Magic, New Mexico: A Touch of Curiosity (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by ML Guida

  You will not stop my hunger. Or I’ll kill you.

  Pandora wasn’t even sure the foul voice was even real. She tried to scream, but only released a tiny squeak. Tingles slowly gripped her hands and they numbly fell slack to her side.

  Die, die, die.

  Ignoring her excited heart beat, Pandora pushed away her terror and concentrated; breathe, breathe, breathe.

  This is only a warning if you try to imprison me again.

  But then just as suddenly, the presence was gone.

  She put her hands at the bottom of her throat and coughed hard. Tears blurred her vision as she greedily sucked in air. She forced herself to push off the bed and shook her head.

  There was nothing in her room, but she could feel the imprint it had left. If she hadn’t used the protection spell, she would have been dead. She’d never felt anything so foul, so evil, so powerful.

  Whatever the presence was, it hadn’t liked either of her little spells. Had she almost imprisoned it? She didn’t care and jumped off the bed. She raced outside to help Frank. She didn’t know what she could do but maybe she could pull Frank out of the cloud. She whipped open the door and skidded to a stop.

  The sparkling cloud was gone. Frank laid next to his basket of milk bottles. His small black eyes bulged as if he died from terror.

  She walked around his lifeless body and gagged, choking on the same the sugary sweet odor she’d smelled at Lisa’s crime scene.

  Frank’s jolly pink cheeks had turned deathly white as if all the joy had been sucked out of him—just like Lisa.

  Tears clouded her eyes, and she sank to her knees. “I’m sorry, Frank.” She hung her head. She was such a pitiful witch—an embarrassment to the sisterhood.

  He’d never smile or make jokes again. He was such a jovial gnome and a great milkman. This was all of her fault. If she hadn’t opened that silver box. Now somebody else was dead, because of her insatiable curiosity.

  She had to do something.

  She dragged herself back inside to call Theo and confess her sin. He had to let Cé go now. She needed his help to destroy this thing. He wasn’t obviously responsible for Frank’s and Lisa’s death. Who would be next?

  Chapter Six

  Cé startled awake to the smell of coffee and bacon. Theo held a tray of bacon and eggs, and a mug of coffee.

  “Are you hungry, vampire? Or do you need a bag of blood?”

  Cé’s growling stomach answered first. “No, I could eat.” Understatement of the year—he could eat a horse. He still couldn’t believe the treatment he was receiving. When his captain locked him up, he was lucky to get a swallow of water let alone a full breakfast.

  “No tricks.” Theo put the tray down, then opened the cell. He placed the tray at the edge of Cé’s bed.

  Cé stared at it and licked his lips. “I swear I willna.” He snagged the tray and gobbled up three pieces of bacon before Theo closed the door.

  “Theo! Theo!” Two dark haired boys, one wearing a tall, black hat and the other wearing a curved white one, raced into the cell.

  The sheriff glared. “What the devil are you two doing in here?”

  “We heard you got a real live pirate in your cell!”

  A man dressed in a uniform similar to the sheriff’s rushed into the corridor, but he was a foot shorter and had pale skin that Cé would swear had never seen the sun. Cé remembered him from the first crime scene.

  “Sorry, sheriff.” He put his hands on either side of the young boys’ shoulders. “I couldn’t stop, them.”

  The one wearing the white hat jerked away from the deputy. “Are you really a pirate? I’m Jonah.”

  “I’m Joseph.” His hat tipped up, and a green lizard peeked out. “And this is my pet lizard—Larry.”

  It had been so long since he’d heard the merry voices of children. Usually, children ran screaming when he and his crew arrived at port. Cé curled his lips into a smile. “I am, but I used to be carpenter.”

  “Cool!” They both cried out.

  “We love to play pirates,” Jonah said. “Have you been in many battles?”

  “Too many to count.”

  “Okay, boys.” The deputy clasped each arm. “It’s time for you to leave.”

  “Ah, come on, Theo.” Joseph wiggled underneath the deputy’s grip. “Let us stay—please! Can you whittle something for us, pirate?”

  “A sword, a sword.” Jonah grabbed the bars and shook them. “You gotta set him free, Theo.”

