Circle of Blood: A Witch Hunt Novel

  He shook his head, clearly not wanting to accept it.

  “You’ve put how many moles into other people’s covens and organizations and yet you really can’t conceive that someone in your organization has been compromised?” Samantha asked.

  “It’s impossible,” Connor said, scoffing “All my people have gone through intensive training in every area, including fighting mind control. There’s no way one of them is being used by Lilith.”

  “The fact that you’re that certain makes me more nervous,” Samantha admitted. “I’d like to personally question everyone.”

  “It’s a waste of time.”

  “Yeah, well, Lilith got her information from somewhere, and it sure wasn’t from me.”

  “What about your partner?” he asked.

  “Ed’s clean. I’ve checked. And besides, I’ve taken a page from Lilith’s playbook. If anyone tries to enter his mind, anyone, for any reason, they’ll get one heck of a shock and I’ll be instantly alerted,” she said, making sure Connor got the point.

  “Sound plan,” he muttered.

  She smirked. He’d been considering doing exactly that, and now he would certainly think twice.

  “Did all your agents make it back from the swamp?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Are they’re all here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do they know I’m okay?”

  “No, why?” he asked. “Your injuries were extensive. We weren’t sure if you were going to make it.”

  “Excellent. Here’s what we’re going to do. First off, I want you to tell all of them that I died of my injuries.”

  He folded his arms across his chest. “Why on earth would I do that?”

  She smiled. “Because we’re about to play a little game of chicken. It’s all a matter of who blinks first,” she explained. “Is there anyone whose whereabouts on the island you can account for at every second?”

  “Yes, Albert was by my side the entire time, never left it once. We were working to get the people to safety and he was working overtime trying to calm people down enough to prevent them from stampeding into the water.”

  “Okay, I want you to tell him that in a few minutes you need to see everyone, one at a time. Make up a reason that would be logical to your people. Have him send them in one at a time, but do not have him come in with them.”

  “I think I’m starting to see what you’re getting at. It’s clever, but like I told you before, it simply couldn’t be one of my people.”

  “Well, then, prove me wrong and we can both sleep better tonight,” she said.

  He nodded reluctantly. “I’ll set it up.”

  Half an hour later they were sitting in a small Sunday school room in two folding chairs. Samantha was still far from one hundred percent and her shoulder was killing her. She’d give anything to know what Lilith had done to it. Maybe if they found her accomplice she’d get her chance. She’d also love to find the old hoodoo woman and ask her some more questions before Lilith killed her or got more answers herself.

  The door opened and the first agent walked in, someone she’d only seen once. He closed the door behind him, took three steps into the room, and stopped, clearly startled as his eyes fell on Samantha.

  “So, tell me,” she said coldly. “How much did the hoodoo woman weigh and where is Lilith taking her?”

  “Excuse me?” he said, clearly still hung up on the fact that she was alive when he’d heard otherwise.

  Next to her she could feel Connor pushing into the man’s mind. The guy winced but took it.

  “He’s fine,” Samantha said, and Connor nodded.

  “Go out the back door and speak of this to no one,” Connor instructed.

  The man nodded and did as he was directed.

  Two minutes later the door opened again and a woman walked inside. The door had scarcely closed behind her when she gasped. “You’re alive?” she asked wonderingly.

  “No thanks to you. Now tell me where Lilith’s taking the hoodoo woman before I kill you,” Samantha said, calling a fireball to her fingertips.

  The woman’s eyes flew open wide and she took a step backward. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “She’s telling the truth,” Connor confirmed.

  They went through ten more agents in rapid succession. After the tenth left, Connor glanced at her. “I told you this was a waste of time. My agents are all highly trained and loyal.”

  “We’re not stopping until all of them have been checked,” Samantha said flatly.

  “What if it was one of the agents killed at the safe house?”

  “How would they have gotten back in time?” she asked.

  He scowled. “Okay, let’s keep going.”

  The door opened a minute later and Trina walked inside. She stared at Samantha for a moment and then broke into a smile. “They told us you were—”

  “Traitor! I saw you working with Lilith to put the hoodoo woman in her boat. Did you think I wouldn’t recognize you?” Samantha burst out, leaping up from her seat.

  Trina just stared at her slack-jawed.

  Samantha sat down in relief. “It’s not her.”

  “No—no, it isn’t,” Connor said, raising an eyebrow at her.

  “What is going on?” Trina demanded.

  “There’s a spy,” Samantha said. “We have to check everyone.”

  Trina’s hand flew to her mouth. “That’s impossible.”

  “Nevertheless,” Samantha said, shrugging, “don’t talk to anyone until we’re finished.”

  “Of course not,” Trina said, walking to the back door when Connor pointed at it.

  They ran through another seven agents. When the last one left, Connor turned a smug face toward her. “I told you it couldn’t possibly be any of my agents.”

  At that moment she shoved her way inside his mind and he shouted and jumped to his feet. She let him go a second later. “You said it was none of your agents, which meant I had to check you.”

