Cold as a Witch's Toffee

by Sara Bourgeois

  “Not exactly. I saw you and Voodoo running and you looked scared. So I brought you the potion. I would have said something, but again, I was still hoping it was just a bad dream. I was also afraid if I told you, it would become one of those self-fulfilling prophesies.”

  “That makes sense,” I said. “Well, thank you so much. You saved us.”

  “You’re most welcome, Allegra. I’ll bring you another bottle soon. It’s always good to have some on hand. Hey, while I’ve got you here, I wanted to ask you something.”

  “Sure.”

  “Have you seen anyone sneaking around my garden?”

  “No, not at all. Why?”

  “Someone snuck in and took a bunch of my lemon verbena plants. Such a strange thing to steal given the variety of actual exotic herbs I grow. They stole something I use to make regular old tea.”

  “That is strange,” I said. “I’ll let you know if I see anything.”

  “Thanks, dear. See you soon.”

  As I walked down her front steps, something niggled at the back of my brain. It was the thing Bethany said about the victim having a lemon salve on his neck. I suddenly sort of remembered seeing a bottle of lemon verbena ointment, but I couldn’t remember where. Had it been in the salon? Or had it been on Melanie’s desk? I could remember seeing it sitting on wood, but not where.

  It was right there in the back of my mind. I almost had the full memory when pain erupted in the back of my head and stars exploded in front of my eyes. Halfway between Mrs. Miller’s house and my own, someone had knocked me out cold.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  When I came to, my first thought was wondering why Voodoo hadn’t protected me. It became apparent when I looked around, and he was gone.

  I had been so stupid.

  My attacker had left my phone behind, though. So I pulled it out and called Alex right away. You’d have thought I’d call Bethany, but I really needed Alex more given the situation.

  “Don’t go in alone,” he said when I told him where to meet me.

  “I won’t,” I said, but I didn’t know if I meant it. Voodoo was in danger, and I was not okay with that.

  “Promise me, Allegra. If they were strong enough to overpower Voodoo, you need to be careful.”

  “I promise, but just in case, you better get there before me,” I said.

  “I’m on my way.”

  I hung up the phone and raced to the garage. After I yanked the cover off the car, I fished the keys out of my purse. “Thank the universe for muscle cars,” I said.

  The gleaming black, fully restored Impala SS was just what I needed to get to the other side of town in a hurry. Alex had given me the address and directions, so I jumped behind the wheel and pulled out of the garage.

  Once I was on the street, I put the pedal to the floor. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle that big block, but my powers must have included driving.

  I raced to the house, pulled up to the curb, and jumped out of the car. I was about to forget my promise to Alex and run in when he pulled his car in behind me.

  “You ready?” he called out as he hurried toward me.

  “I’m going to kill him,” I said.

  “I understand the sentiment, but no, you’re not. We’re going to neutralize him, and wait for Bethany to get here,” he said.

  “You called her?”

  “She is the sheriff. We need her to arrest him.”

  Just then I heard Voodoo bark and then yelp. “I’m going to kill him,” I said and raced up the walk to the house.

  The force of the spells around Rowan’s house knocked me on my butt when I ran face-first into them. I stood up and put my hands on the wall of magic. In my head, I could see white light around my fingers as I ripped his magic barrier to shreds.

  “Wow,” Alex said as he followed me through. “I thought we were going to have to break out something we haven’t used since medieval times to get through that.”

  “Oh, I’m going to do something medieval to him if he hurts my dog,” I said. “He better pray to whatever dark god he serves that I don’t get my hands on him.”

  “I kind of like you like this,” Alex said as I threw open Rowan’s front door. “But, we can discuss that later.”

  Inside we found Voodoo hogtied on the living room floor. I rushed over and untied his paws.

  “Quick, Allegra, cast a circle,” Voodoo said.

  I got into my bag and started to pull out the salt.

  “No, just use your light,” Voodoo said. “There’s no time.”

  “Alex, get over here,” I said.

  “I need to find Rowan,” he protested.

  “No, I’m sure he’ll find us. Please come over here,” I said.

  For a moment, I thought he wasn’t going to come into the circle, but he relented and came to stand by me. I handed him the salt. “You can do this part. Sprinkle it in a circle around us.”

  “I know how it’s done. I’ve just never done it,” he said.

  “I believe in you,”

  With that, Alex created a ring around us with the salt. I closed my eyes and envisioned a circle of light surrounding us.

  “Ha,” Rowan said as he stepped out of the shadowy hallway into the living room. “I was hoping you’d be stupid enough to do that.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. “I’ve cast a perfect circle of protection around us.”

