Chapter 12

I gotthe shower first while Sean went down to my car for his go-bag. I dropped the wards to let him go in and out without getting fried—again—and shut myself in the bathroom.

I took off my pajamas, stood in front of the mirror, and looked myself over. My skin looked normal, with no sign of burns. My head and face had thankfully been protected by my jacket, but my hair was a horror show; it had come out the braid I'd put it in yesterday and was sticking out wildly in all directions. Gah. If Sean hadn't run screaming at the sight of that mess, maybe he was tougher than I already gave him credit for.

I climbed into the shower with a wide-tooth comb and spent ten minutes just trying to unsnarl the colony of rats' nests that was my hair. It was painful and required a lot of swearing and conditioner. Finally clean and detangled, I wrapped my hair in a towel and myself in a bathrobe, brushed my teeth, and stuck my first aid kit back in the bathroom drawer before returning to the bedroom.

I found Sean lying on the bed in his boxers, chest bare and fingers laced behind his head. I took a moment to appreciate the mouthwatering view. From the gleam in his eyes, he was well-aware of the effect he was having on me.

"Is there any hot water left?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," I grumped. "Get in there before I change my mind and leave you behind."

"Yes, ma'am." He sprang out of bed and picked me up around the waist, kissing me so thoroughly, my toes curled. Then he put me down and went into the bathroom with his bag.

After the door closed and the shower came on, I checked my phone. There was a text message from Bryan that Charles would be busy tonight, but I could meet with him tomorrow night at ten. I texted him back that I'd be there.

I was already dressed by the time Sean stepped out of the bathroom wearing a black polo shirt and khakis. "Any idea where my jacket and boots are?" I asked.

Sean turned grim. "Your clothes were nothing but rags. Even the jacket and boots were pretty much destroyed."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "Those were my favorite boots. Son of a bitch." I went into my closet for my backup pair, then sat on the bed to put them on.

Sean started shaving in the bathroom. I realized he was the first man to do so, and that made me pause. I wasn't sure why it seemed so significant to me. Maybe because I'd never encouraged a man to stick around before? Hard to say. I found I liked watching him shave as I got ready and wondered what that meant.

I finished zipping up my boots, then put on my charm bracelet, rings, and monogram necklace. I picked up Malcolm's earring for the first time since last night and it buzzed in my hand. He at least had regenerated much of his magic; I, on the other hand, had been nulled so completely that I had almost none, and I hated how vulnerable it made me feel. I thought about having sex with Sean, simply to restore my magic. I watched him washing the rest of the shaving cream off his face and decided even I couldn't be that cold-blooded.

I left Malcolm where he was for now and put the earrings on. Sean was finished in the bathroom, so I traded places with him and put on my makeup and french-braided my damp hair while he packed up his dirty clothes and toiletries. In a few minutes, we were both ready. I stuck my phone in my bag and we headed out.

By the time we got in the car, we'd agreed to stop at Moe's, a fast-food place I liked that was between my house and Natalie's. I adjusted the driver's seat, which had been pushed all the way back to accommodate Sean's height, and we were off. If Sean's instincts were rebelling against being in the passenger seat, he didn't let on. It was a point in his favor.

I turned on the radio as background noise. "So, tell me about yourself," I invited as I drove.

"What would you like to know?"

"How old are you?"

"Forty-two." Which was about what I'd figured.

"Where were you born?"

"Here—well, on a farm not too far from here. My brother and his family live there now, with my parents." Sean seemed entirely comfortable answering questions. I tried to feel as comfortable asking them. As someone who was intensely private about her life, it was hard to feel at ease asking someone else to reveal personal details.

I really wanted to know if he'd been born a werewolf or been bitten, but that wasn't something you asked. He'd tell me himself if he wanted to. I asked about his security company instead.

"My friend Ron Dormer and I worked together for a different security company for about five years," Sean told me. "Then we decided to start our own business. It took a couple of years to build up a decent client base, but now we've got about thirty full-time employees, plus about two dozen part-timers. Our office is downtown, on Decatur near the park."

I pictured the area. "I know where that is. What kind of work do you do?"

"The personal security division does short-term bodyguard or security work. Our installation division sets up surveillance and security systems."

"And your friend who tracks cell phones?"

