The Accidental Familiar (Accidentally Paranormal Series Book 14) (26 page)

“Nina!” Marty scolded, knocking Nina in the shoulder. “That’s not true! He asked her to allow him to wrap his head around the fact that she thinks Avis is a misogynistic ass! Not the same thing, Vampire.”

But Nina wasn’t having any of Marty’s guff. “Well, I’m here to tell you, we don’t play like that. We fucking duke it out until it’s a GD dead issue. We don’t walk the fuck away because this is what happens!”

Shit. Shit. Shit. Yash had always been on him about expressing himself better, and he’d been right. He did suck at sharing, but he’d been so blindsided by the look on Poppy’s face and her conviction Avis was a scumbag, he’d needed to process.

So he shook his head at Marty, his eyes apologetic. “No. It’s true. I didn’t
walk away
-walk away, but I did need some time to process what she was saying about Avis. It surprised me, in truth. But she never said a damn thing about Littleton.”

“All I can tell you is she was off on a tangent, Rickster,” Calamity called from his feet. “She went on and on about how she had to go to Littleton after she saw a picture of your old familiar Yash and found one of his crystals. January said she has the gift of intuition—”

“And if you’d stuck this shit out instead of goin’ all stiff upper lip, you’d know that, wouldn’t you,
Rick
?” Nina accused, driving a knuckle into his shoulder hard enough to make him wince.

But he deserved her scorn, her disgust. He had asked for a reprieve because Poppy’s dislike of Avis cut so deep. He’d needed time to parse how he was going to make both relationships work. He wanted his relationship with Poppy to work on more levels than just her assignment.

Wanda grabbed Nina by the arm so quickly, Rick almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Stop condemning a man for gathering his thoughts instead of spewing a bunch of crap and potty language to fill up space, Nina! Not everyone operates like you, Mistress of The Night. We don’t all just lash out. Now shut up and let’s figure this out. She was going on and on about getting to Littleton. Maybe that’s where she is?”

As he continued to process, something else cropped up. The word
intuition
. “Wait, what’s this about Poppy being intuitive?”

Wanda smoothed her gloves over her hands, fiddling with them in a nervous gesture. “January said she had the gift of intuition, but Poppy wasn’t sure if her intuition was muddied by this aura, or if she really was experiencing bad mojo about Littleton. So she kept it to herself because she had no proof to back up her claim other than a ‘feeling’.”

Same thing she’d said about Avis. Looking out into the dark of night, his street silent, he was once more reminded of the coming blood moon. His eyes scanned the sky; the swollen moon, still a buttery yellow, hadn’t begun the change yet, but the vibe was there. The ever-present warning about the things that could happen on the night of a blood moon.

Maybe that somehow tied into Poppy’s intuition? It wasn’t uncommon for the blood moon to create havoc and play tricks with your mind if you were emotionally sensitive and didn’t know how to handle the sensory overload. Poppy was new to this, maybe this was just a case of systems overload?

But then why was he having this sudden urge to find her at all costs? As though if he didn’t, something bad was going to happen? It didn’t matter, all that mattered was this time he wasn’t going to ignore his gut.

“Let’s forget everything else and find Poppy. We need to get there fast if I’m going to stop the demo.”

“Wait!” Darnell, one of the biggest men Rick had ever laid eyes on, ordered. “Man, don’t rush. We gotta fan out a little. You ladies go to Littleton, I’ll keep Carl close. If she’s there, y’all text me and I’ll come runnin’, but if she comes back here, I don’t want her to come back to nothin’. The blood moon makes for the crazy if you don’t know how to keep your head on straight. If that’s what’s doin’ this to her, I can help. Y’all good with that?”

Rick slapped him on the back, grateful to this stranger for jumping into the fray. “You’re right, Darnell. Thank you for keeping a level head.” Turning to the women, he asked, “Are we all in agreement?”

“Let’s find our Tiny Dancer,” Nina said, her mouth a determined slash of crimson on her face.

“All in!” Wanda shouted, looping her arm through Marty’s.

As Rick prepared to chant a transportation spell, first, he prayed he could actually pull it off. His magic was peanuts compared to most, but it was
really
peanuts because he hadn’t used it in so long.

