brimstone witch 09 - witch is dead Page 13

  Tobias arched his back and then stretched out. He said, “I think I’m okay to walk, thank you.”

  We quickly left the damp cellar and ran out of that evil-smelling house. Even though it was empty, there was an ominous feeling in the air. I slammed the door behind me.

  Vera Gilligot was waiting for us at the end of the path. “Cassia! You won’t believe what’s happened now. Those vampires have taken over Cordelia’s house! They’re going to take over the town for good now. We’re all doomed. Doomed!”

  “No one is doomed,” I said. “This vampire problem is going to end right now, one way or the other. Enough is enough. Vera, can you look after Tobias, please?”

  Tobias said, “I don’t need looking after. I’ll come with you to fight the vampires.”

  Stanley said, “No offence, but you’re a kidnapping risk. Stay with Vera and let Cassia and me get on with our job.”

  Tobias looked hurt by Stanley’s words, but he nodded and moved over to Vera.

  Vera lifted Tobias up and placed him in her basket. “I’ll take good care of him. Cassia, be careful. Those vampires don’t answer to anyone. They think they can get away with anything. Don’t let them murder you!”

  I gave her a grim look. “I’m not going to be murdered. Not today.”

  Chapter 26

  Gethin was standing at the open door of Cordelia’s house looking very pleased with himself when we arrived. Some of his vampires were standing behind him and some were at the windows.

  I stopped outside the boundaries of the house and called out, “You appear to be in the wrong house. You don’t have permission to be here.”

  Gethin put his hand to the side of his ear and said, “Pardon? You’ll have to speak up. I can’t make out your feeble words, little witch. You sound all whiny and broken.”

  Stanley bristled at my side and muttered, “He can hear you alright. Let’s get him.”

  I leant my broomstick against the fence and then lowered myself next to Stanley. “Don’t be alarmed, but I’m going to use a spell on myself which will amplify my voice. I want those vampires to hear every word I say loudly and clearly. I’m not sure how loud I will be, so be prepared.”

  Stanley gave me a nod.

  I straightened up, faced Gethin and gave him a bright smile. I placed my hands on my throat and said the words of the amplifying spell.

  Gethin’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing? Don’t even think about sending any spells my way. I’ve got many exciting spells lined up especially for you.”

  I cleared my throat and boomed out, “Your reign of terror is over!”

  My voice sounded like a fog horn. Stanley shrieked and put his paws over his ears. Gethin jumped backwards as did some of the vampires behind him. One of the windows in the house cracked.

  Perhaps I’d been a tad too loud.

  I tried again at a lower volume, “I’m in the process of gathering evidence against you. Once I have that, I’ll bring charges against you. You will pay for all your crimes. You will be taken away from this town. You may as well give up now.”

  Gethin rubbed his ear before saying, “Those are brave words. Brave and foolish. I warned you to leave town. Now you must face the consequences.” He raised his hands and a fireball appeared in his hands.

  I quickly cast a spell his way and an arc of water appeared in the air before him. It fell like a waterfall over him and extinguished the fireball in his hands.

  Gethin roared with rage, pushed his wet hair off his face and tried another spell. It was a thunderbolt this time. It zoomed through the air towards me. I used a minimizing spell and the huge, sizzling bolt was reduced to the size of a pin. I caught it and put it in my pocket.

  I raised an eyebrow and said, “Next? I’m ready for any of your spells.”

  Gethin’s face was livid with anger. He shouted to his vampires, “Use all of your spells! Now!”

  It was a valiant attempt, but I was counting on him doing this and I was ready. I rubbed my hands together and created a force field in front of me. The flying missiles bounced off the force field and headed back to the vampires. There were screams and cries as the missiles found their new victims.

  I waited for the cries to calm down and then said, “Gethin, you’re not going to win. Give yourselves up now before someone is seriously hurt. This is your last warning.”

