Sinfully Spellbound

by Cassandra Lawson

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Allie

  It was a little past six when Dylan walked in the front door. After checking Dylan’s kitchen earlier that day, I wasn’t really all that surprised by the takeout bag in his hand. It was obvious Dylan didn’t do much cooking. Staring longingly at the takeout bag, which I was guessing contained burgers, my mouth practically watered.

  I’d been on the phone with my mom for the last hour, listening to her complaints, and I was pretty sure she’d be mad if I started eating while she was talking. When I’d picked up the phone to tell her about everything that was going on, I hadn’t expected her to have heard the details from my dad. They never talked, but he’d apparently taken the time to tell her about everything, from the guy following me, to the events of the council meeting.

  “I just don’t understand why I had to hear about all of this from your father,” my mom practically wailed yet again.

  “Mom, I’ve already apologized for that,” I said. “The reason I called you today was to tell you what was going on, and I didn’t choose for Dad to find out first. Honestly, I didn’t tell him anything about what was going on. The thing with the killer freaked me out, and I haven’t been thinking straight. Today is the first day I’ve had time to call, and I waited until later in the day because I didn’t want to wake you up.” My mom was not a morning person, or even an early afternoon person, not an uncommon occurrence with sex demons of all types.

  “I could forgive you for that, but how could you fail to mention the warlock?” she asked. “You, of all people, know warlocks don’t make good husband material.”

  “For the last time, I’m not getting married, despite what Dylan’s mother may want,” I insisted, putting my hand up to my forehead as if that would help my headache.

  “Your father already told me you’ve agreed to one of those witch couple tests. What do you call those tests?”

  “They’re called affinity tests, Mom.”

  “That’s right! What exactly do you think an affinity test is for?” she pushed. “That test is just a precursor to a witch marriage ceremony. Then you’ll be trapped with a man just like your father, and I will not see my baby girl being made a fool of by any man.”

  “I didn’t agree to anything,” I insisted, shooting a glare Dylan’s direction for getting me into this mess in the first place. If he’d refused, I wouldn’t be listening to my mom tell me the dangers of getting involved with warlocks. This might just be worse than hearing her tell me about her sex life.

  The idiot actually winked at me, so I responded by sticking out my tongue. He looked much too tempting in his crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and his scarlet tie hanging loose around his neck. Then again, Dylan had always looked much too sexy for his own good.

  “Are you even listening to me?” my mom asked, and I was embarrassed to say that I’d been too busy looking at Dylan to pay much attention to my mom. That man was much too good looking.

  “Sorry, Mom,” I mumbled, feeling my cheeks getting warm. “I got distracted.”

  “Let me talk to her,” Dylan said.

  I gave him my best, ‘are you out of your mind’ stare.

  “Give him the phone, Alana,” my mom demanded, obviously having heard him.

  After some hesitation, I handed Dylan the phone since I figured he could take care of himself. Okay, I was really just starving and willing to do anything to get off the phone so I could eat. I immediately dug into the food—greasy burgers and fries. Grabbing a burger, I took a bite and watched Dylan talk to my mom.

  “No, ma’am, I am not using your daughter,” Dylan insisted politely.

  “Okay, I won’t call you ma’am again,” he said with a cringe.

  “Yes, I’d prefer to keep those attached to my body.” Now, he looked a little pale.

  “Define force her into doing anything,” he said hesitantly.

  My mom’s laughter was loud enough that I heard it across the room, and I really hoped that was a good sign because I was pretty sure I preferred to have the parts my mother had threatened stay attached to Dylan’s body, as well. After my mother stopped laughing, there was a very long pause, during which Dylan’s free hand clenched into a fist and his eyes darkened.

  “I would never hurt Allie,” Dylan practically growled.

  Okay, so my mom was probably not warming up to him quite as much as I’d hoped.

  “I don’t care what my reputation is,” Dylan said calmly. “Yes, I have avoided dating any witches in the past because I didn’t want to be pressured into marriage, or any relationship for that matter. I’m not going to lie and say that’s what I was looking for with Allie. When I met her, I had no idea she was part witch.”

