by Dana Davis
Daisy chuckled despite her nervousness. “Oh all right.” She stood and Noah took her hand as he got up.
“Are you too tired, hon? We can wait until tomorrow?”
Daisy shook her head. “The spell is easy. But we do it downstairs. I don’t want vomit all over my books.” She scooped up Perky.
That got a laugh from Noah and Bridgette and the three headed down the spiral staircase.
Noah started across the hall to the guest bathroom but Bridgette steered him toward the master. “In your bathroom, if you don’t mind.”
Daisy deposited Perky on the floor and gave him his favorite rawhide chew then followed the other two. As she and Bridgette stood in the archway of the adjoining bathroom, a worried look crossed Noah’s features. It was subtle but Daisy caught it.
“You sure about this, honey,” she said.
“Yeah. Unless Bridgette here can look into my mind and see who my ancestors were.”
“I’m a telepath not a bloody genealogist.”
They settled and Daisy uttered the spell. A simple one. Created for easy use to weed out fakers, as Bridgette had said earlier. Noah got a sour look on his face then turned and held his stomach. Daisy put arms around him, trying to steer him to the toilet. He leaned his weight on her enough to cause her to stagger a bit and made a retching noise.
Just as she got him to the door of the water closet, he reared up and laughed.
“You shit!” Daisy slapped him across the arm.
“I’m fine. Really. I feel fine.” He laughed and held his hands up in defense.
She smacked him again. “That wasn’t funny! But wait. That means—”
“He’s got a paranormal ancestor somewhere in his genetic tree,” Bridgette said. “Now we just have to find out which one.”
Chapter 10
Paranormals Run Amuck
“I can’t believe I’m a paranormal,” Noah said the next morning as they prepared for the reveal spell.
Daisy felt better than she had in days. Her attacker had stayed away last night, despite not yet having Bridgette’s charm available, and she slept quite well. Perhaps the alarm spell scared him off. He could probably sense it. No. That certainly wouldn’t stop him. Not if he was as powerful as they suspected. Maybe he was waiting for her to get careless. Right now, she didn’t care. This morning was about Noah.
“Don’t get too excited,” she warned through a smile. “It doesn’t mean you’ll get any more powers than what you already have.”
He feigned shock. “You mean I won’t be able to heat the pool like you do? I’m devastated!”
“Funny. I’ll get the book we need and be right back.”
Daisy made her way into the office and up the winding stairs. When she flipped the light on, a shadowy figure appeared in the far corner next to one of the windows. She started a trussing spell but the being moved toward her so quickly she barely had time to get out of its way. Well, actually, she fell out of the way, twisting her ankle in the process and losing her concentration. She opened her mouth to start the trussing spell again but couldn’t see her attacker any longer. Which meant he could be lurking just beyond her vision someplace.
“Shit. Bridgette!” Her ankle hurt like hell.
The tall redhead came running up the stairs with Noah on her heels. “What is it? What happened?” She took one look at Daisy and placed a hand on her shoulder to keep her on the floor. Keen eyes peered around the library.
“Daisy? You all right?”
“Hush,” Bridgette ordered. “She’s fine. Keep quiet and keep very still. Both of you.” She closed her eyes.
Daisy gave Noah a quick nod to let him know she was all right and he visibly relaxed. She still couldn’t see the shadow man but that didn’t mean he was gone.
After what seemed like an eternity, Bridgette opened her eyes, flipped her head in the direction of the far wall and uttered a spell Daisy didn’t recognize. The air grew static, making Daisy’s head tingle.
Suddenly, the shadowy figure appeared against the wall, flickering as though caught between two worlds, which Daisy figured was exactly right. She couldn’t make out any features, just an indistinct face that seemed to contort and writhe within Bridgette’s power. After several seconds, he disappeared, along with the static in the room.
“Bastard!” Bridgette said. Sweat glistened from her temples and forehead.
“Is he gone?” Daisy said.
“For now.”
