Free Witches and Whatnots: An Izzy Cooper Novel by Kendra Ashe Page B

trying to seduce me to the dark side. There was no denying Julius was hot, and I imagined that he could do things to a woman that would drive her insane with pleasure, but just because I was a sexually frustrated fallen angel, didn’t mean I’d turned into Lucy Loose or Misty Rogers.
    He draped an arm around me. “Oh come on love. You give me too much credit. Not everything I do is about soiling your soul. Maybe I just want to make love to you. I was human once too.”
    I hated it when he read my mind, but still the news of him being human startled me. I’d always figured that he had been human once, but to hear him talk about it was a little shocking.
    Turning from the mirror, I looked at Julius and tried to imagine what he would have been like as a regular person. “Who were you?”
    A heavy sigh pushed through his lips. “I was Julius Randall. Your Uncle probably knew of me. I played lead guitar for Black Arrow.”
    I’d never heard of Black Arrow, but he was probably right about Uncle Aaron knowing who he was. It slowly began to dawn on me why Julius had never made an appearance while Uncle Aaron was around.
    One thing was for sure. Julius definitely had my attention. I’d often wondered about the real Julius.
    “What happened?”
    “Well I was buzzing on heroin and wrecked my car. That’s how I bit the big one.” Backing away, he plopped down on my bed.
    “So you went straight to demon, with no chances?” For some reason I’d just assumed that everyone was given a chance.
    “I was sent straight to Hell, no passing go, but I talked my way back up.”
    “As a demon?” I asked, disapprovingly.
    He nodded but didn’t elaborate.
    “I can’t believe you weren’t given some kind of chance.”
    “I didn’t just get into an accident. I killed three other people in the process, including my brother.”
    “Oh! I’m sorry that happened to you … and them.” With that explanation, it made a little more sense. Some things couldn’t be undone. It was something I would have to remember while I worked at keeping my temper in check.
    Julius shrugged. “Things are what they are.”
    Curious, I asked, “What do demons get out of recruiting souls for the man downstairs. I hated to say devil, because I really didn’t know much about Hell, or who it was that was in charge.
    Julius’s laughter was unnerving.
    “We get to get out of being tortured for eternity with our own darkness.”
    Well, I guess that made sense. No wonder he was trying so hard to recruit me. I had no doubt that a demon’s ability to stay up top was dependent on their job performance. Julius had made some progress, but not much. At least that’s the way I liked to look at it.
    “So how many bad marks do you think I got for boiling Shelly’s skin.”
    Although his demeanor grew serious, there was still laughter in his eyes. “Well love, I’d say you are well on your way.”
    That’s what I was afraid he’d say. The only thing to do was change the subject. “What do you think of the Black Moon Sisterhood? Are they evil … are they killing people?”
    There was more dark laughter, but from Julius that wasn’t uncommon. “I think Mystique Island is full of wicked witches.”
    I couldn’t get over the feeling that Julius knew exactly who the killer or killers were, but he wasn’t going to make it easy, as usual.
     
    * * *
     
    In a strange - warped kind of way, I felt like Cinderella going to the ball, except I wouldn’t be with my Prince Charming. I would be with Timothy, and the ball wouldn’t be all glitter and magic, though I suspected there was bound to be plenty of magic going around.
    This ball was dark, with subdued lighting, eerie music, and lots of Halloween props in the ballroom to create a spooky atmosphere. There were spider webs everywhere, and hologram projections to create ghostly apparitions that danced around the ballroom.
    The guests were wearing spectacular costumes, but I did think they’d overdone the witch