"Cyro's not an on-the-books employee. He's more of a consultant who works on a cash-only basis."

"With that kind of illegal equipment, I guess he would."

"He does more than track phones. I provided security for a woman last year who was going through a particularly nasty divorce. Her husband was abusive and threatening to take their kids out of the country. Cyro did some digging into the husband's financials, and it turned out he was laundering money for a cabal. Cyro sent the info to the Feds, and problem solved. Guy's doing twenty in federal prison, and the kids are safe with their mom."

"Good for him. Sounds like Cyro is a good man to know, and not someone you'd want to cross."

"That's for sure. He likes to see justice done, and he has the technology and expertise to make it happen."

"Interesting."

Sean glanced at me. "What are you thinking?"

"Not a thing."

His eyes narrowed. "Your tone sounded like you were thinking about something or someone in particular where some justice is needed."

"Nope."

Sean snorted. I ignored him and turned into the drive-thru at Moe's. I ordered a breakfast sandwich and coffee. He opted for three double bacon cheeseburgers, two large orders of home fries, and a large soda. I wondered if he planned to eat it all or if he'd ordered extra thinking I might need it. We focused on eating rather than conversation as I drove to Natalie's house.

By the time I pulled into her driveway, we'd finished all our food. I resisted the urge to steal from Sean's fries; his werewolf metabolism needed the calories after giving up so much of his energy healing me. He looked like he could have eaten more.

I knocked on the front door, and Natalie answered it. She looked pale—not surprising, after what happened yesterday—but her expression lightened when she saw me standing on the porch, as if she hadn't believed I was all right until she saw me with her own eyes. "I'm so glad to see you." She stepped back to let us inside. "I really thought I'd killed you."

"I'm okay." Sean looked like he wanted to say something, but I gave him a look and he changed his mind. "It was close, but we were fine."

Natalie looked at Sean. "Hi, I'm Natalie," she said, sticking out her hand. He shook it.

Oops. I'd forgotten they'd never actually met. "Natalie, this is Sean, my colleague. Sean, Natalie Newton, my client. Sean was over here last night to help with the…cleanup."

"Oh." Natalie's cheeks turned pink. "Well, I'm so sorry about yesterday. It was entirely my fault. Alice is very kind to not blame me for everything that's happened in this house. Thank you for helping."

"Not a problem," Sean said, though something in his eyes made me think he wasn't happy with Natalie's role in yesterday's events.

To distract him, I got down to business. "Do you have the info on your aunts and uncle?"

Natalie led the way into the kitchen and handed me a piece of paper that had been waiting on the counter. On it were the names, addresses, phone numbers, and work information for our suspects. I scanned the list.

"Did I forget anything?" Natalie asked.

"Nope, this looks good. Thank you. We'll start checking them out today. In the meantime, I think Malcolm and I will take a look in the library again." I stuck the sheet in my bag.

"Would you like some tea?" Natalie asked us.

"I would," I said.

"Sure," Sean added.

I headed down the hall, Sean trailing along behind me.

When we got to Betty's bedroom, I flipped on the light and gasped. The floor was badly charred, but there was an irregular unburned shape in the middle of the scorched area. I went cold when I realized that must have been where my body had lain. I'd been too out of it to notice the damage last night. The blood drained from my face.

"Allie?" Sean touched my arm lightly. "Are you all right?"

The sight of the burned floor paralyzed me. It was easier to pretend I hadn't been so badly injured when I didn't have to see the evidence of what happened.

Suddenly, the lingering smell of fire magic and burned wood and the scorched outline of a body catapulted me back in time to another house, where two similar body-shaped burns, one larger, one smaller, were plainly visible, as was the fact they'd been holding on to each other and died where they'd fallen. A terrified eight-year-old girl stood over the ash on the floor, shaking and crying, next to an old man with cruel eyes.

"The floor will have to be replaced." My voice sounded strange, distant, like someone else was talking.

Sean's hand wrapped around my arm. "Hey."

I pulled away. When I looked at him, I knew my eyes showed the darkness in my head. "What are you remembering?" he asked me softly.

"Nightmares." I didn't want to talk about it. I turned away from him and touched Malcolm's earring. "Release."

Malcolm appeared a few feet in front of me. This time, he didn't yell, and I didn't stumble backward from the force of his aura. We must be getting better at this.

