Midlife Strife: A Paranormal Women's fiction Novel (Bells and Spells - Book 1)

by M. L. Briers

  The only saving grace was the bed-head, little clumps of hair sticking out in all directions seemed to make Marilyn feel better. Mother Nature was catching up with her friend too, and not before time.

  “We have a vampire in Clearview,” Amber burst out with all the enthusiasm of youth and none of the wisdom of actually coming face-to-face with a bloodsucker in real life.

  Claudia had been reaching for the coffee pot, but she stopped in mid-flow and put both hands on the counter as she turned a look over her shoulder at Marilyn. “Anyone we know?”

  Amber’s detective radar snapped on, and she was curious about the looks that passed between her mother and Aunt. She wanted to shake the answers out of them, but she bit down on that need and decided to play it by ear instead.

  “Yes,” Marilyn said, as though the admission was hard to swallow.

  Claudia’s face twitched into a fast wince and back again, and she cocked a look back at Amber, who promptly tried to look disinterested when she was practically foaming at the mouth for answers.

  Marilyn waved one dismissive hand while the other one brushed through her hair, sweeping it back from her face. “I think I saw him at the kitchen window last night…”

  “The widow!” Amber and Claudia said as one.

  Marilyn looked startled and put on the spot. “Well, he hasn’t been invited in, so…” She shrugged.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Claudia demanded.

  “In truth, I thought I was seeing things,” Marilyn said, dismissing it.

  “You thought you imagined a six foot two, sexy hunk of an un-dead man at the window?” Claudia asked with a big dollop of disbelief.

  “Sexy hunk?” Amber asked, and both women turned an exasperated look on her as if she was a toddler again who had just pulled the tablecloth off and shattered every plate on the floor. “Would you believe I was asking for a friend?” she said and held her hands up in surrender.

  “No!” They said together.

  “The banana’s a nice touch,” Claudia teased her. “Maybe you could use it to shoot the vampire.”

  “You do not want to get close to a vampire,” Marilyn scolded her.

  “Nobody wants to get too close to a vampire,” Amber said, feeling the slight excitement that buzzed through her veins – a real-life vampire in Clearview – stop the presses.

  “Some people want to get close to a vampire,” Claudia said and offered Marilyn both barrels of her perfectly tweezed eyebrows as they took a slow climb towards her hairline.

  “We need to talk,” Marilyn said, biting down on the sudden desire to zap her best friend.

  Claudia offered her a knowing smile. “Some things are better left unsaid,” she offered and shot a look at Amber.

  Marilyn turned her full attention to her curious daughter. “Don’t you have a store to open and a new witch to see? You wouldn’t want to leave money on the table.”

  “Condescending but with just the right amount of sugary sweetness to ease the blow,” Amber said, and shrugged, looking decided mischievous. “I can be a little late,” she offered with a wicked little grin.

  Marilyn pounced. “Fine, then you can have a proper breakfast,” she said, and stalked around the counter, snatching the banana from her hand. “Sit!” She demanded, pointing to a stool.

  Amber tilted her chin up and dug her heels in. “Do I get to hear more about the vampire?” she asked, raising a curious eyebrow at her mother.

  “No!” Marilyn and Claudia said as one.

  Amber snatched the banana back from her mother, turned on her heels and headed for the door. “Fine, then don’t blame me if I have to go to the source,” she called back over her shoulder.

  “Stay away from the vampire!” Marilyn called after her.

  “I was talking about Grammy Lou!” Amber called back.

  The sound of the front door when it slammed shut made Marilyn deflate again. It was only the sound of Claudia chuckling that brought her back to life, and she turned to question her friend with just a look.

  Claudia reached for the coffee pot, took her time to pour the perfect cup, replaced the pot, and slowly turned her full attention on Marilyn once more. “She reminds me of someone,” she said and took a little longer to think on it as Marilyn seethed. “Oh yeah, that would be her mother.”

