Casting Curses

  Sandy called as well. “Not such good news for me. Out by my house, it’s not supposed to be restored till tomorrow night, around midnight.”

  “You can take a hot shower before you go home. Or just stay the night here again.”

  She shook her head. “I may take you up on the shower, but after that, we have to go home and make sure Mr. Peabody’s all right.” Mr. Peabody was Sandy’s pet skunk. He wasn’t magical, except when Bubba granted his wish to get his scent glands back, but he was a loving little creature and adored both Sandy and Jenna. He wasn’t so sure about Max, but neither did he shy away from the weretiger.

  “You know, I remember vague images of people who lived here. As I’ve said before, most of them never noticed me, or if they did, they left me alone. A few were spooked by my presence. But I do remember one person who stood out. There was a woman here, many years ago—I think it had to be a few years after the turn of the century, 1915 maybe? I don’t know, but around there. Anyway, she gave me the creeps. There always seemed to be a cloud hovering over the house while she lived here. I remember wishing I could leave, but never being able to. I mostly stayed in the basement because she didn’t go down there much. I don’t remember a lot, but I do remember there were workmen in the house while she was here.” Franny shrugged. “I’m sorry, but that’s it. That’s the only memory that stands out.”

  “That’s fine.” I thought for a moment. “What was she like? The woman? Do you remember anything about her? Why did she give you the creeps?”

  Franny sighed, looking put-upon. She was good with melodrama, that was for sure, and she milked it for all it was worth.

  “Well, let me think. She felt dangerous. I don’t know how to explain it, but it felt like she would be a dangerous person to have for an enemy, and an even more dangerous one to have as a friend. She was tall, with long black hair, and really full lips. And oddly enough, she seemed frightened. That’s all I can remember.” She vanished back into the wall before I could ask anything else.

  “I guess she got bored.” Max picked up a biscuit.

  “I suppose so. Well, that gives me a time frame, at least. I think I’ll look into the previous owners of the Bewitching Bedlam. We know about Franny’s family, but I don’t know much about anybody who bought the place after them.”

  There was a resounding thump from the front door. I frowned, then remembered the big old knockers we had installed. With the power out, the bell wouldn’t be working.

  Kelson jumped up. “I’ll get it. You eat.” She vanished into the dining room, heading toward the front door. A moment later, the sound of loud voices echoed into the kitchen, and then, before I knew what was happening, an all-too-familiar figure entered the room.

  I slowly stood, pushing my chair back as Sandy let out a gasp.

  “What the fuck do you want?” My stomach felt like it had just been punched in the gut. For the first time in over a year, I found myself staring at my ex—Craig Vincent Astor. And that was one face I’d have been happy never to lay eyes on again.

  “CRAIG? WHAT THE hell are you doing in my house?” I crossed my arms so I wouldn’t be tempted to stab him with my fork. Craig had been my one foray into dating a human. Well, the one foray into marrying a human. To say that it hadn’t worked out would be an understatement.

  He was still just as tall and smarmy looking as I remembered. Five-ten, toned and trim, and with every hair in place on his precious head, and a few fewer wrinkles around the eyes than I remembered, he was wearing an expensive black jacket that I pegged as Armani, and a pair of Italian loafers that probably cost half a grand. Craig was a lawyer, a snob, and an abusive buttmunch whom I had wasted eight years of my life on.

  Craig glanced around the room, then his gaze landed on Sandy and his eyes narrowed. The two of them had never gotten along. He had called her a whore one too many times and she had threatened to wither his pecker. However, when he saw Max sitting next to her, he quickly looked away. Max was stocky and fit, and looked every inch capable of taking down someone like Craig. From the scar that traced its way from his left temple to his chin, to the beefy biceps that showed beneath his close-fitting cashmere sweater, Max was an imposing alpha male.

  “Can’t you live in a normal town? I had to pay someone to bring me over in a boat because the goddamned ferry’s out and then rent a fucking car.”

  I blinked. “Not my problem, dude.”

