Slightly Spellbound (16 page)

I stiffened. The red girl witch who never minded her own business. I didn’t have to speak French to know who they were talking about.

“She sure gave you a good lick on that ear.”

“Her wildcat did that. And that pussy suits her. She’s a spitfire.”

“Mmm, just the way we like ’em.”

“You know that’s right.”

“Wouldn’t mind a piece,” the man said, adjusting the front of his pants. My stomach lurched, and I tightened my grip on the gun.

“I may break one off,” Beau said with a lewd tongue gesture. “I’ve got a place all picked out.”

They both laughed.

I grimaced and felt Bryn’s magic sharpen with cold fury.

“Get the other side of the table,” Beau said. When they were positioned at either end, Beau tucked the flashlight in his back pocket, and they tipped the table and moved it away from the pile of horse remains.

“You pour the gas. Let me see where the hell our dumbass cousin Bobby’s gotten to,” Beau said.

“Go on, cousin, I’ve got this,” the other man said as Beau walked away.

A flicker of light, like a firefly, caught my eye. I recognized the shade of green, Edie’s, and strained my eyes. I suddenly suspected that Bobby hadn’t gotten lost while relieving himself against a tree.

I didn’t see Zach until he was inches from Beau’s cousin. The cousin never had a chance to say a word. Zach grabbed his throat and thunked him on the head in a simultaneous motion. The light dropped and so did the man. Zach’s coat and shirt were open. Blond and muscled, with a face full of fury, he looked like an avenging angel. Or would have, if avenging angels had worn cowboy boots and brass Longhorns belt buckles.

The amulet against his chest glowed purple for a second, then went dark. He bent and rolled the man facedown. In seconds, he used a plastic tie to secure his wrists and clicked off the flashlight that had rolled free.

Yeah, he’s got no business being out here, being totally inexperienced and all. He doesn’t stand a chance
, I thought with a smile, proud of his prowess.

Then a gunshot blasted the silence to hell.

17

BEAU FIRED THE first shot but hadn’t hit Zach, who’d seen him raise the gun. Beau hollered for reinforcements. The partiers came running and they came armed.

As they fanned out, they extinguished their lights.

Bryn grabbed my arm and drew me to him. He whispered a spell, and magic closed around us.

“Concealment?”

“Yes, no need for them to find us before we want them to. They’re looking for him.”

“Zach?”

“The amulet should reflect the spells back on them.”

“Maybe they’ll shoot each other,” I said hopefully.

Edie appeared, trailing a few inches behind an unsuspecting man. My jaw dropped when Zach appeared in the glow from Edie and swooped behind the guy. A crack on the head dropped him. Edie disappeared and reappeared behind another man.

“Beau! Edie, go for Beau,” I whispered, but she was too far away to hear me.

“What?” Bryn asked.

“Edie’s showing Zach where the bad guys are.”

“This way,” someone yelled. Suddenly flashlights turned in our direction, and they ran toward us.

I stepped away from Bryn and raised my gun.

“Dark,” someone yelled, and the lights went out.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Bryn said. He flung up a hand and with a few words in Latin, the sky lit like it was the Fourth of July and full of fireworks.

Then the spells started to fly. I let loose a hail of warning bullets, and Rollie made a snack of a couple of sultry now gun-toting dancing girls.

Beau ran up, lit a match, and tossed it on the ground where the gasoline can had overturned. Flames burst into the sky, and Beau locked eyes with me.

“Oh,
chère
,” he said with a crooked smile and a shake of his head. He made a lewd tongue gesture at me. A broken jar whizzed toward him, Bryn’s magic. Beau deflected it awkwardly, and blood dripped from where it had sliced his forearm.

He let loose with what I’m sure was a nasty spell, but Zach stepped in front of me and countered it. Beau apparently felt the spell coming back toward him because he dove out of the way. A mountain with legs who was at least Rollie’s height came forward. He cracked his knuckles with a nod at Zach.

Zach shrugged off his coat and raised his fists.

“He’s not the prize,” Bryn said, drawing me forward with him toward where Beau had disappeared into the darkness.

“Rollie,” Bryn said, making a circular motion toward the caravan. “Get the license numbers of the cars, and if you spot a spellbook I want it.”

“Edie,” I called. Edie appeared near Zach. “Where did Beau go?”

