“My kind? Do you have any idea what you’ve done? You’ve killed the one person that could have saved my Dorcus.” The woman standing there was the one from town, the other realm. “I shall report you when we have— Well, you have ruined it now, haven’t you? Now we shall have to wait for another demon to come to our aid. The nerve of you. Do not presume to think that you’ll get away with this.”
“You mean get away with things the way you and Dorcus have all these years? By the way, she’s dead. I actually think she was dead long before you got to the mountain that the two of you have been staying in.” Will glanced at the rock and back at the woman. “I didn’t do it. I mean, I might have had a tiny part in it, but I didn’t outright kill her. She bled to death. The two of you should have taken better care that you had medical care while she was carrying my sister.”
“What?” She repeated what she’d said to him. “Sister? We have no living children. I know for a fact that they’ve all died by the hand of— Charlotte?” It hit him who she was and where he’d heard her name. This was his daughter.
“Yes, that would be me. Hello, scumbag. However, I go by Charlie.” Will dropped to the ground, and the woman knelt before him. “Boy oh boy, it’s going to suck to be you in about five minutes.”
“What do you mean? Who helped you?” She only stared at him, and he remembered Dorcus. “Did you kill her? My love? I will tell you that we’ve survived far worse than anything you can bring on.”
“You didn’t ask me how I’m doing. I’ll tell you. I’m great. Better now that you’re going to get your comeuppance. I’ve been given permission to tell you a few things. Well, I guess there are a lot of things, but I don’t have the time to go over all of it in the time you have left.”
“I demand that you tell me it all.” She stared at him for several moments, time he was sure she was using unwisely. “Where is my Dorcus? Where are the brats?”
“Brats? What a name to call your own babies.” He nodded. “Anyway, they’re safe for now, and you’ll never see them again. But for now, as I said, Dorcus is dead. One of the other things I get to tell you is that you’re going to be killed as well. That’s the punishment for summoning a demon to this realm. The next thing is that, as you can see, Shade, the demon you so stupidly summoned, is dead as well. So whatever bargains you’ve made, they’re all null and void. You, my dear father, are a bigger fuck up than I ever imagined.”
~*~
Dominic kept a close eye on Charlie. She was about as close to the edge of reason as she could be. When they’d woken up sometime after the sun had gone down, they knew that something had happen to them. It wasn’t until his mom spoke to them they realized what had gone on while they’d been resting for the last twenty-four hours.
“Roger was here. He said that with things going on, you two should be awake.” Charlie asked how he’d done that. “I didn’t ask. He was so sure that you were needed that I thought it a good idea that he got you going in the right direction. I would say that he gave you a bit more magic. How do you both feel?”
“I don’t want to be rude, Sara, but I need a shower. Would that be all right if I went to take one?” Mom told her that she thought that she’d need one as well after what they’d gone through. Dominic asked his mom what she had to tell him.
“You’re both marked up. I don’t mean bruises—you do have a great many of those as well—but your arms and chest are both marked. I don’t think they’re tattoos, but something more.” He had looked at his arms and could see that she was right. It had been about then that Charlie cursed. “I’m guessing that she knows that now as well.” Mom smiled.
“What’s going on now?” Mom had told him that Dorcus had been in labor and had come close to dying. She then told him about the harpy, which he’d not known existed, and that Dorcus had died. “The babies? Who has them? Are they all right?”
Mom got up and went to a crib that he’d not noticed until now. Picking up the two of the children, she brought them to the bed where he was. After laying them there, she stepped back, and he could see tears in her eyes.
“I think that whatever else you need can be told to the two of you later. They’re fine, by the way. Big babies, I was told, for twins, but they’re all right.” She went to the door, but paused before going out it. “When you leave here to take care of this mess, your dad and I will watch over them. Come back to me safe, Dominic, you and Charlie both. But this crap ends today. They were going to— They were going to kill those precious little things, and I’m about as pissed off as I have ever been in all my life, son. End this today.”
So here they were, ending this. Dominic saw that Charlie had turned her back on Will, and wondered for a moment if she was having second thoughts. But she turned back to him, her face so hard and set that he feared, just a little, for the man still sitting on the ground. She didn’t look as if she was going to let him get off as easily as just killing him.
“For as much as I’d love to end your fucking life, you must be sentenced. For that, several people are here to do so now.” She looked to her right and saw Roger standing there. To her left, where she looked the second time, was King O’Reilly. But instead of moving forward, O’Reilly asked to speak to her and Dominic first.
Charlie came to stand with him while several leprechauns stood near Will. With them were just as many demons, who looked as if they’d gladly kill Will without any thought to what they’d been told to do. No one was to kill Will but O’Reilly, the king of the leprechauns. Roger would have him when he was gone from this world.
“I canna do it.” Dominic asked him what he meant. “I cannot do this. You must…I wish for you to do this deed and all others.”
“You know that I can’t. First of all, as you’re so fond of calling me, I’m a bigger. You’re the king.” O’Reilly shook his head. “You are. Unless you’ve been telling us a tale all this time.”
