Witches of the West - (An Urban Fantasy Whiskey Witches Novel)

by S. M. Blooding

  Dead bodies.

  Two hundred year old witches wanting to massacre her entire family?

  Yeah. Small potatoes.

  So, as long as Leslie was okay, Paige wasn’t going to sweat it. Cawli had been good for Paige. Great, actually. Who was to say that couldn’t be the case with Leslie, too?

  What Paige needed to do was to bond with her daughter. Something she sucked at.

  Well, if the kid wanted to learn to shoot, she’d be the one to teach her.

  “Grandma, how much longer ‘til dinner?”

  Alma shook her head. “Half an hour or so? Why?”

  Paige took in a deep breath. “I’m taking Leah shooting real quick.”

  “We’ll keep supper warm for you, but we’re not waiting.”

  “Sounds fair.” She turned away, but stopped. “And, Grandma, think about the other thing.”

  Alma quirked her wrinkled lips. “I’ll think about it.”

  Paige went back into the living room where Dexx was showing Leah some hand-to-hand combat. Tyler and Mandy were there as well. Which was good. A lot of people might think that all kids had to be sheltered for the duration of their childhoods, and, hell, maybe they did. But how were they supposed to be adults? Was it supposed to just magically happen when they turned eighteen? It hadn’t worked for her.

  Also, the Whiskeys were going to war. Just because the kids had natural gifts didn’t mean they had to rely on them. What if they were attacked in public? They couldn’t use their magickal gifts in public. They needed to learn to defend themselves using ordinary methods.

  “Hey.”

  Dexx stopped and turned to her, a smile on his face. “Just the basics, Mom.”

  Paige smiled, her gaze settling on her daughter. “Want to go to the range and fire one of these things?” She gestured behind her to the duffle bag in the corner.

  Leah spun, her blue eyes round. “What? I thought you said—” She stopped as if saying ‘no’ out loud would remind Paige of what she’d really said.

  Paige sighed, quirking her lips. “I may have been wrong. Do you want to go or not?”

  Leah nodded energetically. She took a step forward, her hands outreached, then stopped. Took a step back. Took a step forward.

  Paige looked at Dexx. “The .22?”

  He chucked his chin toward the duffle. “On top. Ammo’s on bottom.”

  “Great. Thanks.” Paige dug out the .22 pistol and a single box of ammo, then gestured for her daughter to follow. “You’ve got Bobby.”

  “You betcha,” Dexx said. “Okay. Now, back to where we were.”

  Paige didn’t know what to say on the ride to the department. One of the things Boot had made them was a shooting range. Only two lanes, but it was enough.

  Paige and Leah’d had a lot of talks, but nothing ever serious. They’d always danced around all the major issues. Leah’d never wanted to talk. Paige hadn’t had time. Fuck. She sucked at this.

  “You should see what we did with the station,” Paige said finally.

  “Made it look like you’re police?” Leah’s tone wasn’t as surly as Paige had thought it would be.

  Bonus? “Actually, no.” And not the conversation she wanted to have with her daughter. “How are you doing?”

  Leah shrugged. “Good, I guess.”

  “No.” Paige needed some real honesty. “How are you really doing?”

  Leah looked at Paige out of the corner of her eye, pulling her head forward on her neck. “Really okay.”

  “And you’re handling the transition all right?”

  Leah shrugged “Yeah. I guess.”

  And this was why conversations typically didn’t go far. “You’re okay with being with me instead of with Rachel?”

  “Well, sure, I guess.” Leah gestured out the window and let her hand flop back to her lap. “For one, I don’t get to shoot at Grandma’s, and I never get to practice magick. So, yeah. I’m okay.”

  Paige parked in front of her department building. No lights were on. No one was at work, which was exactly as it should be. “I’m not.”

  Leah looked at Paige, startled.

  Paige took the key out of the ignition and let the keys fall in her lap as she stared out the window. “Not about you being here. I’m glad you are.”

  Leah frowned.

  This wasn’t going well. “I’m failing you. Again.”

