Casting Curses

  Gregory picked up a suitcase and followed me up the stairs. I put him in the second guestroom—the first being Henry’s room—and showed him the adjacent bath. I made sure there were plenty of towels, and then left him to freshen up.

  I decided I could use a little freshening up, too and went in my bedroom. I changed into a wrap dress in heather gray. It was a jersey knit with a low V-neck, and a wide skirt. After touching up my makeup, and brushing my hair, I walked over to the bed where Bubba and Luna were sprawling across the quilt. Bubba was lying on his back showing his belly. Luna was licking it.

  I groaned. “Please don’t tell me you’re making a wish.”

  That was the last thing I needed. I could just imagine what she might be wishing for—giant mice to chase, opposable thumbs to open cans of cat food, a mechanical petting machine… There were oh so many things a cat could want to make life more interesting.

  I ruffled Bubba’s fur, cautious to avoid his belly. Then, scratching Luna’s chin, I gave them both a kiss on the nose and headed back downstairs. I could hear Gregory singing from his room, and I paused to listen. He had a beautiful voice, and he was singing a song that reminded me of one Aegis sang to me. Humming the tune under my breath, I quickly clattered down the stairs to the kitchen where Kelson was getting dinner under way.

  By the time Gregory came down, pizza was ready, and I was opening a bottle of chardonnay.

  “I don’t know if you’re hungry again, but I’m famished. You’re welcome to join Kelson and me in some pizza if you like. Would you like a glass of wine?”

  He stared at the pizza, then shook his head. “Save me a couple pieces, though, if you will. I’ll probably be hungry in another hour or two. The wine, however, sounds good. I’d love a glass.”

  I poured him a goblet of wine, and then, picking up my plate filled with pizza, I motioned for him to follow me into the parlor. Kelson had laid a fire, and it was crackling merrily. I set my plate down on the table next to one of the armchairs along with my goblet, and motioned for Gregory to sit wherever he wanted. He sat next to me on the sofa, taking off his slippers before sitting cross-legged.

  It felt odd, sitting here with a man I had never met but with whom I had such a close connection. It hit me that if Zara had never said a word, I would never have known about Gregory.

  “Is there anything you’d like to know about our mother? I told you most everything I could, but I might have left something out.”

  Gregory stared at his hands for a moment then looked up.

  “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but the fact is, my mother is the woman who brought me up. I never knew Zara. I’d like to know about health issues, or anything along that vein, but you told me the circumstances surrounding my birth already. I understand why she had to do as she did. But…her life had no connection to mine, other than she gave birth to me. But you—you’re my half-sister, and you’re alive and you’re interested in forging a connection. So I want to know about you, Maddy. Tell me about your life.”

  I had half expected the answer that he gave me, and I really wasn’t offended. Until the very end of her life, I had hated our mother. She had treated me like crap, and I hadn’t ever known about her past until shortly before she died. I had forgiven her, given the circumstances, but it hadn’t wiped away the years of pain and of thinking that I could never do anything right.

  “Do you know anything about me?”

  He was trying to suppress a smile, I could tell that much.

  “Actually, I do. I looked you up after your first email. What I found was quite…amazing. My little sister is a famous vampire slayer who now owns the Bewitching Bedlam together with her vampire boyfriend. I’d say that you’ve had quite an eventful life.”

  I coughed. “I suppose you could put it that way.”

  I paused, then told him about Tom and Sandy and Fata Morgana, and how after Tom’s death, we hunted our way across Europe.

  “But those days were long time ago. I still have my hunting knife, and I still…” I stopped.

  “You still what?” he prompted.

  I shook my head. “Never mind. Doesn’t matter. Now I own the Bewitching Bedlam and yes, I’m in a serious relationship with Aegis, who used to be a servant of Apollo until he got turned into one of the Fallen. He’s a great guy. He loves kittens, he reads murder mysteries, he does jigsaw puzzles, and is the best baker in town.”

