Author: Angie Fox
Date: 2014-10-19 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Paranormal; Short Stories; Anthologies
Description: Four wonderfully witchy adventures from your favorite paranormal authors. Some Like It Hexed by Angie Fox Potions, parties and more. Demon Slayer Lizzie Brown expects the biker witches Halloween celebration to be crazy, but she doesn’t count on a recruitment event at the local senior center. Or dark forces brewing under the surface. When a witch is struck with a mysterious curse, Lizzie fears the party may be over for her and her friends. Ghosts in the Graveyard by Liz Schulte Katrina has been feeling a little lost lately. Her coven is falling apart, the guy she likes is more distant than ever
Publisher: MagiCal Press

Covens and Cocktails

Four Wonderfully Witchy Adventures
from your favorite paranormal authors

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form, (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, incidents, places, and brands are the product of the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Some Like It Hexed

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Ghosts in the Graveyard

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Spirits of Bourbon Street

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Charmed and Dangerous

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Some Like It Hexed
by Angie Fox

Chapter One

The Red Skulls biker gang, made up of Harley-riding witches, had never thrown a Halloween party before.

Sure, they’d gathered the coven at midnight on Samhain. They’d communed with the spirits on the other side. They’d reached beyond the veil in the light of the full moon.

But a party? With themed-out napkins and paper plates? I mean, they’d bought the ones showing a green-skinned woman with questionable fashion taste, riding on a broomstick in front of a full moon. Aside from the fact that she made an easy target for any demon, banshee, or evil warlock, I didn’t get how a coven of powerful witches could act so blasé.

“Oh, and Lizzie, I need you to bring a snack to share,” my grandmother instructed.

I gripped the phone tighter.

Grandma Gertie was the leader of the Red Skulls. She walked around in leather chaps with a sagging tattoo of a phoenix on her arm and purple sparkles in her hair. She ate pork ribs off the bone, drank whiskey straight out of the bottle, and hadn’t touched an oven mitt since the Carter administration. “Whip up some of those cupcakes I saw in that magazine at your condo, the ones with the licorice legs that look like spiders. See if you can get gumdrops for the eyes.”

Just because I owned a stack of Good Housekeeping magazines didn’t mean I knew what to do with the recipes. I sent in the subscription card on one particularly optimistic day. After that, I enjoyed looking at the pretty pictures. It had been innocent. Harmless.

Until now.

“You seem to forget that I’m the anointed demon slayer of Dalea,” I told her. There was only one of us born every three generations, for goodness’ sake.

I’d learned I was said demon slayer on the night of my thirtieth birthday, when Grandma in her full biker glory showed up unannounced on my doorstep and informed me I wouldn’t be teaching preschool anymore. She then inadvertently locked me in the bathroom to battle a demon with a bottle of air freshener. It had been a wild ride ever since.

“Are you fighting a demon right now?” she asked, her voice sounding even rustier over the phone.

“No,” I groused.

“Then those should be some damned good cupcakes.”

I groaned. Trapped. Like a rat.

So I headed to the grocery store, as requested, and managed to figure out what size gumdrops made the best spider eyes.

If I take on a job, I do it right.

Then I returned home and did my best impression of Martha Stewart, if the homemade diva wore leather boots and a Kiss My Asphalt T-shirt.

After I’d finished baking, I dressed in a black leather dress, my demon slayer weapons belt, and a cute pair of spider earrings I found on a rack by the checkout lane.

It was time to party.

“Come on, Pirate,” I said to my Jack Russell terrier.

I hoisted a box full of treats that would make my friends on Pinterest proud and led my dog out of the condo. I locked the door behind us since my mouthwatering plus-one, Dimitri, had gone into the city this afternoon to meet with visiting dignitaries from the griffin clans of Santorini. He was the liaison here in North America.

No doubt he would have found the idea of a biker witch Halloween party as odd as I did.

It was barely four in the afternoon.

Pirate trailed behind me, sulking. “I don’t know why I followed you outside. I ain’t going anywhere until you get me out of this straitjacket.”

Did I mention one of the side effects of my awesome powers was that I could also understand my dog?

Sometimes it was a gift. Other times, a curse.

“You look darling,” I told him. He did.

He was mostly white, with a dollop of brown on his back that wound up his neck and over one eye. I’d named him Pirate for that reason. And thanks to the Internet, I’d found him a little doggy pirate outfit, complete with a red-and-white-striped shirt and a black belt with a stuffed sword hanging from it. Precious.

“Admit it. I look stupid,” he grumbled.

“That’s because you’re not wearing the hat,” I told him, “but don’t worry. I already packed it. We’ll strap it on when we get there.” Too bad the outfit didn’t come with an eye patch.

“I’d better get a cupcake,” he muttered as I picked him up and set him on the leather seat of my Harley.

Ever since I’d learned to ride, my furry friend had become a biker dog. Until recently, I wore him close to my body with what can best be described as a leather baby carrier.

A biker witch named Bob had made my dog a permanent doggy seat in front of me. Pirate liked being the first one to catch the breeze as we rode. I secured him snugly and fastened his canine riding goggles, also known as doggles.

Pirate stared at the box of goodies I’d strapped to the luggage rack of the Harley, as if he could make a cupcake fall out by willpower alone.

I’d tell him later I packed some yummy doggy dental chews.

“Okay, buddy,” I said, climbing on behind him. “You ready?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said, forgetting his wardrobe issues as I fired up the engine. Going on a ride always perked my dog up. Claiming a seat at the front of my bike was like sticking his entire body out the car window.

“Let’s get this party started,” I told him.

My dog threw his head back and howled in triumph as we blazed out onto the open road.

Chapter Two

The late-afternoon sun blazed in a cloudless blue sky as we rode the Pacific Coast Highway up to Long Beach and followed Grandma’s directions through a quaint residential area near the water.

We passed a neighborhood of Spanish-style stucco houses with colorful tile house numbers. We saw a white-painted crab shack, an ice cream shop, and a crowded farmers’ market. Palm trees lined the street, their leaves rustling as they swayed in the breeze.

This couldn’t be right.

It was too…normal. And I wasn’t detecting any clear magical hot spots.

The witches liked to party with fairies and necromancers. They hung at hole-in-the-wall bars with warlock bikers and banshee hunters.

Then again, the one thing I’ve learned about the Red Skulls over the years—there was no telling what they might do. These were hard riding, no-guff senior ladies who’d been in love with Harleys for longer than I’d been alive. They seized every day with no apologies and seemed determined to eke every bit of pleasure from life.

Even still, I was really surprised when Grandma’s directions led me to the Ocean View Senior Living & Rehabilitation Center.

This had to be some kind of mistake.

I passed blue-painted benches under groupings of palm trees as I drove up the circle drive. I stopped my bike at the top and shut off the engine. “We’re in the wrong place, little doggy,” I murmured, rubbing Pirate on the head.

My dog’s tail thumped against the seat. “This place looks good to me.” He eyed an older gentleman in a heavy jacket sitting on a bench by the door. “See that guy? He looks like he wants to pet a dog.” Pirate tried to leap off the bike and I was glad I’d strapped him in good.

“Hey mister!” Pirate hollered. “I’m cute and I’m soft. You want to pet my head? I’ll let you rub my belly.”

The man smiled. I doubted he was a warlock, which meant he didn’t understand my dog’s actual words. Still, Pirate was about ready to spring out of his skin with excitement. No way to miss that.

“You are shameless,” I said, returning the man’s grin as I reached into my back pocket for my cell phone.

Pirate craned his neck to look at me. “I have learned to ask for what I want. Not everybody can say that.”

“I’m going to call,” I said, dialing. Hopefully, we were close to the fairy highway that would take us to the secret magic party.

Just then, I saw Grandma’s second-in-command walk out of the front entrance.

“Ant Eater?” I kicked on my engine and pulled my bike up closer to the witch with knee-high black boots, a black greaser wig, and a red cape. She wore black leather chaps and the most obnoxious belt buckle I’d ever seen. “What are you supposed to be?”

She waved at me, her red cape trailing in the breeze. “Elvis.” She grinned, her gold tooth gleaming. “You can’t park here. This lane is for pickup and drop-off only. Go along the side of the building. You’ll see a line of bikes. We’re just grabbing a couple of things. Party’s already started.”

“At a senior center,” I said, as if maybe she hadn’t noticed.

The Red Skulls were one of the most powerful covens on the West Coast. They practiced a dynamic, healing white magic that could be stunning in its complexity—even if they did tend to use items most of us could find around the house, or on a drive through town.

Ant Eater waved at two witches carrying a giant black cauldron in from the side parking lot. People were going to notice.

I dismounted and pulled her aside. “Why are you doing this here, of all places, on the eve of Samhain? Surely you could have found a more private place for a ritual.” Even my condo would have been preferable to this.

They couldn’t possibly expect to go undetected here.

Skinny Loretta passed us. She wore a Minnie Mouse costume and carried a karaoke machine.

“Put it by the piano,” Ant Eater instructed. “We may need it.” The gold-toothed witch turned to me. “Who said anything about a ritual? This is a party!”

“I’ll be right in,” I told her. I had to see it for myself.

Pirate and I drove the bike over to the side lot. Then I unstrapped him and grabbed my cupcakes.

“I hope they have bacon treats,” he said, shaking off.

We made our way toward the front door. I hated to break it to him, but, “I doubt they’ll have doggy snacks on the food table.”

“Who said anything about dog food?” Pirate balked.

I noticed the biker witches didn’t even pause at the large front desk just inside the doors. I signed my name and hoped they’d think Pirate was a service dog.

“It’d help if you wore the hat,” I told him.

“Only if you can catch me,” he said, ready to flee.

Stubborn dog.

We set off down the hall, with me trying to hold my cupcake box as evenly as possible and Pirate glancing back at me, as if he expected me to swoop down any minute to plunk a tricorn hat on his head.

I would have, too, if I thought I could get away with it.

Handrails lined the hall on either side, and groupings of chairs dotted the corridor.

My dog took it all in, even as his little legs churned so fast that his striped shirt looked like a blur. “We should have brought Flappy,” he said, whipping his head from side to side, trying to see inside the rooms as we passed.

“No dragons in the senior center,” I told him. “I saw a sign.”

Besides, the dragon had been on a growth spurt lately. I doubted he’d have fit through the front door.

“Don’t worry. I’ll smuggle home some treats for him,” Pirate said, taking the lead as we made a sharp left.

Ant Eater pulled open the doors to a rec room. A warm enchanted breeze whooshed out and I drew up short. I should have expected it. I should have known.

And yet? I paused for a moment to take it in.

While Pirate dashed forward—heading for the snack bar, no doubt—I savored.

The entire room sparkled with magic. Bob sat at the piano by the door, pounding out old show tunes. A pair of round yellow smiley faces bobbed from his head on springy wires. Next to him sat a woman in a wheelchair much like his. She giggled as they came to a double glissando and swept their hands down the keyboard.

“I haven’t been able to play since ’57!” she hollered to me.

A wisp of a woman struggled to pass me in the doorway. I stepped back and as soon as she crossed the threshold, her gait changed and her shoulders lifted. She raised a hand and caught the beat as she began to boogie out to the dance floor.

Unbelievable. “I see what you’re doing here,” I said to Ant Eater.

She merely grinned.

The two witches I’d seen outside had planted their black cauldron in the middle of a snack table that lined the left wall. They busied themselves mixing herbs while another member of the coven poured a jug of what appeared to be orange soda into the cauldron.

I’d bet anything the drinks were spelled.

Abandoned wheelchairs and walkers mingled with the black and orange streamers against the walls as residents swing danced and boogied.

“This is great,” I said. My words died on my lips. “Ohmigosh.” I pointed to a couple in the corner, making out. “They need to get a room.”

Ant Eater followed my gaze. “Oh, that’s Mr. and Mrs. Levinson. They already share a room.”

I gasped. “They should know better.”

Ant Eater shot me a squirrely look. “Like we never caught you naked in the garden with Dimitri.”

I almost dropped my cupcakes.

“Ahem. I need to put these snacks out,” I told her, clutching the box, ignoring her toothy grin as I escaped to the refreshment table.

I hated when the biker witches were right.

I placed the spider cupcakes between a plate full of caramel apple slices and a bowl full of Chex mix with candy corn mixed in.

A few paces away from the snack table stood Creely, the witch who wore her Kool-Aid-red hair in ponytails. From her shoulders to her knees, she wore a sphere with glass tiles glued all over it. Oh my. She’d come as a disco ball. Creely had a rapt crowd of about a dozen circled around her.

“Abracadabra and all that jazz.” She grinned.

As she spoke the words, she waggled her fingers at a pair of spectacles in her palm. Slowly, they lifted into the air. The crowd oohed and ahhed as the glasses began to spin in lazy circles.

They clapped at her cleverness.

Only it was no trick. It was straight-up bona fide magic.

“Want to see how it works?” she asked teasingly. “You just might.”

Oh my. She couldn’t be planning to share her little secret.

Or could she?

A large black banner proclaimed this party as the Witches’ Bash.

Before I could worry about it too much, something short and furry bounced off my leg.

“Oh, hey. Excuse me,” Pirate said, his chin down, chewing. He glanced up, saw me, and swallowed whatever he’d been eating. Whole. “I didn’t take that entire plate,” he said quickly. “It fell. I was just cleaning up,” he said, before I could get a word in edgewise.

“Why don’t you go see if Bob needs help on the piano?” I asked. At least it was on the other side of the room from the food.

Although the last thing we needed was a dog singing party tunes.

A witch named Frieda clattered up on platform heels. She wore a black catsuit and a pair of furry kitty ears on her head. “Sooo,” she drawled, hands on her hips, “what do you think?”

“I never could have imagined it,” I said. It was the God’s honest truth.

Grandma walked up on my other side. She’d colored her skin green and wore a witch’s hat and a flowing black dress. She looked like a bad napkin. “A witch?” I asked her. “Really?”

She planted the end of her broomstick on the floor. “If the hat fits.” She grinned. “Where’s your costume?”

I pointed to my web earrings. “I’m a spider.”

“You’re not even trying,” Frieda said.

“Hey, I baked for this party,” I told her. “And besides, I have to tell you. I don’t think anybody here realizes you’re serious.”

Grandma had an Elphaba impression going on. Frieda had drawn a kitty-cat nose and whiskers on her face. All-powerful witches didn’t usually do that.

“Of course they know about us,” Grandma said, reaching to the snack table behind her and handing me a drink. “It’s right there on the sign.”

Technically, yes. “But it could be seen as a joke.”

Grandma sobered. “I don’t joke about magic.”

Okay. How to explain… “Most people don’t believe,” I told her.

Grandma shrugged. “The ones we want do.” She took a long drink from her cup, and then wiped her mouth with her hand. “Make no mistake. This is a recruitment event.”

“You want people to join the Red Skulls?” I asked, trying to get it through my head. It couldn’t be as simple as that.

“It’s a respectable choice,” she said, somewhat defensively.

Hmm… So that’s why she’d traded in her usual leather chaps for the Wicked Witch of the West ensemble. “I figured you were here to help some nice people have a good time.”

“We are,” she said, looking out over the crowd, “but you know we’ve lost some members over the years.”

Yes, to demon attacks and battles with banshees, as well as a particularly unfortunate trebuchet accident.

Grandma slapped me on the back. “We could stand to muster some new blood. Speaking of which…” She flagged down a kind-faced old woman with gray dreadlocks and a large pink feather in her hair. “This is Rosette. She was a great witch back in the day.”

“Pish,” the woman said, waving Grandma off. “I only dabbled. A little of this, little of that.” She fingered the sleeve of her flowing pink sparkly gown. “I picked up a few tricks over the years, but nothing like these ladies.”

“Perfect recruit,” Grandma concluded.

Rosette pursed her lips. “I have my hands full here. Anyhow”—she took one of my hands in both of hers—“you must be Lizzie the demon slayer. Your grandma is so proud.”

“I love your accent,” I told her. It was a melodious Cajun Creole.

“Isn’t that sweet?” she said. “Your grandmama didn’t tell me you were coming.” She held up a finger. “If you want to do anything special for the party, you just let me know.”

I didn’t have any magic, and I wasn’t about to start tossing weapons. “Um, no thanks,” I told her. “Did you organize this?”

She nodded. “I told your grandma we have some good natural talent at Ocean View. And it’s always good for folks to try a new hobby.”

Sure, like witchcraft.

Grandma grinned. She quickly started coughing, though.

I patted her on the back. “Hey, ouch.” That didn’t sound good. I took her drink from her while she caught her breath. The cup smelled like honeysuckle, and it was nearly empty. “What are you drinking? I’ll get you some more.”

“No need.” She reached down the front of her dress and into her bra.

“Grandma,” I protested, as she withdrew a small silver flask.

“I’ve got more right here,” she said proudly unscrewing the flask. “Here. Hold this steady.” She placed the cup in my hand while she poured a yellow liquid into it. Bits of herbs swirled, and a faint smattering of bubbles clung to the bottom.

“What’s this?” I asked, sniffing.

Grandma gently but firmly removed it from my grasp. “It’s for my back. And my legs. And my joints.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m not feeling so hot today.”

She took a sip, before trying to force another, larger gulp.

“Are you sick?” I asked. I’d never seen Grandma have a health issue that didn’t have to do with getting shot with magic or possessed by a demon.

She leaned heavily on her broomstick as she brought a hand to her head. “I think it’s getting worse,” she said to her friend, not to me. “I might need to lie down.”

“Of course,” Rosette said, flashing me a worried glance. “You can rest in my room.”

That or we could simply try this on another day. “Maybe I should take you home,” I said, as we escorted her out of the party.

“Nah,” Grandma said, fighting my grip, waving to her friends and pretending nothing was wrong. “I’m one of the hosts.”

This didn’t feel right.

When we made it out of the rec room, I opened up my demon slayer senses. Bits of biker witch magic clung to the beige hallway. That was to be expected. I ignored them. Instead, I focused my energy on anything new or unusual.

My gifts didn’t only help me hunt down and destroy hell spawn, they gave me the ability to me to sense danger in many forms. I was insanely attracted to anything that could chop my head off, eat me, or leave me crying for my mother.

It had been a bit of a curse when I first started. Now I used it to my advantage.

Rosette led us down a side corridor, done in mauve wallpaper. Grandma clung to the balance rail along the wall. I wished she’d have held on to me, but I wasn’t going to push it. We passed doorways with gold nameplates and various fall wreaths, poster board pumpkin cutouts, family pictures, and other personal decorations.

I willed my mind to calm, my breathing to grow even. I opened my mind and searched with my powers like fingers reaching through cold, dark water.

A sharp, tingling magic churned in the air. I pressed harder, trying to get a lock on the source. One thing I knew for sure: it didn’t come from the Red Skulls.

It was too…cutting.

I hated to criticize Rosette’s home, but, “Grandma, do you feel that?”

“I don’t know,” she said, stumbling against Rosette.

For a second, I thought they were both going down. I moved in behind them, but her friend caught her.

“It’s the next door,” she said to both of us. “And yes, there are stirrings in the air,” she said, glancing at me. “The land here is not good. Come inside and I will explain.”

We escorted Grandma into a tidy, colorful room with a homemade quilt on the bed and pots of herbs lining the windowsill. It smelled of orange peels and lavender incense. A small altar occupied a sturdy wooden table next to her nightstand. Candles, playing cards, beads, shells, and airline bottles of rum crowded a small hand-sewn depiction of a skeleton in a top hat smoking a cigar. The pull string for a nurse’s call dangled near the bed.

Grandma collapsed into the mattress and closed her eyes.

I didn’t like the flush of her skin, or the way her limbs tangled on the bed, unmoving. “Are you okay?” I asked. We might need a nurse.

“I’m fine,” she said, eyes closed. “Rosette, you tell her.”

Wooden beads clattered around the old woman’s neck as she motioned me to a small purple velvet chair. I pulled it up close to Grandma while Rosette settled herself into an orange-and-pink-painted rocking chair near her altar.

She folded her hands on her lap as she began. “I came here because these people needed me. I also needed a place to live,” she added, practically.

“Rosette may not be the queen of spells”—Grandma chuckled, her breath rattling in her chest—“but she’s been doing magical outreach for as long as I’ve known her.” She cleared her throat. “It’s important to keep good magic flowing on bad land,” she added, still not opening her eyes. “Rosie does that. She acts as a conduit for good, healthy energy. Otherwise, people get sick easier, they get hurt. They just don’t feel as good.”

“Like you feel right now?” I asked. “If this place is affecting you, there’s no shame in leaving.” Rosette would understand. “Thanks for the hospitality,” I said, standing. “I’m sure the rest of the party will be great, but we should go.”

“Sit your ass down,” Grandma groaned. “I don’t want to bug out. It’d make me feel worse, not better.” She cracked her eyes open. “Have you ever considered the fact that I’m just old?”

“No,” I answered immediately. Honestly. She’d never shown her age, not really.

Until today.

Rosette ran her hands along the arms of her rocking chair. “Your granddaughter is right. You do not look so good.” She reached underneath her altar and slid out a wooden box painted with red X’s. “If you please, I have a healing draft that might help.”

“No, thanks,” Grandma said, waving her off. “I just took an elixir and I don’t want any magical interactions.”

“Ah.” Rosette nodded, holding the box.

I could feel the power swirling inside the box. Rosette may not consider herself a talented spell caster, but Grandma was right—her friend possessed a gift.

Since that was the case, she had to be feeling what I did.

Maybe I was too used to trouble finding us, but, “This entire situation feels wrong.”

Rosette watched me, her expression grave. “I will prepare extra protective herbs for her.” She clutched the arms of her rocking chair as she stood.

“You do that,” I said, ignoring Grandma’s huff of indignation.

She cracked open her eyes, struggled up on an elbow. “I like how you’re suspicious. Hell, I trained you that way. But let me tell you something about the human body. Things start slowing down at seventy-seven, even with a daily dose of herbal magic.” She began to cough, and then fought it off with a hard swallow. “What we’re doing here is important. We’re pumping up the vitality of this place. Yeah, I joked about a recruiting event. It would be nice to find a few new members. But we’re mainly here to load everything from the people to the walls with positive energy. It’ll make it easier for Rosette to do her job the other three hundred and sixty-four days of the year.”

“On Samhain, the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest,” Rosette said, opening a drawer on her nightstand. She removed three small jars: mugwort, basil, and dragon’s blood. All three acted as protective herbs, and had most likely been enchanted beyond their natural organic abilities. “Tonight, we can conjure the good forces I need for the rest of the year,” she said, carefully pouring out the herbs into an earthenware bowl. “I’m not getting any younger, either.”

“So you’re trying to save the entire community,” I said, watching her unwrap a small animal’s skull.

It would be a tall order, even if the woman didn’t look as if she were about a hundred years old.

“I do just fine.” She straightened as she glanced over at Grandma. “Oh”—her expression softened—“she has fallen asleep.” She lowered her voice. “I’ll finish my conjuring when she is awake. For now, let’s leave her to rest.”

I hesitated.

I didn’t want to leave her, period.

“This room is mine. It is protected,” she assured me. Rosette drew the homemade quilt over Grandma, taking extra time to tuck it in around her. “We have been friends for many years. I wouldn’t leave her unless she was safe.”

I focused my energy and searched the room for myself.

Dark magic mingled with the light.

It would kill me if anything happened to Grandma, whether by otherworldly means or by something as simple as getting old.

I pulled Rosette’s rocking chair closer to the bed. “I’m going to sit with her if that’s all right.”

“Of course, my dear,” she said, lowering the shade. “She’s lucky to have you.”

The older woman paused. “I do not wish to imply your grandmother has any issues, but this weakness surprises me. It’s not like her to have it or to hide it. You may want to ask some of her coven if this is a new issue or if she has been suffering for some time.”

Good idea. I appreciated her honesty. Besides, learning more about the problem would help me isolate it, and figure out how we could tackle it.

“Will you stay with her?” I asked Rosette. “It won’t take me more than a few minutes.”

She nodded. “If she wakes, I’ll let her know where you’ve gone.”

“Thanks,” I said, slipping out the door.

Unfortunately, that’s all it took for things to go to hell.

Chapter Three

I returned to the rec room to find the party in full swing. Bob spun tunes on the karaoke machine. Mr. and Mrs. Levinson had stopped making out in the corner long enough to stand next to a television on a wheeled cart, singing “Cotton Eye Joe” on full volume. A conga line snaked past them.

The women had kicked off their shoes and were dancing barefoot. The men were wiping sweat off their foreheads. The hot bartender didn’t have a shirt on.

Hey, wait…

I grabbed Frieda off the conga line. “Where did that guy come from? You shouldn’t be serving alcohol to retirement home residents.”

The rhinestones on her red cat collar twinkled. “What? Because they’re not twenty-one?” She chomped on her gum, the heat from the dance floor wilting her blond bouffant hairdo at the edges. “These people aren’t senile. They just need a little extra help sometimes. And Kellen the bartender sure gets your blood pumping,” she added, as if daring me to protest.

“I’m a married woman,” I said, although if anybody had abs to rival Dimitri’s, it was that guy.

Frieda pursed her lips in appreciation. “He’s Stella Howser’s grandson.” She broke into a grin. “Turns out he likes Bob’s dandelion wine.”

My mouth fell open. “You drugged him?”

