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Excerpt

The timing couldn’t have been better. Alicia was finally alone. She sat on the edge of a table, not far from the buffet, with her legs crossed, watching everyone around her. Kevin understood Jack’s comment about her being proud of her legs. She was stunning, and could only imagine how she looked in a pair of shorts.

She didn’t see him as he approached. He could introduce himself to her. His mind was blank, but they did have Victoria and Alex in common. Certainly some topics of conversation would pop in his head.

She ran a hand through her short hair and smiled at someone across the room. Even her smile was beautiful. Kevin felt his confidence slipping. He tried to hold onto it before it left, but it was no use. It ran through his fingers like water.

He veered off, taking another angle and walking straight for the buffet table. It was all but deserted, and he grabbed a paper plate to not look like an idiot.

Although it was probably too late for that.

Closing his eyes, he tried to keep calm. Every terrible thought came, one after another. Jack was probably belly-laughing at his expense across the room. If Alicia truly was watching him, she either felt he was a coward or a pig.

He absentmindedly put a tiny amount of food on his plate. He wasn’t hungry at all, but couldn’t drift through the buffet line empty-handed. The staff smiled politely at him, and he returned the gesture.

“The ham is good,” a voice said next to him. “Have you tried a piece of the wedding cake yet?”

He turned his head, and there she was. Alicia stood mere inches from him, with her own paper plate. She was smiling at him, waiting for an answer. The problem was her smile seemed to do something to Kevin’s brain, and he’d already forgotten what she asked.

Something tried to form in his mind, but it wasn’t words. His stomach dropped when he realized what it was.

“Baby powder.”

Alicia wrinkled her nose. “Uh, excuse me?”

He looked up at the staff, most of whom had gathered along the wall, no longer needed in the kitchen.

“Does anyone have a pen I could borrow?”

A kind woman handed him a pen, and Kevin set a napkin on a bare spot on the table. He scribbled in the witch’s language, the letters and words coming naturally.

Chili powder. Olive oil. Baby powder.

That was it. Another ingredient in what was becoming a spell-tease. Whenever a spell completed in his mind, he would immediately know what it did. That knowledge still eluded him.

Alicia giggled quietly next to him, looking over his shoulder. “What is that?”

Kevin glanced at the partial spell. To any non-witch, their language looked like strange hieroglyphics, random lines and pictures.

“Uh…something very cool and mysterious.”

“Ooh. So, you’re a cool and mysterious guy?”

“Not really.”

She laughed, an intoxicating sound. “I saw you at the church, sitting next to Victoria.”

“Yeah. That was me. I was sitting to her left.”

He wanted to slap himself. He could only wonder what ridiculous thing he’d say next.

“I was in front. I was the maid of honor.” She glanced down at the table. “I was also the best man. It was a little weird.”

Kevin picked up on a detail. Maybe talking with Jack was rubbing off on him.

Alicia was just as nervous as he was.

His confidence tried to return. It wasn’t back completely, but ever so slightly, like he fed it some of his magic water.

“I think everyone here knows who you are. You’re Alicia, right?”

“That’s me. But everyone calls me Leese. Only my brother calls me Alicia.”

He held out his hand. “I’m Kevin.”

She smiled again as they shook hands. He wished she’d stop smiling. It was distracting.

Leese scanned the dining room. People had started to leave, but there were still plenty left having a good time. They had their choice of places to sit.

“You want to grab a table?” she asked. “I think we’re the only two eating.”

“Yeah, that sounds great.”

They found an empty table off to the side, away from the action. Kevin could see out the doorway and through a window that it was night out. The events earlier in the day seemed like a lifetime ago as he sat across the table from Leese.

“Is that all you got?” she asked, nodding at his plate.

He looked at his randomly-thrown-together food, and pushed it to the side.

“I’m not hungry at all. I only went to the buffet because I was too nervous to walk up to you.”

She smiled, and pushed her food away as well.

“I only got food to talk to you. I was wondering if you even noticed me.”

“Oh, believe me, you were noticed.”

She turned red before gesturing across the room. “So, you’re a friend of Victoria’s?”

He spun in his chair to see the vampire and Jack still sitting, laughing and talking. Actually, she was the one laughing, Jack was more sneering.

“Yeah. She’s the only person I really know here. I only met your brother once.”

“Are you two…?”

He finished her question, laughing at the thought. “A couple? No, no way. She’s a little too old for me.”

“Yeah, just a little.”

At that moment, they both knew. It wasn’t much of a stretch to make. They both knew Victoria was a vampire, and they knew each other knew.

 

 

 

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