Nail in Her Coffin (Devil's Witch Book 1)

“You’d think they would have criminals to be catching or lives to save. What an idiot, won’t be long before he’s discharged,” Will scoffs with irritation while standing up.

He looks down at me and takes my hand in his. My heart sings with glee as we stroll towards the entrance, but it quickly dies out. Nick is still standing there blasting his music and I try not to look at him.

Will tugs me closer to his side. We walk down the block to a boutique. With a yawn, he stretches his arms out right in time as a cyclist zooms up to us. He rams into Will’s arm and goes flying over his yellow bike.

I raise my hand to concentrate on aiming my magic on the ground to break his fall, but Will pulls my hand down. A polite way to keep me from getting in trouble.

The coven doesn’t like us using magic like this in public, it’s actually against the law to use any magic on humans. For good or for bad reasons.

“Yo, Mr. Cop! This asshole just threw me off my bike!” the skinny man on the ground shouts with fury, pointing a shaky hand at Will.

I hear Nick slam his car door closed up the street.

The blaring music behind us grows closer as I’m guessing Nick drives the car into reverse. Sure enough, he’s parked right next to us where the crash moments ago just occurred.

“It was an accident,” Will announnces calmly, offering to help the man stand.

The music in officer Nick’s car goes silent and the cyclist stands up on his own looking agitated, his knees are all scraped up and bruised. I don’t see any blood anywhere on him though. Nick steps out of his vehicle and walks around it while adjusting his police shirt.

Nick’s attention is all on the cyclist. “Tell me what happened,” he asks.

After the cyclist finishes blaming Will, Nick walks back to his car and goes on his police laptop.

I can tell Will is getting angrier as each second goes by. Five minutes later, Nick comes back out with a yellow square piece of paper.

“Officer, he’s lying. It was an accident. I didn’t see him,” Will states in his own defense.

A serious look replaces Nick’s smirk as his mouth forms into a hard line.

Without a word, he hands Will the paper.

“You’re giving me a ticket?” he clenches through his teeth, sounding outraged.

I’ve never heard him sound so unsympathetic.“For gross negligence, now sign your name," Nick tells him in a hard tone.

Will looks up at Nick, then back down at the paper. Silently, he signs it and hands it back to the officer.

“Serves you right! Lucky I don’t sue you!” the cyclist yells while peddling away like mad down the street.

Suddenly, Will’s phone rings and he answers it. He gives me an apologetic look, then begins discussing with someone something about a dinner party.

A minute later, he clicks his phone off and tugs me away from Nick.

“What?” I ask with worry.

“Oh, nothing. He just gave me a five hundred dollar ticket!"

It’s not my fault the humans have such stupid laws. If only Nick wasn’t a cop. Still, he could have cut Will some slack knowing he’s kind of my boyfriend.

It was almost like he was trying to be rude when he knows Will is important to me.

“You could take the ticket to court. Present your case, they may revoke it,” I explain, trying to give him hope.

I don’t think he buys into it though.

“I don’t have time for that. I have to go now, do you think you can get a ride home?” he asks me.

I shift uncomfortably on my feet. “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I smile back, hearing the disappointment in my voice.

Will turns around then and dashes off down the street, unknowingly dropping his ticket on the sidewalk in the process. A black steel-toed boot steps onto it, keeping it from flying away in the wind. Nick stows the ticket in his pocket, walking beside me to watch Will disappear around the block corner.

“How was your date?” Nick asks.

It’s not his fault Will decided to obsess about the necromancer the entire time. Fate would have it he also accidentally make a cyclist crash and end up with a hefty price to pay.

Nick was just doing his job.

The date was not at all how I thought it would go.

Dark emotions stir within me bringing my magic to waver across my skin. “I thought it would be different."

“Oh,” he mumbles.

“Why were you being so loud? You knew we could all hear your music in there. You didn’t have to give him a ticket,” I wonder out loud.

“I was just doing my job. Watching you and making sure you are safe is part of that.”

“I’m twenty-nine years old. You don’t look a day older than thirty-five. Please, don’t assume I need protecting,” I rush out, surprised at the amount of sassiness in my voice.

With a look of amusement, he mutters an apology.

“I guess I’m ready to go back now.”

Nick's movements are rigid as he places his notebook back in the small of his pocket. “I can drive us back and park down the street.”

It’s not like he was the one who had a crappy date. Part of me blames him for making my date go downhill, but I know deep down he’s not fully to blame.

I nod, getting into his car.

We sit in silence and I close my eyes leaning my head against the window. Unlike in the greasy pizza joint, it smells clean and fresh inside here. Nick changes the radio station. The song that comes on almost sounds spiritual, perhaps worship music of some kind. The longer I listen to it though, the more I suspect it may be satanic. I’m surprised Nick hasn’t changed the station back.

“We’re sitting here like waiting ducks and the world is in flames...” Nick sings in a soft voice.

I pull my head away from the window and gape at him. Um, what kind of song is this?

He hums along to the song’s dramatic and creepy tune, I don’t think he understands the ominous meaning behind the lyrics. Yet somehow, the melody of the dark song is eerily enchanting and captures my complete attention.

The song is clearly meant to be prophetic and it sends goosebumps up my arms. Hearing him continue to recite it, makes me wonder if he may be part of some satanic cult. The humans do have such things. I don’t know how else he would know the lyrics so well. Any witch or supernatural would know its true meaning, we’re all taught it growing up. Witches and werewolves, learn to fear it and the vampires learn to praise it.

“Two-star crossed lovers, reaching out to the beast with many names...” he continues along in a lower voice, looking down at me with a lowered gaze through his sunglasses.

Nick lifts his sunglasses up and grins at me in satisfaction, probably because he’s caught my attention and distracted me from being depressed about my date.

My breath catches as a silly thought passes the back of my mind.

Could he actually believe in what he’s saying? To humans, they would think the song simply about the end of the world. When in reality, a supernatural, most likely a vampire, is praising the white witch dealing with the devil. Some real crazy vampires romanticize the legend, like this singer is.

“It kind of sounds romantic,” I admit in a whisper, avoiding mentioning the stupid legend. The corner of his lip quirks up and he presses a square red button below the radio when a black SUV races by us.

“It’s about the beginning of a new world,” he explains quietly, sounding pleased by my comment.

The beginning of a new world? To any witch or normal human, well, I’d think they’d both agree the song is about the end of the world.

The song ends and a loud siren resounds above our car. The flashing red and blue police lights blink above the car, gaining the attention of our passerbyers.

“Hang on tight, ma’am. We got a speeder,” Nick adds with excitement while flooring it and giving me whiplash.

Nick’s excitement is weirdly contagious and I smile, seeing strands of orange hair flying around in the black SUV that drives through the red light ahead of us. I quickly forget about my bad date and the disturbing vibe I got listening to officer Nick sing along to a song I would be killed just for listening to.

There’s not a doubt in my mind Patricia Gild is driving the car speeding. I can’t let Nick pull her over, she’ll know I’ve made him my familiar and used magic on him. As much as I would love to see her get caught breaking a human law, I have to tell Nick to let her go to keep her from seeing I’ve broken coven law.