Chapter 2
TWO
Brimstone held his hand out, palm up as if he was cradling an invisible object.
A ball of ice formed there.
“ Witch !”
“ No panicking!” I brought his hand to the sink and shook it until the ice ball dropped with a thud .
A black tentacle spread from the faucet and poked the ice. It jerked back immediately, then tentatively touched the cold surface again.
“ What . Is . That ,” Brimstone intoned from behind me in the darkest, most ominous tone I’d ever heard. I was pretty sure if I turned around to look at him, I’d turn into stone.
I cleared my throat. “ It’s nothing.”
The tentacle began to roll the ball of ice around. A bigger blob popped out of the faucet and two happy eyes blinked at us.
“ Okay ,” I admitted. “ It’s a tiny kraken.”
Brimstone’s hands clamped on my shoulders and he turned me around until he was staring at my face so close our noses almost bumped.
“ Witch , did you do this to me?”
“ What ? No !” I pushed him back. “ Why would I do this to you?”
“ Yours are the only potions I take.” He loomed again. “ Did someone pay you to poison me? Was it Logan ?” He lifted a hand until it was hovering next to my face, his eyes lit with an unholy fire. “ Confess and I won’t burn you to?—”
He broke off as another bit of ice formed in his hand. Cursing , he threw it into the sink then shoved his hands into his hair with a growl of frustration.
Aww , was that how he usually intimidated his victims? I felt a pang of pity for the poor guy. I patted his back. “ It’s okay, Jeremy . We’ll figure this out.”
He pointed at me. “ You have to figure this out. I can’t go around like… Like … Like …”
“ Like a snowman?” I suggested helpfully.
“ Argh !”
“ Sorry , sorry, that was mean,” I soothed.
But pretty funny, if you ask me.
“ It has got to be your potion,” Brimstone said. “ What did you put in it? Did you change ingredients?”
“ It wasn’t my potion,” I said with all the certainty in the world since the fake dark magic potions I gave him were basically energy drinks with red food coloring.
“ How do you know?” he demanded.
“ I made it, didn’t I ? Believe me, it wasn’t my potion.”
“ What if your magic is affected? What if you passed it on to me?”
“ It’s not?—”
“ How do you know?” he all but yelled.
A thick tentacle coiled around his shoulders.
Brimstone jumped back with a yelp. The tentacle prodded his chest, pushing him away from me.
Brimstone’s eyes widened to a comical size.
“ Tiny Kraken is protective of me.” I patted the tentacle. “ It’s okay, Tiny Kraken . Brimstone and Destruction here is a friend.” I arched an eyebrow. “ Right ?”
Brimstone glared at me like having his fire powers right now would be the best thing ever .
The tentacle retreated back into its usual tiny size and returned to playing with the lumps of ice in the sink.
“ It wasn’t my potions,” I told Brimstone , serious now.
“ How can you be so sure? It can’t be anything else.”
Clearly , Brimstone wasn’t going to believe me until I showed him hard proof. And until he fully believed me, we weren’t going to be able to get to the bottom of his problem and fix it.
“ Stay here,” I commanded, then went into the shop and grabbed the fire extinguisher.
“ What’s that?” he asked suspiciously when I returned.
“ I don’t want you to set the house on fire.”
“ I can’t set anything on fire!”
“ Just in case.” Who knew if the shock of the truth would make his fire magic return? I kept my hold on the fire extinguisher and looked him straight in the eye. “ The potions I’ve been giving you aren’t actually dark magic. They’re energy drinks with food coloring and a focus spell.”
“ I know!”
My mouth fell open. “ You know?”
He sent me a mean look. “ I wasn’t born yesterday, witch.”
I couldn’t wrap my head around it. All this time, I’d been so afraid he’d figure it out and rat me out to the Council . “ But … You know? And you didn’t complain?” Or burn me alive?
He shrugged. “ As long as they work, I don’t care.” He towered over me again and added in an ominous tone, “ But they no longer work right.”
