by Amy Boyles
When we reached it, she turned to me. “Wow. Did you feel that sexual tension back there? I’m sweating.”
A jolt flared down my spine. “What are you talking about?”
Rose fanned her hand in front of her face. “The way he was looking at me. If I were twenty years younger, I’m pretty sure the two of us would’ve had to leave you and get a room.”
I pinned my lips together and nodded. “Yep. The two of y’all had some real sexual tension. You should watch out. He is a vampire.”
We slid into our seats, and Rose buckled her belt. “He might be a vampire,” she mused, “but I have the feeling he’s soft as a kitten once you get to know him.”
I gritted my teeth. “I would rather light my hair on fire and run naked through town than get to know a vampire. No thanks. The last thing I will ever do is become friends with him.”
And that was a promise.
EIGHT
Since Jimmy had been planning on going to Earth Town, I talked Rose into visiting the area. We didn’t get there until after the sun had set and dinner had passed, which I figured was safe from vampires since they hung out at the pub at night.
Drinking what? I didn’t know.
Earth Town was much more spread out than Air Town. The houses were situated farther apart, leaving room for large gardens to be planted on open tracks of land.
“What are earth witches like?” I said to Rose.
“Oh, they’re more in touch with the ground and nature than a lot of us. They tend to grow vegetables and such. Salt-of-the-earth sort of folks.”
Up ahead, a pavilion sparkled with life. Christmas lights dangled from the rafters, and a group of folks all dressed in plaid shirts and either jeans or blue-jean skirts headed toward it.
“What’s going on?”
Rose giggled with excitement. “I would guess that’s a good old-fashioned hoedown.”
My jaw dropped. “A hoedown?”
“Also known as a hootenanny or a jamboree. But that’s only if I had to guess. Roll down the windows and let’s see.”
I paused. Every fiber in my being resisted the idea of a hoedown, hootenanny or jamboree. These things were not of my world. I was a high-heels-and-concrete-jungle sort of gal. Not the kind that threw on plaid, yanked on a pair of cowgirl boots and put on a straw hat.
The window buzzed as Rose rolled it down. “Well, since you’re not going to do it,” she murmured.
The sounds of a violin wafted into the car.
“A violin?”
“In this case it’s called a fiddle.”
“Whatever,” I murmured.
“Pull over. Someone here may have known Jimmy.”
I shot her an are-you-kidding look. “You’re joking, right?”
Rose’s face lit up. “Come on. Let’s go dance. I haven’t been to a good old-fashioned jamboree since I was at least twenty. It was so much fun. I ended up with mud in my hair and maybe a few kisses that I won’t tell you about.”
I nodded. “Sounds about right. I don’t want to know about them.”
I parked and we got out, following the flood of folks to the pavilion. The music roared to a quick pace while men and women took to center stage. The outside was lined with haystacks, of course, because you couldn’t have a hootenanny without hay, obviously.
Men and women stood side by side. With their arms locked, they started shuffling their feet.
Rose clapped to the music. “That’s square dancing,” she shouted to me.
You’d never know it was a dwindling town with these witches. They were throwing their heads back, laughing and being merry.
I felt like an idiot dressed in my linen shirt and slacks. Like a sore thumb.
Which may have been why a pert little blonde wearing her plaid shirt cinched at her belly button and a pair of cutoff shorts that nearly exposed a butt cheek zeroed in on me and headed over.
Her blonde hair was pulled into a high ponytail reminiscent of I Dream of Genie, and blue eyeshadow smeared her lids.
She smacked her lips. “You’re the new matchmaker, ain’t ya?”
I nodded. “Charming Calhoun.”
The woman grasped my hand and pumped it up and down. “I’m Kimberly Peterson, and I’m dying to find my soul mate. Can you help me? Please!”
“May—”
I was going to say maybe, but Kimberly cut me off. “All I ask is that he’s tall, rich, hysterical and likes horses. Sort of like if you could find a cross between Paul Bunyan and Prince Harry, that would be perfect.”
