Once her pipe was lit, Granny extended her hand out to Sumac.
“Uh, Mom… How am I supposed to take your hand, you’re a ghost?” Sumac asked.
“Just do it.” Granny Pepper was getting irritated.
Sumac reached out and felt the gentle sensation of a whisper against her hand. She figured that was good enough.
Granny Pepper nodded her head and began to chant a spell so quietly that she couldn’t hear what she was saying. Sumac closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, they were in the middle of a field.
It was dark, and when Sumac looked up, she could see a sky full of stars. The view was dazzling. It took her breath away, and then the chilly night air brought her back to reality.
“What are we doing here?” Sumac asked as she rubbed her hands together for warmth.
“I have no idea,” Granny answered. “I cast a spell that would help us find Jenkins, and this is where we ended up.”
They looked around, but there was nothing as far as the eye could see. It was just a big open field. The only thing of any interest was the clear view of the sky.
“So, was your magic wrong?” Sumac asked cautiously.
“I’m going to pretend like you didn’t say that.”
“Okay, so now what?” Sumac asked a little less cautiously.
Fifteen
Carly’s House
Ben and Belladonna hurried down the stairs towards the ringing. The followed the sound into the dining room where they found Carly’s purse on the table with her ringing phone inside of it. Ben took it out of the purse and answered.
“Hello.”
“Yeah man, I want a large pepperoni pizza with extra cheese and light on the sauce. I’ll also need an order of cheese bread and a two-liter of whatever pop you’ve got.” A male voice said.
“Sorry sir, but this isn’t whatever pizza place you think you’ve called,” Ben responded.
“Dude this isn’t Pizza Palace?” The voice lamented.
“Nope, I’m afraid not.”
“Bummer man. Okay, thanks.”
The call disconnected and Ben set the phone down on the table.
“Wrong number, huh? It’s so weird that she’s gone, but she left her phone and purse here.” Belladonna said. “Do you think she was abducted too? Like, the same people who took Old Man Jenkins took Carly as well? Or, did she just leave in such a hurry that she forgot her purse?”
“I don’t know, Bella. But, if she left without it, perhaps she’ll come back for it.” He answered.
“Well, we should wait here then,” Belladonna said and walked into the kitchen.
“What are you doing?” Ben asked as he followed her.
“I’m making dinner. I’m hungry, and we can’t exactly order take-out given the circumstances.” Belladonna said.
“Does she even have any food?”
“Let’s take a look.”
Carly did have a fully stocked kitchen and refrigerator. Belladonna shivered when she thought about how bad the place would smell if Carly left all of the food to spoil.
Instead, she’d use at least some of it to make a meal for herself and Ben. She could always pay Carly back for the groceries or just replace them.
After looking for a while, Belladonna settled on hamburgers and fries. She worked on seasoning the meat and forming the patties while Ben peeled and sliced up some potatoes.
“We seem to be doing this a lot lately,” Ben observed as he cut up his last spud.
“What? Breaking into houses and cooking the owners food?” Bella teased.
“No. I mean cooking meals together.” Ben flushed a little at her teasing.
“Are you complaining?” Bella asked in her most serious voice.
“Not at all, Babe.”
Once the food was done, they went into the dining room and tried not to stare at the phone. It never rang again, and when it started to get late, Ben and Belladonna began to think they’d have to leave.
That’s when they heard the back door open.
Carly burst into tears the moment she saw them standing in the kitchen. Belladonna immediately walked over and pulled Carly into an embrace.
“Let’s go sit down and talk this out.” She said soothingly.
The truth came out before Carly could stop it. Apparently, Nick had been trying to quit smoking, but he’d been unsuccessful. He’d made a little ashtray out of foil from Brynhildr’s kitchen and used it outside on a break from cooking. Chef Leonard had used it too.
When Leonard turned up dead, Carly had gone outside to get some air and found the ashtray. She knew no one but Nick and the Chef could have been smoking, so she swiped the makeshift ashtray and took it home with her.
Once her nerves are settled, Carly realized she’d stolen evidence from the scene of the crime, and she didn’t even know for sure that it had been Nick’s ashtray when she took it.
That was what the conversation with Nick was about, and it’s also why she freaked out and ran out of the police station. Carly was convinced that she was going to go to jail for evidence tampering.
“So, who killed Leonard, then?” Ben asked aloud.
“Your guess is as good as mine. Nick said something earlier today about seeing something suspicious, but we didn’t finish our conversation. I need to call him, he’s probably worried to death about me.” Carly said in a panic.
That’s when it hit Ben and Belladonna that Carly didn’t know about Nick. It made him sick to his stomach to think about telling her, but it had to be done.
Belladonna took Carly’s hand, and the two of them told the sobbing vampire that Nick was dead. They thought she was going to have a breakdown, but then suddenly her eyes went wide, and she dried her tears.
