Chapter 4

Chapter

Four

N ina immediately snapped up a hand and glared at Greer. "Wait one fucking second, buddy. We're not doing a damn thing until you give us some explanations and we make a few calls. Just because you know about us, doesn't mean we know thing one about you. Sit your ass back down and explain how you found Ms. Firestarter and what the fuck you mean about graverobbing." She pointed to the chair he'd vacated.

Greer sat back down without qualm. "You're right. I was a bit vague in my haste to figure this out. I've skipped right past some crucial elements."

"Ya think?" the vampire groused.

Wanda popped her lips and nodded. "Why don't you start with how you found Robbie in the first place. This feels pretty random. How could you possibly know she'd be with us?"

"I smelled her—or I smelled her blood, her magic. It woke me from a sound sleep. I followed the scent."

Robbie scanned the room, taking in all the medieval accoutrement, the large, disturbing tapestries on the wall, trying to focus on anything calming so she wouldn't reveal the turmoil she felt on the inside.

He'd smelled her blood. Her blood . This was outrageous.

Yet again, the ladies didn't bat an eye. In fact, Marty nodded her head. "That makes sense. So I'm going to assume this happened when the magic in the planchette was transferred to Robbie's hand?"

"Is that how it happened?" he asked her. "It was stored in a planchette?"

Robbie's eyebrows shot upward. "I don't know if that's how it happened any more than I know what the heck you mean when you say the universe sent me a talking broom with a French accent. I'm not the expert here."

He nodded his head, an amused smile on his handsome face. "Of course. What I meant to ask was, is that when you noticed a change in your hand, and where is the Ouija board in all of this?"

Now she felt like a schlub for being so pissy because he was being so nice. They were all being nice. Well, except Nina. And she didn't mind that she was mean. It would only make Robbie work harder to befriend her.

"That's how it happened, and I don't know about the Ouija board. I never found that. And apparently I said something weird in a demonic voice and then," she lifted the singed part of her hair and held it up, "this happened."

Now he cocked his head, his own silky hair falling in a shiny wave, catching the light. "A demonic voice? Do you remember what you said?"

Tottington repeated what he'd told the women earlier, while Greer sat patiently listening with no expression on his gorgeous face.

He had no stinkin' right to be so handsome, with his chiseled jaw, high cheekbones and his deep green eyes while she sat around, looking like she'd been dumpster diving.

"That sounds like my grandmother's handiwork, all right. She was very angry before she was…eliminated."

Nina leaned forward, putting her elbows on her knees, her coal-black eyes flashing. "Eliminated? What the fuck does that mean?"

Greer sighed, his chest rising and falling, mesmerizing Robbie. "It means exactly what you think it means. My grandmother, Gwinnifer Winthrop, was a horrible creature. One of the most powerful witches to ever live, but she used that power for self-gain. Riches, among one."

Robbie couldn't help but snort. "Sounds like my mother."

Tottington frowned at her, his lips thinning in disapproval.

Instantly, she bit the inside of her cheek and shut her mouth. "Sorry." But it was a truthful statement. It did sound like her mother. In fact, there'd been a time or two she'd silently dubbed her the wicked witch of the west.

And now look who the alleged witch turned out to be…

Marty sat back, pushing her long blonde hair over her shoulders. "Why was she eliminated ?"

Now Greer's lips thinned. "The coven discovered she was abusing her power, which is a complete no-no, but that's not what sent this over the edge. They'd certainly have punished her, but they never would have expunged her completely. They discovered she was draining younger witches for their powers, leaving them nothing more than lifeless husks."

Robbie snorted again, totally inappropriately, but incapable of keeping her derision on the inside. "Next you'll tell me she was draining them for their youth, just like the Sanderson Sisters."

"Then you'd be correct. It was their essence, to be precise," he stated, his eyes capturing hers.

She was never going to watch Hocus Pocus again.

"So serial killer witch? That's new. But if she's dead, why the fuck are we digging her up?" Nina asked.

Greer inhaled and, if she wasn't mistaken, it was a little shaky. "If Gwinnifer's magic is still alive, she has to be, too. Checking her grave to be sure her earthly body's still there is the first step in figuring out how this could have happened. It will eliminate the possibility she's still alive. Yet, the notion makes zero sense. I saw her buried with my own eyes. But I smelled her magic, Ms. Statleon. It virtually woke me from a sound sleep. If she's alive, and she somehow stored her magic in that planchette for safe keeping, and it's now in Robbie's hand…she's going to come looking for it."