A tiny stalagmite of ice formed down the tip of his nose.
“ Uhh …”
“ What ?”
I pointed at my nose. “ You have a little…”
He touched his nose, found the tiny piece of ice, then roared and threw it at the sink. His shoulders suddenly slumped. “ I’m doomed.”
I set the fire extinguisher on the counter and went to him. “ It’s all right. We’ll figure it out.” I guided him to the stool I kept in the kitchen for doing spells and had him sit. “ Who else knows about this? Key ? Sonia ?”
He shook his head, still looking like his life was over. I tried to put myself in his situation. How would I feel if my magic randomly turned upside down? If I suddenly produced air magic but not potions? Using spirit magic was who I was. Fire was cool but not what brought me joy.
“ Nobody knows,” Brimstone said. “ It started happening this morning, so I rushed here. Are you sure it’s not the potion?”
“ I’m sure. The power needed to change your magic like this is well beyond me,” I admitted. “ Even if I used dark magic, I couldn’t manage a spell this powerful.”
“ Then what is it?”
I began pacing. “ Where have you gone lately? Have you eaten at any restaurant or anyone’s place? What about your vlog? Did you go to any new restaurant to use for content?”
After much digging, I’d finally found his vlog. It was surprisingly entertaining—no wonder he had a legion of fans.
“ Nowhere new lately. I’ve been eating at home or with Sonia .”
I took out my phone, opened the notes app, then handed it over. “ Write down every place you’ve visited or ate at.”
“ I told you, I didn’t go anywhere strange or new.”
“ Gotta cover all our bases.”
He rolled his eyes but put down a few names. I studied the list—a couple of local restaurants, a fast-food chain, and a pub in Guiles and Romary . All very public.
“ What about your clients?” I asked. “ Anyone with a grudge?”
“ Sure .”
I held out the phone. “ I’m going to need their names.”
“ No .” The word came strong and final.
“ One of them might’ve spelled you.”
He stood and stared at me down his nose. “ Then that’s my problem. Your job is to cure me, witch.”
“ It’ll be way easier to fix you if I know the kind of spell?—”
There was a loud knock on the front door of the shop.
We both jumped, and I glanced at the kitchen clock on the wall. It was almost opening time, I realized with a start.
“ That must be Natalia .” I opened one of the cupboards and brought out the first aid kit. “ Here ,” I said, shoving it in Brimstone’s hands. “ Dab some blood on a piece of gauze so I can test it later.”
Trusting he’d do as I asked, I rushed into the shop and opened the door. Natalia stood outside, a late teen with bright-red cheeks and dark brown hair bundled in a black winter jacket and jeans, expression bright with excitement.
Brimstone’s issues disappeared from my brain for a moment, and my chest swelled with pride. Natalia was eager to start working in my shop—what shopkeeper wouldn’t revel in the feeling?
“ Good morning,” I said. “ Come in.”
She stepped into the shop and took off her jacket. “ Good morning. Sorry I’m a little late.”
“ That’s okay.” I took her jacket and hung it on a peg by the door. “ Mornings are usually slow, so plenty of time to learn the ropes. I left an apron for you behind the counter.”
She put on the apron as I explained where everything was and showed her the cheat sheet with the different tea mixes. She’d been here before, and my shop wasn’t exactly a fancy lattes kind of establishment, so it didn’t take long to get her started. As she began doing a test of the day’s tea special—peppermint and berries— I excused myself and returned to the kitchen.
Brimstone stood proudly by the counter, spine straight and attitude back to his usual ominous vampire.
“ A good attitude is the best antidote for a bad day,” I told him with approval.
“ Here .” He held out one of my small potion vials filled to half with blood.
Behind him, one of my spell knives lay abandoned on the counter, still dripping blood, along with scrunched squares of gauze saturated in red, and discarded bandages. It looked like someone had gone through major surgery on my kitchen counter.
“ I only needed a sample!” I exclaimed, scandalized.
He shook the vial. “ This is better. You can do more tests.”
