Halloween Magic

by Sandra Heath

  “Please, Verity,” he whispered.

  “You ask too much,” she replied, unable to keep the tears from her eyes.

  “If I ask too much, I also offer the greatest of prizes. We were meant to be together, Verity, and if words will not persuade you, maybe actions will.” He stepped closer, and before she knew it he had caught her hand and pulled her up into his arms.

  She tried to push away from him, but he was too strong, and his lips brooked no denial. He pressed her to the contours of his body as her perfume reached out to him. She felt warm and exciting in his arms, and as he slid a hand to one of her breasts, he felt her tremble against him. He caressed her through the thin wool of her gown. He knew she didn’t want to respond but couldn’t help herself.

  He drew his head back, his eyes dark with emotion. “I love you with all my heart and soul, Verity,” he breathed.

  “I love you too,” she whispered, for how could she deny the truth when she was in his arms like this, and her whole body was alive to everything about him?

  He lowered her gently back to the bed, and the light from the Halloween lantern fell softly over her as she knelt there looking up at him. Need pounded through his body, but suddenly he couldn’t proceed. Although he wanted her more than anything in the world and was still her husband, he had hurt her so much that he no longer felt he had the right to make love to her.

  But need was pounding through her veins too, and right now all she wanted in the world was to know his lovemaking again. Nothing else mattered, not Judith, not Martha’s warnings, nor anything else that had happened. She untied the drawstring around the high waistline of her gown, and as the delicate peppermint wool fell away to reveal her breasts, she whispered. “Make love to me, Nicholas.”

  His heart seemed to turn over within him, and he slowly began to undress. When he was naked, his body hard and strong in the eerie light from the windowsill, he pulled her gown over her head so that she was naked too. The lantern light seemed to move seductively over her, making soft shadows advance and retreat over her skin as she lay back and then raised her arms toward him.

  He got onto the bed and put his lips to hers. Her arms moved around him, and her mouth softened yearningly against his. A tumult of love and desire cascaded through him then, and his hand slid adoringly over her smooth thigh. His erection pressed potently between her legs, and she moved against it, her breath catching now and then in delight. Wonderful feelings warmed her entire body, and her parted lips were helpless beneath his.

  He pushed deep into her warmth, and as she held him close she was conscious of so many little waves of pleasure that she felt weak. His heat and hardness filled her for a long moment, before he drew slowly out in order to plunge in once again. She was lost in a whirlpool of fulfillment.

  Her feelings for him hadn’t diminished at all, he was still the man she adored, the man she would always adore…. She moved in rhythm with him, gasping as his strokes raised her to new heights of ecstasy, and at last they shuddered together in a tide of joy.

  They both drifted on waves of love and pleasure, and as the ripples washed ever more gently over their bodies, they sank back against the pillows, their arms entwined adoringly around each other.

  He raised his head to look down into her eyes. “Tell me that you know I love you,” he whispered.

  “I know it.”

  “Forgive me for what I did, for I wouldn’t willingly have hurt you.”

  Tears shone in her eyes. How could Martha still be right about him? Maybe he had been under Judith’s spell, but everything he had said and done tonight proved he was now free of the witch’s dark influence. And in his freedom, it was his wife he wanted, not his mistress.

  The clock chimed down in the hall, and he got up from the bed. “I—I should go now ...”

  “When will I see you again?”

  He didn’t answer as he quickly got into his clothes again.

  Concerned by his silence, Verity sat up on the bed. “Nicholas?”

  He finished dressing and then put a hand to her cheek. “Do you want to help me defeat the witch?” he asked.

  She searched his eyes. “Yes, of course.”

  “Then met me at the mill at midnight tonight.”

  She stared at him. “The mill? But why? And why in the middle of the night?”

  “There’s no time to explain now. Just trust me.”

  “I—I do, but...”

  “Together we can conquer her, my darling,” he whispered, bending to brush his lips to hers again. Then he went to the door and paused to look back. “Just be at the mill at midnight, that’s all you have to do.”

