Gypsy Witch Read online

  Gypsy Witch

  Suz deMello

  The Sacramento Sheriff’s Department is no place for wimps, and Ben McCullough is the toughest of the tough. He tells himself he’s bedding the luscious Elena Lautari only because she’s a babe. Ben thinks she’s a feather away from an arrest for fraud, since she makes a living telling fortunes and making charms for the lovelorn. He can’t see her as a lifelong mate, even though she’s more than a match for him in the sack and losing her is unthinkable.

  But Elena is the real deal, a modern witch of much power and even more restraint. When her daughter steals Elena’s spell book and uses it to shatter the fabric of existence and release an ancient evil, Elena must put reality back in place—even if she loses Ben in the process.

  If she does, there are others ready to heal her battered heart. When Ben’s partner attempts to claim Elena, will Ben move aside or move in for a sexy menage?

  A Romantica® paranormal erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

  Gypsy Witch

  Suz deMello

  Chapter One

  Sacramento, California

  August

  Ben propped himself up on his elbows to better see the naked woman beneath him. Sheened with sweat, Elena’s lush curves glowed in the reddish half-light of her bedroom, which was curtained in exotically patterned swaths of gauze and silk. A curl of smoke from a lit incense stick scented the air with sandalwood. Otherworldly New Age music flowed out of a boom box in the corner, irritating the hell out of him.

  Elena’s bedroom was that of a gypsy witch, and despite the incredible sex he’d been having with her for a month, he wouldn’t allow himself to fall under her spell. Except for in the sack, she wasn’t his type.

  They’d met through their kids, eleven-year-olds who’d attended the same summer camp. Now that camp was over, Ben was frankly grateful that Tom and Gina liked to hang out together, since they seemed to keep each other amused and out of trouble. As a single dad, finding activities for his son was tough. Ben hated to admit it, but he sometimes found that Tom was a distraction from his job.

  Ben shoved everything extraneous out of his mind to focus on the beautiful woman he was inside. They were the same age—thirty-six—but Elena was nothing short of spectacular. Big tits crowned with large brown nipples, a slim waist, luscious hips and a tasty pussy he dined on every chance he got. Hazel eyes fringed by long lashes, eyes that gleamed golden when he pleasured her and darkened to a frightening green when she was displeased. Lips designed by a sex goddess for sucking a man’s cock. Long black hair he liked to play with when he was in her mouth.

  She always wore an enormous topaz on a golden chain that dangled between her breasts. She claimed she focused her power through the jewel. Ben thought that was wacko, but didn’t care.

  Too bad she was a card-carrying nut—literally. He remembered the time she’d shown him her membership in the Northern California Church of Wicca. He’d concealed his smirk only because he’d wanted to lay her. And that had to be all, he admonished himself. He was a sheriff’s deputy and couldn’t afford to have a permanent relationship with Elena Lautari. She wasn’t the kind of woman who fit in with the rest of his life.

  He tried to picture her drinking a beer with the other cops and their wives, and failed utterly.

  “What?” she asked, running light fingertips up and down his sides, eliciting shivers.

  “Whaddayamean, what?”

  “You looked as though you were ten miles away.”

  “I’m right here for ya, babe. Ya know, you’re the best.” He pushed, feeling the muscles lining her cunt part for his rod as he plumbed her depths. Groaning, he lifted her knee over his shoulder so he could shove into her more deeply.

  “Jesus fucking Christ, baby…” She drove him higher and hotter than any woman ever had, and every time he got inside her—which was as often as he could—he struggled to hold back so she could come as hard as he did. He slapped her ass, and she cried out, her sheath clenching around him.

  He bucked into her and flung back his head as he started to come. His orgasm seemed to go on and on, and he leaned forward over her writhing body so he could grind his pubic bone into her clit. That always pushed her over the edge.

  Elena reached behind her and grabbed the headboard’s rails with both hands, swirling her pelvis in circles, milking his cock with strong contractions of her pussy. Holding her hips, he hammered into her without holding back, banging her without mercy. She matched him stroke for stroke, squeezing and vibrating around his cock as she came, adding fuel to the flames that always consumed him when he was with her.

