Page 118 of Castings & Curses

Clapping her hands soundlessly, the ghost bobbed her head up and down.

Great. Nothing like a little breaking and entering to end the day. “All right. Let me take a look.” Priya squatted down, brushed away snow, then aimed the flashlight at the window. Someone had painted the rectangle of glass white. She ran her gloved fingers around the edges. “I don’t see a latch.” Going onto one knee, she took a closer look. “It looks like the window is painted shut.”

The girl flicked her fingers at the window.

Priya sighed. “I told you my spell work is iffy and even a simple unlock spell is outside my abilities. What we need is my boss. She can practically unlock everything.” Priya huffed out a laugh. “Although she might question my sanity if I called and asked her to come out here and unlock a window for a ghost.”

She could call Detective Bauer.

Yeah, no. If he even took her call, which she highly doubted, what would she say? Levi’s ghost friend led me to a basement window and I think you should come investigate what’s down there. She rubbed her forehead. He’d probably charge her for “messing” with his investigation.

“Hey! What are you doing?”

Startled, Priya whipped her phone in the direction of the agitated voice. The flashlight grazed over a figure at the corner of the building.

A white-haired man with a gleaming white beard bore down on her. His unbuttoned coat flapped in the wind, exposing a slight beer belly. “Hey!” he bellowed again.

She scrambled up.

Although anger rolled off him, Priya imagined he could pull off a benevolent mien and convince a child to follow him.

The blonde-haired girl opened her mouth in a silent scream and ran at him, flailing her fists. Her small body disappeared as she collided with the sinister Santa.

CHAPTER3

Fear clampedPriya as Levi’s murderer drew near.

“I asked you a question. What are you doing?” His gloveless hands looked like ham hocks.

Heart in her throat, she feigned calm by brushing snow off her pants leg. Priya had no protective magic and the man was seriously big.

“I thought I heard someone calling out. My foot caught on something and I took a tumble.” She was fast, but was she fast enough to outrun him? “It was probably a cat yowling.” Taking a few retreating steps, she tried a self-deprecating chuckle but a strangled squeak was all that came out.

He kept advancing.

It would take precious seconds to get her glove off, swipe her screen, and punch in 911. She didn’t doubt he’d get the phone away from her before the call went through.

“I’m meeting friends,” Priya blathered on. Afraid to take her eyes off him, she continued backing up. A mantra of “don’t slip don’t slip don’t slip” rang through her head. “I can’t believe I had to park all the way down here. Scarlett’s expecting me.” Instead of shrieking and bolting away when he drew within striking range of her, she managed a tight-lipped smile. “I better go before they come looking for me.”

He raised a clenched fist. “I don’t think—”

“There you are.”

Both Priya and the false Santa turned toward the cheerful male voice.

Shock slapped her.

Her vampire. What was he doing here?

“Scarlett sent me to find you. She’s convinced you slipped on the ice and twisted an ankle.” The vampire winked at her, then flashed a fanged smile at the Santa look-alike. “And here you are talking with this nice man.”

Under different circumstances, seeing the wicked sharp incisors would have struck fear in Priya. Now she only felt tremendous relief.

The white-bearded man lowered his fist and backpedaled. “I don’t want any trouble.”

“I rarely cause trouble.” As the vampire approached he extended his hand to Priya. She closed the distance in record time.

“Sorry you had to track me down.” Priya grabbed his outstretched hand, squeezing it with the enthusiasm of a drowning victim clutching a life preserver.

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