The Dirty Coven

by Lily Harper Hart

  Becky giggled as Cooper nodded.

  “That’s exactly what I mean,” he confirmed. “You know Virgil and Rick.”

  “You know me, too,” Tyler said, grinning.

  “Yep, you know Tyler,” Cooper added, although the look he shot his co-worker wasn’t exactly friendly. “This is Jackie Metcalf. She was also part of Abigail’s coven. She serves as the town seamstress, meaning she works in a few skits during the day and also handles the costumes.”

  “I’ve ordered some for you,” Jackie offered helpfully. She looked to be about sixty and friendly. “They should be here tomorrow.”

  Hannah was confused. “How did you know my size?”

  “That’s my job.”

  “Ah, well … .” She forced a smile. Jackie seemed amiable even if Becky was probably going to be a bitter pill to swallow at some point.

  “This is Danielle Garrett,” Cooper continued, gesturing toward a pretty brunette in her forties. “She’s the head chef out here. She’s in charge of both of the restaurants and essentially travels between them throughout the day. She’s also in charge of the ordering, so if there’s something specific you want to eat, she’s the one to approach.”

  “I hope you’re not one of those people who likes sushi and kale chips,” Danielle said. “If so, we’re not going to get along.”

  “I like fried chicken and tater tots.”

  Danielle smirked. “Then I think we’ll get along fine.”

  “I hope so.”

  That left one person to be introduced. It was a man and he appeared to be in his early seventies … and cranky. If Hannah had to guess, he wasn’t thrilled about being part of the bonfire festivities. Apparently Cooper didn’t care enough to cater to him.

  “This is Arnie Morton,” Cooper volunteered. “He’s the town blacksmith. He prefers not performing and stays to the periphery. Also, he was dating Abigail when she died.”

  Hannah’s mouth dropped open at the juicy tidbit. “Seriously?”

  Arnie made a face. “You make it sound salacious, Cooper,” he groused.

  “So … you weren’t an item?” Hannah asked after a beat.

  “We were loving friends.”

  Hannah turned to Cooper for translation. “What isn’t he saying?”

  “That he doesn’t like anyone talking about his private business,” Cooper replied. “Abigail and Arnie were close. They spent many a night together.”

  “Don’t make me go over there and thump you,” Arnie growled.

  Cooper ignored him. “They were extremely fond of each other. Arnie has been pretty much inconsolable since she passed. The only reason he agreed to come out tonight is because I told him Abigail would’ve wanted it. You are her granddaughter, after all.”

  “Right.” Hannah rolled her neck and watched as Jinx edged his way to Tyler, who appeared to be shoving hot dogs onto a roasting stick in preparation for making dinner. Jinx was a big fan of outdoor cooking. “If he’s bothering you, just let me know.”

  “What?” Tyler’s face was blank as he lifted his chin. “Oh, you mean Jinx? He’s fine. He’s a good boy.” He lowered his voice in that way people did when praising a dog and smiled at his new canine friend. “I bet you would like a hot dog, wouldn’t you?”

  Jinx happily wagged his tail as Hannah shook her head. Cooper was amused by the scene, but he figured it was time to get down to business.

  “All the people here knew and loved Abigail,” he started. “They also shared secrets with her and were privy to her secrets. This whole group is tight … and we have a lot going on.”

  Hannah sensed the opening she’d been waiting for. “Okay. Lay it on me. What were my grandmother’s secrets?”

  “She was a witch,” Virgil replied. “She was a good one, too.”

  “Yes, but … I don’t know what that means.” Hannah struggled for the correct way to verbalize her feelings without coming across as a dolt. “I’ve never met a witch before. Where I come from, they’re fantasy.”

  “Oh, I think you’d be surprised how many witches there are in every part of the world,” Becky countered, suddenly serious. “This isn’t a Kentucky thing. It’s simply a thing most people don’t talk about in front of people they don’t trust.

