The Witch and the Huntsman

THE WITCH AND THE HUNTSMAN

The Witches Series

Book 3

by

J.R. RAIN

and

ROD KIERKEGAARD, JR.

Acclaim for the novels of J.R. Rain:

“
Be prepared to lose sleep!”
 

—
James Rollins
, international bestselling author of
The Eye of God
 

“
I love this!”
 

—
Piers Anthony
, bestselling author of
Board Stiff
 

“
Dark Horse
is the best book I’ve read in a long time!”
 

—
Gemma Halliday
, award-winning author of
Unbreakable Bond
 

“
Moon Dance
is absolutely brilliant!”
 

—
Lisa Tenzin-Dolma
, author of
Understanding the Planetary Myths
 

“
Powerful stuff!”
 

—
Aiden James
, author of
The Dragon Coin
 

“
Moon Dance
is a must read. If you like Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter, be prepared to love J.R. Rain’s Samantha Moon, vampire private investigator.”
 

—
Eve Paludan
, author of
Werewolf Interrupted
 

“
Impossible to put down. J.R. Rain’s
Moon Dance
is a fabulous urban fantasy replete with multifarious and unusual characters, a perfectly synchronized plot, vibrant dialogue and sterling witticism all wrapped in a voice that is as beautiful as it is rich and vividly intense as it is relaxed.”
 

—
April Vine
, author of
Unbound
 

Other Books by J.R. Rain

STANDALONE NOVELS

Winter Wind

Silent Echo

The Body Departed

The Grail Quest

Elvis Has
Not
Left the Building

The Lost Ark

LavaBull

Jack and the Giants

Dolfin Tayle

Dragon Assassin

Lost Eden

Judas Silver

The Vampire Club

Cursed

VAMPIRE FOR HIRE SERIES

Moon Dance

Vampire Moon

American Vampire

Moon Child

Christmas Moon

Vampire Dawn

Vampire Games

Moon Island

Moon River

Vampire Sun

Moon Dragon

Moon Shadow

SAMANTHA MOON CASE FILES

Moon Bayou

Blood Moon

Moon Magic

JIM KNIGHTHORSE SERIES

Dark Horse

The Mummy Case

Hail Mary

Clean Slate

Night Run

THE WITCHES SERIES

The Witch and the Gentleman

The Witch and the Englishman

The Witch and the Huntsman

The Witch and the Wolfman

OPEN HEART SERIES

The Dead Detective

Deadbeat Dad

NICK CAINE SERIES

Temple of the Jaguar

Treasure of the Deep

Pyramid of the Gods

THE SPINOZA TRILOGY

The Vampire With the Dragon Tattoo

The Vampire Who Played Dead

The Vampire in the Iron Mask

THE ALADDIN TRILOGY

Aladdin Relighted

Aladdin Sins Bad

Aladdin and the Flying Dutchman

THE WALKING PLAGUE TRILOGY

Zombie Patrol

Zombie Rage

Zombie Mountain

THE SPIDER TRILOGY

Bad Blood

Spider Web

Spider Bite

THE PSI TRILOGY

Hear No Evil

See No Evil

Speak No Evil

Flight 12: A PSI Novella

THE GHOST FILES

Ghost College

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES

Bound By Blood

THE ABNORM CHRONICLES

Glimmer

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

Red Rain: Over Forty Bestselling Stories

Vampire for Hire: First Eight Stories

Blood Rain: Fifteen Dark Tales

Black Rain: Fifteen Dark Tales

SHORT STORY SINGLES

The Vampire on the Train

Vampire Requiem

Ghosts of Christmas Present

Easy Rider

Dark Side of the Moon

Blue Moon

Vampire Gold

Halloween Moon

Vampire Dreams

Vampire Blues

Vampire Nights

Teeth

Vampire Rain

The Santa Call

The Bleeder

YOUNG READERS

(Writing as J.K. Drew)

Little Wolf

The Secret of the Sphinx

The Emerald River

The Angel and the Gift

Forever Silent

Dare to Enter a Distant World

Dare to Rule a Distant World

Dare to Escape a Distant World

The Mystery of the Walking Statue

The Mystery of Stonehead Island

Deep Sea Danger

The Legend of Eagle Eye Mountain

Playoff Pressure

Other Books by Rod Kierkegaard Jr.

STANDALONE NOVELS

The Department of Magic

Obama Jones and the Logic Bomb

The God Particle

Family Cursemas

Adultery

SAMANTHA MOON CASE FILES

Moon Bayou

Blood Moon

Moon Magic

OPEN HEART SERIES

The Dead Detective

Deadbeat Dad

THE WITCHES SERIES

The Witch and the Huntsman

The Witch and the Wolfman

VAMPIRES OF PARIS

The Vampire Circus

The Vampire Hunters

The Vampire Bordello

The Vampire Lovers

The Witch and the Huntsman

Published by Rain Press

Copyright © 2015 by J.R. Rain

All rights reserved.

Ebook Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication

To Alisa...thanks for bringing us together.

The Witch and the Huntsman

Chapter One

“
Hi. This is Allison. Thank you for calling The Psychic Hotline. How can I help
you
see into the future?”

