Chapter 4
FOUR
Since Dru couldn’t recall anything similar happening before, I called Ian to explain what was going on and make double sure.
“ Two calls in a row,” Ian said, amused. “ Must be a busy morning.”
Traffic noises filled the background and someone’s car horn blasted through. “ On the way to work?”
“ Meeting with a client.”
“ Okay , I’ll get to the point then.”
“ Will you, now?”
There was clear laughter in his voice. I blushed. “ Yes ! Have you ever heard about someone’s magic acting weird before?”
“ Acting weird how? Is that why you asked me to check on Shane and Alex ?”
“ Like turning upside down. Producing ice instead of fire, things like that.”
“ Brimstone’s making ice?”
Silently asking Brimstone for forgiveness for not being more inventive with my random example, I said, “ Yes . Don’t tell the strays. I don’t think Key knows yet.”
“ I won’t.” He sounded distracted, as if he was thinking of something.
“ You remember a case like this?” I paused by the front door of the Tea Cauldron , unwilling to continue our conversation inside where Natalia might hear. A gust of wind moved some of the lingering fog around and I shivered with cold.
“ It’s nudging a memory,” he admitted. “ I think I remember hearing something like this happening a long time ago from my mom. I’ll give her a call.”
I swallowed hard, no longer cold. “ Your mom?”
I had met Charlotte Cavalier through a long video call during Thanksgiving , and she was a lovely, warm woman who seemed to genuinely like me. But there was something about not having met her in person yet that left me feeling like she might hate me at the drop of a hat, no matter the number of reassurances by Ian that she didn’t.
“ My mom loves you.”
“ Uh -huh.”
“ Call you later after I hear what she says?”
“ Yes , please.”
He chuckled, and we said our goodbyes. I rushed inside the shop, welcoming the heat, and noticed we had an early customer. A kind-of regular who sometimes came for her breakfast. The woman smiled, and I smiled back. Behind the counter, Natalia was fully focused on making the woman’s tea. Perfect .
“ All good?” I asked.
“ Yes , boss,” Natalia said, not looking up from preparing the tea. I could already tell she’d make a wonderful addition to the shop. Another customer entered the shop behind me, and Natalia promptly moved over to see what they wanted.
Glad that there were no problems so far on that front, I went past the bead curtain into the hallway and did some research on my phone. Perhaps it was time to invest in a personal laptop to keep in the kitchen for situations like this.
Although , one could only hope there wouldn’t be any more situations like this. Still , it paid to be prepared.
A cursory search through the members-only Council boards brought me no results, and there was nothing much to be found in the semi-public spaces. But those tended to be scrubbed of content periodically so as to not leave too much of a paranormal history for normal humans to discover, so that was probably not going to help much unless Brimstone’s problem was widespread enough to be noticed.
I was logging into the dark marketplace to see if anyone was asking for potions to help with a similar problem—or to cause a similar problem—when a couple of new customers entered the shop. Natalia got busy with the first one, and I pocketed my phone and went behind the counter to help with the second.
It was an older woman, perhaps in her fifties, with beautiful platinum blond hair blended with streaks of gray. She had perfect makeup on and was wearing jeans and a red sweater. She seemed rather curious about the shop, her avid blue eyes scouring the room and taking it all in.
Her heels clicked on the floor as she came to stand in front of me.
“ You must be Hope Avery .”
She stuck her hand out, and I shook it automatically, a little taken aback. Who was this woman, and why did she seem to know me? “ That’s right. Welcome to the Tea Cauldron . What can I get you?”
Her gaze didn’t leave me as she dropped her small purse on top of the counter and plopped herself on the far-end stool. “ Today’s special, please.”
“ Coming right up. Muffins ? Cookies ?” Mei and I were in the process of trying out savory items, but I had none at hand today.
“ Sure , why not. I’ll take a banana muffin.”
“ Perfect .” I slid around Natalia to grab a muffin and served it to the stranger on a small plate before turning to make her tea. After it was done and set in front of her, I waited expectantly, wondering if she’d introduce herself or not.
“ You have a lovely shop.” She blew on the tea, then took a dainty sip and hummed in appreciation. “ The tea is good too.”
The familiar pride at my shop being appreciated warmed me from within. “ Thank you,” I said with genuine sincerity.
“ The reviews online don’t really do it justice.”
I didn’t think so either, but I was a biased party. “ That’s very nice of you to say.”
She peered at me over the rim of the mug as she took another sip before setting it down. “ And the local Council has nothing but good things to say about it too. Barring some slight issues at the start.”
Her words left me speechless for a second. A witch visitor! Was this a new Council test? One of Bagley’s cronies? Someone trying to steal my shop?
I gripped the edge of the counter until my knuckles turned white.
Not all witch visitors mean bad news, Hope . Just because every witch visitor before has, it doesn’t mean there is a pattern.
Composing myself, I gave her one of my patented customer-facing smiles. “ I’m so glad they have a good opinion of the shop.”
Her mouth curved upward, mirth dancing in her eyes. “ You have no idea who I am, do you?”
“ Well …no, actually.”
“ Lilian Valenti , at your service.”
The blood witch. The witch I had consulted under false pretenses to figure out how to extend Hutton’s alpha aura without using dark magic. I felt my own blood abandon ship and try to escape through my feet. Oh , this was bad.
“ I … I see.”
She waved a hand at my expression. “ Don’t look so scared, Hope . I’m not here to cause trouble.”
And yet, she clearly would. My focus drifted toward the front of the shop. Wouldn’t it be just perfect if Hutton decided to grace us with his presence right about now? If I could feel the foul darkness in his aura, this witch sure as hell would too—she was one of the most powerful witches in the country.
