Bad Business

Here’s part 8 of my new Damon the Demon story, Cemetery Blues…Read from the beginning here.

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Damon thanked Mortuatus and left Midnight Mansion as quickly as he could. The front door opened automatically to allow him out, and noiselessly clicked closed once he was outside. He breathed a sigh of relief and hoped he never had to step foot inside that mausoleum ever again.

In an effort to put some distance between him and Mortuatus, Damon decided to head straight for the Jennings bone house to see if he could discover why it interested the bonestealers and perhaps more importantly, what they meant by the source having run dry.

Yet he hadn’t gone far when Damon heard shouting.

‘Look. It was an accident. They do happen every now and then.’ That was the voice of Tabitha Stephenson.

The second voice, Damon did not recognise. ‘If you’re so accident prone as a witch, why don’t you have the sense to retire?’

‘That’s hardly fair.’

‘You’re the worst witch ever. Do I get my money back?’

‘No, as you very well know. Everything was set out in the Terms and Conditions you agreed to at the start.’

‘I did not agree to this!’

‘Well you should have read the small print, shouldn’t you? That, my dear, is on you, not me!’

‘Can you undo what you have done?’

‘No, and I wouldn’t even if I could. You don’t need a beauty charm. You need a lesson in civility. Here it is.’

‘Wait! You can’t leave me looking like this. Tabitha!’

‘Stop moaning. It will wear off. Eventually.’

Tabitha pushed her way through the curtain of weeping willow branches and found herself standing before Damon.

‘As if by magic, my best buddy appears out of thin air,’ Tabitha said, a little unenthusiastically. ‘I guess you sensed I needed cheering up?’

‘Another happy customer?’

Tabitha gave Damon a withering look.

‘What happened this time?’

‘I didn’t spot the beauty spell Janey had chosen had a teeny weeny, almost glyph-like drawing of Medusa in the margin.’

‘She’s got a head full of snakes?’

Tabitha nodded. Her face was grim. ‘It’s been a tough night, Damon. I’m not going to lie. Tell me something to cheer me up.’

Instead, Damon recounted the attack on Shelly, his deputising of Jabez and his visit to Midnight Mansion to see Mortuatus. It seemed everyone was having a bad night.

To be continued…

Read Part 9 Here

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Written for: 13 Days of Samhain vol iii: Day 8: As If By Magic

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