Point Muse Cozy Paranormal Mystery Boxed Set: Books 1-3

by Kelly Ethan

  The library helpfully dropped a book titled the ‘Denizens of Hell and What They Can Do for You’ on Xandie’s toes. Bellowing, she grabbed the book and danced around in agony. Pain subsided until only a dull throb remained. She limped to a chair, checked for gray ash or reconstituted imp and collapsed in relief. “I repeat. What was that thing you slaughtered and then blew in my face?”

  “An imp, and where there’s one, there’s always more. They’re annoying pack animals from hell that do nothing but cause chaos. Vermin. They’re worse than dogs.” Theo nosed around the library floor, hunting for more.

  Xandie flipped open the book the library had dropped on her foot and read a passage. “Imps are the lowest denizens of the demonic hierarchy. Normally employed in mischievous and devious acts and love nothing more than annoying stray humans. They crave attention and are creatures of impulse unless under control of a stronger demon or master. Imps are both satanic minions and attention seeking pranksters. In appearance, most imps can reach the side size of a mouse or a large rat. With demonic interference they can grow to the size of a small dog.” Xandie gagged but kept on reading.

  “They are colorless and genderless, and bony with pointed ears, teeth and tail. Their faces are frozen in a grimace or evil smirk. Elder imps will grow a small set of horns; this is a mark of importance. Imps will have small nubs for horns. They travel in packs and can congregate in large numbers and are used by a demon or human master to flush victims or targets out. One imp is an annoyance; a pack of imps can be compared to a plague of rats or human toddlers. Always call an imp exterminator to deal with them.”

  She had imps. Grey horrible plague animals from hell. Just when she thought Point Muse couldn’t surprise her, along came hairless residents of hell. “Know any imp exterminators, Theo?” Xandie frowned when he refused to answer except for a thin wail from deep inside the house. Bolting out of a chair in search of Theo, Xandie locked the door to the library, but kept hold of a book. It made a handy imp-flattening device.

  Xandie poked her head around the corner of the hallway, facing the sitting room and the stairs. The noise of a hundred tiny little claws tapping on the floor hit her first. Little gray, hairless bodies ran every which way. Including the four attached to Theo as he galloped past. One imp hung on the cat’s tail and flapped in the air like a flag. The other two dotted along his spine. The fourth one attached between Theo’s ears, hanging onto the cat’s pointed appendages and trying to drive.

  “Help me. I swear I will never vomit fur balls on your pillow again,” Theo screamed as he zoomed past her.

  “Wait, what? That’s disgusting.”

  “Help me.” Theo’s wailing voice faded as the imps drove him into the kitchen.

  A scratching of claws above her had Xandie eyeing the roof. But instead of frolicking imps, parachuting ones confronted her instead.

  Parachuting. With. Her. Bras.

  An imp with her favorite lilac bra in hand poised on the balustrade above. Other imps below chanted an incomprehensible name. Giggling, he raised his tiny little claws and hoisted Xandie’s bra above his head. He bent his gray, hairless knees and launched himself into space. His round gargoyle-like face twisted into a smirk. With the bra stretched overhead, he plummeted like a rock to the ground and hit with a spectacular spray of ash.

  “Oh, hell no. No more suicide by underwear. Especially mine.” She ran to the kitchen and surprised a gruesome gaggle of imps about to boomerang a paring knife at Theo, who lay bound and gagged with kitchen tea towels. Xandie used her thick book as an imp battering ram until she reached Theo. She grabbed him, still bound, under her other arm and bolted out the front door. Chest heaving and cat in tow, Xandie stumbled away from her door and called Lila. It wasn’t too long before her cousin sped up the driveway, a white van in tow.

  “War zone in there, huh?” Lila pointed to the ash decorating Xandie’s white T-shirt and Theo’s black fur. Xandie shuddered and shook both of them out. The library’s book on imps hit the ground with a thud. “I forgot I had the book when I grabbed Theo. Must’ve captured a stray imp and squished it when we ran outside.”

  A trio of men in HAZMAT suits with tanks and sprayers on their backs shambled into the house.

