The Trinity Sisters

by Kristin Coley

  “Yes, but if Quinn can teleport all of us back to Mitchell’s stronghold with you keeping us invisible by illusion, we can take them by surprise.” Patrick explained confidently.

  “What good with that do us though? As soon as we took them out, they would know and maintaining the illusion for any length of time would be draining.” Sinclair was apologetic as she shot holes in his plan.

  “Unless we have a distraction.” Kincaid interjected. “I don’t know, like if maybe Mitchell reappeared in their midst with a captured Quinn?”

  “Do we have the strength to take down the coven though?” Sinclair looked between us. “The illusion isn’t a big deal but there are far more of them then us and they’re versed in dark magic.”

  “You are so much more powerful than you realize.” Gloria stepped forward and placed her hand on my shoulder. “The three of you control magic. It existed inside of you, held back for years, but it belongs to you. It will answer your call. Any one of you could wipe out that entire coven if you wished. You just need to draw on the magic.”

  “She’s right. Together…” Patrick shook his head. “It’s truly unimaginable what you will be capable of. We’ve seen glimpses, but not your true capability. Not yet. You will only get stronger as you work together.”

  “Then we do it.” I sighed and Dane tightened his arm. “But this time we do it together. All of us.” My stomach chose that moment to rumble so I added, “After we eat.”

  Garvin pulled out the backpack stuffed with food and passed it around. I noticed another backpack on the ground next to him and gestured to it. He smiled and dragged it over.

  “I was hoping someone would ask.” He clapped his hands in excitement and opened the bag. Inside were dozens of weapons, knives, guns, a grenade if I wasn’t mistaken, and a few other things I was unfamiliar with. “I brought back up.”

  “How did you get? Is that a?” Luke questioned, his eyes wide as he took in the bag’s contents. “You know what, forget I asked, and forget I ever saw that bag.” He said, leaning back.

  “This is for those of us that don’t have magical powers.” Garvin wiggled his fingers and his nose in true Bewitched fashion. “We’ll blow them to kingdom come if that’s what it takes.”

  “You couldn’t have mentioned this before?” I asked in irritation. Hell, I would have just teleported into Mitchell’s stronghold and thrown grenades.

  “I forgot.” He retorted defensively, hunching his shoulders. “There was a lot going on if you recall. You didn’t even want me to come.” He accused and I shrugged.

  “Regardless, we have them and they’ll come in handy.” Vincent spoke up from behind. “None of us wants to use dark magic and if we go in there we’ll need to be prepared to face it. Kincaid’s idea is good. Quinn, you remember the layout well enough to teleport us in and surround them?”

  I nodded knowing it shouldn’t be too difficult. I opened another sandwich as they discussed plans. I needed my strength after my fight with Mitchell. As I lifted my sandwich I noticed the blood speckled on my hand, and my stomach churned. It wasn’t my blood.

  “You want me to heal your arms?” Dane asked softly, distracting me. I shook my head. The blisters would lend credence to Sinclair’s illusion, plus we’d be in the midst of a dozen or more witches who wanted to kill me. I’d just wind up with more burns. I tore my sandwich in half and handed it to him. He settled next to me and munched on it.

  “You alright?” He finally asked, glancing at my downturned head.

  “You slipped the switchblade in my pocket.” It wasn’t a question and he didn’t bother answering. We both knew he had. I’d recognized it the second I saw it. He’d given it to me years earlier. I’d cherished it until the day we fought and I’d thrown it at him as I told him, “No one could hurt me as much as you have.”

  “It belongs to you.” He replied quietly.

  “You kept it.”

  “Of course. I hoped I’d have the chance to give it back to you one day.” He said with a soft smile. He opened his fist to reveal it resting on his palm, cleaned of Mitchell’s blood. “I was worried about you, even with Milo….” He shook his head. “The risk you were taking…I wanted you to have a way of protecting yourself without magic.” He snorted. “Without magic. We’ve spent most of our lives without magic and now we rely on it almost exclusively. I needed you to have another option.”

