by Amy Boyles
I hooked my fingers into the door handle and said, “Let’s go.”
I didn’t have to tell Stone twice. In less than a second he stood beside me, his hand curled around my arm protectively.
“You my new bodyguard?” I joked.
“If that’s what you want.”
I ignored the sexual tension rising between us. “Let’s see what’s going on.”
My boots clicked on the poured concrete walkway. We climbed the steps together. In the corner of the porch there looked to be something slumped over.
My eyes widened when I realized what it was. “Mr. Snare?” I rushed over to him. The coroner wore a big padded jacket that made him difficult to handle. Stone helped me turn him over.
“Oscar?” I said again.
I started to feel for a pulse when the coroner began to cough. I shot Stone a look of relief. Thank goodness. I didn’t want to deal with another dead guy. I’d had my fill in the past few days.
Stone handed Oscar a handkerchief. He sputtered into it, trying to gain control of his cough. “What happened?” he said.
I frowned. “I was hoping you could tell us. We found you knocked out.”
He wiped a line of sweat from his balding head. “How did I end up out here?”
“I called you a little while ago, do you remember? I told you there was another body, this time at Nightshots.”
Oscar clutched my jacket. “That’s right! I was on my way out the door when Charlie showed up.”
Stone's jaw twitched. “What did she say?”
Oscar shook his head. Tears filled his eyes. “I was relieved to see her. I gave her a hug and begged her to come home. But something was different. She attacked me and knocked me out.”
“What?” I said. “She knocked you out?”
Oscar wept into the handkerchief. It was a few moments before he could speak again. “She was mumbling something about tomorrow night at the town square. Something important’s going to happen, she said.”
Stone and I exchanged looks. “Can I help you up?” the angel asked Oscar.
Oscar shooed him away. “No, I’m fine.” He staggered on shaky legs. “I’ll be okay. I need to call Sheriff Terry, get him down to the nightclub.”
I nodded. “Okay. Let us know what happens.”
Oscar rubbed his head. “I’m just so worried about Charlie. So worried. I don’t know what kind of people she’s gotten involved with.”
I gripped Oscar by his shoulders. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. I promise. Just do me one favor. No matter what you do, don’t go to the square tomorrow night. I have a feeling things are going to be dangerous. I’ll get Charlie and bring her back to you. Just make me that promise.”
Oscar glanced up, sorrow and worry filling his weepy eyes. “I promise.”
“Call me later, let me know what you find out about that body.”
“Will do.”
Stone glanced at the coroner. “Do you need a ride to Nightshots?”
Oscar shooed him away. “No, I’ll be fine.” He stumbled a little.
I shot Stone a look. “He’ll drive you, Mr. Snare.”
Stone handed me the keys to his SUV. “Be careful with her.”
I smiled. “Of course. You’ll get her back dent-free.”
Our eyes met, and Stone swiped a lock of hair that had plastered itself to my mouth. Hey, at least it hadn’t crept up my nostril. That would have been embarrassing. Not to mention gross.
I watched as they piled into Oscar’s Chrysler station wagon. As soon as they were gone, I nosed out of the spot and headed home.
I found Kate and Dot in the kitchen. “Gabby asleep?” I said.
Dot scoffed at me. “I certainly hope so. It’s ten o’clock. Way past her bedtime.”
I opened the fridge and poured myself a glass of orange juice. I popped some ice cubes in it and sucked half of it down in three seconds flat. “Just making sure you remember I have a daughter.”
Dot shook her head. “I’m not a nincompoop, you know. Not like some people.”
“I have no idea who you’re talking about,” I said.
“Me neither.”
I sniffed the air. It smelled like burnt sugar and sweat. A blackened pot sat on my stove. “What’s that smell?”
Kate beamed from behind her cup of coffee. “Aunt Dot taught me a love potion.”
“You don’t say?” I said, shooting invisible flaming arrows from my eyes at my aunt.
Kate shook her head. “Andie, my biological clock is ticking. I’ve got to get this thing going. I need a man, and I needed him yesterday.”
“Nothing like the scent of desperation,” I murmured.
Kate shot me a dark look.
“Kate, I only said that because you don’t need some potion with monkey hairs and newt eyes.”
“I resent that,” Dot said, twirling her finger. The pan lifted from the stove and dropped into the sink. “That potion doesn’t have any monkey hair in it.”
“That’s bound to be a good thing,” I said. “’Cause I’ve heard using them makes terrible potions. Like the kind where all your hair falls out. Wait. I think I see a monkey hair in that pot. You sure you didn’t use any?”
Kate grabbed her mane of ebony locks. “Are you serious? Am I going to lose my hair?”
Dot glared at me. Her eyes flared with anger. “Absolutely not. Andie’s only saying that because she’s jealous I didn’t share the recipe with her.”
“Yep, that’s it. Anyway, we’ve got some serious stuff going on here—you know, vampires and all that. Perhaps we can find a few minutes to focus.”
“I’m all ears,” Vordrid said, sailing into the room.
“Finally, a voice of reason,” I joked.
Dot scowled. “Andie, I’m trying to help you get out from under the thumb of the book. Kate's been training hard this evening.”