  “Come on, sweetie. Let’s get you and Theo to my apartment and settled in with pizza. They should be done late tonight, and you can return triumphant tomorrow.”

  “Who are they?” Xandie let Lila tow her and Theo to the car.

  “Special kind of cleaners. Zach uses them when they have any supernatural infestations. They fill the tanks with holy water. The imps will dust in a heartbeat and even better, these guys clean up afterward. You’ll have a sparkling, imp free house in no time.” Lila buckled Xandie in like a child and deposited Theo on the back seat. “It’s good timing anyway. Mom came around with box of your mom’s stuff she left behind. You can have pizza with me and have a look.”

  Everything seemed such a muddle in Point Muse, but at least she had family looking out for her. Xandie shifted back in her seat, wondering what answers she wanted more.

  The killers’ identity or her mother’s? Because right now both were a complete mystery to her.

  Ten

  Theo purred as he snuggled against an imp-free Xandie. She’d had to wash her hair three times before eau du imp disappeared. Now she’d had a feast of pizza and way too many of Lila’s cupcakes. Sugar equaled happiness in this town.

  “Here you go. I’ve no clue what’s in it.” Lila dropped a cardboard box decorated with pictures of pink houses next to Xandie on the couch. She waited for Xandie to open the package.

  Xandie extended a hand and traced her mother’s handwritten name on the side of the box. “My mother wrote this.”

  “Yep, her best memories went into the box. Miranda didn’t take it with her when you all left, but she updated it every time she visited. Mom says it’s crammed full of stuff.”

  Her mom stored her memories in Point Muse instead of leaving them with her dad. Maybe she’d thought dad would throw them out? Or had she planned to bring Xandie back to town permanently? So many questions, including why and how her mother had disappeared, ran through her mind. She slid a finger under the lid and let it fall off the other side. It was jam-packed full of stuffed toys, ribbons and trophies, photos and even a drawing Xandie had done as a child. “Look, Lila.” She held up a drawing of a cat chasing fairies. “It’s Theo, and I drew him chasing fairies.”

  “He loves tormenting them. He hasn’t done it in a while. I think he’s too fat for it now.”

  Theo opened one eye. “I think you’re overdosing on your own products. Maybe sugar-free is the way to go.”

  “Shush, feline, no mean comments when you’re in my domain.” Lila flicked a strawberry from one of the leftover cupcakes at Theo.

  “How did you know what he said? So far I’m the only one who can hear him.”

  “His face. He gets this expression. I call it the aren’t-we-glad-we-can’t-hear-him face. And don’t let him fool you, he decides who hears him. He just likes being a pain.”

  Rummaging through the box, Xandie grabbed a floppy bunny with only one ear. “This was mom’s. I remember her talking about a one-eared pirate bunny.”

  Lila chuckled. “Mom used to tell me stories about a one-eyed pirate fairy when I was little. There’s a theme happening.”

  A photo snagged Xandie’s attention. One of all the sisters together. “Look how young they are.” She showed the picture to her cousin.

  “Aunt Win would have been fourteen, mom fifteen and your mom almost seventeen. Check out the curly brown hair. Mom so dyes her hair. She swears that shade of reddish-brown is natural…liar.”

  Xandie giggled. All the women had wild brown hair with curls. The sisters were striking. She found another picture of her mom with her arms around a man. Her young-looking father, no silver streaks in this photo. Only big smiles and an even larger tummy on her mother. She must have been pregnant with Xandie. Who knew only a
few years later the family would shatter with her mom’s disappearance?

  “It’s okay to grieve, Xandie. Your mom loved you. You’re entitled to have sad times, especially when you’re looking through photos.” Lila patted Xandie’s head as she walked past. “I have a new cupcake mix and you’re my test subject. Blueberry and cilantro. See what you think?”

  Hazard of having a baker for a cousin. Weird concoctions of food tested on your stomach lining. Xandie reached into the box and drew out another photo. This one didn’t provoke happy memories. A photo of a mom’s car after she disappeared. Windows down, doors open. Her mom’s purse open on the seat and her phone out, but not on. This must be a crime scene photo. Someone had slipped it into her mother’s box. She hadn’t seen it before, but she’d been told the car engine had been running and the radio left blaring.

