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“Ha! You know, I should start my own influencer campaign. Being Damon Hawke’s sister has a ring to it. My tag line could beThe Real Story. No!The Man Behind the Cape!” She laughed at herself as she walked away.
Damon knew his family thought his career choice was a joke, but they didn’t laugh at the money he made in endorsements and advertising on his various media outlets. He’d studied acting and theater in college, but instead of going the traditional route of auditioning for work, he opted to utilize his entrepreneurial side and make a name for himself on the internet. HisWizarding Waysvideos, a documentary-style series about his life with magic, made him a sustainable income.
It had taken a while for his career to get off the ground though, and he’d suffered a fair amount of harsh criticism at first. But Damon had been entertaining people all his life, and he knew he was good at it. Once he’d fine-tuned the public side of himself, things began to happen for Damon. Wearing suits and changing his last name from Brannigan to Hawke were things he did to make himself stand out. Now he was on his way to becoming a pop culture icon, and she might not know it yet, but Kay Knight was going to help make it happen.
He recalled the two weeks of summer camp they’d spent together when they were fourteen. It was a camp designed to help witches and wizards to hone their craft, and Kay and he had become close in the short time they were there. Close enough he’d stolen a kiss the last day they were together, and he still remembered how flustered it had made both of them. He’d often wondered if they’d have dated in high school if he and his brothers hadn’t caused a rift between the Knights and Brannigans that following fall.
He’d seen her from afar over the years, but he’d never made an attempt to talk to her again. She hadn’t tried to either, making him think any advance he made would have been unwelcome. None of that mattered now, because he wasn’t going to let something that happened more than fifteen years ago get in the way of his master plan.
Damon’s heart beat a little faster in anticipation of seeing Kay again. He removed his cape and draped it over a chair in his room before smoothing down his hair, adjusting his tie, and grabbing his wallet and keys. He was going to Night Meadow Island to make Kay a deal she’d be a fool to turn down.
* * *
The old Victorianhome the Knights resided in was gray with ornate white trim. It should have been a sight to behold, thought Damon as he drove toward it. The Knights certainly took good care of it, but he knew there were whispers amongst townsfolk that the angles were a little off and that there were spirits smiling behind the windows as they plotted the mischief they’d cause next. Squinting his eyes, Damon could see what regular people saw. While it was due to the fact that the house was well over one hundred years old, had settled and shifted over the decades, and was inhabited by witches, he knew better than anyone what a few careful seeds of doubt planted in an ordinary mind could do. It was a shame the Knight women didn’t take advantage of it.
Damon certainly planned to, and like it or not, at least one member of the Knight family was about to be thrown into the spotlight to do the same. “This couldn’t be more perfect,” Damon said to himself as visions of footage for his video channel flashed in his mind. The dashing hero would have a beautiful witch by his side, pining for him the way so many of his adoring female fans did. And they’d adore him even more when they saw how devoted he was to her. They’d be a love story to talk about.
Damon chuckled to himself as he approached in his car, a black Land Rover that presented itself as practical and sophisticated on Maine roads. He realized he was getting ahead of himself. He had no idea if the girl he’d watched from afar and crushed on for years had become as attractive as his fantasies had made her. Either way, he planned to win her over.
Not long ago, word had gotten out that Kay was the kind of witch who could put spirits in their place. She had removed one from a home on her island, and while that situation had likely been real, Damon had inside information that the current spirit she was about to remove from a historic home on the coast of Night Meadow Island had been planted there by Kay herself.
It wasn’t uncommon for witches and wizards to use their magic here and there for personal gain, and Damon certainly didn’t judge her for doing something he’d done many times, but it wasn’t information the magical community wanted getting out into the general population. That tidbit of knowledge was what Damon planned to leverage.
As he pulled into the driveway, he took note of the police cruiser parked there. He wondered if there was trouble. But when he saw Kay walking out with an officer and noticed the smile on her face, he realized he’d arrived at the right time. He’d bet his new silk cape that Kay was off with the man to rid a house of a ghost. He got out of his car and stepped in front of the couple. His breath caught in his throat at the sight of Kay. Sunlight made the red highlights in her hair practically glow as it framed her delicate face. Her eyes were the color of the sky when the sun shone down on a crisp winter day. He nearly sighed when he noticed the warm and nurturing aura that surrounded her. Kindness practically oozed out of her pores, and it made Damon want to taunt her to be bad. She was even more compelling than he’d remembered. Holding out his hand, he said, “Kay Knight, how good to see you again.”
