Chapter Eleven
Ursula and Pansy skirted around the outside of The Bloodstone Cauldron while Jax and I snuck through the front door. Ducking low, I turned the knob and slowly eased the door open, poking my head inside. Claudia wasn’t here, but there was a lamp on the counter, casting just enough light to see by. I slipped inside and hurried towards a display stand, hiding behind it in case she unexpectedly returned. Jax joined me seconds later.
“Banks,” I whispered, kneeling to address my familiar. “I need you to stay inside.”
“Suits me,” Banks blinked, his silver eyes flashing.
“Stay hidden,” I warned him. “Just in case.”
“Stay safe,” he replied, then head bumped my shin. Scratching his ears, I straightened and looked at Jax. “Ready?”
“Let’s do this.”
Creeping across the shop floor, we slipped through the beaded curtain, frantically trying to stop the beads from clinking together and alerting Claudia to our presence.
We moved silently through the storeroom towards the rear door that was propped open with a wooden crate. Plastering my back against the wall, I ducked my head around the door jam. There was a circle alright, ablaze with flames. In the center was Claudia, only she didn’t look like the pretty young woman I’d met earlier today. The black hair was now red, the smooth face was now lined with wrinkles, yet her features were the same… just older.
“Damn it all to hell,” I muttered, grinding my teeth. Inside the circle with Claudia was Pansy. Claudia held her in front of her as a shield, a ceremonial dagger to her throat.
“You might as well come out, I know you’re there!” Claudia called. I shot a look at Jax, who lifted one shoulder. I hand signaled to him and hoped he knew what I meant. I’ll go. You stay hidden.
I nocked an arrow, then lifted the crossbow, simultaneously stepping into the doorway.
“Let her go, Claudia,” I demanded, moving away from the door and skirting the edge of the circle, the crossbow trained on her.
“It’s not Claudia,” Ursula said, watching from outside the circle while the deranged witch held a knife to her best friend's throat. “That is Theodora Highmore.”
The name rang a bell. “The Theodora Highmore who hexed you years ago and was subsequently thrown out of Rhalanise?”
“The very same,” Claudia snapped. “I’ve been under their very noses all this time, no one the wiser. You all come to my shop, selling your pathetic goods as if you’re better than me as if you’re all holier than thou.”
Ursula pointed an accusing finger at her. “You misspelled my labels on purpose!”
Claudia tipped her head back and laughed. “Mystic Flush has quite the ring to it, don’t you think?”
“You’re a mean, nasty, witch!”
Claudia sobered and tightened her grip on Pansy, who whimpered. I had Claudia in my sights, but could I take her out before her blade pierced Pansy’s skin? I couldn’t be sure. I hadn’t trained in years, and recent experiences told me I was rusty. Very rusty. I couldn’t risk an innocent’s life.
“What are you waiting for?” Ursula nudged me, and I nearly misfired. “Shoot her.”
“Can you not do that?” I snapped. “Not unless you want me to shoot Pansy!”
“Well, of course, I don’t want you to shoot Pansy! Are you daft? Just… get on with already. The great witches bakeoff is on tonight, and it’s the semi-finals.”
I almost took my attention off of Claudia to shoot Ursula an incredulous look. She was worried about missing a tv show? But I saw the way Claudia’s eyes narrowed at Ursula’s words, the way her spine stiffened and a brief flash of outrage that crossed her face. The flames bordering the circle flared. This was it. My one and only shot.
Resisting the urge to squeeze my eyes shut, I kept my gaze locked on Claudia and released the arrow. Pansy leaned to the left, and the arrow struck home, embedding in Claudia’s chest. The dagger fell from her fingers as she toppled over backward, the flames sputtering out.
“This way, Pansy!” Ursula shouted. Pansy didn’t need telling twice. She bolted toward her friend. Jax charged forward, gun aimed at Claudia’s head as she lay on the ground, the arrow protruding from her chest.
“Is she?” I didn’t think it was a kill shot. I didn’t want it to be a kill shot. My brief was to deliver her to the Council, not kill her.
“You missed her heart if that’s what you’re asking,” Jax said. I sagged in relief.
“Oh, my goodness, that was awesome!” Pansy gushed. “You saved me.” She wrapped me in a hug, and I stood there, arms dangling by my sides, legs wobbly. That could have gone all kinds of wrong. Ursula patted me on the back, hard.
“Good job.” Mighty praise indeed.
Extricating myself from Pansy’s embrace, I deactivated the crossbow and slid it back into my pocket before stepping into the burnt-out circle. I looked down at Claudia, her face screwed into a mask of pain and pure evil.
“Curse you,” she spat, and I snorted. “You did that already. It didn’t take.”
I produced the tape measure, activated the cuffs, and clasped her wrists together in front of her. “This might sting a bit,” I said, before placing my foot on her left shoulder, grabbing the arrow, and pulling. Her scream filled the air, startling the birds that shot into the air en masse.
“We’d better get a move on,” Ursula said, arm around Pansy.
“Why’s that? The great witches baking show about to start?”
“Well, yes, there’s that, but also, you just alerted all the alligators in the swamp that there’s a wounded animal here.” She nodded toward the blood pooling beneath Claudia.
“Crap.” She was right. “Let’s go.”
