Page 52 of Curses & Cold Brew
“A mind-control curse,” Agnes said with an affirming nod. The elderly vampire was able to keep a preternatural pace with me without even trying. “Must be. I’ll tell the others. We’ll find them.” She broke off at the town square with military precision as I kept running. “Billy!” I heard her yell. “Get the phone tree, we’ve got a missing witch!”
Even through my panic, I knew half of Maple Hollow would be awake and on the hunt for Iris within the hour. Hopefully, the wolves could track her scent, or the witches could perform a location spell on her, but I kept running.
Because I had to. I couldn’t just wait, helpless, hoping that she would be alright.
Esme didn’t have Naphula break Iris’s sigil like the others. They’d taken Iris from me because Esme wanted to use Iris to hurt me. And after that?—
No, I couldn’t think about what would happen to Iris. I couldn’t think about her being taken away from me—permanently. Not after everything felt right for the first time in longer than I could remember.
So I just kept running. Because I needed Iris. Because I loved her.
I let out a feral growl at that.
I loved her.
The thought made my brain split in two.
I didn’t think love was an emotion I was capable of; I didn’t think it would ever exist in me. Sex, sure. Desire, most definitely. But love? No.
But this feeling—like my heart was exploding through my ribs, like my mind was always reaching for her, even when she was in my arms, like I wanted to fuse my soul with hers and even that wouldn’t be enough—waslove, wasn’t it?
Seven Hells, I thought love would feel a lot less like torture, but maybe the two were one and the same.
Nothing would be right again until Iris was safe in my arms.
It was nonsensical. Iris was fun and lighthearted, brave and silly, smart and joyful and all kinds of sunshine-y chaos, and I was none of those things. But she made me want to be. She made me excited about every possibility. For her, I wanted to beeverything.
I halted abruptly. A thought had me skidding into the middle of the dewy square, and then I was turning toward the pumpkin patch and picking up speed.
Esme needed a remote location within the town limits to hide out, and Randy had said he was pretty sure someone was squatting at the house in the patch.
Maybe they weren’t ghouls after all . . .
26
IRIS
All I could see was Ramona’s furious, terrified face as the world went black. I thought I knew what her anger looked like, but it was nothing compared to the ferocity that had radiated from her like heat waves in a desert. She’d looked as if she were going to tear the other demon to shreds, reconstitute her, then shred her apart all over again.For me. Whatever fear had flashed through me at being taken was superseded by that thought:the most ferocious demon in hell and on Earth was coming to get me.
When I came to, my head was throbbing and my stomach was sloshing like a burbling washing machine. Jumping through time and space was not meant for human—or witch—bodies. I felt like I’d just run a marathon, my corporeal vessel put through the wringer. I groaned, my throat hoarse, and I wondered how long I’d been out. The soft glow of sunlight that peeked through the slats of the building was my only clue. Judging by the sharp angle, I surmised it was just after dawn. It was only when I attempted to lift my aching head that I realized my hands were tied to a hook on the wall above me.
What the. . .
I yanked on my itchy rope bindings, testing them. I still wore nothing but Ramona’s blue sweater, which barely covered my ass as I gathered my legs under me. I took in the room as my head cleared. I surveyed the dirt floor, slats of splintering wood, the ladder that stretched up to a loft with an unmade bed . . . and bucketfuls of rusty pumpkin carving tools.
It all came flooding back to me.
“Naphula.” I searched for her as my depth perception started to recover. “What the fuck have you done?”
My bleary eyes finally landed on the demon standing in the corner, her eyes glazed and completely black. She looked like a vacant zombie . . . although that wasn’t really fair to our local zombie bartender.
I’d seen that look before. Had learned all about it at the summer camp for witches. That was how I knew for certain that Naphula was under some sort of curse.
“So that’s how she’s doing it,” I murmured, realization lighting up my senses. “Using a demon to do her dirty work. Clever, Esme. She must’ve known Ramona wouldn’t have warded her house against her best friend.”
Naphula didn’t react at all to my voice. She just waited like a robot for her next command.
Shit. That was some seriously dark magic if even a demon couldn’t fight it.
