Black Widow
Witch
by
A. J. Locke
an Urban Fantasy
A
deadly curse, a deadly assassin, and one shot to save everyone she loves…
Malachi
Erami can’t fall in love. After she’s caught with Knave, the witch Queen’s favorite
lover, she’s cursed to savagely butcher any man she falls for. Exiled to live
among humans, Malachi runs a bar that serves magic-laced drinks, but since her
curse labels her high risk, she’s also closely monitored. Julian Vira is her
latest babysitter, but he’s also the first man since Knave that she’s been
attracted to. Good-looking and nonjudgmental of her horrible curse? Yeah, he’s
hard to resist.
But
when Malachi finds a body behind her bar, she knows she’s in trouble. If the
Witches Control Council gets wind of it, she’ll be accused of murder and sent
to her death. And when her friends start getting framed for murder, she
realizes she’s not the only target. Malachi and Julian dig into the evidence to
clear her name, but the closer they get to answers, the closer the curse comes
to taking over. So when Malachi uncovers a plot to kill the witch Queen, she
finds herself suddenly recruited into service, with the promise of having her
curse lifted and a reunion with Knave as well. But if she fails, Knave will
die. And she and Julian might not live long enough to see that happen.
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Chapter One
Behind
the bar, I poured a shot for an eager customer. Amaretto, Southern Comfort
peach liqueur, and sweet-and-sour mix went into the glass, then I held my hand
over the drink and let a stream of purple magic, the same color as my eyes,
flow into it. The drink glowed purple for a few seconds, then I handed it to
the customer, who drank it with no hesitation. After slamming the glass down,
he grabbed the tipsy woman who’d been hanging on him and gave her a sloppy
kiss, then led her out of the bar. I smiled and shook my head. The magic I’d
put into the shot, aptly named Piece of Ass, would ensure they didn’t leave the
bedroom tonight.
Somewhere
in the room I heard riotous laughter, and above that the voice eliciting that
laughter. Xiune was having a good night for a change and wasn’t holed up in my
office. Though since she was just a head inside a clear acrylic box, it was
understandable that sometimes all she wanted to do was hide.
“Malachi,
darling!” Xiune called. “Seven handsome young men have requested the
Challenge!” I smiled slyly. I loved administering the Challenge.
“It’s
time for the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge!” I announced, filling up eight shot
glasses with vodka, one of which I downed. “Which sin will it be and what will
its victim do?” People shouted their guesses while I sent tendrils of magic
into the shots. My magic sparked like tiny bolts of lightning, and like the
shot I had just made, the liquid briefly glowed purple. I focused on one of the
glasses and started whispering a spell, channeling the essence of one of the
seven deadly sins through my body. For a brief moment, my body became flushed
with a feeling of ravenous desire, then it flowed out of me into the shot
glass. I felt rather charged and wondered if this had been the right sin to
choose tonight. But hey, I was drunk, and I kind of wanted to see someone
suffer. Misery loves company right?
I
levitated the shot glasses onto a tray and sauntered over to the table where
Xiune was entertaining the men who thought they were up for the Challenge. With
her flawless complexion, golden eyes, and vibrant red hair, Xiune didn’t need a
body to be beautiful. I’d known her when she had one though, and if she’d been
sitting there in all her glory, she’d have every man kneeling at her feet. Her
allure was only heightened by the fact that she was a bodiless beauty who used
her magic to float herself around in a box. The box wasn’t necessary for Xiune
to move around, but she felt safer inside it when she was out in public. That
way if a witch hater spat on her, she’d have a shield. It also prevented those
on the other end of the spectrum, people who were fascinated by witches, from
getting too close. I set the shot glasses down and motioned for the men to
stand around the table. They looked like your typical college fare: unkempt
hair, sagging pants, and some sort of ironic or sports themed T-shirt.
High-fives and shit talking all around.
“Now
boys,” I said, leaning forward on my forearms, giving my cleavage time to
shine. “Are you sure you’re ready for this? One of you is moments away from
experiencing a sin you may or may not enjoy.” They assured me they were man
enough to handle any sin, and I smiled. The fun thing about the Challenge was
that everyone handled it differently. One man caught with gluttony had run
across the street to McDonalds, spent over a hundred dollars on food, then sat
on the floor and gorged himself. A woman under the same gluttony spell had
tried to eat her friend’s purse.
“Let’s
hope it’s lust and let’s hope it’s me,” one of the men said, winking at me. He
stood a couple of inches over six feet, had brown hair and a lanky physique. If
he started spending time at the gym, maybe his lame come-ons would give him
more luck getting laid.
“Honey,
I would eat you up,” I said with a slow smile. Normally I would never have said
such a line, but all the alcohol I had consumed was speaking for me. He
probably had no idea how true those words were though, because his smile never
wavered. However, for a moment after I spoke, I saw another face in place of
his, and it cut through my drunken haze like a knife. I gasped, and he must
have thought that was a sign he had a chance with me, because his smile became
more lascivious. Lucky for him, he did nothing for me.
