Nail in Her Coffin (Devil's Witch Book 1)

“You are protecting vampires?” I whisper after hearing Nick retell his day at work.

His smile falters and forms into a line seeing the disturbed look on my face.

“Are you afraid of them too?” he asks jokingly, but his face is serious.

He never fails to surprise me. What kind of a human in their right mind would willingly want to work with vampires?

“N-no...not really,” I stutter.

The vampires are people just like witches, they don’t have the brightest past or present for that matter. They all aren’t evil though.

“They can kill criminals easier. Not to mention, their skin rejects metal. They’re pretty much walking bulletproof weapons with a nasty bite.”

Even my parents were wary of the vamps, but they never really were as obnoxious about it like the rest of the coven. The white witch legend itches at the back of my mind, Patty’s own paranoia getting to me.

It is risky to acquire so many vampires as police. The humans will be scared when they find out and the coven probably views this as the start of the ‘great war’ between our kind and the vampires.

“When are you going to tell him?” Nick asks while walking away from the window.

“Tell who what?”

“About me, us. Who else is going to help you cure me?” he asks sounding antsy.

I bite my lip, Stella just got back yesterday, and apparently, her mom did not know Colin was human and she was not too happy to find they were dating.

So any hope of her sneaking books out of Patty’s library any time soon isn’t looking very good.

Nick has been very patient and I know it is nearly impossible for me to have the time to really research on my own without another witch’s help. We will need someone else to research a cure for him or at least something that won’t tie him so close to me.

“Are you sure you want to tell him now? Maybe you should tell your ginger friend first,” Nick says warily, looking over my shoulder at something behind me.

My heart drops and I turn around following his gaze to find Stella right behind me standing in the doorway. I did not even hear her open my door!

My mouth opens and closes, but no words come. She looks way too happy to see I’m not alone in my room and I can’t say I like the sparkle of mischief in her narrowed gaze, accompanied by her cat-like grin. She’s assuming way too many things right now and I consider speaking up before she verbally guesses incorrectly what’s going on.

As usual, she beats me to it.

“What’s this? Please tell me you’ve made another cuddle buddy besides you-know-who because quite frankly that warlock needs to get his priorities straight. I have to admit, I always thought you digged humans more. Oh, I’m so happy for you! Don’t worry I won’t tell Will or anyone in the coven!” Stella hoots with giddiness, she raises her arms up in excitement and plows against me giving me a tight hug.

Nick doesn’t say anything, only gives me a look of amusement at my best friend’s ridiculous assumption.

“Stella he’s not my boyfriend, he’s the police chief of our town and I accidentally turned him into my familiar,” I explain slowly with caution, stepping back and holding her shoulders.

Her large green eyes dart between Nick’s empty tank and then him with new understanding. I’m expecting her to get angry, but instead, she bursts out laughing and holds her waist to keep from falling over.

“Ahaha! You can’t be serious. No one keeps familiar’s anymore, except the old hags working in my mom’s salon! This is great, this is really great. He could be your...man servant!” she laughs heartily, whispering the last part of her outburst quite obnoxiously into my ear.

When she pulls away from me, she gives me a dramatic wink.

I’m pretty sure Nick could hear everything she just said, I don’t really know if he’s offended or not because he’s just sitting on my bed looking out the door with boredom.

“No, Stella this is really bad. He’s an important figure and he’s working with vampires now. If your mom or anyone else in the coven finds out we’re living with him they will punish us. Besides, I’m pretty sure I used black magic on him to turn him. They’ll kill me for it. Also, he can shift on his own...” I say nodding my head at Nick.

He turns into his snake form and Stella makes a squeaking noise not expecting him to change without me directly commanding him to.

“That explains why you’ve been barely out of your room. You should have told me sooner. I know a thing or two about this. Have you forgotten about Charlie? My mom still has him, although you only met him for one day,” Stella reminds me.

The black and white spotted dog flashes across my mind. I completely forgot about that!

Charlie is Patty’s familiar, but no one ever sees him since she keeps him in the apartment above the salon where she lives. I never really thought about that, how Patty’s familiar is never around her. There must be a way around the distance restriction after all. The day I saw Charlie was the day before I died.

