Witch In Charge - Celia Kyle Page 0,13

inevitable turn.

“Of course, it does,” he sputtered. “But I’d expect you to carefully consider things before turning away suitable candidates. Did I hear the story right? The two girls with the best references actually ran out of there screaming?”

“Your source is good,” Kelly said, sarcastically, “but not well-enough informed. I didn’t do a thing to them and neither did Nathan. The house chased them away.”

“What?” he whispered.

She shrugged. “That’s what I was getting at, Louie. My opinion doesn’t matter. Neither does yours. The house doesn’t give a damn. It chooses who it wants, and you of all people should know that.”

He was silent for a moment, staring into the tabletop like it was a portal he could fall through. When he looked back up at her, he was still very clearly annoyed, but kind of dismayed as well.

“I thought you might have had some influence over it. Are you sure you gave those young ladies a proper chance? If you liked them, the house might have as well.”

Kelly snorted. “I didn’t get a chance to give them a chance! The house attacked them the second they stepped across the threshold.”

It was the truth, but Louie narrowed his eyes. “Almost anyone would be better than a necromancer, Kelly. Just because the house liked her doesn’t mean that you had to.”

“Look, I'd had a really long night. I didn’t think.”

“No, you didn’t!” Louie raised his voice, glaring at her. “Hollow House is a serious responsibility and I’m not convinced you’re up to the task.”

“Damn, I’m sorry, okay? I’m still just finding my feet here, and—”

Louie sighed and waved a loose hand. “Girls like you always have plenty of excuses. We all know enough about you, Kelly. This behavior is disappointing, but I have to say I’m not really surprised.”

“Excuse me?”

Kelly’s exhaustion from all the recent events made it tough to follow what he was going on about. She hadn't even had a second to soften the sudden blows of Louie’s anger.

“We’ll have to rethink the situation,” he said. “Obviously, you can’t be left in charge. You’re—”

“She’s what?”

A deep, rumbling voice cut off Louie’s sentence at the exact same moment a thick shadow fell across the table. Kelly looked up in alarm, expecting to see something huge and frightening, like a huge bat or a stone warrior or—

“Ronun,” Louie snapped. “This isn’t your business.”

“I’m making it my business.”

Kelly was in awe of his tone. It wasn’t aggressive, yet it dripped with menace. Ronun stood there very politely, with an even look, but his shadow and tone of voice emanated threat the same way a slavering werewolf does right before a full moon.

“Look, Ronun—” Louie tried again.

Ronun shook his head, ignoring Louie’s words. “As you can see, the poor girl is shaking.”

Kelly looked down at her hands. She was surprised to find she was actually shaking. But she had a feeling Louie wasn't the cause.

“Whatever your ‘business’ with her is, I think you should back off for now until you both calm down.”

“But—”

Louie looked around as if for support, finally turning back to Ronun’s calm, cold smile. He stood up in a huff and shoved his chair back with a loud screech.

“We’ll talk later, Kelly,” he muttered before striding away.

“Hey, thanks for sticking up for me like that,” she said, genuinely grateful for his intervention.

She reached out to touch his arm but Ronun violently pulled it away, giving her a hard look.

“Forget about it. I didn’t do it for you. It's my job.”

Kelly watched his back—and his really great ass—as he walked away, back to Kalliope. Her mind twisted into a pretzel over this guy. Just when she thought he actually liked her, he bit her head off!

“Hey, new girl!”

A bright voice distracted her before her thoughts could get truly tangled. She looked up into Holly’s face with relief.

“Hi, old chick. It’s nice to finally see a smiling face tonight.”

“I’d say the same, but you aren’t smiling.”

Holly grinned and dropped into the seat across from her. Kelly quickly warmed up, returning the smile.

“So, I’ve got something else that will cheer you up.”

“Yeah?” Kelly leaned forward, eager for anything happy.

“A bunch of freshly turned vamps are throwing a party tonight. Wanna go?”

Kelly's bubble of joy burst. “Can't. Have to work.”

“No problem. These are vampires, Kelly. They're known for staying up pretty late.”

A week earlier, Kelly would have been slobbering at the chance to party with some hot, young vamps, but the last few days—correction, nights—had really taken a toll on her energy level. She was