Free The Final Catch: Book 2: See Jane Hex (The Tarot Sorceress Series) by Rhea Rose Page B

surge.
    “What’s that you say,” I yelled down to her.
    “Send my cuffs back!”
    I glanced around the shop. I saw the pair that had held Malcolm. They were still in one piece. I’d forgotten that they fell to the floor when he was sent back. I retrieved them.
    I held them up for Justine to see. “I got a date with these tonight,” I said.
    Justine looked none too pleased.
    I winked at Emilia. She gave me a luscious grin. “Oh,” I said awkwardly, “Not you, that’s not what I meant.”
    Emilia looked perturbed.
    Then it was Devon’s turn. He growled in a lusty animal way. “I love you, Janey.”
    “Ah, sure you do, Devon, but I’m not using these with you either,” I said, realizing I was outnumbered by these two very powerful beings.
    *
    When I finally got home that evening, I phoned Glendie but she wasn’t answering.  I really wanted to know what the status was on my kitten. I saw Sia’s collar still sitting on the mantel of the fireplace where I put it after I took it back from Glendie’s fridge. That meant she wasn’t back from the dimension she was wandering in. I wondered if Sia, being a Cheshire, could move in and out of dimensions at will.
    If I put the collar on my wrist it kept me in her dimension and I couldn’t function that dimension, at least not easily. I decided to add the small collar to the chain around my neck that carried the tiny pinchers I used to hang on to my bank cards. I might need that collar to go fetch her if Maisie didn’t let her show up soon.
    Once I had the collar tucked neatly beneath my t-shirt, I couldn’t wait to pour myself a tasty glass of cabernet. I had a delicious bottle of Sangria de Bruja, after a few glasses I found the courage to try out my new handcuffs.
    I handcuffed one end to the spindles on my staircase and the other to myself. I was a bit drunk, but I think that may have helped. “Release me. Release me. That would please me.” I said these words over and over, until the entire stair rail began to vibrate and shake. A single spindle fell away and the cuff slipped off the end, but my wrist was still cuffed. I tugged lamely at it. “Abracadabra?” No luck.
    Then my doorbell rang.

Chapter 5
Seven of Swords: Just Me and My Shadow
    I looked through the peek hole, but didn’t see anyone there.  Yet, I sensed someone. I scratched my head and conked myself with the handcuffs, maybe it was Glendie, but why would she come over at nine in the evening without letting me know? Maybe she had Sia!  I peeked through the hole again and this time I saw who was there.
    The shadow.
    The same dark presence I’d seen before, following me on the street, then in Maisie’s shop when I’d escaped from the Star card. The long, deeply black shadow stained  the sidewalk, up the two short stairs to the stoop, a slash of darkness fell over the peek hole, like a slender ebony ribbon dimming the porch light.  It was him, the stranger, the stalker, he’d had finally caught up.
    My heart stalled, my head buzzed.  I was scared. I hated being scared it. didn’t happen often. No stupid shadow person was going to control me; I pulled the door open and jumped out onto the stoop. “Come and get me, Shadow man!” I shouted. Even though it was nine o’clock at night there was still enough light out to clearly see who, if anyone, was out there.               A voice called out to me.
    “Ahem, it’s me!”
    “Me who?” I asked trying to sound challenging.
    “Ah, your date for the night. You said come to your place.”
    Omg, I’d forgotten all about that! I hadn’t done a thing to get ready. I was silent. I didn’t know what to do, then thought what the heck. Why not?  “Oh, yeah, I forgot about our date, but come on in and have a glass of wine. Where the hell are you?” I asked?
    “Down here.”
    I looked down over the rail on my stoop and there below me, like Romeo looking up to his Juliet, was my date, in my bushes. To top it off, I recognized him.