Sigils and spells, p.33
Sigils & Spells, page 33
“What’s wrong?” Lassiter stretched out his arm, caught Amari around her waist and lifted her onto his lap. “You’re safe here, Amari. Why are you so upset?”
“I don’t know,” she wailed, “but I know there’s a good reason for it. Pippa?” She looked toward Pippa again, as if she could somehow reverse time and undo whatever disaster Morana had caused.
Amari began wringing her hands.
Dear goddess, could things get any worse?
“Okay, Amari. Everything’s going to be fine,” Pippa said, “Just try to stay calm, all right?” Damn it was getting hot in here.
She couldn’t decide if that was her magic or Amari’s heating things up.
“But she’s apologizing, Pippa. Morana, why are you doing that? I don’t like it when you apologize.”
“It was just a few spiders,” Morana said. “And a beetle. And a mouse or two.”
“What’s that?” Starlight demanded, hands on hips. “There aren’t any mice in the diner.”
“He was in the walls, died there quite some time ago,” Morana said. “I’m not quite sure where he’s at now.”
“Oh, my goddess.” Pippa groaned.
“Seriously, Morana?” Natalie exclaimed.
“I’m sorry, but the crash of dishes startled me.”
Or more likely, Blade had made her so nervous, she’d panicked and lashed out.
Dear goddess, it was hot in here. “Amari, you have to calm down.”
Natalie looked at Pippa sharply. “Are you hot, Pippa? Because that can’t be Amari’s magic. We’re immune, remember? I think maybe you need to calm down.”
Great. Pippa wiped the sweat from her brow, closed her eyes and pictured the lake on their property, calm breezes sweeping across its surface, sending gentle droplets onto her sizzling skin.
Calm.
Cool.
“You’re soooo beautiful,” a loud voice proclaimed, shattering the moment.
Pippa’s eyes flew open to see several chameleons hovering around Tempest.
“Knock it off,” one of them said, shoving a second chameleon to the side. “I saw her first.”
“Hey, both of you knock it off,” a third chameleon snapped, shoving his way between the two and capturing Tempest’s hand in this. “Sorry about that, love.” He lifted her hand and brushed a kiss across its surface, which was when thunder rolled through the room
Pippa glanced toward the windows just in time to see lightning streak across the sky and dark clouds begin to form.
“Tempest,” Pippa exclaimed. “You’re not helping!”
“Pippa, do you see any spiders?” Amari asked. “Or a mouse? Morana, where are the mice now?”
“Why are you worried about spiders and mice, Amari?” Lassiter asked, but his words were drowned out by Blade, who let out a horrified shriek and leapt to his feet, brushing his hair and shirt and shaking his entire body as if he were being attacked by an army of insects.
Which, now that Pippa looked closer, might actually be what was happening.
Only it was an army of arachnids rather than insects.
She wasn’t sure when they’d appeared or how she’d missed them until now, but there was an entire trail of spiders marching from the front door of the diner to their table, and they were all of them—every single one—making a beeline for the vampire.
It was as if they were on a mission.
In other words, he’d definitely made Morana nervous.
“One or two spiders?” Pippa demanded.
“Oops,” Morana said.
“Oops?” Blade shrieked. “Get them off me! Get them off!”
“There’s something weird about those spiders,” Lassiter observed.
“That’s because they’re dead,” Jo called cheerfully from her table across the room.
“Dead?” Blade’s voice hit a decibel Pippa wasn’t sure even hers could reach. He whirled on Morana. “You raised the dead?”
She shrugged. “Well, I am a necromancer, you know.”
Pippa chuckled. If that didn’t scare him away, literally nothing would.
“It could be worse,” Morana said.
“And often has been,” Natalie observed. “Remember that Civil War battlefield?”
Pippa shuddered. She preferred not to remember that particular event.
Blade glared at Morana. “No wonder my powers of persuasion aren’t working on them.”
Morana looked intrigued. “You can actually control creatures as tiny as they are?”
He shrugged. “It’s a gift, but not when they’re dead.”
*.*.*.*.*
“Holy hell,” Corwin said as Jared pulled his car into the diner’s parking lot. “That’s a lot of spiders.”
“Are you sure they’re spiders? Because spiders don’t typically act like that. Maybe they’re ants.” Jared parked and the two of them stared through the windshield at the long line of creatures that were slowly marching down the sidewalk toward the diner.
“Those would be outrageously large ants,” Corwin said.
“But seriously. Have you ever seen spiders march in a line like that?”
“That would be a no.” Corwin squinted through the windshield at them. “I can’t tell what kind of spiders they are from here, but that giant one there is definitely a daddy long legs.” He cocked his head, “Though it doesn’t appear to have eight legs anymore. Daddy two legs.”
Jared groaned. “Maybe it’s not a spider then.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure it’s a spider. Creepy spider. Yeah, I’m gonna be having nightmares about Creepy Two Legs over there.”
At that moment, a feminine shriek blasted through the air.
Jared and Corwin looked at each other, then leapt from the car and bolted toward the diner.
Halfway there, Jared’s brain caught up to his eyesight and he realized what he was seeing.
