Casino Witch Mysteries Box Set 2

by Nikki Haverstock

  “Right!” I enthusiastically said out loud.

  Vanessa jerked up in her seat. She was not a morning person, especially when she had a massive hangover. While I had slept peacefully from the moment my head hit the pillow until my alarm went off, apparently, Vanessa had spent several hours throughout the night worshiping at the throne of the porcelain gods. Or as she had put it, “Yacking up everything but her shoes.” I had warned her, “Beer before liquor, never been sicker,” especially when she chased it down with two entire cheesecakes.

  This morning she had insisted that all she needed was a Bloody Mary, but based on what I heard during my breakfast, the Bloody Mary had been returned to sender.

  Vanessa groaned and shielded her eyes from the sun. “Please save me from this hangover. I have the rune here in my bra.”

  I stopped at a red light and snuck a better look at her, noticing that the front of her shirt seemed pretty lumpy. “What else do you have in there?”

  “Oh, my channeling stone and a few potion vials, just in case.”

  “I thought you weren’t supposed to let your channel stone touch other magical items.” My channel stone, or key, was also tucked into my bra, but it wasn’t noticeable since it was hidden in my cleavage. I had discovered it was a convenient place to keep physical contact, which recharged it, and its power was ready for me when I needed it, which had been often.

  “You are such a Goody Two-Shoes. No, I’m not supposed to have them all touching, but I want to have them at the wedding, just in case, and I can’t carry a purse.” Her voice had quite a bit of snap to it.

  “Can’t you just—”

  “Stop! You are going to make me sick with all this nagging.” She reclined her seat abruptly, startling Patagonia in the back seat, who let out a yowl and batted at Vanessa’s wild hair.

  I accelerated as carefully as possible, as I didn’t want Vanessa to throw up in my car. I wasn’t going to let her bad mood ruin my morning. I was full of hope and possibilities for my future. I had a date, a direction, and a daring new do. I was unstoppable!

  I pulled into a familiar parking lot and threw the car into park. “Let me do a little something for the hangover.”

  Vanessa turned to face me and pulled her sunglasses to show her bloodshot eyes. “Really?”

  In general, we didn’t heal hangovers or sore muscles. It was considered part and parcel of living life. Do the crime, do the time, or in this case the crippling nausea. But mage etiquette wasn’t my biggest concern. It was going to be a long day already putting up with Tiffany. I needed Vanessa as an ally, not another enemy.

  “Come on. We’ll live dangerously. And frankly, I’m doing this more for me than you.”

  She sat up quickly then covered her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut. I held my breath until her color turned normal again. “That was close. Okay, I’m ready.”

  I grabbed her hand, the contact making it easier, and worked the spell. It was going to take some of my energy but probably not as much as fighting with her all day, so I considered it time well spent. When I worked magic, I always lost track of time, like little pockets gone from my day as I went into a trance.

  I had a general sense of both our magic swirling around me, a product of using the rune for the magic, and it pulling from both of us. The process was over much faster than I expected, and I wasn’t as drained as I predicted.

  “Ow ouch ouchie!” Vanessa grabbed at the front of her shirt right as I finished up the spell.

  “You okay?”

  She stopped and rubbed at the space between her breasts. “That was weird. For a second, the rune felt really hot, but…” She pulled out her shirt to look down inside. “I don’t know. I guess I was… confused. I feel a lot better. Like so much better. Oh, hey, you didn’t hold the rune, and the spell worked!” She flopped back on her seat, her face smooth, where before it had been tensed up in pain.

  “I was in such a hurry to get rid of your attitude that I forgot. Interesting…” I was distracted as I looked at the building, which held fancy condos. I was familiar with it because Bear lived there, and occasionally I had studied in his extensive library. His car was still in his reserved parking spot.

