Third Time's a Charm (Halloween LaVeau)
Read Third Time's a Charm (Halloween LaVeau) Online
Authors: Rose Pressey
THIRD TIME’S A CHARM
By Rose Pressey
Copyright © 2013 Rose
Pressey
Praise for Me and My Ghoulfriends by Rose Pressey
“Rose Pressey spins a delightful tale with misfits and romance that makes me cheer loudly.”
Coffee Time Romance
“Her characters are alive and full of quick witted charm and will make you laugh. The plot twists keep you turning the pages non-stop.”
ParaNormalRomance
“I absolutely loved this book! It had me chuckling from the beginning.”
Fallen Angel Reviews
Rose
Pressey’s Complete Bookshelf (click title to preview/buy)
Maggie, P.I. Mystery Series:
Book 1 –
Crime Wave
Book –
Murder is a Beach
The Halloween
LaVeau Series:
Book 1 –
Forever Charmed
Book 2 –
Charmed Again
Book 3 –
Third Time’s a Charm
The Rylie Cruz Series:
Book 1 –
How to Date a Werewolf
Book 2 –
How to Date a Vampire
Book 3 –
How to Date a Demon
The Larue Donovan Series:
Book 1 –
Me and My Ghoulfriends
Book 2 –
Ghouls Night Out
Book 3 –
The Ghoul Next Door
The Mystic Café Series:
Book 1 –
No Shoes, No Shirt, No Spells
Book 2 –
Pies and Potions
The Veronica Mason Series:
Book 1 –
Rock ‘n’ Roll is Undead
A Trash to Treasure Crafting Mystery:
Book 1 –
Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel
The Haunted Renovation Mystery Series:
Book 1 –
Flip that Haunted House
Book 2 –
The Haunted Fixer Upper
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form, (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, incidents, places, and brands are the product of the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
This is to you and you know who you are.
To my son, who brings me joy every single
day. To my mother, who introduced me to the love of books. To my husband, who encourages me and always has faith in me. A huge thank you to my editor, Eleanor Boyall. And to the readers who make writing fun.
Table of Contents
Being the leader of the Underworld had many challenges. I’d only just started to come to terms with my new status as the witch in charge when Giovanni St. Clair had showed up in the middle of the night and claimed that he was next in line for the position. He was a witch too, and according to him, I was holding the title illegally.
Pinpricks of stars covered the night sky and the darkness added to the spookiness of the situation
as we stood in front of the New Orleans Coven’s plantation. I felt trapped by the surrounding moss-covered oak trees and bayou just beyond the plantation’s boundaries.
Of course
with Giovanni’s ridiculous statement, I’d told him to get lost. Without proof, I wasn’t going to deal with him tonight.
“I’ll come for the Book of Mystics soon.” He forced an
insincere smile to his lips.
I’d always been terrible at guessing people’s age, but I figured Giovanni was around thirty-five. He looked dapper in a black suit, a white shirt and a black tie. With one final glare in my direction, he climbed back into his black car and drove off into the night just as mysteriously as he’d come.
Earlier in the evening I’d battled a demon and now I had to deal with a man who wanted my job. Just when I’d thought my night was taking a turn for the better… he’d shown up.
Have you ever felt as if your life was spiraling out of control? Have you ever felt you were falling and there was no way to stop
the fall and devastation that was about to happen? Yeah, that was the way I’d felt for the past couple of weeks. My best friend Annabelle Preston said I had a knack for the dramatic, but I seriously didn’t think this was an overreaction. I mean, I’d only recently been named leader of the Underworld and in that short time I had already fended off several people who also wanted the title.
Who knew leading the Underworld
was such a sought-after position. It came with a lot of responsibility. That was something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. I hadn’t even figured out what the leader of the Underworld was supposed to do. But I was determined to find out. I wouldn’t let someone just come in and steal this title from me. Not if the position wasn’t rightly theirs—but now, with Giovanni’s claim, I wasn’t quite sure. He’d been vague in his declaration and he hadn’t given me the opportunity to ask more questions.
C
laiming to be the leader of the Underworld was nothing new, but Giovanni alleged that he had proof. I had yet to see that evidence, but apparently he planned to show up at LaVeau Manor with the proof that he needed.
I’d been in New Orleans with Nicolas, Liam, and my best friend Annabelle and her boyfriend
-slash-bodyguard. She’d needed a bodyguard ever since one of the aforementioned demons had attacked and threatened her. I’d just fought off a demon with the help of the others. After the fight, I’d appointed Liam the New Orleans coven leader. He’d stayed behind at the New Orleans plantation, which was now his new home because of his coven leader status. I had to admit that I had mixed emotions about his staying behind, but Nicolas was a sweet man and when I was with him I felt swept away with excitement.
Shock fused with anger caused knots to form in my stomach. This whole leader of the Underworld thing had been a headache, but I still wasn’t ready to relinquish the title. Of course I would if it rightly belonged to someone else, but I wouldn’t unless I absolutely had to. There was no way I’d take a stranger’s word for it.
My name is Halloween LaVeau. I was once known around Enchantment Pointe as Worst Witch of the Year. But that had changed when I’d inherited my great-aunt Maddy LaVeau’s manor. I shared the place with her black cat Pluto. He wasn’t that impressed with my presence, although he was learning to tolerate me more with each fish snack I gave him. It was a creepy place and I hadn’t known what to do with the massive structure at first. Then one day it hit me: turn it into a bed-and-breakfast.
