Accidental Leigh (10 page)

“Leigh, you don’t get it! We need you here– NOW! Everything is getting completely out of hand.
The first time Lindsey and I were drunk, this time they are cursed. We don’t want to take advantage of them like that. Luke and Derek are hot enough to begin with. I’m not sure Lindsey and I can fend them off when they’re both so sweet and hot. They keep saying everything that a girl would ever want to hear, and their bodies are made for sin. Leigh! They are the
PERFECT
book boyfriends and we don’t have the strength to say
NO
! Lindsey and I have talked about this. It’s not that we don’t want a night of amazing headboard banging, screaming like a banshee sex, we’d just rather not take full advantage of these guys when they’re cursed! What if they come out of it and hate us for it? Right now, they don’t even know their own names. It’s like they live only to serve and please us. Did I mention they will do
ANYTHING
to prove it?”

I didn’t know what to do. I kn
ew that my friends needed me, but apparently I was being summoned by The Witches Local 1313. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that there is a Witches Union! Who would have thought? I can be pretty certain this is a group of people that I don’t want to piss off, so I better do what I’m told. For now, anyway. . .

“Kelly, I’m sorry. I have an emergency here. I was just
summoned, via my cat, to The Witches Local 1313 and before you ask, no… I’m not kidding. I don’t have a choice! I have to go. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

I quickly snapped my phone shut and threw it in my purse. I also double checked to make sure I had my checkbook with me as per the instructions in the letter. I sure as
hell hoped this wasn’t going to cost me an arm and a leg. Wait, scratch that thought! I hope it doesn’t cost me a lot of money. The last thing I want is to return home missing a couple of limbs. That would seriously suck!

When I was finally ready, I bent over and picked Luna up. I figured if she had already met the witches, she might as well go with me. Besides, I really didn’t want to do this alone. I took one last deep breath
and recited the transportation spell out loud. I should have been expecting the puff of smoke that surrounded me, but I wasn’t. I immediately started choking and coughing before I felt myself being shifted from the comfort of my own home.

So much for life being good!

A Valentine’s Surprise

Chapter 1

The day started out much like any other for Officer Adam Jennings. Riding with him in the front seat of his cruiser was his best friend and partner Jake Matthews. Being on patrol with Jake was one of his favorite places to be.

The only path that Adam ever saw for himself was that of a policeman. He liked helping people and this was the best way that he knew how. Sure he had to deal with the lowest of the low, but most of the citizens he interacted with were good people who just got off track every once in a while. He took his job seriously, but he still believed people should be given the benefit of the doubt
. He firmly believed that most people tried hard to be good and do their best.

Adam was thankful he didn’t live or work in a city with a high crime rate. He wanted the people in his community to feel safe. Whether they were home with their families, out and about running errands, or enjoying an evening on the town, their safety was important to him.

Adam had never been married, or even close to marriage. The only person he had to think about other than himself was his twenty-two year old sister, Jenny. When their parents died ten years earlier in a horrific car accident, Adam stepped up as a big brother to raise Jenny the best way that he could.

It wasn’t always easy. He was fresh out of the police academy and knew nothing about raising a teenage girl, but he did his best and Jenny seemed to turn out al
l right. He was beyond grateful that she didn’t rebel too much during her teen years. Adam didn’t have the time or patience to deal with a bunch of teenage drama.

Jenny was a lot like Adam
, in the respect that she didn’t date a lot. There were the occasional boyfriends of course, but Adam never had to worry about killing them for hurting his sister.

Adam put the thought of any serious relationships on hold while he was raising Jenny. He didn’t think it would be good for her to become attached to someone he was dating, especially if the relationship wasn’t serious enough to lead to marriage. He tried to set a good example for her. The last thing he wanted was for his romantic exploits to make it back to his baby sister. Just the thought of it made him cringe.

Adam was no angel. He dated, but he did so discretely. He would only go out when he knew that Jenny had plans with her friends. He always made sure that whoever he went home with, knew up front that he would only be spending one night with them. Second dates were out of the question, because he
never
wanted anyone to get the wrong idea.

Dating had become easier now that Jenny was in college, but he still didn’t find anyone that piqued his interest enough to want to settle down. Most of the women that he met were shallow, rude, and completely obtuse. The woman he would marry would be kind, compassionate, and witty
. She would be independent, yet willing to stand beside him as an equal partner. He wasn’t interested in anyone who was looking for a free ride. Women like that were to be avoided like the plague.

