The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum

by Wendy Saunders

  ‘Yes he was,’ Theo murmured.

  ‘Keep the name’ she smiled, ‘and make it yours….and mine.’

  ‘What?’ he looked at her sharply.

  ‘I don’t want to be like the other women in my family,’ she told him. ‘I want to belong to you, I want to take your name.’

  ‘But your name will die out with you.’

  ‘Then I’ll keep both,’ she smiled. ‘I’ll be Mrs Olivia Beckett-West.’

  ‘Beckett-West eh?’ he pulled her closer smiling.

  ‘Yes, what do you think?’

  ‘I love it,’ he brushed her lips gently with his own. ‘It suits you perfectly.’

  ‘Just as your name suits you,’ she traced his jaw absently with her fingertips. ‘Let’s make a deal, here and now, we’re drawing a line on the past. Let’s not drag all our families’ baggage with us. Our marriage, our life together is a fresh start and from here on in we decide who we’re going to be.’

  ‘I think I can agree to that’ he smiled, kissing her thoroughly.

  She finally pulled back and smiled.

  ‘So what are you painting? Can I see?’

  He took her hand and pulled her over to the canvas and as she stopped she drew in a sharp breath and her eyes filled with tears.

  ‘Do you think it’s okay?’ he frowned hesitantly. ‘Do you like it?’

  ‘I love it,’ she whispered. ‘I think it’s perfect.’

  A tear spilled down her cheek as she stared into the familiar eyes of James Wilkins. Theo had recreated him perfectly on the canvas, from nothing more than memory, even managing to catch the curve of his mouth when he smiled in amusement, but that was not what had Olivia’s heart clenching. He’d painted James with his arms wrapped around Emmaline who was staring out of the painting happily. They looked so intimate, so in love and so happy.

  ‘It’s beautiful Theo,’ she wiped away a tear, ‘it’s them as they should have been if they’d been given the chance.’

  ‘I know he’s gone,’ Theo replied painfully, ‘I know for us it’s only been a week since we last saw him but…’

  ‘In reality it’s been nearly three hundred years,’ Olivia replied in understanding.

  He nodded slowly.

  ‘Do you think they found each other?’ he asked her. ‘I mean in the Otherworld, like we did?’

  ‘Yes,’ she turned to him and squeezed his hand, ‘I do.’

  ‘I hope so,’ he turned back to the painting and studied it.

  He’d painted them both in regular clothes so that anyone looking at them wouldn’t think that they’d been born and had lived in the seventeenth century.

  ‘You know what?’ Olivia mused, ‘we should have them at the wedding.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘We’ll set up a stand in the front row and put the portrait there. That way it’ll be like they’re kind of there,’ she looked over to him. ‘What do you think?’

  He swallowed slowly and nodded, not quite trusting his voice.

  Suddenly there was a pounding at the front door. Dropping a kiss on her lips he let go of her and headed out to answer the door, with Olivia trailing along behind him smoothing down her bed hair.

  The door swung open to reveal a stocky man with a clipboard and a box at his feet.

  ‘Delivery for Olivia West?’

  ‘Yes,’ she stepped forward smiling widely, ‘I’m so excited about this. I’ve been waiting for days.’

  ‘What have you been up to?’ Theo’s brow rose curiously.

  ‘You’ll see,’ she replied.

  ‘Sign here please,’ he handed her the forms which she scrawled her name across. ‘Where would you like the others?’

  ‘Others?’ Theo peered around the man to his partner who seemed to be unloading at least twenty more boxes like the one at his feet.

  ‘We’ll take this one’ Olivia told him, ‘just go on through to the back and stack them in the kitchen.’

  He handed her a large thick envelope and nodded, picking up the heavy box at his feet and handing it to Theo.

  ‘No problem,’ he replied trotting back down the steps to help unload the boxes.

  ‘Come on,’ she told him excitedly as she headed back into the studio.

  ‘What’s all this?’ he asked.

  ‘A surprise for you,’ she watched him set the box on the table.

