Martha drew in a breath, her eyes wide. I didn’t think the witch was accustomed to people talking to her like that. Tough. The cashier froze with the egg carton in her hands. “I don’t know why you’re so angry with me,” said Martha, her tone taking on an edge. “If you want to be angry with someone, be angry with Marcus.”
I stilled. “Marcus? Why?” My hands started to shake, and my hair lifted in an unfelt breeze. The cashier rushed to grab another bag.
“It was his idea,” expressed the witch. “And, he had the final vote. He could have voted against it, but he didn’t. He voted to have your aunts removed.”
A surge of energy coursed through me—
The eggs in my carton exploded, showering the cashier and Martha in yellow yolk. Whoops.
“You idiot! Look what you did to my new blouse!” shrilled Martha, seemingly at a loss for what happened. I knew I had just made another enemy, but I didn’t care.
Pissed, I grabbed my bags, left the eggs, and stormed out.
12
Your brain does funny things when you’re mad. Like things you wouldn’t normally do on any other given day when your emotions are stable and not high on anger. As it was, my emotions were not stable in the least. They had been on a giant roller coaster since I stepped into this town.
And the beast’s name was Marcus.
I didn’t even realize I was crossing the street with my bags still in my hands. I barely felt the weight of them as I hit the sidewalk, making a beeline for the gray stone building with the large stupid letters—HOLLOW COVE SECURITY AGENCY.
A shape ran up to me. “You don’t want to do this, Tess,” said Ronin, his voice strained and a little nervous.
Blood thumped against my temples. “Yeah. I do,” I said with an added deranged giggle.
“You’re not thinking straight. Just wait a second. Will you? Let’s talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. I thought about it all night long,” I said, through gritted teeth. “I know what I’m doing.” Not really. But my legs had a mind of their own. I could see shapes through the double glass doors. Good.
Ronin jumped in my way and planted himself in front of the doors. His long arms stretched out on either side. “I know why you’re pissed. I’d be mad too if Marcus had sacked my aunts.” He shrugged. “Not really. My aunts are dead, but I get it. I really do.”
My sense of betrayal rose higher, cementing my anger. “Out of my way, Ronin.”
“Or what? You’re going to turn me into a toad?”
“No. But I might roast you.”
Ronin swallowed. “How about we go somewhere and talk? Talking is good. Women love to talk. Right? And I’m an excellent listener. I’m the pillow talk prince. I even do the encouraging nod and the widening of the eyes on the important bits.”
“I don’t want to talk.” I want to break Marcus’s face with my fist.
Ronin looked over his shoulder and then back at me. “If you go in there, it’s not going to solve anything.”
I was shaking so hard I felt I might fall apart. “Maybe not. But it will make me feel so damn good.”
Ronin stiffened. “He can hurt you, you know.”
My thoughts drifted to last night at the meeting, when Marcus told the entire town that the Merlin Group was off the job. He might as well have killed my aunts right there and then. He took their entire lives away in the three seconds it took him to utter those words.
“We’re past that,” I ground out. “He’s already hurt my family. There’s not much more he can do to me.”
Ronin shifted nervously. “You can’t just go in there.”
“Watch me. Now move.” I shoved Ronin with my arm and moved past him. Slipping the fingers of my right hand through the bag loop, I grabbed the cold metal handle and yanked the door open. I marched in, grocery bags and all.
I rushed down a hallway into a lobby, not caring about taking in any of the details except that everything was covered in beige. The hurried steps behind me said Ronin was following me. As I passed a few closed doors, the sporadic conversation and clatter of keyboards hit me, so did the smell of freshly brewed coffee.
A desk sat at the end of the lobby where it opened up into a larger space, and a woman with short white hair was seated behind it. She wore a white pressed shirt and a pointed look, making the wrinkles around her face sharper.
I could see other doors that led to more offices and four more desks. Two men I recognized from the crime scene on my very first night in Hollow Cove were looking at something on one of the computers.
