Good Intentions 3: Personal Demons (9 page)

“No, silly,” Molly scoffed. “How crazy do you think we are? You just have to believe magic works. And you know it works, ‘cause you’ve seen magical things happen. So clear your mind, drop the doubt, and let us do our thing. We’re here to help.”

Onyx noted the hesitant look on his face. “We straightened out Alex and his Post Traumatic Reincarnation Disorder, right?” she pointed out. “This’ll be a walk in the park.”

Drew couldn’t argue that. He remembered how messed up Alex had been. Silently conceding the point, Drew turned to the table—or the “altar”—and took some deep, centering breaths. He briefly closed his eyes, but opened them again as Onyx poured water into the chalice from a silver ladle. Where she’d gotten the water, he didn’t know. Molly lit candles and incense.

He closed his eyes. Breathed again. Shut out the loud voices and thumping music on the other sides of the walls.

He did
not
kneel. Magic or not, Drew had limits.

“Okay,” said Onyx, her voice low as her hands came to his shoulders. “Don’t try to visualize. You’re not reaching out for any particular person. Doing that with magic is skeezy, like you said. You’re reaching out for the right person, whoever that might be. Think about the sort of person you’re looking for.”

“Onyx, I don’t even
know
what I’m looking for.”

“Yes, you do. You want the right person for you. Someone close to you in age and spirit. She needs to—wait, we are looking for a woman, right?”

His eyes opened. She didn’t see them roll. “I guess. Sure.”

She squeezed his strong shoulders. “Okay. Someone honest and loyal who can face the same dangers you’ve faced. Someone good humored, with a good heart, like yours.”

“Helps if they’re hot,” Molly whispered at his side.

“And it helps if they’re hot,” Onyx conceded.

Drew breathed in and out again. “And it helps if they’re hot.”

“Whatever else you’re looking for. Think of that.”

“Like a shopping list?” he asked skeptically.

“It never hurts to ask,” Molly chuckled.

“This makes no sense. You want me to think about a person without thinking
of
them?”

“Imagine the sort of relationship you’re hoping for,” answered Molly. “Don’t worry about who the person is. Think of how they’d make you feel.”

“Think with the feels, Drew,” suggested Onyx. “Close your eyes and think with the feels.”

He stared at the wall above the table. Goofy as that sounded, it made some sense. He closed his eyes again and breathed.

“Hold your hands out and open. Like so,” Molly instructed, moving his hands into place with his palms up. He felt a small, wound-up cloth placed into each of them.

Then he waited.

Nothing happened. He could feel Onyx and Molly still standing to his either side. They seemed to be chanting or maybe singing something under their breath, but the noise from the party covered it up.

The two witches slipped the cloths out of his hands. Drew opened his eyes to see them tying a pair of white handkerchiefs into a knot in front of him. Molly held up an ordinary spool of red sewing thread for Onyx, who pulled on the thread and used it to wad the two handkerchiefs into a ball. She set it on the altar amid the other items.

“That’s it,” said Molly.

“That’s it?” Drew asked. “That’s my love charm? I don’t have to wear it?”

“No, you don’t want to wear it. You leave it here on our altar.”

“You should be carrying around an iron nail in your pocket anyway, and that would disrupt the—oh god damn it!” Molly groaned.

“Relax, it’s in my coat pocket back in the living room,” said Drew. “It’s not on me.”

“Okay. Keep carrying that,” said Onyx. “All you non-magical guys gotta have a nail. It helps you resist magic.”

“Then won’t it mess with this spell here?” he asked, pointing to the balled-up handkerchief.

“No, because we’re leaving it here. The charm isn’t on you. It’s about you. That’s different.”

“How is that different? This shit’s weird.”

“Welcome to magic,” Onyx shrugged.

Drew frowned. “So what now?”

“Now you go about your life like normal and you wait,” said Molly. “If nothing happens in the next month, you come back and we do this again.”

