From Rags to Witches

by Michelle Rowen

  “I’m sure she is,” Thierry replied.

  “Such a lovely woman,” Alicia said. “But she’s so unlike your first wife. I can’t even fathom how you and Sarah have made things work seemingly so well.”

  “Agreed. Sarah is entirely different from Veronique.”

  “I must say, I sensed something from her, Thierry. Something…well, your marriage is none of my business, of course. Still, I consider you a dear friend, and your happiness is important to me.”

  “I welcome any information you may feel you have to offer, Alicia.”

  “It’s just that…she didn’t seem happy with your relationship. Such a pity, really. But it’s understandable. She is so young, and you are so—”

  “Old?” Thierry finished.

  “Experienced,” she corrected. “And very wise.”

  “Sarah is far wiser than you might think.” Thierry held my gaze as he spoke to the vampire. “But perhaps you’re right. I’ve sensed it too, this…dissatisfaction.”

  My bat brows shot up.

  “Oh?” Alicia said.

  “Seeing you again has made me remember our time together,” he said. “It’s made me long for more than what I currently have.”

  “Oh. Well, Thierry, that is…very intriguing. I can’t help but feel the same way. When you brought her with you to meet me, I assumed it was a signal for me not to hope that we’d ever rekindle what we once had.”

  “As you very well know, Alicia, marriages are not the end of potential relationships with other people.”

  “Yes, indeed. I agree. And…it’s why I called you, actually. I’ve missed your body more than I can say, and I feel a great need to be reunited with it. I want to meet with you.”

  “When?” Thierry asked without missing a beat.

  “Now,” she said.

  “Where?”

  I could hear the anticipation in Alicia’s voice as she gave him the address to a bed and breakfast on the outskirts of town where she’d been staying.

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he told her before he ended the call.

  “So,” I said. “A husband doesn’t usually talk to their mistress on speaker with their wife present. Even when the role of the wife is currently played by a winged rodent.”

  “Indeed they don’t,” he agreed.

  “I told you what she wants to do.”

  “You did.”

  “And you’re still going to meet with her?”

  Thierry braced his hands on the steering wheel, his knuckles white. “Would you prefer that I leave town with my tail tucked between my legs?”

  “No. And I hope you don’t mean that literally. No more animal parts needed than we already have, thanks.”

  “Alicia must be stopped. And that grimoire you mentioned must be destroyed.”

  I knew he was right, but it didn’t make it any better.

  “Fine,” I said, pressing my furry cheek against the smooth leather of the dashboard. “But if you get body-snatched again by trying to do the right thing, I’m going to be really pissed.”

  8

  The bed and breakfast sat on a large, lush plot of land at the end of a long, winding, pebbled driveway. It was a very charming house with a sparkling tiled roof and stonework that made it look like something out of a fairy tale.

  It was far too nice for that horny, duplicitous vampire.

  “I’m not waiting in the car, in case you were wondering,” I told Thierry as he parked the car.

  “I feel that Alicia might sense something off if I met her with a bat perched on my shoulder,” he replied.

  “True,” I allowed, as I crawled up to that specific position. Thierry did have very nice, broad, perchable shoulders, I had to admit. I scanned the bed and breakfast, which had a patio to the left, set up with chairs and tables. “That tree by the patio, just put me on a branch, high enough to observe.”

  Thierry didn’t argue, which I deeply appreciated, and he lifted me up toward a tree branch, which I grabbed hold of with my creepy little feet.

  He cocked his head as I studied him back from upside down. “This still defies belief.”

  “And yet, it’s all true.”

  “You don’t look or sound anything like yourself, Sarah. And yet, I know it’s still you.”

  “Great,” I replied dryly. “So maybe we can work this out, even if I can’t get changed back to my normal self. The gorgeous, immortal master vampire and his tiny, beady-eyed wife, Bat Girl.”

  “You’re still a brunette,” he replied.

  “This is not the time to learn how to be funny, Thierry,” I said grumpily. “Let’s just stop your evil ex-girlfriend and get the hell out of here before I eat a bug. I’m seriously starving.”