  A lump formed in her throat and she cleared it twice with a cough. She couldn’t remember anything of that day except for the odd flash. An image of a mom arguing with Sera. Of her cuddling with Theo in the library. Then a flash of mom bending over her, telling her to stay safe. And then nothing. Just a complete blank.

  “Your mom’s car after she disappeared?” Lila placed a plate of cakes on the table and sat next to Xandie.

  “Yeah. Looks like it was taken right after they found the car, just after sunset. Cops found me wandering an hour later. Miles away from the car. It was almost winter, and the frosts had set in, so I was near frozen. I wasn’t talking except when they took me to Sera and all I kept repeating was Theo’s name. My father picked me up hours later. Drove me straight to a therapist and refused to talk about my mother for years.”

  Lila pried the photo out of Xandie’s hand. She frowned for a moment before speaking. “There were no signs of struggle or any hint someone had hurt her, right?”

  “Nothing. They decided she must’ve had a mental breakdown and walked away. We were near the coast, so the police thought she had gone over a cliff somewhere. That’s why we never found her.”

  “I don’t think she had a nervous breakdown.”

  “Why not? My father sure did. He blames Point Muse and Sera for her death.”

  Lila pointed to the frosted windows in the picture of the vehicle. “Because of that.”

  Xandie leaned in. People found her mom’s car quickly after she disappeared. The photo showed fogged-up windows. Even with the open doors, with the motor running, the interior would have been warmer than the frigid air outside. Hence the degree of condensation. And right where Lila pointed was a symbol drawn onto the fogged window on the driver’s side. “What’s that?”

  Lila jumped up and rummaged through a drawer, triumphantly holding aloft a kid’s magnifying glass. “Try this.”

  She threw the magnifying glass across the room. Xandie snatched it out of the air and peered at the photo. She drew in a swift breath as she focused on the symbol.

  “What is it?” Lila crowded in next to Xandie.

  Xandie tapped at the photo with the tip of one finger. “Remember the symbol? The one I drew of the mayor’s ring that the library identified as the Knights of Pure Blood? This is the same design.”

  “Knights took Aunt Miranda?”

  “Why else would she draw that symbol on the car window? She must have known what was happening. She sent me away and stayed behind to distract them.” Her mom hadn’t walked away from her and her father. Someone had made her do it.

  “If we find this knight, do we find who took your mother? Could she still be alive?”

  Xandie licked her lips. Thinking of her mom alive and with them again almost overwhelmed her synapses. But she couldn’t let hope build, not after so many years apart. “She can’t be alive after this long, otherwise she’d have made it back to us. But maybe we can find out what happened.”

  “This is getting serious. Should we get Mom and Aunt Winifred in on this too?”

  “I think that’s a good idea. We need to find the killer before someone else gets hurt.”

  Maybe someone just like her.

  “You do this every day?” Xandie wiped the sweat off her forehead and went back to kneading bread.

  Lila piped icing on a tray of little cakes. “You want your butter puffs? You need to put in the sweat for them.”

  “I’m rethinking my addiction.”

  Lila giggled. “At least your house is now free of demonic squatters. Theo doesn’t need to live in fear of his fur.”

  Thank god for those cleaners. Xandie shuddered. “Those ugly little things were nasty. Thanks for putting me up for the night.”

  “Getting the bread kneaded before the lunch rush is thanks enough.”

  One of Lila’s employees poked her head around the door of the kitchen. “There’s a phone call for Xandie at the front counter.”

  “Saved by the bell.” Xandie smirked and cleaned off her doughy hands. Ignoring Lila’s growl, she slipped through the kitchen doors and grabbed the phone. Thankfully it wasn’t busy yet, so the lunchtime rush hadn’t begun. Only a few diehard customers inhaling an early feed were present. “Xandie Meyers.”

  “I swear you’re a trouble magnet.”

  Zach Braun’s sigh at the end of his words tickled Xandie’s ear. “Those imps were nothing to do with me.”

  “Did you at least set up a watch on the house and the library?”

  “Aunt Winifred and some of her friends are keeping an eye out. Not to mention the other nosy gossips out there.”

