With You In Spirit (The Bassinville Witches Series)

by Miranda Stork

  Thinking for a moment, he looked across at Shawna. “There’s only one place I can think of. There’s a small cave out near the swamps…no-one goes there, but it really is the only place someone could hide out around here.” Shawna nodded vehemently at Caden.

  He ran his hands through his hair, beckoning at both of them. “Come on then. Show where this cave is, QUICKLY!”

  ********

  The swamp sang with noise and life. Flies buzzed around fat-bellied frogs, who bounced away as soon as the three figures walked by them. Cicadas chirruped to one another, hiding somewhere in the long, lanky grass surrounding the brown water. Tall trees, throbbing with life, but a greeny-yellow colour surrounded the water, stretching up into the cloudy sky above. The heavens had burst open, and raindrops trickled off leaves and branches, collecting in small puddles.

  Caden led the group, storming along towards the centre of the swamp, where Shawna and Jackson had assured him the cave sat. Closing his eyes, he could feel their magic drumming through the air. It was like a knife, spiking through the trees, dark and shadowy, a sly swipe at whoever might come near it. Growling, he ran towards the energy, Shawna and Jackson bringing up the rear, watching this mysterious man as he seemed to be able to sense where he was going.

  The cave suddenly came into view. It wasn’t really a proper cave; it was simply a large recess that had been shaped within the rocks of the swamp. Loud chanting could be heard from within, that sent a chill down the spines of the group. Caden growled, and moved to go towards it, but Jackson caught his shoulder, and spun him around. He cast Jackson a sharp look.

  Jackson flinched, but didn’t move. “Look, I ain’t letting you go in there on your own. If someone is going to try and hurt Catherine, I’m going to kick their asses too.”

  “And me. Ain’t no way I’m letting you guys show me up.”

  Caden looked uneasily from Shawna’s determined face back to Jackson’s angry one. He shook his head. “No. It’s far too dangerous. You have no idea what these guys are like. I don’t have time to give you the life-story right now, but they are the same people who killed her father.”

  Shawna’s jaw dropped open, but she folded her arms across her chest. “Uh-uh. I don’t care if there’s a dragon waiting in there, I am helping my best friend, Mr Rouquette.”

  Jackson glanced quickly into the cave, and then back at Caden’s eyes, now reflecting the sky above. “Wait-how do you know all this?”

  Caden held his gaze as lightening suddenly flashed overhead, lighting the swamp up with brilliant explosions of white. He looked upwards, and then back at them, letting his fangs slide out. “Because…I have been her protector since she was born.”

  Chapter 12

  A searing pain was drumming a steady pattern into her head. Catherine felt as though she had been hit by a train-an express train on top of that. Reaching out for her sheets, she felt around, meeting only thin air. And why was her bed so uncomfortable? Then the memories of what happened in the police station flooded back to her-Caden, Susan’s protective flames, the guy in the bubble, everything.

  The man in the bubble! He had grabbed her, and then…then…then everything was a blank. Catherine blearily tried to open her eyes, the movement feeling like she was trying to lift a ton weight with each eyelid. She blinked a couple of times, while everything slipped back into focus.

  The first thing that met her gaze was a pair of highly-polished, Italian leather shoes. Her brow creased in confusion, as she tried to work out what they were doing there, at the same time as she tried to push herself off the floor, feeling cool, rough stone beneath her palms. Pushing herself up, she winced as the pain spiked through her head again, making her close her eyes.

  “Ah, we wondered when you were going to wake up.” A cool, sharp English accent met her ears, making her look up at the voice. A tall, smartly dressed man met her gaze, the same man from the police station. His eyes were a startling white colour, and his thin lips were curled in the same cruel way as they had been before. He was sitting on a large rock, leaning forwards with his hands pressed together.

  Catherine scrambled to her feet, backing away from him. He simply watched as she hit the cool, wet rock behind her, and then shook his head. “I’m afraid you’re not leaving here, we have to use you as we used your father.”

