Hexes & Hot Chocolate (A Stella Storm Cozy Witch Mystery Book 3)

by Amy Casey

  “That’s the only Bernard I know in this town.”

  “You’re suggesting a vampire did in fact have some involvement in Curtis’ death after all?”

  “Well, have you got any better theories?”

  “Yes. I’ve got more than that. I’ve got word and DNA proof that Bertie the Were was in that bathroom where Curtis was killed, and that he’s been acting irrationally lately.”

  “Hmm,” I said.

  Thomas frowned. “What are you ‘hmming’ at?”

  “It’s just… I dunno. Don’t you feel like it’s all a little convenient? Bertie starts losing it. He kills Curtis and leaves evidence. A Syt just so happens to co-operate with the police, and attempts to frame a werewolf in the process… and now they throw a vamp name in too.”

  “What are you suggesting?”

  I scratched the back of my head. “I’m not sure yet. Just… just all this seems to be spiralling out of control. And if we don’t get it under control soon, we’re going to have a hell of a clean-up on our hands.”

  Thomas nodded. Even if he might not agree with my methods, that was something he could certainly agree with.

  “What do you want to do, Stella?”

  I opened my mouth to respond. But then something else took over. “My mum,” I said.

  Thomas’ face went pale. “What about her?”

  “You told me she was still alive. After all this time, she’s still alive. And since I’ve been back you haven’t mentioned a thing about her. Was it just a lie? Was it just a way to draw me back here?”

  Thomas swallowed a lump in his throat. His eyes were watery, glassy. “It’s not a lie,” he said.

  “Then where is she?”

  “It’s not as—”

  “Don’t say ‘it’s not as straightforward as that’. Just don’t. Please. I’ve spent my whole life believing she’s dead, and now someone says she’s alive, but can’t tell me anything else. Why?”

  Thomas let the question hang. And the longer it did, the more I sensed I wasn’t getting an answer out of him—or out of anyone.

  So I put my hand on my forehead. “I need your help breaking into Bernard’s household,” I said.

  Thomas stood up, shook his head. “Absolutely out of the question.”

  “There’s a chance we’ll find nothing. And if we don’t… well, that’s good news for everyone.”

  “We won’t find a thing.”

  “But if we do… that changes everything. And as long as there’s that small chance we might find something, don’t you think we should at least try?”

  Thomas shook his head. “We can’t take that kind of risk.”

  “Why not? What else is there to lose?”

  “We risk upsetting everything.”

  “Or we risk resolving everything. Let’s face it, Thomas. Someone is a killer in this town. So peace treaty or no peace treaty, someone isn’t abiding by the rules. And besides. Just how fragile is peace anyway if it needs a treaty to be held in place?”

  Thomas looked insulted. And as he turned away, walked to the door, I wondered if I’d taken things too far. It was like insulting someone’s god. This bloody town.

  Then he turned around and looked me in the eye.

  “I’ll help you,” he said.

  A smile stretched across my face. “Thomas, I—”

  “On one condition.”

  “Anything.”

  “You take responsibility if this goes wrong.”

  It was a big ask. Thomas was basically asking me to take the weight of the world on my shoulders. I knew how it could look. The newcomer heading into town and stirring the pot. It could land me in a lot of trouble.

  But at the same time, I wanted this. I had an opportunity. I had to be bold enough to take it.

  “Okay,” I said.

  Thomas nodded. “Right then. Better get teaching you some spells.”

  “Teaching me spells? Oh please.”

  He smiled as he opened the kitchen door. “Trust me, cuz. There’s a whole new world out there for you to explore.”

  Thomas was right. There was a whole new world out there for me.

  I just didn’t realise quite how dangerous it was yet.

  Chapter 24

  I’d love to pretend I’m not the sneaky kind.

  But come on. You know me by now. There’s no point hiding from the truth.

  Sneakiness was my style.

  I stood beside Thomas outside of Bernard’s family home. We were both invisible, although the quicker method of activating it that Thomas had taught me left me feeling strangely itchy.

  “You remember what the plan is, right?” Thomas said.

  I rolled my eyes and sighed. “I got it the four hundred and eighth time you ran through it with me.”

  “Then run through it again.”

  “Right. Right. I follow you into the house via the front door. You don’t want to use magic to get inside because you believe there’s some kind of weird alarm system set up. Once we’re in, we take it one room at a time to find whatever we can. I don’t attempt any mind spells in the house because vampires are resistant to them. And oh. You believe this is some kind of wild goose chase that’ll more likely end in tears than success. Is that about right?”

  Thomas nodded, a slight smile on his face. “Good,” he said. “You were listening after all, then.”

  “I told you I was listening. Now it’d be really great if we could just get on with it, not gonna lie.”

  Thomas nodded again. He took a deep breath, then started to move towards the house. It was a large, imposing building with plenty of rooms. And apparently I hadn’t even met the whole family. I wondered what else was in store for me, what else was hiding behind the scenes.

  He stopped right before the front door, our invisibility now activated.

  “And remember,” he said. “Any indication that someone’s on to you, you—”

  “Get out of there. Understood.”