Which meant the angry serial witch-killing granny was out for blood— her blood .

That made Robbie hop up out of her chair in terror, her hands frozen, her feet blocks of ice. "Enough! Enough talk of vampires and werewolves and angry witches! This is cuckoo town, and I won't listen to another word! I'm going home. I have cats that need to be fed and a job at the Dollar General that needs…needs…needs jobbing!"

Nina's head popped up, her expression bright, the half of her glossy black hair still intact sweeping down along her chest. "Cats? You have cats?"

Instantly, Robbie was on guard, her mama bear instincts in overdrive. Didn't vampires eat small animals? "I do, and if you think I'm going to let you anywhere near them, you've got another think comin'! They are not breakfast!"

Nina pointed a finger at her in an accusatory fashion. "Look at you, all feisty and ready for a fucking fight there's not a chance in hell you can win. So FYI, I don't fucking eat breakfast, Magic Fingers. Vampire, remember? We sleep all day in our coffins."

Robbie's eyes went wide, looking around as though a coffin would suddenly appear. Of course, that was ridiculous. But then…was it in light of everything she'd seen tonight?

Marty chuckled, looking at her in guilt. "Sorry, Robbie. I don't mean to laugh. She doesn't sleep in a coffin and if you knew Nina, you'd know that drinking your cats' blood is the furthest thing from her mind She loves animals, and they all love her. We do a lot of work with a rescue from a former client, if you want proof."

Robbie relaxed, but only a little.

Wanda nodded with a smile. "What Marty means to say is, you don't have to worry about your cats. We'll get them and bring them here so you can be with them while you go through this process."

The process… That felt like a line from a sci-fi movie. Or like Deadpool , when they turned her secret crush Ryan Reynolds into a crispy-fried version of his former self after he went through the process to cure his cancer.

"Please don't leave, Robbie," Greer said in a tone so deep and delicious, goose bumps ran along her arms despite her panic. "There's no telling what could happen if you go out there on your own with a hand full of Gwinnifer's magic. She was an evil woman and she did evil things, sometimes just for the pleasure of the pain it caused others. You've already seen what it can do just by the point of your finger. When the magic comes to fruition—and it will—without meaning to, you could cause some serious damage if you're not taught how to properly use it. People could get hurt."

Sure. Play to her decency.

"Miss?" Tottington said. "I, like you, am quite gobsmacked. However, you cannot deny what we've seen thus far. Knowing you as I do, I know you wish no harm upon anyone. Surely, our choice is obvious. We must listen and take precautions."

Robbie made a face at him. "So you're okay with digging up Grandma? Have I gone to an alternate universe, T? You, with all your rigid rules and decorum, want to dig up a woman's grave?"

He lifted one eyebrow the way he always did when he thought her audacious. "Are you quite deaf, Miss? Did you not hear what a dreadful woman she was? Did you not hear your safety is in question? Yes! Indeed, we must unearth her."

Nina winked at him. "I think I got a mad crush on you, Totts."

T's sense of propriety made him sit up ramrod straight. "The name is Tottington, Miss."

Nina cackled and slapped him on the back. "Wanna know what I'm hearing? I'm hearing you love the nickname and we're gonna be BFFs," she joked.

Tottington fought a smirk. "I doubt the veracity of your claim, however, if it helps Roberta, I shall do whatever need be."

Nina winked again. "That's the spirit, BFF."

Tottington's words had calmed her panic a bit, but not by much. She still wanted to run home and hide under her covers. "So my hand, this hand," She held it up and looked at it as if she were performing some kind of Show and Tell, "has magic in it. Your grandmother Gwinnifer's magic. Now lemme get this straight. She was an evil woman who's supposed to be deader'n a doornail because she did evil things like steal younger witches' powers and ultimately their youth. So your coven eliminated her. Now we're going to dig up her grave to see if she's really there because if she's not, she's going to hunt me down like an animal to get her magic back. Correct?" She gave a nod to Marty and Wanda. "No offense to the two of you, who are actually half animal."

Nina snorted. "Animals. You hear that, ladies, she called you fucking animals."

"I didn't mean…" Robbie shook her head. She didn't know what she meant. If you were a wolf, didn't that classify you as an animal?

"We get it. It's all very confusing," Wanda reassured. "No offense taken."

