by Sadie Sears
“My home appears to be haunted.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Hauntings are very rarely that. Describe it to me.”
I took her through it from the beginning, ending with the bleeding walls and jewelry everywhere.
Glenda sighed. “Yeah, that's what I was afraid of: a textbook shadow worker.”
I gave her a blank look, and Cam saved me having to ask. “What’s a shadow worker ?”
“Bad witch,” Glenda said simply. “Someone who has gone bad or sells their craft for nefarious purposes.” She shrugged. “But I can’t imagine what you’ve done to get one after you.”
“Do we have shadow workers in this area?” I asked. “Is this common?”
“I’ll be honest, I’ve been on the trail of at least one. But without more tangible evidence, I can’t pinpoint who it is. I need something that belongs to the shadow worker to be able to identify an actual person.” She gave me a puzzled look. “I don’t understand why you’re asking me to confirm it. Surely you’ve sensed them as well.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, totally confused. How would I have sensed them? I communed with spirits, but it wasn’t like I could do a spell or something.
Glenda pointed out the large opal ring l always wore on my right ring finger. “You got that from a woman on the mother’s side of your family, didn’t you?”
Wiggling my fingers, I looked at the ring, as did Cam and Glenda. “Yes, I did, from my great-aunt.” I always wore several rings. I loved them, so why choose?
“It’s a powerful amulet. It must help you connect with people who have crossed over. It’s part of why you’re such a good tarot reader.”
Oh my goodness. I hadn’t known that. The words rang true, that the ring was more than just a beautiful family heirloom. I held my hand close to my chest. The ring had always made me feel powerful and connected to something bigger than myself, though I’d never known it was a real amulet. I just figured it helped me be closer to my ancestors.
Cam gave me a curious look then cut his gaze back at Glenda. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Yes, I am. I had no idea that Sophie didn’t know.” She looked at me again. “Sophie, darling. You’re a witch.”
I snorted and waved my hands at her. “That’s nuts,” I exclaimed. “I’m not a witch. I’m one hundred percent human.” That’s the sort of thing I would’ve already known.
Glenda smirked. “Witches might be strongly tied to bloodlines, but we’re not a different species, dear. We’re just as human as many of the people in this restaurant. We just have access to power that most humans can’t reach.”
Oh. Well, that was something I’d never really given much thought to. I shook my head weakly, but my brain was already racing through the hoops and connecting dots I hadn’t seen before.
“Believe me, dear, it’s true.” She looked at Cam. “Can’t you sense her power?”
He cleared his throat, and I swung my gaze to him when he did, because it sounded like he growled. “I do,” he said quietly. “But I didn’t put two and two together.” His tone of voice said he was attracted to the magic in me. “I thought it was her connection to the spiritual plane.”
Whoa. Things started to click into place. My mother was very intuitive. She always knew where I was and the trouble I was trying to get up to. Always.
I had plenty of time to think about it as the server walked up to our table. After that huge breakfast, I wasn’t hungry. “Just the coffee for me, please.” Cam and Glenda ordered the same, then we got back to business when she walked away.
“Didn’t you tell me you inherited a large jewelry collection, both real and costume?” Glenda gave me a knowing look as I nodded, confirming her memory. “Yeah, witches love jewelry. We store our power and excess magic in it to draw on when needed.”
My jaw dropped. “All that jewelry?” It was magical. Holy crow.
Glenda winked. “Probably most of it. Enchanted.”
“Have you had any witches hanging around? Even if they seem like good witches.”
I considered my clients. None of them were magical. I never sensed anything off of them, and surely the readings would’ve told me if they were dangerous. “Not that I know of, except for you. But I know you’re good through and through.”
“Someone could be in hiding,” she mused. “But they likely sense the powerful energy that ring puts off. Do you ever take it off?”
“Sometimes, but I do usually wear it.” I twisted it around on my finger.
