Coven, p.10
Coven, page 10
“What do you know about your father?” Hayden and Alex asked at the same time.
“Absolutely nothing. Mama flat-out refused to talk about him. I finally pressed her hard when I was almost nineteen. She told me my father was a brief affair who’d ended up getting her pregnant but hit the road when he found out she was expecting me. She said he was a total asshole whom she’d thought was a different man than who he actually turned out to be. I have no idea if he was magickal or not. I never dared ask her, especially with how defensive she was about the whole subject.”
“Is it possible he was, and his leaving her was the reason she refused to talk about magick or witchcraft?” asked Reese.
“Maybe. I always had the feeling it went way deeper than that. When she got sick and, as she became progressively worse, it didn’t seem worth it to upset her by asking about it. My father has never been a part of my life and I have no reason to expect that to change.” The corner of Sheridan’s mouth quirked almost cynically. “If a man’s going to show up after thirty-one years and suddenly want to start a relationship with his long-lost daughter, especially right after that woman’s mother has passed away, I’d seriously have to question why.”
Then Sheridan fidgeted, clearly uneasy. “There’s something else I probably should tell you all.” She paused for just a moment before she plunged on. “My family is extremely wealthy. My grandfather has made a fortune in the biomedical engineering field over the past forty years, so my mother and I benefited from that. In addition to what I already had in my trust fund, I also inherited my mom’s estate when she passed.
“I hate talking about it. It makes people look at you differently, and I’ve never wanted to be liked for anything other than what I truly am. When things blew up between me and Fagan, I found out she’d always known about my financial situation, even before we started to date, but she’d made it seem like she never knew until after we were involved. That’s another reason I have such a hard time trusting people. I never know who likes me for me, or just likes me because of what they think they can get out of me.”
“Baby.” Dylan was firm. “We may not be talking about the kind of money you have, but I can assure you that not one of us here is hurting. Those of us who work do so because we want to, not because we have to.” She hugged Sheridan warmly. “That’s a concern you never have to have with any of us, I promise. The wonderful thing about being witches with our level of power is that we can always manifest anything we need. We don’t need your money.”
“Of course,” Alex was sly, “if you want to conjure up a Lamborghini Veneno for me, I wouldn’t say no.” Sheridan and the rest of the group burst out laughing as Lily grabbed Alex playfully by the ear. Sheridan couldn’t believe the sense of peace that stole over her now that one of her biggest secrets was out and it ended up being no big deal.
Sam looked at her watch. “It’s getting late, and I think we’re all tired. I’m going to propose that we meet again the day after tomorrow. Dyl, I’m feeling we’ll need to do some kind of inner circle ritual then to start unraveling this whole clusterfuck, so whatever you think, fam. You’re in charge of creating our rituals, but you know any of us are here to help you if you need it.”
“Agreed.” Keeley kissed Emmaline before she helped her wife to her feet. “Em and I will start digging into the power spells we think we should use to fuel the coven. We’ll run them by the rest of the Magicians on Friday after we get a preliminary list together.” She wrapped her arm around her wife’s waist as they started for the door.
Everyone hugged and kissed Sheridan as they prepared to leave. “You’re not to worry,” Lily told her firmly, taking her spouse’s hand after she’d kissed Sheridan on the cheek. “If any black magick fucks want to play, then we’ll fucking play. We don’t know where this shit is coming from yet, but there’s going to be some sorry motherfuckers somewhere when we find out. Count on it.”
Evie smiled, a not-very-nice smile that was at odds with her golden fairy essence, as she leaned against Hayden for a moment. “Sher, the inner circle of the Coven of the New Moon has somewhat of a…uh…reputation in the magickal world, especially here in Florida. You’ve been solitary your entire witchy life, so you aren’t familiar with coven interactions in the magickal world.