  ‘For me?’

  She nodded enthusiastically. Picking a craft knife out of one of the pots on the table she slit the tape and opened it up. Theo peered inside, there seemed to be about twelve bottles of an amber colored liquid. She lifted one out and handed it to him. He turned it over in his hand to read the label and his heart gave a hard knock.

  Wilkins Orchards, Apple and Peach Cider, the bottle read.

  ‘How?’ he whispered.

  She smiled and opened the thick envelope the delivery guy had given her and pulled out a huge color brochure, handing it to him.

  ‘Tammy told me the other day that she’d looked up the orchard a few years back, out of curiosity. It’s still there. Wilkins Orchards is not the biggest but it’s one of the oldest and most respected cider mills on the East coast. It’s still operating today, and producing all of James’ original recipe for ciders and applejack. It’s very famous. People come from all over to visit the orchard and the mill which is open to the public for tours, as are their cider cellars and…’ she pointed to the front of the brochure which showed a picture of James’ barn.

  It was the same barn! It had survived three hundred years, but strangely enough the only thing different about it was that a tree seemed to be growing out of the roof.

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘That,’ she smiled, ‘is what the locals affectionately refer to as the tree of Temperance. You have to love the delicious irony when you consider that the word Temperance, apart from being your sister’s name, means sobriety or abstinence of alcohol. The story goes that God made the tree grow right there in the middle of the barn, cracking through the floorboards and up through the roof as a reminder to the God-fearing puritans to drink responsibly.’

  Theo started laughing. He laughed so hard he doubled over, his eyes watered and he had to clutch his sides.

  ‘What?’ Olivia asked in amusement.

  ‘It wasn’t an act of God,’ he wheezed in a gasping breath smiling. ‘It was witchcraft.’

  ‘What?’ she chuckled.

  ‘James was demonstrating to Temperance what he could do with his gift. He made an apple seed sprout in his hand. He put it down on one of the barrels intending to plant it out in the orchard but it must’ve slipped down between the floorboards and taken root.’

  ‘Oh that’s perfect,’ Olivia laughed happily. ‘You know it’s a major tourist attraction. I thought after the wedding we could take a drive out to Danvers and go visit the place, if you’d like.’

  ‘Danvers?’

  ‘They renamed Salem village Danvers after the trials. They were trying to distance themselves from the bloodshed but they still retained all their magical heritage. In fact, I think there are still some of the original buildings left.’

  Theo settled down, staring down at the bottle in his hand.

  ‘I can’t believe you did this for me.’

  She shrugged, ‘it wasn’t completely altruistic. I have to admit I became very fond of James’ apple and peach cider while we were with him. Although Jackson is taking care of the drinks, I thought it might be nice to have it at the wedding for the guests.’

  ‘Yes it would,’ Theo smiled. ‘I wonder what happened to him after we left.’

  ‘James?’ Olivia replied, ‘well after we left he continued on at the Orchard. After a few years his nephew William came to live with him. He was the oldest child of James’ sister. His father passed away and his mother remarried and had another two children. He didn’t get along with his stepfather and so he went to live with James. It appears they got along very we
ll, he seemed to love the orchard as much as James did. Coming from the city, because he’d been born in Boston, he fell in love with the Orchard the moment he saw it. He and James expanded it and improved it over the years, building it into a profitable business, unrivaled for miles around.

  When William married a local girl, they expanded James’ house to include them both and their three children. James passed away an old and happy man surrounded by his family. He left the orchard and the cider mill to William and his wife and it eventually passed down their line, but they kept the Wilkins brand and all its traditions.’

  ‘How do you know all this?’ he asked.

  ‘Roni,’ Olivia shrugged simply. ‘The woman is unparalleled when it comes to research. When I first started looking at the Orchard and putting in an order for the cider she dug up everything she could on James and his family tree. Don’t say anything but I think she’s putting it all together for you as a wedding present.’

  ‘She really is a sweetheart’ Theo smiled, shaking his head.

