The Witch's Handbook to Trapping Demons

by Amy Boyles

  He placed a hand to his heart. “Are you saying you don’t need me?”

  I shook my head. “No. I mean, yes—in some ways I don’t need you.”

  Dex gritted his teeth. “Let me call the tribunal, see if they can send someone.”

  I’d hurt him. I knew I had. My chest tightened as if steel bands were squeezing me. I reached for him as he walked past. “Dex—”

  He pulled his arm away. “Don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal, warrior princess.”

  His nickname for me. My gut twisted. He left the room, and I walked over and sank onto his bed, unsure what to do.

  But the facts were the facts. I needed to figure out what was going on, and my love life needed to take the back burner, no matter what. But still, how the heck did the lord vampire get involved in this?

  Dex came back into the room. “Come on. Let’s go downstairs; my superior from the tribunal will be here any minute.”

  I cocked a questioning brow. “Any minute?”

  Dex winked slyly. “Transportation by magic.”

  “Great,” I said.

  As soon as my foot touched the wooden first floor, the doorbell rang. Dex shot me a smug smile. The sun had crept below the horizon, so he opened the door.

  Standing with a clipboard, hair sprayed to the clouds, black eyeliner and purple lipstick, stood a small woman with a pert smile.

  “Dex, you don’t know how glad I am to see you. I’m so mad at you that you haven’t called me earlier. I mean, not really mad, but kind of mad.” She giggled. “No, I’m definitely mad. But you know, that doesn’t mean I’m really mad, just sort of mad.”

  Dex smiled at the woman. “Pam Beagle, meet Andie.”

  Pert Pam, as I’d already named her in my head, shot up onto her tiptoes. “Andie, it’s so nice to meet you. Are you the reason why I haven’t heard from this man in ages? If that’s the case, I’m mad at you, too.” She laughed again. “Not really, but you know. I might have to be since I haven’t heard from Dex in forever.”

  Dex raked his fingers through his hair as if embarrassed. “Pam, I’m sorry you’re mad, but I’ll make it up to you.”

  “You will?” I blurted out.

  Dex shot me a shut-it look.

  “You’d better,” Pam cooed.

  But seriously? What was their relationship about? I was not trying to be jealous, but Dex had promised that I was all he had thought about for three years, right after he had turned into a vampire. But now Pammie-Poo was acting like they’d had some sort of tryst and she was angry at him for not calling.

  How was I supposed to stop it if a ball of jealousy clambered up my throat?

  So I decided playing it cool was my best option.

  “Well, Pam,” I said. “I’m sure Dex would absolutely love to make it up to you, wouldn’t you, sweetheart? You’d just hate for Pam to think you’d gone and abandoned her.”

  Dex shot me a scathing look. I flashed him a pert smile. A Pert Pam smile, to be honest.

  Pam studied me for a moment with her large doe eyes. “But seriously, I was just kidding, Dex. I’m not too mad at you for not calling sooner.”

  “I guess since I’m his wife and all, I’ve been keeping him busy.”

  Pam smiled. “That’s what siblings are for—I mean spouses. Not siblings. Silly me. Anyway, I hear the town integration is going good. Glad to know that.”

  “Um, sort of,” I mumbled, thinking about the fact we had a dead man and a very suspicious-looking fairy.

  Pam’s gaze drifted around the house. She let herself into the living room and sat down cross-legged and straight-backed. She set the clipboard on the cushion beside her and clasped both hands over one knee. “Tell me. What’s going on?”

  Dex sat in a leather wingback. I perched on the arm of it and draped my hand over the neck of the chair. Dex scowled up at me, and I smiled broadly. I got it. Pam was his boss, and he didn’t want to look like an idiot.

  As if that could ever happen—the Dex-looking-like-an-idiot part.

  “So,” Pam said. “Fill me in.”

  Dex looked at me, so I started at the beginning. “A man named Rufus Weatherby from MPS showed up and started harassing local supernaturals about their children, claiming he’d received a tip that they were in danger.”

  Pam chewed the inside of her cheek. “Let me tell you what the problem is right there. First off, I don’t ever remember meeting a Rufus Weatherby from MPS. Let me look him up, though.”

