Page 2 of Wicked Love
“Who are you?” I asked, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.
“I am apparently your latest victim. Come now, you must know. I am the best thing around to help you with those poor wretches on the floor.”
This didn’t make sense. I looked around and saw a box made of what looked like gold and glass sitting on my dryer. Bones were piled up in the box, and on top of them sat a skull, tilted on its side.
“Very good! You have found me. For the second time,” the skull said.
“Who are you?” I whispered.
“You do not know?” There was a silence, and then the skull said, “Very well. If you truly do not know, I am Zelda.”
I shook my head.
“Zelda Dupuis.” The skull waited again.
Oh, mother of all Goddesses and ancestors. I had the reliquary box from Magnolia House. The final resting place of the founder of our coven. What the hell was she doing in my house?
As I tried to figure that out, I heard the doorbell ring. “Wait here,” I said, whirling around.
“It’s not as if I can go anywhere!” Zelda shouted as I ran back through the house. I’d never known that our founder’s skull could talk. It never had when we’d been dragged to the house to visit.
I made it to the living room when the doorbell rang again. I slowed to a walk, wanting to calm myself. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door.
The handsomest man I’d ever seen stood on my porch. He had dark hair, and dark, knowing eyes. He was tall, with a commanding presence, but not overbearing. This was a man at ease with himself. He held out a hand and smiled, and I felt every nerve in my body tingle.
“I’m Jasper Thibodeaux. I’m one of the coven librarians, and I need to speak with you about your mother.” His voice was a warm baritone, rich and inviting.
My mouth fell open, but no words came out. Images of this man with far, far less clothing danced through my brain, making me want… oh, Goddess. I needed to stop this, right now. It had been a while since I’d had a boyfriend, but this was ridiculous.
“May I come in?” Jasper asked. His eyes met mine, and I wasn’t able to turn away.
Could he come in? Could he stay forever? “Um, yes. Yes, please come in.” I stepped back from the door.
“Am I interrupting?”
“I’m just about to go shopping. I mean, to work. I have to shop sometime today, and I have to work,” I said. Damn it. I hated that I was fumbling.
“If this is a bad time, I can come back later,” Jasper said.
“What? Oh, um, no. No, this is fine.”
From the back, Zelda yelled. Damn her! How could she yell so loudly and clearly? When we studied coven history, there was no mention of a mouthy skull residing at Magnolia House. I’d even seen the reliquary, during a tour during middle school. All witches had to learn the local history. Classes were taught at Magnolia House. Even though my dad put up a wall between himself and the community that had sent my mother away, he didn’t stop me.
He knew I had a big enough black mark against me as it was.
Back to Zelda—was she just mouthy now that she was here? What was I going to do with her? And me with a coven librarian in my front room. If I’d had a fan, I’d be fanning myself like mad.
Jasper looked up. “You have a roommate?”
“No, a noisy neighbor,” I tried to smile and look casual. “What did you want to talk about?”
“May we sit down?” Now it was Jasper’s turn to look uncomfortable.
As we both moved to sit down in the living room, I tried to quell the sinking feeling in my stomach. He wanted to talk about my mother. I’d never get away from my mother’s legacy.
Never.
Chapter Two
