Detective Witch (Devil's Witch Book 2)

“Tell me again why we get the luxury of standing out here in the freezing cold while the chief and everyone else gets to stand inside where it’s heated.” Yansmen complains.

I feel like I got no sleep last night. Will made breakfast and drove us here from his parents’ place. Nick gave me my uniform and even my own gun when I got here in the morning.

I kind of feel silly holding a weapon like this when I doubt I’ll even be using it. I guess it’s kind of cool, but I’m starting to appreciate my small desk area in the workroom a lot more now that I’ve got a taste for what an on-duty officer has to do.

We aren’t even doing anything, just acting as bodyguards pretty much at the town hall entrance. Mostly everyone has voted by now. Only a couple people have trickled in since about three this afternoon. The polls will be closed soon.

“Hey, we better go inside now. It’s four thirty.” Yansmen says after checking his watch.

“Yeah.” I reply while following him inside the old building and feeling nervous to know how the election turned out.

Will’s name is lit up on the big billboard inside the town hall up on the wall above the large meeting room. Several balloons surround it along with a huge crowd of voters and town council members. Will is up on the stage inside the meeting room talking to the crowd of people we are supposed to watch over now. I’m so relieved he won, looks like by a bigger margin than we hoped too which is a good sign.

Yansmen and I listen in on Will’s speech while watching the group of people in front of us. A coven member comes up to me asking for directions to the lobby. He looks like an older warlock and must be hard at hearing because when I instruct him on where to go he still doesn’t understand me.

“Follow me sir.” I say while deciding to just guide him there myself. By the time I return to my position next to Yansmen, Will’s speech is over and the crowd has scattered, thinning out.

He’s supposed to go to a big fancy restaurant tonight to celebrate with his campaign team. I opted out, not wanting to risk any more distress. Will wasn’t happy about it, but I told him I didn’t mind.

“Where are they going?” I ask Yansmen seeing a bunch of officers hurry out of the building too.

“Beats me, I’ll see you tomorrow at the office.” Yansmen tells me with a yawn while following them out.

“Oh, okay. See you tomorrow then.” I reply while departing from him and heading over to the lobby again.

I go into the lady’s room and quickly change out of my uniform. Then I drop off my uniform in a crate by one of the police cars for the other detectives who volunteered to help out today. After I toss my gun in the crate too, I walk over to Stella’s sedan where I parked it outside of the coffee shop two blocks down from the town hall.

When I pick Stella up, I tell her about my entire day and update her on how the dinner went last night. I guess the witches finally left the house around midnight last night. Stella thinks they would have been there all morning too if the police wouldn’t have intervened. Sadly, she’s probably right.

“They tried to break my ward, can you believe that? I’m so glad the police showed up and got them removed.” Stella tells me and I glance at her in disbelief.

“Are you feeling okay? I thought the vampires kind of, you know, bothered you.” I reply feeling troubled by her odd behavior lately.

“No, not really. They want what you and the mayor want right? As long as they continue to do that, I’ll support them.” Stella tells me, but I still think something’s not right. She kind of talks differently too, slower and more mellow. Normally, she’s more hyped up and outgoing.

Maybe the coven’s behavior is getting to her more.

“You know, yesterday, Will told me you told him about Nick. He unbonded us, but Nick didn’t seem bothered by it. I’m just nervous he’s holding back his anger at me.” I mumble quietly while coming up to our house.

“I’m sorry. I thought he should know, I figured he could fix it and he would understand.” She says simply while we get out of the car and head inside.

“Alright, I understand. It just kind of surprised me that you would do that is all. Are you really sure everything’s fine?” I ask her curiously while setting my tote down by the staircase.

“Yes, now let’s get you ready for going out. Come on!” Stella yells giddily sounding more like herself as she races by me to go upstairs.

I really am not in the mood to go anywhere, but to my bed. I didn’t even get to talk to Will before he left to go to the restaurant with his campaign team to celebrate. Maybe Stella’s right though, I do need a break from the stress of this week. Tomorrow things should finally start settling down like we’ve been waiting for. I should at least call him to congratulate him first before going anywhere. I know I turned down Will’s offer to go out to eat with him, but I don’t want to stay cooped up in my room either.

Since Will won today, I do feel a little better about going out in public. Maybe today I could get some shopping done.

_______________________________________

To my relief, we didn’t have any problems at any of the stores. Well, I did hide my hair under my hat most of the time. However, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.

Stella mostly shopped for Colin and I shopped around for things to put in my room and a few other items.

We drop our shopping bags in the trunk and then I offer to drive us back. I don’t really like parking garages, but when we got in town there was no where else to park.

“Um, Val. I didn’t want to scare you when we were walking back, but I think we are being followed.” Stella says while looking out her rear view mirror. I turn around in my seat expecting to see a mob of coven members.

Instead, I see a big black SUV parked in neutral directly behind us. They are blocking us from leaving.

