The Witch's Handbook to Hunting Vampires (Southern Single Mom Paranormal Mysteries 1)

by Amy Boyles

  “Thank you.” He raised it to me. “Cheers.” He drank it down in about three seconds. “Traveling as far as I did can really make you thirsty.”

  “Oh. Did you come from heaven?”

  He shook his head. “New Jersey.”

  “Not what I expected,” I said.

  “Me neither.” He settled the glass on the table and smiled at me.

  It was a perfect smile. Our gazes locked, my mouth went dry and every coherent thought in my brain flew right out the window. For all I knew, it was out with Vordrid while he hunted for Dot.

  Gabby’s got her powers.

  I shook my head, focusing on the problem at hand.

  “Who were you fighting?” I said.

  “A vampire.”

  I rocked back on my heels, taking stock of what was going on. I had an angel in my kitchen—first, did I believe Stone was an angel? My gaze washed over his perfect body once more. Yes. I did. Vampires could heal themselves, but they were cold to the touch, not like this man. Werewolves were hairy in their natural form; elves and fairies weren’t as built. There just seemed to be something truly angelic about him—something honest and open.

  Yes, I believed he was an angel.

  A vampire attacked him—that really made my world crash down on me. But all signs were pointing to yes, weren’t they? Yes, vampires were here in Normal. Yes, an angel had just fought one.

  My hands trembled. The last time I fought a vampire, things went very, very bad—horrifically awful, actually.

  Dex.

  It was like an invisible hand squeezed my heart every time I thought about losing Dex. He’d been my everything. There were times when I could still smell his spicy cologne.

  Stone crossed his arms and nestled his spine in the high-backed breakfast chair. “Things are about to get very bad in Normal. Actually, worse than bad.”

  His voice snapped me back into the now. I drummed my fingers on the Formica. “What do you mean, worse than bad?”

  Pinpricks washed down my spine as his eyes grazed over me.

  I cleared my throat, hoping it would clear my head. “What’s worse than bad?” I asked again.

  A quick rap came from my back door. I jumped, throwing my hands in the air.

  Stone whirled around as if ready for a fight. He relaxed half a second later.

  “Sorry to yell,” I said, clutching my chest. “I guess my nerves are shot.” I peered around him and saw Kate’s face in the window.

  “Andie? What’s going on? I heard stuff coming from your yard.”

  I unlocked the door and pulled her inside. Her jaw immediately dropped at the sight of the half-naked man in my house. “Oh. Wow. I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

  “You’re not,” I said.

  Kate stared from me to Stone and back. “Are you sure I’m not interrupting anything?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okaaay,” she said.

  Oh dear Lord. I suddenly realized how this looked. “Kate, meet Stone.” Think fast. “He’s an old friend of mine.”

  Her gaze scoured over the angel’s chest. “It’s nice to meet you. Stone, is it? Wow, that’s a great name.”

  He flashed her a lopsided grin that stirred a pool of jealousy in my stomach. Jealousy? That was stupid. I didn’t even know the guy. Still smiling, Stone said, “Thank you. I came up with the name myself.”

  She giggled. What the heck? I didn’t know that if I threw a good-looking man at my best friend, she’d turn to mush.

  Who was I kidding? Of course she would. The woman’s biological clock might as well be an atomic bomb for as sensitive as it was.

  I smirked. “Oh? You came up with it? Stone isn’t your God-given name?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’m not allowed to discuss that name. Just Stone.”

  I pinched Kate’s shoulder. “Hey, did you see anyone on your way over?”

  Kate frowned, jutting out her bottom lip in a sexy little pout. “No. Was I supposed to? You got a cousin, Stone?”

  “Not that I’m aware of.”

  “That’s too bad,” Kate said. She clapped her hands together. “So I guess that noise I heard was just the two of you?”

  “Yep,” I said. “Stone was showing me some self-defense moves.”

  “Oh? Was physical contact involved? Like, a lot of it?”

  What was going on with her? She was never like this. I cleared my throat. “Yep. He was showing me how to flip someone over my back.”