Edie glided to us. “Who’s Beau?”

“The weasel of a guy who set the fire. If his scary mother’s not here, I’d bet he’s in charge.”

Edie looked around. “I don’t see him. With all his magic, can’t your candylegger find him?” Her gaze returned to Zach.

“Edie, you can’t help Zach right now, but you can help me and possibly yourself if these people are responsible for the ghosts going missing.”

“Tamara, talk less so you can pick up your pace,” Bryn said.

I sucked in a breath and sprinted with Bryn toward the tents. The sound of cars starting made me wince.

Bryn slowed and came to a stop a few feet from the edge of the bonfire. “He’s gone.”

I doubled over, panting for breath with burning muscles. “Edie?” I said, but she hadn’t come.

Spinning tires splattered mud as the partiers zipped away.
Damn it!

Bryn met Rollie and Johnny in the main area under the tarps and started searching through the things that the fleeing caravan had been forced to leave behind. I didn’t care to search.

I needed to know how Zach had fared against the big guy. I hurried across the cold marshy ground back to the clearing. With Bryn gone, his magical sky lights had faded. The gas fire had also burned out, but the smoky mess reeked. The single beam of light came from Zach’s flashlight, and it made methodical sweeps over the ground where the fire had been. His lip was swollen and bloody, and his knuckles were scraped, but he had his coat back on and looked none the worse for having fought a giant.

“You okay?” I asked.

He looked at me. “Well enough. You?”

I nodded, not having been hit by any spells or shotgun pellets. Bryn’s protection spells hold up against a lot, even when his attention’s split so he can go on the magical offensive. I wondered how many other wizards could manage that.

“Find anything interesting?” I asked, walking over.

Zach shook his head and moved a few feet away. “I’ll concentrate better if you’re somewhere else. You mind giving me some space?”

“You won’t take away any evidence, will you? Bryn’s been a trained wizard a long time. He might see something that’ll help us.”

Zach looked up and around. “Where’s he at?”

“Checking the other area.”

“He sure got over you spending the night at my place fast. Must come in handy as a lawyer being that cold-blooded. You sure you know what you’re doing when it comes—” He bit off the angry words and shook his head, clenching his teeth. After a few moments, he exhaled. “I could use some room,” he said softly. “Give me that, Jo.”

His pain made my heart cramp. I swallowed and forced my voice to sound normal when I spoke. “Sure. If you find something important, send Edie with a message.” I looked around, but she wasn’t nearby. Where was she? How could she flit off when she was needed?

I walked past where Beau’s cousin had lain. An impression marked the ground, and Zach’s plastic tie lay severed in the center. The Cajuns had collected their fallen members and slithered away. I made a face and kept going.

When I reached the cooking pit, I found Mercutio pawing at the ash.

“Where have you been? It’s not like you to miss a fight.”

I bent down and rubbed his head. Blood spotted his whiskers. Apparently he’d been in his own fight. Or he’d been hunting. I ran my hands over his fur and didn’t find any holes in him.

Bryn emerged from the tent with a shake of his head. “Nothing useful. Oatha took everything of magical importance with her. I’ll walk to the other site to be sure, but I don’t expect to find much.” Bryn leaned over and stroked Mercutio’s back. “Hello, Mercutio.”

Merc meowed a greeting.

“Tamara’s coming home with me. You’re welcome to ride with us,” Bryn said to my cat before walking away in a direct line toward Zach. My stomach tightened with concern.

I hurried over to Rollie and Johnny. “Johnny, I can’t go with him. You go keep an eye on things. If he gets in a fight with Zach, give a holler.”

Johnny set off in pursuit. “Mr. Bryn, I come with you.”

Rollie grinned. “Is there any man who won’t instantly do your bidding, Calamity Jane?”

“Lots. Beau punched me in the face and put his knee in my stomach. You can bet that wasn’t my idea.” I bent down near a garbage can, where I spotted something shimmery. “Rollie, come here with that light, would you?”

Rollie strolled over and lowered the camping lantern the Cajuns had left behind. I plucked a tiny plastic shoe from the ground.

“From a toy,” Rollie observed.

“There weren’t any kids out here,” I said, looking around. I gave the garbage can a shove and it tipped onto its side. A mess of potato peels, spices, apple cores, and grease topped the pile, but beneath them lay a plastic tube for a Disney princess Barbie doll.

