Wicked By Any Other Name Part 18

"Wow, I am so impressed," Blair said. "My growls usually sound like a sick cat. How do you do that?"

He continued to study the stone and left the store with it in his hand. They could see him stop on the sidewalk and lift his face as if searching for a scent in the air before he moved on.

Trev still dabbed gently at the wounds. "Those cuts are deep. You need st.i.tches."

"I need my bed," she said, feeling that woozy sensation come on again. When Trev helped her to her feet, she immediately started to wobble. He muttered under his breath and swept her up into his arms.

"You need to see a healer," he corrected. "No matter what, the local doctor should treat you."

She closed her eyes to stop the world from whirling around her. "No. Just my bed and one of Blair's healing poultices. Lili, our healer, can tell her what to do." She swallowed. "Please."

Her soft plea was Trev's undoing. He carried her out of the store and walked around the corner to the stairs, taking them so smoothly Stasi wasn't jostled even a hint.

He headed unerringly to her bedroom and gently placed her on the bed.

Blair placed Horace and the moneybag on Stasi's dresser.

"You could dress this place up some with mirrors on the ceiling," Horace commented, craning his neck. "Hey!" He fought the cloth that Jazz dropped over him along with a gargoyle-sized freeze spell. "Unfair!"

"I'll make some tea." Blair headed for the kitchen.

"Out." Jazz stared at Trev.

He opened his mouth to protest but before he could say anything he was magickally pushed out of the room and the door closed after him.

"I'd laugh, but I think it would hurt too much," Stasi whimpered.

"Then don't." Jazz was as gentle as possible as she extracted Stasi from her clothing and put her in a nightgown, carefully arranging the covers around her.

"Your wizard is sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea. Bogie's chewing on his boot laces, and Fluff and Puff each have a licorice root to keep them occupied," Blair announced a moment later, coming in holding a mug and two small herb-scented cloths. "I was able to get Lili on wallmail and she suggested this. She said if the cuts on your forehead and cheek aren't too deep and wide, we could use a b.u.t.terfly bandage to close them up." She gently affixed one warm cloth on Stasi's forehead and used something to attach the other to her cheek.

"Didn't we do something similar for Jazz not all that long ago?" Stasi inhaled the soothing fumes from the mug and carefully sipped the hot liquid.

"At least you still have your power." Jazz sat on the end of the bed, leaning against the footboard.

"Yeah, yeah, forty-eight hours of h.e.l.l, you eating your weight in See's chocolates, moaning and groaning your life was over," Blair teased.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say this town was cursed." Jazz pulled the chopsticks out of her hair, allowing the copper-red waves to tumble down. She twisted them back up and stuck the chopsticks back in. "How many years have you two lived here without any trouble? Even after the longtime residents knew the truth, they left you alone; in fact, you've made friends with them. I don't think Carrie's current angst should have been enough to infect the town to this extent. So what has happened to cause the problems and who's really behind it?"

Blair sat up. "A curse I can understand, but why?"

Stasi yawned. "I'm sorry. I love you both, but between the early wake-up call and everything going on today, I'd like nothing more than to take a nap."

"Good idea." The two witches got up and left, closing the door after them and ignoring Horace's plaintive "I don't get uncovered?"

Jazz headed for the freshly made coffee the minute she entered the kitchen. "You do know that your client," she made the word sound like the vilest of curses, "has been out to make as much trouble as she can for Stasi and Blair and it looks like she's having unprecedented success."

Trev sat sprawled in the chair, a half-filled cup in front of him. Jazz took pity on him and topped it off before she dropped into the chair across from him. Irma drifted in with Sirius close by. She leaned against the counter. The cigarette between her fingers disappeared the moment Jazz shot her a look of warning.

"I went down and took a peek at the stores. It looks like a war zone down there. Who would do such a terrible thing?" Irma asked.

"That's what we'd like to know." Blair sighed.

"The lawsuit hasn't turned out to be what I thought it was," Trev admitted with a weary sigh. "Maybe she had provocation, but I'm sure Carrie has been lying."

"Ya think?" Blair snorted. "Drop the b.i.t.c.h. I'd say hand her over to the Wizards' Court, but since she's human they won't do anything to her. I still say she started all this and it's a crime in our community. She needs to pay."

"It's not that easy. Due to our Code I can't drop a client."

"I'd say vandalism, taking the law into your own hands, and inciting the public to riot are excellent reasons no matter what your Code says." Jazz drummed her fingernails on the table.

"But none of that is proven."

They looked up when the door opened and Nick and Jake walked in.

"I ran into Nick and asked him to help me track whoever threw the stones, but we couldn't find anything," Jake announced. "We've got all the windows and doors boarded up and he made sure no one can get in the back doors.

"I can't believe you lost them. You're an excellent tracker," Jazz said.

"Something was masking the trail." Nick growled, pouring coffee for himself and for Jake. "How is Stasi?"

"I wallmailed Lili and she told me what to use," Blair replied. The witches had their own system of communicating by means of magickal letters that could show up on a wall anywhere in the world, no computer required. Very convenient. "Stasi's sleeping now and I'll check on her in a little while."

Trev silently stared at his cup, idly rubbing his finger around the rim.

"Those red hearts over both your heads aren't just one of Cupid's pranks, are they?" Blair said softly. "You have feelings for Stasi."

"She told me that witches and wizards don't mix," he murmured. "And it was easy for me to believe her. Something isn't right in this town. The taint needs to be found and eradicated."