“It only gave him a buzz, lowered his inhibitions, same as a regular drink. He’s a big boy.” She gave a low chuckle. “Besides, there aren’t any side effects. We even spelled it so it won’t interfere with anyone’s meds. It’s safer than conventional wine. We’ll keep him here until it wears off and he’ll go home feeling like the bee’s knees.”

I’d have to trust her that meant something good.

“Fine,” I gritted out. It wasn’t our biggest problem anyway. “Listen to me,” I said, making sure I had her attention. “Grandma isn’t feeling so hot. She’s taking a break right now in Rosette’s room.”

“I was wondering.” She frowned. “I saw you leave.”

“Has she been feeling out of sorts?” Granted, I hadn’t seen her in about a week. “She looked fine last weekend.”

Frieda played with the gold tag of her cat collar. “We all have our days,” she said apologetically, as if they weren’t allowed to get sick, as if I expected them to be superhuman.

Maybe I did.

Guilt wound through me. “All the same, I’d feel better if you talked to her. See if you can get her to be one hundred percent honest about her symptoms.”

I may have expected Grandma to push herself a little too hard before, but I’d make up for that now. If she were still asleep, I’d let her sleep. If she needed anything, I’d make sure she had it.

“I’m on it,” Frieda said, slipping out of the party with me. She didn’t bother with her shoes, which was just as well. I didn’t know how she walked in those platform sandals anyway.

“This way,” I said, hurrying down the corridor, anxious to have it settled. I couldn’t shake this feeling of dread.

Yes, I was the cautious one, the planner. But when push came to shove, it also helped me root out trouble.

I stopped midway down the hall. “It’s this one.” A black wreath hung on the door, festooned with white ribbons, smiling skulls, and mini wooden coffin lids.

In other circumstances, I would have thought it adorable. Now? It made me even more nervous.

We knocked softly and entered.

Black candles flickered between pots of herbs on the windowsill. The curtain had been drawn up. An orange sunset blazed across the sky, and I gave an involuntary shudder at the darkness seeping into the room.

A twisted red candle flickered on the nightstand, next to the empty bed.

My breath caught in my throat. “Grandma?” I called, hoping she was simply in the bathroom, although the hollowness in my gut told a different story. “Rosette?”

My voice echoed off the walls.

“You feel that prickle?” Frieda asked, her voice low, her tone urgent. “The energy that feels sharp as a woolly cactus? That’s black magic.”

It skittered up my arms, like invisible spiders.

Oh my God. Keep moving. Keep searching. I checked the bathroom, the closet. Heck, I looked under the bed. “They’re gone.”

Frieda stood rooted to a spot near the ad hoc altar. “Holy hell, Lizzie. There’s something in the bed.”

I turned. The discarded, rumpled quilt covered most of the bed. A pillow lay askew. Then I saw it. A quivering lump, no bigger than my hand, near the center of the mattress.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the mule. “What the hell is that?”

I drew a switch star, knowing my demon slayer weapons would be useless against a non-demon.

The switch star warmed in my hand. It resembled a Chinese throwing star, only the blades on the ends spun and glowed pink when my fingers clutched the handles. I hoped it would be enough. It was the only thing I could do.

“Back away. I’ve got this,” I said.

The room grew much, much darker than the approaching dusk outside the window. The air heated, practically sizzled. My hair stood on end.

It felt like we were being sucked into a black hole.

“Do it,” Frieda hissed.

Right.

Shit.

Every second we hesitated, the black magic grew stronger. It was impossible to know what to do, what kind of evil we faced, until I reached out with sweat-slicked fingers, grasped the edge of the quilt, and yanked it as hard as I could off the bed.

A voodoo doll quivered on the sheets, as if it were alive.

It wore a black dress. Long gray hair streamed out from under a witch’s hat, and there, on the arm, was a hand-drawn tattoo of a phoenix.

Thick needles pierced it at the neck, the chest, and straight through the left eyeball.

It gave one final shudder as the head began bleeding a thick black sludge.

Chapter Four

“We’ve got to find her,” I told Frieda.

“Where?” she pleaded.

That was the question. We had no idea where to look.

I focused, reached deep down inside. I tried to feel my way through the dark magic swirling around us to learn where Grandma could be.

It clung to me like tar, hot and sticky, blinding.

“I’m going to least take some of the pins out,” Frieda said, reaching for the doll.

“Don’t touch it.” I threw up a hand up to block her. “We don’t know what kind of voodoo we’re dealing with.”

We might only make it worse.

Then it was as if merely speaking of the dark magic drew it to me. I sensed it as it seeped close, searching for an opening. It wanted to twist its way inside me, to weave its way into my very soul. Every instinct screamed at me to run. Instead, I let it settle close to me.

I searched for the source. I stood my ground, waited, let it draw closer than I would have otherwise dared.  It surged like a dark wave rolling onto the beach—a massive swell of power that felt very, very wrong.

Frieda swayed under the assault. “I feel dizzy.” She tried to lie down in the bed.

“No.” I touched her on the arm. She felt ice cold. The magic slid over our skin and suddenly I knew why I felt the rush of the waves, the pounding of the shore. It was coming from the beach.

“Come on,” I said, escorting Frieda from the room. She couldn’t come with me, not in the shape she was in, but I wasn’t going to leave her alone in that place.

When it came down to it, I wondered if anywhere was safe. Grandma had felt sick before she entered Rosette’s room. Frieda succumbed afterward.

I led her to a plush chair in the hallway. “Sit. I’ll fix this. I’ll be back soon.”

I spied an exit at the far end of the hall. Halfway there, I almost collided with a kind-faced, middle-aged nurse as she exited one of the rooms. “Hi. Sorry.” I reached out to steady us both. “Will you take a look at my friend?” I asked, pointing out Frieda. “She’s not feeling so well.”

“Of course,” she began, trying to lead me back from where I came.

I spun out of her grasp. I hated to leave Frieda, but I didn’t have time to wait while the nurse checked her out. Besides, I had a feeling I’d be helping her more by getting to the bottom of this. “Is that the way to the beach?” I asked.

The nurse smiled, somewhat taken aback by my exit. “Yes, but those doors will beep if you leave. It’s best to go back around the building and—”

“Gotcha.” I ignored the nurse’s protests as I dashed down the hall and blew out the back door.

The alarm blared a harsh scree-scree-scree behind me. I hurried across a patio and down the stairs toward the beach. Sea grass rose up on either side of me. I pressed forward, my boots pounding the wooden path below.

Black magic pierced the air and I watched in horror as the sun sank below the waters of the Pacific. Samhain was upon us, the night when the veil was the thinnest between the living and the dead.

I opened up my demon slayer senses and felt the irresistible pull of wanton destruction and death. It had been no coincidence that we found ourselves here on this night. Now I just had to figure out who had drawn us here and what they wanted.

I followed the magic along the shore, my heart pounding as I struggled to move quickly through the sand.

If I hadn’t left Grandma, if I’d have stayed in the room with her…well, it might have been me caught in the snare. I wished it was.

Then I saw the flicker of torches ahead, in a cove past the water. My mouth grew dry.

It had to be them.

I climbed the rocky outcropping, scattering pebbles, unsure of my next move. Somehow, I’d have to bridge the gap. I needed to figure out a way to navigate the dark waters ahead if I had any hope of making it to the secluded cove.

One hand braced on my switch stars, I pressed forward, trusting the universe. I’d make it possible. Somehow. And just when I thought I’d step off the edge and plunge into the ocean, I came upon a narrow pathway.

The sandy soil felt soft under my feet.

I pulled the Maglite out of my utility belt, chancing a quick look. The path was barely as wide as a person, and left no room for error. At the same time, it seemed solid, and it snaked along the edge of the water.

That was all I needed. I prayed it went as far as the cove.

A woman’s voice uttered a low chant, barely discernible amid the breaking of the waves.

I killed my light. It was too much of a risk. Then I stepped onto the path.

I was on my own, unless Frieda somehow recovered and rallied the others. I didn’t have high hopes for that. Whatever attacked Grandma had struck Frieda as well.

The chanting grew louder. The pounding of drums echoed over the water and I doubled my pace, moving as quickly as I possibly could. I didn’t know much about voodoo rituals, but everything I’d seen made me think they were obsessed with death. Sacrifice.

I turned the corner and stared in horror.

Torches illuminated a small cove amid the cliffs. Inside the grim circle of light, Rosette pounded on the drums, chanting, while in the center of a blackened circle of ashes, Grandma stood, battling for her life.

A twisted, blackened entity hovered over her, poised to strike.

She watched it like the predator it was. All the while, she chanted age-old words of magic. “Modestro tolomus avanhara.”

The ancient spells spilled from Grandma as she wound her hands through the air. Black ooze trickled down her forehead.

She had no spell jars, no backup.

I drew a switch star.

“Stop!” Rosetta called, missing a beat on her drum.

Grandma spun on me, losing her focus on the entity, crying out as it slammed into her shoulder.

Oh my God. “Grandma!” I dashed down the embankment.
“Don’t cross the ashen line,” Rosetta cried, attempting to block me. I ducked around her, aiming the switch star for the entity. I had no idea what part of it to target or if it would even work against a creature that was more black magic than flesh and blood.

But I focused my strength, my will, my positive focus that I could defeat this monster, that I could free Grandma. That everything would be all right.

I let loose my switch star in a blaze of light.

It struck the being and exploded in a surge of power that made me weak in the knees. The force of it knocked Grandma to the ground. She rolled away and came up in a crouch, ready to go again.

I watched in horror as the creature broke into at least a dozen writhing, fiery pieces. They spewed like a volcanic explosion into burning chunks on the beach.

I might have just made it worse.

My switch star winged back to me like a boomerang.

Rosette charged the nearest chunk of molten magic. “Halo mancha verno ta!” she shouted. “Away with spirits bold and soiled!” Rosette stomped on the fiery mass, sending up a wave of purple sparks. “Away!” she shouted, her shoes smoking, as if she could banish it by force of will alone.

It fell to ash under her feet.

Holy smokes. I took the next one. “Away with spirits bold and soiled!” I hollered. The slice of magic felt soft under my feet, as though I could sink straight into it. “Away!” I insisted, ignoring the quicksand feel of it, how the chunks of burning soot broke into purple shards of energy. They snaked at my legs, burned ribbons up my knees. “Away!”

Grandma held her hands over a half dozen or more of the splintering chunks. She chanted, forced out her power over them. One by one they sparked and crumbled. The final slice let out a crackling groan before it too disintegrated like ash.

I saw I stood on a circle of blackened soot. Nothing of the fire or magic remained under my feet, nor were there any more shards on the beach. We were left with the pounding of the waves and the crackling of the torches.

Rosette shook, rubbing her hands over her eyes.

I went to see Grandma. She stood alone, speaking so low to herself it almost sounded like humming. I should probably leave her alone, but I had to know. “Are you all right?”

She stared past me, as if she could see entities I couldn’t. “Yeah,” she said, absently. “I think we got it.”

I shivered. The air felt electric, charged with excess energy. “What was it?”

Grandma shook her head. Her hair tangled in her eyes and over her shoulders. She pushed it aside. “A voodoo curse come to life.” She turned to her friend. “What are you playing at, Rosie?”

Grandma’s friend wiped at her swollen eyes and swallowed hard, as if she couldn’t quite believe we’d made it through. “It was supposed to be a love spell.” She flinched as a purple spark crackled in the dead fire and launched into the night. “I’m so sorry.” She hurried to where the spark had ignited. “Away!” She stomped, reaching into her pocket and sprinkling what appeared to be dirt and herbs onto the fire. “Away!”

“I think you got the last of it,” Grandma said, rubbing a boot in the ashes.

“I never meant…” she began, stumbling over her words. “It should have been simple. One spell.” She crossed her arms over her chest, still stomping. “I needed a lock of my rival’s hair.” She swallowed hard. “You weren’t even supposed to notice.”

“Spell work is dangerous on this kind of land. Any kind of negative emotion can make it go dark, turn it into a curse,” Grandma warned, too late. “I told you that you were powerful.”

She didn’t say the rest—that Rosette would have to be very angry with Grandma for it to have gotten this far.

Grandma’s friend sniffled hard. “The doll was to make you sleepy, not sick. Once I had your hair, it was supposed to be over. I don’t even remember kidnapping you to the beach.”

“I know,” Grandma said, “I saw it in your eyes. You weren’t there. Until it began the attack.”

A single tear ran down her cheek. “Then it was too late.”

“You took control of the drums,” Grandma said. “You did your best to cage it.”

“Until your granddaughter blasted it,” she said, her voice thick with gratitude. She turned to me. “You’re a good girl, Lizzie.”

“I try,” I said. It wasn’t always easy to stay on top of this crowd.

Grandma smiled. She knew.

Rosette poked at the remains of the fire with her feet, as if she refused to believe she could conquer her demons.

Grandma went to her old friend. She stood in the dead fire with her and touched Rosette’s arm. “Stop your stomping. It’s over.” She tilted her head. “Now tell me. Why am I your rival?”

She stared down at the ashes, her dreadlocks shielding her face before her gaze found Grandma’s. “Remember? You stole Eddie Turner. At the Independence Day party in 1976.”

“Ah.” Grandma clucked with sympathy. I could tell she was having trouble figuring out just who this Eddie Turner might be.

Rosette blinked back tears as she avoided Grandma’s scrutiny. Instead, she looked out to the ocean. “He was sweet on me. I could tell. It was only a matter of time before he asked me out,” she said, a flush creeping up her cheeks. “Then you took him to the movies. You asked him out. You made him like you.”

“Aw,” Grandma said gently. “That wasn’t so hard.”

“No doubt you had a love spell,” Rosette challenged, as if daring her to deny it.

“I have something better,” Grandma said. “You want to know my secret?”

“No,” she said, wiping at her eyes, looking back to the mess on the beach. “I’m done with love spells. I’ll stick to protective magic. It’s the only thing I’m good at.”

Grandma sighed. “It’s hard to do positive conjuring on bad land. It took our whole coven to put on the witches’ bash. The bad magic kept trying to seep up and taint it, like it corrupted your love spell.” She shook her head. “I won’t deny you made a mistake in judgment.” Grandma held her hands up over the beach and glanced at me. “It’s gone, isn’t it?”

I opened up my demon slayer senses, gave it a thorough search. “Yes.” The only remnants were the ashes on the beach, and even those would be gone with the tide.

Grandma turned back to her friend. “If you want to do another love spell, ask. The coven would be glad to help you pull it off. We could do a whole incantation. With live chickens.”

Rosette appeared slightly horrified. “No. I want to be subtle.”

Too bad. The biker witches didn’t know how to do that.

She sniffled as she began dousing the torches. “Forget it. Really. I should have kept Eddie in my past. I haven’t seen him in forty years, and I’ve been avoiding him ever since he moved into one of the apartments upstairs.”

Grandma’s jaw dropped. “At the Ocean View Senior Living Center?”

“Not even two weeks ago,” Rosette said.

“That’s fate,” Grandma said, serious as a heart attack.

Her friend reddened at the cheeks. “I figured the Halloween party would be a good time to rekindle our acquaintance. One of the nurses said he was going.”

“That’s perfect,” Grandma said. She’d regained her strength and the warmth in her voice. I could tell she had an idea. “In fact, you don’t even need live chickens or naked chanting to get his attention. You can get Eddie on your own.”

“Impossible,” Rosette huffed.

“You want to try it?” Grandma prodded. “Because I’d be damned pissed if you voodooed me, stole a lock of my hair, and got me attacked by a nasty-ass spirit and then turn scaredy-cat when it comes to getting the man at the end.”

Rosette stood still, the light from the last torch flickering over her features. “I can’t believe you’d want to help me after what I did.”

“You’re a good person, Rosie,” she said, softly. “You get that, right? You didn’t set out to hurt me. Jealousy can be as dangerous as black magic. It fuels the bad and gives it an opening to hurt us. That’s why you have to be careful. I don’t need to lecture you. You saw the consequences up close and personal tonight. But we need to be very clear. One mistake doesn’t wipe out four decades of doing the right thing.”

Tears filled her eyes and her mouth twisted into the first smile I’d seen from her since Grandma got sick. “Thanks. I suppose you’re right.”

“You bet your ass I am,” Grandma said, leading Rosette away. “Now I know just the thing to get that man off the fence.”

“Magic?” she asked.

Grandma shook her head. “Something better.”

Chapter Five

“I think I know where this is going,” I said, as we walked Rosette back inside and headed for the party.

“Get me one of your fancy cupcakes,” Grandma told me.

Frieda still slept in one of the tan chairs in the hallway. But her color was good and she seemed to be snoring comfortably. I shook her awake.

“Oh my,” she said, her eyes fluttering open. “I had the strangest dream.”

Grandma and I helped her up while Rosie ducked into her room for an emergency lipstick-and-hair-arranging session.

Grandma clapped the blonde biker witch on the arm. “Frieda,” she said, “I need you to go up to the second floor and make sure a man named Eddie Turner comes down to the party.”

“All right,” she said, straightening her black catsuit and fluffy ears.

I went to go show her where to find the elevator. On the way back, I grabbed a cupcake and stopped to see Bob at the karaoke machine. “We’re going to need a love song coming up,” I said, patting him on the shoulder.

He merely grinned.

I returned to the scene of the crime with the cupcake and waited a few minutes for Rosie to finish getting ready. When she emerged from her room, she’d changed into a fresh purple gown. A gold scarf wound in her hair and her cheeks flushed with natural excitement.

“You look good,” I told her.

A shy smile tickled her lips. “I feel good,” she said, glancing at Grandma.

I handed her the cupcake. “I think you’re supposed to give this to Eddie.”

Grandma nodded. “Tell him you picked it out special.”

Rosie looked down at the cupcake, as if it would come alive and bite her. “But isn’t that forward?”

“Then you’re going to ask him to dance,” Grandma said. “A slow song.”

Her friend blushed all over again. “I can’t.”

“Come on,” Grandma said, leading her down the hall. “You said you wanted to pay me back. This is how you do it. You reach outside yourself and you be happy. I won’t accept anything less.”

“He’s going to think I’m a fool,” she said breathlessly, her fingers digging into the moist cupcake. “He’s going to say no.”

“And what’s the worst thing that can happen?” Grandma asked, as we neared the party.

Rosie swallowed as she looked from Grandma to me. “The worst is over,” she said, as if realizing it for the first time.

I opened the doors and Grandma nudged her inside. “Go get ’em, tiger.”

Rosie took a few confident steps, and then slowed as she saw an older man in a blue sports jacket. He stood at the edge of the dance floor, watching. The biker witch Creely spun in the middle, a human disco ball, as others danced around her.

As if drawn by a force more powerful than him or her or anyone else in the room, the man in the blue sports jacket turned and saw Rosie through the crowd.

She made her way to him and shyly greeted him, handing him the cupcake. He barely looked at it. He was too busy noticing Rosie.

I caught Bob’s eye and gave him the thumbs-up. He nodded and changed up the music. A slow, sultry melody captured the room. “At Last” by Etta James.

I felt a wet nose on my knee and looked down to see Pirate. He’d lost his pirate outfit and was instead wearing a crocheted hot dog and bun on his back that really did make him look stupid.

“Where on earth did you get that?” I asked, picking him up.

He tried to shake it off and failed. “Mrs. Levinson said she could take my pirate costume off. I never expected the bait and switch.”

Ah well. “At least you get to be food.” It was his favorite thing. “Look,” I said, as we watched Eddie lead Rosie out onto the floor.

“Aww,” Pirate said. “Now, that’s nice.”

It truly was. Eddie looked at Rosie as though he’d never seen anyone so lovely. She beamed and she was beautiful.

I remembered that feeling, when I’d first realized I belonged with Dimitri. It was astounding in its pure joy and simplicity.

Grandma joined us, appearing quite satisfied. She had every right to be.

“What did you do?” I asked her. I could see the change in Rosette already.

She smiled knowingly. “Not a damned thing,” she said, leaning on her broomstick. “Some things are better than magic.”

ANGIE FOX BIO

Angie Fox is the New York Times bestselling author of several books about vampires, werewolves and things that go bump in the night. She’s best known for the Accidental Demon Slayer books that follow the adventures of a demon slayer and her Grandmother’s gang of biker witches. The first book in that series, The Accidental Demon Slayer, is available for free right now from your favorite e-book retailer. Be sure to check it out. Also sign up for new release updates at: www.angiefox.com/contact

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THE SOUTHERN GHOST HUNTER SERIES

Southern Spirits - coming January 21, 2015

Ghosts in the Graveyard
by Liz Schulte

Chapter 1

“It’s one day,” I said. “Surely you can be away for one day.” Shelves and shelves of books surrounded the soft, brown leather couches in the archive where we spent most of our time. The castle was fantastic—it was a castle, hello—but it wasn’t homey. Tons of people were always here, most of whom I had never met.

Selene laid the magazine down on her protruding stomach.  “I understand that, Kat, but—”

“But nothing. Come on. We need this. We need to have fun and rediscover our witchy side. Being snarky just isn’t enough anymore. It’s Halloween—our time of the year.”

She laughed quickly followed by a sigh. “Cheney won’t like it. He still thinks I’m in danger, and he won’t appreciate us making another magical spectacle.”

“We’re not going to ‘make a spectacle.’”

“Well, I don’t see how it can be avoided. We’ll be the only people in the whole Abyss celebrating Halloween. Someone’s going to see something and after everything with Jess . . .” Selene trailed off, rubbing her temples. “Honestly, I don’t know how much fun it would be with just me, you, and Leslie dressed up in costumes.”

I closed my eyes for a moment. It was like Selene was intentionally misunderstanding me. “First, they’d  probably appreciate it because it’s almost like the human population is inviting them to a big ol’ come as you are party. Second, I don’t want to celebrate Halloween in the Abyss. I think we should go home. We can all meet at your grandma’s house—do all the Halloween traditions, see the parade in town, join in the party. . . . And after, we’ll go to the graveyard,” I spoke the last part fast and soft, hoping she wouldn’t catch it, then later I could blame her pregnancy brain.

It had been a rough year for all of us. We lost two of our members and Selene’s grandma. We needed this. We needed to heal, to reconnect, and, if possible, to speak with the dead. Jessica was still out there somewhere and at any moment she could attack. We were no closer now to figuring out how to deal with her than we were after she went batshit crazy. There had to be a way to get her back. We just needed to figure out how, and maybe Devin could give us some insight from beyond the grave.

Selene’s head tilted back with understanding and she absentmindedly rubbed her belly. Neither of us had gone home since her wedding. It was easier to stay here, removed from the rest of the world, and pretend like nothing had changed. Going to her grandma’s meant confronting everything that was different—something I wasn’t thrilled to do either, but it was Halloween. Halloween marked the death of one season and the birth of another—a totally fitting time to say goodbye and get ready for new life.

She bit her lower lip and rolled her eyes. “Okay. I’ll tell Cheney we’re going. But I am not dressing up.”

“Pssh. You know you want to.”

She pushed herself up from the couch with some struggle. Selene had a small frame, and there wasn’t much room on her to grow people so she got big, really big, fast. “Look at me. What am I going to go as?” She held her arms out wide. “The house that fell on you? A basketball?”

I laughed. “You’re glowing.”

She narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “That’s what people tell pregnant women when they run out of other compliments.”

We walked slowly toward Cheney’s office. The castle was enormous and breathtaking even when you were used to it. Intricately carved marble and wood, cavernous rooms, and yet somehow the areas Selene and Cheney lived in still felt homey.

“Haven’t seen Cheney in a few days. What’s he been up to?” I asked.

“Campaigning. When he isn’t giving speeches, he’s holed away in his office going over key points with Sebastian.”

“I thought he didn’t want to be Erlking.”

She shrugged. “He changed his mind at the prospect of someone else taking the office. I mean it would be nice not to have this hanging over us, but we can’t trust just anyone to take over. If Sebastian won’t do it, he really doesn’t have much of a choice.”

I nodded. Selene and Cheney had been through plenty. With the baby on the way, they both hoped for life to settle down for a while, and if any two people deserved some happiness it was them.

“So you and Sebastian?” she asked.

“Practically nonexistent. Apparently I’m unlovable.” I smiled at her.

“You know that’s not true. It’s just complicated.”

“I know. I guess I just want uncomplicated right now.”

We walked into Cheney’s office without knocking. Selene waved at Sebastian, and he moved to get up so she could have his seat. Who wouldn’t like him? Sure, he was a little quiet and serious, but he was cute, had great manners, and if you got to know him he was surprisingly funny in a very, very dry sort of way.

“We’re not staying,” she said. “Katrina and I are going to my grandmother’s house to meet up with Leslie for a girl’s only Halloween celebration.”

Sebastian’s stare locked onto me, making me feel exposed.

Cheney pressed his lips together, obviously struggling with wanting to say something and not wanting to tell Selene what to do—because let’s face it, nothing good ever came from telling her what to do.  “I know nothing has happened for a few months, but I can’t help but think this is probably an unnecessary risk.”

My eyes darted to Sebastian; he looked away as soon as our eyes met. So we were still playing that game.

Selene smiled patiently. “We’ll be fine.”

Sebastian cleared his throat. “Jessica is still out there. She knows where your grandmother lived…”

“She also knows where the castle is, but she hasn’t come back here,” I replied sharper than I intended. “Look, yes, Jess is a homicidal psycho, and definitely cray-cray—for now—but whatever she’s doing isn’t about us or she would’ve come here by now?”