  “Not cool,” he growled.

  “No,” she said, “what’s not cool is that leaves only one person it can be, the one person you swore it couldn’t be.”

  She turned and headed out the door. A few feet away was Albert. “That’s everyone,” he said. “Is there anything else—”

  Samantha lobbed a fireball at his head. “Did you think you could hide forever?” she hissed.

  He ducked. “Have you gone crazy?” he asked.

  “No, but I’m about to,” she said. She leaped forward and grabbed him by the throat and hoisted him into the air.

  “Drop him!” Connor shouted.

  “Not until you scan him!”

  “I . . . what the—”

  Albert hissed and exploded a ball of light right in front of Samantha’s face. She was ready for it this time, though, and managed to reflect it back right at him. He slumped to the floor, unconscious.

  “You never checked him,” she said to Connor.

  “He was by my side the entire time.”

  “No, you only thought he was. Now let’s hope he can give us some answers about Lilith and her coven.”

  “I know just the agent for the job,” Connor said, his lips pulling back in a snarl. “He’ll curse the day he ever crossed us.”

  Samantha didn’t doubt that for a minute. She nodded and then went in search of a quiet place. When she had found it she pulled her phone out of her pocket. It was miraculously undamaged.

  She called Anthony and felt herself relax when she heard the sound of his voice.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Banged up, mostly,” she said. “I miss you.”

  “I miss you, too.”

  “We found a mole in Connor’s organization. He helped Lilith kidnap the hoodoo woman and get away.”

  “Oh, wonderful,” Anthony said. “Just what everyone needed to brighten their day.”

  “Tell me about it. They’re going to be interrogating him here
any minute. Hopefully we’ll find out something.”

  “Did the hoodoo woman give you any answers?”

  “She didn’t have a chance to; we were interrupted.”

  “Care to talk about it?”

  “More than you know. It will take too long, though, and I need Ed to bring me some things.”

  “I could come along.”

  “No, it’s still too dangerous. I’m happier with you out of sight.”

  “I understand. I don’t like it, but I understand.”

  “Thanks.”

  “So, what do you need me to send Ed with?”

  “Basically my entire tool kit. It’s the gray duffel bag with the red stripe in my room.”

  “And just how am I supposed to get in there?” he asked.

  “Clever man like you, I’m sure you can find a way,” she said.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “And if that fails, Ed’s got a lock pick.”

  “Better. Where are you?”

  “A church. I’ll get the address and text it to him.”

  “Okay. Miss you.”

  “Miss you more,” she said, then hung up with a sigh.

  From the other room she could hear sudden, high-pitched screaming, a sound that should never come out of a grown man. The pastor wasn’t going to like that, not one little bit. Connor would have to deal with him on that issue, though. Neither of them was her responsibility.

  She would, however, need a quiet place where she could set up her stuff and work once Ed arrived, and she wasn’t sure she was comfortable doing it within a church.

  Ultimately the pastor offered her the use of a small gym on the property. It at least felt better to her than bringing some of her witch equipment into one of the other rooms. Ed arrived quickly and once he was inside the gym he held out the bag to her between two fingers, as if it was distasteful to him.

  “What have you got in here anyway?” he asked.

  “Oh, you know, the usual—eye of newt, heart of rat, wings of bats, shrunken human skulls.”

  “Very funny,” he said.

  “I don’t know. I thought your expression when I said ‘heart of rat’ was hilarious.”

  “Yeah, just so you know, you pull any part of a rat out of that bag and trust me, you won’t find my reaction funny.”

  She smiled. “Don’t worry. If a rat comes out of this bag, I won’t be laughing.”

  “Long as we’re both on the same page,” he said with a nod.

  He jerked his hand toward the door. “Sounds like someone out there is getting the once-over twice. I take it that’s the spy.”

  “If it’s not I’d say we’re all in a lot of trouble,” Samantha said grimly.

  “I’d hate to be that guy.”

  “I might have been that guy earlier if you hadn’t been there to watch my back,” she reminded him.

  He shrugged. “What are partners for?”

  She loved the fact that he had just waded back into that role with no hesitation. She unzipped the bag. “Well, right now a partner is for making sure no one disturbs us while we work.”

  “Gotcha. I’ll shoot the first guy through that door.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Again with the shooting?”

  He shrugged. “I’m the only guy here who can’t do magic. What does that leave me with? My charming personality and winning looks?”

  “Good point—better get the gun out now,” Samantha said.

  “Nice,” he responded.

  She pulled out some candles and a poppet.

  “What is that thing, a voodoo doll?”

  “I wish. I know just where I’d like to stick a needle on Lilith,” she said. “No, it’s symbolic, yes, but that’s not really what it’s supposed to be used for.”

  Although back in Salem she had used one to convince a guy that there was a massive spider crawling on his face. She half smiled at the memory. “I’m going to try to use sympathetic magic with the candles and the poppet to help locate Lilith, the hoodoo woman, or any of Lilith’s coven. I’m pretty sure they’re all shielded, but sometime or another someone’s going to slip up, and when they do, I’ll know.”