  ‘Yes she is’ she agreed, pulling out another bottle. ‘What do you say we crack these open and see if they taste like the real thing?’

  ‘I say yes,’ he grinned.

  They both snapped the tops off, toasting the picture of James before taking a deep swig.

  ‘God that’s good,’ Olivia blew out a breath.

  ‘Amazing,’ Theo stared down at the bottle, ‘it tastes just the same, only better.’

  ‘To James,’ she raised her bottle.

  ‘To my father,’ Theo tapped his bottle to hers with a soft clink before taking another sip. ‘Have you heard anything from your dad yet?’ he asked.

  ‘No,’ she shook her head with a sigh. ‘I left a message on the emergency contact number he gave me but nothing…you know my dad, he’ll turn up when he feels like it.’

  Theo nodded sympathetically. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close to his body. They both stood in companionable silence sipping their cider and staring at the portrait of Theo’s parents.

  Charles rolled over, the sheet draping across his naked body as he stared up into the darkness. His arm crooked over his head and his hand tucked under the back of his hair, his face creased into a troubled frown. The sweat clung to his body in the oppressive heat and wet humidity. Every breath was like breathing underwater. He glanced towards the open window for all the good it did. The air was still but filled with the sounds of the night, the cacophony of bush crickets and grasshoppers, interspersed every now and then by the loud croak of a bull frog. The air hung heavily with the scent of vegetation and algae covered waters, which lapped against the supports beneath the window.

  The constant chatter of Katydids perched in the nearby Cypress trees was shattered by the loud lonely cry of the night heron circling the bayou, high above them. The bed dipped as he felt the warm soft body next to him shift and a long slender arm, with skin the color of honey, wrapped around his waist. Unable to sleep he slid slowly out from underneath the arm of his companion and sat on the edge of the bed, picking up his phone and turning it on. Still no signal, not a surprise. Out in the swamp it was patchy at best.

  Davis had been by the day before with a message, as he’d been keeping an eye on Charles’ voicemail.

  Olivia was back.

  ‘You know, you gon’ have to speak with her sooner or later Cher,’ Cora rolled over and propped her head on her hand.

  ‘I know,’ he muttered.

  ‘Are you gon’ tell her the truth?’

  Charles frowned, and stood. Brushing the sheets aside irritably he strolled naked across the cabin and grabbed his pants, yanking them on roughly leaving the top button undone.

  He paced the floor in agitation until he finally stopped in front of the window, looking out into the murky water surrounding them.

  ‘She’s not ready to hear the truth,’ he finally replied quietly.

  ‘She’s not ready?’ Cora’s brow rose questioningly, ‘or you’re not ready?’

  ‘Does it matter?’ he scowled.

  ‘One is your choice,’ she climbed out of the bed wrapping her nude body in the white sheet, ‘the other is not. You have no right to make that decision for her, not now, especially not now.’

  He turned and looked at her sharply.

  ‘Can you not feel it?’ she whispered as she stepped closer to him. ‘Something has changed. It vibrates in the very air we breathe. I can taste it on every breath.’

  ‘What has changed?’

  ‘That I cannot say Cher,’ she stroked his arm, trailing her long nails down his tanned skin, ‘but she is the very center of it.’

  ‘No,’ he shook his head in denial.

  ‘You know it is true,’ she stroked him gently. ‘You have always known it.’

  ‘I didn’t want this for her,’ he shook his head slowly.

  ‘She is in great danger,’ Cora told him, ‘and she doesn’t know it. She thinks the worse she has to worry about is her mother and the demon but that is no longer true. They will come…all of them.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘The fallen, the unwanted, the damned, every dark creature that hides in the shadows will be drawn to Mercy, to her, like a moth to a flame. The book is awake now and they all hear its call and they know she is the only one who can find it. They are coming for her and there is no stopping them.’

  ‘What should I do?’ he looked down at her with dark grief filled eyes.

  ‘Go home Charles,’ her eyes burned into his, ‘it is time.’

