Treasures, Demons, and Other Black Magic (35 page)

“Just wait,” I said with a glance at my oven timer. I poured a circle of chocolate ganache — it was thick but still pourable — on two plates. “Are you staying in Vancouver?” I asked the purple-haired werewolf as I carefully sliced two strawberries.

“Why not?” Kandy answered. Her grin wasn’t as nonchalant as her tone.

“Shouldn’t you be with the pack?”

“They’ll get along fine without me.”

“But I won’t?”

“Nope.”

A warm mushy feeling bloomed in my chest and I grinned at Kandy like an idiot.

“Ice cream?” she asked.

I laughed, then pulled a teaspoon through the ice cream twice to collect two tiny scoops. It could have used another hour in the freezer, but Kandy wouldn’t care.

“The kid is upset.”

“Mory?”

“Yup.”

“But alive.”

“Thankfully.”

“Is she angry I didn’t let her kill Sienna?”

“She tried to kill the black witch?”

“Yeah.”

“Shit. No, she’s mourning Rusty.”

So I had felt Rusty’s magic along with the necromancers’ spell as it passed over me to break Sienna’s hold on the souls she’d collected. “He carried the spell?” I asked, my prep momentarily forgotten.

“Yeah. It was the only way they could figure out how to get it through to the black witch. He was already tied to her.”

“And he hasn’t come back?”

“Nope. Moved on, they’re saying. Might be for the best though, you know?”

Yeah, I knew. Mory didn’t need to have her dead brother, who might also be a serial werewolf killer, hanging around for the rest of her life. But the fledgling necromancer wouldn’t see it that way.

“A lot of people sacrificed themselves to save the day.”

Kandy nodded.

“How many?” I forced myself to ask the question.

“Desmond brought our thirteen best fighters. All volunteers, all capable of half-beast form. Trained, Jade, to defend the pack at any cost.”

“How many?”

 
“We lost two, Jamie, a fox, and a werewolf, Tina.”

I’d seen Jamie in fox form just outside of the park ranger’s hut, but never met him or Tina in person. I inhaled deeply and then held my breath to stop myself from crying. Then I asked, “And who survived but won’t ever be the same again?”

“That dragon healer is crazy powerful. He brought back three that I thought were already dead, and Audrey.”

“Audrey?”

“Yeah, she was a goner. The healer brought her back, but she was still crazy injured. Desmond finished the job by making her beta, tying her to the collective power of the pack. Tore a big chunk out his arm and fed it to her right there on the beach. An accession is usually a bit more formal.”

I stared at Kandy.

She shrugged. “The bitch saved my life. She’s going to be totally insufferable about it.”

“So now the truth comes out. Audrey’s staying in Portland, so you’re staying here.”

Kandy grinned. “Something like that.”

The oven buzzer sounded.

“Ready?” I asked.

“Always.”

Pushing away all the things I knew I would grieve for months — even years — to come, I focused solely on the task before me. I pulled the cupcakes out of the oven just as Kett wandered back from the storefront and settled into the stool beside Kandy. I’d known he’d been pretending to drink coffee with Gran out front, though I doubt they’d exchanged a single word. The werewolf didn’t acknowledge the vampire. Her eyes were firmly fixed on me as I flipped the hot cupcakes onto the cooling rack. I’d only baked two to start, because they had to be served warm. Gran would have to wait for the next round.

“I gather we have a circlet to steal from Blackwell?” Kett asked as I placed the piping hot cupcakes on the ganache in the center of each plate.

“It isn’t stealing when the retrieval is dragon certified.” I quickly poured the remaining ganache over the hot cupcakes, then dropped the mini scoops of ice cream on top, along with the fanned sliced strawberries.

Kandy snickered and Kett nodded sagely, as if he’d known I was going to take Blackwell’s circlet and give it to the dragons for safekeeping all along.

I pushed the plate across the table to Kandy. She gazed at it in awe.

“This is not a cupcake,” she said. Her tone was reverent, as if confronted by some miracle.

“It is,” I answered. “It’s a molten dark chocolate cupcake covered in ganache and served with a dollop of mint ice cream.”

I found a fork and took a bite. It was utter heaven in my mouth.

Kandy didn’t bother with a fork. She picked the dripping cake up off her plate, smearing warm chocolate all over her fingers, and wedged a quarter of it into her mouth.

“I’m thinking of calling it
Unity in a Cup
.”

“Screw that,” Kandy said, her mouth full. “It’s a freaking orgasm in a freaking cup.”

I laughed and took another bite, closing my eyes to savor this one. “It’s like you and Kett had babies,” I said, my mouth full of insanely good goodness that tasted almost exactly like Kandy’s and Kett’s magic combined … except sweeter.
 

“That’s disgusting,” Kandy sneered. Then she lifted her plate and licked it clean … literally.

Kett threw his head back and started to laugh.

I took a third bite and melted into the perfectly molten moment.

For Michael

If I have to fight demons I’m glad I do so by your side

With thanks to:

My story & line editor

Scott Fitzgerald Gray

My proof reader

Leiah Cooper

My beta readers

Ita Margalit and Joanne Schwartz

For their continual encouragement, feedback, & general advice

Patrick Creery, for the French

Gertie, for the cupcake holders

Heather Doidge-Sidhu, for double checking everyone

My lovely bloggers, for reading & reviewing

The Retreat, for letting me play in your sand box

For her Art

Elizabeth Mackey

Meghan Ciana Doidge
is an award-winning writer based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She has a penchant for bloody love stories, superheroes, and the supernatural. She also has a thing for chocolate, potatoes, and sock yarn.

Novels

 
After The Virus

Spirit Binder

Time Walker

Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic (Dowser #1)

Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic (Dowser #2)

Treasures, Demons, and Other Black Magic (Dowser #3)

Novellas/Shorts

Love Lies Bleeding

The Graveyard Kiss

For giveaways, news, and glimpses of upcoming stories, please connect with Meghan on:

Her personal blog,
www.madebymeghan.ca

Twitter,
@mcdoidge

Facebook,
Meghan Ciana Doidge

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TREASURES, DEMONS, AND OTHER BLACK MAGIC

Copyright © 2014 Meghan Ciana Doidge

Published by Old Man in the CrossWalk Productions 2014

Vancouver, BC, Canada

www.oldmaninthecrosswalk.com

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be produced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, objects, and incidents herein are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual things, events, locales, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Library and Archives Canada

Doidge, Meghan Ciana, 1973 —

Treasures, Demons, and Other Black Magic/Meghan Ciana Doidge — KINDLE EDITION

Cover image & design by Elizabeth Mackey

ISBN 978-1-927850-08-4