“Monza Ella, it has been determined that the kill was clean and you hold no responsibility. This is my final ruling. Now, everyone, leave. I will attend to the disposal.”
Thomas came to my side and lifted me effortlessly into his arms and carried me out. Behind me, Vanessa was escorted by her family and medical crew. I wanted to see her, check that she was okay, but breathing smoothly in and out seemed to take up all of my focus.
My mind both raced and felt like a skipping record. I was jittery from the adrenaline rush and the exertion of magic. My mouth was dry, and I was ready to dive face-first into the wedding cake. I vaguely wondered why everyone had gone and what it meant for the wedding.
When we exited the doors, Thomas stepped aside. He slowly lowered me, keeping my body pressed against him even once my feet were on the floor. He held me close, and I let my head rest on his chest.
He kissed my neck repeatedly. “What was that about? Why did Victor try to kill you?”
In his arms, I felt some strength return. “He killed a man earlier this week. He was behind the Legacy drug.”
“The man that Victor killed?”
“No, Victor. And he killed Edward, Olivia’s dad.”
“How do you know all that?” He pulled back enough to see my face.
“Can I explain that all later?”
“Of course. Of course.” He tilted his head to the side and slowly leaned in until his lips were inches from mine. “Don’t ever scare me like that again. It all happened so fast. There was nothing I could do to help you fight. I thought I was going to lose you when I just found you.”
And then he kissed me. From the moment our lips touched, it was like a jolt of electricity went through me. My arms, which moments before had been too weak to lift on their own, suddenly had the strength to grab his shoulders and pull him in closer.
His lips were soft but strong, moving against mine in a way that my body immediately recognized and responded to despite the fact that it was my first kiss of any meaning. Sure, I had tried kissing when I was younger, but the experience had always been lacking, like kissing a dead fish.
But not this time. Every fiber of my being was on fire. I could have easily stayed in his arms for the rest of my life, when a shout interrupted us.
“Thomas, unhand her!” Colleen yelled.
I would have ignored her except that a second later, she yanked me back. Once my contact with Thomas was broken, all the strength left my body, and I collapsed on the floor.
Colleen was focused on Thomas. “I will not let you hurt her.”
Bear came to my side and helped me to rise.
“He wasn’t hurting me.”
She turned on me, her face white with fury. “Do you know what he is? An incubus! He will drain you of everything you have.”
“Half incubus. You know my father is a mage. And I would never hurt Ella. She’s my soul mate.”
“What about Lilith? Wasn’t Lilith your mate until she threw herself off a cliff?” Colleen turned to face me. “I was mentoring a Monza named Lilith. She fell in love with Thomas, though I can’t blame her. He showered her with gifts and attention, and he completely drained her of magic. By the time he left her, she could barely light a candle, and one night she killed herself.” She spit out the words.
“I love Ella.”
“You said you loved Lilith!”
Thomas jabbed a finger at her, his voice taking on a weird accent in his anger. “That was over a hundred years ago. I was new to my powers, and she had her own problems long before me.”
A shadow of doubt crossed Colleen’s face before she redoubled her effort. “Leave! Ella is under my training now, and I will not lose another apprentice to you, soul sucker. You haven’t been feeding on her. I would have noticed, so who have you been feeding on? Where do you keep your dead?”
Fire flashed in his eyes. “No one has died. They come to me of their own choice.”
The words escaped my lips before I could stop them. “You’ve been with other women?”
He jerked his eyes to me, his hatred for Colleen still present before he could hide it from me. “No! I mean, it was nothing serious. That rune I gave you, the one that saved your life, pulled so much energy from me that I had to replace it. I just—” The pain in his eyes cut me to the core, and I had to look away before I could speak.
“Go!” I screamed at him, using all the strength I had. If Bear hadn’t continued to support me, I would have fallen on my face, not just from exhaustion but despair.
He took a step toward me and extended a hand. “Please, Ella?”
I just shook my head. Things were happening too fast for me to understand. He had told me about the succubus but held back the most vital information—that his mother was one. That he was an incubus. He could have told me the truth, but would it have been enough? Had anything I had felt for him been real? My heart twisted so hard I could barely breathe.
