Free whiskey witches 01 - whisky witches by s m blooding

heart-to-heart? She wasn’t ready for that yet.
    “Our situation is more serious than a simple murder investigation.” Dexx kicked a rock. “And another thought hit me as I read the police files yesterday. How much of what happened three years ago was fate, and how much of it was careful maneuvering?”
    Alma shot him a sharp look. “Maneuvering for what?”
    He shoved his fists in his pockets. “To get her out of commission.”
    “Explain.”
    “It’s no secret. Rachel had no case. She shouldn’t have been able to take Leah in the first place. She wasn’t in the same state. She had no motive, no proof.”
    Tru’s pale eyebrows shot up. “So you’re saying Rachel’s a bitch because some demon made her do it? No-no. That woman is Satan.”
    Paige ran her fingernails along her greasy scalp. She needed a shower. “He might take offense to that.”
    “Oh my god.” Tru held his hands out to her, his knees bent. “You would know. You would totally know. Can you ask him? You know, as a personal favor to me, because I could use that as ammunition the next time that crazy, psychotic bitch decided to tear down my wife.”
    Paige bit both her lips. As much as her heart twinged at the thought of Leslie being torn down by that woman, it also felt a bit nice to know she wasn’t alone.
    Dexx meandered to a tree and plucked idly at the rough bark. “Think about it. What happened without Paige to watch over the demon population, to keep them in check? They could have invested themselves into politics, into religion, into the press.”
    “You could start a website with that.” Tru kicked off his flip-flops and toed the sand. “No. Wait. I’m pretty sure there are already about a dozen of them. Did you drink the Kool-aid?”
    “Balnore warned us Leah could be used against her. We just didn’t think they’d use her own family to do it.”
    Paige didn’t think of Rachel as family. She only saw her as the one who had abandoned her then took her only child.
    Alma’s eyes narrowed. “Balnore’s here?”
    Paige nodded. “Yes.”
    “You’re talking to demons,” Alma said. Her voice inched toward accusation.
    “He’s a demon that was kicked out of Hell,” Dexx said, his pointer finger raised.
    Tru’s expression widened in disbelief. “No way.”
    Dexx opened his arms and shrugged an affirmative.
    Tru threw his head back, laughing. “That’s rich. How do you get kicked out of Hell?”
    Paige kept her gaze on her grandmother, assessing how the older woman would react to the knowledge she was practicing again.
    “I have so gotta meet this guy,” Tru said with a grin. “There’s a demon that might not scare the piss out of me. I’m excited!”
    Alma planted her feet, squaring off with Dexx. “Do you really think there’s a greater plan here than just a few murders?”
    “Yes. I do. What if someone found out about her gift three years ago? Too many things happened at the same time. Rachel? The Pilmner case? And am I the only one who’s realized the killer here in St. Francisville is using the same symbols from that case?”
    “In my defense,” Paige said quietly as she reviewed her newly returned memories, “my knowledge of even the existence of that case had been blocked.”
    Tru flailed one hand, the corners of his mouth drawn down comically. “Good defense. What was special about the Pilmner case?”
    “A man lost his wife and two kids to a drunk driver. They caught the driver, but let him go due to evidence tampering. People had been bought off. He was a high-ranking, government official. The press didn’t even cover his involvement.”
    Alma’s wrinkled lips pressed tight, her shoulders hunched.
    “Then he figured out how to sacrifice people to summon a demon. It’s very hard to do, but he succeeded somehow. But when he released the demon to do his bidding, the leash broke and the demon raised others who then wreaked havoc all over the city.”
    “And you, young lady,” Alma added, “then