by Robbie Cox
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Tansy stared out the window just as Laci Valentine walked by, not even looking at the storefront. Only it wasn’t Laci, but someone who resembled her. Tansy took a deep breath, her hands on her hips. Hope had made her see the younger woman, hope that Laci had changed her mind. Tansy sighed. She knew the younger woman had been through a lot, and none of it of her choosing. Life had thrust Laci into one nightmare after another, costing her friends, ripping her family from her for eight years or more, almost killing her as well. Yet, life had also given her back some important things as well, like her family again, magical powers, and new friends, another family of sorts—the Cauldron Coven. At least, Tansy thought Laci believed them family, but then why would she step away from them like she did?
“I found those statues we thought were missing,” Wanda said as she entered the main store, a cardboard box in her hands. “I swear, I think Famallumi moved them in his quest for more books. You would think a Lore Master Apprentice would have enough knowledge of his own he didn’t need ours.”
“Just put them on the counter, and I’ll put them on the shelves,” Tansy said, still not turning around. She blew out a sad breath. “I saw a woman who looked like Laci walk by, and for just a moment, I thought she had returned to us. I miss her.” She shook her head as she turned around, moving over to the glass counter at the front of the store. “I know she’s hurting, but she needs us.” She placed her hands on the counter. “We need her,” she said with a sigh.
Wanda set the box on the counter and then placed her hand on Tansy’s back, her lips down-turned in a frown. “We do need her; you’re right.” She nodded, walking around the counter and opening the lid to the box. “And she needs us.” Wanda shrugged as she pushed her wire-rimmed glasses further up on her nose. “She just needs time to realize it herself.” She glanced up at Tansy, a soft smile decorating her lips. “She’ll get there. You just need to be patient.” She nodded once. “And in the meantime, focus on the ones still here.”
Tansy reached into the box, pulling out a wrapped figurine. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but we’re down to just three members of our little coven.” She took a deep breath, the pain of everything she lost weighing her down, a tight grip around her heart since the Cauldron Coven imploded. “Alex and Rose are gone, and Laci and Kayla no longer want to be a part of our little group. That just leaves myself, you, and Jayden, not even half of what our little group was.” She shook her head as she started to unwrap the figurine. “Our little coven is in ruins.”
Wanda reached over, placing a hand on Tansy’s wrist and forcing the owner of The Murky Cauldron to stop what she did and look at her. “If you remember, the coven started with just the two of us. The Goddess will bring to us those who need us when they need us.” She smiled. “Be patient. Everything in due time.”
Tansy nodded, forcing herself to smile as she pulled her hand out from under the other woman’s hand and finished unwrapping the figurine. She knew Wanda meant well, and what she said was actually the truth, but Tansy worked hard to make the Cauldron Coven the tight-knit group of witches it became.
Became, that is, until it started falling apart and witches started dying and being possessed by demons. It wouldn’t surprise her if Jayden Valentine left the coven, as well. After all, her sister wanted nothing to do with them; why should she?
Tansy walked over to the shelf, placing the figurine on the glass, positioning it just right to attract a customer’s attention. She stared at the small statue, worried about the future of her coven and those who no longer had a coven to call their own. “Have you heard from Kayla?” she asked. “Since the memorial for Alex, I mean.” She turned and looked at Wanda, her lips pressed together into a frown. “His loss devastated her. She blamed herself, and I worry that...”
“Tansy, stop,” Wanda said as she placed more figurines on the counter. She paused, her hands on the glass countertop as she stared over at the owner of the New Age store. “Kayla needs time. Give her a few days, and then we’ll go check on her. You can’t blame yourself for anything that’s happened. That’s on Baltabek, not you. Kayla is a strong young woman; she’ll make it.” She stood straighter, her lips pressed into a determined line. “We’ll make sure she does.”
Tansy gave the older woman a curt nod, not really believing her, but not wanting to argue the point any further. Tansy knew this wasn’t like her. She was normally a force of positivity, encouraging the others to focus on the wonderful things around them, rather than the things they couldn’t control. She sighed as she placed the figurine on the glass shelf. I need to take more of my own advice.