  She pulled a phone from her purse and started scrolling through it. “Yep. There’s the problem right there.”

  “What’s that?” I said.

  “There’s no Rufus Weatherby with MPS.”

  I scratched my eyebrow. “So he lied?”

  Pam nodded. “Clearly a liar.” She placed the phone back in her purse. “Great. Got that solved. Now what’s the next thing?”

  I let my hand slide down the chair and squeezed Dex’s shoulder. His gaze locked on mine, and I shot him a look of concern. This Pam lady had no idea the severity of the issue we were dealing with.

  “It appears that he’s been murdered,” I said.

  “Oh, that’s bad. That’s very bad,” she said. “Are you sure he’s been murdered? Because he doesn’t even exist.”

  “He exists,” Dex said. “Or, he did. He showed up at Andie’s house yesterday with a few other agents, and today he was seen around town before he was killed. Listen, the town sheriff wants you to appoint someone to help him with this case. A magical investigator, if you would.”

  Pam smacked her lips as if she was thinking. “You have Bruce here, that werewolf. He helped you with the last murder, right?”

  Dex nodded. “He did. But what we’re dealing with is strange. According to Andie—”

  I smiled brightly at Pert Pam.

  “Weatherby died after a flash in broad daylight.”

  I retrieved the ring from my pocket and handed it to her. “And this was open after he died. So I need someone familiar with magical objects. Do you know someone who can do that?”

  Pam nodded. “Of course. We have an entire magical team who deals with that. Do you want me to send them?”

  Dex rubbed his eyes. “I don’t think we need the entire team, but at least one of them should help.”

  Pam’s gaze jumped from him to me. “Okay. Is that all you need? Can I do anything else for y’all?

  Dex threw me a questioning look. I shook my head. “Nope. I think that’s all. Are you sure you don’t want to come down, see the body, that sort of thing?”

  Pam glanced at her watch. “Tell you what. I’ll sweep back in tomorrow with whoever I pick, and we’ll all go to the sheriff’s or the coroner’s or wherever they’ve got the body.”

  “Sounds good,” Dex said.

  Pam rose to leave. She crossed to the door, high heels clacking. “And Dexie, don’t wait forever to call me next time. It’s been too good seeing you.”

  We said our good-byes and she left.

  As soon as she was gone, I crossed my arms and wedged my back against the door. “Dexie-Poo? What in the world was that whole thing about?”

  Dex scrubbed a hand over his check. “Andie, I don’t know what to say. Pam’s taken a shine to me.”

  “More like a needy attachment,” I grumbled.

  He beamed. “Now, I can’t believe you’re jealous. No way. Not Andie. Not the woman who professes to be way too independent to have anything to do with the rest of us peons.”

  I sniffed. “I’ve never said that.”

  “You didn’t have to,” Dex said. He laughed for a moment; then his face darkened. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

  “Worried about that ring, aren’t you?”

  Dex scrubbed a hand down his jaw. “Andie, I may need to leave for a few days.”

  My eyes flared. “Like, now? When we have a dead guy? You might have to leave. The supernaturals are seriously going to need you, and you’re going to hightail it out of here?”

 
; Dex gripped my shoulders. “This is about the lord vampire. I don’t know who that Weatherby man was, why he had the ring, and what’s going on, but I may need to do some tracking. As much as I hate to say it, you’ve got Stone here to help you. He can keep you and Gabby safe.” He smiled sadly. “I’m not leaving today. I’ll be here tomorrow when Pam returns. I’ll help however I can.”

  I nodded. “Okay, great. Thanks for not abandoning me immediately.”

  It just slipped out. Before I could even think, the words flew from my mouth and hung in the air like a spell of toxic gas.

  Abandon. That’s what I felt Dex had done to me. For three years I had thought he was dead. But the entire time he’d been alive. Well, not alive, undead.

  And he hadn’t tracked me down because Dex was afraid he wouldn’t be able to control his bloodlust around me and Gabby.

  My head understood that Dex didn’t trust himself right after the change. He was afraid he’d kill us, try to drain us dry.