  “Whatever. We need to talk.” It was a demand, not a question or a request. Craig had always assumed that his demands would be met.

  I stared at him, debating on whether to toss him out on his ass, or find out what he wanted. No doubt it was something stupid, but my curiosity got the better of me. But I was going to make him pay to talk to me.

  “Say please.”

  “What did you say?” His eyes narrowed as he swung around to stare at me.

  “I said, ‘Say please.’ As in ‘Please, Maudlin, do you have the time to speak to me?’ It’s really not that difficult, Craig. At least not for most people. I do, however, realize that polite conversation tends to be outside your venue.” I moved forward a step. He was in my house and my territory, and I wasn’t about to let him have the upper hand.

  He clutched his keys in one hand, the tension squaring his jaw as he clenched his teeth. I could sense the impending explosion. I had muted myself for years with him. I had learned to walk on eggshells. But I was done with that. Forever.

  “Do you have time or don’t you?” He tried to lock gazes with me, but I just laughed.

  “Even now, even after all this time, you refuse to be civil. I didn’t ask you to come here. You didn’t call to make certain I would welcome your visit. So you’d better learn how to say please really fast or I’ll call the cops and have you thrown off my property.” I half-hoped he wouldn’t. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be alone with him, even in my own house. Craig could be dangerous, and he held grudges for the stupidest things.

  A moment later, he let out an angry huff.

  “Please take some time out of your precious schedule to talk to me,” he said.

  The ball was in my court. He’d met the challenge. Now I had to talk to talk to him. I glanced over at Sandy and Max.

  “Are you sure you want to do this, Maddy? You don’t have to.” Sandy started to stand, but Craig turned on her.

  “I don’t need your interference, bitch. You already did enough damage.”

  The words were barely out of his mouth when Craig found himself against the wall, with Max holding him by the lapels.

  “I suggest you apologize to both of these ladies before I forget my manners and let my tiger out to play. I haven’t played cat and mouse in a long time.” Max’s eyes were burning and even from here, I could smell the anger coming off the weretiger. The scent of pheromones was overwhelming.

  Craig let out a strangled yelp. “I’ll sue you for assault—”

  “Go ahead, lawyer boy. I’ve got the best lawyers money can buy and they’ll whip your ass in court. Now apologize.” Max slid him higher on the wall.

  Craig squeaked out an “I’m sorry” and Max opened his fists, stepping back. Craig went tumbling to the floor. As he picked himself up, I could see he was stewing for a fight, but he wasn’t stupid enough to take on someone who could beat the crap out of him.

  “Nice friends you’ve got, Maud.” He turned back to me. “Now can we talk?”

  “You’ve got five minutes. Come into the kitchen.” I wasn’t about to take him into the parlor where he could shut the door and get me alone.

  We entered the kitchen and at that moment, the lights flickered and came on. I let out a long breath. One problem solved. In the sudden brilliance of the overheads, Craig looked less suave than I remembered him looking. In fact, he looked a little rough around the edges. He had a five-o’clock shadow and dark circles under his eyes. And his hairdresser had missed a few gray hairs that were peppered in among the black.

 
“Five minutes. What do you want?” I set the kitchen timer, then leaned against the counter.

  He snorted. “Always so gracious, aren’t you, Maddy?”

  “Gracious to those who deserve it, yes. You have four minutes, forty seconds. Better hop to it, dude.” I wasn’t going to let him bait me into an argument. I glanced at the clock. Four thirty-five. One minute and Aegis would be awake.

  “I need your magic. You’re going to cast a spell for me.” Again, a demand, not a request.

  I let out a peal of laughter. “Oh, that’s rich. Thanks, I needed that laugh. You need my magic? You hated the fact that I was a witch. And now you show up at my door demanding I help you? What makes you so sure I’ll even think about it?”

  “Because if you don’t, I’m going down in flames and I’ll take you with me.”

  And at that precise moment, Aegis opened the door to the basement, his beautiful brown eyes ringed with crimson, which meant he was in predator mode, and I knew exactly who he was fixated on.

