Case Files of Abigail Collins

By A.L. Kessler

Abigail Collins investigates the weirdest of the weird. From living dinosaurs to alien sightings, her job keeps life interesting. She never knows what she's going to find next. Join her on these case files as either an introduction to the Here Witchy Witchy world or to satisfy your need for more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A.L. Kessler
• Release date: Jul 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393107194

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Case Files of Abigail Collins

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A.L. Kessler

Copyright © 2020 A.L. Kessler

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced without the author’s expressed permission.

Editing: Jasmyn Novachek, Hot Off the Shelves

Cover Art: Imagine Ink Designs

Formatting: Imagine Ink Designs

Blood & Ink Press thanks you for reading indie.

Table of Contents

Demon Days

His Name Rodger

Not Aliens

Sneak Peek

Demon Days

Author Note:

Welcome to the world of Abigail Collins, if you’re not familiar with Abby check out the Here Witchy Witchy Series. This short story, Demon Days, originally appeared in the anthology A Weird Thing Happened at the Book Fest.

Clarissa had painted it as a vacation, but where she’d taken me was a town at the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. She’d told me that it’d be a fun weekend of books and authors, a great time away from work. It sounded like a good time, but I had expected a fancy hotel. What I got instead was an old school. Judging by the worn bricks and design, my guess was it had been around since the 1940s.

Magic touched my aura the moment we walked in and I paused. Clarissa put a hand on my arm and I knew that she felt it too. As witches, we were in tune with magic regardless of the source. Relax, there’s always magic at this book festival. It’s one of the things that draws readers and makes it the prime event for authors. Her round face bore a huge smile that made her green eyes light up. The fading red-dyed hair that bounced around her face complimented them.

When she had told me we were going to attend the Lake Morgan Book Fest, I had used every database at my fingertips to learn about it. Lucky for me, the Paranormal Investigation Bureau had a lot of resources and an entire file on the Lake Morgan Book Fest. Magic was the least of it. The files I read said supernatural activity made this book fest its bitch. Or at least the old school building. There were reports of aliens, vampires, shifters, ghosts, and creatures I’d never even heard of. One report even mentioned a griffin.

We paused in the reception area and I glanced out the windows at the clouds rolling in. I could feel the electricity in the air, and if someone was performing magic, then tonight’s storm would provide a powerful boost. The lightning flashed and reflected in the lake, making me paranoid about what would be waiting for us here.

Starts at six and goes until midnight, what kind of book fest is this exactly? I had promised my PIB partner that I would take the weekend off and actually enjoy myself. It wasn’t impossible; it just wasn’t easy to do. I watched as people rolled carts with boxes and suitcases by us and I realized we were earlier than the attending authors and vendors.

An 'everything goes' kind, there are authors here from all over. Rumor has it that their invites are hand delivered and it’s an honor to be at Mr. McCray’s book fest.

I nodded. Uh huh. I’m going to go walk around since we have awhile.

Okay, just don’t shoot anyone, don’t blow up a car, and don’t go chasing after any rogue creatures. Clarissa crossed her arms. Of any kind, she added.  

Even if they’re cute? I joked.

Any kind, Abby. She shook her head. I’ll get our badges when registration opens.

I rolled my eyes and walked towards the exit. If I was lucky, I could get a small walk in before the rain started. The flight hadn’t been long and neither had the taxi ride, but I was still stiff and needed to move. The wind swept up off the lake  bringing a chill and howled around the old brick building. A faded sign proclaimed the school as Lake Morgan High School. I wrinkled my nose at the thought of everything that could have happened in the school. I was placing my bet that it was haunted. With all the different activity, it was a possibility.

I continued my way around the building, my legs feeling better with each step. I took a deep breath of the humid air, it was different than the dry air at home and the change was welcomed. My curly hair hated the humidity. I’d pull my hair up and no one would notice the frizzy brown mess and it stayed out of my eyes. I turned the corner, nearly running into a man that seemed to have just appeared there.

He was slightly taller than I was with well-kept dark hair. The glasses perched on his nose did nothing to hide his equally dark eyes. I knew him on sight from the PIB database. Many of the strange activities around here seemed to be connected to him. That made me wary. Mr. McCray, out enjoying the incoming storm? I forced a smile.

He paused for a moment and returned my smile. You seemed to have the same idea, and you are?