Glenda sipped her coffee and closed her eyes for a few seconds. Cam and I exchanged a glance as we waited for her to do whatever it was she was doing. “I suspect the person has seen you without it and knows that you don’t always wear it. They’re trying to get you out of the house and not wearing that ring.”
Cam sucked in a deep breath. “Do shadow workers have weak points?”
“Like dragons, they’re weakened by certain minerals and metals.” She twisted her lips, thinking. “Witch stones, which all witches are weak to.”
Cam nodded in understanding, but I had no clue what a witch stone was. “Which is?”
“A stone with a natural hole all the way through it. They’re very common around water sources; that’s usually how the hole is formed. I know my magic just simply doesn’t work around them.” She sipped her coffee, then held it out as the server came and refilled our cups. Glenda waited for the woman to walk away before continuing.
“I didn’t want to talk on the phone because shadow workers can listen in, and it would lead them back to me. Here, we are just friends having coffee. But still, you need to be very careful. Powerful shadow workers are very dangerous.” I nodded and hung onto her every word as she continued explaining. “No matter what, you cannot let them get your ring. Or any of the jewelry if possible, though I’ve never sensed anything from you besides that particular ring. That kind of power in the hands of a shadow worker would be catastrophic.”
Cam gave me a worried look. “We’ll find out who is behind this.” He lowered his eyebrows, determined.
Glenda’s wide grin and the way her gaze flitted between us told me she knew. But still, she minded her own business. “Try to think of anyone you know who strikes you as odd. Anyone who could be a shadow worker witch. Someone that has been to your house. They can only cause trouble where they’ve physically been.”
No one came to mind. “If I think of anyone, I’ll arrange to meet you again.”
Glenda nodded. “Perfect.”
“Can you bless Sophie’s house the way you blessed Sacred Spaces?” Cam asked.
Glenda looked regretful as she shook her head. “I can’t. If there’s already a spell in place, it takes a great deal of energy to break it or interfere with it.”
I held out my hand. “I could give you the ring to use.”
Glenda threw up her arms and turned her head. “No, as tempting as that is, I can’t. Good witches only use amulets passed down from their family line, or if we create them ourselves.” She squinted at me. “I think you’ll need the ring’s power for your work and to be protected.” She lowered her arms and grabbed my hands, stroking her thumb over the large stone. “Promise not to give it to anyone.”
I nodded, wide-eyed and overwhelmed. “I promise.”
“Could you do it if I lent you my energy?” Cam offered.
Glenda gave him a big grin, full of tease that affirmed she knew that we were connected on a very deep level. “It is possible, but a better use of your energy would be protecting Sophie and finding out who is behind this.”
Cam reached under the table and squeezed my leg. “That’s going to happen either way,” he said.
“Is there somewhere you and Shae can stay while we hunt down this shadow worker ?” Glenda asked.
Again, her facial expression told me she knew exactly where I was staying.
“They’re staying with me,” Cam said, his voice back in that deep, growly octave.
&
nbsp; I really liked that damn tone of voice.
Glenda positively cackled, then excused herself. She pulled her wallet out of her purse, but Cam insisted she put it away. When we left, he wouldn’t let me pay either.
“Come on, I’ll walk you to work.” It was just up the street.
As soon as we walked out of Snowshoe Brew, I slipped my hand into his. When we touched, tingles raced up my spine.
When we reached the intersection and waited for a car to go by, Cam put his left arm around my shoulders and his right on my bicep. Heat washed over me as we tried to walk the rest of the way in that position. We had to give it up, though, because it was incredibly awkward. With a chuckle, I stepped to the left and reached for Cam’s hand again.
We stopped outside my new shop. I kicked a few leaves away from the door and smiled at Cam awkwardly. “Come on,” I said. “I know you want to check out the place.”
After I unlocked the door, Cam walked in first. “Wait here.”
I gave him a full thirty seconds before following, meeting up with him in the back office.
“I can stay here,” he offered. “Hang out in the back, just in case.”
