Summer Shifter Days

by V. Vaughn

  Melanie saw the unshed tears in Hannah’s eyes. Laying her fork on her plate, she placed both her hands over her friend’s and smiled. “Tell her to keep herself and her family safe before worrying about me. Let’s face it, if Cleland wants to go through with this, there’s little any of us can do without outside help to stop him. I won’t have any of you getting hurt on my account.”

  “Cut the shit, Meli. You know as well as I do Mom thinks of you as one of her own and thought of your mom like a sister. There’s not a chance she’s gonna go back on the promise she made to Joanie.” Hannah gave a weak chuckle that was more sad than funny.

  “Well, you need to make her see that she has to. I’ll get out of this shithole one way or another and I have to know that y’all are okay when I do. If you need to, tell Sarah Beth to come see me.”

  “Oh, she’ll be here with your dinner.” Hannah’s eyes were wide and almost smiling. “You better get ready, I’m sure she’s gonna have a few choice words about your appraisal of the situation.”

  Both ladies laughed until they were tearing up. When they recovered, Hannah removed the spell and Melanie finished her lunch. Too soon, the guard opened the door and instructed Hannah it was time to go. They both stood and hugged before Hannah gathered up the dishes and headed towards the door. She winked over her shoulder as she disappeared into the hall and the door was once again shut and locked.

  With nothing better to do, Melanie took a long hot shower, painted her toes with the horrible Pepto Bismol pink nail polish she found in the vanity, and settled down to read Wuthering Heights for the fourth or fifth time. She alternated between reading and dozing until a knock at the door alerted her to an incoming visitor. Sure it was Sarah Beth, she sat up cross-legged in the middle of the bed and waited.

  Unfortunately, her anticipation at talking to the woman she considered her second mom turned to shock and then quickly anger when it was Cleland who entered her room. She watched the smile dissolve from his face and could only imagine it was a reaction to her own. Melanie did nothing to hide her disgust. She was, after all, the prisoner and he was her jailer. There was no way she would be nice and polite.

  Nope. Not gonna happen.

  Leaning on the same ancient cane topped with a skull carved from bone that Melanie remembered from her childhood, looking at her through the same watery blue eyes that had watched her while cutting out her mother’s heart was the man she’d once called Grandpa. The man she now wanted to watch gasping for his last breath like a whale on the shore.

  If his expression was any indication, Cleland had figured out what she was thinking without the benefit of reading her mind. Melanie had always been one of the few he couldn’t read, along with her mother, Sarah Beth, Hannah, and all Hannah’s sisters. There had been stories of others, but those witches had mysteriously disappeared. The only thing that kept Hannah and her family safe was their unique familial magic. Alone, each was an above average witch, but together they were a force with which to be reckoned.

  Melanie knew the Draoi had kept them close, siphoning off bits of power to keep him going until he could find her. If he kept his theft to a minimum they would never know, their magic, after all, regenerated.

  She also knew he would never do anything to harm them if he could help it. Since she hadn’t had a child, the bloodline died with her, which meant Cleland’s ability to steal power died as well. Sure, he could kill other witches and wizards and take their power, but it would be short lived and cause his followers to rebel. Yeah, her seanathair was no dummy. He knew he’d need Hannah and her family to keep him in power. All Melanie had to do was make sure he never found out they’d helped her all those years ago and were planning to help her now. Something told her old Cleland would give up a few of his magical infusers to make a point and that was not something she could live with.

  Cleland finally spoke, ending the Mexican standoff between them. “You look well, dear.”

  Rolling her eyes, Melanie shook her head and waited.

  Instead of speaking again, the Draoi made a huge production out of getting a chair, positioning it beside her bed, and sitting like the king he thought he was. After placing his cane across the end of her bed and unbuttoning his drab grey suit jacket, he again spoke, his tone still that of the grandfather she’d thought he was when she was a child. “I hope the coven is taking good care of you. I see the clothes I ordered fit. Is there anything else I can get for you?”