  “When do I get to meet him?”

  “Hopefully before you leave. Right now I’ve got him locked up in the basement in his coffin because the curse is affecting him as well. But I’m hoping tomorrow night will put an end to it.” I told him about the ritual that Alaysia was creating for me.

  As the evening wore on, we slowly got to know each other. I found out that his favorite food was roast beef, and that he absolutely loved sticky toffee pudding, and he was addicted to cola. His favorite color was green, and he didn’t have a girlfriend at the moment, although he had been married twice though it had never worked out. In return, he learned that I just plain liked to eat, especially fried chicken and pizza and sweets and booze. My favorite color was purple, and I told him about Craig and what had recently happened.

  The fire crackled into ashes, and by two in the morning we were both ready to turn in. It felt like we’d been talking forever, and in a sense, we had. We had covered over three hundred years in our conversation, touching on the highlights and occasionally the low lights. But as we headed up the stairs, I paused at his room and gave him a long hug.

  He patted my back and hesitantly kissed my forehead.

  “You know what? I’m glad I have a half-sister. And I think I’ll just drop the ‘half’ off of there, if you don’t mind. You’re my sister, regardless of whether our fathers were different. I think I’m going to like this. And someday, you’re going to come over to England and meet my parents and my little brother.”

  I hugged him back and left him to get some rest. In my room, I realized I was lonely, missing Aegis. Even though he was downstairs, safe in his coffin, the house felt empty without his laughter and his touch. But Gregory had buoyed my spirits, and as I settled under the covers, hoping for an easy night, I couldn’t help but smile. I had a big brother. And he cared about me.

  I WOKE UP to the sound of my phone ringing. Blurry eyed, I fumbled on the nightstand, finally managing to hook my finger through the O ring on the back of my phone. As I pulled it toward me, rolling over so I could see the screen, I came face-to-face with Bubba, who was curled up on the pillow next to me. He raised one eye, glaring at the phone as it jangled, then indignantly padded down the side of the bed to curl up next to Luna.

  I was surprised by the caller ID.

  I hadn’t talked to Scarlett Wells in well over a year. She had been a friend of both Craig’s and mine, but she was a lawyer, too. When I moved out of Seattle we lost touch. I figured she had gravitated over to Craig’s side of the breakup because she hadn’t bothered trying to get in touch with me again.

  “Hello?” My voice was scratchy, and I forced myself to sit up and lean back against the headboard. I punched the speaker function, and as I held the phone up, with my other hand I reached for the bottle of water on my nightstand. I slugged back the drink, soothing my throat.

  “Hi, Maddy. I know you’re probably surprised to hear from me. It’s been a long time, but I felt like I had to call you. It’s about Craig.”

  “If you want to convince me that he’s a stellar guy and he did nothing wrong, you can stop right there.” It would be just like him to use a mutual friend to try and squirm his way out of his responsibility.

  “No, it’s nothing like that. I wanted to warn you. Craig just got out of jail, and I think he may be headed your way.”

  I stared at the phone for a moment. What fresh hell was this?

  “Um…Scarlett, it sounded like you just said that Craig just got out of jail? What the hell did he do now? He showed up at my house the ot
her day, telling me that he had got himself involved with some loan sharks while we were married and that they had my name, too. I kicked him out and told him to take care of the problem.”

  “I don’t know anything about loan sharks, but this is worse than that. Apparently, he’s been under investigation for a few months. He was arrested for embezzling money from two of his clients. I guess the cops got worried that he was going to try to skip the country, so they closed in on him Thursday morning.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. I knew Craig was underhanded, and I knew he was a jerk, but I had never dreamed that he would steal from his clients. “You said he’s out of jail?”

  “He bailed himself out last night. I guess he put up his house as bond. I heard through the grapevine is that he’s blaming you for some debt that he owed.”

  “That would be the loan shark incident.”

