"I imagine after building it up in your mind after all that time, you found it quite difficult."
Linsey pretended to examine her blue fingernails. I was fairly certain she was trying not to cry. "It had to be her of all people. Miss Perfect. You've never seen a pixie this adorable."
In truth, I’d never seen a pixie at all. I’d take her word for it, though.
"Fern could have any guy in town. She's that kind of girl. Why did she have to set her sights on Tristan? He’s so down-to-earth and funny.” She laughed to herself. “He cracks jokes all the time.”
"Linsey, you’re going to live in Spellbound for a long time. Don't you think you could branch out a little? Find another male to be interested in?"
"I guess the only guys I'll be meeting now are prison guards." She tried to look unconcerned, but again, I wasn't convinced.
"Let me look into your case a little more." I glanced at the paperwork again. "Your court date is set for next week. Let's see if I can work my own brand of magic before then."
"You mean witchcraft?"
"No, lawyer magic." It sounded laughable even to my ears, but I was willing to try. Linsey was young and misguided. I didn't want the rest of her life ruined because of a crush on a druid.
"So that's it?" Linsey looked relieved.
"For today," I said. "I'll send an owl to schedule our next appointment. We’ll definitely need to meet before your trial date."
"Okay," she said and paused. "You're not so bad."
"Save the high praise for when I’ve earned it,” I said. "I do want to help you, Linsey. I just don't know if I can."
“At least you’re honest about it,” Linsey said and stomped her boots on the floor before standing. “That’s more than I usually get from grown-ups.”
As she left the office, her words echoed in my head. I was a grown-up.
I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about it.
Chapter 5
“Althea, is that you?” I called. I’d returned to the office after class to grab Linsey’s file for a little bedtime reading.
I paused to listen. Usually the hissing from her head of snakes gave her away, but I heard nothing except the sounds of the town outside.
“Althea?”
The sinewy frame of Demetrius Hunt appeared in my office and I nearly fell off my chair.
“How did you do that?” I asked. “You’re a vampire, not a ghost.” A very hot, very sexy vampire.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“It’s okay,” I said, my heart beating wildly. “It’s just that Mumford attacked me in this office, so I’m still suffering from post-traumatic stress.”
Mumford was the goblin I’d been assigned to defend when I first arrived in town. He’d been accused of stealing jewelry and I figured out in the nick of time that he’d also murdered Gareth to cover up his crime.
Demetrius smiled faintly. “I had to drop off paperwork at the registrar’s office and thought I’d come by to see how you’re getting on. I heard you’re in the process of mastering the broomstick.”
“Mastering is probably a bit of an exaggeration,” I said, “but I did get through a few practice sessions. It helps that I’m allowed to ride tandem.”
“I’m sure you’ll get through it with flying colors.” He smiled. “Literally.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure. I’m more of an earthbound girl at heart.”
“I wish I could help you,” Demetrius said. “I’m afraid my bat form wouldn’t be of much use to you, though.”
“I appreciate the sentiment.” It was for the best, really. Sedgwick would lunge at the chance to torment Demetrius in his bat form.
“I came by for another reason,” Demetrius said. “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”
My mouth dropped open. “Oh.” I’d only been out once with Demetrius, to the Horned Owl for drinks. It had been a spur-of-the-moment thing and he’d given me a chaste kiss at the end of the night, if a kiss that sends shivers down your spine can be considered chaste.
He inched his way around my desk, closing the distance between us. “Do you already have plans?”
“No, no plans.” Unless you counted the angel hiding in my house. Different type of plan.
I looked up at him, trying not to get lost in those deep, dark pools. His thick eyelashes alone were mesmerizing.
“Good. Then I’ll pick you up at your house at eight.”
My mouth became so dry that I couldn’t force out a response, so I simply nodded.
“You’ll like Serendipity,” he added. “It’s very elegant and the food is excellent.”
Apparently, when a vampire says he’s going to take you to the nicest restaurant in Spellbound, the correct response is not—“Oh, right. Serendipity. Daniel and I went there.”
Demetrius stiffened. “Daniel Starr took you to Serendipity?”
“It wasn’t a date,” I said, quickly realizing my error. “We were going to buy new paint for the house and…” I trailed off. Every word out of my mouth made us sound like a couple.
“No matter,” he said, his expression darkening. “Serendipity isn’t the only place in town. Far from it.”
“I don’t mind going again,” I said. “It was delicious.”
“Absolutely not,” he said, showing his fangs. “I have no interest in retreading another man’s ground.”
With comments like that, I half expected him to pee a circle around me. Or maybe that was more of a werewolf thing.
“We’ll go to Moonshine,” he said. “It’s a personal favorite.”
“Sounds great.” I hadn’t been to Moonshine yet, but I heard someone mention it in passing.
“I heard the sheriff wants to speak with Halo Boy in connection with a werewolf’s death,” Demetrius said. “Do you know anything about that?”
“Just what you heard,” I said. “I don’t see how anyone could think Daniel is involved. He’d never hurt anyone.”
“He’s hurt plenty of women in this town,” Demetrius said.
“Okay, maybe emotionally,” I said. “Not quite the same as murder.”
