Witch Way Now: A Paranormal Romantic Comedy (Raising Hell Downunder Book 4)

by Rhiannon Hartley

  "I don't think so," Beatrix gave him a hard stare. "If you think I'll go out with you, think again. But..." she sighed, tilting her head. "I'm willing to hear you out about your plans. Over coffee, at the most. And just coffee, no sneaking in any cakes or muffins and trying to turn it into an afternoon tea date or anything. I'm not going on a date with you. Not now, not ever."

  Jacob laughed, and the corners of his eyes crinkled in genuine amusement. "Fine, just coffee," he said. "If you're not busy now, maybe we could—"

  "I'm very busy now!" Beatrix said quickly. She hadn't anticipated that he'd be available right away, and she was in no way prepared to meet with him right at this moment. What an absurd idea.

  "Maybe Monday, then?" Jacob offered. "I can put it in the diary," he went on. "It'll be a not-date."

  "Monday," Beatrix pretended to ponder, but she knew all of her days were just as full as the others. "I suppose I could make that work. I'll give you thirty minutes. Tops."

  Jacob let out a breath, but he was still grinning. "You drive a hard bargain, Ms LaGrange," he said. "Monday at 10, then?"

  "Fine," Beatrix said, wondering what she was getting herself into. But she had to find out what he had planned, didn't she? Why did this all feel a little dangerous and far more exciting than it should?

  Jacob held out his hand, and she rolled her eyes, but she reached out to shake it just the same.

  The second his fingers brushed against her own, she felt it. Like tingling electricity under her skin, making her gasp and look at him in surprise. For just a moment, she wondered if this meant something, but then—

  "Fuck!" Beatrix swore out loud as a force like an earthquake shook her. She let go of Jacob's hand as she fell to her knees, her ears humming with the force of the invisible blow. She looked up and saw that Jacob was on the ground too.

  "What the hell was that?" he said, looking around in alarm. "Are you okay?"

  "Fine!" Beatrix panted, pushing herself back up to her feet, clutching the side of the sales office for support.

  "Was that an earthquake? Do earthquakes happen in Sydney?" Jacob's usual, confident smile was gone, and his olive skin seemed oddly pale. "Where's Prada?" He looked around for the tiny dog, but Beatrix could see that she, at least, was perfectly comfortable in a black leather armchair, totally unperturbed by the force that had just hit her master.

  Jacob stood up, rushing to her. "You okay, girl?" he asked, scratching between her ears. She blinked at him benignly, although she let out a shrill yip when she saw Beatrix. Apparently, she didn't like Beatrix much when she wasn't accompanied by Gumbo.

  "It wasn't an earthquake," Beatrix said. As soon as she had felt the blow, she knew exactly what it was. "That was a curse."

  "A curse?" Jacob repeated. "Come on, this is serious. That was...something. Your jokes about witches and curses are all hilarious, but—"

  "I'm not joking!" Beatrix shot back, exasperated. "Do you really think that was an earthquake? Seriously?" She pushed past him into the little site office, looking around. Not so much as a chair had fallen over. Everything was exactly where it should be.

  "I..." Jacob let himself sit down heavily into one of the chairs. "An explosion?" he said, sounding hopeful. "Maybe there's, like, a military training thing around here. Or maybe a gas pipe burst. Or..."

  "It wasn't an explosion," Beatrix said firmly. She had to be calm. She was privately panicking at the thought that she - and Jacob - had clearly just been cursed. But at least she knew about curses. Jacob had no clue what was going on. She had to keep it together for the both of them.

  "You can't seriously believe in curses and witchcraft and that stuff," Jacob sounded almost desperate. "I mean, you seem really smart—"

  "Thanks," Beatrix said drily. "Much appreciated."

  "I just mean, that stuff's not real. Only people who are kind of... Well, not very smart and definitely not very logical believe in it. And you're not like that. I mean, you have this great business, and—"

  Beatrix almost laughed out loud. "Why do you think my skincare is successful, Jacob?" she demanded, turning on him. "It works Just Like Magic because it is bloody magic!"

  Jacob opened his mouth but didn't say anything. He just looked at her, his green eyes wide and the colour slowly returning to his square-jawed face.

  "Okay," Jacob said after a minute. "Let's pretend I do believe you. Then what the hell just happened here? You said it was a curse? Well, we haven't, like, turned into toads or anything. At least you haven't." He looked down at his own hands as though expecting to see damp green skin.

