by Unknown
“They are not things. They are living and they are breathing. They are not things or possessions. And if you will not deal with the other demons, I will. I am not a demon.”
“You cannot challenge the demons, Witch.” the up to now silent Wicked said.
“I’m not looking to challenge anyone. I am only looking to free you three. And what’s your name?”
“Willow.”
“Oh, that’s a pretty name.”
“Prettier than mine?” Wilhelmina asked.
“Every name is prettier than yours,” Wylda said.
“Whoa now. That’s not nice. I think all your names are pretty in their own way. Now, about these other demons...”
“One prison is as good as another,” Wylda interjected. She was the grumpiest one of the bunch it seemed. I bet she was the middle Wicked.
“Barry, are you a prisoner?”
“No.”
“Do you like it here?”
“I, well...”
“Barry,” Shari hissed.
“Yes. I love it here.”
“Excuse us a moment...”
“Heyyyyy...” One minute I was on my kitchen floor, the next I was in the penthouse with Morgan, and two equally dark and handsome...demons who bore a striking resemblance to him. My eyeballs didn’t know who to settle on.
“Meet Merrick and Max. My brothers.”
Oh my. “Let me guess... They’re the masters of the other two Wickeds?”
“Yes.”
“Ah. Nice to meet you both. I’m Kandy. That’s with a K.”
“The mate,” Merrick said.
“The witch,” Max added.
“Yes, that would be me.”
“Do you see now why you can’t go around promising things you can’t deliver on.”
“They want to remain together. Is anyone willing to take Wilhelmina, too?”
“That’s the other thing. Only one Wicked per demon.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because of the havoc they can cause. You’re finding that out right now back home.”
“So, if you guys knew where they were, why didn’t you try to stop them.”
“We didn’t know what they were planning to do.”
“How is it you can be the keeper of a Wicked, but you can’t control them or keep them in line?”
“It is the nature of the beast.”
“Well, what kind of compromise can we come to?”
“She’s hardheaded, Morgan.”
“Doesn’t seem to understand how things are done.”
“I am, and I do. I was just trying to help out three miserable sisters. I have sisters. You all are brothers. Don’t you understand?”
“We will need compensation.”
“I’m not buying them. They. Are. Not. Property.”
“She’s a tad high strung, too, brother.”
“She’s had a tough week.”
“Witchin’ Stix for life? Plan your weddings and birthday parties for free? What can I offer so you’ll let them go?”
“Anything we ask for two years.”
“Oh, now come on, that’s not fair. Morgan... Oh, now you stay quiet and shrug?” I turned away and walked out onto the balcony. We weren’t in Paris. I didn’t know where we were. It was dark. Very, very dark. I didn’t think I wanted to know where we were. I turned back to the demon brothers and it took me a moment to pick out Morgan from the other two. I believe it was in that split second moment that I realized I was well and truly his and he was well and truly mine. Talk about bad timing for such truths. I refocused on the situation at hand. “Nothing dangerous. Nothing life threatening. Nothing that curses anyone. And nothing that will get me into trouble with Baba Yaga.”
“Done.”
“Okay. Good.” I moved toward Morgan. “We’ll go back to Blue Balls Falls and you’ll stay here. And...”
“Your sisters.”
My feet skidded to a halt. “I’m sorry?”
“Your sisters. Introduce us.”
“How do you know I have sisters?”
“Mates.”
“Son of a biscuit eater.”
Chapter Twelve
“Broo?”
Slowly. Oh so slowly, she came to... “What happened?” Her voice was husky and edged with darkness that belied the colorfulness of her skin and eyes. “And why are you wearing sunglasses?”
“You’re a bit bright.”
“Oh, right. Yeah.” She looked down at her arms and hands, twisted them this way and that. “Will it go away or is this permanent? Did I do this? Is this my fault?”
“It will go away and no, you didn’t do this. This is not even remotely close to being your fault.”
“Okay. That’s good. How long?”
“I don’t know. You were really bright. It wasn’t like the other day when I had... issues. This is different. You were Las Vegas neon.”
“That can’t have been pretty.”
“Well, the rainbow effect was rather interesting. Can you feel anything?”
“What do you mean?”
“Mind over matter. Remember when I said that?”
