by Amy Boyles
I hugged the book and then embraced my crazy aunt and best friend.
“I love y’all,” I said.
“We love you, too,” Kate said.
“I’m a person. I have rights,” Charlotte fumed.
I walked over to her. “You deserve to face whatever justice the tribunal is going to dish out.” I glanced at Dot. “Where’s that homing necklace?”
Kate lifted it up. “Right here. I think I’m going to take it home, see if it’ll help me work my magic better.”
I smirked. “Better make sure it takes you to your house instead of theirs.”
Kate's jubilant face fell. “Good point. I’d hate to end up trapped.”
I reached for it. “Why not give it to me for safekeeping?”
My phone buzzed from my purse. I put the amulet in a side pocket and fished out my phone. I glanced at the text. “Stone has Star at the crash site. I’m going out to meet him.”
Sirens blared in the distance. “Let me guess,” I said. “We caused a stir. Time to scatter before the authorities show up.”
I didn’t have to worry about Dot needing a car seat because she wiggled her fingers and she, Charlotte, Kate and Gabby disappeared. Good thing.
I bleeped the alarm on my 4Runner, climbed in and headed to the crash site just as red lights appeared in my rearview. I arrived about twenty minutes later and climbed out.
Stone and Star stood by the veil. Star glowed from head to foot. Her long blonde hair shimmered in the night.
“Star?” I said.
She gave me a smile so warm it filled me with hot cocoa and marshmallow tidings of joy. The angel took my hands. “Thank you for saving me.”
I smiled. “You’re welcome.” I glanced at Stone. His eyes shone with an emotion that made my stomach tie into knots. I’d seen Dex, I knew I had, but my husband had seemed more ghost than flesh and blood.
“They kept her drugged,” Stone said. “Our suspicions were correct.”
“Wow,” I said. “What’d they use?”
“From what I could gather, some sort of high-end pharmaceuticals that could’ve knocked out a horse.”
“I’m glad you’re okay,” I said to Star.
“Me too.” Her voice was light and singsongy, the sort of sound that made men abandon their ships and swim out to sea to their deaths because they longed to be with her so much.
“So,” I said. “How do we return you to heaven?”
Star smiled. “I fly away. Simple as that. The vampire used his power of persuasion to bring me to earth. Now I can return. It should repair the tear in the veil.”
The wind whipped up. I couldn’t tell if it was made by the atmosphere or by magic. “Great. Let’s get you back then.”
Star hugged Stone. “Thank you.”
Stone's gaze flickered to me. “Godspeed.”
Star gave us one last smile before she shot off into the sky, a trail of silver dust floating down behind her. As soon as she lifted off, the green light coming from the tear in the veil vanished. The rip was effectively sewn up.
I glanced at Stone. “Thank you for all your help.”
He placed his hands on his hips and smiled. “My pleasure.” We slowly walked back to my car. “Well, we stopped the demons and vampires, but something else is coming. I’ll be here, waiting and watching over Gabby.”
I cocked a brow. “Oh? Are you suggesting I can’t watch over her myself?”
He shrugged. “I mean, you’re so busy with your job as a preschool teacher. Plus, I kinda got assigned here.”
A trill of laughter bubbled up in my throat. “So, Mr. Angel, are you trying to get me to ask you to stay?”
He scoffed. “Trust me, I don’t need an invitation.”
I shook my head, trying to rein in the smile on my face. “Is that right?”
He hooked an arm over my shoulder. “I come from heaven. If I want to go someplace, I’m just going to go.”
“No invitation needed, is that right?”
He winked at me. “You got it.”
I laughed. “So I guess you didn’t drive here.”
He paused and turned me toward him. “I might need a ride.”
I quirked a brow. “Oh? I thought you were an angel, you could go wherever you wanted.”
He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Yeah. Well, if you want to hitch a ride with a beautiful woman, it’s best to ask.”
“Are you asking?”
He leaned in for a kiss. I pressed my fingers to his chest. “Wait. I thought we couldn’t be together.”
“We can kiss. Kissing’s okay.”
I thought about that for a minute—knowing that Stone and I couldn’t really be together and the emotional sore that might leave in my heart. For once I decided to let my hair down and simply go with it.
“Okay,” I agreed.
He pulled me to him and grazed his lips over mine. Electrical pulses rocked my body. When we parted, he smoothed down my hair and said, “I’m asking for a ride.”
“Come on,” I said breathlessly. “Let’s roll.”
TWENTY-NINE
“With every ending comes a beginning.”