  “Ah, but my lovely, Allegra, I’ve laid down some sigils in that area. A little black magic that’s turned your protection spells into a trap.”

  “Well, I guess it’s lucky for us that she brought a witch hunter with her,” Alex said with an impish grin.

  He pulled a black crystal skull out of his bag, and suddenly, Rowan’s expression turned horrified. All of the color drained from his face, but he didn’t move.

  “What’s happened to him?” I asked.

  “Oh, he’s incapacitated. This skull is a neat little artifact that turns black magic on the user. If it’s okay to break the circle, I’m going to tie him up. I don’t want him figuring out how to wriggle out of this one. Don’t worry, I have special bindings for this.”

  A few minutes later, Bethany arrived and put Rowan in real handcuffs. “Why did you do this?” she asked him.

  “Because I was tired of sharing the women of this town with him. He tried to steal every one of my conquests. When he went after Allegra, I decided I’d had enough.”

  I’d also learn later that Rowan had found out that Lukas had changed my uncle’s will just to have a reason to try and get me into bed. I actually owned Nutties Sundae Shop free and clear.

  That was the irregularity that Anton found. The real will surfaced when Laney turned over a bunch of paperwork she found in a hidden safe.

  But I’ve gotten ahead of myself. After Rowan was arrested, Alex escorted me home. He pulled into my driveway behind me and got out of the car.

  “What are you up to?” I asked as I closed my garage door.

  “I’m going to walk you to your door.” Alex said. “Is that okay?”

  “More than,” I said. He joined me, and we walked to my front door hand in hand. “You can come in if you want. I could make coffee or we could have wine. Tonight seems like a good night for wine.”

  “That sounds amazing,” Alex said. “But there’s something I need to do first.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  And then he kissed me.

  Epilogue

  The next day…

  Voodoo and I ran down the back steps to see who had broken into my garage. We both heard the noise, and of course, our instinct was to run outside instead of calling the sheriff. If it were a horror movie, we’d both be dead in the first twenty minutes.

  We found a woman going through the trunk of the Impala. I tried to send some magic her way to stop her, but she brushed it off as if it were nothing but the breeze created by butterfly wings.

  “Beatrix, you’re back,” Voodoo said as he ran over to h
er.

  The woman bent over and scratched behind one of his ears. “Hey, long time no see, little buddy. I hear you almost let an evil witch kill your mistress,” she teased.

  “Well, I didn’t know he was evil,” Voodoo protested.

  “No one really did. I’m the only one who suspected it, and nobody would listen to me,” she said and then turned her attention to me. “You must be Allegra. I’m Beatrix. You can call me Bea or Trixie. Either way is fine. Just please don’t call me Beatrix, like Voodoo here, it’s what my grandmother calls me.”

  “Sorry, Trixie,” Voodoo said.

  “It’s okay.” She smiled at him.

  “Nice to meet you, I guess,” I said. “What are you doing in the trunk of my car?”

  “The coven sent me,” she said and held up a bottle of lemon verbena salve. “Rowan was hiding some of his dark magic stuff in here. I’m collecting it.”

  “You could have come to the door. You didn’t have to break into the garage,” I said.

  “What fun would that have been?” She smirked. “Besides, I was going to do that. I’ve got to collect you at some point soon too. Rowan did a bang-up job keeping you away from the coven and the rest of the witches in town. They want to meet you. Plus, Rowan called his mother from jail, and he told the coven that you have been making smoochy face with a witch hunter?”

  “Well, I suppose that was going to get out eventually,” I said. “His order only hunts evil paranormals now.”

  “I will let you explain that to them,” she said. “Anyway, I’ve got to take this stuff and put it somewhere secure. I need to drop in at home too. I’ve been on the road helping the leader of another coven track down a witch killer. I’ll be back later, and we can go raise a little hell with the family.”

  When she was gone, I asked Voodoo, “What was that?”

  “That was your actual cousin, Beatrix. I mean Trixie. More like second cousin twice removed or third cousin. I get that stuff so mixed up. Either way, you’re related by blood but distantly. She’s family. You probably don’t remember much about her. She was gone most summers when you were here, but I think you’re going to like her.”

  “I can see that,” I said, and we went back inside to get ready for the hellraising with Trixie. That sounded like fun.

  Thank you for reading! Grab the next installment in the Allegra Darling Cozy Mystery series here:

  Ice Cream Floater

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  © Sara Bourgeois 2019

  This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons alive or dead is a coincidence.