“Can I help you?” asked the older woman. She cocked a brow at the sight of me. Her tone was belligerent, as though sitting in that chair in this building gave her some misplaced authority.
“Hi, Grace.” Ronin stood next to me. “You look lovely today. Those are lovely pearls.”
Grace narrowed her eyes at me, ignoring Ronin. “I know who you are. What do you want?”
Ribbons of anger tightened in my gut. “Is the chief in?”
Her eyes flicked to the door to her right. It was all I needed.
And then I was moving.
“Hey! You can’t go in there!” she shouted. “You need to make an appointment!”
I made for the door, my heart pounding like a machinegun. Stenciled on the window was the name MARCUS DURAND with the words CHIEF OFFICER written under it.
Okay, so I might have gotten arrested for what I was about to do, but it would have been worth it.
I didn’t know what I would say to him. I figured I’d just wing it and see what happened.
Working my fingers through the bag’s loops, I turned the door handle and kicked the door in.
“You son of a bitch,” I seethed. The door smashed into the wall with a loud crash.
Marcus looked up from his desk. “Tessa?”
I planted myself in front of him as my fury fed whatever innate power I had inside. It stirred from my feet to my head, swirling up to settle in my belly. I was shaking with it. The strength flowed through me, carrying a pleasant slurry of tingles with it, and it felt good.
I knew my hair was floating around me. I probably looked mad and ready for the loony bin, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t leaving until I’d given this pompous bastard a piece of my mind.
“How could you do that to my aunts?” I shouted, and I felt some spit flying out. Great. I was a rabid witch.
“Hey! Watch it!” cried Ronin as two thick brutes came crashing in. They saw me and made to move toward me, but with one flick of Marcus’s hand, they halted.
My anger broke like a fever. “You took away their lives. It’s all they’ve ever known. All their lives they’ve been watching over this town to keep everyone safe. And you just took that away in one stupid town meeting. Who the hell do you think you are?”
Marcus’s expression darkened. “The chief.”
My pulse raced. “A bastard is more like it,” I said and saw the two men stiffen. “You had no right to do what you did. Tossing them away like they were garbage.” The image of their faces, beaten and frightened flashed in my mind’s eye and intensified my rage until it was nearly palpable.
Before I could control it, a spark of my magic left me. I wasn’t sure where it came from. It just was. The papers on Marcus’s desk floated up and so did his small garbage pail and his coffee mug. He didn’t look surprised. His face was carefully blank, which only made me angrier.
Marcus leaned forward and put his elbows on his desk. “You need to calm down.”
“It was your idea. Wasn’t it? To call in the Unseen?” I wanted to hear him say it.
He shifted in his chair. “It was. Yes.”
“Just like it was your idea to cast away my aunts.”
A small noise escaped him and his eyes widened in mock concern. “I didn’t cast them away.”
“Dude, you sorta did,” commented Ronin, nodding his head slowly.
Marcus glared at my only friend in this town. “I made
an informed decision in a difficult time. The council voted.”
My eyebrows rose and a wry smile came over me. “But you pushed it. Didn’t you?”
Marcus settled back, a thoughtful expression smoothing his handsome features, and his posture confident, strong. “My community is scared. My people are frightened. I have a death still unsolved, and our wards are failing and letting demons in.”
“That Tess killed,” said Ronin. “Just FYI if anyone’s still wondering.” He looked at the two goons. “You might want to write that down.”
Marcus’s face became angry and his posture stiff. “I’m responsible for every single soul in this town. It’s my job to keep them safe. I had to do something.” He folded his hands on his desk. “I won’t let more die. I stand by my decision. It was the right call.”
Sweat broke out on the small of my back. “You do realize it was their only source of income,” I ground out, imagining his head popping off like a dandelion. It was a good visual. “Did you ask yourself how three older witches, without any retirement savings, would support themselves? Did you think they could magically make money appear and put food on their tables? How do you suppose they would live the rest of their lives? Because, let me tell you, witches live very long lives.”
