Westerham Witches and a Venetian Vendetta
Paranormal Investigation Bureau Book 15
Dionne Lister
Dionne Lister
Copyright © 2021 by Dionne Lister
ISBN 978-1-922407-08-5
eBook edition
Cover art by Robert Baird
Editing by Hot Tree Editing
All rights reserved.
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No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or school assignment.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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This book is dedicated to all those tireless emergency service workers who, at times, sacrifice their sanity and safety to help their communities. To the police, paramedics, doctors and nurses, and firemen and women who risk themselves every day to keep strangers safe, thank you. You are appreciated.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
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Also by Dionne Lister
About the Author
Chapter 1
I shut my eyes and angled my face up towards the sun. The comforting warmth and kiss of a gentle breeze on my skin sure felt like freedom. I grinned.
Regula Pythonissam was dead, finished, kaput.
I had my old life back. Well… not exactly my old, old life. It was something even better because it had magic and my mother and the ability to go wherever I wanted without worrying I’d be struck dead at any moment. Oh, and squirrels, lots and lots of squirrels. Speaking of which, there was a gentle tap, tap, tap on my hand. I opened my eyes.
Roger, the grey squirrel with one white paw, blinked up at me from his spot on the outdoor table. He’d left his seat at the mini-picnic table where thirteen of his friends sat, nibbling on nuts. I chuckled. They were so freaking adorable that I almost couldn’t stand it. There were still nuts in Roger’s bowl, though. “I’m not sure what you want, sweetie. You’ve still got food. You don’t feel sick or anything, do you?” I had no idea if he could understand me. One of these days I’d figure out how to talk to animals, dammit. “Hang on a minute.” I visualised me leaving and coming back. Even if I couldn’t pick anything up, didn’t mean the squirrels couldn’t pick up on what I was thinking.
I gave Roger a soft pat on the head, and he closed his eyes. Hmm, he seemed to like it, so I kept stroking him. He chirped. Ooh, maybe that’s what he wanted. Aw. “Way to melt my heart, little guy.” Another squirrel, with a little triangle missing from the side of her ear, who I’d named Scrappy, jumped off the squirrel-sized bench seat and scurried to me. She craned her head up to look at me with large, dark eyes. “Do you want a pat too?” She chittered. I giggled. This was awesome times one hundred. I scratched her head with my other hand. She closed her eyes and made cute squirrely noises. It was as if I’d died and gone to my version of heaven. Thankfully, I’d survived Dana, her father, and their minions, and this was real life.
Good guys did win sometimes.
Footsteps sounded on the garden path behind me. I turned my head just enough to see who it was—I didn’t want to stop patting my jittery friends in case they ran away because of the newcomer.
My mother, her auburn hair cut into a shoulder-length bob, approached, Will at her side. He had a bemused look on his face, but my mother’s forehead wrinkled. She blinked; then a smile quirked up one side of her mouth. “Ah, what’s going on here, then?” After being held captive for so long in the UK by Dana’s father, a slight English accent had crept into her voice, refining the relaxed Aussie edges.
Will grinned. “Lily’s hanging out with her comrades. She’s building a squirrel army to help defend her.”
“Hey, I am not. Well, not anymore. They’re just my friends, and we’re enjoying a farewell brunch together. Maybe one day I’ll need them to take up arms for my cause, but now the RP thing is behind us, the army thing is on the back-burner.” I grinned. Both squirrels chittered, and they sounded annoyed. Oops, I’d stopped patting them. Yikes. I got back to it. “Demanding little beasties, aren’t you?”
Mum and Will sat on either side of me at the picnic table. Mum slowly reached out and patted Roger. “So, we have some good news.”
Seemed like my life was full of good news lately, and I was not complaining. Not. At. All. “And what’s that?”
“I’m coming on holiday with you all.” Her wide smile filled my heart with joy.
Wow, that was some news. Ever since we’d saved her a few weeks ago, she’d been wary and staying close to home. This was the best surprise ever. I threw my arms around her. “Woohoo! That’s awesome news!” My loud, flamboyant celebrations startled the squirrels. They all took off, scampering and leaping in every direction until there weren’t any left on the table. A couple of little squirrel bowls had turned over in the chaos, seeds scattering everywhere. Oops.
Will chuckled. “Yeah, they’d make a great army. So steadfast and brave.”
My mother snorted. So, that’s who I got it from. I shrugged, pretending everything was fine. “So, they need some training. I still believe in them and my vision for a furry ninja cohort of armed squirrels.”
Mum patted my hand. “That’s my girl, stubborn and persistent.” Her eyes glistened, and she blinked back tears. “Thank you for never giving up on me and your father. I know he’d be so proud of you.” She shook her head. “I never stopped believing you and James would find me.” She squeezed my hand as I blinked away my own tears.
“None of us gave up. James, Beren, Will, Imani, Ma’am, Mill, Liv, everyone was in it for as long as it took. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t have gotten there.” I sniffled before snot ran out of my nose. Real classy. “Anyway, let’s not talk about that now. We have a holiday to go on!”
