by Rose Pressey
Almost Charmed
By Rose Pressey
The Halloween LaVeau Series Book 10
Something borrowed, something blue, something not so charmed. Wedding day has arrived for Halloween LaVeau. Will this be happily ever after for Hallie? Or will her leadership status of the Underworld jeopardize her relationship and produce deadly consequences?
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form, (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, incidents, places, and brands are the product of the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners,
Index
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 1
“This will be the best wedding Enchantment Pointe has ever seen,” my mother said with excitement in her voice. “Halloween LaVeau, leader of the Underworld and beautiful bride extraordinaire.” Her voice was so loud that I had to move the phone away from my ear.
“I think it’ll just be a regular wedding. You know I didn’t want anything fancy,” I said. “You cancelled the ten-tier wedding cake, right?”
“Yes,” she answered with hesitation in her voice.
“I think three tiers is fine. The guest list isn’t that big.”
“Well, I may have invited a few more people,” she said sheepishly.
“I thought we talked about this, mother,” I said.
“My daughter is getting married. That’s something I never thought…” She stopped herself before finishing.
My mother had been planning my wedding since the day of my birth. Which, by the way, happened to be on Halloween. That was how I’d ended up with the name Halloween, though most people called me Hallie for short. Except for my mother. She refused to shorten my name. I was always Halloween to her. After everything I’d put her through I was surprised she still spoke with me at all. For years she’d endured my bad witchcraft. When I cast a spell, it messed up other witches’ spells for miles around. I’d even singed my mother’s eyebrow off. She had to pencil in the right one. I kept her stocked with eyebrow pencil as compensation.
Raised voices captured my attention. I was in the kitchen with my fiancé and future brother-in-law in the parlor.
“Mom, I have to go. We’ll discuss this later,” I said.
“Don’t forget we have an appointment at the salon in the morning. I still think you should wear your hair up. Your maid of honor is wearing her hair down. You don’t want to look the identical. With the same blonde hair and blue eyes, you already look like twins.”
“We’ll talk later.” I ended the call and hurried out of the kitchen.
When I stepped into the parlor, sunlight streamed through the large floor-to-ceiling windows at the front of the room. The siblings stood across the room from each other, both with clenched fists at their sides. Nicolas Marcos and Liam Rankin were half-brothers. Nicolas had arrived one stormy night and Liam followed the next day. Both men had been seeking the Book of Mystics. Now I was the owner of that gigantic leather bond tome, which made me the leader of the Underworld.
“I’ve just about had it with your remarks,” my fiancé Nicolas Marcos said.
“Oh, yeah? You want to take it outside?” Liam Rankin asked.
“Are we back to this? I thought you guys had moved past this?” I placed my hands on my hips. “You were getting along so well.”
“He started it,” the brothers said in unison.
With short dark hair and piercing blue eyes the brothers looked a lot alike. Liam and Nicolas had the same father. Their father had remarried after his first wife had been turned by a vampire when Nicolas had been just a baby. Only a couple years separated their age.
“I will not let you guys go outside and fight. And furthermore, you’re not going to fight in the house either. So whatever the problem is, you two can just get over it and fix it right here and now. We’ll talk out any problems.”
Neither of the men said a word in response. Maybe my ability to smooth things over wasn’t as good as I had thought. As leader of the Underworld I had to see to it that the coven leaders weren’t fighting with each other. Not to mention the fact that one was my fiancé and the other was my future brother-in-law.
Liam Rankin turned around and walked out of the room without saying a word. The front door slammed. That wasn’t like him. He never slammed doors. It must’ve been an accident. Nicolas stood there for a second longer before finally sitting in the maroon-colored velvet wingback chair by the fireplace. He put his head in his hands.
Nicolas Marcos and I were engaged to be married. A few things had come up in the time we had become engaged that had postponed the wedding. It was all set now though. The wedding would be held right here at LaVeau Manor, outside by the river. I’d purchased my gorgeous dress, the cake had been picked out, and invitations had been sent. There was nothing that would stop us now.
I walked over to the chair and put my hand on Nicolas’ shoulder. “Are you all right?”
After a few more seconds, he raised his head up and looked at me. “I don’t know, Hallie.”
“Do you want to tell me why you guys were ready to kill each other?” I asked.
He leaned back in the chair. “I’m not going to kill him. And I hope he’s not going to kill me.”
