This Wicked Magic

True. Libby never let anything go if it was a secret or mystery. She had once badgered Vika about an All Hallows’ Eve present for six days. Vika was expert at holding out information. It gave her satisfaction to do so.

“I can’t say.”

“I won’t laugh. Promise. I’ll tell you my news if you tell me yours.”

“You have news?”

Libby pulled a red glass witch ball out of her tote bag. “Got it at the bazaar. Isn’t it gorgeous?”

Vika studied the handblown glass ball. Long glass strands dashed from side to side within the globe. “This is amazing.”

“The strands are supposed to trap souls. I thought to hang it in the garden above the white heliotrope.”

“Perfect. Though, I hope it won’t interfere with the souls that stick to me.”

“Oh, I didn’t consider that. I was thinking to catch a few butterfly souls to use in my spells. I’m so sorry. We can’t put this up.”

“No, do. I’ll let you know if it causes a problem.”

“If you’re sure, then I will. Now tell.” She went dead serious. “Or I’ll have the vines in the garden rise up and meet you next time you go out back.”

“I’d blast them with nightshade. Libby, you know you can’t go up against me when it comes to spellcraft.”

Her sister’s shoulders wilted.

Vika started up the stairs, gliding her fingers along the railing and looking down over the chandelier. It dazzled, but it was as if a speck in the universe compared with CJ’s amazing constellation. She wanted to return to his loft and lie on the floor and lose herself in the terrible beauty of it all.

“I kissed him,” she called down, and then dashed into her bedroom and closed the door behind her.

“What?” Libby’s footsteps trampled up the stairs in record time. She pounded on Vika’s door. “The derelict?”

“He’s not— Libby!”

“You kissed him.” On the other side of the door, her sister turned and leaned against it. “Was it good?”

“We both said wow after we kissed,” Vika called through the door.

“Oh, wow. But he’s the complete opposite of everything you find attractive. And he’s so … messy. How did you two manage to get your lips in the vicinity of one another to make a kiss happen?”

“I’m taking a shower now,” Vika called out, and smiled all the way to the bathroom.

Chapter 6

Paging through a few grimoires in search of a spell to help CJ, Vika was worried she wouldn’t find anything for casting out demons. Her grandmother’s magic had been focused on earth spells, and it was the rare spell that dabbled with the dark. Though certainly she would associate demons with the earth and the lower realms.

“What do you think?”

Libby spun into the room, purple crocheted skirt skimming the air. The concoction was tightly knit and hugged her sister’s ample curves in all the right places. It stopped scandalously high upon her thigh with a wave of crocheted ruffles as Libby did a guitar-strumming rock star move.

“Uh.” Vika pushed aside the spellbook and vacillated on the truth or the embroidered truth. “I love the color. It’s perfect with your hair.”

Libby pouted. “What’s wrong? Is it too tight?”

“No, it’s just right. You’ve such nice breasts. I always wonder why I wasn’t gifted that attribute,” she said of her smaller assets.

“Because you got the bright hair.”

“Is this wild red flag of hair I have a better tradeoff than sensuous breasts? Some days I’m not so sure.” Vika twisted the strands of jade mala beads wrapped around her wrist.

“Wow. You rarely feel down on yourself. And after the high you were on last night? What’s up, sis?”

“Nothing. I …” She tugged the natty, cloth-covered grimoire closer. “I’ve spent hours going through grimoires but can’t find anything for expelling demons that hasn’t already been tried.”

“For CJ? You must really like him. Have you tried to comb his hair for him yet? I can’t imagine that mess is something you could stand to look at for more than a few minutes.”

“His hair doesn’t bother me. And it is combed. It’s just long and in need of a trim.” And it usually covered the bruise on his neck, which she hated looking at. A demon mark. Awful thing, that. “He doesn’t have time for a visit to the barbershop because he’s stuck in a literal struggle for survival against the demons inside him.”

“How many?”

“I’m not sure. I’m thinking it’s an infestation. The light keeps the demons back. Most of the time. But it must be a specific kind of light. Prismatic,” she said, remembering with a shudder the terrible constellation that had hovered in CJ’s loft. “Yesterday when the menace demon reared its nasty head, the clouds had come out and it was merely an overcast sky.”

“You have to be careful around him, Vika.”

“I am wary.” Wasn’t she the chick who avoided dark magic? So what had that kiss been about?

That kiss.

After CJ’s initial awkward kiss, she’d been compelled to answer, and he’d quickly gotten over his nervousness, and their contact had stirred her from the tips of her toes to the ends of her eyelashes. A truly wow moment. And as a woman who prided herself in sensuality and knowing exactly what it took to turn her on, it had surprised her in a good way.

“It’s not so much I like the guy—though he is growing on me….”

“It’s that you want to clean him up. I know you, Vika. I can see your fingers twitching to get into the mess of Certainly Jones and sort him out. He’s got a strange, sexy vibe going for him. Nice broad shoulders, darkly handsome. I’m sure there’s more tattoos under those clothes, too, and the goddess knows I do love a man with tattoos.”