I felt his pain, finding me like this, and the satisfaction he felt freeing me. I felt his undying love. I felt all of that. But, most of all, I felt my love for him, the love I denied with every beat of my heart.
Our love merged and I felt him as if … as if he were inside me. His embrace brought me back to our shared love: as pure, raw and true as the morning sunlight.
That perfect moment of togetherness was fleeting. My head wouldn’t let me stay there, in the space where our love could breathe. I pushed him away and looked into up into his eyes clouded with tears. I brushed at the wetness covering my own cheeks.
“Eric, I can’t.”
“I know.” His words reverberated through my being.
“Life is cruel to us.”
He stroked my hair. “It’s a miracle we found each other at all. That is what I hang on to.” Gently he traced my cheek with his rough fingers. Shivers of wanting streamed through my body. A wanting of bodily lust, but mostly of love. I wanted our love back. But my head wouldn’t let me.
He took off his shirt and offered it to me. I put it on, and we walked out of the house into the dark night hand in hand.
Guarding the doorway stood Dante, chanting Latin. His eyes blazed with the light of magic.
“Dante,” I said to pull him back to our world.
He clicked his fingers. “Dolcessa.” He pulled me into a bear hug. As comforting as it felt, I pushed him away.
“Where’s the bad guy?” Dante asked.
Eric’s lip curled. “The shadow-warlock took a mortal form, so I banish him to hell with my axe.”
“Dipped in my magic.” Dante winked at me.
“Ja,” said Eric. “And I thank you for that.”
“Wait.” I struggled to wrap my mind around the two of them. “You guys are working together?”
“Not by choice,” said Dante.
“But you did work together … for me.” I felt a bit giddy. Well, kiss my broom. The guys had worked together to save me.
“Hey, I helped too.” Spark sauntered up to me and brushed my leg. “I gathered your men and directed them. I’m the general here.” And in my head, she added, “They needed a woman to guide them.”
Dante squinted at her.
In my mind I replied to her, “And you hexed them to get along?”
“We don’t have time for witch talk,” said Eric, who must have heard a mumble of our mind banter. “You have a murderer to catch.”
“The kids?”
“All safe, as is Jill and your elf,” said Dante. “My mother is on her way. She’ll clean up the mess and watch over the kids. And, yes, that cost me a favor. But trust me, no one can dote on children better than my mama.”
I looked down at myself. I smelled as if I had run a marathon. Could I go like this? Jessica Fletcher never had messy hair, Nancy Drew was always prim and proper and, well, Sookie might have been disheveled at times, but it suited her badass attitude. I just looked a plain mess and felt that way too.
Spark nuzzled my leg. “Pick up your broom, Blondie. You can do this.”
The men looked at me and then at the lynx.
“I need to stay home,” I said, making up my mind. It was where I belonged. Too much crap was happening around me and my kids.
Eric tilted his head. “Our family will be looked after, Abby. You need to catch the murderer. Let us help you.”
I bit my lip. “I think I know who did it.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” Eric motioned towards the door.
“Do you want me to come along?” Dante asked in a formal tone.
“Always,” I said.
Spark purred in her head. “Go, Blondie.”
“Is there a spell to shut up the cat?” Eric asked Dante.
“I wish.”
The four of us squished into my Mini. Dante took the driver’s seat and Eric the passenger seat beside him. Spark and I took the back. I held her in my arms. She purred loud enough to wake up a dragon as I scratched her neck. She smelled of sunlight and magic. She felt like home. “Pandora’s Gifts,” I said.
Eric stared out the window, surveying the distance as if a threat lurked somewhere out there in the deep shadows. I couldn’t sense danger, but I figured he felt more comfortable on guard. A warrior stuck in a Mini.
I considered going over the case out loud to see what the guys thought, but decided to conserve my energy. They thought I knew what I was doing, which was kind of cool, except that I wasn’t at all sure. I leaned back and tried to enjoy the ride.
