by Rose Pressey
ONCE UPON A CHARMED TIME
By Rose Pressey
“Rose Pressey’s book are fun!”
Janet Evanovich
Praise for Me and My Ghoulfriends by Rose Pressey
“Rose Pressey spins a delightful tale with misfits and romance that makes me cheer loudly.”
Coffee Time Romance
“Her characters are alive and full of quick witted charm and will make you laugh. The plot twists keep you turning the pages non-stop.”
ParaNormalRomance
“I absolutely loved this book! It had me chuckling from the beginning.”
Fallen Angel Review
Halloween LaVeau takes a road trip to help a coven of witches restore their witchcraft. She has the help of two handsome men--her fiancé Nicolas Marcos and his brother Liam Rankin. Things get dangerous when several people including her best friend turn up missing. Halloween heads back to New Orleans in hopes of finding Annabelle. As leader of the Underworld, Hallie is the only one who can stop the forces trying to bring the witches down, and save her best friend.
Rose Pressey’s Complete Bookshelf (click title to preview/buy)
Paranormal P.I. Series
What the Hex?
The Hex With It
Chase Charley Series:
Book 1: For Old Crimes Sake
Book 2: Seems Like Old Crimes
Haunted Tour Guide Mystery Series:
These Haunts are Made for Walking
A Walk on the Haunted Side
Haunt the Haunt, Walk the Walk
Walk this Way, Haunt this Way
Take a Haunted Walk With Me
Haunted Vintage Series:
Book 1 – If You’ve Got It, Haunt It
Book 2 – All Dressed Up and No Place to Haunt
Book 3 – Haunt Couture and Ghosts Galore
Book 4 – Haunted is Always in Fashion
Book 5 – Untitled 2016
Maggie, P.I. Mystery Series:
Book 1 – Crime Wave
Book 2 – Murder is a Beach
The Halloween LaVeau Series:
Book 1 – Forever Charmed
Book 2 – Charmed Again
Book 3 – Third Time’s a Charm
Book 4 – Charmed, I’m Sure
Book 5 – A Charmed Life
Book 6 – Charmed Ever After
The Hadley Wilds Series:
Book 1: Dead Girl’s Guide to Style
The Rylie Cruz Series:
Book 1 – How to Date a Werewolf
Book 2 – How to Date a Vampire
Book 3 – How to Date a Demon
The Larue Donovan Series:
Book 1 – Me and My Ghoulfriends
Book 2 – Ghouls Night Out
Book 3 – The Ghoul Next Door
Book 4—Ghoul of My Dreams
The Mystic Café Series:
Book 1 – No Shoes, No Shirt, No Spells
Book 2 – Pies and Potions
Book 3 — Spells a la Carte
The Veronica Mason Series:
Book 1 – Rock ‘n’ Roll is Undead
A Trash to Treasure Crafting Mystery:
Book 1 – Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel
Book 2 – Honeysuckle Homicide
The Haunted Renovation Mystery Series:
Book 1 – Flip that Haunted House
Book 2 – The Haunted Fixer Upper
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.
Dedication
This is to you and you know who you are.
Acknowledgements
To my son, who brings me joy every single day and is the love of my life. To my mother, who introduced me to the love of books. To my husband, who encourages me and always has faith in me. A huge thank you to my editor, Eleanor Boyall. And to the readers who make writing fun.
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
My name is Halloween LaVeau. Most people call me Hallie, although my mother still insists on calling me Halloween. She named me after the holiday, of course, and the fact that I was born on All Hallows’ Eve. I guess it was only fitting that I was born a witch too.
We came from a long line of witches, although I’d just stumbled into my skills a short time ago. Until recently I’d been the worst witch ever. Literally. I mean that. I was voted the Worst Witch of the Year for several years. I even had the plaques to prove it.
In the past whenever I tried magic it would go incredibly wrong, messing up the spells for other witches for miles around. The local coven had wanted to quarantine me. They’d definitely wanted to ban me from doing witchcraft. Bless their hearts, they’d never done it. Thank goodness. They had more than enough reason to justify putting the kibosh on my witchcraft. I knew my mother had been embarrassed by my lack of skills. She’d never come right out and admitted it, but the heavy sighs and crying had been good indications.
Well, maybe she had admitted it just a little bit.
Right now I was wrapped up in all the wedding planning. My mother had gotten married not long ago, but now it was my turn. Sometimes I wondered if the wedding was really going to happen with everything going wrong recently. It seemed as if the cosmos were trying to stop the ceremony. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t give in that easily.
