No More Black Magic (7 page)

I glared at him over my papers and drawings, but in the end I sighed. “Thank you.”

“I assume it messes with your metabolism. Kind of like shifting.” He plopped down in a chair near the couch. “You find anything yet?”

I shook my head. “I’ve just been staring at words and symbols. My father’s notes are all jumbled, but I know the answer is here somewhere.”

“What did you expect?” He asked honestly.

“An encyclopedia of the runes.” I grumbled and flipped the page. My eyes scanned the words. Most of the words ran together until my gaze caught something. “Oh, listen to this. These runes were found at a site of a mass grave. The coven they belong to claim to be decedents from Ra and do the god’s bidding.”

Simon leaned forward on his chair. “His bidding? Like, zealots?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean we all believe that we are born from the Goddesses and gods of our beliefs, but it’s rare to see one of ancient times pop up. Many of us just say the Goddess.” I pressed my lips together as I continued to read. “‘They believe that the earth should be cleansed of false covens and those who have strayed from the original meanings of the craft.’”

“I didn’t think Egypt had a coven.” Simon shook his head. “That’s a dead religion.”

“It doesn’t sound like they follow the old religion, just worship the gods. There’s a difference. This sounds like a very dark path to be going down. But I would assume that meant their mission was to wipe out someone. Possibly the person in the barn, maybe the werewolf just got in the way?” I flipped the page and found what I was looking for. A guide to the rune bases.

I moved and dug in my bag for the piece of paper that had caused the hex in the first place. I matched up the runes with the bases. It allowed me to figure out the base of the word, from there I’d have to figure out what they mixed base words with to create the spell. My fingers danced across the book as I wrote down what I found and then continued to translate the note.

I stopped when I finally had it all on paper and looked at it. Though runes didn’t really translate into whole words or sentences, I got the idea. And it wasn’t a pretty spell.

“Abby?”

I didn’t know how to undo this. The panic started to set in. The end result would kill me if I continued to work magic with this hex on me. What was I supposed to do?

“Abby?” Simon tried again.

“I need to call Clarissa. Now.” I reached for my phone and I couldn’t stop the shaking. This was bad magic, black as black could get. Killing with magic tinted one’s soul forever, but I guess these people wouldn’t be worried about it since they’d already killed someone.

I punched the numbers for Clarissa. I held my breath and willed her to answer as the phone rang.

“Abby, it’s two in the morning.”

“I know, but I...I didn’t know who else to call. This hex is a death spell, Clarissa. I don’t know how to undo those.” I could hear the panic in my voice and saw Simon reach for his own phone. “Don’t you dare call Levi.” I snapped at him.

“Abby,” Clarissa started, “First off, you’re going to calm down. The coven can fix this.”

“The coven hates me.” I started to shake. “They aren’t going to want to help me.” I tried to keep the panic out of my voice.

“They don’t hate you, they just don’t agree with you. Please. I’ll gather the priests and priestesses tomorrow night and we’ll take care of you.” She remained calm and tried to soothe me.

“And until then? I have a job to do, I have to find these people!” I glared at Simon again when he tried to raise his phone to his ear. “I swear to my Goddess Simon, you call him I’ll be the one to feed you your balls.”

I heard Clarissa chuckle, but when she spoke all humor was out of her voice. “You just have to go one day without using your magic. Stick to the research. Do you know who they are?”

“Some coven that worships Ra.”

She went silent. “Clarissa?” I asked after a minute.

“Oh, Abigail.” She said and I knew she was hiding something. “Honey, you need to back away from this.”

“I can’t, they blew someone up and took an arm from a werewolf.” I sighed. “There’s no way I can just let this go.”

“Honey, they are a dangerous group. Just...do what you can for the case, but do not go after them. I’ll see you when I pick you up.” She disconnected.

I dropped the phone in my lap and just stared at it. What was I supposed to do? I found myself tearing up. I had a feeling that this went deeper than I wanted to admit.

“I texted Levi.” Simon broke the silence.

“You ass.”

“To be fair you said that I couldn’t call him. He doesn’t want you touching the case until you see Clarissa.”

