by Jane Hinchey
“What is it?” I asked as I moved closer. Then I spied what Carbonne must have seen. Small plastic bags with pills inside, neatly lined up.
“Drugs.” Jax’s voice was muffled. “He’s making and selling drugs.”
“Let me neutralize that before someone gets hurt. Wait outside.”
Jax squeezed past me, his body rubbing against mine as we maneuvered past each other. That’s when I felt it. Not only the spark of attraction but the heat of a hot flash, approaching fast. Only I no longer had Baba Yaga’s bracelet to negate the effects, and I did the only thing I could think of to do. I panicked.
“Everyone out!” I screamed, rushing toward the door, shoving Jax in the back to get him to hurry up. He stumbled out, but the hot flash was upon me, an inferno that set my internal organs ablaze. Squeezing my eyes shut, I concentrated on not blowing up the tool shed, but it was too late, the boom shook the ground beneath my feet, and I felt the cold rush of air as the tool shed was blown to pieces.
As the hot flash receded, I gingerly squinted open one eye. “Everyone okay?” I asked. In front of me, Carbonne, Troy, and Jax stood, steam rising from their singed clothes.
“What just happened?” Troy asked, his eyes huge in his soot-covered face.
I gulped. This was bad. Baba Yaga was going to throw my butt back in the pokey for sure.
“That,” Jax pointed to the destroyed shed, “was your doing.”
What? Confused, I looked at Jax, who winked at me. “Whatever was in that cauldron was highly unstable. But you already knew that, Troy, didn’t you? That’s how Claude, Irving, and Janet died. They stumbled across your little lab and paid the price.”
Troy rolled his eyes. “I hadn’t perfected the recipe. And if they hadn’t been casing out locations to spice up storytime, none of it would have happened.”
“What were you making anyway? And who were you selling it to?”
“I think I can help with that.” We all jumped when Alfred the Glacial Nightwalker spoke.
“Should you be out in the daylight?” I asked. “Won’t you… you know… combust?”
Alfred glanced up at the storm-laden sky, one gray brow arched. Point taken. The clouds blocked the sun's rays, meaning he could move around outside without burning to a crisp.
“Alfred?” Jax addressed the Vampire, “what do you mean? What do you know?”
Alfred reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He painstakingly unfolded it, and I half suspected he was taking his sweet-ass time about it just to annoy me. It was working.
“Whatcha got there?” Jax asked, reaching for the paper. Alfred snatched it out of reach. “This is the Vamporium Times. It’s not meant for non-Vampire eyes.”
Jax glanced at me, smirking. I bit my lip to stop from smiling.
“I promise I won’t divulge anything I read within the Vamporium Times,” Jax swore.
Slowly, Alfred handed it over, and Jax glanced at the paper in his hands, eyebrows raised.
“What’s it say?” I asked.
“There’s a sale on synthetic blood, two for one,” Jax replied.
“Fantastic,” I gritted. “What else?”
“That there is a new drug on the streets and its considered dangerous, warning the Vampire population to steer clear of it.”
Now that was interesting! “It’s called Essence,” Jax continued. “And it’s been leaving a trail of dead bodies across the country.”
I shifted my attention to Troy, who was looking at his feet as if they were the most fascinating things he’d ever seen. “Troy?” I prompted. “Is that your plan? Kill all the supernaturals?”
“What?” His head jerked up. “No! None of this was the plan.” He jerked his head toward the tiny cauldron that was now lying on its side in the remains of the shed.
“What was the plan?” Jax asked.
Troy huffed out a breath, his shoulders slumping. “I was trying to bring a soul back from The Next Adventure,” he admitted. “Only I didn’t have the spell right. A few words were missing.”
“And you were experimenting trying to find the right words,” I guessed.
“And one of those experiments led to the accidental creation of this drug, Essence,” Jax said.
Troy nodded. “Purely accidental,” he said sheepishly. “I was working on the potion, and I breathed in some of the fumes and got high. It was such a hit.” A grin flashed across his face.
