Southern Sorcery

by Amy Boyles

  Southern Sorcery

  Sweet Tea Witch Mysteries Book Four

  Amy Boyles

  Contents

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  1. ONE

  2. TWO

  3. THREE

  4. FOUR

  5. FIVE

  6. SIX

  7. SEVEN

  8. EIGHT

  9. NINE

  10. TEN

  11. ELEVEN

  12. TWELVE

  13. THIRTEEN

  14. FOURTEEN

  15. FIFTEEN

  16. SIXTEEN

  17. SEVENTEEN

  18. EIGHTEEN

  19. NINETEEN

  20. TWENTY

  21. TWENTY-ONE

  22. TWENTY-TWO

  23. TWENTY-THREE

  24. TWENTY-FOUR

  25. TWENTY-FIVE

  26. TWENTY-SIX

  27. TWENTY-SEVEN

  THANK Y’ALL!

  Also by Amy Boyles

  About the Author

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  ONE

  I happened to be standing in the middle of my little old Southern shop, Familiar Place, when all heck broke loose.

  Well, it wasn’t really all heck, but that’s what it appeared to be at first.

  The door shot open as if a great wind had pushed it. I jerked, stumbling as a swell of magic pushed me back.

  The birds squawked. The kittens meowed. The puppies barked.

  Hugo the Dragon fluttered up. His neck stretched forward, and his mouth opened as if ready to shoot an arrow of flame.

  Oh yeah, in case you didn’t know, the shop is actually a magical pet store that I own. Name’s Pepper Dunn. I’m a witch who matches pet familiars with their owners.

  I’ll admit, I haven’t been doing this witch thing for very long. I’m fairly new at it and still have tons to learn.

  But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that when your front door blows open like a tornado shoved it in, you’d better pay attention.

  Standing in the doorway was Rufus Mayes. In case the explosion of air didn’t give it away, Rufus is a bad guy with a capital B. Like, really bad. From what I understand, he likes to play Dr. Frankenstein on folks. Once he tried to turn someone into a vampire. Or he was playing vampire on someone. Yeah, that’s it.

  Problem is, Rufus ain’t no vampire, y’all.

  He’s a witch with serious issues. Four times he’s attacked me—trying to take my powers or kill me or whatever. Each time I’ve been saved.

  Anyway, Rufus wore his usual black leather from head to foot. Ebony eyeliner rimmed his eyes, and the smirk on his face told me he saw victory at hand.

  “What are you doing here?” I said, pushing to my feet. “You’re not supposed to enter Magnolia Cove.”

  “Well, here I am,” he said, sauntering in. “And I don’t see anyone stopping me.”

  My heart thundered against my chest. This was bad. This was very bad.

  “What do you want?” I said.

  Rufus smiled. “Why, you, of course. This time nothing’s going to interfere.”

  His gaze landed on the animals. He shot out his hand, and the creatures fell into a slumber. Even Hugo. The dragon drifted down to the floor, falling asleep.

  Last time Rufus showed up at Familiar Place, the birds attacked, sending him reeling from the store. Clearly that wasn’t going to happen this time.

  He looked at me and smiled. “I’m not taking any chances.”

  I fisted my hands. “And what makes you think nothing’s going to stop you?”

  Rufus raised a hand. “Because you and I are leaving.”

  I lunged. Rufus snapped his fingers.

  Familiar Place melted away, and I was plunged into darkness.

  Alone.

  With Rufus.

  The inky dark only lasted for a few brief seconds. An orb of light flared in the corner of my eye.

  I felt a hand on my arm. I slapped it away and jerked back.

  Everything righted and I found myself back in the store. Rufus stood about a foot from me. I stepped back.

  “What happened?” I said.

  He looked at his gloved hands. “I don’t know. We were supposed to leave, but something didn’t work. Drat. This always happens when I enter this cursed place. Something always goes wrong. Why? Why me? All I ever ask is to be able to work one feeble spell correctly, and I’m foiled.”

  He glanced at the ceiling as if speaking to whatever deity he deemed his patron saint or whatever. “Every single time. Is it too much to ask for a little magic to go my way?”

  I fisted my hands. “Get out of here before I call the cops. I happen to live with the sheriff’s sweetheart, so if you don’t get the heck out of town, I’m pretty sure you’ll be bucked out by the next ornery mule you see.”

  Rufus’s lips spread wide as he laughed. “Do you really think I’m going to let a little hiccup interrupt my plan?”

  “Well, I kinda hoped so.”

  His dark eyes brightened as he stared at me. “I might not be able to whisk you away from Magnolia Cove, but that doesn’t mean I’m done with you.”

  I grabbed the first thing I could find. A telephone book. Great. I could swat him to death. This was like that horrible Facebook question where you’re suddenly thrown into the zombie apocalypse and whatever item is to your left is now your only weapon.

  And mine was a telephone book.

  Wow. I wouldn’t last five minutes against an army of zombies.

  But I might be able to last a bit longer against Rufus.

  I threw the phone book at him. Rufus pointed a finger at the cover, and the book shredded into confetti.

