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I focused on my phone again. The book I was reading took me on a deep dive into the early life of the monk, Henrick Krommer, and the incidents that led him to write the infamousMalleus Maleficarum,orThe Hammer of the Witches. It was the book that had laid the groundwork for innocent women and men all over Europe, and finally here in Salem, to be accused and executed for witchcraft.
My coven sisters whom I’d grown up with had no use for the old stories or the eventual movie and television depictions of witches. But this yearning I had to understand it all wouldn’t go away. I figured there must be an answer I was meant to find. Hopefully I’d recognize what I was looking for once I stumbled over it.
The server brought my food, and I munched on it as I read. A few minutes later, a man at the bar slid off a stool, knocking it to the ground as he gripped his neck. I jumped out of my chair, hoping a doctor might appear to save the day, but it was a weeknight and there weren’t many people in the tavern.
No one else moved so I ran over and got behind him, clasping my hands around his middle. I pressed into his torso once, and on the second compression, he coughed out the steak from his windpipe.
He wheezed, gasping for air as I released him. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
At the other end of the bar, the man I’d seen come in earlier tipped his head to me. “Nice work.”
“Glad I could help.” I went back to my table, uncomfortable with all the attention. I checked the time on my phone. Zeke was supposed to meet me at the fountain in twenty minutes anyway.
When my server came by, I asked for the check, but she smiled and shook her head. “It’s all paid for.”
I arched a brow. “Excuse me?”
She pointed at the older guy at the far end of the bar. “He took care of your tab.” Her lips curved into a warm smile. “You’re a hero.”
I picked up my phone from the table. “Just in the right place at the right time.”
She took the plate and my glass and went back to the kitchen. I slid my cell into the pocket of my skirt and approached the man who bought my food. “Thank you for…my dinner.”
“My pleasure.” He had light-blue eyes that seemed to sparkle in the dim lighting. “It’s rare these days to see someone step up like you did. You renewed my faith in humanity. The least I could do was pay your tab.”
Heat crept up my neck as I shrugged. “I’ll let you enjoy your drink.”
He nodded, and I headed for the exit. My intuition and my spirit guides were all pinging, and I didn’t question it. There was something about the man at the bar that I couldn’t put my finger on. My guides were whispering that he was more than he seemed. In my experience, that could mean anything from he was really the owner of the place trying to pass as a customer to someone with a hidden agenda. I didn’t know which end of the spectrum this man fell on, but I wasn’t going to stick around to find out.
Once I got outside, I whispered an incantation to blur time. It was a simple spell, one of the first my mother had taught me. It didn’t actually make me so fast I was a blur. The spell just bent time so while I walked to the fountain at a normal pace, time inside the restaurant was passing slower. To anyone inside, it’d seem like I had vanished into the crowd.
I ended the spell once I was on the other side of the mall and back on Essex Street. No one seemed to be following me, so I hurried toward the fountain. During the daylight hours, it attracted tourists and tours because it was the original site of the first water pump in Salem, immortalized by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his story,A Rill from the Town Pump.But at this time of night, it was deserted. The restaurants and shops were closed, and the ghost tours long gone. As I got closer, a long shadow stretched across the uneven cobblestone street. Zeke turned around. He’d probably heard me coming.
My heart skipped as he came closer. He was wearing jeans and a forest-green, long-sleeved Henley. I chuckled, shaking my head. “Aren’t you freezing? Where’s your coat?”
He shot me a crooked grin. “I’m okay. We run a little hot.”
Oh, he was hot all right. I tried not to watch the way he pushed up his sleeves, exposing his chiseled forearms. “Are you cold?” he asked. “Why’d you want to meet out here?”
“Because a few of the coven members are working at the shop tonight, and I didn’t want anyone to see us meeting.” My breath turned to wisps of fog as I spoke. “I thought we could walk and talk, but I didn’t realize it would be this cold.”
“My truck is around the corner. I know a place we could go.”
I hesitated for a second. “Where?”
He tugged at his chin and shook his head. “I know you met a bad werewolf, but he’s not me. Hell, if I wanted to hurt you, I had plenty of opportunities last night.”
That was true.
He chuckled and added, “Plus, Lillian and Mathias would kick my ass if anything happened to you.”
That was also true. I nodded. “Okay. Lead the way.”
He took my hand, and a jolt of awareness shot up my arm. And at the same time, something told me to look back. I glanced over my shoulder as a tall man in a trench coat with white hair ducked behind the fountain. The man who bought my dinner.
I narrowed my eyes and whispered, “Just a second.”
