by Zoe Warner
Sixteen
The courtyard had an ominous feeling when it was cleared out. Even the members of the council were escorted out. All that remained were myself and the other twelve people chosen for the Coven and Alda of course.
“You are the narrowed down group for this Coven. I won’t be taking all of you despite what your leaders may have said. There was a choir of confused chatter. I just watched what was happening.
Alda picked through the group. The first was a young man in his mid-twenties. He had short light brown hair and wore glasses. He wasn’t someone I expected to see in a Coven of Witches, but here he was.
The next was an older man in his mid-thirties. He smiled a cocky smile as though he knew he’d be chosen and brushed his blond hair out of his face. I caught him looking me up and down and cocking an eyebrow.
After that, they started to blur together until she got to the fifth spot. She looked at me and smiled. "Of course you will be in this Coven. We are doing this to protect you." I stepped out of the group and she dismissed the others. “Now that we have our Coven, we need to bind you together.”
She stood us in a circle and drew sigils into the ground in front of us. Each had the sigil of the Coven we’d came from. They were simple lines for the most part. Most of them configured many years before this. Until she came to me.
“You haven’t been introduced to witchcraft before this so you will need to be in the middle," she said with a smile. I glanced around me as I did what she said, but something felt off. Something wasn't right with any of this. I knew it deep in my bones, but if I defied the council, they could take it out on Zander and the others. I couldn’t let that happen.
Alda took a small blade from her pocket and cut each of the four others before coming to me. She held her hand out and smiled. I gave her my hand and she ran the blade across it. The sharp sensation of pain was quickly followed by the tingle of magick. I’d seen this before in the dream with Zarrick. This was how she bound me to the coven and them to me.
The air seemed to stop and became thick, almost too thick to breathe, but I forced myself to take in shaky breathes as I understood what was happening.
She stood in front of me as she drew each line of my sigil. “You know you’re a rare one. We don’t see many Witches that can do what you can do.”
“What do you mean?”
She stopped halfway through my sigil and glanced up at me. “You mean you haven’t even tried to see what your gifts were?”
“No, I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”
“Oh, Cat. You are so much more than just a Witch with a few abilities. You are the key to other worlds,” Alda said finishing my rune. “You have enough power to tear holes between dimensions and allow yourself or others to travel through.”
“That’s why I’m so important to this Demon,” I said figuring out what she was saying.
She smiled. “And to us.”
My gaze slid to the sigil on the ground in front of me. It glowed with power and I squinted, realizing I’d seen it before. I’d seen it in my dream. I’d seen it release the Demon we were supposed to be fighting and I realized something else.
Alda was on the wrong side.
Seventeen
I tried to move my feet, but they wouldn’t budge.
“I knew you would figure it out. You’re too smart for your own good, but don’t let the others in on our secret. They can’t help you anyway,” Alda whispered.
I put my hand on the Oleander Necklace Zander had given me and felt an instant calm. Alda followed my hand with her gaze and shook her head.
“We don’t want that on right now, it could block your power. We need every bit of it for this.” She pulled my hand away and ripped the necklace from my neck. Alda gave it a toss and I watched it bounce off the wall of the house near the door of the courtyard. She smiled and put her hand on my shoulder. “You are doing this world a great service. It needs to be cleansed. There is so much hate and so much pain. We can change it.”
“You’re letting something free that will kill everything,” I spat.
“Not everything,” She snapped.
“I won’t help you.”
“You don’t have to willingly. The circle will do it for you.” She laughed as she turned away from me and finished the sigils for the rest of the circle. Everything was a mess. I thought I was helping Zander and the others, but all I had done was put them in more danger. Once this Demon was let loose, it would kill everyone and destroy everything in its path and it would be my fault.
Alda stood in front of me, but outside the circle. She held her hands up and started the chant. The others followed obediently. I felt the tingle in the air get stronger as they chanted. Every second I stood there, the thick veil of magick permeated the air.
I could see the air shimmer with the weight of it and what seemed like small sparks within each molecule. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Then a small break in it that gave me a moment to catch my breath.
“Alda, have you lost your mind?” Zander’s voice said from behind me.
“You are small minded. You wouldn’t understand what needs to be done,” Alda answered.
“This isn’t the way,” Zane said.
“You wouldn’t know. You are too weak to use your gifts.” She laughed. “You were supposed to be the ones in this circle, but your conscience keeps you from doing what you were made for.”
She turned towards me. “You should have completed the binding and made her your Coven mate.”
“You are too blind with power to see what’s right in front of you,” Zarrick said with a knowing smile. I locked eyes with him and he winked. He knew something I didn’t. “That Demon will kill you.” He slid his gaze back to her and his smile faded. “You can’t do this.”
“He will give me a kingdom where Witches are in charge and no one will challenge it.”
Zander took a step towards her. She held out her hand and he froze in place. “This will be completed.”
