Witch Bait

by Kate Allenton

  “You two look great.”

  They turned to me, and Ryder’s eyes softened as his gaze slowly slid down the red dress that I used for making just the right impression. Something sexy, yet sophisticated. Silk had a way of making me feel like a million bucks.

  Margo and Noah showed up behind me at the same time. Noah’s tie was crooked, and Margo was fixing it. Her white dress draped from the shoulders hanging low in the back, giving everyone a glimpse of her tan skin. The long necklace she wore complemented the look fabulously, as did her chunky-heeled shoes.

  The three of us were unique if you didn’t account for our DNA.

  “Everyone ready?” Noah asked, clapping and rubbing his hands together.

  Georgia rechecked the contents of her purse and grinned. “Yep. Time to meet the town folk.”

  Ryder and I rode with King in his big SUV while Noah, Margo, and Georgia followed behind us in Mildred’s car to the Mayor’s mansion located on the outskirts of town.

  Cars lined the driveway. The three-story white house was beautiful, big, and more ornate that any other I’d seen in town. Couples dressed in cocktail attire were walking inside. It was a perfect night, the moon high in the cloudless sky as music from inside drifted outdoors on the breeze.

  We’d made our way up to the open door when Georgia stopped Margo and me from walking in. Georgia took a perfume bottle from her purse and held it up to spritz us.

  “I’m already wearing perfume,” Margo said.

  “Not like this.” Georgia grinned and sprayed each of us with a single pump. “It’s spelled with a truth serum. Anyone who smells it will be compelled to tell the truth.”

  “Why would we need it?” Margo asked.

  “To find out who killed Katrina Gold,” Georgia said. Grabbing Ryder’s arm, she turned him to face us.

  “Go ahead. Try it out and ask him anything,” she said.

  “Try what?” Ryder asked.

  “How do you know Georgia? What did the council say when you called them?” I blurted out both questions I was dying for to know. Doing it this way made me feel slimy. Taking away his will wasn’t right. “Don’t answer…”

  “If you or Livvy get out of control, I’m to bring you both in and put you in lockdown until we transfer the magic to one of the council members.”

  My brows shot up as Ryder’s gaze narrowed in on Georgia. “What the hell did you do? That was classified.”

  “A truth spell.” Georgia crossed her arms over her chest and raised a brow. “I knew the council had an ulterior motive. They’ve never been able to control Mildred and now they want her abilities.”

  “How would you know?” I asked. “You never met her.”

  “Georgia already knew she was a Hexford. I told you we were watching her. She stole my database when I got too close.”

  “Borrowed, and are you ever going to let that go?” Georgia rolled her eyes.

  “Wait.” I held up a hand, stopping their argument from veering anymore off topic. “Why is the council so interested in the Hexford lineage?”

  He looked at each of us. “The three of you, combined with Mildred’s abilities, are more powerful than any of them. It’s why I was sent.”

  Ryder slipped the pendant from around my neck, and a look of worry crossed his face as he held it cupped in his hand. “You didn’t need a spell.” He stared me straight in the eyes. “If you would have asked, I would have told you the truth.”

  “Is that why you’re taking the pendant?” I asked.

  “You I trust. Georgia, not so much.” Ryder walked inside the house, followed by Noah, leaving me and my sisters on the veranda. Anger stirred in my gut. If someone had done that to me, I’d be livid. Ryder had every right to be angry.

  “Works like a charm,” Georgia said, slipping her arms through mine and Margo’s and ushering us inside.

  We stood at the entrance of the ballroom. The lights were dim, the music soft, couples dancing. Others were seated around the room while men and women stood around talking with drinks in hand.

  “I’m going to need a drink,” I said, heading to the bar.

  “Don’t forget we’re here to ask about Katrina and the painting and to figure out who killed her,” Georgia said.

  “Wait.” Margo hurried to catch up. “Who’s Katrina and what painting?”

