The Sorceress Screams (12 page)

Jacqueline hadn’t
budged from the corner. Her darting gaze gave her the impression of being both
paranoid and wanting to be any place but a room with plenty of windows. She did
manage a small shake of her head.

My employee
called for votes. The result was a tie between Jeff and
Veronika
.
Desmond served as the tiebreaker. He, of course, chose the hot blonde.

Veronika
shot to her lofty heels, a
happy squeal more appropriate on farm animals emitted from her as she darted
for the bracelet.

I held it
aloft. “I will gladly give you this costly bracelet if you’ll agree to
extinguish the candle once more while wearing it and tell us if it was any
easier.”

Veronika
gave me a twisted frown even
as she snatched the silver out of my fingers. She shoved the jewelry over her
wrist with careless regard. Nell glared at the woman in between flicking the
lighter over the candle. Maybe like me, my employee was irritated
Veronika
didn’t understand how priceless that bracelet on
her wrist was.

Rolling her
pale blue eyes heavenward,
Veronika
aimed her finger
at the candle for one last
go
. But when the flame
exploded into a miniature fountain much like a Roman candle, every individual
in the store gasped.
Except me.
I turned, hiding my
smug smile.

“
Oohhhhh
.
My.
God
!”
Veronika’s
said. “That was fucking awesome! Light it
again!”

“One more
time,” Nell said.

I turned back
in time to watch the Water witch explode the flame from the inside out twice as
large as she’d done the second time.

It was Desmond
who spoke next. His rear was on the edge of his seat as he stared at
Veronika’s
wrist with an expression akin to hunger. “How
does it work?”

“I don’t know,”
Veronika
said.

But Desmond’s
eyes were already on me. “Is it some sort of
Healing
weave?”

“I don’t sell
weaves.” I barely managed to snap the words out rather than snarl at the man.
“And weaves don’t have to be attuned to their owner.” I jabbed a finger toward
the
Veronika’s
wrist. “That does. It’s a rare magical
charm, but it isn’t a weave.” I glared for a half second, allowing myself at
least that much. “Let’s move on.”

I drew a foot-long
box out from beneath the display case. With care befitting what was hidden
inside, I lifted the white top off then spread the golden tissue paper aside to
reveal what it protected.

“This is a
Candle of Truth,” I said. “It’s a single cast spell. This candle will only burn
for one hour and if it’s snuffed before that hour is up, the truth spell fades
and the candle is ruined. Any words spoken within a five foot radius centered
on the burning candle will be true words.”

A broad grin
came over Nell’s face. “So we’re going to play truth or dare for the Candle of
Truth!”

Truth or dare
seemed immature with Desmond and Jacqueline among the attendees. I’d let Nell
come up with the majority of the games because she knew her friends better than
I did. Now I felt silly.

“Whoever has
the best answer or does the most daring dare will get the candle,” Nell said. “We’ll
vote for the winner. Who wants to go first?”

“Who asks the
questions?” Desmond asked.

Her ordinarily
light eyes darkened in his general direction. “I do.”

He made a
dismissive gesture before settling back in his seat.

“That’s not
much fun,”
Veronika
said. “Play it like real truth or
dare. Whoever just went gets to ask the next question.”

Nell glanced
at me for support. I shrugged because I didn’t care one way or the other.
“We’ll do whatever Nell wants to do.”

“
Fine
,” Nell said. “Whoever just went
gets to ask the question. I’ll go first.
Logan, truth or
dare?”

“Truth,” Logan
said.

My employee’s
lips spread into a full grin. “Who did you lose your virginity to?”

Logan’s mouth
dropped open. She darted a look at Desmond. I leaned forward.

Had she lost
her virginity to
him
? Was he some
sort of feudal lord who claimed the right to defile new wives and virgins
within his domain? With some of the covens’ archaic customs it certainly
wouldn’t surprise me.

If Desmond had
noted Logan’s look, he hid it because his focus was still on
Veronika’s
silver bracelet.

Logan
whispered an answer to Nell.
“The quarterback at Sedona
High.”

“No!”
Avery’s shock manifested all across her features.

I drew in a
sigh because this wasn’t at all how I’d wanted my promotional event to go. My
noise must have been too loud because I found Desmond watching me with that
slightly amused expression he’d used far too much.

Nell nodded
toward Logan.
“Your turn.”

“Avery, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“I dare you to
kiss Jeff.”

I set my head
upon my palm, stifling a groan.

When had I’d
grown too old for these games? Maybe I’d never been the sort to play them. When
a person’s childhood is spent running from the gatekeepers of Hades, pranking
harpies and escaping torture from their nemesis, truth or dare seems like small
potatoes.

Terran
was the object of Avery’s
question. She chose dare and was asked to see how high she could shoot herself
up using Air magic. The youths trekked into the parking lot to watch. Desmond,
Veronika
, Jacqueline, and I remained inside.

I covered a
yawn because it had been a long day. And the pizza looked
good
.
Almost good enough to get up.
But it
wasn’t what I really wanted… If I lived to see the sunrise on tomorrow, I’d get
myself a massive cheeseburger with all the
fixin’s
.

Terran
must have questioned Jeff next
because he stripped off his shirt to do who knew what.

“For the
record, this part was not my idea,” I said.

Desmond
inhaled a soft breath I now knew was a laugh.