“Also, you can’t tell a misfire from the real thing,” noted Onyx. “Just like with normal relationships. Have fun with that.”

“Seriously?” asked Drew, half laughing now out of frustration. Maybe they really were taking him for a ride. “How do I even know this works at all?”

Molly gasped with plenty of melodrama. “Do you doubt our power?”

“Maybe a little,” Drew shrugged.

“You’ve seen me call lightning, you jerk!”

“Hey, I didn’t actually see nothin’,” he corrected. “You were there and lightning sorta happened. This is Seattle. The weather changes every ten minutes.”

Molly gasped again, louder this time.

“Can you do anything that actually looks like magic?”

“
Do not
set our new house on fire,” Onyx warned sternly.

“C’mon, what’ve you got? Can you turn people into animals? Turn invisible? Wait, that’s not flashy, I wouldn’t see. Oh, I got it: can you fly?”

Molly’s eyes flared. She snatched her wand up off of the table. “Challenge accepted.”

* * *

Alex found her in the living room near the front door, amid a handful of guests on their way out. He half-expected her to be surrounded by attention-hungry men, as was usually the case with her at parties. Instead, she consulted her cell phone along with one of Molly’s friends, whose name he didn’t know.

“There, now I have your email,” said Lorelei. “The link to the video should be enough, but it might help if you fill out the online application and send it to me, too. I’ll make sure it gets to the right people.”

“Ohmygod, you will?” the young woman asked with wide, hopeful eyes. “I really thought I was screwed when I couldn’t get time off from work for the open call.”

“Remember, I make no guarantees. I only help with the conservatory’s fundraising. But I can assure you no one made any real decisions over the holidays. With a performance video like this, I’m sure I can at least get you in above the first cut.”

“Absolutely. I completely understand that.” She let out an excited breath. “Wow. With the way things were going, I thought I’d have to sell my soul to get an audition.”

“Never deal with anyone who quotes that sort of price,” said Lorelei. “It’s nothing but an ugly racket every time.”

The other woman’s smile lit up the room as one of her friends opened up the door. “Thanks. I’ll send you the other stuff first thing tomorrow!”

“Happy New Year,” Lorelei said as a last farewell. She turned to meet Alex with a knowing and accusing smile. “You’ve been thinking naughty thoughts.”

“I was a minute ago. Did I just see what I think I saw? Are you playing fairy godmother?”

“Nonsense, love. Fairies don’t exist.” She stepped close to him, fondling his shirt. “I’m a patron of the arts. My hobbies are based entirely out of self-interest. You know the limits of my charity.” His smile drew her in closer. “You also know how I can sense your desires. What’s on your mind?”

“Is anyone watching?” he asked without taking his eyes off hers.

She mirrored his grin. With a hint like that, Alex knew she’d employ a little magical privacy. She didn’t need arcane gestures or mystic words. Most of her magic came naturally. “No one but Onyx might see us. I can’t make any promises against her eyes, but she’s not in the room.”

Alex slipped his arms around her waist. Their bodies slid together for a long, shameless kiss. Endless hunger stirred in both lovers, soothed only by the shared freedom to take more and more. At this point in their relationship, they never had to ask.

His hand moved over her hip, then in front of it, then below. Lorelei’s breath changed as their kiss deepened and his hand caressed her between her legs. Her dress didn’t allow his fingertips to move in as deeply as she wanted, but she loved it nonetheless. The succubus curse empowered her whenever her victim gave in to his lusts. The sorcerous ritual that first bound them together offered other layers of indulgence, too.

Lorelei enjoyed Alex as no one else could, but she’d never seen that as a reason to limit their options. Indeed, their supernatural bonds only encouraged them both to do otherwise.

“Will you be staying tonight?” Lorelei breathed against his neck. “I’ve felt your desires all night, but I haven’t been able to read any particular anticipation.”

“It depends on how things go. Especially if you’re interested in a little fun of your own.”