  “For example, we wouldn’t normally be talking in front of you because we don’t trust you, but Cooper insisted and we trust him,” she continued. “I’m hoping he’ll make it worth our time later.” She sent Cooper a winning smile that caused Hannah to roll her eyes, something that wasn’t lost on Jackie.

  “Oh, you have some of Abigail’s mannerisms,” she noted, grinning. “It’s weird to see it in someone so young. You’re much fairer than she was, too.”

  “I never met her,” Hannah admitted. “I feel sad about that. I feel even worse because I never really thought about her over the years. My mother didn’t want to talk about her and I never pressed. Then, once my mother was gone, there was really no one to ask.”

  “You met her,” Arnie countered.

  Hannah shook her head. “I’ve tried to remember her, but I can’t. I don’t think I ever met her.”

  “No, you did.” Arnie was firm. “Not long after you were born – I think your brother was about five at the time – your grandmother visited your parents. Your grandfather had just passed away and she wanted a chance to get to know you guys. I don’t think it went well, but she was there for three days.”

  “I was a baby, though,” Hannah argued. “There’s no way I could remember that.”

  “No, but that’s not the only time you met her. She was at your mother’s funeral. She was careful not to bother your father because she knew he wouldn’t take it well. She approached you, though.”

  “I was a teenager then. I would’ve remembered her.”

  “She didn’t introduce herself as your grandmother. She said she was a friend of your mother’s from the PTA.”

  Hannah opened her mouth to argue and then snapped it shut. That sounded vaguely familiar. “Huh. I do kind of remember that.”

  “She also stopped in to watch you from afar from time to time,” Arnie added. “She knew she couldn’t be part of your life – although she was hopeful that she would be able to reach out to you one day – but she wanted to know you to the best of her ability.”

  “That makes me feel kind of weird,” Hannah admitted. “I wish she would’ve told me who she was.”

  “She didn’t want to upset your father.”

  “Yeah, well … it was a rough couple of years after my mother died. He’s better now. He’s even started dating.”

  “Well, that doesn’t do Abigail much good.” Arnie looked bitter. “I miss her.”

  Hannah’s heart went out to the man. “I’m sorry.”

  “She’s still hanging around,” Cooper offered. “She’s approached Hannah.”

  All eyes at the fire turned to Hannah, making her swallow hard. “I think that was a dream,” she countered quickly.

  “And I think it was the real thing.” Cooper was firm as he dug in his pocket for his phone. “I meant to ask you this earlier, but I forgot. Is this the woman you saw?” He pulled up a picture. It depicted him standing next to an older woman with wild gray hair and fierce eyes. They were laughing for the camera.

  Hannah’s heart plummeted. “Oh, geez.”

  “That’s her, isn’t it?” Cooper was calm. “It wasn’t a dream, Hannah. I know you want to believe it was, but it really wasn’t.”

  Arnie leaned forward, intrigued. “What did she say to you?”

  “She just wanted me to find some book. She said it was in the living room case but that’s locked and I don’t know where the key is. She insisted I would be able to find the key if I gave it some thought, but I assumed that was part of the dream.”

  “Well, I would give it some thought.” Arnie was grave as he flicked his eyes to Cooper. “Why do you think Hannah is the only one to see her so far? I thought for sure she would pop up in the weeks since she died. I was
starting to give up hope.”

  “I was, too,” Cooper conceded. “She’s here, though, and she seems focused on communicating with Hannah.”

  “It could be that she’s simply not strong enough yet,” Danielle offered. “Ghosts don’t always come back with their full strength. Maybe Abigail is pooling her strength for a specific reason.”

  “If so, I think that reason has to do with Astra,” Cooper supplied, causing everyone around the fire to groan. “She crossed the boundary into the town today. I caught her harassing Hannah behind the saloon.”

  Everyone sat straighter in their chairs.

  “How is that possible?” Virgil queried when no one else asked the obvious question. “I thought Abigail drew powerful wards to keep her out.”

  “The wards could’ve weakened with her death,” Becky noted. “We’ll have to go out in the morning and draw them again to be on the safe side.”