  “The Dragon shifters. They always like to know what’s going on in town. For some of them, knowledge is gold.”

  “Yeah. A teenage dragon visited the library before the council meeting to tell me they were watching and judging my performance.”

  “That’s dragons for you. So, the cleaners worked? Any idea who set them on your house?”

  Xandie leaned against the counter, keeping an eye on the customers. Last problem she needed was a customer coming in for coffee and leaving with gossip. She noticed a man hunched over in the corner. Mr. Mitas, the banker, hunkered over a golden cranberry and ginseng muffin. He’d wandered in earlier and sneered at Xandie behind the counter.

  “Xandie?”

  She realized she’d stopped talking while she stared at Mr. Mitas. “Sorry, I’m helping Lila out of the bakery as thanks for putting me up the last night.”

  “Is there anything else you need to tell me? Anything? You have a habit of hiding important information and then someone dies.”

  He wasn’t wrong about that. Too many corpses with a link to her had surfaced lately. Braun probably had indigestion at the thought of her working near food with her bad luck. He already knew about the SUV lease to the Council. But she should at least give him a heads up about the Sanguis Knight.

  “I have some information that might interest you. I found a photo in my mother’s stuff. A crime scene photo taken after she disappeared.” Xandie focused on Mr. Mitas, trying to distract herself from the image of a deserted car and the symbol drawn on the window. The banker shifted on his chair. He shoved an empty plate to the side of the table and rubbed his stomach, wincing.

  “What’s wrong with the photo?”

  “A symbol’s drawn into the foggy windows of my mom’s car. A symbol for the Knights Sanguis.”

  “Pure Blood killers, you mean. You think they’re connected to your mom’s disappearance?”

  “Maybe, but I’ve seen the same symbol here in Point Muse.”

  The banker shoved his table aside and vomited on the floor.

  “Where did you see it?”

  Eew. Lila would hate the mess. Mr. Mitas started to writhe on his chair, white liquid pooling in the corners of his mouth. “Oh. My. God.” Did the banker have rabies?

  “Xandie, what’s wrong?”

  The man keeled over and fell from his chair, twitching spasmodically until his body froze. Xandie stared, shocked. “You need to get an ambulance here right away.”

  “What’s happened now?”

  The few custome
rs in the shop crowded around Mr. Mitas, trying to get a response out of him. Xandie moved the phone away from her mouth and hollered for her cousin.

  “Alexandra Meyers, what’s going on?” Braun yelled down the line.

  “You need to get here ASAP. I think George Mitas just died.” Xandie slammed the phone down. She knew in her bones his death by golden cranberry muffin would be laid at her door.

  Her bad luck still held firm.

  “You’re closed until the health inspector can check your bakery out.”

  Xandie wrapped an arm around her devastated cousin, and Holly on the other side did the same, both girls keeping Lila propped upright.

  “I don’t understand. All the ingredients are natural and sourced locally. I adhere to all health regulations.” Lila shook her head in shock.

  “That may be the problem, natural ingredients. Maybe you picked the wrong ones?”

  “No way. I know what I’m doing. He’s the only regular who eats my golden cranberry and ginseng muffin. I take extra care with it and always have his serving of muffin put aside.”

  “Sorry, Lila. The health inspector is already on the way. I’ve got Caleb rushing the sample over for testing himself. We’ll have an answer soon. Meanwhile, take a rest. All of you.” He pinned Xandie with an impressive stare. “No more investigating. I’ve got it from here.”

  All the girls nodded as he left, taking his personnel with him.

  “This is my fault, isn’t it? They couldn’t frame me, now they’ve moved on to my friends and family.” Xandie squeezed Lila’s arm. “I’m sorry.”

  Lila shook off the girls’ hugs and pointed to the ceiling. “Coffee and cake upstairs in my apartment. And don’t worry. I’ll try not to poison you.” She stomped up the stairs, with a worried Holly and Xandie close behind.

  Lila banged plates in the kitchen and dumped a rich chocolate cake on the table with a pot of coffee.

  Xandie and Holly both tucked in. Easy-going Lila disappeared only to be replaced by grumpy cook and witch.