Demetrius displayed his fangs again. It seemed to be the vampire equivalent of flexing his muscles. “I look forward to tonight.”
He was so dramatic that I almost expected him to disappear in a puff of smoke. It was a bit of a letdown when he simply walked out the door.
I remained in the office after his banal departure, reading up on Spellbound vandalism statutes and sentencing guidelines. I needed to thank Gareth for keeping his office organized. His law books were neatly stacked on the bookshelves behind my desk. It made my life easier. I felt like I had so much to learn and precious little time to learn it.
“Where’s Daniel?” I asked, bursting through the front door. I got distracted by Linsey’s case and now had less than thirty minutes to get ready for my date.
Gareth appeared on the steps. “He flew to one of his thinking spots. He swore no one would see him.”
“Does he just talk out loud and hope you hear him?” I asked.
Gareth shrugged. “Basically. He’s very polite, I’ll give him that. And he seems to have taken a liking to Magpie.”
That seemed highly unlikely.
“I need to get changed pronto,” I said, and ran to my bedroom to ransack my closet.
“For what?”
“A date with Demetrius.” I began pulling out hangers of clothes and tossing them aside. “He stopped by the office earlier to ask me.”
“He’s always been a persistent lad,” Gareth said. “Definitely accustomed to getting his way.”
“He’s not getting his way with me, if that’s what you mean,” I said.
“I’m implying nothing of the sort.” He drifted beside me and peered into the closet. “Wear that blue dress with the low neckline.”
I stopped rifling through the clothes and glared at him. “I am not wearing a low neckline on a first date with a vampi
re.”
He crossed his arms. “So you’d wear it on a date with a dwarf? That’s discrimination.”
“Go ahead and draft a petition about it,” I said. “Anyway, I’m not going on a date with a dwarf.” Not to mention dwarves seemed too short to appreciate the view. “You really can’t cry discrimination just because I refuse to dress slutty for your friend.”
“A low neckline isn’t slutty,” he said. “It’s…accommodating.”
“I would think wearing my hair in a bun would be accommodating for a vampire.”
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Now that you mention it…”
“I haven’t told Demetrius about you,” I said. “Do you want your friends to know?”
Gareth’s expression softened. “I don’t know. I suppose it would be nice.”
“For some reason, they did seem to mourn your passing.”
“For some reason?” he echoed, his hands flying to his hips. “I’ll have you know I was a pillar of this community. I defended those who couldn’t defend themselves. I…”
I began mimicking him with my hand. Very mature, I know.
He halted mid-sentence. “What are you doing?”
I hesitated. “Mocking you?”
“You are so lucky I’m a ghost,” he said, wagging a finger at me.
I danced in front of him. “Go on. Bite me, or whatever it is you’d do in retaliation.” I knew he couldn’t. His form would blow right through me. One of the disadvantages to being dead.
“Did you used to behave like this with your siblings?” he asked, unimpressed.
I stopped dancing. “I don’t have siblings.”
“For for best, I think.”
I pulled out a tasteful black dress and held it up.
Gareth scrunched his nose in response. “You’d look ready for a funeral.”
“Fine.” I placed it back in the closet. “I can’t wear red because it’s your color for grieving. I don’t want to make him sad on our first date.” I touched the fabric of a pretty green dress. “Maybe this one.”
“Are you sure you want to go on this date?” Gareth asked.
“What do you mean?” I began to undress, then stopped. “Turn around.”
He rolled his eyes. “You can’t be serious.”
“I don’t want anyone watching me undress.”
“Are you sure about that?” he asked. “I can think of a particular houseguest…”
I shushed him quickly. Daniel could return to the house at any moment.
“He can’t hear me, remember?” Gareth said.
“Turn around,” I ordered, ignoring him.
“Trust me, love. You’d show me nothing of interest.”
“Is that what you told Alison?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. Alison was a siren and Gareth’s former fiancée. Their relationship had ended the year before he died, and he’d never told her that he was gay. He’d never told anyone until me.
“Low blow,” he said quietly.
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m just nervous about the date.” It was one thing to go to the pub with Demetrius for a few drinks. It felt very casual. Tonight seemed to have a more formal quality.
“At his core, Demetrius is a good guy,” Gareth said. “But he may just be in it for the chase. To be the first to plant his flag in Emma’s mound.”
“Gareth!”
He gave me a sheepish grin. “That was rather crude, wasn’t it?”
I remembered the hot vampire’s negative reaction to Daniel’s name. “I don’t want to be a pawn in some macho game. How can I tell if he’s genuinely interested?”
I stripped down to my underwear and pulled the green dress over my head.
Gareth took one look at me and smiled. “Oh, he’ll be genuinely interested if you wear that. Demetrius is a neck man, but breasts run a close second.”
“They’re not too big, though,” I said, cupping my boobs.
“Big, bigger, biggest. Does it really matter for a heterosexual male?” he queried.
Magpie rubbed against my leg before nipping the skin.
“Ouch,” I cried. “Why does he do that?”
“It’s a love bite,” Gareth insisted.
“That is most definitely not a love bite.” I scowled at Magpie and he hissed in response.