“We’re notorious for being fair, honest, and scary as fuck. We have more power than virtually any other coven in existence, but other witches know we don’t abuse that power. That said, we’ve had a few situations over the years where corrupted Dark or even jealous Dark witches have tried to fuck with us…and ended up wishing they hadn’t. We’ll get to the bottom of this and send them packing.” She smiled as she kissed Sheridan on the cheek. “I’ll see you soon.”
When the rest of the inner circle except for Dylan had departed and shut the door behind them, Sheridan allowed Oracle to jump from her arms, knowing for sure now that the little black familiar wouldn’t wander off without her. Dylan leaned back against the front door and considered Sheridan with an enigmatic look on her face.
“I sense you’ve relaxed among us, beautiful,” she said, folding her muscled arms across her chest. “Still, that was a fuckton of shit you had to absorb tonight. How do you feel?”
“Overwhelmed, but peaceful. I just need to assimilate everything over the next couple of days until it’s time for the ritual. After our conversation tonight, I now have a sneaking suspicion that being the Balance of the Universe is really something fairly simple. As our Anchor, I believe all I need to do to ground this coven is focus my Fire flame on it—from a metaphysical perspective—fueled by the power of the inner circle.
“That will automatically provide illumination and balance to each one of us, which will ground us. Once the entire coven is fully balanced and grounded, we can then draw energy from our witches and push our magick out into the cosmos. The inner circle witches alone are so fucking powerful, the Universe will light up with it. We won’t have to worry about the Dark element necessary for balance being totally vanquished either—because we’ll be pushing balance itself—but any black magick practitioners looking to war with us and take over will be smothered by the Light.”
Dylan started to slowly stalk across the room toward her. Sheridan’s eyes widened. “That will be my cue to open the portals into the other realms so that our magick extends to them as well, beautiful. Once the portals are open, the inner circle can do another push to bring balance to them too. I’ll keep the realms that dwell entirely in the Dark sealed, but everything else is fair game.” She reached Sheridan and slowly brought up her hand to caress Sheridan’s cheek.
Sheridan tried to ignore the slow fire that started in her core. “Tell me about the purely Dark realms, Dylan.”
“There are quite a few of them, baby, but there’s really only one that’s much of a concern. That’s Trom-Laighe, which means ‘nightmare’ in Scots Gaelic. It’s ruled by an absolute menace of a black magick demon hybrid named Cassius Deimos, whose followers—a dangerous collection of black magick warlocks and Unseelie Fae called Nightmares—want nothing more than to subjugate the rest of the realms so that the corrupted Dark rules everywhere. With Deimos as the leader, of course.
“The God and the Goddess banished him to Trom-Laighe eons ago, with the understanding that the balance of the worlds across all the realms is what keeps him imprisoned there. Should the Dark ever become more powerful than the Light, the Light would be snuffed out and Deimos would be free. I guarantee you our Earth realm will be the first place he’ll invade if he’s freed, because there is an enormous amount of power and magick here. More so than in any other realm…except maybe the Fae realm.”
Dylan paused for a moment and frowned. “I don’t know why I didn’t think about Deimos when we were talking earlier. I guess I’m so used to him being banished and unable to leave Trom-Laighe, it simply didn’t occur to me. Maybe it’s something we need to discuss with everyone else on Friday, as unlikely as it may seem.”
“There’s so much I don’t know,’’ Sheridan whispered as Dylan resumed her caress of Sheridan’s cheek.
“That’s why you were brought to us. To be with a new family who will love you and keep you safe while teaching you everything you need to know about balance and illumination and your place within the cosmos of the worlds.” She slid her arms around Sheridan’s petite frame.
“And you are my mate,” Dylan whispered, tightening her embrace. “The woman whom the Lady Goddess and the Lord God created just for me. The most beautiful femme I’ve ever seen in my life—one who’s strong, kind, and brave. I’ll always protect you and honor you, Sheridan Sullivan…and I promise you that you’ll never have to worry about the integrity and honor of your lover again in this lifetime.” She gently kissed the tears that had started to run down Sheridan’s face before lowering her mouth.
