Hallowed Circle Read Free Page B

“Plucky as ever, is she?”
    “Plucky? Um, more like mulish and obstinate. You should visit—”
    “Oh, I don’t think she’d appreciate that.”
    “Why not?”
    “Well, we didn’t part on the best of terms.” She paused. “That was her on the phone, wasn’t it?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Didn’t even occur to me at the time.” Lydia relaxed into her chair, the warm-hearted smile on her face continuing as she waxed nostalgic.
    “As I was saying,” I forged ahead with my list of duties. “In addition to Nana, there’s Beverley, the dog, the house and yard, and my newspaper column is now nationally syndicated.” My column devoted to making readers aware of the plight of those maintaining their “normal” lives despite being wærewolves was finally paying off. The syndication was, unfortunately, thanks to the vampire who stained me,but still, my broker was going to be a happy boy. He might even learn to pronounce both my first and last names correctly. “So the pressure is high.”
    “That’s the one under the pseudonym of Circe Muirwood, right?”
    “Yeah.” Lydia, who had sold the house herself and not used an agent, had asked me many questions before she agreed to sell me her farmhouse, citing it was her responsibility to make certain that such a decidedly witchy home not end up in the wrong hands—what with its nearby ley line and all. And in the interest of keeping it inthe right hands, she’d been interested in how I’d pay the mortgage and whether my work was steady. I’d told her about the column.
    “You’re casting a rather positive light on wærewolves with that column, aren’t you?”
    “Yes. Many of my friends are wære.” I was accustomed to people being negative about them for no good reason. “Does that bother you?” Maybe it would get me out of the competition.
    “Not at all. I’ve been close to many wæres in my time, it’s just that, well … Demeter isn’t fond of them.”
    “Witches and wæres—” I began.
    Lydia joined me in finishing, “—weren’t meant to mingle.”
    I laughed.
    Lydia did too, then we sobered. “Is that still her mantra?” she asked.
    “It certainly was, but lately she has been warming up to one of my wære friends. Surprised the heck out of me.”
    “How does she feel about your column?”
    “It’s my main income and the means through which I’m supporting her, so she can’t gripe. Of course, that won’t stop her.”
    Lydia was silent, considering, but her disappointment was clear. “I see. You do have a lot of irons in the fire.” She tapped her hand gently on the table. “I had hoped you would do this. I trust you because you haven’t been subjected to all the politics or tainted by them.”
    “If things were different, Lydia, I would do this.” What Lydia didn’t realize was that I was tainted. Bearing the stain of the master vampire Menessos meant I couldn’t dothis. Shouldn’t do this. It would be unethical. Plus, I was already afraid Menessos would find some reason to further insinuate himself into my life. Becoming a high priestess with political clout might be reason enough.
    And there was more. According to Nana and Johnny—a wærewolf friend who was oddly knowledgeable about mystical things and yet another complication in my life, albeit a pleasant one—I was the Lustrata. The walker between worlds. I was still learning what, exactly, that meant. Johnny had moved into the attic room, at first as a guard of sorts, but also to help guide me in this new role. Nana had been insisting that I present myself as the Lustrata to the Council. I wasn’t about to do that until I knew what in Hades being Lustrata meant. Who knew how this Lustrata stuff would affect being a high priestess, politically, personally, spiritually, whatever.
    I exhaled resignedly; I’d come out here to decline this and should—
    Wait. This sly she-devil of a pagan was full of tricks, wasn’t she? “Lydia, since you fill out the form, I came out here