Witches & Walk-Ins - A Castle Point Witch Series - Book 1

Castle Point's nunnery is wreaking havoc on Alexandra Heale's personal property. The nuns, under the rule of an ancient demon, are acting anything but holy.

Alexandra's best friend and fellow witch, Penny, is missing, presumably kidnapped and being held by the Witch Hunters in the bowels of Castle Dagon.

Alexandra, now High Priestess of the underground witch population, is already at the mercy of Blake Sheraton, Deputy Sheriff sworn to uphold Earl Dagon's ancient law against the practice of witchcraft.

Battling another demon and a group of possessed nuns while trying to save her friend will surely cinch her fate.

Alexandra, torn between her love/hate feelings for Blake and her desire to exist, enlists the help of badass Master Herbalist and burgeoning witch, Theodora Cunningham, to do the impossible; create a potion that would banish the demon and bring peace back to Castle Point.

If only they could do so without being captured and burned at the castle pyre...

BETTY

The cool air tickled my arms. Tiny hairs rose with
the gooseflesh. Small mounds of pimpled thermometers popped up over my arms, chest, and
neck.

I heard a beeping sound, faint at first, then slowly it became louder and closer. The scent of cleanser assaulted
me, harsh and chemical.

My eyes stayed firmly shut as if glued at the seam, or
tiny weights held the lids down. My breath came in rhythmic, even bursts.

What was that in my mouth? My tongue wiggled and
slammed against the hard plastic. I couldn’t taste anything
other than stale, rotting breath, but I could tell something
was firmly lodged in my mouth.

What the hell was it?

Why was it there?

I forced my eyes open a fraction. Moonlight filtered

through the splintered cracks of my heavy lids and shattered against my eyes. Too bright! I closed them again, only
long enough for my tongue to push up against the plastic in
my mouth.

I could feel it now, not just in my mouth, but going
down my throat. A swell of panic ran from my toes to my
nose. I wanted to gag.

Spurred by the beeping beside me, louder now, my eyes
!ew open. I tried to sit up. I couldn’t move. I laid back
against the softness of what must be a bed and peered
around the room.

A hospital room.

I felt a heaviness as if underwater, the weight of my
arms, legs, and chest making it difficult to see or breathe.
The scent of cleanser pierced the back of my nose as I tried
to breathe.

What was that thing in my mouth and down my throat?
I forced my eyes to open wider, but they burned and felt
gritty like someone had sprinkled fine sand under the lids. I
blinked several times to clear the grit. My eyes took a while
to adjust.

I looked down and saw a tube coming out of my mouth.
My heart rate sped up. The beeping beside me kept pace as
it beat faster and faster.

Why did I wake up in a hospital?

Was I in an accident?

The beeping sped up again, fast enough to send a wail

of high-pitched signals through my room and into the
adjoining hallway.

The large door burst open, startling me, which made the
beeping speed up yet again. A nurse with short dark hair, dark-circled eyes, wearing pink scrubs with multicolored
cartoon puppies on her shirt rushed in.

“Betty! Oh my god, she’s awake!” she practically
screamed, to whom I couldn’t imagine. I assumed she was
talking about me, however, as she leaped to the beeping
machine and pressed a button to stop the noise.

Much better.

But... Betty?

Was that my name?

“Quick, call Dr. Holloway!” The pink puppy nurse barked to another nurse with long, curly red hair and a
generous dose of junk in the trunk who had joined the
party.

She was wearing sensible dark green scrubs that I
thought complimented her curly copper hair, curvy body,
and green eyes nicely. That nurse left the room quickly, her
long copper hair trailing behind her.

I eyed the pink puppy nurse as she started fussing over
me. “It’s ok Betty, calm down, nice and slow breaths. You
have a tube down your throat that’s helping you breathe.
Just breathe with it.”

No shit, Sherlock. Did I have a choice?

I tried to focus on breathing in and out with the rhythm
of the machine. I felt tiny beads of sweat spring from my
temples. My heart charged ahead, clearly not on board with
my brain and the rhythmic breathing tube.

I squeezed my eyes shut, willing my heart to slow
down. Tears, mixed with sweat, streamed down my cheeks,
some running into my mouth. The sharp, salty taste
assaulted my tongue.

So many body parts had forgotten how to operate, and
others were running wild. I felt a darkness fall over me, almost willing my brain to return to its vacation - wherever
it had been - and my body to slip back to where I’d be safe.

So much of this didn’t feel right.

That included this body.

Or being in one.

Everything was confusing. Least of all the name I heard

the nurse call me. Betty, was it? I tried to focus, to
remember how I got here, and who I was. ‘Betty’ sounded
foreign. It didn’t !t.

Was that weird?

I should know my name, shouldn’t I?

Copper-haired booty nurse rushed back into the room.

“Doc Holloway’s on his way. Can you extubate her?” she
asked the pink puppy nurse.

“Yes, of course,” she snapped, rolling her eyes and
huffing a breath so large I half-expected a jet stream of !re
to follow it.

Pink puppy nurse was a bit of a bitch, apparently.

I noticed the copper-haired booty nurse step back,
slightly behind the pink puppy bitch nurse, narrowed her
eyes, then twirl one index finger at the back of the pink
puppy bitch nurse’s head.

Did she just cast a curse on the bitch?

