“What?”
“Y’all are red as a tomato!”
“Sly lifted his hands and was temporarily stunned speechless. His skin was lobster red.
Morgaine ripped the piece of paper out of Gwyneth’s hand. “Let me see that.”
It may have been torn, but apparently she could still read what it said. She slapped her forehead. “Damn it! We asked the cure be granted as read. R-e-a-d.”
“Yeah, so?”
“The powers that be must have thought we meant the color, r-e-d!”
Gwyneth stamped her foot. “Shoot.” Then she snapped her gaze toward the ceiling. “No,don’tshoot! Sorry for the confusion Goddess. Can y’all fix it—please?”
Sly watched as the color faded from his skin. When he was his usual pasty shade, he let out a sigh of relief. “Whew. I wouldn’t mind having a little pigment again, but I’d prefer my Latino tan to lobster red.”
“What about your other symptoms?” Morgaine asked. “Are you still, um, thirsty?”
Sly nodded sadly.
“Oh, no.”
Gwyneth started toward the stairs. “Let me go up to my place and try again.”
“No!” Morgaine and Sly said at once.
“Well then, let me get a paper and pencil and we can write it together. That way it’ll be triple checked to make sure we get all the kinks out.”
Morgaine looked at Sly. “Do you want to try again?”
“If you’re sure you can guarantee the worst that’ll happen is no cure for this bad case of the munchies.”
Chapter ten
The witches tried another, simpler spell. Morgaine had high hopes for this one. It didn’t rhyme, but it specified exactly what they wanted to happen. Remove Sly’s blood lust and allow him to stay conscious and safe in daylight.
Morgaine handed the jar to Sly. “Well, are you ready to try it again?”
He took it from her. “I think so.”
“I’ll go first if y’all want a guinea pig.” Gwyneth grinned like she couldn’t wait to chug it down. Well, why not? She seemed the most able candidate to handle it.
Sly passed it to her. “By all means. Ladies first.”
Gwyneth took a huge gulp and smacked her lips. “I just can’t get over how good this is. It just might be better than Daddy used to make.”
Morgaine rolled her eyes. “If you say so.” She took the jar and sipped gingerly. “Whoa! That still burns like gasoline—after putting a match to it.”
Gwyneth sighed. “What can I say? Some people just don’t appreciate the finer things in life.”
Sly took the jar from Morgaine, held it near his mouth and said, “Over the lips and past the gums, look out stomach, here it comes.”
As he sipped, Gwyneth turned to her older cousin and said, “See? Sly knows how to rhyme.”
They all waited anxiously for something to happen. Sly held out his hands. “Well, I’m not turning bright colors this time.”
“Is your thirst decreasing?”
