by M. L. Briers
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Neal turned a smile like honey on her, but all he got was one raised eyebrow in return.
“I don’t tend to ask a question I don’t already know the answer to,” she lied, and they both knew it, but it was a bluff wrapped up in suspicion, and covered in a determination to find out the truth.
“Then you don’t need me to confirm anything,” he said and strolled on down the street.
Claudia looked to Bells and Spells, where her family were having an animated conversation behind the glass of the store window. She was no closer to knowing what had brought him back to town, but she hadn’t lost any ground either.
The one thing she was sure about was that she’d be damned if she was going to let the vampire get his claws into her family for a second time.
CHAPTER TWELVE
~
“What are you doing?” Lottie demanded when Louann opened her large purse and pulled out a small marble jar of the type that Louann favoured for keeping pre-made potions.
Now she knew what the witch had been doing the night before while Lottie had been sleeping. She might not have been out chasing down the vampire in her Grandma the vampire slayer persona, but she’d still been up to no good.
Quelle surprised. Lottie rolled her eyes when Louann ignored her. “Earth to, Louann,” she shouted in her ear, and the elder jumped in place.
“I’m not deaf – yet,” Louann hissed back over her shoulder with enough venom in her tone to tell Lottie that she’d hit her mark.
Louann hadn’t answered her question, and Lottie wasn’t waiting around for her friend to finish what she was doing before she got an answer. She reached around and snatched the jar out of her friend’s hand. “No, just stupid, and that isn’t the way to see out your golden years,” Lottie said, popping the top off the jar and cautiously sniffing the liquid inside.
Louann drew her head back on her neck, raised her eyebrows and questioned Lottie’s sanity, all while waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Well?” She couldn’t wait that long to see if the witch had figured it out.
“You’re going to bar him from entering his own house?” Lottie challenged her crazy idea, but Louann shrugged it off.
“Seems fitting, he is a vampire and should be used to not being able to get inside…”
“His property?” Lottie asked with a large dollop of disbelief.
“Semantics…”
“Suicide,” Lottie said and popped the stopper back in the bottle before putting it in her purse much to Louann’s disgust.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving you from yourself, and me from having to bail you out at a later date,” Lottie said, turning on her heels and heading for her car. “If you want a ride, get in.”
Louann was at a loss. Of course, she could do things the old fashioned way and summon her magic on the spot, but she preferred the reliability of a prepared potion, it lasted longer. “I don’t think you are going to drive off and leave me here,” she replied, folding her arms and digging in her heels.
Lottie yanked open the driver’s door and shot a look at her friend across the roof of the car. “Are you willing to bet your non-walking shoes on it?”
Louann’s toes immediately flexed in her shoes in protest, and she wiggled them. The three-inch heels alone would be a killer if she had to walk back home, but being left alone wasn’t a prospect that she looked forward too when the vampire was back in town and probably out for her blood.
“Get in, last chance,” Lottie called as she ducked into the car and got comfy behind the wheel.
“Charlotte…” Louann called in protest, but the engine drowned her out, and she panicked at the thought of walking home. “Fine,” she muttered to herself as she headed for the passenger door muttering all the way.
When she dropped into the seat beside her friend Louann huffed. Lottie turned to look at her, and she couldn’t hold back the smile. “Stop pouting, you’re not a child, and I’m not your mother,” she said with an air of fondness in her voice that sounded like a favourite aunt instead of a best friend.
“Just take me home if we aren’t going to do as I planned,” Louann said, sounding like a petulant child.
“How about I take you for ice cream to make up for your disappointment,” Lottie teased and got a look of horrified disbelief in return.
“My disappointment? What am I five?”
“I was wondering that myself,” Lottie said, heading down the driveway away from the trouble that her friend wanted to stir up once more.
“I just want to protect my family…”
By starting another war with the vampire?” Lottie said and waited in silence while Louann thought about it. But waiting wasn’t Lottie’s thing, and she’d gone a full minute doing just that. “Things are different this time, you know?”
Louann folded her arms and turned her head to gaze out of the window. “Maybe in your world…”
“In any world. It’s time to roll the dice and see where they land,” Lottie said and noted the deep frown as she snatched a look at her. “Just for a little while.”
Louann just grunted back. Lottie hoped that grunt was a semi-agreement to her proposal, but she doubted it. When Louann got quiet, she was thinking, and thinking wasn’t a good thing where her friend was concerned.
Lottie knew trouble was afoot, she could feel it inside her, but she wasn’t sure where that trouble was going to come from, or what form it might take.
~
Sandy heard the raised voices as she made her way back to Bells and Spells, but this time it was two women, and one of them was Amber. She pushed open the door to the store with trepidation and eyed the family resemblance when the two redheaded women turned to look at her.
Sandy rebalanced the coffee and bag of muffins in her hands and stood in the entranceway like a third wheel, unsure what to do next. “Should I get more coffee?” she asked, and Amber snorted a chuckle that sounded a little hollow.
“Come on in, and don’t let the dragon lady put you off, she’s just my mother,” Amber assured her with a smile.