  "Curses don't work like that," Beatrix said dismissively. "You're thinking of TV and movies. Magic isn't flashy. It's subtle."

  "Whatever the hell that was, it wasn't subtle," Jacob objected.

  Beatrix took a deep breath. She supposed he had a point. "I don't know what that was," she said. "I just know it was a curse, okay? That'll have to do, for now. I've got some books at home, some people I can call..." She reached for her phone, but it wasn't in its usual spot in her bag.

  "Damn it," she said. "Forgot my phone when I came by. I need to get back. Then I can get some information on what happened."

  "Woah, you're leaving?" Jacob stood up - a little unsteadily - and frowned. "After that?"

  "You'll be fine," Beatrix said with a lot more confidence than she felt. The truth was, curses weren't her field at all. When it came to herbs, mushrooms, and magical concoctions, Beatrix would have readily accepted the title of expert. But curses? Apart from her fail-safe of boils for randy warlocks, she was clueless.

  "You just told me I was cursed!" Jacob said accusingly.

  "But you don't believe me, do you? Beatrix said, looking at him, daring him to admit it.

  "I don't know," Jacob said quietly. "I, er, believe that you believe it."

  "Well, if you don't believe me, then there's no point to me staying," Beatrix said, her anger flaring up to cover the fear building in the pit of her stomach. Who would have cursed her? And who might have cursed Jacob? As far as she knew, she was the only person with any magical ability for miles around.

  She didn't listen to Jacob's protest as she slammed the door behind her, walking away from the site office at a quick march. She'd get out her old book on curse magic, she thought. And then maybe she'd call—

  WHAM!

  Another blow. This one was even more powerful than the first. This time, it felt like someone invisible and incredibly strong had tied a rope around Beatrix's middle and yanked it hard. She doubled over in pain, gasping out loud. She heard a yell from the site office and realised, with a sinking feeling, that maybe she knew exactly what kind of curse this was after all.

  7 Jacob

  Jacob was still sitting in the leather armchair, Prada pressed against his chest more for his comfort than hers, trying to process what Beatrix had just told him, when it happened. A violent tug around his middle that made him lurch out of the chair and onto the ground, Prada making a leap for freedom as he went down.

  Jacob let out a yell of panic and pain. It was a yell, definitely not a shriek, he told himself. He wrapped his arms around his middle, clutching at the pain and wondering if maybe, just maybe, he had the world's most terrible and sudden-onset case of food poisoning?

  But a moment later, the pain was gone, as quickly as it had started. Jacob tentatively unclenched his arms, but he didn't move from where he was sprawled on the ground. Prada licked his face, her tiny tongue tickling his ear and he was rather touched by her concern.

  "I'm okay," he said, pushing himself up to sit. He didn't feel okay. He felt winded, bruised, and somewhere between deeply confused and utterly terrified. What the hell was going on? He wondered if maybe, just maybe, Beatrix wasn't crazy or playing some elaborate joke on him after all.

  The door of the site office crashed open, and Beatrix came back in, breathing heavily.

  "You felt that didn't you?" she demanded, looking at him as he sat there on the floor. "That tugging?" />
  Jacob looked up, and their eyes met. Somehow, at that moment, he knew - just knew - that she wasn't messing with him.

  "Yeah," he said. "I definitely felt it. Like someone was trying to pull me over. Did you...?"

  "Me too," she nodded. "When I tried to leave." Beatrix let out a long breath. "Well, at least I know what we're dealing with now," she said.

  "What are you talking about?" Jacob wrinkled his nose.

  "The curse," she said, sitting down opposite him. "It's a bond curse. Between you and me."

  "A bond curse," Jacob repeated, but the words didn't seem real. "You've got to be fucking kidding me. Why would you do that? You don't even like me!"

  "I didn't do this!" Beatrix objected fiercely. "Why the hell would I want to bind myself to you? If I was going to do anything, I would have banished you, not bound you to my damn side. Not that I would have, but—"

  "Fine, fine," Jacob said quickly. "It wasn't you. I just... None of this makes any sense. I mean, magic? This is Shepherd's Crossing, not Hogwarts." He tried, unsuccessfully, to laugh.