  Snorting a sarcastic almost laugh, Melanie said, “Yeah, how about a get out of jail free card and the keys to a car?”

  “Jail? Is that what you think this is, Meli Rose? Your prison? You could not be farther from the truth. You will have free reign over all the grounds, just as soon as I am sure you are ready. I want you to reacquaint yourself with the members and meet the new ones. This always has been and always will be your home. We are all just thrilled to have you back.”

  Melanie looked at Cleland like he had three heads and four horns while trying to figure out what game he was playing. She knew damn good and well he’d brought her to the coven to regain his power and the only way he could do that was to kill her. Maybe he was delusional enough to think she’d forgotten, so she decided to remind him that she was nobody’s fool.

  “Let’s cut the shit, Cleland. I know why you brought me here and it wasn’t for a good ole family reunion. At least we can be honest with each other after all these years. You’re old. You need to replenish your power. You’ve tried siphoning and have probably even killed a few wizards along the way to keep your throne, but none of that’s working anymore. It’s not the same as killing a family member and bathing in their blood, right? And after all, when you kill your followers, you’re thinning the herd and people might find the bodies. Am I right?”

  “Oh my, dear, you have totally misjudged me. This reunion is not at all what you…” His words were cut off by the obnoxious trill of a cellphone ringing in his jacket pocket.

  Holding up his index finger in the universal ‘one minute’ sign, Cleland proceeded to pull out the phone and answer the call. Melanie looked out the window, ignoring his side of the conversation until he said, “I’ll be right there.”

  Jumping off the bed, she stood less than a foot in front of the man that had lived in her nightmares for almost twenty years and growled. “Oh, hell no. You’re staying here until you tell me exactly what’s going on.”

  He grinned and her palm itched with the need to smack the condescending look from his face. Then he snapped his fingers and his cane flew to his outstretched hand. Completely dismissing Melanie and ignoring her demand, the Draoi pushed back the chair he’d been sitting in, turned on his heel, and walked towards the door.

  Never one to be snubbed, Melanie yelled, “I swear to the Goddess if you leave this room without answering my questions, I will take my own life. That would really screw up your sacrifice wouldn’t it…Grandpa?” The last word was spoken with so much derision she reveled in the fact that he flinched.

  Cleland took the last few steps to the door and knocked before turning to face her. For just a split second she saw the man that had bounced her on his knee and told her bedtime stories, but in the blink of an eye reality came crashing down around her and all she could see was the monster that murdered her mother. He spoke and for the first time she heard the low rumble of his age. “I have no intention of sacrificing you, Meli Rose. I have been presented with a far better proposition that will keep me in power and you breathing for hundreds of years. As far as harming yourself, do you really think I would take that chance?” He shook his head like she was a brick short of a load before continuing. “You, as well as your room, have been warded. You cannot even suffer a hang nail without immediately healing.”

  The door opened, Cleland stepped over the threshold and was gone before her brain could process what she’d heard. Running to catch the door before it closed, she tripped over the rug and caught the knob just as the lock clicked into place. She pounded on the door
until her hands were bright red and burning while screaming until she lost her voice but no one came.

  Tired, angry, and confused, Melanie threw herself across the bed and stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out what the senile old asshole had been talking about. The rest of the day was pretty much a bust. She had no idea what her grandfather was planning and for the most part was sick of thinking about it.

  Melanie sat by the window at the back of her room, watching the younger children of the coven playing in the clearing. It reminded her of all the times she’d done the same thing, one of the only happy memories she still had from her time with the Dorcha. The smell of food brought her out her revelry. Turning, she expected to find Hannah but instead saw a tall, gangly teenager she didn’t know with her food tray in his hands. Immediately worried about her friends and unsure whether she could trust the young man enough to ask questions, she simply smiled and made her way to the table. Thankfully, he was chatty. In less than a minute, Melanie found out his name was Joshua, he was almost eighteen, Hannah and her family were attending the weekly ritual and would resume bringing her food in the morning. She smiled at his naivety and hoped he would always be as carefree as he was in that moment.

