by Amy Boyles
Dex crossed to me. A surge of energy surrounded him like a halo. I felt the power sink into me. It was like the heat from a fire—warm yet powerful.
I scratched my neck nervously. He was getting close. Awfully close. Like close enough to kiss me close.
I cleared my throat.
Dex opened his palm, and magic tendrils sprang from his skin, weaving together until they formed a pink rose. I gasped.
The flower shimmered and glowed as it spun on the mound of his palm. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my whole life.
Besides the beautiful man in front of me.
Wait.
What? Did I just think that?
What was wrong with me? I longed to be with Stone. I mean, he was almost my semi-boyfriend—granted he would eventually leave and return to heaven or wherever, but we still had a connection and we sometimes kissed.
I sighed.
Crap. Life was about to get a heck of a lot more complicated, wasn’t it?
The flower lifted from his hand. “Take it.”
I opened my palm right as it landed on my skin. The magic hummed, and my skin vibrated with it. The flower felt alive, wondrous, like it was magic made of love.
Love.
I glanced into Dex’s eyes and saw his compassion, his longing and yes, darn it, his love for me. “It’s yours,” he said, turning away.
I frowned. What the heck was I supposed to do with a magical rose? Put it under a glass case and watch as the petals slowly fell? “What do I do with it?”
“Press it into your chest and take my magic.”
I frowned. “What’s that going to do?”
“You’ll see.”
I was skeptical, but I did as he said. The flower sank into my skin, sending a wash of light flowing over me. A surge of sheer bliss permeated every one of my cells. For a moment I felt as if it had been love itself I’d taken into me.
“How did you do that?”
Dex raked muscular fingers that looked good enough to nibble through his thick waves. “It happened after I turned. I lost my ability to use the book, but my power became different, stronger, more powerful. I could do more, be more, feel more.” He studied me, his gaze holding a hint of the past that had been between us.
Not wanting to go down that path because, well, you know, the whole mortal enemy thing, I clapped my hands, cleared my throat and put on my proverbial focusing hat. “Great. Thanks. Now. What’s the plan?”
“You wait outside. When the werewolf comes, I’ll be in here and I’ll get him into the cage.”
I scoffed. “No way. When we hunted together, you called the shots. This is my town; we’re not doing things your way.”
He flashed his palms in submission. “You’re the warrior princess. How do you want to do it?”
I yanked my tunic in an attempt to look authoritative. “I stay in here and catch him.”
“Okay, I’m not going to argue it.”
I crossed my arms and sank onto one hip. “Neither am I. You go outside. I’ll stay in here. If anything goes crazy, you’ll be nearby. Nothing’s going to happen to me.” I rolled my eyes. “I know that’s what you’re worried about.” I clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll be fine. Okay? Thanks.”
Was I trying to convince myself or Dex?
Dex shook his head. “I guess there’s no point in arguing, is there?”
I gave him a bright, cheerful smile. “You remember me well.”
Dex flipped off the light and left the building to wait. I’d assumed he’d gone to the back, which was where we kept seeing this Antonio, the elusive werewolf.
I sat down to wait.
A half a minute later, I heard a rustle from behind. I glanced over my shoulder right as a dark shape threw me across the room. The wind rushed from my lungs, and my back rammed into the edge of a rack.
I inhaled sharply from the pain, which only made it worse. Moonlight cut through the room, and I could just see the figure darting toward me.
I pulled in my magic. Sparks flared on my fingertips. I shot them out, aiming at the creature.
Light ignited the room, and I could quite clearly see the werewolf. He was tall, almost seven feet and easily three feet wide. In a blur the animal dodged my magic and leaped toward me. I kicked, hitting it in the leg I think. The creature grabbed me by the shoulder and tossed me to the other side of the room.
Crap. If this kept up, I’d be black-and-blue all over before it was finished.
My leg caught something, and a second later the magical cage crashed to the floor. The werewolf rushed from the building, heading to the back. I heard Dex’s footsteps stamping onto the concrete. They came quickly and then stopped.