  “Thierry…you’re here. Why don’t you join me in my room?” Alicia’s voice made me tense, and Thierry turned in the vampire’s direction.

  Showtime.

  “Let sit out here on the patio for now,” Thierry said.

  She smiled. “If you like.”

  And there she was, every bit as lovely as she’d looked in Paris when she’d whispered to her warlock lover to turn me into a bat. I felt adequately shielded by foliage in the tree, but she didn’t even glance in my direction.

  Why would she? She likely thought I was still flopping around the City of Lights with no chance of a quick return to Thierry.

  Ha! Think again, loser.

  They took a seat only a dozen feet from where I was perched. Or where I hung. Hanged. Whatever. Alicia put her bag down next to her.

  Damn, I forgot to tell Thierry that the flash drive grimoire was in her handbag. Or at least it had been. Maybe she’d moved it. It looked like a different bag anyway. This was more of a larger tote. Givenchy, by the looks of it.

  I’d quickly come to despise Alicia but had to admit the vampire had amazing fashion sense.

  The clock in the car had shown that it was already seven o’clock, and the sun was starting to set. Triggered by the growing darkness, a few lamps lit on the patio. No one else was out there, thankfully. Just Miss Moulin Rouge with her gaze trailing all over Thierry’s body.

  I guess I had to be slightly thankful that she wanted my husband for his body, not his mind. If it had been both, then I wouldn’t be able to keep my tiny bat claws to myself.

  “This reminds me of Paris,” Alicia said. “Sitting outdoors, enjoying the beautiful evening, and the company of a charming man.”

  Gag.

  “Yes, Paris,” Thierry said wistfully. “I miss it there. Have you visited recently?”

  “It’s been a few years, I’m sad to say. But I plan a trip back very soon.” She raised a brow. “Perhaps you could join me.”

  “That is certainly possible.” He reached forward and touched the silver locket that hung just outside of her blouse. “This is lovely.”

  “A gift from Franklin.” To her credit, she didn’t immediately recoil at having her magical poofing amulet fondled. “For all his faults, he gave me some lovely gifts over the years. But gifts do not make up for a broken marriage, no matter how expensive they are.”

  “This is very true.”

  Alicia’s expression turned serious. “Let me ask you something, Thierry. Your answer is very important to me, as someone who has known me a long time.”

  “Of course.”

  “Did Franklin ever truly love me?” she asked.

  “He married you.”

  “True. It’s just…” She shook her head. “Earlier, at the diner, I saw how you looked at Sarah. There was a softness in your gaze, one I’m not sure I’ve ever seen in any man’s eyes when they look at me.”

  “A softness,” he repeated. “Weakness, you mean.”

  “No, not weakness.” She pondered this for a moment. “Love. Real love, and not just because you find her attractive. You…genuinely like her. You enjoy her company. You consider her, despite her youth and inexperience, to be your equal.”

  Thierry didn’t speak for a moment, and I
realized I was hanging on to every word.

  Hanging upside down, that was.

  “Yes, it’s true,” he replied simply.

  “She’s a very lucky girl. I hope she knows that.”

  “That, Alicia, is entirely debatable. I certainly come with my share of issues for one so young as Sarah to deal with on a daily basis.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short, Thierry. You are quite perfect. I only wish Franklin looked at me as you look at Sarah. It would have changed so many things.”

  “Perhaps. But there’s a difference, Alicia.”

  “What?”

  “Even if I’d never entered Sarah’s life. Even if she hadn’t become a vampire, she would still have the same moral compass. She would still be a woman worthy of the truest and purest love because she would never, not a million years, harm someone without cause.”

  Alicia lifted her chin. “Is that what Franklin tells you I do?”

  “Consider it a personal observation. The years have not been kind to you, Alicia. You are every bit as beautiful as you’ve ever been, but your sour dissatisfaction with yourself and the life you’ve lived is palpable. And the choices you’ve made to change this outer life are every bit as visible as a physical scar.”