Second, he prayed to the Goddess that they’d find their Tiny Dancer.

T
he voice swirled around the empty halls of Littleton, all but deserted and dark with only the light from the streetlamps shining into the windows to illuminate the desolation.

The moon had risen, beautiful and soft, making her wonder when this blood moon thing happened. But the pull of it, the thread of connection Poppy felt to it, called to her in a way that left her distracted, and she reminded herself she had to stay focused and find Rick.

All the doors to each apartment had been removed, leaving each entryway she peeked into a stark reminder her days here were a closing chapter.

Sadness permeated the air as she fought her way up the stairs, calling out Rick’s name.

“Poppy!”

Now he sounded as though he was downstairs, maybe in the lobby? She’d just been there, and he was nowhere in sight. What was going on?

Stopping in the stairwell, she forced herself to gather her senses and listen. Really listen. “Rick, where are you?” she called out.

But there was no answer, so she followed the unmerciful wail of her name back down to the lobby, skidding out of the stairwell that dumped her to the left of the elevators.

It was all she could do to keep her feet under her when she heard someone say, “There you are!” Startling her almost to the point of making her cringe.

More panic swept over her. Surely they were going to demo Littleton at any minute? Who was left in the building? Oh my God. Was one of the seniors still here?

Poppy poked her head around the corner, careful to stay pressed flat to the wall, but she couldn’t see well enough to distinguish who the figure was.

There was a heavy scrape of something against the floor and a grunt, but still, she couldn’t make out any definitive features. Yet, her skin crawled and goose bumps rose on her arms when a dark shadow moved, with only a thread of light from the front doors to help her see.

But she didn’t really need to see the shadow for identification. All she needed was to hear the shadow speak. “I’ve waited a long time for this, you bloody beauties! A long, long time.”

Avis.

Fuck, fuck and fuckity-fuck. This intuition thing obviously had its downside, and finding out she was right about Avis was definitely one of them. Whatever he was up to, it was no good. Her bones said as much.

As the picture became clearer, and Poppy watched Avis flit about the lobby, she didn’t know what the hell he was doing, but she knew it was something really bad. Super bad. But what? What did Littleton have to do with this bad feeling?

Yeah, they were knocking the building down, but no one but her seemed to care. Rick had been honest with Mr. Rush during the sale, so what was Avis doing milling about here, talking to some pillars? She’d bet her bobbleheads it had something to do with magic.

By hell, when all was said and done, she was going to insist someone give her a history lesson in magic and familiars. Like from the beginning of the beginning so she knew all the ins and outs.

And then that damn persistent voice called to her again.
“Poppy!”

“Goddammit, knock it off!” she muttered under her breath while Avis used his weight to shift one of the pillars holding those stones matching the spire on the roof.

With sudden clarity, something hit her.

Now, more than ever, she was convinced Rick wasn’t in the building at all—but
she
was, and that was probably right where Avis wanted her to be. She didn’t know why, but she knew she was right.

Foiled again, McGuillicuddy.

* * * *

“Where the fuck are we?” Nina yelled to Rick over the strong wind.

“The roof of Littleton!” Rick yelled back, tucking his face to his chest to block out the torrent of leaves slapping at him.

“Are you insane? Dude, they’re gonna blow this thing the fuck up!” Nina bellowed her anger in his face.

Marty and Wanda clung to one another, fighting the sheer force of the wind, Marty’s face chock full of worry. “Why are we here? Where the hell is Poppy in all this?”

A spell. Someone had cast a spell on Littleton.

He’d done a transporting spell a million times as a warlock. He’d pictured in his mind exactly where he wanted them to end up—in the garden of Littleton—but somehow, they’d landed on the roof? It had to be a spell blocking him out of the interior of the building. But why?

“Follow me!” he yelled over the howl of cold air as he fought his way to the staircase leading to the top floor. Lightning cracked above their heads, illuminating the spire in front of them, casting an ominous, almost evil glow upon it.

Reaching for the door, he wrapped his frozen fingers around the handle and instantly jumped back. “Fuck!” he yelled, the burn of his flesh a sharp jolt.

“Shit!” Calamity cried. “Is it a spell? Jesus and hellfire, what’s going on?”