  Kate rested an elbow on the counter. “Can I learn?”

  Stone raked his fingers through his hair. “Sure. I can show you sometime. But it might help if you bring a stake with you.”

  “Oh? Are we going to barbecue? I love grilling out. Yes.”

  I shooed Kate toward the door. “Yes, we’ll discuss it.”

  She craned her neck to get another look at Stone. “I have to get going. It was nice meeting you.”

  “I’ll walk you back,” I said.

  “Okay.” Kate gave Stone a cutesy finger wave. “I’ll see you around.”

  “See you,” he said cheerfully.

  I studied Stone for a moment, trying to get a good sense of him. Without using magic it was harder, but I could tell that everything he’d told me so far was true and he only had good intentions. I knew he was safe. Just to be extra cautious, I grabbed the kid monitor from the counter and took it with me.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said to Stone.

  He rose. Kate’s eyes nearly popped from her head as she took in his full form. “Do you need any help?” he said.

  I shook my head. “No. I’ll be quick.”

  I escorted Kate through my yard back to her house on the other side of the tree line. “Andie, you didn’t have to walk me back. You should be back at your house tearing off that guy’s clothes.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “It needs to happen. Please, for my sake. I need to live vicariously through you on this one. That guy is built, and he has a great smile. Even if all you do is talk, lie to me and make up a story about how great a lover he is.”

  I risked a laugh. My eyes were peeled open trying to make sure that no one was around. If it really had been a vampire that Stone was fighting, I wanted to be ready. Course, I didn’t know if I’d be up for protecting Kate, much less myself. If Vordrid were here, he would’ve told me to go get the handbook.

  Sometimes the fact that he was right about things really irked me.

  We reached her back deck. “I promise if anything happens between me and Stone, you’ll be the first to know. But as of right now, nothing is going on.”

  She opened the door. “Where’d he come from, anyway? You never mentioned him.”

  “Oh, he just kinda dropped in.” Literally. “Kate, do me a favor. After nightfall, don’t open your door to anyone, okay? Can you promise me that?”

  She nodded. “Sure. I promise. Why?”

  “Just don’t do it. Lots of weird things are going on around here right now.”

  “Okay, I promise.”

  “Thanks.”

  I left Kate and sprinted back to my house. I found Stone in the same place I left him, on the stool. I slid the baby monitor onto the counter and pulled the knife from my waistband.

  “You left me alone in your house,” Stone said.

  “You’re one of the good guys,” I said. “I can tell. I have a knack for sniffing out the bad ones. It doesn’t always work, but most of the time I’m pretty smart about it.”

  He nodded, and we did that thing where we stared at each other again. A shiver raced to my toes. When our eyes locked, I felt a real inner peace with him, like everything would be okay.

  I sank one hip onto the lip of the counter. “Tell me what’s going on,” I said. “Why are you here?”

  He drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “The other night there was a disturbance in the sky. Did you witness it?”

  I toed off my shoes and pulled up a stool next to him. “The
comet? I saw it. Whole town did.”

  “It wasn’t a comet.”

  So Vordrid keeps telling me. “What was it?”

  “Another angel.”

  The hairs on the back of my neck rose. “That’s what my mentor had said.”

  He nodded. “She fell from heaven. She landed here, in Normal.”

  “So where is she?”

  A strip of light blasted through the glass and zipped past us into the living room. “Hold that thought,” I said to Stone.

  Less than a minute later, Vordrid was calling me. “Andie! Andie, where are you?”

  “I’m in the kitchen.”

  The Magic 8 Ball drifted inside and stopped. “You’re not alone.”

  “I’m not.”

  “I hope I’m not in trouble for announcing myself.”

  I sighed. “No, Vordrid, you’re not in trouble. Did you find Dot?”

  Vordid bounced over to the stove and landed on an unlit glass eye. “Oh yes, Andie. She’ll be here bright and early tomorrow. She’s very excited. Hasn’t helped a young witch in years.”

  “Great,” I grumbled.

