Page 38 of Blood Magic (Ariel Kimber 3)

Was there a theme to this? I hoped not. What I was looking for wouldn’t be in the beginners section for witches.

I kept on reading the spines.

Ritualistic Magic

Candles and their Uses

Herbs

How to Meditate

My eyes widened on that last one.

Meditate?

I did not think so. I would not be meditating any time soon. I did not think I would enjoy it.

Fuck that.

On to the next one.

A History of Angels and Demons

This one, too, made my eyes widen. The History of Angels and Demons? Angels and Demons? I could get behind the existence of angels but… Demons? No thank you. Demons were scary. I didn’t want them to be real. Did this book mean the guys thought they really did exist? I hoped not and knew I was probably wrong to hope.

The rest of the books were a lot of the same. Books about magic and books about things that freaked me right the hell out.

But I couldn’t figure out where to start with the books, which books to read to give me instructions on how to find Rain Kimber.

I had nothing.

I required assistance, someone to point me in the right direction. These books weren’t going to do it for me. I had no idea where to start. I could dig through the boxes until I found my laptop so I could look it up on the internet. Google had an answer for everything. But would it be the correct answer? There are a lot of whack jobs out there, people who believe they are witches but no magic to their name and no real clue what they were doing. I needed someone who actuallywasa witch and knew what they were doing.

I moved away from the book shelf and crossed the room to the window. I pulled the curtain aside and took a good look out the window. I had to lean into the loveseat to do it because it was in front of the window.

I was surprised to see that darkness had descended while I had been sleeping. That was one long nap. It hadn’t felt like I had been sleeping for that long. Normally, I woke from really long naps feeling groggy and wishing I hadn’t slept in the first place.

I didn’t feel groggy this time. In fact, I felt oddly full of energy. It was bizarre.

I spotted the Rover parked out front. The Camaro was there, as was the silver SUV. My ride was still here, and I felt immense relief at seeing it parked out front. I wouldn’t have minded if someone had needed it to get themselves home, but it was my security blanket and I felt better simply knowing it was there. The Camaro hadn’t moved since I got here. If the silver SUV really was Julian’s, then that would be perfect for me.

I caught my reflection in the window and winced at what I saw. Holy crap! Somehow, I had forgotten about the miracle rub on my face. It looked to be slightly smudged and I wondered if I had left some of it behind on my bed. I would have to wash out the horrible smell from my blanket and sheets in the morning. With my luck, the smell wouldn’t wash out.

Julian had said I only needed to keep it on my face until I went to bed. Well, I’d already done that, night had fallen, and I wouldn’t be going to sleep again any time soon. Seemed like as good a time as any to get it off my face.

The hallway was dark. The only light had been what spilled out of my open doorway. There was no light coming out from the space between Dash’s door and the floor. If he was in there, then he was snoozing. I hoped he was sleeping. Sleep would be good for his recovery.

I flipped the light switch for the bathroom up as I stood in the open doorway. I didn’t want to waltz in there in the dark. There could be something creepy hiding behind the shower curtain that would pop out at me when I had my back turned while I flipped on the light switch. I’ll pass on that, thanks. I always had to check behind the shower curtain before I could pee or even brush my teeth in the bathroom. Half the time, I had to just open the whole thing up or it would bug me and I’d have to rush myself to get out of there as fast as possible.

The first thing I did after stepping into the room was move across the floor to where the bathtub was. I slid the curtain open wide. I let out a relieved breath when there was nothing there to jump out at me.

The walls in here were a soothing, calm grey. The shower curtain was black, as were the thick bath towels and hand towels.

I think black must have been Dash’s favorite color. That and orange. There were little things in orange throughout the house. Like the ottoman in the living room. Or the bright orange toss pillows covering the black couch in the living room. I’d snuck a little peek in his bedroom when I probably shouldn’t have and noticed the comforter on his bed was black but the pillowcases on the pillows were that same cheery, bright orange.

Dash liked black and orange. It was a good thing to know and something to remember. Everyone had a birthday, and, eventually, I would probably run across something I wanted to buy for him. I could always wait for Halloween to roll around and I could stock up on things for him then.

I shrugged off my thoughts and plucked a hand towel off a circular holder hanging on the wall by the sink. I turned the faucet on, not caring whether the water came out hot or cold and shoved the wash cloth underneath the spray. When I pulled it out it, was wet and thankfully warm. Huh. Guess I did care whether the water was hot or cold after all.

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