  Yesterday after my appointment with Dr. Trout, I had updated Bear on the investigation, and we had set up a time to meet on Sunday. He had mentioned that he was sorry things hadn’t worked out with Colleen and that she was flying out around noon on Saturday, during the wedding.

  They obviously hadn’t left yet, and I knew what I had to do. I had insisted we leave extra early for the salon even though I had no desire to be in Tiffany’s presence a second longer than necessary. I had taken the slightly longer way to the salon, the way that passed by his building. I had pulled into his parking lot to help Vanessa rather than waiting until we arrived at the salon.

  Each decision had happened without any deep thought, but some part of me knew that I wanted to talk to Colleen before she left, and looking at the building, I knew what I wanted to say. How the plan had formed in my mind was a mystery to me, but now it felt inevitable.

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” I jumped from the car and slammed the door. Racing to the front door, I pressed the button to his apartment before I could think things through. If I had, I was pretty sure that I would have realized it was a terrible idea, but I was hyped up on new-hairstyle confidence.

  Bear buzzed me up, and after I got there, going three steps at a time to the third and top floor, he let me in then excused himself, leaving me alone with Colleen.

  She watched me with a cool expression on her face. Not angry but not open either, it gave no indication to what she was feeling or thinking, and neither did her tightly shielded emotions. My confidence faltered. What was I doing? What did I hope to gain? I didn’t have the answer to either question, but I also couldn’t stop my mouth from talking. It moved on its own, bypassing my brain altogether and speaking from my heart things that I hadn’t even understood.

  “I lied about something and want to explain, not to change your mind but to be honest with myself. It isn’t right that I came to you and begged for help but wasn’t truthful. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I shouldn’t be a Monza at all.”

  I half expected her to interrupt me and say that she never said I wasn’t a Monza, but her only reaction was a slight cocking of her head to the side. I swallowed hard, my cheeks heating up, but I pressed on.

  “I didn’t really decide to be a Monza. I didn’t even know what it meant when I declared it. But I am sure that I made the right choice. At least then. But I do—”

  “Why did you declare yourself a follower of the old ways if you didn’t know what that meant?”

  I stuttered to find my answer. I had been told by a seer that following the old ways would protect me, but mages believed that repeating a seer’s vision was bad luck, though that was too light of a way to put it. Repeating a vision could set the whole situation off the rails. No one was willing to risk it. Except Tiffany, who had bragged about the fact that she would marry Vin based on a seer’s prediction, and that was coming true.

  But I wasn’t willing to risk it, especially given her refusal to work with me, so I would be as honest as I could. Vanessa was right about me being a Goody Two-Shoes. “I knew it was what I needed to do in the moment I said it. I just didn’t know the repercussions.”

  “You said that you wanted to help people. Was that a lie?” Her words should have sounded accusatory or angry, but her voice was so calm it was a bit chilling. She was asking for facts.

  Despite that, anger still curled up in my chest. “It’s true, but that is not why I first said it. I said it for self-preservation, but as I learned more about it… I mean what I could learn about being a Monza since nothing seems to be written down… but people expect certain things from me, and so far, I like that. I want to help people, and I will help people with or without training.” I turned to leave, my triumphant moment. I was going to do what I wanted, and no one would stop me. />
  That was until I caught my foot on something and stumbled across the room. Patagonia had joined me in Bear’s loft and obviously had to stand in the worst possible place. I grabbed the back of a chair, but my moment was ruined. I refused to turn around, my face burning with embarrassment as I headed for the door, but stopped when Colleen’s calm voice called to me.

  “But you didn’t want to be a Monza?” Her voice carried a significance I didn’t understand, and that was the only reason I didn’t stomp from the room.

  I turned around to face her. “How could I? I didn’t understand what it meant… still don’t technically.”

  “Sit down.” She gestured to the chair opposite her. When I didn’t move, she sighed. “Please? I have something I need to tell you.”

  I was suspicious but went to do as she said. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I realized that I had been lying to myself. I came over, not to tell her that I didn’t care. I had hoped to change her mind.

