How Torie Got Her Hex Back: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel: Singing Falls Witches Book Three

by M. J. Caan

  “She can’t,” Max said. “There is something here that seems to keep her trapped in her animal form; we were as well, until just a bit ago. Could be the contact she had with the golem, the mud he’s made from short-circuited my brain, so who knows what it’s doing to her. This whole place is crawling with dark magic. Spirit magic.”

  Torie knew he meant it was power generated by Opal. She turned her attention to Jasmin and walked over to stand with her. Jasmin had tears flowing down her cheeks and the set of her jaw told Torie she didn’t trust herself enough to speak.

  “Why are you doing this? Both of you,” demanded Torie.

  “Why do you think?” answered the hunter. “Revenge? Money? Hatred? All of the above, maybe?”

  “For what?” asked Torie. “She hasn’t even been in your life at all. And the two of you haven’t spoken for the better part of two decades!” she yelled, addressing each of them. “Why would you show up now to do this?”

  “Look at you,” said Opal. “Standing up for her. And I’m sure were things reversed she would be there defending you as well. You know she thinks of you as her family.”

  Torie swallowed hard. “She is my family.”

  “Yeah, well we are her actual family; her blood,” said the hunter. “And yet she walked away from us. Threw us out like so much trash. She destroyed my life, so it’s only fitting that I get to destroy hers.”

  Torie shook her head in dismay. Her words were failing her and her mind raced, trying desperately to come up with something—anything—that could help them.

  “Sharice,” said Jasmin. Her voice was raw with emotion.

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?” said the hunter.

  “I said Sharice. It was the name I gave you. The last word I would whisper to myself at night before I fell asleep. I would say your name and pray that you were in a good place.”

  The hunter didn’t speak. Instead, she glared at her mother, and Torie could almost feel the anger radiating off her in waves.

  “How dare you,” she said.

  She leapt into the air and crashed to a landing, feet away from Jasmin and Torie. The two of them nearly tripped trying to backpedal away from her. Fists at her sides, she stalked to where they stood, standing inches from them.

  “A good place, Jasmin? Really, that’s what you wished for me? You never once considered that maybe a good place would have been with you? Someone who would love me and take care of me?” The menace in her voice grew with each question.

  “Never once did I not love you,” said Jasmin.

  “Then wouldn’t you think I should have been with the person that loved me the most?” said the hunter, her voice bitter and strained.

  “Love is not the same as being able to take care of someone. Because I loved you, I did what I did. I had no idea what kind of life I would have and, at the time, I honestly did what I thought was best for you.”

  She turned away from the hunter and raised her face to her sister.

  “And you. We knew one another. We are sisters.”

  “No,” said Opal, “we were sisters. But you walked away from me. Made me feel so guilty for what happened to our mother. You never once apologized.”

  “I had nothing to apologize for. You ran away, Opal! If anything, I’m not the one that should be saying I’m sorry.”

  By now, Jasmin’s face was wet with tears, and anger made her voice shake.

  “You don’t know what I’ve been through,” said Opal. “What we’ve been through; your daughter and me. You cast us both out.”

  “Boo hoo,” said Torie. “So you’ve had it rough when you were younger. Welcome to life. You think Jasmin’s life was a waltz in the park?”

  “Quiet,” said the hunter, raising her hand to strike Torie.

  “I would not do that,” said Jasmin. Her voice was firm and her eyes flashed power that stopped the hunter in her tracks.

  She lowered her arm and faced Jasmin.

  “Again, you side against your own flesh and blood. You would choose a stranger over your own daughter.”

  “I would choose someone who has shown me time and time again that she has my back over someone who tried to stab it,” Jasmin replied, turning to look once again at her sister. “How did this even happen? How did the two of you meet?”

  “After a while, all of the foster families I was placed with kept returning me to the state, so I finally decided I was old enough to run off and take care of myself,” started the hunter. She stopped when she saw the look on Jasmin’s face. “What? You didn’t know I was a ward of the state?”