Mum grinned. “We sure do. I’m packed and ready. Everyone else left just before we came outside. Are you ready?”
Argh, I didn’t get to say goodbye to my furry buddies properly. Oh, well. They’d come back once I returned, I supposed. I magicked their tiny bowls away but left the seeds littering the table. They could finish it off after we left. We all stood, and excitement bubbled in my stomach. It was time to have a holiday. Finally.
Venice, here we come.
Chapter 2
Dana’s dad had burned my mother’s magic out. She had access to the portal of magic, but she couldn’t suck in more than a drip at a time—it was never enough to do anything, so she came through my doorway wheeling her suitcase into the Hotel Delfino reception room. We hurried out of the way so that Will could come through.
The room had a moderately sloping terrazzo floor adorned with a red Persian rug. Two red love seats sat against one wall, their ornate gilded arms and legs a bit gaudy for my taste. Blue-blown-glass sconces with golden fittings were affixed to the wall on either side of the door. I smiled at the ancient scent of old building and furnishings. We were really here, on holiday in Venice. Venice! “Eek! I can’t wait to go exploring, and we have to go on a gondola, plus the glass-blowing. I’ve always wanted to see that.”<
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Mum laughed. “You were always Miss Enthusiastic. Just hold your horses for five minutes.” She pressed the brass doorbell. Its shrill ring made me jump, even though I’d known it was coming. I rolled my eyes at myself. “I see you’re still as jumpy as ever.”
“Yep. Some things never change.” Not for the first time since we had my mother back did I wonder at it. Was she really here making references to the past? I reached out and touched her arm. She gave me a quizzical look. “Just checking you’re really here.” I smiled.
She returned my smile. “Yes, and I’m not going anywhere… well, except if you go on holidays and invite me.”
“Sounds good to me.”
The door opened. A short elderly lady, her white hair gathered into a single plait that hung over her shoulder and descended to her waist, smiled, her wrinkles wrinkling. Her light-blue eyes sparkled. “Buongiorno. Welcome to Hotel Delfino.” Her strong voice had that crackly quality old people’s voices tended to acquire. She must have been in her mid eighties at least. I hoped I was standing that straight if… when I got to her age. At least with RP and Piranha gone, that chance had increased exponentially.
“Buongiorno, Signora.” Mum smiled. “Sono Katerina Bianchi. This is my daughter, Lily, and her partner, William.” My mother’s Italian wasn’t fluent, but I knew she’d learned some when she and my father had gotten engaged. I supposed she figured they would visit Italy every now and again.
“Please, come in. I’m Isabella.” The old lady stepped back and held the door wide. She turned to look behind her, lifted her arm, and clicked her fingers a couple of times. “Francesco! Sprigati!” A skinny young man dressed in black trousers and a short-sleeve white shirt answered her summons. He bowed his head quickly. She said something else to him in Italian, and he nodded. Magic tickled my scalp, and all our suitcases disappeared. So, that’s how they did things in a witch-only hotel. Isabella turned back to us. She handed my mother one key and me another. “Your bags have been sent to your rooms—on the first floor to the right. Breakfast is served between seven and ten in the morning. If you have any questions, just call reception. Enjoy your stay.”
Will grabbed my hand as we followed my mother along the hallway to a timber staircase that also seemed to be on an angle. I tilted my head to the side. “Is it my imagination or—”
Will chuckled. “Not your imagination. Venice is sinking. Things are bound to be a bit crooked.”
“Why don’t witches subtly fix it?” We collectively had so much power, surely something could be done to at least stop the iconic city’s demise.
Mum started up the stairs. “I’m afraid it’s such a huge undertaking, that it would be hard to hide that witches existed. Even if we managed to come up with a plan and orchestrate it, non-witches would ask a lot of questions. We couldn’t stop it with an invisible barrier—there would need to be structures put into place under the buildings. Rather obvious and not an option.”
Mum stopped at the first-floor landing. There were two hallways—one leading to the left and one to the right, but, as Isabella had explained, we needed to go right. We followed Mum along the narrow, red-carpeted hallway. Cream-and-gold-striped wallpaper gave it a ’70s feel, and more of the Venetian glass scones lit our way. Even so, it was quite dark with no natural light, not that it felt creepy—the atmosphere was more of a cosy, “Wow, I’m in Italy” one. The buzz of adventure hummed in my body, and I couldn’t wait to see our room, then the rest of Venice.
Mum stopped in front of a door and looked at me. “This is mine. Well, mine and Angelica’s.” She was sharing with Angelica because she still felt vulnerable. Even with the counselling she was doing, it would take time for her to recover. In the meantime, we were all doing our bit to help. Since we’d saved her, she’d lived with us at Angelica’s, in the room next to Will and me. She had nightmares almost every night. Her anguished cries for help and calling out for my father broke my heart. After the first couple of times, I’d gone in there to wake her and reassure her, she seemed to be more upset about waking me than having the nightmare. She’d explained that her nightmares had started when she’d been kidnapped and had never stopped. The enormity of that had left me angry at RP all over again and heartbroken at what she’d suffered and still did. Angelica had suggested a mind wipe, but my mother refused. My thought was to try and create a spell that could stop the bad dreams. I wasn’t sure how, exactly, so I hadn’t said anything, but I was working on it.
