Raines of Fire: The Alexa Raines Chronicles Read Online Free Page B

to have these gatherings, drink a bit of mead, relax and feel like we were one with the universe and all.  But Edgar changed it—he took it way too seriously, started questioning our loyalty and the strengths of our convictions, demanded that the rituals involve animal blood and ‘real’ spells—it was too much for a lot of people.”
    “You stayed?” Alexa asked while swirling her finger around the glass, all the while gazing at Felicia with so many memories of lost love.
    Felicia grimaced.  “My girlfriend was really into it.”
    “Was she—“
    Felicia nodded.  The first victim, Marsha Bell, had been found in pieces—an arm here, a leg there.  They still haven’t found her head.  “I’m sorry,” Alexa said, and she was.  Felicia deserved some happiness after the way she’d had to leave. 
    Felicia shook her head.  “ She’d only moved here from New York six months ago.  We only really knew each other for a few weeks.”
    “Still,” Alexa said.  “You knew h er, you liked her, and now she’s gone.”
    Felicia nodded, and took a large gulp of her rum-and-Coke.  “I liked h er,” she said.  “I like a lot of people.  I only ever loved you.”
    “Maybe we can have a little time to get to know each other again once this business is over,” Alexa purred, letting her fingers graze the back of Felicia’s hand for a moment.  Felicia raised her eyebrows, and managed a wry grin.   At the same time, Alexa’s high-heeled shoe reached across the expanse between them, until it finally came to rest on Felicia’s leg. Felicia raised her eyebrows, and managed a wry grin, not exactly able to concentrate with Alexa’s foot caressing her. “All right, so Edgar called me to hunt down whoever’s killing the members of this—coven, I think?”
    Felicia nodded wearily.  “Janet Madigan—the girl from this morning—was the third.  Louise Bartoli was the second.” 
    “Yeah,” Alexa said.  She’d gotten that much from the file.  Janet was a longstanding member, Louise had only been around for a year.  “What were they like?” she asked Felicia.  “True-believer types, or more like CEO Catholics?”   Felicia could still feel Alexa's foot against her, but now she had dropped the premise of an accidental graze of her leg altogether, relieving herself of her shoe and pressing her nylon covered toes against her.
    “CEO Catholics?  Oh—Christmas and Easter only, ha -ha,” Felicia deadpanned.  “No, they were pretty committed to the group.   I don’t know that they believed , per se.  I think even Edgar has to know that there’s no such thing as fairies and magic.”
    “ Oh my god, would you please stop that.” She playfully tried to push Alexa’s foot away, but she wasn't really trying all that hard. It had been too long since they had been together, and there was this magnetism that was drawing them towards each other, which neither of them were going to be able to deny to themselves for much longer.
    “You’d be surprised at what people can believe,” Alexa said , while gently running her fingers over the back of Felicia’s hand.
    They sat for a while in silence, getting used to the feeling of having each other close again.  Felicia wound her fingers between Alexa’s.  Alexa could almost imagine that they were back in Texas, still living in that dingy house, waking up in the night to find her hands between Felicia’s legs, and Felicia already wet.  She realized, now, that the main reason it had been so easy to leave her past lovers behind was simply that none of them lived very long compared to her. 
    “So it seems that whoever it is targets those who are committed to the coven.  Are you safe?” Alexa asked.
    Felicia shook her head.  “I—I run some of the fundraisers, and I host a lot of the meetings in my home,” she said.  “I don’t know that I believe as much as some of the others do, but I’m fairly involved.” 
    “Shit,” Alexa said.  “Let me