“Liam isn’t going to kill you. But I’ve never seen you guys so mad. Even when we first met and you all pretended not to know each other.”
“We didn’t pretend, we just didn’t tell you that we knew each other.”
“Oh, like you all were being so mysterious.” I waved my hands. “But I figured you guys out.”
“Well, you’re a smart cookie. That’s why you’re the leader of the Underworld.”
“Leader of the Underworld, yes. Smart cookie? That’s open for debate.”
“Don’t try to make me smile right now. I’m still mad.”
“All right. I’ll let you continue to be miserable. But you still haven’t told me why you guys are arguing. And I think you should tell me because maybe I can help. It’s my job after all to keep the coven leaders from fighting with each other.”
I sensed by his hesitation that he didn’t want to tell me why they were fighting. But he also knew that I was the leader of the Underworld and I had to know. I hated to put him on the spot, but being the leader came first before being his fiancée.
Nicolas stood from the chair and walked over to the window, I supposed to check if Liam was outside. I moved over to the window beside him. Liam was nowhere around. His car was gone too. I would have to call him as soon as I got the chance. Though I knew
that would upset Nicolas as well. He thought that Liam and I had a chemistry. Maybe there was a spark, but I always reminded myself that nothing would ever come of it.
Lately Nicolas had been revealing his displeasure with my friendship with Liam more than ever. Nicolas moved away from me and headed across the room for the foyer. Was he actually going to walk out of the room without telling me what I had specifically asked for? Maybe their fight had nothing to do with magic and I shouldn’t push the issue. I should just give him some space.
After a couple minutes, I stepped out of the room and into the foyer. The front door was wide open. I walked out onto the porch thinking that I would find Nicolas right outside, but he was nowhere in sight either. Although his car was still parked out front. I moved across the porch so that I could look around the side of the house.
As if acknowledging my presence, the wind stirred the branches on the old moss-covered oak trees. It was as if the whole property had a mind of its own. LaVeau Manor was an imposing structure, so watching over the place was no easy task. But who was watching whom? Was I the caretaker of this place or it the caretaker of me?
The lush landscape, a river in back, a wide veranda that stretched the length of the manor, and the spooky cemetery nearby made this place unique to say the least. A stone fence enclosed the property. The towering irons gates opened wide to a crushed pebble circle drive that led visitors right to the massive intricately carved wood front doors.
Nicolas wasn’t there either. I moved across to the other side. He wasn’t on that end either. That was odd. Maybe he was in the back. Yes, that was exactly where he had to be. I headed back into the manor and shut the door behind me. There were often strange people who just walked up and tried to get into the manor. I wouldn’t invite anyone in without asking their intentions first. Though this time I had to leave the door unlocked in case Nicolas came back to the front door. His keys set on the table by the front door. He couldn’t have gone far. I hoped that the closed door would be enough to keep someone from just walking in.
I made my way through the three-story large mansion. The manor had intricate details in every room, like tall ceilings, beautiful moldings, massive fireplaces, and stunning hardwood floors. The manor had a huge parlor on one side with and a library on the other side of the foyer. Also there was a large formal dining room, and of course a massive kitchen. The kitchen was my favorite place in the house other than my bedroom. The manor was so big that I needed certain designated cozy spots so that I wouldn’t feel overwhelmed.
My great-great-aunt Maddy had left me the manor. That was how I had become the leader of the Underworld. Not long after moving in I’d discovered an old book in the attic. The rules set forth from the Underworld states that whoever owns the book becomes the leader. My aunt hadn’t known that the book had been hidden at LaVeau Manor. The last leader had been Nicolas’ mother. She’d been killed for the book, though she’d managed to hide the book in the manor first.
My great-great-great-grandfather was a famed alchemist within the Underworld and built LaVeau Manor. Due to the rumors that he’d been buried in a trunk in the attic I had to admit I’d actually gone to that cramped and dusty space to look for him. Thank goodness I’d found no signs of a trunk or bones anywhere in the house… yet. Though that was where I’d found the Book of Mystics. Unraveling the mystery of what really happened to my great-great-grandfather was still on my to-do list. Maybe I didn’t even want to know the truth.
So here I was in this spooky manor, with a black cat named Pluto, a familiar named Thomas, a half witch/half vampire fiancé, and all the responsibilities of keeping order within the Underworld. Not to mention I ran the manor as a bed and breakfast, although that had taken the backseat to my leadership role. I still had guests, but not that many because I was too busy with the Underworld.
