There's No Business Like Mage Business Read online

  Contents

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Also By

  Back Cover

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Author's Note

  Author's Bio

  Copyright

  To Harney

  You are a good horse.

  Acknowledgments

  First and foremost, thank you to my husband John, who kept me on task when emotions threated to send me off the rails.

  Thank you to Zara Keane, Lydia Rowan, Zoe York and Sadie Haller. Not only are you all great authors, but you’re an endless source of support and information.

  To Teresa Johnson, Holly Cooper, Lori Peterson, and Andrea Jane, thank you for the daily messages that keep me from being a total recluse.

  Last but not least, thank you to the people that make this book shine: development editor Jodi Henley, cover artist Rebecca Poole, and Red Adept Editing.

  Nikki Haverstock’s Amazon Author page with all her books

  https://www.amazon.com/Nikki-Haverstock/e/B014GIZH0Y

  Casino Witch Mysteries

  Of Murders and Mages

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074X8L6S9/

  Target Practice Mysteries

  Death on the Range

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014GDO5C0

  Death at the Summit

  www.amazon.com/dp/B016CX2RZO/

  Death at the Trade Show

  www.amazon.com/dp/B017HWLGNS/

  Death Indoors

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C0NTKRI

  Death in the Casino

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EPE1KEQ

  Death from Abroad

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XZ96GM2

  Target Practice Mysteries 1-5 (includes the first 5 books in the series)

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MXEHMY8

  Reality TV Cozy Mysteries

  Lights, Camera, Murder

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GQRGDCY

  Crossover Murder

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N51U14G/

  A Monza's Guide to Interpersonal Relationships

  1. Train all the time.

  2. Don't need anyone.

  3. Cry a lot.

  Ella is tired of crying. She's more powerful than ever before, but her personal life has the wow factor of vanilla ice cream. When Bear asks her to investigate a series of mysterious deaths at the ultra-hip Cauldron Festival, Ella accepts a job as one of the comedy performers but doesn't tell anyone why she is really there, not even her excited sidekick, Vanessa. Everyone thinks the Legacy overdoses were accidental, but Ella knows there is more happening. But with live concerts, parties, and events around the clock, will she be able to investigate without getting distracted? On the other hand, with Vin out of the picture, why shouldn't Ella enjoy the company of a handsome stranger? But will the investigation be derailed when those closest to her discover she is hiding secrets from even them?

  Visit Ella Tuesday through Sunday in the Vaudeville next to the glass elevators. Or buy her book! There's No Business Like Mage Business is book 3 of the Casino Witch series. Be sure to wash after finishing. This book will put hair on your chest!

  CHAPTER ONE

  I followed Stacey into our room at the Magia Casino. Flipping my blond hair over my shoulder, I threw my jacket on the chair. “So he hit on you again?”

  She smiled broadly. “Of course. I mean, wouldn’t you?” She gestured down at her body. “He’s so desperate.”

  I laughed and gave her a high five. “The guys want to date us. The girls want to be us. We are living the good life. You want a shot of vodka?” I pulled a bottle of vodka from the freezer and waggled it. Just because we were home didn’t mean we needed to stop partying. My motto was “work hard, play hard.” We didn’t work that hard, but no need to skimp on the partying.

  “Actually, I have something better.” She pulled out a little baggie from her pocket, the distinctive white pills inside. “Legacy!”

  “Where did you get that? Isn’t it like crazy expensive? And I thought employees couldn’t get any.” I ran over and caressed the bag with two white pills inside. I had never had a chance to try the drug.

  “Nickel gave it to me, probably hoping it would be enough for me to go on a date with him. Did I tell you that he asked me to call him Nickel? So lame, but I did. I’ll keep leading him on if he gets me more of this.”

  I jumped up and down. “There’s two in there. Please tell me that one is for me. I’ll be your bestest friend forever.” I smiled up at her, knowing that she would give in. We did everything together.

  “Whatever, slut. No one else could stand you. Did you see the look Natasha gave you tonight when you screwed up your cues?”

  I rolled my eyes. “She’s such a cow. I hate working with her. I wish Janice had gotten the job. She knows how to party. I bet Natasha is sleeping with someone. I mean, how else would she have gotten the position?” She was ruining our job, but she didn’t have an invite to any VIP parties. At least there, we could get away from her and go wild.

  Stacey made a rude gesture and collapsed in a fit of giggles. “Who would want to sleep with her? She’s hardly bang-worthy. You ready for this?” She pulled out the pills and dropped one into her palm and gave me the other.

  The moment the pill hit my skin, an electric shock went up my arm. “Oh, it makes me tingle. I hear this is like the best high ever. You ready?”

  A look of worry briefly crossed Stacey’s face, but then it was gone. “Let’s do it.” She threw back the pill.