  Chapter 27.

  Olivia sat perched on the edge of her bathtub nibbling her fingernails nervously. She knew she shouldn’t, somewhere in the back of her mind she could hear Louisa’s voice telling her not to ruin her French manicure before the ceremony.

  Her hair was soft and shiny, curling at the ends and caught at the temples with delicate pearl and crystal combs which swept it back from her face. Her make-up was done and tiny little pearl studs sat at her earlobes in place of her usual small hoops. Her dress hung in her bedroom. She’d decided, after much internal debate, to wear her grandmother’s dress. It was simply stunning. The 1950’s style slashed neckline and long sleeves were a delicate cream colored lace, the dress nipped in tightly at the waist and flared into a full skirt of tulle, partly overlaid with more lace and falling to mid-calf. A tiny row of satin covered buttons ran the length of her spine, matching her satin covered stilettos.

  She’d found it in the attic and Roni, bless her heart, knew someone who restored vintage clothing. They’d been able to repair the minor tears in the fabric and have it cleaned and adjusted with just a day to spare. She’d felt amazing when she’d tried it on and she couldn’t wait to see Theo’s face when she walked down the aisle but…

  Her heart banged anxiously in her chest and she nibbled even more ferociously at her nail. She knew it was perfectly normal for all brides to be nervous on their wedding day, the trouble was she wasn’t nervous about being married to Theo…her eyes fell on the small white test sitting on the edge of the sink. Her eyes flicked back to her phone, where she’d set the timer and watched it count down the last 60 seconds.

  She’d finally found her phone and charged it. She’d been surprised it still worked, she’d had it with her the night they went to the lake. It had not only survived a dunking in the icy water, but also a trip to the Otherworld, a trip to the Underworld, being thrown back in time…twice, and being hidden under a floorboard in a 17th century farmhouse for a decade and still when she charged it, it had lit up and switched on just like ‘the little engine that could’. She’d leave it a hell of a product review but really what was she going to write?

  ‘Excellent model, long battery life, quality sound, good features, affordable…oh and will survive a plunge into an icy lake and a trip to the Underworld…’

  Yeah, probably best just be grateful the damn thing still worked. Unfortunately for her, her problems had sta
rted the moment she switched it on. She had a dozen updates, hundreds of messages and several reminders on her calendar, one of which being a reminder to go get her contraceptive shot.

  Shit…

  Yes, she’d counted back and given the amount of time she’d spent in both the Otherworld and the Underworld where time didn’t pass the same as the real world, then adding in the time she’d spent in Salem, she should’ve had a period by now, shouldn’t she? Then things really began to click into place. The tiredness and the sickness, so it turns out the sheep was off the hook, as it probably wasn’t the mutton that had made her sick. She glanced across at her phone again.

  18…17…16…

  What the hell was she doing? There was very little chance she was actually pregnant; she was just being paranoid. Really, it was probably just all the stress that had thrown her body out of whack. How often had she and Theo even made love since they left Mercy?

  Shit…

  Okay, well probably best not to panic. So they’d made love a few times, okay so several in fact. It was funny because she didn’t think that they’d managed to spend all that much time together, but when she actually counted…

  She held her breath as her phone started beeping. Turning it off she picked up the test and looked down.

  Two blue lines…

  What the hell did that even mean? She grabbed the instructions and read down quickly before looking back at the test. Definitely two blue lines.

  Shit…

  She swallowed nervously and looked down again at the test in her trembling hand. Louisa was now officially not going to be the only hormonal basket case in town.

  She was pregnant. She let that sink in for a moment. She was pregnant with Theo’s baby; she was going to be a Mom. The corners of her mouth began to twitch and she let out an unexpected laugh as she covered her mouth with her hand. She stood up and let her hands drop to her belly where her child grew. Their child she smiled, as she felt an intense wave of love for the child they had created. Her eyes filled with unexpected tears and she had to blink them back rapidly, knowing Louisa would kill her if she ruined her make up.