by Erin R Flynn
And that was dangerous, because I could want more.
The next morning I woke a bit later than normal, the crazy catching up with me, but I felt good. I stretched out the kinks and was ready to get done what I could, even if it was a Sunday.
I rolled out of bed and found pajamas to throw on, since I’d crashed right after my shower. My hair was probably a disaster and all over from not having brushed and dried it.
The smell of coffee made me forget that, and I headed downstairs with my phone, hoping I had some emails and messages on orders for replacement stuff. My steps faltered and my heart hurt when I saw a note on the counter. I couldn’t read it from where I was, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
You idiot. This was why you swore never to take another familiar. What did they take this time?
I swallowed down my hurt and went over to the note.
Briony,
We decided it was smart to take the SUV back during the off hours so there was less chance of trouble. I saw the code you put in for the alarm and reset it. We took your car since there’s no snow and I know you’ll want us to do a supply run in Salt Lake but it might be hot there after we drop off the vehicle if our parents are really coming after us.
Be back soon and we can plot from there,
Theo
I bit back a chuckle when I saw the “and Levi” added in different writing. Wow, they weren’t ditching me and stealing, but driving overnight so they were ready to help me more.
That voice in the back of my head said they hadn’t come back yet and to not believe it until they did. It probably wasn’t fair to think that of them, but well, history did tend to repeat itself so it was hard for my mind not to go there.
Knocking at the front door pulled me out of my thoughts. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling, all of it sort of mixed together, but I knew hope was there, that it was them, and they hadn’t screwed me.
“We should have asked her for a list of what we could get,” Theo said as I reached the door. “We wasted gas and time since we’ll have to go back today.”
“Yeah, fine, but we can still rotate sleeping again and do it fast,” Levi replied. “It was safer to get the SUV back faster.”
“I agree,” I said as I opened the door. “But driving Wyoming roads in winter is no joke so you’re lucky a storm didn’t come in.”
“Good point,” they replied together.
Theo moved closer and I flinched, thinking he was going to hug me, but instead, he cupped my breasts and leaned down to kiss them.
“Good morning, my favorite tits ever. I’m so sorry I didn’t pay you enough attention last night. I deeply regret that.” He gave them another kiss and then ran his hand between my legs. “And this pretty pussy. I didn’t get one lick of it. I’ll fix that today.”
And then the shit just strolled into my house like nothing had happened out of the ordinary.
Oh hell no.
I grabbed his arm and spun him back to me, moving him against the wall and crowding him there.
“Be careful how greedy you get with me, kid, because I’ve had centuries to play all the games. If you start being demanding with me, I will make sure you get less than you deserve.”
He shocked the shit out of me by simply smiling and kissing my forehead with a loud smack.
“I was just teasing. I slept a few hours on the drive back and still feel better than I have in years after how awesome last night was. I didn’t want to upset you, but I want it clear that if I’m having you, even if for magic, then I’m having you.” He gave me another quick kiss and slid away from the wall.
Son of a… Why did I feel like I was getting ganged up on or completely ignored?
Maybe both?
Fine, I could play this game.
They brought breakfast that I could just zap, but before that, I dragged them back down to my witch lair, as I fondly referred to it, after too many hunters had called my house. I pulled Theo in the circle with me first, summoning the spirit of the little girl who wanted nothing but cake and ice cream and making a deal.
She agreed to all of it as long as she didn’t have to touch his “boy parts.”
Yeah, no traumatizing kids, even their spirits.
The one I summoned for Levi was a spirit who’d died his age, but almost a century ago when cars were nothing compared to now. He agreed that a trip to town and doing some shopping—seeing what was out there and even eating some fast food—was worth the totems he could give me.
I smirked at the guys once they were sitting shotgun in their own bodies. “Remember, there are lots of spirits who would like to be summoned, so take the naughty ones as a gift, not a demand or expected, and behave yourselves.”
I walked out of the room, smiling because they couldn’t respond and locking the room up behind them.
I reminded the spirits they might have to let the guys take over and to listen to them so there wasn’t trouble. We couldn’t risk any problems, especially given everything going on. I knew they’d behave though; both of them were young, weak spirits, that couldn’t give much power, but they had to head into town anyways… So might as well.
I gave them what they needed to pick up the large order I had waiting at Home Depot and my corporate card for whatever food they were going to add. Once they had the keys and my number saved in their burner phone, they were out the door again.
If I didn’t have piles of calls to make, I might have laughed at the absurdity of the situation. But I did, and also sent the invoice for the order to the insurance adjuster, along with the list of items damaged, as looking online had helped me remember tons more that had been in my shop. Sad to lose that much, but at least I could get back to work a bit at a time as I ordered more and more.
Fun.
The place I’d gotten my workshop from did have another kit in stock, and after some haggling, promised to get a truck to drive it out… As long as they got some trees in the deal. The ones they couldn’t get anywhere else.
