Missing powers, p.23
Missing Powers, page 23
There were footsteps on the path again, and Reg looked up, expecting to see Davyn or Julian. One of them had forgotten to tell her something, or Davyn had dropped something out of his pocket while he was sitting there. Or maybe he had another question about what had happened while he had been kidnapped.
But it wasn’t Davyn or Julian. It was Corvin.
At first, Reg thought nothing of it. She was feeling nice and relaxed and, since she had kissed him and tried to drown him, he seemed to have developed a new respect for her. Like maybe he saw her as a person now, instead of just as potential prey or a low-level psychic who could not compete with him in the magic department. Or maybe that was just how Reg had seen herself, and now she was learning that it wasn’t true.
Then, in a rush, she realized that he had somehow gotten past all of the wards Sarah had set against him. The backyard was supposed to be protected from enemies and intruders, and specifically from Corvin. In the past, he hadn’t been able to get past the gate. Had Davyn and Julian somehow let him into the yard, inviting him in before they left? She didn’t think Davyn would be so clueless, but Julian might. Reg jumped to her feet, ready to defend herself.
“There, there,” Corvin said, making a downward calming movement with both hands, “no need to get worked up.”
“What are you doing here? You are not allowed entrance here!”
Corvin smiled. “Wards are not infallible. I think you will agree that I did, in fact, get in past your wards. So I am allowed entrance here.”
“No—how did you get past them?”
He shrugged and sat down on the bench where Davyn had previously been. “No need to get worked up. I’m not here to harm you.”
Reg stared at him. She was both horrified that he had gotten past all of the blocks that had been put in place against him and impressed that he had managed to do it. She wasn’t as afraid of Corvin as she had once been. Despite his impressive powers, she had been able to defend herself against him under most circumstances.
The encounter with the Witch Doctor’s sah had reinforced to her that he had powers that were far beyond what she was able to defend against, yet that didn’t worry her. She had still been able to outwit the Witch Doctor and lock his sah behind the fiery wall. And she had still been able to overcome Corvin with nothing more than a kiss, letting the chemical or magical properties of the siren’s kiss do its work.
At the moment, Corvin did not appear to be intent upon charming her. She was not sensing an increase in his body heat or the smell of roses that accompanied his charms. She slowly sat back down beside him.
“There’s a pond right there,” she pointed out, nodding to the water.
“Trust me, I have no interest in being drowned again,” he assured her. “I’m still coughing up bits of grass and algae.” He wiped his mouth and beard as if they were still sticking there and made a face.
Reg laughed, a little more relaxed. “So… what are you doing here? I would have thought you would have a lot of other things to do. Running for leadership of the coven or world domination. Whatever.”
“There is much to do,” he agreed with a smile. “And I will beat Davyn. Trust me on that. It won’t be so hard to convince the other members of the coven to elect me.” He looked smug and self-satisfied.
“You don’t think there’s any chance Davyn could win? I would think that everyone would want to see him back in his accustomed place. After him going missing like that, people will want to know that everything is back to normal.”
“After an ordeal like that, he really deserves a rest, don’t you think? Leading the coven is not exactly a stress-free job.”
“Well, sure, but—”
Corvin grinned. “You see, even you agree, after just one reason.”
“But—”
“And I can’t think of anyone who would be more against me taking over the leadership of the coven than you.”
“There are those who believe that someone… from your line cannot be allowed into a leadership position.”
“You’re right. But if they speak up, they are going to be accused of being prejudiced. Racist. Speciesist. In today’s climate, those arguments are enough to discredit a person. No one wants to be accused of prejudice.”
Reg shook her head slowly. He was right, she was sure. Those with biases knew enough not to speak up about it now. Sooner or later, the pendulum would start to swing back the other direction and they would be praised for being insightful and forward-looking. But until then, it would be difficult to argue anything against Corvin’s kind.
“So, what will you do when you’re the leader?” She was afraid of the answer. “Will you make changes?”
“Not immediately. But change is in the air. In time, I will institute some long-overdue adjustments.”
Call her prejudiced, but Reg didn’t think any of those changes would be for the general good of the coven. The Witch Doctor was not the only one looking to increase his power and influence one step at a time.
Reg looked around the garden, pleasant and buzzing with life.
Change was in the air.
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PREVIEW OF THRICE SPARED
CHAPTER 1
Reg watched Corvin walk away from her down the path out of the backyard. Almost as soon as he was gone, the back door of the big house banged and Sarah was striding toward Reg with great purpose. Reg was momentarily thrown back to her childhood when an older woman coming toward her like that almost certainly presaged a slap across the head and punishment for whatever real or perceived infraction the current foster mom thought she had committed.
