Christmas and Curses

by Amanda A. Allen

  “Scarlett that charm will wear off, and you need to back away.” Lex’s voice was filled with concern, but she couldn’t.

  Gus’s eyes cracked open, and he had tears of blood in the corner of his eyes.

  “Scarlett,” Gus croaked. “Help me.”

  She leaned down and pressed her forehead to his. “Save your strength, buddy. I got you.”

  She used her magic and fed it into him, but this time—instead of strengthening him—she helped ease him into sleep.

  “Scarlett,” Lex snapped. “Be careful.”

  “We need to get him home,” Gram said. “He needs to be in a secure environment. He won’t be able to leave again until we find and dismantle that voodoo doll.”

  “It isn’t safe there,” Lex said. “The children are vulnerable.”

  “Of course it is,” Gram countered. “Help us get him into the car.”

  “It isn’t safe for Scarlett and the girls,” Lex said. “Please, at least, bring him to my place.”

  Scarlett heard the plea in his voice and the love. “The girls aren’t at the apartment right now, and I have to at least get him home. After that…we’ll talk about where we stay.”

  Lex was a solid mass of frustrated muscle when he helped Scarlett lift Gus into the back of Harper’s car.

  “I need to go back inside,” Lex said. “You call me if there is the slightest bit of trouble getting him back to himself.”

  “Gram will call Aunt Briët and my cousins. I won’t be alone with him,” Scarlett said. She wasn’t worried about being alone with Gus, but Lex was worried, and she didn’t want that either. “He won’t hurt me, Lex. I promise.”

  “I wish that was a promise I could believe.”

  She placed her hand on his shoulder and let her fingers trail slowly down to his hand and took it. She tangled her fingers with his, putting her other hand on his chest and reaching up to kiss him.

  “Trust me,” Scarlett said. “Trust all the experience I have with him. Trust that we know him.”

  “You aren’t 14 anymore, Scarlett. And he isn’t the boy that was your best friend. He is a full grown, powerful vampire with strength to spare.”

  “If there is the slightest sign that we won’t be safe, I promise you I’ll call.”

  “And the girls will sleep at Harper’s.” It was a statement, but there was a question in it, and Scarlett nodded.

  “I wish you would too,” he said. “I’ll bring Amelie to…”

  He hesitated and Scarlett cupped his cheek as she said, “Rebel is staying with Briët. Amelie can stay there too. I know Harper’s is too close for you to feel good about Amelie.”

  “Ok,” he said. “Ok.”

  “And we’ll talk,” she said firmly. She needed to know about his parents and the huge piece of himself that he was, yet again, hiding away.

  He hesitated and then agreed.

  Scarlett got in the car and channeled Harper’s driving as they made their way back to the apartment. The cousins were waiting outside, and they half-dragged, half-carried Gus inside. Mom had already arranged the apartment, so all they had to do was a put Gus in the center of the circle to work their magic.

  Mom scowled at the cuffs and had them off before they even started the magic. She lay down next to him in the circle and said, “Gus, my boy, we’ve got to stop meeting like this.”

  He laughed a hoarse croak of a thing and then one of those blood tears fell.

  “I always wanted you for my mom,” he told her. There was so much longing in his voice and she wiped his tear away, not caring in the least that it was blood.

  “I always wished you were my son,” she told him, brushing back his hair as if he were a child instead of a full-grown man. “Maybe we could just agree to be family now?”

  “I’d like that,” he admitted.

  “You two,” Gram said, “You always were family. Must we waste this time?”

  “But now it’s formal,” Mom said, not caring a bit about the irritation in Gram’s voice. “We needed to agree.”

  Gus sat up slowly and begged, “Make it stop.”

  “We will,” Mom said firmly.

  His hands went slowly to his head as he asked, “Did I hurt anyone?”

  “No…of course not,” Scarlett said. “We wouldn’t let you hurt anyone.”

  The look on his face said he wasn’t sure they’d have been able to stop him, but he wasn’t giving Gram the credit she deserved. Gram could be downright scary.

