A Demon’s Book Of Shadows (Witches & Demons #1)

5. Lucy

5

Lucy

The giant oak tree outside my window was way too quiet. Grubs wasn’t perched in his usual spot—a tiny moss-covered hole that was his earthly window for meeting the first rays of sunlight each morning. In fact, the tree looked a little frumpy. His earth magic often kept the leaves green well into autumn.

Maybe he had gone into chrysalis early. Halloween was his window of opportunity to metamorphose. He usually waited until at least a few trick-or-treaters made their rounds in the neighborhood before he embarked on his autumn retreat.

I tugged on a pair of black leggings and a purple sweater. There was a slight chill in the air. Maybe I should go for wearing a witch hat today. Victoria had tons of them to borrow for my Saturday reading program at the library.

My heart skipped a beat. What if I ran into the broody demon again? He asked me how much I knew about demons. I didn’t know much, other than the fact that the one I met was simultaneously annoying and hot. I remembered his shadows reaching for my ankles when he confronted me on my way home. My skin was still blissfully warm where one of the silky ebony ribbons touched me .

What were his shadows, really? Emotions? Magic? I couldn’t tell. All I knew was that I was feeling some residual energy, or was it attraction to one of these shady characters Alyssa called shadow daddies?

I grabbed my phone and shot off a quick text to Alyssa.

Hey, what exactly do these shadow daddies do? In particular, their shadows?

Girl, you are missing out big time. You need to do a read-a-thon with me and binge some of my favorite titles!

I grabbed my book tote and slipped down the stairs. Victoria was already gone. Her jeep was missing from the driveway. It wasn’t uncommon for her to go into the vet office to work a few hours on Saturday. Not having a vehicle wasn’t a problem. My commute to the library was a ten minute walk from my sister’s house.

A box of Lucky Charms—Halloween themed ones with marshmallow skulls—became breakfast as I poured myself a bowl.

“ You need to start experimenting with magical charms, or put some bars on your window .”

Grubs’s voice prickled inside my skull as I shoved a dry spoonful of cereal into my mouth.

He inched out of the cauldron, sending crystal dicks clattering onto the table. One of them was stuck to his head. He looked like an angry little unicorn with a purple crystal phallus pointing at me.

I set down my cereal, tempted to take a photo of him. “Why?”

“ Because demon boy was creeping outside your window last night . ”

I grabbed the crystal dick off his trembling inch-long body and dropped it back into the cauldron. “You’re just trying to scare me into using magic.”

“ No, I’m trying to tell you that he’s not taking no for an answer today. It’s Halloween. This demon is not going away until he finds the grimoire .”

I picked up my bowl of cereal and shoved another spoonful into my mouth. “Too bad for him. I still have no idea where to find this grimoire.”

Grubs continued inching toward me. “ Halloween is the one day out of the year that demons can actually bypass a familiar’s earth magic. Witches are their most vulnerable during this time, not having their familiars to protect them from those beings who exist between the realms of the dead and the living .”

I shook my head. This wouldn’t be the first time that Grubs had threatened me to take the leap of faith and began practicing like my sisters. “I’m not afraid of a demon.”

“ Just because your Dad could see spirits too doesn’t mean you inherited his ability to protect yourself from demons .” He stopped before me, a gleam of something thick and protective in his aura. “ That’s why your Dad gave me to you .”

“He knew I needed a bookworm to bully me every Halloween into practicing magic?”

“ He knew you would be as stubborn as he was, that’s for sure .”

I smirked. We had this conversation for, wow. Had it already been seven years since Dad left us?

My throat twinged, either from emotion, or a marshmallow skull that refused to go down. “Look, I appreciate the sentiment and your loyalty, but I’ve dealt with restless spirits before. They’re usually just passing through. They don’t linger for long.”

His body accordioned back and forth. “ Not this one .”

I squinted at him. “You make it sound like there are others ?”

“ That’s why I’m so concerned. He’s got two others that are related and younger than him .”

My shoulders tightened. “Demon brothers ?”

My phone buzzed. I pulled it out, finding a text from Victoria.

TARGET, BIATCH!

Grubs wriggled in front of me. “ When chrysalis calls, I must go. There is no force in nature that can prevent my metamorphosis .”

Before I could jam my fingers into my phone and text off a reply, Grubs already disappeared into a poof of purple smoke.

“Traitor!” I called after him as Victoria pulled her jeep into the drive.

I grabbed my tote and headed outside.

Victoria waved at me from her jeep, pumpkin spice latte already in hand. She wore a black dress with way too much of her bosom showing. She was definitely wearing a push-up bra. By the looks of her cleavage, she had stuffed it with something much softer than her dick crystals.

She hiked her head back, cackling maniacally just to get a rise out of me. “Check out my new bling!” She pointed to a tiny broomstick sign hanging from her rearview mirror that read :

Something Witchy & Bitchin' This Way Comes

I stopped next to her door, ready to turn on my heel and walk back inside.

“Climb in! Grace and I are going to make a last minute candy run!” Victoria yelled.

Grace sat in the back seat. Like Victoria, she wore a black dress. Her eye makeup was a brilliant green, and her hair frizzled out on either side of her face.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” I asked.

“Saturday lecture on Halloween? Screw that!”

“I need to get to work,” I replied.