With Jax on one side and me on the other, we hauled Claudia to her feet.
“Claudia Delacroix—and or Theodora Highmore—I’m placing you under arrest for the murder of Bibi Rosenberg and Elsa LeBlanc…” Jax began.
“Hold on a second,” I cut in. “This is my collar. She’s my case. I’m turning her in to the Council as per Bounty’s instructions.”
“Her two victims are my case. The NOPD Paranormal Division will deal with her. We liaise with Bounty frequently, it’ll be fine.”
“Lemme call it in.” I pulled out my phone and squinted at the screen. No cell service. Great.
“Tell you what, NOPD will hold her in custody, we have secure cells that are magic proof. Save you the hassle of taking her all the way to Salem, yeah?”
That did sound appealing. I nodded my head in agreement. As long as Claudia was captured, what did it matter where she was held, as long as it was off the streets where she couldn’t use her magic? And it meant I’d be back on the road to Assjacket just that little bit quicker. It also meant I’d be leaving Jax in my rearview, and a little pang of… something… shot through me at the thought.
The boat ride back to Rhalanise was made in subdued silence. There was no room on the seat, so Claudia sat crossed legged in the bottom of the boat, where I’m sure she felt every little bump. Ursula had grabbed a powder from the shelves of The Bloodstone Cauldron and had tossed a handful at Claudia’s shoulder. “It’ll stop the bleeding,” she said to me. “But it won’t heal her. Nor stop it from hurting. But we don’t need a trail of blood leading the ‘gators to us.”
Back in Rhalanise, the two elderly women hurried off, eager to catch what they could of the great witches bakeoff. A witch by the name of Miriam was up against another witch called Geraldine. Both were hot favorites, so it could go either way.
“Thanks for the loan of the pants,” Jax called after them.
“Keep ‘em!” Pansy shouted back. “They look better on you than what they do on me.”
Jax choked and looked down at the floral pants. “She doesn’t mean that does she?”
I raised a brow. “They do look quite fetching,” I teased.
“If you two are quite finished ogling each other,” Claudia snapped, “can we get on with this?”
“Are you in a hurry to go to the pokey?” I narrowed my eyes. She was taking this extremely well. A little too calm for my liking.
“True mates always did make me queasy,” she sniffed. “If you don’t want me puking on your shoes, I suggest you get a move on.”
True mates. So the reading earlier hadn’t been a ruse? As if reading my mind, Claudia burst out laughing. “Oh, you poor deluded fool. You’ve got blinkers on and can’t see what’s right in front of you. He,” she cocked her head at Jax, “is your,” she cocked her head at me, “true mate. Soul mate. Destiny. Whatever you want to call it. And no, I’m not making this up. Why would I? To what end would lying about it serve me?”
“What’s she talking about?” Jax asked.
I shook my head. “I’ll tell you later. But she’s right. Let’s get out of here. Since you’ve got a cage in the back of your truck, you can transport her. I’ll follow.”
“Fair call.” With me on one side and Jax on the other, we marched Claudia to his truck that he’d left in front of the general store. Once she was secured in the cage, Jax turned to face me, cupping my face in his hands. “I’ve waited too long to do this.”
“To do what?” As if I didn’t know. My heart had jackhammered into overdrive as soon as he’d touched me. His kiss was everything and more. The kiss earlier, when I’d been under the influence of Claudia’s hex, was nothing compared to this, for now neither my judgment, nor my mind, was clouded. Now I could feel and process every little emotion, every little zing and answering zang of every single nerve ending in my entire body.
It was also entirely possible I was about to melt into a puddle at his feet, so it was with a certain sense of disappointment but also self-preservation that I broke the kiss, gasping for breath.
“You’re right,” I breathed.
“About?”
“You did wait too long.” Reaching up on tiptoes, I wound my arms around his neck and kissed him, long and hard, my fried nerve endings be damned. Everything else could wait. All the worries about fated mates were shelved. There was nothing but this moment, the heat of him, the scent of him, all of him, wrapped around me, two halves to one whole. I blocked out what it all meant. I didn’t allow myself to think that what I’d had with Mason couldn’t hold a candle to the sensations Jax elicited in me. I also didn’t dare worry that I’d have another hot flash and set his pants on fire. Again. After all, there was only so much a silver fox can take.
“I’m in room nineteen of the Ruby Crescent Hotel and Spa,” I breathed, hands roaming down his back to cup his butt and squeeze.
“I’ll be there in an hour.” He promised. One more lingering kiss, and we reluctantly separated. One hour before he would be mine. One hour before I would be his. Sixty minutes had never felt so long!
I watched until his taillights disappeared, then scooped up Banks and sprinted, okay, walked semi-fast, to Ursula’s where I retrieved my jeep from her garage. One hour to get back to the hotel, shower, and shave my legs. Sixty minutes suddenly didn’t feel long enough!
Gunning the engine, I peeled out of Rhalanise Bayou, gravel flying from beneath my spinning wheels, my stomach clenched in nervous anticipation. Was this what Baba Yaga had planned for me all along? Not the catching of an evil witch, but finding love again? For I had a niggly suspicion that this stomach-churning and tightness in my chest wasn’t heartburn after all. Oh, Baba Yaga, you crafty witch!
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