He looked at me, clearly relieved. "Alice, I am so glad to see you up and around."

"I'm glad to be up and around." My voice still sounded a little off. "We need to check the library for any more spells before we let Natalie back in there."

Malcolm's eyes flicked to Sean and back. "You have a new partner?"

"I'm her colleague," Sean said, humor evident in his tone.

"It's temporary," I said. Sean shot me an irritated look that I ignored. "Let's check out the library."

Walking around the burned section of the floor, I opened the library door and flipped on the light switch. With a flick of my fingers, I dropped our perimeter wards. "Can you raise the containment wards again?" I asked Malcolm. Sean stayed outside the library, watching us through the open door.

Malcolm raised them. "What are we looking for?"

"I've asked Natalie to search through Betty's books and papers to see if there's anything that might indicate what was taken from that compartment. I want to make sure there aren't any spells or booby traps in here that she might trigger while she's looking, so we need to be thorough. Betty was tricky."

"Got it. You want to do that side, and I'll check over here?" Malcolm gestured to the wall to our left. I went to the right.

I started at the top of the bookcase. I raised my hand above my head, closed my eyes, and lowered my shields. I passed my hand slowly along the books, reaching out with my senses. I felt extremely low levels of air and fire magic, probably echoes left from the last time Betty had handled the books. When I cleared the top shelf, I moved to the next one, and the next. Across the room, Malcolm was doing the same.

We moved slowly and carefully. I cleared the first bookcase and moved to the second one. About halfway through the third shelf, I felt a spark of strong magic on a particular book. I carefully pulled it from the shelf. It was a very old book, stuck in among a bunch of newer texts on magical theory. Its cover and spine were blank, but inside a spidery handwriting covered the lined pages. A journal, perhaps? I set it aside and continued.

We made our rounds of the library, and then I checked the desk and file cabinet and found nothing while Malcolm double-checked the floor. The library appeared to be clean of spells.

At some point, Natalie had come with tea for Sean. When I finished with the desk, he was drinking from a large mug and sitting in the hard-backed chair in Betty's bedroom.

I swayed on my feet, shaky from having my shields down and senses wide open for so long. Sean watched me as I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand and took the journal to the love seat.

On the first page, Betty had written her full name: Elizabeth Ann Finchley Eppright Morrison. Below that was an incantation. I had no idea what it would trigger and obviously did not read it aloud.

I flipped through the pages. It looked like this was part of Betty's spell book, but all of the spells it contained were for her air magic. It looked like she kept her fire and blood magic spells recorded separately. I hadn't seen any other spell books. None of the other books in the library carried as much residual energy as this one, and even it was fairly light. I wondered if that meant that Betty had been focusing on her fire and blood magic before she died. Were the other spell books what had been taken from the compartment? Or were they the books that were missing from the bottom shelf, and the item from the compartment something else entirely?

I told Malcolm what I'd found, and my theories about the rest of Betty's spells. We looked back through all the books, but nothing we saw looked or felt like another spell book.

"I bet someone took them," Malcolm said, echoing my thoughts, when we'd come up empty from our second search of the library. "They were probably on that bottom shelf."

"Still no idea what was in that compartment." I collapsed back onto the loveseat to catch my breath. "We need a name for it so we don't have to keep saying ‘whatever was in that compartment.'"

"We could call it the MacGuffin," Malcolm suggested.

"The what?"

"You know, the MacGuffin. That's what Hitchcock called the mystery objects in his movies that the characters were always after, like the microfilm James Mason was smuggling in North by Northwest."

I stared at him. "Okay. Fine. It's the MacGuffin."

"Excellent." Malcolm was pleased. Sean regarded us with his eyebrows raised, clearly amused.

Natalie appeared, holding a mug of tea. "Is it safe to come in?"

"Yes," I said.

Tentatively, Natalie stepped over the threshold and frowned. "I felt something."

"A containment ward, in case we triggered a spell in here, but everything seems neutralized," Malcolm told her.

"Oh. Good." Natalie handed me the tea and I took it gratefully. The hot liquid helped settle my stomach. "So I should look through the desk and the file cabinet?"