She’d probably take one look at Hutton , and that’d be the end of his pack leadership and my shop ownership.
Two downed ships too many.
I managed a congenial smile. “ Of course not.”
“ But I must admit that I’m very curious about the case you consulted with me back in September .”
“ I’m sorry that didn’t work out,” I managed. Especially since I had made up the case as a stand-in for Hutton’s issues.
She ignored that. “ I got curious and looked you up.”
Sweat formed on my forehead. This was getting worse and worse. “ You did?”
“ This place has sure become lively since they gave you the shop.”
“ Olmeda does have a reputation for wild partying,” I joked weakly.
“ The witch next door showing up dead, the alphas dueling for control of the pack, the Halloween killings…”
Killings , plural? “ It was only the one murder,” I ventured.
She continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “ And then before Thanksgiving the happenings at the movie set. It’s been a busy few months for you.”
“ It sure has.” I gestured toward her half-filled mug. “ Would you like the rest of your tea to go?”
She smiled slyly, clearly aware of my discomfort. “ Once I read about all that, I got curious, you see.”
“ Curious ,” I repeated.
“ I wanted to see what made Olmeda such an exceptional magnet for magical disasters.”
“ Well , we have a very varied and thriving paranormal community.” I resisted the urge to tug at the neckline of my long-sleeved T -shirt. “ It’s normal for incidents to happen in places like these.”
“ Indeed .”
My phone pinged with a text. Alex was asking me to open the back door for him.
“ Oh , I’m sorry,” I said in my most sweet—and relieved—tone. “ I need to get something from the back. I’ll be right back!”
I fled through the bead curtain and jerked the back door open, my phone already in my hands, my fingers scrolling to Hutton’s number.
“ C’mon , pickup,” I murmured as I crossed the flagstone path to the back iron gate.
“ Leave a message,” Hutton’s cold, curt prerecorded voice said in my ear.
I patted my Vespa in greeting, then opened the back gate. “ It’s Hope . Call me immediately, and do not come to the shop?—”
My words trailed off as I took in Alex and Shane , Ian’s shifter strays, taking a plastic-wrapped, comfy-looking, pastel green sofa out of Cavalier Repairs & Renovations ’ white van.
I ended the call, pocketed the phone, and gaped at them. “ What are you guys doing?”
Alex grinned. “ Present from the boss, boss.”
“ From Ian ?” I all but squealed.
“ Yep ,” said Shane , taking a better hold of his end of the sofa. “ Keep the door open for us?”
“ Of course.” I stepped back and held the gate open, watching in open-mouthed astonishment as they maneuvered the sofa through the opening and across the backyard.
Ian was giving me a whole sofa?
“ Need to open this one too,” Alex said cheerfully, nodding toward the back door of the building.
I rushed to hold it open for them as well, swallowing the emotions trying to overwhelm me.
Nobody had gifted me a sofa before. Nobody had really gifted me anything like this before. Sure , my mom and sister had sent me some kitchen stuff when I first moved, but this was on another whole level.
“ Go get the van,” Shane said once the sofa was crowding the hallway.
Alex carefully placed his end on the floor, then ran outside to close up the van and the back gate.
“ Go back to work, boss,” he said once he was back. “ We got this.”
“ You sure?” I eyed the steps going to the second floor. “ Is it going to fit?”
Not that it mattered, of course. I was keeping this sofa even if it had to stay in the middle of the hallway.
“ Sure will.” Alex winked at me. “ Boss never measures wrong.”
I grinned. “ I guess he never does.”
Shane shooed me away, and I returned to the front, staring at my new beautiful sofa in awe. Oh , but I couldn’t wait to test it with Ian later.
Alex and Shane showed up with your present , I texted him. Because if I heard his voice right now, I’d melt into a puddle, and I still had a curious witch to deal with.
Do you like it?
It’s perfect.
He answered with a sparkling heart. Sparkling !
Lilian the blood witch was still sitting at the counter, waiting for me.
“ Good news?” she guessed at the obvious stars shooting out of my eyes.
“ The best,” I answered dreamily.
“ You have a good business going here, and you’re obviously capable.”
“ Mmhmm .” Ah , the things Ian and I could get up to on that sofa. And green too! He truly knew me like no other.
“ I’m wondering?—”
A crash came from upstairs.
We both looked at the bead curtain.
“ A couple of friends are moving some furniture,” I said apologetically. “ What were you saying?”
“ I’m wondering if there wasn’t more to your ‘case’ back in September than?—”
A second, louder crash reverberated through the ceiling.
We glanced up. Oh no, there was a small spider web in the corner. I hoped Lilian wouldn’t notice.
“ The blood case you consulted me about.” Lilian spoke fast, as if afraid a third crash might bring the house down on us. “ I’m very curious about it, and I think you hid some details from me.”
I opened my mouth to deny the accusation, but then a new thought struck me—what if she could help with Brimstone’s issues? I didn’t want to notify the Council about it, since so far it was a personal matter, but since it had nothing to do with the shop, would it be so bad to ask for her professional opinion?
She was a high-ranking witch with a ton of knowledge, and whatever was wrong with Brimstone must be happening at a blood-deep level. I was sure Brimstone would not mention dark magic coming from the shop, so it should be somewhat safe to ask her about the situation.
Before I could make a decision, Alex appeared in the doorway to the back, shoving the bead curtain aside. He was strangely pale and his usual carefree attitude was gone.
“ Erm , boss? Hope ?” he said in a strangled voice.
“ Yes ?”
“ Can you come upstairs? We have ah, uh”—his gaze shifted to Lilian —“situation.”
That didn’t sound good. Not good at all.