“What the hell is he?” She let Noah help her to her feet but she couldn’t put weight on her left ankle without pain.
“Well, considering he came to you in Noah’s form the first time you saw him, I’m guessing a shape-shifter of some kind.”
“But they don’t exist anymore. And what was that spell you used?”
“Canadian made. Got it from Cousin Sally. Great nettle spell when aimed just right. She concocted it for me in case I ran into my siren again. Unfortunately, it kicks the crap out of the chanter too.” Bridgette rubbed at her arms as thought brushing away an unseen assailant. She smiled when Daisy gave her a worried look. “I’m fine. Just feels like I took a quick run inside a static ball in 100 degree heat.”
“I thought you witches couldn’t write your own spells.” Noah said. His arm tightened around Daisy when she began walking toward the staircase.
“We can’t,” Daisy said. “Not from scratch anyway. But we can combine certain spells in the books to create new ones. They need to have similar auras to work together. We can’t just mumble a bunch of words.”
“Why not? Those books were written by someone, weren’t they?”
Daisy nodded. “That’s the book, Bridge. Would you?”
“Sure.” Her cousin stooped to retrieve the brown, leather-bound book but kept a wary eye on the far wall.
Noah led Daisy downstairs, slowly, as her foot still hurt like shit, no easy task on skinny, twisting stairs.
“Those books were written and recorded by the oldest covens, centuries ago,” she explained. “They’d been passed down orally since the dawn of humankind. Or witchkind.” She smirked. “Each generation added or subtracted something from the original spells, just as with any oral tradition, unknowingly diluting their power. No one even knows what language the original spells were told in. Or if it was even a true language.” Her injured leg landed particularly hard on the next stair and she winced. “Either way that power is lost now. Sometime after written language was invented, the spells were put down as best as they could be remembered. These books are all we have left. If they disappear....”
They had reached the office, and Perky danced around them, as though he sensed something was wrong.
Noah leaned down and scooped up the dog then steered Daisy into the family room.
Bridgette said, “Put her on the couch so I can get a look at that ankle.”
“I’m fine. Just twisted it a bit.”
“Don’t argue. The last thing we need around here is an injured witch.”
Daisy didn’t squabble, much to her own surprise, and she obediently sat on the couch, while Bridgette invoked chanted several healing spells over her ankle. Healing spells took energy from the patient, so Bridgette’s part was easy. Daisy’s ankle tingled and she perspired slightly as her body healed itself. There was no pain, though. Severe injuries would take several witches to be successful. And that was only if the patient could endure the process.
As though concerned for her, Perky wriggled out of Noah’s grip and landed in Daisy’s lap. A rough tongue licked her chin.
“Oh. It’s okay. I’m fine,” she crooned. She ruffled Perky’s head as he licked her hand.
Bridgette let out a noisy breath. “That should do it. How does it feel now?”
She tested her ankle out. “Almost as good as my healing spells.” She chuckled when Bridgette gave her a mock look of anger. “A bit stiff but no pain. Now,” she said with a raised brow at her cousin. “Where the hell did a shape-shifter come from?”
>
“You’re asking me?” Bridgette headed to the kitchen. “You’re the one with the magickal attackers all over the place.” One hand plucked a paper towel from the roll beneath the cabinets and she blotted her damp face.
“But they’re not supposed to exist anymore.”
Noah sat and placed an arm around her shoulders. “Remember what Gran said? About an old power? Or something like that.”
Daisy studied him a moment then turned back to her cousin, who had helped herself to a glass of ice water and was now headed back into the family room. “You think Gran meant a shape-shifter?”
Bridgette shrugged and sat on a rust-colored floor pillow next to the coffee table. She took a long drink.
“These shape-shifters,” Noah said. “Are they anything like the legends? Do they actually change into other people?”
“Only in appearance,” Daisy told him. “And from what I’ve read about them—the real ones—they were supposed to have died out a long time ago.”
Noah grew a thoughtful look on his face. “What about a skinwalker?”
“A what?” Bridgette said.
