Page 26 of Zoe

“Nope. I got me some fancy gel,” he informed her before sipping his coffee.

“Pushed the boats out on that one,” she replied.

“Nah, it was on special,” Billy said.

Zoe rolled her eyes when she realised she’d fallen into the banter trap. “Okay, stop!” she said. “I’m leaving.”

Billy slowly shook his head. “Even if I let you go, which isn’t happening, you’re not going to make it. There’s another storm rolling in.”

“But I just want to leave,” she almost whispered to him as the realisation that she wasn’t going anywhere sank in.

“I get it,” he whispered back. “Your company sucks too.”

Zoe yanked her head back and scowled at him. “You didn’t have to be so brutal,” she said.

“Just returning the favour,” he said, lifted his arm and mock sniffed his armpit.

Zoe pressed her lips together so she didn’t smile at him and let him know he had a point. “Fine,” she said, yanking down the zipper on her padded jacket. “I’ll take a coffee, please.”

“All gone.”

“What? Noooo,” Zoe said, spinning from placing her jacket on the coat hook to question him with a horrified look.

Billy grinned. “Just kidding,” he said, holding up the half-full coffee pot. “I always stock up for winter.”

~

“Ah, poop!” Heather said, slowly shaking her head as she tightened the grip on the steering wheel. “That did not just happen.”

“Sure did,” Maria said from the seat beside her as she stretched up and looked down the car’s bonnet to see the front end embedded in a snow drift.

“They said they’d ploughed the road,” Heather said, sighing.

The tap, tap, tap on her window made her turn and pull back. Then the vampire’s head and shoulders appeared, and he was grinning like he’d just won first prize in the village idiot competition. “Ploughed does not mean treated,” he said, motioning for her to wind down her window.

Heather pressed the button, the window rolled down, and the cold air rushed in. “Well, nobody said that.”

“We’re rural; we figure everyone knows that,” Duncan said, still grinning.

“I know why you’re smiling,” Heather said.

“Do you?”

“Yes,” she smiled back, but her smile looked strained. “You expect the poor little witches to ask for help from the big, bad vampire.”

“Do I?” He sure did.

Heather didn’t say anything more; even when Maria gave her a nudge, she stayed silent.

“Ugh!” Maria said. “Please, could you help us, Duncan?”

“Of course,” he said. “When Heather says something nice to me.”

Heather rolled her eyes up and over to Maria and saw Maria grimace. “Nice,” Heather said to Maria, and the witch winced.

“Just a tiny nice would do it,” Maria said, shrugging.

Heather looked like she was chewing a wasp. “Nice teeth,” she said, not looking at him.

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