  Cooper nodded, thoughtful. “That’s a good idea. Astra is powerful, though. We don’t know that she won’t keep chipping at the wards to break them down. Hannah saw Astra at the creek yesterday, too. It was right before she hit her head and almost drowned.”

  “Did she do something to you?” Arnie asked.

  Hannah held her palms out and shrugged. “I honestly can’t remember. Although … it’s weird. In the dream last night – which you guys claim wasn’t a dream, but whatever – I remembered that I saw Abigail’s ghost again right before it happened. She said she was trying to talk to me. I think it might’ve been an accident.”

  “I don’t know whether that’s good or bad news,” Virgil mused. “I mean, on one hand, you weren’t attacked. On the other, it sounds like you’re a klutz. That’s not always a good thing when you’re hanging around Casper Creek.”

  “I guess I’ll have to try to be more careful,” Hannah said dryly. “Of course, I wasn’t expecting a ghost to pop out of the reeds and try to have a conversation.”

  “Fair enough,” Virgil smirked. “You need to be careful, though.”

  “Especially with Astra running around,” Becky said. “She’s wanted that grimoire from the start. It’s always chapped her bottom that she can’t get her hands on it. She probably thought she would be able to slide in and claim it once Abigail died.”

  “The grimoire passes from person to person,” Danielle argued. “Abigail stipulated in her will that it goes to Hannah. That means Astra and her minions of death can’t touch it unless something happens to Hannah.”

  The words hung heavy over the fire as Tyler removed the hot dogs from the roasting stick and immediately fed one to Jinx, who acted as if he hadn’t eaten in days as he wolfed it down.

  “So … you’re basically saying that she wants to kill me,” Hannah said after a beat, her heart rate picking up a notch. “That’s … swell.”

  Cooper instinctively patted her knee. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you,” he promised. “We’ll be better prepared come tomorrow if she tries to cross the boundaries again.”

  That was all well and good, Hannah thought. It still didn’t make her feel better. “Tell me about the women with her,” she squeaked out. “Who are they? I saw two of them when I was at the creek. Is that all she has?”

  “The coven is relatively large,” Cooper replied. “There are at least twenty women, although most of them are dabblers. Marisa Banks used to be the leader, but she’s been forced out thanks to Astra, who has done some recruiting on her own.”

  “She brought in three local girls to be her closest allies,” Virgil volunteered. “Leanne Cortez, Theodora Markham, and Garnet Jessup. They’re all young and come from troubled homes. That means they were easily swayed.”

  Hannah still felt as if she was wading through quicksand when she tried to grasp all the nuances of the various groups of which she found herself inexplicably thrust in the middle. “And they’re what? Dark witches? I don’t know what else to call them. I’ve never been in this situation before.”

  “I don’t know whether Leanne, Theodora, and Garnet are technically dark witches,” Cooper hedged. “They dabble in dark arts, that’s for certain. All I know about Leanne is that she has a crush on Tyler. I know even less about the other two. As for Astra, she is definitely a dark witch. She’s proven that over and over again.”

  “You said Abigail gave her a second chance, though. Do you think she really wanted it and fell by the wayside accidentally, or was it on purpose?”

  “It was on purpose,” Cooper answered without hesitation. “She was evil, probably from the start.”

  “I don’t know that she was always evil,” Jackie countered. “The girl had a sweet spirit at the start. Greed turned her, though. She wanted access to more and more magic. That’s what made her go dark. By the end, though, I agree. She willingly crossed over to black magic. I doubt there’s any coming back for her.”

  “What if she did try to go back?” Hannah pressed. “What if she decided she was in the wrong and wanted to be good? Could she do that?”

  “It’s possible,” Cooper answered after a long pause. “I’ve heard of bad witches seeing the error of their ways and turning to the white light. The thing is, I don’t think Astra wants to turn back. She’s happy being on the wrong side of witch history.”

  “Okay.” Hannah adjusted her expectations. “What does that mean for Jordan Flynn? Do you think they had a hand in killing him? I saw the marks on his neck. Did something paranormal do that?”

