Witch’s corpse. Witch’s ticket. Witch’s party. As a counter-boy at a high-end men’s boutique, Charlie Jessup’s life consists of little more than work and sleep. That, and enough flirting to help guarantee his commission on sales will pay his rent. So when a twist of fate, and some behavior unbecoming that of a Ganymede employee, leaves him in possession of a dead man’s pass to a mysterious Club 669, Charlie has no desire to waste it. Every seventeen years, the House of Witches throws a party like no other. It’s invitation-only, and for centuries it has helped ensure peace between the covens. It’s the last place Caspian wants to be, but with the death of Queen Avel, and his own imminent rise to the throne, it’s more important than ever that he attends. The stability of the House depends on it. In four days a new king will be crowned, but when Charlie unintentionally crashes a gathering of the most secretive of all the Great Houses, he sets in motion a series of events that could disrupt the transition of power, and threaten the future of the House of Witches forever.

Club 669

It was pitch-black out and the room as cold as an icebox by the time I gave up. I took my time carefully recoiling the cable, going through the paces of pounding on my wall, and tossing it back to Tiki.


I thanked him again and hesitated. “Have you ever heard of Club 669?”


“Nah.” He shrugged. “Clubs aren’t really my scene.”


The room warmed up nicely once I could close the window all the way, and I cleaned up my dinner dishes as I decided on my next move. Maybe I would ask Adam at Ganymede the next morning. I didn’t need to tell him about the ticket, or how I had gotten it, or why I was asking. I could just ask.


If anyone in my sphere of friends and acquaintances would know, it would probably be Adam.  2


“Nope, never heard ofit.” We were enjoying the slow crawl of early Saturday morning, me sipping tea at the counter, and Adam looking through the glass case of fragrances and oils on a mission known only to himself.


Chapter 5