Smoke on the Water Read online

  “I wonder if we could cast a spell that brings a chalice to us,” Raye said, as we left yet another shop—shop being very generous as it had been housed in a root cellar.

  “If we don’t find what we need in the next two or three places”—I spread my hands—“I’m down with that.”

  We found it in the third place. I was glad I’d insisted on “just one more,” because the chalice was mine. I knew it as soon as I walked in the door. I felt pulled to the back of the store—an actual store this time, what a novelty.

  “Willow?” Sebastian followed in my wake. He’d been hovering since this morning. It was kind of nice.

  “I’m okay.” Though I wasn’t sure if that were true. “Does anyone else hear water?”

  The sound of a brook babbled somewhere out of sight. It was irresistible. I had to see it. Now.

  “No,” Raye said.

  Sebastian caught at my arm. I dodged him and scooted around a huge stack of shiny hubcaps. The brook babbled louder.

  We’d had to leave Pru and Becca at the house. How would we explain two wolves in the rear of the SUV? Better to not have to try. Owen refused to leave Becca, so we made a party of four, all of whom hurried after me.

  Sebastian bumped into me when I stopped, then grabbed my hips to keep me from falling on my face. When Sebastian bumped into someone of my size, they flew.

  “Do you see it?” I asked.

  “Yes.” Raye stood at my side.

  “Good.” I was afraid I was having another vision. In the past, sometimes it had been hard to tell.

  As they hadn’t heard the water, I doubted that the others saw the halo that glowed around the chalice. They probably would have mentioned it.

  The cup was tarnished and old. I was sure if I found some silver cleaner I could make it shine. As soon as I picked it up, the brook stopped babbling; the chalice stopped glowing. I felt something engraved on the side, rubbed at it, then turned the cup so that everyone could see the pentacle carved there.

  “Let’s go banish an evil spirit,” I said.

  *

  “I’m gonna put some gas in the tank.”

  Bobby and Sebastian stood a few feet from the girls as they haggled over the cost of the chalice. The owner had quoted a ridiculous price. He must have seen the way they all ogled it.

  “Let me.” Sebastian held out his hand for the keys. “I’d rather you stayed with them.”

  Doucet had a gun, and he knew how to use it.

  He appeared ready to argue, then his phone chimed and he glanced at the caller ID. “Office,” he said, and handed over the keys.

  He seemed to be running the police department by remote. Sebastian doubted there was that much going on in New Bergin, Wisconsin. Now that Raye wasn’t there.

  When Willow glanced over her shoulder, Sebastian lifted the keys, pantomimed filling a gas tank. She nodded and returned to the negotiations.

  Sebastian drove the Suburban across the street. He had no idea what town this was—or if it even was a town. Besides the antiques store there was a gas station, two taverns, and a church. Period.

  He nearly used his credit card before he reconsidered. The police were probably searching for him. All he needed was for them to find him. If he weren’t arrested, he’d at least have to answer questions. Until this was over, he didn’t want anything taking him away from Willow. He definitely didn’t want Willow hauled back and locked up.

  He was certain both Bobby and Owen could protect her. He was certain the three girls could protect themselves—with a little help from their ghost father and his wolf-wife. Nevertheless, he wanted to be there for her in any way that he could.

  Sebastian counted his cash. He might have enough to fill the tank. He eyed the size of the vehicle. Then again, maybe not.

  He started the pump, keeping a close eye on the cost. Too close, because he never heard anyone come up behind him.

  The sting on his neck had him slapping his palm against it. The spike of pain was sharper than a bug bite. He immediately felt woozy. He turned his head.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, or tried to.

  The words came out garbled at best, and then darkness closed in.

  Chapter 23

  “Sebastian!” Bobby shouted, and I looked up from my dazzled contemplation of the chalice.

  The Suburban was parked at the gas pumps. No sign of Sebastian anywhere.

  “He probably went inside to pay or pee.” Bobby glanced both ways and beckoned us across the street.

  The pump was still in the gas tank. The heart-stopping cost of a full tank glared from the dial.