  “The marks could’ve been left by a vampire,” Cooper responded. “They could’ve been something else, though. Astra could’ve simply been looking for blood for a ritual and tried to make it look like a vampire attack. We have no way of knowing until Boone gets back to us with the autopsy.”

  “And when will that be?”

  “Hopefully tomorrow.”

  “Okay.” Hannah chewed on her bottom lip and considered the conundrum. “So, what do we do until then?”

  “Watch our backs,” Tyler replied. “That’s par for the course around here, though. We simply have to wait it out. Astra will show her hand before it’s all said or done.”

  Hannah couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad thing. She needed to sleep on it. There was nothing else she could do.

  11

  Eleven

  Cooper walked Hannah back to her apartment. He took Jinx’s leash from her and easily led the way, allowing Hannah to disappear into her thoughts. His intention was to let her wallow in silence. He couldn’t pull it off, though.

  “What are you thinking?”

  Hannah slid her eyes to him. “I don’t know. What are you thinking?”

  “I’m wondering what you’re thinking.”

  “Ah.”

  He flashed a genuine smile. “I’m also a little worried how things are going for you. This is a lot to take in. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, that’s okay. It’s perfectly normal.”

  Hannah snickered. “I’m glad to have your approval to melt down.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “I know.” Hannah waved off the words as she let herself into the saloon. She wisely locked the door behind them even though Cooper would be leaving after their talk. She was unnerved by the stories shared around the fire. “I don’t know what to feel ... and that’s the honest-to-goodness truth. I don’t know what’s right or wrong.”

  He frowned. “There is no right or wrong. You should only feel what you feel.”

  “Yeah, well ... .” Hannah heaved out a sigh as she followed Cooper up the narrow steps. “Part of me thinks you guys are messing with me to have some fun.”

  Cooper cast a look over his shoulder and studied her face. “You don’t really believe that,” he said finally. “You might want to believe it, but you know we’re telling the truth.”

  “On an instinctual level, I guess that’s true,” she hedged. “It’s all so fantastical, though.”

  Cooper used his key to open the apartment and let Jinx loose inside. The dog wasted
zero time racing through the space. Hannah could hear the springs on the bed when he hopped up and made himself comfortable.

  Cooper chuckled when he realized what happened. “I take it Jinx is spoiled. Do you let him sleep with you every night?”

  “It’s better than being alone.” Hannah’s smile was rueful. “Actually, I take it back. I’m okay being on my own. I’m not exactly thrilled with that lonely feeling that creeps in when I’m supposed to be sleeping, but I know I’m better off.”

  “You are.” Cooper was sincere. “It’s probably fresh, though. This is new and you’re still getting used to it. I think this is going to be a good fit for you.”

  Hannah was amused. “What makes you say that?”

  He shrugged. “I just have a feeling.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  They stared at each other for a long time. Hannah was convinced all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. Somehow, their faces ended up closer. They weren’t on top of each other, but they were achingly close.

  Cooper’s eyes filled with something Hannah couldn’t quite identify. She thought it might be longing. Then something sizzled, and another something crackled. Her palms went sweaty and his breath momentarily went ragged. Hannah was super aware that they were the only two people in the room.

  Then a ghostly face appeared in the open doorway and Abigail looked between them with something akin to zest.

  “Oh, you two are just the cutest,” she enthused, clapping her ethereal hands. No sound came out, but it was obvious she was excited. “I had a feeling you two would hit it off. You’re just so ... cute.” Her eyes flashed with joy as Hannah and Cooper remembered where they were — and the dire stakes they were playing with — at the same time.

  “Abigail.” Cooper let loose a pent-up breath with a whoosh. “I can’t believe you’re here.” He moved to hug her and then remembered his predicament. “I mean ... it’s good to see you.” His lips curved down. “I wish I could hug you.”

  Abigail made a sympathetic clucking sound. “I wish I could hug you, too, boy.” Her eyes lit with love and made Hannah uncomfortable. “I’ve seen you moping around here over the past few weeks. I’ve wanted to snap you out of it, but I couldn’t find the strength to talk to you.”