  I let Georgia explain as I smiled at the bartender. “Three champagnes, please.”

  “Of course.” He grinned, grabbing the bottle and three flutes. “You’re them, right?”

  “Pardon?”

  “Mildred’s granddaughters, the reason for this party.”

  “Oh right.” I smiled and red his name tag. James. “Guilty as charged.”

  He poured the first one and slid it to me before pouring the other two. “Rumor has it you’re witches. Is it true?”

  Bang. Helen, one of my nightly dinner guests, smacked her cane against the side of the bar. “What would your boss think about you asking such personal questions, sonny?”

  “Maybe we should tell your boss what you’re up to,” Francine added.

  The two old friends of Mildred crowded the bar and pegged the bartender with their disapprovingly gazes. There was nothing shy about these women who came over for dinners at the inn. They were a standing appointment in the inn’s book. The dynamic duo constantly tried to one up each other with mean, cunning remarks.

  “Only two of you tonight?” I asked, handing my sisters their flutes. Three of Mildred’s old friends shared my dinner table. Each had their own reasons for coming, but one thing they all agreed on was that Mildred had sunk her claws in and reeled them into her world. Besides Livvy, the three ladies had been the first to welcome me into this small town.

  “Alma’s hemorrhoids were flaring up,” Francine answered.

  “Now why would you go and say something like that?” Helen smacked Francine’s arm.

  “I don’t know.” Francine’s brows dipped.

  “Sorry.” I rested my palm on Francine’s arm. “Her secret is safe with me, but you might want to stay far away from me and my sisters tonight.” I leaned in so both could hear. “Georgia sprayed me with a truth serum spell.”

  Helen was the first to step back, grabbing Francine’s arm. “We’ll just be going now.”

  “But we just got here.” Francine pouted. “I haven’t even checked out any butts or made fun of anyone on the dance floor.” Francine’s voice drifted off as Helen led her away.

  My sisters had commandeered a table across the room, and I took a minute to catch my breath as I scanned the crowd.

  “If you’re looking for the young man that King invited, he’s talking to the mayor,” Auntie Blythe announced, coming to stand beside me.

  Auntie B catered the scheduled dinners each night at the inn. After one of those dinner’s, she’d told me that we were related. “I’m not looking for him.”

  Auntie Blythe raised a brow. “I see your sisters finally arrived. That should provide you with some comfort around all of these people.”

  “Not really.” I sipped my drink. “I barely know them.”

  “Give it time, Tess.” Blythe rested her palm on my arm. “You have more pressing matters to attend to.”

  I followed Blythe’s gaze to some of the guests she was watching. “What do you know?”

  “That there was another death in town and it happened in the antique shop. You need to be careful with this one. Mildred had an affinity of collecting things that are hazardous to her health and sometimes through unlawful channels. I always believed she hid her most valuable items in that store.”

  Chapter 9

  An hour later, I was sitting at the table alone. Georgia was making her rounds on the dance floor with every single available man, and Margo was working the crowd with Noah at her side. Manipulating these people with the power of the spelled truth spray just seemed wrong.

  I met Ryder’s gaze across the room. On Venture Island, when I couldn’t count on anyone else, he’d b
een there for me. And I’d betrayed him even though he’d been the one keeping secrets from me. I had to remind myself it was his job that had brought him into my life and probably the only reason he was still here. I dropped my gaze to the half-empty flute in my hands.

  How had I let things get so complicated in my once tidy world?

  The lights and music in the room flickered seconds before the witchy family crest tattoo on my shoulder started to throb and burn. Unease filled my gut as I slowly lifted my gaze. I could feel the anger in the air. Taste it on my tongue as the hair on my neck stood up. Something was wrong.

  Protect yourself. I heard Vinette’s whispered words in my head seconds before a man appeared in the chair next to me. The bartender from earlier smiled as I felt the hard metal edge of a gun barrel pressed to my leg. “Make any sudden moves, and you die.”