“Malachi,
let’s get this show going.” Xiune slid her box over to nudge me, and I shook my
head and turned back to the waiting crowd.
“All
right, it’s about to go down!” I yelled. “For anyone who hasn’t witnessed the
Challenge before, I’ll explain how it works. One of these shot glasses is
infused with the essence of one of the seven deadly sins, and the recipient
will be overcome with that sin for the next half hour, while the others will
experience the most euphoric feeling they’ve ever experienced from a shot of
alcohol.” I motioned for the men to pick up a glass, and Mister Flirtatious had
one more wink for me.
“Gentlemen,
take your shot of sin!” They took their shots to the head. When they slammed
their glasses down, every eye in the room was on them. After about twenty
seconds, one of the men—not Winky—suddenly gasped, whipped his head around, and
bolted from among his friends to accost a mildly attractive woman standing
nearby.
“Fuck
me! Fuck me, please!” He shook her by the upper arms while she stared at him,
mortified, as his friends tried to pry him off her. I brayed with laughter, as
did Xiune and everyone else in the bar.
“Oh
god, I’m so horny. Someone please, fuck me!” He struggled against his laughing
friends, trying to reach any female in sight, with his erection leading the
way. Lust had been the winner tonight, and for the next thirty minutes this
poor sap would be lusting after every woman he saw, whether she was
twenty-eight or eighty-two. He even lurched toward Xiune, but she floated out
of the way. Xiune was one sexy head in a box and had a mouth she could work
wonders with. She often came out of her box to work those wonders on any
willing man. There were more than you’d think.
“Right
sin, wrong guy, right?” brown-haired dude said to me.
I
rolled my eyes. “You and your friends will have your hands full for the next
half hour. I suggest you hold on to him real good and don’t be surprised if he
turns to one of you when it starts to look like he won’t be getting any women.”
He
laughed and pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll call his girlfriend, though she’ll
probably be too pissed at him for doing this to alleviate his lust.” He left
the bar to make the call, while the other five continued to hold on to their
friend, laughing like they’d never experienced anything so hilarious in their
lives. Some of the more mischievous or drunk women teased the guy by parading
in front of him and doing dirty little stripper moves. Only his friends’ hold
stopped him from tackling one of them and trying to rip her clothes off.
I
wasn’t afraid of things getting out of hand because I could break the spell any
time I wanted. There was always a point where things stopped being amusing and
started getting annoying. I left them and headed back behind the bar, while
Xiune found another table of people to entertain. She was a wonderful
songstress, and soon her melodic voice filled the bar as I went back to making
magicked drinks. I glanced at my watch, noting that it was almost midnight,
which meant the day was almost over. That didn’t actually mean anything though.
The day passing didn’t mean I would forget the curse that was hanging over my
life.
“Hey,
Malachi, can you pass me a knife?”
“Knave?”
I quickly turned to the busboy, James, who was bent over a box behind the bar.
“No,
I said knife,” he said. My throat was suddenly tight, but I reached under the
bar, got a knife, and handed it to him. I stood back and ran my hands through
my short black curls, blowing out a slow breath as I tried to rein in my
reaction to thinking I had heard the name Knave. That was the name attached to
the face I did not like to think about, but no amount of alcohol and rowdy
college boys taking the Challenge could truly put him from my mind. I didn’t
want to see Knave’s face, didn’t want to think about the hard muscles my hands
used to slide over, following the planes of his body to his waist and not
stopping until I touched something that arched his back and made him whisper my
name. I didn’t want to think about the nights we’d spent wrapped in each
other’s arms, feeling our hearts beating against each other. But of course,
since his name crossed my lips, he was all I could think about.
Falling
in love with Knave was why I was cursed. And I could only blame myself. I
should have known better than to take someone else’s lover to my bed. Especially
if the woman crossed was a witch queen who was powerful, sadistic, and known to
curse people just for sneezing out of place.
“Malachi?
Excuse me, Malachi?” I blinked and brought myself out of my thoughts, turning
to see that one of the other busboys, Dan, was trying to get my attention. He
held a box of empty liquor bottles and needed me to move so he could pass. I
shuffled out of the way, but thinking of Knave and my curse, along with all the
beer and shots I’d drunk tonight, made me feel slightly unstable. Suddenly, the
rowdiness in my bar wasn’t fun; it was obnoxious, and I wanted to get away from
it. I headed through the door Dan had passed through, into the hallway that led
to my office and the Dumpster out back. Halfway down the hallway, I heard a
crash, followed by a scream. I ran through the back door, taking in several
things at once that left me rooted to the spot. One, the revolting stench that
went far beyond what our single Dumpster could give off. Two, Dan standing
rigidly a few feet away with broken bottles scattered at his feet. And three,
the thing that had caused him to drop the bottles and scream. Behind the
Dumpster was a dead body.
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Author's Bio:
Blog: http://iqurae.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/AJ-Locke/522250584507699
Twitter: @maqueripe
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20643885-black-widow-witch
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