  Leah dropped her gaze for a moment, then stared out the window, too.

  “You know, they—there’s no manual for this. I’ve got so much crap that I’m trying to handle—”

  “Upcoming war.” Leah ticked off the list on her fingers. “Angels are trying eat your baby.”

  “Ew. No. They’re not trying eat him.”

  Leah laughed. “Come on, Mom. I get it. You’re busy.”

  Paige looked at her daughter. “That’s not what I meant. Not entirely anyway.”

  Leah took off her seat belt and turned in her seat. “Then, what did you mean?”

  Paige mimicked Leah’s movements as much as the steering wheel would allow. Damned hips and wide thighs. “The crap with Rachel, your grandmother.”

  Leah quirked one corner of her lips up, a frown furrowing her brow.

  “I…hate that woman so much, and I’m trying to not throw that on you, and—” Paige stopped herself, looking up. “When I try to be with you, I keep second-guessing myself. ‘What would you want to do?’ ‘Well, you’d know that if you’d been there for her.’ ‘I bet Rachel would know.’ ‘Oh, that’s grand. How about you just call her and ask her opinion?’”

  Leah’s eyebrows rose. “You…really have those conversations with yourself?”

  “You have no idea. And then, there are the other ones, the ones I have with Leslie where she’s telling me how to be a mom instead of your friend, and I get that. I do. But at the same time, I just want to make up for all the time I lost with you.”

  Leah sat back in her seat and looked at Paige. “Well, maybe you could stop trying to ‘make up’ time and just start spending time with me.”

  Which was what Paige wanted to do. “What would you even want to do? Everything I offer, you say no to.”

  “That’s because you offer things like, ‘Let’s go watch a movie,’ and no. I don’t want to do that.”

  “But you love watching movies.”

  “Yeah.” Leah widened her eyes flaring her fingers. “But I don’t want to spend two hours in a dark room with a mom I haven’t spent time with in years. I want to do stuff with her.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like…” Leah flailed, then gestured to the building. “Like, show me around, let me see what you do, and teach me to shoot a gun. You know. Stuff like that. Would that be too hard?”

  No. “And I’m not going to be as nice to you, either. You’re going to listen to me, do as I say.”

  Leah rolled her eyes, a slight smile on her lips. “Whatever.”

  What a dope. Paige should’ve been doing this the entire time, but…being human sometimes led to doing stupid things. “All right. Let’s go.”

  They walked up to the building when a random thought struck Paige. “Hey. You know? I’ve been meaning to ask you a thing.”

  “Yeah?” Leah asked like she’d lay down a bet it was a boring question.

  Paige unlocked the doors and flipped on the lights. “When Rachel first brought you back home, back to Alma’s, she said you were a necromancer. But then you said you didn’t really know what your gift was. And then we found out it was necromancy. That…didn’t make any sense.”

  “Oh. Uh. That. Well—wow. Okay. Yeah. This—this is cool, Mom.”

  Paige pressed her lips together and fought not to press. Just yet. “I created each desk area with elements that would enhance each of my team. So, Rainbow has water.”

  “Whoa.” Leah let out an excited whoop as she took in the leaves and the water. “How’d you do that?”

  “Dude, I really have no idea.” And she didn’t. It had been one
of the weird, mad, tired genius moments that just managed to work out. “And over here—”

  “And—” Leah held up her hand to stop Paige. “Her name is really Rainbow Blu?”

  Paige nodded. “Really. Sweet kid.” She shrugged. “I hope she makes it. You’d probably like her.”

  “Because why?”

  “I don’t know. She’s…easy to like. She’s really hard to hate. You’d have to work really, really hard to hate that woman.”

  Leah chuckled. “This is cool, Mom. Real cool.”

  “Thanks.” Paige thunked the cloth gun case carrying the .22 pistol against her thigh. “Okay. You were telling me.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “Range is this way.” Paige pointed and led the way slowly.

  “Well,” Leah said as she joined Paige. “That’s the reason I don’t really hate being here.”

  That didn’t make any sense.

