by Lola Kidd
“Shit,” Oswald said, standing up and wincing at the pain. “We’re gonna need to cover this up before any humans come sniffing around.”
“I’ll call my dad,” Cross said. “Rory, you need to leave. Now.”
Rory really wanted to leave, but she couldn’t. Where there were once four snarling wolves, now lay four dead men. She hadn’t been sure what the spell did, but she hadn’t expected this.
“I thought they would get knocked out or transported somewhere,” she whispered.
Cross walked to her and put his hands on her shoulders. She wasn’t even looking at him. Her eyes were trained on the dead men. He shook her gently. “I know. It’s okay. I don’t know why they’re here, but they were after you. They were going to kill us. You saved our lives. Thank you. But please, please, go home now. I don’t know if their brothers are close and I don’t want you getting hurt. Your mom’s coven will protect you.”
Rory blinked a few times and finally was able to tear her eyes away from the carnage she had created. “Who were they?”
“Get your hands off my daughter!”
Cross fell backwards as if he’d been punched in the gut. Rory turned fast, her eyes wide with terror.
“Mom, stop! It wasn’t them!”
Magda was standing at the apex of a line formed by her coven sisters. Her eyes were completely white as power surged through her body. She was channeling every ounce of magic her body had. Rory knew that if she didn’t talk fast, her mother would kill Cross before another minute had passed.
“Mom! Please. It wasn’t them. Look!” Rory pointed to the dead men.
Cross was able to move his hands and stood quickly. He backed up to stand next to Oswald, who was crouching low and growling, ready to turn any second.
“What is this? Speak quickly, wolf. Your life hangs in the balance.”
Rory shivered with fear. Magda’s voice didn’t even sound like her own. She had never seen her mother like this. Then again, her only child’s life had never been put in danger.
“We don’t mean you or yours any harm, witch,” Cross said. “We saw a lady in trouble and came to her aid. Nothing more.”
“Is this true?” Magda asked Rory.
“Yes! These wolves were attacking me…well, they were wolves.” Rory forced herself not to look at the bodies again.
“I find it too much of a coincidence that the minute you start showing an interest in my daughter is the minute she gets attacked by wolves,” Magda told Cross.
Rory gasped. Did she have any secrets from her mother?
“Coincidence. A pretty damn lucky one, I’d say. If we hadn’t been at your restaurant tonight, we wouldn’t have been here to help your daughter,” Cross pointed out.
“If you hadn’t been sniffing around, my daughter wouldn’t have been in danger.”
“Maybe,” Cross said with a shrug, “but we can’t be sure. Though I seriously doubt that’s why they attacked Aurora. These aren’t my brothers. We only followed them because they were in our territory without permission.”
Magda tilted her head. “These wolves aren’t Moon Brothers? Who are they, then?”
The other witches exchanged nervous glances.
“Sun Riders.” Cross spat the name.
“Sun and Moon. I’m guessing that would make them your rivals.”
“Sure would.”
“I’ve never heard of that pack before, but I’m taking you at your word, wolf,” Magda said.
“Good. If you don’t mind, we’ll take care of the bodies,” Cross said.
“Do what you want. We have no use for these animal carcasses,” Magda said. “Aurora, you’ll come back with us. Deanne will bring your moped to Elena’s.”
Aurora nodded. She looked over her shoulder at the bodies and Cross one last time. Magda wrapped her arms around her daughter the minute she was in reach.
“Are you okay?” she asked, eyes still pure white.
Rory nodded. “For the most part. I killed them, Mom.”
“I know. You didn’t have a choice,” Magda assured her. “I wish we could have gotten here sooner so I could have done it for you.”
“Why would they be after me?”
“I have no idea,” Magda said, leading them out of the woods.
“We’ll need to consult the books,” Jamie said. “The name Sun Riders sounds familiar, but I need to be sure. If I’m right, this makes even less sense.”