As Tansy reached for another figurine, the front door of the store whooshed open, slamming against the wall as a massive wind rustled the fliers pinned to the corkboard announcing meetings, concerts, and plays at the local theater. Shirts rustled on the racks as several figurines toppled over, a couple falling to the floor and shattering. Even wind chimes jingled as the breeze wrecked havoc in the store.
Wanda screamed as Tansy rushed to catch as many of the figurines as she could save. The wind circled the store once, a soft moaning mixed into the chaos, and then left just as fast and forceful as it entered, the door slamming shut as the last of the wind exited.
Tansy stood there, staring, a figurine of a faerie sitting on a rose clutched in her hands, her mouth partly open. “What the hell was that?”
Wanda stood behind the counter, both hands gripping the edge. Tansy saw the woman swallow as she shook her head, her graying hair a mess of wisps around her ears and over her forehead. Fear etched her features, her emerald eyes wide as she gawked at the door.
Tansy turned her gaze back to the door. “I could have sworn I heard…a voice?” She turned back to Wanda, feeling her brows furrow together. “Did you hear a voice?”
Wanda shrugged, her eyes still wide. “I’m not sure what I heard,” she said. “It sounded like someone groaning, sort of a death rattle of some kind.” She shrugged. “Could have just been the rush of the wind. It sounds like that sometimes against my house as it blows through the elephant ears by the front window.”
Tansy turned back to the door, her brows pinched together. Wanda could have been right, but somehow, with everything they had been through recently, Tansy just wasn’t sure it was that simple. Besides, how did wind open a door? “I think I’ll get that doorknob checked. Apparently, it’s a little looser than I realized.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The dybbuk whipped through the downtown area, searching for a place, a body to call her own. Yet, everything around, every person around, was full of life, just like those women in that store she just left. However, the dybbuk could smell what it needed, knew it was close, but where? Damn it, where? The spirit needed to find the person to be close to death before too much time passed and the person actually died, or the body would be useless for what the dybbuk needed.
Rushing over the buildings, flipping awnings and flags in its wake, the dybbuk followed the scent of near-death on the air ahead of her, followed the aroma of a soul almost extinguished and left to despair. Finally, the dybbuk found the flesh she needed, found the hopeless body left among the detritus of the city streets. The almost-lifeless eyes stared up at the late-afternoon sun, the pale skin starting to turn a faded blue, her lips thin and dry, slightly parted, blond hair a mess. She looked perfect, but was it too good to be true? The dybbuk whooshed around the woman’s body, tugging her shirt and skirt up, slipping under the fabric as it washed over her body, examining, making sure. There were some needle marks in the crook of her arm, but otherwise, the woman’s flesh was strong enough for what the dybbuk needed.
And the woman was weak! Perfect for possession.
The woman groaned, dribble leaking from the corner of her mouth as she fell slightly to the side due to the dybbuk’s wind. “What?” she asked, but then her glassy eyes forgot what she had even questioned a second ago.
The dybbuk flew up into the air, str
aight over the body for about ten feet, and then did a one-hundred-eighty degree turn, aiming straight for the woman’s mouth. The spirit filled the woman, mouth, throat, lungs, chest, stomach, her entire body, flooding her until…
The woman’s eyes went wide as she gasped in a lungful of air, her body jerking upward into a sitting position as she clutched her chest, feeling the heart pound, making her chest thump. She began to fight, to push the dybbuk from taking her over. Regina struggled to push the owner of the body—Sherri Rockford—to the back of her own mind, threatening to kill her outright if she didn’t surrender. Sherri whimpered and then huddled in on herself, slithering back to the darkest recesses of her mind to hide.
