Snow Witch Read online

  Snow Witch

  A Paranormal Cozy Mystery

  January Daphne

  Snow Witch

  A Paranormal Cozy Mystery

  Carolina Witch Book 2

  By

  January Daphne

  Copyright © 2020 January Daphne

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, copied, shared, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author. The only exception is brief quotations to be used in book reviews. All places and locations are used fictitiously. The names of characters and places are figments of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to real people or real places are purely a coincidence and unintended.

  About the Author

  Hi, I'm January Daphne, and I write about ghosts, witches, vampires and things that go bump in the night!

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  1

  I pumped my fist in the air in triumph. “Boo-ya!” I nearly knocked over my coffee doing a little happy dance in the corner booth of Lola’s Diner and Bakery.

  The other patrons in the little restaurant glanced over at me before going back to their breakfast burritos, pastries, and apple cinnamon pancakes. I’d only been living in the tiny rural town called Wolf Mountain for a couple months, but a lot had happened in that time.

  I had decided to quit my job at a public relations firm in Atlanta and take on the role of lodge manager for a remote ski lodge in Western North Carolina. We’d had some issues with our old lodge manager, and through a series of bizarre events, I sort of ended up banishing him to the realm of lost souls for all of eternity.

  So… the position was open.

  That was another thing that was new to me—I was a witch who had legit magical powers. I’d inherited them when my Aunt Martha Wilder had died an untimely death and left me her ski lodge, her beautiful mountain cabin, and the magical powers of every single witch in the Wilder family who had lived before me.

  Not going to lie—that was a lot of power, and I hadn’t quite figured out how to manage it.

  Every now and then, I’d accidentally levitate a napkin dispenser at the diner, or, if it was really a rough day, I’d shoot electricity out of my hands.

  I looked up from my laptop when Lola Honeycutt, the owner of the Wolf’s Den Bakery sauntered over to top off my coffee. “No one says ‘boo-yah’ any more, Sweetie,” she said, in her bouncy southern accent.

  “Trust me—this totally merits a ‘boo-yah’.” I added a splash of cream to my steaming mug and stirred. “We have a celebrity coming into town tomorrow.

  “No kidding! Who?” Coffee sloshed inside the glass pitcher as Lola gestured excitedly.

  “Perry Lee Phillips!” I said, pumping my fist in the air again.

  Lola looked downright confused.“Who’s that?”

  “This guy.” I angled my laptop to face her. “Check this out.”

  Lola bent over my shoulder and blew her long, swooping red bangs out of her eyes. “Oh, he’s cute.” she said, slightly more interested now. “Is he a friend of yours or something?” She leaned her aproned hip against the booth and rested the coffee pot on the table.

  “I wish. He writes for one of the biggest travel magazines in the country. I had to hit up every connection I had to even get him to consider this place.” I nervously tugged at a lock of my wavy blonde hair. “He just emailed me and said his plane lands at 4 p.m..” I chewed my lip. “That gives, like, six hours.”

  “Oh, you should invite him to the lodge employee Christmas party tonight. Wouldn’t that be fun?” Lola’s smile was back in full bloom.

  “The lodge Christmas party. I still have to decorate.” Then I forced myself to take a deep breath. “It’ll be fine. I’ll figure something out.” And by that I meant, I was going to use all kinds of witchcraft to make that lodge look like a freaking winter wonderland—in six hours.

  Lola glanced around the diner, then took a seat on the booth opposite from me. She set the coffee pot on the table and propped her elbows on the table. “It’s a good thing that reporter’s coming this afternoon. They’re predicting a big blizzard for tonight. We’re supposed to get at least two feet of snow.”

  “They always predict more snow than what we actually get. I’m not worried.” I took another sip of coffee.

  “People have gotten snowed-in at the lodge before. You might want to pack a duffle back just in case.”

  “Seriously?” I asked.

  She nodded. “It’s happened a few times. These little roads are always the last ones to get plowed in the region.”

  “OK, no problem.” I took another deep breath. “I’ll just add ‘packing a duffle bag’ to my list of tasks. I’ll also have to find someone to pick Perry up.” I rubbed my temples. “Honestly, I didn’t expect this guy to get back to me so soon. Wolf Mountain Ski Lodge is definitely not the type of place he reviews. He usually travels to the Alps and stays in five-star resorts.”

  “And he’s coming all the way from New York to stay at that musty old lodge?” Lola scrunched up her cute freckled nose. She always managed to look cute no matter what she as wearing. Today she had on slim-fitting jeans under her pale blue apron, and her bright red hair was piled up on top of her head in a messy bun. “No offense, but why?”

  “Because I’m very persuasive.” I took a sip of my coffee, feeling sheepish. “And I might have told him some stories of the supernatural happenings on the mountain.”