  “When Uncle Nick told Grandma it was time to visit her mother, she didn’t take the bait. Uncle Nick had been working with me and magick and that’s how we found out that my magick’s a little…dark.”

  “It’s not dark.”

  “Right. But Grandma would think so. So, one of Grandma’s angels stopped by, told her to retrieve some grimoire thing, and I offered myself up as bait.”

  Paige realized this was a shortened version from the mouth of a teenaged girl, but there were still things that didn’t add up all the way.

  “I told Grandma she could tell you guys that she was scared of my gift because I was a necromancer.”

  Paige’s lips rounded as she opened the door to the range. So, Leah did see Rachel for who she really was.

  “And her reaction was…well, it let me know she wouldn’t love me anymore after she found out I really am a necromancer.” She stopped at the table. “I didn’t know how you would react, so I played it by ear. And you were cool. You didn’t make me feel like a freak.”

  “Try being the freak who summons demons.”

  Leah sucked in her lips and nodded. “Okay. So, are we gonna shoot? Because I’m hungry.”

  They spent a good hour in the shooting range. They policed their brass and cleaned up after themselves, then headed home.

  Leah decided after all of that, that she wasn’t real fond of guns and probably wouldn’t touch them.

  Which was fine. Paige wasn’t trying to teach her daughter that guns were cool. Only how to be safe around them.

  Which, she guessed, a lot of people would frown on, but she’d already mentioned she wasn’t Mom of the Year or anything.

  When they made it home, Dexx was playing a loud game of cards with Mandy and Tyler, Bobby sitting in his lap.

  “Wild game of poker?” Because they were going to Hell as parents anyway. They might as well go all the way.

  “Go Fish.” Dexx raised his eyebrows over his wide, pained eyes. “I could die.”

  Paige chuckled.

  Tyler narrowed his eyes as if throwing daggers at Dexx. “Give me your twos,” he said in a low, gruff voice.

  “Ah, man!” Dexx dug out three cards and plopped them on the table. “You’re killin’ me here.”

  Leah dropped her bag on the floor and pulled out a chair. “I’m coming in.”

  “Hey!” Dexx swatted playfully at her hand as she reached for the draw pile. “Those are my cards.”

  “All the better to take yours with then.” She laughed evilly and settled in.

  “Dinner first.”

  Leah gave Paige a long face but retrieved a bowl of Shit in a Pot, then went back to the game.

  All the kids but Kamden were downstairs at the table along with Dexx, but the other adults were gone.

  Frowning, Paige reached around Dexx and saved Bobby from a flying hand to the face. She never knew Go Fish was so cut throat.

  “Do you want in?” Dexx asked.

  “Um, no. But thanks.” Paige pecked a kiss on his cheek.

  He reached up with one hand, glaring at Mandy. “Give me your Jacks, Missy.”

  “Ah.” She smacked the table and dug into her hand to retrieve the cards in question.

  Dexx smiled up at Paige. “You didn’t think you’d get away with just that, did you?”

  “You looked kinda busy,” she said with a smile of her own.

  He shook his head and captured her lips.

  She sighed into him, awkwardly holding Bobby to one side. Oh, she loved this man and his lips.

  “Ew!” Leah groaned. “Get a room.”

  “Dexx,” Mandy exclaimed. “Give me your fours. Like, now.”

  Paige smiled and pulled back.

  “There’ll be more of that later.” Dexx sat back, glaring at Mandy. “Go fish.”

  Paige chuckled and left them to play while she headed upstairs to check in on Barn. She found him in one of the spare rooms, talking to Roxxie.

  “So,” he said, leaning forward on his elbows propped against his knees, “you can hear us all the time?”

  Roxxie stretched out on the bed in tight white jeans, a short pleated skirt, a white t-shirt with a pink skull on it, her hair done up in two white pigtails. She looked like a subdued form of Harley Quinn. “Yeah. We just choose to ignore you most of the time.”

  “But why?”

