KISS THE WITCH by Dana Donovan Read Free Book Online

said.
“Dominic, it’s a witch thing. I don’t like it any more than you
do.”
    “ Why are you all getting
naked?”
    “ I told you. It is a witch
thing. There is this cleansing ritual. Nature. Purity. I don’t
know. I don’t understand it all. Lord knows I don’t understand
anything those two do. I only know I have to do it or Lilith will
make my life miserable.”
    “ Ooh, tough choice,”
Carlos mocked. “Let’s see, get naked with two drop-dead gorgeous
women or face the wrath of Lilith. Hmmm, I don’t know.”
    “ Carlos, you’re not
helping.”
    Spinelli grabbed Carlos’ forearm and shook
it hard. “Don’t talk about my fiancée that way, and stop thinking
about her naked.”
    “ Hey, don’t get mad at me.
Tony is the one that’s going to be gawking at her all night, not
me.”
    “ What? I’m not going to
gawk. You see, this is exactly the reason––”
    “ Oh, here he goes again,
telling me to keep my mouth shut.”
    “ I didn’t
say––”
    “ I want to
come.”
    “ What? No. Sorry, Dominic.
You can’t.”
    “ If he goes, I
go.”
    “ Forget it, Carlos. Nobody
is going. Dominic, listen. This is a serious thing for the girls.
You know how important witchcraft is to them. If not for
witchcraft, Ursula would not even be with us. You know that. No one
is going to gawk. There will be no touching, no hanky-panky. I
swear. I imagine we will have the lights off, a few candles burning
maybe, nothing more. We probably won’t even be able to see one
another.”
    “ So you’ll be groping,”
said Carlos.
    I hauled back as though I might hit him. He
didn’t flinch. Spinelli started away angry. I put my hand on his
shoulder and turned him back around. “Dominic, please. What do you
say? You trust Ursula, don’t you? Let her do this. It means a lot
to her.”
    I could see Carlos getting ready to open his
mouth, perhaps to lend his opinion on what it might mean to me, but
a rock hard stare shut him down. Dominic’s eyes rolled up to meet
mine and he forced a thin smile. “Alright. But you have to promise
not to even look at Ursula.”
    “ Dominic, I don’t know if
I can––”
    “ Promise me.”
    “ All right, I promise. I
won’t look at her. If I have to walk into furniture and bust a toe,
I will, but I won’t so much as look at her. Okay?”
    He nodded. “Okay.”
    “ So we’re
good?”
    “ We’re good.”
    “ That’s my boy.” I looked
at Carlos and stitched my brows low. “You ready now,
troublemaker?”
    The phone rang. Spinelli picked it up.
    “ Where to?” Carlos
asked.
    “ Out to Snow’s house. If
his car is in the driveway then he’s probably home. I’ll break the
door down to get to him if I have to.”
    “ Okay then. Let’s
roll.”
    We started out. Spinelli called back to us.
“Guys, wait up.” We turned. “Did I hear you say you were going to
Snow’s house?”
    “ Yes. Why?”
    “ It’s not there
anymore.”
    “ Come again?”
    “ That was NCFD. Snow’s
house blew up about fifteen minutes ago. It’s gone.”
    I looked at Carlos. His cheeks dimpled the
way they do sometimes when he’s thinking about food. “What do you
say now? Still coincidence?”
    I shook my head. “It’s getting hard to
believe it. I’ll give you that.”
    “ We still
going?”
    “ Of course. You have
somewhere better?”
    He checked his watch. “It is noon.”
    “ I suppose you’re thinking
about food.”
    “ Well….”
    I pushed him toward the door. “You’re
driving.”
     
     
    Howard Snow lived in the historic section
across town, not far from the old cemetery where construction
workers inadvertently dug up Ursula’s bones while working on a
road-widening project. I suppose the mention of the cemetery is
what started us talking about her. Carlos asked me what I thought
about her and Spinelli together. I told him I was happy for
them.
    “ No. I mean, what do you
think about them…you know, doing it?”
    “ Doing what?” I knew what
he meant.
    “ You