Unfortunately, the wedding would have to be put on hold for just a while longer because I had travel plans. We had been called to Los Angeles because there were reports of witches not being able to do their spells. No one knew why. The cross-country journey couldn’t be avoided. It was considered an emergency, I supposed. Not life-or-death, but it could definitely lead to that if not taken care of soon. Since I was the leader of the Underworld it was my job.
What is the Underworld, you ask? Well, I oversee all of the witches. That kept me more than a little busy. It was hard to plan a wedding, run a bed-and-breakfast, and be the leader of the Underworld.
My fiancé was Nicolas Marcos. On a dark and stormy night he’d shown up at my front door. He was mysterious and handsome. Truth be told I’d probably fallen head over heels almost instantly. Then there was his dashingly handsome and charming brother Liam Rankin. He would make any girl swoon. Liam and I had a close relationship. It had been hard to pick between the brothers.
Nicolas was the leader of the Enchantment Pointe Coven. That was where we lived. I’d made Liam the cov
en leader for New Orleans. The brothers were coming with me on this trip. I had a feeling I would need all the help that I could get.
Currently I was stuffing the last of my clothing into a suitcase. Tomorrow Nicolas, Liam, and I would head to the airport. I wasn’t exactly much of a world traveler. That wasn’t something you would expect from the leader of the Underworld, but I was just getting started. This trip would really put my leadership skills to the test.
Leaving LaVeau Manor was causing a series of panic attacks. I’d just gotten into the routine of things. It had been going smoothly, but now I needed to find someone to watch after the place while I was gone. Many people wanted the manor as their own. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the Book of Mystics or if they just wanted a piece of history by living in the place. My guess was the book because whoever owned the ancient tome became the leader of the Underworld. That was why I kept the thing locked up tighter than Fort Knox.
I shoved one final pair of shoes into the bag and then finally got the case to shut by sitting on it. I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to pack so much. This wasn’t exactly a vacation. It was business, but a witch had to look fashionable while she worked, right? The doorbell rang and I rushed out of the room toward the staircase.
LaVeau Manor was three stories and ten thousand square feet. That was a lot of space for one person. What would I do with that much space? I needed the income so that was why I’d started the bed-and-breakfast. Which was kind of surprising to a lot of people since I wasn’t exactly a great cook either. My cooking rivaled my witchcraft skills.
Nevertheless, things had been kind of successful as of late. It had been a little rocky at first, but I had had the help of my mother and my best friend Annabelle Preston. Nicolas and Liam helped when they could as well. The improved witchcraft had given a boost with my cooking skills too. I just did a pinch of magic to help me along. Nothing wrong with that. As long as the guests were happy that was all that mattered, and as far as I knew, they were happy.
I didn’t want to stop the bed-and-breakfast business while I was gone, so I’d decided to hire someone who could help around here for a short time. My mother and Annabelle had said that they would look after the manor, but they didn’t have time since they were working at my mother’s Bewitched Beauty and Potions Shop. I hoped to find the perfect candidate to take care of the place. It had to be someone I could really trust since, so many people wanted to take over LaVeau Manor and obtain the Book of Mystics.
So far the interview process hadn’t gone as smoothly as I’d hoped. For some reason I’d had this weird impression that I would find the perfect candidate right off the bat. Well, that hadn’t been the case. I’d gotten some real strange ones. A lot of nutjobs.
I’d been through quite a bit of interviews trying to find someone to help with the bed and breakfast. Of course I had to screen people before they even arrived to make sure that they weren’t just here to get their hands on the Book of Mystics. Once I figured out that they were okay, then I’d talk to them. No one seemed prepared for the actual job of running the bed-and-breakfast.
The guy I’d interviewed yesterday had wanted to know if it was all right if he had parties at the manor while I was gone. Absolutely not! And then another woman had wanted to try experiments for her spells while I was away. I figured that would lead to nothing but trouble, so I’d told her no too. I was hopeful for the interview that I had today because I was running out of options.
We had to leave tomorrow and if I didn’t find someone today then I would have to close the bed-and-breakfast until I returned. I really needed the money that the bed-and-breakfast provided. Being the leader of the Underworld didn’t pay as much as I had hoped. Now I was down to the last interview.
The doorbell rang and I knew it was the woman here to interview for the position. I went over to the large wooden door and opened it to find a woman standing on the porch. She had her back facing me for a moment and then spun around.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you to answer that soon.” Her bright smile seemed warm and genuine.
“That’s all right. I was standing close to the door. Addie Buchanan?”
“Yes, that’s me,” she said.
“I hope I didn’t startle you,” I said.
She chuckled. “Not at all.”
