Hexing with a Chance of Tornadoes: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Romance Novel (Grimm Cove Book 2)

by Mandy M. Roth

  “Call me Nonna,” she supplied. “We’re family now.”

  “My condolences,” said Bram to Jeffrey.

  “Don’t push me, vampire,” warned Nonna. “Or I’ll—”

  I stepped in her path to Bram. “Nonna, you shouldn’t be here. Did you notice the darkness outside? That isn’t natural. It’s not safe for you.”

  She snorted and rolled her eyes. “That? Please, I’ve seen darker.”

  Marcy smiled. “Lou, you should go to the master bedroom and keep watch in there.”

  He headed in that direction as if he’d been in the house a hundred times before.

  She glanced at me. “It’s best we tuck him out of harm’s way.”

  Rita giggled. “Lou is always getting underfoot during end-of-the-world moments.”

  Chester held the end of the golf club and stared around the room. “Whose skull are we smashing?”

  I gasped. “Chester?”

  He winked at me. “Wouldn’t be the first one I took care of.”

  Nonna nodded to me. “See? I told you I know people.”

  Twenty-Two

  Dana

  This wasn’t happening. There was no way my ninety-year-old grandmother had boosted a senior center van with her cronies and driven all the way from New York to South Carolina.

  I closed my eyes and rubbed them for good measure.

  When I opened them, everyone was staring at me like I’d lost my mind.

  Rita moved up alongside Nonna and nudged her lightly. “Think she realizes we’re not figments of her imagination yet?”

  Nonna glanced at Bram. “I’m not sure. He’s her father after all.”

  “Nonna,” I said in a hushed breath.

  Bram twisted around more and the height difference between him and Grandma was downright comical. He made a big production of bending to her level. “You’ve softened with age.”

  She curled her lip at him and then hauled off and swatted his shoulder with her clutch bag. “I don’t like you.”

  He feigned shock. “You don’t say?”

  Marcy eased between them. “Nonna, why don’t you come with me into the kitchen area and we can work on some potions? I brought everything we’ll need.”

  Nonna didn’t budge from her spot as she continued to give my father the stink eye.

  Bram, on the other hand, took a keen interest in Marcy. He didn’t so much as blink as he stared at her as she forced Nonna toward the kitchen.

  Poppy shook her head. “And here I thought having my dead grandparents haunting the house was the strangest thing I’d see all week.”

  Rita smiled over at her. “Oh, sweetie, that’s just the tip of the iceberg if the cards are right.”

  Oh goodie. Someone else who was into fortune telling.

  The next I knew, Brett was laughing.

  Hard.

  We all looked at him.

  He gave us a knowing stare. “Come on. This is funny. Admit it.”

  He had a point. It was comical to a certain degree.

  Peter headed for the kitchen, bat in hand.

  I shook my head at him. “I didn’t think you had boosting a bus in you, Peter.”

  He grinned. “I drove tanks in the Korean War. First ones they equipped us with were crap. They got better ones though. And once I stole one from the enemy. Those were the days.”

  I simply stared at him, then spoke without a filter. “Don’t tanks have driver height requirements?”

  He stood up as tall as he could. “I got the job done and didn’t take up much room doing it.”

  I nodded. “Thank you for your service.”

  He winked and hurried to the kitchen.

  Rita followed close behind. “I’ll help with the potions. I’ve always loved making anti-ghoul ones. I brought a base.”

  “Me too,” said Marcy, lifting her hand to high-five Rita.

  Much to my surprise, Rita returned the gesture.

  Marcy pointed to Rita’s jug of liquid. “Nice. I see you have the symbol for the Slavic goddess of rain and thunder on it.”

  “Seemed fitting,” added Rita with a grin.

  Jeffrey growled as he looked out the picture window, the sound low and guttural. “It’s darker out there. I smell more of them. What are they waiting for?”

  Bram joined him near the window. “I don’t know and that’s worrisome, wolf.”

  Jeffrey turned his head slowly in Bram’s direction, posturing as he did. “Don’t take that tone with me.”