I gestured to the dancers. “Is that man in here?”
“Of course he ain’t.” She fisted a hand sassy-like to her hips. “If he was, I would’ve already met him and married him. I would’ve made sure of that.”
Ah. So Kimberly was what I would call aggressive and possibly desperate.
Two scents males could smell from a mile away.
She would be nearly impossible to match.
Rose shouldered between us. “Young lady, what’s going on here?”
Kimberly became even more perky, if that was possible. Her eyes flared, and she got a lilt in her voice. “Oh, that’s our summer hootenanny. We do it every year as our way to thank the goddess for the last year’s harvest and to ask for plentiful crops this year.”
“I’m surprised your crops still grow,” I commented.
Kimberly nodded. “Soil doesn’t require magic.”
My gaze snagged on a man with auburn hair and striking light eyes. I gripped Kimberly’s arm.
“What is it?”
I pointed to him, not wanting to take my gaze away in case he disappeared. “Who is that man?”
Kimberly turned to see who I was pointing at. “Which one?”
“The one with the hot dance moves, slim hips and big shoulders—red hair.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, that’s Cap Turner. Every girl wants him, but he’s sworn off women.”
“Why’s that?” I said.
“Said he’s leaving town the next train that comes through, which is a laugh since the train hasn’t run in years. But anyway, Cap’s gonna find himself an earth witch who likes adventure.”
“He doesn’t need an earth witch,” I murmured.
“Of course he does.” Kimberly threw back her head and laughed. “Every witch knows you stick with your kind. That’s how it is.”
I shook my head. “I’ve got just the witch for Cap, and her powers don’t come from the earth.”
Kimberly frowned. “Oh? Where do they come from?”
But I was already off, darting through the crowd, hoping to catch Cap as soon as the song was over. I doubt Kimberly heard my response, and even if she did, I doubt she would have believed me when I said Cap needed an air witch.
Because his was the face I’d seen with Belinda. I wondered if Jimmy had seen him, too.
No chance of finding that out until I found Jimmy, though.
The song ended, and Cap turned to leave the pavilion. I caught up with him as his booted feet hit the hay-covered floor.
“Hi there,” I said, beaming.
Cap looked me up and down. “Do I know you?”
I thrust out my hand. “I’m Charming Calhoun. The mayor hired me as the town’s official matchmaker.”
Cap shook my hand but stared at me vacantly. “Oh. Well, I hope you do well.”
He started to brush past me, but I held my hand up to stop him. “I have someone I’d like for you to meet.”
Cap raked his fingers through his hair and shot me a lopsided grin. “Ma’am, I appreciate you taking an interest in me, but I can say with all honesty in my heart that I am not interested in whatever it is you’re selling.”
“I’m not selling anything,” I stammered. “There’s someone I’d like for you to—”
“Get your hands off me!”
The crowd quieted and turned in the direction of the sound. Langdon, the drunk I’d originally had pegged to match with Belinda, threw out his hand toward an earth wizard.
“You need to calm down,” the man said.
Langdon, drunk and belligerent, shoved him away. “I said, get your hands off me!”
“Excuse me, ma’am.” Cap moved toward Langdon, facing him down. “I told you to stay away from here, Langdon. You’re nothing but trouble.”
Langdon’s face reddened to nearly burnt. “I ain’t talking to you! You always mess things up, Cap. I came here once and for all to tell you to stay away from my girl.”
I frowned. What girl? Could Cap know Belinda?
“You need to stop talking while you’re ahead, Langdon,” Cap said.
Langdon growled like a feral wolf and rushed Cap. Cap dodged sideways and chopped the air, hitting Langdon between the shoulder blades.
Langdon fell to the ground with a thump. He whimpered but didn’t get up. I suppose he was too drunk to lift himself.
Cap moved to him. “I’ll get him out of here.”
Some of the elder men nodded at Cap, glaring at him as if this was all his fault.
