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Trick or Treat for the Desperate Devil

Page 24

by C.D. Gorri

A dangerously attractive Witch moving into a haunted wreck next door when I'm already one bad day away from losing control of my Devil.

So there's only one sensible solution.

Belinda Ramos needs to go.

And if she refuses to sell willingly? Fine.

Arrhythmia is about to celebrate Halloween.

I have money.

I have magic.

And I have an entire haunted house sitting right beside me.

A slow smile pulls at my mouth.

Trick or treat, little Witch.

Let's see how badly you really want to stay.

Chapter 1

Belinda

Getting Bell’s Books, Bed & Breakfast ready for business two weeks before Halloween is turning out to be a tougher proposition than I thought.

First, there’s the cleaning. And for some reason, the house itself seems determined to fight me every step of the way.

Luckily, I find Clarissa’s Cleaning Service.

Clarissa herself is the sweetest little Sprite I’ve ever met. She stands about four feet tall, has cotton-candy-pink hair, glittery wings, and a bubbly personality that should be annoying before coffee but somehow isn’t.

She also has fifteen siblings. They all work for her.

“You have ghosts, Belinda. That’s why the slime,” Clarissa tells me cheerfully while two of her brothers scrape green goo off my dining room ceiling.

I glance up.

“How did it get on the ceiling?”

Clarissa shrugs.

“Ghosts.”

Fair enough.

“But if you let me transform part of the attic into a proper spectral residence, I bet I can solve most of your haunting problems.”

“Yes.” I nod enthusiastically. “Please. Absolutely.”

A crash comes from upstairs. Clarissa winces.

“Most.”

I’ll take it.

By lunchtime, Sprites are everywhere. Scrubbing, hammering, chanting, hauling out furniture, and beating decades of dust from the rugs.