"Yes. It looks like there are a lot of papers in both." I held up the book I'd found. "We found one of your grandmother's spell books, but the other ones are missing. They might have been taken from the bottom shelf. We're not sure, but we need to try and find out what the MacGuffin is."

"The what?"

I made a face at Malcolm. "You explain it." I heaved myself up off the love seat and left the library, moving into the master bedroom to stand next to Sean while Malcolm explained the esoteric reference to Natalie. She was either fascinated by Malcolm's film history knowledge or doing a good job of feigning interest.

I didn't want to stay in Betty's bedroom with the burns on the floor. "Whoever was in here, we don't want them to be able to get back in this room. Malcolm, can you set up wards on the library that allow us and Natalie in and out and no one else?"

"Sure."

I turned on my heel and left the master bedroom with Sean in my wake.

When I got to the living room, I pulled the paper Natalie had given me out of my bag and looked at it. I was relieved my hands were steady. The flashback to my parents' murder had unnerved me. I needed to focus on looking for the person who had gotten into Natalie's house and taken the books and the MacGuffin from the library. There was no time for the horrors of the past to be sneaking up on me.

Sean stepped up next to me. "What's the plan?"

"I need to get within touching distance of these people in order to sense who has magic. I should be able to recognize their magical signature based on the wards that were set in the library if I can get skin contact with them for a few seconds."

Sean read the list over my shoulder. I started to bristle, then reminded myself to relax. He was a professional colleague with valuable advice.

"Well, this guy is an insurance agent." He pointed at Peter's name and info. "They meet with people all day long. Kathy is a real estate agent. Aren't we in the market for a new house?" He grinned at me, and I smiled.

Maybe this "colleague" thing wasn't so bad after all.

Elise and Deborah would be a little trickier. They were both housewives, and Elise had already met me. I might need a disguise for that one. I could either try to catch them at home or follow them and try to bump into them while they were running errands.

"Who do we want first?" Sean asked.

I considered. "Well, the insurance agent should be easy enough to get in to see. How about we call up for an appointment?" I pulled out my phone and called his office.

Once I got past the automated phone system, a cheerful secretary came on the line. "Eppright Insurance. This is Mandy."

"Hello. My name is Audrey," I told her, using one of my aliases. "My fiancé and I recently moved to the city, and we're looking for a local insurance agent for our home and cars. We wondered if Mr. Eppright might be available to meet with us?"

"Of course!" I heard computer keys clicking in the background. "When are you available?"

"We're free this afternoon, unless that's too soon."

"I have a two o'clock available."

I checked my watch. It was almost one. Plenty of time. "We can make it."

I gave her my fake name—Audrey Talbot—and a posh address in one of the city's newer gated communities. When she asked, I told her my fiancé's name was Sean and managed to say it without coughing. Much.

"We'll see you soon!" the receptionist chirped. We disconnected.

Sean grinned again. "Promoted from temporary colleague to fiancé in less than a day," he teased. "I must be doing something right."

"You definitely do something right. Keep up the good work, and I might be able to talk the boss into offering you a better position. With benefits."

A gold sheen rolled over Sean's eyes. "Tell the boss I am committed to the quality of my work, and I look forward to proving it in any position she wants me in."

A wave of heat settled low in my belly. I made a little sound and shuffled my feet.

Sean growled low in his throat and nuzzled the back of my neck. "You smell like sex," he whispered, lips against my skin.

I shivered and stepped away from him. Sean had that distinctly male self-satisfied look that made me simultaneously want to punch him and pull him down to the floor.

Fortunately, Natalie came walking into the room to save me from my hormones. "Malcolm's finishing up the wards. There's a lot of stuff in the desk and cabinet. What should I be looking for?"

I cleared my throat and avoided Sean's fiery gaze. "Hard to say. We don't know what was in the compartment, but your grandmother's fire and blood magic spell books seems to be missing too. So anything that refers to fire or blood magic, an object of power, or really, anything that just seems weird to you."

"This all seems pretty weird to me." She thought about it for a moment, then added, "But way less weird than it would have seemed two days ago."

I laughed at that. "I bet."

Natalie smiled. "You want some more tea?"

"We're going to be heading out to go see your uncle. What do you think of him?"

