Chapter Three

A powerful breeze rustled trees and brush alike as Helena headed for the Bradford estate. She buried her nose in her coat, feeling more and more worried by the second. She could handle the cold. After all these years on the mountain, she was used to it. The weather was the least of her concerns.

The witch considered teleporting to her family; yet, quickness was not of the essence. On the contrary, it would deprive her of the necessary time to gather her thoughts. Helena was desperate to figure out a solution to her problem. As minutes went by however, she realized that the two-mile walk to her family was simply too short. Remarkably, the witch could not think of anything that would avail them.

Raul and his brothers could dispose of the FBI agents, but that would only make things worse. Soon after such action, Paxton would be swarming with a huge number of their colleagues asking all kinds of questions. It would only be a matter of time before their secret came out. No, murdering a law enforcement agent was out of the question; the situation compelled her to make an exception, which sent a feeling of hopelessness washing over her. Up until now, taking lives was the answer to their every problem. It was a choice that had been forced upon them – a choice that they’d had to make – in order to hold on to what they held dear. None of them liked it, but none of them regretted it, either.

Helena spotted Monica, standing over her kitchen sink with a big smile on her face, as she turned around the corner. As her heavy footsteps brought her closer to her doorstep, she discovered a potential reason for that happy expression on Raul’s mate. Kate was sitting at the table, with a red mug of coffee in her hands. With a heavy heart, the elder witch knocked on the door, as the image of the four agents outside the science facility swirled in her mind.

“Good morning. Come on in,” Monica said, as her smile broadened.

“Hey, guys,” Helena mumbled in a barely audible voice, as she stepped into the Alpha’s cabin.

“Hey, Helena; I was just telling Monica about the gynecologist appointment I had today,” Kate interjected, as she rose from her seat. “I was on my way out of the hospital, when I ran into Sherriff Colby. Man, he was pissed. He kept mumbling something like ‘the goddamn feds camped up at my station.’ He was so mad that he didn’t notice the ‘caution – wet floor’ sign in the hallway. I’m pretty sure he cracked a few tiles. The guy’s huge.”

“The FBI is investigating the incident at the science facility,” Helena announced, casting quick, frightened glances at Monica first, and then at Kate. “I’m guessing that’s why they are using the police station.”

“Oh, no…” A sigh of despair left Monica’s lips, as her smile was wiped off her face. “How do you know?”

“I saw them earlier,” Helena explained, as Kate lifted her hands up to her temples. “I even met one of them. He asked if I’d seen anything. I said ‘no’, and told him that thunderstorms are frequent here. Before I left, he gave me his card. He asked me to call him, in case I remembered anything.”

“Why the hell would the FBI be interested in this case?” Kate wondered, her voice squeaky, as her face contorted in confusion. “I mean, the Sheriff called it an accident, didn’t he?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Helena replied, turning to her. “We carried all the bodies inside, we wiped the blood from the wall outside, and we didn’t touch anything. We left no traces whatsoever.”

“Well, they must have something,” Monica concluded, running her hand through her hair.

“They had already collected some evidence, when I got there,” Helena informed them, pursing her lips. “I didn’t get a chance to see what it was.”

“Fibers, animal hair…” Monica sighed, shaking her head sideways in disbelief. “That’s all circumstantial. I mean, the incident took place a week ago. The building is wide open. Any animal could have walked through it. It’s the bodies. The medical examiner must have found evidence on the bodies. There’s no other explanation.”

“Monica, I’m at a loss here,” Helena confessed, the volume of her voice dropping, as she settled her gaze on Raul’s mate. “What should we do, scare those agents out of Paxton? Going after them is much too risky.”

“It is,” Monica agreed with a short nod. “What about…” She faltered. “Looking into your future? Will that work?”

“Witches cannot look into their own future,” Helena declared, dragging her gaze away from Monica. “Think about it. Would Marianne McIntyre dare set foot in Paxton, had she known about her fate? I can’t pry into the future of any of those agents, either, not without knowing their names and their exact whereabouts.”

“You said you met one of them,” Kate’s tone was surprisingly calm, as she leaned closer to Helena.

“I did,” Helena admitted, shifting her gaze to her. “Why?”

“What’s he like?” Kate asked, squinting at her. “Is he old, is he young…? What?”

“I know where this is going,” Monica grumbled, narrowing her eyes at her friend. “Save your breath.”

“Look, do you want your child to grow up in a research facility?” Kate raised her tone, tossing a nasty glare over at Monica. “Because that’s exactly what’s going to happen, if those feds find out the truth! You can forget Paxton as you know it. This place is going to turn into a goddamn ghost town. The government is going to round everybody up. Think about what Riker did. Then multiply that by a thousand times. The press is going to be full of reports about ‘monsters that live among us.’ If we’re lucky, the government won’t be interested in us, but, will that matter? To the outside world, we’ll be the ‘monster lovers’, the ‘weirdo’s that got emotionally attached to freaks’, and all this kind of crap!”

“Ok, you’ve made your point,” Helena asserted, putting a little force in her voice, catching a glimpse of Kate’s heaving chest. “You’re right. A revelation like that will mark the end of our town, and our family. We’ll be mocked; ridiculed. I’ll do it. I’ll get close to him; try to find out what evidence they have. I don’t like it, but…” she paused. “What else can we do? Kate, could you please drive me to the Sheriff’s station?”

“Sure, but, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kate asserted, shaking her head in disapproval. “It’s still 10:30 in the morning. He’s going to have his hands full, and that’s if he’s come back from the scene. Trust me; it’d be better if he was off duty. I’ll go talk to the Sheriff, pretend to be interested in the case. With any luck, he’ll give me their address. It should be a hotel; I just need to find out which one. Just wait for my call.”

“Alright,” Helena took a deep breath and gave a satisfied nod. “Good luck.”

Kate’s intelligence and her earlier rant had not come as a surprise. Helena knew her fellow witch’s qualities, long before her present outburst. Kate’s idea intrigued Helena. Danger fascinated her, but it wasn’t just the risk she was taking that made her heart race in her chest. Helena had to acquire information from a very handsome man indeed. There were a number of ways she could do this, but only one was guaranteed to work, something that most men could not resist: the power of seduction.