Death's Hexed Hobnobs

by Ruby Loren

  “I’m betting they’ve had spies watching us. They probably followed you or me here, saw us talking with the person that attacked the werewolf bar, and in true wolf style, put two and two together and made three. They think we’re working with her, so now they’re going to kill us,” Ryan said, sounding resigned.

  “I don’t suppose anyone wants to go out there and suggest we talk about all of this?” January moved to the door and held it shut as teeth and claws started shredding and banging the cheap pine door.

  Leah looked nervous. “If they kill me, they’ll regret it. The Clan will…”

  “Yes, we know… ‘Wipe out the South East of England. I doubt you’ll have time to warn them about the consequences,” January said.

  There was a sudden chorus of yelping, as if something had happened to the wolves. January took a step back from the door in time to see bubbling green goo creep its way under.

  She recognised that goo.

  “Come out and accept your judgement, January Chevalier!” A familiar voice proclaimed. The last time January had heard it, she’d been hissing.

  “No thanks, you can keep whatever it is,” she called through the door.

  January heard her name and then there was a chorus of chanting as the witches outside the door started to put a curse on her. Deep joy. An angry growling broke out. The wolves had regrouped after the initial shock of getting covered in living goo had worn off.

  “Can’t you see we’re in the middle of a curse? Wait your turn!” One witch yelled. January heard a yelp as something was done to one of the wolves. This must have enraged them, as the howling grew louder. Soon, January couldn’t hear the chanting anymore, just the sounds of a battle raging. Purple sparkling mist twisted its way into the room and the smell of rotten eggs spread.

  “Uh oh, someone’s trying to summon a demon,” Leah warned.

  January was about to suggest they climb out the window, when the door broke down and a jumble of wolves and witches fell into the room. The twisted shapes of living goo and snarling wolves came in and out of view and the purple sparkling fog flooded everything. For a second, January thought she saw something else, something dark with glowing yellow eyes staring at her, but then it disappeared back into the fog like everything else. She heard a growl and turned in time to see a huge wolf leaping out of the purple towards her, its mouth open and ready to tear out her throat. Dominic wasn’t waiting until their full moon meet to settle the score.

  Before January could react, the wolf was knocked aside by a large jaguar. They landed on the floor at January’s feet. She could see that they were pretty evenly matched, physically. The jaguar turned and gave her a look that said ‘this is my fight’. She knew Ryan had wanted to take on Dominic all along and decided to leave him to it.

  Where’s Leah? She suddenly thought, her eyes searching the shadows for the slight shape of the day-walking vampire. There was no sign of her. January wasn’t surprised. She’d already proved time and time again that she was the master of slipping away whenever there was the threat of conflict. The vampire may have disappeared for now, but January had a strong feeling that they’d meet again one day.

  It wasn’t a happy thought.

  She felt her way past the sofa, avoiding the thrashing bodies and blasts of magic, until she got to the window. It was already open. She thought Leah must have had the same idea before her. January slid outside and delighted in the smell of the fresh air.

  She walked away from Lewis’ old house, pausing only to have a go at imagining the house into looking normal to the average passerby - not billowing purple fog and green goo. Hopefully the dim weather would help encourage people to ignore it.

  She felt a stab of guilt at leaving Ryan behind. He’d wanted to fight the werewolf Dominic, but she still didn’t like to leave him there among wolves and witches. It was hardly going to be a fair fight. Who knew if any of them were going to make it out alive?

  At the same time, she knew she shouldn’t go back. Everything had changed now that she’d admitted she was immortal. Ryan’s dream of their perfect life together would never happen. There were always going to be questions that needed to be answered, and according to Leah, she was always going to have The Clan’s death sentence hanging over her. If Ryan managed to get out of the house alive, the best thing he could do would be to forget all about her.

  Leaving him behind was the first step.

  22

  January was still outside when the evening started to draw in. The gloom had lifted during the last part of the day. She was sat on the edge of the field at the bottom of the play park, watching a wintery sunset.

  She’d hoped that time alone would help her to figure everything out, but so far, she’d got nowhere. Leah was gone and she hadn’t had time to share her view on what January’s revelation about being immortal might mean, beyond ‘this changes things’. She shook her head at the setting sun. She didn’t even know what being immortal really meant. No one had explained the rules.

  Then there was the problem of the wolves. She could see how they had managed to jump to the conclusion that she’d attacked them. After their unfortunate encounter with a coven of witches earlier that day, their opinion of her was now probably even lower. It would definitely seem as though she was plotting with witches to attack their rebel pack. January sighed. She’d really thought that a lot of problems could be solved by talking with the wolves.

  There was a rustling in the bushes behind her. January held her breath, her body taut and ready for any attack – magical or physical. Ryan stalked out into the open, his slightly longer hair on the top of his undercut dishevelled. She could see that his nose had been broken, but was already healing. There was a nasty looking bite on his arm that would definitely require his tattoos to be touched up. Other than that, he looked pretty good, considering he’d just gone up against an oversized werewolf champion.

  “I won, in case you’re wondering,” Ryan told her, sitting down on the bench, heavily. “I know it’s not that easy to tell.”

