Death's Ethereal Enemy

by Ruby Loren

  “Stop!” Leah said.

  Almost too late, January realised she hadn’t bothered to use witch sight again. Now she did, and Tor’s house was looking colourful, to say the least. Strands of red light crisscrossed the hallway, and she could tell at a glance that every strand was sharp enough to slice straight through anyone who stumbled in.

  “Was there really any need to smash the window again? I was only a few minutes late,” Simon said, passing Leah on the stairs and trying to swan past January.

  “No!” she said, blocking his path. A second later, Simon must have used his own witch sight.

  “Ah,” he said.

  “He’s just killed someone! You were supposed to be keeping an eye on him!” January said, furious that Simon hadn’t done what he’d promised after all. She was actually furious with him and the rest of her so-called friends for a number of reasons, but at least this was giving her the chance to express some of that anger.

  “Who did he kill?” Simon asked, curious.

  “Who are you talking about?” Leah asked with a frown on her face.

  “The rabbit!” Simon and January replied in unison.

  Leah lifted her hands. “Okaaaay. I’m starting to think I’ve thrown my lot in with the wrong side after all.”

  “You just wait until you meet him,” January told her. She turned back to the murder web and began methodically dismantling the threads. The absence of any tiny screams of rage was actually… disconcerting.

  It meant that there could be more to this than the first impression.

  “Let’s go find out who died,” she said, stepping into the house with grim determination.

  20

  At first, it was hard to tell who the dead man was. For January, the giveaway was the emerald green haze that still hung around the body.

  Emerson’s protection spells had been no match for a very determined rabbit.

  Joe Milan’s campaign to do what so many had already failed to do, and kill January, was at an end.

  “A rabbit did this?” Leah repeated. “A shape-shifter?”

  “No, just a rabbit,” Simon said.

  He and January exchanged an anxious glance.

  “He’s quiet,” Simon acknowledged.

  “Look,” January said, pointing to the floor beneath Joe. She’d just noticed it had channels carved into it… and streams of red claret were running down the ruts before disappearing beneath the skirting board.

  “The resale value of this place is dropping like a stone,” Simon muttered.

  “He’s siphoning off the blood, deliberately. That’s bad, right?” January was once more aware that although she’d been doing everything in her power to further her magical education, she was still the class dunce.

  This time Simon looked at Leah.

  “It’s bad,” they said in unison.

  “The cupboard!” Simon cried and they charged down the hall. He tore his binding spells off the door, released the padlock, and yanked on the handle. “That little rat! He’s blocked me from the inside.”

  “Move!” January said changing shape in the small hallway and driving the full force of her power and horn into the door.

  It dented, slightly.

  Simon groaned - although January wasn’t sure if it was because of her failure to make much of an impression, or because of the further damage to his property.

  She snorted and stopped trying to batter the door down. Apparently finesse rather than force was called for.

  She had to give the rabbit credit, he’d done his best to delay her. His spells were layered, and there were so many of them, it simply took a long time to get them to come apart. How can one rabbit know so many spells? she thought, getting more suspicious by the second.

  She kicked the door down.

  The black rabbit turned with victory in his eyes. He made a chittering noise and spat something into the bubbling black cauldron which rested in the centre of a circle formed by the blood, drizzling in along the channel the rabbit had somehow made.

  “How?” Simon said, sounding more tired than anything else.

  “He’s summoning a demon!” Leah pointed out.

  January did the only thing she could think to do and kicked the cauldron over.

  Apparently it was the wrong choice.

  Simon swore and Leah groaned.

  All January could do was watch as something heaved itself out of the cauldron, with evil determination. Slime slopped all over the floor and fumes rose in dark clouds. The rabbit’s chittering grew louder and more maniacal.

  “Oh,” Leah said a moment later.

  “Hmmm, yes. I thought it would be bigger, too,” Simon agreed.

  All three of them looked at the tiny, sludge covered demon, with fireballs for eyes.

  “I mean, I suppose it makes sense. He’s a little rabbit, so he summons a little demon,” Simon said and started to laugh.

  The demon roared and shot fire from its eyes, burning off Simon’s left eyebrow.

  He stopped laughing. “Is anyone going to stop it? Before the value of this house sinks to less than zero?”

  January rolled her eyes and examined the tiny demon.

  It was interesting.

  She could tell it didn’t come from the real world, as she liked to think of it. But nor was it from the one that they shared a space with. It was almost an ethereal thought, given shape. She tilted her head. Perhaps all it needed was a little persuasion to return to being just a mere thought.

  She imagined flinging it back across the void, where she’d once been pushed by Adelaide, when she’d accidentally got too close to the other enchanter. She blinked and the demon was gone.

  “What did you do?” Leah asked.

  January turned back into her human form and borrowed Leah’s floaty black cardigan thing, that the vampire-witch had somehow made look so rock and roll. “I put him back where he came from,” she said.

  “Oh, the old simple method,” Leah said, clearly not meaning it.

