Page 39 of The Accidental Detectives

Waving a finger at me, Sonja winked. “Aren’t you a smartypants? Yes, I killed Alfred. And Owen wasn’t just any old guy, gorgeous. Owen—whether he knew it or not—was a direct descendant ofAlfred Barker. Pretty good match, don’t you think? God, think about that kinda luck, huh?”

Again, I repeat, we sucked at this private investigation thing. Would a skilled detective have thought to look up Owen Barker and his lineage? Probably.

“Yeah, you lucky fucking ducky,” I mocked, pressing my lips together to keep from screaming while blood drained out of me and pooled at my feet. “So what’s the end game here, you whacked-out jealous bitch? I mean, you had to know that no human jail could hold Brenda. You could frame her all you wanted, but human prison was the wrong answer.”

Letting her shoulders slump, Sonja sighed again. “Of course, I know that. But I knew what would happen if the human police investigated. I knew it would be all over the news. I knew the clan would see it. But I really thought the clan would have gotten to her by now. I know what they do to your kind if you put them in danger, and it’s ugly. Painful.Agonizinglypainful. That’s so much better than any kind of punishment I could have doled out—to have your own kind turn on you. But they couldn’t find her!Whycouldn’t they find her, Nina?”

The angry side of me, the side that comes out with both fists ready to ram down someone’s throat, wanted to rip this bitch to shreds. The side of me trussed up like a damn turkey, bleeding dry, my flesh almost ripped to the bone? Not so much.

“Why—couldn’t—I—find—her—Nina?” she screamed at me, her eyes wild.

She was due to lose control any second, and I had no way out. None that I could see, anyway.

Reckless bitch that I am, I smiled, cool as a cucumber. “Because she was with us.”

“Exactly! She was withyou. Of course, you know that’s how I found her—because you fools took the picture of Alfred, and it led me right to her, and to you. And soon your little friends will be here, too, and I’ll finish you all off. I can’t leave evidence behind, right? I’m going to kill you, and then I’m going to kill your friends, in the most horrible way possible.”

I finally got a foothold, managing to rear upward. The intent behind it? To steamroll her into oblivion.

I hurled myself toward her, my wrists bloodied, my feet tangling until I heard a crack, my ankle twisting with such force, I had to fight not to scream. I fell forward onto the ground to the tune of Brenda crying my name.

Then Sonja was there, hovering over me, toeing me until I rolled over to look up and find her swinging her arms.

I assumed it was for the big wind-up, where she socked us with some kind of heinous magic spell. Instead, she asked, “How about we make this a pick-your-death kind of adventure? Remember those? They were so much fun, don’t you think? So what’ll it be? Starvation? Endless, relentless burning by sunlight? Oh, wait!” She hopped around with glee. “I know! What about a garlic cross around your neck?”

Choices, choices, right?

Chapter

Thirteen

Oh, oh, oh, it’s magic, ya knoooow!

So here I was,somewhere dark and smelly, Brenda slumped over in a pile of limbs, waiting to be executed.

Gotta tell ya, not a fan of not being the one with the upper hand.

I’m a vampire, for Christ’s sake, and some witch was gonna beat my ass? I’ve been in a showdown with a witch, and even though I hate to admit it, witch magic is a helluva thing. For all my brute strength, it didn’t beat magic.

If I didn’t mention if before, I’m also, by accident, half witch—a useless half I could never seem to get the hang of. This sitch was feeling pretty ironic about now.

As Sonja gloated, and I wanted to eat her face off, she circled us. “Whaddya say we do all three? Maybe a little of each?”

Look, if I was gonna die, it was gonna be with my head held high. I didn’t want my kids to think I’d left this earth a chickenshit or that I hadn’t fought my hardest to stay with them.

“Do your worst,” I growled. “But if the afterlife’s a thing, I’m gonna come back and haunt the fucking shit out of you until you beg for death!”

The second I said those words, I felt a heat like I’ve never felt before. Not when I was a human and Gramma Lou had taken me to the beach in Florida, not even when Marty and Wanda had almost let me fry to death by forgetting I’d fallen asleep in a hammock on our girls’ trip in Acapulco.

The ball of light Sonja created with the flick of her wrists shined down with the heat of a thousand suns, making my skin instantly sizzle, hammering at the open wounds until I writhed like a snake in the grass.

I fought the urge to scream as blisters began to form on my arms and the friction of my skin against my clothes became unbearable.

Clenching my teeth against the agonizing burn, I fought fruitlessly against the restraints and barked, “That the best you got? Work harder, bitch!”

“As you wish,” she called out with devilish glee. With another flick of her wrist, she twirled her fingers like she was turning a dial and ratcheted up the heat.

Brenda screamed, thrashing against the ground as her body began to smoke.

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