I smiled at Kate. “So. What’d you learn?”
Kate snapped her fingers, and an imaginary wind blew her hair, tangling it into a mass. “Freaky, huh?” she said proudly.
Dot smiled triumphantly. “It’s a wind manipulation spell. It may come in handy.”
I clapped my hands together. “Speaking of things that may come in handy, it appears the gathering is going to happen tomorrow night in the town square. Oh, and that’s not all—we found another body. It looks like that Charlotte girl is tied into it all as well. I think if we can find her, we’ll find our angel and the cluster of vampires that need to go.”
Vordrid turned toward me. “Andie, this is serious. Tomorrow night there will be more than just vampires you’ll have to deal with. There will also be demons and whatever else is fueled by the exchange. You’ll need a lot of power.”
A coppery taste filled my mouth. I didn’t like what Vordrid was implying—that not only would I have to access the book’s power, but that I’d need a lot of it, more than usual, possibly even more than I’d ever drained from it before.
“I might not,” I said cheerfully. “I might be fine with what I’ve got.”
“Oh Andie, I don’t think so,” Dot said. “You’ll need me and Kate to help focus the power and become the three.”
Right. That’s what I needed, a woman who could blow the wind around her hair to make her look super fierce.
“Why don’t y’all stay home?” I said. “This is going to be serious.”
Vordrid hopped on the counter. “That’s exactly right. You’ll also need to use Star to close the veil.”
“How?”
“Simple. From the research I’ve gathered, I theorize that since she caused the tear in her descent from heaven, presumably, all you have to do is send her back. That should close the rift, and life will return to normal.”
I gulped down the rest of my orange juice. “I think you’re forgetting one important point.”
“What’s that?”
“She was kicked out of heaven, remember? How’re we going to get an angel back who’s been thrown out?”
<
br /> “I’ve been thinking about that,” Vordrid mused. “She must still have a method for returning to heaven or else the demons wouldn’t want her.”
I clinked the ice in my glass. “That’s a good point. So there must be a way to do it; we just need to figure it out before everything goes to heck in a handbasket. More importantly, we need to put a stop to it before the demons have a chance to take the angel. We’ve got to get to the square first and pray the demons get lost trying to find the meeting place.”
Dot snapped her fingers. “Even better, we need the demons to leave.”
Kate raked her fingers through her hair. “Can’t we just put some sort of spell in place where the demons don’t know anyone is there? So like maybe they can’t see the vampires or something? Because if we have to fight demons and vampires, I just don’t know that anyone will win. It sounds worse than a bad hair day.”
I watched as Dot stroked her chin. “Very interesting idea. I’m sure it could be done, to create a void so that the demons don’t see the vampires and leave? Sounds like something I’ll need your help with, Vordrid.”
The 8 Ball rose into the air and drifted toward the basement. “I’ll start researching that sort of spell. It will still take a lot of power. Andie, you’ll need most of the magic in that book.”
I sighed. “I know what you’re saying.”
“I hate to even suggest it,” Vordrid said. “But if you find yourself surrounded by a mass of vampires, it’ll take a lot to destroy them.”
“I’m afraid to even ask what you’re suggesting.”
“You don’t have to.” Vordrid paused. “That much power will suck the rest of your life from the book. It will kill you.”
TWENTY-TWO
“Sacrifice often requires more than magic.”
—The Witch’s Handbook
* * *
I did my best to hide the fear that clawed at my rib cage. “Isn’t there another way?”
“We don’t know how many vampires we’re dealing with,” Vordrid said. “If I knew that, I could postulate a different conclusion. But three were over here the other night.”
“Yeah and I blew those away without any problems.”
Dot cleared her throat. “My dear, that's why I'm trying to get the three witches together. I know it will take a monumental amount of power on your part to defeat the vampires.” She smiled. “You're not going to die. Not if I'm here to stop it. Try not to worry and just focus on the task at hand.”
“Right.” I smirked. “The way Vordrid's putting it, he’s going to be a homeless mentor by tomorrow night.”
Dot scratched her eyebrow. “You’re not going to die and you’re being dramatic. That’s not attractive in a single woman.”
Kate nibbled a hangnail on her thumb. “Maybe that’s my problem. I’m too dramatic.”
I gave my friend a tired but kind smile. “There’s nothing wrong with you. Mr. Right will come along.” I twisted my wedding band as I thought. “Okay, I’ll calm down.” Though it was easier to say than to actually do. I took my orange juice glass over to the sink and rinsed it out. “I need some rest. Maybe then I’ll think better.”
I checked in on Gabby. I placed a hand on her cheek. She twisted and turned but didn’t wake. I went to my room, washed my face and changed my clothes.
I decided to look through The Witch’s Handbook, see if it had anything to say about destroying large gatherings of supernaturals.
Not that I wanted to destroy anybody, but if they were going to destroy me, then, you know, I wanted to be ready.
I glanced at the picture of Dex on my nightstand. The warm smile on his lips reached his blue eyes.
“Sometimes I wish you were here,” I said. “You’d know how to solve this. You always did.”
