Page 39 of Hooked on a Witch
“Thanks.” She grinned. Now to get him on her team to help. “Why did you come back this morning?”
He finished eating the bun and took a swig of coffee. “I don’t think I’ve had cinnamon buns as good as this. What happened leading up to when you got stabbed with a sword?”
“Good Lord, you’re annoying. Can’t you answer a single question?”
He snagged another cinnamon bun and bit into it. He stared at her in silent demand of an answer.
After a sip of orange juice, she said, “I’ll tell you the rest of the story if you tell me in what way Poseidon is related to you and your thoughts on the Poseidon coincidence.”
He continued chewing on a bun without commitment to the bargain.
“I signed on to a reality TV show as a cameraperson two months ago. It was last minute. I did it to help a friend, the one I called to get the right protective spell against zombies—”
“Zombies don’t exist. They were revenants or animated corpses.”
“Okay, revenants. Once on the TV show, there was a lot more going on than the nightmare of being in a South American rainforest for a few days. The guy who stabbed me was a producer named Rick Holloway. He—”
“What?” Merck’s entire body tensed. He sat upright. “Rick?”
“You know him?”
“My mom dated him for a while. It’s why she moved to California when I went off to college. He’s a real asshole and also of Greek gods descent.”
“I know. He’s dead.”
“How’d Rick die?”
“He stabbed me and then to make sure he finished the job planned to shoot me, but my mother stepped in the way and took the bullet. Before she died she killed him.”
“Are you sure he’s dead?”
“He was smashed by a boulder. Pretty sure. Rick descended from Orion. Apparently, his family is obsessed with killing all of us Pleiades.”
“Reality TV…I assume you meanExtreme Survivor.Was Owen Campbell hosting the show?”
“Yes. His fiancée was killed in the ordeal as well.”
“Owen had a fiancée?”
“Ana something. She was pretty scary for a necromancer, not that I’ve met one before her.”
“Anaïs?” His eyes widened.
Shannon nodded.
“You should stay away from her. She’s not only vicious, but also smart. Are you sure she’s truly dead?”
“Her soul was removed by a death reaper. Come to think of it, you and my friend who’s a death reaper should meet and commiserate over your shitty destinies to chase evil people.”
“He goes after regular people who’re evil. I go after deviant magical shitheads. Him removing her soul doesn’t mean the necromancer is dead. Unless… Did you remove her heart and burn the body? I’m not sure if it’ll work since I burned her once before and she rose from the ashes. My new theory is if I remove her heart and dispose of it elsewhere, then burning the remains of her body might work.”
“I have no idea what happened to her body. I passed out.”
“Let’s assume she’s not dead, then. She likes to absorb multiple souls. Giving up one soul to a death reaper isn’t a big deal.”
“Did you know Owen is Rick’s son?”
“Yeah. We crossed paths a few times. Owen collects friends who practice black magic, but we’ve never picked anything up about him being intent on wiping out all Pleiades. He’s caught up in Hollywood bullshit most of the time.”
