Southern Curses

by Amy Boyles

  “I thought you might want to connect with me a little bit.”

  Baron laughed deeply. “I tell you what, that man peddled himself as a broker of magical creatures. I bought a bat from him. It was supposed to have been a vampire cursed into the bat form. I discovered it wasn’t and that caused a headache of problems that I don’t even want to discuss.” He studied Betty again. “But I guess you know all about that.”

  She smiled. “I do indeed. Did you mention any of that to the police?”

  He shook his head. “No. I said he owed me money, which is true…in a sense since he cost me my reputation.”

  Betty smiled as if she’d won the lottery. “Thank you for your time.”

  He handed the pad to me. “Would you still like the autograph?”

  Betty snatched it from him before I had a chance to answer. “I collect them. Thank you.”

  Amusement danced in his eyes. “Thank you, ladies. I’m glad you enjoyed the show.”

  After we were out of earshot, I turned to Betty. “So you knew.”

  “Knew what?”

  “Knew that Carl had been the one who sold the vampire bat to him.”

  “I had a sneaking suspicion,” she said, her eyes darting away.

  I placed a hand gently on her shoulder. “All right. Fess up. How’d you know?”

  Betty pulled me off to the side and glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “Because I run this town. How many times do I have to tell you?”

  I folded my arms and scowled. “That’s not good enough. You had inside information, didn’t you?”

  She rolled her eyes. “All right. When I heard that Carl was related to the Transylvania vampires, I figured out of all the folks who could’ve gotten a vampire bat to the Boondocks singers, it would’ve been him, so I did some calling around and found out a guy matching Carl’s description had been trying to sell enchanted toads to a swamp witch who was too smart to fall for the swindler.”

  I paused. “And all that’s illegal?”

  “Who in the world is going to sell you a permit for a vampire cursed to live forever as a bat?”

  “Good point,” I said, dipping my head. “So not only that, but Carl’s peddled himself off as a hit man?”

  Betty nodded. “Carl’s what we call a con man. He’s a charlatan who makes his money conning people. That’s what he does.”

  I nibbled my bottom lip. “So if he’s out there selling creatures without a permit, then Uncle Donovan bought an illegal vampire bat?”

  Betty fisted her hands to her hips. “’Bout time you figured that out.”

  I sighed and stared at the stars. “So if the cops find out about Donovan?”

  Betty stuck her pipe in her mouth. “He’ll be thrown in jail for selling without a permit.”

  “So Donovan’s a criminal?”

  Betty nodded. “You got that right.”

  TEN

  I started to stare at my uncle as if he were some sort of hardened prisoner, but the balding white hair, oval spectacles and pudgy belly along with his habit of scratching the top of his head made all that pretty much impossible.

  “Baron showed me his permit for the bat,” Donovan said when Betty cornered him.

  “And you didn’t bother to ask if it was legal?” Betty said.

  “Of course it’s illegal,” Donovan said. “The very act of cursing a vampire like that is illegal.”

  “But you sold it anyway.”

  Donovan slumped. “Look, all my life I’ve done things right—tried not to cut corners. This time I screwed up. I may’ve cut a few more corners than normal.”

  “And if Sheriff Young discovers you sold a cursed vampire to a mobster?”

  Donovan opened his mouth, shut it and then flailed his arms. “I did what I could to stay in the law. I asked for permits and they were given to me. It’s not my fault if the permit was fake. I did what I always did, which was to sell animals.”

  “You knowingly broke the law for money,” Betty argued.

  “Yeah, and I’ve paid the consequences—I had to fake my own death to stay alive and I’m still not doing too hot. Trust me, I’ll never do it again. But it was just…the thought of seeing such a creature was too great a chance to miss out on. I’m curious by nature.”

  “Curiosity killed the mammoth,” Betty said.

  Donovan shook his head. “I don’t think that’s right.”

  “Well it should be,” she snapped.

  I rubbed his arm. “Donovan, no one here thinks you’re out in the world committing crimes just because you can.”

  Donovan shot Betty a questioning look. She flustered and floundered until she finally spat out, “Okay, no one really thinks that. But I believe you were careless, period.”

  “Now that we’ve got that settled,” Axel said, “why don’t we talk about what’s really interesting—the fact that Carl Carlsburg was a con man with family connections to Transylvania.”

  “Now that is interesting,” I said, clapping my hands with delight.

  Everyone stared at me. My excitement deflated. “What? I think it’s weird that a con man who sold animals would also sell himself as a hit man to the one person who wanted Donovan dead. Not a coincidence, I think. But how did Carl know that Johnny Utah wanted Donovan dead?”

  Axel smiled. “There’s our mystery right there. I’m betting if we can figure that out, then we’ll be an inch away from finding our killer.”

  “Hopefully he won’t be an inch away from finding us first,” I said.

  They all stared again.

  “What? Someone has to say what Amelia would suggest since she’s not here.”

  Axel coughed into his fist while Betty rolled her eyes and Donovan watched the sky.

  “Something interesting up there?” Betty said.

  “Yeah, there is. I promised Pepper we’d spend some time on her abilities tonight.”