  She nodded. “I will come.”

  He smiled, and then was gone.

  Her senses were still tingling after his lovemaking, and her heart bade her discount Martha’s warnings. She trusted him because he wouldn’t have said the things he had tonight if he were still under Judith’s influence. Her faith in him was steady and sure, and she meant it when she said she would meet him at the mill as asked.

  But as Nicholas left the house and rejoined the gathering on the green, the druid’s moss had already made him forget everything that had happened in Verity’s bedroom. His thoughts were all of Judith, and he had no idea at all that he had just persuaded his wife upon a course intended to lead to her death.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  The smell of bonfire smoke was acrid on the green, and the air was thick. The night air was cold, and mist encroached on the village from the surrounding countryside, promising another frost before morning.

  Martha and Sadie were eating roasted nuts and sipping mulled damson wine, and Davey was with them, chewing on the largest toffee apple he had been able to find. Martha’s expression was thoughtful as she kept glancing at the seemingly deserted manor house. Sadie’s attention was on the time, and whenever the church clock struck the quarter, her breath caught with anticipation. Midnight was edging nearer and nearer....

  Davey’s long illness seemed a thing of the past, and he had still forgotten all about the snakestone. He was dressed as a demon, his body swathed in a flowing red sheet, and his face blacked with soot. Two paper horns protruded from his head, and he carried his grandmother’s toasting fork. He had enjoyed tonight more than he had ever enjoyed Halloween before and wasn’t remotely tired, even though it was long past the hour he usually went to bed.

  He laughed from time to time as he watched the hobbyhorse chasing people around the green, and his eyes had only widened with alarm once, and that was when he saw a ghostly white-robed figure dancing on the vicarage roof, but it was only the village blacksmith trying to frighten the vicar into paying up for the cob’s new shoes.

  Suddenly Martha turned to Sadie. “I see the widow isn’t at home tonight, I suppose she’s at the castle, although why she didn’t accompany his lordship I can’t imagine. She’s brazen enough for anything, and so is he, for that matter,” she added, glancing across the green to where Nicholas was standing with Dr. Rogers.

  Davey looked up at her, “Mrs. Villiers isn’t at the castle, she’s gone to Ludlow.”

  “Ludlow? How do you know that?”

  “I heard one of the castle servants say so. She won’t be back until tomorrow.” The boy’s attention returned to the bonfire.

  Martha looked at the darkened manor house. “Now why has she gone to Ludlow, I wonder?” she murmured.

  Sadie drew a long breath. “Does it matter?”

  “Yes, everything that creature does matters,” Martha replied, and then suddenly handed her wine cup to her sister. “You and Davey keep watch, I’m going to look for the seal.”

  Sadie was horrified. “She’s probably taken it with her.”

  “And she may not. I have to see, and what better chance will I ever get? There’s absolutely no one inside, and his lordship’s right here on the green. If I can find that seal and give it back to its rightful owner, the spell will be broken.”

  “Please don’t go,” Sadie
said anxiously.

  “I must, Sadie.”

  “But there may not be any need to—”

  “No need? There’s every need in the world!” Martha snapped incredulously, and before Sadie could say anything more, she hurried away toward the manor house.

  Sadie gazed after her in dismay.

  * * *

  It was half past eleven when Verity slipped out of Windsor House. One of the maids had returned to the house with a headache, so she didn’t feel bad about leaving her uncle. She was careful to keep her face hidden though and raised her cloak hood as she reached the lilac by the gate, then she hurried toward the stepping stones without even glancing toward the activity on the green.

  But Davey had happened to look across at the very moment she raised her hood, and his mouth dropped a little. Miss Verity was back? Why hadn’t Aunt Martha said? The boy knew that everyone in the village was talking about Verity, Lord Montacute, and the admiral’s widow. He didn’t know what it was all about, but he did know everyone thought Verity Windsor was still in London. It seemed she wasn’t.

