Chapter 8
Vazul
The morning prior to the fair, I switched back to my human form in order to escort Coral to the Council of Witches’ headquarters.
Today, she would get my official papers so that I could finally be the one driving her around as well as running errands with my own bank account and card.
We would also be able to travel together anywhere without me having to fly separately in my fire wisp form as I wouldn’t otherwise be able to show proper ID.
It still bothered me that Coral insisted that I would be a formal employee with a regular salary instead of her servant.
She actually suggested at first that I should be her partner, but I shut that down.
Although she relented, her emotions broadcast loudly that she would bring it back up later once we were more established in our routine.
I was curious to see who would give in first.
That said, she could have ordered me to simply comply. But once more, she chose to respect my wishes and not impose her will. It was odd to be treated like a person instead of property. And I fucking loved it.
A wave of possessiveness swelled within me as I glanced at my Mistress. I never imagined tender emotions would ever have their place in my life. And yet, there it was.
Once my paperwork sorted out, we would head out to the venue so that Coral could get registration out of the way, get our badges, and scope out our setup location.
It was silly how excited I felt about it.
I wanted my woman to shine. And I didn’t doubt for a minute that she would, especially now that she actually got the spells sorted out for the haunted alley insert of the coffee table showstopper.
However, shortly after the car took off, a sense of unease washed over me. It took me a moment to realize that it was a wave of malicious and triumphant emotions that had crawled their way to me. I straightened in my seat and opened my senses wide to scan the people nearby.
“Something’s wrong,” I said, my back stiff.
“What?” Coral asked, her voice filled with worry as she glanced at me before having to look back at the road as she had been about to make a left turn. “What’s going on?”
“I must go back to the house,” I said, my voice tense.
“Okay, let me make a U-turn at the next—”
“No,” I said sternly, taking her aback. “Keep going. Just drop me off at the next intersection. I recognize the source of the threat. She must continue to think that the house is empty.”
“She? Is it Angie?” Coral asked, anger seeping into her voice.
I didn’t have to speak for her to understand. The look on my face was all the confirmation she needed. Her anger swelled.
“I’m going to kick that bitch’s ass so hard!” Coral snapped.
I chuckled. “You’re sexy when you’re angry. But there will be time later for you to punish her. Fear not, my Coral. All will be well. Do not approach the house before I give you the go ahead.”
Although clearly unhappy about it, my woman complied.
I indicated the spot where she was to leave me, right next to a narrow cul-de-sac alley between two large buildings.
As soon as she dropped me off, I hurried to the darkest shadow before turning into my wisp form.
It pissed me off that I had to leave my clothes behind as I had dressed rather fashionably to make my Mistress proud.
Hopefully, they would still be here for me to recover once I was done dealing with the wretched female.
As it was broad daylight, zipping through the sky in my fiery form would attract too many eyes.
The modern-day world had become quite a pain with all the surveillance technology available.
It was almost impossible nowadays to go anywhere without some form of camera tracking you.
Instead, I turned into a blue flame as it would more easily be mistaken for a drone or some form of metallic flying object.
I soared high in the sky to make myself even harder to detect as I raced back to the house.
Even as I began my descent, I spotted Angelique’s vehicle.
She was pulling up a short distance from our home.
I dashed towards the house and flew down the chimney while she was too distracted parking her vehicle to see me enter.
As I suspected she was coming here to destroy Coral’s collection, I immediately set up the camera my Mistress usually used to record her social media videos.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t be required. But irrefutable evidence of her vandalism attempt would give Coral all the ammunition necessary to crush the wretched woman.
Personally, I wanted to dispose of her with far more fiendish methods, but I doubted my woman would approve. Furthermore, if Angelique was seen entering the house before she went missing, it would put Coral in a difficult position. I wouldn’t be the reason for her downfall.
I positioned the camera in a way to cover as much of the room as possible and placed a miniature bush next to it so that it would hide the light indicating that it was active.
With all the other objects on that shelf, it would be nearly impossible for Angelique to even notice it unless she knew specifically what to look for.
When the seconds turned to minutes, I carefully approached the entrance to peer outside. Angie was still sitting inside her car, biding her time before she made her move, likely to make certain we wouldn’t return to grab something we might have forgotten.
To my dismay, she finally got out of the car.
Except, it wasn’t Angelique, but Coral who stepped out.
A burning anger surged within me that the foul female should dare take on my woman’s appearance.
It was a very good glamour spell. Anyone who walked past her would be fooled.
She even perfectly emulated the elegant way in which Coral’s hips swayed when she walked.
I hastened back to the workshop and settled in the hearth as a slow burning fire.
The possibility that she was coming here to set some sort of curse instead or plant something incriminating to harm Coral crossed my mind. But I immediately dismissed it. Angie would know that I would detect any curse as soon as I entered the room where it was cast.
Moments later, the sound of the front door opening reached me.
I summoned every ounce of my willpower to keep myself calm.
If I became angry, my flames would flare and potentially give away my presence.
While she would likely question the fire in the hearth, she saw me leaving with Coral and therefore had no reason to suspect I had returned.
But even if she figured it out, her mere illegal presence here was enough to get her in trouble.
The way her footsteps came directly to the workshop indicated that she had been here before.
It further infuriated me that she would abuse the hospitality my woman previously showed her in order to cause harm.
My heart leapt when the door opened. The flabbergasted expression on Angie’s face would have been delightfully priceless if I wasn’t so focused on reining myself in.
A series of extremely unladylike swear words tumbled out of her mouth as she took in every element of the collection.
But it was the coffee table showstopper that truly triggered her.
She gaped in disbelief at the ghostly animations appearing in various locations along the miniature Victorian street.
The flickering lamppost and randomized illuminated windows were also in full effect.
“All of this should be mine, you thief,” Angelique said angrily through her teeth. “You’re going to regret fucking with me. No one takes from me and gets away with it.”
A wave of hatred shot out of Angelique, followed by a powerful urge to destroy.
It slammed into me with nearly debilitating strength.
I almost surged forward to intervene, but I once more reined myself in.
For all her faults, Angie was far too devious to just smash things in a fit of rage.
That would leave undeniable proof of vandalism.
As much as she wanted to destroy my woman, she didn’t want it to be traceable back to her.
It needed to look like an accident. She glanced around the room, looking for something she could use to cause irreparable damage in a way that would be attributed to bad luck or the unfortunate outcome of neglect or distraction.
Her gaze suddenly landed on the fireplace. It was eerie having her stare directly at me without even realizing that it wasn’t a bunch of dancing flames filling the hearth, but the very demon she coveted.
“Stupid, stupid girl,” Angelique whispered with a devilish grin. “You should know better than to leave a fire burning when no one is in the house. What a pity if a devastating accident were to occur.”
The malicious way she cackled made even me uneasy.
She looked at various objects around the room, trying to strategize as to which would be best suited for what she had in mind.
She finally settled on a big roll of wrapping paper.
She brought it next to the fireplace and started looking for the right angle to lean the roll against it.
It confused me at first, and then understanding dawned on me.
The extra packing boxes she added, positioning them in a way that almost created a continuous path between the fireplace and the coffee table clarified everything.
Their placement wouldn’t even be deemed intentional during a forensic evaluation.
It could easily pass for poor judgment or lack of awareness in favor of convenience.