  I’d forgotten all about that, what with me pretending to be a Sensational Singers groupie as well as dealing with the information about Donovan’s criminal activities.

  It was a lot on my plate, and that plate was tipped sideways. “Are we doing that now?” I said, glancing up into the dark, star-speckled sky.

  He shrugged. “Now’s as good a time as any.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  Betty hooked her arm around Axel’s. “Why don’t you walk an old lady home? You can either wait for Pepper there or go back to your own place.”

  Axel’s mouth coiled into a smile almost as sweet as the one he showered me with. “I’d love to see you home, Betty.”

  “That’s what an old lady likes to hear,” she said.

  They strolled off into the night, leaving Donovan and me alone. “Let’s go to the park,” he said. “Lots of light there. It’ll be easier to see the creatures we’re working with.”

  He walked at a brisk pace, and I hurried to catch up. “Okay,” I said slowly, “but what are we working with? Salamanders and cicadas?”

  He gave me a confused look. “It’s a little late in the season for cicadas.”

  “Well, I’m not much of a nature girl. I’m more big city, nightlife and all that.”

  “And you like it here?” he said, sounding surprised.

  I grinned. “Yeah, I do. I didn’t expect to, especially with the whole animal thing, but I enjoy it more than I ever thought possible.”

  “Good, good,” he replied, sounding distracted. He gazed into the park. “On second thought, let’s go stand under those trees. We can still see the park, but I don’t want us so exposed.”

  “I’m game,” I said.

  We stood in the shadow of a clump of pines. Needles crunched beneath our feet as we took up position. “So what are we out here doing, exactly?”

  “Learning how to see what you can’t. It’s best to do this at night. It’s an important skill, especially for our kind—those of us who match witches to their familiars.”

  “Head witches, you mean?”

  �
�Yes,” he said slowly, “but not all witches who match are head witches. Some are feline witches or creature witches.”

  “Creature witches?”

  “Yeah,” he said, head bobbing. “They tend to have power over animals. You have to watch them, though. I’ve seen witches with that talent abuse their power—use animals for their purposes instead of simply guiding the creatures.”

  Hair rose on the back of my neck. “Like they use animals to attack people?”

  “Or to work dark magic, that sort of thing. Animals can naturally see and sense more than we can, so those witches have an easier time connecting to the darkness that exists beneath the surface of the light.”

  I whistled appreciatively. “That’s a mouthful.”

  “It is.” Donovan touched my shoulders and pointed me away from him. “But anyway, look up at the sky and listen.”

  “Listen?”

  “But not with your ears.”

  I cocked my head at him in question. “Very hard to do if I’m trying to listen.”

  He wagged a finger toward the park meadow in front of us. “Close your eyes and listen with your head and your heart. Clear your mind. There are creatures out there. That’s what I want you to hear.”

  I closed my eyes and then blinked one open. “So just listen?”

  “Right. Easy as learning to walk.”

  “I think that took time and patience. Pretty sure I fell a lot. I don’t remember it, obviously, but I’ve seen babies and it’s not easy.”

  He rubbed his chin. “Wrong analogy, then. Easy as making a pie.”

  “I don’t cook.”

  He scowled. “Just close your eyes.”

  I finally did what he said, and I had to admit, I didn’t hear one pinch of anything. Not even a blip.

  Not at first.

  But then a ripple of sound, sort of like a low murmur, filled my head. I wasn’t looking for it, I wasn’t even trying to hear it, but I could. It was like my mind was an empty room with amplifiers as the walls and someone dropped a pin in the very center.

  The ping of the pin became a murmur or a hum. I tipped my head and turned my face toward it, hoping it would become clearer.

  It wasn’t until a few moments later that I realized it wasn’t the hum of one animal—what I was listening to was a hundred voices, all synchronized as if they were of one mind and focused on the same thought.

  Eat.

  That was it. Very simple, yet once I realized that there were so many of them, the hum became a drumming in my chest and that drumming then became a thrum until it sounded as loud and distinct as a beating heart.

  Eat.

  Eat.

  Eat.

  My eyes fluttered open. Donovan gazed at me expectantly. He opened his mouth slowly. “What do you hear?”

  I shook my head. “It’s so strange. It’s like a thousand voices all thinking one thought—eat.” I laughed nervously. “Hopefully they’re not thinking about eating us.”

  He shook his head. “Pinpoint the creature.”

  “How?”

  “Call it to you.”

  Panic coursed through my veins. Adrenaline buzzed in my fingers. “What if it’s a thousand fire ants and they all run up my leg and bite me to death?”

  “Fire ants don’t have brains complex enough for us to communicate with.”

  I sighed with relief. “Thank goodness.

  “Okay, so I call these creatures to me and you promise nothing bad will happen? I won’t get eaten or attacked?”

  He shook his head. “You’re communicating with them. These creatures are talking to you. They know you’re here. They probably felt your presence before you knew about them.”

  I squinted at him. “Are you sure?”

  “The animal kingdom is smarter than we give them credit for. They work on instinct, and that often includes heightened senses. Trust me. They know you’re here, so tell them you’re friendly and want to meet them.”

