by Deanna Chase
About the Books
Spirits, Hurricanes, and the Krewe of Ghoul
It’s Halloween and Pyper Rayne’s all vamped up, ready to play the vampire bride. And so is Ida May, her resident ghost. But when the “vampires” their partying with start to appear to be real, there’s more at stake that just a little bite.
The Witch’s Halloween Hero
When a spell goes wrong on the night of Samhain for witch Corette Williams, her only hope is the man she loves, Bartholomew Stanhill. But time is running out. As the clock ticks toward midnight on Halloween, they grow closer to the moment when magic will erase him from her mind. Can Stanhill become Corette’s Halloween hero?
Bad Moon Rising
When demon hunter Angelica Mortis receives a mysterious package, its unusual contents enacts a prophecy that brings a smart-ass (but cute) wizard named Roc into her life—and threatens to unravel her secret past.
A Charming Death
June Heal and Oscar Park’s upcoming nuptials are sending the Dark Sider and Good Sider spiritual in a tail spin on this All Hallow’s Eve wedding celebration. Aunt Helena wants Junes to have a Good Sider ceremony, while Aunt Eloise wants Oscar to have a Dark Sider ceremony. When one of the Aunts is poisoned, June and Oscar aren’t sure they will have enough time to figure out who is sabotaging their wedding before Mr. Prince Charming walks her down the aisle?
Mission Impawsible
Everything happens for a reason, even if it’s caused by incompetence.
What happens when you take one very powerful wand, crack open an ancient spell book and mix thoroughly with a pair of inexperienced witches? For Kelly and Randy it’s a spell gone wild. With no idea what sort of magical mayhem they’ve created, they have to choose between waiting for the Witches Union to hunt them down or take their chances with a life on the run. But there is another choice, to figure out the spell and try to undo it before it’s too late.
When Kelly learns her spell has direct consequences on her were-bear boyfriend, she has no choice but to gather up the witches of Karma, Inc for a new adventure. The gang will take on a new cast of troublemakers in paranormal-infested Caldron Falls. It’s up to Kelly to see if she has what it takes to lead her crew of witchy buffoons on a Mission Impawsible to save her were-bear.
One Charmed Evening
Leader of the Underworld Halloween LaVeau is attending an award ceremony. Brothers Liam and Nicolas have been nominated for Coven Leader of the Year. Things take a strange turn when ghosts and magic collide during the ceremony. There will be no awards given out if Halloween doesn’t gain control of the event.
Catatonic
Young woman are falling asleep, but never waking up. When bounty hunter, Femi, is asked to look into the case, she’ll do something she never thought she’d do: risk her own life to save a bunch of humans.
Desperate Housewives of Olympus
A new goddess is taking control of her happily ever after. Hyacinth, errant daughter of Apollo is on fire. Literally. And the only one who can put out the flame is the cold, reluctant God of the North Wind, Boreas. Too bad he’s burning with her. It’ll take a night of passion at the Ambrosia Lane Halloween Ball to prove once and for all that this goddess is a woman in charge of her own destiny.
Coming Soon
Click here for Hex the Halls, our bewitching holiday anthology. Release date: Nov 17th.
Spell of the Ball
Spirits, Hurricanes, and the Krewe of Ghoul
Deanna Chase
The Witch’s Halloween Hero
Kristen Painter
Bad Moon Rising
Michele Bardsley
A Charming Death
Tonya Kappes
Mission Impawsible
Melanie James
One Charmed Evening
Rose Pressey
Catatonic
Liz Schulte
Desperate Housewives of Olympus
Saranna DeWylde
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 Bayou Moon Publishing
Copyright © 2015 by Michele Bardsley
Copyright © 2015 by Melanie James
Copyright © 2015 by Deanna Chase
Copyright © 2015 by Tonya Kappes
Copyright © 2015 by Liz Schulte
Copyright © 2015 by Kristen Painter
Copyright © 2015 by Rose Pressey
Copyright © 2015 by Saranna DeWylde
Cover Design: Rebecca Poole
Interior Layout: The Printed Page
ISBN: 978-1-940299-35-8 eBook Version
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, business establishments, or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.
Contents
Spell of the Ball
Copyright
Contents
Spirits, Hurricanes, and the Krewe of Ghoul
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
About the Author
Other Books by Deanna
The Witch’s Halloween Hero
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
About the Author
Other Books by Kristen Painter
Bad Moon Rising
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
About the Author
A Charming Death (do us part)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
About the Author
Also by Tonya Kappes
Mission Impawsible
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
About the Author
One Charmed Evening
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
About the Author
Catatonic
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
About the Author
More Books by Liz
Desperate Housewives of Olympus: Hyacinth
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Afterward/Author’s Note
Other Books in the Series
About the Author
Spirits, Hurricanes, and the Krewe of Ghoul
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br /> Deanna Chase
It’s Halloween and Pyper Rayne’s all vamped up, ready to play the vampire bride. And so is Ida May, her resident ghost. But when the “vampires” their partying with start to appear to be real, there’s more at stake that just a little bite.
