by Amy Boyles
Vordrid cleared his imaginary throat. “Now. This angel lied to you.”
I sighed and sank back onto a pillow. “Yes.”
“He had a very good reason for doing so.” Vordrid paused. “I noticed the two of you are becoming close.”
I rested the back of my arm on my forehead. “That’s the million-dollar question. I haven’t gotten close to a man since Dex. There’s something about Stone, something that I can’t stay away from.” I lowered my voice. “He does things to me, V. Things that aren’t PG-13.”
“Be careful, Andie. Once an angel, always an angel. My intuition tells me he’s remained one this long for a reason.”
I crinkled my nose. “What does that mean?”
“It means—don’t get your heart broken.”
My phone rang. Thinking it was Selma, I reached for it. Instead Stone's number flashed on the screen. My heart quickened.
“I need to take this.”
“I understand.” Vordrid flew from the room.
“Did I wake you?” he said. His voice, thick and husky, sent a shiver straight down to my core.
I shook my head. “No, I’m up. Everything okay?”
“Not at all.”
“Why?”
“I got down here with Oscar. We brought the police as well—I tell you, Andie, this town is changing overnight.”
“What do you mean?”
“There are supernaturals crawling all over the place. I saw at least three werewolves on the street.”
I glanced around my room, trying to figure out what sort of tools I would need to fight creatures other than vampires. “Were they hurting anyone?”
“No,” he said, “and they weren’t even in full wolf mode, but I could tell. They were tall, beefy-looking guys with a lot of fang.”
I scratched my head. “The change is happening so fast.”
“Normal isn’t normal anymore. The supernaturals are setting up shop.”
I nestled down into the covers and pulled the comforter to my nose. “Great.”
“But that isn’t why I called you.”
“Oh? Just called to hear my voice,” I teased.
“I wish I’d only called for that.”
My heart ballooned. But there was no time to dwell on it.
“We have a problem,” he said.
“Shoot.”
“Remember our dead body?”
“We just left him a little while ago. How could I forget?”
Stone paused. “It appears he’s gotten up and walked away.”
“Oh no,” I said. “What do you mean?”
“When we got here, the body was gone.”
TWENTY-THREE
“Sometimes all it takes is a dose of magic to make your true feelings come out.”
—The Witch’s Handbook
* * *
I bolted up in bed. “What do you mean, gone?”
“Gone,” Stone said. “No one knew anything about it. Without a body, there wasn’t anything the sheriff could do.”
“Great,” I groaned. “What the heck is happening?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s got to be Luke. It’s his place.”
“I agree,” he said.
“So I guess we follow him or break into his house and search for the angel?” I said, my voice getting high and whiny by the end of the sentence.
Stone paused. “If he had her, do you think he’d leave her in his house?”
“It’s the best option to stop the zombie apocalypse,” I joked. Sort of but not really.
“What do you want to do?”
“Is he at work right now?”
“Yes.”
“Can you follow him home? Find out where he lives.”
“For you? Anything.”
My heart tightened at those words. For me. Okay, he might’ve been a lying angel, but those little words just about had me ready to curl up in his lap.
“Wake me up when you know something. Seriously. Call me. Show up. I don’t care. I want to know what happens immediately. Don’t worry about bothering me.”
“Will do.”
I clicked off the connection and slid back under the covers. I was so tired I barely kept my eyes open long enough to snap off the lamp.
Next thing I knew it was morning. The sounds of chirping birds drifted into the room, and the smell of bacon permeated the house.
My stomach instantly growled, but I’d need coffee before I ate anything. How else was I supposed to get my head screwed on straight?
I made my way into the kitchen wearing last night’s oversize T-shirt and sweatpants. I drifted straight for the coffee sitting on the counter. My eyes were still plastered shut as I groped for the carafe and a mug the size of Georgia. Not to mention the chocolate and whipped cream. I’d thrown it all together and was about to take my first sip.