  “You were right.”

  “Aren’t I always?” He smirked and I punched his shoulder before swiping the switchblade out of his hand. “Ouch.” He rubbed his shoulder. “Did you use magic to put a little extra oomph in that punch?”

  “No,” I shook my head at his foolishness, knowing damn well I hadn’t hurt him. My fingers traced over the smooth knife, careful of the trigger that would send the blade flying out. “You keep me safe.”

  “Always.” He bumped against my shoulder and we gazed around the clearing at our motley crew. “You have any idea we’d wind up here?”

  “Hell no.” I answered instantly. This was the last place I’d ever expected to be. Surrounded by witches with my dead father on the ground nearby and two sisters I’d never known I had, my parents murdered and back together with Dane…I shook my head. I don’t think anyone could have predicted this, I thought before a quick glance at Kincaid had me amending that thought. She probably could have.

  “When this is done can we go ahead and get married?” Dane asked unexpectedly. I turned to him, slightly puzzled and he grinned. “I’d like to get married before the baby arrives.”

  “What baby?” I demanded to know, glaring at him now.

  “The one you’re carrying, at least according to your sister.” He answered with a nod toward Kincaid. “She grabbed me this morning saying she had a vision you were pregnant. I thought she was going to snap my neck. Why’d you think I was so dead set on you not putting yourself at risk?”

  “I thought you were being your normal over protective self!” I exclaimed, still glaring. “Why did you wait to tell me?”

  “I didn’t want you to be distracted.” He replied, leaning away from me and my flashing eyes. “You were set on doing it and I didn’t want to interfere. I figured we’d all be better off with him dead.”

  “But you tell me now? Right before I’m supposed to go play bait?” I was furious and in shock at the sudden news and he was sitting there so calmly with a faint smile playing on his face. “Why aren’t you freaking out?” I demanded to know.

  “Because you’re alive and we are this close,” he spread his fingers a millimeter apart, “to the life we always dreamed of.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as he faced me. “Am I terrified? Hell, yeah. I’m terrified of you hemorrhaging again. I’m terrified something will go wrong when we go fight Mitchell’s coven. I’m terrified you’ll leave me. But I also have faith. Faith in us, and in who you are, in this trinity, fate, prophecy, whatever you want to call it. I won’t let fear determine our future anymore.”

  I leaned forward pressing my lips against his and stopping the flow of words.

  “We’ll name her Margaret.” I told him as I leaned back.

  “You think it’s a girl?” He asked, dazed.

  I smiled as I said, “What Kincaid didn’t tell you?” He shook his head and I continued, “You know she’s been wrong before. Or at least what you see isn’t always what happens.”

  “I’ll take my chances.” He growled, kissing me hard. “Either way, your last name is changing to mine as soon as we’re done here.”

  I laughed, wrapping my arms around his neck. “You think my sisters are going to let you get away with that?”

  “I don’t even care.” He leaned back and looked at me. “Unless you want a big wedding?”

  My eyes widened and I shook my head frantically. “Absolutely not.”

  “I think we’re ready to go.” Milo called across the clearing, interrupting us. We stood up and I fought the urge to touch my stomach. If Kincaid was right, and odds were she wa
s, then we were having a baby in nine months. The thought sent chills through me and my stomach flipped.

  I hear congratulations are in order. The thought slipped in my mind and I smiled at Kai. He’d hung out on the sidelines of this fight but he was ready to go now that we were going after the coven.

  Does everyone know? I sent back, rolling my eyes.

  Only the cool kids. He chuffed. Kincaid can’t keep anything from me. I’m in her head 24/7.

  Lucky girl. I replied, not envying her a bit.

  It’s no picnic for me either! Milo this, Milo that. Milo! Milo! Milo! He retorted, tail high as he waltzed off. I laughed so hard I snorted and Dane gave me a curious glance. I shook my head, not wanting to try and explain the mind of Kai.

  “You ready?” He asked, studying me carefully.

