Luke went white with horror. Sadie stood up and her face and dress were sprayed with blood. Luke frantically tried to reach for her but he couldn’t move. Sadie’s arm was out and her hand up. She had formed a wall of air around him so he couldn’t advance.
“Don’t come near me, Luke,” she warned, her violet eyes flashing. “I’m contaminated. None of us are vaccinated.”
“Of course not, because IT WAS ERADICATED,” Luke screamed furiously, tying to beat his way through the barrier to get to Sadie.
“Not anymore,” she said wryly, looking at the blood splattered all over her.
At that moment Beth grabbed Sadie’s arm and whirled her around. “You fool!” she yelled, enraged. “How dare you interfere, you, you—”
“Who the HELL do you think you are, you insignificant witch?” Sadie said ominously as she wrenched her arm back and then lifted it, pointing a finger at her.
Beth hesitated and took a fearful step back, eyes round.
“Now, girls,” Danner said warningly from the sidelines.
They ignored him. “Don’t you ever touch me again,” Sadie said angrily, taking a menacing step forward…but then she was gone. Willow was back, her black dress and hair billowing wildly around her. She hissed with rage.
Luke was furious and terrified. They brought Jedidiah to die and activate the hex. The boy was so close to death he was on the cusp. If he died, Willow’s hex would kill every member of the original families and give Danner the required blood sacrifice to open his prison. If Jedidiah died here, they were toast. They had to send him back.
“I am going to kill you myself,” Luke screamed at Willow.
She just glared at him. “Stay away from me, Barrington,” she warned.
Danner was glowing with anticipation. Everything was going exactly as planned. He could taste his freedom. Bethiah watched with wide eyes. Hannah was staring sightlessly like the rest of the kids.
“It’s time. Do it,” Danner hissed to Willow. Willow bent down and grabbed Jedidiah by the hair and went to cut his throat. The boy was so weak he didn’t even struggle. The knife was on his skin and a drop of blood appeared. Willow paused, her face had grown angry. Sadie was fighting.
“You dare fight me, you weak and pathetic little witch?” she was saying to herself, but her hand didn’t budge.
Luke frantically looked for something to hit Willow with that wouldn’t hurt Sadie. He couldn’t see anything. He couldn’t think. He saw Nathalie sitting in the clearing near Venius, watching as if frozen. Her face was wet with tears as she cradled Dean’s head in her lap. Dean! He knew Dean was dying. He knew now that the black liquid they used to snatch Jed was his blood. Luke wasn’t sure anything could save him now.
Time for his plan. Luke walked closer to Willow who was occupied with her internal battle. She was winning. She was so powerful and so determined, but he was going to tip the scales. He shouted over the wind. “So, do you mean to tell me that all the time we spent together in bed over the last month, it was with you and not Sadie?”
Willow and Sadie both stopped struggling instantly. Willow looked at Luke dismissively, “What are you talking about, boy?” she asked, taking a breath and then trying the knife again.
“You seduced me! I shouted all those loving things and you came to me every night and pretended that Sadie was free. In her white nightgown! You’ve run your hands all over me and kissed me in even more places. I’ve returned the favour frequently, passionately…and it wasn’t real? I always thought it was Sadie with me, but it was you.” Luke looked aghast.
Willow and Sadie stood up and looked at Luke full on. Sadie’s expression was shocked. Willow’s was derisive. “You lie,” Willow said and turned her back on Luke, turning Sadie’s body with her.
But Sadie, hearing this, turned her body back to face Luke while Willow struggled. She trained her burning violet eyes on Luke’s face.
“We don’t have time for this,” Willow said angrily, attempting to force Sadie back to Jed, but there was nothing she could do. Sadie and Willow were coexisting and Sadie was in control.
Sadie was furious and JEALOUS. She was panting and her fists were clenched at her sides as fevered imaginings went through her head. She had WAITED. She had RESISTED while everyone else in town had been fornicating like rabbits in Babylon. Waiting to make sure there was no chance Willow could interfere. Waiting because she loved Luke so much she couldn’t bear the thought of sharing him, not even with a ghost. Her fury rose as she looked at his sweet face, the face she loved more than anyone’s, and realized what had happened. She would not be Luke’s first. Not ever. Not even one memory, and with her body!