  Afterglow enveloped him and he let his body ease onto hers, then turned to one side, letting their combined sex sweat slide him to the cool sheets. She released her grip on the headboard and turned to curl against him. She rested her head on his chest and as he relaxed she stroked his belly, his sated cock, his thighs.

  Her caresses slowed. “I wonder what the kids are doing?” Her voice was a sleepy mumble.

  “I think they went over to my place. They’re probably watching a DVD. It’s too hot to go outside and swim.”

  “Who’s watching them?” Her voice sharpened.

  “Aw, Elena, relax. They’re okay. They know what they can and can’t do.”

  “Mmm. Hope you’re right.” She reached for him, this time climbing on top. He wasn’t sure he was ready for another bout yet, but she knew exactly how to turn him on.

  She scooted down his body, letting the pointy tip of the topaz graze his skin. Though he was hot and sweaty from lovemaking, the contact drew shivers. She swayed back and forth and her nipples stroked his hardening cock, a warm contrast to the gem’s coolness.

  She leaned over, giving him a great view of her breasts mounding over his rod. Her lush orbs cuddled him in cloudlike softness while the topaz matched him for hardness. He groaned, and she lifted away. Taking the stone in one hand, she ran it up and down his length before sucking him into her mouth.

  Elena drew him in until she could feel Ben’s knob rubbing against the back of her palate. She swallowed, knowing that the flex and bunch of her muscles would drive him crazy. His hips jerked and he began to thrust in and out of her mouth. He slid his hands into her hair, playing with the strands and rubbing her scalp.

  She loved the way that their lovemaking, no matter what form it took, pleasured them both. Though she sensed that Ben was self-centered—weren’t all men?—he took care to ensure her enjoyment. Massaging her head while she was blowing him was one way he made her feel appreciated.

  She sucked harder while using a free hand to play with his balls. His thrusts became less regular, more frenzied, and she knew he was close to coming.

  He pulled away from her, and she rocked back on her knees. “What?” she asked.

  A feral grin split his face. “Turn around, babe.”

  Smiling, she did, and he pushed her shoulders down to the bed, forcing her pussy and ass up into the air. Her nipples pressed into the sheet and crinkled harder. The topaz, directly over her heart chakra, channeled her energy. She moaned as she rubbed her breasts back and forth, heightening the pleasure.

  She sensed rather than saw Ben kneel behind her, but felt his heat as he came closer. Fingers speared her sopping pussy, spreading her open, then withdrew, leaving her taut with anticipation.

  His cock entered her from behind, delving deep, hard and fast. He slapped her butt and the smacks echoed around the room, reverberating through her body. Energy centered in her clit, an explosion of desire. One more slap, followed by Ben gripping her hip with one hand and reaching around her to play with her swollen clit with the other. Arousal flashed through her and she wailed as she came.

  * * * * *

  Hot and dusty, Tom stood with
Gina at the corner of 12th and J Streets in downtown Sacramento. Above him, the door of the Masonic Temple was set within a Gothic-style arch made of peach-colored stone. The arch was high and pointed. On each side of the arch, a knight stood brooding, eyes downcast, hands folded over stony armor.

  He ruffled his short blond hair, trying to cool his sweaty scalp, and glanced over at Gina, who was clutching a sheaf of notes in one sticky hand. A basket lay on its side at her feet.

  “Can’t we do this on an afternoon that isn’t a hundred million degrees out?” Tom looked over at the thermometer-clock high on the side of the bank across J Street. It flashed a hundred in dots at one-second time intervals. As he watched, the number changed to a hundred and one, and the time to 2:19.

  “We’re actually supposed to do this at midnight.” Gina pushed dark bangs off her damp forehead. “But we aren’t allowed out after sunset. Besides, it’s dangerous downtown at night.”

  “I know that. Why are we trying to do this if we can’t do it right?”

  “You got a better idea?”