The all-white kitchen had plenty of windows on the side wall above the sink that allowed in streams of sunlight. On the right side of the room a large stone fireplace sat against the wall. The massive stone structure housed the large black cast-iron cauldron.
In the middle of the room was a butcher block island. I liked to mix up not only my spells, but my recipes for baked goods. I tried to bake without the aid of magic. I had found a new passion for baking. but sometimes my ingredients for the goodies involved a spell or two. Only in a pinch would I use my witchcraft and mostly if I’d messed something up. That happened a lot at first, but not so much now.
Cabinets and shelves filled the walls in the rest of the kitchen. All the bottles of spices and ingredients that I needed for my spells lined the shelves. At the back of the room was the door that led to the expanse of the backyard. Just beyond the yard was the river that ran along Enchantment Pointe. The body of water snaked the length of the town.
At the left side of the yard away from the house was an old graveyard. The previous owner of LaVeau Manor, my great-great-great grandfather was buried there, along with other LaVeau ancestors. I believed most of the ghosts that came around were from that graveyard. The property was surrounded by an abundance of trees, but the mansion sat smack dab in the middle of the open space, sitting high up on the hill from the road.
I hurried across the kitchen to the back door and peeked outside. Sure enough, Nicolas was back there by the river. Not alone though. He was talking to a woman. I couldn’t make out much about her other than she had long dark hair and wore a beautiful long silky blue dress that clung to her curves.
At such a long distance I couldn’t see well enough to know if I knew the woman. Nicolas’ mother had been killed, so it wasn’t her. Although she’d come back when I accidentally reanimated her ghost. Yes, my magic spells had been rocky at first, but I had that under control now. I wouldn’t make that mistake ever again. Since I couldn’t see through her, I knew this woman wasn’t a ghost. She looked very much alive and I knew I hadn’t cast any wrong spells this time.
Nicolas and the woman looked as if they were having an enjoyable conversation. But I was a bit concerned as to who she was and where she had come from. Yes, I had quite a history with people popping up and trying to take the spellbook. They came around just because they wanted to be the leader of the Underworld. I had to be suspicious of everyone who showed up unannounced. I could never let my guard down.
I kept the spellbook locked in a safe in my bedroom and the key was on me at all times. The bedroom was locked too so that no one could get near the book. I had installed surveillance cameras and extra alarms—anything that would make the manor more secure.
I watched Nicolas and the woman for a while longer. A few seconds later the woman walked away from Nicolas. She headed toward the graveyard, not across the yard as I had expected. I’d thought she’d go toward the front driveway. After she made several more steps I couldn’t see where she was going from inside the kitchen, so I stepped out the back door onto the porch.
The woman moved around the graveyard’s edge. She didn’t go actually inside the fence area, but along the side and disappeared back behind the tree line. Apparently, she was headed to the house that was down the way from the manor. Nicolas noticed that I was watching him. He headed out across the yard toward me. Obviously, I was curious and I didn’t want this woman around here if she wanted to take the book. He knew how I felt about that after all we’d dealt with.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“I suppose it’s the new neighbor,” Nicolas said. “She didn’t give me her name.”
“I didn’t know they were selling the house.”
“She’s just renting a room.”
I’d met a neighbor from that house before and that hadn’t turned out well. So of course, I was a little suspicious this time as well.
“What else did she say?” I asked.
He ran his hand through his hair. “Oh, not much I suppose.”
I frowned. “Well, it seemed a bit too long for her to only tell you that she lived next door. She had to say something else.”
“
I suppose she asked about the manor and you,” Nicolas said, avoiding eye contact.
“Ah ha, I knew it. She wants the book,” I said.
“She never asked anything about the book. I really think she was just making small talk. Please don’t read anything else into it.”
I shook my head. “I want to believe that, but it’s hard.”
“I know what you’re going through. You have to trust people though. You can’t live the rest of your life constantly suspicious of everyone.”
I wanted to believe him. The last thing I wanted was to live my life this way, but I didn’t feel as if I had any other options.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Who was that? Another stranger roaming around the manor’s grounds. Something told me this man wasn’t because of the bed-and-breakfast. I wished it was something as simple as a guest’s arrival. Most the time it was just someone with bad intentions. I always had to be on guard. The middle aged man didn’t even look in our direction as he walked across the yard.
I called out to him. “Hey, you, what do you think you’re doing?