  She also was without patience and started the spell with her low hum. This time with Mom feeding the magic into Gus. It didn’t take nearly as long to return him to himself. When it was over, Scarlett messaged Harper the details and the request to keep the girls and then Scarlett left.

  She loved Gus and worried for him. But she needed to talk to Lex, to those shrews Petra and Betty, and Scarlett would be damned if she went home tonight without that voodoo doll in her hands. If the knowing could lead her daughters to a body, it could lead Scarlett to the voodoo doll.

  She didn’t go after it though. She went after Lex.

  Chapter 11

  “Tell me,” she said to Lex.

  “I don’t have any evidence,” he told her. He didn’t seem to care so much about police protocol when she was in his office, and they were having lunch together. He was eating a carne asada burrito. She was having a grilled veggie burrito. Their legs were tangled under the table, and the return to a version of normal made her feel anchored again.

  Without thought or hesitation, they’d naturally woven their legs together. The anger was fading even though the frustration and hurt were still present.

  “But you think it was Petra?” Scarlett guessed and then spread guacamole over her burrito.

  “She seems likeliest. Something is off there. If Petra isn’t the killer, she has a pretty good idea of who killed Murphy.”

  “I’d bet on Betty if she weren’t so frail,” Scarlett said.

  “We are supernatural,” Lex said.

  Scarlett considered that for a moment and then said, “Maybe if we’re talking about a grandma vampire not grandma druid. We don’t have super strength.”

  “I suppose they could just have an idea of what the Murphy chick was involved in and it could be someone else, but…Gus and the hex bag. Why would whoever killed Murphy target you?”

  “I have no idea,” Scarlett said. “I didn’t know her at all. None of us did. What do you know about her?”

  Lex took a huge final bite of his burrito, wadding the wrapped and tossing it into the trashcan. “It’s early days yet, but her boss didn’t seem broken up. When I asked further, I guess she was…inept, rude. She had a lot of complaints.”

  Scarlett leaned back, pushing her burrito aside. It was making her sick again to think about murders and hex bags. She didn’t want to think about it, but there was one thing that she couldn’t shake.

  “Tell me about your parents.”

  Lex froze at that one. He cleared his throat and avoided her gaze, but she couldn’t let it go.

  “I need you to be straight with me.”

  He rose and crossed to his office door and locked it. When he turned, his face was a blank slate. One that she knew too often hid feelings that he didn’t want anyone to see. Even her. Maybe especially her.

  “My first memory was my dad beating my mom.”

  Scarlett wanted to say something to that. But she clenched her jaw tight and refused to speak. She kept her gaze focused on him, and when he took the chair next to her, she took his hand, weaving her fingers through his.

  “I was hiding under my crib. It was terrible. I should have been too little to remember, but I do.”

  Scarlett squeezed him because it was all she could do. It wasn’t enough.

  “He was a drinker. It was like that most of my childhood. He finally caused a car accident and went to jail the last couple years of high school. I moved out when he got out. Couch surfed rather than being there when he was. I couldn�
�t be around him like that again. Not after a few years of peace.”

  Scarlett rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand and prevented herself from saying a single word.

  “He didn’t drink again after that. But it was too late for me. My mom forgave him. She’s…passive.” He sounded disgusted, and Scarlett didn’t blame him one bit. She wanted to go back and rescue that little boy. She wanted to save him and love him and hold him and give him the childhood he deserved.

  “He was why I let them talk me out of Amelie. I didn’t want to do to her what he did to me. It wasn’t until…” He cursed. Scarlett could see that he had determined to be straight with her, but she could also see that each word was painful. His face was still a blank slate, but it didn’t change that she knew him well enough to see how what he was saying hurt him.

  “It wasn’t until you and your girls. I saw what a family could be, should be. I realized I was being a coward both about Amelie and about acknowledging what I wanted.”

  Her? Scarlett felt like her heart would break a thousand times for him and it would never be enough to convey how he made her feel.