“Morning,” a husky voice said.
I froze. Seriously. I’m pretty sure I had old paint and grease stains all over my clothes. For a moment I considered magicking my appearance to make me look beautiful, but I hadn’t even had my first sip of coffee.
I slowly pivoted on my heel and found Stone sitting at the breakfast bar, his dark slash of bang hiding his right eye. He was freshly shaven and wore a clean white T-shirt that showed off his toned biceps. He leaned an elbow on the Formica and chomped a piece of bacon. He flashed me a devilish smile.
My insides flipped to the outside, and my face turned bruise purple—it completely skipped red and went straight for a deeper shade. “You’re up early.”
“I didn’t have to wait too long for Luke to go home.”
My eyebrows shot up. “I almost forgot.” I sidled over to him, being sure to keep my distance as I was pretty sure I had a serious case of dragon breath. “What’d you find out?”
Stone shook his head. “Nothing. I did some recon and searched the house while he slept. There’s nothing there.”
“I made biscuits and chocolate gravy.” Dot entered the room, a cloud of fluffy pink covering her from head to toe. Pink jacket, pink shirt, fuchsia pants and even pastel pink sneakers were tied to her feet.
“You read my mind,” I said.
“And it’s delicious.” Stone rose. The shirt hugged his chest and torso so tightly I blushed. I tried not to drool in my mocha.
Dot built a plate of breakfast for me. “Stone told me about that nightclub owner.”
“It just doesn’t make sense. Luke and Charlotte were messaging steamy texts. We knew Justin was involved with Charlotte, and that Stevie, whose body has happened to disappear, also knew Charlotte. Becoming a vampire takes an exchange of blood and Stevie was dead, so someone stole his body. Luke happens to own the place where all of them hang out. He’s got to be involved somehow.”
Stone crossed to the sink, where I stood. He leaned over me, his chest grazing my shoulder as he deposited his plate in the basin. “Trouble is, there’s nothing at his house that places any blame on him.”
“Hmmm,” I mused. I stepped away from the cloud of angel testosterone that threatened to choke me and settled my breakfast on the counter. I cut my fork into the meal. Thick chocolate gravy, which is really just another name for cocoa powder, milk and sugar, streamed into a homemade biscuit. “This is not going to be good for my waistline.”
“But it’ll do wonders for your mood, dearie,” Dot said.
Gabby toddled into the room. “Mommy! Want a biscuit.”
Dot leaned over and pressed her hands to her knees. “Do you want to show Mommy what you learned?”
“Okay,” Gabby shouted with childish exuberance.
Dot held up a biscuit and spun it around in the air. “Now you take over.”
Gabby balled up her fists and stared at the biscuit. It continued to whirl.
“Faster,” Dot said.
Gabby screwed up her face. The biscuit spun until it became a blur.
I clapped. “Great job, sweetheart. That was awesome.”
Dot
plucked the biscuit from the air and handed it to my daughter. “There you are, dear. Enjoy it.”
Speaking of enjoying, I was dying over these biscuits and gravy. “Seriously. This is delicious; what’d you put in them?”
Dot crossed to the stove and gazed at the tins of spices littered on the top.
“Oh dear,” she said. “I may have made a mistake.”
Okay. My Aunt Dot does not make mistakes. She might pretend to make a mistake, but the woman does not willy-nilly screw anything up. Whatever “mistake” she may have made, it was an intentional one. But that didn’t mean I didn’t immediately stop eating.
Vordrid sailed into the room. Dot got a look at him and stopped riffling through the containers. “Vordrid, just the 8 Ball I wanted to see.”
“Is that so? I have a way with women, you know. They always wanted to get close to me in life. I don’t imagine too much has changed in death.”
I rolled my eyes. Stone leaned his back against the sink and covered his mouth with his juice glass.
“Anyway, I came up with a plan last night,” Dot said.
“You didn’t tell me that,” I said.