“I can see that, you look alike,” Sandy said, taking a step inside and allowing the door to close behind her. Only it didn’t make it all the way closed as Claudia pushed it back open.
“Dragon lady?” Claudia said, making Sandy jump and sidestep out of the way. “She’s more like Magic.”
“Magic?” Sandy asked, and Claudia pointed to the cat that wasn’t in its usual spot at the window. “Where’d the cat go?”
“She doesn’t like crowds,” Amber said with a shrug.
“Especially when one of them is a vamp…” The elbow that Marilyn got in the ribs from her daughter made her suck in a harsh breath.
Marilyn wasn’t up for anyone’s games today. She’d had little sleep, felt somewhat wilted, and she’d had a run-in with a blast from the damn past that should have stayed buried – in more ways than one. She wasn’t about to suffer fools lightly. “What?” she demanded.
Amber’s wide eyes told her that something wasn’t right, and when her daughter motioned towards Sandy with her gaze, she frowned hard. “I thought she was a wit…” Another elbow in the ribs and the way Claudia went into a fake coughing fit told her to keep her own counsel.
“Magic doesn’t like it when people vape,” Amber said and offered a cross-eyed look to her mother to warn her off.
“If the wind changes…” Marilyn warned as all mother’s of her generation did when a child pulled a stupid face, but she’d said it so many times she knew she didn’t need to finish the warning.
“Let’s get breakfast!” Claudia announced sweeping over to Marilyn and linking arms before she yanked her towards the door that Sandy promptly it pulled open for them.
“We’ve already had breakfast; I should know I was up early making it,” Marilyn huffed.
“You can never have too much breakfast in your diet,” Claudia replied, practically pushing her out of the store. “See yo
u later,” Claudia tossed back over her shoulder just before Sandy rushed to close the door behind them.
“My mother,” Amber said, noting the shellshocked look on Sandy’s face. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to her, and she’s pretty harmless,” she lied on both counts. But the truth was – it was Grandma Lou that people needed to watch out for – that elder could strip the bark from the tree with a few well-delivered words.
“She seems – nice,” Sandy said for want of something better to say.
Amber snorted a chuckle as her new assistant walked to the counter and placed the coffee down – she was just about to add the bag of muffins beside it when the door was tossed open, and the bell rang out into the silence once more causing her to jump in place.
Amber noticed how twitchy the woman was, but she didn’t have time to think on it as Dean Talbot – her cheating and all-around idiot ex – stomped inside. From the look on his face, he had something to say.
“Spit it out,” Amber said and folded her arms in expectation. If Dean was pouting about something, then it was usually to do with Louann.
Dean suddenly looked more flustered than determined as he eyed the inside of the store and scowled. “Your grandmother…” he managed to get out, still eyeing his surroundings before Amber cut him off.
“I’ve told you before, Dean, you have to learn to fight your own battles, you can’t expect a girl to do everything for you,” Amber said, and noted the way he went ramrod straight.
Then she turned her attention to Sandy, who looked like she wanted to run for the door and never come back. “My cheating-ex,” she informed her.
Sandy blinked twice as she took in the information and stored it, but she didn’t run for the hills, and that was a good sign in Amber’s book. If anything, she looked like she wanted to join the fight, but there wasn’t a fight to be had because Dean was just looking to whine a little.
“Now, Amber…” Dean said, in that condescending tone that annoyed her so.
“Now, Dean,” Amber replied, giving him a taste of his own medicine. “If you are going to wear long trousers, then you are going to have to face life’s challenges at some point, and Louann is just one of those challenges.”
“But she’s a witch!” Dean exclaimed with a big dollop of disbelief.
Sandy snapped to attention. Amber sighed. “Just because you can’t control or better a woman does not give you the right to label her a witch – what next, Dean? Burned at the stake?”
“Huh?” Dean wrenched his head back and looked horrified and a lot confused.
Amber started towards him, and he took a step back. “Now, off you go to fight your own battles,” she said and shooed him out of the door.
“But, Amber…” Dean said when he finally realised that he was on the outside looking in.
Amber raised her hand and offered him a mocking wave. “Bye-bye,” she said, before tossing the door closed in his face.
Then she turned back towards Sandy, who looked even more confused than poor Dean. She clapped her hands together and snapped her new assistant out of it before she rubbed her hands together with glee. “Now, where are those muffins?”
Sandy lamely raised the bag that she’d been holding onto for dear life as if the muffins inside were a lifesaver, and Amber walked towards her with a wicked little grin. “Yum.”
Amber had the distinct impression that Sandy didn’t know that she possessed the power of magic, and if she did know, then she didn’t know how to use it. That made the newest witch in town a pet project, and she would help her to develop her powers – but first, she needed coffee and muffins, and to catch her breath.
A vampire, a shifter, her mother, and her ex – all in one morning – things were certainly livening up in Clearview – but she wasn’t about to tempt fate by asking what came next, besides, she liked surprises.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
~
Marilyn stood beside her car and sighed. This weekend sure wasn’t turning out how she’d expected or hoped. It was supposed to be fun and relaxing, and she felt anything but relaxed, and she certainly wasn’t having any fun this morning.
