Spells & Life

eyes. “Of all people, I told you. My desk friend.”
Slumping in his seat, Dave shook his head. “Yeah, you told me. Get over it. We went to a seer in Scotland. She was the one who confirmed you were dead. She doesn’t know how you can come back to life. It’s something we need to investigate.”
“Let’s get to it then,” I said, trying to get my muscles to move.
“You’re not going anywhere yet. Your mother just channelled the ley line into you again, forging your connection to make sure the magic filled you. However, she noticed something wasn’t quite right. She didn’t question it, but it’s your mother, a leader of Paranormal MI5, so she will.”
Finally lifting my arm to look at him, I sighed heavily. “What else? How did I end up fighting the serial killer?”
Sitting forward, Dave leant his elbows on the bed. “We went to a book convention.”
“We did? You? And me?”
Gritting his teeth, Dave glared at me. “Yes, we did. There, you had a run in with a man in a demon mask.”
Frowning, I rubbed my arm absentmindedly. “Did I get any books signed? No, sorry, a demon mask?”
“Yes, keep your pretty little head on the task at hand, Agent.” Dave’s emphasis on the word agent made me stare at him. He was right, I wasn’t in work mode.
“You tried to attack him, he didn’t want to fight, so he disappeared. He’s very powerful. We ran into him again outside a pub when he killed a teenager inside.”
A lump came to my throat. A teenager had lost his life because we’d failed to catch a man in a demon mask? That wasn’t acceptable.
“He disappeared again. Apparently, he doesn’t want to kill you. Well, that’s not true, he wants to end all Essex witches, but he must have the hots for you because he wouldn’t fight.”
“Yeah, demon mask-”
“Oh, yes,” he blurted, stopping me mid-sentence. “Joseph Cambridge used a bunch of witches to summon a demon from hell.”
“What the fuck?” Ahh, why couldn’t I get off the bloody bed? Frustration gnawed at my insides as my body squirmed. I needed to get up. My memory had to come back. I just...
Dave took my hand and squeezed my fingers. “The Hunted Witch Agency team sent it back, but it was a motherfucker. And, it wanted you. So, Joseph is being hunted for questioning. The killer struck again, in a shopping centre, so we all went. A young man who claimed to be the killer was on the roof, so you went up. He obviously wasn’t the killer. He jumped...”
My gaze shot to him, my eyes widening. He held up his free hand, his head shaking. “It’s okay, he survived. However, the killer must have turned up. When we managed to break the roof door, we found you on the ground, and a weird patch on the gravel nearby.”
“A patch?” I asked, my heartbeat increasing tenfold.
“Don’t get excited. There had been blood there, so you must have hit him somehow, but he’d magically wiped it clean. We couldn’t get any of his DNA. He left his magic, like he had at the crime scenes, but there’s still no match.”
My head pressed into the pillow, my eyes squeezed shut as I tried to remember everything he was telling me. I was dead. I’d been chasing a serial killer. My mother had helped me to come out of a coma.
“Does my mother know I’m dead?” For some reason, a chill ran through me.
As much as my mother loved me, she was dedicated to Paranormal MI5. If they knew about my weakness, they would most certainly take me out of the field. Or, even worse, fire me altogether.
“No, we told her about the serial killer having his own connection to the ley line. She wants a meeting with you as soon as you’re fit enough.”
Of course she did. It didn’t matter that her daughter was in a coma, as long as she came out of it and got on with her job.
“There’s something else,” Dave said, his tense tone making me open my eyes to look at him. “When you were down, we had a lead for Joseph Cambridge.”
“The man who summoned a demon?”
I’d read about demons in my fantasy books. Yeah, human authors knew more about the paranormal world than they realised. And, yet, demons were never summoned to Earth. Until now.
“Yeah, that’s the one. An anonymous letter came from a vampire.”
Not bothering the attempt to sit up, I nodded quickly. “Okay, what did it say?”
Pulling a face, Dave held his hands up in surrender. “That the reason the demon was summoned was to help in a ritual to end you for good.”

Chapter 2
Although my legs were unsteady at first, they quickly grew stronger. The others had insisted that I stay in the infirmary, but I was ready to go home. I needed my bed, my books, my sanctuary.
“Are you okay, Bella?” Brianna chimed as I crept through the corridors of the agency building.
Not many people manned the place considering it had tight security. Even the infirmary was empty of nurses because there usually weren’t any patients. I’d managed to trick my team into believing that one or other of them were taking care of me, sending them all home.
Holding the phone to my ear, I took a deep breath. “I’m fine. I just wanted to check you were well?”
I’d been in recovery for two days. In that time, the team had caught me up to speed. Even letting me know that I’d been on a fake date with a vampire friend of Brianna’s. A part of me assumed they were making that one up. Why the hell would I go on a date? Especially with a vampire. My book boyfriends were company enough.
“I’m fine, my lovely friend. Archie told me all about your date. Said he quite fancied you, but that you didn’t give him the same vibe. Did you not like him?”
So, this was the first contact I’d had with