  “Oh, bite me,” Marilyn spat out, and jumped when Scott appeared at her side.

  “And a good morning to you,” he said, planting a quick kiss on his mother’s cheek.

  Marilyn was flustered. Both of her children had seen her to grey hairs, but Amber was the headstrong one that had stayed near to home so her mother could see every little mistake she made along the way. At least Scott’s mistakes only became evident when he ran home.

  “Breakfast, sit, no arguments!” Marilyn said and pointed to a stool.

  “I would never miss one of your home-cooked breakfasts,” Scott informed her, heading for the stool and offering a questioning look to Claudia.

  “She has a few – issues,” Claudia said and chuckled.

  “Bite me twice,” Marilyn bit out, grabbing a plate and starting to pile the food high for her son; who looked like he needed filling up.

  “Lovely,” Claudia said, hiding her grin behind her coffee mug.

  Marilyn reached for a fresh-baked croissant and launched it across the room at Claudia’s head, but the witch snatched it from the air and grinned. “I never say no to pastry,” she teased and took a big bite. Scott chuckled when his mother sighed.

  “A moment on the lips, dot-dot-dot,” Marilyn warned her with a look that said the victory was hers.

  “Yum,” Claudia teased her with a mouthful of buttery pastry.

  Marilyn turned her attention to Scott who snatched up his fork and tried to act as innocent as possible of all wrongdoing, and he certainly wasn’t taking sides, but the look of amusement was still wedge on his face. “I’m the good one, remember?”

  “Define good,” Marilyn said, staring down her nose at him like a dragon lady.

  “I don’t want to, that’s like pressure – for sure – ya know?” he said, mimicking Bill and Ted, he wasn’t sure which one was which, but it usually made his mother smile. Usually, but not this time.

  Marilyn cocked her left eyebrow, and he picked up his plate and backed towards the nearest escape route. “I feel like now would be the perfect time to explore my inner need for solitude,” he said. “Claudia, if she makes a move to follow me; throw a chocolate bar in her path – there’s a box in the cupboard by the fridge.”

  “Snitches get stitches,” she called after him before she dusted off her hands and turned to Claudia.

  “Well, look at you, squirrelling away chocolate, lying about sexy vampires appearing at the window,” Claudia said and offered her a teasing grin. “It looks like someone has a foot in the past.”

  Marilyn snorted and pooh-poohed that idea. “I do not have a foot in the past, although I wouldn’t mind other parts of my body still being there…”

  “Don’t change the subject,” Claudia scolded her.

  “It’s a dead subject,” Marilyn said, and a wicked grin spread her lips.

  “It’s too early for smartass vampire humour,” Claudia said, turning and pouring her friend a cup of Joe.

  Marilyn walked over to accept the offering. “It’s never too early for smartass vampire humour,” she replied.

  “So, what about the vampire?”

  Marilyn dove into the mug of coffee and burned her tongue. With a curse and a glare for her best friend, she shrugged.

  “Don’t want to talk about it, ey? Keeping your cards close to your matronly breasts…”

  “I resent the matronly part,” Marilyn tossed back.

  Claudia raised her eyebrows and leant in. “Then we need to go shopping for some scaffolding for those girls because they are looking decidedly un-perky.”

  Marilyn frowned and looked down at her breasts. “Of course they aren’t perky, they’ve had two kids at the
m and gravity.”

  “Well, that’s what the scaffolding is for…”

  “I’m not a building…”

  “But nature does need a little help as we settle into our maturity.”

  “I’m not going to whalebone corset myself until I can’t bend.”

  Claudia sighed. “This this century.”

  “Think again, my breasts are just fine,” Marilyn assured her.