  “Ruined. I’m ruined,” Simon said, staring at his reflection in his phone’s screen.

  In the cupboard under the stairs, the rabbit rolled around on the floor, kicking and screaming in frustration.

  “Wow. They are made for each other,” Leah said, clearly amused.

  January threw a magical net over the rabbit, knowing better than to miss the opportunity.

  “How did Jinx manage to summon a demon, Simon?” she said, tightening the net so the rabbit couldn’t try any more tricks. “How did he manage to add so many binding spells to the door? They were good ones, too,” she said, glaring at the other witch.

  Simon looked sheepish. “Do you know? It’s only now that I think about it, my father might have locked away his most dangerous spell books in the cupboard under the stairs, so that they wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands.”

  “Your hands, you mean,” January completed for him.

  He shrugged. “Sure, but that was like… twenty years ago. I’ve outgrown that stuff. I’d completely forgotten about it.”

  January sighed and wrapped the ill-suited cardigan around herself more tightly. “That’s it. You are not looking after him anymore. Jinx needs a new home.”

  “Good luck. He’ll destroy your property, too. Although, from what I’ve been hearing, there was some recent demolition work done, anyway,” Simon said.

  “From what I’ve been hearing, we’re not friends anymore,” January bit back, still furious that they’d all been using her - just like The Clan had.

  “Come on, Jan… we’re all in this together,” Simon said, trying to raise his eyebrows appealingly. With one of them currently absent from his face, he merely looked freakish.

  “I’ve had enough for one day,” she announced, looking from Leah to Simon. “Whatever you want to scheme about, you can do it and send me an update later. I’d stay to keep an eye on you, but what’s the point? You’d go behind my back and plan without me, anyway. We were supposed to be working on this tog
ether.”

  “We are working together! We’ve got an advantage. We just need to figure out a few things, and then everything will change. We can win our freedom!” Leah said.

  “But it’s not going to happen today,” January said with a defeated sigh. “Emerson’s the leader - great. Any advances on how to kill him? Adelaide tried and she failed. I don’t know the ins and outs, but I’ve met her. She’s older and smarter than Emerson, and she still couldn’t get rid of him. What chance do we really have?” She left it hanging and turned to walk out of the house, before realising she was hardly clad in appropriate attire.

  Simon walked into the living room and wordlessly threw her an old blanket. January wished magical sewing was one of her talents, but the only time she’d managed to summon something convincing had been in the arena. She didn’t have the rage left to do it.

  She fashioned herself a rather untidy sarong and then looked up at Leah. “I’m keeping this,” she said, gesturing to the cardigan. Its floaty style had grown on her.

  January reeled in the magical net, until she’d made it into a handy carrier, with the handle just long enough that Jinx couldn’t kick her - or curse her.

  “Where are you going to take him?” Simon asked when she was on the doorstep again, trying to avoid the shards of glass she’d left when she’d broken into the house.

  “Home, so I can get some clothes. Then I’m going to take him to someone who I think might appreciate his… sense of humour,” she said, dryly.

  “They won’t kill him, right? You know what my father did…” Simon said, referring to the link Tor had made between the pair in his will.

  January shook her head. “It’s going to be an interesting battle of wills.”

  The rabbit glared at her, but he was small fry, these days. Plus, she’d gone through so many of his spells, she thought she'd figured out where his power lay… and how to cut it off. Unlucky Jinx, she thought. You’re going to have to use normal rabbit abilities if you want to get the best of your new owner.

  “We need to talk about this,” Leah said, arriving on the step.

  January nodded, feeling calmer now she was out of the mad house. “We will… soon,” she promised.

  “I know it seems hopeless. Just think how long I’ve been living like this. Now, for the first time… there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” the vampire-witch said.

  January nodded and tried to look a little less downhearted.

  “At least there’s one less demon loose in the world,” January said, managing to find a tiny silver-lining.

  An hour later, January rung the doorbell and waited in the middle of suburbia. The rabbit, still in his net, was quietly sulking with his powers bound inside of him.

  She thought about saying something like ‘if you behave, you’ll get them back’ but why would anyone want to give power back to a demon-summoning bunny? She thought it far more likely that Jinx would figure out a way to work around what she’d done. Magic, or no magic, he was definitely more interesting than the average pet rabbit.

  “January! I wasn’t expecting you?”

  January smiled at her sister and looked down at the ever-growing baby bump. “I know. I wanted to tell you that I think it was a group of first vampires called The Clan who were responsible for the deaths of our parents. I should have found out right away, but there’s not much that can be done about it, I’m afraid. They’re pretty impossible to kill.”

  Jo nodded. “First vampires, right. Gotcha.”

  January tilted her head to see if her sister was making fun of her, but she was deadly serious. “I’ll tell you more about it soon. It’s complicated, to say the least.” She sighed, knowing she shouldn’t trust her sister after all that she’d done, but also knowing there was hardly much that Jo could achieve by sharing her secrets. Heck, if the news spread about The Clan, it could even be a good thing. They’d kept their monopoly on power quiet for far too long.