It was a quiet morning, as they traveled along their normal route
. Adam and Jake had made a few traffic stops, but that was about it. Adam didn’t mind quiet mornings, it meant the citizens of his sleepy town were safe and staying out of trouble. “I think it’s time for our morning coffee stop,” Jake said, breaking the comfortable silence.

“Sounds good,” Adam replied
, as they headed to the local convenience store. Adam noticed the empty parking lot, as they slowly exited the car and closed the doors. He took the lead, as he and Jake entered the store. There was nothing normal about what was happening, as Adam stepped inside.

Before he could react to what he saw, he heard a loud BANG and was knocked backward by an excessive force. He felt a burning in his shoulder, chest
, and lungs. He yelled out in pain, as he reached for his shoulder.

He was shocked when he pulled his hand back, it was warm, and wet, and covered with blood. The pain took his breath away and he began fighting for air as he collapsed to the floor. Adam heard two more shots ring out. The only thing he could think of was Jake. He prayed that his partner wasn’t hit.

Adam could hear the sirens in the distance. Jake knelt beside him yelling his name. He tried to focus on what Jake was saying, but the pain was too much. Thoughts of Jenny ran through his mind. He always thought he would have a chance to say goodbye to her. “Look after Jenny,” he mumbled to Jake. The darkness kept pulling him under, as he fought to keep his eyes opened. Soon the darkness offered a beautiful respite from the pain that could no longer be denied.

Conjuring Darkness

Chapter 1

Lexi quickly glanced in the mirror hanging on the wall. It was more of a habit than anything, much like the halfhearted effort she took to run her fingers through her shoulder length auburn hair before she headed out the door. Just like every day before, she deftly gathered it in a quick ponytail, shouldered her bag and grabbed her keys
.

Before opening the door, she tapped the old gold ring that she wore on the small finger of her left hand against the brass door knob. The ring was the only thing she owned that had been her mother’s and she never took it off. After she made a few more clinking sounds, a fuzzy black cat came bounding down the stairs. A series of rapid thum
ps resonated in the old house. They were the telltale signs of a very spoiled and very portly feline.

In a cartoon-like scene, the cat’s back legs slipped
, as it skidded across the dark wooden floorboards and around the corner. The cat gained traction and speed, as it bolted across the faux Persian runner and then it came to an abrupt stop. The cat looked at Lexi with a wide eyed stare, as if it were trying to hypnotize Lexi with its bright yellow eyes. The cat sang out a single “meow,” pleading to come along for the day. “Hello there, Allie cat. OK fine, you can come along, you bowling ball with a tail.” Together they walked out the front door.

The familiar squeaks from the worn wooden boards on the front porch comforted Lexi. She had been living in the old Victorian style farmhouse for just over a year. The realty agent was more than optimistic when he described it as a piece of history, a fixer-upper, and a handyman’s dream. He had told her that it was a steal at the price and anyone with a little gumption could turn this diamond-in-the-rough into a polished gem
.

Lexi learned later that the do-it-yourself old house shows on television were just as misleading as the agent had been. Anything that exceeded Lexi’s skill
level and budget had to wait. Still, Lexi was proud of her creativity and the improvements that she had accomplished.

When her sister saw pictures of the place, she thought it was a style created by accident. Her actual words were, “It looks like a bargain-mart truck crashed into a flea market. Then some drunken elves picked up the debris and decided to throw it all over your house, Lexi!”

Lexi smiled, as she remembered Kate’s voice. It had been so long since she had seen her and she wondered how Kate was handling the grief of losing her husband Kurt two years ago. As she opened the door to let Allie into the truck, she looked up into the large tree that reached a long arm toward her bedroom window. There was an owl in that tree the night before and Lexi recalled how it looked then, as she looked out her bedroom window. She had seen the owl as a horned silhouette against the full moon. It chanted a few lonely notes into the night and then it sat still and silent, as if it were gazing back at Lexi
.

As she replayed the scene in her head, she felt a chilly uneasiness once again and wondered why the owl seemed to bother her.
Well, it’s
not there now. Aren’t owls an omen for something? An ancient symbol for sure. Got to remember to ask Kate about it the next time we talk.
To Lexi, things like omens were simply trivia topics and they held no useful purpose, other than to spur one’s curiosity.