  Theo shook his head. “No.”

  Cé winked at them as they were escorted out of the cell. “’Tis nice to meet ye two lads.”

  Theo leaned against the wall. “Blasted kids. Those two are always getting into mischief.”

  Even with his scowl, Cé could tell the sheriff cared about them.

  The deputy came back inside without Cé’s two admirers and wearing a grim look.

  The sheriff frowned. “What is it, Martin?”

  The man slit his red eyes into narrowed slots. “There’s been another murder. Frank Blair.”

  Cé put down his cup of coffee. “What happened?”

  But the man ignored him. “Pandora went out to get her morning paper and found him dead on her lawn.”

  Fear chased away all of Cé’s hunger. He shoved the tray aside and raced to the door. He rattled the cage so hard that bits of the ceiling fell to the floor. “What about Pandora? Where is she?”

  The deputy scowled. “Who the hell are you?”

  Theo put up his palm. “Stop it. Cé, this is my deputy, Martin Kane. He’s a skin walker.”

  Cé looked at him uneasy. “Which is?”

  “I can change into any form I want.” Martin stared at the discarded bag on the floor. “Vampire.”

  Cé wanted to strangle the self-righteous codfish. “Where is Pandora?”

  Martin tilted his head. “She’s waiting for us at the ranch.”

  Drawing on his vampire strength, Cé tried bending the bars, but it was useless. He slammed his fist on the metal. “Sheriff, you canna keep me here.”

  Amusement glittered in Theo’s red eyes. “Apparently, I can.”

  Cé leaned his forehead on the bars. Pandora had to be in trouble, and he was stuck in this vampire proof jail. “Please, let me out. You know I didna kill anybody. I was locked in here all night, but I have some information that might help ye in yer investigation.”

  “Tell me.”

  Cé met the sheriff’s skeptical gaze. “’Tis not information, I have to show it to ye.”

  A lie, but he didn’t have a choice. He had to see Pandora.

  “Why don’t I believe you?”

  Cé shrugged. “Dona. But ye’ll be sorry.”

  After a few long minutes, Theo pulled the metal chain off his belt. “Fine. I’ll take you to the scene, but in handcuffs.”

  Cé allowed him to cuff him again and escort him out of the jail. If he’d known where Pandora lived, he would have rushed him, but he was forced to be the model prisoner again. His vampire senses tingled, and dread settled in his gut. This was only the beginning.

  Chapter Seven

  After calling Theo and talking to his excitable deputy Martin, Pandora came out and sat in a wooden deck chair. The morning sun crept over her patio, but if it failed to take away the chill rushing over her. She shivered then rubbed her arms. She had no doubt what Ray Sterner would say when he examined Frank. She’d bet all his red blood cells had been drained, leaving an empty shell. Just like Lisa.

  Lisa. Her heart broke all over again, and she choked.

  Sirens screamed in the distance. Dust swirled around in the air as police cruisers and an ambulance sped down the dirt road. Out of the dust storm, the coroner followed, announcing her failure as a witch. Witches were supposed to save people—not watch them die.

  She waited for the cars to pull into her driveway. Tingles swept down her arms and legs. Even with squeezing her toes, numbness set in.

  Theo got out of the first car
then unlocked the back door. “What is that sickly sweet smell?”

  “It was whatever killed Lisa,” Pandora said. “It was the same smell that covered her body.” Her voice cracked, and she took a deep breath, trying not to burst out sobbing. Her eyes misted anyway, and tears slipped down her cheeks.

  Lisa would have told her to tell her handsome pirate how he could return back to his own time. Pandora shoved that thought away.

  “I promise we’ll find the killer,” Theo said as he opened the car door.

  Pandora hurriedly wiped the wetness off her face. “I miss her so much, especially her laugh.”

  He reached inside and pulled Cé out.

  She called, “Cé!”

  He flashed her a smile that was between amusement and seduction, and her insides turned into goo. God, he was handsome. Her heart skipped three beats, and she forgot to breathe. She remembered how he had held her hand. He had smelled so good, and all she’d wanted was for him to wrap those muscular arms around her and tell her everything would be okay. She shook her head. She shouldn’t be fantasizing about Cé.