  “What do you want?” I asked, turning to face him, showing him that I wasn’t afraid. It was hard to be scared in a room filled with the locals and half the police force.

  “I want the painting,” he whispered. “And you’re going to take me to it. Stand up nice and slow. We’re going to leave here together. If you try anything stupid, I’ll kill you first and then your sisters.” He was telling the truth, and I didn’t need the effects of the truth spray to tell me. I could read his desperation in his glazed eyes.

  “You don’t want to do this.” I held his gaze as we rose together. He used his jacket to cover the gun in his hand.

  “You’re wrong.”

  I turned toward the door and slowly walked with him by my side.

  “Tess, you aren’t leaving without that promised dance, are you?” King asked, stepping in our path.

  The man with the gun glared at both of us before lowering his jacket and stepping around King to scurry out the door.

  I couldn’t find the words to tell King, but the anger must have registered in my eyes because he followed me as I ran for the door pointing toward the bartender. He had his gun out and pointed in the direction of the motorcycle speeding away.

  King dropped his aim. “What the hell did he do?”

  “He wants one of the paintings. We have to go to the antique shop,” I said, grabbing King’s hand and lifting the train of my dress with the other, hurrying to King’s SUV. We slid inside, and King laid on the gas pedal, out of the drive and back toward town. Within five minutes we were parked outside the antique shop.

  “Wait here,” he ordered.

  Ignoring his demand, I slid out of the car and followed him down the back alley to the kicked-in back door and ripped crime scene tape.

  He held his gun in front of him as he stepped into the storage room with me following behind. I flicked on the light.

  The walls and rows of paintings were gone.

  “I don’t understand,” I said, turning in place. “If he took all of the paintings, then why the hell does he think I have it?”

  “I guess he didn’t get the one he was after. I have to call this in,” King said, leading me back outside.

  ****

  Hours later King drove me back home, and Ryder was leaning against the porch railing as we walked up. “I wouldn’t have pegged you to sneak out of a party held in your honor.”

  “She was almost kidnapped.”

  “What?” Ryder slid his hands out of his pockets.

  “I’m fine,” I said, easing Ryder’s apprehension.

  King turned me to face him. He rested his palm on my arm. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”

  “I’ll be fine. Ryder and Noah are inside, along with my sisters. He’d be stupid to come here.”

  “Well, he did try to kidnap you in a room full of cops and residents. I wouldn’t put it past him.”

  “She’s safe here. I’ll make sure of that,” Ryder interjected.

  “He’s right, and I’m tired.” I smiled up at King. “Get some rest and go tuck Livvy into bed. I spotted her peeking out of the curtains.”

  King kissed my cheek before walking out of the yard and next door. I watched until he was safely inside.

  “He’s important to you?” Ryder asked.

  “Yeah, he is.” My gaze softened as I walked up the stairs. Ryder stopped me by placing his hand on my arm. “Do you love him?”

  I shrugged. “I haven’t known him long enough to fall in love with him, but he and I share some kind of connection I can’t explain. He’s a calming force in my craziness.”

  “You’re telling me the truth.” Ryder held up Georgia’s spray bottle.

  My shoulders sagged. Disappointment seared my soul. “All you had to do was ask. I’ve never lied to you.”

  “Listen, about Georgia…” he started to say when I stopped him.

  “You don’t need to explain. I’ve had a rough night.” I walked inside with him following me. I found my sisters in the kitchen. Noah was standing at the stove fixing food. I spent the next two hours in the formal dining room away from the creepy doll, filling them in on what had transpired and how all of the paintings were gone.

  A look of anger crossed Georgia’s face and had her pacing the hardwood floors. “We need to find this painting.”

  “It would help if we knew what it looked like,” I said, biting into a leftover piece of bacon I’d snagged from my brother’s plate. “There’s one way we can find out. We can ask the art thief.”