Her eyes narrowed at him for a moment, making him believe she wasn’t as happy to see him. Her wariness was fair considering the animosity between the Brannigans and Knights. He moved on to the police officer and addressed him as well. “Damon Hawke.”
“Officer Tucker Eagan,” the uniformed man said as he gripped Damon’s hand firmly. “How can I help you?”
The conversation Damon wanted to have with Kay was a private one, so he thought quickly and said, “I’m here for a little family business, Officer.” He looked at Kay. “I came to see your mother.”
Kay frowned. “DamonBrannigan.” She gave him a critical look. “Was she aware you were coming? Because she’s on the mainland for an appointment. And— ” She glanced at Tucker.
“Yeah,” Damon said to let her know that he understood she meant he wasn’t exactly welcome. “I thought it was best this way. I was hoping she’d be home.”
Kay’s posture stiffened. “My mother is a busy woman with a full-time job. Next time make proper arrangements.”
He deserved that, but the fact she didn’t want to like him made the challenge of enticing Kay even more exciting. “Of course she is. She’s a very talented writer. Forgive me for assuming she worked at home.”
Kay’s expression softened a bit, and he knew why. Damon had done his research on the Knight family. He knew that Kay and her sister Corinne ran a magical baked goods business, that her older sister Amelia was a wedding planner, and that the baby of the family, Brianna, was a handful who was struggling to grow up. And he knew that Eileen Knight was a writer who worked at home.
Kay said, “Perhaps if you call her, she can meet you on the mainland later today.”
“I’ll do that. Thank you.” He stepped aside to let Tucker and Kay pass. “After you,” he said, and he bowed his head as if royalty were walking by. Kay lifted her chin as if she was. But Damon knew he’d gotten under her skin, and that made him smile.
Kay Knight felt something for him, even if it was just anger right now. It made his heart flip, and the heat he felt fill his veins shouldn’t have surprised him. He’d known the first time he’d kissed Kay more than fifteen years ago that she was his witch. And he’d waited a long time to finally claim her. But now that he was here, he realized she was going to claim him. It was only a matter of time.
3
Kay
Kay watchedDamon disappear in the side mirror of Tucker’s truck. What the heck is Damon Brannigan doing on my island, thought Kay as Tucker drove them toward Nora Lang’s house. She still couldn’t believe the man was so full of himself he’d shown up to see her mother without calling first. As if Eileen would drop everything to give him her attention. Well, her mother probably would have. Eileen hated the rift between the Brannigan and Knight families. She’d even gone out of her way to invite them for dinner a few times, but those invitations had all been either ignored or declined.
Kay wasn’t one to hold a grudge either, and she usually had a big heart when it came to forgiveness. Especially since she’d had a brief summer romance with Damon when she was a teen. She’d never suspected that seeing him again would have affected her the way Damon just had. She wasn’t even sure what irked her so much about him. She supposed it was the way he flaunted his magic and seemed to make money off the mere fact he was an attractive wizard. It was just like him to be so cocky. He’d been that way at camp, too. Although at the time, she’d found his confidence very attractive and something she longed for. She sighed and pushed Damon out of her mind. She had more important things to worry about.
As they rode down the road slower than she would have driven, she watched Tucker grimace after a sip of coffee, making her wonder if the drink was cold. As the travel mug clattered into the cup holder, Kay worried that Tucker wasn’t up for the task ahead. It was pretty clear he wasn’t happy about what they were about to do based on the way he gripped the wheel of the police cruiser so firmly that his knuckles had turned white.
“You’re not looking forward to this, are you?” she asked. She knew that was a stupid question. The one and only time they’d rid a house of a spirit, Tucker had been anxious. She suspected he was still afraid of ghosts the way some people were afraid of spiders. Kay knew Roger, his boss, had likely given him the assignment of ghost chasing on Night Meadow Island because Tucker had grown up there and knew almost every resident. She’d also bet that Tucker was not a fan of the ancient requirement that stipulated law enforcement be part of all paranormal cleansing activities.