I’d known Dex long enough to realize his pause meant he was thinking, trying to figure out where I was.
He ran inside. “Andie!”
“In the cage,” I said, biting through the words. It was embarrassing and downright frustrating that the first time I hunt with my husband—I mean Dex—I wind up inside the freakin’ magical cage he created.
“Ugh.” Pain shot up my side when I spoke.
The lights flared to life. Clothes were scattered across the floor. At least that’s how they looked from behind the bars of my imprisonment.
Dex waved a hand, and the cage disappeared. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “I’m fine, though my ego is bruised.”
“I’ll say,” came a voice from behind us.
I looked back and saw Sheriff Terry Terry. His blue uniform was wrinkled, and his short, peppery hair was mussed like he’d been asleep in his patrol vehicle and had just woken up.
His wiry little hand shook as he pointed a gun in my direction. “Nobody move,” he said. “Both of you are under arrest.”
FOURTEEN
Like, really? Could my day get any worse? And I was a thousand percent sure that my hair was all screwed up, my makeup was smeared, and I looked like a witch hooker in my clothes.
Okay, maybe I was overreacting. Scratch the witch part.
Pretty sure I looked like a woman of the night.
My great idea outfit, the one that made the most sense for when I was just plain angry and mad at the world and when I, for once, didn’t care if I didn’t fit in, now felt like an eyesore.
And for the record, I still cared if I fit in.
Dex and I haunted the same cell. Normal wasn’t that big of a town; they only had one holding cell.
Sheriff Terry, a cigarette hanging from between his lips, unlocked the gate. “Employer said he gave you access to enter, just as you said.” He nodded to Dex. Terry’s graying hair was cut just long enough to turn yellow at the tips, stained from the tar while smoking in his patrol car, I imagined.
“You’re free to go.”
Terry gave us both a ride back to Dex’s car. We got out, and Terry rolled down the window. “I’d stay away from this area at night. Watch where you go. This guy let you into his store, but I’d be careful if I were you.”
Dex nodded to him. “Thanks for the advice.”
When Terry drove off, I turned to Dex. “Did that seem more like a warning to you?”
He nodded. “Sure did. Come on, I’ll take you home.”
When we got settled inside the Corvette, I glanced over at him. “So who was the werewolf? Did you get a good look at him?”
Dex shook his head. “Nope, but even if I had, I haven’t seen any of the shifters in their true form.”
I cocked a brow. “Don’t you think you should have pictures of all of them on file? You know, if something were to happen.”
He nodded. “That’s a good idea. I’ll get on that once we get this cleared up.”
I clicked my tongue in triumph. “Once this gets cleared up, you and the rest of them are leaving.”
But even as I said it, a pang of guilt poked my heart.
Dex’s jaw clenched. “I thought you said you were abandoning this town.”
I rested my elbow on the lip of
the door and leaned my forehead onto my fingers. “I’m hoping this whole witch thing blows over.”
Dex smiled. “If it doesn’t, you’re welcome to come with me.”
I shook my head. “Not going to happen.” I blew out a shot of air. “Listen, Dex, I did fine the past three years without you. You can’t just walk into my life and think you’re going to so easily slide right in. I had to go through the pregnancy and give birth alone. And raise Gabby by myself—myself. Me. All alone. Without you, while you went around biting whoever you wanted and learning how to be a big, bad vampire full of magic.” Once my anger took hold, it did not want to let go. “You are not welcome into my life. Not welcome. Do you understand?”
He nodded. “I understand. But I’ve explained why I stayed away. What was I supposed to do? Show up and be so overcome with blood lust that I turn you and Gabby into vampires? Do you want a baby vampire? Have you ever seen one? They’re freaky.”
I growled in frustration. “That’s— I just— Stop. I don’t even know what to say to that.”
“Well, I do. It’s not a good option.”
I shot him a dark look. Dex grinned as he ground to a halt outside my house.
I got out, and before I could shut the door, he added, “See you at Thanksgiving dinner.”