Chapter 1
Spiked boots, a leather corset, and a wooden stake. What else did a girl need for a night out on Halloween? Oh, right. Two puncture wounds on the neck…and maybe a trickle of blood. Yes, that would do it.
“Pyper?” Nissa called, poking her blond head into the back room of the café I owned and managed. “Ready?”
“Just a sec,” I said as I pushed my blue-streaked dark hair to the side and expertly added the bite marks and blood to my neck.
“Ida May!” Nissa admonished. “Cut it out.”
Chuckling to myself, I shook my head. Ida May was my resident ghost and favorite troublemaker. There was no telling what kind of shenanigans she was up to. I stuffed my lip gloss into the pocket of my skirt and strode out into the front of the café.
“Damn, you look hot,” Nissa said.
I studied my new employee. Tiny, but fierce, she was in her early twenties and had large Kewpie doll eyes. When she dressed up, she was a knockout. But the costume she was currently wearing made her look like she belonged in a Fruit of the Loom commercial. “And you look, ah…”
“Ridiculous. It’s okay. You can say it. There’s no other way to put it when there’s a giant strawberry on my head.” She adjusted her strawberry-shaped hat that had a straw sticking out of the top of it and then glanced down at her daiquiri-shaped dress. “I can’t believe Vince is making us wear these. Why can’t I be on the All Vamped Up float with you?”
Every Halloween, the Krewe of Ghoul put on a parade through the French Quarter, and this year, I’d been invited by a client to ride on his vampire-themed float. Nissa was riding in the float sponsored by her boss. Her other boss, that is. She worked part time for the Dollar Daiquiri on Bourbon Street. “Because you’re getting paid to ride the Daiquiri Dolls float instead?”
“Right.” She frowned. “It still sucks.”
I grabbed the tickets I’d stashed in the register and held them up. “I have an extra ticket to the Night of the Living Dead Ball afterward. Wanna come?”
“Really? Omigod, I’d love—” Her dress flew up, exposing her strawberry-print panties. “Hey!”
Ida May cackled behind Nissa. What the hell is she wearing? Doesn’t she know the fellas prefer something a little…I don’t know? Sexier? Strawberry Shortcake underwear is just wrong.
“How do you know anything about Strawberry Shortcake?” I asked Ida May.
Please. I’ve been watching television since that thing was invented. What else is there to do all day?
“Excuse me?” Nissa glanced around the shop. “Did she just call me Strawberry Shortcake?”
I snorted out a laugh, both relieved and disappointed that I was the only one who could hear Ida May speaking. She was a ghost from the early nineteen hundreds, and she had been one of the ladies of Storyville—the notorious New Orleans red-light district. To say she had no filter was an understatement.
“Pyper!” Nissa cast a glare in my direction. “It’s not funny. Now there’s a group of dirty pervs outside staring at me.”
“Sorry.” I winced, eyeballing a guy making rude gestures with his fingers and tongue.
Please. Nissa should be so lucky to get some much-needed tongue—
“Ida May, you’re out of control. If you ever do that to one of my customers, I’m going to get a sage stick, do a cleansing, and toss you out on your ass. Then where will you be?”
No you won’t. Life around here would be way too dull without me. She lifted her lacy nightgown and flashed her ruffled panties at me before disappearing into the back room.
She was right. Ida May certainly made the work day a lot more interesting. But I’d never tell her that. The last thing she needed was more encouragement.
“Can we go out the back?” Nissa asked. “I’m afraid I’m going to punch one of those guys if they get within striking distance.”
If provoked enough, she’d do it, too. I’d seen her beat the crap out of a cop who’d turned out to be an evil piece of shit. I gave her a sympathetic smile and locked my arm through hers. “Sure thing, Nis. Let’s go get our drink on and see where this night takes us.”
“Yes, lets.” Then she raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Just as long as it’s not a daiquiri.”
Chapter 2
Nissa and I stood on the corner of Chartres and Elysian Fields in the Marigny neighborhood as the trucks and tractors towing the floats started to line up. The sun was moments from setting, and at sundown, we were scheduled to roll.
