Suddenly Sorceress by Erica Lucke Dean Read Free Book Online Page B

slither off somewhere without you. Have you called Ginger?” I swallowed hard and tried to come up with a sarcastic smile. I don’t think I pulled it off though.
    “Why would I call his receptionist?” She turned her attention to my hand and gasped. “You’re wearing myengagement ring!” She grabbed my wrist, staring at the diamond solitaire. “Why are you still wearing my ring?”
    I tried to yank my hand back, but she wouldn’t let go. “He proposed to me first.”
    “So! He proposed to me last. And he told me he was getting it back from you to give to me. He said he’d sooner die than let you…” Her eyes went wide, and her free hand flew up to cover her mouth. “Oh, my God… Why do you have blood all over your hand?”
    Tugging out of her grip, I slipped my arm farther into the sleeve, hiding the tiny teeth marks. The blood soaked into the cuff. “The cat bit me. Not that it’s any of your business.” I lifted my chin and looked down my nose at her, but sounding indignant proved difficult with my heart racing. I kept picturing the giant python in the kitchen, getting into God knows what.
    She shook a harlot-red fingernail at me. “That had better be your blood. If you’ve done anything to Matt…”
    “You’ll what?”
    Candy’s face went ashen as she scanned the room with her mascara-streaked eyes. “I’ll call the police.”
    I peered behind me to take in the wreckage. Dining room chairs lay in every direction but upright, wet footprints trailed down the stairs, and the overpowering aroma of skunk permeated every square inch of the house.
    And the showstopper: the large black snake slithering out of the butler’s pantry. He glided over Matt’s worn-out edition of Gray’s Anatomy and headed in our direction.
    I used the door to nudge her out of the house while keeping the snake in my peripheral vision. “Oops, I guess I’d better get him back in his cage. Do let me know if you find Matt. I’d like to have a word with him myself.”
    As soon as I’d closed and locked the door, I made a mad dash to the laundry room. I grabbed a large plastic basket, flipped it over to dump the clean clothes on the floor, and bolted back to the foyer while clutching it. Matt had coiled up, half of him on the hardwood floor and the other half on the Persian rug. I shuddered. He lifted his head, and his reptilian eyes stared at me as I slunk closer, laundry basket tucked behind my back.
    “I’ll bet you’re pretty confused right now, aren’t you, Matty? I’m going to get you all fixed up in no time. You just need to cooperate with me. Okay?” I used my sweet voice, the one I saved for my students or for special occasions at home. That qualified as a special occasion. When I got close enough, I flipped the basket upside down over him with a spontaneous shiver. Just to be safe, I reached for Matt’s Gray’s Anatomy to use as a paperweight.
    I forced myself to try the spell again. I’d just transformed him twice in a matter of minutes. I could do it. I needed to strike while the magic was hot, so to speak. The power still sparked in me. I felt it from my fingertips down to the pulsating wet spot right between my legs. Just a whisper, but it was there. I strained to push the sensation out of me toward Matt. I concentrated on the same pattern that had worked before. I struggled to picture him as a human. The image shimmered in and out. Mostly out. I could only focus on the things I knew about him.I couldn’t see his face. It was like trying to light a match in the rain. The flame flickered and went out.
    The snake raised its head and struck out at me, hitting the inside of the basket with a dull crack. Plastic cage or not, I refused to spend any more time in a room with a slithering reptile. I’d been living with him for more than a year, but the word snake had taken on a completely new meaning. As far as I was concerned, the only snake I was going anywhere near was the pair of Louboutin pumps Chloe had