Twistchapel Witch Cozy Mystery Box Set: Books 1-4 plus Christmas Short Read online

  “What are you doing?” asked Bart. “You’re acting really strange.”

  “Whatever you’d like, Miss,” he said, staring at the screen.

  “You know what?” I said, pulling out my phone and glancing at it. “Look at the time. I, uh, I should really get going. No need to tell Detective Drake that I was here, I’ll just see him tonight.”

  “Okay, Miss. I’ll let him know his hot date came in, but said she’d just him tonight.”

  “N-No, uh, just forget I was here,” I giggled nervously. Wait, did that sound like I was trying to bribe a police officer? “I mean, I’m not trying to tell you what to do or anything…”

  “Zoey… just turn around and walk out,” mumbled Bart.

  “I mean, I wasn’t here. I mean, I am here right now, but… you get what I’m saying. Right?” I asked.

  The man kept typing without saying anything.

  “Just stop talking, turn around, and go back to the car,” said Bart. “This isn’t going the way you want it to. Trust me.”

  I cringed at myself and turned away, hurrying out. Bart was right. That had not gone the way I wanted it to.

  The front desk man won this round.

  Chapter 5

  “Do all vampires always live out of town?” I asked Bart, driving further and further away from Twistchapel. I was following Allen’s instructions, which were leading me deeper into another forest.

  “Usually,” said Bart, licking his paws. “Except for some Eastern European countries. They’re more willing to be seen out and about over there.”

  “Makes sense,” I nodded.

  “They’re probably not going to be very happy to see you.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “It’s still the middle of the day,” he said. “Don’t you know they sleep during the day and are up at night?”

  “Oh… right,” I said. Forgot about that one. I guess I should’ve known at least some of the stories of vampires were true, since one turned into ash from being in the sun. “Tonights not great, though, since I’ve got dinner with Drake.”

  “And tomorrow doesn’t work because of bowling with werewolves, and Saturday night you’ve got Bridgette,” said Bart. “For someone who never goes out on the weekends, you have an oddly packed next few nights.”

  “I know,” I groaned as I turned off onto a gravel road. “I’ve got so much to do.”

  “That, plus it really interferes with trying to talk with vampires.”

  We were getting close, so I started looking around for what kind of exciting place we’d see. Would there be a whole other secret town in these woods? Would they be modern, living in large houses in a gated community to keep prying eyes away? Maybe a giant castle! I bet there would be vampire guards stationed all along the tops, perhaps a draw bridge.

  Following the directions from Allen’s text, I pulled up next to a small, broken down, wooden shack. It was so small it almost looked more like an outhouse.

  I kept trying to scroll down on the message, past all of the smiley face and poop emojis. No other directions.

  We had arrived.

  “Really?” I asked as we pulled up to a tiny wooden shack. I parked the car.

  “What were you expecting?”

  “I don’t know… a castle?” I said.

  “If you wanted to hide from the general human population, you’d build a giant castle on the outskirts of a town to do so?”

  “Okay, okay,” I said defensively. “I guess I wouldn’t make a good vampire.”

  “That’s for sure,” nodded Bart. “Hopefully you won’t do anything here to make them turn you.”

  “But… I thought Allen and Warren said they don’t eat human blood anymore?” I said.

  “That’s the public story, but I wouldn’t be very surprised if there were some occasional attacks. Besides, they don’t exactly kill you to turn you. They just have to give you a little bite.”

  Bart wasn’t boosting my confidence about going inside, but I couldn’t just sit in the car all day staring at a broken down shack in the middle of nowhere. I got out of my car and made for the wooden shack. Bart hopped glided through my side window and followed after me.

  Knock. Knock.

  I knocked on the door to the shack and waited.

  A minute passed. Then two. Then nearly five.

  “Maybe they are sleeping?” offered Bart.

  “Maybe,” I shrugged. I pushed a little forcefully on the door, which swung inward. “Guess they aren’t afraid of visitors.”

  We walked into the tiny shack, which had a turned over table and two chairs. The table and chairs were covered in dust and spider webs.

  “I’m going to kill that vampire,” I muttered, typing out an angry text message to send to Allen.

  “You think he’s messing with us again?” asked Bart looking around.

  “I don’t really see what else it could be,” I said. I looked over my angry text and then erased it. He probably wanted me to get mad, and sending him that response would just let him feel like he won. I couldn’t concede another loss, not after failing to get the police officer to look at me earlier.

  I looked down at the table and chairs. No one had been out here for a long time. How had Allen known where this location was? I glanced down at my feet and noticed a break in the dust. A line of footprints led back and forth from the door of the shack to a corner in the back right.

  Following the path broken up in the dust, I made my way to the back corner. This area was surrounded by dust, except for a large square that made up the corner of the shack.

  “What are you looking at?” asked Bart.

  “I don’t know…” I said, crouching down and looking at the square. “There’s something off about this section over here.” I patted down on the square to show Bart what I was talking about.

  A slot in the middle of the square shot open suddenly, and two eyes glared up at me.

  I fell backwards on my butt.

  “What do you want?” hissed the owner of the eyes beneath the shack.