Patty had captured a demon and placed it for safekeeping into her poor newly adopted rescue dog. It’s some kind of bloodhound with a grey spotted fur coat.

“Can you fix me, Ms. Witch?” Nick asks Stella quietly.

I give her a hopeful look. She inspects her pink painted nails then looks up at me.

“I can only fix the distance, you will be able to go wherever without being forced to be near to each other. You’ll need a stronger witch to break the actual curse though.”

“Do it,” Nick says.

I give Stella an encouraging smile and she lets out a shaky breath.

She aims her arms at Nick and I, muttering incoherent words under her breath. A sharp stinging sensation travels up my spine and I cringe, seeing my blue magic flooding over the floor.

Nick makes a choked noise and falls to his knees with a grunt.

Stella finishes chanting the spell and Nick stands up on his own. For once, he actually looks quite angry. Stella must notice too because she backs out of the room.

“Sorry, I forgot to mention it kind of shocks the familiar much worse. Think of it as a shock collar I have freed you from. You won’t have any more pain and you’ll be able to return to your normal life,” she rushes out.

Nick still looks annoyed at her and I walk up to my friend.

“Thank you,” I reply in relief.

Nick rubs his neck roughly where he must have got shocked.

“Yes...thank you,” Nick says slowly as if just realizing she’s pretty much freed him of the curse.

Well, he can still shift. He just won’t be tied so close to me anymore. Besides, if he wanted he could never shift again and resume his normal life.

Nick agreed to take Stella and I out for ice cream as a thank you, for fixing part of the issue. Stella called up Colin and he’s coming too.

I think I’ll just tell Will everything tomorrow when Nick has a chance to return to his hotel. I rather wait for him to completely move out before calling Will to avoid him presuming anything.

We had picked up his clothes the day after I accidentally turned him. After we get ice cream, he’s taking his stuff back over to his hotel room.

“Yo! It’s my favorite witches,” Colin hollers while stepping out of his yellow jeep. He high fives me, then turns to Stella who sits next to me in her sedan.

“Mr. Police captain, sir. It is an honor,” Colin adds, taking a deep bow and Nick chuckles.

They do the typical man hug thing and I’m surprised by how easy going Nick is acting. He usually seems more uptight, but Colin has that effect on everyone.

We all parked in the parking lot outside the small ice cream shop. We sit inside the retro-themed shop seated at a purple cushion booth by the door.

“Chocolate thunder!” Colin laughs like a maniac, eating his ice cream like there’s no tomorrow. Stella giggles next to him, poking his yellow and white sleeved shirt.

She bites into a scoop of her cookies and cream ice cream. I got a vanilla milkshake, Nick didn’t order anything.

I really don’t like our sitting situation, but we really didn’t have many options. The stools by the counter were all taken and Colin slid in the booth beside Stella before I could beat him.

So now I’m squished between the wall and Nick.

From my peripheral vision, I had spotted him put his arm on the edge of the booth behind my head. He’s probably just feeling as smashed in this small booth as I am and just needs to spread his arms. It’s the only excuse I can come up with to keep my mind at ease.

After a while of me retelling how I embarrassingly ended up making Nick my familiar to Colin, I listen to Stella go on about their weekend getaway.

Suddenly, someone behind the white marble ice cream counter shrieks. We all look over to see the server duck under the counter and the people sitting on the stools hop off their seats. They duck into a couple empty booths behind us, seeing someone dressed in a ski mask with a hunting rifle.

“Get up!” the thief yells, swinging his gun in the direction of the cash register.

The girl behind the counter remains hidden.

Nick gets up just as Colin shoves Stella’s head under the table with him. Instinctively, I do the same. We witches aren’t even allowed to intervene in a situation like this. It would be so easy to use our magic to sweep his gun out of his hands.

Nick isn’t on duty, so he’s only wearing a red shirt and jeans. He pulls out a gun from the back of his pants and in the blink of an eye, unclicks the safety with his hand on the trigger.

“Put your hands up where I can see them,” he screams at the masked thief.

“No!” the man argues while shooting two rounds into the counter.

Everyone starts screaming behind us and Nick fires back at the deranged man, shooting him in the shoulder.

The thief slumps to the ground like a sack of potatoes and Nick runs over to him. A few minutes go by and he tells everyone to remain calm.

