Easy Bake Coven: Book One of the Vivienne Finch Magical Mysteries (22 page)

 
The sound of her stalker’s footfalls grew
nearer and her heart pounded furiously in her chest. Her mind raced with images
from horror movies of women screaming bloody murder while a deranged killer
chased them with a rusty chainsaw or sharp ax.

Her
ankle gave out with a start as she tripped on a sewer grate along the side of
the road. With a thud, she tumbled to the pavement and rolled along the cold
ground. She scrambled to get up when a gloved hand wrapped around her mouth and
stifled her cry for help. “You need to mind your own business, witch.” A raspy
voice whispered in her ear.

She
bit down on the glove as hard as she could and the hand released with a grunt.
A rancid smell filled her nostrils and she gagged in response. She swept her
legs around and frantically kicked back at her attacker. Her hands frantically
searched the ground until she found the branch she had been carrying for
protection. She swung and connected a solid thud against the head of the shadow
figure.

The
figure grunted once more and then lunged at her with both hands extended. The
cold gloved hands wrapped around her neck and pounded her head against the
pavement. “You’ll burn for that,” the figure hissed.

The
branch fell from her grip and she clawed at the face with her hands. Her
fingers snagged onto fabric, a ski mask or some such thing which obscured the
features of her attacker. Once more, the rancid smell returned. It was
unmistakably the odor of death.
  

Without
warning, a loud howl pierced the air and the shadowy figure was knocked away
from her. Free from the iron grip, she rolled onto her side and gasped for air.
Tears obscured her vision as she watched a fight break out between her attacker
and what appeared to be a large coyote or dog.

The
figure swooped and dodged the attacks from the beast, as it lunged and swiped
with huge paws. Vivienne went into a coughing fit and tried to stand up but she
was too weak. She could only lie on her side and hope that the furry creature
drove away the attacker and left her alone.

As
she wiped her watery eyes, she could see that what she had assumed was a dog or
coyote was actually appeared to be a rather large wolf. It had gray fur, large
pointed ears, and eyes that were blue like an Alaskan Husky.

The
fight was interrupted when a pair of headlights illuminated them both in the
road. Suddenly, a siren blast pierced the air and the familiar blue and red
flashing lights flashed bright in the gloom.

The
shadowy attacker fled from the scene and the large wolf gave chase after it
into the darkness. Alone, on the cold pavement, Vivienne sat up as the police
vehicle came to a stop and an officer jumped out.

“Are
you injured?” The officer asked.

Vivienne
could taste the coppery flavor of blood inside her mouth. She had taken quite a
tumble and her body ached in too many places to name. “I could use some help.”
Her voice was hoarse and dry sounding.

As
he came closer, she recognized her rescuer from the morning encounter outside
Joshua’s home. It was Officer Greg. “I’m going to call for an ambulance, Miss.”

“Vivienne.”
She croaked. “Vivienne Finch.”

Officer
Greg knelt down in surprise. “Deputy’s
Arkin’s
girlfriend?”

She
nodded. “I don’t need an ambulance. I just need to talk to Joshua.”

“Deputy
Arkins
is off duty tonight, Miss Finch.” Officer Greg
informed her. “I still better call an ambulance just to be safe.”

“He
said he was working the night shift.” She explained as she coughed again.

“Not
that I’m aware of, Miss Finch.”

“I
don’t need an ambulance. I just need a ride home.” She was banged up, but she
didn’t think needed medical care. What she really needed was a good night’s
sleep in her own bed and some bandages for the scrapes.

“Did
someone attack you?” He asked.

She
wanted to tell him about the figure but that would involve another trip to the Sheriff’s
office and more questions and she just wasn’t up for it. Besides, she thought
to herself, whoever attacked her had called her a witch and she couldn’t think
of any way to explain the true meaning behind that rationally. Not without
getting a free trip to Cayuga Medical’s behavioral science department for a few
days. “No, I’ve locked myself out of my car at Clara’s and was walking to Main
Street to call my Mother to bring the spare keys.”

 
She pointed to the now empty street. “I came
upon someone being attacked by an animal like a coyote or a wolf.”

Officer
Greg nodded as he listened to her. “So that’s what it was. It’s so hard to tell
in the dark.”

“I
wasn’t looking where I was stepping and I tripped on one of those sewer grates
and fell.” Vivienne explained.

He
appeared to by buying her story. “Did you happen to recognize the person who
the wild animal was attacking?”

“No.”
Vivienne felt a chill move through her body at recalling the shadow figure. “It
was too dark to make anything out. Whoever it was ended up running off when you
pulled up. Why do you ask?”

“Before
I found you on the street, I was searching for a missing resident that was
called in about an hour ago.” Officer Greg added. “I thought maybe it might be
them. We get the strangest calls during a full moon.”

Vivienne,
having had a moment to calm down and catch her breath, felt well enough to
stand. With a little help from Officer Greg, she managed the feat and groaned.
“Sorry I didn’t get a better look. Would you be able to unlock my car for me?”

“We
don’t really do that much anymore, but given the night you’ve had I can give it
a try.” Officer Greg led her to his cruiser and opened the front passenger
door.

She
sat down inside the warm vehicle and was thankful to feel the little blast of
heat from the vents.

Officer
Greg drove them over to
Clara’s Diner
where her car was parked in the empty lot. He pulled up next to her driver’s
side and smiled at her. “Hoods popped? Did you have engine trouble too?”

“Yes.”
She answered. “It wouldn’t start up.”

“You
can stay in here and get warm while I try to jimmy the lock open for you.”

“I
won’t say no to that offer.” She smiled back.

He
left the patrol car and walked toward her vehicle with a flashlight in hand.