  “No, that’s not possible. I left you with…”

  “You dropped me outside a fire department.”

  “No, I read that you were placed with a loving family.”

  The hunter laughed. “Interesting thing happens when a loving family realizes their daughter is different. When I started showing an affinity for aggression and getting into fights at an early age, coupled with my emerging hunter’s instincts and abilities; well, let’s just say that a loving family will always choose the safety of their natural born children over a stray they picked up. You know what happens when a family dog bites one of the kids, right? Well, I was that dog. In every foster home I was placed in.

  “Until I had enough and took off on my own. I don’t know why, but I wanted to find my real family…family that, oh I don’t know, maybe could tell me where I came from and what I was. All I had to go on was the locket you left me. One night, I beat up a police officer and made him run the picture of you through a nationwide database, looking for hits.

  “It came back with Aunt Opal. The two of you looked enough alike that she was a close match. I tracked her down in New Orleans…and the rest is history.”

  “Imagine my surprise at finding out I had a blood niece,” said Opal. “One that looked so much like you when you were her age. I was even more surprised to find out she was a hunter. Do you know how rare those are?” She chuckled. “Of course you don’t. But I did. Not only is she a hunter, but she will still grow into her magic one day. She is going to be something the world has never seen before.

  “And to think, you should have been a part of that.”

  “But instead, I almost never was,” said the hunter. “You don’t know how many times I thought about taking my own life before I found Opal. I told her that. I told her everything. And you know what? She listened to me. She helped me to control the anger; to focus my rage. To harness my strength.”

  “And let me guess, she sold you out to the highest bidder. Turned you into a mercenary,” said Jasmin.

  “We weren’t all fortunate enough to stumble into a town where witches prosper from old money,” said Opal.

  “And that’s all you want, isn’t it?” said Torie. “Money.”

  “Not just money,” said Opal. “We intend to hurt someone who hurt us. Her more than me. She was your daughter, Jasmin. What you did to her shows me what you really think of family.”

  “You’re both crazy and angry at the wrong person,” said Torie. “You’ve focused on anger so long it’s made you blind. Bad memories are designed to fade for a reason; but the two of you kept picking at them so they couldn’t heal over. And look where it’s brought you.”

  “You know, I am going to enjoy hurting you,” said the hunter. “You think you’re so much better than us, her flesh and blood.” She reached inside her leather jacket and withdrew a gleaming silver blade. “I am going to deliver Max, alive, to my employer, but unfortunately, Elric tried to escape and, well, I had to put him down. But I’m sure my employer will be happy with one werewolf to skin.”

  She stepped close to Torie, searching the woman’s eyes for signs of fear.

  “Then I’m going to gut you, in front of Mommy Dearest, because I know how much that will hurt her.”

  “And me?” said Jasmin. “No special plans for me?”

  “Oh, we are saving the best for last,” said the hunter. “See, we are going to use you to r
aid all the money from the witch’s trust fund here in Singing Falls. That money will set Aunt Opal and I up for life. And then, when I come into my power, I’m coming back to this little hell mouth wannabe, and things are going to change in a big way.”

  Jasmin laughed. “You know I’m not helping you do that. It will have to be over my dead body.”

  Now it was Opal who laughed. “Well, more like un-dead body. See, you forget. Spirits are my specialty. And Metrian here has been looking for a new physical body to take for a spin.” At the mention of his name, the black spirit materialized next to Opal, winding his form around hers until he was glaring at them from behind her shoulder.

  “Sounds like you have it all figured out,” said Jasmin. “But you forgot one little thing.”

  “What’s that, Mommy?” said the hunter, sarcasm dripping from her tongue.

  “Torie isn’t the only one who has my back.”

  Jasmin had been facing the hunter and her sister with her hands behind her back. As they spoke, her fingers wove a complex web of magic that had snaked along the floor behind her, making its way to the cages that held Max and Elric. It climbed the front until it reached the sealed bolts that fastened and locked the doors.