  Her eyes opened wider at that, and her face set into a cold, hard gaze. “You killed my father?” she whispered. The colour drained from her face, and her hands curled into fists, her nails digging into her palms.

  The man nodded, and leaned back on the stone, seeming to enjoy her agonised reaction. “Yes, we did. Well, I did personally, actually. He screamed like a little girl.”

  Screaming with rage, Catherine flung herself towards him, and launched her fist towards him, wanting it to connect with his face. To her horror, just before her hand hit him, he simply waved his hand, and an unseen wind knocking her flying, sending her skidding along the stone floor. Seething with rage, she got to her feet again, correcting herself.

  He sighed, shaking his head patronisingly. “What a shame you are not as good as your father…he had more control over his powers and himself. You haven’t bothered to learn, so you’re weak as a kitten. But never mind, I can live with killing you despite not being able to fight me back.”

  Gritting her teeth, Catherine asked, “What the hell do you want to kill me for?”

  “Hmm? Oh, I suppose your mother never told you the full story, did she? The orb your father was after; is one of twelve that created back in ancient times. Several witches created them to hold the elements and other powers that we use. The person who possesses them has a huge amount of control and power with them. We are unable to use the spirit orb, however, as none of us are spirit elementals. But if we held all of the orbs, it would mean we can manipulate their power to spread to us.”

  Holding back to urge to try and hit him again, Catherine thought of something. “Just who are you? Where are the other orbs?”

  He chuckled. “I suppose there is no harm in telling you now. My name is Marcus, and I am the head of this coven. We are part of a larger organisation called Ravensworth. For centuries we have been looking for the orbs. So far, we have found three other orbs, and our coven holds the one your father was after.”

  “I don’t understand, you still haven’t explained why you needed to kill my father, you bastard.” Catherine began pacing about, her blood boiling inside her.

  Marcus stood up, gracefully bending as he did so. He watched her pacing about like a tiger trapped in a cage, shrugging. “We killed him because otherwise he would have killed us. He knew we were dangerous, and tried to kill us using the orb. Unfortunately, his power wasn’t strong enough, and the orb didn’t work for him.”

  “Wait, so…you’re not Wiccans?”

  Another cold laugh. “Did I at any point say we were? I said we were witches, not Wiccans. We follow no god or goddess, we follow ourselves and our own powers. We answer only to our Elders.”

  Catherine’s jaw ticked. “Whatever. It makes no difference to me. All I know, is that I’m going to finish what my father started.”

  Marcus’s smile dropped, and his face seemed to take on a sharper edge, as he tilted his head towards her. “Oh? Are you now? And just how you planning to do that?”

  A loud noise from further up in the cave suddenly interrupted him. A sound like people being thrown against walls and screams sounded out, making Marcus turn and frown. Twisting his face to Catherine, he hissed, “Stay here.” He then ran from the room, the strange crackling sound of his energy firing up.

  As soon as he had left, Catherine followed his shadow out of the room, sticking to the walls. Does telling someone to stay somewhere after threatening to kill them EVER actually work?...

  ********

  Caden threw another one of the coven witches against the wall, hearing their spine smashing against the stone. Where the hell was Marcus? He was going to rip his skin off for him for daring to hurt
Catherine. Shawna and Jackson had surprised him; easily disposing of the coven witches as he was.

  Shawna clearly used earth, and she was using her powers to lift some of the huge rocks in the cave, flinging them towards the witches, before they even got a chance to use their own. Caden was fairly certain that most of them were still training, which meant Marcus didn’t have much of a foothold here. Jackson was using air, whipping small gusts of wind into spinning eddies, picking up speed and force as they whipped around the cave, until they became small tornados. They were ripping into the coven witches with dizzying speed, smashing them against rocks and the walls, knocking most of them out. But both of them were tiring; he could see that with the sweat dripping of their brows.