  “Why are you carrying a rabbit that’s… levitating?” Jo squinted at the black bunny. Not possessing an ounce of magic, she couldn’t see that he was in a net.

  “Oh! He’s a present for you. Sort of a belated housewarming gift. His name is Jinx. He belonged to a friend of mine until he killed someone and summoned a demon.”

  “Right,” Jo said. “Demonic bunny.”

  “He’s not a demon. He’s just got an attitude problem,” January explained. “I’ve locked his magic away, but he might still try to kill you. Also, please don’t kill him because it would mean my friend would probably die, too.”

  Jo looked at her for further explanation.

  “It’s complicated,” January repeated. “I’m sure you’re going to be great friends,” she said, releasing Jinx into the house and creating a magical perimeter that would ensure he stayed put. Predictably, he ran straight into it and bounced off.

  January and Jo watched as the little black rabbit growled and kicked in frustration.

  Jo smiled. “He is cute, isn’t he?”

  The rabbit gave her a death stare.

  “Thanks, January!” she said, looking far more pleased than any owner of a homicidal rabbit should.

  “No problem. Just… watch out for death traps, and treat him as you would a toddler. Keep all poison and weapons out of reach,” she said with a grin.

  “It’ll be good practice,” Jo said, smiling back, brightly.

  January nodded. “He’ll keep you on your toes and be better than any guard dog. Although, he’ll hate your guests and your intruders with equal malice… so, be warned.”

  “But he’s so fluffy!” Jo said.

  January smirked and rubbed her neck, thoughtfully. “Let me know when the baby’s due, and I’ll see if I can find another place for him then,” she said. Saddling her sister and Luke with a murderous rabbit was one thing, but her future niece or nephew was still a blank slate. They didn’t deserve to be chopped to bits in their cot by a rabbit who’d raided the cutlery draw.

  In spite of the crazy day, filled with meaningless revelations, January discovered she felt rather cheerful when she arrived back home. She walked across the gravel, humming a tune and thinking about a better day of baking tomorrow. Perhaps nothing terrible would happen to interrupt it this time! Surely this day being so filled with action meant that the next one would be positively mundane?

  The tune died on her lips when she reached the front door and a little idea popped into her head - as little ideas do.

  Jinx had been stuck in the cupboard under the stairs with all that knowledge at his disposal. He’d been able to work magic outside of the cupboard, but Simon’s spells had kept him, personally, locked inside. Even with all of the books, the rabbit hadn’t been able to break the spells. Perhaps he hadn’t understood the way they were made, or maybe he simply didn’t have the juice to combat a full-sized witch’s power when faced with it.

  So, he’d tried to summon something that was powerful enough to get him out of there and exact his furious vengeance.

  From the way January had heard Leah refer to them, demons were merely an annoyance to anything as old and powerful as Leah and the first vampires. But what about something even older and more powerful than a demon? What if she could harness the power of something greater than herself and use it - like Jinx had tried to with his tiny demon - to destroy her enemies? Adelaide had tried to tear Emerson apart between worlds, and she had failed, choosing to run rather than fight.

  January wasn’t going to run from her problems. She was going to face them and fight.

  Enchanters were suppose to be the most powerful entities in all existence, but January knew better than that.

  There was always a bigger fish.

  She just needed to find out how to catch one.

  Books in the Series

  Death’s Dark Horse

  Death’s Hexed Hobnobs

  Death’s Endless Enchanter

  Death’s Ethereal Enemy

  Death’s Last Laugh

 
Prequel: Death’s Reckless Reaper

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  Also by Ruby Loren

  MADIGAN AMOS ZOO MYSTERIES

  Penguins and Mortal Peril

  The Silence of the Snakes

  Murder is a Monkey’s Game

  The Peacock’s Poison

  A Memory for Murder

  Whales and a Watery Grave

  Chameleons and a Corpse

  Foxes and Fatal Attraction

  Monday’s Murderer

  Prequel: Parrots and Payback

  HOLLY WINTER MYSTERIES

  Snowed in with Death

  A Fatal Frost

  Murder Beneath the Mistletoe

  Winter’s Last Victim

  EMILY HAVERSSON OLD HOUSE MYSTERIES

  The Lavender of Larch Hall

  The Leaves of Llewellyn Keep

  The Snow of Severly Castle

  The Frost of Friston Manor

  The Heart of Heathley House

  HAYLEY ARGENT HORSE MYSTERIES

  The Swallow’s Storm

  The Starling’s Summer

  The Falcon’s Frost

  The Waxwing’s Winter

  JANUARY CHEVALIER SUPERNATURAL MYSTERIES

  Death’s Dark Horse

  Death’s Hexed Hobnobs

  Death’s Endless Enchanter

  Death’s Ethereal Enemy

  Death’s Last Laugh

  Prequel: Death’s Reckless Reaper

  BLOOMING SERIES

  Blooming

  Abscission

  Frost-Bitten

  Blossoming

  Flowering

  Fruition