  January smiled at him, just pleased he was here. “What happened? I left to look for Leah, but she was already gone,” she explained, knowing that sometimes the truth wasn’t always the kindest option.

  “Well, there was a lot of purple fog and green slime and teeth and claws. At one point, I think something shadowy with yellow eyes grabbed me, but somehow I held onto Dominic and bit and clawed. Eventually, he lay down and gave in. I didn’t exactly fight fair, I suppose. Maybe he lost because it was in such a tight space and every now and then someone else got involved in the fight too, but the end result was good. It happened just when the fog started to lift, too. I think one of the witches might have ended up dead.” He shook his head, still unsure what had really happened in the house. “Anyway, the pack saw he’d gone down. I doubt we’ll be seeing him around here anymore. I’d say your full moon match is off.”

  “I’m pretty sure it was off anyway. The wolves think I’m trying to kill them. All I ever wanted was to talk, so we could work out what’s best for all of the shifters of Witchwood together.” She sighed and looked down at her feet.

  “There’s still a chance you can…” Ryan said, fishing around in his pocket. He pulled out a bunch of business cards and sifted through them. “When we found out about the existence of the werewolf bar, I actually went in and met with the owner, before the bombing. I wanted to make sure we weren’t going to be treading on each others’ toes too much when the shifter bar opened up again. This is his business card. If there’s any chance of fixing this at all, you should take it, right?” He handed over the battered piece of cardboard to January. She looked at it and saw the name written was Cedric Underwood - the wolf she’d been speaking to in the bar, right before the bomb had gone off. At least I know he’s still alive.

  She dialled the number and walked away with Ryan giving her an encouraging nod. Here went everything…

  “We’re going to meet up in a couple of days’ time. He actually
listened to everything I said and believed it. We’re going to talk about the situation and hopefully we can work something out that everyone is happy with.” She beamed at Ryan, whose face brightened. However, his eyes remained sceptical.

  “Are you meeting them alone?” He asked.

  “No, I’m allowed to bring whoever I want with me, as long as they’re a shifter. We’re all nervous right now.” It was really touching that Ryan was still looking out for her.

  “That’s… good,” Ryan said.

  They lapsed into a silence that desperately needed to be filled. Both of them knew what needed to be said, but both were reluctant to start down that road.

  “Sorry to drop the whole immortality thing on you the way I did,” January said after a minute had gone by. The sun had now completely dipped beneath the horizon, and the air was turning cold. Soon, ice would begin to form on the ground.

  “I still don’t get it,” Ryan said, his face instantly grave. January wanted to reach out and touch it and make him smile again.

  “I don’t either. Tor did the weird test, told me I was immortal, and that was that. There wasn’t a handbook.” She bit her lip. “I know it’s bad. I know it messes up everything.” She turned and looked apologetically into Ryan’s serious green eyes.

  “Why does it have to change anything?”

  January felt her heart flip, but tried her hardest to ignore it. “I’m fairly certain that one part of it might be that I don’t age. Although, I can’t say for sure yet. But that’s not a great recipe for a long term relationship.”

  “Do you want to live forever?” Ryan asked, sounding genuinely curious.

  January stared across the empty field. She’d not actually had a chance to think about it until now. “It’s not actually that appealing,” she admitted. “Maybe I could find a way to undo it. Perhaps there’s something that could be done to make me normal again.”

  According to Tor, her current state was basically unexplored territory. But if she’d done it to herself in the first place, surely there had to be some way of undoing it?

  “Whatever happens, we’ll get through it. I want us to get through it,” Ryan reached out and held his hand to her leg, his other arm wrapping around her back. January relaxed at the warm touch and leant her head on his shoulder.

  “There’s still so much that’s uncertain. Leah may have sworn not to kill me, but you can bet she’ll have run back to ‘The Clan’ and told them everything. I could end up number one on their hit list. I wish we’d had the chance to talk to her more.” January shook her head.

  “There’s always the other option that was offered,” Ryan said, his grip tightening around her, ever so slightly.

  January couldn’t blame him for hating Gregory Drax.

  “We don’t even know if that offer still stands. I don’t know what they’ll do when they find out I’m immortal. They might even know what it means better than I do.”

  “No harm in trying it, anyway,” Ryan said, but his mouth was twitching at the corners.

  January punched his arm. “I don’t have many friends! I’d like to keep the few I have alive, okay? I know Gregory isn’t the most reliable friend ever, but he has saved my life, and he is also useful.”

  Ryan inclined his head. “Sure, but he also wants to hop into bed with you.” He frowned. “I’ll never be able to like him or trust him, but perhaps I can tolerate him being alive.”

  January tried not to roll her eyes at the melodrama. “That’s really great,” she said, trying to sound serious.

  “There’s one more thing we need to talk about,” Ryan said.

  January held her breath. There was nothing jokey about Ryan’s tone anymore.

