Rune Witch Mysteries- The Complete Series Read online

  God, Thomas was good. I watched his lithe body as it moved as though dancing to some unheard music. His movements were flawless. I couldn’t ask for a better partner.

  Thomas adopted a fighting stance, with his arms up, protecting his chest. In a flash, his right arm drove out in a hammer-fist punch, smacking his assailant in the face with the meaty bottom of his fist.

  The thugs were strong, stronger than Thomas, but they didn’t come close to matching his skill. Thomas wrapped his arm around his assailant’s neck and pulled him into a headlock. He struggled, but Thomas held on tight, cutting off the oxygen and removing the threat.

  “Impressive,” Rachel said. “But what can you do?”

  I turned and looked into her face. She brushed her hair behind her ear and released the full force of her glamour.

  Suddenly, the air was full of ice. I shivered as the cold encased my body. Thoughts swirled in my head, too muddled to grasp. I couldn’t focus. Couldn’t breathe.

  “You’re nothing,” Rachel said. “You don’t deserve a man like him.” Unmistakable desire flashed through her eyes as they looked to Thomas before she levelled them back at me. “Your tree power is nothing to a goblin.”

  I recoiled under her stare. She was right. I didn’t deserve Thomas.

  How many times had I pushed him away? Refused to marry him?

  I’d brought him nothing but trouble.

  The world of magic wasn’t one he belonged in...

  He shouldn’t be here...

  He could be killed...

  It’s all my fault!

  The room started to spin as nausea swirled with self-hate inside me.

  No! my mind screamed. This wasn’t right!

  Thomas wasn’t some weak-willed victim that I pushed around. He wasn’t Daniel to be led into trouble by some manipulative girl. He made his own decisions and was more than capable of taking care of himself. He knew exactly who he was and what he was doing.

  And I... I wasn’t Gwen, weakened to accept illusion by yew berries.

  I pushed off the glamour Rachel was forcing on my mind. The air cleared around me and I stood tall. “It’s you who are nothing,” I said. “A spoiled little rich kid, starved of her father’s attention, and poisoned by the greed of all goblins that burns in your soul. Did you really think he’d pay the ransom? That you mean more to him than his money?”

  I held my head high and looked at the magic singing beneath my skin. “My tree power could kick the ass of your goblin magic any day of the week.”

  The raw heat of anger flushed through my body. My vision went red and suddenly I found her smarmy face supremely punchable. “But who needs it,” I said, letting the magic fade within me and lashing out with a right hook that split Rachel’s lip and splattered blood across her pink dress.

  “What the hell,” Rachel screamed as she stumbled backwards. “You hit me. You bloody hit me.” She sat on the step and stared at the blood that came away when she touched the back of her hand to her lips.

  “Damn right I did.” I pulled a tissue from my pocket and handed it to her. “And I’ll do it again if you move.”

  Rachel stared up at me, her face a mixture of disbelief and horror. It was clear she’d never been hit before, despite the lies she fed to Gwen.

  I turned to Thomas and saw him standing over the prostrate forms of Daniel and the two thugs.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “Not a scratch. You?”

  “I’m good.”

  “You don’t think you were a little harsh on the girl?” Thomas nodded towards Rachel. “That stuff about her father was a little mean.”

  Daniel groaned on the floor as he started to regain consciousness. I walked over and pulled his head up to face me. “Which one of you killed the fairy?” I asked.

  “Fairy,” he murmured. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.

  “Rachel’s house fairy. Was it you or one of these guys?”

  He paused and glanced at Rachel, who sat ignoring him on the stairs. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, and these guys have never even been to Rachel’s house,” he said. I pushed Daniel back to the floor and he laid motionless on his back.

  “You still think I was harsh on the girl?” I asked Thomas. She’d killed her own house-fairy. A creature that had been her companion for her whole life. God, that girl was a piece of work.

  I picked up my jacket from the floor and went through the pockets.

  Thomas pulled out his mobile and made two calls. Mr Platt could come and say goodbye to his murderous daughter before the Council carted her away.