And the red aura around her landlady was not a comfort.
Sarah stopped in front of Reg, a crease between her eyebrows, her mouth turning down in a stern frown. Her gray hair was in disarray, as if she had been running her fingers through it.
“What was he doing here?”
Reg sighed and let out her breath. She gathered her red box-braids in a bunch and released them behind her back. “Just came over for a visit, I guess.”
“He came over for a visit. And you let him in!”
Reg shook her head. “I didn’t let him in.”
“The only way he could get by the wards that protect this yard and the guest cottage is if you let him in, one way or the other. What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. I was just sitting here. I didn’t invite him in; I didn’t even call him on the phone. He just showed up here on his own.”
“That isn’t possible.”
Reg raised her brows at Sarah. “I didn’t do anything to let him in.”
“Did you have something of his here that he could come back to retrieve? Or you gave him a key?”
“I know better than that now,” Reg pointed out. She hadn’t known all of the rules in the beginning when she had first arrived in Black Sands. But she knew all of the sneaky ways Corvin, a handsome warlock with evil purpose in his heart, could get past the wards that Sarah had set. He had managed to finagle his way around them a few times, and Reg had helped set the new wards, using her newly discovered gifts under Sarah’s direction.
But now…
Sarah stared at her, expecting more information about how Corvin had managed to worm his way in again, sure that it had to be something that Reg had done wrong. Reg just shook her head helplessly.
The creases on Sarah’s face deepened. Her normally pleasant, grandmotherly demeanor was gone. This new development was definitely of concern to her.
“But if Corvin got past the wards without any action on your part…”
Reg nodded. “You said before that it could happen. That you could not protect the yard from someone whose powers were greater than yours.”
CHAPTER 2
Sarah sank onto the bench beside Reg. Her face went slack and Reg grabbed for her, afraid that she would faint and fall right off the bench.
“Sarah!”
Sarah held onto Reg’s arm, steadying herself, then let go. “It’s all right, dear. I’m fine.” Even so, she put her hand over her heart, breathing heavily. “Is it possible?” She closed her eyes. “Of course it is. Corvin has been growing in strength. He has all of the powers that he has been able to absorb from others and from the artifacts he has acquired. And he has apparently grown enough…”
That he was stronger than Sarah.
Reg had relied upon Sarah’s wards as she had gotten used to living in Black Sands and all of the possible dangers that lurked there. Black Sands was home to a large population of witches, psychics, and other magical races, and not all of them were good. Sarah said that there was no black magic or white magic, just the intentions of the individuals who wielded the powers. And not all of the individuals who wielded powers in Black Sands had good intentions.
Reg had learned this the way she learned most things. From personal experience. She had always been told that she should listen to the advice of others, to learn from their experiences and trust that they knew better than she did. But she had not been able to trust. She always had to try things for herself.
The breaching of Sarah’s wards meant that Reg was exposed to Corvin and his wiles and charms once more. She had to be able to withstand all of the pheromones and stolen magical powers that he could bring to bear against her. She had not always succeeded in the past and had been caught in dangerous circumstances more than once.
But she was stronger now too. She had grown into powers and gifts that she had known nothing about before moving into the guest cottage in Sarah’s backyard. She had learned that there was more to her success in conning unsuspecting clients out of their money doing psychic readings than just being able to cold read them. She wasn’t just observant; she had gifts that she had never understood or suspected.
“Corvin’s star is rising and mine is waning,” Sarah said in a soft, flat tone. As if she were talking in her sleep, unaware that Reg still sat beside her.
“No,” Reg told Sarah sternly. “It doesn’t have anything to do with you. It’s just because Corvin has been able to drink the powers of the Witch Doctor and Kareem.”
“It is only natural that sooner or later, my powers begin to weaken. Even though this body has lasted a long time…” She indicated her apparently middle-aged body. Reg would have put her in her sixties, but she knew that others had said Sarah was centuries old. Only magic had kept her looking so young.
Sarah rubbed her forehead, the third eye position between her brows. She looked suddenly tired and older than she had been since she’d been restored by her powerful emerald.
“You’re not old,” Reg insisted. “You’re not weakening.”
Sarah lifted her head and looked around the garden. “We will need to reset and strengthen the wards. You are young and strong and are growing into your powers. Together, we should be able to keep them strong. You have been able to resist Corvin before; that shows that you and he are nearly matched in strength.”