Danner was frowning now. What the hell’s going on here? he wondered, but it didn’t take him long to realize. “Ah, shit,” Danner said with disgust as he watched Sadie explode with fury and then begin to glow violet as she brought the full force of her power to bear.
“No one messes around with my Luke! No one! You utter BITCH!” Sadie screamed with fury. “For that, you pay!”
“No,” Willow whispered when she realized what Luke had done. “Nooooooo!” she screeched in denial.
Power filled Sadie and burst through her, and Willow was instantly annihilated. Sadie stood in the middle of the clearing, her body crackling with power. She could feel the power flow into her as she took the energy from everything around her. She was incensed. She glowed with purple light as it rolled around her and arced through her hands. It was not hot but comforting as it thrummed through her. She was insanely jealous, and powerful emotions rippled through her. She was starting to lose control of herself. She wanted to destroy something to ease the pain of Luke’s betrayal.
She wanted to kill.
With an arc of purple light, The Rock was gone, shattered into a million pieces. People yelled and ducked as they were pelted with shards. Sadie was breathing rapidly and her nostrils were flared.
Luke looked at her with awe. His girlfriend was one scary bitch when she was mad.
“Sadie! My God, Sadie! Focus! Your necklace, you silly goose!” Luke yelled at her, waving his arms frantically and grabbing his neck. “Feel your necklace!”
Sadie watched him cavort wildly. Her throat was burning and she realized that her necklace was as hot as a lump of coal from the fire. Had he been lying? She narrowed her eyes. “You can’t lie!” Sadie screamed at Luke, her anger causing tears to well up in her eyes. Her hands clenched and unclenched as she dealt with her rage and she tried to rip the necklace off her neck.
“Of course I can lie! I’m a teenage boy for God’s sake!” Luke yelled back. “YOU can’t lie to ME—that’s why we got YOU the necklace in the first place—for when I WASN’T AROUND!!!”
Sadie stood very still as Luke’s logic penetrated her brain and she thought through his argument. After a few moments she looked at Luke. “So…”
“Of course not!” Luke exclaimed.
Sadie smiled with relief. “Sorry, Luke. I should never have doubted you.”
Phew, Luke thought. That was close.
Sadie turned to Bethiah. Bethiah was frozen in terror as she watched Sadie. Months of planning destroyed. Centuries, actually. Everything had gone horribly, horribly wrong. Sadie’s eyes were as cold as ice. She looked at Bethiah, who had begun to back away.
“Compared to my power, you are but a worm beneath my shoe,” Sadie said to her and pointed her finger. “I see you,” she hissed. “Begone, parasite,” she said with disdain as she flicked her wrist. Immediately, Beth grew still and her eyes rolled up to the top right side of her head as if she were listening to voices.
“My cue to leave,” Danner said casually, looking around the clearing, but he didn’t move. Sadie had wrapped a purple noose of light around Danner’s huge neck. “Great,” he said, and yawned. “Purple looks good on me.”
Sadie smiled. “According to Klaus Deitriche, an entity ‘demon in nature’ betrayed his brothers and escaped to earth to avoid their wrath. This demon caused such havoc that the fa
erie actually helped a group of humans imprison him at Superstition and set a guard over him. His imprisoned presence caused odd but minimal danger. The deal was no power, or electricity, to weaken the cage, and in return they would always have plenty. Life does abound in Superstition.”
He mocked her openly. “You can’t kill ME, witch. Anyway, I’m not even corporeal.” Danner looked bored.
“No, I can’t kill you. But I can release you.” Sadie said evenly.
“No, you can’t smarty pants. You’re not from Superstition, and you need a fairy.” Danner said “fairy” with disdain and was blowing on his nails.
Sadie smiled. “Tilly, release Dannerlich, please.”
Tilly smiled. “Release Dannerlich, please,” she said automatically.
Danner was no longer checking out his nails. “That doesn’t count. She’s an idiot.”
“She’s not, actually, and she’s a member of your community.”
“What? Whatever.” Danner waved his hand in a shooing motion. “You still need the power of the faerie.”
