The Reluctant Goddess (The Montgomery Chronicles Book 2) by Karen Ranney Read Free Book Online Page A

day.
    Susan had taken advantage of the situation. I'd had to vacuum and wash her car. The washing hadn’t been a problem because although the Cadillac was huge, the job went quickly. But Susan was a packrat, holding onto everything rather than throw it away or, God forbid, litter. So she left it in her car.  
    I found junk mail from two years earlier under the passenger’s seat. I also discovered gum wrappers, old gum wrapped in bits of tissue, clumped up wadded napkins from a fast food place, the desiccated remnants of french fries, and one mummified maraschino cherry.  
    Aunt Susan was also a slob.
    But I had gone past the age of doing penance for my misdeeds. Besides, all I'd done was ask a question.
    "Consider this a job interview," I said. “Perhaps I'm interested in becoming a witch."
    "You can't."
    As an answer, it lacked a little something, like an explanation.
    "Why can't I?”  
    I didn’t want to be a witch, but I felt like being argumentative. Childish, I know.  
    “My mother has witch blood. You’re a witch, unless you aren’t my grandmother after all.”  
    I had her ears and her funny little earlobes. I also had her hairline with the widow’s peak. Perhaps I even had her obstinacy.
    "You can't be a witch because you’re a vampire. They’re in direct opposition. It is like thinking you can be both a lioness and a gazelle."
    "Why do I have the feeling I’m the gazelle in this instance?”  
    She sat, poured a cup of tea for me first, pushing it across the table, the sound of earthenware against painted wood comforting and familiar. I dumped three large spoonfuls of sugar and a squirt of lemon into it, taking my time to stir, concentrating on the little whirlpool I’d created in the cup.
    She sipped her tea and studied the surface of the cracked white paint of the table.
    “I know nothing of vampire lore or even their legends. I don’t know of this Pranic vampire you mentioned. Nor have I ever heard of anyone like you. All I can tell you is that from your birth you’ve been the essence of magic.”
    "I'm not magical."
    “No? You are the essence of magic. You should not exist, but you do. You violate every natural law." She sighed. “And now you violate every vampire law.”  
      I put my cup down, folded my hands on top of the table, and studied her.  
    "Did you tell your coven about me?"
    "I have shared certain facts with my sisters of the faith, yes."
    “Are they coming after me?”  
    “Do you pose a danger to us?” she asked.
    “Not that I know of. Not on purpose.”
    “Then we shall not bother you.”  
    She stretched her hand across the table. Dark purple veins wriggled on top of her hand, punctuated by liver spots. She'd aged in the last month. Hadn’t we all? Okay, maybe not me.
    “I suspect you have tremendous powers, Marcie. The exact nature of them, or how powerful you truly are, I don’t know."
    I wish I could say the rest of our conversation consisted of recounting tales of my youth, bonding in that way that grandmothers and grandchildren do. She didn't ask me anything about my life and I countered by not asking about her coven.  
    Charlie made a little sound, not a whine or a whimper, just a reminder to let me know that he was still here. I leaned down and petted him, feeling his head pressed against my knee.
    "He's a good dog," Nonnie said.
    "He is."
    "Could he have a treat?"
    "It doesn't have a potion in it, does it?"
    She sent me a wobbly smile. “Linda has a Pomeranian. I keep them for her. They taste like bacon.”  
    I felt Charlie sigh against me.
    He might not be a shape shifter, but I swear he spoke English.
    "I think he would love one," I said.
    She stood, went to the counter and opened a pottery canister. Up until then, I hadn't noticed that it said Dog Treats across the front and had a handle shaped like a bone.
    She retrieved two treats, returned to the table and bent underneath. Charlie left my side faster than you could say bacon and sat in front