Page 164 of Blue Moon Mistress

I consider—for half a moment—ignoring him. But the last thing I need is to lead him to Aphrodite, or her vampire. And I’m certain he’ll be there this time.

One glance at my speedometer tells me why he’s pulling me over.

If I knew exactly what Aphrodite had done to him, I could throw a sloppy spell at him and be on my way before I had my window rolled back up, but without knowing… I could do irreparable harm, or just kill him.

The crunch of the gravel under my tires makes my skin crawl and I roll down the window to the damp chill of the night air and whisper a benign spell that drags him to me quicker than he meant to move. I can tell that much from the confusion on his face.

“Miss Mathis,” he says, that confusion still in his drawl. “Do you know why I pulled you over?”

“Yes.” The word only seems to deepen his confusion. “Please just give me the ticket and let me go. It’s a matter of life and death.”

He blinks, lips twisted. “Whose?”

“The whole town.” It’s not a lie. If Aphrodite keeps going with whatever plan she’s enacting, it won’t be long before she starts bleeding everyone dry.

Still, he doesn’t believe me…

I can’t tell him the whole truth, but I can dance around it.

“Listen. Do you feel like you’ve been in a fog for the past month? Are your actions fuzzy and you don’t remember doing things others have assured you you did?”

He looks uncomfortable.

“I’m going to put this in terms that will be easier to understand. There is a person in town who has been… drugging people, you among them. They cannot be stopped with a gun and they do not feel they are subject to the laws you’re supposed to uphold. If you go after them, they will drug you again, or they will kill you. Andyouwill not be able to stop them.”

“Does this have something to do with those not-voodoo dolls?”

“Yes.”

Eyes narrowed, he watches me for a long moment and I can tell he’d like to hold me for questioning.

“If I don’t go, right now, I don’t know if I can stop what’s coming.”

He doesn’t move. Too many moments tick by…

“I am going to want an explanation after this. You know that right?”

“I may not be able to give it to you.”

“At least you’re not a liar.” He doesn’t look happy about it, but he says, “Get out of here. I’ll decide if I need to give you that ticket later. “

“Thank you.”

I don’t bother to roll my window up before I pop the car into drive and punch the gas. My tires spin a half second before they gain traction again, and I clutch the steering wheel tightly enough my knuckles go white.

A glance in my rear-view mirror tells me the Sheriff might have let me go, but he doesn’t plan to leave me to do this on my own.

I pull a small stone from the cup holder and, gently rubbing it between my thumb and fingers, whisper a three word incantation to reactivate the obscuring spell I placed on the car the day after I bought it.

I tie the car he sees to the highway, and when I turn off for the golf course, he follows after the shadow of the car he thinks I’m driving. It will fizzle and fade after it gets far enough away, of course. But by then, it won’t matter.

There’s a bright green beetle on the gravel patch by the substation when I get there.

And when I get out of my car, the darkness wraps tightly around me. The damp of the forest feels like mildew more than mist and the silence is sickly.

I don’t have time to worry about why everything around me feels so wrong. I run through the overgrowth, the path so familiar, I don’t need light, but I only get half way up it before a familiar, pale figure steps in my way.

“You don’t get to interfere this time, girlie.”

---