  The next few days flew by. She saw Hannah a few times but never alone and always just long enough to drop off her food or clean clothes. She could see in her friend’s eyes that she wanted to talk, but her every move was being monitored. It seemed that Cleland wasn’t taking any chances.

  By the morning of the Blood Moon, Melanie had decided it was time to take drastic measures. From the moment she’d awoken with a bag over her head, she’d held out hope that her magic could remain suppressed, but time was running out. There was no way she could continue to sit idly by and wait for the inevitable. It was time to bring her magic back. She’d tried to come up with another solution, knowing full well that it was playing right into the Draoi’s hands, but it was the only chance she had to save herself without anyone she cared about getting hurt in the process.

  The one and only time Cleland had visited her, he’d mentioned a ward had been placed on her and her room that would keep her from harm. That was going to make unmasking her magic more difficult but not impossible. Rising from her seat at the window, Melanie collected the knife she’d stolen from last night’s dinner out from under her mattress and made her way to the bathroom. Carefully, she shut and locked the door, then started the shower.

  Disrobing to just her bra and panties, she located the Charm of Cerridwen that had been tattooed on her left hip the day of her eighteenth birthday. The tattoo, done by a very powerful shaman, had replaced the physical charm Sarah Beth had given her the day she’d run from the coven. It had been the only way Melanie knew she would always have protection from the Draoi.

  And we all know how that worked out.

  She cleaned both the knife and her hip with rubbing alcohol. The shaman had explained that if she ever wanted to use her magic again, all she needed to do was recite the spell while severing the Celtic Circle from the Tree of Life it surrounded in two places. He’d further explained it had to be a permanent separation so she would need to remove two small pieces of inked skin.

  In any other situation that would’ve been no big deal. Sure, it would hurt, but Melanie had a pretty high tolerance for pain and knew it would heal. It was the fact that she would have to move faster than the spell Cleland had placed on her person that had her pulse beating faster than usual.

  Summoning her courage, she took a deep breath, laid the knife against the edge of the tattoo and exhaled as she counted to five. Striking with incredible accuracy and a speed she knew was powered by her nerves, Melanie used the sharp tip of the knife to remove two miniscule sections of her inked skin from where the base of the tree connected with the circle. She whispered, bhaint agus a chur ar ais.

  The tiny incisions burned like hell and began to heal before she could grab the peroxide to clean the wound. She watched as the skin knit back together but this time without the ink. Magic filled her being. Tiny black dots danced before her eyes and she felt lightheaded as the magical part of her being took its first breath of fresh air in almost eighteen years. It should have been a happy time, but all Melanie could think about was what Cleland planned to do with her power. More than a little sadness filled her heart as she thought about the way he would turn her beautiful white magic into something ugly and unrecognizable if he were ever to get his slimy fingers on it.

  Within five minutes her cuts were healed and the pain was gone. All that was left to do was to place a Camouflage Spell on the tattoo and her magic. It wouldn’t keep Cleland from taking her power, but it would make it a damn sight harder and that might be the few seconds she needed to get away.

  Shutting off the shower steaming up the room, she redressed, and returned to her bedroom. She immediately knew someone had been in the room. The air felt different…disturbed. It was one of the many sensations she would have to get used to now that her magic was functional again. Looking for signs of the intruder, she found a large black box with a huge red ribbon and bow sitting on her bed. Using her rusty powers, Melanie inspected the package and found it held no enchantments and had been placed on her bed by one of the guards.

  Carefully removing the bow and unwinding the ribbon, she laid the lid of the box to the side and unwrapped the tissue paper. She gasped when she saw the crystal covered ivory silk bodice. It was truly a work of art. As she lifted the gown from the box, it only became lovelier. The skirt was long and flowing with groups of the same beautiful crystals artfully placed to form dianthus blossoms, the flower that had been blooming the day she was born…or so she’d been told.