  “Well, whatever the case, Craig’s really gone off the deep end. He’s irrational. And he’s disappeared. The cops came asking if we knew where he was this morning.” Scarlett took a long breath, and then, before I could respond, added, “I’m sorry that we lost touch and I’m sorry if I ever took Craig’s side over yours. He painted a pretty awful picture of you and I didn’t bother to find out on my own. I felt like I owed you to call you about this.”

  “Thank you for telling me. He was over the top when he came here the other day. My boyfriend showed him the door.”

  “Just be careful. He’s really angry.”

  I sighed. “My guess is that he tried to embezzle enough money to leave the country before the loan sharks caught up with him. No doubt he was planning to liquidate all his assets. It doesn’t cost much to live in Mexico, and he always talked about moving there.”

  Scarlett and I chatted a bit longer, then I took a shower. I glanced outside at the sky. It was stormy, and the rain was starting to come down hard. I slipped into a pair of jeans and a warm cowlneck sweater the color of rich merlot. I brushed my hair, pulling it into a high ponytail, and took the time to fully do my makeup. I wanted Gregory to see me looking my best.

  As I came out of my bedroom, Luna and Bubba behind me, Gregory was peeking out of his.

  “Morning, Maddy, how did you sleep?”

  “Oh, not too bad. Come on let’s go get breakfast.”

  As we headed down the stairs, I heard a loud crash and then Kelson, cussing.

  “Maddy? Hurry up into the living room. We’ve got a problem.”

  I was hearing that way too often. Taking a deep breath, I sprinted down the rest of the stairs, praying that pretty soon I would have my normal life back.

  AS I RACED into the living room, I found Kelson kneeling on the floor, staring at Franny’s painting. The frame had broken, and shattered glass littered the floor.

  “What happened?”

  “I don’t know,” Kelson said, looking up at me. “I was afraid to touch it, because Franny’s trapped in there. I don’t know what the glass breaking did to her, if anything.”

  I let out a sigh and knelt beside her. “I don’t know either. And I can’t sense anything because of that shot that Jordan gave me.”

  I cautiously moved a couple of the bigger shards of glass out of the way, then carefully picked up the broken frame. The painting looked intact, although the frame was cracked around the edges and the glass was gone. Standing, I carried the frame over to the coffee table and set it down. Gregory was standing at the door of the living room, watching us.

  I glanced over at Kelson. “Why don’t you clean up the glass while I try to figure out if this has affected things.” I leaned over the painting, searching for any sign of Franny. “Franny? Are you there? Franny?”

  Nothing. Radio silence.

  Gregory joined me. “Is that the painting she was trapped in?”

  I nodded. “But I can’t feel anything now—magical or otherwise. Can you tell if she’s still in here?”

  “Do you have another frame? One that’s got glass? Maybe if you transfer the painting to it, we can see if she’s attached to the actual painting or to the frame itself.”

  When Kelson returned, Gregory took the dustpan and whisk broom from her. “I’ll sweep up the glass.”

  She glanced at me.

  “Kelson, could you see if we have any other frames this size? I don’t care if you have to take another painting out of it. We want to see if Franny’s attached to the painting itself or the frame.”

  As Kelson disappeared out the door, I gently removed the painting from the frame and examined it. I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The painting was still in one piece and hadn’t been damaged. I set the frame to the side, just in case Franny was still connected to it. I didn’t want to throw it away until we knew what we were dealing with.

  Gregory jumped. “Did you see that?”

  I whirled, looking around the room. Then, I saw what he was talking about. A shadow lurked in the corner, tall and human shaped. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a bead off the energy. But Gregory put down the dustpan and broom and stepped between me and the shadow.

  “Whatever it is, it’s not friendly.”

  “Probably Etum. I wonder what he’s up to now.” I really disliked not having my powers to fall back on.