  But try explaining that to my heart. My heart felt that the man I loved abandoned me when he could’ve at least showed up long enough to explain what had happened.

  Was I still so angry at Dex that I’d pushed down my real feelings until they bubbled in my gut and spewed out like a geyser?

  Yep. I guessed that was the truth.

  I let Dex wrap me up in a hug. He smelled like spice and musk. I stiffened in his arms. “I’m not going to abandon you,” he murmured in my ear. “Absolutely not. Never. I’m not going to walk out and never come back. You thought I was gone once; I’m not doing that to you again.”

  I nodded against the crook of his arm. “I know,” I said.

  Dex pulled away. He lifted my chin until our gazes locked. “Do you really know that, though? I want you to believe it, because I will never, not ever again let you think I’m gone when I’m not. But Andie, I have to do this. I have to find out what’s going on because right now I’m confused.”

  I bobbed my head. “Okay. I understand.” A yawn escaped my lips. “I’m tired.”

  He grazed his fingers down my arms, setting trails of my flesh ablaze. “Then let’s go home.”

  We hopped into his Infinity SUV. The vehicle was state-of-the-art with buttons and screen displays. I enjoyed a luxury ride home.

  “Andie,” Dex said. “Do you need anything? Money?”

  I shook my head. “No, we’re fine. I still have our investments from when, you know—”

  His jaw tensed. “When I was alive?”

  I nodded.

  Dex stopped the vehicle on the street and let it idle. “Want me to come in?”

  “Nah,” I said. “It’s fine. What about tomorrow?”

  “I’ll shoot Pam a message to find you in case it’s too early in the day for me. You can introduce her to Sheriff Terry and give him what you need.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  I gave Dex a quick peck on the cheek and paused. “You’re going to tell me when you leave, right?”

  “Of course.”

  I stroked the smooth skin of his cheek. His blue eyes locked on mine, and my breath hitched. “’Cause Dex, I couldn’t handle it if you disappeared and never returned. I couldn’t live through that.”

  Dex pulled me to him and said, “Andie, I love you. I won’t ever, not ever make you question me again.”

  I knuckled away a tear and sat back. I blew out a shot of air and sat there, nodding dumbly.

  Dex stroked my eyebrow. “It’s going to be okay.”

  “Okay.”

  “I love you,” he repeated.

  I nodded.

  His lips tightened, and he knew I wasn’t going to say it. Well, what did he expect? I loved him, but the words weren’t ready to spill out.

  So I left the vehicle, my heart heavy.

  I entered the kitchen. Gabby sat on the counter while Dot fed her chocolate pudding. I ignored the sugar party going on and headed to the fridge, where I waged a seek-and-destroy mission on a can of whipped cream. I flipped off the lid and squirted the creamy goodness straight onto my tongue.

  I swiped the back of my arm over my mouth. “What are you two doing?”

  Gabby pounded her chest. “I’m eating pudding, Mommy.”

  “So I see.”

  Vordrid floated into the room. The 8 Ball sailed onto the counter and clattered down to a landing. “Andie, I hear all sorts of mayhem occurred today.”

  “Oh, Vordrid. It’s a mess.” I relayed what I knew, including the part about the ring.

  “May I see it?” he said.

  I placed the broken jewelry on the table. “There it is.”

  “Oh,” Vordrid said. “Dot, come here and look at this.”

  I cocked a brow. “Yes, Dot, and while you’re at it, can you please place my child on the floor?”

  Dot fluffed her pink hair. “Andie, children should sit on counters at least once a day.”

  I poked the air. “If it’s not soft enough for a tush, it’s not a seat.”

  Dot touched noses with Gabby. “Mommy’s a spoilsport.”

  I rolled my eyes, but Dot did as I said.

  Vordrid pivoted left and right as he inspected the ring. “That’s a holding ring.”

  “That’s what Dex said.”

  Dot picked it up. “Yes, that evil Magical Protective Services man wasn’t wearing this yesterday. But he was today?”

  I nodded. “I took it off him. Dex said it can hold a spirit.”

