Free whiskey witches 01 - whisky witches by s m blooding Page B

that, what clue had tipped her off. Her gut said so. That’s all she had. “The killer’s trying to get Lucius to possess his victims.”
    Dexx frowned. “That’s a connection I didn’t make.”
    “The X’s over the eyes. Not only could they signify a door, they were also made while the victim was alive.” Paige ran her tongue over her teeth.
    “Woo,” Dexx said, rubbing his face with both hands. “Well, I can tell you one thing. We need protections for Paige.”
    Paige opened her mouth.
    He held up a hand to stop her. “Don’t even. I was there, Pea. Remember? You were downright scary.”
    “Before I didn’t even have control over my abilities. I didn’t know what they were or that I had them. I was just hearing voices, seeing strange things, and had no idea what was going on.”
    “You do now?”
    “Yeah, Dexx. I do. You forget, for years before Grandma decided to take her heavy hand to my brain, I was in complete control.”
    Alma grimaced.
    “You didn’t understand what I was doing. You thought I had to be out of control in order to allow what I was allowing.” Paige’s heart twisted as she fisted her right hand. “It was easier to think a demon was controlling me. Wasn’t it? Are you really any better than your daughter?”
    Alma stumbled back as if Paige struck her in the face.
    A twinge of regret rattled through Paige, but her grandmother had deserved that, and a lot more.
    “Okay.” Dexx said with forced cheer. “Then show me how your gift works. Are you so certain of your abilities that you wouldn’t want some backup, some help?”
    Paige had gotten herself into some pretty bad scrapes during her learning curve, but she had Balnore there.
    Balnore, who had sided with her grandmother.
    Yeah. Maybe trusting others wasn’t such a good idea. “Fine.”
    “What kind of protections are you thinking?” Alma asked.
    He bared his forearms. Protective symbols intertwined along his inner forearms. “They work. And I think that’s the only thing that kept Lucius at bay. Come on, now. A mandala as a trap to what, tickle the demon summoner? No. They haven’t succeeded in getting Lucius to possess their victims. They wanted him to possess her.”
    Alma looked at him, then turned her gaze to Paige. “What happened?”
    Paige glared at Dexx. “I touched the trap spell and Lucius came in. We mind linked. He was able to control me to a small extent.”
    The older woman stared at her in disbelief.
    “Look, Grandma,” Paige said fiercely. “You made this possible.”
    Dexx’s expression was grim. “She was prime material for possession.”
    “All right,” Alma said. “So how does your gift work? You never talked about it before. I didn’t even know if you were consciously invoking it.”
    Paige snorted. “Why would I? The people I loved were terrified of me.”
    Alma flinched.
    Paige saw the reaction. Did her grandmother feel regret? Did she wish she’d done something more, supported her better?
    It didn’t really matter. She had to stop living in the past. Charge forward. Carefully. “It started pretty early. Visions. Voices.” She chewed the inside of her lip. “I knew that’s the reason Mom left with Nate when I was little. So, I kept it hidden. Bal showed up and gave me a few pointers, stuck around to make sure my gift didn’t make me insane.” She reached up and loosened her hair from her long braid. “Like Great-Grandma.”
    Tru folded his arms over his chest, a thick frown furrowed on his brow.
    Rubbing his eye, Dexx let out a long breath. “So this, uh, gift. It runs in the family.”
    Paige glanced at her grandmother. “Yeah.”
    Raising her face to the wind, Alma massaging her lower back. “I don’t think so. We had demons stop by occasionally, but Momma, she—” She stopped.
    Paige looked at Dexx. “She killed herself.”
    “Like your brother,” Alma said sharply.
    Dexx recoiled. Misery smothered his face.
    Paige frowned at the other woman in consternation.