The Beast Cometh

by Constance Barker

  “I’m sorry,” was his response. “I wish I could tell you what's going on, not that you’d believe me.” I snorted at this, there wasn’t much you could tell me that I wouldn’t believe. I was a witch, so was everyone I was close to and we were battling some mystical force that came with the passing of a comet. The only comfort was that the power was meant to fade eventually, hopefully.

  “Try me,” I replied, hoping that maybe he would go for it. He looked pained for a moment as though he was trying to speak, but couldn’t. Eventually he just sputtered and shook his head. “Fine, don’t. What can you tell me?”

  “Not much, unfortunately.” He was pacing back and forth around the room. “Fern is alright. She won’t be harmed.”

  “Oh good, that’s great to hear,” I said sarcastically. “What about me, am I to be harmed?” Moody curled in my lap protectively and hissed at Office Mulberry.

  “No, I won’t harm you,” he replied after a moment. I didn’t miss the fact that he had only promised that he wouldn’t be the one to harm me. Moody didn’t miss it either and hissed at him once more. “Can that cat understand us?” He asked as a joke.

  “Animals are pretty intuitive. You’ll find most don’t appreciate strangers coming into their home and holding their owners captive.” He walked towards us then, reaching out a hand to Moody as though introducing himself. She swatted his hand away leaving three scratch marks on the top of his hand.

  “Ah!” He exclaimed jumping back and instinctively clutching his injured hand to his chest.

  “She doesn’t like you,” I said icily while scratching Moody behind her ears.

  “Duly noted,” he replied, rubbing the scratch. Moody’s nose was sniffing at the air in disgust, the way it had been in the car when she told me I smelled like a dog. Her head was moving around looking for the source of the smell, until it fell on Officer Mulberry. She hissed once more, but this was a full body one. She stood, the fur on her back stood up as well as she hissed at him. In another situation I would have pulled her back onto my lap and away from the object that was upsetting her but I was frozen staring at Officer Mulberry. The pieces were falling into place. “What’s her problem now?” He asked skittering away from Moody as though she were a ferocious animal.

  “I don’t know,” I said looking at him with new suspicion. I was about to say something else, but a car pulled into the driveway.

  “That should be Fern,” Officer Mulberry said. He eyed Moody before turning away to go to the door. “Or not,” he said with a grimace as two more officers headed up the steps to mine and Fern's home. For a foolish moment, I thought that maybe I was saved, and Fern had sent officers to help me. Observing Officer Mulberry made it clear that this wasn’t the case, unless captors didn’t mind cops showing up to their doors. He just seemed mildly annoyed that it was them and not Fern. It annoyed me the way they just walked in without so much as a knock as though they owned the place.

  “Please, come in,” I said with a growl. I recognized both the officers, one was the young woman who had papers for Fern to sign and the other was a well known cohort of Brown’s. They didn’t even acknowledge me.

  “Got everything under control here?” The woman asked. She was clearly in charge, though both Mulberry and the other officer were her superior in rank and age. There were four of them was what Morgan had said in the forest. I remembered with a pang of guilt. I felt guilty that she had died because Becky and I weren’t as effective as we should have been, but I felt far more guilt for leaving the poor ghost of Morgan alone in the woods. The dead were often unable to stray far from where they died. The mostly dead but somewhat alive trio in Fern’s room was the exception. The three officers here and the former sheriff made four.

  “Everything is fine, Officer Jones” Mulberry replied. He seemed to have more hatred for his partners in crime than he did for me. I wondered if he might be acting under duress of some kind, my instincts weren’t clear with him, but I didn’t think he was responsible for anyone’s death. “What are you doing here?”

  “Just making sure you are clear on your orders and won’t be disobeying the alpha,” the woman, Officer Jones, said getting very close to Mulberry’s face. Her word choice made it click for me.

  “Werewolves?” I said quietly under my breath. The woman smiled at me obviously having heard me.

  “Very good,” she said condescendingly. I grimaced at her, realizing that I might be in more danger than originally predicted. Mulberry had promised that he wouldn’t be the one to hurt me. One look at Officer Jones and the other man and I knew they would make no such promise. She walked towards me making Moody hiss at her in warning. With a single glower at the cat, Moody went silent. I was grateful, I had seen what they could accomplish killing a human. If they attacked Moody there would be nothing left of her.

  “Are you waiting for something?” Officer Jones asked Mulberry. “I thought she was already supposed to be dead.” A shiver ran down my spine, I had relied too much on Fern arriving in time to save me. One werewolf, one as wimpy as Mulberry, I might have been able to take on with a few simple spells. Three, two extremely blood thirsty werewolves I wouldn’t be able to make so much as a dent.