  THE NEXT FEW minutes were a blur. Aegis was suddenly behind Craig, and Craig’s feet were dangling off the ground again, only this time it was a vampire, not a weretiger, in charge. Aegis looked about ready to toss him through the sliding-glass door when I yelled for him to stop.

  “Aegis, wait!” I had no desire to help Craig, but neither did I want him suing us because that’s exactly what the little worm would do.

  Aegis froze, staring at me, then slowly lowered Craig to the ground and shoved him roughly into a chair. He moved over to slide his arm around me, and gave me a long kiss as the fire in his eyes died down.

  “You okay, babe? I heard him threatening you when I was coming up the stairs.” Aegis was wearing his bad-boy leather pants, a black mesh muscle shirt, and a gorgeous golden belt buckle in the shape of the sun. His hair hung loose, sweeping his shoulders, and he was wearing both his Apollo ring and the Celtic claddagh ring I had bought for him.

  Craig’s eyes went wide as he looked up at Aegis, who smiled, deliberately lowering his fangs. He looked wildly from Aegis to me, then back to Aegis.

  “What the…vampire? You’re mixed up with a vampire?” Craig’s voice was raw, and he looked like he might pee his pants.

  “Craig, meet Aegis, my boyfriend and business partner. Aegis, this is my ex-husband. I told you all about him.” I let my voice drop on the last few words, and once again, Craig blanched. A very small, evil imp inside me was delighted by his response.

  Aegis just stared at Craig, not blinking, not moving from where he stood, arm wrapped around my waist. “What the hell do you want with Maddy and why were you threatening her?”

  Craig cleared his throat and I could feel Aegis working his glamour on him. He wouldn’t be able to look away, no matter how terrified he was.

  “I need her to cast a spell to get some thugs off my back. They’ll come after her, too, if they don’t get what they want from me,” he stammered.

  I froze. “What the hell did you do? And why would they be after me?”

  Craig shifted nervously in the chair. Aegis held his glamour tight, reeling Craig in so tight that he couldn’t possibly get away. I recognized the technique, even though witches were immune to the glamour vampires used, at least with their eyes.

  “Remember when I signed for the loan on the cabin?”

  I blinked. That had been seven years ago, and the cabin had been sold off during divorce proceedings. “Yeah, but I thought that was sold during the divorce.”

  “Not exactly,” Craig said, tugging at his collar. Finally he let out a shudder and said, “Well, it was sold but I didn’t pay back the loan. I didn’t exactly tell you where the loan came from.”

  “The bank. Craig, tell me you went through a bank for it? You wouldn’t let me see the paperwork, but…” But I had trusted him because, even though things had started getting bad even back then, I kept hoping to make it work. I didn’t like giving up so easily.

  “No. Not the bank. My credit was falling apart and the only way we could get the loan was for me to borrow it privately. When the judge gave you the condo during the divorce, I decided I deserved something for all those years of being married to you and used the money from the cabin to buy my car and a few other things for me. But now the man I borrowed the money from wants it back and...I put your name on the agreement as well as mine.” He slumped back as Aegis let go of control.

  I stared at him for a moment, wanting to throttle him. “You fucking took out a loan for five hundred thousand dollars from a goddamn loan shark and signed me up on it too?” Inside, I could feel my fire rising. I reined it in. Craig wasn’t going to make me lose my control, even though I had every right to fry him to a crisp.

  “How much do you owe them?” Aegis asked, his voice dangerously soft.

  “With interest, seven hundred thousand dollars.” Craig shifted again, no longer blustery. He seemed aware that Aegis was ten seconds away from poking a drinking straw in his jugular.

  I let out a squeak. Seven hundred thousand dollars? And Craig was right, if they didn’t get the money out of him, they’d be after me. I had no clue whether these guys were part of the Pretcom, or if they were human. Either way, it wasn’t good.

