Witch rose, p.16
Witch Rose, page 16
“She’s with the Charm Police,” said Bryony. “She ate some chocolate that was laced with magical poison.”
Ollie began pacing, a worried look on his face. “How serious is it?”
“So far, some of the poisoning cases have been fatal,” said Bryony. “There are two people still hanging on, but neither of them have much longer. Can you think of anyone who might want to poison Claudia?”
“Claudia is a sweet girl,” said Ollie. “We’ve not been dating long, but I’ve enjoyed our time together.”
“Sounds like you haven’t enjoyed it that much if you’ve been dating other people,” said Bryony. “Are you certain you didn’t get bored of Claudia and decide to get rid of her?”
“No! There’s no need to poison anyone to get rid of them,” said Ollie. “That’s not what she’s saying is it?”
“What about the pageant she wanted to enter?” asked Bryony. “She told me you weren’t happy about her being involved.”
“I wasn’t impressed with the idea of one of my girls strutting around in front of a load of lechers.”
“So you tried to stop her?”
“Absolutely not,” said Ollie. “If she decided to do it, I’d have found somebody else to fill the gap. There are plenty of attractive women in Old Sarum.” He winked at Bryony. “You’re single, aren’t you?”
“Not to you I’m not,” said Bryony. “The Charm Police will want to talk to you. And I will be telling them you’re a killer.”
“But I’m not.” Ollie stamped on the Dragon’s Finger. “I have nothing to do with the poisonings.”
“Not the magical poisonings,” said Bryony. “But you neglected your familiars. They were only babies and needed your protection. You were too lazy to help them.”
Ollie walked away towards Bubbling Brews. “They won’t be interested. If they’re chasing around after a poisoner, the deaths of a few toads isn’t going to concern them.”
Bryony followed Ollie back into Bubbling Brews. “They will charge you, I’ll make sure of it. It’s not fair what you did. Even if you’re innocent of any involvement with Claudia’s poisoning, those babies deserved better.”
Ollie rounded on Bryony. “Don't get me into any trouble.”
“Is there a problem here?” Wilbert strode out from behind the bar.
Ollie let out a sigh and backed away from Bryony. “No problem from me. Just getting things straight with this confused little witch.”
“That’s good,” said Wilbert. “I’ve heard on Witch Radio that an arrest has been made for the poisonings. They’re charging Samara Renegade.”
Chapter 24
Ivy chivvied Kristoff through the Charm Police front doors. “Remember, you promised to do this.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” Kristoff glanced around at the pale walls, a look of distaste on his face. “Although this building always gives me the shivers.”
“That’s most likely the poisoning side-effects,” said Ivy. “Claudia ate the stuff so it’s going to have a fast impact on her. You’ll be feeling the effects as well.”
“I can’t believe you girls are so easily wooed by a box of chocolates,” said Kristoff. “Would that work on you if I presented you with a big enough box?”
“I don’t like chocolate,” said Ivy.
“What do you like?” asked Kristoff.
“Nothing that you give me.”
Kristoff’s gaze went to the pendant around Ivy’s throat. “I don’t believe that.”
Ivy touched the pendant. “Fine. This wasn’t a terrible gift.”
Kristoff smiled. “I can give you plenty more.”
“I don’t want gifts,” said Ivy. “Well, not from you.”
“I’m sure I can find something else to tempt you,” said Kristoff.
“Your silence is a tempting gift.” Ivy walked to the reception desk. “We’re here to see Gabriel. I've brought him Kristoff Dash.”
Suki was still behind the desk, and her eyes widened as she looked at Kristoff. “Is he under arrest?”
“No, he’s here to help,” said Ivy.
Suki continued to stare at Kristoff. “He’s helping the Charm Police?”
“Stop asking questions and let us through to see Gabriel,” said Ivy. “Chad knows all about it.”
“Chad is not happy with you,” said Suki as she lifted the desk phone. “But I’ll put in a call. Don’t be surprised if he arrests you.”
“What did you do?” whispered Kristoff in Ivy’s ear.