  I rolled my eyes, knowing how well that comment would go over with my mom. He’d basically just said it was okay to use me when he thought I was only a succubus. Mom could be a little hypocritical in this regard, since she felt it was okay for a succubus to use any man for sex.

  “I’d changed my mind before I knew she was part witch,” he argued. “This isn’t some line I’m giving you about how I fell in love with your daughter the moment I laid eyes on her, but I genuinely liked her after our first night together, and I wanted to spend more time with her. I may not know where things are going with Allie, but I want her in my life. Any man who wants just sex with Allie is an idiot.”

  I stood there at Dylan’s kitchen island with a burger halfway to my mouth, staring at him. Based on Dylan’s expression, I couldn’t tell if my mom was still bitching him out or not.

  “It was nice talking to you, as well,” he said before handing the phone back to me.

  “Mom?” I asked hesitantly.

  “If the two of you pass that witch couple test, you should marry him as soon as possible,” she blurted, and I nearly fell over. Seriously, it was a good thing I hadn’t taken a bite of food or I’d be choking on it.

  “Excuse me? I must have misheard you,” I said. “Either that or Dylan cast some strange spell to make you like him. My mother would never tell me to marry a warlock, so that’s the only logical explanation.”

  “Don’t be a smart ass, Alana,” my mom said a little irritably.

  “I’m not trying to be a smart ass, Mom. You just caught me completely off guard. I have no idea why you’d even suggest that.”

  Looking over at Dylan, I found him happily eating his burger as if nothing strange was going on. I, however, was seriously wondering if my mother was teasing me, because the only other explanation was that she’d lost her sex-loving mind.

  “As much as I try to avoid thinking about it, you are half-witch,” she began with a sigh. “That part of you has always prevented you from acting like a true succubus. While I hated the idea of sending you to that witch school, it was for the best because I can’t pretend that part of you doesn’t exist.”

  “Since when do you think my education was a good thing?” I asked skeptically, because my mom had never said anything nice about me attending a witch school.

  “I’ll admit that it took me some time to come to that realization,” she said. “In my defense, I wanted to keep you in my world. Like any mother, I’d dreamed of taking you to your first orgy.”

  “Mom!” I screeched. “Please don’t talk about orgies with me.”

  “That reaction is exactly why it’s a good thing you went to that witch school,” she said. “A full succubus would never have a problem talking about orgies. I went to one with your grandmother just last weekend, but you can’t even stomach the idea of watching a man fuck your mother. That’s just unnatural for a succubus. Do you have any idea how many men I’ve shared with your grandmother?”

  Thankfully, the doorbell rang, giving me an excuse to get out of discussing my mother’s sex life. Actually, it was even worse than that since we’d moved on to discussing my grandmother’s sex life, as well.

  “I’ve gotta go, Mom,” I said. “Someone’s at the door.”

  “Fine, but don’t let
me find out about this kind of thing from your father again,” she warned. “I’m your mother, and I expect to hear the results of that test right away.”

  “I promise to tell you,” I agreed as I followed Dylan to the front door.

  “One last thing,” my mom said.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “I like this warlock, Allie, and I want you to give him a chance,” she told me.

  “I’m trying,” I assured her.

  “That’s a start,” she said. “I love you, Allie.”

  “I love you too, Mom. Bye.”

  “Did you just use answering my door as an excuse to get off the phone with your mother?”

  “She was telling me about the orgy she attended with my grandmother,” I explained.

  Dylan’s face scrunched up in disgust, and I was pretty sure he understood my reasons for wanting to get off the phone quickly now. He grabbed my hand when I reached for the door. “Don’t forget to disarm the security spell first.”

  This would take me some time to get used to, but hopefully, I wouldn’t set off Dylan’s alarm too many times. I mouthed the words to disarm the spell before opening the door.

  “Nick!” I said happily when I saw him standing on Dylan’s front porch. “What are you doing here?”

  “I invited him over to watch a movie with us,” Dylan said. “I hope that’s okay with you.”