Jamie Winn was the oldest member of the Cleary Coven and their historian. Those two facts were a coincidence. Jamie worked at the library and had always been fascinated with history. It was only natural for her to be the most knowledgeable in the coven.
“Why is that?”
“The Sun Riders,” Jamie said with a sigh, “are wolves who work with vampires. Now, I could be completely wrong on this as I’ve heard of this particular pack before, but Sun usually denotes vampire lapdogs. It’s an easy way for the packs to recognize each other and let the vamps in the area know who to go to if they need something.”
Magda opened the door to Elena’s beautiful Tudor home. “Check it out. That would make no sense.”
Jamie nodded and went to the bookcases in the sitting room. While the rare books were at Jamie’s house, Elena owned an extensive collection of books on the supernatural. These were passed down to each head witch of the Cleary Coven. Looking at the shelves, Rory frowned.
“Where’s Elena?” she asked. In all the commotion she hadn’t realized that Elena was missing. It was highly unusual. She was the most powerful witch in the entire town and head of the coven. If there were werewolves attacking a young witch in her area, she would be the first on the scene.
Nobody answered. Aurora looked at the coven. “Hello? Where’s Elena? Is it her son? Has something happened?”
Sara burst into tears and Ursula went to comfort her.
“It’s okay, dear,” Ursula said, rubbing her back.
“Seriously, Sarbear, I don’t feel anything anymore,” Elena said.
Rory jumped and grabbed the wall next to her. Elena was in the room, but she wasn’t. The figure that had appeared next to Sara looked exactly like Elena, but you could almost see through it. Almost. Rory knew a ghost when she saw one and the head of the Cleary Coven had somehow passed to the other realm.
Three
“No!” Rory said, shaking her head and beginning to cry. “No! What happened?!”
“Oh, Aurora.” Elena drifted toward Rory and wrapped her in a hug. “I died. I didn’t want you to see me like this, but when your message came, everyone left in a rush. I had to know you were alright before leaving.”
“Oh, no.” Sara sobbed even louder into Ursula’s shoulder. Of all the people to offer comfort, Ursula was the last Rory would have picked. The gruff retired accountant was a nice woman, but she was an analytical person and not very emotional. Seeing her hugging the stay-at-home mom deeply frightened Rory.
“How did you die?” she asked, wiping her eyes and shaking her head. This was important. Wolves that were possibly working for vampires had attacked her. They would have killed the two members of the local wolf pack if Rory hadn’t acted. Elena was the most powerful witch in Cleary and only 33 years old. There was a very slight chance her death had been of natural causes.
“I was murdered,” Elena said, confirming Rory’s suspicions. “I’m not sure who or what did it, but I think it was a fairy. I stayed so I would be able to warn my ladies that trouble is on the way.”
“I think it’s best we move this meeting to the sitting room,” Deanne said. Rory joined her mother on the love seat. Jamie had already spread a dozen books on the floor and was pulling down more.
“Now, please start again. I think we’ll be able to listen now,” Ursula said. The other witches nodded in agreement. The most painful and shocking part was over. Now they needed information to prepare themselves while they continued to grieve for their fallen sister.
“It has been many decades since the Cleary Co
ven has faced a threat. Luckily, we’ve kept ourselves strong and saved ancient spells and ingredients for potions we hoped we’d never need,” Elena began. “I’m afraid now is the time to call upon all that dark knowledge.”
Sara had stopped crying, but was still leaning on Ursula. Magda had a steely expression on her face.
“I was in my home today when a force accosted me,” Elena continued. “I fought it as hard as I could, but it was too powerful. I recognized the magic that was being used against me. It was neither a witch nor a wizard. I knew it was a fairy and not one of this land, either. I think it was a member of the Lost Tribe.”
Jamie dropped the book she was looking through. “Impossible!”
Elena nodded. “I didn’t want to believe it either, but there is no other fairy in existence that can wield that kind of magic.”
