“My wife, Abby, would have adored you two. Boys, take heed. Don’t ever take these two for granted. You don’t find beautiful girls as these just anywhere. Cherish them. A wonderful woman by your side for all eternity is all a man can ever hope for, and these two are beyond extraordinary. Take care of each other and be good to each other and don’t let these girls slip through your hands.”
And with that, the handsome man with the sunshine smile that matched those of his boys, started to disappear and as he did, the four candles blew out. They all sat there quiet for a moment. Blake and Devon, with their arms around their beautiful witches, thought hard on the words their departed father had sent them. They felt sad to see him go, almost mourning him again in his absence, but knowing that without these two lovely girls, they would not have had these treasured words with their father. What a gift they had received. With all their strength, speed, and ability to heal, none of these gifts offered them this most priceless of gifts, the wisdom and presence of their father. Their father was right; these two enchanting women should always be treasured.
Devon turned to Rowan and said, “Thank you so much, Rowan. Speaking to him after all this time was the greatest gift, I think, you could have ever given us.”
Blake, too, turned to her and kissed her hard and said, “Really and truly, thank you. You are amazing!”
She blushed for just a second and said, “The pleasure was mine. I now see where you both get your good looks and that devilish smile.”
Darby laughed and looked at her sister as she hugged Devon. She mouthed to her sister thank you.
Rowan nodded and mouthed love you.
Darby focused and thought hard towards her sister and thought, Love you too, Rowan!
By the look on her sister’s face, Darby could tell Rowan had heard it. Rowan smiled and said, “That is cool. Blake, you’ve got to teach me that!”
The guys looked at her, confused for a moment, and then laughed.
“Well, I guess there is no need to go to Ireland. I can’t imagine there’s anything there that your father hasn’t already conveyed to us,” Darby said.
“Definitely, but aside from knowing why, we still don’t know what’s the best way to stop all of this,” Devon said.
Rowan said, “Well, I hate to say it, but someone that angry and so far over the deep end is probably not going to be up for a little sit down to talk this through.”
“I suppose not, which means that the only way to stop him is to do it permanently,” Devon said.
They all grimaced at that thought. “But we don’t know if there is anyone else involved,” Darby said.
“What do you mean?” Blake asked.
“Is there anyone else that Paine is working with? I mean, is Paine the top of the ladder, so to speak, or is there someone higher?” she said.
“For as personal as this is, I would expect it is confined to just Paine and his thugs. The only reason Paine would tell anyone about this is if he had a different agenda, say fame, for catching a vampire. If that had been the case, then why wouldn’t he and his acquired army have found us years ago? No, I think he has limited resources in his thugs’ ability to track us. We’ve traveled quite a bit since our parents died and I think now that we have settled, he is just catching up,” Devon said.
“That makes sense to me,” Rowan said. “If this was a bigger plan, with more people involved, it would be more organized and they would have caught up with you quicker.”
“Well, I guess that is a good thing,” Devon said.
“Sure it is. I think if we take out Paine, this will all go away. The thugs have no beef against you and your brother. If their paycheck goes away, then they just move on to the next crazy guy,” said Rowan.
“Then I think the best way to take care of Paine is to go to him. He’d never expect us to go to him. He just thinks we’ll continue to run from his thugs,” Devon said.
“Right, and while his thugs are here looking for us, we will be in Maine taking care of Paine,” Blake chimed in.
“So is there any way we do this without taking him out, so to speak?” asked Darby.
“I doubt it would do any good, but it couldn’t hurt could it? If we trapped him somehow, tied him up, and explained what would have happened to his son if your father had changed him, maybe he would understand. At least that way we could say that we tried to reason with him before we took him out. Having lost our parents and you yours, it’s just, well, life is precious, no matter who or what you are,” Rowan said.
“I think it’s worth a shot,” Blake answered.
“I agree,” Darby replied.
“I don’t think it could hurt anything to try,” Rowan said.
“Okay, then we’re agreed,” Darby concluded.
Chapter 11
“I think we still have a couple of things to do before we call it a night. I’d like to enchant Harry,” Rowan said. ”Blake, can you bring the lighter along with the green, blue, yellow, and red candles to the back yard? Darby, could you go get Harry and bring him outside?”
“Sure.”
Rowan went into the backyard. She set an altar cloth on the grass and said, “Blake, the green one goes here to the North to represent the Earth. Great. The yellow one goes here to the East and represents Air. Perfect. The red one goes here to the South and represents Fire, and the blue one goes there to the West and represents Water. Thank you, Sweetie.”
Rowan, with her athame in one hand and a lighter in the other, entered the circle made by the candles. She then drew a large circle around the candles in the dirt with her athame and entered the circle near the yellow candle due East. She said, “Let it be known that the circle is about to be cast. All who enter the circle may do so in perfect love and perfect trust.”
Darby instructed the guys to stand outside the circle with her. Rowan continued moving clockwise around the circle, carrying the lighter. At the yellow candle she stopped and lit it and said: “Guardians of the East, I call upon you to watch over the rites of the O’Rielly Coven. Powers of knowledge and wisdom, guided by Air, we ask that you keep watch over us tonight within this circle. Let all who enter the circle under your guidance do so in perfect love and perfect trust.”
