Wizard's Trap

By Margaret L. Carter

Laurel always had a thing for sexy, good-looking Gil, and he wanted her, but the time was never right. Now he’s missing and presumed dead. Laurel tries to contact his spirit and succeeds—but she discovers he isn’t a ghost. Instead, he’s a wizard who’s cursed and imprisoned on the astral plane.

Communicating with Laurel through his diary, Gil persuades her to recite a spell to restore him to the material plane. Lust ignites between them, and they satisfy the desire they’d once denied. Their time together is limited, though, for the spell’s effects won’t last. If Laurel braves the dangers of magic to save him, she can only hope their passion will survive the ordeal and grow into love.

• Language: Unknown
• Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
• Release date: Dec 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9781509253142

Margaret L. Carter

Reading DRACULA at the age of twelve ignited Margaret L. Carter’s interest in a wide range of speculative fiction and inspired her to become a writer. Vampires, however, have always remained close to her heart. Her work on vampirism in literature includes four books and numerous articles. She holds a PhD in English from the University of California (Irvine), and her dissertation contained a chapter on DRACULA. In fiction, she has written horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance, as well as sword-and-sorcery fantasy in collaboration with her husband, a retired naval officer. Recent publications include AGAINST THE DARK DEVOURER (Lovecraftian dark paranormal romance) and spring-themed light contemporary fantasy BUNNY HUNT. Her short stories have appeared in various anthologies, including the “Darkover” and “Sword and Sorceress” series. She and her husband live in Maryland and have four children, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, a St. Bernard, and two cats. Please visit Carter’s Crypt: http://www.margaretlcarter.com

Book preview

The planchette traced a wide circle around the board.

Who’s there? Are you Gil Vincenzo?

The pointer slid directly to YES.

Laurel knew, of course, her own subconscious mind could have guided the movement with minute muscle contractions. But the motion had certainly felt independent of her will. She frowned at Tigger. Big help you are. You’re supposed see spirits. So much for feline psychic powers. He reacted with only a twitch of his tail.

The planchette moved again. N. She watched, holding her breath. O. T.

Not? Not what? That didn’t sound like a message her own brain would come up with. Not Gil Vincenzo?

I AM.

And you are here? In the house?

The pointer indicated YES again then shifted over to NO.

Well, which is it?

A sensation like static electricity zapped from the planchette through her fingers. It sizzled up her arms and down the front of her body. A sudden shiver convulsed her. The electric current raced over her skin and sent a shock through her core.

She snatched her hands from the planchette. Her heart raced. She swallowed hard and exhaled a shuddering breath. That was…weird.

She barely suppressed a scream when the plastic triangle moved again. By itself.

Wizard’s Trap

by

Margaret L. Carter

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Wizard’s Trap

COPYRIGHT © 2023 by Margaret L. Carter

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information: [e-mail]

Cover Art by The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

PO Box 708

Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

Publishing History

First Edition, 2023

Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-5314-2

Published in the United States of America

Chapter One

Two candles in saucers stood on the dining room table, white for peace and blue for protection, calmness, and clearing blocked communication. After lighting them, Laurel unfolded the Ouija board. In a juice glass she arranged a stick of incense, with a lotus aroma for inner peace and opening the mind’s eye. Lightheaded with a blend of anticipation and fear, she got out another match. Not that she fully believed in contact with departed spirits, but if this experiment worked, a little protection couldn’t hurt. And if it did work, she might find out what had really happened to Gil Vincenzo.

The phone rang just as she set the plastic planchette in the middle of the board. She glanced at the caller ID display and sighed before pushing the button to answer. If she ignored the call, her mother would just keep phoning. Hi, Mom.

Hello, hon. How are you coming along with unpacking?

Fine. No need to mention that she’d put off most of the work in her eagerness to try the Ouija board.

Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to come over and help?

No, thanks, I’ve got everything under control. The last thing she needed was for her mother to find her experimenting with the occult. Her job as manager of a New Age book and supply shop already caused enough nagging, since her folks seemed to think she was turning into a pagan.

Okay, but a whole house is a lot to deal with by yourself. To Laurel’s relief, she didn’t reopen the argument that an apartment would have made more sense. Oh, Kevin phoned here again.

So that was the real reason for this call. Her mother had always considered Kevin a steadying influence on her, as one of the few guys she’d ever dated and the only one she’d even come close to marrying. I told you a dozen times, I don’t want to talk to him.

Yes, you’ve been telling me that for the past two months. Not that I approved of you two living in sin, as my mother would have called it, but I’ve always liked him. Shouldn’t you at least let him try to work things out?

There’s nothing to work out. He cheated on me. End of story. Since her hours at the Rising Moon had increased with her promotion to manager, between that factor and Kevin’s own demanding work as an insurance agent, they’d drifted apart lately. Kevin had the nerve to use their busy schedules as an excuse for his weekend fling at the latest conference he’d attended. He swore the woman was just a friend, the sex was a fluke and hadn’t meant anything, and it would never happen again. Damn right it wouldn’t happen in a relationship with Laurel again, because she didn’t plan to give him the chance.

I can understand why you feel that way, her mother said. But why did you have to rush out and rent that house?

She couldn’t suppress another sigh. Here we go again. Because I needed a place to live. I couldn’t exactly break up with Kevin and stay in his apartment.

You could have stayed with us a while longer. Second verse of the familiar song. The next-to-last thing Laurel needed was for her older brother to rag on her about living with their parents at the age of twenty-seven.

I appreciated having the space to crash, but we both know it was getting a little crowded.

Still, you didn’t have to move into a house where a man was murdered.

That wasn’t proven. They never found a body. Just broken furniture and bloodstains in the living room. The incident had happened almost a year earlier. By the time Laurel had signed the lease, the building had been thoroughly cleaned and rented to two previous tenants, neither of whom had stayed long.

It’s still not natural to want to live in a place like that. I almost think you’re obsessed with the crime.

I am not obsessed. Catching herself raising her voice, she took a deep breath to calm down. "I like the idea of living in a house that’s almost a century old. Besides, the rent’s cheap, it’s