With Cap heaving Langdon away, I moved back to Rose and Kimberly.
I turned to our newfound friend. “What was that all about?”
Kimberly tsked. She waited until the music started back up before replying. “Langdon wants this air witch, Belinda, to be with him, but she won’t have anything to do with that drunk. Now, it’s not absolute fact, but it’s rumored that a couple of years ago Belinda and Cap had a thing but broke it off because they couldn’t be together.”
“Because of their opposing magic,” I said.
Kimberly nodded. “Everyone knows it’s bad for witches to mix.” She leaned in and whispered, “They’d have children born without magic, and then the town would die.”
I nibbled the inside of my lip as I considered it. “But this town’s already dying.”
“But it isn’t completely dead,” Rose said, flabbergasted. “I suppose a little more suffering couldn’t hurt anything, now could it?”
I shot her a confused look. “What does that mean?”
“I mean, maybe a little love couldn’t make things worse. How could it when there’s already a coat of magical grime on the town—the sort of sludge that only appears when the magic is broken. When something’s off.”
“Here in the outskirts, I don’t see anything off about it.”
Rose and Kimberly exchanged a look. “I’ll show you,” Kimberly said.
She disappeared into the night and didn’t reappear for several minutes. When she did, she brought back a watermelon. It was the size of an orange.
“Is this a watermelon?” I said.
She nodded. “Fully formed.”
“Oh, this is bad.” I cocked a brow at her. “I thought you said soil doesn’t need magic.”
“Things grow, but not like they should. Used to the melons would double or grow fat as ticks on a dog’s back.”
“Ew,” I said. Some visuals I simply didn’t need. I didn’t need to think of a fat tick about to burst from sucking blood. Reminded me too much of vampires.
One vampire in particular.
Not because he was tall, had muscular shoulders and was incredibly attractive. That had nothing to do with it. This was because he was nasty and sucked blood. Plain and simple.
“Then why are your people staying?”
It seemed a reasonable question. Kimberly nibbled her bottom lip before answering.
“I guess ’cause we’re loyal to this place—to this land. We’ve lived here for generations. Generations upon generations of earth witches married earth wizards here, and continued the family line.”
“Well I can understand that.” Rose smiled kindly. “In my family we all lived in the same house until it got so old it started crumbling. My ma would put magical bandages on it, but after a while the bandages lost their stickiness. Didn’t hold anymore.”
Kimberly frowned at Rose, and I wanted to shrink and disappear. I mean, there was no such thing as magical bandages for homes, I was pretty sure.
Was there?
“Charming! I’m so glad you decided to come out and meet some of the locals.”
I glanced up to see Mayor Dixon and Emily marching toward us.
“Mayor Dixon.” I greeted her with a smile and a handshake. “My aunt and I came out to see some of the local color.”
“Oh yes.” The mayor flicked her fingers toward the pavilion. “Hoedown night is one of my favorites. It’s a wonderful summer tradition.” She leaned over and whispered conspiratorially, “Usually there’s a little bit of love in the air as well. If I had to guess, I’d say that’s why you were here.”
“I hope the townsfolk have been behaving themselves,” Emily said smartly. “We walked up when one of them was being rowdy.”
Kimberly rolled her eyes. “You know that’s just how Langdon is. He gets drunk and angry and then someone has to throw him out of wherever he happens to be. Ain’t nothin’ new about that.” She nodded to me. “Except Charming here has promised to introduce me to a rich man.”
I frowned. “I never said that.”
After all, I was still pondering how my matchmaking questionnaire could’ve put Belinda and Langdon together in the first place. But now I realized her true soul mate was Cap, an earth wizard.
And unfortunately, Cap didn’t want to talk to me.
My gaze flickered to my watch. “Well, it’s been nice talking to y’all, but I think it’s time for us to head out.”
We parted ways, but Kimberly made me promise before I left that I would give her the questionnaire. It wasn’t a problem, really. After all, I was supposed to match folks to keep them in this town. It was all part of the job.
