Page 22 of Cocktails & Cauldrons

That’s precisely why she’d spelled her sister Doreen’s locket when Reggie came for Brenna’s things. The girl wouldn’t be able to resist wearing it, and the curse Odessa put on it would repel Eoin O’Malley one way or the other. Without that hedonistic artist putting thoughts in Brenna’s head, she might regain control.

“Can’t let that blasted girl believe she can survive on her own,” she muttered.

If Brenna did, Odessa might lose her own abilities in the process. No, she needed her niece under her thumb to supplement her life force, which had been fading faster and faster these days. And death, looming in the not-so-distant future, led her to ruminate on the past with more frequency.

“What would have happened if I hadn’t given in to the darkness running through these veins?” she murmured. If she’d never slept with her first boyfriend, Redmond, gotten carried away, and sampled his soul? Never transitioned to the succubus she’d eventually become in exchange for riches and a longer life span?

Doreen had managed to curb her own impulse, but Odessa had loved a man’s touch too much. She mourned the wholesome girl she’d been and hated the monster she’d turned herself into. If she could prevent Brenna from walking down her path, she’d do it. After all, the longer she survived, the longer she could save the girl from transitioning. Hers was the only way to justify what she’d done and why she’d kept the girl under her thumb all these years.

Waving a half circle in front of a faux wall, she dismissed the glamour hiding the room’s opening, then she hobbled her way into her ceremony chamber and over to the scrying mirror. Once there, she called the Sullivan magic to her, pulling on all her ancestors and their ancestors before them, sucking in and holding a deep breath along with the mighty power.

Oh, to feel that energy flow through her veins!

It was life, and the beast within her wanted it at all costs. It stretched and growled its hunger, urging Odessa to find another warlock to take to her bed. If only Eoin O’Malley had been power mad and more career driven, she’d be feasting on his magic right now.

Her gaze dropped to the glass, and she almost swallowed her tongue when she saw Alastair Thorne dressing down Brenna and accusing her of being a Succubus. The poor girl had no idea what she was. And if Odessa had her way, she never would. All that frizzy hair in addition to the dreadful clothes and glasses had worked to hide her figure and keep men away. But that bloody artist had seen beneath all the trappings to the beautylying underneath. He’d provided her with stylish outfits and new fashionable frames. Odessa should’ve known he would, and she should’ve kept Brenna far, far away from that boy.

“But you have to control everything, don’t you, sister?”Doreen’s voice whispered through her mind.“Your insatiable appetites were what woke a sleeping monster, and now my Brenna is dealing with your mistakes.”

“Shut up!” Odessa hissed. “I can’t think with you inside my head!”

Her sister’s tinkling laughter turned hard.“If you hadn’t murdered me, perhaps I wouldn’t haunt you now, you evil bitch.”

In place of the image of Brenna facing down Alastair, Doreen’s hollowed-out eyes and skeletal face appeared. A shudder of revulsion chased along Odessa’s spine as worms crawled through the openings. Normally, she wasn’t one to be squeamish, but the image before her was of the body buried in the back garden under the towering weeping willow, grown twice its standard size.

“It was an accident, Doreen. You know that!”

Her sister’s sneer shifted the already horrific countenance into a positively grotesque mask.

Turning away, Odessa released her hold on the combined Sullivan magic. Pain radiated in her left shoulder, and an area on the lower left side of her face became numb.

“No!” Terror tried to claw its way out of her chest, and she fought to regain control over her emotions. If she let go, if she allowed them dominance, then the threatening stroke would be the end of her. That, she couldn’t allow to happen. She had Brenna to protect.

“Not protect, sister,”Doreen taunted.“Destroy, as you have destroyed everyone who ever cared for you.”

With a barely suppressed sob, Odessa fled the room, snatching a small bottle of pills along the way. Medicine she’d compounded herself to stave off death. But recently, she’d had to up her dosage because she was beginning to look her age, and the resistance-melting beauty that had once lured all victims was long gone. Only the promise of financial reward lured the unscrupulous to her bed these days, and few of those people possessed enough magic to give her the boost she needed. Mainly, it was Brenna’s magical battery keeping her alive. And she couldn’t lose that, for too many reasons to count.

“I-I swear”—Brennagulped down her fear and lifted her chin—“I am n-not a Succubus. Or a Siren.” Clearing her throat and firming her resolve, she continued. “I don’t even know what they are, sir.” The last came out in a rush, but at least she wasn’t stuttering anymore. Was anything more mortifying than proving what a ninny she was? Eoin was gone, left in disgust, so at least she was spared that humiliation.

Her teeth chattered, but despite how miserable she felt, she tried to appear trustworthy.

By slow degrees, the room returned to a normal temperature, and the fierce scowl left Alastair’s aristocratic face. Still, he retained a kingly air as he tugged at his shirt cuffs and gazed down his straight-as-a-pin nose at her. She forgot her terror as the disdain left his eyes, replaced by a thoughtfulness as he studied her in turn.

“Oddly, I believe you, Ms. Sullivan.” His tone wasn’t exactly warm, but it wasn’t as frosty as it had been.

She exhaled a relieved breath.

However, Piper wasn’t so trusting it seemed. “Wait just a damned minute, cousin! Who’s to say she didn’t cast a spell over you just now?” She glared at Brenna as she placed herself protectively in front of Alastair, much to the man’s amusement if his twitching lips and dancing eyes were anything to go by. “If you think I’m letting you close to any of the men I care about, lady, you have another think coming!”

Unsure how to respond to such blatant hostility, Brenna remained mute. Her face began to feel hot, and she was sure she would spontaneously combust from the fire raging under her skin.

“And for another thing—”

“Leave her be, Piper,” Eoin commanded from behind Brenna, startling a blood-curdling scream from her.

He raised his brows, and his delightful dimple made an appearance as he suppressed a grin. “Sorry, love. Teleportin’ was the fastest way to return.”

Not sure she hadn’t peed herself a little, Brenna placed her palm flat over her heart and nodded. Although she wanted to fling herself in his capable arms as relief coursed through her, she backed away from him as her face began to sting. “I get it.”

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