“I release you Dannerlich,” Wayman said loudly, arriving in the clearing with Taline and Nettie in tow. Wayman and Taline glowed, their bodies emitted soft blue light in the darkness. A big grin split his face, and he let out a wild laugh as he grabbed Tilly’s hand and danced her around.
“I release you Dannerlich,” Taline added for good measure.
“Sorry it took us so long. A spell kept us from entering the clearing,” Wayman explained. “We could see what was happening, but we couldn’t approach. It just broke a few minutes ago.”
Danner’s huge form solidified. He laughed out loud with glee. “Fools!!” he screamed insanely. He crouched, his huge body rippling with strength and power. His huge clawed hands flexed in anticipation. He was very aroused. “I’m going to rip all of you into bloody pieces and eat you one by one, starting with you, you stupid cow,” he said to Sadie.
“I don’t think so,” Sadie said calmly, lifting her arms to the side and turning her palms up towards the sky. “Our play date is over,” Sadie said and laughed. “It’s time for you to go home.” With that Sadie shouted a word and flung her head back. A steady stream of power flowed from the ground, through Sadie, and up into the night sky. The sky was black and boiling with energy. A tear ripped across the sky as Sadie opened a portal.
“NO!” Danner screamed in horror as his family collected him and pulled him back into the demon realm. As the portal closed, a gold amulet fell from the sky and thudded in Danner’s place. Payment from them—a demon favour chit for Sadie to use in the future—the demon version of a thank you card.
“Sadie, it’s almost midnight!” Luke reminded her. He realized that the wind had stopped. It was eerily quiet. People were still entranced. “We need to clean this up before All Saints Day!”
Sadie looked sadly at Jedidiah. What a way to spend your last moments of life, she thought. “I can’t heal you Jed. You died in 1860 and if history changes…who knows what’ll happen.” Sadie bent over him and touched his chest. He struggled weakly to get away from her.
“You’ll get sick…” he fretted, pushing at her feebly.
“No, my magic has killed the virus on me. Nothing can touch me right now,” Sadie assured him. “I can take away your pain, but that’s about it.” She released power into his chest.
“The pain is gone!” He said with relief as he stared at her with awe. Sadie made a sweeping motion with her hand and a portal opened. It looked like a huge door filled with light.
“You’ll end up exactly where you were when you were put in stasis,” Sadie assured him.
Luke helped Jed up and steadied him. Jed thanked him and stepped through, and he was gone.
Sadie had turned to Nathalie and Dean. Dean was unconscious from blood loss. Willow had slit his wrists deeply to get the blood she needed for her spell. While not a healer by witch-trade, there was a broad knowledge in the power Sadie was wielding and she knew what to do to help. Sadie bent down and touched Dean’s wrists and in seconds the gaping wounds closed. Sadie considered and then placed her hand, palm down, on Dean’s chest. Nathalie could see a purple burst flow through him from the center of Sadie’s hand.
“Can you wake him up?” Nathalie asked desperately between sobs. Dean’s normally pale white skin was ashen.
“Give his body a chance to recover. I just sent it a…” Sadie struggled to explain herself, “a healing signal, and a little magical help. I think he’ll be fine.”
Sadie stood. Tilly was standing still, her eyes looking up to the right, lost in the voices. It was so strange to see Beth acting this way. Sadie looked at her and Venius stepped in front of Tilly.
“I can communicate with her. I am bringing her back with me. She is mine.” His voice held power and possessiveness.
Sadie didn’t move. “That’s not Beth. Beth is gone.”
“I do not want Beth. I saw the two entities after I had sex with Beth the first time. Before that I could not see the two, only after I gave my essence and Tilly was smart enough to grab it and use it to show herself to me. Tilly came to me and asked for me. After that I was never with Beth. I pushed Beth aside to be with Tilly.”
Everyone was so focused on the giant they almost missed it. They saw, in astonishment, that Tilly was looking directly at Venius, lovingly, and had put her hand in his. “My power does this. She is better with me.”
Sadie frowned. “Her parents may not agree,” she said, looking with distaste at the dark hunter.
“I will make them,” he said with bared teeth. “Humans worship us.”
“Me go,” Tilly said simply.
