Page 26 of My Blind Date is a Warlock

“You must be Sophia Barnes. It’s a pleasure to meet you at long last. The name’s Daniel Buchanan. I’m sure you’ve heard of me.”

CHAPTER 23

I pasted a pleasant smile on my face, burying any signs of recognition. Cocking my head at an angle and widening my eyes, I played dumb. “Good afternoon, Mr. Buchanan. I’m embarrassed to say I don’t recognize you. Have we met before? Are you here about the boutique, an investor perhaps? Or maybe you’re a celebrity. You have the look of one… I, uh, don’t keep up with celebrity culture and all that,” I rambled when I should have held back because the warlock was not buying what I was selling.

“Cute, but I know you know who I am. And you know that I know who and what you are to my cousin. He and our grandmother have been careful not to mention his location in their correspondences, but my idiot cousin just couldn’t contain himself when it came to you.” He walked over to the seating area and sat himself down on the couch, crossing his legs. Daniel was dressed in a tailored three-piece suit, his hair gelled to within an inch of his life, and wore hand-stitched, brown leather wingtip shoes. He waved a hand for me to take the seat opposite his, but I remained behind the counter, wondering if I could reach for my phone without him noticing. I still didn’t have any powers I could use despite Jacob and my family’s best efforts to teach me, and this guy’s magic was like a stealthy python curling around my body and slowly squeezing tighter and tighter. One wrong move and my bones would be crushed to dust.

He chuckled darkly at my display of defiance and continued on with his monologue as if he were chatting idly about the weather. “You see, after meeting you, Jacob couldn’t resist telling our grandmother that he’d met his mate. They were both pretty chuffed about the news. I, of course, was more annoyed than anything while spying on their conversations. All I really cared about was finding the Book of Shadows, but he wouldn’t stop talking about this random woman he met. He had an anti-tracking spell to block me from finding him. I was at my wit’s end until he name-dropped you and I had an epiphany!” He snapped his fingers. “A few keystrokes on the computer and I managed to track you down among the sea of Sophias and Sophie Barneses out there—but only one of them had her residential address listed in Mystic Cove, a haven town with a very prominent coven.”

“I am afraid you’ve lost me. What is it you want from me?” I shuffled closer to the cash register. I'd dropped my messenger bag down there instead of stashing it in the office when I’d arrived in the morning. Daniel acted as if he didn’t hear my question and continued speaking.

“And you wanna know what the clincher was? Gemma Jones, of all people, called me in a huff about running into Jacob here. She hates your guts, by the way, and is certifiably crazy, so keep an eye out for her.” His head was turned away from me. I made the mistake of thinking he was too absorbed in his self-satisfied monologuing and so assured in his power over me that he paid no attention to my movements.

Boy, was I wrong. I went to stretch my leg, to drag the bag closer to me by the straps when invisible hands held me in place, unflinching and unmoving no matter how hard I struggled against them.

“Let’s not do anything hasty now, Miss Barnes. I’m just here to talk. Nothing more and nothing less. All you have to do is listen, that’s all I ask.”

“Talk all you want, but I’ve already told you that I have no connection with Jacob. Have I met him? Sure. He’s been here a few times to buy some magic texts my grandmother keeps in stock, and I’ve seen him around town a few times. Beyond that, I don’t possibly see how I can help you.”

He stood up and walked over to me. With a flick of his hand, the spell holding me in place was released. “So he hasn’t told you where he hides our great-great-grandfather’s Book of Shadows?”

I remained mum on that, and Daniel smiled. “I thought so. You may school your features into indifference, but the eyes don’t lie. And your exquisite blues are especially expressive. My cousin may have fed you falsehoods and exaggerations about me, I wager. And all the while painting himself the hero, the white knight only looking out for the family’s best interests. Am I wrong?”

I only replied with more silence. His pleasant demeanor went tight, the smile on his face forced. I tried to figure out what angle he was going for here. If he already knew that Jacob and I were together, did he really think he could turn me against him?

“Whatever your quarrel is with your cousin, take it up with him.”

“He’s not a good man, Sophia. He may fool people with that boyish charm of his and his impeccable manners, but Jacob Buchanan’s heart’s as black as they come. We come from the same stock, after all, but at least I know where to draw the line. Did he ever tell you that he tried to bring the dead back to life once?”

My stomach bottomed out at that revelation. Daniel giggled, a bell-like sound that did not suit a man like him at all, a maniacal sort of glee etched on his face. He clapped his hands—he was enjoying this. Taunting me, testing the limits of my loyalty to Jacob. My trust in him.

“Got your attention, did I? Do you want to know why Jacob never bothered to propose to Gemma even though both of our families were sure they’d get married? Although, I suppose now that he knows you’re his mate, it would never have worked out between them. They say fated mates are destined to find each other across time. But then again, he was so sure Rosie was his mate when we were younger. Maybe he’s just using you to bring her back,” he mused, scratching his eyebrow thoughtfully. “Maybe you’re not his mate after all.” He gave me a shark-like grin.