Abigail Collins. My friend and I are attending the book fest. I held my hand out like any polite person would.

He took it, and we both paused in the middle of the handshake. There was something about him that I couldn’t put my finger on. We let go and he bowed his head.

Forgive me Abigail, but I must prepare for the opening ceremony, I do hope you’ll be there. He stepped past me and headed to the front of the building.

My paranoia wanted to take control and imagine what kind of things Mr. McCray was up to here. I shouldn’t have read the files before I left. No, I should have just tried to enjoy the vacation. Now I was going to expect crazy things to happen. Raindrops started falling from the sky. I looked up at the dark clouds and said a quick prayer to the Goddess that I was going to live through this night.

∞

We registered and Clarissa pulled out the schedule. Oh look... they have a whole slew of fantasy authors this year.

I recognized some of the authors on the list and my excitement peaked. There was nothing better than getting to interact with authors during panels and signings. I scanned the list of names and panel events mentally making a list of the ones that I wanted to attend and the authors I wanted to get signed books from.

There’s one on magical realism in fiction. It says that it focuses on how to write about the occult without making it a manual for people to do dastardly things. Clarissa pointed to the entry in the schedule. Could be fun, we always love to mock fiction in that aspect.

It was something we hadn’t done in a long time. Between being a PIB agent and working for Levi, I barely had time to sleep, never mind hang out. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. Okay, let’s go to that one, it’s right after opening ceremonies, then we can check out the author tables.

Deal. Then we can on to the panel on women in science fiction. Clarissa’s fingers danced over the glossy paper as if she was mapping out a trail.

I nodded. Looks like there are some big events happening later on tonight too. We’ll have to make sure to swing by those. My worries from before started to slip further away as my excitement grew.

Clarissa closed up the program and stuck it in her purse. Forward then, let the mini-vacation begin!

I touched the pentagram around my neck and prayed that this would go smoothly. So far nothing had blown up and no vampire had tried to kill me, but the night was young.

Clarissa led me to the big room for opening ceremonies. The speaker was an artist I had never heard of and he went on and on about how painting was magical. I sat up a little taller when Mr. McCray walked onto the stage.

Welcome to the Lake Morgan book festival. Some of you have come for the regular events, while others hope to find something...magical. I have designed this fair so that each of our guests gets exactly what they are looking for.

Wishful thinking. I smiled, there was no way to please everyone, but it was nice to see someone try.

Our goal is for each of our guests to enjoy their time, meet their favorite authors, and make the memories of a lifetime. And with that in mind, I announce the Lake Morgan book festival officially open.

The audience clapped and howled. We stood up and started out of the main events room and into the lobby.

Alright, let’s hurry so we can get good seats at the panel. Clarissa hooked her arm with mine and pulled me down one of the hallways. We walked into a room at the end of the hall. The chairs had been moved into a circle. Circles were powerful when you were a witch, so naturally both Clarissa and I paused, waiting to see if we could feel any magic, but there was none. I glanced at Clarissa and she nodded. It’s clear.

Two of the seats had reserved signs on them and I wondered why the panel was set up this way instead of the typical way with authors at a table in front of an audience.

Abigail Collins. The Abigail Collins? A male voice made me look up. He was taller than me with blond shaggy hair and a smile that would have melted most women. Except me. In my experience anyone who knew my name meant bad news. I had an instant to decide if I was going to be attacked or not when he started crossing the circle of chairs.

I met his hazel gaze. Have we met? He didn’t look familiar to me and even Clarissa seemed tense at him knowing me.

No, but I’ve studied a lot of your case files and I’ve seen you in the news. I guess you could say you’re a bit of an idol. I’m Roger. He held his hand out to me.

Well, that was a new one for me. I was in the media more often than I liked, but no one has ever approached me before. Nice to meet you, Roger.

I’m a PIB agent here in Lake Morgan. He motioned to a seat. I love working this convention; did they send you out here to help?

I sat and Clarissa sat next to me. No, I’m here to enjoy myself.

Oh, I’m sorry to disturb your vacation. He did look apologetic. I’m here to make sure that things don’t get out of hand. It’s the first year that they’ve had a PIB agent here.

I leaned back in the chair. I’ve read the files; I know things can get, I paused looking for the right word Crazy.

Others started to fill the room and Roger seemed