  She frowned. “Thierry…”

  “You expect your husband to make you happy, to make you feel loved, when it is entirely up to you to feel these things. Such a sense of self-worth must come from the inside, Alicia. Any outer gifts—baubles, jewels, homes, cars, compliments from handsome men—cannot adequately fill up someone who is as utterly empty on the inside as you are.”

  I tensed with every word that came out of his mouth. While I still glowed at what Thierry had said about me, I had no idea he’d say all of this to Alicia, especially knowing what she planned. I mean, he was speaking the truth, but this truth had very sharp edges.

  Alicia’s expression had turned icy. “I see.”

  Thierry shook his head. “That’s the problem, Alicia. You don’t see. If you did, you never would have invited me here this evening.”

  She glared at him for several tense and silent moments. “Oh, Thierry, you’re lucky you’re so attractive, or I might change my mind about you.”

  “About what?” Thierry said. “About your warlock lover's plan to possess my body?”

  Her eyes widened.

  “He’s lying to you, Alicia. He’s using you, and despite your age and experience, you’re utterly ignorant to this. You asked me if Franklin truly loved you. The answer is, he did. In the beginning, he saw you as a beautiful woman whom he enjoyed spending time with. A woman he genuinely wanted to marry and share the rest of eternity with. But as the years passed, he realized that the woman he met was nothing but a façade, a fabrication. Something you created because you thought that’s what he wanted. But he didn’t want a lie. He wanted the real you. But perhaps you don’t even know who the real you is.”

  Thierry had rendered her speechless, her face pale in the shadows of dusk.

  “I see,” she said softly.

  “Believe it or not, Alicia, I can help you navigate your way out of your recent unfortunate decisions. It’s not too late to turn back, to make another choice. Damon is poison for you in so many ways.”

  Alicia blinked, shaking her head. “I must say, Thierry, you have presented a very compelling argument tonight. And it’s true. I do struggle with feeling worthy. I can’t think of a single day in my existence when I felt that I was fully in charge of my own decisions. My own power. And yet, here we are.”

  She reached into her tote bag and pulled out the flash drive.

  Thierry eyed it. “Give that to me, Alicia. This can end right now without any further difficulties.”

  “I don’t know how Sarah managed to get a message to you.” Alicia shook her head. “But I must say, I’m impressed.”

  He held out his hand patiently. “The grimoire, Alicia.”

  “Truth be told? For a moment, I thought we had a chance, you and I. Right here, right now. I might have turned my back on Damon, and we could have picked up where we left off a century ago and lived happily ever after.”

  “Apologies, Alicia, but you seem to remember something much more meaningful than I do,” Thierry said.

  Her eyes flashed with anger. “Very well. You’ve made my choice much simpler for me.”

  She reached into the tote bag again and pulled out a PC tablet. The screen lit up in the darkness. “I make my own choices, Thierry. And I choose this.”

  As she began to connect the flash drive to the USB port on the tablet, I realized I wasn’t in the tree anymore. I was in the air, flapping my wings, and I hadn’t hit the ground yet.

  In fact, I was making a direct beeline (or bat-line?) toward the vampire who wanted to gift my husband’s body to her evil boyfriend.

  I flew like a pro! Like I’d been a bat all of my life!

  Fat Bastard was right: I just needed to believe in myself.

  And I believed. I believed I could fly! Fly high into the—

  I felt the stunning hit as Alicia’s hand swatted me away like a pesky mosquito. I landed on the ground hard, my head swimming.

  Thierry’s gaze shot to me. “Sarah!”

  I blinked, my vision clearing in time to see Alicia slide the flash drive grimoire home.

  No!

  Nothing happened for several moments, but then electricity charged the air, and I heard a crackle to accompany it. A gust of wind picked up, whipping across the patio, bringing with it a ribbon of darkness, a tornado of shadows, that swiftly took the form of a man. No face, no clothes, nothing but shadows.

  “Damon!” Alicia gasped.

  “You did it.” The warlock sounded very pleased.