Reg nodded. Though she knew it wasn’t just her magical gifts that had allowed her to resist Corvin in the past. She had other weaponry in her arsenal. While Sarah knew about Reg’s siren heritage, she didn’t know that Reg had used the physical traits and instincts that came from that heritage to defeat Corvin the last time. She wasn’t sure Corvin would try to seduce her again. Knowing what she could do and how he was just as vulnerable to her wiles as she was to his, would he dare make another attempt?
Who was she kidding? Of course he would. The fact that he had sat on the bench with her and not made any attempt to charm her did not mean that he was finished trying. He was just taking some time to re-evaluate his prey and her weaknesses.
Sarah was quite a powerful witch. Her wards had kept Corvin at bay for quite a while, and if Reg helped, then surely he wouldn’t be able to get past them again.
“You’ll need to be more vigilant now,” Sarah advised. “Strengthen the wards every day. I will do what I can to maintain them, but it will be up to you to see that Corvin can’t get past.” She shook her head, looking around at the peaceful garden, full of blooms and every imaginable shade of green, and the little burbling waterfall and pond in front of the bench they rested on. “He cannot have the run of this place. Not to access you and not to disturb any of the wildlife or the peace of the garden.”
“Okay.” Reg nodded. “If you’ll show me what to do, I’ll do my best.”
She didn’t point out that she wasn’t particularly reliable. Remembering to strengthen the wards every day? Reg found establishing new habits, especially good habits, difficult. She remembered to feed Starlight, her black and white tuxedo cat, every day because he wouldn’t let her forget, getting underfoot, yowling, biting her ankles, jumping up on the kitchen island. Whatever he had to do to get her to feed him.
If he had been a goldfish, it would be a different story.
Or a plant.
Sarah was constantly rolling her eyes and telling Reg she needed to take care of the plant that Fir had given her. Sarah watered it, turned it, and kept it close to the window so that it got enough light, but not so much that it would burn. She occasionally took it outside to the garden to be with the other plants and for Forst, the garden gnome, to use his gifts to keep it healthy. Otherwise, Reg was sure that the plant would have shriveled up into a brown, crispy mass of leaves before she realized she had been neglecting it.
“You have to be diligent,” Sarah insisted, perhaps understanding Reg’s silence too well. “This could be a matter of life and death.”
Thrice Spared, book #17 in the Reg Rawlins, Psychic Investigator series, is available for order now.
ALSO BY P.D. WORKMAN
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MYSTERY/SUSPENSE:
Reg Rawlins, Psychic Detective
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What the Cat Knew
A Psychic with Catitude
A Catastrophic Theft
Night of Nine Tails
Telepathy of Gardens
Delusions of the Past
Fairy Blade Unmade
Web of Nightmares
A Whisker's Breadth
Skunk Man Swamp
Magic Ain't A Game
Without Foresight
Careful of Thy Wishes
Time to Your Elf
Undiscovered Tomb
Missing Powers
Thrice Spared (Coming Soon)
Cloaked Campaign (Coming Soon)
Auntie Clem’s Bakery
Culinary & Pet Cozy Mysteries
Gluten-Free Murder
Dairy-Free Death
Allergen-Free Assignation
Witch-Free Halloween (Halloween Short)
Dog-Free Dinner (Christmas Short)
Stirring Up Murder
Brewing Death
Coup de Glace
Sour Cherry Turnover
Apple-achian Treasure
Vegan Baked Alaska
Muffins Masks Murder
Tai Chi and Chai Tea
Santa Shortbread
Cold as Ice Cream
Changing Fortune Cookies
Hot on the Trail Mix
Fateful Plateful
Cut Out Cookie
On the Slab Pie
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A Waffle Death (Coming Soon)
Recipes from Auntie Clem's Bakery
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She Wore Mourning
His Hands Were Quiet
She Was Dying Anyway
He Was Walking Alone
They Thought He was Safe
He Was Not There
Her Work Was Everything
She Told a Lie
He Never Forgot
She Was At Risk
He Drowned in Memory
Their Walls Were Empty
They Came for Him
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Unlawful Harvest
Doctored Death
Dosed to Death
Gentle Angel
Rushin' Death (Coming Soon)
Posed for Death (Coming Soon)
Death of a Corpse (Coming Soon)
Parks Pat Mysteries
Police Procedural Set in Canada
Out with the Sunset
Long Climb to the Top
Dark Water Under the Bridge
Immersed in the View
Skimming Over the Lake
Hazard of the Hills
Knows the Hills (Coming Soon)
Spanning the Creek (Coming Soon)
Sanctuary in the Stream (Coming Soon)
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Cowritten with D. D. VanDyke
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The Girl in the Morgue
Stand Alone Suspense Novels
Looking Over Your Shoulder
Lion Within
Pursued by the Past
In the Tick of Time
Loose the Dogs
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