After Jeff ran
around the building twice, naked, the group tramped back into the shop. Fortunately
the young man had pulled his pants back on before he’d returned.

Jeff dropped
onto his seat.
“
Veronika
, truth or
dare?”

“Truth,” the
young woman said, voice dripping with boredom.

“Uh … um … where
is the strangest place you’ve ever done it?”

“In a bed.”

I didn’t laugh,
but the younger witches did.

Veronika
faced the handsome male
lounged in the corner. “Dr. Marino, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”
He’d sounded weary.
Or perhaps wary.
I didn’t know him well enough to guess
which.

“If you had to
sleep with one person in this room, who would it be?”

The high
priest cleared his throat noisily but not before glancing at me. “
Myself
,” he said, confounding me again. I’d never learn if
he were gay at this rate. Desmond smirked. “It’s the only way I’d get any
sleep.”

“Lame,”
someone said under their breath.

“Mrs. Washington, truth or dare?”
Who
knew Desmond could be a team player?

“Truth.”

“Did Ms. Walsh
really show up in Caesars Palace with only a stack of towels and save you from
a vampire this morning without lifting a finger?”

My lips
twisted. His question was as lame as his previous answer had been.

Jacqueline
nodded. “Yes.”

“Let’s vote,”
Nell said.

The younger
witches voted for Jeff’s naked run. The rest of us didn’t care. Jeff got to
take the Candle of Truth home.

We played one
more game in which the prize was a ring to deflect empathic links. Nell devised
a version of blind man’s bluff that let the blindfolded person use their magic
to locate each person in the room and “tag” them. Whoever completed
it
first would win the item.

Desmond
declined play, citing he didn’t need a ring to deflect empathic links. I hid my
smirk because he’d been unable to deflect mine. Jeff and
Veronika
sat out of the game because they’d already won a prize. Though Jacqueline
tried, she had no chance of winning using her Dark magic. Avery won thanks to
Air magic’s ability to give a wielder a picture of the area without sight.

Door prizes
exhausted, I sent Nell off with her friends and promised I’d clean up
everything. Apart from packing the leftover pizza and snacks, I’d clean up
Wednesday morning before I opened the shop.

The sun had
recently slipped beneath the horizon. I needed to get out to Maximo’s house so
I could warn him about the vampire. There was just one problem: Desmond Marino.

He’d sent
Veronika
to wait in the car so he could vex me. I asked
Jacqueline to wait for me in the Nissan because I fully intended to lambaste
him.

“You had no
right—”

“Hush, Ms.
Walsh.”

He positioned
himself in front of the shop door, regarding me with a frosty eye. I couldn’t
leave until he let me. Or until I went downstairs, walked out the front door,
and then trekked the miles between my Sedona parking lot and the
Wipuk
one.

“We’d already
discussed my taking responsibility for you,” he said. “I merely made it
official.”

“I never
agreed to that, Marino. It certainly doesn’t make me beholden to you for a
fourth favor. Especially since you only did it so you’d have leverage to make
me act as your mole.”

He made one of
his dismissive gestures. “I can compromise. Three favors it is.”

“Two,” I said
even as I lifted my chin in defiance. “I dropped that hot little Water witch on
your doorstep. That counts as a favor.”

Desmond’s
eyebrows drifted to the middle of his forehead. “Listening to her nonstop
prattle about shoes and rebuffing her near-constant attempts to get me in bed
is a
favor
?”

My brows
lifted right along with his.
Veronika
annoyed
him? She was everything I
wasn’t. She had style. She had looks. She was
his own
species. If he’d tackled her into bed, she’d probably shut up about shoes.

“Any other
red-blooded male would think so, Marino.”

He released a
small disgusted sound. “That’s debatable.”

“Those rumors
about you have to be true,” I said before I could stop myself.

The Water witch’s eyes hooded in irritation.
His delivery slowed. “What rumors?”

“Uh…” My voice
trailed off uncomfortably. I shifted my weight onto one hip.

“You’ve never
kept your opinions to yourself before, Ms. Walsh. Surely you can repeat the
opinions of others with little trouble.”

“They say
you’re gay.”

“Oh.” The
syllable’s sour sound reminded me of our first few meetings. There’d been a
time when he’d wanted nothing more than to see me run out of
Wipuk
. Now he was bartering for favors at every
opportunity.

His pretty
lips pressed flat while his eyebrows drew down into a deep, dark V. “I would
have thought you of all people would have worked out the truth.”

After only a
beat he turned on his heel and walked out the door. His long legs had him to
his BMW before I’d figured out what he’d said.

He thought I
should have worked out the truth? Why?
Because I’d had an
empathic link to him once or twice?

Oh Styx
take
it. I’d never understand that man. And right now I had
more important things to do than try.

Chapter Nine

“This is an
unexpected surprise.” Maximo de Sole’s crooned voice was a nice accompaniment
to the classical guitar music his speakers piped.

I glanced over
my shoulder at the vampire goon hovering three feet behind me. Though it was a
new face at Maximo’s house, I’d seen him once before. He’d been the vampire who
had coordinated the charity auction at the solstice ball. That was a step up
from the ginger asshole
who
had punched me and
murdered a Water witch.

At Maximo’s
nod, the vampire faded into the corridor, leaving me alone with him in the
dramatic office. There were so many competing
design
elements that I couldn’t work out what to focus on first. It meant I’d looked
at Maximo instead.