Marcus’s face flashed in alarm and his eyes dropped. He looked taken aback for the first time since I stepped into his office. “But…” said Marcus carefully, “the Merlin Group has members all over the world. I thought they worked on other jobs—”
“They don’t, you pompous asshat!” I growled, sounding like an enraged lioness. I was losing my cool—no, I had lost it the moment I walked in. “It’s not like they’re living in luxury either. They have one car that’s older than me. Their clothes are from the eighties, for cauldron’s sake.”
“They totally are,” agreed Ronin. “Boy George wants his dresses back.”
Marcus’s gaze flicked to mine and then away. He was hunched with discomfort. “I did what was best for this town. I never meant—”
“If you hate witches so much, why do you ask for their help?” I asked.
Anger returned to his features, and his jaw clenched. The deep fury in his eyes scared the crap out of me, but we were way past that. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he growled, sounding like a beast. Perhaps he was a werewolf or a werebear.
“I do.” I leaned forward. “I know Ruth gave you some sort of tonic. Probably some healing elixir or something like that. Right?” His eyes widened a millimeter, and I took that as a yes. “Because that’s what she does. It’s where her magic shines. In healing magic.”
“I have nothing but respect for your aunts.”
“Bullshit. I don’t know what Ruth gave you, but it’s obvious it’s something important to you. Your health or someone else’s. A girlfriend? Your parents? I don’t really care. But I know she worked on it for you. Probably spent hours, just to get it right, because that’s who she is. She cares. And you thank her by stabbing her in the back.”
Marcus’s mouth fell open. His eyes widened even farther. His lips parted, and he sat there, seemingly unable to even blink. “I did what I had to for the town—”
“No.” I shook my head. “You did it because you could. Because you had the power to do it. But having power doesn’t give you the right to abuse it.”
“Hear! Hear!” cheered Ronin. I was starting to like him.
“You hate my mother,” I accused, my voice trembling. I couldn’t help it. “You hate me. You hate my aunts.” I narrowed my eyes. “Be careful, Chiefy. There might not be a lot of witches here in Hollow Cove, but there are covens everywhere around the world. And once they hear about how you’ve mistreated their members… because I will tell them… you’ll wish you’d never been born.”
Marcus shifted in his seat. “Are you finished?”
I looked down at him. “Yeah. I am.” And with that, I whirled around and stormed out of his office, grocery bags and all, and never looked back.
And when I heard him swear as his hot coffee mug fell into his lap, I smiled.
13
Ten hours later, I was still shaking from my ordeal with Marcus. I’d mashed up the tofu imagining it was his face. Now it looked more like a purée than the chunks I was going for. It was no secret that my cooking abilities were as good as my rocket science skills. But damn it, I was going to make my aunts dinner—tofu avocado tacos—even if they had to drink it through a straw.
The only thing that eased my temper was reading through The Witch’s Handbook. It lay open on the kitchen island away from the mess of ingredients and bowls scattered over the counter. I had a quarter left to read in the book, and I was determined to have read it at least once by the end of the day.
I glanced at the page. A Witch’s Guide to Power Words.
This was by far my favorite subject. I’d been reading the same six pages over and over for the last two hours, letting the information sink in, savoring it, and committing it to memory.
Power words were a witch’s sword, her grenades—weapons used to command and to destroy. They were considered battle magic or defense magic. Badass witches used them when facing an enemy.
And I would become one of them.
I’d always known there was power in certain words. It had been a recurring subject with my aunts over the years though I’d never actually witnessed any of them use a power word. And when they spoke of power words, it was always said in hushed tones, as though they feared the words. Which only increased my curiosity a thousand-fold.
The more I read, the more excited I got, especially when I read the part where power words and elemental magic went hand in hand. You could use power words with the elements. Though I’d never imagined I could pull on the energy of the elements and throw a couple of power words in the mix to create the atomic bomb of magic. Now that was hardcore magic.
