This Spells Trouble: The Lynlee Lincoln Series, #3

By Olivia Hardin

I'm getting comfortable with my new life, but things never stay quiet for long in my job.  When a runaway fanatic begins ripping off the veils protecting humans from magic, trouble not only knocks on my door but threatens to tear down the entire house.

It took some work, but I've finally found some balance between my life as a witch and my relationship with Beck.  A human boyfriend with two kids wasn't something I ever planned, but our new arrangement lets me have my cake and eat it, too. Just when I'm getting comfortable, suddenly puzzling visions of impending danger begin to haunt my dreams. And if personal issues aren't troubling enough, the entire organization of Neutralizers is on alert when a phantom creature begins staging magical episodes on live television. If we can't put a stop to the sensational events, all hell will break loose in the human world.

How can I keep both my new family and the world safe without getting swallowed up in the process?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Olivia Hardin
• Release date: Sep 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781513076584

Olivia Hardin

When Olivia Hardin began having strange movie-like dreams in her teens, she had no choice but to begin putting them to paper. Before long the writing bug had her and she knew she wanted to be a published author. Several rejections plus a little bit of life later, and she was temporarily “cured” of the urge to write. That is until she met a group of talented and fabulous writers who gave her the direction and encouragement she needed to get lost in the words again. Olivia’s attended three different universities over the years and toyed with majors in Computer Technology, English, History and Geology. Then one day she heard the term road scholar and she knew that was what she wanted to be. Now she “studies” anything and everything just for the joy of learning.  She's also an insatiable crafter who only completes about 1 out of 5 projects, a jogger who hates to run, and she’s sometimes accused of being artistic. A native Texas girl, Olivia lives in the beautiful Lone Star state with her husband, Danny and their puppy, Bonnie.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Vampire, I sighed to Beck when he motioned with his head towards a couple just stepping onto the dance floor. I uncrossed my legs, shifted my weight and then crossed them again in the opposite direction as I took a sip of my rum and soda. My chin was down but my eyes were raised as I watched people walk to and fro past me. A touch to my knee brought my attention back to Beck.

Beck’s brows pulled in close. How do you know that? He’s kind of pale, but I didn’t see any fangs.

I shook my head and patted his hand. Not him, her. I thought that’s who you were looking at. I raised a finger to point at the raven-haired woman grinding against the man Beck meant. She’s the vamp. See how she’s sniffing at him and running her tongue over her lips? She won’t release her teeth until the moment she’s ready to feed. Also, see the mirror against the wall? No reflection.

And him?

Shrugging, I downed another huge drink. Just a regular human. Probably her lover. Lots of vamps have long-term relationships with human lovers.

Is that woman sick or something? His attention now diverted to another party-goer.

I yawned and followed his eyes. No, she pretty much always looks like that without her makeup on. The woman, Miranda, had a greenish complexion. She raised a black-tipped finger to her nose and scratched. No one would know it, but those nails weren’t painted black. Her kind just had black fingernails.

Oh, Beck pondered the woman with a quirky frown. A witch?

Alien.

He glared at me with eyes wide. Shut up! There’re aliens? Why didn’t you tell me that?

Raising my shoulders again, I swallowed the last of my drink. I forget about them most of the time. There are only a handful of them here. Shipwrecked about a century ago. Only another fifty years and their people should be back for them. The trick’s been to keep them on birth control so that… I shook my head, Sorry, probably more information than you wanted. I jingled the ice in my glass and leaned forward to stand.

Oh. My. Word… is that what I think it is?

I looked up and saw one of my former charges enter the room. Esperanza was a witch, but there was nothing special about her looks. In fact, she sort of reminded me of a librarian on some level. I always thought she regretted that she wasn’t spectacular to look at. Her magic was weak, and she couldn’t hold a glamour long enough to permanently affect her image. To make up for her visual deficiencies, she was always showing off in other ways.

Entering the party with her pet unicorn on a chain was a sure way to get attention. I reached out to gently tip Beck’s chin so that his mouth would close.

I thought it would be bigger, he said.

I snorted a laugh as I raised a hand and rubbed my eyebrow. That’s what she said.

Rolling his eyes at me, Beck took my glass and stood. He smiled and pecked my cheek then headed off towards the bar. We’d been back together for a year almost to the day and yet the man could still turn my insides to goo with just a grin and a kiss. I definitely had it bad for him.

That should have scared the hell out of me, but I was getting used to love. We had a good system. On the weekends, I stayed with him and the kids, but during the week I spent most of my time on the job as a Neutralizer. Sure, it was true that sometimes my MAUCs—Magical And Undead Creatures—kept me busy weekends too, but when that happened, we managed to compensate with date nights. I liked the routine and the structure of it. Safe and comfortable.

