Witch Fairy Tale (A Mackenzie Coven Mystery Book 8) Read online

  Witch Fairy Tale

  A Mackenzie Coven Mystery Book 8

  Sonia Parin

  Copyright © 2019 Sonia Parin

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  Dear Reader

  Witch Fairy Tale is dedicated to the readers who enjoy Lexie and Luna’s adventures. If you’re new to the series, you can read Witch Fairy Tale as a standalone but be aware that this story makes reference to a character and incidents from a couple of previous stories: Witch in Exile and The Power of Two and a Half.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue

  Other books by Sonia Parin

  Chapter One

  Lexie’s flashback

  Several days before, in a downtown warehouse…

  The young woman they found sat bound and gagged in a corner, her eyes haunted and unblinking.

  Lexie guessed she had gone through several stages, crossing over a threshold, moving from hope someone would find her to despair and, finally, to being resigned to her fate.

  Random O’Rourke spoke words of assurance as he removed her mouth gag and bindings. Once her hands were free, she sat there staring at them as if not quite believing she had been freed.

  When she opened her mouth and released a mournful wail, Lexie swung away.

  “This might be outside of my jurisdiction and the Coven Disciplinary Board will surely come down on me like a ton of bricks, but…” Lexie clammed up and withdrew from the small room where they’d found the girl, moving with purpose and somehow… somehow knowing what she had to do.

  Reaching an open space in the middle of the vast, empty warehouse, she stretched her arms out and kept her eyes open and unblinking.

  She emptied her mind and focused on her breathing and on the air around her. For the first time since learning of her connection to the elements, she did not question it. Instead, she demanded.

  The elements yielded effortlessly.

  Air stirred around her.

  Lexie filled her mind with the image of the young girl. Focusing on nothing but her image, Lexie’s entire being shifted until she felt detached from everything around her and yet aware of everything.

  She remained standing still, but her inner being had dislodged itself almost as though it had become a separate entity. Her focus intensified until she could feel her essence, the pure energy dwelling within her, swirling around the image of the young girl.

  She had to tap into the girl’s thoughts.

  As light as air, she thought, and felt herself immersing within the young girl until she could see everything and everyone through her eyes.

  With a jolt, Lexie pulled her essence away from the young girl and, holding onto the image of the man she’d seen, she called on the elements to carry the image forth.

  “Bring him to me.” The words she heard coming out of her mouth sounded like the calm before the storm.

  Not long ago, she would have rolled her eyes at the suggestion she could summon the elements. The thought of engaging the air around her to do her bidding would have been ludicrous and yet…

  The warehouse door slammed open and a gust of wind swept out.

  Lexie remained standing in the same spot, her eyes unblinking, her breath coming hard and fast.

  She heard Octavia whisper, “What is Lexie doing?”

  “Well,” Luna purred, “She’s making things right and dishing out some just desserts, that’s my guess. She’s also getting us into a whole heap of trouble. We might have to go into exile again. I should have packed an emergency bag.”

  “Can she… I mean… I had no idea she could do that thing she just did with the wind,” Octavia said.

  “And yet, she did. I doubt she’ll want to talk about it,” Luna purred. “She’ll probably withdraw into herself and mull over it for days and then she’ll snap out of it and pretend everything is hunky-dory. That’s what she did after her confrontation with she-whose-name-we-don’t-dare-utter-but-who-is-now-also-Lexie’s-dad… Come to think of it, she hasn’t said much about him either. Perhaps I should bring this up at our next session with the shrink and get her to admit to internalizing her problems.”

  Random O’Rourke emerged from the small room carrying the young girl. “The paramedics are on their way.” He stopped and stared at Lexie. “What is she doing?”

  Octavia grabbed his arm and led him toward the door. “You need to get going. I get the feeling the less you know, the better…”

  As Random made his way down the steps, they saw the flashing lights of the ambulance. Moments later, Random strode back inside the warehouse.

  “You know I can’t allow you to do… whatever you’re going to do,” he said.

  Lexie didn’t blink. She heard Random but she had removed herself from everything around her. So much so, she barely recognized herself.

  “Lexie.” His tone carried the warning of a hundred O’Rourke voices. Holding her gaze, he whispered, “Think of the consequences.”

  And still, she ignored him.

  As he took a step closer to her, the door slammed open and closed several times and then, as if relinquishing to the force of a tornado, it slammed open and stayed open.

  They heard footsteps scrambling up the stairs. They sounded reluctant, almost as if someone was being dragged against their will. Then they heard the sound of a man squealing. Blabbering. Whimpering.