  He tugged Sadie’s sleeve, but she was too busy watching Martha’s shadowy figure moving up the manor house path, and she frowned down at him. “Not now, Davey, there’s a good boy,” she said.

  With a sigh he watched Verity cross the stepping stones, then hurry away past the church, and disappear into the Halloween mist.

  * * *

  The noise from the green echoed through the silent manor house as Martha went cautiously across the entrance hall. Judith’s bedroom seemed the obvious place to look for the seal, but as the nurse began to go up the staircase, suddenly she came up against an invisible barrier. Disgusting fumes seemed to fill the darkness, robbing her of air, and she was driven back down to the hall.

  Overcome by nausea, she leaned weakly back against the wall and had to take huge breaths to steady herself. As the unpleasant sensations died away, she gazed up the shadowy staircase. She knew it was because of her purpose that the concealed defense had worked. If one of the manor house maids went upstairs, nothing would have happened because a servant would not have any ulterior motive. But someone with an intent that went against the witch’s interests would immediately trigger the hidden safeguard. Judith had something she wanted to protect. Was it the seal?

  Taking another deep breath, the wisewoman began to ascend the staircase again. The vile stench engulfed her again, seeming to draw the air from her lungs, but she held her breath and sank to all fours to claw her way through the invisible fog, and at last she managed to scramble up onto the landing, where the air was clear again.

  Fighting back the waves of sickness that still washed over her, she made her way to the witch’s bedroom. Over the next few minutes she searched diligently in every nook and cranny, but there seemed to be no sign at all of the precious seal. Yet she was convinced it was here.

  She was just about to give up, when her glance fell on the fireplace. Of course! Why hadn’t she thought of it before? Kneeling in the hearth, she felt inside the chimney. Soot fell over her hands and clothes as she groped around, but suddenly her blackened fingers closed over the seal, and with a cry she drew it out to gaze triumphantly at the faint green lights in the tiger’s eye quartz.

  She scrambled to her feet again and hurried from the room, anxious to give it to Nicholas as quickly as possible. But in her excitement, she forgot the protective spell on the staircase. As she entered its confines, she breathed its foulness in, and the cloying foulness seared her throat and lungs. It was so nauseating that she felt faint. Everything began to spin around her, and with a cry she fainted, falling heavily down the remainder of the staircase and lying unconscious at the bottom. The seal rolled away across the floor, its green lights shimmering and dancing in the darkness.

  Outside, the church clock began to strike midnight, and there was such a huge cheer on the green that even the fierce crackle of the bonfire was drowned.**

  * * *

  Verity was hesitant as she made her way into the grove, which on Halloween seemed more mysterious and frightening than ever before. She heard the chime of midnight drifting from the village, and she paused momentarily. Dead leaves whispered in the trees overhead, and an owl called nearby.

  The mist swirled unpleasantly and she couldn’t see far, but she knew that bonfires would be burning on the surrounding hills and flaming wheels would be tumbling down exposed slopes. But here in the grove, everything was isolated and menacing.

  She shivered as she heard the mill wheel creaking, and hoped Nicholas was here already. Holding her cloak a little closer, she called him.

  “Nicholas?”

  But there was no response, so she went a little further into the grove. “Nicholas?” she called again.

  A step rustled through the fallen leaves behind her, and she turned, but it wasn’t Nicholas. Her cry of alarm was silenced as a sickening blow caught her on the side of the head, and she slumped senseless to the ground. She knew nothing as Judith crouched to bind and gag her, then dragged her into the center of the grove and left her on the ground in front of the Lady.

  * * *

  The stroke of midnight had left Nicholas feeling oddly disturbed. He couldn’t say what it was; he just felt he no longer wished to stay in the village. He knew Judith had instructed him to remain until the very end, but suddenly he was too restless to obey. So he took his leave of the doctor and began to walk to where he had left his horse.