  My jaw dropped.

  He sauntered forward in his tight leather pants. “Since I obviously can’t take you with me, at least not now, there is still another way I can get to your power.”

  “What’s that?”

  Rufus lifted his index finger and circled it. My body froze. I felt like I had been lowered into a vat of concrete.

  “This is not the way to get a lady’s attention,” I said. “You must be a horrible person to date.”

  He snickered. “I don’t date.”

  “Well not the way you act, you don’t. You should be ashamed of yourself. Didn’t your mama teach you any better?”

  “My mother taught me the ways of dark magic.”

  “Not much of a hugger, was she, huh?”

  That thin, amused smile was still sewn on his face when he stepped within a few inches of me.

  In the past my magic has worked based on fear. It usually bolts from me, uncontrolled. All I have to do is focus on a subject and throw it out.

  The problem was, I didn’t feel afraid of Rufus. Maybe it was his candid smile. Maybe it was the sparkle in his eyes. Don’t ask me. All I knew was the creeping fear that should have been residing in the pit of my stomach was nowhere to be found.

  Traitorous fear. I nearly shook my fist in anger at it.

  “Can’t do anything, can you?” he said.

  “That’s none of your business.”

  I tried to focus my magic on pitching him through a window because I wanted Rufus as far away from me as I could get him.

  But still nothing happened.

  Rufus raised a finger and pressed it to my forehead. A zap of electricity wound over my crown and raced down my spine. My knees wobbled.

  Every nerve ending in my body tingled. My fingers pul
sed and my toes numbed.

  “What’re you doing?”

  “Since I can’t take you from here, and I certainly won’t kidnap and hide you because Magnolia Cove is a small town, I’ve done the next best thing.”

  “What’s that?” I said. My tongue felt thick; my words were sluggish.

  The shop door opened. Rufus glanced over his shoulder as a customer entered. He whirled back to me, flashing a smile so devilish that Satan himself would appreciate it. Then he snapped his fingers and vanished.

  My knees shot to the floor as my aunts, Licky and Mint, entered. The cats immediately started meowing, the dogs barked and Hugo whimpered.

  “Pepper,” Licky called out. “You in here?”

  I raised a hand. My aunts flashed each other a look of fear and rushed to me.

  “We just got back from a week away,” Licky said.

  “We wanted to check on our favorite niece,” Mint added.

  Licky pressed my hair from my face. “But what happened?”

  Mint pulled me to standing. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Worse,” I croaked. “Rufus was just here.” I pressed a hand to my forehead. “He did something to me. Something magical, but I don’t know what.”

  My aunts exchanged another look. Licky’s mouth thinned to a line. “Then we’d better get you back to Mama’s.”

  By Mama, Licky meant Betty Craple, my grandmother.

  Mint thrust her shoulder under my arm. “Come on. Let’s take you home.” Her eyes darkened. “If Rufus is on the loose, there’s no telling what he did to you. Time is of the essence.”

  Surely my day could only go up from here.

  TWO

  “Rufus did what?” Betty said when we arrived at the house.

  I sat on the couch, a cold glass of sweet tea in my trembling hands. Hugo sat in the corner, and Mattie the Cat had come down from the bedroom to witness my crazy life.

  The more the merrier, right?

  I rubbed sweaty fingers between my brows. “Rufus poked me in the forehead and said that since he couldn’t kidnap me, this would have to do.”

  Betty spat in the hearth. The crackling fire hissed in response. She waddled over to me and pushed the hair from my face. She glanced over her shoulder.

  “Did y’all see him?”

  Mint shook her head. “We only saw Pepper.”

  “She was the only one there,” Licky said.

  “Not even a trace of Rufus remained.”

  My aunts, though not identical twins, pretty much acted like it. They finished each other’s sentences, and both wore their red hair long, though Mint’s held gorgeous sexy waves while Licky’s was bone straight.

  “He snapped his fingers and vanished,” I said. “Without any sort of explanation.”

  Betty rubbed her chin. “I could do a full-body exam on you, but I’m afraid that might not be much help. What we need is someone who thinks like Rufus. But first we also need to let the sheriff know he’s in town.”

  Mint poked the air with a finger. “We’ll do that. Maybe he’ll start up a search.”

  With that, my aunts disappeared out the door.

  Betty walked to the hearth. Above the mantle hung various dried herbs. She crushed a handful of purple flowers and threw them into the fire. The blaze turned a brilliant green before settling back to a fiery yellow.

  Mattie jumped on the neck of the couch. “You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’, Betty?”

  Betty studied the fire before turning around and pulling her corncob pipe from her pocket. She clamped it between her teeth and lit it with a fire from the tip of her finger.

  “Rufus slipped into Magnolia Cove with the intention of taking Pepper, but couldn’t. Since he couldn’t do that, he did the unthinkable.”

  Mattie blinked her brilliant green eyes. “What did the fire tell you?”

  I set the sweating glass of tea on the table. “The fire? Did you ask it or something?”

  Betty opened her mouth. A circular smoke ring drifted into the air before warping and disappearing. “The herbs can help me decipher things. Assist in making decisions. Here, it didn’t help too much.”