“Now? You want to have a magic lesson now?” Her normal voice took over in some places and disappeared in others.
“Seems as good a time as any. So... You want the old Broo back, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Can you see her? Inside this... neon concoction that you’ve become. Can you see her?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Concentrate on her. Close your eyes, be still... Say these words after me...”
“I can’t do spells,” she said, her voice rising in panic. “I’ll blow myself up.”
“Trust me. Trust yourself. I’ll help you get through it. I wrote it. You won’t blow up.”
“If I blow up, I’m coming back for you.”
“I’d expect nothing less.”
Goddess above
Demons below
Hear my words
And all bestow
This witch’s state
Normal and true
Remove the shade
This unnatural hue
“See her, Broo. See the you that you want to return to. And keep repeating the words. Three times.”
Goddess above
Demons below
Hear my words
And all bestow
This witch’s state
Normal and true
Remove the shade
This unnatural hue
Twice more the words spilled from her lips until she was silent. “Just breathe... In... Out... In... Out... There. Look...”
I removed the sunglasses and held Broo’s hand in mine. “I’m starting to fade. Well, the colors are. I’m going to be normal again. And I didn’t blow up. How did that happen?”
“I told you. You have to see it, believe it. You have to know it, Broo.”
“Thank you. All the pasta you want, on me.”
We laughed together as friends and embraced as sisters through magic. After Amir took her and left, I cleansed the kitchen and the house with rosemary and sage. I lit candles and brought in a handful of leaves from outside to brighten the rooms. One half day without the colors of Autumn was long enough to cast a spell of melancholy over me.
Wickeds. A demon mate. A demon mate with demon brothers who wanted my sisters.
Sweet witch.
Morgan. Just his voice, his name brought me a measure of peace in a world that had been slightly tilted.
You are sad.
Not sad.
But not happy.
I need to center.
What can I do?
Come babysit? Even as I thought the words, he was there, standing in the hallway, just inside the door. Larry, Barry, and Shari argued with the Wickeds over who would rule the house.
The energy was picking up and the light was returning to my soul.
Morgan smiled at me and walked into the living room and a booming voice rang
through the four walls and rattled the glass in the windows. I heard nothing else. A peek inside and I found Morgan with a book in his lap, petting a cat on the top of its head.
The Wickeds settled at his feet and the other two cats were on the perch beside the window.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear they were a normal family. And for a magical family, they were. We were.
“Dear witch, rest. I’ve got them. They will not cause a disturbance.”
A demon. My mate is a demon.
My demon.
Yes?
We have a family and we have yet to go on a date.
Will you?
Go on a date with you?
Yes. Isn’t that what people do?
I suppose it is.
Is that a yes, then?
It is. Can we go back to Paris?
Epilogue
“We have our first clients!”
Kyla hopped on the bed, shaking me from my restful slumber. Morgan hadn’t accounted for my sister’s ability to pop in and out of the house. They had stayed away when the world was black and white, not wanting to chance what might happen to them as they popped from place to place. I’m glad they were safe, that they were there in physical form where I could see and hear them for myself, but I wish they’d waited another hundred hours before showing up. I could use the sleep.
“Yes,” Kaydence added, joining us. Thankfully, she didn’t hop on the bed. She merely sat on the side like a normal witch. “And you’ll never guess who it is.”
I slid up against the headboard. “One person or two?” I asked around a yawn.
“Two.”
Hmm... “Leon and Bethilda?”
“Close, but no.”
“How could it be close? Never mind. Um...”
“Broo and Amir!”
“Kay... We agreed to let her guess.”
“She was taking too long. I mean, really. Bethilda and Leon? As if those two are ever going to admit there’s something going on between them.”
She had a point, Kay did. “So, what about Broo and Amir? Did they get engaged?” I hadn’t seen Broo since earlier in the day and there’s no telling how much had happened in the past several hours, but really? An engagement? And no one woke me up to tell me?
Of course, my sisters were telling me now...
“No, they’re not engaged. Broo finally agreed to a date with Amir.”
“A date? That’s it?”
“Well, after she returned to normal the other day and stopped eating long enough to get a word out instead of pasta in, she told Amir she didn’t want to wait another year before seeing if there was something worth exploring between them.”
“I’m gonna need you to go back to the part about the other day. She left here a few hours ago.”