The dinner had been fun, right up to the point where the vampire had shown up at the kitchen window, and now he was preying on her daughter. Worse still, he owned the building where her store resided. Marilyn had the feeling that was about to come back and haunt her; she just didn’t know how.
What was stranger was the fact that she was blind to those feelings within her that usually gave her a sense of how things were going to turn out when they didn’t involve her, so she guessed she might be right at the heart of it somehow. But how?
That wasn’t to say her witchy senses weren’t on full alert – they were – but she just couldn’t seem to grasp why. It was as if she was standing in a dark room and couldn’t find the light switch.
“I thought you’d already be gone,” Claudia said over her shoulder by her left ear and made her jump.
Marilyn hadn’t felt a presence, and she hadn’t expected anyone to intrude on her thoughts. She’d parted company with Claudia after a quick trip to the diner, and she was supposed to be heading home.
“Me too, but I’m stuck,” Marilyn said, and motioned to the flat tyre that had been perfectly fine when she’d arrived – not that she’d looked – buMarilyn was sure she would have felt the car dragging on the road if it had been losing air.
“In a rut,” Claudia said with relish and a big grin.
Marilyn wholeheartedly agreed with that, but she wasn’t about to admit it to her friend – heaven only knew what kind of an unholy mess that might unleash in her life – and the one thing Claudia wasn’t was subtle.
“This is going to put a dent in my day,” Marilyn pouted at the thought. She liked things running like clockwork, and a flat was anything but clockwork.
Claudia shrugged. “So, put the keys under the wheel arch, call the garage and let them fix it while you get a ride home with me,” she replied.
Marilyn didn’t see a downside to that idea. It would allow her schedule to stay relatively on track. Joey the tow guy wouldn’t be talking her ear off about his sister’s newest boyfriend who was no good for her, but she loved him anyway – Dolly could fall in love at the drop of her hat or a friendly smile – and it never ended well.
“Let’s go,” Marilyn said, stowing the keys before she followed on behind Claudia as the woman clip-clopped across the lot in her high heels.
Marilyn had traded her six-inch heels in for more sensible three-inch ones a while ago, but she did miss them sometimes. What she didn’t miss was the ache in her calves and her lower back after wearing them for a few hours. Besides, in a town like Clearview, there was no need to dress things up, as long as she looked presentable and hadn’t taken to wearing elastic waistbands just yet, she felt like she was doing fine.
“So, tell me more about the golfing business,” Marilyn said when she was comfy in the passenger seat and looked around at the swanky new toys that came with an expensive car.
It wasn’t as if Marilyn drove an old banger, but she liked practical and moderate, and she didn’t see the point in spending all that money on something that just got you from A to B without breaking down – although, no amount of money could guard against a flat.
“Oh, that’s yesterday’s news, and I don’t know what tomorrow’s headline will be yet,” Claudia informed her as she started the engine and it purred.
Marilyn liked the sound of that purr, her car wasn’t cat-like, more reliably ticking over with a judder now and again. Claudia’s car did not judder, and when she put it in gear, there was no jolt.
Maybe expensive wasn’t something to be sniffed at after all. “Well, what about today?” Marilyn asked.
“Today, we’re going back in time,” Claudia said, fiddling with something on her steering wheel that made music fill the car and Marilyn jump in her seat and slapped her hands over her ears at the noise level.
Claudia immediately
turned it down. “You did not just become your mother again,” Claudia said, and Marilyn slapped her palms down to her thighs and looked as if someone had just thrown a pie in her face.
“I did no such…”
“You covered your ears…”
“Before they bled…”
“Oh, my Goddess, you’re getting old…”
“I am not!” Marilyn countered as she turned in her seat and offered her friend the evil eye, but inside she knew it was true. “Fine, I am, I’m old…” Marilyn said and looked grumpier than a bear that someone had poked. “I don’t want be old,” she wailed.
“And you aren’t,” Claudia informed her with a scowl. “Because if you’re old then I’m old, and I refuse to get old when I have that much money in the damn bank and things I still want to do with my life.”
Marilyn opened her mouth, but she couldn’t think of a reply. She felt old – old and tired – as if her body was starting to wind down to take her into her twilight years, and she wasn’t ready for that, especially not when Claudia was around. She huffed and faced forward again.
“You need to remember what it’s like to be young, fun, and full of c…”
“Claudia!” Marilyn hissed, but she couldn’t help but smile.
“What – you and I out on the town, on the pull for a guy…”
“A silver fox?” Marilyn grumbled.
“You know any?” Claudia asked with a teasing grin.
“No,” Marilyn grumbled, looking dour. “Now drive.”
“No wonder you’re so grumpy,” Claudia said, and transferred her foot from the brake to the gas, and off they went, fast enough to push Marilyn back against her seat. “Remember the eighties…” Claudia said, and turned up the music again, but this time to a bearable level.
Claudia snuck a look at Marilyn when the new tune pumped out of the speakers. Who could resist bobbing in their seat to the sound of Kenny Loggins singing Footloose – it was an anthem for their generation and one that still got people of all ages off their backsides and onto the dance floor.
