Cloudy with a Chance of Witchcraft: A Paranormal Women’s Fiction Romance Novel

by Roth, Mandy M.

  Marcy had always been overly curious about my time in Grimm Cove. Hearing she’d been born here explained that but opened the door for more questions.

  “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

  She lowered her head. “I don’t know. It didn’t feel like the right time. Now feels right.”

  “So you were born here and we just happened to end up roommates?”

  “Doubtful,” she said, setting the ceramic bowl and burned-out stick of wood next to the abalone shell on the coffee table. “It was Fate bringing us together.”

  “Okay, but I’m not sure we should tell Dana that.”

  “Shouldn’t tell me what?” asked Dana as she entered the room, waving her hand back and forth in front of her face. “Sweet Mother of all that is holy, are you two starting fires in here?”

  Marcy shook her head. “We’re doing a cleansing to remove the negative energy that has been building in the home.”

  Dana continued to wave her hand back and forth as her eyes began to water. “So you decided to set the joint on fire? Seems a little backward, doesn’t it? Why not just yell ‘go to the light, Carol Anne’? Seems easier and less likely to require the fire department’s assistance. This place is basically a tinderbox. I feel like we’re tempting Fate by burning anything in here.”

  “We’re being careful,” said Marcy. “And telling the bad to go to the light doesn’t work. Where did you ever get an idea that it would?”

  Dana eyed me. “Our pop-culture-challenged bestie is kind of adorable. I’m starting to think she was raised in a hippie commune that didn’t have televisions.”

  I knew better.

  “Nah. She’d have never left had she been. They’d have been her people,” I said, wanting to lighten the mood and the topic. “Blowing glass is right up her alley.”

  The entire room filled with the sound of ominous organ music, nearly making me wet myself. It had been so long since I’d heard it that I’d forgotten it existed.

  “What in the hell was that?” asked Dana, looking around.

  “The doorbell,” I replied, moving past her in the direction of the front door.

  Dana rolled her eyes. “Even the doorbell is creepy. Seriously, girl, were you raised by the Addams Family?”

  I tossed open the front door and did a double take as I found myself staring at the face of a man I never expected to see again.

  It was the waiter from the restaurant. The one who had let me use his cell to call Dana, and then gave me a ride home.

  He was standing there holding four large pizzas, with beer and soda stacked on top of them. His eyes were wide as he stared at me, looking as shocked as I felt.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  He blinked several times. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

  Dana slid past me and began unloading things from him, starting first with the sodas and beer. “While you two play catch-up, I’ll take these to the kitchen.”

  Marcy was suddenly there taking the pizzas from him. “Hello. Nice to meet you. See you later and thank you ahead of time.”

  I just stood there with one hand on the door, staring at the young man.

  He stepped back and looked at the house number and then at me again. “You live here? I thought this place was abandoned.”

  “It was,” I said. “But my family has always owned it.”

  He swallowed hard. “You’re a Proctor?”

  Dana appeared again next to me with her hands free. “Want to tell me how it is you know this kid?”

  “Kid?” asked the young man. “I’m more than legal.”

  Dana raked her gaze over him. “Well in that case, want to come in and have some beer and pizza?”

  I groaned. “You’re not allowed to take the pizza guy to bed.”

  “Why not?” she asked. “He said he’s legal.”

  “He’s like barely older than Tucker,” I returned.

  “Yes, but still very legal,” she said with a grin.

  “And you don’t let Thomas live down the fact his arm candy is barely legal,” I said.

  “About that,” said Dana, watching me closely. “Did you see her at your place last week, hanging out while the movers loaded those containers?”

  “I think I see her everywhere. What is your point?” I asked.

  “She looked like she’d aged like a decade overnight,” said Dana.

  I almost hugged her for the comment. “In case I haven’t told you, I love you.”

  “Are you two going to kiss?” asked the waiter who was now a pizza delivery guy. “If so, can I watch?”

  “No.” Dana stared at him. “Got a name?”