  “I won’t harm her,” Mulberry said stepping in between me and Jones. Jones bared her teeth at Mulberry...inhuman snarls ripping from both of their throats. The third officer stood to the side, allowing them to duke it out if need be. I knew he was mostly guarding to ensure that I wasn’t going to run off when the moment presented itself. It was then that Fern, Hazel, Becky and Fang burst through the door. The growls of Mulberry and Jones had buried the sound of their arrival.

  “Prohibere,” Hazel shouted the start of a spell as soon as she entered, creating an odd sense of calm in an otherwise tense situation. Fern ran straight towards me, embracing me and Moody in one swoop. The wolves were in a state of shock, probably from Hazel’s spell, but that could only last so long.

  “We have to remove the connection from the comet,” Fern said desperately. “Otherwise there’s nothing we can do to stop them. No comet, no werewolves.”

  “How are we supposed to do that?” I asked. She shook her head, she didn’t know. I wanted to hug Becky as well, but she was joining her grandmother in the spell. Chanting loudly, holding Hazel’s hand. The wolves started to move again, still in their human forms, I wondered if they could change at will or only at night. Clearly a full moon wasn’t a requirement. Fern nodded at me before grabbing Hazel’s other hand and joining in the chanting.

  “Well, kid, we don’t got much time,” Fang growled at me. Why it was up to me to figure out how to dissipate the remains of the comet, I didn’t know. My companion witches were busy though. I had an idea, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do.

  “The ghosts,” Moody said to me, with meaningful eyes. She had the same idea as me, though she was brave enough to suggest it. I knew exactly what she meant, though Fang looked somewhat confused. The trio spilled out on their own having heard the commotion. Little Timmy looked between me and Moody knowingly.

  “A sacrifice,” He said drearily. “That might be enough to restore balance. We are not really meant to be here anyways.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I said wanting to avert my eyes. The boy who was far too young when he died looked at me with the wisdom of someone much older than sixteen.

  “I cannot let you do that,” the Colonel said authoritatively. “We once said that if one of us goes, we all do.” Little Timmy was already shaking his head though. I couldn’t do much more than observe.

  “I always knew this was the way. I figured it out a while ago. I guess I was just being selfish by sticking around as long as I have. I am ready,” he said strongly. He nodded happily to his companions of over a hundred years. Mary Jane was crying but made no attempt to stop him. “I do not really fancy remaining a third wheel for another century.”

  “Undayla miscefor,” I chanted the words, repeating them to open the portal to the other side. I didn't even kno
w that I knew this chant, but something in me stirred and the words flowed. This better work, otherwise the guilt would be terrible. Little Timmy nodded to me, and began to walk into the portal. Waves of energy pulsed within the portal and brilliant colors of blue, green and orange filled the space. Before he went through, the Colonel and Mary Jane pulled him into a hug. I almost thought they were going to jump in together, but they released him and with a salute he passed through. Almost instantly, the three werewolves in the room collapsed.

  “Is that it?” Fang asked looking around after I stopped chanting.

  “We can’t really be sure, until they wake up,” Fern said using her foot to move Officer Jones a bit. “It seems like it though. A sacrifice of someone who gained from the comet restored the balance, there was no more need for the werewolves.”

  “I guess,” Fang said sounding like he didn’t buy it. I wasn’t sure I did myself, though the sacrifice of Little Timmy wasn’t easy, it wasn’t exactly difficult either. He was already dead anyway.

  “Fern?” Officer Mulberry said, sitting up from the ground. He was rubbing his head like he had hit it hard. “I’m so sorry. I tried to not listen to him, I tried to protect Mazie, and those kids. I didn’t hurt anyone.” He pleaded looking relieved to finally have control over his own actions. I couldn’t begrudge him, he fought harder than the others who were more than happy to follow Brown’s lead.

  “I know that,” Fern said with a nod. “We're going to get this figured out.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  It wasn’t much longer until we found the last body, that of the teenager Tina, with the help of Officer Mulberry. Considering that anything he had done to help the former Sheriff was against his will, Fern made the executive decision to keep his name out of the accused. He had also been incredibly helpful in tying up the loose ends that we didn’t exactly understand. Officer Betty Jones and the other man who had been in our house, Officer Gregory Hammond were in custody, but the former Sheriff seemed to disappear completely. The search for him was in full force and the state police stepped in to help out. No one liked the idea of a former man of the law on the run for the murders of four in total.

  “They’ll find him,” Fern said with confidence, reading my expression perfectly. She had been dealing with the fallout from the murders, lots of paperwork and a town on edge until Brown was in custody. They seemed to accept her fully as their Sheriff though, and a good one at that.