  “As I’ll ever be. It’s always been my dream to pretend to be a hostage as I went in and fought a coven of dark magic users.” I rubbed my hands together theatrically to his lack of amusement.

  “Come on, let’s get this over with so we can get you back home with your feet up.” I groaned at the determination on his face, knowing he was going to be an overprotective worrywart for the next few months. “Hey, don’t give me that. I’d rather tie you to a tree than let you go face this coven. I’m being open-minded here.”

  “I can tell, but you know you don’t have to worry so much.” I told him, my eyebrows raised.

  “What do you mean?” He asked as he guided me to the others.

  “You can heal me, remember?” He stopped so suddenly I stumbled, his expression dumbfounded. I guess he hadn’t considered the thought.

  “I can, can’t I?” A wide grin split his face and he picked me up and spun me around, laughing.

  “Yes, you crazy fool, but now we need to go kick some ass.” I told him, kicking my feet so he’d put me down.

  I walked over to Sinclair and kneeled by her feet and she tangled her hand in my hair. Kincaid stood by her other side, a hand resting on her shoulder. A moment later it was Mitchell holding me by the hair and the rest of our group had disappeared. I still sensed those with power by their magic, but I needed to see those who were human. I focused, trying to see through her illusion where I remembered Garvin, Luke and Scott had been standing. It took some effort but I was able to detect their outline and it was enough.

  Tingles raced through me and the effort I thought it would take to teleport so many was almost nonexistent. It was almost effortless it was so simple and I wondered if it was because my sisters and I were touching. If it was then Gloria had been right. We were far more powerful than I could comprehend with my limited magical knowledge.

  Our landing was delicate compared to prior ones and the angry coven we’d left behind a short while ago was still milling around arguing with one another. They all stopped when they saw Mitchell standing before them with me though.

  “My lord!”

  “Master!”

  “Leader!”

  “We feared your death.”

  “Your faith in my abilities is so comforting.” The acid dripping from the voice above me was an eerie copy of Mitchell’s which I guess was the point as the crowd in front of us cowered back. Whispers raced among them and I glanced around trying to pinpoint if everyone was in position. This time it was easier for me to see them through Sinclair’s illusion. There was a double image in front of me now, reality and illusion overlapping together, but not only that I could see the magic surrounding them encased in the same dark tar I’d witnessed before.

  “They’re covered in shadows.” Sinclair hissed above me, so low only Kincaid and I could hear her.

  “Ugh, the smell. It’s like they all ate boiled eggs and farted.” Kincaid chimed in and I choked back a laugh before I gave us away. I could feel the heat crawling over my skin, but ignored it as Sinclair spoke again.

  “I have killed the other two and channeled their power.” She shook my head and I winced as she pulled my hair. She was going for authentic. “I’ve brought this one back as a gift for you, once her blood is spilled you will all gain immense power.” Her voice, sounding like Mitchell’s, boomed over the crowded room, her words silencing them. “Bow before me, your master, your lord, and I will show you power unlike anything you’ve ever seen!”

  “Don’t let it go to your head now.” I whispered at her dramatics.

  “They’re eating it up.” She answered gleefully, loosening her grip on my hair as they started to bow down. “And now!”

  She dropped the disappearing illusion she’d created as we attacked them with spells. Garvin, Luke, and Scott used their weapons and the room was filled with blasts and flashes of light. Milo snapped a couple of necks as Vincent directed a killing spell toward a warlock coming up behind him. The dark witches started blocking and deflecting the spells, turning our surprise attack against us as they organized and protected each other’s back. A blast sent Luke flying backwards and I felt Sinclair jerk next to me. Her desire to run to him was unmistakable, but the fight had turned on us and we couldn’t afford to separate. Kincaid and I both grabbed her arms to keep her with us and the moment the three of us touched everything slowed down. The battle in front of us appeared to be in slow motion, the sound muted, and we gazed around curiously. Portia and Scott worked together, and Garvin had turned his gun around and was bashing a warlock in the head instead of attempting to shoot him. Milo and Vincent fought side by side, and Dane had rushed to Luke’s side and was kneeling over him.