The flash of her eyes and her smile assured him she was more than intrigued. One word in her reply confirmed that play time was now on: “What do you have in mind, master?”

* * *

Molly strode out into the small yard before spinning around with her arms spread wide. The yard held only her, some grass, and a handful of small, bare trees within a tall wooden fence. Evergreens and a tall hedge blocked the view from the next house over. “What do you notice?” Molly asked proudly.

“That all the smokers have gone inside or gone home and your fence needs a new coat of paint,” Drew replied. “I ain’t ever had a yard before, though, so I might be missin’ something.”

“Yes! All the smokers have gone. Do you smell anything? Anything at all?”

Being a good sport, Drew inhaled deeply. “No.”

“I think somebody spilled beer on the bush over there,” noted Onyx, standing beside Drew with her arms folded over her chest. Her nose wrinkled in disdain. “Ugh. I hope that’s not meant to cover up something else.”

“No! No, you don’t smell anything,” Molly went on. “Not even a tiny whiff of pot or tobacco on the air.”

“Isn’t that the whole point to smoking outside? Nah, okay, I’m playin’. Lemme guess: you blew it all away yourself with magic?”

“I did. Because I control the air.”

“You control—hah!” Drew laughed. “Okay. That’s cool.”

“I do! My Practice focuses on nature. I can do air, I can do fire, I can do weather and plants. All kinds of stuff. I can talk to animals, too, but it’s a cold night so they’re all curled up asleep.”

“Uh-huh.”

Molly held her wand high, then dramatically waved it to the left. A breeze fluttered through the yard. She waved it to the right, and the breeze reversed itself.

“That would be way more dramatic if we had any leaves on the trees,” muttered Onyx.

“Ooh, can you make a tornado?” Drew asked.

Molly’s eyes narrowed. “Okay,
that
is offensive.”

“What? How?”

“Don’t make tornado jokes around witches,” said Onyx. “Or jokes about falling houses. It’s a sore spot with us.”

“Seriously?”

“No, but how would you know any better?” Onyx asked with a grin.

“Y’know, this is feeling really one-sided,” Molly grumbled. “Why’s it all about me? What can you do besides kung fu and shoot pool?”

“Calculus.”

Onyx clamped her hand over her mouth, caught between the amusement of a good comeback and knowing her partner’s sore spots.

Molly fumed. “I only had to go the GED route ‘cause it was either running away to Seattle or going along with my family’s gay conversion therapy bullshit back in Arizona, y’know.”

“Woah. Hold up, I’m sorry, Molly.” Drew immediately dropped the teasing and his smile. “I didn’t know. For real. That’s fucked up.”

“Thought maybe Alex would’ve told you.”

“Not if it ain’t my business. Molly, I’m only playin’. I didn’t wanna hurt your feelings or get you mad.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s fine. Only now I wanna show you some serious magic.”

“Don’t wreck the yard!” Onyx replied.

Molly sighed. “I won’t wreck anything except Drew’s doubts. You. C’mere,” she said, pointing to Drew and then beckoning him over. “You’re sure about this? I wanna know you’re not gonna be mad when I show you some magic you can feel. It won’t hurt. I promise.”

Her warning offered him a chance to back out. Obviously he couldn’t take it now. “It’s cool. Show me what you got.”

The wind picked up. Molly glanced past Drew’s shoulder to Onyx. Her partner gave only a noncommittal shrug. The redhead’s face split into a grin. “Okay. Hold your arms out wide, palms down. Like this.”

“What, like a bird?” Drew asked as he complied.

Her eyes closed. She took in and slowly released a long breath. “Yes. Like a bird.” The wind picked up more, rustling the evergreens looming over the backyard.

“Shouldn’t you be the one to go flyin’ here?” Drew asked warily.

“I’m not sure if it’s technically flying,” she murmured, concentrating more on the air than on her banter. “Especially since I have to stay on the ground to…
lift
.”