Lexi’s old truck bounced and jolted its way down the deserted highway toward town. Allie stretched herself across the faded and cracked dashboard to soak in the morning sun
. Lexi loved driving across the open plain toward the mountains on the horizon. After so many years of feeling stifled by the crowded and humid east coast, this new open place renewed her thirst for adventure.

Southwest Montana was a spotless sheet of paper, just waiting for her to write her own future. The last thing she wanted was to be confined into one of the expected roles of the citizens in the sprawling cities. To have had accepted a fate like that, would have killed her very soul. Lexi thought that too many people were already forced to wade through a pool of hypocrisy in order to survive
.

For some people, picking up and moving cross country into a new life might be considered a fool’s journey, but for Lexi it was a purposeful step taken into the unknown. Montana was one of those places where she felt a person could be propelled into anything. As soon as she had received her bachelor’s degree, she found a little dusty corner bookstore for sale on an online listing and she bought it,
sight unseen. The two made their epic journey from Virginia to Montana a year prior. The ever faithful Allie was a good listener, when it came to Lexi’s singing and travel commentary.

An entire year had gone by and Lexi started to feel something
that was a bit unexpected, boredom. That first year was chaotic and busy, but Lexi relished in the challenge, as she took on the repairs to her house and opened her store. Now that her life had finally settled into a routine, she found herself missing the hectic, yet satisfying feeling she got from conquering each new task. Lexi longed for something truly exciting and adventurous to happen to her. It seemed to Lexi that perhaps the only romance and adventure that she could expect, would probably come from between the covers of her cherished novels.

Lexi pulled up to the curb and
parked in front of her store. The large glass windows displayed an array of carefully selected new books. She had arranged some hiking guides, a few local western books and a very visible display of books about fly fishing. In a town like this, you had to know who the paying customers were, if you expected to keep the lights on. The mountains, parks, and blue ribbon trout streams in the area, attracted exactly the type of people Lexi wanted to get through her door. Large red letters prominently showed the name “THE LEXICON, Books and More, Lexi Salenko, owner.” 

She followed her usual sequence of turning on the lights, radio and computer. Allie made a half-hearted attempt to be on mouse patrol, as she strol
led between the display racks. Once the cat felt satisfied that she had reasonably completed her duties, she transformed into a fluffy black ball on a bookshelf.

The store was small, but it had some additional space in a loft section that was accessible by ornate wrought iron spiral stairs. The upper area made a cozy place for various collectable antique books that sold very well. The old, red brick walls of the store were decorated with framed poster art that was inspired by classic literatu
re. Lexi looked around and felt satisfied with the niche she had created for herself in Montana, even though it depleted the remaining balance of the trust fund left to her by her parents.

The front door swung open and rang a string of small bells that dangled from the frame. A red haired, green eyed
Marcie bounced to the register. Marcie’s daily arrival always brought a smile to Lexi. She leaned as far over the counter as she could, letting her long, loose red curls fall forward. She planted a wet kiss on Lexi and boisterously laughed at Lexi’s reaction. “What the hell! Marcie?”

“Just checking. I guess you’re straight after all, Lex. I was kind of hoping the rumors were true. I mean if you weren’t, then I would have a bunch of questions for you.” Marcie laughed again and walked toward the undisturbed Allie
.

“What!” Lexi cawed. “So now
, who was behind
this
rumor?”

Marcie continued to stroke Allie’s silky black coat and turned to Lexi
. “Who knows? Just look at what other people see when they look at you. You’re never seen with a guy, even though you are hot as hell. You have this mysterious foreign British accent. You have your own business and your own house. Face it, you intimidate the guys around here. So of course, rather than just admitting that they are substandard excuses for men, they chose to run their big stupid mouths. Of course, that tire changing incident probably has something to do with it also. Remember the way you went all ninja on that guy?” Marcie said, as she roared with laughter.

“How could I forget? I’m sure I
’m legendary for my man-hating skills now.” 

“You pepper sprayed him Lex, and kicked his junk all the way to Canada! Legendary is a good word. Legendary ball buster!”

Lexi remembered the incident that played out shortly after her arrival in town. Her truck had a flat tire and she found herself stranded on a dark country road. The only light came from the flashlight she had laid on the ground. A house was nearby, but was dark and quiet and Lexi didn’t think this job required any help. While she was busy working to jack the vehicle up, a large shadowy man appeared next to her. He picked up the four way lug wrench that Lexi had left on the ground next to her.

