The Witch and the Englishman Read Free

excited—she veritably radiated heat. Granted, it was my heat back to me; meaning, she drew energy from me—and the surrounding household—which was why my lights now flickered and my refrigerator hummed and sputtered.
    She ignored my last comment. Millicent often ignored my jibes and jabs and witticisms. Instead, she said, “Part of your education, child, is to know when to step aside...and when to take action.”
    “And let nature take its course?”
    She nodded. Now she was directly in front of me, so close that I could see the irises of her eyes. They might have flared briefly with a small fire...or that could have been my imagination. Had she had bad breath, I would have known. She didn’t, thank God, mostly because she didn’t breathe.
    Once again, I soaked her in, studying her every feature, and as I did, I had brief flashes—as I often had when she was nearby, and especially when she made a full physical appearance, as she was doing now—of us as teenagers, in a long-ago time, in a forgotten forest, practicing our witchcraft...and loving every minute of it. There was, of course, another witch with us. Samantha Moon. The three of us were something to behold...and something to respect and to even fear.
    Most of what I had learned in those bygone, forgotten days was lost to me. Sort of. With Millicent’s guidance, I was quickly coming into my own, growing more powerful and knowledgeable.
    Samantha Moon? Not so much. My undead friend was now on her own path; that was, she was on the path of the bloodsuckers, which made the witch threesome now a twosome. According to Millicent, we were stronger as three. Anything done in threes was powerful. From prayers to witchcraft.
    Of course, I was presently the only mortal among the three of us, which was a problem. Millicent was still technically a witch, although a dead one. As I’d discovered, her being dead didn’t matter much. She did naturally and easily on the “other side” what I was having trouble doing on “this side.” Still, there were rules in place, rules that limited her involvement in this world—the physical world. She was a force to be reckoned with...and a witch, through and through.
    The same couldn’t be said for my friend, Sam. From what I had gathered, the witchy spark had left her the moment she became something else. Or, more accurately, the moment something very dark and evil had entered into her. It was something Sam was fighting to this day.
    But that was another story.
    The story I found myself in now was one that was troubling...but one that I was determined to do something about.
    “ No, child,” said Millicent, who still used her manner of speech from her last incarnation. “Now is the time to step aside. There is great danger in that home.”
    “ What kind of danger?”
    “ There is a presence, something hidden.”
    “ Fine. Whatever. It can just stay hidden. But I’ll be damned if I’ll just let a man die. I can’t do that.”
    “ His death has nothing to do with you, Allison. His death is between him...and forces much greater than you and I.”
    I stepped around her, mostly out of respect, although I knew I could have just as easily stepped through her, too. However, doing so would have set in motion a fit of shivering that would have lasted me several minutes.
    At the door, I turned back to her and said, “Well, this greater force is just going to have to back off.”
    “Allison—”
    But I was already out the door.
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
    I was driving.
    Traffic from Beverly Hills to Santa Monica always gets dicey the closer you get to the 405 Freeway. Luckily, I knew all of the shortcuts...and yeah, I might have even used a touch of prescience to find the fastest route through it. Either way, I soon found myself on Wilshire Boulevard, where I passed many beautiful glass buildings that reflected the setting sun. I also passed smaller businesses that reflected, if anything, the proverbial American Dream. There