—The Witch’s Handbook
* * *
It took a few weeks for Normal to go back to, well, normal—or as normal as my town was going to be from now on. I was strolling through the Red Brick district, mocha in hand, enjoying a brisk breeze that had kicked up. I pressed my nose into my orange scarf.
“Morning, Andie!”
Joe and Molly Malone stood outside their coffee shop. I waved to them. “Morning. Looks like things have settled down.”
“Good thing,” Joe said. “That Nightshots place is still open, but it’s calmer now.”
I hadn’t seen Luke since the last time I was at the nightclub. I wondered if he had any idea the danger he had been in. Probably not. That’s how it went being a vampire hunter. I did all the hard work and didn’t get an ounce of glory for it.
That’s just how life is, I suppose.
“Hey there,” came a deep voice.
I glanced over at a spread of outdoor tables and chairs outside a new burger joint that had opened, Were-burgers. I wonder what type of species opened it?
Kidding. Werewolves, obviously.
I threaded my way through the tables until I reached Stone. He rose and took my hand in his, thumbing my skin. “You ready?”
I smiled. “All you said was for me to meet you. What am I supposed to be ready for?”
He smiled. His silver eyes took on an opalescent sheen. “For your surprise.”
I frowned. “What?”
He led me to his SUV and opened the door. “Come on.”
He climbed onto his side and cranked up the engine. We rolled through Normal. Halloween pumpkins and scarecrows still decorated downtown. Something told me that it would be a while before they came down, what with the new arrivals and all.
Speaking of new arrivals, Stone was staying so he could protect my daughter from whatever big bad was coming. The thought made me shiver, but I had an angel at my side to protect us.
A few minutes later he braked to a stop. I glanced up and saw we were back at my house. “What are we doing here?”
He smiled. The corners of his eyes crinkled. “Your aunt wanted to have a party for you.”
I sank my head onto the headrest. “What for?”
Stone took my hand. “I don’t know, for beating the curse of The Witch’s Handbook, defeating a horde of vampires and sending a bad person to tribunal.”
“How’s that going, by the way?”
Stone drummed his fingers on the console between us. “Good. From what I understand, Charlotte’s been locked up, hopefully never to be seen again. She was a willing cohort in luring young men to her father so that he could suck them dry and turn some of them into his army. No other dead bodies surfaced in Normal. I’m not sure how Snare was feeding his vamps, but it wasn’t with humans from town.”
I shivered.
“Awful. Thank goodness they finally found Stevie’s body.”
Stone nodded. “Yep. At home in bed. I’m sure if Oscar had still been coroner, it would’ve been labeled heart failure.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Give me a werewolf running a burger joint anytime. I’ll gladly take that over vampire murders.”
Stone chuckled. “You ready to go in?”
I nodded.
He took my chin between his fingers and kissed me. Sparks exploded over my lips, and a shudder ran through my body. I whimpered in pleasure.
Stone parted. He thumbed my cheek. “Let’s get inside before we never go in.”
I laughed. We got out of the car and reached the front door. It swung open. There stood Dot in full witch uniform. Gabby hovered next to her. She wore a miniature pointy hat.
“I’m a witch, Mommy,” she said.
“So I see.” I scooped her into my arms and planted a huge kiss on her cheek. “I wouldn’t want it any other way, my love. You’re a witch, and I’m proud of you.”
“Mommy, put me down.”
I plopped her on the floor, and she ran off to play with her toddler-sized witch broom. I leveled my gaze on Dot. “You’re not going to teach her how to ride that, are you?”
Dot crossed her arms over her sagging bosom. “Andie, she’s not even potty-trained. Besides, witches don’t learn to fly their brooms until they’re at least fifteen. You know that.”
I glanced around my house. Dot had taken the opportunity in the past hour and a half to completely redecorate with witch decor. Like everywhere. There were stockinged feet and brooms, and small cauldrons and headstones, all kinds of spooky stuff.
I chuckled and gave my aunt a hug. “Thank you for everything. I don’t even mind all the witch decorations.”
She beamed. “You don’t? Because the next thing I’m going to bring in is the crystal ball and an all-seeing eye. I got them both on sale at the witch exchange a few years ago.”
I gritted my teeth. “How about we see how things go?”
Vordrid sailed up to me. “Andie, congratulations on freeing yourself from the book’s curse.”
I took Vordrid in my hands. “Thank you, dear friend. My next task is to set you free.”
Vordrid floated from my grasp. “It is? Andie, I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”
“Vordrid,” I sighed. “Don’t thank me yet. I may never figure out how to do it, but I’ll try my darndest.”
Kate bounded into the room. “Andie! So many new men have moved into town. Do you think any of them are single?”