With a deep breath, Regina stood, brushing off the street’s grime from her skirt as she looked around for her missing sandal. Nowhere. Oh, well. She would find a new pair of shoes. Surely this body had a home. She closed her eyes, reaching into the woman’s memories, a slow smile pushing up her cheeks. Yes, a home. Not a fancy home, but still, Regina had a place to go and clothes to replace the ones she wore. She would go there, change, and then prepare for what she needed to do next, which was to return to that New Age store and meet those witches.
Nine
Laci woke refreshed and ready to start a new day as the aroma of her mother’s waffles filled the house. Knowing her mother, the matriarch of the Valentine family had probably been up since the sun cracked the horizon, getting a head start on her day. Laci had only been staying with her mother and Jayden for a couple of weeks, but already she felt as if she was truly home. She closed her eyes, savoring the feel of the fresh sheets under her, the soft pillow her head pressed down on as she stretched her arms out, not touching anyone else. God, she had missed sleeping in clean sheets and a quiet room and… She took a deep breath. She missed sleeping in her own bed. While it was true she had her own bed at Rhychard’s, the house was rarely ever quiet, the faerie realm using it almost like a way station for the next adventure. She missed Rhychard, but she didn’t miss the chaos of his life. This was her life now, and she would soak in every moment.
“You going to lie there all day, or are you going to get your lazy ass up?” Jayden asked as she walked into Laci’s room, not even bothering to knock.
“Shouldn’t you be in class or something?” Laci asked with a groan. “I thought you had a class at nine in the morning?”
Jayden dropped on the bed, making her sister’s body bounce slightly on the mattress. “It’s Friday. There are no classes on Friday. Don’t ask why; you might jinx the entire thing. Mom says breakfast is almost ready, so you better get up if you want any.” She patted her sister’s arm as she stood. “I can still out-eat you.” She laughed as she left the room.
Laci just stared as her sister walked out, the other positive of being back in her mother’s house—her sister. Jayden had been the sole reason Laci ran away eight years ago, to keep Jayden out of Jerome Williams’s clutches. When her sister walked into The Murky Cauldron that day a few weeks back, it had almost been the best and worst day of Laci’s life. While seeing her sister thrilled her, Jayden wanted nothing to do with Laci, believing the worst of her. Tansy had told her to give Jayden time, that she would come around, and eventually, she did, but not after a gut-wrenching conversation.
Laci threw the covers off, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and pushing herself to her feet. If Jayden didn’t have school, perhaps the two of them could hang out together, find something to do that had nothing to do with magic or witches or the faerie realm. Something normal. Right now, Laci craved normal.
Slipping on some sweatpants and a T-shirt, she joined the others in the kitchen just as her mother put the food on the table. Laci walked over to the counter to pour herself some coffee, one hand over her mouth as a yawn stretched her lips.
Jayden laughed as she slid into one of the chairs around the table, her coffee clutched in both hands. “Ten hours of sleep not enough?” she asked, shaking her head. “I assumed you wouldn’t even need coffee these days with as much sleep as you’re getting.”
Laci finished filling her cup and then joined her sister at the table. “Coffee is like a food group, just like Mom’s fajitas. There’s no way I can go without, no matter how much sleep I get.” Sitting down, she set her mug on the table and then stretched, her arms going up and then out as she arched her back, feeling stiff muscles loosen up from where they had been bent while she slept. “I swear, I think I could sleep another ten hours. Or ten days.” She shook her head as she wrapped her hands around her coffee cup again. “I don’t know why I feel so exhausted.”
“It’s only been a few days since that blowout with Baltabek,” Jayden said, shrugging. “I’m sure it took more out of you than you imagined, especially with the magic you expended. Your body needs time to recoup, and as much as I know you’re going to hate me for saying it, you not doing your magic exercises slows your healing down even more. You should at least be meditating and drawing on the elements around you to recover your strength.” Laci opened her mouth to tell her sister she had already done some of those exercises, but her sister held up a hand, holding her off, not giving her a chance. “I’m not telling you to return to the coven or even start doing magic again, so chill your jets. All I’m saying is, in the quietness of our backyard, you could make your own little sanctuary where you could commune with nature and allow the earth to return your energy. It’s an option.”
