This Strange Addiction by Julie Steimle (e book free reading .txt) 📕

“So… have you heard from your brothers in France recently?” Tom asked, changing the subject. “Your sister?”

Rick lifted his head. “No. I don’t think the pack allows them to communicate with us. They don’t have email or any social media account online. The Loup Garou controls the lives of all their pack members.”

“Ugh.” Tom looked like he wanted to kick a wolf—though not Rick. “They suck.”

Rick nodded. “Though I have heard from my sisters in England—Margarete and Genevieve.”

Tom perked up. Rick had never talked about them before Germany. It had been a deep Deacon family secret. But now that his father’s past transgressions in Paris had been exposed to his friends due to Germany, it was liberating for Rick to be able to speak openly about it with Tom.

“Their patisserie is going well,” Rick said. “And they are saving up for a possible trip to visit me and Dad here in New York. They’re not prepared to step into Massachusetts just yet.”

Tom grinned.

“And Marie and her kids are doing well in Canada.” Rick smiled, thinking about that. He shook his head. “I just wish I could get Louisa, Remy, and Henri out of Paris.”

“And their kids who have been sold and spread out in the pack like chattel,” Tom muttered bitterly as if the idea of wolf packs made him sick. He then sighed. “You know, I used to envy you. But I don’t anymore. Your life is way too complicated for me.”

Eying him, Rick smirked. It definitely was.

Chapter Eight

Audry was floating on air the morning after. She has been proposed to. They just need to put a ring on it. And though she had texted Jessica about it the night before, she had to call that morning.

“He proposed!” Audry declared.

<< Did he put a ring on it? >> Jessica asked, her skeptical dismay clear.

Proudly, Audry declared, “We are shopping for rings today and looking for apartments on Saturday.”

Jessica’s sigh on the phone revealed her sentiments clearly. She was not happy, but she was resigned to accept reality. << OK. >>

“Just ‘ok’?” Audry protested, wishing someone would be happy for her. “I love this man! And he finally asked me!”

<< I know. I know. I just— >>

“You just wanted me to marry your friend Rick,” Audry grumbled out. “That was never going to happen. You’ve known it for a while.”

<< I was always hoping. >>

“What?” Audry laughed, cradling her cell phone to her ear as she sat on her sofa in her pajamas in her nearly empty apartment. She had not even gotten dressed. This came first. “That he’d go vegan so we could get married?”

Jessica laughed. << No. That you’d let go of making him vegan and realize he would have been the best guy for you. >>

Audry’s face went hot, not so much in shock but embarrassment that Jessica had been thinking she ought to have given up her stand for veganism. “I could never marry a man who blatantly thinks it is ok to eat a living creature.”

There was silence for a second.

<< So, do you hate me then? >> Jessica said. << I’m a meat eater. >>

But Audry chuckled, knowing Jessica had no problem with a vegetarian diet. She had even tried it for a while but then later confessed she missed the meat in her Italian favorites and was not fond of soy milk. “No. I don’t hate you. And I don’t hate him either. But come on, he and I really don’t have anything in common, and honestly I really don’t know him.”

<< You could get to know him. And, by the way, you have a lot in common. >>

“I’m engaged now, Jessica,” Audry moaned. “And I’m in love.”

She could hear Jessica exhale with resignation. << Yes, I know. But as your friend, I had to tell what I really feel. But if you really love him, and he is being genuine, then I will support you in it. >>

This is what Audry wanted to hear.

<< Have you called your family yet? >> Jessica asked.

“Nope,” Audry said, shifting her phone to the other ear. “I’m not going to contact them until I have the ring. Doug and Vincent both insist on it.”

<< Good deal. >>

They didn’t have much to say after that. Once they hung up, Audry hopped off the couch and rushed to the bathroom to shower and dress. She had a lot planned for the day.

When Audry stepped out of the apartment later and headed down the stairs of her building, she saw Daniel Smith, Silvia’s half-brother walk up. The moment his eyes set on her, Daniel rushed up to her. “Hey, Audry. I’m glad to catch you. Are you going out?”

Audry nodded, staring in wonder at Daniel. He looked good. A little taller and broader in the shoulders than last time she had seen him. He was growing a Henry the Fifth goatee, which looked classy on him, along with his hair which was getting longer. But his eyes reflected deep, aged concern. Daniel had always given Audry the impression of a man a lot older than he physically was. A lot like Andrew Cartwright, Daniel carried himself like a war weary knight from the Round Table. He actually owned a sword, which he occasionally had with him, and he almost always wore a long overcoat which could hide not only that sword but also various sharp weapons. He just seemed that kind of guy. But the last time Audry had seen him, he had said he was going to England to study up on elf-lore with his friend Peter McCabe—the rising soccer star from their hometown of Middleton Village, Massachusetts—also a friend of Rick’s. Peter was there for soccer training, but also working on his Masters in Anthropology. Audry had never met him, but he was getting famous, best known in soccer as the Witchdoctor as his skill was phenomenal

“Uh, yeah,” Audry said. But she knew right away what Daniel wanted to talk about. “Silvia is not home. She hasn’t been here for three weeks.”