  “I’ll go in and see what’s what,” Bobby said. “Maybe he didn’t have enough money.”

  I followed. I wasn’t sure why. Probably because Sebastian had been out of my sight long enough to miss him.

  No one was inside but the attendant—twenty or so, tall, skinny, all Adam’s apple and big brown eyes. He was on the phone. He held up a finger. “One sec. Gotta call the cops. Dude took off and never paid.”

  He indicated the Suburban. Bobby and I exchanged glances. He pulled out his badge. “Hang up.”

  The kid blinked, did. “That was fast. I never even got a person on the line.”

  “Yeah, we aim to please. How could the dude take off if his car’s still here?”

  “I know, right?”

  I wished Raye hadn’t stayed outside so that she could toss this guy, at least hold him off the ground until he got to the point.

  “What happened?”

  He cast me a glance—had I shouted? “He was there, and then he wasn’t.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to that. In our world, such a thing might actually happen.

  “Where were you?”

  There was a reason Bobby was a cop. He knew all the good questions.

  “I had to fill the paper towels in the men’s room. When I came back the car was still here, but the guy was gone. I waited a bit. But that’s a lot of money he put in that tank. I couldn’t wait forever. Why would someone fill a tank and leave the car?”

  “He wouldn’t.” I was starting to panic.

  “How did you know you needed to fill the towels?” Bobby asked.

  “The guy told me.”

  “Which guy?”

  “Big.”

  “Tall?”

  “Not really.” He spanned his hands wide.

  “Hair?”

  “Yes.”

  Bobby’s eyes narrowed and the kid shrugged. “Short. Brown. Eyes too.”

  “Car?” Before the kid could say yes again, Bobby snapped, “Make? Model? Color?”

  “Didn’t see it. He parked on the side. Came in for cigs and the bathroom. Told me about the paper towels. I think he used about a zillion himself ’cause I checked them not more than an hour before he showed up. Anyway, when I came out he was gone.”

  “Security cameras?”

  “Here?” The kid shook his head. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. Nothing ever happens here.”

  Until today anyway.

  “Anything else?” Bobby asked.

  The attendant began to shake his head, and stopped mid-movement. “The ring.”

  I got a nasty chill. “What ring?”

  “Big-ass one. He kept tapping the thing on the counter. Thought it was for a state championship or something, but it had an animal head on it and nothing else. Snarling dog maybe?”

  I must have made a soft sound of distress because the attendant glanced at me, uneasy. Or maybe it was the rumble of thunder that seemed to shake the earth. Though why would he blame me?

  I ran out the door as Bobby tossed twenties on the counter.

  “They took him,” I blurted as soon as I saw Raye.

  “They who?”

  “Venatores Mali.” Bobby removed the gas pump that still dangled from the tank. “Get in.”

  I didn’t have to be told twice.

  He accelerated in the direction of the cabin.

  “Wa
it! We have to look for him.”

  “How do you suggest we do that?” Bobby glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “We have no clue who took him or how or where.”

  “That doesn’t mean we just drive off and leave him behind.” I tried to open the back door, even though we were going forty miles per hour already, but Bobby had engaged the childproof locks.

  “Of course not,” Raye soothed. “But we need Becca and a plan.”

  “How can we plan? We don’t know what, where, how—” My voice broke.

  Raye took my hand. “That’s why we have you.”

  *

  I intended to rush into the cabin, turn on the nearest faucet, and stare at the water until I saw what I needed to. I’d add blood if necessary.

  And I would have, if there hadn’t been a car in the yard and people I’d never seen before getting out. I might have even done it anyway, except several things happened at once.

  The front door opened. Pru and Becca rushed out, hackles raised. The man, dark haired with flecks of gray, wore an equally dark suit and dark shoes. He stepped in front of the woman, who was as light as he was dark. She wore killer heels the shade of a fire engine and a striped primary-colored dress, which hugged a body that deserved to be hugged.

  She swept him aside. Since he flew off his feet and onto the hood of the navy blue sedan, I didn’t think she was human, even before she changed.