  After listening to the calls, I nudged Rachel with my foot. “Did you use glamour on Daniel, make him do what you wanted?”

  He wasn’t my favourite person in the world, and sure, he might have a nasty side just like his mother, but he wasn’t a fighter. That much was clear from how nervous he’d been tonight. He’d been way out of his depth.

  Rachel nodded without looking up.

  “You’d better get out of here, Daniel,” I said. “Go back to your mum and stay away from the world of magic.”

  Daniel rushed to his feet and fled out the door without a backwards glance.

  “What about these two?” Thomas asked.

  I considered feeling bad about leaving the two thugs to the Council, but something told me they were a couple of lowlifes who deserved whatever punishment faced them. I mean, hell, they hadn’t thought twice about threatening me with violence.

  Rachel watched me. The shock had faded from her face and it now shone with outright hate. It was a look that told me to expect more trouble from Rachel in the future. But, today... today she was beaten.

  It would take maybe half an hour for the Council and Mr Platt to arrive. No doubt, Mr Platt would bring a team of his own people with him. But the Council could deal with them and clean up this mess. Thomas hadn’t told him on the phone that his daughter had staged her own kidnapping to fleece him out of his money. No, he’d saved that treat for when he’d arrive.

  I walked over the room and wrapped my arms around Thomas. “It’s been a long night, huh?” he said.

  “Damn right.” My stomach chose that moment to let out a hungry growl, and for the first time, I noticed the smell of pizza in the room. “I’m starving.”

  Chapter Nine

  We went outside as soon as the Council arrived to take control. Mud squelched underfoot, and the once peaceful clearing became a hive of activity as cars arrived with the morning.

  Despite the energy provided to me by my surroundings, I was exhausted. Thomas, too. Which made me all the more glad for Joe’s presence when Darren Platt turned up in his Lexus with two goons not five minutes later.

  “You realise this means you don’t get paid,” Platt snarled at us after Joe explained why he was bundling his handcuffed daughter into the back of a car. “As Rachel wasn’t kidnapped, you didn’t to rescue her.”

  “Fine,” I said not caring about any promised money. It’s not as though we needed it, but one look at Thomas told me he didn’t feel the same way. “You want the money?” I whispered to him.

  Thomas shook his head. “It’s not that. I just want him to pay. The only thing he cares about is his precious money, and taking some of that from him would give me a small measure of satisfaction in an otherwise messy case.”

  “I know what you mean.” There was no way Platt would pay up, but maybe Thomas was wrong, maybe there was something he cared about as much as he did money.

  “It’s your choice not to pay,” I said to Platt. “We won’t fight you for the money, but we will tell every living soul we come across, and maybe a few dead ones, for good measure, that you dishonour your bargains. You contract with people and refuse to pay up when they complete the job. I mean, supernaturals should already know you’re a low-life. You are a goblin, after all. But what of the humans you do business with? You think they’d be impressed by your deeds?”

  Platt laughed, a bitter,
cold sound. “And you think anyone would believe you?” He looked me up and down, judging my casual appearance again. “You look like an off-duty waitress.”

  I smiled. “We both know looks can be deceiving. Besides, I do have that handy trick your daughter taught me with yew berries. I could easily slip some in the drinks of your business associates, reinforce their belief in whatever I choose to tell them. They wouldn’t suspect me bringing them a drink. I do look like a waitress, after all. Which, I take as a compliment by the way, waitresses work damn hard for their money.”

  Platt quivered and barred his teeth, for a second he lost control and his glamour faded. Before us stood a green goblin, with eyes as red as rubies and fangs as sharp as razor blades.

  Joe moved besides him, placing a stilling hand on his shoulder. “I think it’s time you leave before you get in trouble with the Council,” Joe said. Although, whether the statement was directed at me or Darren Platt was unclear.

  Platt looked at me as if deciding whether to heed Joe’s warning or to charge and attempt to rip my throat out. In the end, the words of the eleven-foot-tall giant won out and Platt composed himself, restoring his human appearance in the process.