  Ed rolled his eyes. “You should have just said yes to the voodoo thing. I’d be feeling a lot more confident right about now.”

  Samantha sighed. “So would I.”

  In the background she could hear yet another agonized scream. In her heart she knew that at this point if he hadn’t given up the information Connor was asking for, then he was going to go to his grave with it. From the sounds of things, that would be sooner rather than later.

  “They’re going to kill that guy, aren’t they?” Ed asked, clearly getting edgy.

  “Yes.”

  “And we’re going to let them do it?”

  “I suppose—”

  She turned around and stared at Ed. “You know what? No, we’re not. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

  “Don’t say ‘skin,’ because I’m pretty sure that’s what they’re doing to that guy,” Ed said, looking slightly sick.

  “Don’t worry, Ed. I’m sure they’re not skinning him. Whatever it is will be much worse than that,” she said.

  “Remind me never to give you the job of making me feel better . . . about anything.”

  “Deal, but only if you’ll promise to stay in here and watch my stuff after I finish setting up. I don’t want anyone else disturbing it while I’m out of the room. This could take a while.”

  “Consider your stuff protected,” Ed said. “I don’t understand it, but if you say it’s important, no one will get near it.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Now, go do something about all that noise.”

  “Just one second,” she said, turning back to her things. She said a few quiet words, waved her hand, and set things in motion. Hopefully any chinks in their armor would be discovered even if it took some time.

  Then she turned back to Ed. “Want to see something cool?” she asked.

  “Sure.”

  She put her head in her hands for a moment, then lifted it after putting a glamour on herself.

  He shouted and jumped back, starting to draw his gun.

  “Relax,” she said, dropping the glamour and returning to her normal appearance. “It’s me.”

  “There for a second you—you looked like someone else completely, hair, face, everything.”

  “Exactly. Now, to make sure no one comes in here masquerading as me, I’m going to give you a password.”

  “What is that?”

  She smiled. “When I come back in here, if it’s me I’ll say the name of my boyfriend.”

  Ed nodded. “I think I can remember that. After all, I know whose legs I’m going to break if you get hurt.”

  She grinned as she turned to leave the room.

  She made her way to where all the screams were coming from. Trina was standing guard outside the door, looking as though she was going to be ill.

  “Get Connor for me. I want to let him know what I’m about to try.”

  Trina slipped inside the room and returned a few moments later with Connor.

  “He’s not going to crack,” he said.

  “That’s because you’re not using the right persuasion,” Samantha said.

  “You got something better in mind?”

  She nodded.

  “Be my guest.”

  “Pull your other guys out first. I don’t need them freaking out on me and ruining everything. How much pain is he in?”

  “Considerable. He keeps fainting and we have to keep snapping him out of it.”

  “Good, the more disoriented he is, the better chance this has of working,” she said.

  A minute later the room was cleared.

  “Good luck,” Connor said.

  “I won’t need it,” Samantha said as she donned the glamour in front of his eyes.

  Even he took a step back and began to swear under his breath.

  Her voice even sounded dif
ferent when she spoke next. “What did I say about proper motivation?”

  He nodded mutely.

  She turned and walked into the room. She got up close to Albert, who was strapped to a chair, and she knelt down in front of him. When he opened his eyes they widened in shock.

  She knew he wasn’t seeing Samantha. He was seeing Lilith.

  16

  “Lilith!” he gasped.

  “What have you told them?” Samantha asked, making sure to keep her voice sounding like Lilith’s to match her appearance.

  “Nothing, I swear.”

  “How do I know that’s true?”

  “You know I’d never betray you. I love you.”

  So that was how she had gotten to him. It was simple enough to trick somebody into believing he was loved or even in love. She lifted her hand and stroked his cheek, sending soothing warmth into his battered skin.

  He closed his eyes and leaned into her hand with a deep sigh. “I knew you’d come for me.”

  “Of course. How could I abandon you once they had discovered you?” she asked.

  “You really do care,” he muttered.

  He was feeling no pain at the moment, glorying in what he thought was Lilith’s presence.

  “Now, when we leave here, do you know where you have to go?” she asked.

  “Of course.”

  “Tell me,” she urged.

  “You said never to say it out loud, even to you.”

  Lilith had covered her bases, Samantha had to give her that.

  She thought about pushing into his mind, but she was certain Lilith would have booby-trapped it just as she did to those at the theme park who had seen her. She was in no mood to be sent flying again, and she was sure her body wouldn’t thank her for it.

  “Then show me. Put an image in my mind.”

  “You want me to touch your mind?” he asked, sounding somewhat awed.

  “Yes.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “You told us, anyone who touched your mind would die.”

  “Everyone but you, Albert. Surely you know that.”

  “I—I,” he stuttered.

  “Go ahead and try,” she encouraged him, stroking his face more.

  He blinked and then a moment later his face contorted in pain. “I can’t,” he sobbed.