But then, Vincent was such a bastard. A gorgeous one if you liked graying distinguished men who could have headed the cast of an eighties television show, and adequately talented in bed if you liked choreography and a man who kept looking in the mirror admiring his own technique, but his charm was wearing thin. Thank God she was almost done with him. She was going to take a great deal of pleasure in casting Vincent aside, especially in front of everyone in their social circle, all those smirkers who’d watched last night while he’d flirted with a very young brown-haired witch named Jennifer, whose weight seemed to be entirely concentrated in her bust and her behind, which was evidently where she kept her brains if she thought Vincent was a catch. Xan had smiled, outwardly amused but inwardly seething that the moron would humiliate her in her own circle. It shouldn’t matter what any of them thought, she was the most powerful of all of them, they were just her court…
She had been the most powerful of all of them.
Age, she thought. Age brings wisdom. Who the hell wants wisdom?
Youth and power. That was-
Somebody sneezed behind her and she jerked back. ‘Sweet hell, Maxine, how did you get in here again?’
‘The portal-’
‘I closed the portal.’
‘Well, there was a little crack of light and I kind of-’ I’m going to have you killed and stuffed. ‘What do you want, Maxine?’
‘Oh. Right. Well, it’s coming up on Friday night. Martinis would really sell-’
‘Maxine, you will do nothing to call attention to yourself or the diner until Monday.’ Xan put down the gilt box and began to wave her hand.
‘No!’ Maxine said, waving both of hers. ‘Wait! I have news! There’s a new video store guy named Jude. He’s your guy for Mare, right?’
‘Yes?’ Xan said, stopping in mid-wave.
‘Well, he’s really cute,’ Maxine said. ‘Looks just like Jude Law. But the one everybody is talking about is the writer guy on the motorcycle. Ohmigod. Dee won the hottie lottery with that one.’
‘Thank you,’ Xan said icily.
‘Haven’t seen the third one. Lizzie’s.’
Elric. He made Vincent look like a roadie for a boy band. ‘He’s there.’
‘Oh. Okay.’ Maxine hesitated.
Xan sighed. ‘What is it, Maxine?’
‘Well, I really don’t know what’s good stuff to tell you and what isn’t. It would help if I knew what these guys were doing in town.’
Xan thought about turning Maxine into a rabbit now, but she needed her. ‘All right.’
Maxine came closer, glancing at the silver bowl and the liquid simmering there, probably avid to ask what it was but wisely keeping her mouth shut. Even Maxine has a learning curve.
Xan smiled at her. ‘I am concerned about my nieces, so I have cast a spell to bring them their True Loves.’
Maxine’s mouth dropped open. ‘You can do that?’ Xan looked at her, and Maxine nodded like a bobble-head doll. ‘Of course you can do that, you can do anything, but I mean, geez, do you know what kind of money you could make doing that for real? I mean, people would pay hundreds of dollars for that kind of stuff’
‘Right, Maxine,’ Xan said. ‘Hundreds of dollars. May I go on?’
‘Oh, yeah,’ Maxine said. ‘This is good stuff.’
‘I’m afraid that just bringing the men into Salem’s Fork won’t be enough. The girls are very stubborn. So I have to keep an eye on the way their romances are going.’ I have to make sure that Dee knows Danny hates magic so that she’ll give her power up to me. I have to make sure that Elric takes Lizzie’s power from her because she’s too dangerous and gives it to me. And I have to make sure that Mare discards her magic for earthly power so that I can take it for myself. ‘You know how easily young girls can throw away good men through inexperience.’
‘I know.’ Maxine’s face crumpled. ‘My Boyd. If I could do it all over again-’
‘I’m sure,’ Xan said. ‘So we’re keeping an eye on Dee and Danny, Lizzie and Elric, and Mare and Jude.’
‘Lizzie and who?’
‘Elric,’ Xan said. ‘He’s probably not going to be outside much. Tall, blond, beautiful, you’ll know him if you see him.’
‘Wow,’ Maxine said. ‘You sure are good to your nieces.’
‘Yes,’ Xan said. ‘I sure am.’
She turned back to the see glass where Danny was heading for the bank; inside Dee was bent over her desk. Lizzie was at the kitchen sink, doing dishes; Xan sighed for a woman so lacking in passion that she’d do dishes alone in a house with Elric. And Mare was heading for the diner, probably meeting Jude there for lunch; who could resist a movie-star-handsome boss who’d just offered her the promotion of her dreams?
She opened the gilt box and sprinkled the contents into her right hand until the red spicy powder made a mound there. Then she waved her left hand over the bowl, drawing up a spiral of vapor, then another, then another, until she had the three coiling together, a silver arabesque above the bowl in front of the see glass.
‘Wow,’ Maxine said.
‘Quiet,’ Xan said. A little refresher course in ‘Xan Is
Magic, Don’t Disobey Her’ wouldn’t hurt Maxine. ‘This is an impulse spell, Maxine. It’s very delicate. Don’t move.’
‘Right,’ Maxine said, leaning closer to see. Xan thought about explaining ‘don’t move’ in detail, but since an impulse spell was one of the sturdiest spells in existence, she decided to let Maxine go.
Xan held her right hand in the middle of the vapor arabesque and waited. In the see glass, Danny walked into the bank and began to talk to Dee. Xan looked closer at the house and saw Elric standing behind Lizzie in the kitchen window. And much harder to see, Mare was sitting in the diner with someone, leaning forward-
Xan gently blew the red powder through the arabesque and into the see glass, and the peppery vapor spiraled into the see glass, down into Salem’s Fork, into a bank, a kitchen, a diner-
‘Wow,’ Maxine said, her eyes wide. ‘It’s lunchtime, Maxine,’ Xan said. ‘Go sling hash.’
‘But,’ Maxine said, and Xan waved her hand and then there was silence.
In the see glass, Maxine reappeared in the Dumpster, staggering among the green plastic bags.
Xan closed the portal and stuck a psychic brick behind it. Find a crack in that, Maxine, she thought and then poured herself a glass of wine.
As she sat back with her wine, the see glass gave her back her reflection. ‘Only by candlelight,’ Vincent had said. And the bastard was older than she was.
But if she had the girls’ powers, she’d also have the girls’ psychic energy, all that juice flowing through her veins. She closed her eyes and imagined the swell of youth again. The loss of power probably wouldn’t hurt the girls if she took it carefully; they’d probably age like normal humans, they’d fit right in and have the ordinary lives they craved, but she…
She’d be young again.
And then she could put that bastard Vincent in the Dumpster with Maxine.
She shifted again to watch Maxine in the see glass, outside the Dumpster now, patting down her uniform. Hell, maybe she wouldn’t wait. The memory came back to her of Vincent and that little witch Jennifer last night, she of the big brown eyes and big brown hair and very small power, laughing in a corner while the rest of the party watched Xan avidly. If Vincent was going to chase trash, Xan could at least put him in the vicinity of it.
The thought of impeccable, immaculate, tuxedocald Vincent in a diner Dumpster in Salem’s Fork, Virginia, cheered Xan so much, she smiled.
And then she looked closer at the glass…
Dee yanked her skirt into a more comfortable position and prayed for the day to pass. This was the fifth time in three hours she’d had to stand, wriggle, and then sit back down, just to get some relief. She had a headache from the sudden cellular disruption. She was still jumpy from the close call she’d had that morning. And she was dressed in heavy wool and starched cotton.