“How did you go from accidentally getting high to purposefully making and selling drugs?”
“My fairy flatmate. I got home from work that night and was telling her about it, and she suggested we make a batch to sell rather than throwing out the potion, that we could make some easy money.”
“Whose soul were you calling?” Once a soul had moved on to The Next Adventure, there was no returning. Not that I knew of anyway.
Alfred cleared his throat. “It may help you to know that Troy here is a mage with a long, powerful lineage.”
“Shut up,” Troy hissed.
And that’s when I saw it—a shimmer in his visage. A crack.
I pointed at him. “This is not your true self!” I shot a blast of magic at him while shouting at Carbonne, “Keep hold of him. Don’t let him get away.”
My magic hit him in the chest and showered sparkling magic dust into the air with a resounding boom. Troy transformed from a young man into a wizened old mage, his face contorted in fury.
“How dare you!” he screeched, tearing his arm from Carbonne’s grip. A blinding flash of light had Troy free from his restraints and aiming his next blast of magic my way. With one hand palm out toward me and one toward Carbonne, he sent out a pulse of magic. Carbonne tumbled away, head over heels, rolling back across the lawn. I held my own palm out and channeled my magic into a shield. It held. Alfred quickly stepped behind me, using me as his own shield. I heard fabric tearing and looked to my left to see a glorious Silver Fox, four paws planted, teeth bared in a menacing snarl. Jax had shifted into his fox form.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked Alfred.
“I’d had my suspicions for a while but nothing to confirm it,” Alfred said.
“Confirm what? Spit it out.”
“Troy here wants to resurrect an ancestor. Now that I can see his true self, I recognize the family resemblance. Eronin was a powerful mage hundreds of years ago. Because he died of natural causes, his soul moved on to The Next Adventure. Troy wants to bring him back so he can learn the ancient, forbidden magic of Akhos. Eronin was a master.”
Across the garden, Carbonne stood and shook himself off, then, head down and arms pumping, he charged at Troy, only to be flicked back across the lawn once more. But while Troy had been distracted dealing with Carbonne, Jax’s fox attacked. The next thing I knew, the residents of the Bewildered Retirement Home were charging across the lawn, wands waving, magic shooting in the air in every direction as they descended on us.
Troy easily deflected them, but it gave me the in I was looking for. He was distracted and rapidly depleting his magic, which meant a couple of good zaps, and we had him. Carbonne slammed him at the knees, and he toppled. Jax’s fox was on his chest, snapping in his face, while I retrieved my cuffs and secured his wrists. I boosted the cuffs with extra magic to prevent him from escaping again.
Troy lay on the ground, chest heaving as he fought to catch his breath. Jax jumped clear when Dot approached, walking frame leaving a rainbow trail in her wake. As soon as she was close enough, she administered a swift kick to Troy’s leg. “Take that.” She snapped.
“Okay, Dot, that’s enough.” Hettie hurried forward, gently guiding Dot away from Troy in case he retaliated in kind.
“All that talk of a flatmate and selling drugs was bull hockey, wasn’t it?” I asked Troy. He glared at me, lips clamped tightly together, refusing to speak.
“Oh, not entirely,” Alfred said from my side. “An Akhos Transformation Ritual requires sacrifice.”
“A soul
for a soul?”
Alfred shook his head. “Oh, no, that would be too easy. I’d say hundreds of souls.”
I looked back at Troy, the penny dropping. “You invented the drug to kill supernaturals, to harvest their souls.” I was aghast. What a dastardly plan. “And since those supernaturals did not die a natural death, they haven't moved on to The Next Adventure.”
“Relax,” Troy drawled. “They’ll go to Holding until they’re reincarnated.”
“That’s not the point, Troy!” Hettie snapped. “You still killed Claude, Irving, and Janet.” She looked at me. “He did, didn’t he?”
I nodded. “He did. If it's any consolation, it wasn’t on purpose. His plan was much more widespread. Correct me if I’m wrong,” I aimed my following words at Troy, “but you chose this place because of the Dungeon, right? The massive cauldron? You disguised yourself as a nurse, broke the wards, were perfecting your spell or potion or whatever concoction you ultimately need to resurrect your ancestor. Then you’d use the cauldron in the Dungeon to complete the ritual.”