  With our business complete, I clasped Thomas’ hand, pulled him close, and left. All the while, Platt shouted obscenities at us behind our backs.

  “We haven’t made a friend there,” Thomas said, using an understatement,

  I shrugged. “Oh, well, it’s not like we needed any more. We’re perfectly fine as we are.”

  Thomas stopped and regarded me with an expression I couldn’t quite identify. “For now,” he said. His blue eyes twinkled and he started walking, leaving me standing dumbfounded amongst the trees.

  “And what is that supposed to mean?” I asked, racing to catch up.

  Thomas smirked. “You know. Pretty soon, you’ll succumb to my charms and marry me.”

  “Oh, I will, will I? Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

  “What can I say? You know you love me.”

  I lifted his arm and pulled it around my shoulders. “That I do.”

  “So, where are we going?” Thomas asked when we reached the car.

  “Bed,” I said “I’m exhausted.”

  “I could murder some sleep as much as you can, but that’s not what I meant.” He looked around the forest. The morning was in full swing: the birds were singing, the sun was doing its best to break through the clouds, and a cold October wind whistled through the trees. “We’re less than ten minutes from your nana’s house. Don’t you think, as we’re so close, we should pick up where we left off yesterday morning?”

  “Why do I feel like you’re giving me no choice?”

  Thomas laughed and shook his head. “The choice is always yours. I just think, while we’re here, you could get it over and done with. No sitting at home dwelling on it for another week. We drive to the cottage, pop inside, and take a look around for five minutes. Then, we go home and get some much needed sleep. No big deal, we’re just in the area.”

  “Yeah, no big deal,” I said.

  Chapter Ten

  I took a deep breath and inserted the key into the lock. It turned easily and the door all but swung open, as though welcoming me into the house.

  Thomas held my hand as we slowly walked inside. “I thought your mam said no-one had been here since you left,” he said.

  “That’s what she said.” Although, the air around us was as fresh as that outside.

  Looking around the cottage was like stepping into the past. The hall was decked in oak flooring. A traditional rug with floral patterns and intricate green border lay on top — as new today as the day it was bought. As we walked through the house, I turned on every light I could find. Each room was the same: fresh, clean, and untouched by time.

  I ran my hand over the circular table in the kitchen. There wasn’t a trace of dust, but when I felt a small chip in the wood, a wave of memories washed over me. Family dinners, homework, cataloguing plants, and mixing brews. All at this table. The chip came when I’d dropped a plate. The sound of the china smashing on the table and falling to the ground filled my ears. Mam had hurried over fussing that I’d cut my hand, and brushing away my concerns for the mess.

  My heart soared. This is where I belonged.

  I ran up the sturdy stone stairs to my bedroom. A poster of the Spice Girls still hung on my apple-green walls. The bed was made. I jumped on it, smelling the fresh scent of clean sheets.

  “The whole place is pristine,” Thomas said, joining me on the bed.

  “Nana’s blessing spell would have offered some protection, but not this much. This place isn’t just clean, it’s freshly cleaned.”

  “Do you think someone could be living here?”

  I shook my head. “I think we have a bwbach.”

  I stood and walked around the room. “Hello?” I called cautiously. “Are you here?”

  Silence answered.

  “Yesterday, at Platt’s house, I was sure I’d seen a bwbach before. Not the poor dead soul, but another of her kind. I just couldn’t for the life of me think of where I’d seen one. I bet it was here.”

  I moved out onto the landing, calling out, trying to summon the house fairy. After I’d been shouting for several minutes, Thomas came and laid his hand on my shoulder.

  “Didn’t you say bwbachod are rarely seen, even by their housemates?”

  I nodded.

  “Then, maybe it’s just hiding. We’ll find out soon enough if we share the house with a fairy.”

  “Share the house?” I asked.

  “One look at your face and I knew we were moving in.”

  “And you’re alright with that, with moving out of Cardiff?”

  “Absolutely.”

