The Seven Year Witch: That Old Black Magic, Book 2 Read Online Free PDF

contract on her soul. But for whatever reason, the personality standing before her had seemed to be the one most intensely interested in her. As seemed to still be the case now, judging from the way those black, reptilian-like irises focused on her.
    Seven’s head cocked to the side. “What, you don’t agree?”
    It took her a moment to remember the creature’s earlier observation. “That this is the devil’s den? Or that they’re foolish children?”
    Slipping on a smile that didn’t reach those cold eyes, Seven brushed by her and lowered into the neighboring seat. “Both.”
    She stifled the urge to shiver as Seven watched her intently. Her overwhelming unease didn’t just stem from the fact this creature held the contract on her soul. Although that small detail certainly was enough to pump anyone with dread. No, there was also something oddly, frighteningly hypnotic about Seven. A magnetic force that simultaneously repelled and beckoned. She’d seen firsthand that power in action and how it’d lured in victims. Even so, that in no way made her immune to its draw.
    Somehow she pulled her stare from Seven and glanced toward the young quartet up at the bar. “They’re teenagers. It’s a requirement to be foolish at that age.”
    “Tell me, Clarissa, were you ever foolish? Or young?” Once again, that dark, fathomless gaze seared into her as if trolling her subconscious for the memories she preferred to keep submerged in the deepest recesses of her mind.
    Maybe that was the secret to Seven’s allure, a telepathic skill that amounted to a twisted version of a Jedi mind trick. She battled to resist its potent pull. “We were all young once.”
    “Not you. Those parents of yours made sure of that, didn’t they?”
    A suffocating sense of vulnerability washed over her, and she swallowed. The interior of her mouth felt dry, gritty. She searched the table for a glass of water before remembering that the waitress had never returned for her order.
    “How is your good ole pops doing these days, anyway? Perhaps I’ll stop by and say howdy, for old time’s sake.”
    Her panic dissolved, replaced instantly with blistering fury. “You stay away from him.”
    “Still protecting the very ones who robbed you of your youth? An admirable, if not foolish trait.” A taunting smile curled Seven’s mouth. “Deprived of youth but not foolishness. Pity, that.”
    Her hands clenched in her lap. “Why did you bring me here? To amuse yourself and torment me?”
    “Am I tormenting you, sweet Clarissa?”
    She winced at the mocking, silken purr of Seven’s voice. Damn it, after all her talk about not showing any weakness, she blew it within the first five minutes of their meeting.
    “Imagine. Me having the ability to do that to you.” Something resembling hunger flashed in the bottomless black depths of Seven’s eyes. “You who refuses to crack under any pressure. Who contains more strength and power than her entire coven combined.”
    An icy sliver of fear trickled down her spine. She didn’t know which to blame more for the sensation—the intensely covetous way Seven stared at her, or hearing this strange and disturbing creature speak of her coven. There was no reason to interpret a hidden menace there, but the fine hairs standing to attention on the nape of her neck didn’t seem to agree with the assessment. She swallowed past the thick apprehension clogging her throat, desperate not to reveal her anxiety. “Flattered as I am by this conversation, I’d prefer if we just cut through the bullshit, and you tell me exactly how long I have before you call in my marker.”
    “Seven days.”
    She might have known. If nothing else, Seven was consistent with the freaky symbolism. “So that’s it? You brought me all the way here to tell me I have a week? Wouldn’t another of your infamous letters have been easier?” And less painful. But she knew with every fiber of her being that Seven wouldn’t have had it any