“Corwin,” he barked. “Are you looking at these spiders?” He crouched down and stared at the creatures as they marched by.
They were all sizes and species, from what he could tell.
And Daddy Two Legs wasn’t the only spider missing some legs and other body parts.
Every single spider marching by appeared to be in some stage of decomposition.
“How in the hell are they even walking?” Corwin asked as they watched a spider lumber by on legs that were all twisted and tangled together.
“Personally, I’m just happy they don’t seem too interested in consuming our brains.”
Corwin snickered. “Zombie spiders. Now I’ve seen everything.”
Moments later, they opened the door to the diner and walked into chaos.
Humans, wolves and vampires were standing on chairs and tables all around the room.
The only ones who didn’t seem bothered by the spiders were the women seated at the center table and the other wolf pack.
How embarrassing!
Jared’s wolves were all standing on tables while the other pack and the witches were sitting around, eating pie and chatting amongst themselves, completely unperturbed.
“Hey, Starlight,” Corwin called to the waitress standing on the lunch counter. “What’s up with the new customers? I thought this place had a firm no-zombie-spiders policy.”
Starlight rolled her eyes at him. “Very funny. I don’t suppose you have a solution for this situation?”
“Burn down the building?” Corwin suggested.
At that moment, a vampire standing in the middle of Pippa’s table, leaned over and shouted in one of the other women’s faces, “Do something!”
That was when Pippa let out a huge sigh and slowly stretched to her feet.
She was still holding the black kitten, Jared noticed, which reminded him.
He’d left poor Chester in the car.
He was contemplating whether he should bring the cat into this chaos, when Pippa swept her arm out and flung fire from her fingertips.
The fire rained down on the spiders like tiny droplets of water, and the spiders, every single one of them, burst into flames, then crumbled to ash.
“Dude,” Corwin muttered. “Your mate’s a firestarter.”
CHAPTER 4
“Did we know she could do that?” Tivali demanded.
“You mean raise the dead?” Bygul asked.
“I’m not talking about the necromancer!” Tivali exclaimed. “I’m talking about our target witch and her ability to shoot fire from her fingertips. Because I know we’re cats of the goddesses and all, but I’m not a fan of fire.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Muezza said. “Maybe we should rethink this whole assignment.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Bygul said. “The plan is working perfectly.”
“Perfectly?” Soraya exclaimed. “There were zombie spiders!”
“And fire! Let’s not forget the fire,” Tivali said.
“Yes, but the kitten darted right to our witch and Pippa comforted him. That was really good thinking, knocking over that stack of plates, Soraya.”
“I’d say thank you, but the zombie spiders kind of ruined the moment,” Soraya said.
“Of course, they didn’t. They actually helped. After all, I’m pretty sure the spiders are what sealed the deal. Pippa and Hocus Purrcus are well on their way to a full-fledged bond at this point.”
“As long as she doesn’t set the kitten on fire,” Tivali said.
“Oh, come now. Don’t you think you guys are being a bit dramatic?” Bygul asked.
“There were zombie spiders!” Soraya said again.
“And they were on fire!” Tivali said.
*.*.*.*.*
“Be right back,” Jared muttered to Corwin, then raced out to his car.
Chester lifted his head and gave a half-hearted growl when Jared opened the car door and pulled out his carrier.
“Seriously?” Corwin demanded when Jared returned. “You don’t think there have been enough beasts inside the diner today?”
“Nope. This is my in and I’m taking it.”
“You’re an idiot,” Corwin said even as he followed him across the room.
Jared lifted the carrier onto an empty table right next to where his mate was seated, then plopped onto the empty chair beside her..
She turned her head and stared at him.
He grinned. “Hello, Pippa. My name’s Jared. I hear you’re an expert on cats.”
Behind him, Corwin groaned, but Jared ignored him and waited patiently for his mate’s response.
*.*.*.*.*
Pippa was certain she’d misheard the very handsome wolf whose voice sent shivers down her spine.
Finally.
A potential bedmate.
And he was right in front of her.
Asking about cats.
Weird.
Why would a wolf need an expert on cats?
She really must have misheard him.
“I’m sorry,” Pippa said. “What did you say?”
“You’re an expert, right?”
“I don’t think anyone has ever referred to me as an expert on anything, unless it’s causing chaos,” Pippa said, intrigued by the entire conversation. “What am I supposed to be an expert on again?”
“Cats,” he said.
Dear goddess, he really was a wolf asking about cats.
Tempest burst into laughter. “Did you hear that, you guys? Someone’s claimed our Pippa’s an expert on cats.”
“I could be an expert, Tempest. You never know.”
Tempest grinned. “Was it the cougar clan that did it?”
Pippa rolled her eyes.
“Cougar clan?” Jared growled, the raspy sound making Pippa shiver.
“Oh, yes, our Pippa must have dated at least—what do you think? Twenty? Thirty of them?”
“For goddess’ sake, the clan didn’t even have that many eligible cougars in it,” Pippa exclaimed.
The wolf at her side let out a low growl. “Who are these cougars and where can I find them?”
“Far from here,” Tempest said cheerfully. “That was what, a good twelve hundred miles and seven months ago?”