"We're not very close." Natalie leaned against the doorway. "As I said, he was my grandmother's only child from her first marriage, and I don't think he ever felt entirely comfortable around my mom or my aunts because he was nine or ten when his dad died and my grandmother remarried and his stepsisters were all so much younger. I always got the impression that he felt like a fifth wheel. My mom used to tell me that after he moved out to go to college, he didn't really come around that often."

A quick online search revealed that Eppright had no social media presence, but he'd been in the newspaper a year ago. I studied the picture. Peter Eppright appeared to be in his late fifties. He was posing with two other local businessmen, all wearing tuxedos and toasting champagne glasses.

I used my phone to pull up the location of Eppright's office, which was partway across town. It would probably take us close to a half hour to get there. "We'd better leave soon." I headed back toward the library.

When I got to Betty's bedroom, Malcolm was standing inside the library, finishing the wards. I marveled at their beauty as he wove the spells together to form a perimeter around the entire room. No rookie mistakes with Malcolm. Inexperienced and poorly trained mages often warded around doorways and windows, since those were obvious points of ingress, but walls, floors, and ceilings could be broken through, which is why good wards run around the perimeter of the room, top and bottom, blocking all four walls, floor, and ceiling.

I recognized my own magic signature in the wards, along with Malcolm's and Natalie's, which granted us free passage. It looked like they were set to incapacitate any trespassers. I thought about upping the ante but wondered if there was much point. Betty had tried to protect the library's contents with wards so deadly, they'd nearly taken me out months after her death, but it hadn't been enough; the MacGuffin and the books were gone, taken by one of the two people Betty thought she could trust. Malcolm's wards would knock out anyone who tried to get into the library. At this point, doing more seemed like closing the proverbial barn door long after the horses were gone.

Malcolm finished his work. "What do you think?" he asked, gesturing with both hands at the room.

"Looks damn good." I stepped over the threshold. "I had a thought. Can you add to the containment spell and make this a ‘safe' room for Natalie?"

Malcolm frowned. "What are you thinking?"

"Here's what I want. If Natalie's magic breaks free of her binding spells, I'm wondering if we can set a containment spell so she could come in here. The spell would confine her magic and keep her from either destroying the house or attracting unwanted attention, and then drain her magic into the wards."

Malcolm was thinking. "So long as she doesn't touch the wards and accidentally null them, it will work. I can do it. It's going to take some time, though."

"Sean and I are going to check out Peter Eppright and see if he's our mage. Why don't I leave you here to work on the spells and we'll be back?"

Malcolm looked surprised and then nervous. I realized we hadn't parted company since he'd popped into my office two days ago. "You can sense me wherever I am, right?" I asked.

He nodded slowly. "You're like a beacon, but then again, I've never been very far from you."

"I know, but distance shouldn't matter. I speak from experience on this one. We could be in different states and you'd still be able to find me without too much trouble."

Malcolm looked a little less anxious. "Okay. No problem. We have to get used to this sometime." He sounded like he was talking to himself more than me. "Go on and go. I'll work on these wards while you're gone."

"Okay. Back soon."

I stepped out of the library and led Sean back down the hall to the living room, where Natalie sat on the couch with a cat in her lap. I told her Malcolm was staying to work on the library wards.

"Should I go back there and keep him company?"

I shook my head. "He's going to be focused for a while. He might come back in here when he's done, though. Hopefully he doesn't scare you too badly when he does."

Natalie laughed. "I'll have to remember he's here so I don't do anything embarrassing."

I grabbed my bag and headed out with Sean. I went to my trunk, opened it, and dug around in the large duffel I keep back there as an emergency disguise kit. I swapped out my crystal jewelry for a nice pair of gold hoop earrings. From inside a zippered pouch, I pulled out a sparkly ring and slipped it onto my left hand.

Sean looked at the ring. "You keep a spare engagement ring in your trunk?"

"It's just cubic zirconia. I had to investigate a bridal shop a few months ago." I closed the trunk and we got in my car.

I followed the GPS instructions across the city to Eppright Insurance and parked in front of the next building over.

"We keep the story simple," I said as we walked toward his office. "Just got engaged a month ago and moved to the city from Los Angeles. I'll do the emergency phone call ruse if he gets too pushy."

"Sounds like a plan." Sean opened the door and we stepped inside Eppright Insurance.