I was sitting in the Celestin City police department with Thomas and Bess. Bess put in a call to one of her FBI contacts to run the phone numbers and now we were currently waiting to hear back about whom the numbers belonged to. “Garcia Santos is the CDP computer genius and could get this done for us quicker but he’s working in the street for the SCF.” She explained as she looked over files pertaining to other cases, Bess was a serious multitasker and workaholic.
Thomas asked, “Do you have anything else we can help with?” he was bored and he didn’t make any attempt to hide it from his face.
“No. After this case is closed I want you focusing on her training and if something does come in we’ll deal with it then.” Never once did she glance up to look at him.
She didn’t look up until three minutes later when Chase Thompson stepped into the conference room. She did a good job as masking her reaction except I noticed her heart rate pick up. I was glad the two guys around us were human and she was spared the embarrassment. She had a big crush on Chase and so far it didn’t seem like he knew.
He handed Bess a file. “Zoe mentioned you were looking into Anthony Casstiano and wanted me to give you this. It’s a cold case.”
I sat back in my seat like a very interested fly. Anthony Casstiano was an old very powerful vampire I had met once through Dominic and Michael. Caleb’s wolf Mikey also worked for the vamp. Mikey was an oddball but so far he wasn’t put in a bad spot working for a vampire.
“Yeah.” Bess put the file inside her large black purse. “He was mentioned in one of the bureau’s cases and I’m doing some fact checking.” Her heart rate picked up again but it was from guilt not lust. Whatever peaked her interest in the vampire wasn’t as clean cut like she was telling Chase.
Chase nodded and left the room after smiling at her as goodbye. That smile made the poor woman drunk with love. Her heart was ringing in my ears but oddly enough she had her focus back on her paperwork and looked completely at ease. I got the feeling Bess was used to concealing her emotions from everyone including herself.
Thomas banged his head down on the table. “I’m so bored.”
Bess shook her head. “I swear you have some hyper attention disorder. Put a call into Johnny back in Washington and pester him into rushing the search results.” She wanted Thomas to go annoy anyone but her.
“Fine.” He snatched the paper she had written the guy’s main number on and left the room. I laughed at his expression; he looked just like a five year old child who was told he couldn’t get his way.
Bess grinned as she looked at me. “I get a big kick out of seeing him frustrated. Johnny texted me the information three minutes ago, you want to go pay our suspects a visit just us girls?”
“Sure.” I jumped up from my chair. Something told me Bess was the person I should be shadowing because while she gave away a mousy paper pusher persona, I knew under that mask was a fierce officer and an even smarter planner who knew how to get her way.
The first phone number belonged to a woman in her sixties who liked to use magic to bless her garden during crop season. She was a sweet woman and even offered us a slice of homemade apple pie with fresh apples from that garden she cherished so much. Bess and I each took a piece to go and thanked the woman for her time and for lending her assistance.
I was driving as Bess looked through the information stored on her phone. “Our perpetrator must be this woman then, Patti Gerald. 4329 Lotus Avenue. Lotus?”
I grinned; Lotus wasn’t even one of the weirdest street names Celestin could offer up. “I take it you’re not from here?”
“No, I grew up in Washington and through work I started seeing different places around the country. It was about a year ago a case brought me to Celestin and I ended up liking the city.” Bess explained with no barriers. I noted it was easier for her to talk about certain things and others she tried to fake her way through.
“Celestin has a way of doing that. When I ran from home I ended up in a few spots but when I got here I knew it was home. There have been stories of the city having a supernatural pull which would explain why so many different races can be found within a hundred mile radius.”
“Zoe calls it a hot bed for the supernatural. She was raised here and so were Jake and Chase.” She did better at controlling her heart rate at the mention of the man she was in love with.
“I don’t think I know anyone who was born and raised in Celestin.” Our conversation was put on pause as I turned into Lotus Avenue. “4300, 4310, there it is 4329.”
Bess moved her blazer aside and checked her gun. “If need be use your magic until we get you issued a gun and some lessons.”
“I go to the shooting range a few times a month.”
That seemed to impress her judging by the small smile she wore as she reached down into her pants leg. “In that case, borrow this.” She passed me a 9mm magnum, one of my favorites to handle. “Let’s get this case closed and after that you can head home. I know you probably didn’t get much sleep last night.”
I stopped my head in time from thinking about Caleb and all the memories I had dreamt of our time together on his living room floor. “Sounds like a good plan.” We got out of the car together and made our way up the pathway to the single story house. I grabbed Bess’ hand before she could ring the doorbell. “Wait a second…I feel something.” I hovered my hand over the front door. “There’s a spell warding the door to keep anyone from coming in.”
“Can you break it?”
“Yeah.” The spell was nothing special, it was nothing compared to what the Coven witches used to keep someone out or in. I shuddered as I remembered the pain it took to escape the Elder’s barrier in that safe house. “Wherever they are finding these spells is good but this is still human magic.” It didn’t matter how long a human studied magic and how high on the food chain they climbed, they could never best a born witch. Magic ran through my veins at all times, it was in my blood and has been there since conception.
I put my hand flat on the door and said a silent command, I felt a snap beneath my palm as the spell broke and lost all power. The couple we were looking for was inside and they had thought the magic would keep them from being discovered and keep any nosey cops outside, it would’ve worked if the SCF didn’t have a new magic expert on their team.
The couple hadn’t been expecting us and the element of surprise worked pretty well in our favor. They matched the description Barry gave the cops and more than that there were several stacks on money on their coffee table. As far as first days on a job went it was pretty awesome.