“You’re very good,” Troy said. “Claude, Irving, and Janet were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I needed a lot of souls, more than you lot.” He glanced around at the residents currently surrounding him. “I needed mass deaths. The drugs were the perfect tool.”
“I don’t get it. If the drugs were killing people, why were they so popular? How did you get supernaturals to buy them? Or were you giving them away?”
“Oh, I was selling them,” Troy confirmed. “Everyone needs cash, even paranormals. The drugs were selling because they were doing their job. Getting people high. It was later that the side-effects kicked in.”
“Death is a pretty big side-effect,” I sniffed.
He shrugged. “A means to an end. I needed souls.”
“How did you collect them, though?” As much as I hated to admit it, his dastardly plan was really rather ingenious.
“The pills are all tied to me. My essence. You consume the pill. Days later, you die. Your soul comes to me.”
Cocking my head, I studied the mage lying on the grass. We’d foiled his plan, yet he didn’t seem too upset about it. Which told me we hadn’t foiled his plan. Not totally.
“Where are the souls?”
He glanced at the blown apart tool shed. “You blew them up.”
“Nu-uh.” I shook my head. “There weren't any souls in that cauldron. And none were released when the shed exploded. Which means you have them stashed somewhere.”
His eyes flashed, and his lips clamped together in a straight line. Gotcha. He fully intended to retrieve the souls and continue the ritual as soon as he was able. Troy was in it for the long game. He’d been working at the Bewildered Retirement Home for months. He was in no rush.
“Jax? Search him.”
“Uh, can’t you do it?” Jax asked in a strangled voice. I turned and glanced at him, only to find him cowering behind a bush, stark naked, hands cupped over his privates. No wonder all the residents were milling around. One naked man and one disgraced mage.
“Oh. You ripped your clothes when you shifted.”
“I usually remove them first, so this sort of thing doesn’t happen, but I was in a hurry.”
“Sure.” I nodded in understanding. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.” I stripped Troy of his clothing with a wave of magic, leaving him clad in nothing but his underwear. He yelped as the cold air hit his flesh, and he realized what I’d done.
“Hey!” he protested. “You can’t do that!”
“Just did.” I scooped up his scrubs and tossed them at Jax. “Search them for hidden pockets. Carbonne, can you pull him to his feet?” I asked. For now that Troy was practically naked, I could see he wasn’t wearing any sort of amulet or piece of jewelry that could be housing the lost souls. I could hear Jax dressing and asked, “Anything?”
“Nope. Plain old scrubs, no secret pockets,” he told me.
Carbonne had done as instructed and hauled Troy to his feet. “Turn him,” I ordered, wiggling my finger in the air. Carbonne jerked him around, so his back was facing me.
“Bingo,” I breathed. On the back of his left shoulder was a tattoo.
“What?” Alfred barked. “That?” He stepped forward and poked Troy in the shoulder, and the tattoo glowed. “Ohhhh.”
“The question is, how do we release the souls?” I said, tapping my chin while I studied the tattoo.
Flora, the Plant Goddess, stepped forward. “That’s easy.” Then she swiveled on her heel and walked away. “I’ll be back in a moment,” she called over her shoulder.
“Where are you going?” Daisy hurried after her. “You’re not going to pull out one of my plants, are you?”
“What makes you think I’m going to do that?” Flora glanced down at the woman by her side. Daisy shrugged. “I don’t know. Seems logical.”
“I don’t go around ripping up other people’s plants, Daisy.” Their voices faded.
I faced the residents gathered in the garden. “You should go inside. It’s about to rain again, and there’s nothing more to see here.”
“She’s right. Come on, everyone, inside. I’ll make us all a lovely cup of tea.” Hettie ushered them toward the living room doors where I could see Banks waiting. Alfred picked up the Vamporium Times from the grass and followed until it was just Carbonne, Jax, Troy, and me standing outside, daring Mother Nature not to zap us with lightning.