I pulled my best friend into a hug and said, “I’m sure a lot of them are.”
She fisted the air in victory. “Great! Dot, I’m going to need about a thousand of those love potion cookies to pass out around town.”
We all laughed and ate a meal of chicken salad and pumpkin pie. Dot swore she hadn’t hexed any of the neighbors to bring it over, but Vordrid let it slip that Edith had come over to apologize for selling amulets. She promised to be more particular about who she sold anything to, and just to make things better, she dropped off a meal.
No surprise there.
After we’d eaten and I was washing up dishes, Stone sidled up to me and snaked an arm around my waist. He kissed me on the temple and said, “You are absolutely radiant.”
I smiled. “Calm down there, tiger. We’ve only known each other a week.”
Stone's mouth curled in such a way that I wanted to nip it. “Yeah. This is going to be hard, isn’t it? The staying away from each other?”
I sighed. “I get that feeling.”
He took my hand and brushed it against his lips. “I don’t want to be away from you, but…”
I rolled my eyes. “This can only go so far. I know. It’s okay. Let’s just enjoy it.”
He nodded. “With pleasure.” He kissed me deeply. The plate I was holding slipped from my fingers back into the soapy water. I didn’t care. The entire household could see if they wanted to.
I broke from him. “This just can’t get in the way of Gabby. She’s the most important thing and must be protected.”
He nodded. “It won’t.”
Stone pressed his lips to mine again. Fissures of heat raced down my body. I curled my fingers in his shirt. He grasped the back of my head like he didn’t want to let go.
But he did.
Stone left a few minutes later. My lips still hummed from his kiss.
By the time everything was cleaned up, it was getting late. I had changed into my favorite pajamas—an oversize T-shirt and sweatpants, when I heard something clicking outside my window.
I glanced up and thought I saw an outline of a form. I crossed over, threw back the sheers and pushed up the chipped pane.
“I didn’t want to disturb anyone,” he said.
My lower lip trembled. A rush flooded my body. Every single cell felt like my nerve endings were firing at high velocity.
Tears stung my eyes. “Dex?” I said.
The man in front of me nodded. His amber hair curled under his ears, and his blue eyes flashed.
“Andie,” he whispered in a voice as silky as velvet and deep and complex like smooth whiskey. “I’ve missed you.”
“How?”
He shook his head. “The lord changed me. In order to stay alive, I drank from him.”
I sank to my knees. “All this time…”
He lowered his face. “If I’d come around earlier, I would’ve killed you. Your beating heart would’ve driven me mad.”
My insides quivered.
All this time. For almost three years he could have come to me, found me, explained something, anything. But he waited. Waited until I’d nearly found someone else. Waited until my emotions were warped and jumbled, when I wouldn’t know left from right or up from down.
Still, there was one thing I did know—
I was a vampire hunter.
A wind ripped through the window, lifting the hair from my shoulders. “Don’t ever come here again,” I said.
Dex’s eyes darkened. “Andie, I’m not going to hurt you.”
I took a deep, cleansing breath. “You are a vampire. I am a vampire hunter. As far as I’m concerned, you are the enemy.”
I slammed the window. There was one thing I knew about vampires that was true—they couldn’t enter a home without an invitation.
That was the last thing I’d be giving Dex. As far as I was concerned, he’d betrayed me and Gabby—his family.
I never wanted to see him again.
* * *
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* * *
Hey y’all!
Thank you so much for reading The Witch’s Handbook to Hunting Vampires. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review HERE. Reviews are vital—they help potential readers decide whether or not they want to pick up a book and they even help authors like me when we evaluate our books.
Don’t miss the next book in the series, The Witch’s Handbook to Catching Werewolves. Andie’s still trying to figure out her love life, raise a toddler and keep Dot from screwing things up. You can purchase is HERE.
* * *
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Also by Amy Boyles
BLESS YOUR WITCH SERIES
Scared Witchless
Kiss My Witch
Queen Witch
Quit Your Witchin’
For Witch’s Sake
Don’t Give a Witch
About the Author
Amy Boyles grew up reading Judy Blume and Christopher Pike. Somehow, the combination of coming of age books and teenage murder mysteries made her want to be a writer. After graduating college at DePauw University, she spent some time living in Chicago, Louisville, and New York before settling back in the South. Now, she spends her time chasing two toddlers while trying to stir up trouble in Silver Springs, Alabama, the fictional town where Dylan Apel and her sisters are trying to master witchcra
ft, tame their crazy relatives, and juggle their love lives. She loves to hear from readers! You can email her at [email protected].
www.amyboylesauthor.com
[email protected]