“Who’s Rosie?” I asked despite myself. I balked at the thought of anyone performing necromancy. It was taboo and the darkest of magicks out there. To bring someone back from the dead went against the dictates of nature, and witchcraft at its core was about revering the mother goddess. Nature herself. Using the ebb and flow of life energy circulating within our bodies and that which was generated by the earth itself. It was about celebrating life. Death magic was corrupt. Bringing back someone from the dead was disrupting the natural order of things.

“A childhood friend of ours. A gifted witch, gone before her time…” he answered. The pain and grief in his eyes were genuine, and the only real emotion he’d shown since he’d stepped in the door, except his disdain for Jacob.

“She and Jacob were obsessed with each other. Do you know the cost of bringing someone back to life, Miss Barnes? Trading a life for a life, yours to bring Rosie back. Do you still think Jacob’s as pristine as he claims to be? If so, then why is he hoarding the Book of Shadows for himself? He’s probably scouring the pages, in search of a spell or ritual that will bring back his one true love back, whole and radiant as she always was.”

“You expect me to believe this rather convenient story of yours? Next, you’re going to ask me to bring the journal to you before Jacob does this unspeakable, taboo act, am I right? You could have just gotten to that instead of making up this elaborate story.”

“It’s not an elaborate story. You are a Redwood alumni, aren’t you? I’m sure if you look in past yearbooks and old school records, you’ll find all the information you need. Don’t just take my word for it.”

The door opened, Lucy coming back from her break. She barely gave Daniel a second glance before going back to the box she’d been unpacking either.

“I can see that you don’t believe me. I won’t be asking you to retrieve anything for me, Miss Barnes. I merely came here to warn you. Ask him next time you see him. Ask him to tell you about Rosalind Parker,” he said with a tight-lipped smile. He rapped his knuckles on the counter and left.

CHAPTER 24

I didn’t go home after closing the bookstore or contact Jacob except to send him a text giving him a heads up about Daniel’s sudden arrival in town. I assured him that I was fine, but that his cousin was looking for the book and then immediately turned my phone off. It was immature and cowardly of me, but I needed to be alone. I needed to think and make sense of what Daniel had told me. Jacob would be stopping by my place later in the evening as he usually did after spending the day doing some minor renovations at his new place, so I didn’t go back there. Chairman Meow could fend for himself for one evening. I didn’t visit any of my family members either. One look at me and they’d know something was wrong. I ended up going to the beach, walking along the stretch of coastline until I was as far from the crowds of beachgoers. The sand felt good beneath my feet, my sandals dangling from my fingertips. Gentle waves crashed along the coast, soaking the hem of my maxi dress and covering my toes in seafoam. I stared out at the sea, blinding in its beauty and the color reminiscent of Jacob’s eyes. The balmy sea breeze carried with it a briny scent, and seagulls coasted the air currents in the sky above.

There was a sailboat bobbing up and down in the distance, its sails the only thing visible about it, but its motion was oddly hypnotizing. Without conscious thought, I settled down on the wet sand, feeling the saltwater soak through my dress, and watched the boat, a rocking dot on the horizon with its bright red sails fluttering in the wind, and let my riotous thoughts run amok.

Rationally, I knew that Daniel was playing me, that he was trying to manipulate me, but a small corner of my brain began to doubt. It was stupid, yeah. But years and years of viewing every warlock as the enemy, years of being made to feel like rubbish by a select few of them, could not be undone overnight. That small corner whispered darkly in my ear, wondering if Daniel was speaking the truth.

People didn’t fall in love this quickly, did they? It was a thing of fiction…except that I was well and truly enamored with Jacob only three weeks after meeting him. And Gran was sure we were mates. But like I’d said before, she was not an all-knowing sage. And who’s to say you only had one soulmate for the rest of your life? Life was as unpredictable as it was cruel. What if your mate died before you met? Did that mean you had to spend the rest of your life alone? No. You meet someone else, fall for them, and they become your new mate. Sometimes these things weren’t as magical or one and done as my grandmother made it out to be. Maybe it was that way for wolves and other paranormal beings, but not humans. And the only thing that set us apart from normal humans was magic. Other than that, we were the same.

It was stupid of me to doubt Jacob this easily when he’d done nothing to make me second guess him. He’d been upfront with his feelings about me almost from the jump. Nor did he hide that his family had a murky past that involved the use of dark magic. He’d told me of the archaic traditions his family still held on to, and he did not hide the fact that Daniel was not a good guy. If I wanted to know about this Rosie girl, all I had to do was ask. He’d tell me the truth, right? Right?

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