  “Tread carefully,” warned Bram. “It would be a shame to have to kill my son-in-law so soon into the relationship.”

  “You can try, big guy,” snarled Jeffrey. “I don’t care how old you are. We’ll go head-to-head over her. Unlike Kellan, you can’t order me away from her.”

  I gasped. Bram had done that?

  He stiffened before glancing at me, appearing nervous.

  My hands went to my hips. “Is he right? Did you order Kellan away from me?”

  “He was to guard you. Not try to take you to prom,” Bram returned, his voice deepening.

  I eyed the stake on the table.

  Poppy hurried to it and snatched it up, holding it close to her as if she were worried I’d use it to stake Bram. “Let’s not kill him more, okay?”

  “Do I get a say?” asked Nonna from the kitchen area.

  “No,” said Marcy and Rita.

  Chester and George focused on Jeffrey. “Where do you want us?”

  He looked helplessly at me.

  Marcy twisted as she pulled more items from her bag. “You could go help Stratton. He’s near the back entrance.”

  Chester narrowed his gaze, determination in his eyes. “On it.”

  Nodding, George followed.

  I was about to comment when the power flickered.

  When it cut out, I moved in the direction of Nonna, Rita, and Marcy, worried for their safety.

  “Not this way,” snapped Nonna. “Take point on the door, Dana.”

  “What in the hell do you know about taking point?” I asked fast.

  “Watch your tone with me, young lady,” she warned.

  There was a crashing noise from the back of the cabin.

  The lights popped on again just as ghouls came busting through the picture window.

  Jeffrey, Brett, and Bram reacted quickly.

  They each seized a ghoul, stopping them dead in its tracks.

  The hair on my neck stood on end as I glanced at the front door.

  Poppy was closer to it than me and I knew that was a bad thing. Acting on instinct, I ran at her, sweeping her out of the way gently and turning, taking the brunt of the door as it blew inward.

  “Dana!” shouted Jeffrey.

  Oddly enough, I wasn’t fazed by the strike. All it did was rile my temper. I kicked the door away to find myself standing face-to-face with the ugliest thing I’d ever seen in my life. I couldn’t help but recoil.

  It sort of resembled a human to some degree. But its skin was grayish and pruned, reminding me a little of a mummy in a museum. Its ears and nose were bat-like. When it lifted a hand, I saw what appeared to be talons.

  “Woman, you try my patience,” the thing said, making me realize it was Dragos.

  I made a gagging noise.

  This was the guy who had turned my day on its head?

  My temper boiled over. “Good God, have you heard of moisturizer? I’m fairly sure it’s been around a while. You should consider soaking in a vat of it because you look like a raisin that was left out in the sun too long.”

  Dragos hissed.

  I waved a hand in front of my face. “Where is Marcy’s sage when I need it? Some breath you have there, Dragos. Can you make it dark again? I liked it better when I couldn’t see you.”

  “I will enjoy torturing you,” he warned. “When I return you to your father as one of us—a creature of the night, under my control—he will learn his lesson for daring to step into a battle that was not his to join.”


  I coughed more, the smell of his breath nearly doing me in. “Buddy, seriously, your breath is torture enough.”

  He snarled and swiped a clawed hand out at me in what suddenly seemed like slow motion. Vaguely, I heard Bram and Jeffrey shouting my name, but my focus was on Dried-Raisin-Dragos. Lifting an arm, I deflected his blow.

  “Dana!” yelled Poppy as thunder rumbled outside.

  She tossed the stake to me.

  Reaching up, I caught it just as Dragos made another move to slash me with his nails. He flashed fangs at me as he did, and I got another whiff of his stale breath. I don’t think the man had brushed his teeth once in all his hundreds of years.

  I twisted and rammed the stake into his chest. Unlike the vampires I’d dealt with two days prior, he didn’t turn into a cloud of ashes.

  He laughed sounding downright diabolic. “You missed my heart.”

  A glance out the front door, as lightning lit the sky, showed me the battle happening there. Austin and other men were fighting ghouls outside.