I decided I liked copper-headed booty nurse a lot.
“Betty, I’m going to remove the breathing tube for you now, but I’ll need you to breathe out hard while I do. Do
you think you can do that?” Pink puppy bitch nurse barked
- funny - as she pulled on sterile gloves and removed the
two strips of white tape securing the breathing tube against
my face. I grimaced as the nurse yanked at the tape.

Ouch!

Settle down there, pink puppy bitch.
She grasped the breathing tube.

Was that a freaking smile on her lips?

My heart skipped a beat. I changed my mind. Just leave
the tube in, and I’ll learn to live with it. But the pink puppy
bitch nurse apparently couldn’t read minds and therefore
wasn’t giving me a choice, so I summoned some nerve from
somewhere inside this foreign landscape and nodded
slightly.

“Ok, now, take a deep breath... ready... blow out!” As I
blew, the nurse dragged the long tube from its position
down my throat.

An intense burning sensation welled up from deep
inside my chest. Bile chased the feeling up my throat. A
damp taste of age-old dirt and grit stopped short of
exploding past my teeth.

“That’s it! Great job, Betty!” Pink puppy bitch nurse’s
praise sounded hollow, and her smile faded - torture time
over. Copper-haired booty nurse clapped and even bounced
a little, an action that made her my numero uno.

I coughed and retched, gasping for fresh air.

“Penny! Don’t just stand there! Give her a sip of water.
Her throat's gonna hurt.”

Somebody must have pissed in the bitch nurse’s bran
!akes.

I’m guessing it was a copper-haired booty nurse, Penny.

Copper Penny. How annoyingly adorable and
appropriate.

Penny placed the breathing tube on a nearby tray and
turned off the breathing apparatus, then offered me water
through a straw. I could feel a cool flush down my throat
and land in the pit of my stomach. The small sips were
invigorating.

I managed a smile for the Copper Penny.
It was the least I could do.

Pink puppy bitch nurse cooed at me and rubbed her
hands up and down my legs.

My smile faded.

Uh-uh, no thanks, lady.

Your bite is worse than your bark and the cute pink puppy shirt you think makes you look Shih Tzu adorable is
just fabric covering up a Pit Bull of a lie.

I wanted to giggle.

I think I’m funny!

Except, I think I like Pit Bulls, so comparing one to a pink puppy bitch nurse was an insult.

I definitely like Shih Tzu.

But how I even knew this was beyond comprehension.
My head pounded.

Copper Penny removed a white, plastic clamp thingee from my middle finger. I assumed it was there to track my
heart rate. There was a coolness around the area where the
clamp had been. How long had it been there? It left a red
mark.

I didn’t recognize the fingers attached to hands that
also looked incredibly unfamiliar. I glanced at my other
hand, somehow thinking perhaps it would be different, but
it wasn’t. I had never seen these hands before, nor the arms
attached. My skin was sallow, but also loose, wrinkled, and
saggy. I rested my eyes, then opened them and glanced at
my hands again.

No change, and definitely not mine.

I felt certain about it.

Which meant that things just got weirder.

I noticed a heavy weight on my chest, but, peering

down, the only thing I saw was a rather large hump in my
hospital gown....ohhhhh.

I had big boobies.

Nice.

Just then, a tall, slender man entered the room. His gray
hair, slightly mussed and off to one side, glasses barely
resting on the tip of his nose, and the white coat he was
wearing was miss-buttoned and floating behind him as he
rushed in. There was a hunch in his shoulders and a slight
limp in his step that revealed the wear and tear of his age.

This must be the Doc Holloway, that pink puppy bitch
nurse told Copper Penny to call. He spoke quickly and
quietly to both nurses before turning his attention to me.
He smiled a robust, wide smile.

I was instantly annoyed.

“Welcome back, Betty! You’ve been with us for quite
some time! Can you try to speak? Maybe even a whisper?
Do you know where you are? You were in an accident nine
months ago. Do you remember?”

THE DOC’S rapid-fire quiz made me feel like retreating under
the covers if I could only move my heavy, saggy arms to pull
the covers over my face.

The assault on my senses continued when he clicked on
his penlight, pulled at my eyelids, and checked for pupil
dilation. I blinked in rapid succession, eyes tearing up and
over!owing onto my cheeks once again.

This man I didn’t like, I decided.

I glared at him, or at least I glared in his direction, as
bright white dots floated across my vision.

Doc Holloway stood back, waiting for me to speak, but I
took a few minutes to focus on his face and then on the
nurses and around the room, moving my head slightly.

I felt like a circus animal in a cage.

Wait, had I ever been to a circus to see caged animals?

I assumed I must have, since I suddenly felt like one.
'Everyone look at the freak who just woke up from a coma! Praise be! Oh, and by the way; her name is Betty!'
Except it wasn’t, was it?

I took another look at the three expectant faces awaiting me to perform my next miracle. Then I focused in
on Doc Holloway and wet my lips, preparing to speak.

My saliva tasted like blood and bile. I felt a wrenching
swelling from deep inside me but I swallowed it down and
took a ragged breath.

Doc Holloway leaned in slightly as I parted my lips to
speak. My voice, merely a raspy whisper after what I now
understood was months of hibernation, announced what I
was suddenly very sure of.

“I’m not Betty.”