Page 41 of Grimoires & Glamoury

“You wound me,” Charles said dryly and kept on texting away on his phone. “But I understand.” He only glanced up from his phone as the doors slid open. “I’ll text you later with details.”

“Okay.”

My driver was standing right outside the elevator, there waiting for me. “Magistra.” He inclined his head and gestured to the car that was parked only a few feet away. Then he walked over and opened the back passenger door for me.

“Thank you,” I said to him as I slipped inside the car.

Once the car door was shut, I sat back with a sigh. I had a hell of a lot to do and prepare for—and only about twelve hours to pull it all off. Pulling my phone from my purse, I began to fire off texts of my own. First to Dex and Kathleen asking them to fill in for me for the next several days. Dex was an instant yes, with no questions asked. Kathleen was happy with a chance for more hours, and she also volunteered to water the gardens at my house while I was gone.

The final text message I sent was to a Witch friend of mine from the hollow, Ruby. She was also a bookseller. We’d met a few years back and had stayed in touch.

Hey girl, I texted. Looks like I’m coming to the hollow tomorrow.

She responded almost immediately: Looking forward to seeing you. Damien told me what was in the wind about an hour ago.

Damien was her husband and active in Vampire/ Supe politics. Which was probably how the Olarescus had known of my connection to Ruby.

How’s Xander doing these days? I texted next, asking about her son.

He skipped right over his terrible twos, and is a mini terrorist now that he’s three, she texted back.

Can’t wait to see you both, I replied.

See you tomorrow, she responded.

I ended the text message chain. A text, while not very secure, was still one of the quickest ways to communicate with a fellow Witch that lived several states away…and if anyone happened to see it or intercept it, they would see nothing other than two friends chatting. Cell phone conversations were a risk—landlines were still the most secure method for speaking, which is why I had one at my house.

Selecting the notes app on my phone I began to make a list of what I would need to bring with me—clothes and magickal supplies—for the trip.

I’d been home for less than an hour when my house phone rang. Very few people had the number to my landline and so I checked the read-out on the phone, recognized the caller and picked up the receiver in my bedroom.

“Hello, Granny.”

“Lorna Josephine Southern...” she began in a lecturing tone.

“Uh-oh,” I said, “you’re using my government name. I must be in trouble.”

“I’ve been having nightmares and visions about you for the past few weeks! Something about bats and blood and a book that glows with golden light. You tell me what is happening down there in Birmingham and tell me right now, young lady.”

With a quiet sigh, I sat on the edge of my bed and explained the situation. I respected my Granny too much to be anything other than honest with her. “A grimoire belonging to Charles Montgomery was stolen by his assistant from his personal library.”

“Montgomery. That’s the grand high poobah of ceremonialists from the rich part of town.”

“You never miss a trick, Granny.”

“Just because I choose to live in the Appalachians doesn’t mean I’m stupid,” she reminded me.

“The thief was a member of the lodge and his name is Sawyer,” I said, as I began to pull clothes out to pack. “His girlfriend worked for me as my secretary for Witch community business. And we discovered that shortly after the grimoire was taken that she had cleaned out our Witches Ball account and that those two had skipped town together.”

“Shelby?” Granny asked. “I think I met her the last time I visited you. Blonde hair and she worked at the University?”

“Yes, that’s Shelby.”

“Lord almighty,” Granny breathed. “Tell me the rest.”

“Sawyer and Shelby had a roommate named Tadd. He was found murdered about the same time the couple disappeared. And to add to the trouble, I recently learned that their roommate was blood bound to a local Vampire House.”

“Sonofabitch!” Granny hissed.