  Gethin jabbed a finger at me. “Never! You don’t scare me. I could rip your neck open in a heartbeat! I am powerful and strong. You are weak and feeble! You’re deluding yourself by thinking you can stop me!”

  I looked down at Stanley and said, “I think it’s time to tell him, don’t you?”

  Stanley gave me a smile. “I’m going to enjoy every second of this. Speak slowly; I want to see the expression on his face.”

  I tried my best not to return Stanley’s smile as I was trying to look intimidating in front of the vampires. I’d told Stanley the secret behind Cordelia’s house on the way over here. It was now time to share that information with Gethin.

  Gethin was still throwing insults and threats my way. I held my hand up to stop him which enraged him even more.

  Using the fog horn volume on my voice, I bellowed, “You’ve made a mistake by taking over Cordelia’s house.”

  He winced at the loudness of my words.

  I continued, “All witches in charge of towns live in enchanted houses. Those houses can change into something else if needed.”

  “What are you going on about?” Gethin snarled.

  I explained, “When I was undergoing my witch training, my lovely gran told me about these houses. She gave me all the information I needed on how to change them if a situation arose.” I gave him a smile. “I think you’ll agree this is a situation which needs to be resolved.”

  For the first time since I’d met him, Gethin looked nervous. Some of the other vampires looked anxious and moved away from Gethin.

  I raised my hands and aimed them at the house. Keeping my voice loud, I said, “I’m changing this house into a prison. It’s a prison secured by magic. There will be no way out. You will remain captive until further notice.” I cast the spell while Gethin fumed with rage and fired insults at me.

  After I’d told Stanley about the enchanted house on the way over, he had pointed out that Cordelia’s house might not be enchanted or that she might have removed the enchantment at some time. I told Stanley we’d deal with that problem if it came up.

  As I uttered the last of the words which would transform the building, I hoped with all my heart that it worked. If it didn’t, I knew I’d have to resort to the vampire-terminating spells. It wasn’t something I wanted to do, but I might not have a choice.

  I let out a very loud sigh of relief as Cordelia’s house began to change. The windows became smaller and bars appeared on them. The bricks turned black and the roof disappeared and was replaced by imposing turrets. Gethin’s face was a picture of surprise and rage as the front door slammed shut on him and huge bars slid across the outside of it.

  Stanley tilted his head. “I can hear their shouts of anger. What will the building look like inside?”

  “According to Gran, each occupant will now be in their own cell. Food and water will appear at regular intervals. We can keep them in there for as long as needed.” All the courage I’d been holding onto suddenly drained from me and I collapsed to the ground. “Stanley, we did it. We captured the vampires.”

  Stanley jumped onto my knee. “You did it. What are you going to do now?”

  “We’re going to find all the evidence we need to convict them. I think the residents will be more willing to talk to us now.” I looked up at the blue sky. “Things are turning around for us now. Everything’s going our way.”

  Stanley rested his head on my chest and moaned, “Why did you say that? You’ve cursed us now.”

  I stroked his head. “Don’t be silly. I’ve got a plan of action. We’ll soon find out who murdered Henrietta Whitmore. You’ll see.”

&n
bsp; We left the new prison behind us and went back to Henrietta’s house. I knew what I had to do. It was going to take a while, but I was determined to get results.

  Chapter 27

  Stanley wasn’t impressed with my plan as we entered Henrietta’s house. “You want us to go from door to door and question every resident about Henrietta?” he asked.

  I gave him a cheerful smile. “Think of it as getting to know the residents better. It’ll be fun to talk to them.”

  “But they slammed the door in our faces last time! And I know some of them called us nasty names because I heard them.”

  “Things are different now. The vampires won’t be bothering them anymore. I want them to know that. Plus, this will be a way of luring that fake Lurking Elf out. If it is Selena, she’ll be keeping an eye on us and our activities. If we’re out on the street, she might creep up on us.”

  “Creep up on us? And do what? Attack us like she did with Luca? Or spray some mind-altering substance on us like she did with Vera? I don’t like the sound of this at all. Haven’t you got another plan?”