  The chimes of the witching hour had affected Sadie too. Her eyes shone with triumph. It was done! She, Sadie Cutler, had cast a spell! She turned impatiently toward the manor house. Oh, where was Martha? Then her lips parted as she saw her sister clinging to the doorpost, trying to attract attention.

  Sadie ran to her. “Martha, what’s happened?” she cried anxiously.

  “Never mind that, you must give this to Lord Montacute right now!” Martha pressed the seal into her hands.

  “But, I—”

  “Do it now, Sadie!” Martha cried, for she was suddenly filled with an awful sense of foreboding. Something terrible was about to happen, she could feel it as surely as if it were written in fire across the night sky!

  Sadie snatched the sooty seal, and turned to run back to the green. Davey was waiting at the manor house gate. “What is it, Gran?” he asked anxiously, seeing the look on her face.

  “I’m to find Lord Montacute immediately. Where is he, child?”

  “He’s just left, Gran.”

  “Left? Oh, no! Run after him and give him this, Davey!”

  “But he’s gone on his horse!” the boy protested.

  “Just be sure to get the seal to him!” Sadie cried.

  Davey grabbed it and began to run. His red sheet robing flapped as he dashed across the stepping stones, then past his cottage gate. As he neared the lychgate, he could see Nicholas riding slowly away into the mist ahead. He shouted at the top of his lungs. “My lord! Stop! Please!”

  But Nicholas rode on.

  * * *

  Green candlelight swayed in the grove, and Hecate’s hellhounds bayed in the distance as Judith danced naked around the Lady, her excitement rendering her immune to the chill of the night.

  Verity lay bound and gagged among the leaves in front of the stone, and on the grass beside her was the silver dagger which the witch soon intended to plunge into her heart. Knowing she only had minutes to live, she gazed fearfully at the beautiful dancing figure. Tears shone in her eyes, for it was Nicholas who had betrayed her to this dreadful fate. In the guise of the loving husband, he had overcome her defenses, and now, for being such a fool as to trust him again, she was to die.

  Judith’s eyes closed in ecstasy as the ointment on her skin warmed and released its intoxicating fumes. She felt weightless and liberated, and the exhilaration of victory carried her effortlessly toward her evil goal. It would be easy to just kill Verity anyway, but Hecate should be here to witness how well her handmaiden served her.

  The witc
h whispered the ancient words, and the howling of the hounds began to draw nearer.

  * * *

  Davey ran as fast as he could, but as he left the village behind, he became aware of the dreadful baying of hounds somewhere in the woods. He halted uneasily, his eyes wide in his sooty face, for he had never heard a noise like that before. He didn’t want to go on, but knew he must, so he began to run again, calling after Nicholas all the time.

  The howling echoed eerily over the valley, and Nicholas reined in by the track to the mill, for it seemed the sound came from the direction of the grove. At last he heard Davey shouting behind him and he turned in surprise.

  “What is it?” he asked, smiling a little at the child’s demon costume, with its paper horns and toasting fork.

  “I’m to give you this, my lord!” Davey gasped breathlessly.

  Nicholas looked in puzzlement at the dusty object in the boy’s hand and then recognized it. The seal Verity had told him she had found on the ground! “Where did you get it?”

  “My gran gave it to me to give to you, my lord. Please take it.”

  Nicholas reached down, and the moment his fingers touched the quartz, there was a dazzling sunburst of little green lights. A shock darted up Nicholas’s arm, and with a cry of pain he dropped the seal.

  * * *

  In the grove, the granite of the Lady had begun to breathe like living flesh, and the goddess’s face was becoming discernible. The hounds bayed ecstatically at the moon, and the millpool was mirror-like as the river ceased to flow. Judith’s rapture was at fever pitch, but the moment the seal was placed in Nicholas’s hand, the green flames of the candles leapt briefly to twice their height, and Hecate gave a terrible cry, like that of an animal in pain.

  Judith went rigid with shock before falling to her knees as power drained paralyzingly from her.

  Chapter Thirty-two