  “So you were willing to mend your relationship with your parents to…”

  “Whatever it takes to keep the girls safe,” Lex said, and she could see how much he didn’t want to call those parents of his. “They’ve been trying for years. Endlessly. But I just call my mom on her birthday and mother’s day and leave it at that. I don’t talk to Dad. Ever. I don’t care if he’s still clean. I don’t.”

  “I’m not perfect,” she told him suddenly needing him to understand. “Don’t make me seem like I’m something I’m not. Don’t pin all your hopes on me. I have baggage and worries and weaknesses and sometimes I don’t brush my hair.”

  “You are everything I ever wanted,” Lex said, laughing. He pulled his hands from hers to take her cheeks between his hands. Their gazes met and his was so full of love, he held her captive with the force of it.

  From one breath to the next, he’d stolen her air and her heart yet again. He stole it over and over again while he wrapped her up in love and need. “I love you, Scarlett Oaken. I won’t let Gus sneak you away behind my back.”

  Their lips were barely separated when she laughed breathlessly. “Gram told Gus she had someone picked out for him today.”

  Lex pulled back to examine Scarlett.

  “Is he interested?”

  “Oh, I would say so.” Scarlett rubbed her cheek against Lex’s and said, “He’d be hunting her now if he could leave the apartment.”

  “I’ll help,” Lex said instantly.

  “Hunt the girl or get him out of the apartment.”

  “Both.”

  “You gonna wingman the late-blooming vampire?”

  “I think I’m the only person in Mystic Cove who sees the powerful vampire and not the fangless boy,” Lex said.

  “Sounds to me like whoever Gram has picked out sees Gus for exactly what he is.”

  “She sounds perfect,” Lex said. His eyes darkened a little bit, and he stole her breath again until someone knocked on his office door.

  Scarlett laughed while he cursed, and then he rose to answer the door. Scarlett pushed the chair he’d been using in before someone guessed they’d been doing more than having lunch.

  “Murphy’s roommate is here,” the meter maid boy said. His acne cheeks had cleared up a bit, and he walked a little bit straighter when Lex let the kid into the room.

  “You puke on the body, yet?” Scarlett asked him.

  He flushed and Lex said, “Scarlett, be nice.”

  “Just kidding,” she told the kid, wrapping up her burrito and saying, “I’ve got errands to run.”

  “Have Jones take the roommate to the victim,” Lex said. “Scarlett, wait.”

  She pressed her lips together to hide her frustration that she hadn’t been able to slip away. She had a voodoo doll to find and wasn’t sticking around for busywork or to be sidestepped by him later.

  “I know what you want to do,” Lex said, “And we’re doing it together.”

  Oh well all right then.

  * * * * *

  “We’re taking Harper’s car,” Scarlett said. “Because you’re not the sheriff right now, you’re Gus’s friend.”

  “Is that what I am?”

  Scarlett tossed Lex the keys and grinned at him.

  “I guess it is,” he said. His eyes glinted and they both turned to look at Harper’s shiny car. “This is a sexy beast.”

  “Mmm,” Scarlett said. She could care less about cars and was grateful hers was big enough for Lex, Mom, Harper, Rebel, and the girls.

  Lex grinned and she said, “Roll the windows down?”

  He started the car, and she closed her eyes, laying back against the seat. They followed the knowing fruitlessly in circles. Lex finally pulled over after their fourth trip down Helen Road when she lost the feeling in the back of her mind that had been guiding them.

  Lex said, “I don’t think this is working.”

  She pressed her forehead with her fingers, frustrated beyond belief. The feeling was there—it wasn’t like she was feeling nothing. She was, in fact, doing exactly what she’d taught her daughters to do just that morning.

  “Drive to Betty’s house,” Scarlett suggested.

  “Don’t you think that’ll skew things?”

  “Don’t you think they’re involved?”

  His answer was to drive towards Betty’s. Scarlett didn’t hold his hand this time while they drove. She tried to ignore everything about him and focus. But no…that niggling feeling in her mind that led her away from here.