  “Who’s this?” he said. “I’m not getting my normal human readings.”

  “Vordrid, this is Stone, the angel.”

  Vordrid sat motionless. Then he turned very slowly in Stone’s direction as if he was studying him. “An angel,” he gasped. “Are you the one who was the comet?”

  “No, that wasn’t me,” Stone said.

  “In my experience, angels only come down to earth for two reasons. One is that they’re here to save someone’s life, and the other—” Vordrid gasped again. “It can’t be, can it? You’re here because—”

  Stone nodded. His silvery eyes darkened, and he lowered his head. “Yes. I’m here because I’ve fallen from heaven and I need to redeem myself.”

  SEVEN

  “If it looks like an angel and sounds like an angel—it’s an angel.”

  —The Witch’s Handbook

  * * *

  I flared my arms out. “Okay, so let me get all of this straight. You’re a fallen angel chasing another fallen angel, and you’re here to tell me my world is in danger.”

  Stone flashed me a grin that turned my knees to jelly. “You make it sound easy.”

  “Okay. Start from the beginning.”

  “If I could pull up a chair, I would,” Vordrid said. “This is going to be the best story I’ve heard in years. Andie, take notes.”

  “Sure, Vordrid. I’ve got my pad and pen ready.”

  “Do you?”

  “No,” I said. I glanced at Stone, whose eyes held a glint of humor at the exchange. “Tell me what happened.”

  Stone grabbed his shirt and pulled it down over his head. Dang. I was really enjoying drooling over his ripped bod.

  “Star met a man who seduced her into leaving heaven. Whether or not she got kicked out by the big guy, I still don’t know.” He tightened his hand into a fist. “I followed her here. I was too late. She was already gone.”

  I shrugged. “So? She probably just got up and found her human, don’t you think?”

  Stone shook his head. “She could have. But something else happened when Star fell. She created a sort of magical vortex.”

  “Gabby,” Vordrid whispered. “Andie, that’s why Gabby got her magic—because of the angel.” He pivoted toward Stone. “Could Star have caused real damage to the magical currents in the air?”

  Stone knocked his knuckles on the counter. His hands were masculine, lined with tendons and muscle. I suddenly wondered how they would feel on my skin. I cleared my throat to screw my head on straight.

  “Star’s descent did cause damage to those currents. I don’t know how much. I believe it’s temporary, but I’m still investigating that.”

  I looked at Vordrid hopefully. “If it was temporary, does that mean that Gabby’s powers would stop?”

  The ball moved back and forth. “No. Once a witch’s powers are in, they blossom. There’s no reversing what happened.”

  Dang. I guess I was stuck with Dot for a while.

  I walked over to my coffeepot and started scooping in grounds. I had the feeling this was going to be a long night. I added water and got the machine percolating. It burped and gurgled, filling up the silence while I thought.

  “And this is what drove off the vampire in your backyard.” Stone flashed the crucifix around his neck.

  “You mean just your pure angelic presence didn’t send him away?” I said.

  “It’s different when you’ve fallen. Some of our power lessens.”

  “Though you can still heal yourself.”

  Stone nodded. “Right.”

  I blew a puff of air into my bangs. “The other day a young man was found dead at my school. The coroner declared it heart failure, but I’m pretty sure he had two puncture wounds. I figured since it’s around Halloween, he was just dressing up like a vampire victim.”

  Stone shook his head. “No one was playing vampire.”

  I rubbed the back of my neck. An uncomfortable tingle washed up my spine. “I haven’t heard of an attack in years.”

  He raked fingers through his roguishly long hair. “Some have been rebuilding their numbers, slowly gaining strength, Andie.”

  My name on Stone’s tongue sent a shudder through me. I ignored it and all my pulsing parts that hadn’t done any pulsing in years.

  “How did you know my name?” I said.

  Stone nodded toward Vordrid. “He said it.”

  I clicked my tongue. “Oh. Right.” I paused. “So vampires never left?”

