My Evil Valentine Elixir Read online

  Hazel started to cry. “Poor, poor Aurora.”

  Returning to her chair, Mallory shook her head. “No one’s getting away with anything. The police will get to the bottom of it all.”

  Nelle shook her head and flipped open her spell book. She flipped through the pages in an agitated state. “The police are useless against our magic. There’s got to be a way in here to find out who amongst us cast that spell.”

  Sera searched the individual faces to see who was sweating bullets at Nelle’s comment.

  “Well, there is one other thing we could do.” Nana said.

  Everyone looked up. Even Hazel stopped crying. Nana leaned over and whispered to Nelle who snapped her fingers. A crystal ball appeared in the center of the table.

  “Madeline. A little help?” Nana said.

  Madeline made a spiral motion with her fingers and Nana’s red dress was suddenly transformed into a purple fortune teller’s costume complete with a swami styled hat.

  “Please, join hands,” Nana’s voice boomed.

  “What about Cupid?” Philip shouted.

  “Yeah, I thought he was the one who killed Brittney? He’s not even here.” Ariel protested.

  “Silence!” Nana commanded. “He is here. I can feel his presence.”

  “All at once, everyone’s heads shifted left then right, looking over their shoulders for the missing host.”

  In the flickering darkness, Sera started to feel a little nervous herself. What if her plan didn’t work?

  “Join hands,” Nana commanded, and took the hands of Nelle and Madeline, who sat on either side of her.

  While everyone was paying attention to Nana, Sera pulled out her cell and dialed Cupid’s number. A cell phone rang. Everyone shifted to look at Ariel who apologized and reached below the table to switch it off.

  Nana gave Sera a look and then cleared her throat. It was time for the next phase of the plan. Sera just hoped she was right about the cure for the spell. “Okay, Nelle, let’s bring back those girls and find out who killed them.”

  As Nana’s lips moved, no sound came out but a fierce wind blew through the dining room. A strange sulphuric smell followed.

  “What is that?” Philip asked.

  “It’s a ghost!” One of the bachelorettes shouted.

  Philip pulled away.

  “Don’t break the circle!” Nana shouted.

  Philip shook his head. Sera could see the panic in his face. “No way. No way. I didn’t sign up for this.”

  Suddenly, Cupid entered the room. In his arms, he carried Aurora’s ghostly corpse.

  The room grew silent as she sat up and pointed a finger. “It was you—”

  Sera heard a chair fall backward and saw a figure bolt from the room.

  Heads turned in confusion as everyone tried to figure out what was happening.

  One person had run from the table. But it wasn’t either of the people they were expecting.

  Ten

  Sera tore after Hazel, leaving the dumbfounded cast and crew agape in the manor’s dining room. As she reached the manor’s back door where Hazel had made her hasty escape, she shouted, “she’s headed for the lake!”

  Then she was after Hazel, and she was keeping up too. The problem was… the snow was blinding. A gust of wind came out of nowhere almost knocking her over, and the snow took on a ferocity that resembled ice bullets. It was not the light and twirly flakes that’d been falling when she’d first arrived at the manor. Sera did her best to follow the woman’s footprints, but at one point she tripped and fell down an embankment, landing on the edge of the lake.

  Low and behold, there was a hysterical looking Hazel standing on the ice.

  “Hazel!” Sera called once she’d caught her breath. “Don’t go any further. We don’t know that it’s solid out there. I promise I just want to talk.”

  “Leave me alone!” Hazel shouted back from some distance away.

  “I know what Cupid is. It’s awful the way he treats women. But don’t let his bad behavior ruin your life! If he seduced or assaulted you…” Sera continued.

  “Cupid didn’t assault me,” she shouted back. Her face twisted as she spoke.

  “He didn’t?”

  “No! He didn’t touch me at all, which makes no sense. We’re ideal mates.” She screamed the words. “He notices everyone. Even my plain Jane assistant. But he’s never noticed me!”

  And then things clicked for Sera.

  “You’re an incubus like him?”

  “Succubus,” Hazel clarified.

  “Right!” Sera remembered reading that. “That’s why you wear that awful perfume—to cover up the pheromones.”