“I’ll drop you off after we settle our sisterly Halloween business,” Victoria cut me off. “Target opens at nine. Hop in. These witch bitch sisters are going to give every other soccer mom in town a run for it.”

I climbed into the front passenger seat, where Victoria quickly handed me a piping hot Starbucks latte. She put her jeep into reverse, her tires screeching out of the drive.

I glanced up at the rearview mirror, spotting Grace playing with something that was sprouting leaves in the back seat. “Are your screaming death beans flowering?”

“No, but I have some goblin green jelly beans if you want some,” Grace replied, covering up the pot with a scarf. She popped a few of the green beans she mentioned into her mouth, smacking her lips as she spoke. “It won’t be until spring that I know if they’re going to produce or not.” Grace stuffed whatever was unraveling in her hands back into her bag. “Victoria thinks she can convince you to come over and pass out candy this evening.”

“Nope. I’m camping out at the library,” I replied smugly as I sipped my scolding coffee.

Victoria let out an exasperated hiss, followed by a sling of curses as she turned the corner. “Lucy, what the heck is wrong with you? Don’t you know how to put down the books and have some fun with some spells for once? We can terrify the shit out of some kids!”

I ignored her, relishing in the idea of having my first Halloween in years all to myself. No crazy parties. No drunk people attempting to practice magic. The idea was complete heaven.

This Halloween, I was going to camp out at the library, completely alone, except for Grubs, of course.

Victoria’s red-tailed hawk, Francine, flew above, guiding us through the traffic lights. She maneuvered ahead, swooping back and forth as she navigated the cloudy skies.

“She’s not the spring chicken she used to be. I think her eyesight might be going,” Victoria said.

“ Red light !” Grace screamed.

Victoria slammed on the breaks. I held onto my latte.

“ I think you need to watch the road and not my tail feathers ,” Francine said, the shrill sound of her voice filling all three of our minds.

The iconic sign of a red circle with a dot in it appeared around the bend. Victoria parked her jeep, and all three of us piled out. I braced myself for the Target adventure ahead as we approached the building. Grace and Victoria paired together like a couple of lionesses on the prowl.

Both used their magic to shoplift.

“I’ll hit the lingerie,” Victoria said as she led the charge inside and grabbed a cart. “Grace, you hit the candles.”

Grace’s green eyelashes fluttered in protest. “I did candles last time. You complained about the fragrances, remember? Then you came back with a thong that was so tight it was nothing but ass floss.”

“Aren’t all thongs ass floss?” Victoria protested.

Grace sighed as she tossed out one of her bony hips playfully. “Not when you don’t really have an ass to begin with.”

I snorted.

Victoria’s purple lips curled into a smile. “Glad I don’t have that problem.” Her eyes dipped to me. “Lucy? Who do you want to steal today?”

“Nope. I spend what little money I make the right way. I’m not a thief.” I headed for the paperback aisle.

Grace took my side, leaving Victoria behind with her cart.

“Fine! Find me a smutty romance novel while you’re at it,” Victoria called after us.

“I’m getting a thong that fits this time!” Grace cried to Victoria as she made a b-line for the Halloween section.

We walked together, giggling as Victoria rounded the corner, her energy ready to spontaneously combust. Grace and I were sure to feel her aura from at least ten aisles away. Victoria’s magic was known to be flammable .

I bit my lip. I only had an hour before I needed to get to work and prep for the story time this afternoon. Maybe a few Halloween decorations for my reading were not such a bad idea.

“Out of my way!” Victoria took off to the right for the dollar section.

I brushed up beside her, eyeing the cheapest-looking skulls and pumpkins spilling out of the shelving compartments. “You know, if you come back tomorrow, this will all be on clearance, right?” I said as I grabbed one of the googly-eyed skulls.

“Lucy!” Grace said from behind me.

I spotted her frizzy hair sticking out behind a shelf covered in bras and panties.

“Look at this!” Grace grabbed a handful of lime green boy shorts and a few thongs. “I swear my ass is changing shape from all of the sitting I’ve been doing in class. Time for me to size up.”

I maneuvered behind her, eyeing some of the panties that were selling seven for thirty bucks. Jason used to say my ass was too small to wear anything with that much fluff .

Grace held up a pair. “What do you think?”

“If ass floss is your thing, then go with it.”

Something prickly trembled in the panties, making the fabric quiver. A pointed face with two fuzzy ears and ink-drop eyes emerged from the shelf.

A hedgehog. . .

Shit . How did it get in here ?

“Quick, help me catch him!” Grace screamed as she scrambled to the other end of the aisle. It definitely was not normal for a hedgehog—familiar or not—to show up in Target.

Frantic, I darted to the edge of the aisle. Harassing hedgehogs was similar to herding cats. But let me tell you, they weren’t as horrible as dealing with Grace’s jumping spiders. If familiars acted this strangely early on Halloween, who knew what the evening might look like.

Grace held her hands out in front of her, fingers extending. Green sparks flew from her fingernails.

The panties shifted as the hedgehog tried to escape my sister’s earthy aura. She’d been known to drive rabbits out of their dens before springtime when one of her moods went south.

The moment the hedgehog spotted me, he panicked. He seemed more frightened than anything, a mass of prickly quills rolling in on itself, taking everything it could with it.

Before he could roll away, I tossed a handful of panties atop him.

“Got him!” I yelled, dropping to the ground and cupping the frantic creature in my palms.