  Beatrix looked something close to sympathetic. "It must be a lot to take in," she said after a moment. "For someone who didn't grow up with this stuff. I'm sorry if I wasn't very...patient."

  Jacob huffed out a breath. "I just can't believe it," he said again. "I... There has to be another explanation."

  "Do you really think that?" Beatrix asked, wrinkling up her nose. "You really think there's something else that could have caused what just happened to you?"

  "I..." Jacob began, rubbing his face in his hands. He looked up at her. "No," he said finally. "But bloody hell, this is...this is crazy."

  "Not an ideal way to find out about magic," Beatrix said, smiling ruefully. "I don't know if there is a good way, actually, but this wouldn't be anyone's first choice."

  "So, magic is real," Jacob said, the words sounding ridiculous as they left his mouth even though he knew on some primal, instinctual level that they were absolutely true. "And you're a witch?"

  "Yep," Beatrix said with that crooked smile. "Not a very traditional one - just ask my mother - but a witch just the same. There are more of us about than you'd think."

  Jacob felt something like a hysterical laugh begin to rise up in his stomach. "And you accused me of being evil!" he said, the manic laughter beginning to shake his body.

  Beatrix glared at him. "Excuse me!" she said. "I'm not evil. That's an extremely nasty stereotype. I mean, why do you think most people don't know about this stuff? It's because major religions and popular culture have given witchcraft a horrible reputation. I'm not evil. I took an oath never to use magic on unsuspecting Ordinaries. The only thing I really use magic for is my business. It seemed so unfair, seeing my friends spend so much money on skincare that didn't help them, when I knew I could. So I did. Apart from that, I don't do much more than a few protective spells over my property. I'm hardly evil."

  Jacob stopped laughing, but he still felt oddly giddy and breathless. "Fine," he said. "You're not evil. This is just..." He paused. "What's an Ordinary?"

  "Ah," Beatrix said. "An Ordinary is...someone who doesn't know about magic. Pretty much everyone on the planet, actually." She paused. "This is a lot to process. I get that. But I'm going to have to ask you to come with me. I need to call people, check my books. Find out who the hell did this, so we can get rid of it. And then you can process all of this as far away from me as you like."

  Jacob let out a laugh, shaking his head.

  "What's so funny?" Beatrix asked, looking concerned that he might become hysterical again.

  "Well, it's just you said no when I asked you to dinner. But I reckon you'll have to eat with me now." Jacob chuckled again, still shaking his head.

  Beatrix gave him a bemused look. "You get cursed, you find out that magic is real, and you're still hitting on me? Honestly, I admire your commitment."

  And with that, Beatrix led him out of the office and towards her workshop.

  ✽✽✽

  "You were gone a long—" a woman began and then cut herself off as soon as she saw Jacob. "Oh," she said, staring at him. "I see. You two must have found some common ground, then."

  "It's not like that, Shauna," Beatrix said, shaking her head. "I - I mean, we - have been cursed. Literally cursed. It's a bond curse, and so I'm stuck with him until I can figure out who did this and get them to remove it!"

  "Oh," Shauna said again, still staring at Jacob. "I didn't realise he knew about magic."

  "I didn't," Jacob said. "Hi, I'm Jacob Jones," he went on, putting out a hand to shake Shauna's. "Evil developer and, er, the guy Beatrix is bonded too. Because magic is a real thing." He let out a slightly hysterical laugh.

  Shauna took his hand and shook it firmly. Then she squinted at him, looking concerned. "He didn't know about...any of this?" she said again, looking at Beatrix.

  "Nope," Beatrix shook her head. "I had a hard time convincing him, actually."

  "Well, I think the poor man is in shock," Shauna said. "Sit down, Jacob."

  Jacob obediently sat in the proffered chair. It was kind of nice to have someone tell him what to do.

  "You need a drink," Shauna said, rifling in her desk. She pulled out a bottle of vodka and reached for a clean mug.

  "Since when do you have vodka hidden in your desk?" Beatrix asked curiously. "Is this something I should know about?"

  "It's for emergencies," Shauna said simply, as though that explained everything. She set the mug half-filled with vodka in front of Jacob, but he was in no great hurry to touch it. His stomach was still churning horribly, and he didn't think the vodka would help.

  "Where's Onyx?" Beatrix looked around the workshop.

  "Out in the garden, I think," Shauna frowned. "He went out just after you left, and..."

