Hexes and Hoarfrost: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel: (Occult Oddities) by J.R. Rain & H.P. Mallory

Author:J.R. Rain & H.P. Mallory [Rain, J.R. & Mallory, H.P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rain Press
Published: 2024-04-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Lydia

I told Angelo almost everything I knew about Indigo, which wasn’t much.

For people fused at the soul, we didn’t know each other very well. And that wasn’t super surprising, considering it was easier to draw blood from a stone than it was to pry details from the reluctant witch. She remained silent during the explanation, stewing petulantly at the back of my mind. She wanted to clout me over the head for sharing her secrets, but there wasn’t much she could do to stop me.

“And that’s all I know,” I said a few minutes later. We’d kept up a brisk walk, traversing the areas open to the public. Anyone who happened to hear a snippet of our conversation would probably have assumed I was talking about a convoluted fantasy novel, not my real life.

Angelo’s eyes narrowed. “No, that’s not all you know.”

“Are you calling me a liar?” I asked, and fought to keep the guilt off my face. Because I was a liar. A dirty, dirty liar who was keeping a huge secret from him and from everyone else, with the exception of Marty.

“Yes,” Angelo said simply. “You’ve been lying for a long time and I haven’t called you on it.”

“What makes you think I’ve been lying?”

“I’m a demon and I grew up around other demons and if there’s one thing demons do and do constantly, it’s not tell the truth.” He looked at me and cocked a severe brow. “I recognize the signs of a lie when I see them.”

“How long have you known?”

“From the moment we met.”

Great, just great.

He looked down at me and frowned. “I was trying to let you have your privacy, Lydia, but I can’t do that any longer. Now that one of my co-workers and friend was nearly killed, you need to tell me the rest of your story. All of it.”

I stopped shy of the emergency department turnoff and veered off to feed a few dollar bills into a vending machine. I tended to snack when I was nervous or upset. This vending machine didn’t carry the brand of jelly beans I liked, so I made do with mini Oreos, trying to ignore the stare I could feel boring a hole into the back of my head.

“I don’t know anything about Ivan and Florence,” I said at last, offering him a cookie.

For once, he didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to be inappropriate. He didn’t try to get me to feed him the Oreo or offer to share it Lady and the Tramp style. That, more than anything, told me how seriously he was taking this whole lying thing. He folded his arms over his unfairly yummy chest and continued to glare at me.

“Lydia, tell me.”

“I don’t have anything to tell you,” I answered on a shrug. “Indigo’s magic and memories are spotty at best. She might know about the thing that attacked them or she might not.”

“So, you think it’s just a coincidence that mundane doppelgangers of her nieces came to the Hollow shortly before the attack occurred?”

“I don’t know what to think about that.

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