  The sun glistened off his bronze skin, and his blond hair seemed thicker. His muscles were more defined, but then she noticed his hands were behind his back.

  “Theo,” she said as she forced her numb legs to move. “Why is he wearing handcuffs?” She hurried past Frank’s still body, unable to bear looking at it a second time, as deputies took pictures of the corpse.

  She clenched her fists and glared up at Theo.

  Theo gave her a deep frown. “Because he’s still my prisoner.”

  “Greetins, lass. ’Tis good to see you,” Cé said. His husky voice made her squirm.

  She couldn’t tear her gaze from Cé’s sky blue eyes. She’d never seen anyone with such beautiful eyes. Had he cast some kind of spell on her?

  Pandora groaned. The two most mischievous residents appeared out of the dust settling on the road—Jonah and Joseph came riding up on their bicycles.

  “Theo.” Martin nodded.

  Theo turned around. “Boys, this is no place for you.”

  Jonah ignored him and rode up next to the car. “Joseph, the pirate’s here!”

  Cé bowed slightly. “Nice to see ye both again.”

  Theo glared. “You boys need to go home. This is a real live crime zone.” He stuck his thumb out. “Now, leave.”

  Jonah discarded his bike and raced toward the body. “Joseph, it’s Frank! He’s dead.”

  Martin grabbed his arm. “Jonah, you’re going to contaminate the evidence. Now, go home.”

  Joseph peered around his squirming brother. “What killed him?”

  Martin flashed Cé a cool look. “None of these murders happened until the so-called pirate came to town.”

  She faced Martin. “He wasn’t even here when poor Frank died. Can’t you release him?”

  Theo rubbed his chin. “I reckon.” He unlocked Cé’s cuffs. “But he’s coming back to my jail until I know what the hell is going around here.”

  Cé rubbed his wrist, then clasped Pandora’s chin. “Ye’re a clever, lass.” He looked at Frank. “What is that? I’ve never seen anythin’ that small.”

  “He’s a gnome,” Theo said, as he walked around the little man. “Frank was a well-respected community member.”

  “He was our milkman,” Jonah piped in. “He always brought us the best chocolate milk.”

  Pandora pulled away from Cé. He and everyone else would hate her for what she had done, but at least Cé wouldn’t be accused anymore.

  Her heart beating hard, she avoided looking at Cé and concentrated on Theo. “He didn’t do anything. It was my fault, Theo. There was a—” She cleared her throat. “A silver box next to Cé. I thought it was his, and it was so beautiful I had to find out what was inside.”

  “Do you still have it?” Jonah asked.

  Pandora ignored everyone but Cé. She didn’t want him to be mad; she wanted him to understand.

  He clasped her arm and turned her around to face him. “So, what was inside?”

  She stared into the inky darkness of his pupils, and a disquieting warmth crawled up her spine. Sweat trickled down her back as she felt all eyes on her. “A...a...sparkling white cloud.”

  “Was it from outer space?” Joseph stared up at the sky.

  “Yeah, dummy.” Jonah rolled his eyes. “We don’t have any man-eating clouds in Magic.”

  Theo knelt at Frank’s body. “You’re saying a cloud floated down from the sky and killed Lisa and Frank?”

  His sarcastic drawl sent her cheeks flaming with anger. She crossed her heart. “A cloud, I swear.”

  “Uh-uh.” Theo turned Frank’s head as if searching for bite marks.

  “You don’t believe me, do you, Theo?” She hissed an impatient puff.

  “Nope.” His short answer cut any hope that she’d get any help from his department.

  He continued examining Frank’s body as if she hadn’t even said anything. She bristled at his assumption that she was being an attention-seeking narcissist. True, she’d done some exaggerated feats when she was younger like turning her enemies into lizards or dumping a bunch of snow so school would close or running faster than a car to scare the tourist, but this wasn’t performing to get attention. People were dying, and no one would listen to her.

  “We do, Pandora.” Joseph wrapped his arms around her waist. “We’ll help you look for it.”

  She hugged him and smiled. “No, it’s too dangerous, boys. Promise me you won’t do anything.”

  “She’s right,” Theo said. “You’re both going to go home.”

  Pandora scowled. “You don’t believe me anyway.”