He turned back to Colleen, a wild look in his eyes. “You cannot stop true love, Magistra. I am not done yet.”
He turned to me, a fist over his chest, and bowed deeply before leaving. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t look away until he was gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The next hours flew by without much of my awareness. Dr. Trout insisted Vanessa and I both make a trip to the hospital, but after she ran all her fancy tests, we both were cleared to leave. Nothing was wrong with either of us other than Vanessa being a bit low on blood but not enough to need a transfusion.
Since we had left our clothing at the casino and I wanted to talk to Olivia, we returned, but almost everyone was gone. After we changed and threw the destroyed dresses in the trash, Vanessa made a beeline to the cake.
I found Olivia and sat her down.
“A few days ago, we were able to make a spell that helped me know whenever the person behind the Legacy operation was working magic around me. I was able to tie together a local murder, the Legacy production, and the person who killed your father. That was Victor.”
“Victor killed my dad?” Her face turned a little white, and tears sprang into her eyes, but also something eased in the tension around her eyes. “Are you sure?”
I nodded and reached over to squeeze her hand. “I’m sure. I can explain all of it to you in detail, but maybe not right now.”
She nodded. “I understand. It’s been a big day for everyone. I need to talk to the cleaning crew and get everything settled…” She looked around.
“Or maybe you should just rest?”
She nodded again, and I left her to her thoughts. I felt like I was dragging a thousand pounds behind me with every step I took. My exhaustion was so deep that I wondered if maybe I had died and my body just hadn’t realized it.
Though I had found out who was behind Legacy and killed Edward and Ned, I still had a huge pile of questions left. How was my dad’s murder connected? Was Legacy gone for good? Could we ever find the other spellcaster of Legacy or find out what the purpose was for the magic-gathering spell? Where were Linda and her ghost daughter? Who had been in the bathroom with Tiffany? Who had tried to kill Thomas and Emily in Europe, and did I even care anymore? Thinking of Thomas tightened my throat until I pushed the thought away. In the end, it felt like we had solved so little in comparison to what I still didn’t know.
Some of Vin’s friends were at a table, loudly drinking. Granner and a group of blue-headed ladies were eating from plates overflowing with bright-red prime rib. There weren’t more than thirty people spread throughout the room.
At a table near the front were Colleen and Bear, in deep conversation with Auntie Ann. Vin was there as well, staring straight ahead as he drank from three different glasses. Vanessa was at his side eating a cake. She had removed an entire tier of red velvet cake at least two feet in diameter and was systematically eating her way around the outside. The sugar was good to replace her magic. Because of the rune, I had been able to draw from both of our magic, and she was probably as d
epleted as I was.
Seeing me approach, Colleen came to meet me. “Why don’t I take you home, and we can start training tomorrow?”
“No.” I walked past her and pulled out a seat near Vanessa before flopping down and grabbing my own fork to stab the cake.
Colleen and Bear exchanged a look before she continued. “No?”
I swallowed the bite. “I can’t. I need to be here with Vanessa.”
Colleen used a gentle voice, like I was a child being difficult. “Vanessa is fine. Her family is here. You have a lot to learn.”
I put down my fork and faced Colleen. “I’m her family, too. I need to be here with her. This was a really, really bad day. I need to stay here until everything is right again. I really want to work with you, but I can’t go just yet. If that means we can’t train together, then so be it. I can’t go just yet.” I felt calm and in control. I wasn’t mad. I wasn’t sulking. I just knew what I needed to do.
She gave me a considering look for a long time before finally giving a single nod. “You’re right. We can talk about things later. Do you want us to stay to drive you home?”
Auntie Ann stood up. “I’ll take care of that. Why don’t I walk you out?”
They left together, maybe to discuss how training would go or to talk about how rude I was. Who knew? I grabbed my fork to continue eating as Patagonia appeared on the chair next to mine and meowed loudly.
Vin’s eyes focused on Patagonia, then he grabbed a small pitcher of cream in the center of the table next to a sugar bowl. He poured the contents onto a small plate for her to lick up.
“Where’s Tiffany?”