Robbie sighed. "Anyway, that's your plan? To dig up your grandmother's grave."

"Yes. And her grave's the only place I can think of to start figuring this out," Greer said calmly. "The point being, if she's not there, we can contact the elders of the coven and warn them she's incredulously, somehow, somewhere, still alive."

He was far too calm for the roiling sea of emotions settling in the pit of her stomach. "But you said you saw her buried there."

Greer nodded, his face somber. "I did. I watched them perform the ceremonial ritual that would keep her buried forever. I watched it with my own eyes. But there isn't another way for her magic to still be an entity in the universe if she's dead. But it's her magic. I'm telling you, I can smell it."

"Yet, it exists, Greer," Wanda said. "I don't want to insinuate, but maybe someone else in your coven knew about the magic and wanted it for themselves?"

He chewed on his lip. "Maybe, but then why didn't they ever come and get it?"

Marty popped her lips. "So why don't you just give the coven a ring-a-ling and ask them to dig her up? Tell them what's going on here and ask for their help. Wouldn't that be safer?"

Greer's lips thinned as he rubbed his hands over his thighs. "They're never going to agree to it. It's considered sacrilege."

"Or maaaybe, they won't want to admit there's a chance they fucked up?" Nina asked.

Robbie held up a finger. "Wait, so not only are we digging up a grave, but we're committing a crime in the eyes of your…your people? Are you insane? Don't I have enough trouble already without making more waves? What if they find out? Won't you get in trouble? Will they eliminate you, too?"

"It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission."

"I fucking like this dude," Nina crowed, giving Tottington a nudge. "What about you, BFF? You feelin' him?"

T squirmed in his seat, his discomfort evident as he cleared his throat. Defaulting to his impeccable manners, he nodded. "Yes, Miss."

Nina jumped up from her chair and held her hand out to Tottington, who visibly cringed, but she grabbed it anyway, hauling him upward. "Good deal. Then let's get the fucking shovels and hit the cemetery."

"Wait," Wanda ordered. "Before we do anything else, I've put a call into January to see if she can offer any help. She's a witch—a white witch, and she was once Nina's psychiatrist."

Nina gripped Tottington's hand and grinned. "Can you believe I needed therapy, Tater Tot?"

Tottington's face went a whiter shade of pale, his Adam's apple bobbing as he gulped. "Yes, Miss—I…I mean, no, Miss. Absolutely not."

Marty rose and headed for a coatrack, pulling a chic zebra-striped trench coat from the hook and slipping it on. "In the meantime, let's go get Robbie's cats so we can bring them back here and know they're safe. That sound good, Robbie?"

"Why do they have to come here? Can't we just wait for this lady to call at my place?"

"We could, but can we all fit in your place for the long haul?" Wanda asked.

Robbie looked at all of them. "The long haul?"

Marty hooked an arm through hers with a reassuring pat. "Yes. The long haul. These things don't solve themselves overnight. It's better you stay here with us where we can look out for you—because, as you can see, there's plenty of room here for everyone. So let's go get your cats and your jammies, maybe a hairbrush, too, and then we'll go dig up granny."

She hated the idea of bringing these people to her ramshackle apartment, with its peeling paint and sagging windows…but what choice did she have? If a crazy granny was after her, she needed protection, right? Who better than these women, with their super-strength and amazing speed, to provide it?

Robbie began to feel as if she was just along for the ride. As though some invisible tide was pulling her out to sea and she had no choice but to ride it, the current too strong to fight.

Everyone grabbed coats and headed out a dungeon-ish doorway that led to the drive, Nina dragging Tottington along as she chatted with him and he nodded numbly.

Greer came up beside her and took her left hand to help her into their enormous SUV. Whether it was because she was tired or overstimulated or scared witless, she couldn't be sure, but when he whispered, "It's all going to be okay. I just ask that you try and trust me, Robbie—as scary as that sounds," she felt a zing of electricity sizzle up her spine.

Phew. He was sexy. Too sexy when she was so vulnerable.

Robbie snatched her hand away, tucking it in her lap and scrunching down in her seat, trying to slow her heartbeat and quell the heat in her cheeks.

Her emotions were at DEFCON, leaving her hypersensitive and raw.

She'd do well to remember that when she got to waxing poetic about how cute he was.

But another sidelong glance at him in the dark car told her that wasn't a lie.

He was pretty damn cute.