I felt the power of the circle rise through me. I screamed as it raced faster and harder through my blood, through my veins. The pain came in large doses intertwined with the magick. I fell to my knees and held my stomach. In my mind, I was ripping apart, but knew I was still sitting in the heap of myself over my sigil and waiting for the Demon that wanted to kill me to appear.
My ears rang and my head pounded as the power burst from my body. The release was welcome and the pain subsided some. My skin burned with the power still inside me somewhere.
I opened my eyes to the ground around me charred and burned. The green that once surrounded me was now black and smoking from the magick I’d just released. The circle was a burned spot in the ground and everyone around it ash.
My eyes slid to the sigil at my feet. It still glowed an orange-red. It was just like my dream and that meant that I wasn't alone in this circle.
I turned slowly to see the Demon I’d tried so hard to ignore. The one that wanted to have me to rule his new world. The first thing I noticed was his eyes. They were brown with red flecks. It wasn't scary to see, but I knew there was a power behind them. More power than any human or Witch could hold. His dark hair was slicked back with no hair out of place. He wore a grey suit with a red pocket square perfectly in place. His face looked familiar somehow. I'd seen him before but couldn't place where.
My eyes focused on something behind him or more accurate someone. Zane was standing in front of Zander and Zarrick with his hands up. A soft blue shield in front of the three of them.
“You are the usher of Gods. The killer of men. You are the power that consumes all things.” He reached his hand out to take mine. “You are mine.” He took my hand.
I felt it before I saw the light that flashed between our hands. The power forced his hand back with a sharp snap.
“What is this?” He demanded. He glanced at Alda who was still kneeling.
“She is bound to this Coven and should be free from connections,” Alda said standing.<
br />
Zarrick’s laughing caught everyone’s attention. “I’m sorry. It’s just so funny.”
“You did this,” the Demon spat.
“That’s what you get when you leave a beautiful woman in my house,” Zarrick said looking at me instead of the Demon.
I realized I could tap into Zarrick’s powers just as though they were my own. I closed my eyes and thought of him and all the things about him I loved. His wicked smile and his ability to get me to do things I never thought I’d do. I thought about the night we shared and how much I cared for all of these men. I wasn’t just their pet or someone they wanted for power. I was more than that.
I opened my eyes and held my hand up. The earth responded with rumbles deep inside. It cracked between myself and this Demon I’d just let into this world. The power traveled from my feet to my hand and built like an earthquake.
I looked the Demon in the eyes as the power flooded through me. He smiled and exploded into fire just before my power reached him. It hit Alda’s house, blowing the wall in and destroying her home.
“This isn’t possible,” Alda said.
“Anything is possible with Cat,” Zarrick said as he grabbed Alda. She pulled away from him and waved her arm, disappearing in front of him.
“Damn it,” Zander said.
Zane was there first with his hands on my shoulders. “Are you alright?”
I nodded but wasn't truly sure if I was nodding because I was okay after the Demon or the power surge.
“Now that you’re a part of the Coven, the real fun begins,” Zarrick said as he walked to me.
“You knew somehow, didn’t you?”
He shrugged. “I had my suspicions.”
“You could have shared them with the rest of us,” Zander said with a bit of anger.
“She’s safe isn’t she?” He said.
“We still have a bigger problem.” I looked around us at the burnt circle and the destroyed house. “The Demon still came here. I let it happen.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Zane said. “We’ll worry about that later. You need rest.”
We made our way through the busted building and to the car. Zane was right. I was tired and my body felt like it had been hit by a train. All I wanted to do was sleep.
Eighteen
I opened my eyes to two men laying on the floor of my bedroom. The light was streaming in from the sun and everything felt surreal.
“Did you get enough sleep?” Zander said from my chair across from me.
I smiled. “I think so.” I rubbed my arm. It still ached but was bearable.
“Good. Magick of that magnitude can be pretty draining,” he said glancing at the men on the floor. “They didn’t want to leave you alone. Frankly, neither did I.”
“So, you had a campout in my room?” I smarted off.
“Get used to it, Sweetheart,” Zarrick said sitting up. “You won’t be alone now.”
My breath caught at the thought.
“Have you looked at your eyes?” Zane said with a smile.
I shook my head.
I turned my head and looked in the mirror across from the foot of my bed. Sure enough, my once dark eyes had a blue hue to them. Even my hair looked a shade of blueish purple. I smiled.
“You’re in the club now,” Zane said with a slight laugh. “I think this is also yours.” He held up the Oleander Necklace and smiled. “I saved it from Alda for you. It still works to protect you.”
“Except from us,” Zarrick said with his wicked smile.
“We still have to bind this coven,” Zander said. “Zarrick had his time, now it’s mine.” He gave the other two a death stare and they groaned.
“Why do you get her all to yourself?” Zarrick said not moving.
“The New Moon was last night. Don’t we have to wait,” I teased.
“The Full Moon and New Moon are three days long,” Zander said with a smile.
“And we honor everyone,” Zarrick said with a wicked smile.
The bed moved with the entry of Zander and I raised my eyebrows at Zarrick. He didn’t move.