On the first night of
my new business venture, a mysterious and gorgeous man had shown up at my front door. It had been a dark and stormy evening, like a scene right out of some cheesy Halloween movie.
Then the next day, another gorgeous man had shown up at my front door and I
’d known that it hadn’t been a coincidence. After all, I wasn’t at the top of the Best Bed-and-Breakfasts Ever list, so I knew the strangers were up to something right away. Little had I known that night that the men were actually brothers, and that they were witches and vampires.
Now we were in the car headed back to
LaVeau Manor. We’d been at a beautiful plantation which was the home of the New Orleans Coven. I’d had to dismiss the former leader for being involved with black magic and demons. The clouds slowly covered the moon as I stared out the window and up at the sky. Annabelle and Jon Santos sat in the backseat of the car. Jon was another detective with the Underworld. When I glanced back at them, they had shut their eyes and were holding hands. They made a good couple, but it was still early in their relationship. Not to mention, Annabelle wasn’t paranormal and normally wanted no part of it.
Nicolas was behind the wheel.
He and his gorgeous half-brother Liam looked alike with thick dark hair, deep blue eyes, high cheekbones and dazzling smiles. They had more than their share of masculinity and irresistible levels of charm.
He smiled at me when I looked over at him. “How are you holding up? You must be exhausted.”
“Me? I’m fine. You’re the one who should be exhausted. Being held by a demon can be a little draining, right?”
I wished that we could forget what we’d seen and what had happened. All I wanted was a normal evening with Nicolas.
My relationship with Nicolas had gotten off to a strange start. I’d had a tough time working out my feelings for the brothers, Nicolas Marcos and Liam Rankin. It was for the best that Liam stayed in New Orleans. He would be an hour away and that would put the needed distance between us. I wanted to see where things went with Nicolas.
B
efore the men had arrived, I’d found this old book in the attic. As it turned out, the book allowed the person who owned it to become the leader of the Underworld. Yes, you guessed it… I was the lucky owner. A lot of people wanted to get their hands on this book.
I’d fought off demons and witches for this book. Nicolas and Liam had wanted to get rid of the thing. In hindsight, maybe that wouldn’t have been such a bad idea. Not only did the Book of Mystics make me the leader,
it also gave me the power to reanimate the dead. Let’s just say that hadn’t gone well so far. Since I hadn’t asked for the job, I wasn’t exactly excited about my new talent.
It had brought the aforementioned demon into my life. My substandard spell-casting had accidentally brought back a beautiful blonde disguised as a demon named
Isabeau Scarrett. I’d never intended on allowing demons to return to this world; bringing the dead back to life was something I didn’t want to do. That was where my questionable spell-casting came into the picture.
Things had been beyond stressful.
On top of the demons showing up, I had feelings for Nicolas and, as much as I tried to deny it, there were sparks with Liam too. I’d fought off demons with the brothers during the annual Halloween bash and with all the time that we’d spent together lately, we were quickly growing close as friends.
Then there was the demon witches Jacobson and Sabrina. It was like an endless stream of people wanting to get their hands on the book. Jacobson had been the leader of the New Orleans Coven before I’d made Liam the new leader. Jacobson’s sister Sabrina had accused Nicolas of turning her into a vampire, but in reality, the brother and sister had just been trying to get revenge for the vampire that Nicolas and his mother had killed; that vampire had turned Nicolas and his mother many years ago. It wasn’t like Nicolas had any other choice. He’d only staked the vampire to save his life.
On top of all that, now I had another witch claiming he had proof that he was the true owner of the book. Soon enough I’d find out if he was telling the truth. I didn’t know how, but I wouldn’t stop until I got to the bottom of his claim.
The road stretch
ed out endlessly in front of us. The darkness consumed us and the clouds now concealed the moon which had been our only source of light on that lonely stretch of highway leading back to Enchantment Pointe. Our surroundings were eerily peaceful until in a matter of seconds, bright lights appeared directly behind us. I looked over my shoulder and was blinded by what I assumed were another car’s high beams.
Nicolas glanced in the rearview mirror. The car continued to follow closely. “I think I’ll slow down so this car can pass.”
I nodded. “They must be in a hurry,” I said.
When Nicolas slowed down, the car didn’t pass. It remained behind us, practically touching our bumper.
“Why aren’t they passing?” I asked.
Nicolas peered into the rearview mirror again. “I don’t know, but there’s nowhere for me to pull over and let them pass.”
With this driver’s obvious road rage, I wasn’t sure pulling over would have been a great idea anyway. My anxiety grew and I wondered why this person was driving so erratically. Had they been drinking?
“Maybe we should call the police and report them?” I asked.
Reporting this driver would be for the best. I didn’t want to give this person the opportunity to hurt or kill someone. I pulled my phone out and before I had a chance to dial the numbers, the engine roared loudly and the car zipped past. It was dark, but I was sure that the car was black. And I was also sure that I’d seen the vehicle very recently. It looked like Giovanni St. Clair’s car. I wasn’t surprised that he’d followed us.