The Witching Flavor (A Cozy Mystery Book): Sweetland Witch

by Zoe Arden

  A stream of questions had already formed in my mind but I bit my tongue. Now wasn't the time or place.

  "Good luck getting Margaret Binford to believe you about any of this," Amanda said. "She's always butting her nose into Mistmoor's business, too. I guess she thinks being in charge of the Witch's Council makes her akin to being President of Heavenly Haven."

  "There is no President of Heavenly Haven," Trixie said.

  "Tell that to Margaret."

  Suddenly, a loud noise erupted from outside. It sounded like a chainsaw played with the volume turned all the way up. I had to hold my hands over my ears to keep my ear drums from bursting.

  "What is that?" I cried.

  "It's Margaret," Sheriff Knoxx said. "She's clearing her throat."

  "What in the—"

  "MELBOURNE HAMMOND," Margaret said, speaking into an invisible microphone.

  "She's using a bullhorn charm," Eleanor told me.

  "What does that old bird want?" Melbourne asked. "I'm not going to jail for something I didn't do."

  "That's precisely what she wants," Sheriff Knoxx said, eying the protestors uneasily. "She's probably upset I haven't arrested you already. Especially with that idiotic petition she drew up."

  "What petition?" Melbourne asked.

  "Never mind. They're not breaking any laws. Yet. But she's hoping you will. Whatever happens, you just stay inside. Let me handle this."

  Melbourne stepped away from the window. "Whatever you say, Sheriff." He sat back in a chair and cupped his head in his hands.

  "Melbourne Hammond," Margaret said again. Her voice had been lowered by a notch but loud squeals still pitched around her. "I order you to come out with your hands up."

  Sheriff Knoxx actually laughed at that. "Who does she think she is? Hands up? Even if I were going to arrest him, I'd never tell him to walk out with his hands up. You know why?"

  I realized that the question was directed to me and Lucy.

  "Oh,” Lucy said, “because uh, because..."

  I just shrugged. I figured it was obvious from the way he'd asked that he knew I wouldn't know the answer. And maybe I should.

  "Because arms over your head mean that you are in flight transformation," Melbourne recited from rote.

  "Flight?" I asked. Lucy seemed to understand.

  "I can transform into a limited number of winged creatures," Melbourne said as though embarrassed.

  "You can? That's awesome! Do one!"

  Everyone looked at me.

  Lucy rolled her eyes at me.

  "Ava," she said. "Not now."

  "Oh, right. Sorry."

  The bullhorn started up again as Margaret pressed her pointer finger to her throat.

  "Melbourne, this is your LAST CHANCE."

  For a vampire, Melbourne seemed awfully afraid of Margaret. I wondered if it was possible she was some sort of magical creature even more powerful than vampires. Then it would at least make sense that everyone was listening to her. As it stood, she seemed like nothing more than a bitter old maid.

  "That's it," Sheriff Knoxx said, reaching for his radio. "I'm taking that as a threat. And I don't take kindly to threatening unarmed civilians. Even if he is a bloodsucker."

  Melbourne winced.

  "Sorry," Sheriff Knoxx said.

  "Come out, or I'm coming up to get you," Margaret yelled over her loudspeaker.

  "Maybe I should go?" Melbourne said, looking to Sheriff Knoxx.

  "Go?" the sheriff asked. "Over my dead body."

  * * *

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-SEVEN

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  I trailed just behind Sheriff Knoxx and Lincoln, hurrying to keep up.

  "Ava, wait!"

  Eleanor and Trixie ran after me.

  Felicity, who was on her way back to Lucy's room with a bag of bagels and three different kinds of cream cheese, saw us hurrying toward the hospital doors and joined my aunts.

  "What's going on?" she asked.

  "Didn't you see the signs those protestors are holding?" I asked.

  "You mean the people gathered on the lawn of the hospital? I thought they were just here because we had a celebrity at the hospital or something. You know. Paparazzi."

  Lincoln shot her a look. "You're starting to sound more and more like your mother, you know that?"