  Sera had suspected Ariel of being one, especially after she answered the phone but it made sense. Ariel and Hazel were always together—she was Hazel’s assistant. She probably carried Hazel’s bag and answered Hazel’s phone for her.

  Hazel scrunched up her face in offence. “It’s not a perfume. It’s a spell to repel. I got tired of every Tom, Dick and Harriet hitting on me.

  “Ariel acted funny that day at my house when you said you were both normies. I assumed she was lying, but that’s not why at all. She’d figured out you were magical, hadn’t she? But why did she lie to me when I asked her later?”

  “Because I charmed her. Especially after she’d seen the spell written on the paper. She probably didn’t remember figuring it out.”

  Sera nodded. “If you use a spell to repel, how could you charm her?”

  “Easy, she’s not included in the spell. She’s one of the exceptions, along with a few others.”

  “Like Cupid?”

  “Hardly. It doesn’t repel my own kind. Cupid should be attracted to me but he’s not and I don’t know why!” She was screeching now.

  “Cupid’s a jerk, Hazel. I don’t know why you’d even want him.”

  “Well, I don’t want him now. I mean, I did at first, but after what he did. I just wanted to make him pay.”

  “What he did to who?”

  Hazel groaned and glanced up at the falling snow. “To my sister, Jezebel.”

  “Jezebel was your sister? Why didn’t the police figure that out?”

  “She wasn’t my real sister. She was my magical sister and he killed her.”

  “She was a succubus, too?”

  “Yes, and he toyed with her emotions like he does with everyone. He was obsessed with her but she resisted for the longest time and then she finally gave in and started dating him and he ghosted her. It just broke her spirit. I mean, Jezebel was a succubus. We’re not exactly used to rejection. Anyway, that’s why she took the pills.”

  Sera glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone had followed but the cliff above them was empty. She’d have to keep stalling. “So, he didn’t really kill her then. She killed herself?”

  “It was his fault. He drove her to it.”

  “Okay. Okay. Calm down. I get why you wanted to hurt Cupid but why hurt Aurora and Brittney? Weren’t they your friends or, at the very least, innocent like your sister?”

  “Yes! Of course, they were. Brittney wasn’t supposed to get hurt for real. She was in on the whole thing. She hated Cupid more than I did. She saw ghosts and it was her idea to pretend to be possessed by Jezebel.”

  “I don’t understand. What does that have to do with Aurora?”

  “We wanted the cops to see a pattern. They were supposed to think Cupid drugged Aurora. Brittney’s performance as Jezebel combined with Aurora’s supposed overdose and the planted pill bottle on Cupid was supposed to get him arrested.”

  “You planted the bottle? Cupid thought it was Philip.”

  “Well, let’s just say I used my power of persuasion and got Philip to plant for me. The cops were supposed to find them in Cupid’s coat. I should have just done it myself. Philip is clearly too stupid to be discreet.”

  That made sense. “So, you drugged Aurora with them first?”

  “No, she’s just spelled. I copied that ‘Sle
eping Beauty’ spell from the grimoire when Nelle wasn’t looking.”

  “That’s the paper I saw you drop at my house?”

  Hazel nodded. “I was glad you bought that fake glitter story. Anyway, I then charmed Aurora’s elixir. It was just a simple sleeping spell. I planned to wake her back up later… after Cupid was arrested and his reputation was ruined.”

  “So, you knew how to wake her.”

  Hazel nodded. “Of course. It was only a Sleeping Beauty spell. She just needed to be kissed by someone pure of heart.”

  Sera had suspected that, but she decided to play devil’s advocate instead. She inched a little closer. “Pure of heart? Does a person like that even exist?”

  “It just means someone who truly loved her. Oh, but now she’s dead too and she hates me. This is such a mess. Cupid must pay!”

  “Hold up, I still don’t understand what happened to Brittney. You said she was in on it but now she’s dead.”