  “Um,” I said struggling to get back to my feet. “Allen sent me?”

  “Allen?” asked the eyes.

  “Yeah, Allen…” I don’t think I ever got his last name. Perfect. “Allen the Vampire.”

  The slot slammed close.

  I guess that wasn’t the right answer.

  “Maybe we should leave Zoey,” tried Bart.

  There were several clicks, and the square in the corner opened up.

  “Come on down,” called the voice.

  “This seems safe,” said Bart.

  “I’m sure we’ll be fine,” I lied. Saying it out loud didn’t make me feel any better.

  I crouched down at the square, and saw that there was a ladder leading about fifteen feet down. Turning around, I put my feet on the first step and made my way down. If the person down here wanted to kill me, they’d have ample opportunity.

  Luckily for me, it appeared they didn’t. I made it to the bottom and turned to find a very pale, very muscular man, resting it over his shoulder.

  “So, you’re the one who is going to help figure out who killed Dante?” he asked. “Don’t worry, I sent someone else to go notify the council of your arrival.”

  “That’s the plan,” I smiled.

  “Good,” nodded the man. “We’ve been hopping you’d come by at some point. A bit early in the day, though. I’m not sure if the council is even awake yet.”

  “Sorry about that,” I said as Bart finished floating down to the bottom, joining us. “This is Bart, by the way. He’s my familiar.”

  “I was told your familiars name was Bartholomew?” asked Mr. Club, walking over and pulling on a lever by the stairs. The square above us closed and several mechanical latches secured it in place.

  “It’s Bart!” hissed the familiar.

  “Whatever you say,” shrugged Mr. Club. “I’ll go ahead and take you two to the council. They are very on edge with what’s happened
to Dante, so I’d be careful with them.”

  “Thanks,” I said, following him as he took us down the tunnel. The walls of the tunnel were cement blocks, with torches lining the walls every few feet. “Are you a guard for this place?”

  “I am,” he said. “My name is Rufinus. I guard the town during the day.”

  “The town?” I asked.

  “Yes,” said Rufinus, taking me around the corner and gesturing around us. “This is the vampiric town of Crestwood.”

  My mouth fell open in spite of myself as I took it all in. Before us were dozens of buildings, all underground. Some were made of stone, others wood, and they all were decked out in gold and silver inlay.

  “This is beautiful,” I whispered.

  “Thank you,” nodded Rufinus. “It’s taken a lot of work, but we’ve really put our all into it over the past few centuries.”

  “This has been here for centuries?” I asked. “Have you never had anyone find there way here from Twistchapel?”

  “Not without being invited,” said Rufinus with a shake of his head.

  “Why do you all live down here, instead of in houses in town? Is it to avoid regular humans?”

  “It’s simple, really,” he said, bringing Bart and me towards a building in the middle of Crestwood. “To avoid paying property taxes.”

  “Huh,” said Bart. “Wasn’t expecting that one.”

  “Wait,” I said. “Seriously?”

  “Absolutely. We only own half an acre that the shack is on. They have no idea that we are spread out hundreds more underground. We save a fortune!”

  I suppose vampires and humans had a lot more in common than I initially thought.

  “This building here is our town hall,” said Rufinus, gesturing for us to enter. “The council members are probably already inside.”

  “Great, thanks for your help, Rufinus,” I smiled. “Before you go, what did you know about Dante?”

  “Besides him being a great vampire, not too much,” he shrugged. “We never talked personally. I just know he was always helping out around town, and then decided to run for council. He had a very popular position of working closer with the werewolves.”

  “Hmm, okay, thanks,” I said. “You’ve been really helpful.”

  “Not a problem,” he said. “I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

  He waved goodbye and left us.

  Bart and I entered the town hall, which was made almost entirely of marble. The sound of my steps echoed as I moved down the main hall, which was empty of vampires. Large paintings of men dressed in old garb from the 18th and 19th centuries were all around. They looked like normal humans, except for their teeth. I paused about half way down the hall and gasped up at one of the paintings.

  “What’s the matter?” asked Bart. “This one looks like all the rest.”

  “T-That’s Mayor Redford!” I exclaimed. “He was known for helping Twistchapel make its mark on the map during the 1950s! Everyone loved him. There’s even a statue of him downtown!”

  “Another admirer of yours, Konstantin?” came a man’s voice from behind me.

  I turned around to find three pale men in a half circle around me. I was almost surprised, but was starting to get used to the vampires always needing to not announce their presence.

  “It appears so,” laughed the man in the middle. “You must be Zoey Foster, is that right?”

  “Y-Yes, sir,” I stammered. The man addressing me was a spitting image of Mayor Redford.

  “My name is Konstantine Redford,” smiled the man. “To my left is Darius Adley, and on my right is Julius Hadley. The three of us make up the Vampiric Council of Crestwood.”

  “Nice to meet you all,” I bowed, unsure of what to do. “This is my familiar, Bart.”

  “Hello,” the cat said to them.

  “You’re the same Mayor Redford?” I asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he smiled. “It’s always such a pleasure to meet with someone that lives in Twistchapel. How are things in the town going, hmm?”