  She blew him a kiss and continued after us.

  "I'm not going to let Margaret destroy Melbourne's life for no reason," I told my aunts.

  "It isn't your job to stop Margaret or anyone else," Eleanor said. She shot Sheriff Knoxx a look and he agreed.

  "Your aunt is right, Ava. Let me do my job. You go back inside and keep Lucy company."

  "If Lucy had her way, she'd be down here with me right now. It was just bad luck her parents came back in when they did."

  Lucy had already hopped out of her bed and was halfway to the door when her mother and father had walked back into her room to let her know they were taking Megan home. Megan was grounded for a month. She'd protested this, citing the fact that she was eighteen and legally considered an adult.

  "If you're such an adult then you don't need to live off me and your mother anymore," her father had said, pulling a classic parent move. "You're more than welcome to go out and get your own place."

  Megan had huffed and held her breath until she was blue in the face, before finally consenting to the grounding. Brenda and Vincent had then turned their attention to Lucy, forbidding her from going downstairs with me.

  "Margaret!" I called out when I saw her. She spun toward me.

  "Oh, look. Here we have Ava Fortune. Coming to fight Melbourne's battles for him, are we?" I winced when I realized that, with her voice so loud, Melbourne almost certainly heard her.

  "He's not scared to face you," I told her. "He just knows there's no point. Once a dim-witch, always a dim-witch."

  Margaret's lips curled up on one side, like a bad Elvis impersonation. "I. Am. Not. A. Dim-witch."

  "That's not what I hear." I realized all I was doing was throwing snide remarks at her, but it felt good.

  Lottie and Paisley Mudget hovered near her. They looked simultaneously afraid to pull away and eager to distance themselves. Their large frames and short stature helped them to stand out wherever they were. Which could either be good or bad, depending on the situation.

  Sheriff Knoxx came up beside me. I could feel the anger radiating off him. "Margaret, you are violating several laws set forth by the Council on Magic and Human Affairs. I must ask you to vacate these premises immediately and leave Melbourne to me. I assure you that if any evidence should surface that points to him, I will handle the matter accordingly.

  "Accordingly?" Margaret asked, raising the volume on her bullhorn voice. "Did you all hear that? He says he'll deal with Melbourne accordingly."

  She laughed like a loon bird and spittle flew from her mouth. I jumped back to get away from it and landed right on someone's feet.

  "Oh, I'm so sorry," I said, spinning to see who I'd injured. I had to blink to make sure I wasn't seeing things. "Damon!"

  I'd never been so happy to see him. I flung my arms around him and kissed him madly, not caring who saw.

  "I'm so glad you're here. How'd you find out what was happening?" I asked.

  "Margaret went around the whole island," he replied. "She's been telling everyone."

  "Margaret?" I asked confused. I finally stepped back and took a good look at him. I'd kissed him, but had he kissed me? Had he even wrapped his arms around me or acted happy to see me? He was frowning at me now. And holding something in his hand. Shock took hold as I realized what it was.

  "You're here... supporting Margaret?" I asked. I had to reread his sign five times to make sure I wasn't missing some hidden sarcasm, but OUT WITH THE VAMP was pretty clear.

  "I'm supporting my town," he said. "Sweetland Cove needs to be protected."


  "Protected from what?" I asked.

  "From dark forces. From creatures that want to kill us. Humans are more susceptible to vampires than witches, you know."

  "No," I said, shaking my head. "I don't know. If that's what Margaret told you, it's absurd. Pennyweather wasn't a human, she was a witch. Lucy's a witch, too."

  Damon shrugged. I was so angry with him I wanted to turn him into a chicken just to teach him a lesson. I couldn't believe that someone I cared about could be so easily persuaded.

  You had some doubts of your own up in Lucy's room.

  I hated that the voice in my head had a point, though I didn't think it was a very good one. I may have had a momentary doubt about Melbourne, but it didn't last. Because I had common sense.