  Random took a determined step toward Lexie only to stop at her silent command.

  “You know the consequences,” he warned again. “You cannot harm humans.”

  “I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it all.” Lexie spoke in a strong, calm voice. “He will get off on a technicality. He’ll be free to kill again. And again. And he will kill again.” Her voice sounded so distant and emotionless, Lexie wondered if she’d been possessed. She didn’t care. She had to do this.

  “You’re not judge and jury.” Random shook his head. “That’s not how it works.” He tried to move again, but his efforts were futile. Something prevented him from taking a single step.

  “I assume that’s the man responsible for harming that girl,” Octavia whispered.

  “There might still be some hope for us,” Luna said. “Lexie could plead insanity. My fur doesn’t react well to dampness. I’d hate to end up in an O’Rourke dungeon. As her loyal feline companion, I’m afraid I would have no choice but to stand by her side.”

  The wi
nd fell silent but everyone could see it still drawing the killer inside the warehouse, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets as he saw Lexie.

  Stretching her hand out, she unfurled her fingers. The rage she had kept at bay surged through her, right to the palm of her hand and emerged as a fireball.

  Seeing it, the killer flailed his arms in a desperate attempt to free himself and escape his fate.

  Lexie didn’t bother with words. She swung her arm back, her focus on the man.

  Random tried to stop her but it was already too late. Besides, he still couldn’t move.

  “Is that Rebel?” Luna asked. “That fairy is going to get us all into trouble.”

  Octavia’s mouth gaped open. “What is she doing?”

  The fairy Lexie had been gifted stood erect on top of Lexie’s head. Reaching behind her, she drew out her bow and arrow and as Lexie swung her arm to throw the fireball, Rebel released her arrow.

  It pierced the fireball and thrust it forward and straight into the killer’s chest.

  “So, technically, Lexie didn’t kill him,” Luna reasoned. She stood between Lexie and the one hundred O’Rourke detectives who’d descended upon them, presumably there to carry Lexie to their dark, dank dungeons as punishment for breaching one of the many strictures imposed on them by the Coven Disciplinary Board.

  The one hundred O’Rourke detectives took a step forward. Luna cleared her throat. “One more step and… and, at the risk of getting into trouble with my therapist, I will bite you all.” As if to show she meant business, her back arched and, to everyone’s utter astonishment, Luna grew to a massive, threatening height, the fur on the back of her head springing up.

  “Um…” Octavia shifted. “I had no idea Luna could do that.”

  Lexie tilted her head in thought. “No… Neither did I.” Then she caught sight of Rebel hovering high up above Luna, her little pouch of fairy dust in her hand.

  They all heard the distant sound of sirens. The police were obviously on their way. Someone had to make a move or there would be a lot of difficult questions none of them would be able to answer.

  Random O’Rourke turned to Lexie, his lips parted but no words came out. Instead, he shook his head and with a sweep of his hand prompted the one hundred O’Rourke detectives to disperse.

  A collective sigh of relief filled the warehouse.

  “I get the feeling you’ll be hearing from them soon,” Octavia murmured.

  Chapter Two

  Current day.

  The rooftop. Lexie’s apartment.

  Stepping up to the ledge, Lexie tipped her head back and stared out into the dark midnight sky. A light breeze wafted around her, caressing her cheeks.

  She had blood on her hands.

  A killer’s blood.

  One hundred O’Rourke detectives had descended upon her, their intention clear. They had come to take her away. But they hadn’t been able to.

  She knew that had never happened before. Not ever. No one escaped their clutches or their dark dungeons. And yet…

  She had.

  Time to pay the piper…

  She’d been waiting for the Coven Disciplinary Board to issue their decree and vent their wrath upon her. She knew they had to. Why hadn’t they?

  As the incoming High Chair of the Mackenzie Coven, she still had a lot to learn and they needed to make sure her power didn’t go to her head. Or worse. Take complete control of her.

  Was it already too late?

  She had no idea how she had tapped into her inner self, that part so familiar and yet so alien. She looked down at her hand. Had she been given a reprieve because, as Luna had pointed out, technically, she hadn’t killed anyone? Rebel’s arrow had pierced through the fireball driving it into the killer’s chest.

  But…

  The fireball had been of her own making.

  Turning, she searched the rooftops for signs today would be the day they finally came for her.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something move. A small shape as dark as the night. Probably Luna on the prowl, she thought.

  Her feline companion had been keeping a close eye on her. If not for Luna, the O’Rourke detectives might have succeeded in locking her up.