“Not necessarily,” Cheney said.

“Cheney, we’re not prisoners. It’s one night and the coven needs it. I need it.” Selene kissed his cheek. “If there are any problems I can’t handle, I’ll—”

“Any problems at all, Selene. Any.”

“Fine, fine.” She held up her hands innocently.

Cheney moved his golden stare to me. “Any problems, Kat.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I grinned at him and Selene. “I solemnly swear that we will stay on the sidewalks, not take candy from strangers, and only fly our brooms at reasonable heights.”

Sebastian shook his head and Cheney gave me a stern I-am-not-amused look.  Sheesh, no sense of humor. None at all. “Okay, dad. Relax. We’ll have you on speed dial. That kid of yours isn’t going to get away with anything. Good thing he’ll have fabulous auntie Kat to keep things fun—the things I do for you people.”

Cheney smiled at last. “Have fun you two.”

Chapter 2

Sand and pine needles provided a cushion beneath our feet as we walked up the path to Selene’s  grandmother’s house. The repetitive rumble of waves crashing into the shore carried in the breeze. The sun was still up, but I could feel the magic in the air. A prickling sensation ran up and down my spine until I couldn’t hold back a shiver. Halloween was the best time of year.

Selene unlocked the door, but had to put her hip into it to open it. The house smelled like it had been closed up for months—probably because it had been. A musty odor clung to the air and dust left a fine sheen over everything. The shadows in the corners of the room were dark and deep. Everything was exactly as Edith had left it. Selene’s shoulders fell as she looked around.

Any moment she was going to open her mouth and back out, if I didn’t do anything. I walked in, pulled the curtains open wide, letting the fading sunlight stream through. “We’ll just open the windows, do a little tidying, and before you know it Leslie will arrive and the house will come alive. It will be just like old times.” I looked back at her and smiled, then struggled to get the first window open. “It just needs Katrina.”

“Well, not exactly like old times.” Selene gave me a tight-lipped smile and flicked her wrist, sending the window up before she let her bag fall to the floor. “Let’s do this,” she said with resignation.

It didn’t take long before the house was clean, filled with light and fresh air. A fire had been started in the kitchen fireplace, crackling peacefully. Selene collapsed onto the couch and propped up her feet. “Much better. I should call Cheney.” She made a face at me.

I laughed. “I’m going to the store. Be back soon. Don’t move, don’t answer the door, don’t do anything that could lead to trouble or your husband will murder me.”

The town was already bustling with preparation for the parade and party. Kids laughed in the streets and played games in their costumes. The candy shelves were picked over and the lines were long, but I still managed to scrape together most of what we needed: apples, pumpkins, candles, corn, wheat, and hazelnuts. The rest I would have to depend on Selene’s grandmother to have.

Selene was still on the couch where I left her, but she was sipping tea. “Tsk. Tsk. I told you not to move. What if you burned down the house?”

“You’re as bad as Cheney. What’d you buy?” She followed me into the kitchen and watched me unpack. “Why are we doing this, Kat? Don’t give me that story about how we need to reconnect. We live together. The two of us have never been more connected.”

“Yeah, but what about everyone else? We’re both losing our connection to this world—and it’s important to maintain it, , at least for me and my magic. As my connection fades, so do my abilities. And we’ve been using a lot of magic and not heeding the warnings.”

Selene stared at me, looking very elf-like, then blinked several times and shook her head. “You’re right. I even stopped doing yoga. No wonder everything keeps going wrong.  The rule of three. “

I nodded. Everything a witch sent out into the world came back to them times three. I wasn’t saying it was our fault Jessica turned or Devin died, but I was a believer now. We had to be more cautious.

“Okay. Whatever you have planned for tonight, I’m game. No elves, no Abyss, and thank the Lord no politics. Just the great Sabbat, nature, and maybe a little magic.” She held up a hazelnut and raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you past this spell?”

I laughed and took it out of her hand. “Maybe you are, but what are you, like two hundred years old?”

Selene stuck her tongue out, eyes sparkling. Little by little, like the house, she and I were coming back to life too—which reaffirmed in my mind that we all needed this. Elves were great, I loved them, but they were a little uptight and serious and that wasn’t Selene or me or, frankly, any of our friends.

“Hello?” Leslie’s voice called from the front. “I’m here and I have costumes.”

Selene grimaced but I headed out. Leslie curtseyed in her Glinda the Good Witch costume complete with a wand topped with a star and a crown. Her blonde hair was long and curled. I gave her a hard hug. “You look great, lady.”

Selene was right behind me for a hug. “I don’t remember Glinda’s skirt being quite so short. “

“I look cute though, don’t I?” She winked. “I don’t remember you being quite so large. How pregnant are you again?”

“Five months.” Selene frowned. “I know. By ninth months, I won’t be able to move.”

There was a knock on the door.

“Are we expecting someone else?” Leslie asked.

“Yes, I am. I invited Frost,” Selene said hopping to action.

We both looked at her, mouths open. “You did what?” I asked. “But…”

Selene tilted her head to the side. “She’s a girl, she’s human, and she’s a witch. Why not include her?”

“I guess.” Leslie sighed. “She’s kind of creepy though.”

There was another knock on the door.

“Having the necromancer here isn’t how I envisioned tonight, but you’re right. It can’t  hurt.” In fact, it would probably make contacting Devin that much easier.

Selene opened the door; Frost stood on the porch, arms crossed over her chest. Her white hair was pulled up into high pigtails, and she wore a black and gray ragdoll dress with red and black gloves that went up past her elbows, matching thigh highs, and a spiked dog collar. She walked past Selene without saying hello and looked at us like we were the last people on earth she wanted to hang around with.

“Frost, it’s so nice to see you. Your black lipstick really brings out your eyes,” I said with a smile.

She settled her hard gaze on me. “So glad the funny one is here. She said to wear a costume.”

Selene clapped her hand between us. “So what’s the plan for tonight?”

“Well, first we need costumes and then we need to set up an alter, carve pumpkins, and maybe do a reading.” Leslie smiled, Selene nodded, and Frost rolled her eyes. “After that we’ll head to the parade and have a little fun downtown, then at midnight, we’ll do a little magic.”

“What sort of magic?” Frost asked.

“Well, it’s Halloween so we should do a blessing for the new year,” Leslie said.

“Oh, and have a bonfire,” Selene added.  “Maybe some scrying would be good. It’s a good time of year for clairvoyance.”

I nodded. “All good. We could also have a séance.” My tongue darted out over my lips.

“Wait a second. No one mentioned séances. You know I don’t do scary.” Leslie put her hands on her hips and took a couple steps back. “Nope. Not gonna do it.”

Selene, on the other hand, looked thoughtful.

“Who do you want to talk to?” Frost asked.

“Devin,” I said.

“My grandmother,” Selene said.

Leslie bit her lip. “Just those two?” Selene and I nodded.  She took a deep breath. “Okay.”

“We can talk to anyone?” Frost asked.

“If they want to talk to us. On Halloween the veil between worlds is the thinnest. It’s the time to pay respect and reconnect with those who have passed,” Leslie said. “I don’t like it, but”—she glanced at us—“I’ll do it to see Devin again.”

“Good, we’re in agreement. Now let’s see these costumes you brought.” Selene eyed Leslie’s overnight bag.

Leslie grinned. “I think I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself.” She pulled out a slinky red dress, a matching witch hat, and striped tights, then handed them to me. “I thought we could all go as witches.”

“And who am I supposed to be? A witch or a prostitute?” said Katrina.

“Honey, that’s a decision only you can make,” Selene said with a grin. “I hope mine covers a bit more, though.”

“I had to order yours online, but I think you’ll like it.” Leslie handed Selene a longer black dress with an empire waist, featuring gold trim and lace sleeves. Instead of a hat she had a gold cape with a high collar that framed her face. “And you should carry a broom.”

I slipped into the bathroom to change, and I came out to found everyone in the kitchen. Leslie was setting up pumpkins and knives for carving. Frost was playing with tarot cards, and Selene was picking out dried bundles of herbs we would need for the night.

“If only Sebastian could see you now,” Selene said after she whistled.

“You think the clothes would make a difference?”

She shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt.”

“You know,” Leslie said. “We could always ask the goddess for a bit of guidance on that.”

Heat crawled up my neck and checks. “I bought hazelnuts to find my true match.”

“You could also try the water spell.”

“What are you people babbling about?” Frost asked, looking annoyed. “If you’re really going to waste tonight on love spells, tell me now and I’ll leave. Don’t you have better things to worry about than men?”

Leslie and I shrugged. Sure we did, but this was just a little harmless fun. Selene turned to Frost with a knowing smirk. “Speaking of guys, how are things with Corbin? You two still seeing each other?”

Frost glared. “No, as a matter of fact, we’re not. And if you want to know how he’s doing, ask him yourself. You’d know better than me.”

Selene’s cheeks colored. I hadn’t seen the vampire since Selene’s wedding to Cheney, but judging by her reaction, she had and they weren’t talking about Frost.

“Careful. If you’re not nice, we’ll make you play too,” I told her.

She rolled her eyes.

“Just relax. This is all supposed to be fun—four witches hanging out, reconnecting with our magic. . . . It’s part of being a witch, Frost. Deal with it.” Selene’s traveled over the other woman’s long gloves that obscured most of her bare skin and sympathy flashed in her eyes. “Have you been practicing your readings?”

Frost picked up the cards and lightly shuffled the deck. “I’ve given myself a few.  I really don’t see how it’s useful. It can’t tell me what I want to know, it doesn’t help me find anything, and it certainly doesn’t predict what’s coming. Why’d we waste our time learning it?”

Selene glanced at me and I made a face back. You couldn’t force people to see the benefit. The cards were a guide. They could help offer clarity about things that were happening beneath the surface that you might not even recognize. They didn’t predict the future, so much as offer one of many possible futures if you continued on as you were. They were a warning or a pat on the back, depending on how things were going.

Leslie held her hand out to Frost, palm up. “You have to open your mind. Here, let me show you.”

I stifled a laugh as Selene came to stand next to me. “You think she’ll have any better luck?” she said under her breath.

“Doubt it, but let’s watch.”

Frost begrudgingly handed Leslie the deck.

“Think of your question,” Leslie said softly, then sat at the table and shuffled the deck three times. Frost nodded and sat across from her, and Selene and I joined them too. Leslie layout six cards. “Okay, what was your question?” Leslie asked.

“Why do you need to know that?”

“It helps me find the answer, but you don’t have to share it if you don’t want to.”

Frost pursed her black lips. “I asked how to undo my curse.”

“It’s a gift,” Selene said gently. “I know it doesn’t feel like it, but magic is always a gift. Look at all you can do. Look at what you have already done. Your power is incredible.”

Frost moved her frigid eyes to Selene’s warm ones. “When people touch me, they die. Dark magic runs through my veins and tries to weave its way into every spell I cast. Every day I wake up knowing I have to spend the rest of my life alone. And you call that a gift? I’m one stumble away from being a monster.”

“But you’re not alone right now,” I told her. “You’re with us. You might choose to sit by yourself and not participate, but that’s your choice. Your circumstances, while hard, aren’t insurmountable. Sure you can’t date Steve from the laundromat without him kicking the proverbial bucket. But who cares? Steve’s a loser. He plays video games, never opens a book, watches sports two hundred hours a week, never takes out the trash, farts in bed—then pulls the cover over your head. And to top it all off? Well, frankly, he stinks because he only does his laundry once a month and doesn’t have enough clothes to cover the spread.”

“Who’s Steve?” Leslie whispered.

“But you see, you don’t have to deal with Steve. You have a whole world of people open to you, people who are so old and smooth that they have very few of these problems. Your dating pool is awesome. You get to choose from vampires, jinn, guardians and anything undead. . . . You only want Steve because you can’t have him.”

Frost stared down at the table, tapping her fingers. The corner of her mouth twitched.

Selene cleared her throat. “Steve sounds like dick.”

“Who is Steve?!?” Leslie said louder.

Laughter barked out of Frost. Success! “Okay, okay, I get it. It doesn’t really change anything, but I get what you’re saying. Now, what do the cards say?”

Leslie shook her head, deeply focused, staring down at the cards. “Whoa.” She looked up from the table. “Have you ever seen anything like this?” she asked Selene.

Selene shook her head with wide eyes. “Never. Is that my deck?”

“What? What’s wrong?” Frost asked.

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” Leslie said still frowning. “It’s just weird, but nothing is wrong per se. You just got all major arcana cards. It’s like totally weird.”

“Just do the reading,” Selene said thoughtfully.

Leslie cleared her throat. “Okay, well you got Moon card which means you are confused—but  the card itself is a good omen. Try to clear your mind of doubts and find clarity in thought. There will be unexpected twists but things will work out. Then you have the Tower card and that tells me you’re looking for an easy solution. The change you encounter won’t necessarily be the one you’re seeking, but seize the opportunity as it presents itself to you. The third card is the Star. This tells me that what you fear above all else is failing, but again this is a good card—a sign of new purpose and possibly a new love in your future. The fourth card is the Magician. A new relationship or alliance will help you find the answers you’re looking for. The fifth card is The Wheel of Fortune. You have had to make a lot of painful decisions to get here, and while the wheel will not always land in your favor, it will always keep turning so the obstacles you face now will not always be before you. The final card is the Sun. It’s saying that this is your time to succeed and to find happiness.”

A mask fell over Frost’s face. She leaned back in her chair.  “Hmph,” was her only comment.

“Me next, me next,” I said, raising my hand. Leslie laughed and handed me the cards to shuffle three times.

She dealt my six cards in front of me.

“My question is, will I find love? Not a word.” I wagged a finger in Frost’s general direction, not taking my eyes off of the cards.

Leslie rolled her shoulders and looked down at the table. “You are lonely and looking for answers, but right now patience is your best friend. You want a successful conclusion more than anything else, but you are afraid to let go even though that might be the best way to get what you want. Your life is going through a transformation that might hurt and be difficult, but on the other side of that is a new beginning.” She frowned at the next card.

“What?” I asked.

“There’s a man in your life—or one you’re about to meet—who isn’t what he seems. I think you should be cautious. He will be charming and friendly, but…”—she shook her head—“he may not have your best interests at heart. It’s hard to tell.  The outcome, well, it’s unclear right now.” She shook her head and scooped in the cards. “Can we carve pumpkins now?”

Chapter 3

The fireplace mantle was covered in uncarved pumpkins and corn and bunches of sage and wheat. Candles were lit and placed outside on the porch with a bowl of candy on a plant stand in the center. Below each window on the porch was a plate of food, an offering to any ghosts who might come by this evening.

The sky was dark as we loaded into Leslie’s car and headed into town for the party. The small downtown was blocked off and hundreds of people, young and old, big and small, costumed and not, were wandering around the streets. The lampposts were decorated with scarecrows and hay. Pumpkin-shaped lights were strung from post to post creating fairy lighting for the event. Laughter and screams and general rowdiness filled the cool night air. I grinned back at the girls as we got out of the car.

“Where do we meet if we get separated?” Leslie asked, eyeing the crowd.

“Let’s meet back here,” Selene suggested. “At the car.”

We all agreed then started forward, Frost lagging behind a little.

“You okay?” I asked her.

She looked at the four thin strips of exposed skin on her arms and thighs and nervously licked her lips. She tugged up her tights and gloves, making the strips even smaller. “I don’t like crowds,” she said.

“Let’s stay to the right. It’s less crowded and we can get our bearings.”

So we made a sharp turn and headed away from the center of the action. We, aka Frost, certainly didn’t want any accidental deaths tonight.

The smell of caramel apples and popcorn wafted past my nose.  “And we have a destination,” I told the girls as three little kids buzzed past us giggling.

I sniffed out the old candy store a couple doors down and headed inside to get a popcorn ball and a caramel apple dipped in chocolate and salted pecans. Oh, my gee, heaven.

“You have to try this.” I spun around to offer Selene a bite and ran directly into a hard masculine chest covered in soft black material. A shining silver button gleamed from the stranger’s black vest. My eyes trailed up, passing his starched white shirt collar and smooth bronzed neck. I faltered for a moment, taking in the thick black stubble across his jaw—then came to a full stall when my eyes rested on his full lips—lips that were quirked in a wry, patient, yet dismissive smile.

“I’ve had plenty, thank you.”

I pulled my delicious apple back, leaving a string of gooey caramel from his jacket to my apple. “I’m so sorry. My friends”—I glanced around him to see the girls standing outside leaned against the window—“apparently ditched me..”

He raised a heavy black eyebrow, and his eyes—eyes the color of the sea just before a storm—sparkled. “I am relatively unharmed.  Now what exactly are you supposed to be?“ His large hands closed over my shoulders and moved me back a step.

His gaze traveled deliberately down my body and caressed its way back up.

I caught my lower lip between my teeth to keep my mouth from falling open. What was this guy? Auras were sort of my jam. I closed my eyes and reopened them, studying him through the magic. He wasn’t human, that much I knew for certain, but the aura pattern wasn’t familiar. I blinked away the magic.

He stood before me, relaxed under scrutiny, with a slight smile. He was enjoying this. “See something you like, lovely witch?”

My stomach tightened. How did he know I was a witch?

His fingers plucked up the thick gold cross lying a hairsbreadth from my cleavage.  “Yours or part of the costume?”

The costume, right. That’s what he meant by witch. “Costume. All my jewelry is real.” He grinned. “Who are you supposed to be?”

“You don’t recognize me?” He tapped his silver topped walking stick on the ground in front of him.

“Well, you’re a monocle away from being Mr. Peanut.”

He laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind for next year.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out the biggest knife I’d ever seen, red with blood.

I yelped and jumped back.

“Does this not help?” he asked, nudging the knife toward me.

“It helped me pee my pants. Is that what you were going for?” The words slipped out of my mouth before they cleared my brain. My cheeks warmed.

He twirled the knife a little too easily through his fingers, then held one hand in front of him and rammed the knife into my chest.

I screamed, squeezing my eyes shut, and dropped my treats. The store went silent around me.

“Are you okay?” Selene’s voice came from the door. “Kat?”

I opened one eye then the other. The man was still in front of me, fighting to keep from laughing. He didn’t have blood rushing from any appendage. “It’s not real,” he said, putting away the knife. “It’s fake.”

Fake. Crap. The knife looked so weird, and well, he frakkin’ stabbed me.

“What happened? What’s wrong?” Cheney said.

I craned my neck and to see him in the doorway. Sebastian walked past Cheney giving a cold side-eye glare at the cute guy. “We’re leaving,” he said, taking my arm and pulling me toward him.

I resisted.  “Sebastian, let me go.”

Cute guy did the eyebrow thing again. “Boyfriend?”

“Not even remotely,” I said, mentally noting he could see elves.

Sebastian sucked in a breath as if I had hurt him, but that was impossible since he was an unfeeling bastard. “I’ll be outside,” he said.

Those blue eyes twinkled mischievously. “He seems fun.”

I shook my head. “I should go. It was nice meeting you. Sorry again about screaming and the apple.”

“Sorry if I scared you,” he said.

“What’s Halloween without being scared at least once?” I flashed him a final smile, then walked out, my fun night ruined all because of me. I was such a moron. It was Halloween for crying out loud. Gore and horror were the order of the day—that I couldn’t tell the difference between make-believe and reality was a sad side effect of people wanting to kill us. I was trying to figure out who he was dressed up as, when he pulled out a bloody knife. My first thought wasn’t that it was part of the costume. It was that Jess had sent a hot guy to kill me.

“See you soon, Katrina,” he said just as I reached door

I glanced over my shoulder, but he was already at the counter. Selene had called me Kat. He must’ve taken a lucky guess and gotten my name right. That had to be it—had to be how he knew.

Outside Cheney, Sebastian, and Sy were standing in front of Selene, Leslie, and Frost. Everyone was talking at once, except Frost who stood apart from the group with a scowl as she watched people laughing and goofing around in the street.

“What are you doing here?” Selene demanded.

“You’re coming home,” Cheney said at nearly at the same time.

“I don’t know why you let her come in the first place,” Sy said and Selene punched him.

“Nothing happened. Kat just got scared. Maybe we’re overreacting,” Leslie tried to insert some calm.

“Not even remotely?” Sebastian said, glaring at me and ignoring their fight and trying to start a new one with me.

“Hey!” I shouted, getting everyone’s attention. “First, Leslie is right. It’s Halloween. I was surprised by a costume, that’s all. Nothing happened. Second, none of you”—I poked each elf on the chest— “are supposed to be here. You promised we could have one night and you couldn’t even give us that. Go home. We’re fine. And third”—I looked directly at Sebastian—“yes, not even remotely. You want that changed do something about it.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and Selene and Leslie did the same.

Selene waved them away. “I’ll see you in the morning. Go home.”

We, just the girls, headed down the street, deeper into the festivities. Heavy base thumped through the air, making it pulse. A gorilla ran down the street chased by a banana. Monsters and cartoon characters conversed.  Superheroes and zombies laughed together. It was weird and hypnotic and completely wonderful, except for a creepy guy in the hood standing alone across the street staring in our direction. Don’t freak out again. It’s Halloween.  I picked up our pace and turned left on the next street.

“Do you think they’ll actually go home?” Leslie asked.

“I don’t care.” Selene laced one arm through mine. “We aren’t going to let them ruin our fun. Let’s find good seats for the parade.”

I scanned the crowd, enjoying seeing all the people. “Hey, Frost,” I said over my shoulder. “Check out Adam at two o’clock.”

Every head swiveled to the man wearing nothing but a nude colored speedo with a leaf over his private bits.

“What do you think he does for a living?” Frost asked, eyes wide. “I mean how does someone look like that?”

“Gym rat,” Selene said, knowingly. “Showing off his assets.”

“He looks like he smells bad,” Frost said.

“That would be the smell of regret,“ I quipped.

“So what happened in the store?” Leslie asked.

I sighed. “Nothing. I thought you guys came in with me and when I turned around there was this guy behind me. Then I wigged out over nothing.”

“A hot guy,” Selene filled in.

“Yes, if I licked my finger and touched him he would’ve sizzled.”

“Well he was dressed as the most notorious woman killer and you do look like a prostitute. We’ll give you a pass,” Frost said.

I stared at her blankly.

“Jack the Ripper. He was Jack.”

My mouth formed into an “o”. That made so much more sense. “How do you know?”

“Because I know history.” Her forehead wrinkled. “Do people do this every year?”

“Wait a second, you’re human,” Leslie said. “You’ve never dressed up for Halloween?”

“No,” she said.

“Back to the guy,” Selene said, changing the subject because Frost’s past had to be horrible and she was already temperamental. The less we brought it up the better. “What’s his name? What’s he do? Details.”

I frowned. “I don’t know. He isn’t human, but I have no idea what he is. He definitely saw Sebastian and Cheney. He was… I don’t know. Intriguing.”

“I thought you and Seb—” Leslie started, but I cut her off.

“Sebastian doesn’t know what he wants, and I don’t have forever to wait.”

Selene made a face. “He just needs time. This is a big deal for him, Kat.”

“I’m done waiting.”

“Um, guys.” Leslie stopped behind us. “Where did Frost go?”

“We shouldn’t have mentioned her past,” Selene said, pressing her hand absently to her stomach. “My back’s killing me.”

I scanned the crowd, but Frost was nowhere to be seen. Weirdly, the hooded man I’d noticed earlier had moved at the same pace we had and now seemed to be staring directly at us from across the street. “Okay. You two find seats. I’ll go back and find Frost.”

“She’s a grown woman. She’ll find us. Let’s just sit down,” Selene said.

“Let me look for her. It’s crowded and she has a hard time navigating crowds safely as it is.”

“I’ll come with you,” Leslie volunteered.

“No. Stay with Selene. I’ll be right back.” I smiled at them, though my stomach twisted into worried knots for no reason I could quite articulate. What was wrong with me tonight?

I walked calmly away from them, not wanting to let on that I was jumpy as hell. This was the first time we had been back into the human world, unprotected, since there had been a legitimate threat on my life. As much as I wanted to have fun and reconnect, the constant fear that something would happen to Selene or the baby on my watch grew inside of me.

Chapter 4

If I were going to attack a small group of witches, the first thing I’d do is eliminate the strongest, most immediate threat.

I bit my lip. Frost wasn’t stronger than Selene magic-wise, but one touch was all it took. My finger hovered over the send button on my cell phone. We were being followed. I was eighty percent sure of it. That was probably a good enough reason to call Cheney. Hell, he was probably still here.

My muscles relaxed and I put the phone away. Of course he was still here. He was probably the guy in the hood keeping an eye on us. I would find Frost, get back to Selene, and tell them all what was happening. No more overreacting.

Stepping up on a bench, I scanned the crowd for Frost’s snow-white hair. It should be easy enough to pick out. Faces and masks all blurred together, but Frost definitely wasn’t among them. I was about to step down when something caught my eyes. Just down the block—another man in a hood. What the hell? Was it Sebastian?

I jumped down and pushed my way through the crowd to where the man had stood, but he was gone. Whipping my head right then left, I caught a glimpse of him turning down an alley. Sebastian wasn’t going to get away that easily. I took off after him, but when I got to the alley, seconds later, it was empty.

Damn elves.