A worried cringe dug into his brow, his eyes darkening. “Damn. I knew something was wrong. Have you seen any signs of the coven coming after her?”

Daniel was always quick and to the point. It was fitting his friends nicknamed him Swift.

“Yes,” Audry nodded, feeling flustered. “I told Jessica about it a few days ago. Three women came by. Jessica named one and a half of them. A woman named Danna—”

“Danna Groves. Damn,” he muttered. Then he looked to Audry— “A woman dressed like Hooker Barbie, right?”

Almost laughing, though it did not seem right to with Daniel appearing so grieved, Audry nodded. “Yeah. Exactly. And two others. One creepy, I dunno, horror flick kind of gal Jessica said was a Gardner sister—one of a set of twins, she said.”

Daniel nodded. “Ok. And the other?”

“Pretty ordinary,” Audry said, shrugging. “Brown hair. Blue eyes, I think. Average height.”

“It sounds like Marta Lindon,” Daniel muttered. “She was one of Silvia’s close acquaintances and pretty freaking powerful witch.”

Audry stiffened. She didn’t like it when Daniel talked like this, like he believed magic was real. Then again, as her eyes rested on the red crystal he wore on a chain around his neck—the same crystal Jessica and her husband wore, she wondered how much of that they did believe. Despite everything, those from Middleton Village seemed a superstitious lot. And that included Rick. It was the other reason why marriage with such a man, let alone dating him, felt like something out of a creepy movie. They just felt dangerous.

“Did Silvia take her cell phone with her?” Daniel asked.

Slowly shaking her head, Audry remembered seeing it on Silvia’s dresser. “No.”

He nodded, almost assured by that. But then he held out his cell phone to Audry. “What do you make of this?”

There was a text. It said: DB SOS. They found me. Don’t want MD hurt. Please come. IDK what 2 do.

Audry stared at it. DB was short for Danny Boy, which is what Silvia always called Daniel. MD was short for My Darling—which was a joke between her and Silvia. Silvia out of the blue had started to call her ‘My Darling’, especially in her texts, where she always addressed Audry that way. But this text was from an entirely different phone. Not a number either of them recognized.

Meeting his gaze, Audry felt a shudder go through her. “She’s in real trouble.”

Then another text blinked on. Daniel stared at it.

DB, Pink Yogurt is following me. Tricia the Clone and the 2-faced backstabber are with her. I can’t lose them. I need help!!!!

“Pink yogurt?” Audry stared at it.

“That’s Danna,” Daniel muttered. He texted back: I’m here with MD. Where RU?

“Why does she call her pink yogurt?” Audry asked. “I mean the pink part I get, but—”

“It goes back to when Eve McAllister came to our town. Eve called Danna a yogurt,” he said, his eyes on his phone, anticipating the text message. “Her friend Jane said her name sounded like one.”

Audry rolled her eyes. She had yet to meet this Eve McAllister, though she had heard a lot of praise about her. California girl. Sporty. Loved to surf. Great sense of humor. Upstanding gal. Good family. Rick had crushed on her when they were younger, though Eve now had a steady boyfriend which everyone assumed would lead to marriage.

A text popped up. Y RU with MD???!!!!

He texted back: Looking 4 U

Her text came quickly:  Don’t lead them 2 MD!

He texted back: They already found her. But it is OK. She contacted C1.

Audry did not know who C1 was. She peered at his face to see if she could figure it out.

He added: I am sure C1 has contacted HH.

Audry didn’t know who HH was either. It was confusing.

But then Silvia texted back: Fine. Where can we meet?

Where RU? He texted back.

Not telling. She quickly replied.

He groaned. He quickly texted back. We need 2 find U. Pick a place.

She responded: U could be followed.

“It is a risk we are going to have to take,” Audry muttered. But then an idea came to her. It was going to spoil her plans with Hogan for the day, but this had to take precedence. “What about the police station? You guys have friends there. The main headquarters. I bet Matthew Calamori and his friend, uh, Joshua Johnson are there. Or we could call them and have us meet them there.

Daniel lifted his eyes to her, nodding. “Yeah…. We’ll have to do that.” He then texted Silvia back, explaining their plan. The text was a lot longer than the last one, and he argued a bit with his sister before Silvia finally agreed. But what Audry got out of the argument was that Silvia had been on the move since the day before—that somehow the coven had finally gotten something to ‘scry out her location’.

Scry.

The creepiest part about that was the possibility that it actually worked. That meant anybody who had a hair of hers or something her DNA might be on could literally be used to locate her anywhere on a map. It was freaky. And if it was real, that was scary.

Daniel asked Audry to drive them to