Whiskey Witches, F.J. Blooding [ap literature book list .TXT] 📗

Balnore set his hands on Paige’s shoulders.

She stared up at him, the weight of the world settling over her. So much had happened. Memories slammed into her mind, making it hard to think. She needed her protector and guide, her teacher and the only one who could understand her at that moment. “What do I do?”

He smiled as he pulled away to perch on the end of the table. “Years have passed, Peanut. It’s time to move on. You’ve got responsibilities. You need to pick them up again. The world needs you.”

She dropped her gaze.

“You don’t have the luxury to sit around and grieve. You have to pick yourself up and live. You don’t have a choice. You have run out of time to be irrational.”

Irrational? That pissed her off.

A movement caught her attention.

Dexx had come a few steps closer, his knife in hand. “Are we done here? Can he leave now?”

Balnore gestured with one hand toward the knife. “I’ve heard stories about that.”

Dexx shrugged. “I do what I can.”

“So do we all.”

She turned to the table and stared at the picture of one of the women who had been murdered. She blinked. Ashley had been killed because she, Paige, had had a meltdown and had tried to kill her own mother using a demon. There were three people who had been killed because she wasn’t doing her job. Had she remained calm and in control, would these people still be alive today? Would she have been able to control this uprising?

She could speculate, but this case took on a much more personal note. This was her mess. She was the only one who could clean it up.

A dry chuckle escaped from her mouth. Once that escaped, she started laughing so hard tears streamed from her eyes.

Balnore knelt beside her. “Paige, you’ve got to be more careful. You didn’t set up any protections before you summoned me.”

She snorted, still chuckling. “I need protection against you? You were kicked out of Hell for being nice.”

He quirked his lips in derision.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Dad. I’ll be more careful.”

Balnore stood up and left in an evaporating mist.

Everything going on inside her head, all the turmoil in her heart, all the guilt, all the anger, the pain, the frustration, the betrayal. It capsized, flipping the laughter to tears.

Dexx wrapped her in his arms. He murmured words of comfort into her hair, but she couldn’t understand them.

She felt, for the first time in years, that she wasn’t alone. She’d felt anger before, the height of which had driven her to summon a demon to kill her mother. She had felt frustration. She had felt loss.

But this? Years lost, without even asking about Leah or trying to get secret messages to her. No pictures, no presents at Christmas or cards at birthdays.

People died because of her.

Dexx scooted the both of them across the floor, to on the bed. He didn’t stop holding her.

Her eyes were puffy and sore. Pressure built in her sinuses, giving her one heck of a headache. She lay against him, spent, feeling like a total loser.

“All done?” he asked.

“Sure.” That was a lie. There was no end to the bottom of this bucket of misery, no matter how many tears she syphoned from it.

She felt his lips press against the top of her head before he rested his cheek there. She listened to his heartbeat, listened to him breathe, while his strong arms stayed wrapped around her.

“Tell me that everything will be okay,” she said in a whisper.

“I won’t lie to you. There’s been too much of that already.”

She nodded, her eyes starting to feel like eyes again.

“But I will say that we’ll do our best.”

She felt comfortable for the first time in years. She felt safe. It was fragile, but she would take what she could for as long as she could. She fell asleep to the sound of his heart beside her ear.

Paige woke to the sound of the lock being turned back. The desk clock read a little after five in the morning.

Dexx stirred under her, but didn’t make any move to get up. “It’s about goddamned time,” he grumbled. “Alma, what took you so long?”

“We were trying to find arrangements for the kids.” Alma’s voice was gruff.

“I thought Leslie said Tru was going to watch them.”

Paige started to get up, but Dexx stopped her with his arm. It wasn’t a threatening embrace. He was offering support if she were willing to accept it. The time to put on the game face had come, but it felt so good to stay. She sank back into his arms, ignoring her numb butt. He couldn’t be too comfortable either.

Alma walked into view and stood assessing the two of them, her shoulders hunched with age.

Paige looked up at her grandmother and pulled away from Dexx a bit. As much as she’d missed the old woman’s craggy, heavy-set and leather-worn face, she couldn’t get around the betrayal lodged in her chest. Alma’s long, white hair was pulled back in a fraying braid that proved they’d kept the windows open. The old woman’s eyes, one blue, one cataract white, watched her, weighing her and measuring.

“How are you doing?” Alma hedged.

Paige wasn’t sure how she wanted to respond. Yes. A few hours ago, she’d felt a world of grief, but the reality of the situation was that her grief had blossomed years ago. Time, for all that the memories had been forgotten, had at the very least dampened the sharp, bitter edge.

But this woman had raised her, had treated her like her own daughter. Alma was her mother. The betrayal was fresh, pungent and acidic. Part of Paige wanted to handle the situation like a mature, adult woman, see her grandmother’s side, understand, deal.

Another part wanted to punch the old woman in the gut and sneer as she demanded to know how it felt to be struck down by a person she trusted with her entire being.

Dexx held her close. She could feel him tip his head at the older woman, but he said nothing.

“How worried should I be?” Alma asked.

“You know what?” Dexx’s voice was filled with frustration. “The woman hasn’t called a demon to kill you yet, so I say win-win for both teams.”

Alma raised her chin.

He gestured with his hands in a futile motion before settling them on Paige’s arm and waist again. “Could we just deal with this situation like you should have a long time ago?”

Alma crossed her arms over her large chest.

“Please?”

“Hey,” a new voice called from the door.

Paige turned toward the door without breaking contact with Dexx. Tru stood there looking like the nerd he was. His shaggy blonde-brown hair hung below the tops of his ears. His thin nose held up wire-frame spectacles, and he wore a T-shirt with Yoda that read, “Do or do not. There is no try.” His cargo khaki shorts needed ironed badly.

“Tru, man!” Dexx twisted beneath her. “I know I told Fanny to give you guys a key, but this room’s booked. Don’t know if you noticed that. You three are staying somewhere else.”

“Les stayed at home.”

“Then, what took you so long? Alma said it was to find arrangements for the kids.”

“Yeah. Exactly.”

Leslie didn’t like being left behind. It didn’t matter she was as big as a yacht with what had to be a ten pound baby growing in her womb. She would want to be there, saving her little sister like always.

She’d been behind the memory blockers. Though it was easier to understand her big sister’s position, it didn’t make it any better. Not really.

The man grinned at Dexx. “We’re not messing with the mojo, are we? Dexx and Paig-ee sitting in a tree—”

Dexx cut him off with a sharp chortle. “You’ve been hanging around little kids way too much, man. Talk to some adults. Seriously.”

Paige snorted. He was a dork, but a cute dork.

“So, then we’re not messin’ with the—” He did a little shimmy, his hands out, palms down. It looked like was mimicking a surfer. “—chemistry.”

“Nah,” Dexx said with a shrug. “You know, we’re just battling demons and catching killers. The norm.”

The truth was, Paige did want the chemistry. She had for a long time, but they were always on a case, always working a job. She didn’t know how to be anything other than serious when on a case. She hadn’t always been that way, but after Leah, work had become her coping mechanism.

Tru gave them a sarcastically sage look. “Sounds right.” He sighed at Alma. “So, where’re we