Something fluttered against the wall of the alley in the slight breeze. A piece of paper maybe; it was hard to tell in the dark. Time slowed and the icy hand of nervousness gripped me. I couldn’t kill with a single touch. My magic didn’t pack the wallop Selene’s did. Hell, I couldn’t even tell if someone was lying like Jessica could. In that alley, I might as well have been like any other human—you know, unless the bad guy would wait for me to conjure up a spell. My fists clenched and I released a breath. One foot in front of the other, I walked toward the note.

With every step, the noise from the street disappeared a little more. This alley was a world apart. The smell of a cigar and something else I couldn’t quite place hung in the air. A light I hadn’t seen before flickered several feet down like a candle. My foot caught on something, pitching me forward. I caught myself on the wall, but the crack of my cell phone against the brick went straight to my heart.

“Shit.” I pulled it out to check the damage; the screen didn’t even light up. “Damn it!”

I stared at the ground accusingly. What did I even trip over? There was nothing, but the cobblestone alley. Wait. Cobblestone alley? There were zero cobblestone anythings in this little beach town. What in the world?

The note fluttered right in front of me—a single sheet folded in half on yellowed, thick paper. I pulled it down, and couldn’t see how it had stuck to the wall. Slowly I opened the note, but the light was too dim to read. The light flickered deeper down in the alley and the smell of cigar remained in the air. Beyond the feeble light was thick, oppressive darkness.

There was no way in Hell I was going any deeper down this alley. I looked back down toward the street, but the Halloween celebration was gone. The end of the alley looked dark and gray, even the buildings were different. Uh oh. Backing down the alley, I didn’t take my eyes off of the darkness. I had no explanation for what happened. Did I cross into another world by mistake? Was this all a trick? The darkness at the back of the alley stretched toward me with every step I took backwards. Whatever it was, I wasn’t staying to find out. I spun around and raced back the way I’d come, praying that if I had crossed some sort of line, it was still there for me to go back through.

I closed my eyes and ran as hard as I could—then suddenly bounced off of something softer and fleshier than a wall. I fell backward, but two hands caught my arms before I could hit the ground. The man from the candy store lifted the corner of his mouth and raised an eyebrow.

“I had a feeling I would see you again,” he said, setting me upright. “What are you running from?”

I followed his gaze down the alley, which looked normal now. It wasn’t cobblestone or particularly dark.

“I…” I shook my head. “It was nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

“And what’s this?” He plucked the yellowing note from my hand. “A note from an admirer?”

“Give it back.” I made a swipe for the paper, but he held it out of my reach, oblivious to the people passing us.

“Let’s have a look, shall we?” He opened the paper.

“I found it. It’s mine. Let me see.” I moved close enough to him that his long jacket brushed against me—what? I was only human. He lowered the note.

In the top right-hand corner, loopy cursive writing said “From Hell.” in.  Below that read, “Witch, The one who follows you cannot be trusted. Proceed down this path at your own risk.” It was signed simply as “Always.”

“You wrote this,” I said.

His expressive brows raised. “Did I? Why would I do that? Are you being followed?” His face and voice were perfectly serious, but something twinkled in his eyes. “Perhaps this is nothing more than a prank.”

I took the letter from his fingers. “You did this. Why?” I said more firmly. “You’re dressed as Jack the Ripper, and this is obviously an imitation of one of his notes.”

“I thought I was Mr. Peanut.”

“I might not have recognized you straight away, but I have seen every movie Johnny Depp has even been in. I get the ‘From Hell’ reference.  It’s addressed to ‘witch’—exactly what you called me. And the alley…” I still really didn’t know how to explain the alley.

“Excellent points.” He nodded. “Now what were you saying about this here alleyway?” He nudged me closer to it, but I resisted.

“So you did leave the note?”

He leaned in very close, his breath tickling my neck. “Perhaps I’m the one the note’s warning you about.”

I didn’t have time for games. I needed to get back to Selene and we needed to leave. “You aren’t the one following us.”

The left side of his mouth rose. “Can you be so certain?”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed the people in the hoods.”

He froze. “Hoods?”

I nodded. “I’ve seen at least two separate people. Both wore hoods, so I couldn’t see their faces, but they were definitely watching us. But you know that already, don’t you? Why didn’t you just tell me? Why they creepy alley and note?”

He held my gaze for a moment, but his eyes were impossible to read. “Do you see him now?”

Of course I didn’t. I hadn’t seen anything but him since he showed up even though he was odd and pushy. It was those eyes, his masculine nose, and strong jawline, totally distracting.  My tongue traced my lips. “I’ll have to look.”

He followed every move I made with great interest, gaze lingering on my mouth. I pulled in a breath and tilted my chin up a little. He stepped to the side, breaking the moment. Blinking several times, my brain stuttered to catch up.

“Do you see him?” he repeated.

My five-foot-four frame couldn’t see over much of anything, let alone the crowd in front of us gathered for the parade that was just starting. I walked to the end of the street and climbed up on the decorative flowerbed with his help. Sure enough, across the street stood a man with a hood. He wasn’t looking in my direction now, however—but he was still standing across from exactly where I’d been. I watched him for a second longer and slowly his head turned right toward me.

“He’s here. Over there.”

The stranger helped me down with a wicked smile. “Let’s have a chat with him, shall we?” He jogged across the street with the smooth graceful movements of a wild animal.  By the time I realized he was gone, I was stuck. I couldn’t get past the line of floats and costumes, nor could I see what was happening on the other side.  I scrambled to get back on the flowerbed, when a police officer came by.

“Ma’am, you cannot stand there,” he said.

“But I just need to see—”

He shook his head. “Ma’am.”

Damn it all to hell. I climbed back down. “Sorry.”

But the cop didn’t move on. He stayed watching me like I might commit the great felony of climbing on the city’s decorative planters again.

I moved down the street a little and pushed my way to the front of the group, though people mouthed off and elbowed me. When I finally broke free, there was a gap in the parade that allowed me to see across. Jack had the hooded man by the shirt, and his face was very close to the other man’s. There was a glint of something silver, but then the marching band started by. Crap.

Stretching and twisting, I tried to see around them, but it was impossible. I needed to get back to Selene, but I also wanted to know what was happening. Another gap was coming up in the parade. I held my breath as I waited. Jack was wiping his fake knife on his sleeve, and the man in the hood was gone. Small red blotches dotted Jack’s cheek, but no one else noticed.

My mouth fell open and our eyes locked until the parade interrupted us again, breaking the trance.

Holy crap, he was Jack the Ripper. The knife hadn’t been fake; the alley was a porthole. If I could come out of it, then why couldn’t he? The note though, how did that fit in? I tore down the street toward where I left Selene. I’d think on the note later. Was any of this even possible? I didn’t know but we weren’t going to wait to find out. We had to get out of here now.

A hand grabbed my arm and I screamed.

Chapter 5

“Why are you running away?” Jack spoke casually as if he had not just killed a man.

I whirled around. “You killed him.”

“Did I?” The blue in his eyes darkened.

I was so confused. “Damn it! Just answer my questions. Did you kill him?”

He blinked. “Yes.”

We stared at each other, hardly breathing. “And the note.” My mind raced. “It was warning you about me, not them, wasn’t it?”

His brows lowered, hooding his eyes. “Perhaps.”

My heart thundered in my chest. “Who was he?”

“He was not a friend. You, my lovely witch, seem to have found trouble all on your own.”

The hooded man might not have been my friend, but I didn’t need Jessica’s truth-spotting ability to tell neither was this guy. “Was he an elf?”

He shook his head.

“Who left the note and where did that alley take me?”

“I don’t know answers for either of those.  Now it’s my turn for questions.” I pressed my lips together. “That elf who ‘definitely’ isn’t your boyfriend, does he have a claim on you?”

The question took me aback. Why did he bring up Sebastian? I shook my head.

“Very good. Now, what would you do if I kissed you?”

Somehow he’d managed to back me up against a wall without my knowing it. He leaned in, eyes filled with stormy mischief. My lips parted slightly and my breath was shallow.

His mouth pressed against mine, and my head fell back to accommodate him better as I kissed him back. A war between lips, tongue, and teeth; I forgot about breathing. His hands inched around my back, pulling me tighter against him as his taste of vanilla and spiced rum warmed my body. His hand wound into my hair tugging my head back further as he nipped at my bottom lip.

What was I doing? He’d just killed someone.

That thought washed over me like a bucket of cold water. I tried to push him away, but he kept a firm grip on me. “No,” I said.

His eyes were hooded and dark. “You’re intoxicating, lovely witch.”

“I’m going to take my intoxicating knee and ram it right into your family jewels if you don’t let me go.”

He smiled, then ran his rough thumb over my bottom lip. “As you wish.” He took a couple steps back, but was still within an arm’s reach.

“You can’t just go around killing or kissing people.”

“Why not?” He raised an eyebrow. “I got tremendous satisfaction from both endeavors.”

I scowled at him.

His fingers lightly traced the lines of my scowl. “I assure you, he was here to harm you or your friends this night, if the stars aligned themselves for him to do so.”

“You still haven’t told me who he was.”

“I didn’t take the time to ask his name. Perhaps we will do better with the second one.”

Oh crap. The second one. I had to get back to Selene and Leslie! Frost, wherever she was, was on her own for right now. I brushed past Jack and wove through the crowd. The parade was finishing, which made it impossible to move fast as people were once again moving and I was headed against traffic.

“There you are,” Selene said brightly. “We were worried about you. Frost found us, but you never came back. Where’d you go?”

“Come with me.” I pulled them onto the next street, which was slightly less congested. “We’re being followed.”

Three set of eyes looked at me doubtfully.

“It’s really crowded out here, Kat. Are you sure you’re not just being jumpy?” Leslie asked. “I mean, I completely get being creeped out, but I haven’t seen anything.”

“Me either,” Selene said.

“What happened?” Frost asked, lips pursed as she looked around us.

“When we first got here I noticed a guy in a hood on the other side of the street. He stayed with us  as we moved. I saw him right before I left to find Frost. He was staring directly at us—”

“It’s probably Cheney. He probably never left,” Selene said.

“I thought so too. Then I saw a different guy in a hood following just me. I tried to get to him, but he disappeared down an alley. I went down the alley, but it took me somewhere else. I don’t exactly know where. I never did see him, but something in the darkness was watching me.”

“Is this a prank? Are you trying to scare me?” Leslie asked.

“No! It’s happening.”

“So then what happened?”

I filled them in as fast as I could on the rest.

“So one is dead,” Frost said. “All we need to do is find the other.”

“Shouldn’t we call Cheney?” I asked.

“No!” Selene and Frost said at the same time.

“If he’s following us on the other side of the street, Selene, you and Leslie should act normal and head back toward the car. Katrina, you go to the right and loop around, try not to be noticed, and I’ll go to the left.”

“Can’t we just leave?” Leslie asked. “Selene could transport us and maybe this guy will just give up.  I mean what if Jack the Ripper—Hello?! Who dresses up like a serial killer—was lying? Maybe the note is what we should be paying attention to.”

Selene shrugged. “We could go. If any of them follow us, it would be easier to take care of them in a less populated area.”

“Fine,” Frost said.

I glanced back at the street, expecting to see Jack there, but he wasn’t. “Okay,” I said.

We all linked hands, and Selene  waited until we were clear. A few slightly dizzy moments later we were on her grandmother’s porch. I stared out toward the dark ocean, my mind muddy with tangled thoughts.

“This isn’t going to ruin our night. The moon is full, it’s Halloween, and three a.m. will be here before you know it.” Selene flashed a dazzling smile, looking less tired than she had in weeks. Something about the excitement of having someone after us woke her up. She’d never be happy with a quiet life. Did Cheney know that? “Let’s make the bonfire.”

“Shouldn’t we go in the house and, you know, barricade?” Leslie asked.

Selene laughed. “Why? I pity the person who comes after us tonight of all nights. Can’t you feel it? The later it gets, the stronger our powers become.”

That was easy for her to say. If Frost was Iron Man and Selene was Thor, then Leslie and I were like Captain America and the one who shoots a bow and arrow of this particular avenger team—i.e., in way over our heads. But she was right. I didn’t want to give up on what we set out to do.

“We can build a fire, but we don’t really need it. We’re already hot.” I licked my finger and pressed it to my arm.

Selene and Leslie laughed, and even Frost smiled, which made me feel better. Things go wrong all the time and there’s never much I can actually do, but if I can make everyone laugh I feel like I’ve somehow helped the situation.

By midnight we had a roaring fire, cocktails in hand (one nonalcoholic), and were happily chatting about nothing. Frost was mostly quiet, interjecting comments here or there, but mainly listening and staring out at the ocean.

“I think it’s time for a little magic,” Selene said, producing the hazelnuts.

“No, no, no,” I said. “I’ve had about all the guys I can handle tonight.”

She laughed and held up a nut. “You bought them. You have to. How many of them do you need? Two?”

I sighed. “Three.”

Selene’s face scrunched. “I have Sebastian and Jack the Ripper—”

“Can we just call him Jack, please?”

“But who is the third?”

“I don’t know.” I looked down at my feet. “Sy’s pretty cute.”

“My cousin?” She shook her head. “Good luck with that.” She tossed me three hazelnuts.

“How many for you, Leslie?”

“Two,” she said. We gave her questioning looks. “Nothing serious, just a couple guys I’ve met.”

“Frost,” Selene said to get her attention. When she looked up, Selene tossed her a hazelnut with a smile.

“Don’t think you’re getting off that easy. You take two,” I said.

“I don’t need this trick. I love one man only. Now have at it.”

We each named our hazelnuts as we tossed them into the fire in front of us. Frost looked supremely uncomfortable with the whole thing, but she played along, naming Corbin—which made her face turn bright red and Selene smile.

We all recited, “If there is love in our future, pop and fly. If there is none, burn and die.”

“Now what?” Frost asked.

“Now we wait to see which ones pop,” Leslie said.

“And which ones die,” I added.

We all settled back into our spots, watching the fire.

“Do you think it will work?” Leslie asked.

“I think the hazelnuts are just a trick,” I said.

“Not that. Do you think we can really talk to Devin?”

“I think so,” Selene said. “I know you guys don’t see it, because your magic isn’t as flashy as what I can do, but you’re both strong and so is Frost. We should be able to talk to her and to Gram.”

“Are we limited to two spirits?” Frost asked.

“I guess we could do as many as we want,” I said. “Who would you like to contact?”

She gave half-hearted shrug and drew in the sand with her finger.

One of my hazelnuts popped.

“Which one was it?” Leslie asked.

I peered into the coals. All the nuts had shifted around and I didn’t know which was which. “I have no idea.” I looked up and smiled. “I guess it will just have to be a surprise.”

We waited another twenty minutes but no more popped. Selene stood up and walked a few steps toward the ocean, holding her arms out wide and staring up at the moon. “It’s time.” Her voice was soft yet strong. Leslie and Selene made a protection circle in the sand, while Frost and I made sure we had everything we needed. Selene took a bundle of sage and lit it, then handed it to me.

“Cleanse the area. We don’t want anything unexpected coming to us tonight.”

I cleansed the circle with the sage, Frost filled a cauldron with distilled water and set it in the center, and Leslie carved initials into two black candles. Selene set a board over the cauldron, then placed a purple candle in the middle. When everything was to her liking, we all took our positions. Selene faced north, Frost south, Leslie west and me east. We called down the guardians and the elements to watch over us and protect us. With almost a click, the magic snapped shut around us.

“Let’s start with a Samhain blessing,” Selene said.

“Shadows, whispers, and dark
remove yourself from our hearts
Standing together
we welcome the change in weather
As spirits surround us in double
Protect us from trouble.”

We repeated the words three times, then Selene nodded and Frost stepped forward to light the purple candle.

“Samhain is a good time for clairvoyance. Each person can ask the flame one question. Be silent, breathe deeply, and gaze into the flame, opening your mind to your intuition,” I said.

“Do we say the question out loud?” Frost asked.

“No, just think it.”

Focusing on the candle I let all doubts and worries flee my mind. There was really only one question to ask. Am I on the right path?

I loved living in the Abyss in a castle—a freaking castle—with Selene and Cheney, but sometimes it felt like I was hiding, letting real life pass me by. Coming back here though, after living in the Abyss, seemed so boring. I didn’t want to get a desk job or get married right away, but I did want purpose. Real purpose, but the only thing I was good at was being a witch.

The flame danced and flickered in front of me. Spots formed in my eyes and I focused on those until my vision completely blurred out everything but the flame. Random images flashed through my mind: candles, bottles, a bell ringing, the ocean, a complete circle of witches, and Selene’s grandma’s house.

I remained quiet until everyone blinked back to reality. Mostly they looked confused, except Selene who smiled to herself. Her answer must have been clear and what she was hoping for. I still needed to think about my images. But later—

Now it was time for what we really came here to do: call back the dead.

Chapter 6

Leslie removed the purple candle from the cauldron and replaced it with the two black candles. I stepped forward to light them, muttering a soft spell to myself. Next to the candles, we placed Gram’s favorite tea and the necklace Devin always wore.

Starting with Selene, we each stepped forward and dropped two bay leaves into the water saying the same two names: Devin Morgan and Edith Warren. We all took hands.

“Through the Abyss down to the infinitely darker
Hear our words, heed our power
To the space between worlds lie
Cross the barrier, yield to our power
Beings of light and spirits of love
Come to our aid with strength from above
Accept our gifts and share your wisdom
Speak to us now in this hour.”

On our third repetition of the incantation, steam rose from the cauldron.

Selene stepped forward and cut her hand over the cauldron. “Grandmother, I call to you.”

Leslie came forward and dropped a couple hairs into the bubbling water. “Devin, I call to you.”

Fragrant vapors formed around the cauldron, then swirled and circled, faster and faster. The steam started upward, then abruptly changed directions and plummeted down, revealing Edith standing over the cauldron, stirring the liquid.

Selene sucked in a breath. “Grandma.” She started forward.

“Don’t break the circle, dear,” Edith said still focused on the simmering pot. “You and the baby look well. Have you settled on a name?”

“Bella. After Cheney’s sister.”

She smiled. “Pretty. Do you have questions?”

Selene’s eyes filled with tears and her hand squeezed mine. “I’m sorry you died. I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. I should have tried harder, come up with a better plan.”  She sniffled. “It’s my fault.”

“Hush now, child. My destiny was my choosing. Just as yours will be your choosing. You have turned into a fine woman, Selene. Don’t let the elf cloud your judgment or your heart. You have more lives than your own to care for now.”

Selene nodded.

The old crone peered deeper into the steam. “Your friend is here now.” She stirred faster and a trickle rose, swirling into Devin’s face.

Devin smiled widely at us. “My friends, hello.” Her voice was soft and her image undulated in a slow circle. “Where is Jessica?”

I bit my lip, tears filling my eyes. “We haven’t found her yet.”

“Don’t despair. She can still be reached, but you must believe. When you find her, tell her I forgive her.”

Tears streamed down Leslie’s face. “I miss you so much.”

“I’m okay. I promise. Do not be sad for me. You each made my life wonderful, but now it is time for me to move on to something new. I will always carry you in my heart.” Her chin lifted. “I must go. Find Jess and take care of each other. Goodbye, my friends.”

Chapter 7

I couldn’t sleep. I rolled over in the musty bed for the twentieth time and sighed. The images from tonight’s spell played over and over in my mind. The stuffy room was smothering. I got up to open the window, but it wouldn’t budge.

Creeping down the stairs, heart heavy from seeing those we lost, but determined to find my future, I went outside and sat on the porch, taking company with the early morning sounds and breaking darkness.

“I knew you’d come down if I waited long enough,” a familiar voice said from the path.

“Jack,” I said, though I couldn’t see him. “Just for the record I was never dressed as a prostitute. You can’t kill me.”

He laughed. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

I shook my head. “Who are you? What are you?”

“If I tell you, then I rob you of the chance of figuring it out on your own.” He stepped mostly into the light. He was still dressed as the Ripper and handsome as ever.

I wasn’t scared, but I probably should have been. “How did you know where I was?”

“You ran off without saying goodbye tonight. We didn’t finish.”

The knee-melting kiss came back to mind, but I pushed past it. “Who left the note?”

“A witch who is more than a witch.”

I pressed my lips together tight. Despite his tendency to speak in riddles, I understood immediately who he meant. “Jessica,” I said. “The people in the hoods?”

“Hers,” he confirmed.

“What did she want?”

He shook his head. “I have no idea. I shouldn’t have even interfered, but”—he flashed a large grin— “where’s the fun in minding my own business?”

“She said I can’t trust you.”

His smile morphed into a dare, challenging me to take a chance. “But you can trust her?”

“I have for as long as I’ve known her.” I stood up and placed a hand on his chest, just to confirm to myself that he was real. “No offense, big guy, but we aren’t finishing what we started during the party. It’s been a long night and I don’t trust either of you.”

He moved back into the shadows, then returned, dragging the hooded man, bound and gagged, into the light. “So I should just kill him?”

I took a step back. “No. Just wait right here.”

I went inside, woke a very grumpy Selene, and brought her down.

Selene lifted the man from the ground with a flick of her finger. “We can take it from here,” she said coldly.

He nodded. “See you soon, Katrina.” Then he disappeared into the darkness.

“Call Cheney,” Selene said. “We have to go home.”

Cheney and Sebastian were there in seconds. Selene filled them in, and I went back to my seat on the porch. Devin said to find Jessica and take care of her, but how could we do that when she was trying to kill us? How could we ever forgive the things she’d done?

“You okay?” Sebastian sat beside me.

“You know me, a party isn’t a party until we take a prisoner.”

He didn’t smile. “You don’t have to be funny. Not with me.”

His silver eyes shone, but his mouth was a serious line on his smooth face. I touched a finger lightly to his sharp cheekbone. “If I can’t find a way to laugh about this stuff, Sebastian, then I’ll go crazy.”

“I just want you to be happy. I haven’t meant to hurt you.”

“I know. I’m gonna be fine.”

He patted my leg and kissed my forehead. “I never had any doubt.”

We sat together for a few moments. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, not at all actually. I had always felt comfortable with Sebastian, but that wasn’t enough. I wanted to be swept off my feet and maybe he just wasn’t the type. We were so different.

“So is this it? Are we giving up?” I asked.

“Is that what you want?” he asked, just as quietly.

I shook my head and he squeezed my hand.

“Sebastian.” Cheney waved him over.

He gave me a look then went back to Selene and Cheney. The two men took our captive back to the castle. Selene came over to me. “We should get dressed and say goodbye to Leslie and Frost.”

I nodded. “What did you ask the flame tonight?”

“Whether or not the baby would be happy and healthy. What about you?”

“Direction.”

Selene’s eyebrows pulled together. “In what?”

I shrugged. “Life. I sort of feel stalled, you know? Maybe it’s time for a change. I mean you and Cheney don’t even know whether or not you’ll win the election, and you have a child on the way. . . . I should probably get out of your hair and figure out what I’m doing with my life.”

“You don’t have to go, Kat. We love having you with us. You’re part of our family.”

I nodded, throat tight. Change was hard. “Maybe. But I can’t help but think the time is coming to stop being a sidekick and to become the hero of my own story.”

“Is this about the guy? Jack the Ripper?”

“Seriously, stop calling him that. I’m starting to think of him as that in my head. And no, it isn’t about him. I was thinking about this before I even met him.”

She looked out in front of her as we gently swung back and forth on the porch swing. “I’ll miss you,” she said after several moments.

“I won’t go far. I had an idea, a couple of them actually.”

Selene looked at me. “If all of your ideas are like moving out, then I don’t know how many more I can take.”

“Well, they’re all in relation to that, sorry. First, I was thinking . . . since this house is sitting empty and all, and I assume even if the election doesn’t go well you won’t be coming back here, that maybe you would consider renting Gram’s house to me?”

Selene smiled slowly. “It would be great to have someone here to keep the place up. We can work something out.”

I couldn’t contain my grin, and swung my feet back and forth. “Excellent. Housing crisis averted. My next thought was, we need to rebuild the coven, but this time it should be a full coven.”

“You want to bring in ten strangers.” She didn’t look thrilled, but at least she was thinking about it.

“Not necessarily. Yes, we need thirteen witches for a full coven, but I don’t want just any random people. When have you ever known me not to be entirely selective? Frost would make a good addition. She’s strong, she can navigate the Abyss, and she doesn’t have anyone else. I also don’t think we should give up Jessica’s position just yet. We have to believe and have hope we can get her back or it will never happen. Right there, we have five members. The rest we’ll gather along the way.”

She was nodding as I spoke. “I don’t know how much time I can devote to this.”

“I’ll take care of it. I’ll vet everyone.”

She threaded her arm through mine and squeezed. “If last year was the year of the elf, I think this year will be the year of the witch.”

No matter what we did in life we couldn’t prevent change. Sometimes it was for the best, and sometimes for the worst. The two were often hard to tell apart. However, the one thing I knew without a doubt was the only way you could make the most of life was to go all in: no fear, no hesitation. The road before each of us was entirely our own making so we had to choose wisely. So mote it be.

The end

MANY AUTHORS CLAIM to have known their calling from a young age. Liz Schulte, however, didn't always want to be an author. In fact, she had no clue. Liz wanted to be a veterinarian, then she wanted to be a lawyer, then she wanted to be a criminal profiler. In a valiant effort to keep from becoming Walter Mitty, Liz put pen to paper and began writing her first novel. It was at that moment she realized this is what she was meant to do. As a scribe she could be all of those things and so much more.

