Page 31 of Guarded by the Gargoyle (Hidden Hollow #3)

29

WILLOW

“ I ’m sorry, my dear—I can’t help you.” Goody Albright shook her head regretfully after I finished explaining the situation. But I think I know someone who might be able to. Come with me.”

She led me down to Goldie’s Diner and I went with her, still on pins and needles. Every minute I left Kael in The Pit was a minute of pure agony. What might be happening to him? Had the Hell Hound regenerated somehow and come for him? Or what if Carlo was trying to take his revenge?

I had to get him out of there—I just didn’t know how.

The minute Goldie saw our faces, she seemed to know something was wrong.

“My goodness—what happened?” she asked me. “You look terrible, sweetie! I mean, not to be rude but?—”

“I feel terrible,” I said, interrupting her. “Kael is gone!”

Her eyes widened.

“Gone? Gone where?”

“We fear he may be trapped in Hell,” Goody Albright said seriously. “And you’re the only witch in town I know of who has any kind of expertise in that realm. Because of your…well, you know.”

Goldie nodded.

“All right, come in the back,” she said, gesturing to us. “Let’s talk about it.”

She took us to a break room that led off the kitchen where there was a table and three chairs. Before she sat, she took a pot of coffee from the machine set up in the corner and waved a hand, murmuring over it. She poured me a cup and as the steam reached my nose, I realized it was chicory.

The pungent, bitter scent made me think of the last time I’d had it—was it really only that morning that Kael had been sitting safe and sound across from me? The thought made me burst into tears, though I usually try not to cry in front of strangers.

“Oh hey now, it’s okay, sweetie! Everything is going to be okay.” Goldie reached across the table to squeeze my hand. “What happened to Kael?”

“He…he got stuck in The Pit,” I sobbed, my shoulders shaking. “Sh-shutting the door that I left open. He’s stuck in Hell and it’s all muh-my fault!”

“Oh dear…” Goldie gave me a sympathetic look and shook her head. “Is that really what happened?” she asked Goody Albright.

Goody Albright nodded.

“I don’t understand how the door was able to manifest inside the town’s magic shield, but somehow, apparently, it did.”

She went on to describe what had happened and I was glad I’d been able to give her all the details before breaking down.

“Hmm, that’s bad,” Goldie agreed, nodding when Goody Albright described the iron door folding in on itself until it disappeared. “It sounds like that door is shut for good.”

“Shut for good?” I cried, half rising from my seat. “Are you saying there’s no hope? That he’s gone forever? Trapped in Hell for eternity?”

“No, no, sweetie—that’s not what I’m saying at all!” Goldie put a hand on my arm and urged me gently back down into my seat. “Just because you close one door, doesn’t mean you can’t open another,” she added.

Goody Albright frowned.

“But Goldie dear, I don’t know about the idea of opening another door to The Pit from inside Hidden Hollow.”

“Not a door so much as a portal—a one way portal specifically meant for just one person to come through—Kael,” Goldie said, handing me a napkin.

“What so we could bring him back here without worrying about anything else coming with him?” I asked hopefully, drying my eyes on the napkin she offered me. “Because I saw my ex in there—in Hell. And I don’t want him anywhere near me!”

“It is possible to bring just one person and exclude everyone else—including your ex—but it’s a tricky business and there’s only one way to do it,” Goldie said mysteriously.

“Well, how? Do I have to do a spell?” I asked. I wasn’t a very experienced witch—I’d only found out that I was one earlier that day, (it was almost nighttime now,) but I was willing to try anything to get Kael back.

“It’s a kind of spell.” Goldie tucked one of her long blonde curls behind her ear and leaned forward. “How much do you know about Sex Magic?”

“Sex Magic?” I frowned and shook my head. “Uh, nothing. Is that even a thing?”

“Oh, it’s a thing, all right,” Goody Albright said, nodding. “But it can easily go bad.” She looked at Goldie. “Are you sure this is a good idea? Willow just learned she has powers a few days ago and aside from the transference spell she helped me with, she really hasn’t used them much at all.”

“Hey, you came to me for help for a reason,” Goldie pointed out. “This is the only way I know of to extract someone from The Pit.”

“All right, my dear—you know I’m not doubting your expertise,” Goody Albright said quickly.

“I don’t understand,” I said, frowning. “What expertise do you have?” Now that I had stopped crying, it occurred to me that asking the owner of the local diner to help rescue someone from Hell might be a strange choice.

Goldie sighed.

“I’ll tell you, but please don’t spread it around. I’m half demon.”