  I shrugged, not recalling it. To be fair, my world had just crumbled around me when I first met the guy in California. His name hadn’t been high on my priority list.

  “Austin,” he said. “Austin Van Helsing.”

  Dana stiffened next to me. “What did he just say?”

  My gaze collided with hers. “That he has the same last name that you do.”

  “I do?” asked Austin, seeming surprised.

  I nodded.

  “You’re a Van Helsing?” he questioned.

  Dana grunted. “Well, now I feel dirty. He’s probably a distant cousin or something, not that I’d know, since my mother has never let me have any contact with my father’s side of the family. Gross that I was having dirty thoughts about him.”

  “I’m open to doing naughty things with you,” he said to me with a wicked grin.

  Dana laughed. “Oh, I support this idea. Go for it, Poppy.”

  “What? No! I’m too old for him,” I said.

  “No, you’re not,” argued Austin. “You’re what? Thirty?”

  Okay, he was winning even more brownie points with me, as if letting me use his phone at the restaurant and giving me a ride home hadn’t been enough.

  Dana laughed. “Can we keep him? Like a pet or something? He looks strong. We can exploit his muscles.”

  “Stop,” I said. “We’re not keeping Austin. Remember, he may or may not be a distant relative of yours.”

  “True. It’s the South, don’t they do stuff like that all the time?” she asked, earning her annoyed looks from Austin and myself.

  “No. They don’t,” I said, even though I knew she’d only been kidding.

  “Fine. But he thinks you’re hot. You should go out with him. I mean, I’m Team Brett to a point. Then I’m just Team Hot Dudes,” she said right in front of him. Not that she was known for waiting until people were out of earshot to talk about them or anything.

  I shook my head, trying to get her to stop embarrassing me.

  Austin tipped his head, his shaggy hair falling partially into his eyes. “You know, I tried to convince you to go out on a date with me six months ago.”

  “I remember,” I said.

  “Six months ago?” asked Dana. “You weren’t here six months ago.”

  “He was a waiter at the restaurant that Thomas dumped me in. I used his phone to call you.”

  “Super freaky town. Like some kind of Bermuda Triangle of the weird and wacky,” mumbled Dana.

  There were far too many coincidences happening since my arrival in Grimm Cove. And with everything Brett had told me about the symbols and his belief that the house was haunted, I didn’t want to discount anything. It could all be linked, and I wasn’t sure what that meant. “How is it that you’re here in town, Austin?”

  “I live here in Grimm Cove,” he said. “Always have.”

  “But you were in California like six months ago, working at that restaurant,” I countered.

  “Yes. I was sort of on a case. It required me to work there for a brief period of time,” he said, something off in his voice.

  “On a case? What is it you do besides deliver pizzas?” I asked.

  Nerves seemed to take a firm hold on him. I was thankful he was no longer piled high with pizza and drinks or they’d have been on the porch floor where the nonexist
ent “leave” had been. “Well, now I manage a bar in town here. The one the pizzas came from.”

  “Jeffrey’s place?” asked Dana.

  Austin nodded.

  “And he sent you on some sort of mission in California?” I asked, so lost.

  “No. Not exactly. See, I manage the bar but it’s not my only job. I have another,” he said, clearing his throat again. “Kind of a family business thing. Sometimes it involves travel. When my uncle says go, I go.”

  I didn’t pry more.

  He was clearly holding something back.

  He narrowed his gaze on me. “What about you? How is it you ended up here?”

  “Divorced the guy I was with the night we met. Decided to move back to my family home here,” I said.

  He glanced around. “Is Jeffrey here? He called over to the bar and put in the request for pizzas and drinks.”

  “I think he’s upstairs,” I said. “Do you want to come in?”

  “I’ll go grab the guys and tell them the food is here,” said Dana, as she scurried for the stairs.

  He glanced past me at the stairs and was about to come in when he stopped and glanced off toward the side lot. In the same direction Marcy had spent so much time talking to the squirrel she’d named Burgess. He sniffed the air dramatically and tensed. “Uh, something just came up. I need to go.”