“ Hope ?” Natalia asked from the shop. “ Everything okay?”
“ Yes ,” I said loudly, glowering at Brimstone . He lifted his chin, put the vial down on the counter, then swept past me into the hallway.
“ I’ll be expecting a cure today,” he said before disappearing from view.
The back door opened and closed, and I watched from the kitchen window as he strode toward the back gate. Right before stepping into the alleyway, he gave me a last menacing glare.
“ Who was that?” Natalia said, peeking into the kitchen. She gasped. “ Holy cow, did you cut yourself?”
“ Not my blood.” I pointed at a cabinet. “ Can you grab the bleach?”
“ Sure .”
Together we cleaned up the mess, but my thoughts were only half present. Who had spelled Brimstone , and why? The obvious answer was one of his enemies, but judging from the list of places he had frequented lately, it’d be hard to find how they’d slipped him the potion.
Because there was no way it could’ve been my potions, right?
A deep sense of unease filled me, but I quickly shook it off. As I’d told Brimstone , the level of power involved in a potion or spell strong enough to change a paranormal’s innate magical power went well beyond anything I could dream of producing.
Which brought me to the question—why would anyone go through all that trouble to poison Brimstone specifically? If it was retribution for one of his illegal jobs, wouldn’t bodily harm be the usual way of going about things? Maybe some kidnapping and torture? Sure , having ice instead of fire was a kind of torture, but it still left Brimstone with plenty of magic.
Had it been random then? Someone trying to poison a paranormal— any kind of paranormal?
The thought was beyond scary.
“ Natalia ,” I said, “how are you feeling today? Everything good? Your wolfy senses working?”
She gave me an odd look. “ My what?”
“ Your wolf doing okay? Did you shift today?”
She took a couple of steps back toward the hallway. “ I’m fine. Why ?”
“ Nothing , just making sure.” I gave the counter a last look-over. “ I think we’re done here.”
“ Great .”
Natalia escaped into the shop as I called Ian .
“ Yes , angel?”
His deep voice immediately melted my insides. “ Hi ,” I answered breathlessly.
“ Need anything?”
“ You .”
His chuckle made my toes tingle. “ Aside from that? Did something happen at the shop?”
The question snapped me back to attention. “ Ian , are you feeling okay?”
“ Sure , why?”
“ Nothing wrong with your shifter senses?”
Ian’s voice turned serious. “ Are you feeling sick?”
“ Not me. Can you check Alex and Shane are good too? I’ll fill you in later, okay?”
“ Sure .”
We said our mushy goodbyes and I went into the shop. Natalia was opening the blinds, revealing Norman standing outside, waiting patiently for us to open.
I flipped the closed sign and opened the door. “ Hello , Norman .”
His usual good-natured smile stretched his cheeks. “ Good morning, Hope . I’m here for my usual.”
For being the owner of an art gallery filled with the art pieces from Hell , Norman Moore was surprisingly upbeat. Apparently , not being a paranormal shielded him from the discomforting vibes emanating from pretty much every piece of art now hosted in the Corner Rose .
“ Of course.” I gestured toward Natalia . “ This is my new employee, Natalia . She’ll be working shifts this month.”
“ Hi ,” Natalia said cheerfully, slipping behind the counter. “ What can I get you?”
On the outside—or like, the few times she’d visited my shop asking for illegal love potions— Natalia might’ve appeared to be a romantic, self-obsessed teen, but I had seen the cunning, business-oriented side of her during the Halloween tours, and I knew instinctively that she’d make a great addition to my shop.
Norman smiled wider and approached the counter. “ The day’s special to go and a muffin, please.” He studied the offerings on display. “ Banana today, I think.”
“ Perfect ,” I exclaimed, barely restraining myself from clapping my hands. “ I’ll leave you to it, and I’ll be right back.”
I filled a cup with coffee, grabbed a chocolate muffin, and hurried out of the shop. I took a few steps to my left and knocked on Sharp Claws ’ front door.