  He stole a glance at Cé. “We have never had that kind of trouble before, but we do have a rogue vampire. And you seem to be smitten.”

  Shock, anger, and embarrassment ricocheted off her like a dinging arcade game. “You actually think I would kill people to protect a dreamy vampire?”

  Cé blinked his eyes, then the corners of his mouth curled up into a deep smile.

  Pandora groaned inwardly. Every sense was aware of Cé—his masculine smell, his eyes twinkling with mischief, and her skin tingled with thoughts of his tongue and rough hands on her skin. A glistening of sweat trickled down her temples, and she could feel the blood rising warmly beneath her skin. She focused on Theo to keep Cé from knowing how much he affected her. She needed his help to capture or destroy the murderous cloud, not to seduce a sexy pirate.

  Theo wiped his hands on his thighs. “Yeah, I do.”

  Cé’s heartbreaking smile disappeared, replaced by a frown and a menacing stance that made him look every inch the blood-thirsty pirate he was. “I told ye, sheriff, I didna kill anybody.”

  “We’ll see. But for now I want to know where you’re at.”

  She made one more attempt to convince the sheriff. “Theo, more people are going to die if you don’t listen.”

  “So, you want me to put an APB out on a sparkling cloud?”

  Her patience thermometer was about to explode.

  Jonah and Joseph got on their bikes. “We’ll find it.”

  “Will you two go home?” Martin pulled out his walkie-talkie. “Or do you want me to call your parents?”

  Their faces pale, the two boys looked at each other, then pedaled on their bikes as fast as they could. Last time they’d gotten into trouble, their father Simon had locked them in their rooms for a week, which would have been pure torture for the rambunctious adventurers. She hoped they wouldn’t investigate, but their curiosity was worse than hers.

  Pandora looked between all their faces. Theo continued to examine Frank and ignored her, but not Martin. He had a look of disgust. In his book, he’d already judged and convicted her. Lastly, she glanced at Cé, and her heart sank.

  Cé gave her a glare that erased any hope that he believed her. “Ye think there’s a murderous cloud killing people?”

  “Please believe me. I need your help.”
<
br />   “Since I’m stuck here, I’ll help ye. And to prove to your sheriff I’m innocent.”

  She looked at the ground and wrung her hands. “I didn’t know what was inside. I thought...I thought...”

  Cé didn’t answer and brushed past her. He walked over to Theo. “No bite marks again?”

  “Not that I can see.”

  Cé sniffed. “I canna detect any blood. Have you ever had anything like this happen before?”

  Theo shook his head. “No. We’re a peaceful town, and I plan to keep it that way.”

  Martin spit on the ground. “Pandora, how many times has Lacey told you to curb your nosiness?”

  Pandora broke out in a hot sweat of shame, and she stared at the red nail polish on her toenails, wishing for the eighty-fourth time that she hadn’t opened that silver box. More than ever, she desperately needed Cé’s help.

  The black car came to a stop. Ray Sterner got out. “Damn, Theo. This is becoming one nasty spree. We haven’t had a murder since Gasper.”

  Gasper had been a lizard species from outer space and had gone on a killing spree until Lacey had used her magic and shrank him down to six inches. Destroying the cloud would be child’s play for Lacey, but she was visiting her in-laws in another galaxy and wouldn’t be back for at least a month. It was up to Pandora. Why couldn’t she possess the same power and shrink the cloud down to the size of a raindrop? Every time she used hers something went awry.

  Ray clutched his black bag and stuck his nose into the air and sniffed. He flashed his gaze around as if he couldn’t make up his mind on whether he should move or get back into the car. He walked over to Frank, shaking his head. “It’s not natural, Theo. Not natural at all.”

  He knelt next to Frank’s dead body and pulled back Frank’s eye lids. “He’s damn cold, as if he was frozen. His blood vessels in his eyes burst, meaning he was strangled, but I’d wager all his blood has been drained.”

  “I figured that, Ray,” Theo growled. “But what the hell is it? What exactly did you see Pandora?”

  “I told you—the cloud hovered over Frank, and then it sparkled. It’s evil, hungry. I could feel it.” She glared. “I know none of you believe me.”