  Beatrix and Shauna suddenly shared a horrified look.

  "He wouldn't have..."

  "He couldn't!"

  "Could someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" Jacob asked, knowing he sounded petulant, but really, as the person who was new to all this magical malarkey, he deserved to be kept in the loop.

  "It's just that," Beatrix began. "Well, Onyx is very keen on magic. Wants to be a warlock. Only he isn't very..."

  "He's hopeless," Shauna cut in. "He's a good lad, and he's a wonder with the database, the accounts, even the social media. But when it comes to magic, he's a liability."

  "Is that how it works, then?" Jacob frowned. "You have to be born with the ability to do magic?"

  "Sort of," Beatrix explained. "It's a mixture of talent, education, and practice. It's like with music. Some people have perfect pitch, can play any instrument they pick up. But other people..."

  "Couldn't play the tambourine if their life depended on it," Shauna finished. "Like Onyx."

  "And why would he try to curse you? Or me? He's only met me once! What did I do?" Jacob said irritably. "Is he in love with you or something?"

  For some reason, that made Beatrix and Shauna both laugh out loud.

  "I'm sorry," Beatrix said, shaking her head. "It's just...no, he's not. He's really not. He's not gay, either," she went on, anticipating his next question. "He's just not...really into people that way."

  "Fair enough," Jacob said, shrugging slightly. He wasn't terribly interested in Onyx's sexual orientation. What he wanted to know was why the goth wannabe had cursed him. And how to undo it. "So, where is he?"

  As if on cue, the double doors opened once more.

  "Hey, Shauna? Have you updated the deliveries from yesterday?" Onyx called out as he came into the workshop. He had what looked like a bunch of bright purple carrots tucked under his arm. "Oh," he said, looking at Jacob suddenly. "Hi."

  "Hi," Jacob said back through clenched teeth. "What the hell did you do?" He rose up, unsure if he wanted to throttle Onyx or beg him to return him to an hour earlier when he didn't have any reason whatsoever to believe in magic.

  "Woah!" Onyx said, backing up. "What are you t
alking about?"

  "You've got some explaining to do," Beatrix said flatly, her mouth a thin line. "Have you been messing with magic again? For the love of all things infernal, I've tried to tell you—"

  Onyx's face turned white, noticeable even under his makeup.

  "It was just a little—" he began. "Just a little spell," he finished, his back pressed against the wall, looking frantically from Shauna to Beatrix as Jacob towered over him.

  "A little spell!" Beatrix said, and she pushed Jacob aside, looking absolutely terrifying (and absolutely gorgeous too, Jacob couldn't help but notice) as she glared at him. "Is that what you call a bonding curse? A little spell? What the hell made you think you could do something like that, anyway? You've never been able to so much as summon a ray of sunshine on a summer's day!"

  "Bonding curse?" Onyx squeaked. "What are you talking about? All I did was try to invoke more magical power for myself. It didn't even work!"

  "Well, it did something!" Beatrix roared. "Because now I'm bound-" she pointed at Jacob "-to him!"

  "I didn't—" Onyx said frantically. "I never meant to. I guess I did it wrong." Onyx hung his head, and Beatrix let out a long breath.

  "You think?" she said, her voice an icy cold that was even more terrifying than her thundering rage. "How did you even pull it off? You'd never be able to access the kind of power to do something like—" Her face suddenly changed. "You took my wand, didn't you?" she said.

  "Oh Onyx, you didn't," Shauna said, sounding every bit like a mother who was about to say she wasn't angry; she was just very disappointed.

  "I—" Onyx looked distraught. "I didn't think it would do any harm!"

  "Wouldn't do any harm!" Beatrix said, her voice returning to thundering. "Are you fucking crazy? Do you know what you've gone and done! You've bound me to this–" she looked furiously at Jacob. "This person!"

  "I'm sorry, Bea, I didn't mean to—" Onyx began, and Beatrix made a sound of disgust.

  "I'd tell you to get out of my sight, but I can't even do that," she sighed. "I'll need your around to undo this."

  "You can undo it?" Jacob looked up at her hopefully. Beatrix wasn't the absolute last person in the world he'd want to be magically bound to - to be honest, he'd probably be pretty keen on the idea if she wasn't so obviously repulsed by him. But being bound to someone who looked at you like you were a particularly obnoxious cockroach intent on ruining their life? Not ideal.