Bess cuffed the guy while I took the girl, I read them both their rights and felt pretty darn happy with myself as we hauled them into the backseat of my car. The couple was exercising their right to remain silent; while they looked down right irritated they hadn’t said a word to us or each other.
Thomas was pretty mad when we returned to the police station. “Did you ladies have fun?” he sneered.
I held back a laugh while Bess answered, “We had tons so it’s only fair we cut you in. Why don’t you get Mr. and Mrs. Gerald down to booking?”
“Goody.” Thomas frowned but didn’t want to offend Bess, he motioned for a uniformed office to assist and lead the couple away.
“Go.” Bess said to me. “Get some rest and meet Thomas tomorrow at the gym at nine. There you guys can go over making reports and get yours written out for this case.”
With a nod I said my goodbye and headed back out to my car. I was bone tired and didn’t have it in me to even try to fake differently to learn more of what Thomas and Bess had to offer. For my first day I had gotten a lot done, even a case closed, so I was treating myself to my bed.
As I pulled into my driveway I noticed the flag on my mailbox was up. I had a good amount of alarm as I got out of my car and went to see what was inside the mailbox. I hadn’t left anything inside there when I checked early and the flag up meant someone left something for me and it wasn’t the postman.
It was another letter from my sister. I recognized her writing on the front and right away became curious as to how the letter got here. Last time she had Kevin give it to me and seeing how Kevin and I were never speaking again I knew it couldn’t be him.
I walked over to my porch and sat on the top step. I knew without having to open it I had to figure out a way to get my sister out of the Coven safely, for the both of us. If I went against the Coven again I knew they would toss out any deal they made with Bess and her boss and kill me without a trial or anything else that could prolong it and if that happened Elissa would truly be alone. I had one chance to do it and I had to do it right.
“More bad news?”
I jumped nearly off the step at the sound of Caleb’s voice. It shouldn’t surprise me he was able to move without a sound; it was part of his power. I thought back to my sister’s last letter and what it led to between Caleb and me, our first real kiss. “She needs my help.” I needed all the help I could get and right now I was so damn happy to see him I didn’t think to try and cover up the truth. He said hours ago we shouldn’t see each other anymore and I was glad that didn’t last. I didn’t know what was going to happen tomorrow but I did know he was a friend and I didn’t want to lose him.
“Is there any possible way for you to talk face to face?” he asked as he came and sat a step down from me, his body turned into the porch to glance up to see my face.
“I don’t know. If they grant her permission to leave like they did with Kevin we could probably set something up.” I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t sit there with that huge weight on my chest. I had to ask him. “What are you doing here? I thought you never wanted to see me again.”
“I don’t handle my emotions well.” He confessed softy. “I hated how you chose to gloss over what happened between us when we spoke earlier this morning. You thanked me like I had given you a cup of sugar or something like normal neighbors do. I didn’t plan it and I won’t make excuses about why it happened but it did,” he met my eyes. “we had sex.”
I didn’t know what to say. I could understand what he was saying, why he had lashed out and wanted to hurt my feelings because I had put down his. But at the same time, I didn’t know what to say that could change what happened, that could take us back to where we were before I let my magic control me, before I let my guard down and gave into him. I couldn’t blame it all on what body was going through, though. I could admit to myself part of me wanted to know what it’d be like to have Caleb in such ways, in the ways we had each other in his house. “I don’t know what you want from me.” I confessed with no other options. There was no rule book for these things.
“I want you to acknowledge it.”
“Why? What good does that do? We never would’ve slept together if I hadn’t run to your place high off magic.” It was a mistake, one I wanted and one I didn’t regret but I doubt he could say the same. If anyone should want to pretend if didn’t happen it should be Caleb but instead here he was wanting me to acknowledge our time together.
“When you stayed at my place to keep Jamie safe, that was sleeping together under one roof. What we did wasn’t sleep. We had animalistic raw sex that I can’t forget about and I don’t want you to either. That’s what I want.” Wow. Every word pouring from his mouth carried passion as raw as the one he spoke of.
I groaned. “Fine, we had sex. There I admit it. Now what?” I hated how lost I felt. If I could make any bit of sense of my new mess with Caleb maybe I could take back control.
“Now I wish you goodnight and I go back home.”
I didn’t want to pick a fight and drag out our crazy conversation so I sat there and watched him head back down the street to his house. So he wanted me to admit what we had done instead of pretending it was some dirty little secret not to be voiced? I guess that made some sense.
Every time I spoke to Caleb I was left with more questions. I was starting to figure out what I was feeling but I sure as hell didn’t know what was going on in his head. He had always been a little strange, too intimidating and smart for his own good. Whatever he was up to wouldn’t be revealed until he wanted it to be. For now I was stuck playing along piece by piece.
With a sigh I stood from the porch and went inside. After I got a few hours of sleep I’d figure out what I could do for my sister then meet Thomas for more training. Maybe my new career choice could help me get my sister far from the Coven.
I dug in my pocket and pulled out the SCF badge I was given earlier. My name and picture were on it, it was a key I never had before into a world with endless possibilities. I was an official of the law now and the more I thought about it, my badge was going to help me get exactly what I wanted for Elissa and myself; true freedom.
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Want to read more about Celestin City? Check out the other titles following Zoe Langston. For more information and other works visit my personal website isabellearocho.com
OTHER NOVELS BY ISABELLE AROCHO
Set in Celestin City:
Sinfully Departed (Zoe Langston #1)
Blood Sins (Zoe Langston #2)
Sin of Hope (Zoe Langston #3)
Deceptions (Evie Cortez #1)
Anticipations (Evie Cortez #2)
Death says Hello (Holly Garrett Book #1)
Other:
Games We Play
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