“Hey, Rollie, which princess was Ariel? The mermaid one, right?” I asked, pushing the garbage around with my foot.

“Yeah,” he said, leaning over as I uncovered a headless dolly.

“Where’s her head?”

“Her red-haired head,” Rollie said.

We looked at each other.
Hellfire and biscuits.

“Beau pulled my hair and made a point of smearing his thumb in my blood. I thought he was rubbing it in, literally, that he’d given me a bloody nose, but that’s not it. He told his momma he got what she needed.”

“You don’t seriously think—?”

“Sure I do. And I bet the Disney people will be as furious as I am if Miss Oatha used a Barbie head to make a voodoo doll of me.”

18

ZACH HAD APPARENTLY been walking away as Bryn got to the site, so a repeat of the morning was avoided.

When I rejoined Bryn, he’d found nothing useful in the smoking remains. He rubbed his eyes, and I felt his exhaustion. Using magic to fight, to shatter glass and fling objects and to shield against magic and flying objects, expended a lot of power and energy. He’d had two fights in one day and hadn’t slept. I ran my hands up his arms and rubbed his shoulders.

“You need some rest,” I said.

He nodded.

“Can you do one last thing for me?”

“That would depend on the nature of the one thing,” he said.

My hands moved inward to massage his neck muscles. He leaned into me.

“Can you cast a spell to find out where Beau’s gone? I’m pretty sure he’ll rendezvous with his momma, and I need to know where she is.”

“You need to know that right now?” he asked, and shook his head to answer the question. “We’re going home.”

“We are, but you’re going home before me. I’ll be there a little later.”

“Why?”

“Well, it’s possible—and I’m not saying it’s for sure because what the heck do I know about making voodoo dolls—but it’s just possible she made one of me.”

“She wouldn’t dare.”

“She wouldn’t?”

Bryn’s face hardened. He looked dangerous. “She knows you’re involved with me. Inviting my wrath would be really foolish.”

“They didn’t seem to have any reservations about fighting with you tonight.”

“This was a small skirmish. They may claim they didn’t know they were fighting me, and that I haven’t laid claim to this land so they were within their rights to use it,” he said. “But if they plan to attack you using a voodoo doll, they’ve seriously underestimated what my response will be.”

I hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Can you do a locater spell to find them? I’ll just pop over to wherever they are and peek through a window to see what they’re up to. If they’re just making gumbo and drinking Armadillo Ale, no problem. I’ll come on home and we’ll sleep all night.”

“And if they’re doing something sinister?”

“If I happen to see a Tammy Jo voodoo doll, I’ll steal her. If I don’t, I’ll spy and report back, so we can make a plan.”

Bryn eyed me up and down. “You shouldn’t go alone. I’ll go with you, but once we return to my place, neither of us is getting out of bed before noon.”

“Deal,” I said, brushing my lips over his.

He inhaled, and I felt a tendril of magic edge toward him.

“You can take magic from me if you need it. You are doing a spell for me, so it’s only fair.”

He shook his head. “I don’t need it. I just wanted a taste.” He ran his thumb over my lower lip. “You always taste so good.”

“So do you,” I said, smiling as I stepped back. I swirled my finger toward the sky. “Find ’em.”

He tipped his head up and whispered Latin words. I felt his magic pulse and sail outward. A sliver of moon sparkled overhead and made his skin glow.

After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and shook his head.

“They must be using all the magic they have to conceal themselves. It’ll take a more complex spell to track them until they start casting again.”

“If there is a voodoo doll and she uses it, will you be able to track her down?”

“Absolutely,” Bryn said.

“Okay then. We’ll sleep now and spell later, since I don’t think they’ll be doing more black magic tonight, do you?”

“I doubt it.”

“I’m sorry we didn’t save that horse. Shame on them!”

We walked back to the road and caught up with Rollie and Johnny at their car.

“I’ve texted you the list of license plate numbers I collected,” Rollie said with a yawn. “It’s pumpkin time for this Cinderfella. We’ll call you later.” Rollie folded his long body into the passenger seat of Johnny’s little sports car.

We waved at them and found Mercutio waiting for us next to Bryn’s. “You’re comin’ with us?”