“Yes, dear, but I wanted to wait until all of us were here.” She walked to a cabinet and opened the door, revealing the usual and customary residents of SpaghettiOs and tuna fish. She reached inside and opened what looked like another door. The original contents moved out of the way, revealing rows and rows of unmarked silver tins.
“What in the world?”
Dot patted her cheeks. “Oh dear, when I moved in, you didn’t think I left all my things behind, did you?”
“I mean, I guess.”
She gave me a tender smile and wiped her palms on her pink apron. “Of course not. I had everything moved here. Put in some magical shelving to make room.”
“I don’t even want to know what’s in the attic,” I growled.
“Oh, mainly old dresses,” Dot said.
I scraped a glob of chocolate onto a biscuit and stuffed it in my mouth. Yes, I know I hadn’t found out how my aunt screwed up the recipe yet, but it couldn’t be that bad. The dish tasted amazing—thick, light biscuits smothered in chocolate, the crunch of the dough mingling with the rich, velvety sauce. Life didn’t get much better than this.
Dot pulled out a can. Stone peered at it. “Does that say ‘magic’?”
Dot waddled over to us and slid one of the cans over. “It does.”
I picked it up. It was exceptionally light. I shook it. Nothing. “Is this supposed to be magic in a can?”
Dot beamed at me. “Bingo. You guessed. I’ve been canning some of my extra magic for years, just in case.”
“Just in case of what?” I said.
“Andie, you never know when you’re going to need magic in a can. I’ve got hundreds of them.”
“Is this your way of doomsday prepping?” I said.
Dot thought about that. “Possibly. But I don’t believe in doomsday. I believe in insurance.”
“Okay,” I said.
Vordrid landed on the counter. “What a wonderful idea, Dot. If I had lips, I’d kiss you. I’ve never known anyone who canned their power before, though I can see its usefulness.”
Stone picked up a can. “So what’s your plan?”
Dot gave him a whimsical smile. “Easy. We load these up and take them to the town square. When the vampires and demons arrive, we unleash their lids all at once, creating a magical boom, so to speak.”
I stared at her, still not getting it. “How does that help us?”
“Easy,” she said. “The explosion will do a couple of things. The first is that you can drain the power, Andie, and use it however you need, so that you don’t have to rely on the book. The second is that it will create a distraction, giving us some time to deal with the demons.”
“I’m on the demons,” Stone said. “Leave them to me. They hate me.”
I quirked a brow. “Oh? You’ve had dealings with them before?”
He sipped his juice. “Let’s just say I’ve got a name when it comes to their world.”
I thought about the plan for a minute, mulling it over. “Okay. I think it’s a good idea.”
Dot smiled. “I’m not all smoke and mirrors, Andie. I’ve got things that can help.”
“Of course you do. I never said differently.”
I had said very differently before.
I finished up my plate and sank it into the sudsy water that filled one side of the sink. “So. What are we supposed to do today?” I said to Stone.
He stroked a hand down his shirt. The sight made my mouth water. “I’m going to take you into town. You need to see what’s happening.”
“Is it that interesting?”
He nodded. His silvery eyes caught the light, making them flash. “You’ll see.”
I sauntered up to the sink and placed my hips against his. “Your eyes look so silvery in this light. I’ve never noticed how luminescent they are. I want to touch them and see how they feel.”
I reached toward his eyes. Stone caught my hand and held it. He glanced at Dot. “What’s going on?”
I gave him a crooked smile. “What do you mean, going on? I just want to touch your eyes.”
“Oh dear,” Dot said. She tottered back to the stove and glanced through the ingredients. “I knew I’d put the wrong thing in those biscuits. I may have accidentally sprinkled some Sea of Love in there instead of sea salt.”
“We may have a problem then,” Vordrid said.
I tried to brush Stone's eye, but he held me fast. “Sea of Love?”
Dot picked up the rectangular tin. “I was keeping it out for Kate, but I may have sprinkled some in.”
