Southern Belle Read Free

step over the salt and not disturb it.
    Max put a hand on his wife's shoulder. "This is my wife —"
    "Sandra. Yes, I know. Pleasure to meet you."
    Sandra shook Leed's hand as she continued to look around.
    Leed followed her gaze. "Do you see any ghosts in here? I've tried my best to keep them out."
    "Looks like you've done a good job."
    He smiled — but his lips still trembled. "Can I get you anything to drink? Are you hungry?"
    "Let's just get right into it," Max said.
    "Of course, of course. Please, come in the living room and have a seat. You didn't bring Drummond along, did you?"
    "He's not here. And even if he was, I'm guessing he couldn't get inside."
    Leed scanned over the wards and spells he had written on the walls before double-checking the lines of salt. "Okay." He led them into the living room, a sparse area with a gray couch and a wooden rocking chair. Lowering into the chair, his joints popped like a string of firecrackers. He closed his eyes. "I can still see Drummond the day I met him."
    "When was that?" Sandra asked.
    "September 1938. Had I known that in a year Hitler would launch World War II and a few years after that I'd be turning into a human popsicle while fighting off the Bulge, well, I may not have risked so much earlier." He glanced at Max. "We both know that's not true. Risk or no risk, once the veil of the world has been pulled away, you can never truly go back. You sure you don't want a snack?"
    "We're sure," Max said. "Please, tell us what's going on."
    "Yes, yes. Let's see ... when I was fifteen, my family lived on a farm up in Virginia. I went to school during the day and helped with chores through the mornings and evenings. One day, I came home from school, ready to go milk the cows and whatnot, when I smelled something had died. It's a distinct, foul odor, and once you've experienced it, you'll never forget. Well, I followed the scent into the house and there they were. My mother and father, on the floor, covered in blood."
    Sandra leaned over and placed a hand on Leed's knee. "I'm so sorry."
    "It's not something you really ever get over. I was a wreck for a long time. But eventually I began to breathe again, to attempt to live, and when I was around seventeen, I met Dr. Matthew Ernest — a man who changed my life forever. He called himself a witch hunter, and he told me that my parents had been slain as part of a terrible coven ritual. Black magic. That sort of thing. It may sound silly, but for a distraught seventeen-year-old, these words held sway. Dr. Ernest gave me reasons for what had always been meaningless. He made sense to me. And more importantly, he gave me a target for revenge."
    Leed's formed a fist with one hand. "I'm not proud that this was my motivation for joining Dr. Ernest, but I can't change things. I became his assistant, traveling, never staying the same place for long, helping him track down any witches we learned about. All the time, though, I kept my eyes and ears wide open, hoping to find a clue that would lead me to the coven that killed my parents.
    "And then, one day, without expectations for the day to be different in any way, we found a young lady who wanted to escape her coven — the same coven that I had sought. She needed our help. Dr. Ernest tried to prepare me, tried to see that I would have the proper priorities. Well, you can imagine. It didn't go well. We captured two of the witches, but the rest got away." Leed grew silent, his eyes looking far away, his fingers absently rubbing the nicked part of his earlobe. "Ugly things happened, but I don't believe those details are important to recall for you. Suffice it to say that I had my revenge. Only as in most cases of vengeance, little relief came. I couldn't bring my parents back no matter how much pain I inflicted on those responsible, and I ended up losing part of myself every time I hurt my prisoners."
    Max settled deeper into the couch. "I'm guessing the coven witches that escaped found their way