  “Natalie, come on. Why would you tell him something like that?” Lola gave me a disapproving look. “How am I supposed to run a bakery if everyone’s too scared to step foot on this mountain?” She shook her head. “And frankly. I don’t know why everyone’s so convinced that this place is some ‘monster-Mecca’ or something. I know everyone thought your aunt was a witch and all that, but that’s all just make believe stuff. People can’t possibly believe it.”

  I shrugged. “Apparently, Perry Lee Phillips does—as a hobby, of course. He’s pretty into paranormal investigation stuff and he’s a huge fan of Blake Elliot’s movies. Trust me, it’s just something I had to tell him to get his attention. He’s not going to write about any of that in his review.”

  “For the sake of my business, I hope not.” Lola drew invisible circles with her finger on the table. “Speaking of Blake, how are y’all doing?”

  I dabbed my mouth with a napkin. “We’re doing great—as friends. Just friends.”

  “But why?” She lowered her voice. “He likes you, you know.”

&nb
sp; “I know.”

  “And you like him, I can tell.”

  I sighed. “I guess I do.”

  She tipped her head. “Then what’s the problem? He’s hot. He’s single. He makes money. And he knows all these famous people in Hollywood.” She cupped her mouth and whispered. “I heard he’s friends with all three of the Chrises.”

  “I know, but it’s complicated,” I said.

  And it was complicated. Lola didn’t know about my witchy heritage or the fact that both deaths in the last two months were the result of supernatural killing curses. As a horror screenplay writer, Blake Elliott knew a lot about the monsters of Wolf Mountain, but he didn’t have any actual powers. He had no way of protecting himself.

  I’d seen first hand how dangerous the world of magic was and I didn’t want to Blake anywhere near it. Especially since I could barely control my own powers.

  Rather than get into all of that, I changed the subject. “What about you? Are you dating anyone now?” Though I genuinely liked talking about Lola’s love life, I had ulterior motives.

  Lola’s pale, freckled cheeks went red. “I think so,” she said. “It’s really new, but I think we like each other.”

  “Really?” I perked up. “Lola—spill.”

  She tucked a loose strand of hair being her ear. “You know him—he’s the guy you hired to play piano at the lodge.”

  My eyebrows went up. The piano player she was referring to was named Colton Pruitt. He was amazing on piano even though he was young—mid-twenties, maybe. He always had this super-intense smile on his face, like the lead singer in a boy band, or a Disney prince. “Colton Pruitt, he’s cute. How’d it happen?”

  A shy smile slid across Lola’s face. “Now that he’s staying in the employee housing at the lodge, he’s come in to the bakery almost every morning. One day, he walked right up to me and asked me on a date. I was going to say no because I don’t want him to be my rebound. You know I’m still a bit hung up on you-know-who, but for some reason, I just couldn’t say no to Colton. We’re having fun together.”

  Before I could respond, the cheerful jingle of a bell interrupted me. We both looked over at the door and saw Liam Evans stroll in.

  “Speak of the devil,” Lola said, hopping up off the bench and grabbing up the coffee pitcher. “Good luck with the lodge. Let me know if you need any help getting the decorations up. I can come by after I close up for the day.”

  She hurriedly did a lap around the diner, refilling coffees and clearing plates before disappearing into the back.

  Liam’s eyes lingered on the swinging door Lola had pushed open. Then he slid into my booth with a sigh. “Did I just hear her call me the devil?” he asked in his smooth, British accent.

  “Don’t pout,” I said. “I’m sure you’ve been called worse.” I angled my laptop to face me again and opened a spreadsheet. I scanned the list of decorations I wanted to have in the lodge—wreaths, lights, garland, hanging snowflakes, and of course, a big, lush Christmas tree.

  “That’s besides the point,” Liam said. “When is she going to stop hating me?”

  “She doesn’t hate you… that much,” I said. “She just doesn’t want to see her ex-lover hanging around her place of business.” I glanced up. “And I can’t say I blame her.”

  “There’s only one diner on the mountain!” Liam complained.

  I shrugged. “Learn to cook.”

  “You know something.” Liam narrowed his eyes. “What were you two talking about?”

  “Girl stuff,” I said as I pulled up this week’s employee schedule.

  “Did she say if she’s dating someone?” he asked, his blue eyes pleading.

  I’d figured out by now that this was a game Lola played with Liam. She knew full well that anything she said to me would go right to Liam. And it drove Liam crazy.

  I looked up from my screen. “No one serious,” I said. “But you’re a werewolf. She’s a human. Maybe you should think about moving on and accepting that being magical requires sacrifices.”

  “Moving on?” His nostrils flared as he blew out a puff of air. “Like you’ve moved on, you mean?”

  I took a sip of my coffee. “I have moved on.”

  He laughed. “Does Blake know that?”

