Google it. You happy now?”
No one replied, but a tingly air-kiss on her neck made her skin goose pimple and her nipples poke holes through her t-shirt.
She booted up her laptop on the dining room table and typed in ‘witch spell’.
“Holy fuck. 3,010,000 results.” That was about three million nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine more than she wanted. She needed to fine-tune her search, so she added the word limbo and only got ninety thousand four hundred entries. She twiddled with the search terms and became engrossed in her research, amazed at the amount of websites devoted to witchcraft.
On a whim, she typed in “witch Twin Dales”. To her surprise, a listing came up for a shop in the town itself. She clicked onto the website and found an online store for all types of witchy items from charms to potions and more. She looked at the contact info and stared at the picture of the blonde ice queen she’d bumped into. Clarissa Mayweather.
Crap. It figured the bitch she’d run into was the one person in town she really needed to talk to. Her curiosity was completely roused though, so like her or not, she was the closest witch around. Jenna shut down the laptop and grabbed a jacket. She opened the door, but a cold wind pulled it out of her hands and slammed it shut.
“What the fuck!” She glared around looking for ghostly culprits that she didn’t believe in. Not believing didn’t stop her from getting mad. “You asked me to find a solution to your problem so why the hell aren’t you letting me follow through?” No one answered of course. She grabbed the door handle and pulled. At first she met some resistance, but flesh and blood were no match for an overactive imagination, and she managed to wrench it open and stalk outside where the late afternoon warmth dispelled the chill of inside.
“Men.” She snorted. “Even dead, they just can’t make up their minds.”
Derrick and Mark watched from the window with matching appalled faces as she drove into town to meet the witch who’d banished them.
“Fuck, this is bad,” said Derrick. In a fit of rage and impotence, he punched the wall, ineffectively since his hand went right through the plaster.
“We forgot to warn her,” said Mark, disgust in his tone. “I let myself get distracted and now she’s walking straight into danger.”
“We’re both guilty of that. If she makes it back, we need to visit her dream again tonight and tell her of the danger she’s in.”
The waiting might have killed them if they’d had real bodies. Their little mate was about to unknowingly beard the dragon in its den, and they both feared for her safety.
Jenna parked in front of the witchcraft store. Like the other establishments on the main street, it had a certain nostalgic charm with its large, plate glass window decorated with Halloween witches on brooms. She opened the ornate wooden door replete with a bell that tinkled as she entered.
Inside, a medley of smells from heavy incense to pungent herbs overwhelmed her. Stones of all sizes and colors glittered in bins and hung on chains, while labeled vials of different colored liquid lined the shelves. A curtain at the back parted and the proprietress stepped forth.
Clarissa appeared shocked to see Jenna, a reaction she quickly hid behind a smile of greeting that never made it to her eyes. “Well, if isn’t our newest town resident. How can I help you today?”
“Hi. Sorry about the run-in the other day. My name is Jenna, by the way.”
“You may call me Clarissa.”
Perfect brows arched high. “Really? And what makes you think that?”
Jenna blushed. She hadn’t meant to say that. After all, she didn’t believe in ghosts. But she’d run out of excuses for what kept happening to her. At one point when the impossible was the only thing left…
“I know it sounds crazy, but ever since I moved into that house, weird things have been happening.”
“Tell me more.” Clarissa’s eyes glittered and Jenna hesitated. “It’s all right, Jenna. I’ve had a feeling about that house for years. I mean, the boys were never found, so it only stands to reason their spirits would haunt the place.”
“I never said it was them.” And she definitely wouldn’t be mentioning the naughty things they did to her in her dreams.
“It makes the most sense,” said Clarissa shrugging. “No one else in their family ever died a violent death or went missing. Why don’t you tell me what those ghosts have been up to?”
Maybe it was because she was glad to tell the story to someone who didn’t think she was crazy, or the fact that Clarissa didn’t call the loony bin, but Jenna unburdened all the inexplicable things that had occurred from the cold drafts to the opening doors to the moving objects. However, she couldn’t bring herself to tell her about the dream and erotic touches. That was a little too bonkers even for her, and interested and friendly as Clarissa seemed now, Jenna didn’t quite trust her. Something about her just seemed off.
“So do you think it could be ghosts?” asked Jenna.
“I’d say there’s definitely some spiritual presence.”
“What can I do about it? Should I call a priest? Or…” Jenna hesitated then said it in a rush. “Is there a spell that can help them, maybe?”
Clarissa’s gaze narrowed on her. “Don’t worry about your little haunting problem anymore. Tomorrow is All Hallows Eve and a full moon so the magic will be especially potent. I’ll come over and get rid of those pesky ghosts for you.”
“This won’t hurt them, will it? I just want to help them.”
Clarissa chuckled, a sound that wasn’t altogether pleasant. “Oh, don’t worry, it won’t hurt one bit.”
Jenna shivered. Why do I get the impression I just agreed to the wrong thing?
Chapter Six
The brothers both heaved a sigh of relief when Jenna came through the door alone. They flew at her, badgering her with questions she couldn’t hear. She swatted at their spiritual bodies as if they were nothing but annoying flies.
“Would you stop that?” she finally snapped. “I’ve got help coming for you tomorrow. Just give it one more day and you’ll go wherever it is spirits are supposed to go.”
Mark grimaced and tugged his brother away from Jenna. “Damn. We don’t have much time. There’s got to be something we can do.”
“I know what I’m doing tonight.”
“What? Do you have an idea?” Mark looked at him hopefully.
“If we’re going to die for real tomorrow, I plan to make love to our mate, dream or not. I refuse to die without having had a taste.”
Mark wanted to chastise him for thinking of sex at a time like this, but Derrick had planted a seed in his mind. Suddenly all Mark could think and see was the two of them making passionate love to the woman they would never have. This could be his last chance to taste ecstasy before the end, for he had no doubt that this time Clarissa would end it.
And Mark had run out of ideas.
Jenna found herself standing in the field again-naked. However, this time she didn’t run, even when the green