  “Okay,” I said, still unsure about whether or not I would be eaten by whatever it was that was apparently in search of its next meal—which hopefully didn’t mean human was on the menu.

  I squinted at Donovan. “So do I just say, ‘Hi, my name’s Pepper, let’s hang out?’”

  Donovan nodded hesitantly. “You can do it that way, or just open yourself to them and listen more. You’ll feel something call to you, and that’s when you’ll know.”

  Not that his words made a whole lot of sense to me because they didn’t, but I shrugged and closed my eyes once more and listened.

  The hum started again. I heard the voices wanting food and then something else flared in my ears—the beating of wings.

  Help, a single voice said.

  My attention immediately piqued. Hello? I thought.

  I’m trapped, the voice said again.

  Oh, is your wing caught?

  I’m caught.

  The creature was tangled up in something. Had to be.

  Where are you? I said in my head.

  With the others.

  What others?

  Suddenly the night became a flurry of wings. The trees rustled as if a wind had surged through them, tangling its fingers in their leaves.

  Donovan touched my arm. “Up there.”

  I blinked my eyes open. High in the sky, sailing in front of the moon were small black bodies that looked like dots in the night sky.

  I squinted. “Are those…bats?”

  Donovan pushed his glasses up his nose. “Yeah, that’s what it looks like. They came to you. Keep talking to them.”

  This time I didn’t close my eyes, but I did open my mind to the creatures.

  You’re so beautiful, I said to them.

  In response they rode the air currents like waves, spinning and diving, reminding me more of a school of fish than bats sailing the skies.

  But that one voice, that one single voice sounded again.

  I’m trapped, it said.

  I pinpointed the voice to be with the other bats. The creature wasn’t pinned or tangled in a tree or web. What it meant was that it was trapped among the other bats, which I didn’t understand.

  Can you leave?

  No, I can’t. I’m forced here.

  Is there a way I can help?

  There was a pause as if the creature was thinking up a solution. Then the voice rang out again.

  You can capture that stupid vampire who switched places with me and forced me into this bat form.

  I gasped. I stared up at the sky and then turned to Donovan.

  “What is it?” he said.

  I clutched his arm. “Don’t bet all your money on this, but I’m almost one hundred percent certain that I just found Princess.”

  “Where?”

  I pointed to the sky. “Up there with those bats.”

  ELEVEN

  “I’d been wondering if she was here,” Donovan said as we stood in the park staring up at the night sky.

  “Why would you say that?”

  “I don’t know,” he said quietly. “Sometimes magical towns attract magic beings.”

  “And she can get into Magnolia Cove as a bat? She doesn’t have to be a witch?”

  “No, she doesn’t have to be a witch since she’s an animal.” His head swiveled to me as if he’d just made a huge realization. “How did she seem?”

  “She said she’s trapped and wants us to capture the vampire that switched places with her.”

  Donovan groaned. “Oh no. It’s worse than I thought.”

  How could any of this be worse than he thought? It was already a cluster if I did say so myself. “What do you mean?”

  “The vampire cursed her with whatever spell was originally placed on him.”

  I glanced up at the sky. The bats still swirled around, but they were farther in the distance now. “How could the vampire have cursed her with his own spell? I’m confused.”

  Donovan rubbed his neck. “The vampire had been chained to remain in the bat form. You kno
w that.”

  “Right.”

  “From what she told you, it sounds like the spell placed on him was the kind that can be transferred to another being under the right circumstances.”

  “What sort of circumstances?”

  He shrugged. “Hard to say. I’m not an expert on that, but think of the story of the Frog Prince.”

  “The one where the princess kisses the frog and he becomes a prince?”

  “That’s the one. The kiss by a princess broke the spell.” He poked his finger in the air. “But if the curse had worked a different way, then when the princess kissed the frog, he still would’ve become a prince, but at the expense of the princess. She would’ve changed places with him.”

  “And become a frog,” I said, the lightbulb flashing in my head.

  “Exactly.”

  I pointed at the sky. “So you’re saying that the vampire shucked off his stupid old curse and gave it to the mafia’s Princess like a case of cooties at the playground.”

  He stared at me.

  I shrugged. “I just didn’t think equating it with herpes would’ve been a very nice thing to say.”

  “Yeah, let’s not go there.”

  “So what do we do now?”

  Donovan stroked his chin in thought. “We need to catch her.”

  “Catch a curse-ridden bat who could easily give me the curse and turn me into a bat.”

  “Right.”

  I eyed him. “Have you thought this through? Sounds like whatever she’s got is catching. Not sure I want to spend the rest of my life as a leathery-winged creature eating insects.”

  “Hmm. That’s a good point.”

  “I know. That’s why I made it,” I said, feeling very smart. I snapped my fingers. “So does this mean she’s a vampire?”

  He bobbed his head from side to side. “Not necessarily. She could simply be trapped as a bat.” He paused. “Well, I mean, I hope she wouldn’t pass it on, because none of us know how to break it.” He raked his knuckles over his cheek. “Pepper, can you ask her to come down?”

  “Now?”

  “Now’s as good a time as any.”

  I closed my eyes and concentrated, but the bats had flown off too far. I couldn’t hear them anymore.