She refused to stomp up the stairs as a sign of her anger, but boy she was sure tempted. Remembering how her anger had resulted in her levitating in her workroom, Zoe put a lid on it and focused on the space before her.
“Gram could have gotten things back in order with a spell but I vowed not to use magic when I moved here and it seems like that’s all I’ve been doing. Which is why it’s important that I restore order to things myself, without magic,” she told Daniella.
“What made you vow not to use magic, if you don’t mind me asking? Were you afraid someone would find out you’re a witch?” Daniella said.
“My mother died two years ago after using black magic in a spell. After her death, I vowed not to use spells again.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss.” Daniella hugged her. “I know what it’s like to lose your mother. Mine died when I was sixteen but I still miss her.”
“Was she a hybrid, too?”
“No, she was human. I was adopted. But that didn’t make her any less my mom.”
“Of course not.”
“She was very smart. Had a lot of common sense, you know?”
Zoe nodded.
“What was your mom like?” Daniella asked.
“People say we looked alike. She was very smart, too. A big history fan. But then the demon that possessed your employee claimed that my mother sent him to hell. The demon, not your employee,” Zoe said. “I’m just having a really hard time with all of this.”
“I wanted to thank you again for coming so fast to deal with that situation.”
“I don’t know how well I dealt with it.”
“I do,” Daniella said. “You were great.”
“You weren’t in the room.”
“Damon texted Nick that you did great.”
“He did?”
“You sound surprised.”
“I am,” Zoe admitted. “Damon isn’t exactly generous with positive feedback. Is that a vamp thing?”
“It’s more a Damon thing,” Daniella said. “Nick wasn’t great at it in the beginning, but Damon is worse than Nick ever was.”
“You remember that cameras are watching our every move in here and listening to our every word, right?” Zoe said.
Daniella nodded, indicating she got Zoe’s unspoken request that they change the subject. “Where do all these soaps go?”
“On the shelves here.”
“What made you want to become a soap maker?”
“I’ve always loved aromatherapy.”
“Me, too. There’s nothing like the smell of baking cupcakes. Or lemon frosting.” Daniella paused to sniff one of the wrapped soaps in her hand. “Mmmm, lemon.”
“You can have that one if you’d like. I have a matching body cream.” Zoe opened the elegant jar and held it up for Daniella to smell. “I only use pure botanicals. Fruit and vegetable oils. And no magic.”
“These smell divine. I love the way you’ve cleverly wrapped each soap in muslin. I can’t get over how many different varieties you have here. Orange and vanilla. Cucumber and melon. Mountain spruce. Sunshine. Revive.”
“Along with Sunshine, Revive is one of my most popular scents in the soap line. It helps restore energy with a combination of grapefruit, lime, and lemon as well as a hint of cucumber.”
“
“Yes.”
Daniella looked around and shook her head. “So Damon made this mess when he was searching your place yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“You should have had him clean it up. He can move at vamp hyper speed, you know.”
“I know. I saw him do just that today when he scooped me up and took me to the funeral home.”
“It was for a good cause. Phil is a really good guy,” Daniella said. She grabbed another handful of soaps from the floor. “I notice you’ve got labels on the shelves all ready for the soap scents.”
“My gram did that when she used a spell to set everything in here up for me. She was trying to save me work.”
“I also notice the soaps are in alphabetical order.”
“Yeah, I keep the bottles of essential oils in alphabetical order, too. Blame it on my library degree,” Zoe said.
“You’re an ex-librarian?”
“A former librarian, yes.”
“When I was in middle school, I used to think that would be my dream job. Sitting around and reading books all day.”
“I don’t know of any librarian who gets to do that,” Zoe said. “It’s a tough job. Especially now with people questioning the need to even have a public library when they can use the Internet. American libraries are having a rough time in these economic times. Cities are cutting back hours and staff.”
“Is that what happened to you?”
“No. That’s a long story.”
“One I hope you’ll tell me sometime when we’re not under observation,” Daniella said.
Zoe smiled. “Deal.”
“Notice I did not ask you about the ex-fiance of yours that Damon mentioned downstairs.”
“I appreciate that,” Zoe said.
“You can tell me about him some other time, too.” Daniella paused to look around the room. “This is a beautiful space. You know, legend has it that this house was built to copy the layout of Al Capone’s house.”
“He lived here?”
“No, but one of the members of his gang owned this house and the one next door. Or that’s what I heard growing up. You know about the tunnels, right?”
“That’s where the demons are.”
“Correct. The tunnels were originally built during the Prohibition era to move bootleg liquor from place to place. They were updated with better lighting thanks to the Vamptown Council.”
“Have you ever been down there?”
“Yes.” Daniella’s normally cheerful voice changed, turning quiet. “I was abducted by the head of a rival group of vampires and held captive down there.”
“I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“It only lasted an hour or two but it seemed like forever.”
“Did Nick come rescue you?” Zoe asked.
“Actually, I kind of rescued myself, but I don’t want to go into it. I’d rather talk about St. Patrick’s Day.”
“It’s a big day in Boston,” Zoe said.
“In Chicago, too. They even dye the Chicago River green,” Daniella said. “And the spring equinox is soon. Isn’t that important for witches?”
“It’s not as important as the solstices, and even then the importance depends on your coven. I haven’t celebrated it since my mother’s death.” Zoe paused as an ancient belief came to mind. The equinox represented equal hours of light and dark. A science teacher in high school had informed her that there was actually still a difference of a few minutes, but in a witch’s perspective the vernal equinox—also known as the spring equinox— represented the advent of light starting to overcome darkness. Her witch’s intuition told her that the date was an important one for obtaining the Book of Darkness. Her train of thought was interrupted by Daniella.