“From Navajo legends,” Daisy said, quite impressed her husband came up with that one. “According to the Navajo, skinwalkers are very powerful witches who wear animal skins and take on the aspects of that animal. They’re known for causing trouble and terrifying people. But I’ve never heard of one posing as a flesh and blood human. Especially if he’s the one who attacked me that first night in Noah’s form.” She fought a shiver at the memory. “I haven’t seen him since, only felt him. Except that shadow today. If that’s even the same being.”
Bridgette nodded. “My mom studied Native cultures. When I was a kid, she used to spout all kinds of legends and other crap. I just thought she was blowing steam up my ass.”
“Bridgette Kelly McDougal. That’s not nice. Why do you think Indians have so many stories? There are just as many paranormals in Native cultures as anywhere else.”
“Yeah. I suppose you’re right. I guess I just reveled in anything that would piss my mom off back then.”
A chuckle pushed from Daisy and she shook her head. “You’re hopeless. But skinwalkers weren’t always bad. At least from some of the older books I’ve read on them. They were originally humans in spirit form.”
“Then this guy who’s been attacking you,” Noah mused, “might be an old skinwalker. The old specter your gran told us about.”
“It’s possible. Or he might be an incubus. We’ll need more research.”
“Incubus?” Noah said. “You mean like Merlin’s supposed father? A demon who rapes women in their sleep?”
“Up on your Arthurian legends, I see,” Bridgette said with a smirk.
Noah grinned. “I was a geek even as a boy.”
Bridgette chuckled. “I considered an incubus, since he seduced Daisy.” She downed the rest of her water and the ice clinked against the glass. “We won’t know for sure until we can trap him. Whatever the hell he is, I gave him a good whipping. He’ll think twice about coming around here again.” Those emerald eyes narrowed on Daisy. “You okay?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Fine. He didn’t get to me this time. Thanks to you. I started to throw a trussing spell at him but he came at me so fast, I fell and lost my concentration. Then he disappeared.”
Bridgette shook her head. “I’m not sure it would’ve done any good. He’s pretty slippery. Moves like a shadow on speed.”
That got nervous laughs from Daisy and Noah and several yips from Perky.
“I want that spell you used,” Daisy said. “In case he has the balls to come back.”
“No problem.”
“And we should get your mom to email us what she knows about skinwalkers and other nasties like them.”
Her cousin gave an exaggerated sigh.
“Bridgette! We’re in trouble here and you’re worried about a scolding from your mom?”
“Fine,” her cousin said in an insolent tone. “But if I get an earful, you’ll hear about it.”
Daisy smirked. “I don’t doubt that one bit.” She took in a quick breath and said, “Let’s find out what paranormal ancestor blood my husband’s got. If you’re up to it?”
Bridgette nodded.
They gathered the items needed for the reveal spell, mostly photos and other things handed down from Noah’s relatives, then sat on floor pillows to protect themselves from the cold tile. Daisy’s spell book lay open in front of them. This one was the oldest of her legible books, transcribed in the early 1600’s from ancient texts that had been around before books even existed. Preservation spells kept the pages in supple condition but she didn’t take any chances on damaging anything, so she thumbed through it carefully, using gloves.
The spells and other information it contained were transcribed in Irish Gaelic, with English translations just below or on adjoining pages. According to the book’s front pages, Transcriber Doyle Connor had done the translations as well as the scribing.
Since every inherent had reveal spells memorized by puberty, Daisy didn’t actually need to read the book, But if one was available, it was laid out for ambiance and to impress whatever newly-found paranormal happened to be the subject of the ritual. Noah, in this case.
Daisy and Bridgette had helped perform this spell numerous times when testing outsiders, mainly a person someone in the family intended to marry. Especially if that person had little or no information on their paranormal ancestors. Daisy hadn’t bothered to test Noah, thinking he was simply a mortal. He’d accepted her, witch heritage and all, didn’t run screaming when she revealed her little family secret, and she was happy with that.
