“Where were you?”

Sam took a drink of her fruit smoothie she’d bought from the big chain coffee place and handed Claire the latte, complete with triple espresso. Judging from the circles under her friend’s eyes, she might even need another one. “I was at Derek’s,” she said honestly, even though she knew that wasn’t what Claire meant.

“Where was Derek?”

“Also at Derek’s,” said Sam, not bothering to hide the smart assery.

Claire tilted her head and her eyes scanned Sam, and Sam had to fight the urge to nervously shift her weight. Finally Claire said, “Please tell me you and Derek weren’t having sex while his partner was recovering from a poltergeist murder attempt.”

“You know,” Sam pointed a finger at Claire, “sometimes reaffirming you’re alive is a healthy, adult reaction to a life-or-death situation.”

Claire raised a brow, but Sam wasn’t about to feel guilty for the sex. For one, it was way too good, and for second, Claire was better suited to protect Angela than anyone at this point. After having their asses thoroughly handed to them, Sam and Derek needed a chance to lick their wounds. And each other.

At least that was what she was going to keep telling herself.

“I know why I’m here.” Sam looked up at Claudia’s building. “Why are you here?”

“I think Jackson is haunting me and he might be the one who tried to kill Angela last night.”

Sam scoffed. “There’s no such thing as ghosts.”

“Tell that to the bruises on Angela’s neck.”

Touché. “There are a lot of magical explanations, but there are no such things as ghosts. Trust me.”

Claire raised a brow. “You have looked into ghosts before?”

“I tried to raise a ghost before. After my dad died, I would’ve given anything to get him back. Heather and I looked through every text we could find and tried to do séances or anything to connect to the dead. Nothing. And when we asked Claudia.... Let’s just say that didn’t go well.”

“Okay....” said Claire carefully before she took a long drink of her coffee. “So there are no such things as ghosts. But I’m still seeing Jackson. And something did try to kill Angela last night, and that thing was impervious to bullets.”

Sam stiffened, the sudden memory of seeing Derek shoot Abigail and seeing the bullet hole just disappear, for better or worse. Probably worse....

“What?” asked Claire.

“Nothing. It could just be a coincidence.”

“You know what Derek thinks about coincidences.”

“Yes. I also know that killing people is hard. And as badass as you want to be, you’re a pretty good person. You seeing Jackson might just be some form of guilt.”

“I don’t feel guilty for killing him. He had it coming.”

“I know that. And you know that. Maybe your subconscious is more conflicted? I’m just saying... Oscar’s razor. The most simple explanation is normally the right one.”

Claire blinked in annoyance. “One, it’s Occam’s razor. Two, you’re a witch. Don’t give me the Occam’s razor bullshit. Occam’s razor needs to go in the trash from now on.”

“Fine,” agreed Sam. “Let’s take it to Claudia then. She knows a hell of a lot more than I do.”

Claire nodded in agreement and let Sam lead the way into the building and to the elevator. Sam had called her grandmother to let her know they were coming, so they were expected. But this time she wasn’t alone in her office. Bastian stood next to her desk.

Sam was rather fond of the man, even if she knew next to nothing about him. Claudia had introduced him as one of her trusted sentries, but since then, Sam hadn’t met one person who had met Bastian before. Even Abigail, who knew pretty much everyone, didn’t know who Bastian was. On top of that, he’d recently outed himself as something other than a witch, and she hadn’t had time to ask him what the hell he was. It wasn’t human considering he was better at mind control than she was, but he was something. And he’d been able to fight off the darkness, a feat she couldn’t do without Claudia going full exorcist on her.

Even though she knew so little about him, he’d saved her ass on more than one occasion, and he was on the increasingly short list of people she trusted. She knew that Claudia was his number-one priority, but he was open about it at least. Hell, at this point, she probably trusted Bastian more than Claudia.

“Samantha.” Claudia nodded to Claire in greeting. “I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to tell you to stay away from your mother.”