  “Yeah. Let's go to Vic’s and get ice cream.”

  “We spent all our money on this stuff.” She nudged the basket with her toe. “We might as well go ahead with it. It won't take very long, and then we can go over to your house and swim.”

  He sighed. “Anything to drink in there?” He squatted down and emptied the contents of the basket onto the sidewalk.

  “Careful, there’s glass in there. Hey, don’t drink that!” She grabbed a bottle out of his hand. “That’s yucky.”

  “What is it?”

  “Frog’s water.”

  “Like frog pee? Ewww.”

  “Here.” She handed Tom a bottle of lemonade.

  He drank before passing it back to her. After she’d taken a few gulps, she flipped through the notes and sorted through the ingredients for the spell. “Lucky my mom and your dad are really into each other,” she said. “I could never have gotten into her spell book if she was paying attention.”

  “You’re sure she won’t notice?” Tom sometimes doubted that Elena was for real, but another slice of his mind was scared of her, plenty scared. Elena was very tall and very dark. She tended to wear swirly, exotic clothes, a golden topaz bigger than any other jewelry he’d ever seen, and always smelled funny. Not bad funny but weird, like a strange spice or food. In short, she was waaayyy different from all the other white-bread, starch-stiff moms in their Land Park neighborhood. Different and scary.

  “Nah,” Gina said. “As long as we don’t get back too late, we’re totally cool. It’s not like I haven’t fooled around with her stuff before, anyhow.”

  “You’ve never gone into her Book of Shadows and tried to cast a spell before, though,” he said. “But what difference does it make, anyway? It's probably all baloney.”

  “Yeah, right. Like your dad wasn’t freaked out when Elena predicted his traffic accident.”

  “Dad said that was coincidence.”

  “Elena says there’s no such thing as coincidence. Hey, this stuff is getting hot out here. I’m not sure that’s good.”

  “Well, maybe we should try some other time.” Still intimidated by Elena, he’d rather deflect Gina than risk a confrontation with her scary mom.

  “No way. Now or never.”

  Tom would have preferred never, but he helped Gina to chalk a large circle with a five-pointed star within it onto the sidewalk in front of the doorway before setting out the spell’s ingredients.

  Frog’s water, ground butterfly wings, chameleon scales, spotted hen’s eggs… “Hey, what is all this stuff?” he asked.

  “These are substances from the bodies of animals which change a lot, ya see? The frogs come from tadpoles. Butterflies used to be caterpillars, and chickens come from eggs. If we’re going to try to change stone into flesh, we need to use other things that changed a lot. Ya know what I mean?”

  “I guess.” The last item was black powder in a zip-lock bag. “This looks like it came from a barbecue.”

  “As if. Elena ain’t the hibachi type. This is from her cauldron. She burns herbs in it and stuff. She says she sees visions in the smoke.”

  He looked up at the doorway. The knights’ carved figures seemed to shimmer in the summer heat. A wisp of cloud briefly obscured the sun, and his skin chilled.

  “Let’s do it to it.” Gina stood straight and tall in the center of the star, facing the doorway.

  She chanted, “Spirit of Change! Hear my plea!” She sprinkled frog’s water over the first point of the circle, then over the feet of the knight on the right side of the doorway.

  “Spirit of Motion! Heed me now!” She tossed chameleon scales on the second point of the circle and on the same knight.

  “Spirit of Heat! Infuse this stone!” She took the charred bits out of the zip-lock and scattered them.

  “Spirit of Light! Guide my purpose!” The butterfly wings.

  “Spirit of Life! Come to me, now!” The spotted eggs, which had cost a dollar fifty apiece at the gourmet specialty store, broken into the last point of the star and onto the knight’s feet.

  They waited but nothing happened.

  Finally Tom said, “Hey, what if you did something wrong?”

  Gina hunted through her notes. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “I copied everything out right and I did everything just as it said.”

  “Maybe it isn't working because you only put the stuff on one knight.” But he was thinking, Maybe it isn’t working because it’s bull turds.