Rowan moved to the red candle to the South, and lit the candle. She said, “Guardians of the South, I call upon you to watch over the rites of the O’Rielly Coven. Powers of energy and will, guided by Fire, we ask that you keep watch over us tonight within this circle. Let all who enter the circle under your guidance do so in perfect love and perfect trust.”
She moved to the blue candle to the West, and lit the candle. She said, “Guardians of the West, I call upon you to watch over the rites of the O’Rielly Coven. Powers of passion and emotion, guided by Water, we ask that you keep watch over us tonight within this circle. Let all who enter the circle under your guidance do so in perfect love and perfect trust.”
Then she moved to the green candle to the North, and lit the candle. She said, “Guardians of the North, I call upon you to watch over the rites of the O’Rielly Coven. Powers of endurance and strength, guided by Earth, we ask that you keep watch over us tonight within this circle. Let all who enter the circle under your guidance do so in perfect love and perfect trust.”
Rowan turned towards Darby who whispered to the boys, “Do and say as I do and follow me.” Darby entered the circle with Harry in her arms and a yellow candle in her hand. Rowan asked her, “How do you enter the circle?”
Darby answered, “In perfect love and perfect trust.” Rowan nodded to her. Then Blake entered the circle.
Rowan asked him, “How do you enter the circle?”
Blake answered, “In perfect love and perfect trust.” Rowan nodded to him and Devon entered the circle.
Rowan asked him, “How do you enter the circle?”
Devon answered, “In perfect love and perfect trust.”
Rowan nodded to him and closed the circle drawn on the ground with her athame. She turned to them
and nodded and Darby motioned they should all sit down in a circle. Darby then handed the yellow candle to Rowan. She lit the candle and set it in front of her. With Harry in Darby’s lap facing Rowan, Rowan said:
“I call upon the power of Athena
The Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom
Give us the power I do beseech
Teach this feline the gift of speech
Give to Harry a voice loud and clear
One that only we four can hear
This spell we cast will only last
until the full moon’s crest has passed.
Then at peace
his voice released.
Three times three, so mote it be
Three times three, so mote it be
Three times three, so mote it be.”
She leaned forward, picked up Harry, gave him a big hug, and said, “Thanks be to Athena.”
Next she tapped Harry on the head three times between the ears and said:
“Tail of rat,
Wing of bat,
Harry the cat
Will now chit chat!”
Rowan continued, “Harry, we need your help. There are some strangers in the neighborhood, maybe snooping around Blake and Devon’s house next door. We need your invisibility and stealth to keep us alerted to danger. These men are here to kill Blake and Devon and we can’t have that, can we?” She pet Harry’s chin and he purred in agreement. “If you see anything that you think is unusual or out of the ordinary, we would like you to alert us, tell us something is not right or danger is near. Can you do that for us?” she asked. Harry purred.
Devon could have sworn he heard a Yes and looked with a puzzled expression at his brother to see if he had heard it too. Surprisingly, Blake turned to him as if asking the same thing. The girls smiled.
“Thank you, Harry, for your added power to our coven and your gracious help,” Rowan said. Rowan handed Harry back to Darby and made a slashing motion at the edge of the drawn circle in a makeshift door. She exited the circle and one by one they all followed. Darby set Harry down and gave him some extra pets on the chin. He scampered away to the kitchen.
Rowan blew out the candles and brought everything back into the house and they all sat down on the couches in the living room in silence.
Darby said, “Anybody hungry? How about some pizza? I’m starved.” With all the excitement they hadn’t realized they barely ate all day. Everybody seemed to answer at once so Darby grabbed the phone and called for delivery. While they were waiting, Devon got on the laptop and checked on flight times for all of them to go to Maine in the morning.
Darby announced, “Okay, pizzas will be here in about thirty minutes. In the meantime, do we know where specifically we are going in Maine?”
Devon answered Darby as she sat down next to him on the couch and put her head on his shoulder. “Not really, but Dad said Paine was an aristocrat or from a well established family, so a Google search on the name should give us a few hits for a family home.”
Devon went to the airline’s site and found a couple of possibilities. After some debate on whether to take a red-eye flight or a morning flight it, Devon was out-voted three to one for the morning flight. He also booked a hotel and reserved a car with a few keystrokes and the input of a credit card.
Next he did a Google search for Terrence Paine and found a hit for him in Cape Cottage, a few miles south of Portland on the Casco Bay. There was a huge home there the Paines had lived in for generations. “Well, that should be easy enough to find.”
Darby stood up and said, “I’m going to call Allison and see if she can take over this week and also if she can check in on Harry. Devon, can you take care of the pizza guy if he comes while I’m talking?”
“Sure – no problem.”
Rowan got up and said to Blake, “I think I forgot something out in the backyard.”