When Liz isn’t writing or on social networks she is inflicting movie quotes and trivia on people, reading, traveling, and hanging out with friends and family. Liz is a Midwest girl through and through, though she would be perfectly happy never having to shovel her driveway again. She has a love for all things spooky, supernatural, and snarky. Her favorite authors range from Edgar Allen Poe to Joseph Heller to Jane Austen to Jim Butcher and everything in between.

Liz would love to hear from you

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Check out more books by Liz:

URBAN FANTASY/PARANORMAL ROMANCE

The Guardian Trilogy: Secrets

Choices

Consequences

Easy Bake Coven

Hungry, Hungry Hoodoo

Pickup Styx

Tiddly Jinx

MYSTERY

Dark Corners

Dark Passing

The Ninth Floor

ANTHOLOGIES

Naughty or Nice Christmas Anthology (Ella Reynolds Christmas short story)

Christmas Yet to Come (Baker Christmas short story)

SHORT STORIES

Be Light (A Guardian Trilogy Short Story)

Sweet Little Lies (A Sekhmet Short Story)

Spirits of Bourbon Street

By Deanna Chase

From New York Times bestselling author Deanna Chase, Spirits of Bourbon Street.

It’s Halloween on Bourbon Street, and white witch Jade Calhoun is ready to party. But when a sexy spirit traps everyone in the past, she’s forced to forgo the cocktails in order to save those she loves...again.

Chapter 1

“Holy abs,” my best friend Kat whispered as she gawked at the half-naked male standing in front of Pyper. He was dressed only in beige linen pants and brown leather work boots. “Where did she find him?”

I laughed and hung our costumes on a rolling rack. We had converged in a meeting room just off the grand ballroom in the Jean Baptiste Hotel. In just five short hours, we’d be throwing the most exclusive Halloween party on Bourbon Street. And part of the entertainment was body-painted servers. “Probably the modeling agency. Or he could’ve answered the call on her website.”

Kat fanned herself with her hand, her emotional energy giddy with attraction.

“Stop. You’re entirely too into that guy, and it’s making me uncomfortable.” Kat was my best friend, and because I was an empath, I was pretty much always tuned in to what she was feeling. Usually that wasn’t much of a problem, but when it came to sexual energy, it just made me feel gross. There were some things I shouldn’t be privy to.

Kat ignored my remark and said, “He doesn’t look like a model.”

I had to agree with her. The ones that Pyper usually hired for her body-painting gigs were metrosexual in the extreme; bodies entirely waxed, hair styled with fruit-scented products, and often wearing concealer to hide any blemishes. They were pretty, but not manly men. Not like the perfect specimen standing before us.

He had a couple days’ worth of growth in the facial hair department, thick, wavy, dark locks that fell to his chin, and a well-defined upper body without an ounce of extra weight. He had broad shoulders and a trim waist, his muscles well defined but not bulky. And judging by the slight farmer’s tan, I guessed his workouts came in the form of construction rather than weightlifting. He was ruggedly handsome in the extreme.

“They don’t make them like that anymore,” Kat said.

I elbowed her and was treated with another wave of her barely suppressed lust. Closing my eyes, I imagined my glass silo, the one I used to block out other people’s energy, and sighed in relief when I could no longer feel anything radiating from her. “You have a man. A gorgeous one.”

She grinned at me. “Oh, I know. Believe me, I haven’t forgotten. Did I tell you what he did to me last—”

“La, la, la, la, la,” I chanted, sticking my fingers in my ears. “I told you I don’t want to hear about any more sexcapades between you and Lucien. He’s my second-in-command. I don’t want to be picturing the two of you…doing whatever it is you do when I’m at the next coven meeting.”

She shook her head, laughing. “God, Jade. How can you be such a prude when your husband owns a strip club?”

“One has nothing to do with the other. Besides, I’m not a prude. I just don’t need the details.”

“Whatever you say.” She scooted closer to Pyper and asked, “Where’s everyone else?”

The black-haired beauty finished outlining the design on her model’s chest. “They’ll be here in an hour or so. Julius was a little early, so we went ahead and got started. Check it out.” Pyper waved me over and pointed to a jagged line she’d drawn on his chest. “See this?”

Kat and I both nodded.

“I’m going to paint a skeleton hand ripping his heart right out of his chest. What do you think?”

Kat grimaced. “It’s awesome. And a little gruesome.”

“Well it is a Halloween party,” I added. “And it sounds amazing. Can’t wait to see what everyone else is going to look like.”

Pyper winked and went back to work on Julius. He was completely fixated on her every movement. I had a hard time deciding if he was enamored with her work or just her. She was tiny, with a dancer’s body, and had black hair with a bright electric-blue streak in the front. She was sexy as hell and usually a total flirt. But at the moment, she was all business.

She glanced up at him. “Do you need a break?”

“From what?” he asked, his blue eyes nearly searing her with their intensity.

She stepped back and averted her gaze as she vigorously dabbed her dirty paintbrush over a clean surface of her painter’s palette. Only instead of wiping off the excess, she pushed it through two colors, making an even bigger mess. “Oh, crap!” She tossed the brush into a cup of water and put everything down, wrinkling her nose. “From standing still. If you need to sit for a while, just let me know.”

“No. I’m fine here.” He pulled his shoulders back and seemed to grow an inch or two taller.

“Look at those shoulder muscles,” Kat said, fanning herself again. “Whoa. I think I need a drink.”

Pyper glanced back at us, her expression amused. “I think we could all use a cold one. Get us something from the bar?”

“Sure.” I suppressed a laugh and yanked on Kat’s arm, pulling her into the grand ballroom. “You need to cool off.”

She frowned and shook her head as if trying to dislodge whatever had come over her. “Wow. I don’t know what happened back there, but either I was spelled or my hormones took a turn down slutville alley.”

I slipped behind the temporary bar and pulled a couple of beers from a giant bucket of ice. “Spelled? You think he was a witch of some sort? What did he do, cast a lust charm?”

“Oh, shut up,” she said, smiling. “It could happen.”

“Maybe. But I don’t think so. I would’ve felt something.” The thought had me frowning in confusion. I hadn’t gotten a read on Julius at all, had I? When we’d first walked in, I’d felt Pyper’s intense concentration and then Kat’s inappropriate lust connection, but I hadn’t sensed one thing from Julius. Interesting.

“Well, whatever it was, I’ll stay here. If I’m gonna start in on that beer, I don’t want to get caught drinking and drooling.”

“Good plan.” Chuckling, I opened two Abita Ambers and retreated back into the meeting room. “Okay, beers—whoa.” I stopped in my tracks and gawked. Pyper was wrapped in Julius’s arms, and the pair of them were going at it like sex-starved teenagers. He had one hand on her ass and the other curled into her hair, while she had one leg wrapped around his waist and her nails dug into his bare shoulders.

I silently placed the beers on the nearest table and backed up slowly, trying my damnedest to not be seen. I was almost to the door when—

“Oomph.”

I ran smack into someone coming in from the other room. “Oh, no, I’m so sorry,” I said, spinning around right into the arms of Kane, my husband. My husband. Was I ever going to get used to thinking of Kane that way? We’d been married for six months, and I still got giddy every time he called me his wife.

“Hey there.” He circled his arms around me. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”

I grimaced and jerked my head toward the make-out twins.

Kane glanced over my shoulder and grinned. “Oh, I see.” He inclined his head in greeting. “Hey, Pyper. Looks like we might be intruding.”

“Uh…well, no, not exactly,” I heard her say breathlessly.

Kane laughed while I turned around and sent her an apologetic look. She was completely rumpled, her face flushed, and her smock smudged with beige and white body paint.

“We’ll be in the other room,” I said and tugged Kane back into the ballroom as fast as I could.

“Well, that was interesting,” Kane said, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Interesting?” I glanced up at him, exasperated. “He’s a client. And what about Ian? Holy cow. What if he’d walked in?”

“Oh my God! Is Pyper macking on that model?” Kat asked, her eyes alive with excitement.

Kane nodded, his lips curled into a ghost of a smile.

“Oh, good for her. Someone needed to taste that delicious piece of man meat.”

I shook my head. “Does no one care about Ian? Did you two forget about him?”

“Ian’s out of town. Again,” Kat said. “He’s working on that ghost-hunting cable show with what’s-her-name. The high school friend that has a crush on him. If I had to guess, he’s not exactly worried if Pyper walks in on him, if you know what I mean.”

Kane grabbed a beer from behind the bar. “About time she moved on. Ian’s been gone more than he’s been home for the last three months.”

“But that’s work,” I said. “Don’t you think we need to give the guy the benefit of the doubt?”

“I would if he stayed in touch.” Kane’s expression turned flat with irritation. “Did you know she hasn’t heard from him in over two weeks? Not even a text.”

I frowned, worried now. Ian wasn’t the typical guy. He was a ghost hunter and was known to care more about his work than anything else. But going a few weeks without touching base with Pyper wasn’t normal, even for him. “Something must’ve gone wrong on his investigation. He’d never—”

“I talked to him yesterday.” Kat popped a piece of chocolate in her mouth. “The investigation isn’t leading to anything. He’s considering going to another site before he comes home.”

“Seriously?”

She nodded. “I think they might’ve already broken up, but neither is really talking about it.”

The door flung open and Pyper came striding into the ballroom, wearing a fresh smock. She grabbed my arm and tugged me over to a corner away from Kane and Kat. “I need a favor.”

“Like a reminder you have a boyfriend?” I asked as gently as possible.

“Oh, fuck Ian.” She scowled. “He wants to break it off but doesn’t have the balls to do it.”

I raised my eyebrows. “And you know this because…?”

“He said as much the last time I talked to him. Something about needing some space and having to figure out what he really wants. You know, guy code for ‘I don’t want to be an ass.’ Whatever, I’m over it. Forget him. I need you to be my chaperone for the rest of the day. I don’t know what it is about Julius, but when I’m around him, I can barely control myself.”

I cast a glance at Kat. “You’re not the only one.”

She followed my gaze. “She felt it too?”

“Yeah. But I didn’t.” I pursed my lips in thought. “It’s weird. I didn’t feel anything radiating off him.”

“Good.” She grabbed my hand and tugged me back toward her workroom. As we passed Kane, she said, “I’m borrowing your wife for the rest of the afternoon.”

Kane bent and gave me a soft kiss. “Take care of her.”

“Yeah. Sure. Whatever.” Pyper pushed the door open and then stopped dead in her tracks.

I glanced around the deserted room, my heart sinking for her. In the short time she’d been in the ballroom, Julius had vanished.

Chapter 2

“Interesting costume choice,” Kat said, eyeing me.

I glanced down at my slutty red-leather demon outfit. The micro-mini showed ample leg, while the bodice did a fine job of amplifying my cleavage. “What? Cliché?”

“In the extreme. But fitting, I guess, considering you hang out with your fair share of demons and angels.”

“Funny.” I smirked. “And what are you supposed to be, a milkmaid?” I asked, eyeing her lace-up black-and-white bodice and poufy red skirt.

“Oh.” She shrugged into a red hooded cape and twirled. “Little Red Riding Hood. Better?”

“Much.” I secured a staff badge to my outfit and passed one to Kat. “Ready?”

“Yep.”

Kat followed me out of the hotel’s meeting room and across the hall to the ballroom. The party was scheduled to start in thirty minutes, and we just needed to do a quick sweep to be sure all the last-minute details were in place.

“Can you check with the girls at the raffle-ticket table and make sure they have everything they need?” I asked her.

“Sure. What’s the prize?”

“VIP tickets and balcony access for Mardi Gras.” The party was being thrown by one of Pyper’s biggest clients. He was a music producer and often threw parties to promote his musicians. He’d employed Wicked, Kane’s club, to see to all the details, even though the party was being held in the hotel. The club just wasn’t big enough.

While Kat made sure the raffle was ready to go, Pyper, Charlie and I stuffed the gift bags of CDs, USBs, and other swag. Thirty minutes later, the booze was in place, the dancers were standing by, and all we needed was the partygoers.

“Hey, beautiful,” Kane said, grabbing my waist from behind.

I twisted in his arms and let my gaze wander from head to toe. “Hey, yourself.” I raised one eyebrow, taking in his kilt, the demon-hunter dagger strapped to his belt where a traditional dirk would be, and the white linen shirt that was partially open, revealing his chiseled chest. I resisted the urge to check my chin for drool. Holy eff, he was hot. “A highlander?”

He winked. “I thought you’d like it.”

Suddenly I was very warm in my little leather dress. “‘Like’ might not be a strong enough word.”

A seductive laugh rumbled from his throat as he leaned down and then whispered, “Maybe later, if you’ve proven yourself a naughty little devil, I’ll let you see what’s underneath.”

I rolled my eyes to hide the fact I wanted to jump him right there. Goddess above, kilts should be illegal on a man as sexy as Kane Rouquette. “I’m never naughty,” I said, batting my eyes innocently.

“Never?” He ran his fingers down my neck and lightly brushed them over the crest of my breast. A ripple of anticipation shuddered through me, and I shamelessly arched into his touch.

“Maybe not never,” I breathed and tugged on his shirt, yanking him to me. And when I looked up into his desired-filled dark-chocolate eyes, I melted right there in the middle of the ballroom.

I wanted nothing more than to push him back into the meeting room, slide my hands up under that kilt, and have my way with him in every way possible. My gaze landed on his partially opened lips. “Kiss me,” I demanded.

“Aye,” he said in his fake Scottish accent. Then his lips were on mine, his teeth nipping at my bottom lip as he tightened his grip around me.

I was lost in his demanding kiss, pressed against his hard body, my head swimming with not only my own intense need, but his too. Every part of me was on fire, aching to be touched.

His hands landed on my hips, his fingers gripping me hard. “Jade?”

“Yeah?” I tilted my head slightly and took the lead, kissing him, my tongue dancing along his as my hands clutched at his shirt.

He pulled back slightly, breaking the kiss, and grinned down at me. “I think we have an audience.”

“Huh?” I jerked back and glanced around at all our friends staring at us, amused expressions on their faces. Heat crawled up my cheeks as mortification took over. What had I been thinking? “Oops.”

Cheers and wolf whistles erupted around us, Pyper’s the loudest of them all. Her hair was now all electric blue, and she’d painted her face white with black eyes and stitches from the sides of her mouth across her cheeks. She was the perfect zombie bride.

“Nice show,” she said, slipping her arm through mine. “How in the world did you get him into a kilt? Damn, girl. Can’t blame you for going all whore-of-the-damned on us with him looking like that.”

Snickering, I snuck another glance at Kane. I didn’t know why his bare knees were so damned sexy, but they were. “I might have mentioned something about a fantasy involving a highlander a week or two ago.”

She shook her head. “If I didn’t love you both so much, I’d have to stab you from pure jealousy.”

I knew she was talking about the relationship Kane and I shared and not that she wanted Kane in any way. They’d dated once, way back in college, but she’d been the one to end it. Something about him being too conservative for her. Which was laughable, since conservative was the last word I’d use to describe him. But Pyper was ultra alternative in almost every area of her life, from her business choices, to her art, to the men she dated.

“What about you and Julius? What happened there?” I asked, now that she was all up in my business.

She shrugged. “No idea. One minute I was painting him, the next we were staring at each other, locked in that moment. You know the one. When everything stops and the only thing that exists is each other?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

“Well, we were right there. And then I couldn’t help it. The next thing I knew I was kissing him, and he was into it like a sex-starved man. Things were moving so fast and heated, we were moments from being naked and sweaty.”

I widened my eyes. “Really? That’s…”

“Stupid,” she said. She clamped her mouth shut, her cheeks reddening. “We barely know each other, but there was this strange pull I couldn’t step away from.”

“Until we interrupted you and he bolted,” I added.

“Yeah.” She frowned. “Not my finest moment. Usually I’m much more professional.”

I sent her a sidelong glance and smirked. “Well, your performance certainly didn’t look amateurish to me, if you know what I mean.”

Her frown disappeared, replaced by mock offense. “Are you sexually harassing me, Calhoun?”

I laughed and handed her one of the staff badges. “Not yet, but maybe later if we have time. Come on, let’s get this party going.”

Chapter 3

“First things first,” I said, standing in the middle of the empty ballroom. “Seeing as how it’s Halloween, I think it’s imperative we cast a protection spell.”

Lucien, my second-in-command and Kat’s boyfriend, joined me. “I agree.”

“Okay,” Kane said. “What do you need us to do?”

“Be the points on our circle is all.” I raised my hands, imagined a pentagram, and reached for my magical spark. It responded immediately. As I focused on the ground, I said, “Illuminate.”

A large, glowing pentagram appeared in the middle of the ballroom. I stood on the point facing north and waved for the others to take a spot. Pyper, Kat, Lucien, and Kane completed the points, even though Lucien was the only one with magic. It didn’t matter for a simple protection spell.

Lucien and I met each other’s gaze across the pentagram, and after I counted to three, we each unleashed magic within the circle. Our magical energy collided and mixed, slowly spreading out within the confines of the pentagram until the entire area glowed with magic. I raised my arms once more and said, “From point to point to person to person, may the gift of the coven watch over our guests tonight to keep them safe from evil forces. From person to person to point to point, may the night be full of fun and smart choices.”

The combined magic from me and Lucien brightened, converged into a ball, rose high above us, and then burst like confetti into tiny specs of light all over the ballroom.

The magical pentagram vanished as a blanket of peace settled around us.

“Wow. Nice,” Pyper said. “We should do that more often.”

“Then what would we do for fun?” Kane asked, tugging me to his side. He winked at me. We both knew if true evil wanted in, there was no stopping it, but a protection spell would deflect any random acts of supernatural trouble.

Kat shook her head and smoothed her short skirt while we all laughed.

***

Pyper and I were behind the bar mixing drinks when Kat came running up, her face flushed. “Oh my God, look who’s here again.” She pointed across the room at Julius, who was standing around looking completely lost in his linen pants and smeared body paint.

“What the hell is he doing?” Pyper shoved a beer at one of the guests and ran out from behind the bar straight for him. A moment later, she was pulling him out of the party toward the meeting room where she’d painted the rest of the models.

“Do you think she needs help?” Kat asked.

Grinning, I shook my head. “I think she can handle him. Besides, there’s too much to do out here. Can you check on the caterers? The food was supposed to start coming out of the kitchen ten minutes ago.”

I waved at Kane’s club manager, Charlie, who was talking to one of the three dancers. She nodded and strode over, dressed as a badass biker chick, her staff badge clipped to the bottom of her jacket. “Hey,” I said. “I could use some help. Pyper got called away.”

“Sure thing, gorgeous.” She winked and turned to the next customer. “The dancers are set to get going in the next few minutes.”

“Thanks.” They were dressed as slutty angels and were going to dance in the cages high above the crowd just as soon as the theatrics started.

It took no time at all for Charlie and me to fall back into a regular working rhythm. I used to tend bar with her regularly at Wicked before Kane and I had gotten married. It was fun to be at it again.

“Hey, boss lady,” Charlie said. “Looks like you’ve still got skills. Are you cheating on me tending bar somewhere else these days?”

“Yeah, right.” I rolled my eyes. “And I’m not the boss. Cut it out.”

“You are tonight.” She jerked her head toward Kane, who appeared to be socializing more than anything. “Looks like the boss man is in his element.”

I nodded. “It’s one of his gifts.” Ever since he’d been turned into an incubus, people of all walks of life were drawn to him. It was as if they couldn’t get enough. And I couldn’t blame them; I felt the same.

“Gift, right.” Charlie snorted. “Lucky bastard.”

That made me laugh as I poured half a dozen shots of tequila for the group standing in front of me.

Charlie smiled at a cute coed wearing a barely-there peacock outfit.

I turned to the next customer, but all the lights went out, leaving us in pitch-black darkness. The crowd gasped, and a scream came from the corner.

I glanced up and waited. The hallowed organ music filled the club, followed by three spotlights aimed at the three cages. Each angel was perfectly still in the moment. Then the music stopped for a beat, followed by the dramatic shift of Pink singing about getting the party started.

Soft lighting lit the room, and a cheer went through the crowd as the angels started to dance.

“Nice touch,” Kat said, slipping behind the bar to grab a couple bottles of beer.

“Everything going okay?” I asked.

“Perfect.” She nodded to the body-painted models making their way through the crowd, each carrying an appetizer tray. They were covered in an array of intricate designs, from a blooming forest with day-of-the-dead skulls, to gruesome vampire victims, to mutilated zombies. Pyper’s skills were simply amazing.

I glanced back at the door where she’d disappeared with Julius and frowned. Was she okay? The thought sent a ripple of unease up my spine. Something wasn’t right when it came to Julius, the way he’d disappeared and then returned so disoriented. Maybe he needed help?

I was just about to send Kane to check on them when Julius walked through the side door, Pyper close on his heels. His chest had been repainted with the skeleton hand appearing to rip out his heart, but his face had been left untouched, unlike the rest of the models. And damn if he didn’t look even more handsome in the dim lighting. Who could blame Pyper for sticking with him? He had her hand tucked in his as he led her to the middle of the dance floor.

“Who’s that?” Charlie asked.

I shrugged. “Some model named Julius.”

“They look good together,” she said.

They did. I couldn’t keep my eyes off them. Julius placed one hand on her waist and held her hand with his other in a traditional dance stance. They stood facing each other for just a moment. And then they started to move.

The music suddenly cut from a popular Black Eyed Peas song to a fast song from the Roaring Twenties. The lights came up and shone on the makeshift dance floor.

“Whoa. Was that part of the plan?” Charlie asked me.

But I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. I was too busy gawking at Julius and Pyper.

They had morphed from gruesome dead guy and zombie bride to a shiny, happy, swing-dancing couple from the twenties. The body paint was gone, replaced by Julius in a white suit and Pyper in a blue-and-white polka-dot dress.

“Oh my God,” I heard Charlie whisper.

Then I tore my eyes from my friend and sucked in a hard breath as magic pooled automatically at my fingertips.

The center of the room had morphed into a nineteen-twenties dance party, and everyone on the dance floor along with it.

Chapter 4

I glanced down at myself. A rush of relief washed over me at the sight of my slutty devil outfit. Charlie hadn’t changed either and was still clad in her biker leathers. “You see what I see, right?”

Her eyes were wide with disbelief. “You mean the roaring party that’s going on and the fact that three-quarters of the guests are doing the Charleston?”

I nodded.

“Yeah. I see it. But I don’t believe it.” She glanced up at the former angels, who were now wearing flapper dresses and kicking their feet back as they danced with abandon to the new music.

I glanced around, looking for Lucien, and spotted the half-dozen body-painted models standing off to the side, gaping. A handful of other guests were transfixed, watching with interest.

“It’s not magical,” Lucien said from behind me.

I spun. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “We’d feel a magical signature.”

Of course we would. I was in the habit of closing down around too many people to protect myself. That meant I was working without one of my most powerful resources. I took a step back and released all my guards, letting all the emotions slam into me. Wonder, elation, joy, and an underlying trace of despair.

And as the music sped up, the despair intensified.

“Do you feel that?” I asked Lucien.

He took a step closer and peered at the dancers. “What?”

“Their pain.”

He startled. “No.”

Threads of hopelessness bubbled to the surface. I had to figure out a way to bring everyone back, to snap them out of this weird trance. My attention fixated on Pyper and Julius just as Julius twirled Pyper halfway across the dance floor, leaving a clear opening to see the rest of the dancers.

My heart all but stopped. Kane and Kat were right in the middle, dancing their hearts out. Both of them appeared to be having the time of their lives, seemingly oblivious to what had happened.

“Kat!” Lucien cried and tugged me out from behind the bar.

I went with him willingly, but stopped him before he could pull us onto the dance floor. “Wait.”

He frowned. “For what?”

“We don’t know if we’ll be affected if we cross over. I think it might be better to try to break the…” Shoot. I was going to say “spell,” but it wasn’t one. Lucien was right. I couldn’t feel even an ounce of magic radiating from the area. “Have you ever heard of a time warp?”

He shook his head. “No. You think that’s what this is?”

“I don’t know. It’s not a spell.” I circled the wooden stage until I was closer to Kat and Kane. Then I called, “Kane!”

No answer.

“Kat!” Lucien waved, trying to get her attention.

Neither noticed us. No one did.

The rest of the guests were gathering around us, moving closer to the dancers. Even Charlie. They were moving toward the stage as if they were in a trance, not at all disturbed by the turn of events.

“Charlie?” I asked, touching her arm.

She shrugged me off and kept moving.

“Hey, Charlie. No!”

But it was no use. She stepped up onto the stage. As soon as she crossed the plane, her clothes switched from badass biker bitch to sweet swing dancer with jeweled high heels. My eyes bugged out. I’d never seen Charlie in anything other than jeans and formfitting T-shirts. Dresses were definitely not her thing.

Before long, every last person in the ballroom had crossed into the time warp except for me and Lucien.

We met each other’s gazes.

“Should we call the coven?” I asked Lucien.

“Probably, but they aren’t going to be able to get here anytime soon. The crowds and traffic tonight are nearly as bad as during Mardi Gras.”

He had a point. All of us who were here either lived in the French Quarter or were staying over with someone who did. The parking and traffic would be awful right now. Still, I’d call if I had to, but I wasn’t even sure what any of us could do, if anything.

I pulled my phone out and called my mentor Bea.