“What?” I stared at her in surprise. She didn’t look like a demon at all—unless she hid it really well. She looked like a pretty, middle aged woman with a full, curvy figure and a mass of golden blonde ringlets

“It’s true.” She nodded briefly. “My mother was a Succubus which makes me half Succubus. That’s also the reason I’m an expert at Sex Magic. It kind of runs in my blood, you know?”

I didn’t know, but I wanted to learn more.

“Tell me what to do,” I said eagerly, leaning forward. “How do I use Sex Magic to get Kael back?”

“Well first of all, you need the right setting,” Goldie told me. “Luckily, I have my Lust Hut—you can use that.”

“Uh, Lust Hut?” I raised my eyebrows. “What’s that?”

“The place I go to practice my magic, of course,” Goldie said patiently. She sighed. “I don’t use it much now. I don’t have any Heartmates.”

“Heartmates? Plural?” I couldn’t help asking.

She nodded.

“Look, being half-Succubus means I have some pretty strong drives. One guy just doesn’t do it for me. But it’s really hard to find two or three guys who are into sharing. They always get jealous of each other at some point. So here I am, on my own.” She straightened up. “But that doesn’t matter. Right now we’re trying to get your Heartmate back.”

“Oh, I don’t know if Kael is my Heartmate—what is a Heartmate, anyway?” I asked.

“That’s your Fated Mate—the one set aside just for you,” Goody Albright explained. “It’s not easy to find the perfect one for you, but you know when you do.”

I thought of how well Kael and I fit together—of how sweet and kind and caring and protective he was and how he’d said he didn’t want to lose me—not even to go back to Heaven. Maybe he was my Heartmate.

But how did I get him back?

“I’ll explain everything,” Goldie said when I asked. “But I warn you—you’re going to have to make a sacrifice if you’re going to get him out of Hell—that’s a big ask for any kind of magic.”

“A sacrifice?” I felt my stomach lurch. “You mean like…killing an animal or something?”

Both she and Goody Albright laughed.

“No, no, my dear!” Goody Albright said.

“I’m talking about giving up something you really want,” Goldie explained.

“Like what?” I shook my head. I couldn’t think of anything I really wanted right now but Kael. I’d already given up my shop in New Orleans—what else would be required of me?

“I can’t tell you but you’ll know at the right time,” Goldie told me. She raised her eyebrows at me. “Do you want to do this tonight? Because if so, I need to get started brewing a lust potion.”

“A lust potion?” I asked blankly.

“Sure. I don’t need one myself, being half Succubus, but most people don’t have the same drives I do,” she explained. “If you’re going to do successful Sex Magic, you need to be really horny.”

“Goldie!” Goody Albright looked slightly scandalized.

“Sorry—I should have said you need to be sufficiently aroused,” Goldie said, grinning unrepentantly.

“That’s better,” Goody Albright said primly but a little smile twitched around the corners of her mouth. “Thank you, Goldie. And you’d probably better start on that potion at once. The longer Kael is stuck in The Pit, the harder it’s going to be to extract him.”

“You’re right about that.” Goldie got up and started moving around the small break room. There was a regular sized stove in the corner—not nearly as big as the ones in the kitchen of the diner. She got out a pot and then opened a cabinet and started searching for ingredients.

Before I knew it, the room was filled with the scent of cinnamon and cloves and other warming spices. Goldie kept adding more and more ingredients. Most of them I recognized from my stock in the store, though I had never guessed they could be used for Sex Magic. She added damiana, lemon balm, saffron, nutmeg and of course cinnamon and cloves.

Soon she was pouring the mixture into a mug and placing it in front of me.

“And just a little honey to sweeten and bind it all together,” she murmured, adding a sticky spoonful from a little pot shaped like a bee hive. “Now drink it up,” she told me. “And then we’d better hustle over to the Lust Hut. We need to get you settled before the potion takes effect.”

I still wasn’t completely sure about drinking a strange lust potion, but I was desperate to get Kael back. So I took a sip—it was really good! Like the best herbal-spice tea I’d ever had. I drank some more and soon finished the whole mug. It warmed me from my head down to my feet and seemed to make my fingers and toes tingle. In fact, it made other parts of me tingle too—my nipples and the spot between my legs were suddenly alive and excited all over again.

“Oh—I think I feel it working already!” I exclaimed.

“Then we need to hurry. Come on!”

Goldie took me by the hand and pulled me to my feet. Goody Albright waved at us as we left the break room.

“Good luck, my dear! Please come see me and give me the news when all this is over.”

I promised I would and then I was following Goldie out the door of the diner and into the chilly Autumn twilight.