Dante opened his window, letting the brisk, salty breeze flow through the car. It gave me pause. My emotions had been running amok for days. I needed to be on top of things, at my best, but all I wanted to do was hug everyone.
Spark licked my hand with her sandpaper tongue. “Focus, Blondie. Focus. Everything will be okay, if you just …”
“Focus,” I said out loud as we turned into a parking spot in front of Pandora’s Gifts.
The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that had covered the door were replaced by a large Eye of Ra. Large—as in the size of my head—it glowed as if on fire. “Eye of newt,” I muttered beneath my breath. “That wasn’t there the last time I visited.”
“It will not harm us,” said Dante who held the palm of his hand up to it.
Bells on the door tinkled as Eric opened it. Why did a witch need bells? Could she not sense our arrival? The display of crystals and sacred stones, on my right, caught my eye. Were they trying to say something to me? I shook my head and followed Eric inside. Would I ever get used to being a witch? Dante took up the rear. I could feel his breath on my neck and sense his unease. When an experienced witch is edgy it can’t be good.
Spark held her head high.
The smell of burning ginger root assaulted my nose. It’s used to attract wealth, lust and magical power. It wasn’t hard to figure which one she wanted. The stench lay heavy in the air, dominating my senses, threatening my focus.
I chanted a protection spell for all of us.
The curtain across the entrance to the back room opened and Aria entered. Her hippy caftan was gone. Dressed in a gold robe she looked like a horror-movie. But it wasn’t her wardrobe that worried me. Her eyes blazed a golden color I had never seen before.
Spark hissed. “Bad witch,” she said. ”Bad, bad witch.”
Dante lifted his arms and waved them in the air.
She smirked. “You dare to challenge me here, in my own place of power.” Her arm rose and a red fluid flowed out of her palm. It reached all the way to Dante and pushed him back. He mumbled a curse, but it kept pushing him until he was out the door and it slammed shut.
“Next?” Her right brow rose as she stared at Eric. “Care to take me on, Immortal One?”
I tried to speak, but my throat had been magically sealed.
“What kind of magic is this?” Eric growled.
“It does not matter what kind it is. It only matters that it is stronger than you, Viking.”
Her hand rose to the ceiling and then down again in one swift movement, as if it were a guillotine. On the downward swing a cage descended, trapping Eric within it. He pushed at the edges, but they held. His arctic-blue eyes hardened in anger and he screamed, but I couldn’t hear him.
Aria smiled. “That leaves the two of us,” she said. Her voice didn’t sound at all like it had on my last visit.
I looked around. Spark had disappeared. Had she been vanquished? Enough already.
I pushed through the spell that sealed my throat. “I don’t understand,” I said.
“You don’t understand much, do you?”
“You’re the murderer?” I still found it hard to believe, though it had to be true. All other possibilities had been eliminated.
“I’ve lived peacefully in the cove for years, so you wonder why I’ve suddenly become a homicidal maniac.”
I nodded.
She flicked her hand in my direction.
“It just doesn�
��t seem like you.”
“Everyone has their limits. I wanted to be a good person, and a good witch, but life kept wearing me down.”
“Everyone has rough times …”
“At some point …” She stopped and twisted a curl of her strawberry-blonde hair. “A woman has to stand up for herself.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Harris deserved to die.”
“Listen, I know you guys didn’t work out as a couple, but that’s no reason to kill him.”
She shook her head. “That wasn’t it. We had some good times together, but when I found out he moved funds meant for a homeless shelter into the main account so he could buy new chairs for his office, I lost it. Chairs? How heartless could he be.”
“Did you tell him what you thought?”
“Yes, and I threatened to tell everyone, but he laughed at me and said no one would believe me, because I’m … well, I’m me, the hippy-witch.”
“But he couldn’t get away with that.”
“That’s what I thought. I told the mayor and the other aldermen, but nothing happened. They all owed him a favor or two.”