Moments later, Flora returned. Striding across the lawn with sure steps, she walked up to Troy, slapped her hand over the tattoo on his shoulder, and then rubbed. He stiffened, then wailed, “Noooooooo!”
“What was that?” I asked. “What did you have in your hand?”
“Dirt.” She showed me her filthy palm. “From the garden bed where he buried Claude, Irving, and Janet.”
“Ooooh, I get it. Innocent souls—their essence was in the earth.”
Flora beamed at me. “Precisely. Sometimes simple really is best.”
The tattoo burst into a blinding light, and magic danced in the air as the souls he’d trapped were released, shooting up into the sky, lost amongst the clouds. Troy sobbed, chin to chest, shoulders shaking. “You’ve ruined it. You’ve ruined it all,” he cried.
“My heart bleeds for you,” Jax snapped, grabbing Troy’s arm, and with Carbonne gripping the other, they marched him across the lawn. We’d turn him into Bounty. The job was done.
11
We stood in front of the Bewildered Retirement Home. Troy was secure in the cell in the back of Jax’s vehicle, Banks was settled on the passenger seat of my jeep, and Jax and I stood facing each other.
“Well.” I tried to smile but had a feeling I was simply baring my teeth. “It’s been fun working with you.”
“I thought you didn’t like working with me.”
“I don’t.” He jerked at my words, and I hastily added, “That is, it’s not you. I don’t like working with a partner. Usually. But this,” I waved a hand at the home, “wasn’t so bad.”
“Good, because I have a proposal.”
I blinked. “A proposal?”
He leaned in close, and my heart skipped a beat. Was he proposing we revisit the idea of a rendezvous? To pick up where we left off last time? Because truth be told, I was all in.
“You know the Vamporium Times of Alfred’s?”
Alfred? What did he have to do with anything? And why wasn’t Jax asking for my number so he could put it in his new phone? I frowned, confused, but Jax didn’t appear to notice, for he kept on talking. “I didn’t have time to read it all, but there was an article about a rogue gang of Vampires who’ve been targeting law enforcement in New Orleans. I think that might just be the same gang who shot me. I think the two of us should check it out.”
I swallowed. “You’re suggesting the two of us,” I pointed from him to me and back again, “go Vampire hunting?”
He beamed at me. “Precisely. You in?”
Hell yeah. Okay,
yes, I was disappointed he hadn’t suggested a romantic rendezvous, but rogue Vampire hunting came a close second. “I’m in!” I smiled, my eyes drinking him in, wandering from his broad chest to his toned abs, his body distracting me from the topic at hand.
“Excellent,” he said, his deep, sexy voice all deep and, well, sexy. “You may regret looking at me like that.”
My gaze bounced back up to his face. “I could never regret looking at you.”
His eyes darkened, and his breath hitched, and I was lost. I leaped into his arms, quite literally, and pressed my mouth to his.
He fought a smile for a moment, returned my kiss enthusiastically, then backed me against my car. His kiss was everything I remembered and so much more. It was fire and ice. The heat that emanated from him caressed me like hot silk and sent goosebumps dancing across my skin. I was immersed in his essence, in his taste and texture and earthy scent. And I wanted more. Always more when it came to Jax Lincoln.
To check out all the side-splitting books in the Magic and Mayhem Universe, go to https://magicandmayhemuniverse.com/
And if you would like to read the book that started all the madness, Switching Hour is FREE!
https://robynpeterman.com/switching-hour/
Thanks for taking the time to read my story, I really hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like to stick around and get to know me and my books better (I’d love it if you would!) there are a ton of options to connect with me below. I’ll see you there!
Sign up for my newsletter RIGHT HERE!
Wanna keep up with all my crazy? Have fun? Be the first to see new covers and sneak peeks?
Join my group! Jane’s Little Devils
* * *
I absolutely LOVE stalkers! Here’s all my links! Follow me everywhere!
Newsletter
Website
Facebook
Instagram