“Argh!”
He drove off before I could throw a rock or something at his car. I tried to bend over, but my back was still killing me. I needed a good hot bath, my favorite bathrobe and hot chocolate with whipped cream.
That would make me feel better.
So that’s what I did, and by morning I felt right as rain, except for a little sore spot on my spine. I was in the kitchen, moving slowly to avoid a jolt of pain racing down my back. My fingers were clasped around a fresh mocha with extra chocolate, and life felt about as normal as it was going to feel.
Until Kate stalked into the kitchen, slamming the door behind her.
Dot gushed with pleasure. “Kate, I don’t feel the buzzes. Your little energy spirits have vanished! Left for the underworld to seed their light someplace else.”
Kate and I shot Dot confused glances. “Yes,” my best friend said. She whirled on me. “Andie! There’s a terrible rumor going around that you were arrested last night!” She threw her purse on the counter. It spilled over, and a little blue pillbox clattered onto the counter.
Dot stood at the stove boiling eggs. She turned around. Her eyebrows shot up at least three feet.
I slowly curled my legs under the cushion of my chair and gripped my coffee mug tighter. “News sure travels fast in Normal.”
Kate slowly reached out to me, hesitating as she rested her hand on my arm. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
I reclined, grimacing as my tender back sank into the cushion. “Well, Dex and I were trying to catch a werewolf.”
Dot’s eyebrows shot up at least five more feet. “Did you say Dex?”
I sighed. “Yes.”
“As in the Dex you’re married to?”
“Was married. Yes.”
“As in the Dex who’s a vampire and you’ve sworn not to have anything to do with?”
I gritted my teeth and said, “Yes. That same Dex. We got a lead on the werewolf who’s been breaking into some businesses. I’m trying to figure out if the break-ins are related to Cal’s death. As far as I know, they didn’t start until after the murder, so it seems like it might be related.”
Dot glanced over at Kate’s purse. “Kate, that’s a wonderful little pillbox you have.”
My best friend brightened. She whipped over to it and thrust it at my great-aunt. “Isn’t it darling? Got it at the antique store.”
Dot fluffed her hair. “Let me take a look at it.” She took the container between her wrinkled fingers and turned it one way and then the other. “It’s very pretty. Old.”
Kate nibbled her bottom lip something terrible.
“What is it?” I said.
She twisted her cloud of hair at the nape of her neck and pulled a ponytail holder around it. “I just hope Givens doesn’t find out about the arrest. From what I understand, she’s supposed to be talking to the board about you soon. I’m not sure when. If she finds out, she’ll have to tell the board. Even though the police didn’t charge you with anything, the board will probably fire you.”
I sank my head onto the counter. “Seriously. Could my life get any worse?”
“Andie,” Vordrid said, sailing into the room. “I’m afraid it could. I tested the sample that you gave me, and it’s definitely hair—werewolf hair.”
I lifted my head. “That’s actually not worse. That’s almost better.”
Vordrid landed on top of the table. “Here’s where it gets worse.”
“Shoot,” I said.
“Gabby got into the sample.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “So what does that mean?”
In walked my toddler. Only she wasn’t quite my toddler.
“Dear Lord,” I screeched.
Coarse fur covered Gabby from head to foot. Thick werewolf fur. Like she was a shifter herself.
I jumped from the chair. Even Kate took a step back, and she loved kids.
I grabbed Gabby by the arms and stroked a hand down her face. “What the heck is going on?”
“It’s called a glamour,” Dot said.
Gabby started tugging at my robe belt. “I know what that is. Why does she look like this?”
Dot glanced over at Vordrid. He swiveled in her direction. I swear, if the Magic 8 Ball had eyes, they’d be staring at each other and rolling them at my question.
Dot walked over to Gabby and inspected her from crown to sole. “She touched the hairs?”
Vordrid jumped up and down. “That’s all it took.”
“That’s all what took?” I said, crossing my arms. “One of you needs to tell me what’s going on.”