Before he could say a word, Charlie grabbed O’Reilly by the throat and shook him hard before putting him back on the ground. She wasn’t so much pissed, Dominic thought, as she was aggravated at him. Also, she was very stressed still.
“Spill it, you old turd. What is it you’re trying your best not to say? And you had better not go around the village six damned times before you get to it either. What is it you canna do?” He said that he’d not be able to kill Will. “And why the fuck not? Do you think for some reason that I will figure that he’s an upstanding man? Perhaps you’d like him voted in as father of the year? Tell me, or so help me, O’Reilly, I’m going to do the deed to you and save me a head pain.”
“Dominic, I make you king. Charlie, as his mate and wife, I make you his queen. You shall rule this world as you see fit. You will enforce the rules. You will be the royalty until such time as you wish to stop.” O’Reilly sat down hard on the ground. It was almost as if what he’d said had taken its toll on him. “There. I’ve done it. Had to look it up too, so that I’d not make you the king of the grass or something. We’ve fine grass here. It’s because we allow the animals to run free and its summer here all the time. Summer, you know, is my favorite time of—”
“Wait. Just wait a minute here.” O’Reilly asked him if he preferred a different time of the year. “No. I mean yes. I love fall. The color of the leaves and the crisp air. It’s magic— Don’t get me off the subject here. What do you mean, we’re king and queen of this realm? I don’t...I can’t do that. I’m a bigger. I have jobs to take care of.”
“You’ll be able to do those too, my dear boy. I think you’re right. Fall is a special time of the year, but also a time when all the harvest is finished. However, I do like me a pumpkin pie now and again. Don’t you?” Dominic, trying to stay on course, told him that he’d not do it. “Well, you can have apple pie should you wish it. I know for a fact that your Charlie here can bake about anything she has her heart set on. Your heart now too, I’m supposing.”
Dominic turned to Charlie. “You cook? Really?” She said that she loved to cook and bake. “I love cinnamon rolls. Can you make those for me sometime, with nuts and apple bits? Grandma used to make those, but she’s—”
“Dominic.” Dominic turned and glared at O’Reilly. The man was going to drive him crazy. “We accept the title of king and queen.”
Before he could protest, even if he thought it would do much good, Charlie walked over to Will and drew a sword. Then with one roundhouse swing, she not only removed his head, but destroyed the stone that he’d been leaning against.
Bright lights seemed to surround all that were there. The stone itself didn’t just break into large chunks, but shattered into small, sand-like pieces. When it rained down on them, he felt the power of the stone’s magic, and saw the several ghosts, some small and others adults, who had seemed to be released from it.
The witch, floating about a foot from the ground, stood in front of Charlie. For a reason that he didn’t know or understand, Charlie bowed before her. Dominic went to be with Charlie, and did the same thing.
“Rise up, my children.” They both stood up and the witch stared at them both. “You have grown into such a lovely woman, Charlotte Winchester. Much more beautiful of face and heart that I’ve ever witnessed. I had hopes that someone would destroy that stone, and you did it without knowing to. Didn’t you?”
“Nay, I didn’t know I’d do that. But I’m glad that I did. You’re the one that saved my life, aren’t you?” The witch, Witch Rosa, Dominic realized then, nodded at them. “You’ve given meself and Dominic more than you needed, I think. You should have saved yourself too.”
“I had no wish to live any longer. I knew that to save you would be my final act, so to speak. I saw in you what no one else would have seen. Hurt. Strength, as well as your own magic that no other would be able to touch. At least until Dominic came along and loved you. He does, you know. Loves you with all his being.” Dominic squeezed Charlie’s hand. “The puzzle, have you figured it out yet?”
“Puzzle? I’m sorry. I don’t know what that might be.” She told Charlie of the rope and stones that she’d left her. “I thought they were from my...from those two. I had no idea that they were from you. But no, not as yet. My sister-in-law, she’s working on it. I’ll tell her where they came from and help her now that I know. Honestly, I never thought of them much over the last few weeks.”
“I’m afraid there will be more magic to come to you. But I swear to you that this will not harm either of you. Also, along with your title that you accepted, more in the way of money and such. It will help you in your work, Dominic. And what you both do here as the new king and queen. O’Reilly is a good man, but much too trusting and naïve. This place needs a strong mind and a firm hand. You both will be able to do that.” Dominic wasn’t sure he wanted anything more. He had all he ever wanted in a mate and her love. “The children, what will happen to them?”
“What do you mean? The babes of Dorcus? They’ll live with us. We’ll raise them as our own.” Rosa nodded and smiled at him. “Did you think that we’d turn them away?”
“Nay, I did not. But it’s nice to hear such conviction in your voice about them.” Embarrassed, he only nodded. “Will and Dorcus weren’t related, as everyone believed them to be. Will was the child of Agnes, but not of William. Dorcus was a foundling. A child that had been left at the kingdom’s doorsteps, and thankfully William brought her home to his family instead of leaving her there to starve. She would have too, you know. I have made it known about the circumstances of her birth. She was the daughter of the former king.”
“So? I’m not being rude, but if I remember from what I was told, the entire family was killed.” She nodded, and Dominic glanced at Charlie before continuing. “There can’t be anyone left to agree or to dispute the claim, is there?”