  “I did. Of course, I did. We’ll be together forever, my love.”

  The Shadow-Damon turned toward Thierry, who’d risen to his feet. I tried to move, tried to crawl closer, but I was still recovering from being clobbered.

  “Thierry,” Damon said, and even in this form with an unnaturally deep echo of a voice, I could hear his disdain.

  “Damon,” Thierry replied. “This was a very bad decision on your part.”

  “I disagree. No, in fact, this is a very good decision.”

  “You despise me. Why would you want to reside within my body indefinitely?”

  “I despise you, yes. I always have, and I always will. But I recognize your power, Thierry. Your influence. Those who fear you still respect you. You are able to deeply reach into the world of both vampires and witches in a way that I cannot. That’s something I can use.”

  Thierry cocked a brow. “Selling shoes doesn’t appeal anymore?”

  “I’m moving on.”

  “I’m a consultant for the Ring, not its leader or even an elder.”

  “You founded the Ring. You could lead the Ring again if you chose to, but you refuse to grasp hold of that kind of power. Do you fear it, Thierry?”

  “No. I’m simply not interested in that kind of responsibility anymore.”

  “Liar. Perhaps you’re fearful of what it might do to you. Power. Ultimate power. It might corrupt you to the point that a woman like Sarah would never wish to be in your presence again.” Shadow-Damon chuckled. “If only you could see what I did to your little wife, Thierry. It was so very amusing.”

  “I saw,” Thierry said evenly. “And I admit, your spell is a bit amusing. But it’s nothing that can’t be reversed.”

  Thierry’s confidence abruptly halted Damon’s laughter.

  “Enough,” Damon growled. “The spell is set. The grimoire’s magic is far too powerful for anyone to resist. Farewell, de Bennicoeur.”

  “Farewell, Damon,” Thierry said, his gaze steady with the shadowy entity.

  Damon lunged for Thierry, and a scream escaped my throat as I watched the pitch-black shadows envelope my husband. I scrabbled closer to them, pulling myself across the patio surface with my claws.

  The shadows circled Thierry like a tornado, f
aster and faster, but they didn’t disappear. Instead, they began to slow, and the shadows took their Damon-like form again.

  “What the hell is this?” Damon hissed. “The spell—”

  “Is very powerful,” Thierry cut him off. “Absolutely. My skin crawls from this dark magic.”

  “What’s happening?” Alicia managed.

  Thierry swiftly closed the distance between us and scooped me up, placing me gently on his shoulder. “Do you know anything about vampires, Alicia? You’ve been one for over a century, but have you done no research whatsoever?”

  She just stared at him.

  Damon stalked closer to Thierry again. “You have been possessed before,” he said.

  “I have,” Thierry replied. “Quite recently, in fact. I admit I hadn’t done my own research on the subject until that experience, but I learned something very interesting. Once possessed by a spirit, a demon, or a greedy warlock, the vampire can physically withstand another possession. Had you taken me by surprise, perhaps you would have been successful. But luckily, Sarah warned me of what was to come.”

  “This can’t be,” Damon snarled.

  “Oh, but it can. And I also know something else. Your current incorporeal state is very volatile, and you should cease to exist in about a minute.” Thierry spread his hands. “It’s terribly unfortunate, but facts are facts.”

  “Oh, my God,” Alicia whispered. “Damon, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

  Damon’s shadowy, featureless face whipped in her direction. “I have a minute, do I?”

  The shadows flowed toward Alicia, whose eyes widened as her incorporeal boyfriend loomed in front of her. “A woman’s body is not my first choice, of course. And a vampire, no less. But it’s far better than oblivion.”

  Alicia shrieked as Damon began to swirl around her, ready to possess her and take over her body and her life.

  But then he stopped, frozen in the air as if his pause button had been pushed. I clutched Thierry’s shoulder and turned to see someone else join us on the patio.

  Monique, who had her hands held out to her sides, green light sparkling around her hands.

  “Salut, Thierry,” she said, nodding at him. “It’s so very good to see you again.”