This was your best idea ever! My best friend Rhiannon punched my arm as she sat down next to me. I refused to rub the spot even though it hurt like a son-of-a-gun. The were-vamp just didn’t know her own strength. It’s like a Halloween costume party where no one even has to wear a costume. I cut her a hard glare. She had a huge plate of food balanced on one hand. A single meatball rolled off and onto the floor. She reached down for it and popped it into her mouth. Five second rule.

"This wasn’t my idea. It was his idea."

I flicked my wrist to motion in the direction of the hot tub and wrinkled my nose. There was my mentor and former boss, Tig Durhnam. Most of his squatty body was submerged, thank goodness. The ugly little goblin was surrounded by several attractive mermaids. For some reason, mermaids had a fettish for goblins.

You are such a party pooper, Lynlee. He was just trying to help you out. Last year you spent all of Halloween chasing your charges to hell and back. This year they’re all together here at this party. No better way to keep tabs on them.

I wasn’t convinced. Getting this many magical and undead people together was like asking for trouble. At about that time I heard a scream followed quickly by a growl. Rhia bolted to her feet, an abject oh no falling from her lips.

And oh no was right. One of my zombie clients, a young woman named Desiree, was dancing a little too exuberantly and had lost her prosthetic leg. This was a common problem for her. I had yet to create a prosthetic that could withstand her crazy gyrations.

Losing a limb in a crowd of MAUCs wasn’t much cause for concern. It wasn’t as if most everyone in the room didn’t know she was a zombie. The problem was that said leg had flown across the dance floor and struck a werewolf in the back of the head.

I didn’t know the offended party’s name; he must have been one of Tig’s people, but like any werewolf he didn’t take kindly to being knocked to the ground. As one would expect, he came up swinging… er, growling and baring his teeth.

What little blood Desiree had in her face drained out, and she recoiled in fear, hobbling back on a single leg. Her stump was a decomposing mess of flesh that was none too attractive. Our treatment for the zombie virus could halt its spread through the infected person’s body, but any parts already affected would continue to decay pretty much forever. At the sight of her leg, some of the more sensitive MAUCs began to back away, covering their mouths.

I stood and conjured my wand, approaching the scene carefully. Rhia put her hand on my shoulder to stop me. She shook her head with a grin, then she stepped in front of me and approached the were. I could see the man’s back was bowed, a sure sign he was considering a shift.

I couldn’t hear what Rhiannon was saying to him, but within a few moments, his body relaxed. Desiree laughed, still nervous, but more at ease. She put out her hand in an offering of peace, but the guy didn’t take it and instead walked away. I was a little incensed by his rudeness and thought of saying something until I saw him bend down to pick up her prosthetic.

Huh. Will wonders never cease, I muttered under my breath.

I’m the luckiest guy in the whole paranormal world. My girl’s amazing, isn’t she? A male voice came from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and raised an eyebrow at the Sandman.

Sandy had been dating Rhia almost as long as Beck and I had been together. Even so, their high-octane lovey-dovey talk tended to make me nauseous. It was on the tip of my tongue to make a smart comment centered around the words were-whipped, but Beck returned with my drink to distract me.

There’s a lady over there who looks really familiar to me. He sat down and directed me to the spot beside him as he took a pull from his beer. She gave me the strangest feeling.

My first thought was a succubus. I had a few of that particular demon as clients, and they could do strange things to a man’s psyche. Not interested in fighting off some sex-craving MAUC for my man, I immediately scanned the crowd and looked for who Beck might have seen.

There she is, he said as if he knew what I was about. I glanced in the direction of his finger and nearly laughed in relief.

The woman had long brown hair that flowed down her back. She was wearing a yellow and white dress, not at all Halloween-like, but completely suited to her demeanor. Everything about her spoke of softness and beauty.

Ah, I’m glad she’s here. I want to introduce you to her.

He tossed me a confused frown and then looked at the lovely woman again.

Breena. I waved to her, and when she saw me, she started our way. Breena, this is Beck. I told you about him and his daughter a few months ago.

She’s the nymph? Beck asked, finally catching on.

It had been my intention to have Breena work with Jilly in the Spring, but she insisted that it would be better to begin instruction in the Fall and Winter. Based on Jilly’s age and what I described of her powers, she believed that Jilly wouldn’t be ready to begin her duties until the following growing season, so this Fall would be the appropriate time to train her in understanding the magic the young girl possessed.

It is a pleasure. Breena smiled, reaching out her hand and taking Beck’s. Her smile was sweet and soothing, and it reminded me of the feel of warm creek water running over bare feet. Lynlee’s told me so much about Jilly. I can’t wait to meet her.

It’s a pleasure to meet you, too. I know Jilly’s been looking forward to learning about becoming a nymph. I’ll warn you, she can be a bit precocious.

Breena chortled, her hand still in Beck’s. Well, that’s normal for nymphets.

I eyed them a moment, then turned when I heard my name called. Tig was standing beside the hot tub, water dripping from his mole