“So, you killed him.”
The golden glint in her eyes flashed. “I didn’t mean to. I wanted to scare him, so I sent him a Death card.”
“It worked. He was terrified.” I still remembered his shaking hands and the scent of fear on his breath.
“I made a little spell that went along with it.”
Ah, so that’s what happened. “The spell went wrong.” This was beginning to make sense.
“Wrong? Right? In our world, those are just words. You will learn this.” Her voice took on a husky tone. “My spell engaged another part of me.”
Another part? “You became possessed?” Did that happen to witches? Why the green goddess didn’t someone write a manual on this stuff? Witches 101, or something like that.
“More like obsessed. A dark part of me came forward and took control and the next thing I knew I was at City Hall, kicking the chair out from under Harris.”
Hmm. That sounded believable. But? “I still don’t get it. Why did you send a card to Katey Sawchuck? Did you intend to kill her too?”
“No. No.” She shook her head. “I wanted to scare her.”
“What did she do to you?”
“Oh, I know she looks like a good citizen, but she’s not. She’s been turning a blind eye while John Silvester gives drugs to kids and uses them to create pornography. He gives her a cut of his profits.”
“What? That’s awful. Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“My way’s faster. I gave dear John some of my spiked chocolates three days ago. He’s had diarrhea ever since. He doesn’t know what hit him, but he’s made plans to leave. I thought my job was done.”
“John will just start up somewhere else. Child abusers aren’t easily cured.”
A wicked smile crossed her lips. “My potion makes that less likely. It left him in, shall we say, a perpetually limp state, so I’m guessing he won’t.”
“Odd justice.” But possibly effective. I had to give her that. “And what about Katey? Why did you kill her? Was that another spell gone wrong?”
“Katey always knew what was going on in the cove. She watched. She listened. And maybe she had a bit of the sight. At any rate, somehow, she figured out that I was behind Harris’s death and John’s sudden illness. When she confronted me asking for money, I had no choice.”
“And the other cards in town?”
“No one is innocent. They will make people think about what they’ve done and that’s a good thing.”
I scrunched my face.
“You need not worry. I do not intend to kill anyone else. I sent them to hide my crimes.”
That made sense. “Dante, Eric and I all know you are the murderer.” The words came out as I thought them.
“Yes, that’s the next problem I need to deal with.” She raised her hand, but before her downstroke the door blasted open, sending splinters in all directions. I had run out of heroes to save me. Who could possibly be breaking in?
Jinx stood in the opening, holding the hand of her elf. A magical wind blew her hair away from her face and she shone with light. “Let my mommy go.”
“Don’t play with me, tiny witch,” Aria said as a yellow mist flew from the palm of her right hand.
Jinx lifted her hand and waved it around, creating a visible bubble around herself and Elaria. Her eyes blazed a deep fuchsia color.
I had never been prouder of her. I focused my own witch power into my hand and shot a bolt of energy at Aria. Taking her by surprise, it hit her hard. The ends of her hair burned and she shrieked.
As her energy weakened in the room, Dante came running in through the front door, Spark at his heels.
Dante lifted his hands and waved them in a circle. “Et abierunt malum.”
I joined him in his chant, “Et abierunt malum.”
Spark hissed and growled as the magic in the words burned Aria from the inside.
Dante whispered, “Aperiam in inferno pythonissam deam efficimur.”
A blazing portal opened in the middle of the room.
Jinx repeated his words.
Aria opened her mouth, and a dark mist flowed out of it and into the portal. A loud sucking sound followed and the portal closed with a thud.
Aria’s body fell to the floor. The cell around Eric dissolved. Jinx snapped her fingers to melt the protective bubble around herself.
We gathered around Aria, and I felt her pulse point on her neck. I shook my head.
Chapter 23
Zane and Gus arrived shortly after. The magical smoke and light show had ended. What they found was an odd collection of people standing over Aria Adams who lay dead on the floor.