“He’s the cat of a vampire, remember,” Gareth said. “He’s going to show affection differently.”
“As in, not at all.”
Gareth crouched down to speak to Magpie in a soothing tone.
“You spoil him,” I said. “That’s why he’s such a beast to everyone else.”
Gareth scowled at me and held his ghostly hands over the cat’s misshapen ears. “Mind what you say. He can hear you.”
I shook my head and retreated to the bathroom to freshen up. I wished I knew the spells to make myself look prettier. I stared at my reflection in the mirror as I ran a brush through my hair, trying to remember one of the improvement spells Begonia had done during class. I fetched my wand from the nightstand and quickly returned to the vanity.
“What are you doing?” Gareth asked.
“Privacy, Gareth,” I said. “This is a bathroom.”
“You’re not on the loo,” he said. “You’re standing fully clothed in front of the mirror.”
I closed my eyes in an effort to concentrate.
“You’re not planning to do a spell on yourself, are you?” he asked.
I opened one eye and looked at him. “Why not?”
“Because you’re sure to make a hash of it.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“What are you intending to fix?” he asked. “Must be your hair. It is a wee bit frizzy.”
My other eye flew open. “My hair is the one part of me I was going to leave alone.”
“Oops.”
“I’d like to do a makeup spell like the one Begonia used on me.” I’d felt so confident and attractive after the last time. I desperately needed that feeling tonight.
“I’d advise against…” he began.
I turned to face him. “Out, Gareth. You’re destroying my self-esteem.”
“Youth today,” he complained. “You all want to be wrapped in cotton wool.” He shrugged helplessly and glided out of the room.
I held up my wand and pointed it at my reflection. According to Lady Weatherby, the key to a successful spell was intent. I focused my will on myself and practiced an incantation in my head. I didn’t want to mess it up.
“No!” I couldn’t believe my eyes. “I wasn’t finished.”
I stared at my reflection in the mirror, gobsmacked. My boobs were a respectable size before, but now they were enormous. From grapefruits to honeydew melons. Had that been my true intent? Deep down, did I want bigger boobs? No, I really didn’t. It was probably down to the conversation I’d had with Gareth moments before.
I dashed out of the bathroom, my ample cleavage on full display. “How did I manage this?” I caught sight of Gareth, pressing his lips together in a valiant effort not to laugh. “Don’t you dare say ‘I told you so.’”
“Wouldn’t dream of it. How do you intend to correct this egregious error?” he asked.
“I have no idea,” I said. “But I’ll be sending Sedgwick to Begonia’s with a plea for urgent help.”
Gareth tilted his head, examining the state of my chest. “If it’s any consolation, you look amazing. I’m a little turned on and I don’t even like boobs.”
“I don’t want him turned on,” I said. “What if he bites me?”
“What if who bites you?”
Daniel’s voice caused me to jump and my boobs bounced along with the rest of me. Oh no.
Daniel zeroed in on my chest. To be fair, it was hard to look anywhere else. “What in heaven…?”
“It was an accident,” I said, awkwardly trying to cover myself. There was no good way to lay an arm across my chest without looking like I was groping myself. “I’m sending
Sedgwick for help.”
“If you’d had those in the lake, I wouldn’t have needed to save you,” Daniel said. “You could have used them as flotation devices.”
Gareth howled with laughter. “He’s funny. I never knew he was funny.”
I glared at Gareth before focusing on Daniel. “No more boob jokes. I’m trying to build my confidence before my date and this is not helping.” Not at all.
Daniel inclined his head. “You have a date?”
“Demetrius asked me to dinner,” I said.
“Are you sure he didn’t ask you to be dinner?” Daniel asked. “It’s an important distinction.”
“Hey,” Gareth objected, but, of course, Daniel didn’t hear him.
“You’ll be okay on your own tonight,” I said. “Just stay upstairs and don’t answer the door.”
Daniel raised a blond eyebrow. “All night?”
My cheeks grew flushed. “No, of course not. It’s only dinner.”
“He may want dessert when he sees you,” Daniel said pointedly. “Two scoops, in fact.”
Gareth pretended to fondle my boobs, but his hands kept gliding through me.
“Hello?” I said, waving at my pervert roommate. “Actual person here.”
“Maybe you should change your dress,” Daniel said.
“No,” Gareth said sharply. “You look incredible.”
I looked helplessly from one to the other. “I don’t want him to be distracted. I feel like he won’t hear anything I’m saying because he’ll be focused on the twins.”
The angel and the vampire remained silent and I realized they were both staring at my chest.
“Congratulations. You just proved my point!” I whipped around and ran back to the closet to find a more conservative dress.
Gareth followed me. Daniel was smart and maintained a safe distance.
“The navy blue dress with the cowl neckline,” he said softly. “It will flatter your new figure and look elegant.”
“It’s not my new figure,” I said, blinking back tears. “Is it?”
He made a gesture of trying to wipe a stray tear from my cheek. “Someone in the coven will be able to help. Just do your best to get through the evening.”
Doom and Broom (Spellbound Paranormal Cozy Mystery Book 2) Page 5