Murder Among the Roses | Book 1

2. Poisoned Petals

Evangeline Rose hid her most wicked secrets within the petals of her flowers.

After she had tended to the poor little bat's wounded wing, she moseyed over to her bookshelf brimming with an assortment of spellbooks dedicated to plant magic and herbology. She tilted two novel spines downward until the enchanted lock gave away with a click and swung the bookshelf open for her to step inside.

It revealed her cozy little nook that nobody else knew about. Her special spellbooks were kept inside a blue oakwood bookcase with glass doors enchanted never to shatter and should only open for the magic on her fingertips. Tracing her fingers over the ancient carvings and runes etched into the wood, she scanned the dark wooden shelves to make sure everything remained undisturbed.

At the forefront held her shimmering potions, mostly pain remedies and elixirs to rid one of nightmares. She'd recently stocked bottles of luminescent green, an earthy blend of herbs, moss, and crushed grasshoppers, because it was her most popular one. While an odd concoction, it was commonly used for health purposes, and Evangeline knew she could never have too little of it.

Further back on the shelf lay her deadly poisons, ranging from silvery liquids to powders. Each one was labeled properly with cryptic names like Frog Spit and Rat Tongue just in case anyone were to be caught with a vial or bottle, and would assume nothing of it, but she had instructions per each poison to give customers who truly needed them.

Evangeline never asked questions when someone came searching for poisons, and even if they did say what it was for, she could never actually know what they used it for. She tried not to dwell on those things too often. However, she only let someone purchase them one time. Anyone who bought poison had to fill out a form, which she kept locked away in her secret room for her own protection.

Potion making had been a skill she'd learned from her grandmother as a wee girl and had never given up on it. All the spellbooks in her flower shop had belonged to her grandmother, even the ones that taught her the arts of poison brewing.

Evangeline prepared to head back into her shop when she heard a loud crash. Nerves fluttered in the pit of her chest as she drew her wand and stepped precariously close to the secret door before taking a peek out into her shop.

Morning sunlight shone in from the windows and illuminated her flowers, but she couldn't detect anything wicked inside her shop. Evangeline carefully stepped out of her hidden office and closed the bookshelf behind her, tensing at the sound of a male groan.

The basket with the bat no longer sat atop her table, but instead rested on the floor near her bouquets of roses. With quiet mouse-like steps, she approached the table and prepared to hex the bastard who dared to break into her shop.

A frazzled man sat stark naked amid her roses, all scattered across the ground, and his eyes glowed as bright as the red petals themselves. Pointy tipped ears poked out from his thick and wavy, shoulder-length honey blond hair.

Evangeline wasn't sure what held her back from cursing him to death as she took in his manly form, from his mountain of muscles and patchwork of scars, down to his manhood.

"What in the devil's name are you doing?" Evangeline shrieked, averting her eyes from the pervert sprawled on the ground.

"I didn't mean to frighten you like this, I'm sorry!" The man jumped to his feet, which did not make matters any better. He reached around and plucked a rose petal from his behind, tossing it on the ground. "You helped me last night... when I was still in bat form. I had hoped to escape without you noticing."

"Why are you naked?" Evangeline struggled to maintain direct eye-contact when his manhood poked out so proudly to see her. She blushed at such a sight so bright and early in the morning.