by Leela Ash
The Council of Seven soon filed in and all the witches rose to their feet in reverence. As soon as they sat, the Coven Assembly was convened. One seat was conspicuously empty of the Council of Seven, but no one could see which of them was missing because they were all veiled.
From where she stood watching, Nabradia’s lips curled in a sneer of contempt. Nana Lourdes was missing!
Oh well. She would have her revenge on the rest of the lying witches first and after that she would go after that old hag and her granddaughter.
As soon as the conference began, a hush fell on the crowd and one of the Council of Seven began to speak.
Nabradia nodded at one of the Archstone Warriors and he signaled his men stationed downstairs to seal the doors. There were no windows, of course.
The witches didn’t notice anything amiss as the heavy doors of the conference room slid closed. Nabradia’s spell made them impenetrable which meant once it was sealed it could not be opened again.
Then Nabradia nodded again just as another member of the Council of Seven began to speak.
The men shot their arrows, each man aiming at the bulb that had been assigned to him. The bulb shattered and their powdery green contents spilled out over the occupants of the conference room.
There were panicked shrieks.
“It’s Natura Poison. Run!” someone yelled.
A great pandemonium began as witches tried to bolt towards the doors. But before they could move more than a few steps, the poison began to take effect.
Several of them disappeared and were replaced by squeaking mice. Nabradia stood in her vantage point high above the witches and close to the ceiling. She was convulsed with laughter as she watched old friends and acquaintances turn into mice. She was protected by the Carusa spell she had cast about herself and her men were protected because they weren’t witches.
In less than ten minutes the entire hall was littered with mice, all dead and stretched. Narbradia continued to watch and laugh until not one mouse was left alive. Not one witch was standing; they had all died as they deserved. They would go to Alabad as mice and slave away the rest of eternity as nothing but field mice.
Her laughter ricocheted off the ceiling as she threw back her head and bellowed with laughter.
One-by-one the Archstone warriors slid away. They had pleased their queen today which meant they could expect some good food tonight. It also meant she wouldn’t kill anyone. They were in a hurry to take the message home to their wives and kids.
An hour later, Nabradia’s laughter had died down and she was staring pensively at the dead bodies of the witches. She had killed every last witch on earth. It was a fitting vengeance. They had all fought her when she tried to bring Alabad and thanks to them her only daughter was dead.
Well, they were all at Alabad now, thanks to her. But they wouldn’t get the dignity of dead witches; they would be treated as witches who died in disgrace and be treated as field mice.
The great doors of the conference hall slid open and Nabradia’s heart flew into her throat. She hadn’t unlocked the doors!
She turned to look and her anger roared as Nana Lourdes floated through the open doors on a broomstick, stopping just inside the doors as she beheld the dead mice.
She looked up straight at Nabradia, “Well? Are you going to come down, girl, or are you going to keep hiding there? I thought you wanted that crystal?”
Nabradia floated down with a swoop, careful to keep her feet from touching the floor which was still covered in dead mice and Natura Poison.
Nana floated out of the hall and landed on the ground. Nabradia met her outside, her eyes snapping with hatred and anger. Nana cackled at her.
“You could try to kill me right now with that wand of yours. But if you do, the crystal will be lost forever because I’m the only one who knows where it is.”
“Tell me,” Nabradia commanded.
“I’ll show you,” Nana countered.
The steely determination in the old woman’s eyes made Nabradia grit her teeth and she bounced off into the air with her broomstick. She suspended in the air, clearly waiting, her nose in the air as she waited to leave.
Nana looked up at her and then rose with her own broomstick, “We must have a covenant though.”
Nabradia gave her a haughty look.
“You’ll leave my family alone; and yes, I mean the entirety of the Weirna shifters.”
Nabradia’s lips curled in a sneer. She had broken covenants all her life. What was one more? “Done.”
Nana’s wise eyes gleamed, “Not so fast. We’re making it on our broomsticks. The day you cease to keep it, you lose all your powers and become mortal.”
Nabradia winced. She was already under a curse to lose all her powers by the 267th Solstice and become human. It was why she desperately wanted the Tiara of Oistrophe; well, that and to bring Alcacia back to earth. If she violated this covenant and died human, she would be as worse off as the witches who had died as mice.
With an angry growl, she capitulated, “Done.”
Nana’s triumphant grin made Nabradia want to choke the life out of the old woman.
They flew for what seemed like hours and then they landed in the place Nana intended. No one had known the secret of this place except the Council of Seven and she was the last of them.
She turned to Nabradia, “The crystal is hidden inside the caves.”
Nabradia shot her a glance, “You better not be lying to me.”
Nana grinned, “You can feel the power if you’re truly a witch.”
Nabradia could feel the magic of the crystal and the Tiara in her hand began to shake, eager to be joined to the crystal. She glared at Nana, “I won’t enter until you do.”
Nana led the way. As soon as they entered, howls and strange sounds rent the air. The began to rotate in fierce, quick motions and Nabradia felt a spurt of fear. She looked at Nana. The woman looked peaceful and resigned.
