Amanda laughed. Okay, there were times when having a voodoo high priestess as an older sister came in handy. "Trust me, he can't afford it." She winked at Selena. "Later."
That evening, Amanda jumped as the phone rang, startling her out of her daydreams. Laying her book aside, she picked the phone up. It was Tabitha.
"Hey, sis, can you go by my house and let Terminator out?"
Amanda ground her teeth at the familiar request that came at least twice a week. "Oh, come on, tabby. Why didn't you do it?"
"I didn't know we'd be gone so long. Please. He'll wet on my bed in protest if you don't."
"You know, tabby, I do have a life."
"Yeah, right, like you're not sitting alone on the sofa, reading Kinley MacGregor's latest romance, and scarring down chocolate truffles like there's no tomorrow."
Amanda arched her brow as she looked at the multitude of truffle wrappers scattered on the coffee table in front of her, and her copy of Claiming the Highlander on the end table. Damn, she hated it when her sisters did that.
"C'mon," Tabitha begged. "I promise I'll be nice to your next boyfriend."
Sighing, Amanda knew she couldn't really say no to her sisters. It was her biggest weakness. "It's a good thing you only live down the street or I'd have to kill you over this."
"I know. I love you, too."
Growling low in her throat, Amanda hung up. She cast a wistful look at her book. Doggone it, she was just starting to get into it. She sighed. Oh well, at least Terminator would be company for a few minutes. He was one seriously ugly pit bull, but he was currently the only male she could stand.
She grabbed her tan ski jacket off her armchair and exited out the front door. Tabitha lived two blocks over, and though the night was extremely dark and cold, Amanda didn't feel like driving.
Pulling her gloves on, she headed down the sidewalk, wishing Cliff were here to do this chore. She couldn't count the times she had suckered him into letting Terminator out of Tabitha's house on his way home.
Amanda stumbled over a broken piece of the sidewalk as Cliff crossed her mind for the first time in hours. What really made her feel bad about their breakup was the fact she didn't miss him. Not really, anyway.
She missed having someone to talk to at night. She missed having a TV-watching buddy, but she couldn't honestly say she missed him. And that was what depressed her most of all.
If not for her whacked-out family, she might have actually married him, and then found out too late that she didn't truly love him. The thought chilled her more than the cold November winds.
Pushing Cliff out of her thoughts, she focused on her surroundings. At eight-thirty, the neighborhood was amazingly quiet, even for a Sunday night. Cars were parked along the street, and most of the houses were lit up as she walked down the old jagged sidewalk.
Everything was normal, but still it was eerie out. The partial moon hung high above, casting twisted shadows around her. Every now and again, she'd catch the faint sound of laughter or voices on the wind.
This was a perfect night for evil to—
"Get out of my head," she said out loud.
Now Tabitha had her doing it! Jeez!
What next? Would she find herself walking the bayou with her sisters looking for weird voodoo plants and alligators?
Shivering at the thought, she finally reached the creepy old house Tabitha and her roommate rented on the corner. A garish purple color, it was one of the smallest houses on the street. Amanda was amazed no one in the neighborhood complained about the unsightly hue. Of course, tabby loved it since it made giving directions easy.
"Just look for the little purple Victorian with the black iron fence. You can't miss it."
Not unless you were blind.
After opening the low, wrought-iron gate, Amanda headed up the walkway to the porch where a huge, sinister stone gargoyle stood watch.
"Hi, ted," she said to the gargoyle Tabitha swore could read minds. "I'm just letting the pooch out, okay?"
Amanda pulled the keys out of her coat pocket and opened the front door. Entering the foyer, she wrinkled her nose as she caught a whiff of a nasty-smelling something. One of Tabby's potions must have gone bad.
Either that, or her sister had tried to cook dinner again. She heard Terminator barking in the bedroom.
"I'm coming," she said to the dog as she closed the door, turned on the lights, and headed across the living room.
Amanda was one step away from the hallway when she heard the voice in her head telling her to run. Before she could blink, the lights went out and someone grabbed her from behind.
"Well, well," a silken voice said in her ear. "At last I have you, little witch." His hold tightened. "Now it's time to make you suffer."
Something hit her head a second before the floor rose up to meet her.
CHAPTER 2
Amanda came awake to an awful throbbing in her head. She felt terrible. What had hap—