  “I was supposed to marry a man. I did not want to marry him, but I got some… advice to say I would.” She put a special emphasis on the word to give it an additional meaning. “My parents were so surprised but too pleased to question my change of mind. There was a terrible fire, just terrible, but I lived because I had gone to meet my fiancé. But then I was stuck with a fate that I considered worse than death by fire. I would have to marry this man. In another turn of fate, I got some advice to be a Monza. I didn’t know what that meant at the time, but it saved me. Do you understand?”

  I nodded, not sure that I understood, but it sounded familiar enough to my own story that I could guess at what she meant. “So you did it to save yourself?”

  “Yes. In fact, it appears that every Monza is the same. It is something that life forces you into. Wanting to be a Monza is a sure sign that you aren’t meant to be a Monza. Can you understand why I turned you down?”

  “So if I had told you the truth, you would have agreed to train me?” The devastation hit me like a ton of bricks.

  She laughed, not unkindly. “I’m not explaining this well. If it were true that you had chosen to be a Monza, I could not train you because I would be unable. Being a Monza isn’t a vocation like being a waitress. It is more like having red hair or green eyes. One of the greatest indicators is that you are forced into it. Not everyone that gets… advice… to be a Monza takes it, but declaring your intentions because of a threat to your life or safety is the surest sign of what you really are.”

  “So when I said that I wanted to be a Monza…”

  “I knew you weren’t.”

  “But now that you know I did it by accident…?”

  “I know you are. It sure is a crazy thing, isn’t it?” She laughed.

  “So…?”

  “So now I can train you.”

  I wasn’t sure I had heard her correctly. “What?”

  She smiled broadly. “I can help you. I can train you.”

  Every emotion pounded through my body. I went hot and cold and had the most natural of reactions. I burst into tears.

  From somewhere deep in the condo, Bear yelled out, “Everything okay out there?”

  Colleen moved over to pat my back. “We’re fine, dear. But I won’t be going to the airport today.”

  I dabbed at my eyes. “I’m so embarrassed. It’s just…”

  “You’ve had a long week, but don’t worry. We’ll get this worked out.”

  “Okay.” I sniffed again but was pulling myself together.

  “Did you try the potion?”

  I crinkled up my face. “What potion?”

  “The one I left for you when we last spoke. I put it on the counter. I thought you knew. It was to lift the veil on Edward’s death scene.”

  My mouth fell open, and I dug frantically in my purse. I had scooped everything from the counter into my purse and hadn’t thought of it since. “I was so upset that I didn’t even—here it is.” I pulled the small vial from the bottom of my purse. “I totally forgot.”

  “Well… take it.”

  I threw back the potion and took a few cleansing breaths. If it didn’t work, I was going to have a killer headache after viewing the vision. “I’m going in.”

  Slowly, the vision filled my mind. I had tried to view it many times since I had first passed out in Edward Santini’s office. Immediately, I could feel that something was different. It was a bit crisper and cleaner. Though the vision was the same, my head did not begin to ache. The vision was the same until the last instant.

  Edward was flipping through the papers on his desk when the door opened. He looked up at a person I couldn’t see.

  “What are you—” This was where the vision had previously ended for me, but this time it rolled on.

  He stopped, clutching his forehead, then realization dawned across his face. “You’re behind Legacy,” he accused.

  There was a low chuckle from the unseen assailant. “And much more.”

  Edward gasped for breath and slid down his chair onto the floor, then as he struggled with his last breath, magic from the perpetrator filled the air. It was probably what had obscured my ability to read the vision all this time. Even in the dream, I could feel my nose tickling.

  I opened my eyes and sneezed four times in quick succession. The sensation faded quickly, probably because the aura had only been in my head. “I know who killed Edward Santini and why.” I chewed on my lower lip. But how was my dad involved?

  “Don’t leave me hanging. Tell me.”