“Happy Halloween, Jade,” she said cheerfully. “What can I do for you?”

“Thank the Goddess,” I said and took a step away from the stage. “We seem to have a situation here.”

She let out a low laugh. “It’s Halloween. Of course you do.”

“Bea,” I said. “It’s not funny. We seem to have some sort of a time warp going on. We’re putting on a party for one of Pyper’s clients, and suddenly everyone on the dance floor shifted to some weird alternate reality from the nineteen twenties. They’re wearing period clothing, their hairstyles are totally different, and the music that’s playing isn’t from our sound system. It’s like a worm hole or something.”

“Magic?” she asked.

“Neither Lucien nor I can feel anything.”

“Are there any spirits present?”

It was a reasonable question and one I should’ve thought about. We were in the French Quarter, where practically every building was haunted. “Possibly, though I don’t see any.”

Bea sighed in exasperation. “Jade, it’s about time you start to use your gifts instead of running from them.”

I clamped my lips shut, knowing she was talking about my empath gift. I’d spent the majority of my childhood trying to forget I could read people. I had kept it a secret from everyone I could, because when I read someone’s emotions, it made both of us uncomfortable. It was an intrusion of epic proportions. So it was usually my last resort, especially in highly charged situations like a party. I’d already opened up once, but hadn’t probed too deeply, nor had I wanted to.

“Use your gift to find the spirit. Then you and Lucien can cast a spell to isolate him or her. Everyone else should snap back into reality.” She said all of this in a matter-of-fact tone as if we weren’t in the middle of an emergency situation. Compared to demons and black magic, I supposed we weren’t. But it was still worrisome.

“Isolation spell. Got it. Thanks,” I said.

“And, Jade?”

“Yes, Bea?”

“Try not to trap anyone in the past.”

“Funny.” Although, I didn’t think her comment was meant as a joke. “Sorry. I’m a little tense. Can I call if we need more help?”

“Yes, but I’m not even in town, so if you need backup, call Lailah.” She was referring to our resident angel who was in charge of keeping souls safe.

“Okay. Thanks.” I hit END and trotted back over to Lucien. He hadn’t moved as he kept a close eye on Kat.

“She looks upset,” he said.

I nodded. “There’s a weird undercurrent of desperation and despair coming from the dance floor. But I can’t tell who it’s coming from. More than one person, I think. It might be spreading like a cancer.”

His fists clenched in frustration. “What did Bea say?”

“She suspects a spirit might be anchoring everyone to the past. If we can figure out who it is, we can isolate him or her with a spell and then this could be over in a few minutes.”

We both turned and stared at the crowd. Because this was a party we were hired to plan, we didn’t know most of the guests. I wasn’t even sure if the host was here yet. Bea had said to use my gift, and it appeared that was exactly what I was going to have to do.

“I’m going to start reading people. If I look like I’m going to pass out, take my hand, okay?” I said.

Lucien nodded. He knew that once I opened my senses and took on everyone else’s emotional energy, I’d be toasted emotionally and physically. But if I could focus on one person, especially someone I knew well, I’d be okay.

I cast Lucien one last glance and then braced myself as I focused on Kane. At first all I got was a shot of humor, followed by elation. But as I slipped past his barriers, the happiness slowly faded away and I was left with a cold emptiness. As if his soul was missing or buried.

My heart sped up, and my entire body went cold with fear. Kane. No. This couldn’t be happening.

“Jade? What’s wrong?” I heard Lucien ask.

But I didn’t answer. I was too horrified by what I was sensing. Kane wasn’t really in there. He was like a shell of a person, with superficial happiness radiating from him. As if whoever or whatever was pulling the strings wanted everyone to appear normal when really they were being sucked into an abyss.

I didn’t want to let go of my hold on Kane. It was too painful, too awful, but I had to find out if he was the only one affected or if everyone was being pulled under.

With great reluctance, I shifted my focus from Kane to Kat. And although her emotional signature was completely different, her emotions felt exactly the same as Kane’s. Superficially happy and elated, but underneath, there was nothing. Not even a twinge of hope, or sadness, or reluctance. Nothing.

Frantic, I hopped from person to person, experiencing the same lack of emotions, the same zombified dancers…until I got to Pyper.

Wonder radiated off her as she stared into Julius’s eyes, followed by a small underlying trace of trepidation. But she wasn’t fearful. No, more like cautious, as if she was afraid what she was feeling wouldn’t last. I focused on her smiling face and did my best to shut out all the artificial joy that was overwhelming the rest of the dancers. All I wanted was Pyper’s emotions.

Hope. Nervousness. Curiosity. Desire. They were all there, swirling around her in a thick cloud.

I opened my eyes and peered at Julius. His expression was soft, tender as he watched my friend stare into his eyes. But as I tried to penetrate his senses, once I pushed through the initial spark of hope, I was overwhelmed with deep-seated hopelessness and despair. All the negative emotions permeating the room were coming from him. His emotions were disconcerting, but they were real. Just like Pyper’s, but unlike everyone else’s.

What was different about the two of them? Why did they each have their own emotions when no one else did? Was something sinister infecting everyone else and not them?

But I hadn’t felt anything sinister. Nothing even close to evil, except the apparent lack of soul from everyone else in the crowd.

“I don’t know what to do,” I said abruptly to Lucien.

“What do you mean? Have you found the spirit yet?”

“No. I mean, I’m not sure.” I kept my gaze on Pyper and Julius. Pyper certainly wasn’t a spirit. And Julius was clearly a solid man. All the ghosts I’d met before had been apparitions. All of them except Camille, who’d managed to possess people to take on a form. My stomach rolled with unease. “Oh, no. I think it’s Julius.”

“You think?”

I nodded. “I’m not too sure. All I know is Pyper and Julius are the only ones with real emotions there. Everyone else is in a trance. And I can’t sense any other emotional energy like I usually can when ghosts are present but not visible. I know Pyper isn’t a ghost. Her emotional signature hasn’t changed. I’d recognize her anywhere. That leaves Julius as the odd man out.”

“No one. Not any of the servers or guests?”

I shook my head, more and more convinced. “No one. Julius disappeared today and then came back out of the blue. No one knows where he came from. And add in the fact that this all started right after Pyper and Julius started dancing. It has to be him.”

“Okay, then. I trust you.” Lucien held his hand out to me. “Let’s go get him.”

I glanced around, trying to calm the panic setting in. I had no idea what was going to happen once we stepped onto the dance floor. But we couldn’t isolate Julius from here. We had to separate him from Pyper first.

Blowing out a breath, I took Lucien’s hand in mine, and together the pair of us crossed the plane into the nineteen-twenties.

Chapter 5

A flash of heat washed over me and then my body went completely numb. But I didn’t seem to care. Life was free. Happy. Full of celebration. I turned to Lucien. “Care to dance?”

He inclined his head, bowed slightly, then swept me up in the music. My feet seemed to move on their own. All I saw was Lucien’s smiling face and flashes of color as he twirled me around and around among the other dancers.

The music played on one continual loop, never pausing, and soon enough, although I didn’t want to sit the dance out, my limbs became heavy. But no matter how much I wanted to stop to take a breath, my limbs wouldn’t respond to my mental commands. And worse, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.

I was trapped in a dancing hell, along with the rest of my friends and all the other party guests. My eyes met Lucien’s.

He had the same manic expression on his face I feared was on mine. But his eyes were searching mine, silently asking me the same thing I was asking myself. How did we end up here? I wasn’t sure. All I knew was we needed to stop. To get a drink. To do something other than move our feet.

With my limbs not responding, I gathered the ball of magic that lived just below my heart and sent it shooting toward my fingers.

The magic erupted from my fingertips like a bolt of lightning, knocking both me and Lucien backward. We each landed on our backsides, gawking at each other.

“What the hell was that, Jade?” Lucien said, jumping to his feet to loom over me.

I smiled up at him and pushed myself to my feet. “A wake-up call.” I waved a hand around the dance floor. “We were stuck just like they are.”

His expression turned blank as his gaze lingered on the fatigued dancers. Then recognition lit in his clear green eyes. “Damn. We were sucked right in, weren’t we?”

I nodded and moved to the side to avoid being kicked by one of the dancers. “We need to get to Julius.”

“Can’t we just zap everyone out of their state?”

I glanced down at my white cotton dress and black Mary Jane pumps, noting my devil outfit was nowhere to be found. I shook my head. “It doesn’t look like we’ve left this reality, does it?”

“No, but—”

“Besides, we don’t know everyone’s tolerance for a magical electric shock. It was okay for you and me, but we’re witches. They aren’t.”

He fixated on Kat, who was off to our right, and furrowed his brow. The worry clinging to him brushed up against my psyche. I wanted to put a hand on his arm, do or say something to comfort him, but I had no words. And I wasn’t completely sure that we wouldn’t end up like dancing monkeys again if we touched.

I was just as upset about what was happening to Kat as he was. She was my best friend. And then there was Kane. He was a demon hunter. If Hell had found some way to take his soul, if that was why I couldn’t reach him, then… I couldn’t even think about it. The situation would be too awful.

“We need to separate Julius from Pyper,” I said.

“How?” Lucien studied the other man, his eyes narrowed.

“Ask to cut in, and I’ll invoke the spell?” I wasn’t at all confident that would work, as the pair seemed to only have eyes for each other, but it was worth a shot.

“I’ll try.” Lucien took a step forward and then paused. “Zap me if I go back into zombie mode.”

“Will do.”

The one thing about being in the time warp was that emotions weren’t really a huge issue at the moment. Joy and happiness actually filled me up, gave me a bit of a boost for a while until they wore me out. Even the fake kind. It was everything else, such as anger, depression, and sadness, that turned me into a basket case.

Lucien hovered around Pyper and Julius, and finally when Julius twirled her into his body and paused for a moment, Lucien moved in, placing a hand on the small of Pyper’s back. She froze and slowly twisted her head to glance at him.

“May I cut in, miss?” He half bowed just as he’d done to me, and suddenly I was certain his memory had been wiped clean again. But when he pulled Pyper into his arms, almost against her will, he winked at me and led her awkwardly toward the other side of the dance floor.

Relief flooded me. He’d only been acting the part.

Julius stared after them, a storm of emotion in his dark eyes. I saw the cloud of rage encompass him before I felt it. Pure hatred. Dark anger. The kinds of emotions that make men commit horrible sins. And it was all directed at Lucien.

“Whoa,” I said to myself, gathering every last ounce of magic I could grab onto. He needed to be isolated, and fast. A small twinge of longing for the help of Bea or the coven hit me, but I knew I could do this. I’d fought worse and won. I could take on one spirit.

I imagined the pentagram I’d conjured earlier in the day, only smaller, and as Julius moved past me toward Pyper, I pushed my hands out, aiming for his feet. The pentagram lit on the floor exactly where I’d intended. And Julius was smack in the middle of it.

“Capiantur!” I cried.

The light from the pentagram shot straight up out of the ground, imprisoning Julius within the circle.

The music cut off abruptly, and all the dancing stopped. A punishing wave of relief slammed into me as a fair number of the guests sank to their knees, winded from their manic dancing.

I glanced toward Kane and Kat, triumph strumming through me. Kat was clutching her side, leaning into Kane. He was frowning and wiping his brow. He hadn’t seen me yet, but that was okay. I took a step toward them and then stopped dead in my tracks.

No one was dancing. The music was gone. But everyone was still in their nineteen-twenties outfits and the gaslights were still burning brightly, despite the fact they were no longer operational in our own time.

We should’ve morphed back to the twenty-first century but we hadn’t. We were still stuck in the time warp. At least people seemed to have their senses back for the most part.

“Move!” Lucien called. “Get off the dance floor. Everyone. Go now.”

The group of partygoers did as he asked and retreated from the stage. As each person left, I caught a glimpse of their outfits morphing back into their Halloween costumes as they disappeared into the fading darkness surrounding the dance floor.

“Go on now,” I said to a coed and her date. “Drinks are at the bar.” Her date’s eyes lit with interest, and the pair slipped back to where they belonged.

I was making my way through the crowd toward Kane and Kat when Pyper’s energy invaded mine, sending fear and pure disgust up my spine. I spun in her direction and froze.

Roy, an evil ghost we’d once sent to Hell after he’d tortured both me and Pyper, had his arm around her neck, locking her in a chokehold. Only he wasn’t solid. He was sort of translucent, which told me everything he was doing was fueled by stolen energy. But whose?

With my palms sparking with magic, I cried, “Let her go.”

“Not likely, white witch. But I’ll consider it, if you give me what I want.” He chuckled, his laugh low and sinister. “Nice try with the protection spell. A lesser spirit would’ve had trouble with that one.”

My body shook with uncontrollable anger. I wanted nothing more than to blast his ass into a million pieces. Only he was likely to just evaporate, considering his nonsolid form. I’d try it anyway, except he was using Pyper as a shield. I’d have to bide my time. “What is it you want, you sick bastard?”

He jerked his head toward Kane, who was a few feet away, barely being held back by Kat. She was whispering furiously in his ear, both hands clutched around his arm. “Give me his soul, and I’ll leave this one alone.” Roy tightened his grip around Pyper’s throat until her eyes bugged out from lack of oxygen.

“Never going to happen,” I said, sounding braver than I actually felt. I was fortified by the knowledge that Kane’s energy was back, and I felt every inch of his being straight down to my toes. He’d never been soulless.

Pyper was trying to claw at Roy’s arm, but there wasn’t anything there for her to grab. He was choking her using pure energy. “Let Pyper go, or else I’m going to let Kane end you for good.”

Roy cast Kane a sideways glance, the same dark anger that had been surrounding Julius radiating from him. Only it was stronger. Darker. Angrier. The cloud hadn’t been coming from Julius. It had been coming from Roy. He’d been here the entire time and had somehow been attached to Julius. Roy jabbed his head toward Kane.  “You think that one’s going to take me down? Right. All he was ever good at was throwing a punch. And as you can see, that’s not going to work this time.”

“Think again,” Kane said, shrugging Kat off. He lifted his arm, holding his hand out. A flash of light shot from his palm, and when it died down, his demon-hunter dagger lay in his open hand, the intricate symbol on the handle glowing blue.

Roy’s gaze locked on Kane’s hand. Fear flashed over his features. A second later, his expression went blank. “Forget it. I’ll take hers.” He jerked Pyper back, indicating he’d steal her soul instead.

“No way, asshole,” I spat out and then did the only thing I could think of. I launched myself at them, taking Pyper down in a heap of limbs.

She coughed and curled into a ball, rubbing at her throat.

I scrambled to my feet, magic pulsing in my fingers, ready to fight.

But Roy had vanished.

Chapter 6

“Pyper!” I dropped to her side, gently taking one of her hands. “Are you all right?”

She sucked in a breath and then pushed herself up, her eyes ablaze with fury. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know. He’s gone.” I brushed her hair out of her eyes, but she shook me off.

“No. He isn’t. I still feel him. His ugly hatred, it’s here. He won’t leave until he gets what he wants.” She climbed to her feet, glanced around, and fixated on the light still shining from the pentagram. “Is Julius still in there?”

I nodded. “He somehow trapped us in a time warp.”

She shook her head. “No, he didn’t. That was Roy.”

“What?”

Kane joined me by my side. “What do you mean?”

“Let him out,” Pyper demanded. “Now.”

I glanced at Lucien. He raised his hands in an I-don’t-know motion.

“Jade!” Pyper turned and grabbed my shoulders. “Let him out. He’s in danger in there.”

She was so frantic, so insistent, I did as she asked. With a wave of my hand, the light vanished, and Julius stood in the middle of the pentagram, watching us. Nothing changed. The music didn’t come back on. No one started dancing as they had earlier. But we still hadn’t morphed back to our own time.

“What’s going on?” I heard Kat ask Lucien.

Pyper took two steps toward Julius and then froze, her eyes never leaving his. “Where is he?”

Julius stared over her shoulder, hatred pouring out of his dark gaze. “Right behind you.”

Pyper whirled, narrowed her eyes, and said, “Show yourself, you coward.”

Nothing happened.

“Pyper, we should probably leave and go back to our time. All we need to do is walk off this dance floor,” I said.

“No.” She placed her hands on her hips, fierce determination radiating off her. “Not until we finish Roy. He won’t leave me alone. Not now that he has an in.”

“An in?” I asked her.

She glanced at Julius. “He’s a ghost, you know.”

I nodded. “Yes, I thought he might be, but he’s unusual being in solid form and all.”

She nodded. “He was a witch.”

“Ohhh,” Kat said as if that explained everything.

“A white witch.” Pyper met my gaze. “A powerful one, like you. And for some reason, Roy’s latched on to him. I don’t know why or how, but I can feel it.”

I glanced at Julius and back at her. They were gazing at each other with a curious intensity. “Today isn’t the first time you two met, is it?”

Pyper glanced away, a blush creeping up her face.

“Pyper?” Kane asked, his curious tone tinged with concern.

“No. It is not,” Julius said rather formally. “I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Pyper not long ago when she was helping another research this hotel.”

We all turned and gaped at Pyper.

But before anyone could say anything, Julius’s head and upper body jerked back as if he’d suffered a blow. He let out a grunt and came up swinging, but appeared to only find air.

“Roy!” Pyper called and jumped forward.

Kane clasped a hand over her arm, pulling her back with him. “Stay by my side.”

“But I can’t let him go after Julius. You don’t understand. He feeds off of Julius’s energy.”

Her words clicked a switch in my brain. I could find him. If I tuned in to Julius, I’d know exactly where Roy was. “Lucien?”

“Yes?”

I waved him over and whispered into his ear. “I need to invade Julius’s energy. When I give the signal, I need you to cast a summoning spell.”

“Without a circle?”

“Yes. Once you cast the spell and I direct the energy to it, I’ll call the circle myself.”

He gave me a skeptical look.

“Trust me.”

“You got it, boss.”

With Pyper safely at Kane’s side, I threw my energy into Julius, instantly honing in on Roy tapping into him. I’d once been a victim of Roy’s wrath and unfortunately knew his energy intimately. It didn’t take much to follow that thread. And as I did, I severed the hold Roy had on Julius. It was just me and Roy now. In order for him to stay connected to our world, he had to siphon magic from me. Except I had no intention of letting him. Once he reached for my energy, I sent a bolt of magic straight into his energy, effectively latching on, and then wrapped him in an invisible binding. He wasn’t going anywhere now. Not until I was sure we were sending him somewhere where he could no longer get to Pyper.

And even though I was stronger now, had better control over my gifts, the dark taint of Roy’s shriveled soul made my skin crawl and my insides shudder from the pure filth that was Roy.

But I wasn’t going to let him get the better of me. Not this time. As hard as it was, I forced myself to take steps toward the middle of the dance floor, toward the ugliest being I’d ever come in contact with, and that was saying something.

My movements became slower and slower with each step, my limbs like cement pillars, refusing to move. And when I was certain I was going to collapse from the sheer pain of holding on to Roy, I felt a hand slip into mine. Pyper’s cool, clean, refreshing energy rushed into my being, fortifying me, giving me the strength to hold on.

I felt Roy’s rage, his frustration at being locked in my magical hold, but clung to Pyper’s sure determination and cried, “Lucien, now!”

The low murmur of his Latin chant filled the silence, and a second later, I felt him let his magic go. Through our coven connection, I guided it, forcing it to hit exactly where I knew Roy was standing. And then as his form came into view, I raised my arms and called the pentagram.

Pure white light filled the ballroom, nearly blinding me.

“Whoa,” I heard Kat gasp. “That was impressive.”

Glancing down, I smiled in sheer satisfaction. Pyper and I were standing on the northernmost point of the pentagram, and Roy was trapped in the innermost circle. Exactly as I’d planned.

“Nice work,” Lucien said.

“Thanks. You, too. But it’s not over yet. What should we do with Roy?”

“I’ll take care of him,” Kane said, moving to stand just behind me.

I turned my head and raised a curious eyebrow. “Really? And how do you propose to do that?”

“Like this.” He palmed the hilt of his dagger, and in one swift motion he threw the magical blade right at Roy, hitting him exactly where his heart would be. Roy vanished, and the dagger hung in the air for a few seconds.

Then Roy reappeared for just an instant and shattered into tiny slivers of light that faded away before they ever hit the ground.

Chapter 7

The white light and the pentagram vanished as the lights dimmed and Maroon 5 blared from the sound system. My friends turned from nineteen-twenties swing dancers to sexified Halloween revelers.

Lucien strode over to Kat and gathered her in his arms, while Kane, sporting his kilt, wrapped one arm around me and his other around Pyper. But she was staring at Julius.

He stood by himself, watching her, a wistful expression on his face. “He’s gone.”

Pyper nodded.

“For good this time.”

“Yeah.”

We were standing in the packed party, surrounded by partygoers, and yet I felt as if I was intruding on something deeply personal. I tucked my hand into Kane’s and gently tugged him back. “I think they might need a moment,” I whispered to him.

He glanced down at me and frowned. “He’s a ghost. I don’t think—”

“You don’t need to think,” I said mildly. “He isn’t dangerous.”

Instinctively, I knew my words were true. Earlier I hadn’t been able to feel anything radiating from Julius, but I did now. There was only goodness and love and regret.

Kane reluctantly took a step back with me as we watched Pyper move toward Julius as if she was mystically drawn to him in some way. And when she stopped in front of him, he smiled down at her, cupped her cheek, and whispered something in her ear.

She shook her head slowly and placed her hand over the exploding heart she’d drawn on his chest. The sadness radiating off them just about brought tears to my eyes. Pyper rose to her tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss to Julius’s lips. They were frozen in the moment, the perfect zombie couple, and then Julius faded away. And Pyper was left alone in the middle of the ballroom.

She stood there, her shoulders slumped and her head inclined.

“Excuse me,” I said to Kane and hurried to Pyper’s side. I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, you. Let’s get out of here.”

She shook her head, still staring straight ahead. “We have work to do.”

I made a show of glancing around. “Na. Kane and Charlie have everything under control. We’re free to do anything we want. Including grabbing a bottle of tequila and doing shots until we pass out.”

“Tempting,” she said dryly. “But maybe just a few beers.”

“You got it.” We walked together to the bar, where I grabbed four beers and a bottle opener. I waited a beat for Charlie to finish mixing a few drinks. The night’s events hadn’t fazed her at all. She was back at work, flirting with males and females alike, raking in the tips as always. “We’ll be in the meeting room just outside the ballroom if you need us.”

She gave Pyper a sympathetic smile. “Sure, but I’ll be fine.”

“I know you will.”

I handed one of the beers to Pyper and followed her out of the room.

We slipped into the adjoining room, and instead of sitting on the chairs lining the wall, Pyper walked to the middle of the room and sank to the floor.

I joined her and watched as she downed half her beer.

“Better?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Not really.”

“Roy is gone. That dagger of Kane’s is magical. He won’t be coming back.”

She nodded. “I know.” Glancing up at me, she pierced me with a flat stare. “I wasn’t afraid of him, you know. Roy, I mean.”

I jerked back slightly at her remark. “Really? I was.”

“No you weren’t. You were worried about everyone, but you weren’t afraid of him. Not this time.”

She was right. I’d been afraid for her, afraid of anything she was feeling, but with Kane and Lucien there, I hadn’t been frightened by Roy. Only concerned with how best to get rid of him. Luckily Kane had found his opening. “Okay, but I did have a minor anxiety attack when he first showed up. Any ideas on how that happened?”

She grimaced. “I didn’t know he was a ghost at first, you know.”

I frowned, confused.

“Julius. You didn’t either.”

“Damn,” I said under my breath. “You’re right. I didn’t. Why didn’t you say something?”

Her face got even brighter red. “I was going to. Later.”

“Later? Later than what? How long have you two known each other, really?”

She hesitated and stared at her hands. “You know since Ian’s been gone, I’ve gotten into hunting ghosts as a hobby. Well, he showed up at an investigation about a month ago. And then at the two after that.”

“He moves around?” That was unusual for ghosts. Mostly they haunted specific places.

“He was a witch.”

“So?”

She shrugged. “The rules are different for him. He can pop in and out of wherever he wants to, but his time is limited. He only has so much energy, you know.”

I wanted to ask about the relationship they’d obviously started, but I didn’t know how to broach it. Instead I asked, “And what about Roy? Do you have any idea why he showed up here tonight? Or what happened with the time warp?”

“I…oh, damn. Julius said he wanted to have just one dance from his own time. But seeing as it’s Halloween and forces are, I don’t know, different I suppose, his spell didn’t quite work the way he intended. We were just supposed to slip into the twenties for one song and then back, but then that bastard Roy showed up and leeched his energy. It wasn’t supposed to affect anyone else. I’m so sorry, Jade. It was an accident.”

I heard what she said, and though it was unnerving she seemed to be having a romantic interlude with a ghost, who was I to judge? I’d had one once with a ghost who’d invaded my dreams. At the moment, I was more concerned with the evil spirit I’d thought we’d sent to Hell over a year ago. “Any idea where Roy came from?”

“No.” Her answer was final, leaving no room for doubt she was telling the truth. She took a long swig of her beer and flopped backward on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. “No idea at all.”

“I do,” a male voice said from our left.

I jerked and caught sight of Julius’s outline. He was only an apparition hovering just above the floor.

Pyper rose from her position on the floor and faced him, her head tilted to one side. “You’re back.”

“Sort of. But not for long.”