  “Well, I hope so,” I replied. Things had felt relatively bleak since Little Timmy sacrificed himself to restore balance. The Colonel and Mary Jane had returned to their non-corporeal forms and were back at the Civil War museum on the battlefield. Morgan, our new ghost, was able to join them since the area of her death wasn't far from the battlefield. Not sure how that was going to turn out...a modern day teen with our Civil War ghosts, but I hoped it would help Mary Jane and the Colonel with the loss of Little Timmy. And it would provide company for Morgan until we could figure out why she hadn't moved on. Our house had felt oddly quiet without them. I had wanted them gone since the moment they arrived, but it felt empty without them. Moody was glad to have them gone though. With Brown in the wind it was hard to feel like Little Timmy’s sacrifice was worth it. As far as we could tell it released the officers who were under his will, they were no longer werewolves and we could only assume that Brown was no longer one either.

  “Will you two be joining us for lessons tonight?” Hazel asked as she brought us our food. She seemed lighter with the knowledge that balance had been restored. The hope was that the comet wouldn’t bring an imbalance again with the sacrifice.

  “Yes, we will be,” I said smiling up at her. Though the imminent threat was gone, Fern, Becky and I were still enjoying learning from Hazel and Fang. We were all honing our powers, especially our abilities. Fern was even beginning to control when her visions came so she could go into the morgue without being crippled by visions of the dead. Becky was able to hone in on the emotions of people better and was even learning how to manipulate those feelings. She could make someone who was having a panic attack calm down. My power still seemed to come and go on it’s own but I was getting better at distinguishing what was regular intuition and what was my ability.

  “Will Becky be there?” I asked. She had missed the last few lessons. She and Jimmy Jack were becoming more serious and spending a lot of time together. I knew not telling him about her powers was putting a strain on their relationship however. He knew there was something she was holding back and there was nothing more she wanted than to tell him.

  “I’m not sure,” Hazel said looking concerned. “She’s been caught up in this search for her mother. I wish I could be of more help. Of course, I want to find her too, but something tells me that she doesn’t want to be found.” Fern patted Hazel’s hand trying to comfort her.

  “Maybe I can help,” she offered. “I have some resources I can utilize on the force.” Hazel smiled at her, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

  “That would be nice dear,” she said, though I didn’t think she thought it would help. My feeling....Becky's mother might not want to be found.

  *****

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  Catalog of Books

  The Witch Sisters of Stillwater

  Hoodoo and Just Desserts

  A Shade of Murder

  That Ol’ Black Magic

  A Whole Lotta Witchin Goin On

  The Sinister Case Series

  The Sinister Secrets of the Snake Mirror

  The Sinister Secrets of the Deadly Summoner

  The Sinister Secrets of the Enchanting Blaze

  The Monkey’s Eyebrow Tea Room Series

  A Tiny Bite of Murder

  Murder on the Ghost Walk

  The Grumpy Chicken Irish Pub Series

  A Frosty Mug of Murder

  Treachery on Tap

  A Highball and a Low Blow

  Cursed With a Twist

  The Chronicles of Agnes Astor Smith

  The Peculiar Case of Agnes Astor Smith

  The Peculiar Case of the Red Tide

  The Peculiar Case of the Lost Colony

  Old School Diner Cozy Mysteries

  Murder at Stake

  Murder Well Done

  A Side Order of Deception

  Murder, Basted and Barbecued

  Murder Ala Mode

  The Curiosity Shop Cozy Mysteries

  The Curious Case of the Cursed Spectacles

  The Curious Case of the Cursed Dice

  The Curious Case of the Cursed Dagger

  The Curious Case of the Cursed Looking Glass

  The Curious Case of the Cursed Crucible

  The We’re Not Dead Yet Club

  Fetch a Pail of Murder

  Wedding Bells and Death Knells

  Murder or Bust

  Pinched, Pilfered and a Pitchfork

  A Hot Spot of Murder

  Witchy Women of Coven Grove Series

  The Witching on the Wall

  A Witching Well of Magic

  Witching the Night Away

  Witching There’s Another Way

  Witching Your Life Away

  Witching You Wouldn’t Go

  Witching for a Miracle

  Teasen & Pleasen Hair Salon Series

  A Hair Raising Blowout

  Wash, Rinse, Die

  Holiday Hooligans

  Color Me Dead

  False Nails & Tall Tales

&n
bsp; Caesar’s Creek Series

  A Frozen Scoop of Murder

  Death by Chocolate Sundae

  Soft Serve Secrets

  Ice Cream You Scream

  Double Dip Dilemma

  Melted Memories

  Triple Dip Debacle

  Whipped Wedding Woes

  A Sprinkle of Tropical Trouble

  A Drizzle of Deception

  Sweet Home Mystery Series

  Creamed at the Coffee Cabana

  A Caffeinated Crunch

  A Frothy Fiasco

  Punked by the Pumpkin

  Peppermint Pandemonium