Page 5

I felt the pull to stalk over to the coffee shop, to check on her.

Cassandra.

The witch who presumably made fantastic coffee.

The witch who was bad at being a witch.

What did that even mean?

Selina, the previous witch who’d owned the coffee shop, was an old hag who used up most of her magical stores keeping her appearance as a beautiful midtwenties human woman. Even so, she had enough magic to spare for basic spells, such as ensuring Matilda the gorgon’s glasses remained opaque enough that she did not turn anyone in town to stone.

Since Selina had left, Matilda had resorted to wearing two and three pairs of glasses at a time, just to be safe. Unlike me, she’d be thrilled to hear that a new witch had moved to town.

I practically growled. Phoenixes didn’t growl. We sang beautifully. We spread goodwill. We regenerated.

By we, I meant other phoenixes, the ones who came before me. I used to do all that…until I didn’t.

I hadn’t been forced to regenerate since I moved to Arrythmia, and I was not unhappy about it.

I may miss the singing and the goodwill-spreading, but whatever. At least no one was almost dying, and I was A-OK with that.

My gaze strayed to the drawing in my hand. I needed to get out of here. Not this town, but this shop. Away from this drawing.

I needed to talk to a friend.

I stalked to my office, which was more or less a closet in the back of the shop, and shoved the drawing into a drawer. The urge to pull it back out and stuff it into my pocket for safekeeping was real.

Instead, I slammed the drawer shut and strode across the street to the B&B, where Asmoday was preparing for our latest arrival. I knew because he was the self-proclaimed welcoming committee for all new monsters in town.

And because of the mouthwatering scent of smoking ribs pouring from his back porch. He enjoyed cooking and pretty much used any excuse to do so for others.

Asmoday was more phoenix than I was, and he was a freaking demon.

Instead of walking through the house to get to the backyard, I strode around the side, along the little garden path he and his mate, Daruka, had been nurturing since they got together last February.

Clumps of purple asteria dripping from a wooden trellis brushed the swoop of my hair as I stepped into the yard. Asmoday and Daruka were embraced, playing tonsil hockey while smoke curled up from the nearest of four smokers lining the back porch.

The B&B was also their home. It was a historical building, and while Asmoday had left much of the original detailing on the inside, he’d entirely updated this little slice of barbeque heaven out here in his backyard.

It was a covered porch with smooth stone pavers, a long ceramic countertop, and a sink and grill the yeti and I had helped him install. Slowly spinning ceiling fans helped keep the smoke—and mosquitoes—at bay.

“Morning,” I belatedly called out in warning. Everyone in town knew to announce themselves before entering the yard. Asmoday and Daruka had a thing for having sex in their backyard, and that was not a sight I needed to see more than once.

This new witch was already throwing me off my game. And honestly, I didn’t have much game to begin with.

The happy couple pulled apart, Asmoday grinning like the happy lust demon he was, while Daruka’s cheeks were pink—although her gaze kept creeping back to Asmoday like she was considering climbing him like a tree, eyewitness be damned.

My inner phoenix preened. It loved this shit.

Happiness.

“How’s it going?” Asmoday asked.

My inner phoenix wilted. “They hired a new witch,” I said glumly.

“Fantastic!”

“That’s great,” Daruka added. “Now I won’t have to stress over making my own coffee anymore.”