Claire stopped in surprise. “Abigail? What’s wrong with Abigail?”

“Everything is wrong with her,” said Sam. “Too late, Grandma. I visited her last night. It was one hell of a party.”

Claudia’s eyes widened and Bastian started to reach for a weapon, but Sam held up her hands in a nonthreatening way and took a step back. “Whoa, I’m me. I’m fine. I got away.”

Bastian didn’t pull out his knife, but he still eyed her as if she were about to grow a second head. “How did you manage to get away?”

“After Derek shot her in the head and that did nothing, he sprayed her with pepper spray. It didn’t faze her for long, but it was enough for us to get away.”

Claudia tilted her head and for a second Sam thought she saw approval. “That was smart.”

Sam tended to agree, but she was too confused by Claudia’s reaction. “Yeah, it makes total sense that she can survive lead through her brain, but the second her eyes get burned she acts like the Wicked Witch of the West in a downpour,” she said sarcastically.

Claudia pursed her lips. “Never underestimate a good surprise, Samantha.”

Sam wondered how much history went into that simple sentence. How much had Claudia seen in her long life? What secrets was she hiding right now that could help them get her mother back? But when Sam remembered how Claudia had dealt with Heather when there was the possibility of her allowing the darkness in, Sam had a sinking feeling she’d never see her mother again. The crushing realization had her reeling, but she made sure it didn’t show on her face. Even though Claudia was her grandmother, she couldn’t count on her for comfort or a shoulder to cry on. Sam looked at the ground and managed, “Claire wanted to ask you something.”

Thankfully, everyone’s attention turned to Claire, and Sam could rub at her eyes and recover from her lapse.

“Ummm,” said Claire awkwardly. She didn’t have the benefit of being related to Claudia, and she wasn’t as used to dealing with the intimidating woman. Sam managed to look up and give her a comforting smile, encouraging her to continue. “I’ve been seeing Jackson.”

Claudia raised a brow and didn’t say anything.

“The first time I saw him was when I was distracted at work. I don’t even know if I was sleeping, but the dream was so real. It was like he was actually there. And then when I was fully awake, I suddenly thought my boyfriend was Jackson, and I almost punched him in the face. Then Angela was attacked by something in her apartment. She never saw his face, but since her and Jackson don’t have the best history, it would make sense that he would want to strangle her with an extension cord. So I think Jackson is haunting me.”

Claudia was silent for a moment as though contemplating what Claire had said. Then she confidently declared, “You’re wrong.”

Claire blinked a few times. Even Sam was surprised by the utter shutdown, and Sam knew there was no such thing as ghosts.

“I’m not imagining this,” insisted Claire.

“Maybe not,” said Claudia. “But there’s no such thing as ghosts. What do you think would cause a soul to remain trapped in a non-corporeal form on this plane?”

Claire frowned, obviously not expecting the question to be turned on her. “I don’t know. Unfinished business?”

“Unfinished business, revenge, violent deaths.... What percentage of witches do you think die peaceful deaths?”

Claire just nodded as the realization dawned on her.

“If there were such things as ghosts,” continued Claudia, “the world would be overrun. If it were possible to bring the dead back easily, no witch would ever stay down for long. This is unfortunate, but it is logical. Death needs to remain final. Otherwise the consequences could be dire.”

Sam decided to play devil’s advocate for a moment. “Do the normal rules of the game matter when dark magic is involved?”

Claudia turned to Sam. “Of course there are rules. Just different rules. But I have a question for both of you. If something attacked this other detective, why isn’t she dead?”

Sam was quiet because she knew Claudia wasn’t expecting an actual answer.

“If some powerful witch ghost was after Detective Parker, why couldn’t they kill her?”

“They were interrupted,” offered Sam.

“It only takes a split second to kill, Samantha. The darkness knows this more than anyone. If Detective Parker really was attacked, they weren’t trying to kill her. They were trying to scare her. And that might be the most important thing to take away from this.”