  “But they aren’t waving hello…”

  “And that’s a good thing,” Marilyn said, putting her cup down into the sink and heading out of the room. “Waving hello,” she grumbled as she headed upstairs the change before heading into town. “Whatever next – whitening my teeth until they glow in the dark? Maybe I should get a butt lift and my crow's feet done. Pah.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  ~

  When her left foot snagged on a knot of weeds, and she tripped, almost colliding with Louann in the process, Lottie cursed beneath her breath. “Are we really doing this?” she asked with annoyance

  “No, it’s all an illusion, and we aren’t really here,” Louann replied. She wasn’t paying much attention to her friend when there was a whole house and grounds to case to see what she could find out.

  Lottie pointed to the solitary car on a driveway; it was hers. The driveway had seen better days, moss clumps had grown around the concrete, weeds had found a way through the tarmac, and she tossed up a hand in frustration. “Well, he’s not here, at least his car isn’t here,” she said, not bothering to whisper as she saw little point to it.

  It was apparent that the vampire wasn’t at home, if he ever was to begin with, and even if he was, he had vampire hearing and would have heard them coming a mile away.

  “Or that’s what he wants us to believe,” Louann tossed back over her shoulder as she peered in through a dirty window and eyed the interior.

  “Of for goodness sake, Louann, you sound like one of those weird people who live in their mother’s basement and speculates on wild and wonderful things on the internet…”

  “Conspiracy theorist?”

  “I was thinking news reporter, but we’ll go with yours,” Lottie offered with a dry tone and a small smug smile at her own joke.

  “There’s a glass on the covered table!” Louann exclaimed.

  “I’ll alert the media,” Lottie offered back, looking around at the un-kept surroundings. “Such a shame, this used to be a lovely house and grounds…”

  Louann snapped a look at her. “Really? That’s what you care about?”

  “Well, let’s face it; I’m too old to worry about the vampire killing me in my sleep to get his revenge…”

  “Unless you sleep in the garden, because he couldn’t possibly get inside your house,” she replied and hesitated, frowning. “You never invited him in, did you?”

  Lottie placed a hand on her hip and drew her head back in disbelief. “Do I look like I just stepped off the funny farm?”

  “Well…” Louann tossed back and left it there for her friend to join the dots.

  “And when they read my will you’ll find you got the plaque that says; up yours,” Lottie replied.

  “I like to think it’s the thought that counts, like last year’s birthday present.”

  Lottie couldn’t help but smile at the memory. She’d been hiding in the bushes with Marilyn and Amber when the present had arrived. A six-foot-tall rent-a-hunk dressed as a cowboy, complete with a lasso, and music to dance to, and dance he did – the man danced his clothes off on Louann’s front lawn, much to her horror, and Lottie’s delight. “I thought your life could use a little spicing up, so sue me.”

  “A stripper? You’re confusing me with someone who…”

  “Embraces the fun in life,” Lottie shot back, following Louann to the next window, and the next. “I live in hope.”

  “Then you’re always going to be disappointed,” Louann grumbled. She clambered over a large branch that looked as if it had been there since the last big storm; which was at least two seasons ago and came to the front door. “Much like I was with my husbands.”

  “But unlike them, I don’t intend to be dispatched to the afterlife.” Lottie relished the hiss that came from her best friend.

  “Don’t hold your breath,” Louann shot back. “Or do – for about ten minutes – and I’ll buy you a nice going away flower display…”

  “A wreath? Really? I didn’t think you’d open your purse for more than a single rose. I’m honoured, and there is a heart of gold beneath the cold, evil, crusty exterior.”

  Louann lifted her fist and hammered it against the door with intent. “Don’t mistake etiquette for good intentions.”

  “If you were going to knock anyway then why were we creeping around and whispering?” Lottie asked.

  “Forewarned is forearmed,” Louann shot back.

  “And he has been,” Lottie reasoned. “But, I still don’t think that he’s here…”

  “Isn’t there a barn? Maybe he’s swinging upside down by his bat claws from the rafters,” Louann said absently and started for the side of the house while Lottie took a moment to remind herself that killing her best friend would be a bad thing.

