Tilly gasps. “You’ve got the bug, too, Lola?”
I’m not sure why Tilly has been calling my ability to see beyond the present a bug as of late, but I’m not entirely opposed to it. More often than not, my powers seem to indeed bug me.
The proper name of my abilities is transmundane—further classified as sibylline. There are other supernatural abilities that fall under the umbrella of transmundane—one of which is sibylline, the power to see into the future. Supersensual is another power, and it involves the ability to see the dead. And after Regina struck me in the head with a pumpkin back in October, my powers seem to have morphed in that ghostly direction as well, and now I have no problem seeing Hazel Newton’s ghost as she floats the halls of the manor. Lucky for me, she’s a friendly ghost or I’d have to throttle Regina for cursing me with a pest of a poltergeist.
“What did you see?” I all but shake my sister.
“Two hot Santas who looked mean, lean, and ready to be seen—alone with me.”
I roll my eyes. “That sounds less like a vision and more like a desperate yearning. Besides, aren’t you seeing Mud?”
Mud is the blond surly handyman at the manor who almost lost his life when he fell from a ladder last week trying to make the outside of that haunted mansion we work in look like a gingerbread house with all those twinkle lights he was hanging.
Steph shrugs. “Mud and I have decided it’s best if we just fool around on Sundays. That way it gives us something to look forward to.”
“Ooh,” Tilly squeals. “Part-time lovers. Take a cue from your little sis, Bowie, would you? Before Shep goes sniffing back to Regina.”
A warm, spiced cologne wafts into the vicinity, and soon Shepherd Wexler himself strides up looking mean and lean with his hair slicked back and bundled in a navy coat. And about six different women just pulled off their scarves and sighed as he passed them.
“Hey, Shep.” Stephanie pours him a cup of cocoa. “Is that a candy cane in your pocket, or are you just glad to see my sister?”
His brows furrow. “Both?” He plucks a candy cane out of his pocket and dunks it into the drink she gives him.
I waste no time heading his way and wrapping my arms around him. Shep juxtaposed against the fresh fallen snow is like a winter dream come true.
“I’ll take a peppermint cocoa kiss, please,” I say, and Shep is quick to land a hot and steamy one right over my lips.
Stephanie gasps from behind, and I look over to see two men in their twenties with Santa hats on.
“My vision!” she shouts. “It just came true.”
I wince and cower in Shep’s arms. Leave it to Stephanie to unleash a secret or two into the wild. When God doled my sister her sibylline powers, he was really rolling the dice with her on that whole keeping a lid on it deal.
Shep gives me a light squeeze. “Did she say vision?”
I’m about to deny, deny, deny when that warm, fuzzy feeling takes over my body, a serious bout of tunnel vision hits me, and a scene opens up in my mind’s eye.
A body is facedown on the ground, while a tangle of colorful Christmas lights is strewn around its neck like a scarf.
The world around me roars back to life, and I buck, nearly ejecting poor Pixie right out of her carrier.
“Bowie?” Shep looks into my eyes with grave concern. “It happened again, didn’t it? Whatever it is, you have to tell me. There’s no reason for you to keep anything from me. You’ve already told me your darkest secret.” He nods as if prodding me to spill my supernatural guts right here and now.
I glance out to the crowd around us.
“It’s nothing.” I force a smile, but it dissipates as quickly as it came. “I just have a feeling that something very, very bad is about to take place.”
And it just so happens that the very, very bad thing about to take place is murder.
Chapter 2
Okay, so my visions haven’t always been spot-on.
For all I know, that body wrapped in lights could have been someone passed out drunk from comfort. The way Tilly has been loading those cups, you’d think it was comfort with a spot of hot cocoa and not the other way around.
Shep lands another steamy kiss to my lips. Seriously, though? Steamy is the exact kind of kisses that Shep specializes in. But the unmistakable look of worry is rife on his face.
“Another snowstorm is pushing through tonight.” He nods. I’m still safely wrapped in his arms as the Starry Falls tree lighting festival swirls around us. “Maybe that bad feeling has to do with the fact your cabin has faulty heating? I’ve already called a repairman and he’s coming out first thing. You and Lola can sleep at my place tonight.”
Stephanie, aka Lola, pops up like an unwanted apparition. “Winner, winner, sleep over dinner! She’ll take it.” She slaps her hands together. “And I’ll have a slice of what you’re serving up myself with two hot Santas on the side.”
A crowd moves in, and thankfully Stephanie gets right back to pushing her cookies.
“We’re fine at the cabin,” I tell him. Lord knows I don’t want my far too eager to please sister anywhere nearby the first time things get heated between Shep and me. “I kept the fireplace going all night, and