  “Nuh-uh. The Book of Shadows was real clear. Only one knight—the right-hand one. His name is Dexter. The left knight, he’s Sinister, and he’s supposed to be just like his name—”

  A wheeze came from the right side of the doorway. “What you say is true, my child.”

  Tom jumped, knocking into Gina. Shivers ran through his body despite the summer sun. He smelled fear in her sweat.

  With a labored creaking and cracking, Sir Dexter pulled himself out of the doorway, his stony armor transforming into metal. Chunks of plaster smashed to the pavement. Dust billowed, choking Tom’s lungs. Coughing, he tugged Gina’s arm, pulling her away from the falling rock.

  Sir Dexter dropped to the ground, landing with a crash of iron on the sidewalk. He turned to face them and began to walk in their direction. Fear filled Tom’s heart with each crunching step.

  * * * * *

  Elena jerked upright in bed, each muscle tense. Beside her, Ben stirred, reaching for her with a slow, languid hand. “What’s up, babe?”

  “I…I dunno.” Still half asleep, she pushed her hair out of her face, fingers shaking. “I dreamed…I don’t know what I dreamed.”

  He pulled her down beside him and kissed her lobe. “You dreamed about me.” His voice was husky in her ear. He blew on the damp place he’d made, and she shivered with delight. His lips traveled down her neck to her breasts, suckling the tips while he fingered her clit. His fingers were gentle, as though he knew she was tender after their previous intense lovemaking.

  Pleasure flowed through her and she forgot the terrifying image of a man of metal emerging from stone as Ben slowly thrust one finger, then two, inside her, crooking them to stroke her G-spot.

  She stretched out along the mattress, taking his hand in deeper, and groaned, spreading and raising her legs to afford him greater access. He shifted his hand, thrusting his thumb into her back door, holding her, controlling her in the most intimate way possible. His movements were slow, rhythmic and very effective. When she started to come, he withdrew his hand and she gave a protesting moan.

  He smiled. “Don’t worry, baby. I’m not finished with you yet.” He rolled her onto her belly again and reached for a couple of pillows, stacking them beneath her hips.

  Her heart beat faster with anticipation. “Th-the oil’s next to the lamp.”

  He used her massage oil, scented with lavender and eucalyptus, to lube her butt, opening her first with one finger, then two. T
he sweet aromas mingled with his masculine musk and their juices to create a heady tang that drove her higher.

  He slowly eased in his cock, allowing her to open and accept his girth at her own speed, then shifted so his weight was directly on top of her hips and let gravity do the work. Her back canal slick with oil, he slid in. He was deep inside her, moving gently, but his rod still felt impossibly big even though he’d taken her ass before. Achingly hot, piercingly sweet, he reamed her thoroughly before reaching around her hip to caress her clit. She screamed as she came, her desperate cries mingling with his grunts of satisfaction.

  * * * * *

  “Who-what…” Tom hated the quiver in his voice. He cleared his throat and deepened his tone. “Who are you?”

  “You know who I am. Your friend told you. I am Sir Dexter of the Knights Templar.”

  “How did you get into that doorway?” Gina asked.

  Tom glanced at her. A better question might be how to get him back. Dexter wasn’t attacking them or anything, but he didn’t like the idea of something so unnatural escaping. He guessed he was like his father. According to Ben, anything out of the ordinary was trouble.

  Tom turned his attention back to Dexter as the knight began to speak. “Many centuries ago, the Knights Templar were a group of noblemen who fought in the Crusades and brought back to the Western World much esoteric knowledge and magic. We used this magic to make ourselves immortal in the form of these statues.”

  “How’d ya get here?” Gina asked.

  The knight looked baffled. “Where am I?”

  “Sacramento, California.”

  “I have never heard of such a place, but many centuries have passed since I was placed into the door. I was warned that I might be destroyed or transported to a different land. Perhaps that is what happened.”

  “Why did you want to be a statue?” Tom asked, intrigued.

  “I chose immortality and service. We are to be called in times of strife and need. Who called me?”

  Gina looked nervous. “I, uh, called you.”