  I followed suit. The surge of emotions poured over me. Every good thing I had ever felt hit me at once. My first kiss, the thrill of riding my bike down a big hill without falling, dancing with my best friend, the sensation of my father picking me up to twirl me around. All the most wonderful things in my life at once. When I fell to the ground and hit my nose, the pain was miles away. Even the warm sensation of blood on my nose only slightly tickled.

  Then I could feel something pouring forth from me. It was a bit like casting a spell, but instead of wielding magic, I felt it being pulled from me. It wasn’t unpleasant, but I was feeling smaller and emptier. I was still and barely moving until the world went black.

  CHAPTER TWO

  A fireball raced through the air and slammed into the invisible ward around me and pushed me back an inch. The flames warmed the air, the currents of which lifted the hairs around my face and tickled my neck. The fire flattened across the ward, flaring around me then extinguishing.

  The carpeting around my feet curled and melted slightly. We had long ago destroyed the large wooden table and chairs, replacing them with a card table and two plastic fold-up chairs. The carpeting was going to need to be pulled soon, though with these weak fireballs, it might last a few more months. Just the thought of the inconvenience had me clenching my fist.

  A ward was like the s
hields I used internally to block my emotions from getting out and spells from getting in, except this was outside my body. Sometimes, you didn’t want a spell to get too close, especially when the spell was made of fire. You could also use a ward to protect someone else, which Patagonia, my all-black familiar, appreciated as she slept at my feet.

  “Come on, Vanessa! You’re supposed to be testing me.”

  Vanessa narrowed her eyes at me as she stretched an arm across her chest. “I am. That’s the fastest and hardest I can do this. We’ve done a hundred of them, and I’m exhausted.”

  “Was that a hundred already?” I dropped my ward and walked over to the table to check the list. “Are you sure?” I started counting on my fingers. We had done them in sets of twenty, and maybe that had been five sets. Looking at my watch, I saw that it had been several hours since we started the exercise.

  “I’m sure. We’re done, right?” She flopped into a chair, wiping the back of her sweaty forehead with a hand. “I am so ready for some time off.”

  I felt great, energized and warmed up. It was still early afternoon, and I was just hitting my stride. I grabbed my right foot in my hand and pulled it up to my shoulder while balancing on my left leg. With a slow exhalation, I let the stretch deepen.

  Vanessa grabbed her phone out of her purse, which sat in a heap on the floor. “I’m going to get my hair cut and a new outfit. Then I want to set up a massage to work out some of these knots. My bubble-bath spell is just not cutting it anymore. All the tickets for the Cauldron Festival at the Magia Casino have been sold out for months, but I bet we could get something. Maybe if we bug Olivia, she would know something.”

  I switched legs and continued to stretch. I had assumed we could start over on the list, but Vanessa had been working hard, so maybe a half day off would do us good. “I doubt you can get all that done today, but you can probably do a couple of them.”

  Her jaw dropped. “Mom’s gone through next week.”

  We locked eyes and each figured out where the misunderstanding was between us. I opened my mouth, but Vanessa leaped to her feet.

  She jabbed a finger in my direction as the words flowed out of her like a fire extinguisher. “No! We finished the list, and we’re done. The only reason I have let you push me so hard the past few days was because I was looking forward to having time off. We finished all the homework Mom left us. What more do you think we are going to do?”

  I took a step back. “I thought we would start at the beginning again.”

  “Are you flipping serious?” She ran a hand through her hair and flopped back in the chair. “I can’t keep doing this. I’m exhausted all the time, and for what? You’re already better than me at everything.”

  “I’m not better—”

  “No, Ella! None of your false modesty. You’ve been working like a maniac for the past six months. All you do is train. And you’re just so dang selfish about it.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Selfish? I have so much to catch up on. My life is on the line here.”

  She rolled her eyes so hard that at one point, all I could see was the white of her eyes. “Like life’s so dangerous here in this room. We never leave.”

  I took a step back. “Where did this all come from? You’re getting better too. Within a few years, we’ll be strong enough to fight off almost anyone in any situation.”

  “Years? If we continue to train like this for years, I’ll kill you myself. The only thing that has gotten me this far was knowing I would get this time off. We used to have fun.”

  “We still have fun. I really like—”

  “I swear if you say anything about training, I’ll… I’ll spit or something.”

  I closed my mouth.

  She blew out an exasperated breath then studied my face. After what felt like forever, she softened her voice. “What is going on with you? Are you okay?”

  I stared at her, my mind racing. I was so sure I had hidden it from everyone. I wanted to scream that I was fine, but my mouth didn’t move, and I knew it wasn’t true. It wasn’t normal to work yourself until you fell into bed at night then wake up early to start it over again. I was constantly training until my body was a shell. I said it was to learn, but no amount of advancement had eased the need to push harder and harder. I was fighting hard to avoid my emotions.

  Vin’s face flashed across my mind, and I clenched my jaw hard, willing it away. My fingernails bit into my palm, and Patagonia clawed at my thigh on her outreached legs. I blew out a breath, her touch calmed me, and I lied. “I’m fine.”