Kate nodded. “Exactly right. Before we both have heart attacks.”
Dot picked up Gabby and plopped her on the counter. “It’s an excellent glamour, if I do say so myself.”
“I will take my child away from you and you’ll never see her again if you don’t explain what this means right now.”
Vordrid cleared his throat. “Allow me.”
“She’s much more intuitive than I ever suspected,” Dot mused.
“Especially for one so young,” Vordrid added.
“Talk,” I nearly shouted.
“Sorry,” Vordrid said. “Every once in a very long while a witch is born with intuitive magic.”
“Meaning?”
Dot stroked Gabby’s fur. I really wished she wouldn’t do that. “Meaning that sometimes a witch can touch an object and take on certain qualities of it. It’s hard to predict who’s going to have these qualities, and usually they don’t develop in one so young.”
I clicked my tongue. “But Gabby got her powers early.”
They’d started coming in a few weeks ago, actually. Normally a witch didn’t get her powers until she was older, around the age of puberty. But when an angel fell from the sky, it changed the magical currents in the air, leading to my child being able to work magic.
Yeah. A toddler with the power to work magic.
Freaky as heck, right?
That’s what I thought, too.
I groaned and rested my forehead on the inside of my arm. I wanted to be Gabby’s teacher, show her the ways of magic, but let’s face it, this was way out of my league. Like, over the Green Monster at Fenway Park out of my league. Best I leave some things to Dot, perhaps.
“Since she received her powers early,” Vordrid explained, “being an intuitive would have arrived earlier, too.”
I shook my head. “I’ve never met an intuitive witch before. So what exactly can they do?”
Dot ruffled the fur on top of Gabby’s head. “They can work extensive glamours. Ridiculously wonderful sorts of things. In fact, I once knew an intuitive who shifted herself into the shape of a dragon.”
I f
rowned. “Wait. I thought you said this was a glamour, not shape-shifting.”
Dot made a so-so gesture. “It’s a little of both.”
“Great. Just great. And I suppose since she’s so young, it could happen at any time.”
Vordrid bounced up and down. “Only if something strikes her curiosity. Like the hairs did, for instance.”
I threw up my hands. “Great. So there’s no way to control it. So my daughter will have to be a shut-in, is that what you’re saying?”
Dot laughed. “If this was a town that embraced supernaturals, then her talent wouldn’t be a problem.”
I slapped the counter. “Just stop. I’ve been accused of murder, outed as a witch and arrested within the span of only a few days. I don’t even want to discuss the possibility of Normal changing.”
“I was just saying,” Dot mumbled.
Kate crossed to Gabby and gave her a big smile. “I wonder,” she said. Kate started to tickle Gabby. My little girl chuckled from deep in her belly. As the sweetest sound in the world filled my ears, the hairs started to disappear. Within a minute or two she’d gone back to herself.
I gaped at my best friend. “How’d you know to do that?”
She shrugged. “A passage in that beginner’s witchcraft book that Dot gave me said certain emotional conditions can break spells. Crying, for instance, or getting angry. I figured laughter and happiness weren’t much different.” Kate clapped her hands together. “Crazy how the most inexperienced in the room figured it out.”
I scoffed. “I knew it all along.”
She smacked her lips. “Right.”
I hugged Gabby to my chest and settled her back on the floor. “Mommy, I go play.”
“Okay, have fun.”
Gabby toddled off, and I turned to Dot. “Do you have any idea how we can control it? I don’t need her getting all intuitive on me in the grocery store.”
Dot smiled. “Andie, you need to support her. Embrace your daughter, make her feel loved and wanted. That’s the best thing you can do for her.”
I tapped my foot. “That doesn’t exactly answer my question.”
Dot fluffed her pink hair. “The whole purpose of life is to figure it out along the way. You’ve spent quite a lot of that time rejecting things. The easiest path is acceptance. When you accept who you are, others will accept things as well. Magic works on the karmic currents as well as the ones of power. When the ebb and flow are in order, all is right.”