“I stopped him from interfering,” said Ivy.
“That’s my girl,” said Kristoff.
Ivy huffed and stalked to the other side of the reception area.
A few moments later, Chad, Kristoff, and Ivy were striding along the corridor towards Gabriel’s room.
“I’ll warn you both, this isn’t a pretty sight,” said Chad.
“I never did think much of Gabriel’s looks,” said Kristoff. “All that blond hair and those blue eyes make me queasy.”
Chad frowned at him. “This had better work.”
“And if it doesn’t, do you have a cell just for me?”
“Don’t tempt me,” muttered Chad. He paused with his hand on the door. “You both ready?”
“Let us in,” said Ivy.
Chad pushed open the door. Inside the lights were dimmed and a small bed had been set up on one side of the room. Gabriel was in the bed, the sheets pulled up to his neck.
“What’s that smell?” asked Kristoff.
“Gabriel is covered in healing lotions,” said Chad. “You can probably smell the herbs.”
Kristoff inhaled deeply. “No, what I’m smelling is the scent of death. We may be too late.”
“Don’t you dare say that.” Ivy pushed Kristoff towards the bed. “Draw the poison out of him.”
“I will do what I can,” said Kristoff. “But you must understand, I will not be able to remove the poison in its entirety.”
“That wasn’t the deal,” said Ivy. “You said with the exchange of powers you’d take away the poison.”
“Those weren’t my words,” said Kristoff. “I did agree to siphon the poison, but I cannot take it all. I can sense it is too strong.”
“You lied to us,” hissed Ivy.
“I had every intention of saving Gabriel’s miserable life,” said Kristoff. “And I will be able to prolong it and give him more time.”
“That could be enough,” said Chad. “We know where the final element of the magical poison came from. With more time, we can retrieve a sample and find an antidote.”
“Where did it come from?” asked Ivy.
“From across the border in red blood land,” said Chad. “It’s why we couldn’t find the element here.”
“Our poisoner crossed the border?” asked Kristoff.
“We believe so,” said Chad. “We’ve got a team over there now doing some exploration into where the poison came from.”
“There must be thousands of possible poisons that could be extracted from red blood land,” said Ivy. “Humans love nothing more than pumping toxic materials into their environment.”
“We have identified a magical signature across the border,” said Chad. “We’ve pinned down the location and are doing a sweep of the area. That will give us what we need. But the extra time Kristoff can buy us will be invaluable.”
“You see, I haven’t let you down,” said Kristoff to Ivy. “I will take on as much of the poison as I can endure. But I need a guarantee from you before I begin.”
“What guarantee?” asked Ivy.
“That you take care of me,” said Kristoff. “Taking in this amount of poison will weaken me and I will need someone to make sure I am not harmed while recovering.”
“You want me to look after you?” asked Ivy. “How do you know I won’t be one of those who’ll do you harm?”
Kristoff smiled at Ivy. “I have a feeling you will protect me.”
“I’m no good at taking care of people.” Ivy despised the fluttering feeling in her stomach at the prospect of spending so much time alone with Kristoff. It would not end well.
“You do an admirable job with your sister,” said Kristoff. “Surely you can extend the same courtesy to me?”
“I’ll make sure you get safely back to the club,” said Ivy. “But that’s it.”
“No, you must stay with me until I am recovered,” said Kristoff.
“How long will it take for you to recover?”
“A couple of days,” said Kristoff. “Once the antidote has been discovered and you have used it on those who are poisoned, I will recover swiftly.”
Ivy looked over at Gabriel and saw how pale and drawn his face appeared. She turned to Chad. “Do you promise me you’ll have this antidote ready by the end of the day?”
Chad nodded. “As soon as we find the poison, we only need to separate the elements and mix the last substance to get a complete antidote. End of the day at the latest.”
Ivy glanced at Kristoff. “Fine, I’ll take care of you until you’re better. But only if you siphon the poison from Gabriel now.”
“Your wish is my command.” Kristoff walked over to Gabriel’s bedside and knelt down. “Hello, old friend. It seems like you’re going to be in my debt.”