Laci nodded as she lifted her cup to her lips, taking a burning sip of her coffee. Jayden might be right, but Laci wasn’t sure she wanted to tempt the fates by practicing magic on her own, especially after Nazareth’s visit at the library and then Duncan Underwood, the ghost at the creek. The faerie realm or paranormal world or whatever the hell they called it seemed hellbent on keeping her involved in its chaos. She wanted nothing to do with it, however. Laci wanted to do things like normal people: sleep, eat right, and exercise. She didn’t want magic to rule her life.
Her mother slid a plate in front of her, smiling at her eldest. “You sleep all you want,” Laci’s mother said. “Don’t let your sister make you do anything you don’t want to do.” She placed another plate in front of Jayden. “Our bodies know when they need rest. Just listen to your body.”
Laci picked up her fork and started in on breakfast. “My body is telling me I’m starving. This looks delicious.” She glanced at her mother as she walked back over to the counter to get her own plate. “I have definitely missed your cooking,” Laci said as her mother returned to the table with her own plate. “I did the cooking at Rhychard’s, and I’m afraid, I only know the basics, like bacon.”
“Hey, bacon is vital for survival,” Jayden said as she scooped a forkful of her food into her mouth. She waved her fork at her sister. “If you can cook that, you’re doing great when the zombies take over.”
Laci rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to inform her sister how ridiculous that sounded; zombies weren’t real after all, but then she stopped. With everything she saw over the past couple of months, zombies could very well be real. At this point in her life, Laci believed anything was quite possible and refused to discount anything as false ever again. Instead, she just shrugged and shoved a forkful of food into her mouth.
“And what do you two have planned today” their mother asked, scooping up her own forkful of food. “It’s a pretty day out. Might want to hit the beach or something like that.”
Holding her coffee cup with both hands, Laci glanced out the kitchen window. Her mother was right; the day was beautiful. Laci hadn’t been to the beach in...well, since she was a sophomore in high school. The idea of walking along the beach, sand between her toes, brightened her mood even more. “You know, I think...”
A dog barked or rather, roared. The sound was a deep guttural growl that felt as if it shook the house. Kree, Rhychard’s coshey, an elven hound, was the largest dog-like animal Laci knew, not that she would ever tell him to his muzzle he was dog-like. Kree? she sent, knowing
the coshey would hear her with his telepathic abilities. Nothing. What the hell made that noise?
Laci turned to the others, but Jayden just shrugged. “Maybe the neighbors got a dog,” she suggested.
“Who knows?” their mother asked. “There’s always something new in this neighborhood.” She shifted slightly in her chair. “Now, back to what you were saying. You think the beach is a good idea?” Maria Valentine sipped her coffee as she watched her daughter.
Laci opened her mouth to answer, but again, a deep growl erupted from the backyard, and this time, it sounded as if it came from their own backyard and not a neighbor’s. Cocking her head to the side, Laci lifted herself out of the chair, moving toward the kitchen window. Whatever made the noise must be enormous to reach them inside the house the way it did. Laci couldn’t imagine an animal that size running loose or even being owned by someone.
Reaching out, she moved the curtain to the side, peering out into the backyard. Her mouth fell open, and she felt her eyes go wide. “Oh. My God.” She turned to the others. “Did we get a dog?”
The others slid out of their seats, joining her at the window. “Holy shit,” Jayden said as she stared out the window. :Is that really a dog? It’s frickin’ huge.”
“Watch your mouth,” their mother scolded as she stood frozen beside them.
“Who do you think he belongs to?” A massive dog sat on his back haunches, tongue lolling to the side as he stared at the house, stared at the three women in the window to be more precise. His dark eyes never blinked as he sat there, his chest moving slightly with his heavy panting. His body was almost half the size of Kree, who himself was the size of a giant black bear. “Should we call animal control?”
The dog barked again, and the sound vibrated the window, sending a shiver down Laci’s back. And then another bark echoed through the air, only this time the sound came from the front of the house, snapping everyone’s attention around.