Leaning close, I pressed a slow, firm kiss to Cam’s cheek. “Get outta here. I’m perfectly safe here. Glenda blessed it, remember?”
“Okay, but I really want you and Shae to stay with me until this is under control.” He ducked his head and returned my cheek-kiss. When his lips touched my face, I turned my head boldly and kissed him, my nerves jangling with the intensity of making the first move.
But as his mouth moved on mine, I melted against him. My breasts pressed into his chest, and it was mostly his arms around me keeping me upright.
8
Cameron
Pulling myself away from Sophie after she kissed me first was legitimately one of the hardest things I’d ever done. So I didn’t. And I didn’t think she wanted me to, either.
Her office was full of places I could show her how I felt about her. A desk, multiple chairs, even a couch. As I pulled her tighter against my body, I took a few steps toward the big desk.
“Hello?”
The voice echoing from the front broke through my stupor, and I broke off the kiss, my breathing far too ragged. Damn it.
“That’s my first client,” Sophie whispered. Her lips were plumper than usual, swollen from my passionate kisses.
Damn, but I liked seeing her like that. Everything in me wanted me to pull her into my arms again, but I didn’t want her to be embarrassed. It was probably for the best, though. I didn’t want our first time to be somewhere like this. With other women, I hadn’t minded so much where it happened, but Sophie was so far from other women.
“Let me have your house keys,” I whispered and ran my fingers through the curls on her shoulders.
With trembling fingers, Sophie touched her lips and blinked slowly as she processed my words. She’d been just as reluctant as I had to break apart.
“I’m going to go look for clues. I’ll pick you up in time to go get Shae and head back to my place.”
That snapped her out of the kiss-haze, and she whirled to her purse on the desk, pulling out her key ring. “Please, could you grab all the jewelry you can find while you’re there?” she asked. “Just in case.”
I promised I would, then exited out the rear door to avoid her client. The fall air swirled around me, making me pause for a second to see if an air dragon had popped up on me. But no, it was just the change of the seasons settling into Vermont.
Hopping into the truck, I headed straight for the house to collect Vince. We wasted no time, going directly to Sophie’s to look for anything that would help us figure this out. Vince had texted Taurus, who met us there. I parked in front of the porch as Taurus pulled on a shirt from the go-bag at his feet. He’d flown there and likely carried clothes with him, putting the bag around his neck when he shifted. We all did that, if shifting for work especially.
With my brothers there to watch my back, I opted to use a lot of energy and slipped into my ether field, a deep meditation where I was able to sense an old or hidden trail of energy.
As soon as I achieved the intense concentration needed, the trail exposed itself to me like a green, sickly smoke, hovering in the air from the front door to an empty room situated in between the living room and kitchen. I made an internal note to ask Sophie what she used the room for and who had been in it.
The trail wasn’t anywhere else in the house, but an ominous feeling filled the air, and that was fairly evenly distributed throughout Sophie’s home.
Taurus and Vince combed the house and property, as did I, but all I came up with was the deep energy and rotten feeling. I grabbed all the jewelry and boxes that looked like they contained baubles and things that I could find in Sophie’s and Shae’s rooms, and we took off, Taurus riding in the truck with us this time instead of flying.
On our drive back to town, I got a call from Sophie. I didn’t like to talk on the phone while driving, so I put it on speaker. “Hey, Soph, you’re on speaker. I’m here with Taurus and Vince.”
“Hey, guys,” she said cheerily. “I’m calling to ask a big favor.”
As if there was anything I wouldn’t give if it were in my power. “Anything,” I said instantly.
She sighed. “I’m really sorry to ask, but I had a couple of clients ask for later appointments than I intended to work today. And I’m still a little spooked about what happened at the house, as well as what Glenda told us this morning.”
I’d filled Vince and Taurus in on everything we’d learned before we’d gotten started at the house. “What can I do?”
