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

After we walk upstairs, Nick closes the door to my room and I get a funny feeling.

Usually, he shifts before coming into my room. Silently, I watch him collapse onto my bed. He pulls his button-up police shirt over his head and tosses it onto the floor by my feet.

My jaw drops and all I can do is stare. After a moment that feels way longer than it should have been, I cross my arms imagining Will there instead of him to keep my sanity.

“N-Nick...you can’t sleep in my bed like that,” I say sheepishly, hoping he’ll get the hint.

“My bad,” he apologizes quickly, shifting.

When I hear him slither back down to his usual spot at the bottom of my bed, I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

***

WILL

I never planned on coming out to the station this late at night on a Monday.

During our meeting this weekend, I was assigned by the headmistress to inquire about all the new police recruits. She told me the chief is new this year and has been changing things up, getting rid of a lot of the older officers.

Patricia has her own suspicions and I have mine.

When I walk inside the sliding glass doors of the Wixton Police building, I know I’m not welcome.

Vampires, all of them.

Any warlock or witch would be amazed to see so many in one place. Their bright red auras are all I can see using my sight. I blink once, ignoring my sight and focus on their human appearances. Something isn’t right, there was not a single vampire running this place before Valerie was awakened.

The headmistress was right.

No doubt they are using this as a front. Catching criminals in the day and probably sucking their blood dry at night. Unlike the humans portray on tv, vampires can walk under the sun. The humans will be terrified, as they should be of these foul creatures. Scum of the earth, as we like to call the vamps.

They don’t have the sight though, so for all they know, I’m just an innocent human.

I walk up to the front desk and a vampire woman with her hair tied back in a black ponytail greets me.

“I’m here to talk with the police chief, I’m representing Patricia Gild,” I inform the secretary.

She makes an annoyed face, typing something into the computer and dialing a phone number at the same time.

The idea of vampires wanting to protect the humans is outrageous, seeing so many in here is nauseating.

The vampire woman points down the hallway to my left, directing me to the police chief’s office. On my way down, several vampires dressed as officers stop and stare at me, visibly sniffing me and wrinkling their noses in disgust.

I’m not used to being marked an outsider and if I somehow were to upset one of them, I wouldn’t have a fighting chance with so many vampires here. Finally, I reach the door that the vamp lady at the desk directed me to. The first, and only thing I see on the brown wooden door, is a big black nameplate with white lettering.

Chief of Police: Wixton, Alabama Commissioner

After reading the glorified name under the officer’s unnecessarily long title, I knock on the door.

“Come in,” a voice beckons lazily.

I glare the door before adjusting my face into an expressionless one. I pat down the wrinkles on my tie and enter the room.

He’s sickly pale, just like each and every member of his unit. “What can I do for you?” the high ranking officer asks me sounding casual.

His police hat is resting on his desk next to a lamp and his nameplate. The police chief’s hands are steepled together, his forehead bowed slightly. Those dark sharp eyes watching my every move, judging me with quick calculation.

All the while, an aloof smirk is pasted onto his face.

He gestures for me to sit down across from him in a black leather seat and I comply.

“My name is Will McCaster, I represent Patricia Gild. We know you are using this as a front to protect the vampires. Why have you come here all of the sudden? Do you seek the white witch?” I ask him, cutting right to the chase.

Unlike every single other cop in here, his aura is yellow. He’s a human and gives me no reason to feel intimidated. By the way he watches me though, he acts as though I should be. He has no idea what he’s getting into dealing with supernaturals.

He should feel intimidated by me.

“These are rough times for their kind. Your coven has done nothing, but hate them for existing. They want representation and a life just like you. I wonder if Ms. Gild would rather have them running and ravaging the streets for late-night snacks instead? There is order here and they are satisfied by it,” he tells me calmly, but there’s something about his tone that irritates me more than the actual words he’s saying.

“Why are you helping them? What are you getting out of all of this?” I grit out slowly so he’ll get it through his thick head that this is no trivial ordeal like he’s acting it is.

He picks up his police captain hat. “Protecting the city, but I’m wondering what exactly you and your witches are so afraid of. It’s been over a hundred years since the last war between your kind and theirs. Tell me about this white witch you speak of.”

He sets it on top of his head firmly and tugs it downward. Just enough to hide his eyes, as if he were about to take a nap. He rocks back in his tall leather seat, resting an arm on his armchair.

When I begin to explain the coven’s fear of the legend and what the vampires may be planning, a toothy grin slowly grows on his face. He leans the side of his face against a closed fist, nodding away at my words.

“...that is why we are afraid and you should be careful whose side you take.” I finish explaining to him and he finally sits up straight, facing me at full attention.

That careless attitude still present as ever.

“Well now, I sincerely hope that was not a threat. The governor nominated me as captain for a reason, do not provoke me,” he says with a nonchalant tone, bragging about his meaningless title.

“I wouldn’t get too comfy in that seat. We will no longer be working with your forces. We can protect ourselves and the humans without your help.” I say proudly, but his smile only grows.

What I’d give to rip it off his face right now.

We never had problems with the police before. The vampires must have bribed him with money to run a scheme like this.

“And what of the white witch, Mr. McCaster? What are your coven’s plans for her?”

“Why do you ask? You should have bigger problems to worry about, much having to do with the vampires you foolishly hired.”

He stands up to his full height which happens to be annoyingly taller than mine. “No reason.”

Everything about the man pisses me off.

Usually, I am used to feeling superior to humans. This man really could be as powerful as Patricia, if he really has all those vampires under his control. He could prove to put our interests at risk if he makes a wrong move. Then again, the vamps might be using him like a puppet.

The police chief makes a peculiar clicking noise with his tongue and I snap my head up.

“It was not smart of your people to send you to me with such weak threats. Not very smart, Will, not very smart at all,” he finishes lightly.

He gestures to one of his officers standing by the door to walk me out.

I flinch away from the vampire’s reach and it snickers, shoving me away from the police chief and down the hallway.

“We’ll stay in touch Mr. McCaster.”

Oh, yes, I’m sure we will. I’ll remember his name and report it along with everything else I discovered going on here to the coven. Nicholas Dupont, Chief of Police of Wixton, Alabama will be out of work very soon. Especially once the humans know their lives are now in the hands of the vampires.

The next time we meet, he’ll either be behind bars or dead. It will be karma for giving me a ticket last Friday.

Oddly, the police chief almost reminds me of Mr. Silvet, with their similar-looking facial features and hair color. Their build is nearly identical, only he is much taller than Mr. Silvet.

Why, if he were vampire, I’d maybe even pin the police chief as his son.

That man could never be Darren’s missing brother though. The brother is a monster, nearly biting his own sibling to death. They still aren’t sure if Darren’s brother is fully vampire, the bite marks were unusual.

“I can walk on my own from here.” I spit, after being roughly pushed into the lobby of the police station.

Once they let go of me, I dash out the doors and begin to call the headmistress.