  I explained, “We have to do this. We have to collect evidence against the vampires for one thing. The residents were too scared to talk to us last time. I’ve got the feeling that some of them know something important about Henrietta too. There’s a goblin on the next street who almost talked to us last time, but then she changed her mind.”

  Stanley shook his head. “This is going to take hours. Days. Months!”

  I offered, “Why don’t we talk to the residents in the nearest two streets and see how we get on?”

  “I suppose we can do that. But what if Selena sneaks up on us while our backs are turned? What if she changes herself into one of the residents and lures us into her house?”

  “I’ll ask Darren Vexx to look out for her. He’s determined to catch her.”

  “He hasn’t done a good job so far,” Stanley grumbled. He followed me into the stockroom. “What are you looking for now?”

  “I’m making a note of those residents who paid visits to Henrietta. We can start by talking to some of them. They may have noticed suspicious goings-on when they were here.” I took my phone out and tapped the names of the potions and the customers’ names into my phone. “Stanley, while I’m doing this, could you contact Darren Vexx and ask for his help, please?”

  “How should I contact him?”

  There was a knock at the front door. The door opened and Darren’s voice came through to us, “Did you call my name? Do you need my assistance?”

  Stanley shook his head in amazement. “How does he do it?” He padded away to talk to the Elf.

  I made a note of all the bottles on the shelves including some which were hidden at the back. Once I’d done that, I went through to the living room and found Darren on the sofa. Stanley was sitting on Darren’s knee. That cat of mine had no shame when it came to sitting on laps.

  Darren said to me, “I’ll have all my employees on high alert. If that imposter is on these streets, we’ll find her. Or him. It depends on what the shapeshifter’s original form is.” He stroked Stanley’s head. “I won’t let anyone hurt you, Stanley. You can count on that.”

  I’d located a notepad and pen in the stockroom. I held them up and said, “I’m ready to go.”

  We left the house and Darren shot off down the street. He’d told us to give him a minute to get his Lurking Elves in place before we set out on our quest.

  Stanley and I waited patiently on the doorstep.

  I said, “How will we know when Darren is in place?”

  “He’s going to send us a message.”

  “Did he say what kind of message? A whistle? A discreet wave?”

  Stanley smiled as a Dingy Skipper butterfly fluttered towards us. The butterfly paused for a fraction in mid-flight, flapped its wings twice and then continued flying on.

  Stanley said, “That must be the signal. Come on. It’s time to go from door to door.” He let out a little chuckle and raised his front paw. “Or should I say, it’s time to go from paw to paw.”

  I shook my head at his terrible joke but I was glad to see he was no longer worried about going onto the streets.

  The residents didn’t slam the door in our faces. Quite the opposite. They opened their doors wide and invited us in. Word had got out about how we’d imprisoned the vampires, and the residents were overjoyed. Stanley and I had to consider the fact that each smiling resident could be Selena in disguise, so we politely refused to enter their homes. That didn’t stop each resident from telling us in full detail what they knew about Henrietta and her customers. It was hard to get some of them to stop talking.

  Stanley and I listened politely as they went on and on. I made a note of each resident we talked to and what they’d said about Henrietta. They were forthcoming about what the vampires had done to them too. It didn’t make for easy listening as we heard how Gethin and his gang had tormented and tortured these individuals. Some of them even had injuries to show us. I made a careful note of everything.

  As I listened to each resident, I kept looking over my shoulder hoping to get a glimpse of the fake Lurking Elf, but there was no sign of him or her.

  It took us two hours to reach the home of the goblin who’d almost spoken to us last time. She still looked nervous as she opened the door to us. As with the other residents, I confirmed the vampires were locked up and she was free to talk to us.

