Third Charm: A Reverse Harem Tale (Lovin' the Coven Book 3)

by Jacquelyn Faye

  I held up the stone again and read the words off the paper. "Mil math domoth, mal brek veshnir."

  The stone split in my hand and floated away on its own, I didn't have to chuck it. One half drifted over to my left, the other my right. They settled on both edges before drifting back together, dragging the wound in the earth closed, the concrete, grass, park, and fountain in the center all healing itself magically. It was pretty fucking cool to watch. An inch apart, the two stones slammed together in a clap of thunder and it dropped to the ground, the only one left in our world. The portal had been sealed.

  I walked over and slowly picked the stone up off the ground, sticking it in my pocket as a memento of my friend.

  Well done, Daughter.

  Chapter 18

  I winced as I looked at the jagged wounds across Josie's stomach. One of the demons had almost succeeded in gutting her completely. Candace had done as much as she could, but it was angry, wet, and still open in places. I wasn't sure if I had enough power to heal her, but I was going to fucking try.

  Putting both my hands over the wounds, I tried to avoid putting any pressure on it. She was already in enough pain and her breathing was ragged and shallow. She was lying on the hood of an abandoned car and Candace was hovering above her, perched on the metal next to her. Candace had been crying, and her cheeks were puffed and swollen under her dark eyes.

  I sent in a tendril of power, probing the wound. She had a tear in her intestines, a puncture in her stomach, and a scratch on her liver. Shuddering at the amount of damage she had taken, I knew I had to hurry. She'd lost a lot of blood. Too much.

  "Dún," I said softly, pouring in a good amount of the tiny pool of power I'd amassed since dealing with the demon. I concentrated on the tear in her intestine first. I'd almost had it completely closed when I had to pour more power into her. Without a doubt, I knew I wouldn't have enough to save her.

  "This isn't going to work. I'm depleted."

  My heart broke when Candace began sobbing and Josie's eyes opened. She gave me a small, sad smile and nodded, knowing I'd done my best.

  "Love you both," she whispered and closed her eyes.

  "No! Goddess fucking damn it, Josephina! Don't you fucking die!"

  I tried healing her again, I just didn't have anything left. But I didn't care. There was still magic in me. It was the magic that made me what I was and who I was. It was my core. Without a second thought I reached inside and felt my heart slow as I pulled the magic from its place inside my soul. The world around me started to fade until five sets of hands yanked me away from my best friend.

  "No! What are you doing! I could save her!"

  It was my grandmother who cracked me across the face. That sobered me the fuck up. "Nana?"

  "You think she would want you to trade your life for hers, Child? Are you insane?"

  "No," I said in surrender.

  "Do not give up, but do not throw your life away. No matter how admirable your motives." She sighed. "Make that two lives."

  I looked over at Yuki. She was deathly pale and leaning against the vehicle, panting. "Oh, my goddess. I didn't even think. Yuki! I'm sorry."

  She nodded. "I could have stopped you. I was ready, too."

  Candace jumped down from her perch and hugged my vampire.

  Chief shot me the dirtiest, angriest, glare I think I'd ever seen. Worse than he usually looked at me when I did something stupid. "Maybe this will work." He rubbed his hands together and touched them to my chest, just below my neck. I felt the trickle of warmth as he poured power into me. I didn't even know it was possible, but he was doing it.

  "How?"

  "I don't know, either. I used to have to juice Rebecca up before major rituals. She didn't have enough power on her own. It's how I knew I could do it."

  There was a minute flare of jealousy, but I wanted to kiss him more for handing me the solution to saving my friend. None of the other witches in our coven could share their power or were adept at healing. Candace had about as much healing power as Josie. My amped up abilities were leagues beyond that. If there was more time, they could have taken turns healing Josie, but she needed it all now. I was her only shot.

  "Start healing, I'll keep feeding you. If you kill yourself, I'll never forgive you, though," he said sternly.