The Tiara jerked out of her hand and jerked to where the crystal was before matching itself to the crystal. A white blinding light filled the room and Nabradia’s head began to ache so bad that blood streamed from her nostrils.
Was she dying?
“What is this place?” Nabradia demanded.
“The Dragon’s Pit. The one place in all the world with enough power to destroy the Tiara of Oistrophe along with its indestructible crystal. The one place that kills any witch who steps into it including the Queen of the Salem Mice.”
Nana cackled. Nabradia glared, but she was too weak to move. Plus, her feet seemed to be stuck to the floor of the cave. She looked down and saw what looked like Dragon tongue curved around her ankles.
She was dying then. She was being killed by this old witch! Hatred rose like bile, threatening to choke of her last oxygen. Nana was also bleeding through her nose.
“You’re dying too,” she reminded Nana.
“Indeed. And in doing so, I’m taking you with me and ridding the world of pure evil,” Nana told her.
The witch’s cackle was the last sound Nabradia heard before the darkness overtook her and she succumbed to the clutches of death and Alabad.
When the noise had died down, the Silent Watcher in the bushes emerged. A wicked grin split her face as she considered what she had observed. So, Nabradia was dead? Well, it was time she introduced the world to a more fearsome enemy. She was a shifter but she could be anyone she wanted to be rather than just shifting into animal form.
She held her hands in front of her, clasped as though in prayer and squeezed tight. Her morphing took place silently and soon in her place stood once more, Nabradia, queen of the Salem witches. She pursed her lips and giggled.
This was going to be fun!
21.
“Congrats, Jack. I can’t believe you completed your house,” Megan said, looking around.
Jack was strangely detached as he watched her. She looked good in the house. Something about her natural grace and style made her seem right at
home in his grandparents’ home, with its antique furniture and ancient style.
Her sincere appreciation of his efforts warmed his heart. The house had been ready for over a week but no one had come to see it because they were all so devastated about Nana Lourdes.
Jeanine had cried until the doctors worried about her blood pressure shooting up. They had had to sedate her with a mild sedative which wouldn’t harm her baby. Joshua had been so obviously heartbroken he had lost a great deal of weight and become quiet and withdrawn.
Megan flew into his arms and gave him a tight hug. Jack buried his nose in her hair, inhaling her sweet strength and telling himself not to cry. A lot had happened in a single week.
After Nabradia had killed the entire witches’ convention and gone missing with Nana, Palma had returned to tell them all that had happened. She hadn’t been part of the conference; fear of Nabradia had made her hide away in some shrubs beside the hall and she had witnessed all that had happened. She told them Nana had led Nabradia to her death, sacrificing herself to destroy the crystal so no witch could ever rule humans with it again.
He loved Megan, he thought now. But he could never be with her. He was too dangerous.
Her hands entwined tighter around his neck and he felt the familiar swell of his arousal. He only had to be in the same room as her and he was hard as a rock. He knew now that she came from a family of shifters and look what that had done to her. She’d carried their secret around for years, feeling responsible for protecting them until she put her life on pause and became painfully withdrawn.
What would happen to her if she had to spend a lifetime with him?
“I love you, Jack,” Megan whispered again.
His heart warmed at the words. He kissed the side of her neck and then resolutely he unwrapped her arms from around his neck. She stepped back, a hopeful light in her eyes and he felt a pang of guilt that he had not been able to confess his love for her.
But what would have been the point? He was leaving. He had stayed until Nabradia was defeated. There was nothing else for him to do here.
Except love Megan, his mind supplied.
He ignored it. His gaze was determined as he told her, “I’m leaving, Megan.”
The words fell into the sudden silence of the room and tears sprang into her beautiful blue eyes.
“I- I- Um, listen, I have to go back to California, you know. We’ve gotten things under control over here and I have to leave.”
She shook her head as though she didn’t understand a word he was saying. “Why?”
He realized in a flash that he didn’t know why. It was just the way his life ran. He couldn’t stay for her or for anyone else. He had never been able to stay with any woman and it didn’t matter how wonderful she was.
“I should tell you about Ericka. She was beautiful, gorgeous and I loved her. She took all I had to offer and then some. When the chips were down, I realized she only wanted my money.”
“Jeanine already hinted at this Ericka person.”
“Then I should also tell you that I’m a shifter.”
She shrugged, “Yeah, I kind of caught on when I saw you change form when you were with Shepsirr.”
It was his turn to stare. “You were there?”
She nodded.
“You don’t seem shocked,” he observed.
“I’ve known about my parents being shifters for years and they adopted enough shifter kids for me to know there were many others out there. I was surprised when I saw you turn but then it all made sense that I would fall for a shifter. You remind me of dad; strong, loving, protective.”
He was watching her. “When did you find out?”
Megan shrugged, “I was also out jogging that morning. I was going to call out to you as I caught up, but then I saw you with Shepsirr. I hung back to give you guys some time because I felt he didn’t like me and my presence would put him off. I thought you were very good with him. Then I saw you turn and it clicked.”
He shook his head on a laugh. Just like he had realized her parents were shifters.