They settled into their roles for the spell, Bridgette as force and Daisy as repellant. They needed balance, and with only two witches, they had to encompass a whole slew of tasks. After uttering a few focus spells to keep from having to sift through endless generations of Noah’s ancestors, they got down to business.
Perky, who wouldn’t be harmed by any of this, lay nearby, dozing, and Daisy glanced at him. Ah, the simple life of a dog.
“Ready?” Bridgette said.
“Yeah. Noah?”
“I’m ready. What do I do?”
“Just concentrate on the photos,” Daisy told him. “Let your mind wonder about your ancestors. Who they were. Where they came from. That sort of stuff.”
Bridgette gave Daisy a crooked smile. Noah really didn’t have to do any of that, but he seemed so eager to be an active part of the spell that Daisy obliged him with the task. Plus, it gave him something to focus on besides more annoying questions.
“Okay. I start,” Bridgette said. She began the first spell in Old English.
When she finished, Daisy countered with the Gaelic version. Some spells worked better when twinned. This continued for several pages until the book began to give off a slight odor, like water on parched dirt. They stopped and waited. Both studied Noah. His eyes had locked onto one of his family photos, distant and half-shut.
“What do you see, honey?” Daisy said in a quiet voice.
“Stones.” His voice seemed distant. Like a dreamer talking from a half-sleep. “Circle.”
Daisy took a closer look at the photo and saw a claddagh ring on the woman’s finger, tiny hands holding the crowned heart. From the clothing, the picture must’ve been taken around the mid 1800s. No writing to tell anything about the woman or where she fit into Noah’s family line. Typical.
“A stone circle?” she said, prodding her husband.
“Yes,” Noah said. “Chanting. Lights.”
“Some sort of gathering,” Bridgette said to Daisy. “Could be any number of paranormals.”
“What else?” Daisy prompted. “Can you be specific about what you see, Noah?”
“Dancing. Chanting. Hairy men. Tiny lights. Fireflies?”
Daisy’s heart thudded against her ribs and she gaped at Bridgette. “You don’t think—”
“What?”
“Fae
ries?”
Bridgette laughed but it was short-lived. “Well, shit. I’m going in.” Her eyes narrowed on Noah and after an agonizing moment, she blinked and turned to Daisy. “Yep, your boy here is a faery.”
Daisy laughed. “Very funny.”
Together, they uttered the final spell to stop the reveal.
Noah blinked several times as though to clear his vision. “Did I hear you say I’m a fairy?”
“Bridgette did.”
“You’re both a riot,” he said. “But seriously, a fairy? As in, here are my wings and I can fly? Or I’m a tiny ball of light?”
Daisy laughed. “Not a Grimm’s type. F-a-e-r-y. Fay.”
“A Grogoch to be specific,” Bridgette added.
Noah looked confused. “A what?”
“Sort of a helper,” Daisy said, as childhood faery recitations gathered in her head like a group of sci-fi conventioneers. “Hairy but lovable. Likes to get chores done around the house.” She grinned at Noah’s stunned expression. Well, he did like to do the dishes.
“That’s the current definition,” Bridgette said. “Back in the day, the Grogoch clans were homebuilders. Quite a close-knit family until some ancient war drove them apart. They split up and married into other clans and villages for survival until the bloodline was so watered no one could tell a Grogoch from a regular human.”
Noah looked unimpressed now. “How do you know this for sure? I thought you couldn’t see my ancestors.”
“I can’t. Not the way you’re thinking. I saw them in the vision the reveal spell gave you. Or rather, I got a telepathic link to them through you. I recognized one of the fay chants.”
“Oh. What kind of powers does a Grogoch have?”
“Well,” Daisy said. “It’s been said the original clan had the ability to turn invisible whenever an enemy was near.”
Noah grinned and his eyes lit. “Now there’s a power every teenage boy wants.”
“To get into the girl’s locker room?” Daisy countered with a raised brow.
“I never said teenage boys were complicated.”
She laughed and smacked him playfully on the arm.