“What’s it do?” Stone said.
“It makes her want to love you,” Vordrid answered.
I laughed. “Makes me want to love who? All I want to do is touch his face. It’s so smooth.”
As much as I wanted to do that, at the same time my mind was screaming for control. Stop it! Stop trying to touch him! Be serious!
Stone grabbed the other hand that I had been using to trace the outline of his abs. “Wow. You’ve got a serious eight-pack there. What about those pecs?” I tried to lift his shirt. He grabbed my other arm.
“The salt didn’t affect me,” he said.
“You do have angel blood,” Vordrid said. “Very little magic is going to work on you.”
Dot wet a rag and started wiping down the stove. “It should wear off in an hour or two. It’ll work its way out of her system faster if you get her out of the house and have her walk around.”
Stone nodded. He glanced down at me. Seriously, I think he glowed, his skin was so smooth, and there was just this angelic quality about him that was to die for.
“Can I see you naked?” I said.
Pretty sure he blushed at that.
“Sorry, I just don’t know what’s come over me,” I said.
He held my arms, keeping me from roving over his body. “Why don’t you take a shower and we’ll go into town and walk around?”
“That sounds dreamy! Are you going to let go of me?”
“Only if you promise to keep your hands to yourself.”
I beamed up at him. “I promise.”
He released me. Before I trotted off, I sneaked around the counter and pinched his rear end. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”
I wanted to control myself, I really did, but that Sea of Love stuff had pinpointed all my attention on Stone. I couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or enjoying it.
“Can I sit in your lap on the way to town?” I said, leaning over the gearshift. Yes, it hurt. No, I didn’t care.
Stone pressed me back to my side of the car. He grabbed the seat belt and fastened me in. “Why don’t we wait until we have lunch? Then you can sit in my lap. And by that time,” he mumbled, “the potion should wear off.”
I pouted. “Oh, you don’t like it?”
“You’re not exactly you.”
&nb
sp; I clapped my hands. “I know. I’m better!”
One side of Stone's mouth curved into a smirk. “Sure.”
I teased a finger over his thick eyebrows and down his temple. “You have perfect cheekbones. They are so high I could cut myself on them.”
“I know. I had them constructed that way.”
“Are you joking?”
“Why would I joke? I have a ready and willing woman in my car lusting after me. I might be an angel, but I’m all man.”
My eyes flared with delight. “I can’t wait to see!”
Stone's eyes slid to one corner. “Let’s get to town.”
We rolled into the Red Brick district. Stone found a spot and crept into it. “Wow. That was some tight maneuvering.”
“Yep.”
He eased out of the car, came around to my side and unbuckled me. “Do you wear underwear? I didn’t know if angels needed to do that or if they just let it all blow in the wind.”
Stone pulled me out of the SUV. I tumbled on top of him, laughing all the way. He took my hand and walked me down the street.
“Look,” he said, pointing to a building. “See that?”
It took everything I had to unglue my eyes from him. “I just want to lick your face.”
“I think you’ll change your mind about that in an hour.”
I doubted it. I curled my arm through his as Stone physically tipped my face to look at the store that had opened up.
“A new sweet shop?” I said. “Where did that come from?”
The wooden sign hanging above it read Nibbly Bites. I peered inside the windows and saw a bulky woman loading a tray of molded chocolate onto a display case.
“That’s what I’m saying,” Stone said. “Several shops have sprung up overnight.”
He led me inside. The place smelled like heaven—like caramel and chocolate and everything that was good and holy in the world.
“Welcome,” said the woman. She had long, flowing black hair, dark eyes and an angular face. She was also tall, like way tall, nearly six feet.
I wrapped my arm around Stone protectively.
“Would you like some chocolate?” she said.
I crept closer to her. There was something magical about her. Really magical. Like I’m not just kidding magical. It was enough to drag my focus from Stone for three seconds.
