Free Kiss at Your Own Risk by Stephanie Rowe Page B

off.” He raised his brows. “And you are quite the looker. If she falls in love with you, you’re toast, big guy.”
    “Love? Keeping dreaming, artist boy.” Blaine snorted. “Besides, if I was that easy to kill, I’d be dead already.” He let a single flame dance at the end of his index finger. Just a reminder of exactly what he was: a fire warrior (okay, yeah, he’d self-titled, but he figured it was better than cross-stitching girly man). “I’m really not worried about some almost human chick who’s been out in the mortal world her whole life—”
    “Uh, fellas?” Jarvis raised his hand. “We’ve got a slight complication.”
    Blaine and Nigel turned to Jarvis, who was still studying the computer screen. “Spill,” Blaine demanded.
    Jarvis pointed to the top right corner. “Her file’s been flagged with a yellow tulip.”
    Blaine extinguished his flame. “Shit.” The flower meant only one thing. “She’s the Chosen. If we kill the witch, her soul will jump into Trinity’s body and keep on trucking.”
    “Hell,” Nigel muttered. “Any woman whose eyes contain such passionate depth deserves more than to be the witch’s safety net. Do you guys realize the extent of the paradox in her eyes between good and evil? So rare. A gift to paint.”
    Jarvis stared at Nigel in disgust. “You got out of the Den, Nigel. Do yourself a favor, ditch the dreamy creative shit and get manly. She’s not some angelic muse to spawn your next inspiration. She’s the Chosen.” He leaned back in the chair with a sigh of bitter resignation. “And you know what that means.”
    “Yeah.” Blaine scowled. “It means that after I finish with Trinity Harpswell, she has to die.” Son of a bitch, that pissed him off. After watching too many innocents suffer at the hands of the witch, and having his own powers be harnessed to kill and torture others, the last thing he could stomach was the harming of more innocents.
    No matter.
    He’d do what needed to be done. There was no point in killing Angelica if they were going to sit back and let her soul leach into her Chosen’s physical body. That soul-sucking estrogen predator was one female who wasn’t going to get a chance for a second life under a new identity.
    It was rare for a witch to have a Chosen. Yeah, they all wanted one, but it was a damned tricky spell to set up. After carefully tracking Angelica’s files and women for a century and a half, they’d finally concluded she’d been unable to make it happen.
    Wrong.
    A hell of a mistake to make.
    “Well, at least we know.” Jarvis rubbed his jaw. “I can’t even tell you how pissed I’d have been if we’d finally knocked her off, only to have her jump ship. At least we can take the Chosen out now.”
    Nigel and Blaine looked at each other, and he knew Nigel was thinking the same thing: Trinity Harpswell was an innocent, and they were going to use her to murder Angelica, and then he was going to have to kill her. “Life can be a real bitch sometimes,” Blaine said quietly.
    “It’s the only way to save others from the same fate.” Nigel’s voice was grim.
    “And Christian,” Jarvis said. “He’s what matters right now.”
    “I know.” Blaine ground his jaw. “I’ll do it.” But he would be merciful. It was the least he could do. Leaving Trinity Harpswell alive so her soul would be taken over by the witch was even crueler than sending her to the Afterlife.
    Sometimes death was the best choice.

Chapter 6
    It was nearly twenty hours after the meeting with Felicia by the time Trinity was able to sink down in the lavender scented bubble bath and focus on the enormity of the problem she was facing.
    It had taken several hours to finish all the paperwork involved in the deal, and then Trinity’s mom had been waiting when she stumbled up the front steps at dawn. After spending most of the day at Pop’s Corner Deli arguing with her mom, Trinity had finally ditched her. It was almost five in the