  Aegis growled under his breath. Then, moving so fast I didn’t even see the blur, he was standing beside Craig. He leaned over and grabbed Craig by the hair, yanking his head back.

  “Listen to me. You are going to go back to those men and you will tell them to take Maddy’s name off of the contract. You’ll inform them that you’re selling your watch and your Beemer or whatever else you drive and your house in the country and all of your other assets, and you will turn that money over to them even if you have to shit under a bridge and sleep in a cardboard box. Because if you don’t do as I say, you’re one step away from being a sippy cup for me and my fangy friends. Do. You. Understand?”

  He let go and Craig slipped off the chair, tripping as he tried to get to his feet. He glanced over at me, and I could tell he was hoping for some sort of intervention, but I said nothing. I decided to let Aegis handle this on his own. I wanted nothing to do with Craig and it seemed fitting that he end up disbarred, or whatever happened to lawyers who made bad decisions.

  “Maddy—Maddy? Come on, Maddy, please.” He gave me one last pleading look. “I can’t afford to pay them back.”

  “Then maybe you should start offering your legal services free of charge to them. Who knows, they might need a lawyer on the team. Get the hell out of here and never darken my door again. Get back on your private boat and get the fuck back to Seattle. Enjoy the mess you’ve made of your life, because it’s the one you chose.” I shook my head, still furious that he had dared to come here, that he had dared to put me in danger, that he had ever even thought of marrying me when he couldn’t stand witches.

  Max showed up then and grabbed him by the wrist, hauling him toward the front door. As Craig vanished out of my view, I turned to Aegis, breathing hard.

  “I can’t believe he actually thought he could come here and…” I paused, shaking so hard that I started to cry.

  “I know, love, I know.” Aegis pulled me into his arms and stroked my face, running his thumb gently down my cheek. He lifted my chin and kissed me, long and slow, and he tasted like cherries and chocolate.

  “He’s gone,” Max said, returning. “Now, maybe we can get on with things.”

  “Maybe,” I whispered. “Maybe he’s the last bad luck we’ll have this week. Or month.” One could always hope, I thought.

  Chapter 4

  “DON’T YOU THINK we should talk about what to do if those loan sharks come after you?” Sandy gave me a long look, one that I recognized as an I’m not letting you get out of this stare.

  “That’s not necessary,” Aegis said. “Because if they so much as set one foot on this island, I’ll drain them dry. I have no compunctions about taking care of human scum. And that includes Craig. And I am not entertaining o
pinions on this matter.”

  Sandy backed off really quick. “I’m going to call Alex and see if he’s on his way over yet.”

  “Meanwhile, in other news, we’ve uncovered a secret room upstairs behind the attic,” I said. “The only reason we found it is because of the hole in the roof. When Leonard and his team get here tomorrow morning, I’m going to ask them to open up the paneling in the attic so we can get to the door inside.”

  “What do you mean, ‘secret room’?” Aegis fixed himself a plate and sat down at the table.

  “I was in there, but I couldn’t tell how far back it went, or exactly what was stashed away in there. Even with my flashlight, it seemed far too dark.” Max polished off his food, then leaned back, looking tired.

  We were all tired, I thought. Except for Aegis, of course. Spending twenty-four hours in a large drafty mansion without any heat hadn’t helped, and the time teetering up on the roof during the rain hadn’t helped either. I let out a long sigh, staring at my plate.

  “You look exhausted,” Aegis said, covering my hand with his. “Is there anything I can do?”

  I shrugged. “I just want a hot shower, but I think Sandy and Max should take one first. They still don’t have power at their place.” I glanced over at Sandy. “Did you get in touch with Alex yet?”

  “He’s on his way. It took some time to get around those downed trees on the roads over there. If you don’t mind, I’d love to take you up on the offer of a hot shower. Max and I can take one together, to conserve hot water so you can have a bath. I know it takes time to refill the water heater. Especially after a power outage. Should we use the bath in the guest room?”

  I shook my head. “Use mine. It’s big enough for two. You know where the towels are. Take as long as you need.”