, but there were a couple of messages.

Gage sent: “
Made contact with local pack. Getting on plane tonight.”
Given the time zones I wondered if that meant yesterday or today.

The other text was from Evan. It read: “
I can guess where you are. Stay safe until I can get there. X.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps the making up part wouldn’t be so challenging after all. He had known exactly where I would go, and why, and he was on his way. That he was coming to help me made me feel a great deal more comforted than the idea that he was furious at me.

I smiled. A knock at my door made me sit up, tense. “Yes?” I called.

“Breakfast is downstairs if you want it, love,” trilled Mrs. Peters, the landlady. “Cooked or cereal?”

At last, a question I could easily answer. “Cooked, please. I’ll be down in ten minutes.”

“I’ll have it ready for you. Oh, and there’s someone here to see you so I laid the table for two.” I heard Mrs. Peters pad away before I could ask whom it was.

Dressing quickly, I pulled off yesterday’s shirt, and tugged on a fresh one, then my jeans, still slightly mud-spattered, before quickly running through my bathroom routine. Finally I pulled on my boots and went downstairs; searching through the backrooms until I found the small dining room reserved for guests. I felt pleased that Anders must have come through for me already.

When I saw my guest, I stopped suddenly. “Étoile?” I gasped.

Étoile looked up from her cereal, her spoon hovering in the air, and smiled. “You could have told me what you were going to do,” she admonished as I slid into the seat opposite. “It would have been nicer to get a flight together. Plus, now I owe Micah fifty bucks. I said you wouldn’t go, he said you would.”

I was starting to like Micah. Obviously, the distance helped. “What are you doing here?”

“Keeping you from getting killed… As usual,” she said emphasising the last couple of words as she set down her spoon and rested her elbows on the table, clasping her hands together. “You’re in trouble, by the way.”

“I know that. I got Evan’s message. Is he mad at me?”

“More at himself, I think. Though it’s hard to tell when he keeps setting things on fire.”

I winced, remembering his message saying he was coming. “Did he come with you?”

“No. He went back to Wilding to help Gage.”

“Seriously? I thought he said it wasn’t safe there.” Also, I was more than a little impressed at his willingness to help Gage in his time of need, regardless of their personal opinions of one another.

“For you,” Étoile pointed out. “Who’s going to attack Evan? Forget I asked. He’s rallying the troops.”

“Rallying the troops?” I repeated, then sat back while Mrs. Peters put a heaped plate in front of me. With the mound of sausages, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs, I was set for the day. Étoile looked at my plate, then back to her cereal and pulled a face.

“Mmm. Evan is going to help the wolf pack,” confirmed Étoile. “He left a message saying they haven’t found any trace of the Brotherhood in or around Wilding, so it’s likely that they’ve left completely. Perhaps they all returned here.”

“I found Hawkscroft, but I don’t know for certain if Annalise is there.”

“Given that she isn’t anywhere else, it seems most likely that she is,” Étoile stated in her assured fashion.

I looked around, but Mrs. Peters had gone back to the kitchen and there weren’t any other patrons, so we were alone. “Étoile, there are other witches here.”

Étoile looked up sharply. “How do you know?”

“I met one last night. He was watching Hawkscroft when I went there to scope the place out. Said his name was Anders Black. I thought all the witches were gone from here? Anders seemed pretty surprised when I said that,” I said in a rush.

“You’d be surprised if someone told you that you didn’t exist.”

“I guess, but how come there are witches here, when the Council said they were all gone?”

“Have you noticed how economical the Council are with the truth?” Étoile considered that for a moment, her head tilted to one side then she waved her spoon at me. “Of course, there’s always the possibility that they didn’t know.”

“I thought the Council were the omnipresent eye.”

“They wish.” Étoile snorted.

“Did you know?”

“What? That there were witches here? No, I didn’t know. I saw enough of them die to think that you were the last, of any consequence.”

“Of any consequence?”

“The ones with real power, not the dabblers and hobbyists.”

“I don’t think Anders is a dabbler or a hobbyist. He seems to have power, real power.” I’d ascertained that from his aura.

“Then, I think we can surmise that they didn’t want the Council to know that they existed. Interesting.”

I nodded, then, “Why not?”

“I’ve come to think it’s because they are,” Étoile stopped, correcting herself, “they were, egotistical and dismissive. Just so we’re clear, yes, I’m talking about the Council.”

“Anders said pretty much the same thing.”

“Smart cookie.”

I thought about that. The Council had been at the epicentre of so many problems. As a witch, I should have felt supportive of them, not just because they were supposed to regulate our kind, but because they were the defenders too. They should have been my ticket to meet other witches and earn a place in the community. Yet, all their secrets and lies had put me off. “Why did you work for them for so long?” I asked.

Étoile sighed. “We all do things we don’t want to do. The things I did were supposed to be for a good cause. I’m strong, and they needed a strong witch to collect the others. Many of us were sent to different countries, you know, to rescue whom we could. My parents have always had an interest in you, so when the Council sent me to look for you, I honoured my parents’ wishes as much as the Council’s.”