Chapter 72

The Gentleman Warlock

Thankfully, my energy had returned. I wasn’t certain why I was getting so drained from multiple changes in one day. The witch schools hadn’t talked about shapeshifters, and my parents had always been too clueless to realize they needed to teach me anything. That left me mostly learning by experimentation. Annoying as it was, I needed to talk to my parents. They’d moved twice and changed their numbers since I’d last spoken to them, leaving me with no idea how to reach them.

My plan to start looking for my parents when I arrived at the police station was delayed when I saw everyone gathered. For more than an hour, I’d listened to the newest development. Apparently, there were detectives from a different department asking questions about the handling of Julia Dupree’s case. I wasn’t the only one angry about their interference. If anything, I was the most outwardly calm. Inside, I was thinking of all the ways Julia Dupree would pay for the problems she’d caused me. The bitch should already be dead. It’s what she deserved.

This new development created an even bigger problem. It was always possible I’d need to abandon my position at the police department now that other, more competent detectives were investigating things. This was that blonde bitch’s fault. It was too much of a coincidence that she and her wolf guard had insisted I was posing as someone from the department shortly before police from other departments started making inquiries.

I was finally able to escape the others and get to work. All the commotion made it much easier to find a quiet place to do my research.

Sitting in an office far from where the others had congregated to complain, I began doing searches for witch licenses. This was the easiest place to start. While not all licenses had a home mailing address, they were all required to contain the witch’s current city of residence. Some got around it by using the city they worked in. That would get me close enough. If I was lucky, my parents had filled out the optional section on their licensing forms to include their phone number.

It didn’t take me long to find my father’s license, and it had a phone number. Using the prepaid phone I’d picked up just for this occasion, I dialed the number.

“What do you want?” my father snapped into the phone.

“Hey, Dad,” I greeted him, trying to make my voice sound as close to normal as possible.

“Desmond?” he asked.

“Yep, it’s me,” I replied. “I need to ask you a few questions.”

“The police are looking for you,” he hissed. “What have you done to your sister?”

That asshole hadn’t even bothered to ask how I was doing. All he wanted to talk about was poor missing Beatrice. It was typical of him. “Did you give them any ideas of where to find me?”

“You know I don’t trust those shades,” he spat out. “Where are you?”

“Somewhere safe,” was my response. “I’ve been having some trouble after changing forms. I’m really tired and unable to do much of anything for at least two days. That’s never happened before. I need to know what’s causing it.”

“Before we talk about your problem, I need to know if you’ve hurt your sister,” he insisted in a shaky voice.

“I honestly have no idea where Bea is,” I assured him. “This whole thing with the police is a misunderstanding. I’m going to get this mess cleared up. Bea may be hiding so the police will stop harassing her.”

“Poor girl,” my dad said with no feeling. He knew the words he was supposed to say, but he’d never really cared that much about me or my bitch sister. “How’d you pick the form you’re using?”

“I’m using a dead body,” I replied. “It seemed more expedient.”

“How long have you been using it?” he asked.

“About four weeks,” I replied. I’d had to buy a chest freezer to put the body in because of the stench. “I thought I might be using up too much energy by changing forms too often in one day.”

“It’s the body,” he told me.

“What’s wrong with the body?” I asked. “Do you think there’s a spell on it?”

“It’s been without a soul too long,” he explained. “As time passes, it will require more energy to maintain that form. It’s worse if you take on a different form for even a short time.”

“I’m not a shade, so I don’t need to use the body. I’m not sharing space with the soul,” I argued. “What you’re suggesting doesn’t make any sense.”

“Neither does the magic that allows us to take on the form of another,” he pointed out. “It makes no sense that I need more energy to change than your sister does, or that she can change forms with no body, while you need to mimic a living or recently deceased creature in close proximity.”

I was angry at the reminder that Bea could change forms easier. Her transformation into a falcon still enraged me. She’d done it in front of me to rub her ability in my face.

“Where are you?” my father asked again.

I ended the call without answering. My father was really curious about my whereabouts. I was certain he planned to tell the police where to find me, a thought that brought a smile to my face. If he was considering betraying me, he’d contact the police to provide them with my phone number, not that it would do them any good. Pulling the chip from the phone, I destroyed it. I’d incinerate the phone as soon as I got home.

Calling my father had been the right decision. I’d need to use another form if matters with the blonde bitch weren’t resolved soon. With a sigh, I decided that if I was going to have to kill someone anyway, I might as well give Katya her wish. Then a thought occurred to me and I laughed. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before.

With Katya’s help, I’d have Julia Dupree tucked away at my retreat by the end of the week.