  Georgia looked ready to spit bullets. “Oh no.” She shook her head. “Not happening, Tess. It has got to be the same painting the witches were trying to locate.”

  “What could possibly be so important about this painting?” Noah asked, leaning back in his chair and lacing his fingers behind his head.

  “The symbol on the back,” Franklin said, standing at the entryway.

  “You’ve seen it?” I asked, hoping he might know where it was stashed.

  “Of course. I believe you have too. It’s in your room,” he said, walking out, and I was quick to follow. We all sounded like a herd of elephants going up the stairs to my room, where Franklin pulled a covered canvas from beside the cranny of the bookcase.

  There was a bowl of fruit painted on the front. “To the untrained eye, it’s rather boring until you flip it around.” Franklin turned it to show us the back.

  My heartbeat quickened as Georgia and I shared a look. “That looks like…”

  I smacked her arm. “Go get the partial picture of the symbol at your mother’s crime scene that the attorney gave you.”

  Georgia ran from the room and returned moments later, walking closer to the symbol and holding up the partially hidden symbol beneath her mother’s carpeting.

  “It’s rumored that the painting was cursed. Everyone who owned it died, but it wasn’t the painting. It was the symbol on the back. Anyone who can recreate that symbol and say the right hex can make just about anyone die. It took her years of searching and buying several hundred fruit bowl paintings until she found the right one.” Franklin said.

  “How would she even know it was there if she didn’t already own the picture?” I asked.

  “Because I painted it when I was seven and showed it to our dad,” Margo said.

  “You’ve met our dad?” I asked as my heart ached.

  “It was the last time I saw him. When I woke up, both he and the painting were gone,” Margo announced, and the room fell silent.

  I knew if my sisters were anything like me that they’d be complicated messes, and so far Georgia hadn’t disappointed, but I’d hoped Margo, being utterly unaware about our witchcraft, could be eased into my life and we could figure it out together. It seemed Margo was a mystery all by herself.

  I ignored the confrontation bubbling inside directed at why our father would stay with Margo and her mother and leave the rest of us with the ruse that it was to keep us safe. Instead turned my gaze to the sister I’d know two days longer, Georgia. “Whoever knew about that symbol and how to use it could have been your mom’s killer.”

  Chapter 10

  I awoke
to find Ryder in my room sitting in one of the chairs in the corner with his feet propped up. The painting rested against the wall within arm’s reach.

  “Tell me you didn’t stay there all night,” I said while wiping the sleep from my eyes.

  “I’d be lying if I said otherwise. Noah’s camped out in the living room,” Ryder said, dropping his feet from the cushion. “Tess, I need to leave.”

  Deep down in my gut, I’d had the feeling he was going to tell me that. A dead witch and hexes would always trump any semblance of a personal life. It just made my resolve that much stronger that I’d chosen the right guy. One that I could have an actual life with.

  “You have a job to do. I get it,” I said, sliding out of bed and stretching my arms over my head. “But be sure to tell them that neither Livvy nor I are going to be pawns. She’s lost too much to mess up her life anymore with whatever antics they come up with to get Mildred’s abilities out of her. If it was just the cookie jar, I’d tell you to take it, but I think Mildred’s magic has already settled inside of Livvy like Vinette’s did with me. ”

  “I agree.” A stern look shielded his face. “That’s why I’m going to tell them you’ll be responsible for helping her. I know you love that little girl as if she were your own.”

  The stress from my shoulders eased. “She’s growing on me.”

  “You two are a lot alike. Headstrong, smart, and with hearts of gold. You two are going to do amazing things if you learn to wield the power within you.” Ryder rose from his spot and crossed the room. Resting his hand on my cheek, he stared into my eyes. “King is one hell of a lucky man.”

  My gaze softened. “I’ll be sure to remind him often.”

  Ryder leaned in to kiss my cheek.

  The door flew open. “You’re supposed to knock,” King said, grabbing Livvy by the arm, trying to stop her and pulling her against his legs.