“My entire family is made up of shifters,” he told her.
“Mine too,” she smiled at him.
His grin faded. “I don’t do permanence, Megan. It’s too dangerous. Besides I saw what keeping your parents’ secret for many years did to you, Megan.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks, “What are you saying Jack? I love you. I can—”
“Shh,” he interrupted, covering her lips with his hands. His golden gaze blazed into hers as he finally said the words she had longed to hear. “I love you too, Megan, with all my heart.”
Relief blazed through her heart and more tears fell, this time, happy tears.
Then he added, “But sometimes, love is not enough. I’m sorry.”
Her whole world crashed.
“Megan, you shouldn’t work so hard,” Jeanine called.
Megan sighed. Ever since Jeanine had discovered that she was pregnant, Jeanine had turned into a pest, conveniently forgetting her own pregnancy.
It had been six weeks since Jack had walked out on her and in all that time, she had been avoiding his family. She didn’t want them to know she was pregnant and use it to coerce Jack back to town.
Her pride would never survive that.
But Jeanine had known. Megan had quit her job at AniVets to focus fully on her animal shelter and Jeanine had taken to coming by every day to assist her. She knew Jeanine needed the extra work to help her keep her mind off the loss of her Nana and she had been more than happy to have an extra pair of hands and a friendly face around.
She had sworn Jeanine to secrecy about her pregnancy and it was a measure of their now-firm friendship that Jeanine had not told a soul, not even Bo.
She looked around at the little greenhouse she had set up in a corner of her animal shelter facility. It wasn’t needed for the animals, it was for her. Something about connecting with Mother Earth and nature calmed her senses a lot. Even when she had morning sickness, she came in here and inhaled the wet earth and felt a whole lot better. It didn’t matter that her staff thought she was weird.
“Okay Jeanine. Neither should you,” Megan called.
“Touché,” Jeanine said with a chuckle.
Megan was happy with her work even though her heart suffered an inevitable pang whenever she thought of Jack.
His parents had reconciled with him and moved back into town at his insistence and were now ensconced in the house he had renovated. Obviously they had come to terms with him being a shifter for a while but Jack hadn’t been quite ready to forgive them or believe them. Now they had found their way back to each other they were so eager to be with him.
She’d been avoiding them though, because they could tell on her if they noticed her pregnancy. Jack had left Weirna and her on his own volition. She wanted him more than she wanted oxygen but she was damned if she would get him back to herself using her pregnancy.
Her mother was beside herself with excitement waiting for the kid to be born, her dad was proud as a peacock, if his new strutting was any indication. Tyler and Rick and Shepsirr constantly inundated her with calls, wondering when they could speak to Jack.
But she was losing weight. She ate as much as she could for the sake of her child, but she was heartsick with heartbreak.
Her hands tightened on a pair of clippers she had been using to clip blossoms. She missed Jack so much she wished she could see him every minute. She had never known it was possible to love someone so much and mourn their loss with all one’s being.
But he had left of his own volition. It hurt recalling how she had swallowed her pride and begged and pleaded. But all he had done was carry her upstairs to his own room and made slow passionate love to her. She had understood then why it had felt as though he was saying goodbye the other times he made love to her. He had been saying goodbye.
Her hands knotted into fists of anger as she thought about how he had walked away without a backward glance. S
he knew their child had been conceived that day, she thought her hand going to her stomach.
She would love it and shield it from suffering the same rejection she suffered when her biological parents let her go. She would tell it that its father was dead. And he was, he was dead to her, she vowed silently, sniffing as tears coursed down her cheek.
A snowy white handkerchief appeared in front of her face and she took it with a watery chuckle, “I don’t need to explain pregnancy hormones to you, Jeanine.”
A shocked intake of breath made her falter and then spin around. Her eyes rounded in surprise; it was Jack not Jeanine!
“The hell?” she bit out.
His eyes were focused on her stomach and when he raised them to hers, they seemed dazed. “You’re pregnant! Our kid!”
“No, my kid!!! What are you doing here?”
“Megan this is amazing,” he whispered reaching out a hand to lay it against her stomach.
Megan took a hasty step backwards. She didn’t want him to touch her because she was afraid that if he did she would fall back under his spell like some zombie.
He held up both hands, “Easy. I won’t try to touch you again. Listen, I know you detest me and you’re not wrong. I detest me too.”
“Good. Glad we established that. Now get off my property.”
He went down on his knees and took the wind right out her sail. She spied Jeanine in a corner of the greenhouse, a shear forgotten in her hands as she watched them.
“I love you, Megan.”
“It’s not enough, remember?”
“I was an idiot. I cannot live without you. I would have turned right around the moment I got to California but I needed to sell off my house and my stuff so I could move back fully. I’ve been sending my things home gradually for three weeks now.”
Megan flashed a look at Jeanine, “You never said.”
“You never let me get past the word Jack,” Jeanine shrugged.
It was true; she’d shut Jeanine down every time she tried to mention him.
Her traitorous heart did handstands. She quieted it ruthlessly.