Rory had heard of the Lost Tribe before. It was more of a campfire story than an actual event to her. A few hundred years earlier, witches and other supernatural creatures were being persecuted across the world. After sustaining heavy losses, the supernatural creatures were ready to call for an all-out war on humans. Before a decision could be made, it was found out that one tribe of fairies was behind the entire thing.
They were influencing humans to do their dirty work. When it came out, the witches of the world pooled their power and simultaneously sent every member of the tribe into another dimension. It wasn’t an easy spell to cast and required the power of every wizard and witch in the world. It all sounded so nonsensical that Elena and the other witch children didn’t pay it much notice. It wasn’t a real threat to them.
“How would you know it’s a Lost fairy if you’ve never encountered one before?” asked Ursula.
“That’s exactly how I knew. It was something I had never experienced. The magic does match the description from the old books, though. It’s the best lead I have to offer.”
“How is that supposed to help us?” Deanne asked. “How are we going to combat a dark fairy?”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Ursula added. “Why would a dark fairy come after you?”
Elena shook her head. “I can’t answer that question. But you need to protect yourselves. Cast all the protection spells you can manage and make a batch of Jinx potion to spill around all of your homes and places of work.”
“Those fairies will walk right through any spells we can cast,” Magda said grimly. “That also doesn’t explain why those wolves attacked Rory.”
“They weren’t Moon Brothers?” Elena asked, looking at Rory.
“No,” Rory said, suddenly feeling very tired. “They were Sun Riders. Jamie thinks they work for vampires.”
“What?!” Elena went all the way transparent with the sudden emotional outburst.
“I don’t think,” Jamie said from behind the couch. “I’m sure of it now. You can come look at the texts if you like, but the Sun Riders are working for vampires.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Elena said, unable to get her emotions under control. “Why would a vampire send a wolf to attack a witch at night?”
“It sounds incredibly stupid when you say it, but it’s what happened,” Jamie said. “I think the vampires don’t want to be associated with this attack. Had those two Moon Brothers not spotted them, we would have assumed Aurora was attacked by the Moon Brothers Club.”
“But why her? Why me? This doesn’t make any sense!” Elena was beginning to disappear.
“Elena, calm down,” Jamie ordered. “We can’t see you, and that will make it very difficult to keep communicating with you.”
“Don’t worry, Lena,” Sara said. “We’ll figure this out together.”
The voice of her best friend must have had a calming effect, because Elena appeared again, standing next to the couch Sara was sitting on.
“I’ll try my best,” Elena said. “I think we’re going to have to call in reinforcements. I won’t be able to stay much longer. I don’t want to get stuck in this form.”
Sara stifled a sob. She and the rest of the coven had known that this moment would come. Elena needed to cross over.
“For what it’s worth, I think Jamie would make a magnificent new head witch,” Elena said. “I’m going to miss you all. I wish I could stay and fight with you, but it isn’t meant to be. I love you all.”
Elena slowly disappeared again. Rory felt magic wash over her as Elena performed her last act as head witch of the Cleary Coven. She used the last of her power to cast a protection spell on the members of her coven. That would be their last line of defense against whatever was about to come for them.
***
George “Grizzly” Hemlock surveyed the scene and spat. “You said the witch did this?”
His son nodded. “One second I was about to get torn apart by these three and the next they were dead. I felt the magic that hit them. She also had a protection spell up just before she cast the death curse.”
“Pretty good for a baby witch,” Charlie Bone, the Moon Brothers omega, said.
“Why did you come out here, again?” Grizzly asked Cross.
“Me and Ozzy were headed home and saw the Sun Riders so we followed them. I was going to call you to send more guys, but shit hit the fan too quickly,” Cross told him again. He could see that his son was beginning to get irritated by the repeated telling of the story, but Grizzly didn’t care. There was no reason for Sun Riders to be in his territory, especially not to chase some baby witch.
“Do you know who this witch is?” Charlie asked Cross and Ozzy.