  “The arrow wasn’t supposed to kill her. We just needed to turn up the heat so that the police would try harder to find and punish Cupid. Brit wasn’t supposed to die. She was going to fake it and tell the cops he shot her. Her power is fast healing. She was supposed to heal herself once we found her and called the police. All I can think is that the tip of that arrow must have contained iron. Brittney’s weakness is iron.”

  “So, you were the one who shot her. Not Philip or Cupid.”

  “Yes, I shot her so that you’d think my fingerprints were Cupids. Incubus and Succubus don’t leave regular prints. They are forever changing like cells. And there’s no way to tell the difference between a succubus and an incubus when it comes to prints.”

  “That’s why you tried to make me think you had no powers—to eliminate yourself from the suspect pool.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “So, what now, Sera?”

  “What do you mean? What now? You turn yourself in, Hazel so that no one else gets hurt. You’re not a bad person. You’ve made some mistakes but maybe, in time, you’ll find a way to redeem yourself.”

  Hazel looked up to the top of the embankment and a thin smile appeared on her lips. “Okay. Come and get me then and I’ll go quietly. I promise.”

  Sera bit her lip and glanced back. Daemon and Nelle were nearing. “Alright, but try anything funny, Hazel and I’ll electrocute you. Succubus can be electrocuted just like everybody else.” Sera knew giving her a warning was pointless. It was plain as day Hazel had a plan but Nelle and Daemon were close by and she just had to hope they’d all be enough to take down this one succubus.

  Hazel’s smile brightened with every step Sera took. When Sera was only steps away, she bent down and started to rub her hand on the ice. Then she rubbed the snowy ice all over her neck.

  “What are you doing?” Sera whispered.

  “You haven’t figured it out yet?” Hazel asked.

  Suddenly Sera was overwhelmingly dizzy. She took another step and it grew worse.

  Hazel laughed. “I’m quite potent when I wipe away the repellent, aren’t I? Pretty soon, you and your friends will do whatever I say and so will anyone who comes within a few feet of me.”

  Sera didn’t wait another moment, there wouldn’t be one. She threw out her hand and blasted the succubus with a lightning bolt so fierce it lit up the sky. Hazel popped like a bag of popcorn and so did the ice beneath her, sucking her under. Unfortunately, it cracked all the way to where Sera stood.

  She screamed in panic and turned to run but the cracks worsened.

  “Don’t move!” She heard Daemon shout. Like some angelic God he stood at the shore. In a matter of seconds, he was down on all fours and then sliding on his stomach to distribute the weight, inching his way out to her.

  “Just relax and don’t move,” Daemon’s raspy voice calmed her. But just as he was only a foot away, the ice broke and down she went. She felt him grab onto her hand but it was too late.

  They were both submerged and it was dark and cold. Too cold to think.

  Sera tried to swim. They both tried to find the hole to get back out, but it was futile. The current had moved them. Sera gave up. She could see Daemon’s eyes staring wide into hers and all she could think was, well, if I’m going to die then at least I’m going to go looking at him.

  Daemon on the other hand had not made his peace, he tightened his grip with one arm, and pounded at the ice above them like hellfire.

  Hellfire.

  And that’s when she remembered the words on Medieval’s collar: You are the light in even the darkest situations. You are hellfire.

  She focused her power inward and lit up from within like the fourth of July. Around her, the water warmed, the heat spreading out from her skin to envelop them both. Then, when she reached up, her heated fingers touched the ice and it melted away, providing them with the opening to the air they needed.

  She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, Kaden and the EMT’s were pulling them both out.

  Eleven

  Sera woke up in her own bed to the smell of coffee and the purr of her hero beside her. She reached out and ran her fingers through the cat’s soft fur, “Thank you, Medieval,” she whispered. “Is there anything you don’t know?”

  Medieval’s collar jingled. It read: I don’t know who made coffee.

  Ah! Sera jumped from her bed to see who had broken into her house.

  And immediately regretted it.

  Everything hurt.

  She slowed down and hobbled out to the kitchen. Daemon was sitting at the table, reading one of her ancestors’ books. Now that was a vision, she could get accustomed to. Wait. The door to her secret room was open. Just how had he found it.

  “Good Morning,” Sera said, then pointed to the frothy looking coffee in front of him. “Is that my latte you’re drinking?”