  Nodding, I put my hands back on Josie and sent out my tendril of power, letting it finish closing the wound on her intestine. I moved on to the stomach, which was much easier. The liver healed even quicker. Her insides were fine, but there was still the wound to deal with and her blood loss.

  Her flesh began to wiggle and become very warm under my hands. The demon's claws had been filthy, and I sent enough power into her to kill any foreign organisms, too. Healed and sterilized, I let go of her stomach through the gaping wound in her shirt. I used my hand to wipe away some of the blood and gore, sighing when I saw her whole again.

  "Josie?" Candace asked softly, with no response.

  "Any ideas on how to cure blood loss?" I asked the crowd.

  "She needs a transfusion," Candace answered. "You could stimulate her blood production with magic, but it's still slow.

  I could give her some of my blood.

  That didn't work out so good the last time, I answered Yuki.

  I think that was more you than anything. You did the same damn thing to a demon. I don't think I have to worry about your witch friend stealing me from you.

  I'll leave it to you, then. It's your call. I'd never ask you to do anything like that, ever.

  You just won't stop me, though, she said with a wink.

  "Nope," I said aloud and gave her a smile.

  She nodded once, and got a little closer, ripping her wrist open with her fangs and dribbling some of her blood into Josie's mouth before pressing it against her lips.

  Immediately, Josie began suckling on Yuki's wrist, making little slurpy noises and moaning. I knew exactly what she was feeling. Vampire blood was like… Yeah. Wow.

  Her eyes opened and she saw everyone watching the show. She let go with a little wet pop, glancing up at Yuki in embarrassment. "Woah."

  "Welcome back," Yuki said and wiped her arm off on her T-shirt.

  "Chief? What the hell is going on?" A silky-smooth voice asked softly behind us.

  Everybody turned around to look at the forgotten Marcus.

  "Where'd you go?"

  "One of those things grabbed me and dragged me down an alley. Then there was explosions and rain and light. The thing screeched and disappeared above me."

  I looked around and we were alone on the street. There wasn't an imp or anything even remotely demon-like left. They were all gone.

  "What the fuck? Where'd they all go?"

  "They disappeared when you activated the sealing stone, Child. They went back to where they belonged." Nana gave me a proud smile.

  "So even if Dar had wanted to stay, he couldn't have?"

  "Unless he belonged here."

  "I kinda felt like he did."

  "But he didn't."

  "Thanks, Nana."

  She nodded.

  I let my eyes drift over all my friends, old and new, in thanks. We'd done it. "Can we go home now? I need a shower and a nap."

  "The hellmouth is closed. The three of us shut that shit down!" Jimmy smiled at Chief and me, but then got a very serious look on his face.

  "What?" I was almost afraid to ask.

  "You, me, and Chief. I thought our first threesome was going to be way more fun.

  "That's disgusting. There is something wrong with you," Chief said and shook his head.

  "What?" Jimmy asked innocently. "Our other threesome was fun. You should have been there.

  "Wait. What?"

  "Jimmy!" I growled his name.

  Chief turned to me and blinked once, and then stood there mouth agape.

  Jimmy whistled and said, "Oops," before skipping happily back to the car.

  "Fucker," I said at his retreating back.

  Epi
logue

  I reached down and picked the cup of coffee off the teal tabletop, taking a welcoming sip. I let its warmth spread over my tongue and fill up my happiness tanks. Everybody worries about finding the perfect mate, having a successful career, and buying the perfect house, all without realizing that true happiness came in a mug and was black. Those cream and sugar people didn't want true happiness, just a watered-down sweetened version of it.

  "Ahhh. That's the good shit."

  "Language, Granddaughter," Nana said as she slid into the booth across from me.

  "Sorry, Nana."

  She sighed and took a sip of the cooling tea she had ordered before getting dragged into Herb's office to sign her life away. I smiled when she set the new key ring holding her shiny house key on the table in front of her. The mountain of paperwork, she shoved into a purse that shouldn't have been able to hold a decent sized wallet. Leave it to Nana to have a bag of holding.

  "I almost forgot." She reached back in and pulled out three heavy, leather tomes and set them in front of me. "Those are for you."