“Gone.” He finished up his pint and grabbed a highball with ice and amber liquid. “She didn’t want to miss our honeymoon. After you guys left, we took the binding potions, so now we are married. Funny, I don’t feel any different.”
Vanessa and I exchanged a knowing glance. Since I had dumped mine out, the spell couldn’t have worked. I waited for her to explain, but she just looked down and continued eating, and I let the whole topic drop. Maybe it was better if Vin and Tiffany weren’t bonded.
“Will you go join her?”
He held the glass up to the light and swirled it then downed the rest of the drink. “Not sure. I didn’t want to leave Vanessa after all that. I thought you were a goner, kiddo.” He stood and squeezed her shoulder before lumbering off to the bar.
Even more people had left the banquet, and the few who remained were far away. The old ladies were still gumming their steaks, and Vin’s friends were keeping their drinking down to a dull roar across the room. Vanessa, Patagonia, and I were tucked off in a corner and felt isolated, which was fine with me since I wanted solitude.
Vanessa had eaten the entire outside of the cake, exposing the layers and filling inside. Sated, at least for the moment, she sat back in her chair and looked at me. “Thanks for… you know. Not letting me die.”
“It really freaked me out. I guess it’s a good thing that I got all that practice healing your indigestion.”
We smiled nervously at each other. Something felt off, not between us. It was a shared weirdness that we could both sense but not identify. I knew she sensed it too. The air seemed to crackle between us.
Maybe it was a mix of the day. Thomas was an incubus. Vanessa had nearly died. I had murdered a man, even if it was his fault.
Vanessa picked up a steak knife on the table and lazily spun it. “When you were holding me, I got really cold, and I saw my dad.” Tears streamed down her face. “He said it wasn’t my time and sent me back, but man, I forgot how much I missed him.”
Correction, Vanessa didn’t nearly die. She had died. “Wow.”
“And I just don’t feel right. Something is different.”
I nodded. “It’s been a long day and—”
Without flinching, Vanessa slammed the knife point down through the back of her hand, pinning it to the table. For a split second, time seemed to stop.
I knocked my chair over backward, leaping to my feet and racing to her side. I grabbed the wooden handle of the steak knife and fought with it until it yanked out of the wooden table top and her hand. The sensation of pulling it out would never leave me.
“Don’t worry. I’m fine. Look.” She grabbed a napkin and wiped away the blood. Her hand was unmarred underneath the red that still stained her skin.
I felt both our magic in the air around us though I knew I hadn’t cast anything, even in my fear for her safety. Not this time. “What does that mean?”
She trembled gently. “I have no idea.”
I sat next to her and wrapped her in a hug. “We’ll figure it out. I promise.”
She sniffled a little but nodded.
“But if you ever scare me like that again, I will stab you myself.”
She snorted. “I had a really bad night. I think you should take me to a strip club.”
“How about we get some pizza, and I’ll even let you get those disgusting anchovies you love?”
“You are too good to me.” She rubbed her tear-filled eyes with a tissue, blew her nose loudly, then handed me the wadded-up, wet mess.
I smiled at her but handed the used tissue back. “I know, but not enough to deal with your snot.”
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The Case of the Exploding Luck Pumpkin
Vanessa is home in Rambler, Nevada for the biggest holiday of the magical calendar, Halloween and some time off from her mage training. When the traditional Luck Pumpkin disappears prior to the party, Vanessa makes a bet that she can find it. What’s at stake? Only midnight’s kiss with a handsome man! She will have to out navigate spells gone awry, slippery desserts and an exploding pumpkin if she wants to win the bet.
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Nikki Haverstock is a writer who lives on a small ranch high in the Rocky Mountains. She has studied comedy writing at Second City and has published 12 cozy mysteries that are heavy on the humor.
Before fleeing the city, she hosted a competitive archery reality show, traveled the world to study volcanoes, taught archery and computer science at a university and worked on her family’s ranch herding cattle. Nikki has more college degrees than she has sense and hopefully one day she will put one to work.
Nikki likes to write comedy pieces that focus on the everyday humor of family, friends and the absurdity of life. She tried stand up but the cattle weren’t impressed.
© 2019 by Ranch Do
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
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.
Casino Witch Mysteries Box Set 2 Page 37