  “No.” He pressed his fingers onto the counter. “They’ve been rebuilding. Getting Star kicked out of heaven was only one of their plans.”

  The coffeepot finished gurgling. I poured a steaming cup, pulled out a bottle of chocolate syrup, and since I hadn’t bought any whipped cream yet, I pulled a tub of vanilla ice cream from the freezer and dropped a dollop in the mug after I poured in the coffee. This conversation required chocolate, and chocolate always made me feel better.

  I offered one to Stone. “Mocha?”

  He waved it away. “I don’t drink caffeine.”

  “More water?” I said.

  “Thanks.”

  I handed him a full glass and returned to the counter. I leaned over, the cup between my hands. Worry knotted my gut. I was afraid to hear what he’d say next.

  I mean, let’s face it. Everything I’d known to be true over the past few years had just been shattered by a hunky angel sitting in my kitchen. Vampires were alive—well, not alive. Vampires were undead and living among us in Normal, Alabama.

  If everything he said was true.

  Crap. Things were about to get really complicated. I didn’t even know if I’d have time to get a manicure before I had to start doing something about it.

  Kidding.

  I had time for a manicure. There was always time for my nails. I’d probably throw in a pedicure, too.

  “What do you mean getting Star kicked out of heaven was just one of their plans?”

  “There is some communication between those of us on earth and a small network of angels in heaven who haven’t completely turned their backs on us. From what they said, I discovered the man she fell in love with wasn’t a man.”

  I groaned. “This sounds bad.”

  Stone nodded. “He’s a vampire.”

  “Great,” I said. “An angel fell in love with a vampire and it got her kicked out of heaven.”

  He slid a thumb under his chin. “I need to know more about that. Why would a vampire want an angel?”

  Vordrid shook. “The handbook can tell us.”

  I shot him a scathing look.

  Stone glanced from Vordrid to me. “Ah, The Witch’s Handbook. I’ve heard about it, but I don’t know what it does.”

  I bit down on my lip, thinking it through. “Nearly everything we know about mystical creatures is in The Witch’s Handbook. It’s technically a guide fo
r hunters. Basic information can be found there. But if you want something deeper, like why this vampire seduced Star, you have to do more than simply flip the pages. I have to call on the book’s power of sight.”

  Stone studied me. “And this is a problem.”

  I didn’t move an inch.

  “Andie doesn’t like the book,” Vordrid said.

  “For good reason,” I snapped.

  “Why’s that?” Stone said, his eyes darkening. “A vampire seduced a heavenly creature and you’re not interested in why? We’re on the cusp of something terrible happening here. We need to find out what that is.”

  I glared at him. His gaze leveled on me, sending a quake down to my knees. I ignored the throbbing in my body as best I could. I didn’t know if it was the fact that he was an angel or what, but this guy did things to me that I didn’t know were even possible.

  “No, I’m not willing to look in the book.”

  “Why?” Stone demanded.

  I took a deep breath, filling my lungs to the brim. “Because using The Witch’s Handbook will kill me.”

  EIGHT

  “Vampires aren’t always the scariest things out there. Sometimes it’s your family.”

  —The Witch’s Handbook

  * * *

  I settled in the living room with Stone and Vordrid. Even though Stone had put his T-shirt on, which was depressing, I could still peek at his fabulous abs through the gash.

  I cleared a lump the size of an egg from my throat. It was just nerves. Talking about personal things always made me nervous. I could talk about other stuff all day long, but when it came to feelings and ideas that had real bearing and weight on me, it was easier to clam up than to talk.

  Maybe I needed lip gloss. Getting my face on always made me feel better. So that’s what I did. I smeared some Summer Pink on my lips and felt instantly better.

  When we were all settled in, I curled my legs under and began.

  “The Witch’s Handbook is a powerful tool,” I explained. “Every hunter receives a copy and a mentor when they graduate hunting school. As I’ve said, if there’s anything to be known about a species, it’ll be in the book. But there are other things about it, too. Not only can I glean information from it, but it also gives me a special ability, a way to defeat certain creatures, like vampires.”