Page 21 of Witch's Bells and Mistletoe

I look up from the page, my brow furrowing and something cold settles in my chest. I can feel the warmth from Adeon as he looms behind me but even that is not enough to stave off the chill running through me. “They went outside—alone?”

He nods. “A few people mentioned seeing them lingering outside the entrance, perhaps to enjoy the hotel’s colorful light display. It’s been on magazines,” he points out proudly.

I lift the page a bit so Adeon can see it, and he shakes his head. His eyes focus on the bellboy. “You say the hotel owner is on his way?”

Another nod. “Yes, sir. He should be here within the next couple of hours.”

“Has there been any other trouble around here?” I interrupt, drawing his attention back to me. “Anything unusual… Cream spoiling overnight, things breaking without evidence of wear. Anything like that.”

He pauses, and an uncertain look crosses his face as he nods. “Yes, ma’am. Things turning up broken. It’s been mostly equipment outside, though we had some incidents in the kitchen of things disappearing or randomly breaking, and of some of the staff reporting feeling sudden pinches or cramps come out of nowhere and leaving ugly bruises. But that was before one of the local ladies who is a member of the kitchen staff decided to start hanging mistletoe all over the hotel.” He sighs and shakes his head wearily. “Mr. Williams is going to shit himself when he arrives and sees all of this. He hates this stuff.”

“Does he?” I give the bellboy a look of surprise.

He nods with a small grimace. “I think it’s mostly because of his grandma. I started here when she was alive, and she was a very tough old lady with a lot of rules, especially regarding what parts of the grounds staff and guests were allowed access to. She had the whole forest that ran up alongside and behind the hot springs closed off entirely. She and Mr. Williams got into some big fights about the property toward the end of her life. I think she was planning on changing her will to hand the property off to his sister, Wilhelmina, instead but she died before the lawyer could get up here.”

Adeon snorts behind me. “She probably had an idea of what the feckless fool was going to do.”

“Seems like it,” I agree soberly.

This is the evidence that I’ve been dreading. I had hoped that the rumor about the fairies was just a little bit of local color. There are plenty of places that claim to have some sort of supernatural presence without actually having anything there. I had hoped that this was such a case. After all, as Adeon had pointed out, frost fairies were normal in climates like this and tended to move through only seasonally. There was nothing at all to suggest an actual ongoing fairy presence that could be a problem. But a frost fairy would never enter indoors where they found the heat unpleasant. Whatever sort of fairy that this is, it’s something different.

Andrew clears his throat and leans in a little closer, a worried look in his eye. “Word is that the fairies have come to punish all of us. It’s mostly among the elderly people in town and employed here but—” and uncomfortable look crosses his face “—all of this is starting to scare me a little. I hear sounds whenever I step outside, especially at night. I’ve never spent a Christmas working here where I’ve felt scared to death to be at the hotel. It’s even getting worse in town now. I’ve been hearing some strange sounds.”

I rub my brow with one hand, thinking back on all the little protections I know. I don’t have any of my holy stones with me, and even if I did there wouldn’t be enough to go around. I exchange a grim look with Adeon.

“We need to have a meeting in the ballroom. Staff, guests, townspeople, and especially Mr. Williams so we can discuss what steps to take to resolve this before it gets worse.” I turn to locate the small table near the door and after rifling through it for a minute past the menus and other nonsense stuffed with it, I find some sticky notes and pens I’d stashed there. I jot my cellphone number down before peeling off and handing the note over. “Have the manager text me.”

“Yes, ma’am, but Mr. Williams is so not going to like this,” Andrew groans, and Adeon gives him an impatient look.

“Better this unless you want more people turning up missing,” he growls. “Things have already escalated. You do not want it to get worse.”

“How can it possibly get worse?” Andrew asks, bewildered.

The lights in the room and the hall flicker, and the boy pales even further.

“Okay, I’ll go let the manager know,” he said quickly, backing from the door. “I’m sure he will take a dragon’s advice seriously.”

I harrumph softly to myself as Andrew practically runs down the hall, his pounding footsteps audible after Adeon has closed the door. As miffed as I am that credence is only being given to our advice because of Adeon, I’m glad that there is a good chance that it’ll be taken seriously. In the meantime, I hope my contact is up.

Adeon gives me a curious look as I pick up the phone. “What are you doing, love?”

“Emailing a friend of mine. I think we’re going to need the help of a fairy doctor for this.”

Chapter 16

ADEON

The lights flicker all day, the power surging as the snow continues to fall, blanketing the world outside. It makes for a pretty picture, but I am anxious. Anxious enough that I’m unable to keep my wings put away for long before they burst through the magic to stretch and flap in expression of my mood. I finally give up and resort to pacing while we await word that everyone has gathered—including the Williams man.

As I pace in our room, I gravitate toward the dim light coming through the window. The skies are a heavy gray and the light blocked by the thick snow fall. The mistletoe framing the window seems to take on a more sinister edge, its energy humming poisonously. Poison that we are using for our benefit, utilizing the fairies’ favored plants against them to ward away their influences, but there is little comfort from it as it hangs, the tiny clusters of its white berries mingling with the red fruit of the hawthorn bound with it. Not even my mate’s magic bound with it can relieve the sinister feeling it brings. The bound sprigs hang like little darts, and a shiver runs through me.

It is only a matter of time before true fairy darts come into play and humans begin falling sick. It would begin with sore eyes and raw skin—if such a thing weren’t already plaguing the populace while Katherine and I have been mercifully unaware—but only get worse. The stolen girls are a clear warning. Luring away hapless humans until they become lost within the fairy realm is easy enough. I can only hope that it isn’t more difficult to recover them.

I glance over at my mate. Neither of us has dressed yet. She still wears nothing but her robe as she peers down at the phone in her hand. She’s been refreshing her email every few minutes. My cocks harden within the sleep pants I hastily donned as I admire her long, bare legs. Because her legs are drawn up as she sits on the couch it has pressed her robe higher, bringing my attention to the curve of her thigh. Despite the gloom and the thickening shadows, she is a welcome vision.

A vision who is scowling at her phone. She sighs and scrubs at her face with one hand. I do not like seeing the strain lining her face. I should have flown off with her and returned home when we were still uncertain of the situation here. She won’t leave now despite the increasing danger.

Naturally there is little risk to her while I’m vigilant, but fairies are a cunning lot and I don’t trust them not to try something if they become angry enough. But beyond that, I hate to see my mate looking so worried. While she waits, she needs… a distraction.

---