The Late-Night Witches

An enchantingly warm and funny novel about family, love lost and found, discovering who you are, and how difficult it is to slay a vampire from the beloved national bestselling author of the TikTok sensation Cassie Beckett’s life is anything but magical. With a wild younger sister, three unruly kids, and an absent husband, she’s really not looking forward to the witching month of October. At least the gorgeous, foggy Prince Edward Island is always quiet. That is, until the vampires arrive. As the creatures sink their teeth into Cassie’s tenuous grip on normalcy, she’s forced to come face-to-face with long–disregarded family secrets. The legacy gifts her with power, but also a lofty responsibility: rid the island of vampires, or let them win. (Both options suck, in more ways than one.) Armed with her family, newfound friends, and a baby in a spectacularly garlicky onesie, Cassie must learn what it is to be a witch and how to fight for what she loves before time runs out. Because on Halloween night, the stakes will be higher than ever before...and it’s up to Cassie to finish what the witches that came generations before her started.

Autorentext
Auralee Wallace is the author of multiple novels, including the Otter Lake mystery series and the Evenfall Witches B&B Mysteries. She has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master’s degree in English literature, and she worked in the publishing industry for a number of years before teaching at the college level. When this perpetually sleep-deprived mother of three children and one rescue cat isn’t writing, reading, or playing soccer, she can be found watching BBC mysteries and warring with a family of peregrine falcons for the rights to her backyard.

Klappentext

**"You'll fall deeply in love with this enchanting and cozy book, so much so that you’ll want to return to it every fall just to experience it again!"—New York Times bestselling author Breanne Randall

An enchantingly warm and funny novel about family, love lost and found, discovering who you are, and how difficult it is to slay a vampire from the beloved national bestselling author of the TikTok sensation In the Company of Witches.

**Cassie Beckett’s life is anything but magical. With a wild younger sister, three unruly kids, and an absent husband, she’s really not looking forward to the witching month of October. At least the gorgeous, foggy Prince Edward Island is always quiet.

That is, until the vampires arrive.

As the creatures sink their teeth into Cassie’s tenuous grip on normalcy, she’s forced to come face-to-face with long–disregarded family secrets. The legacy gifts her with power, but also a lofty responsibility: rid the island of vampires, or let them win. (Both options suck, in more ways than one.)

Armed with her family, newfound friends, and a baby in a spectacularly garlicky onesie, Cassie must learn what it is to be a witch and how to fight for what she loves before time runs out. Because on Halloween night, the stakes will be higher than ever before...and it’s up to Cassie to finish what the witches that came generations before her started.

Leseprobe
Chapter 1

A man staggered down the sidewalk, his feet swallowed by a swirling blanket of sea fog. At times he veered dangerously toward the curb, but just before he would teeter over its edge, he'd lurch back to shamble over the damp grass of his neighbors' lawns. Each plodding step seemed destined to be his last, but he lumbered on, his unfocused eyes and sickly pale cheeks gleaming under the streetlamps, his jaw hanging loosely like a corpse's.

Cassie Beckett put down the yellow highlighter she had been using to mark up the family calendar as he approached. She tilted her chin to the black cat seated primly on the top edge of her wicker chair. "He doesn't look so good, does he?"

The cat didn't reply.

"Hey, Gary," she called out from the porch. "How's the training going?"

The man stopped his forward momentum but continued to step on the spot. He pulled up the pants of his gray sweatsuit and took a sip from his water bottle. "Made it two K yesterday."

Cassie smiled. "Nice."

"Is it okay if I leave this here?" He shook his bottle. "It's empty and I don't want it weighing me down."

"Be my guest."

Gary was training for a half-marathon. He claimed he ran at night because of work, but that didn't make much sense given that he was an accountant. Cassie suspected he was embarrassed about the shape he was in, but he didn't have to be. Not with her. She admired him for trying something new.

"Thanks." He plunked the plastic container on her mailbox as an infant's cry pealed out from an open window down the street.

Cassie smiled and looked over to the house with the cranberry door, its brass knocker winking in the dark. Every neighborhood had its secret nightlife, and hers was no exception. As though on cue, a man with a baby strapped to his chest emerged from the house. The piercing cries faded away as he walked down his driveway with careful, bouncing steps. When he reached the street, he turned around and walked back toward the house, making sure to keep a steady rhythm.

"Poor guy." Gary pushed up the Rocky-inspired headband that had slipped down his forehead. "Rumor has it the baby is his sister's. She wasn't ready to be a mother, so he stepped up."

Not much stayed secret in the Burrow. The neighborhood wasn't much more than a street in an old suburb of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and nobody could remember how it had gotten its name, but it was quaint with its old homes and tall trees, and Cassie couldn't imagine calling any other place home.

Their newest neighbor had only moved in a month or so ago, and Cassie hadn't had the chance to introduce herself. Granted, she hadn't gone out of her way to either. He was intimidatingly handsome. He had the glasses and bashful air of an English teacher or librarian, but the build of a quarterback. His hair was honey brown and always messy-that was probably because of the baby-but she hadn't seen his eyes up close. If she had to guess, they were hazel. She thought he might have a dimple too, but-all this was ridiculous because Cassie was technically married, even if it didn't feel too much like it these days.

Gary must have caught her look because he chuckled and said, "Yeah, he's a good-looking guy. You'd have to be dead not to notice."

Cassie smiled, hoping the darkness hid the burn coming to her cheeks. "What's his name again?"

"Ben. He's a history professor. Some sort of expert on island lore."

A history professor. She knew she'd been on the right track.

Gary cleared his throat and hiked his pants again. "Anyway, got to get back at it. The longer I stop, the harder it is to get going again."

That observation rang true for Cassie on many levels. "Good luck. And don't forget to take breaks."

He waved and pushed on.

Cassie scratched her cat's chin. "He'll be fine, right?"

She purred.

Janet was right. Gary was an adult. He could take care of himself. Besides, she had enough on her plate. Cassie looked down at the calendar on the old cast-iron coffee table. Crap. All of October was yellow. Every square had something. Doctor appointments. Dentist appointments. Hockey games. Basketball tryouts. It was never-ending. She scanned the to-do list running down the column at the side. She was also volunteering for two field trips, which meant she needed to trade shifts at work, and she had to get her daughter skates before her class started its weekly trip to the rink. Oh God, and the twins needed Halloween costumes! If only she could cut holes in sheets like moms used to do in the old days. Those women knew how to live.

The jack-o'-lantern sitting on t…