Gripping his hand to his chest, Rick’s eyes wildly sought another way to get off the roof.

“January!” Wanda called out. “Thank God you’re here!”

The doctor raced across the rooftop, her eyes wide, her clothes flapping in the gusts of wind as she reached for his injured hand. “What happened?”

Rick grit his teeth, the hot ache of his burned hand throbbing. “Forget my hand, I can’t get the damn door open! We think Poppy’s down there. We need to get there now!”

January’s nostrils flared as her eyes flitted across the landscape of the roof. “A spell. Someone cast a spell here. Can you smell it? Who’s preventing you from getting down these stairs?”

As the wind battered Nina’s slender body, she drove herself into it with determination. “Fuck this! If the kid’s downstairs, I’ll just jump over the side. I can fly, remember?”

Rick didn’t even have time to think about the fact the vampire could fly, but if he got Poppy out and was still alive after doing it, he was going to re-subscribe to
Paranormal World News
, because he was severely out of the loop about his own kind, let alone vampires.

“No!” January howled, grabbing Nina’s arm and spinning her around. “This doesn’t call for brawn, Nina. It calls for magic. I don’t know what’s happening or why, but if you walk into something with bad magic meant to harm, your fists won’t save you! Now I need you all to listen to me. Everyone hold hands. Calamity, Rick, we need a revocation spell. I can’t do it alone, Rick. So wind up, buddy, and use that magic!”

As they all held hands, bowing their heads into the raging wind, Calamity on Rick’s shoulder, he closed his eyes and began to chant the spell with January with only one thought in mind.

Get to Poppy.

* * * *

There was no slipping past Avis through the front doors, but as she turned to run back up the stairs and bust a window in order to possibly jump to safety, Avis called out to her. “Don’t bother, darling. There’s no way out.”

No way out?

“Yes, you heard me right, Poppet. I’ve put a spell on you,” he sang, his giggle ringing in her ears. “You can’t get out, and no one else can get in. You can try of course, but your efforts will be wasted.”

So she was either going to blow up with him—which was ludicrous because why did someone as bloated with ego like Avis have a death wish—or actually have to find the balls to confront him and try and stop him.

Which meant it was go big or go home.

And as she watched him push three of the pillars together to form an almost square, knowing this meant something dreadful, at least if she was judging by the screaming protest of her belly, Poppy made her move.

“Avis?”

His blond head whipped upward, and he squinted into the dark, but then he smiled that brilliantly perfect smile, the one with subtext evil written all over it. “Did I mention how glad I am you’ve joined me? Not that you had actually had a choice.”

“A choice?” He’d zapped her here? What happened to the warlocks had weak magic rule?

“How do you suppose you got here? Me, of course! I’ve been practicing my spells like a good chap for a very long time,” he said on a sadistic chuckle. “You’ll want to stick around anyway. This should really be something for a first-timer like you.”

Licking her lips, she stayed in the shadows, waiting for the right moment. Maybe he was just bluffing about this spell? “Where’s Rick, Avis?”

Scratching his head, he sighed forlornly. “I don’t know if
you
don’t know, darling. But he doesn’t really matter tonight.”

Her skin crawled at his use of the endearment, but she needed to know what was happening—what he was doing here. “Shouldn’t you be hitting the road? Isn’t this place going to blow soon?”

His laughter filled the entryway, bouncing off the marble tile. “Oh, indeed, it’s assuredly going to blow. Just not in quite the way you think, sweet girl.”

Okay. He was stark raving banana pants, and she wanted out. Turning to make a break for the stairs again, she rammed right into an invisible wall, cracking her head. Ignoring the sting, Poppy reached out and attempted to penetrate the darkness of the stairwell only to find her hand smacking against something hard and cold.

“I did tell you there was no way out, didn’t I, Poppet?”

The moment Avis said the words was the moment she felt as though she’d been punched in the gut. Something seared her from the inside out, hot and plodding its merry way to another one of those demonic pukes.

Gripping the corner of the wall, she waited until the pain passed and managed to grit out, “Why are you here, Avis?”

Straightening his spine, he squared his shoulders and leaned an elbow on one of the pillars. “Because I have to be here, pretty lady. Tonight’s the night.”