Sheridan felt the power and magick that flowed between her and Dylan with their kiss. Dylan was gentle at first, exploring Sheridan’s mouth with a tender touch as they became accustomed to each other, but she soon became more passionate and demanding. Sheridan fell under Dylan’s spell as she responded in kind, clutching Dylan’s broad shoulders as she returned her kiss with a passion of her own.
Dylan turned Sheridan and backed her up against the wall, sliding her hands around Sheridan’s waist then reaching around to cup her bottom. Sheridan felt an arrow of want hit her between her legs and she whimpered at the gush of arousal that soaked her panties. She clutched Dylan’s biceps, shuddering from the feel of the hard muscle that met her fingers, then whimpered again as Dylan tore her mouth away from hers and rested her forehead against Sheridan’s.
“As much as I would love nothing more than to take you home and throw you in my bed right now, beautiful,” she said unevenly, “it’s too soon. I know you feel my desire and I can definitely feel yours, but you need to rest tonight, my love.” The corner of her mouth quirked up. “I would offer to let you stay with me, just to sleep, but I don’t know if I could trust myself.”
“I know.” Sheridan rested against Dylan within the circle of her protective arms. “I need to get some sleep, and tomorrow I need to unpack my house.” She laughed softly. “I apparently became a pro at packing from dealing with the contents of my mother’s house. I have quite a bit to undo.”
Dylan nuzzled her temple. “Grace and Evie are coming over tomorrow to help you. Shhhh,” she hushed Sheridan’s protests. “They’re both free tomorrow, and they’d like to get started on your healing as soon as possible anyway. Apparently, there are things you can all do while you’re unpacking, things that don’t take an extremely focused effort. They want to help, and I think it would be a good idea to let them. Everyone is anxious about you feeling welcome and included.”
“Are you kidding me? I love everyone already. I don’t think I’ve ever felt I belong anywhere the way I do with the inner circle witches of the New Moon coven. It’s like I’ve known all of you my entire life, which is stupid and makes no sense whatsoever.”
Dylan pulled back and smiled at her. “It’s not stupid, baby. It’s because you belong with us…plus, this coven is pretty special anyway. Granted, there are one or two in our outer circle at the moment who aren’t exactly my favorite people, but I assume they were led to us for a reason.” She grinned as Sheridan stifled a yawn.
“Come on, beautiful. I’ll walk you next door so you can get to bed.” Then, Dylan arched a brow. “I think you should sleep in in the morning and not worry about running. You’re too worn out and you need the rest more than anything right now. Just text me when you get up.”
Okay.” Sheridan laughed ruefully as she tried to stifle another yawn then looked around for her kitten. “Come on, Oracle. I’m going to take Grace’s word that you aren’t going to run off if I let you walk home, so let’s see how you do.” An indignant yowl greeted her words from one of the sofas, where Oracle had been curled up comfortably.
At Sheridan’s front door, Dylan took the petite redhead in her arms once more. “Good night, my beautiful mate,” she whispered softly as she kissed Sheridan one last time. “Sweet dreams.” She watched as Sheridan let herself into her apartment, Oracle trotting obediently beside her, before she turned to go into her own apartment. A peaceful quiet then descended on the building as the strong magickal wards that surrounded it flexed and bowed with their protective power.
But, across the street, a dark cloaked figure, hiding in the dim nighttime shadows of several palm trees at the edge of the waterfront park, stepped out onto the deserted sidewalk, directing an ominous gaze toward the upstairs of the now-quiet apartment building.
Chapter 10
In the dim light, Michael O’Rourke stared at the closed front door of his daughter’s apartment, his mind whirling a million miles a minute.
Fuck. The warlock cursed under his breath, knowing the Dark Lord was going to rage when he found out this latest development. Not only did it look like his daughter and her Fire magick had already been discovered by the Coven of the New Moon—the worst goddamned coven that could have ever possibly found her—but she was apparently being drawn in by a new lover there as well. And not just any lover either: It was Dylan Fucking Bellamy, the motherfucking Portal of the New Moon coven and one of the most dangerous witches Michael had ever encountered.