He was right, I didn’t tell him not to text. “I won’t. I can’t.” I shook my head. “The good news is that I know they are at least the same coven that blew that barn up.”

“I suppose that’s good news. What can you do with that information?”

Not a whole lot since I knew nothing about them. “Research. I need to see what or who they consider to have gone against the original craft.” I took a cracker from the plate he’d brought me.

I flipped through the binder as I munched. There wasn’t a whole lot in my father’s notes on them, but there was a name that kept popping up. I’d have to get to my office to actually research the name, but that wasn’t happening tonight. No, Simon wouldn’t let me leave the house and honestly. I couldn’t blame him in any way for that. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to leave the house.

I woke when Simon moved the binder off my lap and removed the pen from my limp hand. He smiled at me. “I went to bed last night and came out this afternoon to find you passed out on the couch.”

“I was just resting my eyes.” I rubbed my hands over my face.

Simon laughed. “Uh huh, that’s why there’s drool on your cheek.”

Ew. “I need a shower.”

“I’ll cook breakfast. I can’t stay too long, but Clarissa called saying that she’d pick you up about four and take you out to the meeting place.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Yeah, that sounds like a load of fun.”

“Not a fan of the coven?” He asked.

I glanced at my phone and realized it was already three o’clock. “I’m registered with them, but they don’t accept me as one. They don’t agree with me working for Levi or the state. They want me to let karma come to those who harm. I’m also more powerful than most of the priests and priestesses.”

“Then why aren’t you one?”

“Because I don’t want to be.” I said honestly. “I don’t have the discipline or the desire to be one. I have other goals in my life than being mother hen over a coven.” In reality I didn’t want to be responsible if something happened to a member, especially in situations like this. The coven tried to take me in after my parents died, but it was in their will that Levi got me instead.

“Abby, you’ve got that look in your eyes again.” His voice was almost disapproving.

I met his gaze. “What look?”

“The one that tells me you’re dwelling on the past. Go grab a shower, I’ll leave breakfast on the counter for you if you’re not out by the time I leave.”

I nodded. “If I miss you, tell the pack hi for me, and toss that name around.”

“I will.” He seemed reluctant to leave me in the living room, but in the end he walked into the kitchen without looking back. I closed the binder that now had my notes in addition to my father’s and went to the guest bathroom to take a shower.

I showered quickly. Once dressed I went out into the kitchen to find my plate on the counter and a note.

Try not to die tonight -Simon

I shook my head. I wasn’t going to die tonight, if anything the opposite was going to happen. I was going to get my life back tonight. It’d only been a couple nights since I was hexed, but I wanted to keep my magic and my life. I ate my eggs and toast and washed my plate. Right after I dried it a knock came on the front door.

I went and answered it and saw Clarissa standing there. She’d dressed in a sweater and jeans, and her fading red hair was pulled away from her face. She didn’t look happy. I sighed. “I’m ready to go, I promise.”

“I need to see the runes and the translation of that spell before we go anywhere.”

Why did I feel like I was in trouble? “Okay.” I went and pulled out the binder. “Here.”

She looked over it and cursed. “What on earth made you even touch this?”

“I was in the chamber and figured the only way to get the message was to activate the spell.”

She growled at me. “Girly, sometimes you are so stupid I wonder why the Goddess gave you the abilities you have.”

That hurt. “I didn’t know it was going to try and kill me. I don’t know why they bothered with contacting me.”

“There’s a long story behind that. Come on. I know what we have to do now. There’s going to be a happy naked pagan dance involved.”

“I’m not getting naked!”

She shook her head. “You’re going to have to. You need to be grounded and the best way to do that is be naked on the earth.”

“Can’t I just walk barefooted? That normally helps.”

“Not for this. This is deep, deep magic, Abby. You’re lucky your mom had that pentagram for you.” She sighed and hugged me. “No more activating spells like this, okay?”

Like I wanted to do it again. “Promise.” I seemed to be promising a lot of things lately, but whatever helped to get this stupid hex off me.