  “No matter how close you think you are to finding whatever it is you think you’re finding.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Thomas, I’m not completely detached from reality. I have a sense of danger about me.”

  He looked at me like he wasn’t totally convinced. “Hmm,” he said.

  And then he walked over to the door and put the first stage of the plan in motion.

  Using a collective unlocking spell, we picked the lock… Nah, just kidding. Thing about Nightthistle homes that didn’t differ too much from their Goosridge compatriots? Just like Goosridge ones, they left spare keys under the front door mat. I supposed it made extra sense, considering there were so many members of this household.

  But there was one thing I didn’t get, as Thomas turned the key.

  “Why not just use magic to lock the doors?” I asked.

  He turned around and glared at me. “They’re vampires, idiot. They don’t cast spells like we do.”

  “But you said they had some kind of magical alarm system.”

  “Well, yeah. Look, we have inconsistencies. Inconsistencies just like you people do. Just trust me, okay?”

  I nodded reluctantly. And as Thomas opened the door, I figured I was going to have to rein myself in and just do what he said if I wanted to get to the bottom of this.

  The second we stepped inside the hallway of the house, the first thing that hit me was just how cold it felt to my first visit here. I’d been here before of course, when Bernard had welcomed me into his kitchen. But that was during the day. At night, the place had a whole different vibe.

  And the fact that I wasn’t supposed to be here at all… yeah, that made things a whole lot less comfortable, too.

  Thomas walked on through the hallway, keeping as slow as possible. I could just about make out his outline from the invisibility spell he had cast. It was a more advanced form of the basic one, harder to invoke but with extra perks once it was. Like the fact that I could see him but nobody else was.

  The agreement was that w
e were only to use invisibility and nothing else. Because using anything else could trigger the magic alarm system that Thomas had warned me of.

  So we started scanning the house.

  Thomas took the first room, and I took the next. I felt aggrieved by this. Mostly because even though I didn’t know what I was looking for exactly, I knew that I wanted to be the one to search the bulk of the house because I was pretty sure I was taking this a whole lot more seriously than Thomas.

  When I stepped into the next room—another large lounge area—I felt my body turn cold.

  Someone was lying across the sofa, snoring away.

  It didn’t take me long to realise it was Theo. One of the three brothers I’d had the misfortune of crossing earlier.

  I tensed up, then I remembered I was invisible so I didn’t have a thing to worry about.

  But what Thomas had told me. That fear that if someone saw any of us, we had to get out of here.

  He must’ve said that for a reason.

  I searched the room as slowly and quietly as I could. Checked the drawers. Looked under the sofa. Just looking for some kind of clue, some kind of evidence that linked the vampires to Curtis somehow.

  And then I stopped at Theo’s sleeping body.

  He was lying there, snoring. But he was still wearing his coat.

  Holding it very closely.

  I went to reach for it. I had to look in the pockets. I just had to. Because if there was something linking him to the crime, then who was to say they weren’t keeping it as close to themselves as possible? It made sense.

  I reached into the pocket on show. And when I got my hand in there, I felt something. Something cold. Something metallic.

  And then Theo opened his eyes.

  I didn’t get to see what the cold, metallic object was.

  I didn’t get to see anything.

  Because right then, as Theo opened his eyes, I was completely still.

  He looked through me. For a few seconds, his glare just burned through my body. And I knew I had to keep still. I had to hold my breath. Because I had this. I had this.

  I moved my hand away, slowly.

  And as I did, the item I’d touched fell out of Theo’s pocket.

  I looked at the floor.

  Saw a mirror.

  And when I looked down in it, I saw Theo looking down in it too.

  There was a problem, though.

  I couldn’t see Theo in the mirror.

  But I could see myself.

  And when I looked up… I saw that Theo was no longer looking through me.

  He was looking at me.

  Right at me.

  Chapter 25

  The second Theo looked at me, I knew I was screwed.

  My first instinct was to hold back. To not move a muscle. Because I was just imagining things. This wasn’t as bad as I thought.

  But the more time passed, the more I realised I was just trying to convince myself, and in fact, reality was pretty damn different.

  “You,” Theo said.

  I staggered back, then. But not before Theo gripped my arm. I knew what Thomas had said about not using magic but right now, I’d be damned if I didn’t.

  So I put a hand on his arm and said the words “blastus harticus”.

  And in that instant, a burning sensation blasted from my palm and sent Theo flying back across the room.

  I watched him move like it was in slow motion. And I tried to think about a method to stop him, to slow down his fall, so he didn’t make quite as much noise.

  But then…

  Yeah. Too late.

  Theo landed with a crash against his bookcase. The bookcase came falling down on top of him, slamming him on his head.

  I watched as the books crashed out of the case, all raining down onto him, wincing as heavy book after heavy book hit the floor.

  And as I watched, I knew that I was in trouble. Especially when I heard movement upstairs.

  Thomas came to the door, still invisible. “Stella?”

  “I… I didn’t do anything. I swear.”

  “Yeah. This really looks like nothing. We need to get out of here. Quick.”