So far she seemed nice, but that could be deceiving. I’d been fooled many times in the past. She was dressed smartly in black trousers and a white button-down blouse. Her blonde hair fell to her shoulders. I’d guess her age as mid-thirties. She reminded me somewhat of Annabelle, possibly even the sister I’d never had. So far she seemed hopeful, but my judgment of character was off sometimes. Okay, most of the time.
“Welcome to LaVeau Manor. Would you like to come inside?” I opened the door wider.
“That would be great. Thank you.” She stepped into the room and peered up at the massive winding staircase. “It’s lovely here.”
“Thank you. We can sit in the parlor,” I said, gesturing across the foyer.
She followed me into the room and I motioned toward the oversized white sofa near the window. “Please have a seat.”
She perched on the edge of the sofa, her hands in her lap.
“I suppose you’re aware of basically what the job requirements are.” I sat across from her in the chair by the fireplace.
“Yes, and I think I’m well-suited for everything that you’ve mentioned in the ad.”
“Do you have any questions for me?” I asked.
“Do you have a lot of guests lined up for the upcoming week?”
“Actually, yes, I do. With the upcoming festival in town a lot of people are here. That’s why I really need to find someone. I didn’t want to leave them without a place to stay.”
“Oh, that’s understandable. That would be tragic.”
I hoped that I could make this into a permanent position if everything worked out with her. That would give me more time to focus on running the Underworld and possibly expanding on some ideas that I had to make things run smoother.
“Oh, I almost forgot to give you my résumé,” she said, pulling the paper from her bag and handing it to me.
I studied the sheets and everything looked almost too good to be true. I had checked her out and realized that she had no association with magic and no reason to want the book. Or any connections to anyone who might want the book either. I supposed I would just have to trust that she was okay. It looked as if I would have to give her the job. At some point I had to trust someone, right?
“Well, Addie, it looks like the job is yours if you’d like.”
“Really? That’s wonderful. Yes, absolutely. I can’t wait to start.” She practically jumped off the sofa.
“Great. I suppose I could show you around and take you to the room that you’ll be staying in. If you have any questions at that point you can let me know so that we can get you all ready to start. The first guest will be here in the morning, although I’ll probably be gone by the time they arrive.”
“I’ll be ready,” she said, as she hurried over to me.
“I guess we can start in the kitchen. That’s where you’ll be spending a lot of time.”
“Oh, sounds great. Breakfast is my specialty.”
Wow, and she didn’t even need magic to do that. I was so jealous. I led her toward the kitchen and we stepped inside.
She took in the whole room and then said, “Wow, there are a lot of bottles of stuff.”
“Yes, those are for my magic spells.”
“And a cauldron?” She quirked an eyebrow.
“Well, you won’t be needing that,” I said. “But all of the utensils and pots and pans are all here.” I gestured toward the items. “Plus, the food is all stocked in the refrigerator and the pantry, so you shouldn’t have to go shopping at all for the guests.”
“Oh, that’ll be fantastic. I have this new French toast recipe that I’ve been wanting to try out. Do you think that would be okay with your
guests?”
“I don’t see why not. As long as they don’t have any allergies. That’s something you need to know, of course. You would ask when they arrive.”
“Yes, of course,” she said, smiling.
“If you’d like to follow me I can show you around the rest of the manor. There’s quite a bit to see.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to see it all.” She trailed behind me like a shadow.
Chapter 2
After touring the complete downstairs, I asked, “Would you like to see your room?”
“I’d love to,” she said.
“Just follow me this way.” I motioned over my shoulder.
We went through the parlor toward the grand staircase.
“I just can’t get over how big the place is,” she said as she peered up at the tall ceilings.
“Yes, well, you haven’t seen half of it yet.”
“How many stories is this place again?”
“There are three stories. Actually, four if you count the attic. It’s small though so you won’t have any reason to go in there.”
I studied her face for a moment. She peered at me with those big brown innocent eyes. Relief fell over me when she didn’t have a reaction. A lot of people were interested in that tiny space because they’d heard that was where I’d discovered the Book of Mystics. As if I would hide it there again. We reached the staircase and started up the winding treads.
Maybe I made the place sound too mysterious. In my mind that part of the house was the most peculiar. Not only was it where I’d found the Book of Mystics, it was rumored a body had been hidden in the walls. That was just urban legend though. Well, I supposed I couldn’t prove it was legend, but I was fairly certain there wasn’t a skeleton between the rafters. Though the manor wasn’t without a spirit or two. The whole house seemed to have a mind of its own, as if the whole structure had a soul.
The stair treads squeaked under our feet with every step. Rays of sunshine splashed through the stained-glass window, bathing the space in a yellow glow and shining a kaleidoscope of colors across the area.