  The distraction cost me as Dragos punched me square in the chest. I went backward and was caught by someone before I’d have hit the floor.

  Glancing up, I found Lou standing there, no longer in the room where Marcy had sent him to be out of the way. He nodded to me, righted me and then glanced at Dragos.

  Turns out Lou was handier than given credit for during end-of-the-world moments.

  The creepster yanked the stake from his chest and cast it aside. The hole in his chest healed over before my eyes.

  Gathering my nerve, I made a move to charge him only to find myself once again being lifted in the air and placed behind Bram. He seemed to make a habit of that during ghoul attacks.

  He faced Dragos. “I will be your end.”

  Dragos laughed wickedly. “You, Vlad, and Harker could not stand against me before. They are not here now. What makes you think you can do so alone?”

  I moved out from behind my father and took a stand next to him. “He’s not alone.”

  Dragos watched me carefully. “The daughter I’m told he did not want? The one he never bothered to meet? The one he permitted to grow up with nothing? You would sacrifice yourself for him?”

  Bram snarled. “I have always wanted her.”

  “I can’t stand the man and even I have to take his side on this,” said Nonna from the kitchen, her voice lacking any fear or concern. “He was always lurking, watching her grow up from the shadows. And when he couldn’t be there himself, he sent others. And he tried to shower us with gifts and money. My daughter was like me—a proud woman. She’d been hurt when he’d sent her away with a newborn baby.”

  “I only sent her to you to keep her safe,” said Bram. “If I could have, I would’ve kept my family close to me. I’d have been there for my daughter when she grew up.”

  “Abraham, it pains me to admit this, but you loved my daughter the best way you knew how,” said Nonna. “And seeing as how you managed to father a child with her—someone who wasn’t your true mate—that is a testament to just how deep your feelings for her ran. None of this means I like you. I don’t.”

  “Oh I’m well aware of your dislike of me,” he said, never taking his eyes from Dragos.

  I blinked and in that second, Bram charged Dragos and tackled him through the open front door and out onto the porch. The pair rolled down the steps and onto the walk path.

  More thunder and lightning followed.

  At the same moment, Jeffrey was knocked out of the already broken window by a group of ghouls. Concern for him filled me, but my gut said that as an alpha male shifter, he’d be fine.

  Brett had two ghouls on his back and was trying to get to Poppy. The sight made me rethink my stance on Jeffrey being able to handle himself.

  “Fore!” yelled Chester as he darted into the room, lined up a shot, and took it, striking a ghoul with his golf club. The ghoul’s head came off and went right out the open window. What remained of the ghoul fell to the floor.

  All I could do was stare at the older man as he wiped ghoul bits off his club like it was just another day on the golf course.

  Chester leaned back, glancing down the hall. “That makes three for me, George! What are you up to?”

  “What?” yelled George from the back of the cabin.

  “I said I killed three!” repeated Chester.

  George shouted back, “I can’t hear you! Did you say you scored weed for free?”

  Lou, who was still in the great room but staying out of the fight, pulled his oxygen mask down some. “He didn’t put his ears in.”

  Chester grumbled. “The man always forgets his hearing aids.”

  Marcy whistled and held up a vial of something before throwing it at me. I caught it with ease.

  “Throw it at the ghouls,” she said.

  I did. Nothing happened. “That was anticlimactic.”

  Marcy groaned. “Take the cap off first and then throw the liquid at the ghouls.”

  That made more sense.

  She tossed one to Poppy.

  Poppy caught the vial of liquid, removed the cap, and lobbed it at a ghoul near her as if the vial was a grenade. Its liquid splashed all over the ghoul.

  In the next second, the ghoul popped like a huge zit, drenching Poppy and me in the process.

  I looked upward, wiping a bit of it off my chin, thankful it didn’t go in my mouth. “Come on! I have ghoul in my hair again!”

  Poppy lifted a section of her dark hair. “It’s in mine too.”

  “Ladies,” said Brett as he flung a ghoul out the window and snapped another’s neck. “Could you please run?”

  We ignored him.

  Jeffrey leapt through the open window and landed crouched, coming up slowly, looking feral. “Are you hurt?”