  “That ain’t good,” Mattie said. “Someone as dangerous as Rufus needs to be contained, or else he’ll stay one step ahead of us.”

  “Agreed,” Betty said. “In that case we need someone with expertise in the sort of magic that Rufus works.”

  “What’s that?” I said.

  Betty’s face darkened, and her voice took on an evil twinge. “Sorcery.”

  I shivered. “Sounds scary.”

  “It is, sugarbear,” Mattie said. “Not to be confused with the darkest of all magics, necromancy—the raising of the dead.”

  I exhaled a deep shot of air. “Wow. This has gone from bad to worse.”

  “Not necessarily,” Betty said, pulling the waistband of her jean jumpsuit to stop right below her boobs. “Magnolia Cove happens to have a resident specialist in sorcery.”

  I rose. “Great. Who’s that?”

  “Argus Amulet. And I know where he lives.”

  Excitement rose in me. “Awesome. Where’s he live?”

  “The First Witch home.”

  My excitement crashed and burned. “The old folk’s place?”

  Betty nodded. “One and the same. Let’s get going. He probably heads to bed a little after noon. You know how those geriatrics are. Go to bed early, rise early.”

  I’ve bit my tongue as Betty received the senior citizen’s discount everywhere she went. She would’ve gotten it at church if she attended.

  I glanced at my watch. It was nearly twelve o’clock. “We’d better get on over there, then. I don’t want my only chance to figure this situation out to fall asleep and not wake up.”

  I left Hugo in his cage because I figured if Rufus showed up and attacked, Betty would be just as good at fighting him as a fire-breathing dragon. I wasn’t willing to bet on it, but I figured my grandmother could shoot fire from her fingertips if she had to.

  Mattie, Betty and I piled into my Camry and headed over to the First Witch Center. Apparently older people didn’t want to be thought of as old, so in Magnolia Cove they were called first witches, a name that I thought was pretty cool. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be first in something as opposed to shriveled?

  We arrived at lunch. The last time I’d been to the center, it was Saturday night and the witches were having Dance Night, USA, featuring crooners such as MÖtley CrÜe and Def Leppard.

  No, I’m not joking.

  Anyway, when we arrived, the residents were seated at tables and being served a meal of baked chicken and green beans.

  “Hmm, my favorite,” Mattie said.

  I jerked my finger at her. “Business first. We can eat later.”

  “Oh shucks, sugarbear,” she said in her deep Southern drawl.

  Betty scanned the crowd of folks. “Let me see. Oh, there he is. Come on.”

  She dragged us to a table where a distinguished wizard with white hair sat at the head. He wore an emerald pinky ring that gleamed in the sunlight.

  The sorcerer cut into his baked chicken with a fork and knife—very classy, if I do say so myself.

  His eyes lit when he saw my grandmother. “Why, Betty Craple, what a wonderful surprise. Have you finally come to join us? Admitted to yourself that your Depends can no longer fix the leak in your brain, much less the one in your bladder?”

  “Very funny, Argus. We’re here on important business.”

  Argus forked a square of chicken into his mouth. “Hmm? Really? Now what could you ladies possibly need with an old First Wizard like myself?”

  Betty pressed a hand to her hip. “It’s not the First Wizard part we’re interested in.”

  He dabbed the corners of his lips with a linen napkin. “No? What then?”

  Betty placed her palms on the table, wedging herself between two women. “We’re interested in the First Sorcerer part of you.”

  Argus’
s mouth twitched. His gaze narrowed on Betty, and then without cutting his eyes from her, he said, “Everyone, will you please excuse us?”

  The other residents at the table scattered like cockroaches. I mean, never in my life had I seen old folks move like lightning—greased lightning at that.

  Argus gestured with his non-pinky-ringed hand. “Ladies, please have a seat.”

  Mattie hopped in my lap. She raised her nose, getting a good whiff of the chicken, I’m sure.

  Argus sliced the meat. “You wish to speak about the art of sorcery? Something I discuss with a very few privileged people?”

  “Can the dramatics, Argus,” Betty snapped. “You and I both know this entire town is aware of your past. Just because you talk like a gentlemen now doesn’t erase what you used to dabble in.”

  He gave Betty a tight smile. “Then what can I do for you?”

  Betty nodded toward me. “My granddaughter ran into a sorcerer today. I think he did something to her, but since my magic doesn’t bend to the ways of your kind, I can’t tell what.”

  His gaze flickered to me. “And how can you be sure, young lady, that it was sorcery you encountered?”

  “Rufus Mayes walked into her store and zapped her with his finger.”

  Argus choked on what I could only presume was a chicken bone. He lifted his water glass and took several long sips. “Rufus Mayes? He’s banned from Magnolia Cove.”

  “Tell him that,” Betty spat. “Someone, somehow let him in. We’ve notified the police, but that doesn’t change the fact that he touched my granddaughter and I want to know what he did to her.”

  “So do I,” I said. “Please, Mr. Amulet, if you can help me, I would be forever grateful.”