  Roxxie sat up, her once bare feet suddenly shod in white high-top sneakers. “Think about what would happen if we answered every single one of your calls. When would you learn to do anything on your own? You wouldn’t.”

  “But what about the big times?”

  “You don’t think you’re learning something there, too?”

  “That you’re assholes?”

  “If that’s the lesson you need, then, sure.”

  Paige didn’t want to enter into this conversation. Not really. Sure, it was kinda fun. But, at the same time, she was working on a headache, so, maybe not.

  She turned and headed towards Leslie and Tru’s room, but stopped, hearing their voices from the other spare room. She walked toward it and popped her head in.

  Tru had completely taken over the middle bedroom. Computer monitors lined two walls. Sound equipment took up most of a third.

  Leslie had a small desk in the other corner with her laptop and a normal sized monitor. She looked up as Paige walked in. “Hey, Pea.”

  “Hey.” She assessed Tru. He was concentrating, which seemed odd for him, but what did Paige know? She barely knew the man. She’d seen a much different side of him in Texas. She’d always thought of him as the comic relief, but he’d been…well, not comic relief. He could be dark and serious when his family needed him to be. “I just wanted to check on you guys. ‘Specially you, Tru. Haven’t seen much of you.”

  He finished plugging something into the monitor directly in front of him. “I’ve been busy. The new job is demanding, then coordinating everything for the move…”

  What was involved with moving? All Paige had really known was that she had to pack her stuff and get a new job and try not to kill anyone. The rest of the details had just magically happened.

  “It was a lot. I nearly killed all of you while you slept.”

  That was a threat she hadn’t seen coming from normally Mr. Funny Man. “Oh, well.”

  Tru turned, his hands in his lap, a look of resignation on his face. “What about you? How’re you doin’?”

  “Fine.” But what was up with that look? She had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that when she’d arrived, she demanded a lot from everyone. “New job’s going good. I think. And because I think that, it means I’m missing something. And the new school is good. I don’t like the Blackmans. The shifters are coming along quite well. I mean, you know, we’re talking to them pretty good and no one’s trying to beat the crap out of anyone else, so, win. But what about you? I’ve been eating up a lot of air time.”

  Tru screwed his lips to the side and narrowed one eye. “Well, I’ve been a little stressed.”

  Okay. Good information and news, frankly. “With what?” />
  He shrugged. “Maintaining the finances. It was one thing in Texas. Most everything was paid for.”

  “We’re giving you money.”

  Tru quirked his lips. “Which is nice, but now we have five billion places to pay things to and it might be nice to have a little help there.”

  She could understand that. “Okay. Set the budget up on a shared drive so we can all access it. Color code the bills you want other people to pay and when, and send us the links and log-in information so we can take care of those.”

  “And when you forget?”

  “We’re going to have to all be big kids, don’t you think?”

  Tru released a long breath.

  “What else?” Why was it that managing a family seemed a lot like managing a department?

  He thought about it, then shook his head.

  “Okay. Well, you do that, we’ll help carry the load. You’re going to have to start helping with clean-up, though, because we’ve been handling all that. And then we’ll be groovy again. Okey-dokey?”

  Tru nodded. “Okay.”

  Paige smiled at him. “I want our old Tru back. The dorky one with the horrible fashion sense.” His pants—not shorts—were nice and his t-shirt wasn’t wrinkled. Very un-Tru-like.

  “Yeah, this new job is making me feel like I’m being forced to be a different person.”

  “Then, stop it. You were hired because of what you can do and you can only do that when you’re being you. So…be you.”

  Tru rubbed his nose, his lips finally curling into a smile. “Well, then, I’ll leave the cleaning to you.”

  Yeah. Totally like managing a department. She wanted to sigh, but kept her relaxed detective mask on instead. “And I’ll leave the bill paying to you.”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “Okay.”

  And, as she knew from her time as a manager—which, apparently, she hadn’t completely sucked at—she knew she needed to follow through a little further with him. He was taking on too much this little blow-up was a direct result of him feeling overwhelmed. “You’re letting the stresses of the new place and the new job and the new everything get to you.”