  I shook my head. “No. Are you?”

  His breathing was ragged. “Go to the master bathroom now! Take the others. Lock yourself in. Hide.”

  I flicked a piece of ghoul off my shoulder. “Forgetaboutit. That’s not happening.”

  Poppy caught another vial of potion from Marcy and then pitched it out the front door, hitting another ghoul with it. She then moved quickly to the side, avoiding more ghoul innards.

  “I said go to safety!” shouted Jeffrey. “Can’t you women listen?”

  Chester pursed his lips and backed out of the room slowly, taking Lou with him. “Come on. You don’t want to be here when the women rip him a new one. Peter?”

  “Coming,” said Peter, hurrying after them. “This is something the young bucks need to learn on their own.”

  I set my sights on my husband.

  So did every other woman in the great room.

  Jeffrey froze and then slowly thumbed in the direction of the broken-out window. “I’m going to go back out there and take my chances with the ghouls and a really old vampire. Somehow, I think I stand a better chance out there than in here with y’all right now.”

  Poppy sighed. “He’s smarter than I thought.”

  “I like him,” said Nonna. “I didn’t think I would. Shifters are so moody and dramatic. But he’s handsome. Dana, how was the cannoli stuffing? Good?”

  Brett threw the last of the ghouls out the window and looked toward Jeffrey. He huffed. “How do you like having your bedroom skills questioned by your mate’s grandmother? Fun, isn’t it?”

  “It sucks,” said Jeffrey, his gaze on me. “Are you going to answer her? Here is where you sing my praises, Legs.”

  Lightning struck not far from the cabin, hitting a group of ghouls, drawing my attention.

  As another bold of lightning illuminated the sky, I saw Bram and Dragos locked in battle.

  My gut said Bram could use help. And while I didn’t really know the man, he was blood and I didn’t want him dead.

  Okay, more dead.

  “Now would be a good time for the three of you to combine power,” said Rita, her gaze on me and then Poppy.

  Marcy patted her shoulder gently. “Goo
d thinking. Here, take these.”

  Rita took a handful of vials. “Have fun.”

  Marcy came for me and put her hand out. “Trust me, Dana.”

  I did, so I extended my hand, taking hers in mine.

  Poppy hurried to us and took my other hand. As she did, additional thunder and lightning occurred. So did a huge gust of wind. The same gust strength that I’d felt in the bedroom with Jeffrey earlier.

  I gasped as I realized he’d been right. I had been the cause of it.

  “Dana, don’t you dare think about—” The sound of a freight train drowned out Jeffrey’s voice.

  I stared out the open door with my best friends by my side, watching as the darkness diminished enough to see better.

  The wind picked up more as did the sound of a locomotive.

  Out over the water, I spotted a funnel cloud forming and gasped, nearly letting go of Poppy’s hand. Had I caused that too?

  She squeezed my hand, holding tight.

  The funnel cloud got bigger as it danced on top of the water, coming at the shore rapidly.

  “Bram!” I shouted, wanting to warn him since he was in its path.

  “He can’t hear you,” said Marcy loudly.

  I tensed and almost closed my eyes to avoid seeing what was going to happen. The strangest urge to yell at Bram again hit me hard and I gave in, except his name didn’t fall from my lips. “Dad, behind you!”

  Bram’s green gaze snapped to me and then he glanced over his shoulder. He seized hold of Dragos and threw him like a rag doll into the air, at the funnel cloud, before diving out of the way.

  The funnel whipped Dragos higher as a bolt of lightning struck, scoring a direct hit.

  My attention went to the discarded stake on the floor, near my foot. In the next moment, it was whipping through the air seemingly on its own, right at Dragos.

  This time, it didn’t miss.

  A plume of ash was the result. Nothing of Dragos remained.

  In the blink of an eye, the darkness decreased more, still feeling like night, but no longer pitch black. That was for the best. I wasn’t sure how Bram would do in sunlight.

  The rest of the ghouls crumbled to the ground, no longer moving. Dark ash rained down from the area Dragos had been.