“No. K, you’ve been out of it for three days.”
“What!” Suddenly I was wide awake.
“We’ve been coming by every day trying to see you, but that demon of yours wouldn’t let us in. Said you were not to disturb you.”
“Yeah, this was the only way we could see you.”
I groaned.
Three days, Morgan?
Yes, dear witch. You were tired.
But three days?
Everything is fine.
It’s not fine for me to be asleep for that long.
Do you feel better?
I don’t know.
Don’t be mad. And tell your sisters, we’ll be having a conversation.
I will not tell them that.
Very well, sweet witch. I will.
High-handed demon.
That dark laugh warmed me in ways I would not be examining anytime soon. “So,” I said to my sisters, “Now what?”
“We need a place to operate out of.”
“Yes. I agree. We need an office.”
“Why can’t we work out of one of our houses?”
“Too much else going on with everyone.”
“What do you mean? You each live alone. I’m the one with a demon, three cats, and three Wickeds.”
“Oh, he didn’t tell you?”
“Didn’t tell me what?”
“His brothers are here.”
Was Kyla blushing? I snapped my fingers and light flooded the room. She was blushing. Kaydence wouldn’t even look in my direction. “Oh no.”
“There might be a few other things we haven’t told you, yet...”
Morgan.
Yes, sweet witch?
What have you done...?
*
Lucky for him, he hadn’t done anything. Yet. But my sisters were correct. Morgan’s brothers were here for a visit and hanging around Kyla and Kaydence for my peace of mind. I hated being the chaperone and none of them wanted me to be, but I had adopted the role anyway. No way were any demons making any moves on my sisters without making honest witches out of them first.
In the background, I could hear them all talking. Laughing. I started to turn around, but didn’t. I would only chaperone. I wouldn’t spy.
But I would like another espresso. And more waffles. I hadn’t eaten in three days and... Four days if you count that last one and my stomach certainly did. I’d already had two servings of three waffles and a whole mess of sausage. I thought it was plenty. I was wrong.
On Bethilda’s front porch in a one of the dozen rocking chairs, I sat, watching the line forming at the Witchin’ Spice Pop-Up Bakery. The town seemed to enjoy the idea and several other businesses had done the same with their shops. Not blown them up. Not that same thing. No, they’d erected pop-ups for their seasonal sales. It created a livelier community atmosphere.
Even my sisters joined in, Kaydence with her cookies and Kyla with her cupcakes.
Morgan was off with the Wickeds. I had no idea what they were doing and I’m not sure I wanted to know. They were happy to be in Blue Balls Falls rather than the underworld places they’d lived. Here they were free. Well, as free as they could be. I had a spell on them that kept them within twenty feet of either Morgan or myself. That spell also bound their powers. I wasn’t taking any chances.
It had been a busy day and I was just about to stand to get a fifth espresso when Shari the Cat jumped up on the arm of the chair. “Hello,” she said.
“Hi.”
“I need a place to live.”
“What about your warlock’s house?”
“Yeah, about that... He’s dead.”
“Dead? Weren’t you his familiar?”
“Yes. He had been alive for too long and didn’t want to live anymore.”
“So, he did what? Warlock suicide?”
“Something like that, yes.” It was then I noticed little tears pooling in her eyes. My heart hurt for her and I patted my lap. She took it for the invitation it was, settling herself on my thighs. “I’ve been living in your attic. It’s quite spacious. It’s why I’ve shown up so much.”
“Oh Shari, you should have said something before.”
“There was way too much going on and I didn’t want my drama to be mixed up in any way with all the other drama you had.”
“Thank you.”
“Can I? Stay with you?”
“Of course you can. I like having you around.”
“I am quite useful.”
I smiled and gave her long strokes on her sleek back. “Yes. Yes, you are.”
And just like that, I officially had another cat.
I started out as a single witch with one cat...
I am now a witch with three Wickeds, three cats, three demons in the immediate area, and a new business. My magic was working better than ever on the treats I loved to make. I’d say, all in all, life in Blue Balls Falls was looking pretty bright.
Then again, I should know better by now...
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I fretted over this book, too, just like the pr
evious one in this universe. This is such a different thing for me to write and I’m still trying to find my footing. I get more comfortable with each one, though.
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