“Myself.” He started to nod, and stopped when Rosa continued looking at Charlie. “The family was killed, yes. As were the servants. By the way, it was no less than they deserved. All of them were the type of rulers and people that should have been killed long before they were. But the castle and all the lands are still there for you and Dominic, Charlie. As her daughter, you are the heir.”
“For what reason would I want any of this?” Rosa asked about her sister and brother. “You wish for me to take it for them? I’d like for them not to know what the reason was for them being born. I know why I was, and it haunted me all of my days. Nay, I do not wish this for anyone.”
“You did know the circumstances of your birth. You also had no one to answer your questions, nor to love you as you should have been. You will not only be there for your siblings, but you will love them more than anyone could love their family. Also, you will have the love of Dominic and his family.” Charlie looked at him. “No one, not anyone in any other realm, will love as much as the two of you. You will be what all people, human or otherwise, will wish they had.”
Chapter 6
Addie looked at the stones. She thought for sure they were put together correctly, but something was off. But then she wasn’t sure if they were supposed to do something or not. It was just a guess on her part.
Xander sat down across from her and started playing with the stones as he told her what he’d been doing today. “I started on the second story yesterday. You were right, by the way, I did better without an outline. I have three people telling me their story, and you’d not believe how their versions, which they all claim are the way things went, are the accurate version.” She asked him what he was doing. “Mostly just taking notes on what they’re saying. I don’t doubt that they each think that they’re telling what they think is correct.”
“I meant with the stones.” He said that they didn’t look right to him. “What if I had them correct?”
“Did you?” She said she thought she had. “I don’t think so. If you had, then they wouldn’t have come apart like they did.”
She watched him play around with them. Twice he stopped, then moved them again. Pushing the rope to him, he set it aside then moved the stones again. Xander put two of the pieces aside when they no longer came apart. Intrigued, she let him work on them as she talked about her last job.
“This guy that I had to find seemed to have it in his head that he could talk me out of killing him by offering me his wife instead. You see, he’d already decided to kill her off. Something about her being upset with him having his weekly poker game at their home.” Xander asked if the wife didn’t like poker. “I didn’t ask. She didn’t care for the prostitutes he brought in as well. The man was supposed to be watching his kids while he was home. By the way, he was making big money selling information he got from his job as security at a military base.”
“Then why was she working?” Xander had five of the seven pieces together now. “Surely he could afford for her to be with her kids while he was fucking everything. Including his entertainment.”
The sixth piece slid into place, and Xander looked at her. “Finish it.” Xander shook his head. “Why not? You’ve gotten further than I have, and I’ve been working for three days straight on it.”
“What if it’s bad? What if it opens this hole into another universe, or something equally bad?” Addie told him what Charlie had said. “You trust this witch over something that might kill me?”
“First of all, you’re immortal. Second, she said it was magic.” Xander shrugged. “Okay, if it hurts you, I know the Death Watcher. I’ll have Rayne hunt her down and vanquish her. How’s that?”
“Better. Can I tell you something first?” She nodded. “I don’t think this is going to be simply magic. I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that it’s going to change things for some time. Perhaps even forever.”
“Why?” Xander said that he didn’t know. “Do you know if it’s a good change or a bad one?”
“I don’t know that either. And while I know just what
I’m to do to finish this, even the rope, I don’t think that I’m meant to do it. If I do, then it will be bad for me and you.” Addie looked at the pieces, then at him. She asked him why. “I don’t think it’s us that are to finish this. It has to be Dominic. And only him.”
The pieces now took on a different meaning to her. The pieces had been nothing more than a puzzle, something that she had to finish for Charlie. Now they had a sinister look to them. Then it occurred to her that the pieces had formed a heart, something that had been lost to her before now. Looking at Xander, she asked him to call his family here.
“Whatever happens with this, I think they should all be here for him.” Xander agreed. “Maybe if they’re here and he needs us, we can be sure that he gets whatever help he needs to not be too hurt. At least too badly.”
“I’ve told Mom and Dad. They’re gathering the rest of them up. The problem is, Dominic and Charlie are with the leprechauns dealing with the fall out of her parents.” Addie knew this, but had sworn to secrecy as to what was going on there. She wasn’t sure that things were going to be as cut and dried as they’d hoped about the death of them. “What is it you’re not telling me? I know you know something. Can you tell me?”
“The current king is going to tell them that he wishes to step down. That he wants them to take over.” Dominic didn’t say anything, but he did look thoughtful. Then he asked her why she thought this. “I didn’t think it at all. Mildred told one of the ghosts that hangs out with her. Actually, she just talks to her mom all the time, and doesn’t realize that she’s there. In turn, since they’re sisters, she tells Sara, who told me. I think she’s afraid that Dominic will take the job and not return to this realm.”
“Do you think that he’ll do that?” Addie told him that she didn’t know. “I don’t think he’d do that. He should take the job—I’ve no doubt that he’d do a good job at it. He and Charlie both would be fantastic as king and queen. But I don’t think it would keep him away from us. He’d not take it if that were a stipulation. We’re too close for something like a job to come between us all.”
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