T
he sun had set nearly an hour ago and we were still driving. Clarissa pulled to the side of the road. The coven, like most supernatural groups, had land in the mountains. It was great for privacy, but not so great on gas. At some point I gave up figuring out exactly where we were, but the moment we stepped out of the car I could feel the magic.

A lump formed in my throat. I hadn’t seen anyone in the coven in over a year, and last time it was because one of our members was involved with killing people using sex magic. I had been investigating for the state. It was a mess and it was not fun to explain to the priests and priestesses.

“Nervous?” Clarissa asked and put an arm around me as she led me into the trees.

I nodded. “It seems every time I meet with them, I piss them off.”

“Yeah, you have a special talent for that, but tonight you have to let us help you. Or you’re going to end up being slowly drained of your magic.”

I cringed. “Is that how this spell works?”

“Kind of. Your mother’s pentagram helped slow it, but every time you use your magic or your abilities it takes part of your magic. You’re a witch, your life is attached to your magic.”

I knew that much. “When I activated the hex, it tried to take all my magic at once, didn’t it?”

“Yes and I’m not sure how you survived it, but tonight we cleanse you of this hex and scrub your aura.”

Sounded like horror day at the spa, but it had to happen. No matter how we did this, it would be less painful than the hex. So I hoped. I let her lead me to the clearing and I knew the moment that I walked into the circle. I also knew that somewhere there was a physically drawn circle that hadn’t been closed yet, but the magic was still there and growing. They would close the circle when everyone was here and we were ready to begin. From the looks of it, we were the last to arrive.

Three men and two women stood talking amongst themselves, but they all stopped and turned towards me the moment I walked into the clearing. Clarissa left my side to join them. They reminded me of judges waiting to give me my final fate. I bowed my head in respect. I understood they were helping me and even if I didn’t like them and they didn’t like me, I owed them for this.

I knew all but one of the women. Sean, Jack, and Richard were the men, the one woman was Sonya, and the unknown one was an older woman. They all wore long black cloaks as was tradition for formal events. Despite what books say, we all normally dress like most humans. I knew by memory that Jack had brown hair and eyes to match, and was the shortest of the three men. Richard had cropped blond hair, was a retired marine, and built like a tank. Sonya’s bobbed blond hair bounced around her chin as she moved away from them men and around the circle.

Sean walked up to me, his gray eyes and brown hair were easy to see in the flickering light of the fire on the edge of the clearing. He smiled at me. “You look more and more like your mother each year.”

I tried not to flinch at the mention of my mother. He didn’t look old enough to remember my parents, but I knew he was. “Thank you.” I gave a small smile. “I fear her legacy is what has brought me here.” I didn’t know how much they knew about my parent’s work. I was never comfortable talking about it, because I knew there were those who did not agree with it.

“The hex is the doing of the Cult of Ra, or as they call themselves the coven of Ra. You’re too young to be mixed up in such a mess.” The unknown woman came up to me and tried to hug me. Her green eyes were crinkled in the corners, giving away her advanced in age. I couldn’t tell what color her hair was between the firelight and her hood covering most of it. A chill went through me the moment she reached for me.

I took a step back. “Forgive me, I’m wary of strangers.”

“If you came to our gatherings, you’d know me. My name is Michele.” She held a hand out. “I was your father’s research partner.”

I shook her hand and then glared at Clarissa. How dare she not tell me? I didn’t care if my face showed my emotions. “Nice to meet you, that doesn’t mean you can hug me though.” I pulled my hand away from the handshake a bit too quickly.

“You have to understand,” Clarissa interrupted. “She was raised by a vampire, she’s not fond of being touched and cuddled.”

That made it sound like it was Levi’s fault. “Levi had never raised a child, he did the best he could. He also taught me to be cautious.” I smiled. “It’s been a great survival skill.”

“Of course.” Michele smiled. “Shall we get this hex off you?” There was something in her voice. I didn’t know her well enough to place it, but I was willing to bet I had hit some sort of button with her.

I nodded and touched the pentagram around my neck.

“You can keep that on, but the clothes go. Lay down in the middle of the circle and close your eyes.”