  Caden roared and grabbed another witch, who uselessly flung a small ball of black light towards him. He ripped into the feeble creature’s neck, blood pouring out in a gush as he drank, closing his eyes at the delicious taste, metallic and sweet. Snapping his eyes open, he flung their limp body to the floor, and grabbed another from behind, tearing into his back, pulling his heart out.

  And then Marcus entered. When Marcus saw Caden, even he looked a little startled-and with good reason. The six-foot-two vampire looked like a demon sent from hell itself. He was stood up straight, her eyes burning like molten silver, blood covering his lower face and torso. As soon as he locked eyes with Marcus, he grinned, crooking his fingers towards him.

  Marcus sneered at him, and began to glide towards him, flicking his hands out as black light emanated from them, turning them threateningly towards Caden…

  ********

  Catherine kept close to the edges of the cave tunnels, feeling her way along them with her fingers. Further down the tunnels, she could hear the fight continuing, but she could also hear a strange humming noise filtering through from somewhere else. She tilted her head towards the sounds of the fight, and decided to find out what the humming sound was.

  Creeping along, Catherine went further and further into one of the tunnels, disappearing into black, until suddenly a soft light began to shine from the ceiling. A single candle-lit lantern showed the way through into a small room. Catherine gasped as she saw the single most beautiful object she had ever seen in her life.

  A small orb, about the side of an apple, floated above a stone pedestal. The humming sound was coming straight from it, eerie and angelic. It was a mixture of grey and whites, all swirling around together inside it, like paints inside a glass ball. It glowed with power; Catherine could feel it even from where she stood, throbbing and warm. Entranced by it, she slowly walked over to it, holding her hand out.

  She stopped just before she touched it, closing her eyes at the tingling rush that danced along her fingers. The more she listened to the humming, the more she thought she could voices within it, calling to her, singing her name. Sparks began to flicker within the orb as her hand drew near. Something about being so close to it felt like…home. Like how she had felt when she had drank Caden’s blood from him.

  Taking a deep breath, she walked all around the orb, her emerald eyes reflecting the orb’s colour. She reached her hand out again, and took hold of the orb, clasping her fingers around it tightly, and lifting it towards her.

  As soon as she touched it, it was like a bolt of electricity had leapt through her arm, and the sheer power from the orb lifted her. It started to lift her higher, her hair floating out from her head as if she had touched static. Just when she thought it was either going to smash her against the walls of the cave, or drop her like a stone, she suddenly found herself hovering gently about four inches off the floor.

  She closed her eyes, letting the warmth of the orb’s power flow through her, stretching out into every fibre of her body, liquid fire racing through every vein, lighting her fingertips. Turning her attention towards the sounds of the fight, she grinned, and began to float towards it…

  ********

  As Marcus floated towards him, Caden braced himself. Although he didn’t have any of the powers of a witch, vampires didn’t always need them. They had their own inbuilt shield against magick, so it was a lot less effective against them-it didn’t mean, of course, that they couldn’t be destroyed by magick, but it made much more of a fair fight.

  “Caden…I didn’t think we would meet again in this lifetime.” Marcus sneered, as he drew close. His eyes gleamed as he flicked his finger, light playing along the tips of them like a black glowing snake.

  “I certainly hoped to never see you again in this lifetime, no. But I think it’s time we stopped running into each other.” Caden snapped, pulling his teeth into a bloody grin. Without wasting a breath, his arm moved fast as light, and his fist connected with Marcus’ ribs.

  Marcus wheezed in a breath, but straightened himself up, moving himself further back. The cockiness was now gone, and his face was drawn and white. Crying out in rage, he twisted his hand, throwing a bolt of black towards Caden’s torso. It lashed out at him, ripping a large tear down the front of his shirt, slicing the skin underneath as if it were a knife. Caden gave a quick glance down, watching his skin slowly repairing itself, and he growled in anger. “That was my best shirt, asshole.”