So far, I’d memorized four essential power words: Accendo, to ignite fire; Ventum, to call up wind; Protego, to conjure a sphere-shaped shield of protection (because I would need it); and Fulgur, to conjure a bolt of lightning.
One in particular I’d saved for Marcus later (involving his groin).
Yet, like all magic, power words came with a price. No surprise there. The tiny asterisk at the bottom of the page noted: The use of any power word will cause excruciating pain to the witch invoking it. The more dangerous the power word, the worse the pain will be. Some witches have died using a power word. Tread carefully.
Power words were dangerous because they were raw magic. They needed to be wielded with great precision, and using them took a chunk of power that left the conjurer near exhaustion. When using power words, there were no second chances. If you messed up, got tongue-tied, and said the word wrong, you died. Yup. Plain and simple, which explained why so few among witches used them. For one, they hurt because magic claimed a piece of you, even if you did it right. And if you didn’t, well, it didn’t really matter since you’d be dead.
Power words were used as a last resort, when all else failed. And yet, something inside me stirred as I kept reading about them. It was like they called to me. They wanted me to use them.
The kitchen’s back door swung open making me flinch.
“… I told you it was a waste of time,” Dolores was saying as she hung her purse on one of the wooden pegs. Ruth walked in behind her. “That chief won’t listen to reason. Just like his father, that one—” Dolores’s eyes widened when she spotted me. “Tessa? Are you working on a science project?”
“What?” I looked around the kitchen, over the mess of flour, splattered tofu and beans on the counter, at the cookbooks that were speckled with tomato sauce. “Okay. It does look like a science project.”
Ruth giggled. “I think you failed. You’ve got avocado in your hair.”
“I do?” I reached up and pulled a clump of avocado out of my hair. “Great.”
“What are you trying to do here?” Dolores walked around the kitchen staring
at the four steaming pots on the stovetop. Her face looked puzzled, and I could see she was trying hard not to laugh.
The back door opened again, and Beverly strolled through, pulling a man behind her. “Ata-boy, Henry,” she said and yanked the doe-eyed Henry into the kitchen.
“Your date?” I asked, staring at the middle-aged man with gray hair and thick glasses. His navy suit looked like it had seen a few generations.
“Cauldrons, no.” Beverly let go of Henry’s hand. “Henry thought it was a good idea to expose himself to the high school girl volleyball team. Didn’t you, Henry?”
Henry nodded, his eyes distant and weary like he was sleepwalking.
I frowned. “I don’t recognize him. Is he from Hollow Cove?”
“No.” Beverly walked over to the basement door and pulled it open. “Let’s go, Henry.” She yanked him forward. “Ata-boy. In you go. That’s right. There’s a good boy.” With a shove, she pushed him through, slammed the door and locked it behind him.
There was no surprise yelp this time. Just the familiar sounds of grunts of pain as someone fell down the stairs and a final groan as he hit the floor.
Once again, Davenport House shook and rattled like we were hit by a 5.0 earthquake on the Richter scale. The lights flickered on and off. The walls moved, and I swear it looked like the house was expanding, like it had just swallowed poor Henry and was making room in its belly. With a last rumble, the house settled.
Okay. This was getting weird. “What’s going on here? That’s two strange men you’ve locked in the basement. Is there something I need to know?” Were my aunts vigilante serial killers? Were they venturing outside the town in the search of victims? And if so, victims for what? What the hell was down there, anyway? And why did I get the impression I’d never see those men again?
It was almost as though… as though Davenport House had eaten them.
Beverly adjusted her bright pink dress and took in the sight of the kitchen. “I haven’t seen the kitchen in this state since Amelia tried to make Sean that three-month anniversary dinner.” The three sisters laughed, their eyes lost in some shared, distant memory.
Shadow Witch (The Witches of Hollow Cove Book 1) Page 9