"I don't know what you learned in wizard's law school, but you can't destroy any kind of taint without knowing the source."

"There is a place that can help us." Stasi stood in the doorway.

Trev jumped up and ran over to support her. He took her mug of tea out of her hand and helped her to his chair.

"I couldn't sleep after all," she admitted. "Trev's right. Perhaps we don't know who's behind this, but that doesn't mean we can't do some research on how to end it."

Jazz had a sick look on her face. "Please don't tell me you're saying what I think you're saying, because research means ..."

Stasi nodded. "The Library."

Jazz dropped her head to the table. "No. No, no, no, no."

"You don't have to go."

"The town doesn't have a library," Jake put in.

Stasi shook her head. "The Library-and you have to capitalize it-is magickal. It holds every magick reference known to our kind and even more that we don't know about."

"It's a terrible place filled with bats, monster spiders, big snakes, and beetles and Fates know what else." Jazz made a face. "Along with a horrible wizard in charge."

"The Librarian doesn't like Jazz," Blair explained.

"That's an understatement," Jazz mumbled. "But then, I'm not too fond of him either."

"Perhaps he'd be nicer to you if you returned your books on time and you weren't so rude to him," Nick suggested.

She uttered a low snarl. "Get staked."

"So you think this library can tell you what's going on around here?" Jake asked.

"Capital L no matter what," Stasi reminded him.

He laughed. "You can tell I didn't think of it as a capital L?"

"We can tell," Jazz said, getting up and beginning to forage for food. "And so can the prissy man who runs the place. If we don't show him proper respect we're banned for two or twenty or two hundred years." She gazed into a near empty kitchen cabinet and looked over her shoulder.

"We haven't had time to shop lately. I'll go to Grady's and pick up barbecue for us." Blair pushed back her chair and retrieved her coat from the coat rack.

"I'll go with you," Jake offered, pulling his heavy coat back on. "I don't think any of you should be out alone until this is settled."

For once Blair didn't disagree. She left with Jake in tow.

Nick straightened up. "Leticia sent me a message. She said the roads are blocked due to heavy snowfall and she and Krebs can't get back. They're going to stay at the resort."

"The roads are never blocked for long, although they may not get plowed until morning," Stasi said.

He shook his head. "Leticia senses something unnatural at work there also. As if they're being kept away from here." He got up and walked over to the window, pulling aside the cafe curtains. All they could see was a veil of white. "It looks like a record snowfall."

"And early in the season, too." Stasi looked worried. "We haven't had so much snow this early for at least fifteen years. Poor Blair will freeze out there."

Jazz picked up Stasi's mug and warmed it up in the microwave.

"We need to check the lake."

"Not until after you eat," Nick said. "In fact, it would be better if I went than you. Even Irma would be better."

"If you think I'm going out in that blizzard, guess again, Nicky," the ghost argued. "My arthritis has never liked cold weather."

"You're dead!" Jazz groaned. "You haven't suffered from arthritis since 1956!"

"I still feel it," she stiffly informed the witch.

"Perhaps you don't feel the cold the way we do, but it can still affect you," Jazz reminded the vampire.

"It's not far, so I'll be fine." He sipped his coffee. Even if his diet was iron-rich, he was able to enjoy most liquids with beer, wine, and coffee being his drinks of choice.

"Then I'm going with you."

"I don't think so."

Jazz opened her mouth to argue her point when she caught Stasi's pained expression. She mouthed I'm sorry and returned to her coffee.

"I'm going to visit The Library tomorrow," Stasi said in a tone that brooked no argument.

"I'll go with you," Trev told Stasi.

"I can do this on my own. You have a client to consider."

Trev listened to her words-she wasn't leaving him with any options. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to accompany her.

Stasi closed her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to forget the past two weeks. The town she loved, her retreat, had been severely damaged. She feared it would never return to the way it used to be.

"Whew! I thought we'd never get back!" Blair laughed, stumbling into the kitchen with Jake behind her. Both carried bags that exuded the welcome scents of rich spices and beef. Jake pushed the door against the snowy onslaught. "Jake has a great sense of direction. I was ready to use a ball of light to guide us, but he had no problem."

"I'm sure he didn't." Trev exchanged a knowing look with the carpenter.

Blair dropped the bags on the table. "Grady's gone over to the dark side," she informed them.

Jake shifted uncomfortably. "He saw us approaching and told us to go to the back door. He's afraid he'll lose business if he serves you."

"I wasn't going to take the food, but Jake disagreed. I never thought Grady was a coward," Blair muttered. "I think the only reason he even gave us the food was because Jake was with me."

"You can't blame him. He doesn't want his business to end up like ours." Stasi picked at her sandwich.

Suddenly no one had much of an appet.i.te, but they ate because they knew they needed to.

"I'm going to take a turn around the town. See if I can hear anything." Jake pulled on his heavy jacket.

"With this snow I can't imagine anyone will be out," Blair said.

"You'd be surprised."

"I'll check the lake now." Nick helped clean up and balled the bags into a trash bag.

"I'll go with you." Trev grabbed his jacket.

"Be careful," Stasi urged, more worried than ever.

Trev walked over and leaned down, dropping a tender kiss on her forehead where the skin was raw and scabbing from the cut. "I'm always careful," he whispered.

Stasi had no idea she had a dreamy look on her face as she watched the wizard and vampire leave.

"What?" She noticed the expressions on Blair, Jazz, and Jake's faces.

"It's your face, honey," Irma said. "Go look at it."

"She's right. Take a look."