  Lottie sighed. “Oh, dear Goddess, I’ve known this woman all my life – how did I wrong you in a previous life?” she muttered, shaking her head and reluctantly following on her friend’s heels.

  “Oh, suck it up, Lottie, we’ve got a vampire to find,” Louann called back over her shoulder.

  “I wasn’t aware we’d lost him,” she muttered, looking down at the branch and deciding to walk around it.

  ~

  “Timing is everything,” Neal Mackenzie said with a smile that could tempt a nun to sigh at his apparent charms, as he pushed open the door to Bells and Spells the moment Amber had flicked the lock open and turned the please come in sign on the door outward.

  Amber turned right around to get a better look at the stranger because just looking at him over her shoulder was a waste of drooling time. Six foot odd of well-built man-hunk with greying temples stood in the doorway and eyed her right back with the brightest blue eyes she thought she’d ever seen.

  He looked good – too good to waste good – and she wondered if he was new in town or just passing through. Perhaps it was time to take matters into her own hands and introduce him to her mother, Goddess only knew, she wasn’t going to get a man for herself with her hermit ways.

  From the wavy dark hair that was casually swept back away from his model good looks to the way, he made black jeans and a tee with a leather jacket look better than they should on a man his age. She guessed he was an outsider – nobody in town looked like that.

  “Let me guess, candles?” she asked, but she couldn’t get a reading on him to be sure of his needs, and that in itself was unusual.

  Amber had a knack of knowing what a customer was looking for before they knew it themselves, and the compulsive buyers were the best – she could practically smell their interest in everything on her shelves.

  Neal stepped inside and allowed the door to close behind him. “How did you guess?” he asked, oozing the easy charm that was designed to put her at ease.

  “I guess it’s the outfit,” she said, motioning up and down his body but determined to keep her eyes locked on his. In truth, she felt like there was little choice like his gaze was holding her gaze hostage.

  There was also a strange prickling in her fingers as her magic took on a life of its own. Something wasn’t quite right, and if she were a betting girl, which she wasn’t, then she’d wager her shop on knowing why.

  Strange then, knowing in her heart that this man wasn’t everything he appeared to be, that she wasn’t even remotely afraid of him. The question was, did she call him on it, or let it slide?

  Neal didn’t break the eye contact that he was using to settle her nerves and keep her from doing something stupid, like using her magic against him. Although, he could feel the wards that had been put up around the store and
he knew the sting of that magic well, he wasn’t about to put his head on the block for a witch with a trigger finger.

  Every witch had a personal magical essence, and those wards belonged to Marilyn. They weren’t designed to disable, repel, or hurt; they had been put there as a warning to a supernatural to walk away.

  In truth, the name of the store should have had that effect anyway, witches didn’t play nice with other supernaturals as he knew to his cost, but the wards were a nice touch.

  “I was also looking for…”

  “My mother?” Amber asked, testing the ground without having to cross that bridge if she was mistaken, but she didn’t think she was, and from the smile, he offered her – a smirk laced with knowing – she was betting her life on being right.

  “And you must be Amber,” Neal replied, finally letting go of her free will just to see if she was going to freak out on him.

  Not surprisingly, considering she was Marilyn’s daughter, she folded her arms and stood her ground, but then she was on home turf.

  “And you must be the guy with a sinister drinking habit I’ve been hearing about,” she offered back.

  Now, she felt the rush of excitement, the adrenaline kick through her system. Now, she felt the magic spring to life like a warning bell going off inside of her. Whatever he’d done to keep her magic muted before, he certainly wasn’t doing it now.

  “I’m curious as to what you’ve been told.”

  “The usual, don’t get water on the Mogwai, don’t feed the Gremlin after midnight,” Amber offered him just the one raised eyebrow.

  At that point, upon scoring a victory, she would normally have turned her back and walked to the relative safety of the other side of the counter. Still, Amber knew better than to turn her back on a vampire, and she certainly wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of watching her back away.