  "The grimoires?"

  She nodded. "I suggest you start reading them thoroughly."

  "What? Why?"

  "Sweetie, that hellmouth? That was just the beginning. The Lady has many wonderful things in store for you. Unfortunately, you are going to have to work very hard for them. But have no fear, your Nana is here."

  "Gosh. I don't know what to say."

  "Your gratitude is very underwhelming. Come on! Get a little excited. The Blackwell witches are going to liven this little town up!"

  Of course, she said it loudly enough for every person in the diner to hear her. The woman had no filter. I sighed in resignation. We were pretty much out of the closet, anyway. There was no hiding what the hell had happened in the center of town. People told tales of being rescued by magic wielding heroes, and there was no going back. Everybody knew, and they were remaining oddly quiet about it. It was almost…magic.

  So, we were outed and well on the way to becoming a suburb of Ashville. The start of the dream I had for the little town I, and Nana, called home.

  The door chimed behind me and I smiled as a familiar hand ran over my shoulder.

  "Hey, Chief," I said without looking.

  "How'd you know it was me?" He sat down next to me.

  "Your touch. I'd know it anywhere." I leaned over and gave him a sweet kiss. "That and your aftershave. I could smell you coming up the street."

  He narrowed his eyes and didn't reply. Reaching down to have another sip of coffee, I saw him pull his shirt to his nose and sniff. I smiled and sipped.

  It was good to have things back to normal between him and me. He'd been kind of grouchy for like three hours after Jimmy mentioned the threesome. I just told him exactly what happened and that it was Jason. And then I made it up to Chief, all by my lonesome. It would be hard for anybody to be grouchy after what I did for him. I might even be back to walking normal, sometime tomorrow.

  The door chimed again, and Jimmy plopped down next to Nana. Yuki slid an empty chair up to the end of the table. They'd walked down to the bookstore to check on how things were going.

  "The place looks amazing," Jimmy said, surprised. "Freddie said they should be done by next weekend."

  "Woah."

  "Yeah. You should see Jason running around the place, trying to figure out where everything is going to go. I told him to make sure he plans on having a huge erotica section."

  "Of course you did."

  "Plenty of dirty magazines, too."

  "Jimmy. You realize you're sitting next to my grandmother, right?"

  "Sorry, Cathleen. Do you have any preference for dirty magazines? I can run back over and tell Jason to order them."

  "No. I use the internet like a normal person."

  Only Jimmy could have gotten away with saying something so outrageously outlandish to my nana and survived. And only my Nana could have come up with a retort to leave Jimmy stunned. But then he grinned and wiggled his eyebrows and I wanted to beat him with a shoe. I sighed and took another sip of coffee while Chief and Yuki started laughing.

  "Where's Josie?" Yuki scooted a little closer to the table.

  "She and Candace went across the street to Abe's. She wanted to find a bigger bed for the two of them. Candace kicked her in the eye last night."

  "Honeymoon over?" Chief asked with a chuckle.

  I shook my head. Those two were inseparable. It had even gotten worse since Josie got hurt. Candace loved her from day one, but almost losing her made her dote on her a little more. I even had to fetch my own wine in the evenings. I was happy.

  "We have more people coming in tonight?"

  I nodded at Chief. "Yep. Josie's mom should be in town any minute. She called Josie from the border a couple hours ago. It's Shea I feel sorry for. She practically forced him to ride with her. At least they're sharing the moving van expense."

  "I saw Alista and her brother, earlier. That's about half the new members coming in. They're moving faster than I expected."

  "Not Trevon. He's in Africa collecting herbs for the Apothecary. He won't be here for a few weeks. Once he's here, we'll hold the ritual. That's not something I want to do more than once."

  "Gotcha. Still can't get used to the idea of an apothecary."

  "Telling you. The town is going to love it. Just be careful what you drink around some of the single ladies stalking you."

  "Yeah," he said with a shudder.

  I raised my mug in a toast. "To brighter days and happiness."

  "Aye," they gave a cheer.