But he wasn’t now, and he never would be again. I sighed. Right after his death, the pain had been so great it hurt to breathe. A dull ache still invaded my heart. It had never truly gone away.
With Stone around, the throb had lessened. It still hovered, but it wasn’t as bad.
I went to my closet and reached the shelf above the bar of clothes. That’s where I kept all my important things—shoes too nice to take out of the box, purses and of course The Witch’s Handbook.
Some folks might think you needed a fancy case for a book like that. Not me. I liked to keep mine where no one suspected it.
The book could be opened without using its power—I simply didn’t try to fuse with it or use magic. I peeled back the cover and started reading. It had all sorts of interesting tidbits.
When dealing with vampires, one must first understand that they don’t fear anything.
Thank you for that.
Not all vampires are bad.
I just hadn’t met many of the nice ones.
Garlic and crucifixes are your best weapons against vampires, unless, of course, you use magic.
Yep. Lots of great advice.
I turned page after page, trying to figure out if there was something else I could discover, something that would help me when I went up against them tomorrow night.
I decided I might need reinforcements. I picked up my phone and tried to call Selma, but I didn’t get an answer. I left a message for her to call me back. My guess was by the time she got the message and decided on whether or not to come help, it would be too late.
Maybe not. Perhaps she would make it in time.
A soft knock came from the door.
“Andie,” Vordrid said.
“Come in.”
“I’ve been doing a little research and think there’s a possible spell that we can use.”
“I told him it was preposterous,” Dot said, sailing in behind.
“It must be crazy if the woman with pink hair doesn’t think it’ll work.”
Dot glanced around. “Who’s the woman with pink hair?”
“That would be you,” I said.
Dot took one look in the mirror and plumped her frizz paralyzed by hairspray. “Andie, this isn’t pink.”
“It isn’t?”
She shook her head. Her hair didn’t move an inch. “It’s called cotton candy.”
“Ah,” I said, feigning interest. “Fascinating. Anyway, what’d you find out? What’s this crazy plan?”
“We use the book to create a vortex, one that locates demon spirits and traps them, essentially, where they are. It keeps them away from us, so that you can focus on the vampires and not have to deal with two types of creatures at once.”
I pulled off my hoop earrings and tossed them in a tray beside my bed. “A vortex? How do we do that?”
“Well, my research doesn’t exactly give me specifics,” Vordrid said.
“Yes it does,” Dot said. “It did too give him specifics.”
I glanced from her to Vordrid. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing,” Vordrid said.
“He’s skipping a very important part.”
“My dear woman, I’m not skipping anything. I’m telling Andie everything I know.”
Dot fisted her hands on her hips. “Then why didn’t you tell her that the ritual requires the blood of a young child to get the ball rolling.”
My hackles instinctively rose. “That seems like an important detail.”
“I didn’t tell you because I’m looking at ways around that.”
“It seems to me that it’s a very important part of the ritual,” Dot sniffed. “I always get blamed for doing crazy things. For once I wanted to say that I’m being responsible. I’m not trying to use babies to lure demons.”
“And I thank you for that, Aunt Dot.”
“You are very welcome.” She dusted the tops of the pictures on my nightstand with her index finger. “I’m thinking of your welfare. Besides, there must be another way around that spell, or a better one that doesn’t put anyone’s life in danger. All we need to do is create a barrier.”
I thought about it for a moment. “I say you go back to Kate's genius plan a
nd somehow warp reality. Where is she, by the way?”
“Asleep on the couch,” Vordrid said.
“Good, she doesn’t need to be walking home alone.” I closed the book. “But now that I’ve got you both alone, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Oh?” Dot said.
“Yes.” I proceeded to tell them Stone’s story about protecting Gabby. They listened quietly until I was finished.
“That’s a lot to chew on,” Dot said.
“The child is powerful. I’ll do my best to protect her,” Vordrid said.
“I know y’all will,” I said.
Dot stretched. “I’m tired. I’ll see you both in the morning.
“Good night,” I said.
I stopped Vordrid on his way out. “V.”
He swirled around. “Yes?”
I threaded my fingers together and plopped them on my lap. “If I die, you’ll go to another hunter, right?”
“Yes.”
“I would think with how boring your life has been in the past few years, you might like another job. One with more excitement.”
Vordrid sank to the bed. “Andie, you’re my family. I’ve been your mentor for ten years. I don’t want to leave, and certainly not by your death.”
I shrugged. “It just seems you might want more out of life.”
Vordrid chuckled. “Funny that this is the first time you’ve ever asked me what I want.”
A pang of guilt tore into my heart. “I’m sorry. What do you want?”
“To smell the flowers again. Taste a wonderful slice of cheese. Drink a flagon of ale.”
“Okay, well, I don’t know about the whole flagon thing. But you want a body?”
Vordrid paused. “More than that, Andie. I want to be free.”
I picked him up. “How do we do that?”
Vordrid cleared his throat. “For me to be free from ever serving another hunter again, the current hunter I’m with must be able to channel the power of the book without the book.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Huh?”
“You must unleash the power from the book and make it yours. No one’s ever done it. I don’t know if it’s possible.”
I thought about it for a moment. “If I live past tomorrow night, I’ll find a way. I promise.”
