A Little Blood Magic
Here Witchy Witchy
Book 10
A.L. Kessler
Copyright © 2020 A.L. Kessler
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced without the author’s expressed permission
Editing: No Genre Left Behind
Formatting: Imagine Ink Designs
Cover: Mia Bishop
Blood & Ink Press thanks you for supporting indie authors
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Dear Reader
Connect with me
To the Secret Readers Group
Acknowledgements
Thank you to everyone for being so patient with the release of this book. 2020 has been crazy for all of us, so thank you for coming on this journey with me. Thank you to Jasmyn for edits and Mia for the beautiful cover. To my husband for cheering me on with the late nights and supplying coffee. Huge thank you to The Sprinting Group, because without you guys this would have taken even longer to finish.
CHAPTER ONE
Liz and I sat in front of Boss Man’s old desk, staring down his replacement.
Agent O’Donald wasn’t a fan of us, and he’d made that clear the moment he’d taken over the office. Now, I wasn’t sure why we were sitting there, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like the answer.
“Special Agent Collins and Special Agent Jefferson,” he started and folded his hands on the desk. He looked almost snake-like with his little nose and big eyes. The light from the windows reflected off his bald head, which made me wonder if he polished it on a regularly. “Do you two know why you’re in here?”
I glanced at Liz. She was my lead and my part-time bodyguard. I figured I’d keep my mouth shut. We hadn’t been on many cases lately, and none that would have gotten us in trouble.
“Because the tabloid has another headline on Abigail,” Liz offered, and I frowned.
How was that my fault?
Stephanie’s stupid tabloid was getting out of hand. Ever since Levi outed himself out as the King of Vampires, Stephanie was having a field day.
O’Donald nodded. “Yes. And this time she’s including PIB, so Agent Collins,” he turned those big dark eyes to me. “We have a problem.”
“I haven’t read the headlines, so I don’t know what to tell you.” I tried to keep my voice even because his next words would most likely piss me off.
He tossed the paper in my direction, and I looked over the front page. “PIB Endangers the Vampire Princess.” I blinked at the headline and then looked at O’Donald. “I don’t see the problem here.”
Liz pressed her lips together. “You think that Levi is going to take this seriously?”
“Levi knows how dangerous my job is. He also knows that I’m not going to give it up.” I pushed the paper back. “Now, if we’re done here—”
“I’m moving you to office work.”
I stared at him. “What? No. You can’t do that.”
Liz sucked in a deep breath. “I can’t lose Collins on the field. She’s a damn good agent.”
“It’s too much of a media fiasco to have her out there. She needs to lie low for a little bit, and office work is the way to do that.”
I wasn’t even injured, and he was going to stick me on desk duty. “And if I refuse?”
“Then I’ll suspend you.”
I took a moment to wonder if Levi was behind this. A compromise of me keeping my job but being out of danger. “I’m going to get bored behind a desk.”
“You can’t take my best agent.” Liz tried again.
“She can do your research, make your phone calls, and the like. You aren’t losing her. If I was taking her, I’d put her on front desk duty.”
It was like I wasn’t even in the room. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I rubbed my eyes. “Fine, desk duty. For now.”
“Until I say otherwise,” O’Donald threatened.
I liked it better when Boss Man was alive and didn’t bother the agents unless someone fucked up. O’Donald nodded toward the door. “Dismissed”
Both Liz and I stood up and headed out of the office. We didn’t say a word until we got to the stairwell. “Desk duty? Liz, I’m going to go crazy.”
Liz actually laughed. “Well, let’s face it. You’ve seen a lot of action in your office too.”
“Not the point.” I nudged her with my shoulder as we walked down the stairs. “The point is, I want to be on the field.”
“Then take it up with Stephanie. She’s the one trying to ruin your life.”
It was tempting the find Stephanie and threaten her, but then I’d probably just end up in another headline. “Levi and Mario should be happy with this arrangement.” I crossed my arms and stuck my lip out.
“Don’t worry, it’ll blow over, and you’ll be back in the field in no time.” Liz stopped in front of my office. “Take the time to do some research on Samuel.”
I’d let her in on the secret that Samuel had hired the Cult of Ra to kill my mother and Tobias. She had encouraged me to investigate it further. Since thanks to O’Donald cutting Levi off, Levi had lost most of his connections to PIB, he didn’t get as many notifications on search histories. I didn’t have to worry about him tracking my searches anymore. I swiped my key card and walked into my office. To my surprise, Liz followed me. “If I get anything I can’t handle, I’ll go against O’Donald and pull you in.”
“Mason will call me in too. He won’t work with many other PIB agents. I don’t think O’Donald has realistic expectations.”
Liz snorted. “Let’s just make sure we don’t get you suspended. Okay?”
I