  I’d seen Becca become a wolf, but it wasn’t the same. There’d been blood and fire then fur. This time there was crunching and shifting. Then fur.

  Her clothes erupted outward as she went from two feet to four. Hands became paws, feet too, hair sprouted from her pores. Her nose and mouth expanded into a snout. Ears grew. Last but not least came the tail.

  It took me longer to describe her change than her change took to happen. In no more than a blink or two, a white wolf lifted her lip and showed her impressive fangs to Pru. Then, when the deep blue, human eyes of the werewolf shifted to Becca, the black wolf stepped between them and snarled back.

  “Elise, what the hell?” The man clambered off the hood of the car.

  She didn’t spare him a glance. I didn’t blame her. My mom was pissed.

  “Franklin.” Bobby approached with a nod that both welcomed the man and indicated the wolf-woman. “Your wife, I presume?”

  Special Agent Nic Franklin, Jäger-Sucher, frowned and twitched one shoulder. “She doesn’t usually do that in mixed company.”

  “Mixed how?”

  “The werewolf-uninitiated.” He looked at Raye, then me, then back at the wolves, who’d put away their fangs but kept their ruffs up. “I guess, considering, you really aren’t uninitiated.”

  “Why did she shift?” I asked.

  “No idea,” Franklin answered. “She has people brain and wolf body, but she can’t answer that until she shifts back.”

  “No telepathy?” Raye asked.

  “Not with me.”

  “What about you, Mom?”

  Pru shook her head and snorted.

  “I guess not.” Raye continued to stare at Pru, obviously hearing what the rest of us couldn’t. “Elise is communicating with Becca but Mom can’t quite get it. She—”

  Suddenly the white wolf bounded into the trees. Becca followed. With a huff that was very motherly, Pru sprinted after.

  Owen leaped off the porch, took several steps toward the woods and stopped. “They’re long gone.”

  “They’ll be back,” Franklin said.

  “Unless someone shoots them,” Owen snapped.

  “You need a permit to shoot wolves, don’t you?” Bobby asked.

  “Only if someone sees you,” Owen replied.

  “I don’t think that’s in the rules.”

  “Most people who shoot wolves don’t play by the rules. You have met Edward, haven’t you?”

  “Yeah.” Bobby rubbed between his eyes as if they pained him.

  “All three of them are more than wolves,” Franklin said. “They can outsmart any varmint hunter around.”

  “It isn’t the varmint hunters I’m worried about,” Owen muttered.

  “Edward wouldn’t shoot his own granddaughter. And Elise wouldn’t let him shoot Becca.”

  “Hold on,” I said. “Heap big werewolf hunter has a granddaughter who is one?”

  The fed slammed the gaping passenger door on his sedan. “Did I not mention that?”

  “We knew,” Raye said.

  It would have been nice if someone had told me, although I’m not sure what I might have done with the information except been amazed by it.

  “Edward’s still in New Orleans anyway,” Franklin continued. “Some issue with your partner, Doucet.”

  “Sullivan?”

  “You have more than one partner?”

  “I don’t have him anymore. I’m no longer NOPD.”

  “Edward and Cass will handle him.”

  “Handle him how?” Bobby said warily. “What did he do? What did he see?”

  “What he shouldn’t.”

  Bobby cursed. “He’d better be in the same huge, single Irish piece he was when I left him.”

  “He will be.”

  From the expression on Bobby’s face he wasn’t sure if that was comforting or not.

  “This has been fun, but I’ve got places to go, visions to have, lovers to find and wrest from the jaws of creepy people.” I started for the house.

  “Huh?” Franklin asked.

  “Tell him.” I flapped my hand at the man, including Owen in the gesture since he’d been here with the wolves and not with us. Raye followed me inside. I heard Bobby explaining who I was—just in case Special Agent Franklin was blind—then what had gone down, followed by a few curses from Owen and questions from the agent.

  I headed for the kitchen faucet, but my sister snatched my elbow, hanging on when I tried to shrug her off.