This can’t be happening!

“Are they serious?” I whisper bitterly while honking my horn for them to move so we can get out.

To my disdain, they remain parked directly behind us trapping us in our spot. I can’t drive forward because there’s a wall in front of me and two cars parked beside us. The only way we can get out is by backing up and running right into them.

A minute passes and I turn the car on, inching backward hoping they move. Luckily, they do once they see our car turn on and move in the direction to leave.

“How long was the car following us?” I ask Stella.

“Since we passed Wally’s. So just a block. Maybe they just wanted our parking spot.” She wonders as we pull out of the parking garage and onto the street.

Stella’s gaze hasn’t left her mirror though and my heart races seeing the same car speed out of the garage. It swirves around a car behind us and drives dangerously close behind our sedan.

They are tailgating and probably a foot away from ramming right into us if I were to slam on the breaks. I can feel Stella trying to ward the car, but magic won’t really do any good if their vehicle hits ours. It’s too big of an object and I’m sure the coven member inside doesn’t care too much if their own car gets damaged.

The coven will just buy them a new one.

“Ah!” We both scream when the SUV rams into the back of our car. I’m too afraid to pull over so I floor it and make a sharp turn. We veer off onto a narrow drive leading out and around the outer part of town.

My neck hurts from the impact of them hitting us and Stella grips her forehead in pain.

“Ow...” She mumbles and I speed up again seeing the black SUV still close behind us.

“Can you slash their tires or something?” I ask her.

She mutters a spell, concentrating on their car as she sticks her head out the window to look back at them. A loud bang goes off behind us followed by the screeching of tires.

“They dodged it!” She yells in panic while casting a wave of her magic back at them in desperation for them to leave us alone.

“Okay, we’ll just keep driving. They can’t follow us forever. Keep your head inside.” I tell her and she rolls up her window.

She and I both know they won’t stop though until they make us. At least they haven’t rammed into our car again.

We pull out onto another main road and I start to panic. This is the same road my family was on before we died.

I don’t know what to do and I know I can’t slow down or they’ll hit us again. I weave in and out of the lanes, but they continue following us. A blue car behind us switches lanes to let them in front and I know they are going to hit us again.

“Hang on...” I whisper to Stella getting goosebumps seeing the witch in the car is the same one who attacked me at the dinner.

I pull over into the right lane knowing they will hit us and I rather not make another innocent driver get hurt if I can avoid it. I may not be able to get their car away from us, but I can get rid of the witch behind the wheel. I told myself I’d never use the devil’s magic on another person, but this is an exception.

"In infernis arderet." I whisper darkly knowing now no one will be driving the car. I check the mirror and see the driver’s seat empty. The SUV slows down while we speed ahead.

“Val...” Stella says sounding full of dread and when I turn to look at her there’s no time to scream. Another black SUV is driving alongside us and the witch inside looks livid as she rams into us. Smashing our car against the guardrail of the road.

The noise is deafening and my body instantly goes into shock remembering the same exact sound from the first time I died.

The air gets knocked out me as their car is much bigger than ours and sends our car flipping upside down.

The car is still now, resting on its roof with broken glass down below waiting to break our fall the moment our flimsy seat belts give in against our weight.

The airbags didn’t come out and I crane my neck to see Stella passed out. Weakly, I grip her dangling wrist and double check her pulse. It’s there, but faint. Probably like my own.

I can feel a nasty shard of glass embedded in my rib cage and it keeps me from unbuckling myself. The blood rushes to my face and Stella’s face is beat red too. Bruised up and cut like mine.

My hair dangles around my head and the smell of gasoline is strong. I manage to turn my head enough to see out my driver side window. There’s a pool of oil just outside along with other things that broke off our car during the crash.

If the witch is still outside, she’ll soon find she didn’t quite finish the job. I try to use all my magic to heal Stella, the small amount I have the energy to summon. One of us has to take care of the witch and since she’s still unconscious, she can heal in here while I try to protect us.

“Gah!” I grunt while pain sears across my rib cage like fire when I try to pull out the shard of glass. I have to move out of the car. The moment I unbuckle I will fall, but I don’t want the glass to cut any deeper when I do.

I have to pull it out first.

A ragged scream escapes me when I manage to rip out the big shard. It clatters onto the pile of smashed up glass below me. Blood oozes out of my wound and my vision starts to fade, but I clench my jaw. Hastily, I fumble to unfasten my seatbelt biting back my own misery.

My injury is too much for my body to handle and I feel myself shutting down as my arms go numb. My seatbelt holding my body goes slack a little and my body lurches downward, dangling a foot above the ground.

Pain explodes within my abdomen as the thick thread of the belt cuts deeper into my wound and I pass out as my body gives in to the pain.

_______________________________________

Colin

Savior steps out of his police vehicle the moment Heinrich pulls up behind the wrecked small car alongside the highway. I hop out following him unnerved by his silence the entire ride here.

