Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist (Maple Hollow #1)

“Agnes!” I panted. “Have you seen Juniper? Do you know where she is?”

The vampire’s shrewd red eyes narrowed. “Katie was just heading over to the café.”

“But . . .” I looked at Iris and back to Agnes in confusion.

“Oh, you don’t know?” Agnes asked with a surprised laugh. “You witches really aren’t the brightest. How do you think she can sell her catches out of town if not as a human?”

29

HARLOW

Katie leaped over the counter with preternatural speed then grabbed a fistful of my shirt. I let out a garbled gasp instead of a scream, the air knocked out of me as she twisted me away from anything solid to hold on to before slamming me against the countertop. In her Katie form, she was shorter and smaller than me, but in her true form, Juniper was a head taller—and all muscle.

Shit. I should’ve grabbed a knife when I’d had the chance.

I fought back, clawing a hand down her face and peeling back clumps of sticky skin to reveal her wet, gray face underneath.

I gagged at the sight.

“You think you can have her, but you’ll never make her happy,” Katie—Juniper—seethed. Her voice had dropped two octaves from the sickly sweet one she’d put on before.

How had she so wildly changed?

“What are you talking about?” I reached to claw at her again, but she grabbed my wrist and slammed it against the edge of the counter with a sickening crack. I let out a wail.

Where the fuck was Willow?

“Jordyn is meant to be with her own kind,” Juniper hissed. “A paranormal.”

“Dear God, tell me this isn’t all because you’re jealous?” I cried out as she twisted my wrist again. “This is insane!”

“We had a date planned. The same day Lou lost control of her roller skates and crashed straight into Jordyn. And Jordyn canceled our date the second she collided with that filthy, little human.”

More seaweed dripped from her bandana. “Filthy? That’s a little rich coming from a swamp monster, don’t you think?”

Juniper hissed, black ink seeping from her teeth. “Even after Jordyn broke up with her, Lou didn’t get the hint. I ran into her when I was selling fish two towns over, and she said she was missing home and planning on moving back here.” She spat, and the black saliva sizzled through the countertop. “And I couldn’t have that, could I?”

My stomach boiled over. I made a mental note to tell Willow it would’ve been nice to have had a heads-up that swamp monsters had acid spit.

“You killed Lou,” I snarled. Not a question, but an accusation.

“I was protecting Jordyn!” she screeched. “I was taking care of her! Lou didn’t know what it took to love a witch as powerful as Jordyn could be. Then I waited for months while Jordyn got her head on right. Dropping hints and care baskets. I was there to remind her that she was better than Lou. We were so close to rekindling a flame that would have rivaled hell itself. But then you rolled into town and took her away from me.”

Her hand flew up to my throat, sharpened nails cutting through her gloves.

I managed to bark out a final “Willow!” before Juniper squeezed, cutting off my air supply. My face pinpricked with a thousand needles. Blood vessels burst in my eyes. My vision spotted.

“Your sister sampled my cuisine the other night,” Juniper said with an evil grin. “I don’t think she’s going to be waking up for some time.”

My heart plummeted to my boots. Did Juniper poison Willow because of me? All because I fell for a witch?

I kicked as hard as I could but made no contact. The expended energy made my muscles ache even more. My lips mouthed a plea, but it was no use. Juniper was going to murder me in the middle of my sister’s café, then find Jordyn. All the fight I had in my body tried and failed to rally.

Tears sprang to my eyes. This was it. She was going to kill me.

The light started dwindling away when a blast sounded behind me. Glass sprayed through the air, and a force of energy sent Juniper stumbling back, giving me just enough leeway to take in a lungful of precious air.

“Juniper!” a familiar voice screamed. “Let her go!”