  “Things are going well,” I said, baffled to know that one of the towns most important figures had been a vampire. I knew politicians had a thirst for blood, but it was still surprising none the less. “How are you never noticed?”

  “I spend most of my time in Crestwood,” he explained. “When I’m out in Twistchapel, which unfortunately is rarely, I am only around at night. People normally don’t give me much of a straight on look, and besides, most of the people that were there when I was elected are dead or old for humans.”

  “Vampires can live a very long time,” explained Darius. He was the shortest of them, with a stylish black goatee. “We can live for up to a thousand years, assuming…”

  “We aren’t murdered,” snarled Julius. He had his arms crossed the whole time and seemed to be in a perpetual bad mood. He had long, black hair that fell to the middle of his back.

  “That’s why I’m here,” I said. Might as well get straight to the point. “Can you tell me everything you know about Dante and his death?”

  “Dante was known to vampires not just in Crestwood, but the entire region,” said Konstantin. “He was a very charismatic speaker, and has always done whatever he could to help a vampire in need.”

  “He was running for council, as we’ve considered expanding to four members,” added Darius.

  “Four?” asked Bart. “Who would be the tie breaker?”

  “In events where that occurred, we have all three agreed to make it canon that we would defer to the eldest on the council,” said Julius.

  “Who’s the eldest?” I asked. Was that rude? Were they embarrassed about their age? I should be more careful with my questions. Probably best to not offend a sleepy vampire. I nervously added, “Just out of curiosity.”

  “It is not a problem,” smiled Konstantin. “I am the eldest, followed by Julius, followed by Darius. If Dante would’ve been elected, then he would’ve been the youngest.”

  “Can you tell me about the death?” I asked.

  “His ash was found a few hundred feet from the shack entrance,” said Darius. “Accidental exposure to sunlight happens from time to time with our young ones, but Dante was nearly 300 years old. He wouldn’t have done something so foolish. The only explanation we could come up with was that he must have agreed to meet with someone he trusted out there, and they betrayed him.”

  “So you believe it was another vampire?” I asked.

  “It couldn’t have been a vampire,” explained Julius. “None of our kind would have betrayed him. He has only ever made sacrifices for us.”

  “You’d know all about betrayal, huh, Julius?” smirked Bart.

  Julius narrowed his eyes. “What are you insinuating?” The vampire’s eyes began to fill with black, and the tips of his two vampire teeth elongated.

  “I think he is making a reference to your namesake in ancient times,” laughed Konstantin, patting Julius on the back in an attempt to calm him down.

  “What kind of sacrifices?” I asked Julius. The vampire’s features reverted back, but he kept his scowl.

  “Dante was trying to increase talks with those dirty werewolves,” he spat. “We’ve been at peace with them for far too long, and now they have killed one of our own!”

  “We don’t know that it was one of them,” said Konstantin firmly to Julius. He softened as he looked to me “We have found no evidence, at least. There is high suspicion that it was one of them, even if it wasn’t an orchestrated attack. Perhaps you could check around town, see if you could find the werewolves and talk to their leadership?”

  It seemed like Warren left out that I employed a werewolf, and I could see why. The vampires didn’t seem to be happy with their old paranormal rivals.

  “I’ll check around,” I said. It was probably best for me to not mention I knew one or two.

  “This is unfortunately all that we know,” said Konstantin. “Is there anything else we can help you with?”

  “I’ve also
heard it could be an illegal vampire hunter,” I said. “Any potential of that?”

  “That is very unlikely,” said Darius. “There hasn’t been a report of one nearby in decades. That’s more of Allen’s crazy theory, to be honest.”

  “Allen means well, but he’s not really one for this type of thing,” nodded Konstantin.

  “I’d recommend against working too closely with him,” nodded Julius. “He can really grate on the nerves.”

  “Trust me,” I said. “I know that all too well.”

  Chapter 6

  “So it’s gotta be the werewolves, then,” said Bart a few hours later.

  “I don’t know,” I said, checking my makeup again in the rear view mirror of my car. We were parked in the parking lot of Giovanni’s Italian Eatery, waiting for Drake to show up. I glanced at the time on my radio, which read 7:58 pm. He still had a few minutes.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why couldn’t there have been a vampire involved?” I asked.

  “Wouldn’t they have turned to ash as well?”

  “I’ve thought about that, but apparently they are able to be out in the sun as long as they wear a lot of sunblock and wear clothes that block most of their skin. It’s possible another vampire was there, and just better equipped.”

  “I guess so,” said Bart. “Apparently all the vampires loved him, though.”

  “No one is universally loved, Bart,” I said, messing with my black hair. It never stayed exactly as I wanted it to. “If he was running for a political position, someone, somewhere, didn’t like him.”

  “You think it was politically motivated?”

  “Maybe,” I said, grabbing my bag from the back seat as I saw Drake’s police cruiser pulling in. “I guess we’ll just have to find out!”

  We got out of my car and approached Drake. I held my key fob behind my back as my thumb went crazy trying to lock my car door.

  “Hey, Zoey,” smiled Drake as he got out of his car. He was wearing a nice blue button up and a sports jacket. It fit him well. “Sorry about having to drive separately. Never know when I’ll get called in for something.”