I took in his long pants, suspenders, and sports coat. If I didn’t know he was a product of the twenties, I might assume he was a hipster. He was certainly cute enough, if he wasn’t a spirit, that was.

“I felt that other spirit a couple of weeks ago when you were investigating one of the big hotels. I didn’t think about it much, because being a witch, spirits are attracted to my energy and try to feed off it. That’s what this Roy did. I deal with it by shutting myself down, making my energy unavailable to them, and they usually go away. Except he happened to catch me off guard tonight. As soon as I realized he was here, I cut off my lingering magic, and that’s what caused us to get stuck back in time. My apologies to everyone.”

That would explain why I hadn’t been able to feel many emotions. Julius’s odd ghost magic had suppressed them, all except his and Pyper’s, which were running really close to the surface. It was also why I couldn’t feel his magic. Or it could just be because he’s a ghost. Hard to say. “So he’s been hanging around you lately, and because he saw an opening, he tried to take Kane’s soul? Or someone else’s so he could live again?”

Julius nodded. “Yes. Considering his fascination with Pyper, I suspect he’d been watching her for some time. But because of whatever y’all did to him last year, he didn’t have the resources to get to her. And, well, now he’s nothing.”

Pyper climbed to her feet and walked over to where Julius was floating. The way they looked at each other made me feel as if I was intruding, but I had more questions.

“If Roy was in another dimension or in Hell, could he have still latched on to you?”

He nodded. “Yes. When I’m strong, spirits can and do try to infiltrate my energy. It’s a burden, but usually I deal with it better. My apologies, Mrs. Rouquette. It won’t happen again.”

I had experience with attracting unsavory beings while not being able to control my magic as well as I’d hoped. And considering he was a ghost and not completely in control of his fate, I had some sympathy for him. Being a witch never got easier. “No apology needed, Julius. Sorry we thought it was you causing all the problems. I had no idea Roy was on the loose. Thank you for watching over Pyper. If our paths cross again, please consider us friends.”

He bowed. “It will be my pleasure.”

I smiled and waved as I left, giving them some privacy.

When I got back to the party, Pyper’s client was on stage introducing his new band. Kane was standing near the bar, nursing a beer.

“Hey, highlander,” I said, walking up behind Kane.

He turned and his sour expression vanished, replaced by one of concern. “Hey, pretty witch. How’s Pyper?”

“She’s just fine.”

“You sure about that?” He glanced over my shoulder toward the side door.

“I’m positive. She’s taking a moment to…ah…relax. I’m sure she’ll be along in a few minutes.” I ran my hand lightly down his chest, ready for some quality time with my man. “Care for a spin on the dance floor?”

His lips turned up into a slow smile. “Only if the devil comes out to play.”

“Be careful what you wish for,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck. “You don’t want to be classified as a sinner, do you?”

His heated gaze traveled the length of my body. “I think I’ll risk it.”

Then he pulled me to the dance floor, and the only thing left on my mind was Kane and that damned kilt. I placed my hands on his hips, curling my fingers into the rough fabric. “Think you might be willing to wear this once a week?”

His heated gaze dropped to my exposed cleavage. “If you wear that, I’m game.”

“Deal,” I said breathlessly. “Halloween, every Friday night.”

His gaze met mine, and we both laughed.

“Well, maybe not Halloween, but kilts and corsets,” I amended.

“You got it.” He clutched me to him, pressing his hard body into mine. “Now kiss me.”

And when our lips touched, a spark of magic zipped from me to him, sealing the deal.

New York Times bestselling author Deanna Chase is a native Californian. After spending five years traveling in an RV, she and her husband moved into an adorable cottage in a small  town outside of New Orleans. After about six months, Deanna was convinced their 1907 home was haunted. Late at night as she penned Haunted on Bourbon Street, she often heard footsteps throughout the old house. Luckily, the spirit appears to be harmless, as he/she has never done more than make a little noise and possibly smoke a few cigars. However, if the ghost ever shows up in a dream, you'll be the first to hear of it. Smudge stick anyone?

When she isn't writing, she is often goofing off with her husband in New Orleans, playing with her two shih tzu dogs, and making glass beads. For more information and updates on newest releases visit her website at www.deannachase.com or sign up here: http://ymlp.com/xgmsbhuygmgb.

Links to the entire Jade Calhoun Series:

Amz:

Haunted on Bourbon Street: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005EHRSUY/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B005EHRSUY&link_code=as3&tag=deanchas-20
Witches of Bourbon Street: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007898TE0?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B007898TE0&linkCode=xm2&tag=deanchas-20
Demons of Bourbon Street: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009E7YZ38?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B009E7YZ38&linkCode=xm2&tag=deanchas-20

Angels of Bourbon Street: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D3B1FRA?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B00D3B1FRA&linkCode=xm2&tag=deanchas-20

Shadows of Bourbon Street: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JCZRL0Q?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B00JCZRL0Q&linkCode=xm2&tag=deanchas-20

Charmed and Dangerous

A Halloween LaVeau story
by Rose Pressey

Chapter 1

Dressing as a witch for Halloween seemed like such a cliché considering that I was an actual witch. What made it even worse was the fact that my name was Halloween LaVeau and I was the leader of the Underworld.

Forgoing pointy hats and warts, my best friend Annabelle Preston had convinced me to dress up as Little Red Riding Hood. Or, as I referred to my costume, a children’s Little Red Riding Hood. I was constantly pulling at my skirt to make sure it was hiding the skin that I wanted it to cover. The long red cape with hood was pretty cool though.

When I’d asked Annabelle why Little Red Riding Hood, she’d pointed out that it was on sale for thirty percent off. Not one to turn down a bargain, I’d grabbed the tiny costume sized to fit a toddler and marched to the register to pay for my purchase.

Annabelle had decided to dress as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. She had a little basket with a toy Toto inside. Our costumes would not instill fear in anyone. People thought we were sisters with the same blonde hair, and I was glad that Annabelle hadn’t suggested that we dress as twins.

It had been slim pickings at the costume shop because Annabelle and I had waited until the last minute. I was lucky I’d found the costume that I had, because I refused to go dressed as a giant cheeseburger, complete with lettuce and pickles.

Now that we’d decided on costumes, we were headed for the Bubbling Cauldron. That was the happening spot for all the witches in Enchantment Pointe. I hadn’t wanted to attend the Halloween party at the club, but my mother had insisted.

Yes, my mother. As a grown woman, I still had to listen to Annette LaVeau. Most of the time I could get by with ignoring her suggestions, but tonight’s festivities was not one of those occasions. I knew she would be heartbroken if her only child, the newly appointed leader of the Underworld, didn’t attend the shindig.

It wasn’t as if I had asked to be appointed as the leader. That had been chosen for me when I’d discovered an old spellbook in the house my great-great-aunt Maddy had left me. Apparently, whoever was the owner of the book was the leader. Lucky me. To make matters worse, there was always someone who was trying to get the book. But tonight I hoped to put all of that stress behind me and just have fun.

My new boyfriend Nicolas Marcos would be at the club tonight too, along with his half-brother Liam Rankin. Nicolas was the coven leader for Enchantment Pointe, so it would be expected that he’d be there. Liam was the coven leader for New Orleans, and he never liked to miss a party. Both men were seriously hot.

We changed into our costumes and headed out the door for the Bubbling Cauldron. I was still tugging at the skirt when I climbed into Annabelle’s car.

“I feel a little ridiculous,” I said as I slid into the passenger seat.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said as she fastened her seatbelt. She had placed Toto in the back seat. “We all feel a little ridiculous on Halloween. That’s part of the fun.’

“I’m not so sure about that, but if you say so.” I clicked my seatbelt into place.

We made the short drive to downtown Enchantment Pointe. The town ran along the river. A stone wall was the only barrier between the water and the edge of historic downtown. Specialty shops and boutiques lined the old streets. I had hoped we’d get lucky and find a parking space near the club, but unfortunately we had to park in the lot adjacent to the bar. It was an unusually chilly evening for Louisiana, and this costume wasn’t helping keep away the chills.

The green neon sign blinked, bathing the sidewalk in a soft glow and guiding us toward the club’s front door. After Annabelle showed her identification, we stepped into the bar. I liked to think they only didn’t ask for mine because the guy at the door knew me. Sure, I was more than a few years past twenty-one, but I liked to hope that I still looked young.

Neon lights lit up the bar to our right and twirling lights guided us toward the dance floor. As I inched my way toward the middle of the room, I realized this was as crowded as I’d ever seen the Bubbling Cauldron. There were a ton of witch costumes, so I was glad that I’d decided to go with something different. Although most of the costumes I saw were a lot scarier than mine. There were vampires, ghosts, and several zombies, not to mention a few costumes that I had no idea what they were supposed to be.

The famous black cauldron was in the middle of the dance floor. Bubbles floated toward the ceiling. Normally the bubbles were multi-colored, but tonight the bubbles were all orange. Black and orange balloons decorated each table. Streamers and paper pom-poms adorned the ceiling.

“How will we find the guys?” Annabelle yelled over the music. Michael Jackson’s Thriller was bouncing off the walls. Annabelle’s boyfriend and one-time bodyguard Jon Santos was supposed to meet us too.

“Let’s see if they’re already here.” I danced my way across the floor, mostly because that was the fastest way to make it to the other side. Besides, I always liked this song.

Now that I was here, maybe I was glad that I’d been talked into joining the party. It would do me good to get out for a while and not worry about the Book of Mystics. The pulse of the music made my anxiety melt away.

As I stood there looking out over the crowd, breath tickled the side of my neck. I looked to my left. A man was dressed as Dracula, complete with fake blood around his mouth. At least I hoped it was fake.

“I vant to suck your blood.” He exposed his fake fangs.

Annabelle grabbed my arm. “She’s got the wrong type of blood.” She pulled me across the dance floor to the other side away from Dracula.

I laughed. “Thanks. What a creep.”

Looking out over the crowd, I still hadn’t spotted Nicolas or Liam. My anxiety increased just thinking about the half-brothers. In such a short time, we’d been through a lot together.

I recognized a few people in the crowd. Misty Middleton, the former leader of the Enchantment Pointe Coven, was dancing with a tall blond dressed as a gladiator. She was wearing a long black dress and a giant black witch’s hat. Her shiny long dark hair flowed from under the hat.

Stepping behind a large man dressed in a Batman costume, I hoped that Misty didn’t see me tonight. I figured she still had hard feelings toward me since I’d removed her from the coven leader position.

Someone was waving through the crowd. All I saw was the hands over the top of people’s heads. Finally, my mother broke through the crowd, still waving at me. She was dressed as Wonder Woman, complete with black wig. Her natural color was dark, but she’d recently cut it into a stylish bob. My mother had picked out the costume months ago. Halloween was her favorite time of year. Hence why my name was Halloween.

“Halloween, you look great,” she yelled over the music.

I wrapped my arms around her. “So do you.”

As I hugged her, I noticed the man standing behind her. He smiled when he spotted my stare. He was dressed as Superman. Superman with gray hair and lines crinkling the corners of his eyes. He had a square cut jaw, wide mouth, and large clear blue eyes. His presence explained why she’d wanted to be Wonder Woman. I eyed him up and down.

When my mother noticed me looking his way, she said, “Halloween, this is Wade Spencer.”

He held out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

His grasp was a little too firm around my hand.

I peered up at him for a moment, and then said, “Likewise.” I was a little overprotective of my mother.

Someone touched my arm and I yanked it away. “Look, Dracula, you’re going to be drinking your own blood if you touch me again.”

As I turned around, Nicolas stepped back with his hands in the air. I reached out and hugged him. “Sorry, I thought you were some creep.”

His rich laughter tickled my ear. “I hope I’m not some creep.”

“Who are you supposed to be?” I asked.

He stepped back and motioned with his hands. “Isn’t it obvious?”

I looked him up and down, studying his black slacks and black button-down shirt. He wore the New Orleans Coven medallion around his neck. “I get it. You’re dressed as yourself.”

He chuckled. “No, I’m Liam.”

With hair as dark and thick like devil’s velvet and piercing blue eyes, it was an easy costume for him. The half-brothers looked a lot alike. I peered around, but didn’t see Liam.

“Liam is picking up Jon. I guess they’ll be here soon,” Nicolas said as if reading my mind.

Somebody’s Watching Me by Rockwell spilled from the speakers at the front of the dance floor. The song choice was ironic because it did feel as if someone was watching me. It was probably the Dracula creep again.

“I’ll get us a drink.” Nicolas leaned down, kissed me, and then walked away. He looked just as good from behind as from the front. Muscles shaped his arms, back, and legs.

“We’re going to dance,” my mother said as she strutted toward the dance floor with her Superman.

Annabelle was beside me swaying to the music and looking out over the crowd. The song was still playing and it still felt as if someone was watching me. When I looked out over the dance floor, I spotted Liam. He was staring right at me with his intense blue eyes and dazzling smile. Our eyes were locked on each other.

After a few seconds, a smile slid across his face. A tall werewolf was walking beside him and I assumed it was Jon.

“Oh, Little Red Riding Hood,” Jon said as he approached.

I laughed. “We should have coordinated costumes.”

“Come on, Big Bad Wolf, show me what you got.” Annabelle motioned toward Jon with her index finger.

Annabelle and Jon immediately left for the dance floor, leaving me with Liam. I looked around to see if Nicolas was coming back with the drinks. I hoped it didn’t take him much longer. Liam drank in my appearance. My heart sped up and my body tingled.

“You look gorgeous as usual.”

I tugged at the hem of my skirt. “Thanks. Who are you supposed to be?”

“Nicolas.” He gestured toward his black pants and black shirt. “Isn’t this how he dresses all the time?”

I snorted. “Did you plan this with him?”

He shook his head. “No. Why?”

I laughed. “You’ll see.”

The music slowed. “Would you like to dance?”

My mouth opened and I was just about to answer when Nicolas returned. Nicolas looked at me and then immediately made eye contact with Liam. They stared at each other for a second and then both laughed. Just one of the many things I loved about these brothers. I thought for sure they would have fought or at the very least argued.

A faster song started and I knew that I was off the hook for the slow dance with Liam. Well, until next time. Nicolas handed me a tall glass full of black liquid. It was the club’s signature drink and my favorite, the appropriately named Witches’ Brew. It consisted of black vodka, orange juice, and a little bit of tangerine. The stir stick was a piece of black licorice.

Just then a commotion came from out on the dance floor. I had hoped that we’d get through the evening without a crisis. It seemed like there was always drama at the Bubbling Cauldron.

As I peered through the crowd, I spotted a woman pointing her finger at my mother. She was wearing a long black dress, but I didn’t think it was a Halloween costume. I ran across the floor.

“What’s going on?” I stepped between the woman and my mother.

The dark-haired woman narrowed her eyes. “Oh, good, the queen of the Underworld to her mother’s rescue.”

I quirked a brow. “I simply asked what the problem was. I don’t need a snarky reply.”

The woman placed her hands on her hips. “I’ll tell you what is wrong. I’m mad at your mother. She sold me faulty beauty products.” She pointed at her face. “Now look at my face.”

It was kind of hard not to notice the warts on her face, but I’d just figured she had a skin condition. I was usually the one who messed up the magic, not my mother. Since I’d discovered the Book of Mystics, my spellcasting had greatly improved.

I waved my hands. “Okay, let’s just stay calm. Tell me what happened.” At this point everyone around us was staring.

“Not only did her beauty product do this to me, but it also took away my magic. Now anyone I touch has their magic taken away too.”

A few gasps rang out. Immediately everyone backed away from us. The music even stopped. I had to admit I moved back a couple of steps too. The last thing I wanted to do was to take my chances with losing my magic.

“I have no idea what she is talking about. I stand by my spells. I do all of them…” My mother stopped mid-sentence and we looked at each other.

Recently my mother had allowed Annabelle do some of the spells. It seemed as if Annabelle had a natural knack for it. Now I wasn’t so sure. Annabelle noticed the commotion and walked over. When she saw we were all staring at her she said, “What’s wrong?”

“This woman says one of the spells from my other’s shop has caused her to lose her powers.”

Annabelle’s face dropped. “So you think it was one of the spells I did?”

“Annabelle, sweetheart, I have been performing magic before you were born and I never had anything like this happen.”

Annabelle’s expression dropped even lower. I felt so bad for her. With years of casting dud spells behind me, I knew all too well exactly how she felt. I just hoped that I could fix the problem before it got out of hand.

Without saying a word, Annabelle turned around and stormed across the dance floor. Everyone was gawking at her as she zoomed past.

My mother waved her hands. “Don’t just stand there. Go get her.”

Chapter 2

Jon ran after Annabelle and I rushed across the dance floor too.

In a flash, Annabelle was out the door. I stepped out into the night air and looked to my left and then to my right. She was nowhere in sight and Jon was gone too. It would have been easy to spot a big werewolf running down the street. A man and woman weaved around me so they could enter the club. Of course they flashed a curious look my way.

I hated that Annabelle felt this way. We had no idea if she was really responsible for the spell gone wrong. We didn’t even know for sure that it was my mother’s product that had caused the problem.

“What happened?”

When I looked over my shoulder, Nicolas was standing to my right and Liam was on my left.

“Annabelle ran off after she thought we accused her of messing up the spell.” Maybe I had indirectly accused her, and for that I felt terrible.

“You look that way and I’ll look this way,” Nicolas said, pointing to Liam.

I just hoped that Jon had caught up to Annabelle. I would feel a little better knowing that she wasn’t alone.

Nicolas grabbed my hand and we took off toward the parking lot to look for her car. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed her number. “I can’t believe she would just leave like that, without talking to me. She must think that I think she is responsible for what happened.” I knew how easy it was to make a mistake. There had to be a way to fix the spell.

When we reached the parking lot, we stopped and peered around at the rows of cars.

“Where did she park?” Nicolas asked.

I pointed toward the edge of the parking lot. “Over there. Her car is still there.”

“Well, that’s a good sign.”

“Let’s check it out,” I said, motioning for Nicolas to follow me.

We hurried over to the car and peered in. Nothing seemed out of place.

Nicolas ran his hand through his hair as he peered around the lot again. “I guess we should check back and see if Liam found her. I know you’re worried, but we’ll work it out.” Nicolas gently squeezed my hand.

We made the short walk back to the sidewalk and continued toward the club’s entrance. As we neared the door, I spotted Liam. Unfortunately, neither Annabelle nor Jon was with him.

“You didn’t find her either?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No sign of them. I called Jon, but he didn’t answer.”

I released a deep breath.

“It looks like some magic might be in order,” Liam said.

“Let’s go back inside and try to find out what happened,” I suggested.

Nicolas opened the door and I stepped through. So much for having a relaxing evening. We weaved around the people. Everyone had gone back to the partying. So far I hadn’t spotted the woman who claimed to have gotten the bad spell. I had no idea what had happened to her.

Witchy Woman was playing through the club. Now if only I could only find the witchy woman…

“She’s not here,” I said, looking out across the club.

“We’ll track her down. She can’t disappear forever,” Nicolas said.

“We’ll find my mother and see if she knows who that woman was. After all, my mother is the one who sold her the potion.”

I headed through the crowd looking for Wonder Woman and Superman. Finally, I spotted my mother on the dance floor. She didn’t appear to be too broken up by what had happened.

I walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

She spun around and then clutched her chest. “I thought you were that woman again.”

I stared at her. “No, but why are you dancing again? Shouldn’t you be helping us find Annabelle?”

My mother placed her hands on her hips, drawing emphasis to the gold belt around her waist. “I figured you were right outside talking to her.”

I shook my head. “Annabelle took off and now we can’t find her.”

“Oh, dear. This isn’t good. I should have known not to let her do the spells.”

“We don’t know that she had anything to do with this. First, we need more information. Did you see where the woman went?”

My mother adjusted her cleavage. “No. One minute she was here and the next she was gone.”

“Do you remember selling the cream to her?” I asked.

My mother frowned. “No, not really. But I move a fair number of products every day, so it’s hard to keep up. Maybe I can look in my files tomorrow and find her.”

“Tomorrow? We don’t have time to wait for that. You have to do it tonight.” I grabbed her hand.

“Tonight?” Her mouth dropped open. “But what about the party?”

“The party will have to end early.”

A frown darkened Superman’s brow. He didn’t look happy about that, but that was the least of my problems at the moment.

Liam stepped away from a woman who had bumped him while she danced. He said, “Right now we have to find that woman and Annabelle,” Liam said.

I nodded. “But where do we start?”

Liam shrugged. “Obviously we have to use magic. We just need to decide which spell will work the best in order to find her.”

I wasn’t even going to look at my mother’s face at the mention of my magic. She was still a little antsy about me doing magic in public places.

“I think I know where to start,” Nicolas said.

I looked at him. “Where do we start?”

“We have to cast a spell right here in the Bubbling Cauldron.” He pointed. “If we do the spell outside it won’t be powerful enough.”

My mother let out a little gasp. “The Bubbling Cauldron has a strict no-spells policy.”

Could you imagine what kind of spells a bunch of drunk witches would cast? It would not be a pretty sight. So the policy was in place for a very good reason. Of course I was the leader, and if I deemed it necessary to do a spell, then I hoped they would understand, but still I wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“I know you are hesitant, but in an emergency sometimes things are necessary.”

Nicolas had a point.

Liam nodded. “You’ll have to do it, it’s the only way.”

“Yes, I suppose it is.” I released a deep breath and began to prepare myself for the spell.

If the patrons knew that I was about to cast a spell, they would probably run. Everyone knew I had a knack for accidentally turning people into toads. Not to mention I’d set a few buildings on fire too. The flames had been easy to put out though, if that counted for anything.

We gathered around the middle of the dance floor. No one seemed to notice us. If they had paid attention, they probably would have guessed what we were about to do.

“Are you ready?” Nicolas asked.

I nodded. “I’m ready.”

My mother closed her eyes. She was probably praying that it all worked out. I didn’t blame her for worrying.

I recited the words and watched as tiny sparks of light gathered above each person’s head. No one looked up, so I knew that the spell must be working. When everyone was frozen, we could search for the woman without her knowledge.

As I looked around the club, I realized that everyone had stopped moving and was now frozen on the spot. At least my magic had worked.

“We don’t have much time before the spell wears off,” I said. “Mom, you and Superman go that way.”

Frustration darkened Superman’s expression. What did he expect when he was wearing that cape? Without any further complaints, they took off for the left side of the club.

“Nicolas, take the right, and I’ll go down the middle and back. Liam, you look in the front and around the outside.” I couldn’t believe that I was actually taking charge and everyone was listening. Times really had changed since I’d found the Book of Mystics.

The three of us took off at the same time, walking around the club looking for her. I weaved through the sea of bodies, checking everyone’s faces to make sure that I didn’t miss her. Needless to say there were some awkward expressions since I’d caught everyone off guard with the spell. How could she just disappear when she had been so angry? I figured she would want to stick around to see if we could reverse the spell. I hadn’t seen her go out, so I didn’t think she had followed Annabelle to confront her. At least I hoped not. Annabelle had reluctantly stepped into the paranormal world. This would chase her away for sure.

I walked around the middle of the club and then through the back, even looking in the storage room and the office. The woman wasn’t there or anywhere in the club as far as I could tell. I couldn’t believe that I had lost her.

When I stepped back to the middle of the dance floor, Liam and Nicolas approached. They shook their heads at the same time. It was still funny to see how they had tried to dress up as each other.

“She isn’t around,” they said.

When my mother and Superman returned with grim looks on their faces I knew we were in trouble.

“She wasn’t there,” my mother said.

“What do we do now?” Superman adjusted his cape.

Everyone looked at me for the answer. I paused, running through the list of what to say in my mind. Finally, I settled on, “We have to go to Bewitching Bath and Beauty. You can look through your records to see if you can find out who this woman is.”

My mother nodded. “I’ll try my best.”

I started across the crowd and motioned for everyone to follow me.

“What about the people?” Superman asked.

I stopped in my tracks. “Right. I almost forgot.” I waved my hand through the air and the music started again. Everyone continued dancing as if nothing had happened. Now that was pretty cool. As far as they knew nothing had happened. And I hoped to keep it that way.

Chapter 3

All five of us jumped into Nicolas’ brand-new sleek black BMW. As we headed toward the shop I was thankful that it was a short distance. Somehow in the haste to get in the car I had ended up in the backseat. Nicolas frowned in the rear-view mirror when he saw me back there. I was wedged between my mother and Superman as they made googly eyes at each other. I never wanted to be that close to Superman again.

After parking in front of the shop, we jumped out. When my mother finally got the door open we all pushed though at the same time, barely squeezing through like a bunch of clowns trying to escape the clown car all at once. Once inside my mother headed straight for the computer on the counter. As she waited for it to turn on, we all stood around looking at each other. An awkward silence hung in the air. The shop looked even brighter under the shining overhead light that my mother had switched on when she’d entered. The walls were white, along with the shelves. Glass bottles and jars lined the walls with my mother’s specially made lotions, gels, moisturizers, and every other beauty product imaginable.

“Did you hear that?” Nicolas whispered.

I paused to listen and then a crash came from the back of the store. Nicolas and Liam took off for the office and storage area and I went after them. I trusted Superman to take care of my mother. I was worried that someone had broken in her store to steal something and didn’t know how they would react when they saw all of us there. When we reached the back room, a man in dark clothing sprinted out the back door.