  "So, Derek will be a full-fledged member of the Coven of the First Moon soon," Jimmy said with a strange lilt in his voice.

  "Oh, boy," I said and rolled my eyes, running my fingers over the third charm from our sealing ritual. I'd turned it into a necklace and wore it all the time now. Just as a reminder.

  "Dar," I whispered his name with a smile.

  A red light flared from the necklace and everyone at the table shielded their eyes. With a small crack of thunder, there was a six-hundred-pound hellhound lying broken and battered on the table, wounds smoking and giving off a sulfurous stench. The table flipped sideways under his weight, throwing Yuki to the floor as Dar slid on top of her.

  "Dar!" I practically pushed Chief out of the way to get to him.

  He wearily lifted his head off Yuki, shimmered, and turned into a German Shepherd.

  Need power.

  I put my hands on him and let it flow between us, watching in fascination as his wounds closed before my eyes.

  "Are you okay?"

  Now.

  What happened?

  The bond didn't sever, and I found myself being pummeled by the denizens of Gehenna. When you sealed the rift, they were practically dumped on me. Let's just say they weren't too happy. I'd been lying there for days when the ground opened up beneath me and dumped me in your lap.

  Oh, sweetie. I'm sorry. I hugged his neck. But I'm glad you're back.

  Me, too. I guess you're stuck with me.

  Oh, no! I teased.

  "Hey, Dot. I'm sorry, but only service animals are allowed in the diner."

  "Sorry, Marge."

  I led him out as soon as he could stand. We had just made it out the front door when he growled and spun, leaping up in the air in front of me and catching the arrow meant for my chest between his jaws, snapping it cleanly in half.

  "Where the hell did that come from?"

  The elf in the tree at the end of the street…

  Bonus Scene

  Read on for a bonus scene from Dennis's point of view in Chapter 12.

  In the Hot Seat

  Oh, she's there?

  I sighed and stared at Alista's text for a minute before answering. Even if I lied to her, which I didn't want to do, it would be the wrong answer. So, I typed, Yes. She and Jimmy are on the couch watching TV.

  Where R U?

  I'm sure she was just making conversation, but it f
elt like an inquisition. Probably because I felt guilty in my heart. I was in my room, but that's not where I wanted to be. I wanted to be out in the living room, just to be around Dot. It made me feel like a pig. Don't get me wrong, Alista was amazing, when she wasn't accusing me of being in love with our high priestess, but Dot was…Dot. Alista wasn't wrong. I'd fallen in love with her when she smiled at me the first time all of us had gone for drinks. When I'd delivered her furniture, I wanted to ask her out. Helping out at the firehouse, I'd wanted to ask her to marry me.

  The problem was my best friend.

  He loved her more than I did. I'd backed away from Dot to give him a chance and he hadn't been afraid to take it. I hated him for that. Not that he took it, but that the man lived without absolutely any fear. We'd been friends since we were kids and he'd been like that since the day he was born. Fearless, amazing, a burning light to match Dot's inferno. They belonged together. I belonged…on the sidelines. Watching. Like I always did.

  In my bedroom, folding clothes. Where else would I be? I typed a little sadly. Setting down my phone, I picked up my stack of boxers and put it in the top drawer of my dresser.

  My phone dinged. I walked back over and picked it up, afraid to look at it. Sorry, that probably sounded bitchy. Still sad and sorry, and I just miss you.

  Miss you, too. That wasn't a lie, either. Having a best friend like Jimmy and a wallflower personality made it difficult for me to meet women. I'd heard the phrase, "Who's your friend," too many times to count. Alista was one of the few women who had been instantly attracted by both my body and my quiet, safe personality. Don't get me wrong, I'd had plenty of women show interest, but my shyness was almost like a disease. Some women found it cute, others found it weak. Alista had seemed like the perfect fit.

  I should have stayed away from Dot completely. It's not like I would ever ditch Alista to pursue Dot. I knew she was way out of my league. She was the sun. I was a piece of space junk that would burn up if I got too close to her.