  It was things like this that made it hard to resist Dylan, and made me wonder why I was even trying. Why couldn’t I believe in happily ever after? Then again, I hadn’t seen many happy endings for couples. Melina’s mom seemed pretty happy with her second husband, but he wasn’t a warlock. Maybe my problem wasn’t believing in happily ever after so much as believing in the ability of warlocks to remain faithful, which wasn’t completely fair since I didn’t really know many witch couples. How was I supposed to give Dylan a chance when I had so many prejudices?

  “Stop thinking about what your mom said,” Dylan urged as he patted my ass on the way by.

  “Believe me, I would like to forget that conversation ever happened,” I said with a shudder.

  “I’m not talking about the sex stuff, I mean what she said about us being together,” Dylan clarified.

  “Your mom talks to you about sex?” Nick asked with wide eyes.

  I nodded as we made our way back to the kitchen. “That’s the norm for a succubus. It probably wouldn’t bother me if my dad weren’t a warlock. My witch side isn’t quite as comfortable with sex.”

  “I didn’t even realize you were part witch when we first met,” Nick said thoughtfully.

  “It’s not that easy for most to pick up on,” I explained.

  “Don’t feel bad. I didn’t know when I first met her either,” Dylan added.

  “I hope you don’t mind if we finish our dinner,” I said, pointing to our food.

  “I got you a bag of blood on the way home,” Dylan said.

  To say Nick looked confused would be an understatement. “You got blood for me?” he asked, as if he couldn’t possibly have heard Dylan right.

  “Yeah, I figured since you were heading here right after sunset you wouldn’t have time to grab a bite on the way. No pun intended,” Dylan added with a grin.

  “That’s really nice of you,” Nick said, and I could tell he wasn’t used to people doing nice things for him.

  I dug into my food. Dylan had already finished his burger, so he grabbed the blood and a glass for Nick.

  “I’ve always wondered something,” Nick said as he took the blood from Dylan and emptied the bag into a glass.

  “What’s that?” Dylan asked.

  “I’ve heard men of your kind referred to as warlocks and witches,” he said. “Which term is correct?”

  “Both,” Dylan answered. “As I understand it, we were all called witches at one point, which is why we have the Council of Witches and not the Council of Witches and Warlocks. I guess some of the men decided they needed their own special title and came up with warlock. Of course, the idea of adding warlock to the names for everything never really caught on. So, we still all go to witch school, read witch text books, and some of the older witches refuse to even use the term warlock.”

  “Men are idiots,” I muttered.

  “Hey!” Nick and Dylan said at the same time.

  I ignored their indignation. “Like you need a special title to tell the world you have a penis.”

  Nick let out a startled bark of laughter before admitting, “The warlock thing is pretty ridiculous.”

  “I think so, too, but there are many who still insist on the distinction,” Dylan explained.

  I almost snorted. “Yeah, I still remember arguing with a male teacher about this. He never was able to give me a good reason for the special term.”

  “It helps us distinguish gender,” Dylan said.

  “That seems pretty easy to do,” I insisted.

  “Not always,” Nick said seriously.

  “He’s right.” Dylan nodded. “I’ve seen plenty of witches who could pass as warlocks.”

  “That’s just mean,” I scolded.

  “But true,” Nick added.

  “I wish Trevor were here,” I said. “He’d agree that you’re being mean.”

  “That’s because Trevor thinks every woman he meets is beautiful,” Dylan argued.

  “True,” I agreed. “Trevor likes everyone.”

  “Not me,” Nick said quietly as he rinsed his glass and put it in the sink.

  “Trevor just has some hang-ups with vampires,” Dylan explained with a hand on Nick’s shoulder.

  “Then I should probably avoid him,” Nick said with a smile that seemed somewhat strained.

  Dylan looked like he was going to argue, but he closed his mouth and nodded. “That might not be a bad idea.”

  “I can’t eat another bite,” I said to change the subject, because I didn’t like seeing Nick hurt. I’d talk to Trevor about this later and figure out what I could do to make them get along. For now, I just wanted to distract my new friend. “Let’s go find a movie to watch. Anyone have any suggestions?”

  “Go ahead and pick whatever you want, unless Nick has an objection to you choosing,” Dylan said as he slipped an arm around my waist.

  Nick shook his head. “I’ll trust your judgment.”

  I grinned because I knew the perfect movie.