The owner wanted the wood for his private use. Fine, I could swing that since he was pulling a guy especially to get it to me fast, which the insurance wouldn’t cover.
It made me glad I got a large chain saw from Home Depot and they’d had the right one in stock.
It also meant adding some cutting down of trees on the already packed schedule tomorrow. I’d make it work now that had help, as I couldn’t just use magic in front of the driver. Well, I could, but I didn’t want to waste magic doing that and then making him think he’d seen something else. That was a lot of magic.
So on the agenda it went. Oh joy.
5
Theo
Having the spirit of a ten-year-old girl drive my body was… I didn’t think there were words for it.
Cray cray?
Possibly nightmare inducing?
Scarring?
Probably all of the above, but it was amusing to hear her talk to the spirit possessing Levi at a pace I’d never spoken before. The two of them discussed what they wanted to do in town the entire drive.
I wanted to ask why they kept throwing things out, but then she informed us that they could only stay in us a few hours and still keep their end of the deal, or they’d become fractured spirits.
Which led us to ask what that was and get a lot of information. Holy crap, did they tell us a ton about the types of spirits, why spirits were in that limbo, and how the whole thing worked.
I was really glad for the fifty-minute drive, and hoped to get some more info out of them on the drive back. They let us take over to get the order since, yeah, that could be trouble and they hoped we’d do this again.
I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Honestly, the way they talked about the limbo they were stuck in made me sad. It was always dark there, and like they were looking at the world through windows that were mucked up. And they couldn’t see where they wanted to go either.
I felt horrible when I asked her why she thought she hadn’t passed on to whatever Heaven t
here was.
Her answer was too deep for a child who died young. She didn’t think anyone was waiting for her on the other end, and that fear had kept her from moving on, and now she was pretty sure she missed her chance.
Wow, so the afterlife could suck as much as life.
Nightmare inducing.
After it was all loaded, we talked them into KFC, where they ate more than I normally could after a huge workout.
We took the leftovers for them to eat on the ride home, and then to the Walmart Supercenter. At first, they had wanted to jump around a bit more, but we promised if time was limited, they would enjoy this and we could get the shopping done we needed while having fun.
They were sold. Luckily, we were young enough, and told them to have the cover of trying things out for our niece or nephew when we headed for the toy section. Levi’s spirit wanted to know everything about video games and play them. We gave them a half an hour just to explore whatever they wanted before reminding them about the time.
Then we did the shopping with a ten-year-old girl and twenty-year-old boy in charge, neither who had been alive in at least fifty years. So it was something memorable all right.
Oh, we would laugh about this one for a while. I felt bad for the bill Briony was going to pay, but she didn’t seem concerned, as the magic was more important right then.
At least Levi was able to get half the cart full of actual food we could cook instead of only Briony’s freezers of meals.
There was one very quick stop that Levi handled, and I refused to tell a ten-year-old girl about—even if she was a spirit—but it didn’t take long.
The ride back, we got some more insights into how the summoning and magic worked. But then they wanted to talk about other places and what we had seen, so we relented, telling them about the desert on another continent we’d spent time at.
Granted, we’d left off the whole part of being in the military and the fighting there, but it was still interesting to them.
We pulled up and immediately we told the spirits we had to take over when we saw someone was at the house. They did it, probably feeling our worry and upset, especially since they liked Briony too.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up when I saw a slimy guy with a bright red face who was clearly upset speaking too close to Briony. She blocked the door and didn’t look happy either.
“As I’ve said, there is no reason to let you into my house, as we have nothing to discuss,” she said firmly as I got out of the truck.
“Everything okay here?” I asked, glancing between them.
She nodded. “Yes, the good mayor here was telling me I was mistaken and I need to drop the charges against Larson. That I wasn’t really abducted and he was going to come inside and explain what actually happened.”
I snorted. “Oh, right, because if the guy is crazy enough to abduct you and threaten to kill you, you should absolutely give him another chance to do it.” I narrowed my eyes at the mayor. “And even if her story changed, ours wouldn’t.”
His eyes flashed shock. “You’re the two who beat up four of my constituents?”
“We rescued her from being abducted,” I drawled. “I didn’t ask their names and voter district when we walked up on them threatening her life.”
He glanced between us, and a slimy smile formed on his face. “Oh, I see, yeah, you ‘rescued her.’ More like she sent her boy toys to help her rig all of this up so Larson had to back off. The bank won’t give her more time with—”
“Enough,” Briony cut in. “Enough with this insanity, and you will not spread those lies while standing on my property. I met these men that night, and they were just passing through. Your story has no legs and there are piles of evidence to the truth. I’d be careful what conspiracy theories you spout when you’re up for reelection next year.”
“What bank won’t give her more time?” I cut in when he argued and tried again. I raised an eyebrow at him. “Which one? This rumor is sort of vague. She’s late with a mortgage through what bank? Just a bank? She owes taxes? On the property? No, that’s county records. So she just owes taxes and that’s the story? How would Larson know that? The IRS can’t tell people that.”