“You think he was killed by a vampire? And he’s still in the woods?”
Belladonna and Ben nodded their heads yes.
“Take me to him now.”
Sixteen
The star or meteor, that was about to hit earth, was careening towards the field where Granny Pepper and Aunt Sumac were standing. Sumac hoped that the impact would be a white-hot fireball because she was freezing.
It turned out that it wasn’t the end of the world, though, it was just Aexilox’s ship coming in for a fast landing. The silver ship powered down, and a staircase opened up from the side.
By the time Old Man Jenkins, Naiema, and Almoy descended the steps, half the town was driving up to the landing sight. They’d seen the streak of light, and since most of them were out alien hunting anyway, they were there in a flash.
Granny Pepper did not look happy. Fortunately, all of the alien hunters were Winterfield residents, so the sight of a ghost rushing up to confront a zombie wasn’t too disturbing. The pictures, though, were going to make every single conspiracy theory website for the next few years.
“You left me for an alien?” Granny Pepper hissed.
She wished she could use necromancy to bring him back from the dead. Then she’d kill him all over again.
“Pepper, sweetie. Please understand. I didn’t leave you for an alien. Naiema and I are just friends. They abducted me so I could see the solar system. We went to the moon and Neptune. We were going to go on a cruise, but I missed you. I felt bad about leaving without saying goodbye, so I had them bring me back.” Jenkins pleaded.
“Uh huh. That’s a likely story if I ever heard one.” Pepper was not amused.
“Next time they abduct me, we’re going to take you too. We’ll get to go on a cruise on a huge ship. It’ll be the best time.” Jenkins said, and it seemed to calm Granny Pepper down.
It was then that she noticed the alien mother and child who’d accompanied Jenkins back to earth looked terrified. There were so many townsfolk gathered around pointing and taking pictures that she didn’t blame them.
“Are your friends leaving right away?” Pepper asked.
“They wanted to stay in Winterfield for a while. They are interested in visiting earth, and I figured that they’
d be less of an oddity around here. I thought they could stay with me until we found them a place to rent. If that’s okay with you, Sugar Britches.” He said and waggled his eyebrows.
“Gross. I’m going back to Belladonna’s place. I’m starving.” Aunt Sumac said and started walking towards the crowd. “Who wants to give me a ride back?”
The driver of the sleek, white Cadillac two cars down from where Sumac was standing was confident that she’d evaded detection. After all, Sumac wasn’t letting on that she’d noticed anything or anyone sinister, and she was once again going on about how hungry she was.
Sumac saw her, though. She pretended as if she didn’t because giving that awful witch any kind of advantage was unconscionable.
Follow me home. I’ll make light work of you. Aunt Sumac thought as she pretended not to see Lexi behind the wheel.
Seventeen
Belladonna and Ben got Carly back to Nick’s body as quickly as they could. Ben was actually relieved that the body was still there. Something about being in Carly’s house had made him forget the urgency of having a dead body just lying about in the woods.
He’d have to ask Bella about it when they had another moment to talk openly. Right then, he was transfixed on what Carly was doing.
She walked over and knelt down beside Nick. Her hands gently rolled him over and pulled his head into her lap. Ben was amazed that Nick was in the same condition as when he’d left earlier.
“I thought he would have started to decay by now,” Ben said. “I guess the cold slowed it down, but still.”
“It’s the venom from the vampire bite. He’s dead, but not really. Nick is trapped in there, and he would stay that way for a long time if you hadn’t found him.” Carly said before biting her wrist.
Ben and Belladonna knew what came next. They’d both seen enough vampire movies to know the procedure. They turned around and looked away. It felt wrong to watch such an intimate moment.
“You guys can turn around now. He’s waking up.” Carly said in a small voice as if she was afraid that talking too loud would send him back to the land of the trapped dead.
“I need to ask him who did this,” Ben stated.
“You can try. I’m not sure how much help he’ll be right now, and make it quick.” Carly said and brushed Nick’s hair off his forehead.
“Be quick?” Belladonna asked.
“I’ll explain later. Just ask him.” Carly responded urgently.
“Nick? Can you hear me?” Ben asked.
“Hey, Detective Carmichael. What’s up? Why am I in the woods?” Nicks response made Ben’s heart sink.
“Someone, a vampire, tried to kill you. I need to know if you remember who it was?”
“A vampire? Like Carly?” Nick looked puzzled.
“Yeah, they drained your blood and left you here for dead,” Belladonna said.
“Well, it wasn’t my Carly. I can tell you that.” Nick said and took her hand. “I think I remember who it was. They came to see me at home. Something about catering a welcome home party.” Nick was practically mumbling by the end, and everyone strained to hear him.