  "Do you see what she's doing?" Margaret's voice boomed across the hospital lawn. "Ava Fortune is trying to say that Melbourne's innocent until proven guilty. Is that a chance we can take?"

  Cries of "no" rang through the air. I had no idea who the other vampires on Heavenly Haven were, but I hoped they were leaving on a long vacation right now.

  "Listen to me," I shouted, but my voice was immediately drowned out by Margaret's. I was no match for her bullhorn charm.

  "Listen to me!" I tried again. This time, my voice changed midstream. I looked at Eleanor, who winked and blew on her finger.

  "Listen," I said, and this time my voice rang out even louder than Margaret's. "Witches are not the only ones being taken."

  The crowd quieted down. Several people shot me distrustful, quizzical looks.

  "Who else?" someone shouted.

  "Goblins," I told them. "Several goblins have gone missing in the last weeks. They've been found murdered. The last one was only a teenager. Kiya, who was only sixteen."

  "Kiya?" someone asked. "I know her family. Good people. They buy hardware from my store."

  "Her body was found just a few days before Lucy went missing. From what I understand, vampires don't like goblin blood."

  There were general murmurs of agreement as my words sunk in.

  "That's right!" someone yelled. "Vampires hate goblin blood!"

  "Don't listen to her," Margaret said, but the Mudget twins had finally backed away from her, and others were starting to follow suit.

  "Oh, my roses," Felicity muttered. "Is that my brother?" She left my side and made a beeline for a tall man with red-tinted hair who was clearly trying to hide.

  "Grayson!" Felicity shrieked. She clubbed him over the head with her purse as he held up a defensive hand.

  "It's not my fault," he said. "Kayla wanted to come."

  Felicity looked around for whoever Kayla might be, but she was either a better hider than Grayson or a figment of his imagination.

  "That's Felicity's brother?" I asked Lincoln. I realized whatever magic Eleanor had worked to amplify my voice was gone. I wondered if she'd turned it off or just made the effect temporary, to begin with.

  "One of them." He nodded. "Grayson's actually a lot more put together than he, er, appears at the moment. Normally, he doesn't have Felicity beating him up like this."

  I watched as she chased him around the edge of the hospital building and out of sight.

  "Now what?" I asked Sheriff Knoxx.

  He sighed and looked around.

  "Now I go back to investigating."

  "I think we should talk to the goblins again."

  "No."

  "Why not? Maybe next time—"

  "There's not going to be a next time, Ava. I did it once as a favor to your aunt, but I'm not anxious to visit with them anytime soon."

  "But we need to know whether or not the goblins who've been murdered were also drained of blood. We never asked how they died."

  For half a second, I thought I'd persuaded him, but then he shook his head.

  Margaret had skulked off when she'd started to lose the crowd, but now she came striding back toward us.

  "You may have won this round, Fortune, but I'm not letting up. I know I'm right, and I'm not going to stop just because you want to protect a bloodsucker."

  She marched off, pausing halfway down the lawn. She cast one last look back over her shoulder.

  "I hope you're next," she said to me and continued on her way.

  * * *

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-EIGHT

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  "Good morning, Melbourne," I heard Trixie say as she went past my bedroom.

  "Morning," he muttered. I heard the shower start up in the bathroom and shut my eyes again. I hadn't slept well. That creature had chased me through my dreams again. I was getting sick of it.

  When I opened my eyes again, I realized that Melbourne was out of the shower and I'd fallen back asleep. I flipped my covers back and a red rose petal flew gently through the air to the floor. I picked it up and stared at it. There were no others lying anywhere, so maybe it was just a coincidence that I'd dreamed of red rose petals and one had happened to turn up.

  I got dressed and went downstairs. My father sat around the kitchen table with my aunts. Melbourne stood near the counter.

  "Hey, Melbourne. Was the couch okay last night?"

  "Sure was," he said, a strained smile on his lips as he sipped his coffee. "I don't think I've slept so well in years, as a matter of fact. I was just thanking your aunts and father again for letting me stay here."