“Who was that?” I yelled.

Liam and Nicolas reached the door within seconds. They burst out to chase after the intruder. I rushed over to the door. When I stepped outside, Nicolas and Liam were nowhere in sight. There were a few trash cans in the alley, but other than that there was no place for anyone to hide. Twinkling stars filled the velvety sky. The air remained still, and a little haunting. I didn’t know which way to go. As I stood there confused for a couple seconds, Liam and Nicolas came around the corner of the building.

“We lost him,” Nicolas said in exasperation.

I blew out a deep breath. “Did you get a look at him?”

“Just the back of him,” Liam said.

Yeah, that wouldn’t help much. The only detail I had about this man was that he was dressed in dark clothing. There was only one thing that could help: magic.

“We might as well go back inside,” Nicolas said.

“I guess that’s all we can do…” I peered down the street, but the man didn’t reappear.

As we headed back inside, I noticed my mother and Superman standing by the back door. With frowns prominently displayed on their faces, they looked like superheroes who’d had their powers taken away.

“We couldn’t find him. Did he take anything?” I asked.

“I couldn’t find anything missing.” She fidgeted her hands.

“I really don’t think this is a random break-in. If he didn’t take anything, after the weird encounter at the club, I think it has to be related. Normally, I would say he was breaking in and got scared away when he heard us, but after everything that has happened in Enchantment Pointe lately…”

“I think you are probably right,” Nicolas said.

As we headed back inside, I said, “We need to do a spell not only to see if we can find the mysterious woman from the club, but also to see if we can find out who that man was.” My list of spells to do was expanding by the minute.

“We can do it in the showroom with the cauldron,” my mother said.

We followed her back into the showroom. I wasn’t sure what my mother was feeling right now, but she must be upset. I wondered if she was blaming herself for the spell gone wrong. After all these years without a mistake I just knew it wasn’t her.

“Do you know which spell you want to try?” my mother asked.

I nodded. “I think I know which one would be best. It will draw out the identity of both people we’re looking for.” Well, ideally.

“Just tell us what we need,” Nicolas said.

A short time ago I would never have attempted a spell like this. Even now I couldn’t believe I was trying all these spells without the book, but I had no other option right now.

“We need mint, bay leaf, clove, and sage,” I said.

“You’ll find every one of them on that wall.” My mother pointed toward the far wall.

Nicolas and Liam walked over to the wall lined with glass bottles and began gathering ingredients as I started to prep the cauldron. I hoped that we could hurry. I was worried that Annabelle needed us.

After all the ingredients had been gathered, we huddled around the cauldron. We each took turns dumping the items into the water. Once the final items had been placed inside, we grabbed each other’s hands. I had hoped that I would be holding hands with my mother and Nicolas. Instead I was sandwiched between Nicolas and Liam. Having two gorgeous men next to me made it hard to concentrate. Especially when I looked up and they were both staring at me.

We recited the words and watched as the spell came alive. The water bubbled and danced. Lights flickered and then finally there was calm again. I opened my eyes and looked around. So far there was no clue like we had asked for.

“Maybe there’s something outside.” My words were full of doubt.

When I’d performed the spell in the past there had been a clue written in the sky with the clouds. Now that I thought about it that had been kind of cool. Nighttime would make it a lot more difficult to read any message in the clouds though.

“Let’s go outside,” Liam said.

Having an audience while doing the spell and knowing they would be looking for the clue added even more pressure on me.

We started for the front door when I paused and looked around. “Where is Superman?”

My mother looked around. “I didn’t realize he was gone.”

“Me either,” Nicolas said.

I wasn’t sure how long he’d been gone. I’d been so engrossed in casting the spell that I hadn’t noticed. But he’d been there when we’d returned from outside and during the spell.

My mother went to the back room and peeked in. A crease of worry settled between her brows. “He’s not there.”

“Maybe he went outside for some fresh air,” Nicolas said.

“I bet that’s what happened,” I said. I could tell that my mom was upset.

“We’ll find him,” Liam said.

My mother nodded and walked back to where we all stood. I hated to see her upset. If Superman had left I would have to hunt him down and give him the tongue-lashing that he deserved. We made our way to the front door. So far I didn’t see Superman standing outside on the sidewalk.

When we stepped outside, we all looked around for him. Much to my disappointment, he was nowhere in sight. The sidewalks were devoid of people since all the shops had closed for the evening. Few cars moved along the road in front of the shop. The look on my mother’s face when she realized he had taken off was heartbreaking. I knew that this had been a crazy night, but that was no reason for him to leave without saying anything. That was not something the real Superman would have ever done.

Chapter 4

“If he was just going to leave like that then you didn’t need to be on a date with him. You don’t need a jerk in your life,” I said.

She nodded and I hugged her.

“You’re too good for him,” Nicolas said.

“Much too good for him,” Liam added.

I looked up at the sky to see if there was a clue. Nothing was there other than the expanse of glittering stars. I was beginning to think that the spell hadn’t worked.

Nicolas squeezed my hand. “Don’t worry. Give the spell a few more minutes before you give up.”

He had read my mind. I glanced down at the sidewalk and noticed a piece of paper. It was part of a newspaper. It had an address for a local shop. I picked up the paper and tossed it in the nearby trash can. The paper flew out of the trash and landed at my feet. Since there was no wind I figured this was my clue.

“I think this is the clue we’re looking for,” I said.

Liam leaned in close and read the address. “Let’s go.”

It was a short distance to the bookstore, so we walked. There were no lights on in the place but the front door was open.

“That is odd,” I said.

It gave me the creeps. It felt as if someone was luring us into their trap. They probably were. We stepped inside the darkened building. Books lined the shelves and a couple of leather chairs were placed near the front door. We’d barely made it inside when Superman appeared. My mother let out a little gasp.

“What are you doing here?” Nicolas asked.

“Better yet, why did you leave my mother?”

He gave us a confused look and then said, “I am sorry. I’m not sure what happened. One minute I was in her shop and the next I was here.”

I looked at him suspiciously. With the weird things happening around Enchantment Pointe lately I couldn’t say that he was lying. It was very possible that something like that could have happened.

“Are you okay now?” Liam asked.

Something seemed off about him. But I figured he was just confused after what had just happened.

“Do you know who owns this shop? Where are they?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you all go outside while Liam and I look around for the shop’s owner?” Nicolas asked.

I nodded. I was just glad that I didn’t have to deal with this on my own.

Liam and Nicolas looked around while we went outside so Superman could get fresh air. As we stood on the sidewalk waiting for the men, another piece of paper floated to my feet and stuck to my shoe. I knew that it was meant for me. I reached down and picked up. This time it was just an address.

“Do you recognize this?” I asked.

My mother and Superman looked at it and shook their heads.

“I’ve never seen it,” he said.

“I don’t know,” my mother said.

Nicolas and Liam stepped out from the shop.

“No one is there. We’ll close the door and call the police. Maybe they can find the owner,” Nicolas said.

I nodded. I hoped that the reason for the missing owner didn’t have something to do with the reason Superman had gone missing for a moment too. It was looking more and more like that was the case.

“We have to go to this address,” I said.

Nicolas leaned over and looked at the address. “You all stay here. I’ll go get the car.”

“Do you think we can find the place?” I asked.

“Enchantment Pointe isn’t that big. Plus, that’s what my navigation is for.” He winked.

Nicolas walked away. My mother talked to Superman, so that left me alone with Liam. I studied my shoes as we stood on the sidewalk. I noticed out the corner of my eye that Liam was watching me. He stepped closer.

“We’ll find Annabelle, don’t worry,” he said.

I met his stare. “I want to find her safe. I feel as if this is someone playing tricks again.”

“You have every right to feel that way. There has been a lot going on and I know you don’t trust anyone.”

“I trust you,” I said, looking down at my shoes to avoid his stare.

“I’m glad. You can count on me for anything.” The sincerity in his voice made me weak in the knees.

There had been a time that I hadn’t trusted Liam or Nicolas. I hoped that was all behind me now.

Just then Nicolas pulled the car up to the curb. Liam opened the door for me and I slid in. My mother and Superman got in the back with Liam.

Nicolas punched in the address and then pulled out onto the street. “Here we go.”

We drove through the streets of Enchantment Pointe until we came to just the outer edge of town. Nicolas made a few turns. We were mostly all lost in thought. Superman was doing a lot of talking—I wasn’t sure about what. He talked too much. I thought he was asking about my mother’s business. I suppose he wondered why she had messed up the spells. I knew that made her feel uncomfortable. Maybe we’d soon figure out who did this or what went wrong and put it behind us.

Finally we turned on the correct street. There were older houses, probably built in the 30s or 40s.

Nicolas pulled the car up to the curb. We stared at the house. It was a white two-story with black rocking chairs on the porch and a jack-o-lantern on the steps.

“Is this the place?” my mother asked.

“It’s the address.” I checked the paper again.

My mother leaned closer from the backseat. “I wonder who lives here?”

“I guess we’ll find out,” I said, opening the car door.

“Well, I won’t let you go alone,” she unfastened her seatbelt.

“No one is going alone,” Nicolas said as he cut the engine and opened his door.

We all gathered on the sidewalk and headed toward the front door. A car drove down the street and a dog parked at a neighbor’s house. I bet if anyone saw us they’d think we were strange, but it was Halloween time, so we did have somewhat of an excuse.

We made it to the front porch and gathered around the front door. My heart sped up as I rang the doorbell. After I rang the bell one more time, it finally opened.

I couldn’t say that I was shocked to see Misty. She’d changed from her black dress and pointy witch’s hat. Her outfit looked familiar. That was when it hit me. The pants and shirt looked like the ones worn by the man we’d seen in my mother’s shop. But that had been a man, right? Misty stared for a moment and then offered a fake smile.

“What can I do for you, Ms. LaVeau?” She clearly hadn’t gotten over the fact that I had taken away her coven leader status.

I looked over her shoulder into the house. It was dark and only the glow from a candle lit the background. The spell had given me this address for a reason and I intended on finding out why right away. If Annabelle was there then I wanted to know.

Misty couldn’t be surprised to see me there. She’d probably known that I would show up. I just had to find out what she was up to. She was probably the one who had messed up the spell. She was just trying to make it look as if it was Annabelle. She didn’t like Annabelle. Plus, Annabelle was my friend, so that made it even worse. But Misty didn’t like my mother either. Misty didn’t like a lot of people and I thought that said a lot about her character.

Misty glared at me, waiting for a response.

“Is Annabelle here?” I asked.

She snorted. “Why would she be here? We aren’t exactly friends, you know.”

“I am aware of that, but I have reason to believe she is here.”

Misty looked me up and down and then frowned. “No, she is not here.”

“Come on, Misty, just tell us the truth.”

She glared at Nicolas. “You all can leave now.”

“I’m not leaving until I get an answer.”

“I already gave you an answer,” she snapped.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “It wasn’t the right answer.”

“You are crazy,” she said.

“Don’t you talk to my daughter that way,” my mother wagged her index finger at Misty.

Misty stared at my mother for a second and then said, ‘”Like I said, she is not here.”

“Would you mind if we came in and looked around?” Liam asked.

Misty shook her head. “So you all are crazy. Good to know. The answer is no, you cannot come in and look around.” She started to close the door and I stopped her by placing my foot in the way.

“I will find out the truth and if you are lying to me then you are in big trouble. If you’ve done anything to hurt Annabelle then you will be sorry.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t have to listen to your threats.” She shut the door in my face.

I knew she was lying, but I had no way to prove it at the moment. I would have to think of something else.

“What do we do now?” my mother asked.

“I think we have to find a way into her house.”

“Is this even Misty’s house?” Liam asked.

I looked at the door again. “No, I don’t think so. Unless she recently moved.”

“Maybe she is here visiting a friend,” Nicolas said.

“I guess we should find out who owns the house,” I said.

“It’s certainly a place to start,” Liam said.

I’d have to try a spell first. If that didn’t work then we’d have to look up the information. I wasn’t sure how we’d do that at this time of night.

We turned to around to leave. We had no other choice but to get out of there. It wasn’t like Misty was going to change her mind and give us the information we wanted.

“If we go to the car maybe we can sit there and come up with a plan,” I said.

When I looked back, I spotted Misty peeking out from the curtain at the front window. She motioned for us to go away.

“Where did he go?” My mother placed her hands on her hips.

I looked around. Superman was gone again. Where could he have gone this time? Why did he keep slipping off? It had to make my mother feel terrible. She had bad luck with men. Maybe I should have tried to conjure up a date for her like she had always done for me. My high-school prom date had been a garden gnome. I still hadn’t forgiven her for that stunt.

I had no idea how my mother had met this man. She’d never mentioned him and tonight was the first time that I had seen him. This must have been a very recent event.

“Let’s look around for him,” Nicolas said.

“You take that side of the house and I’ll take this side.” Liam pointed. “Why don’t you two stay here and guard the front of the house?”

I nodded. “Just be careful. I don’t trust Misty.”

I had plenty of reason not to trust her. If she hadn’t tried to take me out as the leader of the Underworld then she would still be the leader of the Enchantment Pointe Coven instead of Nicolas.

After a couple minutes, the guys returned.

Nicolas shook his head. “No luck.”

I ran my hand through my hair. “How will we find him?”

Why was everyone coming up missing? Someone was playing games with their magic.

“All we can do is cast another spell and hope that it gives us a better answer,” Nicolas said.

“I should have known Misty would try something to get back at me.” She’d led me here on purpose by manipulating the spells and now it was up to me to figure out what her little game was. But how would I come up with another spell? I wished I had the Book of Mystics with me. Maybe I was using it as a crutch now, but before I’d had it I had been bad at every spell.

“Now that I think about it, I found it funny that when Superman disappeared earlier the place where I found him led me to the clue that led us to Misty,” I said.

I hated to break this to my mother, but I wondered what kind of guy she’d agreed to go on a date with. I needed to find out how he knew Misty. I refused to think that this was a coincidence.

As soon as we were in the car, I would insist that my mother tell me everything she knew about this man. Once I knew where he came from, I could figure out if he was involved with Misty in some way. I wanted to believe for my mother’s sake that this wasn’t the case.

“I just know that Annabelle is in there,” I said.

“We could break the door down,” Liam said with a smile. I knew that he was only half joking.

“If we break the door she will try to do magic against us. I’d rather not have to do a magic battle tonight. We have to lure Misty out of there,” I said. “Once she is out then we can go in and find out what is going on in there.”

“We can do a spell to get everyone out of the house,” Liam suggested.

Nicolas shoved his hands in his pockets. “That’s probably a good idea.”

“I agree,” my mother said.

I nodded, but something didn’t seem right. I kept that fact to myself though.

“We have to do a spell right here on her front lawn,” I said.

“I’m game. I want to know where he went to, so I’ll try anything,” my mother said.

“Like I said, if we do the spell and make Misty come out then we can go in and look for Annabelle. Even if we do the spell to get everyone out we have no way to know if it really worked.”

That was my way of admitting that I was still not confident with my magic skills. But who could blame me after years of failed attempts? I wondered if the others could sense my doubt. Probably it was written all over my face.

Chapter 5

As soon as the spell was finished I looked around for Annabelle. Instead of Annabelle, I spotted the man who had been in my mother’s shop.

“Look who it is.” I pointed.

The others had barely gotten a glance of the man before he had vanished back inside the house.

“I should have known Misty had something to do with that man in the shop.”

It was funny that the man was wearing the exact outfit Misty had been wearing when she answered the door. Either they were sharing each other’s closets, or Misty was dabbling in a mirroring spell in which she would take on someone else’s appearance.

Annabelle had been nowhere in sight, but somehow I felt her presence.

When I glanced over my shoulder, Annabelle was standing directly behind me.

I reached out and grabbed her. “I am so glad to see you.”

Annabelle hugged me back. “I’m sorry if I worried you.”

She should have known that I would worry. There was no way to avoid that. Jon was standing beside her. Why hadn’t he called me?

“I found this note in my car,” Annabelle said, handing me the piece of paper. “I went back to the club to find you, but you weren’t there. Anyway the paper gave this address and said that I should come here. It’s from the woman who accused me of messing up the potion. I figured if I came here I could figure out what had happened. I didn’t want to cause any more problems for you. You already have enough to worry about.”

“You’re my best friend and I don’t like that you didn’t feel you could turn to me. I don’t care how many other problems I’m dealing with, my friends and family always come first. Promise me you will never do that again.” I warned with a wave of my finger.

“I promise.” She crossed over her chest with her index finger.

“Where did you go when you left the club?” I asked.

I looked at Jon and he shrugged, waiting for Annabelle to give me the answer.

She shrugged. “I stopped off for ice cream. I needed comfort food.”

I knew what she meant. I could go for some chocolate right about now. “Now that you’re here we have to find Superman. Then maybe we can find the woman who claims she got a bad spell. We still don’t know if what she said was true or not. She could have been making all of this up.”

Of course I didn’t know why she would do something like that. I had never met her and neither had my mother.

“So we have Annabelle now, but where is Superman?” I asked.

Annabelle frowned. “Who?”

“You know, my mother’s date. He was at the Bubbling Cauldron,” I said.

“Oh, right. Now I remember he was wearing the Superman costume. So what happened to him?” she asked.

I blew the hair out of my eyes. “Apparently now he has disappeared for the second time tonight. He keeps coming up missing. I don’t know where he is sneaking off to.”

When I looked back at the house I recognized the face peeking out from behind the curtain. The witch who had accused my mother of giving her the bad potion was staring out the window at us.

“The witch we are looking for is in the house with Misty.” I pointed at the window.

“What? Let’s confront her right now.” My mother marched toward the front door.

I looked at Nicolas and Liam. “I guess we’d better go too.”

They nodded. “Remind me never to anger Hallie’s mother,” Liam said to Nicolas.

We all marched back toward the door behind my mother. Once in front of the door we stopped and looked around at each other.

“Do we know what the plan is from here?” my mother asked.

I chuckled. “Do I ever really have a plan?”

“That’s okay, we don’t need a plan,” Annabelle said, coming to my defense.

“Well, it’s a good thing we don’t need one because I don’t have one.”

“What will we do if she doesn’t answer the door?” my mother asked.

Again, I didn’t know what I would do. Now that I knew that the witch was there I wouldn’t let Misty close the door in my face.

I rang the doorbell. We all stood there staring at the door and waiting for something to happen. No noise sounded from the other side of the door and I wondered what was going on in there. Misty had to know that we’d seen the other witch and that now I suspected her of being the man who’d been in my mother’s shop. It would make this a whole lot easier if she would just answer the door. But Misty never wanted to make things easy.

Since she wouldn’t answer the door, then I would have to take matters into my own hands.

“I am going to cast a spell that will make her answer the door. I can handle this,” I said.

I positioned my hands in the air, pointing toward the front door. I recited the words and focused all my energy on the spell. I felt the energy leave my body and move toward the front door. Could this actually work? I’d made the spell up at the last second.

Without warning the door fell to the ground. The crash hurt my ears. My mother groaned. Okay, that hadn’t gone exactly as I had planned. Misty was supposed to come to the door. Instead the door was now on the ground. I would never hear the end of this. And I couldn’t say that I blamed them. It would be funny if we ever got out of this mess.

The witch we’d been looking for stood in the foyer, glaring at us. Right before our eyes she began to change. She no longer looked like the witch who had confronted us at the Bubbling Cauldron. Misty had been pretending to be the witch all along.

I should have known that Misty would do something like this. I didn’t know what she had planned with this caper, but she had a lot of explaining to do. She had better not be trying to get back at me. I’d only taken away her coven leader position because I had to. I didn’t like being the mean witch in town, and that was exactly what Misty had been telling everyone since I’d kicked her out of the coven.

“I can’t believe you did this,” I said.

“Not cool, Misty,” Liam said.

“What is the problem?” Misty chuckled nervously. “It was all a joke. I was only having a little fun with you all.” She waved her hand. “Can’t you take a joke?”

“I can take a joke when it’s a good joke, but unfortunately this one wasn’t funny. You really had Annabelle upset. She thought she had messed up one of the spells. Do you know how bad you made Annabelle feel? Or do you just not care about anyone other than yourself?”

“It was just a Halloween trick.”

“I’d rather have the treat,” Annabelle said.

Just then someone moved out of the corner of my eye. Superman walked out from the kitchen.

My mother stared at him and placed her hands on her hips. “So you were involved with this all along.”

He shook his head. “No, I promise that was not my intention. I really enjoyed the brief time we spent with each other.”

From the look on his face I almost believed that he was completely innocent.

“So our date was all just a game to you?” my mother asked.

“No, I promise I had no idea what Misty was up to. I would never have been involved with her trick if I had known.”

“So you were the man in my mother’s shop? I know you were trying to do something to the potions, and if I find out you will be in serious trouble with the Underworld board members.”

She placed her hands on her hips. “I was not messing with the spells. I was just playing with you all.”

“Whose shop did you take us too? What did you do to the owner?” I asked.

She flashed a devilish smile. “That’s my shop. I own the bookstore now.”

“You own the store?” Liam asked.

Now I’d have to find a new bookstore to frequent.

“Yes, I do. Uncle Wade, you know I was just having fun. Tell them.” Misty gestured toward us.

“You’re on your own with this one, Misty.” He looked at us. “She kept tricking me with a spell. That’s why I kept disappearing tonight.”

I wasn’t sure if I believed him. And I couldn’t tell if my mother believed him or not. That would be up to my mother, but I didn’t think I’d agree to go out with him again if I was her.

“Misty, I will have to contact the board about what you’ve done. They will likely give you some kind of fine.”

She picked up her purse and stormed out of the house.

“That went well,” I said. “Is this your house?” I asked Superman.

He nodded. “Yes.”

Liam and Nicolas had lifted the door and placed it back on the hinges.

“Sorry about the door. But why didn’t you tell us when we were standing in the front porch?”

He stared down at his boots. “I was afraid to. I’m sorry.” He looked up at us. “Can I convince you all to go back to the party with me?”

I looked around the room. The night was still young, and I had left the club before hearing my favorite Halloween song, Witchcraft by Frank Sinatra.

“Come on, give the guy another chance,” Liam said.

My mother nodded and Superman rushed to her side with a swoosh of his cape. Nicolas looped his arm through mine and we all headed back to the Bubbling Cauldron.

Some witches claimed my life was now charmed because I’d found the Book of Mystics, but I knew it was charmed and dangerous.

Rose Pressey’s Complete Bookshelf (click title to preview/buy)

A Haunted Tour Guide Mystery

Book – The Haunts Are Made For Walking

Haunted Vintage Series

Book 1 – If You’ve Got It, Haunt It (coming December 2, 2014)

Book 2 – All Dressed Up and No Place to Haunt (July 2015)

Maggie, P.I. Mystery Series:

Book 1 – Crime Wave

Book – Murder is a Beach

The Halloween LaVeau Series:

Book 1 – Forever Charmed

Book 2 – Charmed Again

Book 3 – Third Time’s a Charm

Book 4 – Charmed, I’m Sure

The Hadley Wilds Series:

Book 1: Dead Girl’s Guide to Style

The Rylie Cruz Series:
Book 1 – How to Date a Werewolf
Book 2 – How to Date a Vampire
Book 3 – How to Date a Demon

The Larue Donovan Series:
Book 1 – Me and My Ghoulfriends
Book 2 – Ghouls Night Out
Book 3 – The Ghoul Next Door

The Mystic Café Series:
Book 1 – No Shoes, No Shirt, No Spells
Book 2 – Pies and Potions

The Veronica Mason Series:
Book 1 – Rock ‘n’ Roll is Undead

A Trash to Treasure Crafting Mystery:
Book 1 – Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel

Book 2 – Honeysuckle Homicide

The Haunted Renovation Mystery Series:
Book 1 – Flip that Haunted House
Book 2 – The Haunted Fixer Upper

About the Author

Rose Pressey is a USA Today bestselling author. She enjoys writing quirky and fun novels with a paranormal twist. The paranormal has always captured her interest. The thought of finding answers to the unexplained fascinates her.

When she’s not writing about werewolves, vampires and every other supernatural creature, she loves eating cupcakes with sprinkles, reading, spending time with family, and listening to oldies from the fifties.

Rose suffers from Psoriatic Arthritis and has knee replacements. She might just set the world record for joint replacements. She’s soon having her hips replaced, elbows, and at least one shoulder.

Rose lives in the beautiful commonwealth of Kentucky with her husband, son, and two sassy Chihuahuas.

Visit her online at:

http://www.rosepressey.com
http://www.facebook.com/rosepressey
http://www.twitter.com/rosepressey

Rose loves to hear from readers. You can email her at: rose@rosepressey.com

If you’re interested in receiving information when a new Rose Pressey book is released, you can sign up for her newsletter here. Join her on Facebook for lots of fun and prizes.

Table of Contents

- Some Like It Hexed by Angie Fox
- Chapter One
- Chapter Two
- Chapter Three
- Chapter Four
- Chapter Five
- ANGIE FOX BIO
- ANGIE FOX BOOK LINKS
- Ghosts in the Graveyard by Liz Schulte
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- About the Author
- Check out more books by Liz:
- Spirits of Bourbon Street By Deanna Chase
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Links to the entire Jade Calhoun Series:

- Charmed and Dangerous A Halloween LaVeau story by Rose Pressey

- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Rose Pressey’s Complete Bookshelf
- About the Author