  Marcus simply laughed, darkly, and pressed his hands together. As he pulled them apart, an enormous black ball appeared. Aiming it, he let it fly, and it spread itself as it came towards Caden. Caden held his arms up in defence, but couldn’t stop it covering him, as hundreds of tiny black claws appeared, slicing into him. Blood poured from him, making him gasp and grab at his chest at the piercing pain that dragged through it. If you took enough blood from a vampire, you could weaken him.

  Caden fell to the floor, struggling to regain his footing, but readied himself to pounce towards Marcus, when he saw something that made him stop. Even Marcus saw the look in his eyes, and turned to see what it was he was staring at. What he saw made him tighten his jaw in anger and fear.

  Floating towards them slowly, looking every inch a true witch, was Catherine. Her eyes were flashing with grey and white, and her hair flew wildly around her head as if she were stood in a great wind. Her hands were outstretched, and in her right hand sat-the orb. A glow surrounded her figure, white and resonating, and a soft humming seemed to come from nowhere, surrounding her presence. Shawna hovered a rock in mid-air in shock, as she watched her friend glide through. Even Jackson did a second glance, his tornado twisting the opposite way to where he was guiding it, dropping coven witches left and right.

  As she drew nearer, she smiled; a thin, nasty smile towards Marcus. “Hello, Marcus. You really shouldn’t leave people alone where they can get hold of orbs.” Her voice was strange; it held an echo to it, and it sounded all at once as though there were a thousand voices and then just her voice.

  Marcus gritted his teeth, his eyes narrowing. “I wouldn’t worry, little Catherine. Your father held that orb and I took it from him…I’ll take it from your cold, dead hand.”

  “Really?” Catherine tilted her head, raising one eyebrow, the maniac grin never leaving her face. “I’d like to see you try that.” She raised her hand, and a flash of sparking energy left her hand like a sword, piercing through Marcus’ protective shield. He yelled with rage, and sent black flying back toward her. Caden leapt to his feet, finding strength from somewhere, but she dodged it, sliding to the left easily. As it ricocheted into the cave wall behind, a large chunk of rock slid onto the floor, crumbling in a cloud of dust.

  The others had stopped fighting for now, and were watching the battle before them with bated breath. Marcus moved forwards, and pushed his palms together, gathering energy like he had before, the crackling sound almost deafening as he began to grow it further.

  “My turn.” Catherine grinned, before twisting her hands, curling them as if she was offering something, and then she blew on her palms. Long grey streaks of energy, like shadows, flew from her hands. They locked onto Marcus, and dragged his backwards, pinning him to the wall behind by his wrists and ankles. The black ball of li
ght disappeared, and he struggled against his mystical bonds, spitting and cursing.

  Catherine moved in, her feet still not even touching the floor. As she drew close, she leaned into Marcus’ face, until he stopped moving and stared at her in fear. She held her hand up, and gave it a slow look. The orb sat there, and energy suddenly began to gather around it, crackling and sparking. She turned back to Marcus, her eyes reflecting those of her father, all those years ago.

  “Marcus, this…is for hurting my friends…for hurting Caden…for hurting me…and,” here, she paused for dramatic effect, watching the terror build in his eyes as the giant orb of black and grey energy that now threatened him, “and this is for my father, you sick fucker.”

  She raised her arm back, and everyone in the room held their breath. Caden braced himself, ready to race over and protect her if anything went wrong; not that she looked like she needed protecting right now. He was so proud of her. Shawna and Jackson cast a look at each other in amazement, their faces showing nothing but shock.

  Just as she was about to throw the energy towards him, there was a strange popping sound, and a cloaked figure appeared from thin air in between her and Marcus, shaking its head. It batted towards the ball of light in her hand, but shrieked and reeled away as it noticed the orb in her hand. Stunned, Catherine closed her hand tightly around the orb, and moved back, staring at the figure. “Who the hell are you?”

  The cloaked figure looked up, but no face could be seen under the hood, only two wrinkled hands from the sleeves appeared. One of them pointed towards Catherine, shaking angrily. “You...you have the orb! I am one of the Elders of Ravensworth, and you, little girl, are in over your head.” a Russian sounding voice croaked.