  She finally called Henna, explaining trying to find the voodoo doll, that the knowing was leading them, but nowhere.

  “Hmmm,” Henna said.

  Scarlett could hear Gram in the background and the two of them whispered together about Scarlett’s trouble following the knowing. She only caught snippets. Something about being ‘affected’ as though Gus being a victim was contagious. Her eye twitched at that. The discussion raged while Scarlett laid her head on Lex’s shoulder and they waited.

  The curtains twitched in Betty’s living room, and Scarlett was sure the person knew exactly who was here. At least as far as Scarlett went. Given the darkness of the window tint, they probably didn’t see Lex with her.

  Finally, Mr. Jueavas said, “Let me talk to the girl.”

  “Hello,” Scarlett said when he cleared his throat. She put them on speaker, so Lex could contribute.

  “Betty’s place is over on Helens Road isn't it? Near the Landing Park?”

  “Yeah,” Lex said. They were looking right at Landing Park, and Scarlett was so frustrated she didn’t want to go there ever again.

  “And Henna said y’all keep going down Helens for a while and then veer over on MacDonald?”

  “Yeah,” Lex said. “You have an idea why?”

  “There’s a creek in Landing Park,” Mr. Jueavas said. “They dumped the voodoo doll in it, I’d be guessing. That little thing wanders all over the place. Going under a few streets here and there through a few culverts. When I was a boy nearly killed myself more than once messing around in those.”

  “Ohhhh,” Scarlett breathed.

  They didn’t even need to confer, they drove down Helens until the creek veered over to MacDonald. It went back to Helens in a mile or two, but there was a passage of culverts that was stupid dangerous. Lex parked above them and they looked at each other.

  “Is it in there?”

  Scarlett nodded.

  “What are the chances that Harper has a big industrial flashlight?”

  Scarlett had to laugh when she answered, “The chances are pretty good that she has some sort of lighter fluid and rags.”

  Lex’s jaw ticked and Scarlett laughed even harder.

  “Admit it, you don’t care.”

  He paused. “I really don’t.”

  “You trust her enough to not burn down someone’s house.”
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  “But probably not their shed.”

  “Or their random bush.”

  “Or their car.”

  “Or a garbage can.” Scarlett laughed and then said, “So, we’ll make some torches, and I’ll climb in.”

  “I’ll go in. We need rubber boots and waders.”

  “Wuss,” Scarlett said and then added seriously, “But I’m smaller than you, and it’ll be tight. I’ll do it.”

  “And dangerous. It’ll be too dangerous.”

  “You can rescue me so much better than I can rescue you.”

  He snorted and then asked, “What does that even mean?”

  “If I get stuck, you can haul me out easier than I can haul you out,” Scarlett tried again, hoping to sound confident.

  “Let’s just go get gear and…”

  “I’m not leaving without that voodoo doll,” Scarlett said. “They saw us outside the house. They know we’re looking for it. Betty knows Gram…well. Really well. Betty can guess exactly how long it would take Gram to figure out a voodoo doll. And those two know what they did with the doll. If we leave, it might not be here when we get back.”

  Lex’s gaze was fixed on the little creek, and she didn’t blame him one bit. It was cold outside. This was gonna suck. But she would be doing it regardless.

  Lex rubbed his jaw and Scarlett said, “I’m really not leaving without it.”

  “You are the most stubborn woman alive,” Lex said. He opened the trunk of Harper’s car, and they found a bin with lighter fluid, rags, and even a few sticks. It was all very neatly organized. “Your sister is a little terrifying.”

  “Usually she just makes bonfires on the beach,” Scarlett lied.

  Lex’s look gave her about as much credit as she deserved for that whopper she’d just told. She shrugged and took one of the sticks from the bin. She wrapped a rag around it and covered it in lighter fluid.

  “Just how many of the fires have you started with Harper?”

  “What? None.” Ok, she might be a little too proficient at creating hand-made torches but that didn’t automatically equal criminal activity did it?

  “Maybe none since you’ve been back,” Lex guessed accurately.