“So, what do you need a cat expert for?” Pippa asked.
“I just adopted a grumpy, depressed cat.” Jared gestured toward the next table.
Pippa’s eyes widened when she caught sight of the huge black cat inside the carrier sitting there.
“His name’s Chester,” Jared said.
Hocus Purrcus caught sight of the cat inside the carrier and immediately started growling.
His growl slowly filled the room, rumbling on and on and on.
Pippa sighed. “It’s okay, buddy. No one’s going to let the big, bad kitty free in the diner.”
H.P. leapt down from her lap, stalked over to the next table, then jumped onto a chair and from the chair to the table, then to the top of Chester’s carrier.
The entire time, H.P. never stopped with the rumbling growl.
He slowly crept across the top of the carrier until he reached the front, where he stretched out and leaned over to peek at the cat inside.
When Chester didn’t react, H.P. slowly put his paws on the front bars of the carrier and leaned in closer.
The two cats were nose to nose for a long moment, then all hell broke loose.
Chester let loose with a yowl that sounded as if all the demons in hell had been unleashed on earth.
H.P. jerked back with a loud hiss, did a flip mid-air and landed on his feet between the two tables.
Chester kept yowling and H.P. let out a mimicking yowl, then leapt back onto the table, raced around the carrier to the front and stared inside, yowling the entire time.
“Why are they doing that?” Pippa called, pitching her voice to carry over the cacophony.
“How would I know?” Jared shouted back. “I thought you were the expert.”
“I just found the kitten this morning!” Pippa leaned closer to the wolf. “Your cat’s much older. You probably know a lot more than me.”
“Not likely,” Jared said. “I just adopted him an hour ago.”
“Great,” Pippa muttered.
For a few moments, the only sounds in the diner were that of the two cats serenading each other, but with so many wolves present, what happened next was inevitable.
One wolf let out a loud howl, then another wolf joined in, then another.
Within moments, every wolf in the diner was howling, including Jared.
“Oh my goddess,” Pippa muttered.
Any moment now—
Yep. There went the first wolf.
Clothes fell to the floor in shreds as one wolf after another burst free from their human forms and then—
Dear Goddess, they were chasing their own tails.
So freaking predictable.
Thankfully, most of the humans had left in the aftermath of the spider incident, though Starlight was still working, and interestingly didn’t seem too terribly surprised to see so many of her patrons shift into their wolf forms.
Pippa eyed Jared, hoping to get an eyeful when he shifted, but apparently, he had better control than the other wolves in the diner.
“I can’t stand it,” Amaryllis shouted. “It’s too much!”
Oh, crap.
Pippa whirled to face Amari. “Just hang on. We’ll leave and you can—“
Too late.
Pippa’s hair blew back as Amari’s magic whipped past in a frenzy.
It landed in the middle of the room and exploded like a bomb, sending sex magic everywhere.
*.*.*.*.*
“What the heck just happened?” Bygul demanded.
“Oh, my,” Tivali said, wide eyed as she stared down at the people in the diner.
“That vampire just carried off the human waitress,” Soraya observed.
“Oh, dear,” Tivali said. “Do you think she’ll be okay?”
“Who cares about the human?” Bygul said impatiently. “Did anyone see where the kitten went? Or our witch?”
*.*.*.*.*
“We have to go!” Pippa shouted. “Now!” She scooped up Hocus Purrcus, grabbed Amaryllis by the arm and bolted for the front door.
It was like running the gauntlet.
Wolves and chameleons and vampires were everywhere, all of them desperate to steal a kiss or a mating, perhaps both.
In her panic, Pippa’s magic burst from her skin in a rush, forming a lasso of fire around the coven and pulling them with her to the door.
The lasso was all that was keeping the other paranormals back.
The coven spilled from the diner and raced toward their vehicles.
Half of them piled into Pippa’s car while the rest dove into Morana’s truck.
As paranormals stormed out of the diner, Pippa threw her car in reverse, whipped the wheel to the left and tore out of the lot, Morana’s truck right behind her.
“Good news,” Tempest reported from the backseat where she was staring out the back window. “The diner doesn’t appear to be on fire.”
“It’s a frigging miracle,” Pippa said.
“And no one’s following us,” Tempest continued. “Except for the rest of the coven, of course.”
“Even better,” Pippa said.
“I’m sorry,” Amaryllis whispered from where she cuddled Hocus Purrcus in the passenger seat. “So sorry.”
Pippa snickered. “It’s okay. Honestly, that was the most fun I’ve had in ages.”
Tempest let out a bark of laughter from the backseat and the next thing they knew, all three of them were howling with laughter.
*.*.*.*.*
Jared scowled, furious that his mate had gotten away from him.
His wolf was scratching at his skin, demanding to be let out so he could chase after her.
Meanwhile, wolves and vampires were either racing off to find their mates, pairing up or heading several towns over to find a hookup.
Several wolves invited Jared and Corwin to join them, but both declined.
“You don’t have to stay with me, Corwin,” Jared said. “Go find someone to spend the night with.”
“Eh, my wolf isn’t interested in just anyone,” Corwin said. “He’s been acting weird ever since we arrived here.”