  “I’ve been thinking. I did a lot of thinking before seeing you at the house today. That was why I was there by the way – I’d come to find you, but you were gone. I saw the door all blown to pieces and thought you were probably in trouble.” He shook his head. “Anyway, what I was coming to say then hasn’t changed. I’ve thought about it, and I think…” He took a deep breath. “…I’m in love with you, too.”

  January felt warmth spread from her toes up to her chest. He loved her!

  “I still feel the same… you know, just in case you were wondering.” She blushed and felt completely stupid.

  Ryan smirked. “You’re cute when you get all awkward.”

  “Don’t patronise me! I’m the leader of the pack!” She growled and tried to look threatening.

  He covered her mouth with a hand and then moved it aside so he could kiss her. She laughed when his lips pressed against hers and she wrapped herself around him, not feeling the cold anymore.

  “If I fix the front door, can I move back in with you?” He asked when they finally disentangled from each other.

  “Of course you can, but isn’t it the landlord’s job to fix things like that?”

  “I don’t think someone blowing the door off the hinges with a magical explosive is something that’s classed as the landlord’s problem,” he said.

  “Gregory would understand!” She was just teasing, but Ryan frowned at her.

  “The less we involve Gregory, the better.”

  “Are you okay with Simon living in the spare room?” She asked and then remembered that she wasn’t even sure if she was okay with Simon living there after what he’d done. With the cake shop to manage, she had no doubt he’d probably choose to move out soon, anyway.

  “Sure, as long as he stays gay,” Ryan muttered.

  January punched him again.

  Frost covered the fields in a glittering blanket when January walked to work the next morning. She was due to make the special that day, but for once, she wasn’t looking forward to it. She and Ryan had stayed up talking about the shifter bar until the early hours. They’d reached the conclusion that January was needed in the bar full time, if they were going to give the food side of things a real go. That would mean her quitting her job at Madame Rose’s.

  I think I’ll make a ginger and cranberry cake today, she thought, knowing that the comforting smell of spice was exactly what she needed in order to gain the courage to talk to Charlie, the owner of the tearooms. Charlie was a saint to work for. January knew she’d undoubtedly be happy for January, but she also knew that she’d be as sorry to lose her as January was to leave. She liked working at the tearooms.

  An hour later, the deed had been done. January’s cake was cooling on the rack, ready to be glazed, and Charlie had told her that she could leave the instant she managed to find a replacement waitress. January was grateful for the support of the tearooms owner, who’d even given her a few pointers on the business side of things and had offered to help if she ever needed it. January was glad to count Charlie Rose as one of her friends.

  “I hear you’re leaving,” Danny said when her arrived in the kitchen in time for the lunchtime shift.

  “I heard… or rather saw… that you and Lucy got together,” January batted back, raising her eyebrows at him.

  Danny pulled a face. “Sorry you had to suffer that horrible sight. I hope your cake didn’t come back up!” He grinned, a little uncertainly.

  January made her own smile wider. “I have to admit, I didn’t see it coming, but you two seem sweet together.” That was as good as he was going to get as far as January’s opinion of Lucy went.

  “I think it started when we were in that weird cake flavour competition. We talked about what we were going to try next and tried to one up each other, and then it sort of… happened.”

  January nodded. She knew all about things just ‘sort of happening’.

  The door banged off the kitchen unit. Lucy walked in and dumped her bag on the side, nearly squashing the cake on the cooling rack. Some things never change, January thought.

  Lucy smiled at Danny and swung her hips when she walked over to him, standing on tiptoe to plant a kiss - that lasted entirely too long, in January’s opinion. They both came up for air, staring into each others’ eyes with
soppy looks on their faces.

  January wished she was anywhere but in the kitchen with them right now.

  “There’s a package for you outside. Someone left it on the step,” Lucy said to January.

  “You didn’t fancy bringing it in?” January walked over to the door while Lucy shrugged.

  “It wasn’t for me.”

  January was actually glad Lucy hadn’t touched it. A package could contain anything. For all she knew, it could be another magical death trap.

  She stepped outside the door and looked down. At the foot of the steps sat a white box with her name written on it. She squinted, using witch sight, but detected nothing magical about it. That didn’t guarantee it wasn’t dangerous, but that was the only thing she knew how to check.

  January glanced around to make sure that no one was near and then gingerly lifted the lid, half-expecting something to come out and bite her. When nothing happened, she looked down at the contents of the box.

  A beautiful, iced chocolate cake shone stickily in the spring sunlight. The euphoric scent of really good chocolate drifted up, and January knew exactly which recipe had been used to make it. She had to admit, there was something a bit different about this particular chocolate cake. Simon hadn’t been lying when he’d claimed he’d made it his own. She was curious to see whether or not she thought he’d managed to make her chocolate cake recipe even better.

  Her hand slid down to the side of the cake where she could see a card poking out.

  Dear January,

  Thanks for letting me stay in your house. I’ll send you money for the rent I owe when I can. This is the first cake ever baked by the Black Cat Bakery. I hope you don’t mind me using your recipe again…

  January frowned. She did mind!

  I’m going to be living above the shop from now on, so I’ll be out of your hair. If you need any magical help, or just want a break from my father’s idea of magical tuition, give me a call!