Chapter and Curse: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Cozy Mystery (Vampire Book Club 2) by Nancy Warren

Author:Nancy Warren [Warren, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781928145844
Publisher: Ambleside Publishing
Published: 2020-07-07T16:00:00+00:00

Tuesday night, I pounded up the stairs to the upper room of my shop, feeling like I was going to explode. I could hear the conversation going. How could they sound so calm? How could anyone be calm when the world was so crazy?

I burst in on the conversation. Vaguely I heard them talking about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Right, that was the book we were discussing this week.

Lady Cork was saying, “Rache, revenge is always a reliable motive for murder, but would one really allow oneself to be so consumed with revenge as to wait decades to kill?”

And then when she saw me, her words petered out. “Quinn, whatever ails you? You look quite wild.”

Wild was exactly how I felt. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I didn’t know where to go. I need to talk something through, and I want some honest responses.”

They all perked up then. I got the feeling that they may have discussed A Study in Scarlet before, possibly several times, and they were happy for a diversion. Before I could launch into my problems, Lochlan Balfour came toward me. He locked his gaze with mine, and somehow those cool, blue eyes calmed me down a little bit. Perhaps because his own heart beat so very slowly, mine began to regulate too. He watched me for probably a minute and then nodded slowly. “That’s better. Come and sit down. May I get you something?”

I realized now how parched I was. “Water?”

He didn’t exactly snap his fingers, but he made a gesture, and a young vampire immediately went running down the stairs. He returned with a cool glass of water, which I drank thirstily. I had all their attention now, and I didn’t know how to begin. The beginning, like every good book, that was the place to begin.

“As you all know, Brenda O’Donnell was murdered.”

Everyone nodded.

“No, that’s not it. I have to go back. I got this book. A grimoire. It had belonged to Brenda, or Brenda’s father, I should say. It’s a book of spells. But it’s very old and in sounding out the words of one of them, I accidentally …” I couldn’t even go into how I’d been wrapped in branches and thorns in my own cottage. It was too much. I was trying to forget it. I continued, “It turns out that the book belonged to Biddy O’Donnell.”

Now I really had their attention. “Biddy O’Donnell? The one who’s buried under the yew tree?” Lady Cork turned to Lochlan. “I wasn’t here then, but you were. Didn’t they bury her upside down?”

“They did. And laid a very heavy stone over the top of her. And the tree was meant to keep her down. But some fool, namely Father O’Flanagan, decided the tree needed pruning.”

Lady Cork shook her head. “Oh, that’s bad. I remember the stories.”

I put the empty water glass down on my desk. “Well, it turns out that I’m related to Biddy O’Donnell.”

Oscar Wilde looked fascinated. “So you really are an evil little witch,” he said, looking rather amused.

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