Sadie snorted but made no move to stop Venius from taking Tilly to the portal. Sadie could feel her own love just behind her and was getting impatient to move on and have some alone time with Luke. They had a lot to talk about and they had been apart for way too long.
The clearing had started to fill with all the strange folk that had graced Barrington’s Harvest Festival this year. The potion seller smiled as she stepped through, stopping only long enough to make a rude gesture at Nathalie.
“Three months with the human race and that’s what you have to show for it,” Nathalie mumbled, insulted.
Dean laughed weakly. He was looking at Nathalie with his beautiful, if bloodshot, eyes full of love. “Maybe if you hadn’t publicly insulted her, you’d be friends.”
“You are never on my side,” Nathalie said softly before she bent down and kissed him, holding him tightly. Dean laughed and struggled to get up. He was still weak, but Nathalie helped him and they watched as more of the magical folk arrived, drawn by the open portal.
Nettie stopped in front of Nathalie. “It’s important that you record this, dear. Record everything you saw and heard. Do it immediately. People may have a need of this in the future.”
“But Willow’s gone,” Nathalie said.
“Aye, her hex too. I can feel that Barrington has been freed. But lass, this land has had strong magic touch it. The earth remembers and this place is powerful now. You will need to know exactly what happened here.” Nettie looked into Nathalie’s eyes. “You are the Lore Keeper now. If you don’t record it right away, you’ll no remember. The faerie folk have a way of making human minds forget, and you are in close proximity with them.”
“Okay, Nettie, I promise.”
“You did me proud, lassie,” she said, hugging Nathalie tightly, her eyes bright with tears.
Nathalie didn’t know what to say, she just felt a rush of love for the woman. “I love you, Nettie. I’m glad I’m from such wonderful stock.”
“I love you too, lassie. Oh, and while you’re at it, be sure to write and tell the world that the Kellars are not to be shunned.”
Shunned?
“Er, they don’t shun people anymore Nettie,” Wayman said casually.
“Whatever, as the young like to say. Now get me to my Henry,” Nettie said as she walked through.
Strange folk w
ere still streaming through. It was like watching the trams empty visitors at the fair. The basketball player who had played with the boys all summer appeared and grinned at Dean and Luke.
“I knew it!!” Dean yelled and Luke laughed. “No human is that good!” They high fived each other. Dean was feeling like his old self.
“Where are all these people coming from? How did they get here in the first place?” Nathalie asked. She looked at Sadie for an explanation but Sadie was lost in her power, her gaze turned inward as she held the portal open.
Taline walked over to the portal. “I’ll try and explain. At the summer solstice the veil between realms is thin. Magic is very powerful. Danner took Tilly, brought Bethiah forward in time, and gave her Tilly’s physical body to inhabit while she finished her spell work.”
Wayman joined her. “Turns out Jedidiah didn’t die from tuberculosis, like his family thought. Bethiah cast a powerful spell and put Jedidiah in stasis so he wouldn’t die. He only appeared dead. His family thought he had finally succumbed to his disease and buried him quickly, as was the custom back then to prevent the spread of disease.”
Taline was nodding. “The thing is, to meet the conditions of the hex, and this is unpleasant, Willow needed a “living” piece of Jed in this time to do a resurrection spell, which is what Beth and Willow performed to bring Jed to the clearing. The best part to use is a still-beating heart. But when Beth went to get it in 1860, she got caught desecrating his grave. That, along with her reputation as a witch, earned her a place on the gallows.”
“Why didn’t she just take what she needed at the hospital back in 1860? Why go to all the effort of digging up a grave and risk getting caught?” Dean asked. “Pretty dumb in my opinion.”
Taline smiled with affection at Dean. “Well, Beth couldn’t damage his body before his family buried him. It would have been hard to explain the gaping chest wound and missing heart.”
“That is so gross,” Nathalie said with disgust.
Taline’s face mirrored her disgust. “It’s the blackest magic. Beth and Jed were inextricably tied together by that spell, as caster and victim. In stasis, Jed isn’t alive. He’s nothing until the witch who cast the spell frees him. Beth’s arrival in this time made Jed’s existence possible, and with the Kellar heir ready, all the elements needed for Willow’s hex, ‘Gather and Die,’ had been met.”
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