  “Hold on. I need to check something.” I should have done this sooner, but it didn’t occur to me until I had reacted to the magic in the vision.

  I ran through Ned’s death vision, carefully listening to the exchange between Edward and the killer.

  I opened my eyes and rubbed my temples. My head was spinning. “He did it because Edward was close to unraveling the Legacy operation.” The pieces were coming together faster than I could process them.

  “And who is that?”

  “Whoever created the main spell for Legacy also killed Ned and Edward. It was the same person. I still don’t know exactly who, but—oh crap, is that the time?” But I knew it was correct. I gathered my purse and headed toward the door. “I’ll explain it all tomorrow when I meet with Bear. We are putting together a plan to catch the person.”

  My head was spinning with possibilities as I trotted toward the door.

  “Ella?”

  I turned around to face her.

  “The things we just talked about stay between us.”

  “Yes, of course. I understand.” Though there was so much I didn’t understand at all.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “So just like that Colleen changed her mind? What is to stop her from changing it again? I can’t believe you are just giving up the whole new-you thing.” Vanessa slammed her shoes down on the small table inside our changing room at the casino.

  Our hair was done along with our makeup. We just needed to slip on our new dresses, concealed in zippered bags, and wait about ten minutes for the ceremony to start. I hadn’t told Vanessa about my conversation—she had fallen asleep in the car—until a few minutes earlier, and she hadn’t taken it well.

  “She is not going to change her mind, and I never said I was going to give up on the new me. I mean, look at this hair.” I ran my hand through the short hair on the top of my head. “Does this hair say quitter?”

  She grunted and grabbed a glass of champagne to down.

  “Vanessa. Come on. I’ll get some extra training, but I’m not going to just give up on the rest of it. I’ll get it all figured out. I promise.”

  Emotions flew across her face. Anger. Sadness. Frustration. Finally, resignation. “Like promise, promise?”

  “Like promise, promise, promise. Okay? This is going to be a long day without us fighting. I didn’t cure your hangover just to start fighting again.”

  Vanessa got up and threw her arms around my neck.

  Tiffany slamm
ed the door open and groaned loudly. “Are you two making out? I figured you were more than friends.”

  I blew out a sigh. “It’s not too late for us to walk out on you.”

  “I was just kidding,” she snarled then pointed at two small vials sitting on the vanity in front of the mirror. “Have you taken your potions yet?”

  I looked at them blankly. “What are those for?”

  “Just take them.”

  “I’m not taking crap until I know what it is. You might drink whatever is put in front of you, but I won’t.”

  She groaned. “Fine. My mom made it first thing this morning, and it’s been in my dressing room since then. It’s part of a standard wedding binding potion.”

  Vanessa looked up sharply. “Binding potion? Isn’t that a bit… old fashioned?”

  Tiffany’s eyes narrowed. “It’s my wedding, and if I want it, I get it. Take the dang potion, and be ready!” She stormed from the room, slamming the door behind her with enough force to make my ears ring.

  “What is her problem?” I grabbed the vial with my name written on the side in curly gold script.

  “Just a few more hours and we’ll be free. It’s so weird that she wants to do this binding spell. I don’t think anyone has done this in a hundred years, but it makes sense now why she had to have us. The spell is made for two female witnesses.”

  “What does it do?”

  “A married couple should have a special bond between them. Like a magic bond. True love creates a bond, so they don’t need the potion. But this potion was useful back when arranged marriages between strangers was common.”

  I opened my vial and took a sniff. There was a twitching in my nose, and I sneezed hard enough that the flowers set into my braid at the salon flew onto the floor. I struggled to put the lid back on the vial as I sneezed in rapid succession.

  Once the vial was tightly capped, I sneezed another half-dozen times until it started to fade.

  Vanessa watched me with wide eyes until I seemed to have it under control enough to hear her. “So does that mean Mixie is the killer?”