  Holding the strapless gown against her body, she spun around in circles, enjoying the movement of the fabric and the way the light danced off the crystals. On one of her revolutions, she caught sight of herself in the full length mirror by her wardrobe. She smiled at the reflection, wishing to the Heavens that Jace could see her in something so elegant, then wondered if she would ever see him again. Shaking away her maudlin thoughts, she turned towards the bed to return the gown to the box. Melanie had no idea why anyone would send her such a gorgeous dress just to bleed all over and figured it was another of Cleland’s head games.

  She’d just replaced the lid on the box when there was a knock at her door. With her returned powers, she knew it was the Draoi, and he was accompanied by another wizard with far less power but just as much bad attitude. The door swung open and in came Cleland, closely followed by a tall, olive-skinned man with inky black hair and a dead expression. In any other situation, Melanie imagined he would be good looking but the stench of black magic and servitude to an evil leader coated his aura with dark black fog. She was just about to dismiss him and begin interrogating her grandfather when she finally recognized him. It was Damon, a boy from her past, now grown into a man and serving the one person in the world they’d all sworn to kill.

  Giving him a look of pure disgust, she was shocked when he smiled and winked. Rolling her eyes, she ignored him and turned her attention to Cleland. “To what do I owe the honor? I thought you’d forgotten about me. I seem to remember you promising to come back and explain what your plans for me were, but that was three days ago. Whatcha been up to?” Melanie purposely spoke as informally as possible, knowing full well it would infuriate the Draoi. He took his position very seriously and wanted to be treated with the utmost ‘respect’ at all times, especially from his granddaughter and in the presence of his second.

  Yeah, well, he can spit in one hand and wish in the other to see which fills up first.

  The lift of his eyebrows and the way the corners of his mouth turned downward let Melanie know she’d hit the mark and her little heart sang. She smiled the sweetest smile she could and took a seat on the edge of her bed, preparing for whatever bullshit Cleland was about to spread around. The Draoi quickly recovered and just as she’d predicted, began to speak with the voice and charisma of a televang
elist.

  “You look well, Meli Rose. I apologize for leaving you alone, but I had many things to prepare and oversee for this evening’s festivities.” Looking over her shoulder, he continued. “I see you received my gift. If it needs any adjustments, please have the guards call for my seamstress. She will be happy to assist you.”

  He moved to the table and took a seat. It was the first time in her life she could remember him looking tired. Hopefully he would stay that way. Deciding it was time to get some answers, Melanie moved past Damon, who had yet to speak, and sat down across from Cleland.

  “So, what exactly have you got cooked up for tonight, Cleland?” She used his given name, adding a little punch to her voice and was tickled pink as the snide grin slid from his face.

  Pushing her advantage, she asked, “What’s with the gown? I thought all the sacrifices had to wear a white robe of tradition.”

  In the blink of an eye, the smirk was back and a fire shone in Cleland’s dead eyes. He shook his head and tsk’d before responding. “Oh, Meli Rose, you always were one for the dramatic. Although, I will admit to putting the Great Sacrifice on the list of possible solutions to draining the power of our coven, but it was most definitely at the bottom. What I have planned for you will keep both of us alive for years.”

  “Cut the crap! Whatever the scheme, the answer is no. Now, you said I could have free reign and so far I’m still locked in this damn room. What gives?”

  Chuckling with an air of authority that made the little hairs at the back of her neck stand on end, the Draoi stood and walked towards the door. “Oh, Meli Rose, I do so enjoy our talks but let me make one thing clear, it is not up to you to accept or decline. You will do as I say. And as far as free reign goes, after tonight’s ceremony you will have it, of that you can be sure. Now, try on your gown, make sure it’s perfect, Hannah will be along in just a few minutes to help you with your hair and makeup.”