“Could you please go by the school and get Shae? You can drop her here, she’ll be fine until I’m done, then we can walk to your house. It’s just a couple of blocks away.”
That was all? I nearly chuckled. “Of course I will, but why don’t I see if Shae wants to go get some ice cream or something?”
“I’d like to go get ice cream,” Vince piped in. Taurus nodded eagerly.
Sophie’s warm laugh filled me and made me want to continue the kiss we’d started that morning. “If you can convince her to go, more power to you. I’ll see you either right after school or a few hours after that,” she said with a laugh. Something in the background took her attention for a second, then she came back. “Gotta run, and thank you so much. I owe you one.”
Oh, how I looked forward to collecting on that favor. It was difficult to convince my mind not to imagine all the ways she could pay me back as I headed toward town. I had to subtly adjust myself in the seat as I drove.
But what if Shae didn’t want to go with me? This would never work if I didn’t get Shae solidly on Team Cameron. I slipped into a funky brood as I considered the ways I could reach her. I even thought about buying her loyalty, but that wasn’t the right way to go about things, not at all.
“What is it?” Taurus asked, leaning forward from the back seat and peering at me. “You’re all anxious.” He wasn’t an ether dragon, but he knew me pretty well. Well enough to sense my mood, anyway.
“I’m worried about Shae. I need to convince her not to hate me.” Maybe they’d have an idea how I could do that.
“Man, you will,” Vince said. “She’s a cool kid, she’ll come around. She just needs time and consistency.” Easy for him to say. Shae already liked him.
Taurus laughed and slapped Vince’s shoulder. “You’re in touch with kids because you’re so young at what, sixty-five years old?”
Vince took the ribbing good naturedly. “It’s all relative, and for the record, I’m a youthful sixty-one.” He acted like it most of the time.
I chuckled. “Young’uns.” Now that I’d passed my two-hundredth birthday, I knew damn well I was completely out of touch with kids these days, especially human kids. “What do twelve-year-olds want?” I asked, hoping Vince’s young age would give some insight.
He shrugged. “They want what everyone else does; to feel safe, a
ppreciated, and loved. And food. They love food.”
Taurus laughed and nodded. “That never changes.”
I dropped the guys off at the house and got to the school just in time to see Shae walk out. She spotted me and headed down the sidewalk toward me with a dark look on her face. “Hey,” she said when she opened the door and jumped in the cab of my truck. “Mom sent a message saying you’d be here. You taking me to Sacred Spaces?”
Here was the test if she was going to give me a shot or not. I nodded. “Sure, yeah, I can. But I thought you might like to go grab a bite to eat first.” I was banking on the fact that kids liked to eat as much as Taurus had said.
She put her backpack at her feet and buckled up as she thought about it.
“I hear Snowshoe has got a great ice cream sundae,” I said in a sing-song voice.
Shae pursed her lips for a few seconds as I put the truck in drive with my foot on the brake and waited for her to say which way to go. I really hoped she’d take me up on the offer.
“Okay,” she said. “But only long enough to have a sundae, because Mom totally wouldn’t let me have one before dinner.” She flashed me a grin but hid it quickly. That was probably most of the reason she wanted to go. Forbidden dessert before dinner.
I hadn’t thought about that. “Well, I won’t tell if you won’t.” Sophie already knew I’d planned this, and she knew her daughter, so I didn’t have to tell.
“Deal,” Shae said with a giggle. We parked in the Snowshoe Brew’s parking lot, and I went in for the second time that day, nodding at the waitress.
“Come on,” Shae said, leading me to a booth on the opposite side of the restaurant from the one we sat in this morning with Glenda. “This is my favorite booth.” Of course she had a favorite booth. I smiled indulgently at her as she settled in.
She ordered a banana split with about every topping imaginable on it. I didn’t have much of a sweet tooth unless it was something I’d baked myself, so I just went for a sandwich. I’d missed lunch while searching at Sophie’s house.