“He will owe you nothing,” said Ivy. “You made your bargain with us. Gabriel is not involved in this.”
Kristoff gave Ivy a sly smile. “It never hurts to ask. Gabriel will not be happy I have helped him. But I will make sure to remind him of it whenever I can.”
“No you won’t,” said Ivy. “Now get on with it.”
Kristoff placed his hands either side of Gabriel’s head. “He is not a well angel. I can barely feel a pulse.”
“The poison is almost at his heart,” said Chad.
“Let's hope I am not too late.” Kristoff closed his eyes and applied pressure to either side of Gabriel’s head. For a few seconds, nothing happened, but then a dark green mist emerged from Kristoff's hands and spread slowly down the length of Gabriel’s body.
“It’s working,” muttered Chad to Ivy.
“It had better work.” Ivy was surprised by the nervousness in her stomach. She would do anything to keep Bryony happy, even keeping this dumb angel alive. If he died on her, she'd chase him through the afterlife and drag him back to Old Sarum if that's what Bryony wanted.
The room filled with an acrid foul scent. Kristoff grunted and adjusted his grip on Gabriel, moving his hands down to his shoulders. “I have removed some of the poison. I will now focus on the vital organs. The damage there is extensive. And he is flooding my mind with thoughts and images. Gabriel is a troubled angel. He spends a lot of time thinking about your sister.”
Ivy moved to stand at the end of Gabriel’s bed. She saw the strain etched across Kristoff’s face as he siphoned the poison out of Gabriel. Lines of black flashed across Kristoff skin as the poison spread into his system.
“He’s not going to kill himself by doing this is he?” muttered Chad as he joined Ivy at the end of the bed.
“Do you care if he does?”
Chad shot Ivy a cool stare. “He is a pain to the Charm Police, but I know Gabriel would feel tremendous guilt if Kristoff died trying to save him.”
“Don’t worry about Kristoff,” said Ivy. “He’s not doing this for nothing. And you’ll be wise to keep a close eye on him over the next six months. He will be much more powerful.”
“We always keep a close eye on Kristoff Dash,” said Chad.
“Please, I do my best work when I have silence,” said Kristoff through gritted teeth. “The two of you talking about watching my every move is not good for focus.”
Ivy shook her head. “Just get on with it.”
“My dear, that is exactly what I am doing,” said Kristoff.
Ivy and Chad stood in silence for a moment as Kristoff continued to siphon the poison. He let out an exhausted sounding sigh and sat back on his heels. “I have done what I can.”
Chad hurried to the side of the bed and checked Gabriel’s pulse. “It’s stronger. And his breathing is more regular.” He pulled back the sheets to reveal blue black stains covering Gabriel’s arms and neck. “And these are fainter too.”
“I have extracted the majority of the poison from vital areas,” said Kristoff. “Gabriel's heart is no longer at risk. He should have at least a week before he is under threat again.”
“By which time we will have the antidote,” said Chad. “Thanks, Kristoff.”
Kristoff remained on the floor. “I can imagine how painful it was for you to say that.”
Chad stepped back from the bed. “You’re no friend of the Charm Police, but you’ve helped us today. I do appreciate that.”
“Enough with the friendship club,” said Ivy. “You’ve done what you need to do. Let’s get out of here.”
“You may have to assist me.” Kristoff held his hand out to Ivy. “I feel a little unsteady.”
“Surely you can stand on your own,” said Ivy.
“I don’t think I can.” Kristoff raised his gaze to Ivy and streaks of poison were visible beneath the skin on his face.
Ivy sucked in air. “Fine. I’ll transport us home the magical way since you’re such a weakling.” She walked over to Kristoff, knelt down, and wrapped an arm around his waist.
“You are loveliness in witch form,” said Kristoff.
“Stop with the smarm,” said Ivy. “If I’m going to be trapped with you for two days, you need to tone it down, or I will be the one to kill you, not the poison.”
“As you wish.” Kristoff placed an arm around Ivy’s shoulders.