FUCK, he cursed again, even more vehemently. Michael knew the coven was fully aware of Cassius Deimos and the Realm of Trom-Laighe—but he didn’t know if they were aware of how closely the Dark Lord had them watched in return, or how much knowledge he and Deimos had gathered on the coven’s power and magick.
“The Coven of the New Moon,” Deimos had informed him from his throne when Michael had first become one of his lieutenants, “is an immensely powerful coven of thirty-three witches from the Earth realm, probably the strongest coven in existence today. Their power and magickal abilities are unparalleled. What they call their ‘inner circle’ is comprised of their thirteen strongest, who have consistently obliterated my Nightmares when they have managed to get close to them. They are not to be taken lightly, O’Rourke.
“They are a significant barrier to the freedom of Trom-Laighe because they carry so much power. Even worse…the inner circle refers to the leader of New Moon, Dylan Bellamy, as The Portal. She is a witch of considerable power whose magick allows her to open and shut the veils and portals of all the realms at will.” Michael arched one eyebrow in surprise from his kneeling position in front of Deimos’s throne. “Needless to say, Dylan Bellamy keeps the portal to Trom-Laighe tightly sealed at the bidding of that infernal God and Goddess of theirs.” The Dark Lord drummed his claws against the arm of his chair in irritation.
“We’ve tried without success to wipe them out over the past ten years of their existence. Prior to that, we were simply too weak to break free by ourselves. When we initially started to grow stronger, the God and Goddess sensed our strengthening and created the New Moon coven in response. Despite our failures to date, we must find a way to snuff out their Light and destroy them. Until such time, they must be monitored continually, which will be a part of your duties. Do not fail me, O’Rourke.”
Coming back to the present, Michael paused thoughtfully in the midst of his ruminations. What if there is a way to do both? he asked himself slowly, staring up at the dark, quiet apartment building. What if there is a way to take Sheridan for the Dark Lord as he expects, but to also annihilate the New Moon coven at the same time, using her Fire power? Deimos was going to be extremely angry about the present situation at first, but when Michael unfolded his plan, Michael was sure he would calm considerably at the thought of obliterating the coven that had plagued him for so long.
I will tell him what I found when I came here, risking his wrath, but I will immediately demonstrate to him why this could end up being a positive situation with many advantages. I just need a bit of time to figure it all out first. And then, he felt his mouth curl into a malicious smile, I will secure my place as Cassius Deimos’s right hand in Trom-Laighe…before I kill him and take the entire realm as my very own. Even better, if I can help him to snuff out the Light everywhere before I dispose of him, then it will all be mine.
Michael slipped back into the shadows and then disappeared, his mind filled with his plans and his new tantalizing dream of replacing Cassius Deimos as the powerful Lord of the Dark everywhere.
ɚωɚωɚωɚ
“I think that’s it for the kitchen.” Grace closed the cabinet door. “You hadn’t really packed much in here, Sher, so it was easy. Actually, nothing out here was that hard. I think your altar, witchcraft tools, and the correspondences in your bedroom probably took the longest, and you two had that covered.”
“I love this apartment,” Evie sighed as she looked around. “Don’t get me wrong…I absolutely adore our house, but this is so perfect for you, Sheridan. Your Fire essence just shines through.”
As Dylan had promised, Grace and Evie had come over to help Sheridan unpack her apartment. Between the three of them, it hadn’t taken long, and Sheridan was feeling buoyed yet calm by the healing magick the two witch Healers had fed to her while they worked.
“I love to entertain, and I want to have you all over really soon. We might be a tight fit, but we’ll figure it out. I doubt any of us will mind sitting on the floor.” Sheridan smiled at them.
“Speaking of which, Dylan said Alex and Lily want us to go to their house tomorrow night for the ritual. We can take care of business, then Alex said they want to belatedly toast my mother’s spirit.” Her voice choked as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “She loved hot chocolate with RumChata more than anything, and Alex kindly bought me some for Samhain before things went sideways.”