  “Oh, it can, Andie, and in my one thousand years never have I seen it used for a good purpose. It’s always nefarious.”

  I squinted at the broken onyx. “I don’t understand. Why’s that?”

  Dot snapped her fingers, and a pair of reading glasses appeared in her hand. She slid them on. “Because there are some things that only a spirit can do.”

  “I would think as a person you’d want a body.”

  Vordrid pivoted. “No, that’s not the case at all. For instance, if you wanted to inhabit a living person, you would need a spirit. If you wanted to take control of that individual, have them do your bidding, of course that’s when you’d require a spirit as well. Andie?”

  My heart sank. I knew what he was going to say. “Yes, Vordrid?”

  “You’re going to need The Witch’s Handbook. This object is evil, dark in nature and I don’t believe used for any pure purpose. The book will guide you, because I have the feeling we’re dealing with a nefarious creature.”

  Well, if that was the case, I needed more sugar. After squirting another dollop of whip in my mouth, I said, “What sort of creature?”

  A smash came from the living room. It sounded like shattering glass—as if someone had thrown a brick through my front window. My heart lurched. I jumped. “Dot, stay here with Gabby.”

  I rushed from the kitchen with Vordrid flanking my side. I entered the living room to see the front window smashed. A few glass fragments lay scattered across the carpet. I pulled the energy from the air into my core and flushed it to my fingertips. Magic sparked on my nails.

  Don’t worry; it wasn’t going to ruin my manicure.

  I eased up to the edge of the glass and peered out, feeling more sniper and hunter than Andie Taylor, preschool teacher.

  “What was that?”

  Vordrid sailed out the window and hovered, looking around. “Most of the glass is on the outside.”

  I narrowed my eyes until my brows pinched together. “What?”

  He floated back in and landed on the lip of the window. “It appears so. The glass is lying there, suggesting that whatever did this came from inside.”

  “That’s impossible, V. The four of us are the only people here.”

  Dot floated in. “Apparently not. It is quite clear that you had a straggler.”

  Vordrid bobbed. “And that straggler wanted to make its presence known.”

  I flared out my arms. “Hold it. Wait just a minute. What are y’all talking about, a straggler?”

  Dot shot Vordrid a look.
“Should I tell her or would you like the honor?”

  “I believe this one should be you.”

  Dot shook her head. “But you’re the one who started telling her anyway. You go on, Vordrid. Tell her what’s going on.”

  I clenched my hands into claws. “Somebody better tell me what’s going on before I blow a gasket.”

  “Very well,” Vordrid mused. “What’s going on is that the ring you found on Weatherby’s body didn’t only hold a spirit; it held something much more sinister.”

  I pressed a toe into my boot, popping it. “What sort of thing.”

  “I’m afraid it held a demon.”

  My eyes widened. “A demon? What?”

  “Yes,” Dot said. “A demon. And that’s not the worst of it.”

  “How could that not be the worst of it?” I said.

  Vordrid sighed. “Because that demon knows where you live and just flew through the window. It wants us to know that it’s here. Because it wants something. Whatever Weatherby released with his death, that thing will come back, and it won’t stop until it gets what it wants.”

  “And?”

  Vordrid’s voice deepened to a dark, foreboding tone. “And whatever it wants is connected to you, Andie.”

  FIVE

  Dot fixed the window in about three seconds. I put Gabby to bed and decided I needed to spend some time with The Witch’s Handbook. I’d never faced off against a demon before, and to be honest, I was worried.

  Like, crazy worried.

  I retrieved the book, peeled back the cover and searched the contents for demons until I found the correct chapter.

  Demons are elusive creatures. Incredibly difficult to snare. The best course of action is to purify the place they are haunting and attempt an exorcism. If the church will not grant an official exorcism, the next best thing is to pinpoint what the demon desires and to bait the demon and trap it with the power of the book. In order to hold a demon, however, the power of the witch must be stronger than the confines of this tome.

  The power of the witch must be stronger than the confines of this book? What did that mean?

  “Vordrid,” I called.

  My bedroom door opened, and the Magic 8 Ball drifted in. “Yes, Andie?”