  The goblin twisted her hands nervously and said, “It’s not the vampires I’m scared of. It’s the creature who visited Henrietta on the morning she died. I’m worried he’ll find out I’ve been talking to you. Perhaps I was mistaken about seeing him after all.” She gulped and paused for a few seconds. “Yes, that’s right. I didn’t see him that morning. I didn’t see anything. Sorry for wasting your time.” She swallowed and stopped talking. She took a step back and reached for her door ready to close it.

  I put my hand on the door and said, “I can appreciate your concern, but you have to tell us what you saw. Please, it’s important. We have to find out who killed Henrietta. I know from the bottles in her house that she supplied sleeping potions for you.”

  The goblin gave us a small smile. “Those potions helped me a lot. I work shifts at the bakery and I have a terrible time getting to sleep after I’ve worked the night shift. Henrietta made me a natural sleeping potion which didn’t have any side effects. She didn’t even charge me for it. She was so kind.” She nodded to herself as if reaching a decision. “I’ll tell you what I saw. I was walking back from the bakery early on the morning that Henrietta died. I saw a visitor at her door. I thought it was unusual for her to have visitors at that time, so I slowed down to see who it was. It was a male troll.”

  “A troll?” I asked. “Did you recognise him?”

  “I certainly did. I’ve seen him many times when I’ve been to Alf Flashwings’ warehouse. The troll is called Neville and he’s worked for Alf for years.”

  “Neville? We met him at the warehouse yesterday. Are you sure it was him?”

  The goblin nodded. “I hung around for a while to make sure Henrietta wasn’t in any danger. You never know in this town. Neville came back out five minutes later and I clearly saw his face. I was going to tell you about this earlier, but I thought Neville might find out and come looking for me. He once threw me out of the warehouse for taking too long to make a decision over a set of wooden spoons. He actually picked me up and threw me out of the door. I’ve had a limp ever since. I didn’t want to get on the wrong side of him again.”

  I looked down at Stanley and said, “I never had Neville down as a suspect.”

  The goblin said, “I’m sorry for not telling you earlier. I should have. You’ve put yourself in danger by facing those vampires and I didn’t have the courage to tell you about Neville. I’m so sorry.”

  I said gently, “It’s okay. I can understand why you didn’t tell us. Thank you for telling us now. We’ll talk to Neville but I won’t mention your
name.”

  She gave us a grateful smile before closing the door.

  We headed back to Henrietta’s house.

  Darren Vexx was waiting for us. He said, “That imposter is nowhere to be seen. We’ll keep looking out for them, don’t you worry. Did you get anywhere with your questions?”

  I told him about Neville.

  Instead of being surprised, Darren said, “Yes, that makes sense. Neville’s very protective of Alf and looks upon him as a father. He’d do anything for Alf. That could include murder. Didn’t you say Henrietta had upset Alf recently?”

  “She did,” I confirmed. “There were no signs of forced entry to the house, so it looks like Henrietta let her murderer in. This confirms what we’ve just been told about Neville. It looks like we might have found our murderer.”

  Chapter 28

  We found Neville sitting on a wall outside the warehouse. He was eating something with great enthusiasm.

  From our position on my broomstick, Stanley said, “I’d forgotten how big he was. Look at the size of his hands! They’re bigger than cars.”

  “They’re not. Don’t exaggerate.” I hesitated. “Well, maybe the size of a small, two-seater car.”

  “What do you think he’s eating?” Stanley asked. “Do you think he eats meat? What if he eats cats?”

  “Stanley, no one eats cats.” Another hesitation. “Well, perhaps vampires do.”

  Stanley hadn’t finished with his worries. “What if Neville is working for the vampires? What if Neville is actually Selena? She wasn’t in her Lurking Elf form on the streets earlier. That’s because she was here stuffing her face with something delicious and meaty.”

  “You’re letting your imagination run away with you. There’s no need to worry about anything. I have many defensive spells ready to use.” Once more I hesitated. “But if it looks like Neville’s going to attack us, you run away. I’ll deal with him. Or her.”

  We landed in front of Neville and kept a safe distance between us.