  The shadow receded. The little scamp knew how to fly under the radar.

  Chapter Three

  Just another day…

  Jonathan gave the counter a brisk wipe and then rounded the bar. “I’m going downstairs for a while. Holler if you need me.” The lunchtime crowd had come and gone. A few stragglers remained; regulars who tended to stick to one drink with lunch, followed by several cups of strong coffee as they drew out their laptops and worked on-line.

  O’Connor’s Bar had always attracted a strange crowd who lived by their own rules and didn’t toe anyone’s line. He didn’t care what they did so long as they stuck to normal human activities.

  The door opened and a group came in and ordered drinks. Hesitating, Jonathan swept his gaze around the bar. If he waited for a quiet moment, he’d never get away.

  As Jonathan made his way down to the cellar, he patted the whitewashed walls. He stood on solid ground. Yet, the foundations had been established at a time when nothing had seemed solid. The first stone, brought from the old country, held the place together. But for how long?

  He bent down in time to avoid a low beam and, pressing his hand against the heavy wooden door, it opened. It had last been locked over five hundred years before and it still remained locked but he somehow managed to gain entry by a simple touch.

  The whitewashed walls curved across the room and met the low hanging ceiling. Stooping, he entered. As he strode in, a candle came alive, flickering with a brightness that permeated every corner of the small and yet vast space.

  He’d never tried to make sense of it, or even question his place in the scheme of things. He’d accepted his role, albeit reluctantly. At least, he tried to give that impression…

  He strode toward the lectern holding the Mackenzie Chronicle. As he approached, the large leather-bound tome shone with a rich luminescent light.

  The seal remained intact; an unnecessary precaution since no one else could gain entry into his inner sanctum. No one, except Lexie.

  She’d somehow managed to circumvent the wards he’d been maintaining since he’d first set foot in the place.

  He glanced over at a smaller door in the far corner of the room. A wave of his hand revealed footprints leading to it. Lexie’s and Luna’s. His gaze narrowed as he focused on the footprints only visible to him. The imprints were only a foot away from the door suggesting Lexie and Luna had spent some time deciding their next move.

  Lexie’s feline companion would have offered some sound advice, with a few personal opinions thrown in. And, knowing Luna, she would have tried to negotiate a deal for herself. That cat never missed an opportunity.

  Pushing out a hard breath, Jonathan focused on the thick tome in front of him.

  Alexandra Elizabeth Mackenzie.

  He only needed to think the name for the tome to unlock and flick open to the last entry. He had been chronicling her life since the moment of her birth and he had no idea how. He was only two years older than Lexie and yet… He’d been there at her birth, when she’d taken her first step, her first stumble and her next stubborn step.

  Magic. It ran through his veins and linked him to the wench.

  The day she’d stepped inside O’Connor’s, she’d carried the defiance that had led her away from her home in Upstate New York to the city. She’d been determined to carve out her own future and pack in as much as she could in the ten years’ grace she’d been given—a reprieve from her coven duties. When she’d appeared at his bar, she’d only had two years to go.

  After her recent adventure, she had probably put two and two together and realized the ten years of freedom had been the coven’s way of ensuring she didn’t completely turn her back on her heritage, as she would have done if her memory hadn’t been wip
ed clean.

  Too late for that. She was all in now. Her powers were awakening. That meant he had no way out. No way of walking away from what he’d been born to do.

  Shadow her every step.

  Just in case…

  What would Lexie do if she knew he had the power to destroy her?

  If she ever stepped out of line, the O’Rourke Group wouldn’t be enough to stand between her and what he could do.

  He knew he wouldn’t have any second thoughts.

  Only he could wield the power necessary to bind her.

  The thought lingered in his mind for a second and then dissipated the way it always did, giving him some breathing space, allowing him to live with the hard to define truth.

  Gritting his back teeth, he picked up the quill pen and settled down to write.

  “Next on my to-do list,” Lexie said as she shoved herself out of bed, “ask Octavia to research the Coven Rule Book and find out everything she can about personal gain. If I’m going to lead a life of peril, murder, mayhem and possible retribution, I should profit from this gig. I don’t want to get comfortable ordering coffee with the click of my fingers only to then have the proverbial rug pulled out from right under me.”

  Lexie drew in a long breath and took a moment to enjoy the silence only to realize how misleading that could be.

  Squaring her shoulders, Lexie strode into the sitting room and found Luna spread out on the couch, her attention fixed on their new roommate, Rebel. The fairy hovered in front of the fireplace juggling blueberries.