“Gossip and crazy doesn’t need facts,” Briony drawled. “Leave my property, Mr. Mayor, or I’m calling the sheriff, and we both know he would love to get involved.”
“You being his mistress won’t save you much longer from the progress that is coming,” the mayor snapped.
Briony burst out laughing. She calmed down and looked at him, just to burst out all over again.
“Oh fuck, that’s a new one. That’s awesome. His wife is going to have a field day with that because that man would never cheat on her. I could be the whore of everywhere and he still wouldn’t stray. That’s the best rumor yet.” She shook her head at him. “Any more of this and I’m going to talk to a judge as to your mental competency. Now I’m bewitching men to cheat and I’m a mistress? You sound insane.”
I wanted to say something more about her having mirrors in her house and magic wasn’t needed to want her, but it wasn’t the time for that, and we were on a clock with the spirits. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
“This isn’t—”
“It is over,” I cut in, moving to block Briony and making him back up. “We can dance all the way to your car or you can have some pride and just leave. Larson’s done, and if you were smart and not so slimy, you would think of how to detach yourself from him instead of doubling down and threatening Briony.”
“I did no such thing.”
“Oh, I’m sure I heard you say she better do as you said or there would be trouble,” Levi said firmly. “Did you hear that, Theo?”
“Yup and something about trying to up her taxes so she’d have to sell. Could he be bribing someone in the county? We should mention that to the sheriff. They’ll listen to our clean records and good service in the military over someone tied to a guy who has no problems killing people to do business.”
“I wonder what else they’ll find on Larson now that they have him?”
The mayor about ran back to his car before we could try and imply anything else he’d done.
“Nicely done,” Briony praised. “That was good.” She glanced past us and towards the driveway. “We’re fixing that gate tonight. No more just showing the fuck up.”
I wholeheartedly agreed.
We brought everything in and finished with the spirits before sending them back after they kept their end of the deal.
“I think I’m bloated for the first time ever,” I admitted with a groan, rubbing my stomach. “We maybe should get some Pepto if we’re going to be doing this.”
“Already ahead of you,” Levi admitted. “I got it at Walmart and drank some before we got in the truck. I’ve never eaten so much fried chicken in my life.”
“I know a spirit who was a competitive eater,” Briony sang as she stood with her totems, laughing when we both groaned again. “Come on, I’ve got some trees to cut down for a deal. You can work off the calories if you want.”
So we did. We changed into work clothes, Briony making a comment about next time we were in town, we needed to pick up what we needed to help her and put it on her tab. I hated having her pay for stuff, but she was right, as my sneakers were not what I should be wearing to work as a logger.
Levi was no better, even if he was wearing boots, as they weren’t work ones.
We made it work though, her magic the real star. We cut the trees but she kept them from just falling over on others or risking us. It was like they got caught in a net that wasn’t there and gently laid on the ground.
“He’s getting the trunks that my log loader can get in the truck with help.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “You have like a CAT log loader?”
She smirked at me. “Yeah, and a tree spade to plant the smaller trees from the nursery. How would I explain all of this to others if I didn’t?”
“Good p
oint,” I agreed, not having thought that one through.
I worked on cutting off all the branches, which she got to keep and wanted for work, while Levi went with Briony and unloaded the truck into the garage that would have to suffice until her new shop got put up. Then he brought the truck over, and it took us two loads to get all the branches and everything in it.
Unfortunately, we’d missed that she had several commercial rotating compost drums by the greenhouse. At least she had a trailer that attached to the ATV that we used for all the tiny branches with leaves.
It was an ordeal, but it was worth it not to waste wood. She assured us that she could get lots of totems off the larger branches. She certainly knew what she was doing after all.
That night after dinner, we fixed the gate with magic and we both got a chance to be with her again. We’d been laughing and having fun throughout the afternoon and into dinner—but the moment we touched her, she shut down some part of herself.
She was distant after, whereas I felt closer to her, feeling the connection more than sex.
The only thing that stopped me from pushing was I felt her fear. Something so bad had happened to her that she was afraid of even giving us a chance. And part of me didn’t blame her, as we hadn’t shown we deserved a chance when we weren’t planning on sticking around.
Not that she had asked or offered that. So yeah, it was all pretty confusing.
At least the gate was fixed and the protection spell back in place.
I crashed hard that night, only having gotten a few hours’ sleep the night before. So honestly, I was glad for the early night, even if it was a bit lonely to sleep by myself after sharing something magical with her.
And I didn’t mean her being a witch.
The next morning she couldn’t summon spirits, since people were coming for the greenhouse and the workshop kit being delivered. Plus, she said we’d need our energy for that night since it was the full moon.
I was really glad I knew more about that now, or how it worked at least. Maybe the next spirit could fill us in more, since the kid had limited information and the one in Levi didn’t know much about the naughty side.