“Thanks again,” said Chad.
Kristoff gave a small nod before vanishing from sight with Ivy.
Chapter 25
“I’m still amazed it was Samara,” said Bryony as she closed the door on the last customer of the day. It had been three days since the arrest and the whole village was still talking about the poisonings.
“I’m not.” Ivy sunk onto the sofa. Spike was by her side and growled repeatedly as he looked around the store. “I thought she was hiding something when we went to visit her.”
“You didn’t mention it at the time,” said Bryony.
“She was too skinny and pretty for her own good,” said Ivy. “There had to be something wrong with her.”
“Well, Ollie Ogden definitely wasn’t involved,” said Bryony. “Poisoning a girlfriend he’s become bored of would be too much of an effort. He’s someone I won’t be blessing on solstice eve.”
“And I’m going to pay him a visit and discuss his treatment of those familiars,” growled Ivy. Fury still seeped through her days after Bryony told her what Ollie did to those baby toads. You never mistreated a familiar, no matter how many times they belched in your face or blew the door off their cage.
“Don’t worry about that,” said Bryony. “I put in a call to POMC. They’re going to give him a hefty fine and ban him from keeping familiars for life.”
“If I had to work anywhere else, it would be at the Protection of Magical Creatures agency,” said Ivy. “But I never thought Ollie was a serious contender in these poisonings. He’s not talented enough.”
“Speaking of poisoning,” said Bryony, “you still haven’t told me what happened between you and Kristoff when he was recovering.”
Ivy shot her sister a dark look. “There’s nothing to tell. He was in bed most of the time.”
“Were you with him?” Bryony grinned at Ivy.
“Not for a second,” said Ivy. “He mainly complained about feeling unwell and demanded lots of tea and sympathy.”
“Which I’m sure you gave him,” said Bryony. “I must thank him again for saving Gabriel.”
“Don’t bother,” said Ivy. “He’ll only hold it over you. And he already has enough from us to last a lifetime.”
“We’ll need to be careful he doesn’t exploit what we’ve given him.”
“He’d better not exploit it,” said Ivy. “Or I’ll be going back to the Demon’s Den. But this time I won’t be checking to see how well Kristoff is, I'll be destroying him.”
“It’s good that Gabriel is better,” said Bryony. “I was so worried that the Charm Police wouldn’t find the antidote in time.”
“It was a close call,” agreed Ivy. “He looked dreadful when I saw him. Less angelic and more troll.”
“And what was it they found when they crossed the border?”
“Chad told me it was something the humans created,” said Ivy. “It’s known as Venomous Agent X.”
“That was the element the Charm Police couldn’t identify?” asked Bryony.
“Yes, it’s a chemically created poison,” said Ivy. “And mixed up with the magical poisons, it made it hard to recognize. It’s just fortunate Samara didn’t remove all trace of her crossing the border and the Charm Police detected someone had passed across. Otherwise, Gabriel would be strumming a harp in his angel afterlife.”
“Perhaps the Charm Police aren’t as incompetent as you think they are,” said Bryony.
Ivy grunted. “They were lucky.”
The air temperature in the store dropped to arctic conditions and Aunt Lilith appeared in front of Ivy and Bryony in a blast of red mist.
“I hear things are being resolved with the poisonings,” she said.
“They found out who did it,” said Bryony. “Samara Renegade has been arrested.”
Aunt Lilith’s dark eyebrows rose a fraction. “I remember her from witch school. She is not powerful enough to do anything with magical poisons.”
“She had some help from red blood land,” said Ivy. “Samara crossed the border and used one of their chemical poisons to make things more effective.”
“I don’t see how that’s possible.” Aunt Lilith stalked around the store. “Samara was terrible at magical poisons. She failed every potions class she took.”
“The Charm Police are sure it was her,” said Bryony.
“So has she reversed the poisonings on those who remain alive?” asked Aunt Lilith.
“They are trying to get her to confess,” said Bryony. “But they have an antidote now and that’s slowly working. Belinda, Gabriel, and Claudia will all recover.”