“You look like you could use a man right about now, little
lady” he said. Lexi turned and was shocked by the menacing appearance of him holding the lug wrench. Instinctively, the self-defense training her bother-in-law Kurt had given her, kicked in. She leaned back on one hand, balancing herself on the heel of her bent leg. She lifted her other leg and spun around in a swift sweeping semicircle. Her foot hit the back of his ankle with full force.

The stranger’s feet flew out from under him, as he landed with a grunt
. Before he could utter a single curse, Lexi had drawn a canister of pepper spray from her bag and was dousing him, as if she were trying to kill a deadly spider with a can of bug spray. The coup-de-grace was a lightning quick kick to his crotch. In a scene only likely to be watched on a zombie apocalypse movie, a woman in an ankle length nightgown ran out of the house and down the drive toward Lexi. As she neared the car, Lexi noticed the green, pasty skin of her face. There was a chorus of children’s screams that followed her like a flock of unseen harpies. They were pleading and begging for his life.

It became clear to Lexi that the frightening woman had been attempting some sort of badly needed facial, but was interrupted by the commotion outside. She screamed at Lexi and cursed her, as if
she were a female demon that she was trying to compel back to hell. The zombie bride gathered her huddled, sobbing mass of a crushed husband and led him back to the house.

She only turned back once to utter some additional curses, to ensure t
he damnation of Lexi the demon. The children’s pleas had become curses equally as abusive as their mother’s. Her last fading sounds were the orders she screamed at her brood on the porch, as she ushered them into the house.

“But don’t feel too bad,” Marcie continued. “I heard that she threatened him a few times since then. I guess she dragged him out of a bar one night and told him she was going to have that bookstore bitch go crazy on him! So you’ve got all that going for you, Lex.”

“Don’t worry about me, Marcie. I certainly don’t need a man to get through life, and to be honest, I don’t find them all that entertaining. Take a look at that last date you set me up on. He took me to Mario’s, that trendy new Italian bistro. That was fine, except when the waiter asked if we wanted a cocktail, he started doing tequila shots.
TEQUILA SHOTS
Marcie! Who does that at a romantic upscale restaurant? He started to puke for Pete’s sake. I don’t think he ever noticed that I got up and walked out. Thanks, by the way, for picking me up that night.”

“What are friends for? The list of available guys around here is pretty short. There is one guy you could try out, but from the stories I’ve heard… well, let’s just say that if you want to get a little from him, you might as well just ask for an apology up front and be done with it.
Save yourself two minutes of disappointment, if you know what I mean. So I guess that just leaves me, baby!” Marcie gave Lexi a quick kiss on her cheek.

“Oh and don’t forget yoga class tonight! Be there or die, or something.” Marcie laughed and headed
for the door. Lexi whipped Marcie on her ass with a nearby cat toy wand, as she walked away. “If I decide to switch teams, you are first on my list, Marcie.” Lexi playfully went along with the theme of her joke, and she watched as Marcie blushed and bounced out the door. “Crazy kid.” Lexi whispered.

Allie jumped down from her perch and leapt up onto the counter. Her tail wrapped around Lexi’s arm, trying to elicit a gift of treats
. Lexi stroked Allie Cat’s furry head. “Marcie knows I am not looking for anything, right? We’re good,” she thought to herself.
She knows that trust is really hard for me to grant to anyone. After all, she is one person I have allowed myself to open up to, so I know she gets it. When it comes to love, I may not have any experience or know what to look for, but I sure as hell know what I DON’T want. I’ve seen plenty of examples of that misery. Thank God for Marcie, even a loner like me, needs a best friend like her.

Lexi glanced in the mirror behind the display case. She felt comfortable with how she looked. She didn’t often wear make-up or spend too much time with her long locks. She wasn’t self-conscious of her body. She had always had a petite frame, but not bony. She had ample sized breasts and a cute face. The feature she admired most was her emerald green eyes, because they looked exactly like her mother’s. Her only complaint was that at 5’2”, she wishe
d she could be a little taller. Lexi never wanted to be a super-model anyway. She preferred her cute rounded features, to the scary sunken faces on those high cheek-boned, collagen lipped things that graced the covers of magazines. She was a little embarrassed when she received compliments, but at least it fueled her self-esteem and she was getting better at accepting them.