He’s bent down looking inside the car with a flashlight and craning his neck to look up inside the window.

Without looking at me he stands up and rips the car door off the hinges, tossing it up and over the guardrail. Then he crawls inside the car and yells for me to get bandages. By the time I come back he has pulled goddess out of her seat already and I consider whether to approach him or not seeing the glass rattling against his magic on the ground.

Heinrich just finished pulling the other witch from the car who is supposed to be my lover. She’s awake and crying, but goddess looks fast asleep on Noctus’s lap.

I help bandage her up while he tries to heal her wounds with his magic. I have a feeling Valerie used her magic all up on Stella. Otherwise, my girlfriend wouldn’t look so uninjured and awake and all.

Suddenly, Valerie’s eyes flutter open and she sobs probably reliving the horrors of her first death. She cries against Noctus, but I can tell she’s completely out of it. She doesn’t know where she is, only what happened as she looks around at all the red and blue flashing lights. More of us are here now in case the coven shows.

She whimpers still looking sickly pale and in pain. Savior stands up with her, the last of her wounds healing.

“It’s okay.” Noctus tells her looking drained from using magic and she rests against his chest as he strokes her back.

“You’re safe now.” He says above her head and she whimpers not fully aware of what’s going on as we carry her over to his car.

We drive all the way over to the church and have our specialist check her wounds to make sure they healed right.

Now, she’s fast asleep in her own bed and so is our savior. Rare for him to fall asleep, but his magic drained him.

“Can we leave now?” I ask the big officer standing beside me.

“No, I watch house. Come or die.” He threatens simply while walking out of the room.

Hope he has some energy drinks. He knows when boss is tired we all get tired. It’s the blood oath at work. Valerie’s blood really did smell heavenly at the wreck scene and I’m really hungry.

Heinrich already left her room to go back to the car. No one will notice if I take a quick snack with me. What harm will a small bite do to her? She almost died today anyway and now she looks almost good as gold.

I step closer to the bedside quietly, not making a sound.

Goddess lays on her back with her sheets pulled up to her chin. Her white hair is in a halo around her head and she looks so peaceful. The smell of her divine blood still drifts through my mind.

Savior lays on top of the sheets beside her on his side, awake now and watching me with an aloof smile. His irises are red, but I can’t remember what that means. I’m too hungry to care.

Slowly, he pulls our sleeping goddess closer to him until she’s snuggled against his chest. Out of my reach.

A snarl escapes me as I consider diving across the bed just to get a taste of her blood. I don’t care if it means ruining my reputation, I need to feed and I need to feed now.

Noctus gets up from the bed and before I have my chance to bite her, he grips my throat looking fully alert and strengthened by his own magic. Which I don’t see how that is possible, he should be at his weakest point after using so much of his magic to heal goddess.

I’m lifted off my feet and a vial with dark red liquid is plunged forcibly into my mouth.

“Today, you will learn what happens when you drink from the blood of your god’s witch.” He tells me sternly as I gulp down the liquid greedily.

He releases me and I fall onto the ground sighing in ecstasy. Relishing the wondrous taste of her blood and smiling with glee.

I roll over onto my back like a dog when the high leaves along with my hunger. Something, actually, a bunch of somethings, twist around in my throat and I gag, freezing up in place.

Long, noodle-like creatures wiggle free from my throat. Their slimy bodies filling my mouth by the pile. I vomit all over the floor, watching countless numbers of tiny snakes slither and scatter across it.

The smell is disgusting and my eyes are tempted to roll back into my head feeling another wave of the awful creatures rise up in my throat. I vomit again, watching the nasty colored yellow goop tangled around them.

I shudder, seeing my savior’s face hidden in the shadow of the room. He steps forward looking grim.

His magic heats the ground up and raises off of it high enough not to burn the floor, just the snakes.

They hiss as their insides are torn up and explode all over the clean floor.

“Now you must learn a vampire always finishes their meal, completely. Something you did not do with your first. You cannot leave until you clean up this mess.” Savior says and I hang my head low in shame.

Noctus walks back over to the bed and his eyes return to their normal color. He lays down next to goddess on his side and props his head up to watch me make a fool of myself while goddess sleeps unaware of my new torment.

I crawl around on the floor picking my way through smelly and mushy torn up snake bodies. Chewing and swallowing each and every nasty piece I find.

Daylight takes forever to come, but I’m now finally able to make sure the remains are off the floor, including my own vomit which I had to eat too.

Then I go downstairs and find a mop. I bring it back upstairs and clean the floor to cover the smell. Savior still watching my every move.

When I stand up having finished the last of the remains his face hardens.

“Go now and return to your work. You have blood to pick up there and deliver to the station for tonight. Bring Stella Gild there as well and we will finish the second half of your punishment.” He tells me and I nod my head eagerly not wanting to make him mad ever again.