“Three nights.” Oliver shrugged. “You took a lot of damage. You’re lucky you didn’t die.”
“Once again, you were there to save my ass.”
“One day, I won’t be there.” Oliver shook his head. “And then your fate will be up to your bloodline. You’ll either die and stay dead or come back as a vampire.”
“You know me, always tempting fate.” I took a drink of the coffee and let out a content sigh. “Thank you.”
‘Abigail…’ I cringed as Samuel’s voice came through my head.
“He’s there, isn’t he?”
I nodded. “There’s nothing I can do about it. He calls for me to come to him, and I don’t want to. I’ve seen what he does to witches.”
“A couple weeks, Abigail. And until then, we will make sure to have someone by your side at all times.”
“I guess that’s all I can do right now.” I took a bite of the danish as my stomach growled.
Oliver nodded. “Just take it easy for the next couple days.
Pretty sure Oliver’s idea of ‘take it easy’ wasn’t me returning to the office the next day, but I needed to go in to file paperwork. When I got to the office, I found Nick situated at a desk, back in his old spot.
I tried to keep all snark to myself as Simon and I walked in. Nick looked at Simon. “What’s he doing here?”
“I’m only here to file paperwork, and then I’m going out to lunch.” The lie slipped easily off my tongue. “Thank you, by the way. Oliver told me you helped with that circle.”
“That woman’s power is beyond anything I’ve seen before.” Nick shook his head. “And the little girl? If she has a fraction of the power her mother does, she has a chance to go down the same path.” He shivered. “I don’t know if I ever want to see something that dark again.”
I sat down at my desk and started up the computer. “Yeah. I think I agree.” I checked my email first and scrolled through the updates and different things that I didn’t need to pay attention to. But when I got to one labeled ‘I ain’t afraid of no ghosts,’ I paused.
Levi had sent Oliver out to deal with the phone calls, and I had assumed that was the end of them. I clicked on the email and saw a picture of the old house Nick and I had found that was full of ghosts. I sighed as I saw something in the window. I couldn’t tell what it was, but my mind wouldn’t let it go. Was it the ghost of the one soul that wasn’t able to be released? Was it someone else?
I sighed and stood up.
“Where are you going?” Nick asked. “There’s no way your paperwork is done.”
“I’m going to get coffee. I don’t want to do paperwork without coffee.” I grabbed my bag and started out of the office with Simon on my heels. I got down the stairs and out the door before Simon spoke. “Are you really going for coffee?”
“Yes, but we’re going to need to take a small road trip after. There’s something I need to check out.”
“Is this PIB related?” Simon glanced back at the building. “Do we need to get Nick or Liz?”
I shook my head. “No, we don’t. Just you and me right now. Once I know if I’m being paranoid or not, then we’ll call in more back up.”
“Abby, you are still recovering from almost dying. Do you think this is smart?”
I smirked. “It’s why Levi gave me bodyguards, isn’t it? For you guys to protect me when I do stupid things?”
“No, our job is to protect you against the things coming after you and to keep you from doing stupid things.” Simon sighed. “Will you at least tell me where we’re going?”
“Coffee shop first, haunted house next.” I grinned at him over my shoulder. “I’ll stay in the car until I know it’s safe.”
He sighed and followed me to the yellow Hummer. We got in and buckled up. He shook his head. “You better not get us both killed.”
I started the engine. “Not you.”
“You better not get yourself killed. Seriously Abby, what on earth are you trying to prove here?”
“Nothing. I’m trying to prove nothing. I’m trying to figure out why someone keeps calling me to old crime scenes. Now is the time for me to figure that out.”
“I thought Oliver was working on that?”
I nodded. “He was supposed to be, but I don’t know if he ever made progress. The calls stopped, but now they’ve started emailing.”
“Yep, we’re going to end up dead.” Simon shook his head and pulled out his phone.
“Tattling?”
“In your world, it’s called calling for backup. I’m letting your uncle know.”
Two seconds after Simon finished the text, Oliver called my phone. I answered it on the hands-free system. “You’re on speakerphone.”
“What the hell are you doing, Abigail? Get home and rest. Paperwork, be damned. Mysterious emails, be damned.” He snarled. “Simon, you turn that car around bring her back home.”
“I’m not driving,” Simon said, almost as if he was defeated.
“You want to meet me at the haunted house?” I offered. “Because that’s where I’m heading.”
Oliver made a frustrated noise and then hung up the phone. I snickered at him and then went to the drive-through for coffee.
“I’m going to assume he’ll met us there.” Simon shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard him give a demand like that.
I ordered both of us coffees and then waited to answer him until after I got the coffee from the window. I handed him his. “He’s worried. He was first on the scene when Adrianna stabbed me.”
“It scares me when Oliver is worried,” Simon muttered and