  “Uh, okay,” I said, wanting to ask him more questions, but he took off running from the house. He didn’t head toward the large black pickup truck in the drive with its lights on. Instead, he ran off toward the trails that led into the woods.

  I shut the door. “This is a very strange town. I don’t think I ever realized just how peculiar it is.”

  Fifteen

  Brett

  Brett set the last of the bowls of saltwater in the bedroom at the end of the hall upstairs and stepped out of the room to find Jeffrey there, leaning against the hall wall.

  “You like holding up walls today,” said Brett, remembering how he’d found Jeffrey at his home after he’d finished showering.

  “Want to tell me why the blonde is burning palo santo while she chants over that thing on the floor in the front parlor, Poppy is placing crystals in all the rooms, and you’re up here carrying around something that smells like the ocean vomited in it?”

  Brett sighed. “They’re trying to cleanse the house.”

  “Of what?” asked Jeffrey. “With all the stuff I’m smelling and seeing them do, is the place infested by a legion of demons?”

  “I don’t know. I just know that there are a lot of dark magik symbols around here. And there is something off—did you smell it when we got here or was it just me?” asked Brett, thinking about the sickeningly sweet scent he’d caught a whiff of upon their arrival. It reminded him of something that he couldn’t place. But whatever it was had made his stomach feel off…at least until he’d been able to take in Poppy’s natural scent.

  Then he’d basically been horny from that point forward.

  “Did I hear Marcy telling Dana you’re sleeping over?” asked Jeffrey.

  “I offered to stay if the girls were worried at all about the cleansing working, and before you think what I know you’re going to think, I’d be sleeping in an extra room,” stressed Brett. “I tried to get the girls to come to my place instead of staying here tonight.”

  “They seem kind of headstrong,” said Jeffrey with a grin. “Especially the hot Italian one.”

  “What’s with you and her?” questioned Brett. “You two are going at it like cats and dogs but you haven’t strayed too far from her all day.”

  Jeffrey shrugged. “I don’t know. She annoys the hell out of me on almost every level. I’m pretty sure we take different stands on about every issue out there.”

  “But?” asked Brett, knowing there was more to it than Jeffrey had yet to admit.

  “She’s beautiful,” said Jeffrey, his tone hushed. “Like, she might be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in all my life. I’m counting chicks from movies too.”

  “Word to the wise,” said Brett with a smirk. “I don’t think she’ll like being called a chick.”

  Jeffrey smiled wide, waggling his brows as he did. “I know. It’s why I keep doing it.”

  “So you want her to kick your ass?” asked Brett, laughing. “I think she might be able to take you.”

  “I sure in the hell hope she does grab me and manhandle me.” Jeffrey looked to be picturing whatever perverse sexual fantasy he had going about Dana.

  Brett snorted. “Okay, but you’re being really weird around her. Normally, you glance at a woman, she throws herself at your feet because of who you are, and then the next morning you’re calling me to come get you down the street from her place because you snuck out of the bedroom window to avoid having to talk to her. Some alpha you are.”

  Jeffrey didn’t seem too worked up by the comments. He did still seem to be thinking hard about Dana. “When you first met Poppy, what was it like? For you and the wolf, I mean?”

  Brett wasn’t sure where Jeffrey was going with it all but he answered. “It was like everything else around me stopped. For a few seconds it was just her, in that stupid hat, and me. I could smell her, and it was all I could smell. And I could hear her heart beating. Then when she spoke to a customer at Gobbs about their order, the sound of her voice echoed through me. In that second, I’d have done or said anything to get her to talk more. To just be able to hear her. Then she smiled at me, and I honestly forgot to keep breathing. I nearly passed out.”

  Jeffrey seemed taken aback. “Did you feel torn between wanting to run from her to keep control of your wolf and wanting to run at her to just touch her?”

  Brett stiffened. “Yes.”