  He set the book down and looked her over. “It just so happens it is. How’re you feeling?”

  “Like someone just tried to drown me in an ice bath.”

  “You too, huh? I hear that’s going around.” He grinned and pulled out a chair. “Sit down. That latte’s half empty. I’ll make you a fresh one. By the way, Aurora stopped by earlier to thank you. She looked quite happy, holding hands with her Prince.”

  “Prinns? Was I wrong about Javier? Was her true love Philip Prinns?” That seemed hard to believe.

  “No, why would you think that? Oh, the name Prinns, it sounds like prince.” He shook his no, “No, you were right about Javier. Turns out Javier is the Prince of Asturias, which is why they broke up. He was undercover ‘sewing his Spanish oats in America,’ so to speak, when he decided to audition for the show and met Aurora. The Spanish Monarchy found out and, needless to say, they did not approve.”

  “I knew he wasn’t a painter!”

  “No, apparently he’s a lieutenant in the Air Force. Anyway, they’ve worked through their differences and Javier is taking her home right after she sees you—which she is very insistent about doing. I told her I’d let my own sleeping beauty know when she awoke.”

  Sera smirked. “I’m your sleeping beauty now, huh?”

  “Plot twist, I guess,” he said with a grin. “That was a really good plan you had, by the way. Nana filled me in on how you came up with the idea after talking to Cupid and enlisted her help but how did you know true love’s kiss would wake Aurora and why did you shut me out?

  Sera smiled. “Come on, a sleeping spell—what am I, a novice? Wait, don’t answer that. But of course, the cure was true love’s kiss. And I’m sorry for keeping you in the dark, there wasn’t really much time and I didn’t want to take the risk of telling too many people. Besides, you hinted in Scotland you were a mind reader. Maybe I was just testing your abilities.”

  Daemon smirked. “I never said I was a mind reader. You asked. I just didn’t deny it. So, how did you know that Javier was in love with Aurora?”

  I didn’t know for sure, although I did suspect it. Hazel said he left the show the first season because he fell in lo
ve with someone and Aurora said she was on the show to get over a broken heart. Given the way they looked at one another, I just assumed. I’m actually surprised Javier didn’t stumble over the cure sooner. You’d think he would have kissed her at some point considering he wouldn’t leave her side.”

  Daemon leaned in and Sera felt her heart pick up speed. Speaking of kisses, was Daemon going to kiss her? His voice was low and dripping with sexy. “There are a lot of rules for us guys these days. We can’t just go around kissing unconscious women willy-nilly.”

  “Willy-nilly.” Sera ruined the moment with a snort-laugh. “Oh my god! I can’t believe I just did that.” She covered her mouth and laughed some more. “That’s fair though,” she said at last, through wheezing breaths. “I guess I’ll just take comfort in the knowledge that you didn’t accost me while I was sleeping.”

  “Well, eventually I would have.” Daemon wiggled his eyebrows up and down. “Oh, by the way, one of your friends stopped by with breakfast.” He pushed the Cookies & Corsets bag forward and quirked an eyebrow—his signature move which made her heart thump. “She said it was just for you—a BLT sandwich, with a side of banana and Nutella.”

  Sera tried not to lick her lips. She couldn’t wait to dig in. “My fave. I mean, huh? What a weird combination.”

  “Isn’t it though?” He teased.

  Daemon turned his back to make her latte and she unwrapped the tinfoil and took a bite of the sandwich, taking the lid off the Nutella after to swipe a fingerful.

  Daemon swiveled back and caught her. Laughing, he carried her ‘Boss Witch’ mug over. Then he leaned in like he was going to kiss the top of her head but changed his mind at the last minute.

  “How did you get into my cupboard?” she asked, wondering why he’d pulled back so suddenly. “No one’s ever found it before.”

  “Your grandfather showed me.”

  “My grandfather?”

  “Well, one of them. He’s dressed kind of funny—looks a bit like a pilgrim.”

  Sera smiled. “Balthazar.”

  “That’s it!” Daemon said. “He’s been showing me quite a bit on the Carpathians.”