  I clapped my hands and squealed like a five year old. “Great. We can sleep in my single bed for now, and get a double delivered as soon as possible.”

  I couldn’t help but smile as I led Thomas back into my bedroom.

  *

  I went to bed feeling wonderfully relaxed and fell into an easy sleep with Thomas snuggled beside me. We slept for hours, and when I awoke, night had fallen and a gentle rain was pattering against the window.

  I lifted Thomas’ arm from around my waist and snuck downstairs. We had no food in the cottage, but as I’d had the utilities turned on, I hoped to find fresh water to drink. Only when I reached the hall did I question why the air was so warm. It must be near freezing outside, but inside was toasty. I held my breath when I saw the flicker of flame-light beneath the living room door. For a second, I thought of calling Thomas, but then shook myself for being silly. I was a powerful witch in her own home, not some frightened damsel in a horror movie.

  Despite these thoughts, and the certainty I could hold my own whoever was in the room, my heart still leapt into my throat when I opened the door and saw a bwbach tending a fire in the grate.

  “Hello,” I said.

  The bwbach turned. She was a mirror of the poor dead fairy, but whether it was a familial resemblance or one of species, I couldn’t be sure.

  “Croeso,” the bwbach said, welcoming me in welsh.

  “Diolch. Thank you.” I moved and sat in the large armchair besides the fire.

  “Do you remember me, Summer?” the bwbach asked.

  “I’m sorry, but not really.”

  “Ahh, well. It was a long, long time ago you left, and you were a youngling at that.”

  “Thank you for keeping the house so lovely for my return.”

  “Well. Your nana told me you would, so I kept it ready and waiting, and a very fortuitous time you arrived, too.”

  The bwbach sank into the chair opposite me. She looked so small and lost, and I could see her heart was heavy.

  “You contacted the cewri,” I said when realisation hit.

  “Yes. I’m sorry to have interrupted your day, but when I felt my chaer pass but not enter the other realm, I didn’t know what to do. Then, I saw you outside an
d I knew you’d be able to help find whoever hurt her.”

  “We did. Thomas and I. He’s still asleep upstairs.”

  “I’ve seen him.” The bwbach smiled. “A fine young man. Your nana would be pleased. Your mam, too, no doubt.”

  “Mam’s never met him,” I said. “She moved abroad a few months before Thomas and I started dating.”

  “She’s a good woman, your mam, but she was scared when your nan died. She was never as powerful as your nana, and your nana was never as powerful as you are now. You shouldn’t be too hard on her for running away.”

  “Running away?” I asked, suddenly confused. Mam had left out of grief. She’d been unable to stay because life without nana was so unbearable she needed a fresh start, but the bwbach made it sound like she was running from something else, like there was something after her.

  “But you’ll be able to take care of all that now,” she said. “It’s about time the curse was lifted.”

  “Curse?”

  “Ie, the curse that took your nana. The curse that plagues your family still.”

  I wanted to ask more. It’s not every day you learn that your family is cursed and that the curse was responsible for Nana’s death. Once again, I found myself questioning how Mam could have kept me in the dark about so many things. I needed more answers if I was to find out what the hell was going on. Despite my asking, the bwbach seemed disinclined to address the matter any further. I’d have to contact Mam, but who knew if she’d be willing to tell me anything when she’d kept it hidden for so long.

  “Please?” I asked again, almost begging. “Whatever you can tell me would be a great help.”

  “I’m sorry, Summer. I’ve said all I can, and that may be more than I should. Now, still yourself. Your handsome young man is coming and we wouldn’t want him to worry now, would we.”

  Thomas pushed through the door with a smile on his face, and although I had no intention of keeping anything from him, I decided to drop the matter of the curse for now, if only for the bwbach’s sake.

  “Thomas, this is...” I turned to the fairy. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name.”

  “Rhoslyn,” the fairy, said rising from the chair. “It’s lovely to meet you, Thomas. Thank you for freeing the spirit of my fair sister, Rhoswen.”