  Suddenly, Jeffrey appeared uncomfortable with the line of questioning he’d started. He rubbed at the back of his neck. “Yeah, um, so about the legion of demons in the house. What can I do to help?”

  “Up for trying to convince the girls to have a giant sleepover? Because I’m not so sure this whole cleansing thing is going to do the trick. I saw the black magik symbols on the porch and under that rug. It’s some serious negative energy. If we can convince them to let us stay, I’d feel better knowing there was backup here in case anything goes south. And, Jeffrey, don’t you dare try to get in Dana’s pants right now. I don’t know what is going on with you, but I do know that woman is like a sister to Poppy. I’m already on thin ice with my mate. I won’t have my best friend mucking things up with her best friend. Got it? Alpha or not, I’ll hurt you.”

  Jeffrey winked. “Got it. And I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize you and Poppy getting back together. I know what she means to you, Brett. And for the record, you’re like a brother to me.”

  “Same.”

  Jeffrey pushed off the wall. “So, can I help fight the evil hordes of whatever it is we’re up against?”

  Brett nodded. “Yes. Start by making sure all the doors and windows have working locks. We’ve got a serial killer running around town. I want to avoid giving him easy access to this place.”

  “I get the women are here so you—okay, we—want them safe, but if the serial killer breaks in now, wouldn’t he be at the mercy of the demon legion?” asked Jeffrey, grinning as he did.

  “Our luck, he’s Satan himself,” said Brett. “Do you know where Poppy is?”

  “She was headed into the front parlor with Marcy last I saw her.”

  Brett strolled past his friend. “You’ll check the locks?”

  “Will do, and I’ll get an invite to sleep over,” said Jeffrey before licking his lips. “Like a boring non-sex slumber party. Not in Dana’s bed, which I would much rather prefer.”

  Just then, Dana came up the stairs and stepped into the hall. She looked down at Jeffrey. “Dream on, blondie.”

  Brett did his best to keep from laughing but failed.

  Dana stepped out of his way as he neared the staircase. “Pizza and drinks arrived. Apparently, the guy who brought
them knows Poppy and asked her out six months ago and has my number in his phone. Totally trippy town you guys have here?”

  Jeffrey growled. “What? Why in the hell would Austin have your number?”

  “He asked Poppy out?” demanded Brett, seeing red.

  “Yes.”

  Brett and Jeffrey took off down the stairs.

  “I’m going to kill him,” said Jeffrey.

  “Not if I do it first,” said Brett, wanting to take a swing at Jeffrey for hiring the damn guy to be the bar’s manager.

  Austin wasn’t pack. He wasn’t even a wolf-shifter.

  He had no business at the bar.

  He was a born-and-bred demon slayer. Jeffrey had been working hard to make amends between the pack and the slayers in Grimm Cove. Part of that peace treaty included placing people high in the rankings of each in places of employment within each faction. The brains who thought it up figured it would help ease tensions by making everyone feel like they had a say.

  Right now, all it did was make Brett want to break the treaty and Austin’s neck. He was twenty-eight if he was a day. If he even glanced at Poppy, he’d break him in two.

  Brett made it to the bottom of the stairs and found Poppy there, locking the front door. “Where is he?”

  “Who?” she asked.

  “The boy who dared to ask you out!” shouted Brett.

  Poppy rolled her eyes and stared at Brett and Jeffrey as if they were total and utter idiots. “Food and drinks are here. Are you two going to eat or act like morons?”

  “Morons,” said Jeffrey, sounding upset.

  Poppy set her sights on him.

  He cleared his throat. “Food sounds good.”

  Brett chuckled until Poppy gave him the same firm look, and he suddenly felt like he was six years old and about to be told to go to his room and think about his actions. “Yes. Food. Starved.”

  She rolled her eyes again and pointed to the kitchen. “Go.”

  They obeyed like they weren’t two adult alpha-male shifters who were supposedly capable of making their own choices.

  When they got to the kitchen, Poppy set about making their plates, really driving home the child-like aspect.