Read Online The Babet & Prosper Collection I: One Less Warlock, Magrat's Dagger, A Different Undead, and Bad Juju by Judith Post - Free Book Online

keeping the dagger ready. She couldn’t stab him. Power would
rush from the wound, destroying anything in its path. As words flew
from her lips, energy drained from him, flowed through her hand
into her body. Succubus powers. Her new magic. Her power grew.
    Jaleel tried to shake her off. She slashed
his flesh with the dagger, making vents. Energy flowed out of the
shallow cuts, flooding the entire area. Prosper inhaled it. So did
the coven. Jaleel kicked at her and sent her reeling.
    Prosper’s paws lifted her, steadied her, and
ran with her as she returned. Babet took Jaleel’s left leg. Prosper
clawed at his right, raking the skin on that side. More power
escaped the demon. When Jaleel tried to belch fire at them, her
father yanked on the whip, keeping him off balance. Mists swirled
around them, and women’s faces mouthed chants--Nadine and her
voodoo. Babet slashed Jaleel’s torso, watched more energies leave
him, swirling toward the river to travel to Nadine’s
settlement.
    Jaleel threw back his head and screamed,
tensed his muscles, and jerked. The whip fell, leaving deep gashes
on his waist. Jaleel clawed at the air. The coven’s magic tore. A
long, jagged gash ripped, letting chants and spells spill away. His
face contorted in fury, and Jaleel lunged at Gazaar. Her father
knocked him aside. He gathered his whip to strike again, but Jaleel
dissolved into energy, speeding away.
    Babet stomped her foot as he escaped. The
demon stopped, turned, and blasted energy toward her. She wouldn’t
have moved in time, but a large, furry body knocked her out of the
way. She smelled singed fur as a heavy weight fell on top of
her.
    Panic flooded her. “Prosper?” She wriggled
beneath him. Was he all right? Had Jaleel hit him? Was he
unconscious? Dead?
    A tongue licked her face. A deep voice
chuckled. “You can’t always be on top.”
    “Ugggh!” She pushed on his chest, and he
slowly rolled off her. Partially shifted, he offered her a hand to
help her up, but she refused it, clumsily getting to her own
feet.
    He laughed. “Thanks for breaking my
fall.”
    “Thanks for saving my ass.”
    His gaze shifted, and she felt herself blush.
“The world would be less without a fanny like that.”
    Someone cleared his throat. They both looked
up to see Gazaar studying them.
    Babet squirmed. Her father wasn’t beaming a
welcome. His dark brows furrowed into a scowl. “Your mother said
that you have no training. You took a risk using succubus magic
when you don’t understand it.”
    He kept in touch with her mother? And her
mother never mentioned it? Babet’s chin rose. She’d just tried to
save lives, and all he could do was criticize her?
    “Then why didn’t you teach her?” Everyone
turned to stare at Evangeline. Her clipped words caught all of them
off guard. The young voodoo/witch held her arms over her chest,
clearly upset. Her expression shifted from anger to distress and
back again. She looked like she was about to cry.
    “Are you all right?” Babet asked.
    “No! How could I be?” Evangeline gulped and
hugged herself more tightly. “People died, and it’s all my fault.
Because I’m so stupid.”
    “Not stupid.” Babet rushed to defend her.
“Just naïve. Because you didn’t ask for any of this. You’d rather
garden. You were trying to learn. It backfired, that’s all.”
    “And people died.” Evangeline turned in a
slow circle, looking at the charred bodies lying on burned
lawns.
    Gazaar tried to comfort her. “Jaleel took
advantage of your inexperience. He’s been waiting to return here
since he learned I have a daughter.”
    Evangeline’s hands went to her hips. “A
daughter you weren’t nice to! I tried to impress my father too, and
all he did was drain me. You’re not much better.”
    Gazaar glared at her. “And you’re….?”
    “Emile and Nadine’s daughter.” When her
mother spoke, Gazaar looked in her direction. His expression turned
tender, almost hungry.
    “I’ve missed you,