  With the flick of her finger, she commanded the bolts to release, opening the doors. As one, the two werewolves leapt from the cage, roaring their defiance.

  23

  The two men shifted to their full wolf form as they exited their cages. They howled in defiance as they moved in a blur. Jaws wide, fangs dripping with saliva, they leapt for everyone in sight.

  Jasmin pushed Torie behind her and threw up a shield to protect them as Max pounced on the two of them, his claws throwing off sparks as they raked the blue barrier that protected the women. Jasmin concentrated, causing the barrier to pulse just enough to throw Max off them to crash into the base of the bleachers.

  Elric paused, throwing back his head to emit a long, hellish howl that raised the hair on the back of Torie’s neck. Then, he leapt at the hunter, catching her by surprise.

  He shifted in mid-air, changing from wolf into his hybrid form. He landed a blow with his right fist across her head, temporarily stunning her. Rather than press his advantage, he grabbed her silver knife in his left hand and somersaulted backwards off her.

  Smoke rose from the fist where he clenched the blade, and a disturbing sizzling sound could be heard throughout the space. He didn’t wince or drop the weapon; instead, he turned and sprinted for the table where the golem lay.

  “Stop him!” screamed Opal, realizing what his objective was.

  The men raised their guns and began to squeeze off shots at the werewolf. One hit him in the leg, knocking him backward. He roared, rolling to regain his footing and continued towards the golem. Before another shot could be taken, Max had gained the lofted perch the gunmen claimed. With fang and claw, he set into them, ignoring their screams of terror.

  Opal raised a hand and fired a bolt of white light at Elric. It struck him, only to glance off without slowing his progress. Her jaw dropped as she glanced at Jasmin. Her sister smiled, her eyes glowing with blue power.

  The same power that glinted around Elric as Opal’s magic had slid off him.

  “She’s shielding him!” Opal yelled to her niece. “Stop him now!”

  The hunter made her way to her feet and started sprinting after Elric, her form barely recognizable as she crossed the space even quicker than he had. His head start was just enough to let him jump onto the stretcher and straddle the golem. He raised the knife above his head and plunged it downward, aiming for the golem’s chest.

  The tip of the blade never made contact, stopping inches from the creature’s body.

  The hunter had Elric’s arm in her grasp and pitted her own strength against his, keeping her weapon from piercing the golem. With a heave and an exertion of strength that was beyond even Elric’s, she threw the werewolf off the stretcher, ripping the blade away from him at the same time.

  In a single, fluid motion, she scooped up the blade and leapt over the stretcher to land atop the wolf. She raised her blade and drove it downward. This time, there was no interference and the silver knife hissed as it cleaved through the werewolf’s flesh, tearing bone and sinew.

  Elric’s roar was a soul-wrenching cross between a howl and a scream.

  He slowly reached up, impotently clawing for the hunter’s face. She shrugged his feeble gesture away and laughed as he slowly reverted to his human form. The long, silver blade made a disgusting, wet, sucking sound as she withdrew it from his chest and turned her attention to Jasmin and Torie.

  Torie dropped to her knees and screamed, her eyes focused on the bloody form of her lover. She didn’t notice the hunter as she walked up to them and slowly pushed her blade into the glowing barrier that protected her and Jasmin. The point of the blade hissed as it made contact with Jasmin’s magic; and ever so slowly, it began to penetrate the shield.

  Jasmin grunted, shifting her focus to stop the attack. She pulled the barrier away from them, concentrating it into a single shield that separated her from the hunter’s knife.

  Opal saw her opening and raised both hands, her eyes growing white as her lips moved soundlessly; invoking an ancient enchantment that only the spirits could hear.

  Responding to its mistress’s commands, the wraithlike form of Metrian slithered down the wall and settled into the still unmoving form of the golem.

  The mud creature flexed in response, before slowing rising and stepping off the stretcher.