  “Sit somewhere,” Raye said. “I’ll bring you the water.”

  “No time.”

  “If you fall into the vision and crack your head, Becca isn’t here to make it go away.” She shoved me toward the living area. “Couch or table. Take your pick, but if I have to I’ll levitate you until you behave.”

  Raye had certainly taken to being a bullying big sister with no trouble at all. Considering the only one of us who’d had brothers and sisters was Becca, I found this interesting. Not only did having sisters feel right, being the youngest did too.

  I sat on the couch and scowled at Raye the entire time she filled a bowl with water and brought it to me.

  “You know I’m right.” She set the bowl in my lap. “Quit pouting.”

  I didn’t bother to answer. As previously stated—no time. I lowered my gaze to the rippling surface of the water. Saw nothing. Squinted. Cursed.

  “Get a knife,” I said. Blood magic was dangerous, but it worked.

  “Let’s try this first.” Raye took my hand, and the earth shifted.

  The center of the water began to swirl like an inverted cyclone, or maybe a portal, just as the blood had earlier on the ridge. Everything shimmied. I felt like I was falling down that hole; I even smelled the water all around me. Raye said something I couldn’t make out. I closed my eyes for a second, hoping maybe then I’d “see,” and there Sebastian was bound to a chair. His face was bruised and bleeding.

  “No,” I whispered. I heard the water begin to bubble and boil. The vision did too.

  “Calm down.” Raye tightened her grip on my hand. “Breathe.”

  It was hard to breathe when my chest hurt this much, but I tried. After a minute or so, the vision smoothed out.

  Sebastian was alone in a huge, abandoned building. The windows were grimy, the floor—concrete—wasn’t much better. Empty shelves lined one brick wall.

  “Where?” I asked.

  A door opened, and light flowed in; from the angle, I thought it was late in the day. The future by a few hours, I hoped. I didn’t want this to be another day, another week. I had to fi
nd him. Soon.

  “Just the man I wanted to see.” Roland McHugh’s distinctive Scottish accent made me jerk so hard the water sloshed across my thighs. It was hot enough for me to be glad I wore jeans.

  A shadow spread across the floor. For an instant it resembled the hooved and tailed beast we’d seen in the cave of the crones before it solidified into a man.

  “I knew some Frasiers once,” McHugh said. “They did not join me.”

  “I’m glad to know my ancestors had some sense.”

  “I had no need of their help. There were plenty of others. There still are. Now we’ll wait right here until the Taggarts come for you.”

  “They won’t come.”

  “Of course they will. Mendolson Road and old County Highway B. The abandoned cheese factory.”

  “Do. Not. Come.”

  Sebastian was speaking to me. He knew I’d force a vision—that I’d see and hear and come. So did Roland.

  “Be here by midnight, lassies.” He rotated his wrist and a switchblade snapped clear. “Or I’ll gut him like a deer.”

  I stood, dumping the water onto the floor and racing onto the porch. “Roland’s at the abandoned cheese factory. Mendolson Road and old County Highway B.”

  “That’s eighty miles away,” Owen said.

  “Then we’d better hurry.” I lifted my gaze to the fading sun. If we left now, we’d get there right on time.

  Bobby touched my arm. “You know it’s a trap, right?”

  “Yes.” I didn’t care. Sebastian had stayed with me, risking his career and his life. Even if I hadn’t loved him, I could do no less.

  “I don’t think Roland realizes his trap is going to snap closed right on him.” Raye held the athame in one hand and the wand in the other. The pentacle around her neck seemed to catch the sun and glow like lava.

  “Don’t you need Becca?” Bobby asked.

  “You got her.”

  The voice came from the forest—Becca’s voice. Owen rushed into the trees. They came out together with Becca wearing his shirt. Pru trailed after.

  “Where’s Elise?” Franklin asked.

  “Waiting for you to bring me a blanket.” Shrubbery at the edge of the yard waggled.

  He snatched said blanket from the back seat of his sedan—they’d obviously been down this road before—then disappeared into the foliage, emerging a minute later.