It was almost midnight. I was working the night shift, covering for my friend Bernice, who was on maternity leave having her third child. Or maybe it was her fourth. I’d kind of lost track.

It was exhausting working a double shift, but hey, what are friends for? Also, the money came in handy and, honestly, I had nothing better to do with my evenings these days; after all, hunky hot guys weren’t exactly breaking my door down with invitations to dinner and dancing. Unless you count the odd homicidal maniac, but that’s another story.

A complicated story, I guess. And okay, a
weird
one. You could say my life had been pretty normal until I’d met a suave and sophisticated older dude named Victor who’d totally swept me off my feet. With older men, there’s always a lot of baggage; you know, ex-wives, kids, substance abuse problems. That kind of stuff. With Victor, there was none of that. His only baggage was that he was a vampire...

So I ended up being both his lover and his blood donor until the day he was unexpectedly and brutally killed by a vampire hunter. The thing was, even though vampires get all the press, we who serve them are equally marked by the experience. And we become equally addicted to the act of
giving
our blood. Every time I did, I could feel my own latent psychic powers growing inside me.

Which Millicent insists I shouldn’t be wasting on a psychic hotline service, even though I get a real thrill out of helping others. Instead, she says I should be studying and developing my skills as a witch. Yes, I’m a witch, a very powerful one, and now I’m part of a triad of witches. Who is Millicent? Millicent is my roommate, if you can call a ghost that. She hangs around the apartment most nights, bosses me around about my habits, nags me about my friends; so, yeah, roommate.

And, yeah, she’s part of the triad. Apparently, magical circles didn’t care a lick if you were dead or alive. Anyway, it turns out that we’ve shared our lives over and over again, over the centuries. Friends, sisters, mentor, student, even mother-daughter; our relationships had taken many forms, but always we were two of three—a ‘triad’ of witches. Very powerful witches.

Samantha Moon, a beautiful soul and one of my best friends, had once been the third member of our triad, but she had been attacked by a vampire, and had her life shattered. We met after Victor died, when she was investigating a case that involved him. There’d been instant chemistry between us in spite of the circumstances, and that’s when I became her blood-donor. Which is what I like to call it—vampires and their fan-fiction groupies have all kinds of derogatory sexual terms for this relationship, but Sam and I are strictly platonic BFFs, almost sisters.

So even though there’s no guy around at the moment, like I said before: my life is complicated!

But it’s not like I envy Bernice her happy family—or her normal and secure life or anything. Okay, maybe it’s exactly like that...

Covering for her was a lot of extra work for me, but it also meant more pay, and I’ve been saving up to start my own gym. I’m really a personal trainer; my second career as a psychic is something I just drifted into because of my growing spiritual powers. Plus, working this gig is the one job in the world I can do on my laptop while curled up on my couch in my PJs, drinking hot chocolate.

Aside from being like a crisis hotline operator. Although sometimes, like tonight, there didn’t seem to be that much difference...

“
Allison,” said my next caller, a teenage girl. “You totally aren’t going to like this. I...I’m
pregnant
. Oh, Allison, you’ve got to help me!
Please
!
”

Did I say teenager? She sounded like she was maybe twelve—and about to burst into tears. I don’t know about you, but those are the kind of words that push all my buttons. They set my thoughts racing. For one thing, she’d said my name like she already knew me, and so naturally that made me start thinking of who she might be. Did I have any nieces that age? Or daughters of close friends? How old was Bernice’s oldest? Could it be Tammy, Samantha Moon’s teenage daughter, calling me at work because she didn’t dare tell her mom? Jesus, what would Sam say?

I projected my inner vision out into the night and caught an element of something discordant, not quite right. Something very wrong, in fact; because the moment I visualized my caller’s face and heard the muted giggles in the background, I realized exactly what was going on. Those weren’t sobs the girl was choking back; it was laughter.

“
Okay, I’m definitely getting something now,” I told the little phony, who started giggling herself. “Your name is Erin, isn’t it?”

“
Oh my God! How do you know that? Are you using caller ID or something?”

“
What good would that be? You’re using your sister’s phone. I see you sitting on a bed. You’re surrounded by three of your friends. You’ve been eating Smiley Face Potatoes and Pepper Pals Chicken Crispers and drinking Mountain Dew, right?” I could see the containers spread around on the carpet beneath a huge wall poster of Taylor Swift.

“
WTF
? WTF, I mean, how do you know that? You’re freaking me out now!”

“
Because it just so happens I’m a
real
psychic, Erin. And that’s not all I’m seeing in your room.” I decided that a little life lesson in respecting things you don’t understand—like psychics on hotlines—might do her a world of good. “There’s a ghost in there, too. A very angry and vengeful spirit who isn’t going to let you get a wink of—”

I heard shrieks and then a loud
click
!
The line went dead.

“
Allison
!
” came the sharp, nasty voice of the night supervisor, Donna Parseghian, over my headset.
Uh oh
. I’d forgotten for a second that all our calls could be monitored at any time. “You were being outrageously unprofessional.”

“
But it was a prank call from a slumber party! I was just teaching them a valuable life lesson. How not to waste other people’s—”