  “This ends now.” Sinclair’s voice had an odd echo to it, almost as if it pulsed.

  “I agree.” Kincaid responded, the same strange pulse reverberating through her voice. Her expression was more severe than I’d ever seen it and another glance at Milo revealed a long gash across his shoulder. Our loved ones were being injured and it was completely unnecessary.

  “How do you want to do it?” I asked, unsurprised to hear the double tone in my own voice, realizing as I spoke that it was the immense power coursing through us that distorted our words. The room appeared to be cloaked in blue light and I had no doubt my eyes were glowing as brightly as my sisters’.

  “Take their magic.” Sinclair was ruthless in her choice and we nodded in acceptance. None of us had ever taken someone else’s magic and we were about to take several people’s with absolutely no compunction. Magic was like air to a witch and the loss of it would be agonizing to them. Our father had stolen a witch’s power upon their death, but we would be taking the magic from living breathing witches, something that would kill them slowly and should have been impossible.

  Our minds linked and together we saw the magic inside of each one of them, the darkness which coated the gift of their magic and corrupted it. We pulled each strand of their magic from them, watching the black tar slip from the threads as it was removed from those who followed Mitchell. They collapsed as we removed every link they had to magic, agony in their eyes as they gasped for breath, their arms outstretched as they attempted to plead for mercy.

  Those who stood with us slowly backed away as they watched the threat in front of them be destroyed. As the last strand of magic left the witches, I waved my hand and flames raced over them, the brilliant blue arching high as they turned to ash. Sinclair parted the earth and Kincaid spun their ashes into a whirlwind dropping them into the ground before Sinclair settled the earth back over them.

  “More than they deserved.” Kincaid observed coldly, her eyes flashing. Dane had managed to heal Luke and was making his way to Milo now.

  “Any who follow the path of dark magic will be destroyed.” Sinclair intoned, the echo of power in her voice stronger now.

  “Yes.” Kincaid agreed as her eyes turned toward Vincent. His magic had a shadow over it, a hint of dark magic, one I’d sensed before but hadn’t questioned since he stood with us. I feared he’d dabbled in the dark arts at some point and it had cast a pall over him, but he had never given us reason to doubt him nor did he deserve a death sentence.

&
nbsp; “No.” I turned to face them, my hand still firmly clasped around Sinclair’s arm. From the way the others were distorted I had the feeling they couldn’t hear what was happening between the three of us and I was grateful. The power we held was unimaginable but it didn’t make us judge, jury and executioner. “He has proven himself loyal. His past should not be held against him. He has done nothing objectionable.”

  “For now, but what’s to prevent him from doing so in the future?” Sinclair questioned, her gaze steady on mine.

  “And the past? We don’t know what he did but it’s clear there was dark magic involved. Should he not be punished for that?” Kincaid added, turning to face me.

  “The aura of dark magic on him is faint. Whatever he did was long ago and not so terrible.” I argued. “Not only that, he’s risked his life to help us. People can change, look at us. We were given this power to use wisely. Let us lead by example, not destruction.”

  Slowly, they nodded and some of the tension inside of me relaxed. The power thrumming through us was intoxicating. At that moment, there was nothing on earth that could stop us from doing whatever we wished and the realization was enough for us to let go of one another.

  With a pop, everything came into focus. Time moved normally and sound rushed in as the blue haze faded from my sight. I was no longer connected to my sisters’ but I acknowledged their grateful smiles. For a moment justice had seemed absolute, but the cost would have been entirely too high. We had to temper the power we held with the lesson we’d learned from our mother.

  Nothing came without sacrifice.

  Epilogue

  I rocked my foot, gently setting the porch swing in motion. Dane and Gloria were gathering everything for our trip and I was told to rest. I rolled my eyes as baby Margaret did a flip. It seemed pregnancy made me fragile and they insisted on doing everything as if I was completely helpless despite the fact that together with my sisters we’d destroyed a dark coven while I was pregnant.