  Torie was numb. She felt like the breath had been knocked out of her and tears blurred her vision. The sudden grip around the back of her neck was so tight that she could not even let out a gasp as the golem lifted her into the air.

  “Torie!” screamed Jasmin. She attempted to turn to help her friend but instantly felt the hunter’s blade progress deeper into her shield. She concentrated, redoubling her efforts to keep the knife from reaching her.

  She nearly buckled under the tremendous power of the hunter as beads of sweat broke out across her forehead. She knew it was only a matter of time before the hunter broke through. As her mind raced for solutions, a small blur at her feet raced across the floor.

  Fionna leapt onto the hunter’s legs and scrambled up her body at dizzying speed. Biting, scratching, and clawing at every inch of the hunter’s body, until she reached her head. There, Fionna dug her claws into the hunter’s afro puffs, biting savagely into her scalp and face.

  The hunter screamed, dropping the knife and grabbing at her own head, trying in vain to grasp the squirrel shifter.

  Jasmin took advantage of the distraction to unleash a bolt of magic into her daughter, slamming her across the space to crash heavily onto the floor. Fionna was a blur as tiny sprays of blood flew into the air where she made contact with the hunter’s face.

  Immediately Jasmin turned to look for Torie.

  The golem held her high above his head in a one-handed choke. Torie held onto his arm, flailing like a rag doll as she tried hopelessly to break free.

  Jasmin attacked, using the full force of her magic against the creature, but to no avail. The sizzling bolt that struck him glanced off, slicing to the side. She stepped closer, raising her hand to attack again; this time, the golem stammered under her attack, but did not relinquish his grip on Torie’s neck.

  Jasmin launched herself at her foe, landing on his back as she tried to physically tear him free from Torie. She could see Torie starting to struggle less, her eyes becoming cloudy as her body jerked spasmodically.

  Jasmin cried out, calling for anyone to help her as she struggled against a man made of clay that was about to kill her best friend.

  Her voice sounded far away to Torie’s ears, and it was fading fast. Her vision was foggy; silver lights began to flash in her periphery, and she felt herself losing consciousness.

  This was it; at least the golem hadn’t snapped her neck. While that would have been fast and painless, it would
not have let her get one last blurry look at someone who had grown to mean so much to her. It wouldn’t have let the happy memories of her time in Singing Falls play out in her mind.

  She felt herself slump in the golem’s grip.

  Her last memories began to fade; her mother’s house, fresh baked scones at Jim’s Bakery, fresh morning coffee.

  Nights in Elric’s arms.

  Her son, that she would not get to see become the man he was meant to be.

  Shawn. Her son.

  The thought sparked something in her. Something that wasn’t quite ready to disappear out of the world just yet. She began to struggle again, only this time she felt something. Something in her pocket burning to be free.

  She reached down and felt something small and hard.

  It was the white gem Jasmin had given her days ago.

  Her arm felt as heavy as lead as she forced herself to dig into her jeans and fish it out. She acted out of instinct, reaching up and slamming it into the golem’s forehead.

  There was a flash of white as pure magic blasted into the creature, making him drop her to the ground as it clasped both hands to its torn forehead, staggering backwards.

  But Torie wasn’t finished.

  She held the gem in her fist, feeling the power it contained. The magic flowed into her and deep in the recesses of her soul, she recognized its touch.

  The gem flared again, this time her own long-dormant power flowing into it to mix with the latent energy contained within. She struck out, plunging her fist into the golem, tearing a black hole in him. She felt the divinity object that was buried within his side and grabbed it, holding both it and the white gem in her fist.

  Her eyes flared with power as she poured her will into the two stones. They ignited and erupted from within, tearing through the golem and burning his body to cinder.

  Metrian shrieked in agony as he sought to flee the crumbling body, but Torie had plans for the spirit that didn’t include escape. She formed a red orb around the smoky creature, trapping it within. Then, her mouth moving slowly, she called on her power to burn the creature, purging it from the world of man and sending its tattered remains back to the dark ether from which it had escaped.