  I heard footsteps coming down the stairs now. “I dunno.”

  Thomas was halfway out the door already. “Hey. You remember the agreement we had here.”

  “I’m starting to wonder whether that agreement’s such a good one after all.”

  “Stella!” Thomas said. “Listen to me. We need to get out of here.”

  I turned to the stairs, the invisibility still coating me, as Bernard, Harold, and another vampire I didn’t recognise came rushing down the stairs.

  And I held my ground as they stepped by me and went into the room where Theo lay under the bookcase, seemingly unconscious.

  The staircase was free.

  There was a chance to get up there. A chance to take a look. A chance that I wasn’t otherwise going to get.

  “Stella,” Thomas whispered.

  I turned back and shrugged as I saw him egging me on to follow him, to leave. “Sorry,” I mouthed.

  Then I started to climb the stairs.

  Before Thomas could do anything to stop me, I reached the top step. My heart started to race as I stood on the dark landing area. I knew I needed to take this opportunity. I had to search these rooms. Because it was the only chance I was going to get.

  I rushed into the first of the rooms, disregarding the creaking floorboards, the boarded-up windows that I knew I’d struggle to escape from if I needed to. I squinted, cast a sight spell. This first bedroom was sparse and empty. There were a few books around—vamp lit, by the looks of things. There were even a few copies of Twilight scattered around. How curious. Vamps actually read Twilight. I wonder what they make of Robert Pattinson’s representation of themselves? Maybe I’d have to ask, when I wasn’t in a life and death situation.

  I didn’t find anything of note in this first room, so I stepped outside and went into the next room. Downstairs, I could hear the commotion picking up. I needed to hurry. I needed to find something—anything of note. I didn’t know what it was yet, and I didn’t particularly care.

  I just needed to keep on going; keep on searching; keep on hoping.

  When I stepped inside the next room, I winced.

  There were bats dangling from the curtain rail. A computer in the corner of the room, password locked. A few notes and papers lying around. But nothing immediately obvious; nothing immediately of note.

  I scratched at my head and went to leave the room. There was only one room left. And time was running out. The commotion downstairs was picking up even more. I wondered about Thomas, what he was doing down there, whether he was okay. Sure, I felt kind of bad for going against the plan of action.

  But hell. Thomas was acting like a wuss.

  There was something in this link to the vampires. I couldn’t just let it go.

  I was Stella Storm, after all.

  I stepped into the final room. And as soon as I got inside, I felt there was something different about this one, right away. Something that made it uncharacteristically different to the other rooms.

  The skulls on the walls, like antiques.

  The abstract art.

  And the large, luxurious looking bed.

  This was Bernard’s room.

  The master bedroom.

  I stepped around the room. Looked at the skulls on the wall, mostly in awe. I didn’t recognise the shape of the skulls. They looked like bats—but large ones. Far larger than any I’d seen before.

  I walked around the side of the bed, past the art. And the more of these paintings I passed, the more I started to realise that they all had something in common. They were red. Blood red.

  I wondered whether perhaps they were blood red for a reason. Whether they were blood red because…

  And then I saw it.

  It was beside the bed. A cabinet. Partly open.

  And when I walked over to that cabinet, I saw what was i
nside.

  I went still. Totally froze. My heart raced. My chest tightened.

  I stared at this item and I knew I needed to get out of here. I knew I needed to tell Thomas. I knew I needed to tell Sheriff Butcher.

  But as I went to turn around, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

  Someone was already here.

  Chapter 26

  I felt the hand on my shoulder and I spun around right that instant.

  When I saw who it was, I went from total crippling terror to overwhelming relief all within the space of a brief moment.

  “Stella,” Thomas said, anger in his voice now. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You’re going to get us caught. Or worse.”

  I looked into Thomas’ eyes and I wanted to tell him the truth. I wanted to tell him what I’d found. But I was still so caught up in it that I could barely even move my lips.

  So instead, I did the only thing I could.

  I turned around and pointed at the open cabinet.

  Thomas looked where I was pointing. Frowned. “I don’t see what you’re looking at here, Stella.”

  “Just look,” I said. “For heaven’s sake, just look.”

  Thomas stared at the cabinet. I saw him squinting. Trying to figure out what it was.

  And then, in that instant, I saw his eyes widen.

  “What…” he said.

  It was about as much as I’d been able to manage when I’d first discovered it. But now I’d caught myself, now I’d got myself back on track.

  “The vampires,” I said. “They were involved in Curtis’ death. Bernard was involved in Curtis’ death. He had to be.”

  I looked back at the item in the open cabinet as Thomas stared at it, transfixed.

  There was a knife.

  It was covered in blood.

  And right by the handle of the knife… there was a bit of werewolf fur.

  “What does it mean?” Thomas asked.

  I swallowed a lump in my dry throat. “I guess… I guess that somehow, Bernard is involved.”

  “But—”

  “The knife. The blood. And the were fur. All it can mean is… bear with me here, but I’m starting to wonder if Bernard might’ve worked with the Weres to kill Curtis.”