Darby sat on the bed and dialed Allison. She thought she heard an odd sound out back and all of sudden a black and white streak went shooting by on the floor, making quite a thumping sound, along with just about tearing the kitty door off the back door. Darby froze – Danger was the word that jumped into her brain; she dropped the phone as she heard the doorbell ring and someone knocked. She ran for the hallway as Devon started to open the door. As the door opened, he turned back to see Darby in a panic running down the hallway, saying ‘Danger’ with her mind.
Nothing registered. Devon looked down just in time to see the fur ball go flying out the front door. The word Danger popped into his mind and then as Blake was standing up, Devon realized just what Darby was saying. It made sense all of a sudden and he crouched into a position a panther might take if danger were to knock at his front door.
The door swung all the way open to reveal a nervous, teenage boy with terrible acne, about to drop the pizza boxes in his hands. He said, “Pizza?” while nervously looking at Devon. There was no doubt he was a real pizza guy. He had a goofy looking pizza on his hat that wiggled to and fro on a wire like a halo. Devon relaxed out of his panther stance and stood up. A bit embarrassed, Devon pulled out his wallet and paid the kid, tipping him very well. The kid looked at him as if he were a Klingon from Star Trek, but he took the money, handed over the pizzas, and turned to leave, shaking his head in disbelief, the pizza on his hat wobbling back and forth.
Devon looked at Darby, Darby looked at him, and Blake broke the silence with, “What the heck was that all about?”
“I don’t know, but it was very clear when Harry went shooting down the hall that he was trying to relay some kind of danger.”
Blake agreed, “Yeah, that’s what I saw too.”
Devon nodded.
Darby asked, “Where’s Rowan?”
Blake answered, “She said she thought she had left something in the backyard earlier.”
Darby’s eyes widened. “That’s the direction Harry was coming from when he came shooting through the back kitty door.” Before she could finish what she was saying, Blake’s six foot four inch profile blurred past her inhumanly fast. Devon was right behind him and Darby brought up the rear. They looked around the backyard, but there was nothing to see. No Rowan.
Darby said, “Devon, check the front yard, Blake check next door, I’ll check the garage.” The guys were gone like lightning. Darby called out for Rowan as she looked in the garage to find nothing but their cars. She turned around and headed back to the back yard and she saw something that sparkled on the ground. It was her mother’s silver charm bracelet. It never left Rowan’s wrist and the clasp was bent backward like it had been pulled off with great force. She held it in her hand and tried to focus. She tried to concentrate on Rowan, her long, pretty, wavy, blonde hair and eyes so blue they reminded her of the Caribbean sea. There was nothing. She couldn’t see Rowan. She couldn’t feel Rowan – what was wrong? Was she unconscious? Where was she?
Tears started to well up in her eyes when Devon returned. He said, “I ran for a couple of blocks in all directions, and there is no sign of her. Can you sense her, like when you were little girls and she fell out of the tree? Can you see where she is?” She shook her head. That was when the tears came and she held out the bracelet.
Devon asked, “Is it hers?” She nodded and put her head to his chest and burst into tears. “Oh my God, Devon, what’s happened to her?” He held her close and didn’t know what to say.
“I don’t know, Love, but I swear, we will find her, somehow.”
“What good are these stupid powers if I can’t keep my little sister safe?” she cried. He stroked her hair with one hand, and held her close with the other. That’s when he saw Blake come around the corner, looking like the wind had been knocked out of him. His face was white and his eyes were tearing as he handed a piece of plain computer paper over to them. In what looked like chicken scratch the letter read:
We’ve got your little blonde neighbor. If you ever want to see her alive again, I suggest you turn yourselves over to us peacefully. Paine.
; “Oh no,” Darby said. She released Devon and ran to Blake and tried to comfort him. He looked lost, helpless, and scared. Darby felt the same, but she felt, too, that she needed to be the big sister for him. So she held him and he seemed to be appreciative of this. With her head on his chest, she looked at Devon and thought to him – What do we do, Devon? What do we do?
“We give them what they want,” Devon said.
“No. I won’t let you go there to be killed. Chances are he’ll kill her either way and I’m not going to lose all three of you in one fell swoop. No. There’s got to be a better way. I say we hop on a plane, surprise him as originally planned. My guess is they are going to fly her there; I say we beat them there. We leave tonight on the red eye and we take Paine prisoner and turn this blackmail around on him. We force him to understand what your father explained to us. If while he’s tied up he refuses to budge on his plan, we take him out and wait for the thugs to show up with Rowan. Then we knock them out and take her back. They can’t kill her yet; they need her alive to lure you two or you’d never go to him.”
“She’s right, Devon. He knows we’d never turn ourselves in if she weren’t alive. I think she may just have the best plan – we leave now; who knows, the thugs may try to take her on the same red eye – wouldn’t that be stupid of them. I’m not going to risk her life, Devon; she means too much to me. Whether you go now or not, I’m out of here and on that red eye. If there is the slightest chance she’s on that plane, I’m going.” Blake pulled away from Darby, kissed her on the forehead, and said, “I’ll let you know as soon as I know anything.”
Blood of a Werewolf Page 10