Page 28 of Dreaming of the Demon

“’Course I am!” Zelda exclaimed. “Those tarts got Hubie all excited for me for the first time in nigh on two years! See, he has trouble getting his pecker hard but after eating those tarts?—”

“Shut up, woman!” Hubert snapped. “She don’t need to know nothing about my problem! Besides, the only reason I can’t get hard isyou.You never try to make yourself sexy for me and you wear your beard so short it’s hardly there at all!”

“I can’t help it I can’t grow a beard as long as other women,” Zelda protested, putting one hand to her closely-clipped reddish gold beard. Shehadtried to make it pretty—the part growing on her chin was braided and there was a pink bow at the end of it.

“So the two of you aren’t upset about how the pear tarts made you react?” I asked, just to be sure.

“No, we’re just sorry you don’t got no more of ‘em,” Zelda said sadly. “Are you sure you’re not hiding justonemore in the back?”

“I’m sorry.” I held out my hands. “We sold out yesterday.”

“Wedohave some fresh cinnamon rolls though,” Sarah added helpfully.

“Do they got the lust spell on ‘em?” Hubert asked, looking hopeful.

“I’m afraid not.” I shook my head.

“Aw, too bad.” He sighed deeply. “Well, give us some cinnamon rolls then. Two oughta do it.”

“Regular or Creature sized?” I asked because I make a lot of extra-large pastries for the Creatures with big appetites in town.

“Better make ‘em Creature sized,” Hubert said. “But if you ever do make any more of them lust tarts, let us know—we want some!”

“We sure do,” Zelda agreed eagerly.

“I’ll, uh, keep that in mind,” I said, nodding. “What happened with the pear tarts was kind of an accident. I don’t know if I could duplicate it again.”

In fact, I was pretty sure I couldn’t. Only having Malik near me, keeping me hot and bothered, had allowed my magic to leak into the baked goods. I couldn’t see myself feeling that way when I was just baking on my own or baking with Sarah.

“That’s too bad. You could make a mint if you sold those on the regular,” Zelda told me as she and Hubert accepted the extra-large white paper bag containing two hubcap-sized cinnamon rolls. “I know I’d certainly pay for ‘em. Why, Hubie’s pecker got so hard?—”

“Hush, woman!” Hubert snapped. “I told you, stop talking about my pecker!”

The two of them walked out of the store, still arguing. The moment the door closed behind them, I turned to Sarah, whose eyes were dancing with suppressed amusement.

“Well, that was weird,” I said.

“Not just weird—hilarious!” She burst into peals of laughter. “Oh my God, I justcan’twith those two!Who knew you were selling some kind of magical Viagra in those tarts?”

“Icertainly didn’t know,” I pointed out, laughing as well. “Of course, I didn’t even know I’d put a lust spell on the tarts. Not that it was a spell, exactly…”

“Whatwasit anyway? I mean, how did it happen?” Sarah asked curiously. All morning she’d been keeping quite while weworked, clearly trying to respect my feelings. But now that we had laughed together, she felt free to ask.

I didn’t mind—I needed someone to talk to and Sarah is a great listener. I explained about how I had inherited a Demon—Malik—from my Great Aunt and everything that had happened afterwards.

“Wow!” Her eyes were wide by the time I finished. “So your emotions leaked into your baking because of your new Incubus boyfriend?”

“He’snotmy boyfriend,” I protested. “He’s not anything now—he left because I yelled at him over the tarts.” I sighed, feeling sad all over again. “I wish I hadn’t been so hasty.”

“You were upset,” Sarah pointed out. “Besides, all relationships have problems. I’m sure he’d come back if you called for him. Or maybe summoned him? I don’t know how to go about getting a Demon to come to you,” she added apologetically.

“I don’t either but it doesn’t matter. He’s never going to want to see me again,” I said dolefully. “Right now, he’s probably back in Hell’s Waiting Room waiting for his next assignment. Or maybe he’s alreadyonhis next assignment, making some other witch feel horny and desirable.”

Just the thought of Malik with another woman made me green with envy and sad at the same time. I didn’t even want to imagine it, so I did my best to push it out of my mind.

Luckily, I was helped by the fact that the bakery started getting busy—even more busy than usual. Some of the customers were there to complain, as I had anticipated. I apologized profusely and explained that the lusty tarts had been a magical mistake. And to my surprise, most people really did seem willing to forgive me. Maybe it was because a lot of them were magic users themselves who had gotten spells wrong in the past.

The bigger surprise, though, was the number of customers who came in asking for more of the tarts or any pastry, really, that had the “lust spell” in it.

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