  Just then, Bubba came racing into the room. He skidded to a halt beside Gregory, staring at the corner. He let out a loud hiss, and a yowl, and the shadow went racing into the wall again. Gregory stared down at Bubba, his eyes wide.

  “He’s not just a cat, is he?”

  I shook my head. “I guess I forgot to tell you. Bubba’s a cjinn. He’s been with me since I was young. I found him when he was trapped in a burning barn. He was just a little kitjin.”

  “Well, he certainly threw the shadow for a loop.”

  “Thank gods for that.”

  Just then, Kelson returned. She took one look at Bubba, Gregory, and me and scanned the room. “He was here, wasn’t he?”

  “Yep. Etum is still running around the house, apparently. Did you find a frame?”

  Kelson handed me a simple wooden frame. “It’s not fancy, but it has glass and will fit the painting.”

  “Hopefully, that’s all we need right now.”

  Kelson used window cleaner and a paper towel to wash the glass, drying it thoroughly before she handed it to me. I fit the glass into the frame, then carefully placed the painting over the glass, taking care to tuck the cardboard firmly in place behind it before fastening it shut. Then, turning it over, I stared into the painting, hoping to see Franny looking out.

  There she was, pounding against the glass. She didn’t look happy.

  “Oh, thank gods you’re all right.” Relief flooded through me. As Franny continued to rail against her prison, I caught a few choice words that I was surprised to see come out of her mouth. “I didn’t think you used that kind of language.”

  She shut up, blushing. Obviously, she hadn’t realized I could read her lips.

  “One thing’s for sure,” I said to the others. “Until the ritual is over, we’re carrying Franny’s painting everywhere we go. We’re not giving Etum another chance to mess things up for her.”

  A thought occurred to me. What would happen if I tried to take the painting outside, with Franny attached to it? She was trapped by the curse laid on her, but what about now? I thought about giving it a try, but then decided not to make matters worse.

  And with that, we headed into the kitchen for breakfast.

  Chapter 13

  SANDY AND MAX joined us around three o’clock. Gregory and I had spent the day walking around the yard, leaving Kelson to watch over Franny’s picture. I had shown him the campground in progress and had offered to drive him around the island, but he wanted to spend the time just talking.

  “I’ll come back soon, and play tourist,” he had said.

  We had caught up on all the little things that you never think about when you live with someone day-to-day or know them thro
ughout the years. Favorite foods, times in our lives that were relatively unimportant to other people, but that had mattered to us, people we had known and loved. I told him all about Fata Morgana, and he was quite silent for a while afterward.

  Then he said, “She sounds lonely. I know we love whom we love, but you don’t think you could ever return her passion?”

  I shook my head. “I’ve just never had a romantic bent toward her. I’ve slept with women over the years, and have had relationships with some of them, but although I consider myself pansexual, I do tend to be more attracted to men. And Fata… There’s always been something about Fata that made me nervous, as much as I cared about her.”

  “Nervous how?”

  “I suppose even back then, I could sense the process of transformation working on her. She came in on a wave, crashed against the shore where I was standing. When someone appears in your life in a mystical way like that, well, I don’t know if you ever see them as quite human. You know what I mean,” I said, shrugging.

  “I suppose I do. I don’t know if I’ll ever marry again. I’ve had several failed marriages, and to be honest, I pick the wrong kind of women and I know that. But like a moth to a flame, I find it hard to steer away from them. I’m content in my ways and I don’t like changing for others. So I date casually, but I don’t expect that to change.”

  He looped his arm through mine, pulling me close. “I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived, but this is going so much better than I thought it would. You really do feel like my sister. And that’s nice.” He broke into a wide smile that warmed my heart.

  When Sandy and Max arrived, Max and Greg began to chat while Sandy and I moved into the kitchen, leaving them in the living room. Kelson had emptied just about every cupboard. Food covered the counters, and dishes were piled in the sink. Franny’s painting was sitting in the middle of the kitchen table where she could see everything that was happening.