“Who was it, Nick? Can you remember?” Ben encouraged.
“Yes! I remember! It was…” Then Nick was unconscious again.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Bella said loudly. “Oh gosh. I’m sorry. Is he dead again?”
“No, the transformation has started. That’s why you needed to hurry.” Carly responded.
“Transformation? Into a vampire?” Ben’s face went pale.
“Yeah. What did you think was going to happen? Anyway, he’ll be in a coma-like state for a while until his body has completed the transformation.” Carly said. “Now help me get him to the car. We’ll take him back to my house. I’ve got an extra coffin in the basement he can stay in until he’s ready.”
“You sleep in a coffin?” Belladonna was confused because she was sure they were in Carly’s bedroom earlier in the day.
“Not often, but it’s sometimes necessary. I have a spare. Now, help me get him to the car.” She said.
The carried Nick to Ben’s car and put him in the backseat with Carly. That’s when Ben’s phone rang. It was Chief Frost.
“Yes, Chief Frost, I did handle that call. No sir, I didn’t call anything in because it was a false alarm. It was a prank or something. Yes, I’m sure. I checked very thoroughly.”
Ben was relieved when he hung up the phone, but he cursed himself for not calling in sooner. It was unlike him to be so irresponsible.
Just as Ben was pulling his car out of the cemetery, the streak of light that was the Hexilox’s space ship tore across the sky.
“What was that?” Ben gasped.
“My guess is aliens. However, let’s handle this one thing at a time, okay? Luke and Murielle are leaving for their honeymoon, and I want to go tell her goodbye. Do you think we could do that?” Belladonna asked.
Ben looked at the clock and realized there was no way for him to get to the jewelry store, buy a ring, and take Belladonna out on a date. He’d have to improvise.
“Sure, Babe. Let’s get Nick back to Carly’s place and then I want to make one stop. I promise I’ll get you over to Luke and Muri’s tonight, though. Okay?”
Something about the tone of Ben’s voice made Belladonna reluctant to argue. Whatever he had planned was huge and in a good way. While she helped her friend and boyfriend carry a comatose partial vampire into the house, it occurred to her that she could use and awesome surprise right about now.
To be continued…
Epilogue
“Okay, open your eyes!” Ben said cheerfully.
The weight of whatever dark force was affecting Winterfield had lifted as soon as he and Belladonna got out of town. He’d called ahead to make sure the jewelry store would still be open by the time they arrived, and the woman on the other end just said the same thing about customer’s wishes being their command.
“Thank goodness, Ben. I didn’t know you were going to make me keep them closed the entire time.” Bella said as she rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands.
“Now, please remember, don’t say anything having to do with making wishes in this place. Okay?” Ben said seriously.
Bella’s eyes came into focus, and it all suddenly made sense. They were outside a swanky jewelry store in New Salem. She’d driven by the place many times but had never been inside.
“Ben, did you bring me to a jewelry store owned by jinn?”
“Guilty. Now, let’s go inside.” He said and got out of the car.
Just as Bella put her hand on the door to open it, Ben swung the door open for her.
“I don’t need a man to open my door for me.” She grumbled half teasingly.
“Belladonna Nightshade, please just let me do these things for you tonight. Just this once. Then, you can boss me around for the rest of our lives.” He pleaded with a smile.
“Oh no,” Belladonna said and tried to get back in the car.
“What? What’s wrong?” Ben looked worried.
“What did you bring me here to buy?”
“You’ll find out inside. Everything is ready for us.” He was still smiling undeterred by her terror.
“No.” She said and crossed her arms.
“What do you mean no? You can have whatever you want. Please Baby, please come in with me?” Ben was still grinning from ear to ear.
“No. I don’t want to go in.” She said and looked at the floor of the car.
“Belladonna.”
“Anything I want?” Bella asked.
“Yes, anything. And, I had them run to the candy shop to get chocolate covered strawberries.” Ben said and offered her his hand.
“Okay, I’ll go in.” She said and popped out of the car.
Ben pulled her into his arms and kissed her on the forehead.
“Will you do me the honor of torturing me like this for the rest of our lives, Belladonna Nightshade?” Ben asked as he slipped down
onto his knee.
Thank you for reading!
Will Belladonna say yes to Ben’s proposal?
Will they solve the murder before Carly is forced to turn the entire town into vampires?
Will Granny Pepper forgive Old Man Jenkins?
Will the Hexilox family become Winterfield’s first alien family?
Find out the answers to these questions and more in the next installment of the Witches of Winterfield series:
Party Hexed
Follow me on Facebook!
Sign up for my newsletter to get information on new releases and promotions.
Copyright© 2016 Sara Bourgeois
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.
Fairly Hexed: Cozy Witch Mystery (Witches of Winterfield Book 3) Page 8