  My dad waved his hand in the air while holding his coffee mug. Hot, black liquid sloshed over the edges.

  "Stay as long as you need to." His words slurred together. If I hadn't known better, I'd have thought he was drunk.

  "Did you sleep okay, Dad?"

  "Not really." He set his mug down again and began twirling something between his fingertips. I watched closely as bright red flashed between the white pads of his fingers.

  "Dad," I said, trying to keep my voice calm, "what is that?"

  He looked down at his hand as if noticing the flower petal for the first time.

  "Oh, this?" He shrugged. "It's nothing. It was on the floor. I must've trekked it in from outside."

  "Did you have another nightmare?" I asked him.

  He nodded. I looked at my aunts.

  "What about you? Did you both have nightmares, too?" I asked them.

  "Nightmares?" Trixie asked. "Maybe. I admit that I didn't sleep very well. Tossed and turned all night long." I looked at Eleanor, but the bags under her eyes needed no questioning.

  "Don't you think it's strange we're all having bad dreams?" I asked them.

  I started to say something about the red rose petals but checked myself. They already thought I was crazy for bringing up goblins and draugar. What were they going to say when I told them I thought our dreams were manifesting themselves in reality?

  "I didn't," Melbourne said almost cheerily. "I guess I must've stolen everyone's pleasant dreams."

  My aunts smiled politely back at him as Eleanor refilled her coffee mug.

  "You really should come down to the bakery with us this morning, Melbourne."

  "I don't know. I don't want to be in the way."

  "You won't be," Trixie reassured him. "You can help us make brownie bites. They're time-consuming, and we could use an extra hand."

  Melbourne cocked his head to one side, considering.

  "All right. If you're sure I won't be in the way."

  Now that Lucy was back and no one was missing, I decided I could spend the day at Mystic Cupcake without feeling guilty. I was supposed to be their extract expert, and I was sure they could use a few extracts. Plus, Melbourne would be there. I had a few more questions for him. Ones the sheriff may have overlooked.

  When we arrived, I followed Melbourne into the back with Tootsie, who curled up in an oversized cat bed. I went about starting some extracts while Eleanor set him up with a few bowls of brownie batter. We worked in silence for a while, until curiosity got the better of me.

&nb
sp; "Before Pennyweather disappeared," I asked, carefully selecting my words, "did she say anything about being scared or maybe worried that someone was after her?"

  "No." Melbourne shook his head. "Nothing like that."

  "Oh." I couldn't stop the disappointment. I didn't like the idea of Pennyweather being terrified for weeks before she disappeared, but at least it would have been something to latch onto.

  "I don't suppose she said anything about... well, anything out of the ordinary that might've happened?"

  "Not to me."

  I nodded and continued with my extracts.

  There must've been something else that I was missing. Some other connection.

  "There were the dreams, I suppose," Melbourne suddenly said, interrupting my thoughts.

  "Dreams?" I asked.

  "Yeah. Pennyweather had some nightmares that last week before she disappeared."

  "Nightmares? About what?"

  "I'm not sure. She couldn't remember them half the time. The other half of the time, she just wanted to forget them."

  "Do you have any idea at all what they were about?"

  "Not really. One time she yelled out during her sleep. She said, 'Stay away from me.' But that's the only time I remember her doing anything like that. And I have no idea what she was talking about."

  Melbourne was saved from my further interrogation by Snowball, who came bounding into the room with her eyes already half closed.

  "Snowball followed Anastasia all night long. Snowball is tired," she informed me before curling up beside Tootsie. Tootsie opened one eye to confirm it was only Snowball who had taken the other side of her bed, then went back to sleep.

  "Nothing new to report, Snowy?"

  "No, Anastasia only follows you and Aunties and Papa. She no longer follows Megan. When she is not following you, she is at her store. Alchemic Stone is cold and dusty. Snowball does not like it."

  She yawned.

  "Anastasia is at food store right now. She will be there for hours because she has no food at home. Snowball takes nap now." And like that, Snowy was out.