“Holy Christ. It’s gorgeous,” Nissa said as we stared at the All Vamped Up float. It was huge, nearly double the size of the others, with a giant five-tiered wedding cake in the middle. Blood-red roses were strewn across the top and scattered haphazardly over the rest of the tiers, and around the base, black-and-silver rose bouquets decorated the float itself. Everything else was pure white... except for the strategically placed blood stains.
“It’s a takeoff on the Bachelor,” I explained. “The humans compete for the vampire’s affection, and at the very end, the vampire chooses his bride. She’s turned at the ceremony, and the undead couple then reign over their human subjects.”
“Oh, fun! And all I get to do is throw out these cheesy things.” Nissa held up a button that had a naked pinup girl holding a Dollar Daiquiri.
“Just think of the ball afterward.” I pointed to the Walking Dead float behind us. “Looks like there are plenty of hot zombies to choose from.”
She eyed the half-dressed group of guys already getting sloshed on cheap beer, and grinned. “Yeah, that tattooed one looks like he’s just up my alley.”
I gave her a slight nudge. “Go get his number before he’s too drunk to remember it.”
“Good plan.” Waving, she took off down the road, exaggerating the swing of her hips for maximum impact.
“Well, hello there, gorgeous,” a man with a husky voice said from behind me.
I turned and spotted Carver Saint, the owner of Fanged, the hottest new jazz club on Frenchmen Street. He had jet-black hair and eyes to match. Normally, he had a quiet, important air about him. But tonight, the man I’d only ever seen dressed in impeccably tailored business suits was wearing black skin-tight leather pants, a black see-through mesh top, and black boots with silver accents. If it weren’t for his ghostly colored skin and blood-red lips, he’d look more eighties rocker than vampire. “That’s quite the costume you have there.”
“Yours is better.” He cast a slow gaze down my body, lingering on my exposed thighs before shifting to my neck, and licked his lips, one hundred percent in smoldering-vamp character.
I’d expected nothing less from Carver Saint. He didn’t do anything half-assed. “Watch it, Carver. These goods aren’t exactly on the market.”
“Still with the witch, then?”
I nodded. My significant other, Julius, was on duty with the witch council, and while he knew I was a horrible flirt, he’d undoubtedly be more than a little irritated by the way Carver was practically devouring me with his eyes. “Still happily with the witch.”
“I see. My loss.” He smiled a campy sinister smile, showing his fake fangs. “But if you end up my vampire bride, I guess he’ll have to get over it.”
“Well, obviously.”
That made him laugh as he held his hand out to me. “Ready to entertain the masses?”
“Always.” I slipped my hand into his chilled one and let him lead me onto the elaborate float. Had he just removed his hand from a bucket of ice? ’Cause, damn. It was about as pleasant as a dead fish. Squicked out, I tugged my fingers from his and tucked them into my pocket.
Other women dressed up as potential brides had already started to fill in around the edges of the float. Carver nodded to each
one as we passed them and then delivered me to the very front, where there was a small makeshift dance floor.
“Wait here,” he said. “I’ll be back once we start moving.”
A redhead in a strapless dress scowled at me and said in a hushed whisper, “That’s the bitch to beat.”
I raised both eyebrows in surprise.
Her Morticia Addams-lookalike friend cast me a dismissive glance. “She doesn’t look that special. Just another over-the-hill barfly. I wonder what he sees in her.”
I took a step toward them, a snarky reply poised on my lips, when a tall college-aged girl with sleek chestnut hair stepped in front of me and gave me a sympathetic smile. “Don’t pay them any attention. Both of them think Carver’s going to be their ticket to the cush life.”
That sucked for Carver, but he’d see right through them, no doubt. “What does that have to do with me? I’m just here for some fun.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “Honey, you’re the only one Carver’s paid any attention to yet, and you’re gorgeous—that’s why. Not to mention anyone who takes one look at Carver knows he wants you. Bad.”
I shook my head. “He’s just a client of mine. Besides, I’m already spoken for.”
“We’ll see.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and glided away, almost as if she were floating. I blinked. But she disappeared behind another cluster of vampire-bride hopefuls who were staring at me open-mouthed.
I ignored them. Why in the world were they all losing their minds? Did they think the bachelor contest was for real? Had Carver offered himself up as a date or something and hadn’t told me? Cripes. I didn’t want a date. All I wanted to do was ride in the parade, throw some beads and candy, and have some fun.
I’d just have to make sure I wasn’t picked. No problem.
A shot was fired off in the distance, followed by a loud cheer from everyone around me. Then the float started to move toward the parade route. I grabbed the front railing to keep from falling on my ass and peered out into the darkness. Twilight had disappeared, and it was time to party.
The willowy chestnut-haired woman was back; only in the moonlight, her skin now appeared chalk-white, and her hazel eyes glowed with hints of electric green and yellow.