Zander pulled me to him and leaned over me. “I’ve waited a long time for this, but you have to say one thing before we begin.” His ran his hand down my thigh and his thumb toyed with my panties. “You have to say yes,” he whispered in my ear.
There was no hesitation.
“Yes.”
CALEB SAT IN HIS CIRCLE with his eyes closed. He had felt the shift in the energy when the Demon had taken form. He knew the power was shifting. While the rest of his Coven slept, he reached out with his mind, reached out for help from the one person that could give it to him.
“You thought I’d hide at a time like this,” the man said before Caleb opened his eyes. “I am a part of this Coven from the time it was created to the time of its end.”
“I have never forgotten that,” Caleb said, not moving.
“You want the power the Demon can give?”
“I want the power to end Zarrick and everything he loves.”
“That includes the woman,” the man said watching him at the outskirts of his circle.
Caleb Flinched slightly.
The Demon caught it and smiled.
“I would like to do more than that. I’d like to induct her into my Coven, but to do that the others have to die,” Caleb said locking eyes with the man.
The man’s red and brown eyes watched him until a smile formed on his face. “Then you will have all the power you need.” The man put his hand on Caleb’s shoulder. Caleb felt a hot burning sensation as the power surged into him. He closed his eyes and fell to his knees.
The power was all consuming. It extended from his shoulder to every part of his body. It burned into his skin and flesh until it sizzled and dissipated.
Caleb caught his breath and opened his eyes to the man. He took a step back and watched Caleb. “Now you have more power than all of them combined.”
Caleb glanced in the mirror at his feet and looked into his eyes. He could see the power as they flashed red before him.
Nineteen
I breathed deeply as the hot air hit my face. I concentrated, but it wasn’t enough. The screeching of the fire alarm interrupted my deep thoughts and my eyes flew open. The smoke poured from the oven and I cursed under my breath.
I opened the oven door and pulled out the burnt cookies with a sigh. I didn’t even look as the kitchen door opened and Zarrick came flying through.
“What in the hell is going on,” he half yelled as he took in the fact I was holding a tin with burnt cookies stuck to it.
“I give up,” I sighed. I threw the cookies in the trash and put the pan in the sink. Zarrick just laughed at me.
“You are one of the most powerful witches in this generation and you’re mad because you can’t make a plate of cookie?”
I just stared at him.
He smiled and I his blue eyes twinkled with amusement. He pulled me to him and I could smell the scent of earth and sweat. He’d been training. I let him hold me next to his muscular body for a moment longer before pulling away, slightly.
"What do you guys think fighting is going to do for you against a Demon?" I knew it was a blunt question, but after everything that had happened recently, I wasn't so worried about being blunt. We'd just let a Demon out to destroy the earth and I was its prime target. I would think they would want to concentrate on magick, not punching each other in the face.
“There might be a time when we don’t have access to our magick. It’s good to know how to protect ourselves,” Zarrick answered.
“When am I going to learn how to knock you out?” I teased.
“You do that every time we’re together, love.” He smiled. “Don’t you have a magick lesson with Zander?”
I groaned. While I knew, it was important to learn as much as I could to control my power, I didn’t enjoy learning how to see things in a totally different way. It gave me a headache.
“Yes, I’m goi
ng.” I turned from him and walked from the kitchen. Zander liked to do his lessons on the balcony. He said it made him feel more connected to the energy. I liked it because there was normally a good breeze when the rest of the house threatened to overwhelm me with the scorching heat.
“I hope you came prepared, today,” Zander said from his seat at the iron table on the other side of the balcony. He didn’t look up as I came through the double door and I sighed.
“What are we doing today?”
“We are looking into your capacity to use earth magick,” he said shutting his book. “The rest of us have our magick tied to other elements. It would seem that you should too since you were drawn to this coven.”
“Wait, no. I had a choice and picked yours because I decided I was in love with the men of it,” I said with a smile.
He cocked his head and smiled back. "True, but now that you're here we have to figure out your element. That is the best place to start. I know it wasn't fired as we already tried that."
“Even though I turned a dude to ash when Zane saved me,” I remarked. He didn’t look amused.
“There are several reasons for that,” Zander said. He was a lot taller than me, but he never made me feel small or silly when I was a smart ass. He just made me feel protected. This was the first time since we’d met that I wasn’t sure what he was thinking. I still didn’t know the full extent of his power.
“Right, like I’m connected to a Demon.”
“I don’t think that’s it. Zarrick may not have done what I would like, but he did connect you to him to protect you.”
“You’re just mad it wasn’t you,” I teased.
He walked to me and pulled me to him. “Maybe.”
I put my hands on his chest and grabbed his shirt pulling him as close as he could without knocking me over. He bent down slightly and kissed me with a deep and passionate kiss. I loved the way he kissed me and made me feel safe and warm. His touch was a bit rougher than the others, but he never hurt me unless I wanted him to. He pulled away and bit his lip.