When the police arrive, the other people in the ice cream shop retreat from their hiding places.

One bystander helps Nick drag the criminal’s limp body back towards the entrance. The thief moans in agony against the movement.

The moment the police enter the ice cream shop, I hold my breath.

The man’s blood is everywhere and I hear Stella gasp, she must see they are vampires. The cops all are. None of them dive for the blood smeared all over the floor or the criminal himself to my amazement. The humans behind us have no idea they are supernaturals or vampires for that matter.

“You didn’t tell me he was working with them,” Stella says sounding disgusted.

I can’t blame her, her mom taught her growing up to be afraid of them.

A team of police even mop up the rest of the blood smeared across the checkered tiled floor. I’m still waiting for one of them to go crazy over the liquid, but none of them act up.

Nick watches the customers around us. “The witches have decided you are not worth protecting. So do not be afraid of what you do not yet understand. If you respect the law, you have no reason to be afraid." A cop standing next to him bares her fangs briefly at an elderly couple seated at the booth across from us. The room is so quiet, I could hear a pin drop. “Treat them any less though and do not expect their sympathy. Have a nice day now,” Nick finishes with warning, holding the door to the entrance open.

Timid, the humans slowly make their way warily around the police.

“Have you no humanity?” Stella spits at Nick.

I stare at her afraid to say anything. I knew she would be upset, but I hadn’t thought she would call him out on it.

Nick may be right that this very well may be the only thing keeping the vampires from just outright killing innocent humans. However, their potential brutality is hard to digest even for a witch. It goes without saying their sense of right and wrong are different from ours.

“What would you know about being human? Your morals are no better than theirs.”

Stella nudges Colin outside, glaring at the policeman still. “Now I know why my mother is going nuts over the police. For once, she’s right about something.”

Colin seems quite rattled and whispers something back to her incoherently. Stella pats his back in comfort and the two of them get in his jeep.

“I’ll drive him home, take my keys!” Stella hollers at me, just getting my attention in time for me to catch them as she tosses them to me out the window of Colin’s car.

The passenger side door opens and Colin leans towards the street, puking onto the ground. Stella’s own fears are probably rubbing off on him, I glance back into the ice cream shop. Nick finishes discussing something with the shop owner and Stella drives off with Colin. Seeing a thief like that scares me more than the vampires.

Nick pulls out his police radio and ignores the shop owner’s arguments against whatever it is they are discussing. Probably having to do with all the costumers who probably won’t be returning after the freak incident.

I open the car door to Stella’s sedan and start the engine. I’m adjusting the rearview mirror when I hear someone knock on my window and I jolt in my seat, startled.

“H-how’d you get out here so fast?” I ask him while rolling down my window.

Only a moment ago he was inside the shop. Nick leans against the car with his hand on the hood.

“I say they handled it quite well. Don’t you think?” he asks me lightly as if seeking my approval. The police did have their hunger under control, surprising all of us.

“Pardon me,” I hear Will’s voice say behind him rather rudely.

“Ah, Mr. McCaster. I take it the coven is on its way? Your kind are too late, the humans are safe now. Vampires can handle situations like this much quicker.”

Nick seemed to be the only one really handling the situation. His unit only arrived pretty much to clean up the mess.

“Get away from her car,” Will growls out.

I widen my eyes at his strange anger.

“Very well, I’ll be on my way. Do remind your coven, Mr. McCaster, that you are all still bound by our laws. Under that law, you and I are equals. So do not talk to me as though you are superior or it may come back to...bite you,” Nick replies while sliding his hand off the edge of my window and strolling back to his car.

“Glamoured puppet,” Will scoffs behind his back, watching Nick and the rest of the police drive away.

Nick, glamoured? I doubt it. His personality hasn’t changed since before the vampires joined his police force. If they had glamoured him he would be acting much different.

Wixton law, made by humans, forbids supernaturals from threatening humans in any way. Which is exactly why Patty forbids us using good or bad magic on them, there’s always the risk we could make an error in our casting and harm them. Not only does it protect humans from supernaturals, but it now is protecting supernaturals from other supernaturals. The coven won’t be happy, they have killed hybrids and vampires, as well as demons in the past without question from the humans.

The vampires and weres usually keep to themselves, but at least now we know where the vampires are getting their...nourishment.