The
heat felt wonderful on her hands as she cupped them over the vents and looked
out the window at her car. Officer Greg walked in front of her and suddenly
stopped in his tracks. He directed the flashlight into the car and then walked
slowly over to the passenger side. She felt for the window button and lowered
it. “What’s wrong?”

He
shook his head at her. “Looks like someone broke into the other side.”

She
fumbled for the door handle and with some effort extracted herself from the
vehicle. “What?”

Officer
Greg walked toward her. “Like I said earlier, it’s a full moon.” He shined his
flashlight into the car and examined the damage.

She
looked into the driver’s side window and saw the shattered bits of broken glass
all over the passenger seat. Her purse was tipped over, the contents spilled
all over the seats and floor mats. She saw her wallet, her cell phone, but not
a trace of the
grimoire
. “I don’t believe this.”

Greg
walked up next to her. “I’ll call it in.”

“Can
I check my purse to see if anything’s been taken?” She asked.

“I’d
leave it as is until we write it up.”

She
took a deep breath and nodded. “I used to think full moons were romantic. Now,
I think I’ve had enough of them.”

“Tell
me about it.” Officer Greg picked up his hand radio and called the incident
into headquarters.

Vivienne
looked up at the moon that was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds. Had her
attacker stolen the
grimoire
from her car? To most
people it just appeared to be a blank journal of no value. But, whoever had
attacked her had called her a witch and she suddenly felt more vulnerable than
ever. If they could read the spells inside it, what would they do with the
power? She didn’t want to know the answer. She just wanted to go home, soak in
a hot bath, and put on her flannel nightgown. It was what she should have done
in the first place.

Without
explanation, the car started up just fine for Officer Greg. She gave up trying
to find an explanation for that and just chalked it up to one of life’s little
flukes. The incident report had taken less time and hassle than she imagined it
would, which was a good thing as her energy was fading fast as the night wore
on. She would have to drop by Harrison Insurance in the morning to put in her
damage claim, but at least she was able to drive away and return to the safety
of her little Cape Cod home on Sunset Terrace.

The
heater in her car didn’t keep the chill off from the loss of the window, now
covered up with thick plastic wrap she had left in the backseat for wrapping up
baked goods. Officer Greg had done his best to rig a temporary fix to keep any
moisture out should it rain overnight.

Upon
returning home, she greeted Tom Cat and filled his dish with dry cat food. He
sniffed it and turned away, rubbing against her legs with a loud purr.

“Not
right now.” She gave his head a scratch and went to fill the tub with warm
water and soak for a good while. Buried deep in lavender-scented bubbles, she
rolled a towel up and created a pillow to lay her head against and let the
warmth sooth her aches and pains.

She
closed her eyes but the image of the shadow attacker kept leaping into her
mind. No napping in the tub this time. Given her luck lately, she’d be one of
those unfortunate souls who slid under and drowned. Instead, she reached for
her soft pink bath mitt and slowly massaged her arms and legs. She groaned now
and then when a sharp pain erupted from her movements, but this would help her
tomorrow when she had to tackle another day of dealing with the bakery and the
loss of her
grimoire
.

Feeling
a bit like a prune, she exited the bath which had gradually grown cool. She
wrapped herself up in the fluffiest bath towel she could find in the linen
closet and used the vanity mirror to see how bad her scrapes and bruises were.
She was happy to discover that other than a scraped right knee, a small cut on
her left elbow, and some redness around her neck, she didn’t look all that bad.
It could have been so much worse, she thought as she slipped into a white
flannel nightgown with little blue flowers that Nora gave her for Christmas.
After all, she could be wearing a toe tag in the morgue.

She
crawled between the soft cotton sheets on her queen sized bed and was soon
joined by Tom Cat who jumped onto the bottom corner and made a nest with the
rumpled comforter. As he groomed himself and scratched his ears with his back
paw, she hoped that a flea circus wasn’t laying down tent stakes for an
extended run.

That
night, she dreamt of being lost in a long corridor filled with red doors that
seemed impossibly tall. They were narrow and instead of numbers had strange
symbols much like those in the
grimoire
. She twisted
at the knobs to peek inside, but they all proved to be locked.

Frustrated,
she walked further down the hall and suddenly one solitary door opened by
itself with a creaking groan. She felt a blast of cold air against her
nightgown.

 
With a pause, she contemplated going in. As so
often happened in dreams, she was suddenly transported inside the room against
her will. The room was black and void of any furniture. A single light bulb,
dim and suspended on a long chain, swung back and forth in the cold breeze. A
humanoid figure shivered under a gray blanket. It looked like a woman, sitting
with her legs folded. Loud sobs could be heard from under the cover and
Vivienne was compelled to pull the blanket away.

She
found Mona Clarke staring back at her. She was pale and dressed in a simple
black dress. In her hands, she held tight to a bouquet of calla lilies. “Don’t
let them do it.” She whispered.

Vivienne
knelt down to Mona. “Let who do what?”

Mona
looked at the calla lilies in her hand as they burst into flame. She released
the flowers, which caught the blanket on fire and forced Vivienne to back away.
“Don’t let them do it.” She repeated.

Vivienne
watched in terror as the flaming blanket swirled around and morphed into a
large stake. Mona was now tied to it, the flames surrounding her as strange
voices shouted from the darkness.

Vivienne
awoke from the dream with a start, nearly tossing the pillows around her to the
floor in terror. She was covered in sweat, her legs knotted up in the sheets.
Releasing herself from the tangled sheets, she was happy to see the morning
light glowing softly through the bedroom windows.
 

After
a quick shower, she hopped into a pair of casual sweats that she used for those
times when she’d be baking up a storm and covered with spilled ingredients. Tom
Cat eagerly ate his breakfast of dry food as she swallowed her daily vitamins
and tossed in an aspirin for good measure.