“She’s the daughter of one of the Cleary Coven witches,” Ozzy told his father.
The alpha and omega of the Moon Brothers pack looked at each other. The two had been friends for decades longer than their sons had even been alive. Even though Grizzly was the alpha, the two had picked Cleary as the Moon Brothers’ new home together. The pack was a motorcycle club to the human world and they had gotten more than their fair share of attention from the law. Being a pack of more than fifteen men also garnered attention from other supernatural creatures. Other wolf packs were always sniffing around trying to see if the Moon Brothers had females and vampires never liked a gathering of wolves close to their den.
Cleary was the perfect spot for the pack to settle. It was a smaller town with few supernatural creatures even near it. The only other supes in town were the members of the coven. The witches had effectively scared off any supes who might come around by killing the alpha and omega of a drug-running wolf pack. That was more than alright by Grizzly. His crew were riders, but they were not drug or sex-traffic runners. They sold guns, legally. They were looking to add a few new pups to the pack and Cleary was everything they were looking for in a home.
“We’ve got a real problem here,” Grizzly told his son. “You two are full members of the pack now. I’m not mincing words here, but that witch is going to be dead before the week is up.”
The look his son tried and failed to keep off his face told Grizzly what he had already suspected. “You like this girl, but we can’t protect her. This is nothing our pack needs to get involved with.”
“Bullshit,” Cross said defiantly. “If you’re too old to fight, fine by me, but I’m not about to let some fucking vampire lapdogs ride into my town. They can try to kill Rory, but they’ll have to go through me first.”
Inside, Grizzly’s heart filled with pride. His son just might be alpha one day after all. Still, he was the alpha of the Moon Brothers and that kind of disrespect couldn’t stand. He grabbed his son by the throat with one hand, lifted him off the ground, and slammed him back against a tree.
“With old age comes wisdom,” he told Cross. “Are you willing to risk the lives of all your brothers for a nice piece of ass?”
Grizzly let Cross fall to the ground. Cross brushed himself off and stood tall.
“This isn’t about some hot piece of ass. This is about protecting our territory. None of the pack is going to want to sit back and let them waltz in he
re. I can’t even believe an alpha would say something like that.”
“Once they have what they’re looking for, they will leave,” Grizzly said. “It’s not our job to protect the witches. From the looks of it, the little witch was doing just fine without you.”
Cross shook his head. “I told you she isn’t a member of the Coven. She didn’t do this on purpose. Who knows if she’ll be able to do it again? It isn’t right and you know it. Coward.”
Ozzy put his hand on his friend’s arm. “We should head back to the house, Cross.”
Cross shook the hand off. “Fuck that. You think these Sun Riders are just going to take the witch and leave? First, why the fuck do they even want a witch? Second, you think the coven is just going to lie down and let them take her? The minute they think wolves are a threat, they will kill every wolf in this town if they need to. Remember what they did to the last pack.”
Charlie lit a cigarette and took a long drag. Nobody said anything. Cross had said his part and was breathing hard. He and Ozzy were still bloodied and bruised from their fight with the Sun Riders. They would heal by morning, but it served as a visceral reminder for Grizzly of what was possible if the Moon Brothers got involved in the coming conflict.
In his younger days, Grizzly wouldn’t have hesitated to fight against intruding wolves. But he wasn’t young anymore and the situation was a lot more complicated. He didn’t particularly care why the Riders wanted the witch, but he knew it was likely for their vampire masters. The coven would fight and it would get nasty if the Riders didn’t give up quickly. The Cleary witches were powerful enough to put up a fight against vampires. That was not something Grizzly wanted any part of.
“Get these bodies cleaned up,” Grizzly told Ozzy and Cross finally. “You two helped make the mess, you can clean it up.”
He turned to Charlie. “Start making a list of towns that would be a good fit for us.”
Charlie nodded. “Same specifications as the last time?”
“Yeah. Even better if you can find one without any supes in town at all.”