The door opened, and Angelica stood there smiling. “Ah, you made it. Lovely. Your bag’s already here.” She moved back and opened the door wider for my mother to enter.
Will had walked to the next door. “This is ours, Lily.”
I smiled at him. “Cool.” I looked back at Angelica. “What’s the plan for today? Are we going to all go for a walk and ease into things?”
Angelica smiled. “Yes, dear. I think we should start with a visit to Piazza San Marco and get an ice cream. It’s rather warm outside.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I gave Mum a small wave. “See you soon. Meet you downstairs in ten minutes?”
Angelica nodded. “Okay. I’ll let the others know.” We’d set up a Facebook chat for our group so we could keep tabs on where everyone was. That way, we’d be able to organise group things, but if someone didn’t want to come, we’d still know what they were up to.
Will held the door open for me. As I scooted past him, he smacked my bottom. “Ow!”
The door closed. “What do you mean, ow? I hardly tapped you.”
“Yeah, I know, but you scared me. I wasn’t expecting it, and that was my reaction.”
He shook his head, smiling. “Of course. Silly me for forgetting you have at least one surprise-induced heart attack every day.”
“More evidence that I was a squirrel in a former life. Genetic memory is a thing, you know.” I held back a laugh, keeping my expression as serious as possible.
He nodded thoughtfully. “That makes total sense. Another mystery bites the dust.” He took in the room. “Quaint and very Venetian.”
“It is.” I plonked onto the double bed and tried bouncing. “Not bad. I love the terrazzo floors, even if they are sloping just a smidge.” I hopped up. “What’s our view like?” I hurried to the window and looked out at a white-paved courtyard enclosed by three-storey walls on all sides. The space was a large square, maybe five by five metres. Tables and chairs sat under red-and-blue-striped umbrellas. A few people occupied those tables, having a meal and chatting while pigeons poked around their feet for scraps, some braver pigeons daring to alight on the tables of patrons still eating. So peaceful and holidayish. I grinned. This week away was going to be phenomenal.
A man with thick, dark hair and dressed in similar black slacks and white shirt as our bellboy this morning strode out of the door, a scowl on his face. He waved his arms in the air. His voice was loud but not quite shouting. “Shoo! Va via! Va Via! Uccelli disgustosi.” He approached one of the tables and kicked his foot under it. Oh, that’s what he was doing. The pigeons flew away from him but settled across the courtyard. He made a strangled sound and slammed his hands on his hips and glared at the pigeons. Magic tingled my scalp.
The birds flapped crazily, taking off and flying away. Feathers floated around the courtyard as if there’d just been a massive pillow fight. The diners waved their arms around their faces to clear the air. When everything settled, three little bodies lay on the ground. I frowned. How sad. What a meanie. “This isn’t the best start to our holiday.”
Will had been peering over my shoulder. “They carry lice and leave a mess. Trust me; you don’t want them around where you’re eating.”
“Yes, but did he have to kill them?”
“He didn’t kill all of them.”
I deepened my frown and directed it at Will.
He shrugged one shoulder. “What? It could’ve been worse.” He shook his head. “Look at it this way; our holiday can only get better from here, right?�
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I rolled my eyes. “Now you’ve probably jinxed us. What if it doesn’t get better?”
He raised a brow, grabbed me around the waist, and pulled me to him for a kiss. “Hey, we’re together in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Let’s focus on that.” I was about to answer, but he placed his lips over mine and kissed the words away.
When the kiss was over, I sighed at the smile I couldn’t help—I wanted to be annoyed at his lack of sympathy for the pigeons, but his kiss had disarmed me. “Okay. You win. Let’s go meet the others and have that ice cream.” I took off the jacket I’d worn from the UK—because, let’s face it, it was still cold over there—and grabbed my phone rather than the Nikon before going downstairs. Today was supposed to be a pleasant twenty-six Celsius and sunny in Venice—perfect weather for being out and about, and whilst I loved taking photos, the middle of the day wasn’t the best lighting, so the phone would do for some quick snaps.
Under the foyer’s ornate Venetian chandelier that depicted flowers holding the globes, a group chatted. I grinned and hurried over, throwing my arms around the nearest person. “Liv! Eek!”
She hugged me back. “Lily! Yay! This is going to be awesome.”
“I know, right?”
Will shook Beren’s hand, and they slapped each other’s backs in a thumpingly loud man hug. Why couldn’t they just do gentle? Why did there have to be a show of “look how strong and robust we are. We can slap hard and take a slapping in return.” I chuckled. Ah, men.
“Surprise!” A duo of voices came from behind me.
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