Zane scanned the room with a cool, inquisitive eye. Gus’s eyes widened. We all looked at them politely as if nothing had happened.
“Got a complaint of loud noises and smoke from the neighbors,” said Zane.
“Figures it would be you,” said Gus, giving me a side glance.
Eric and Dante moved to flank me. Why do men always act as if they’re playing basketball?
Elaria walked over to Gus, looked him up and down and sniffed. “So human.”
Gus’s face paled as he stared at her ears.
Eric laughed. “Well, Zane, I’m going to enjoy reading your report.”
Zane leaned over to feel Aria’s pulse and stood up again. “Seems like no one else is hurt.”
“She’s your murderer,” I said.
“Aria Adams?” Zane’s mouth dropped.
“How much do you want to know?” I asked.
“Give me the highlights.”
Gus took a notepad out of his pocket.
Zane looked at him and shook his head. “I’ll remember the details.”
“But?”
“No notes.”
“Aria sent Death cards to people to scare them.” I said. That was true. I took a deep breath. “Harris had been funneling city money designated for the homeless to buy chairs for his office, and Katey had been taking hush-money from John Silvester at the docks. He’s been selling drugs to kids and making child pornography.”
Zane’s eyes blazed with anger. “I knew that guy was up to no good. I could smell it on him.”
“And,” I continued and froze. What should I say? All hell broke loose? Dante hexed her? We sent her dark side through a portal to witch’s hell and her human heart didn’t survive? “I came to talk with her.”
“And?” Zane prodded.
Dante flashed a sly smile. “That’s when I stepped in.”
Eric looked at the ceiling. I looked at the floor. This should be good.
“You made smoke?” said Gus.
“I made her faint,” Dante said. “I have that effect on some women.” He gave the new officer a threatening glance.
Zane nodded. “Okay. We’re done here then.” He turned and walked towards the door.
“Come on, Gus, it’s time for us to pay John Silvester a visit. We won’t let that bastard get away. We’ll send the medical officer here.”
“But … But …” said Gus. “You buy that story? Really? The woman confesses to sending cards and then she faints when she looks at Dante? Then she dies?” He moved closer to Dante. “What really happened?”
“Aria confessed to murder. What more do you want?” I said. I really didn’t want Dante to hex him, and he looked weary enough to do just that. It had been a long day.
“Murder?” Gus said.
“She said she was really angry with Harris. You know they had been lovers, right? So anyway, she got carried away and she killed him.” The image of her lifting him into the noose with her magic and then kicking the chair played in my mind.
Zane nodded. Gus looked at me as if I were crazy.
“I’ll call an ambulance,” Zane repeated. “Gus, we need to go.”
He looked at his boss as if he had lost a few handcuffs. “You believe this?”
“It doesn’t matter what I believe. That’s something you have to learn about the cove. Everyone has their own sense of reality. You have your orders, Constable. Follow them. We have a pedophile to catch.”
Eric picked Jinx up and held her in his arms. He whispered something in her ear and she giggled.
I snaked my arm into the arms of Dante and Eric. “I need pizza.”
Epilogue
Two weeks later …
The full moon came and went in all its glory. I managed more control of myself, but I still felt wonderfully wild. Eric, wisely, stayed away and the single kiss with Dante under the moonlight was … let’s just say magical. Elaria remained our guest and fit right in with the kids, as if she were their older sister. Who knew elves enjoyed video games and popcorn? I wondered what it would take to get her to tell us about her mission. Our lives meandered on.
In the spring, the family routine on Saturday mornings is simple and sweet: pancakes and cartoons for the kids, and coffee for me in the backyard. It’s a time to unwind. Sunlight, undiluted by clouds and rain, streamed over me and I soaked it in, body and soul.
Death by Tarot Card (A Ghost & Abby Mystery Book 4) Page 10