  She opened her mouth to reply, when there were three crisp knocks on the door. Natasha peeked her head in.

  “I’m not interrupting, am I?”

  She was beautiful in a Hollywood-blond, girl-next-door kind of way, which made sense—she had played the literal girl next door on a famous sitcom that had recently gone off the air. Her features were balanced and sweet, her hair curled just perfectly as it brushed her shoulders, and her beautiful clear blue eyes sparkled. She had a large purse in one hand and an overflowing tote bag in the other.

  But all that paled to how she made you feel. As she entered the room, it was like the sun coming out from behind the clouds on a cold day. A general sense of contentment settled into my middle, something I had been missing for a while. That was Natasha’s greatest ability, to radiate happiness. It had made her a great actress and brought out the best in those around her. When she returned to Rambler, she had been a waitress for a while, where she earned quadruple the number of tips as anyone else.

  She could have worked at her own family’s casinos but decided to strike out on her own. Last I had heard, she was trying stand-up comedy. She had invited me a few times, and though I had intended to make the time, so far, I hadn’t.

  “Come in. I’m so happy to see you.” Vanessa threw her arms around Natasha, the tension in the air dropping.

  Natasha dropped the purse and bag before lifting Vanessa off the ground in a hug. “Hey, V. How you doing?”

  Vanessa shot me a look. “Things have been better.”

  Natasha either didn’t hear or ignored her, instead coming over to me. “And why didn’t I get an invite to your twenty-ninth birthday party?”

  I frowned in confusion. “I didn’t have one. I was busy.”

  Her eyebrows shot up, disappearing beneath her bangs. “What?”

  “I’ve just been really busy with…” I let it trail off, not wanting to push Vanessa into another fight. She had wanted to have a party, but I had begged off and continued to do so for the past three weeks, hoping that she would eventually forget.

  “You nut, we’ll have to fix that as soon as possible, but first, I have to ask a huge favor.” She wrapped me in an embrace, and the knots in my back loosened.

  I didn’t know if I had felt anything as nice as her warm embrace, at least not since the last time I had seen my father. The sensation of peace almost knocked me over. I hadn’t realized how empty I had felt until that moment. I was so overwhelmed that my breath caught in my chest and I missed what Natasha said.

  I gave myself a shake, mentally and physically. Jerking my head to the left and right, I popped my neck to clear my head. “What?”

  “It’s a tiny thing, but it would mean bundles to me. The Magia Casino is offering me a full-time job if my show goes well during the Cauldron Festival, and we are totally rocking it, except I just found out that two of the gals in my show have disappeared, taken some job in LA or New York. I have another show in a few hours, but I had been meaning to clean out my locker here. That’s when I realized I could kill two birds with one channeling stone.” She waited for the news to sink in.

  I tipped my head like Patagonia when she was looking at birds through the window. “I don’t get it.”

  She laughed. “I want you guys to perform in my comedy show.”

  “No way! I would love to.” Vanessa squealed. “Do we get tickets to the festival?”

  “Of course. It’s such a ri
ot. You can get into all the music, comedy, and burlesque shows plus dance to any of the visiting DJs. You can see it all. So you’re both in?”

  “I’m definitely doing it. Can I get a shower first?” Vanessa was practically vibrating with excitement as she bounced from foot to foot, unable to stand still.

  “Sure. Just call me when you get to the casino, and I’ll set everything up.”

  Vanessa raced out the door without even a second glance at me. I guessed she was getting her time off.

  I opened my mouth to gently turn down Natasha, but she spoke first.

  “What’s going on?” She gently touched my arm, and the walls around me started to melt.

  I turned away, tears rolling down my face. Embarrassed, I scrubbed my face, trying to give the appearance of exhaustion, though I doubted it fooled her. “I’ve just been working hard. You know, the Monza thing and all.”

  Six months before, I had committed myself, in front of the entire prominent mage community of Rambler, as following the old ways or lonely path—both were phrases to describe being a Monza. At the time, I hadn’t realized the implications, not the least of which was celibacy. Although I had found that mentioning it would get me out of any social obligations, as though the celibacy were catching.

  Patagonia wrapped her tail around my legs then sat to glare. Neither of them seemed to believe my excuse. They stared at me, not breaking eye contact until the pressure of the silence compelled me to talk.

  “I’m under a lot of pressure. I feel like I need to do everything right now, and I miss—” I cut myself off. No amount of silence was going to get me to discuss Vin.

  Natasha nodded and directed me to a chair then sat next to me. Patagonia leaped into my lap and aggressively kneaded it to make it more comfortable. I winced as her claws dug into my skin, but when I tried to push her off, she flopped down and looked up at me so innocently that I sighed and wrapped my arms around her lithe body.

  Natasha grabbed the chair opposite me. “Ella, how many times have I called you to hang out since we met?”