  “There’s nothing for him to know,” I said shortly. “Because we’ve never actually dated.”

  “Is that why he’s always cancelling his plans with me to hang out with you?”

  I rolled my eyes. “We’re friends. Like how you and I are.”

  “Really?” Liam’s blond eyebrows rose playfully. “Because I heard about your almost-astral kiss. You don’t do that with me.”

  I scowled at him and reached across the table to smack him in the arm. “If you don’t stop teasing me about this, I’m not going to keep working on that werewolf antidote.”

  Liam’s face went still. “Any progress with that?” He fiddled with a paper napkin on the table.

  “Some.” I touched his hand and he let go of the napkin. “Trust me, I’m doing everything I can.”

  He pursed his lips. “I love her, Natalie. It kills me to not be with her.”

  “You’re doing it to keep her safe.”

  “I know,” Liam said.

  “On that note, I’ve got to go.” I downed the last of my coffee and slid my laptop into my bag. “I’ve got someone important coming in tonight. Can you please help me make sure nothing supernatural happens on the property this weekend? I’m pretty sure about half of our employees are not all the way human—if you know what I mean.”

  “They’ll be fine.” Liam waved his hand dismissively.

  “And one more thing—can you pick up Perry Lee Phillips at the Asheville airport? He’ll be landing in about six hours, and my car’s in the shop.”

  “What happened to it?”

  I chewed my lip, debating whether or not to lie to him. I opted for the truth. “I tried to use a spell to change my oil, and my engine sort of exploded.” When Liam’s eyes widened, I added, “Just a small explosion. Nothing serious. I hope. Anyway, how clean is your car?”

  “Decently clean, for a man who changes into a wolf every now and again.”

  I gave him a thumbs up. “Good enough. Use one of those sticky rollers, and fix your shirt.”

  “What’s wrong with my shirt?” he asked indignantly.

  “You missed a button.”

  Liam looked down at his flannel shirt and groaned. “This is why I need my girlfriend back,” he said as he undid his buttons one at a time, revealing the firm, sloping muscles of his chest and abs.

  I felt my face heat up, and I looked away. “You don’t have to do that in front of me.”

  Liam was way too good looking for his own good, and he seized any opportunity he could to flaunt his very yummy-looking six-pack.

  Liam caught me looking and grinned. “Aw, don’t be embarrassed. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

  “And that’s my cue to go.” I headed for the door. “Don’t be late to the airport. I mean it. I need everything to be perfect.”

  “Sorry, to disappoint you, Love.” Liam turned in the booth as he finished buttoning up his shirt. “But perfect doesn’t exist on Wolf Mountain.”

  2

  I dropped my messenger bag into the passenger seat of the old red pickup truck that I’d inherited with the lodge. Lodge employees used it to haul stuff around, but since my precious Fiat was out of commission, I’d been using it as my primary mode of transportation.

  The tires kicked up dust as the truck thundered down the road. I caught glimpses of the sky through the thick canopy of trees. Big, gray clouds hung low and tiny glittering snowflakes appeared on the windshield.

  This was probably the beginning of the storm Lola had mentioned.

  Hopefully, it would snow just enough to give the slopes a fresh layer of natural powder. Anything more than that could cause issues navigating these winding narrow roads.

  With Christmas a few weeks away
, we were right at the beginning of the North Carolina ski season. Despite my inexperience, I was determined to make this year the lodge’s most profitable year yet. What I lacked in knowledge, I made up for with tenacity.

  And sometimes magic, when I wasn’t accidentally blowing stuff up.

  I hung a right and parked in the dirt driveway of the police station.

  Inside, I found Sheriff Angie Dempsey sitting at her messy, paper-strewn desk with a cup of coffee in her hand and dark circles under her eyes. She was a pretty woman with short, blonde hair and thoughtful eyes. Her and I had become friends since my move into town.

  A fire blazed in the wood-burning stove near the window, and Benjamin was curled up on a throw rug, basking in the warmth.

  I rummaged in my bag and pulled out an assortment of murky mason jars, powder-filled bags, vials of werewolf blood, and some enchanted iron nails. “I think that’s everything you wanted.” I pointed to one of the bags. “That memory dust was a real pain in the butt to make. Did you know it takes a full lunar cycle to make?”

  “I didn’t, but thank you.” Sheriff Angie leaned back in her swivel chair and wrapped both hands around her mug. She had on her tan uniform and her blonde hair pinned back away from her face. She was in her mid-forties—just a few years younger than my Aunt Martha had been before Martha died several months ago. Even though they were four years apart, they’d been friends since they were kids. “If you’re right about one of the oldest vampires in the region targeting Wolf Mountain this season, we’re going to need all the magical help we can get.” She propped her elbows on her desk and interlaced her fingers. “How’d you get that information?”