Rose and I were heading back to the car when strange lights appeared out in a field. They looked like lightning bugs but were the wrong color—they were iridescent blue.
“What are those?” I said.
Rose clutched my shoulder. “Those are critter bugs.”
I shot her a skeptical look.
“No, they really are. They’re called critter bugs.”
I unlocked the doors. “I’ve never seen them before.”
“Of course you haven’t. I mean, I guess I’m not surprised you haven’t before. It’s not often anyone sees them.”
I started to get into the car and stopped because Rose stood stiff, staring at the critter bugs.
I sighed. “Okay. Why don’t people see them often?”
“Because,” Rose said quietly, “critter bugs only appear at night when they’re hovering over a dead human body.”
A jolt ran all the way to my toes. “What did you say?”
Rose slowly turned to me. “Critter bugs clean things up. They eat dead flesh.”
“So you’re saying?”
Rose pointed toward the lights. “There’s a dead body out there in that field.”
I slammed the door. My first thoughts were of Jimmy. I prayed it wasn’t him. “What are we waiting for? Let’s see what sort of dead body it is.”
NINE
I pulled my phone from my pocket and used it as a flashlight. I’d love to say I was such an awesome witch that I could make a light ball form in the palm of my hand, but that was a lie.
Rose could, even though she was a water witch.
“Your man-made devices aren’t nearly as good as the originals.”
She snapped her fingers, and a ball of light zipped out in front of us, lighting the way.
“Do you have to be such a show-off?”
My aunt plumped her hair innocently. “It’s not my fault your mother used up all the magic in our family.”
I smirked but said nothing because it was true, and my mother had said that a thousand times.
We reached the flurry of critter bugs. When they saw us, they flittered away. They hovered in the recesses of our light, waiting for us to leave so they could return.
I flashed my phone on the ground.
There, in the middle of the grass, lay a man. I held my breath as my light was
hed from his feet to his head.
I released it when I realized the dead man wasn’t Jimmy.
It was Langdon Huggins. I nearly vomited when I saw what had killed him.
It looked like Langdon’s chest had been ripped to shreds.
In the time between Langdon’s outburst at the pavilion and now, something or someone had murdered him.
“We need to call the authorities,” I said. “And get the mayor back here. Now.”
Count Dracula showed up about five minutes after the mayor alerted him.
“And what made you come out to this field again?” he asked me, his voice dripping with contempt.
“Critter bugs,” I explained.
He quirked a brow. I sighed and shook my head in annoyance. “My aunt explained that critter bugs hover around dead bodies. I guess they eat the flesh, but you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
Thorne’s silvery eyes narrowed. “Then what happened?”
“Then we came out here and found Langdon dead, and me, being the responsible person I am, made sure someone contacted you, the local vampire, since you’re apparently in charge of murders and missing persons. How’re things going with finding Jimmy?”
He ignored my question. Oh, the cockiness of this man was so annoying.
Thorne knelt down. He washed a hand over the body. “The area around him has been trampled.” His eyes glittered with accusation. “Did you do this?”
I shook my head. “No, I didn’t walk all around him to see if he was dead.” I pointed toward Langdon’s lacerated body. “It’s pretty obvious.”
He whirled on me. “You didn’t see who?”
I shook my head. “If that had been the case, I would’ve given you their name, don’t you think?”
“Unless you were protecting them.”
I fumed. “I’m not protecting anyone. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not the person with a band of angry, sullen vampires at my heels.”
Just then the voice of Peek, the nasty vampire who’d threatened me before, rang out. “What have you discovered, Thorne?”
I scoffed. “See? A whole bunch of vampires doing witch’s business.”
Thorne rose. Flecks of anger filled his eyes. “For your information, those vampires help me. They help this town with crimes. All of them do, and the reason they were so particularly rude to you last night was maybe because you were fresh blood walking into a den of vampires doing business. Did you ever stop to think of that?”
