Animal Secrets: A Paranormal Romance (The Animal Sagas) (6 page)

Then Ben touched the wand! Nothing happened – he was so concerned that something bad might happen if he touched the wand. He was beginning to perspire. So he picked it up using only 2 fingers and his thumb and slowly stood back up. The witch continued to snore. Ben, moving in reverse – using the same exact route he had used to get to the table only minutes ago, now held the wand tightly clenched in his right hand. Clay slowly backed out of Ben’s way too and then they started moving toward the front door. Less than 10 feet separated them from the outside world!

The men continued listening to the witches snoring and heartbeat as they headed for the front door. Only 5 feet to go. Then they passed the old chair where Clay had found the scarf. Then only 3 feet. Then 2. Then, just before they exited her home, they listened once more for any changes in the witches heartbeat or breathing – there were none. So they quietly slipped past the front door, out into the night air and slowly, ever so slowly, shut the front door behind them. Immediately, as Ben put the wand in his teeth and Clay wrapped the scarf around his neck, they transformed once again back into their wolf counterparts and took off as fast as they could.

The other members of the team joined Ben and Clay about a mile after leaving the witches home. Ben checked to make sure everyone was accounted for and once the check was completed they headed toward home at break neck speed since they had no idea when the witch would wake – or what might happen once she did. It was well after midnight by now with at least an hours run ahead of them. Maybe even more since they were already tired from the first run. But they all knew the faster they made it back, the better off they all would be.

Chapter 12

It was just after 3am when the team made it back to Ben’s home. He thanked them all for their service and begged them to go back to their homes and rest and assured them that he would call them again if needed. Clay shook their hands, they all hugged, those special one handed guy handshake-hug combos, and then separated going to their own respective homes. Ben and Clay headed for Ben’s home to share the nights events with the girls.

As soon as they got a few feet away, they could see the house was completely illuminated by candles, the ladies were wandering about with some kind of smoking paper or plant in their hands. Now Ben was a well organized man and always kept several sets of fresh clothes in a bin outside of his home – just in case he ever needed them. And since he had a special visitor he thought it best to put on something before entering. So he grabbed a couple of pairs of pants from the bin and 2 t-shirts and tossed one of each, playfully, to Clay. They quickly dressed in silence with smiles on their faces – the scarf still around Clays neck and the wand firmly clenched in Ben’s left hand.

Upon entering the house, Ben’s left hand behind his back and the scarf hidden under Clay’s shirt,  they were almost overwhelmed by the stink of incense. Both of them were stone faced as they entered the room. The girls threw down the smoking papers and ran to greet the men with Mistress Harlayne right behind picking them up before they started a fire and went and put them in the kitchen sink. What a reunion it was. The sisters kissed the men, hugged them tightly and asked them, what seemed like, a hundred questions before they even got all the way in the door.  Mistress Harlayne smiled at the pair, shook their hands as best she could and had a few questions of her own for the men.

“So what happened, Ben? What’s wrong?” Lynda excitedly asked again since she had not yet got an answer.

“Yeah, guys, what happened? Did everyone make it back all right?” Sonya asked as soon as Lynda was through with her question.

The men, both stone faced, walked over to the living room and sat down in the most comfortable chairs that they could find with their mates planted right in their laps. After being separated for so many hours neither sister wanted to be more than a few inches away from her man. Mistress Harlayne sat down right across from them all, curious as to what had happened to the men, but feeling confidant that it had all gone well.

“Well,” Ben began, “It was a long journey. It took us a while to get there and back but we did find the witches home.”

“Wonderful, so the story of the blue moon was true,”  Mistress Harlayne commented.

“Yes, that is correct. Thank goodness and the spirit wolf for that.” Ben stated.

“So what was it like? The witches house I mean – did you see her?” Sonya asked Clay hardly able to contain herself.

“Yes, we did see the old hag….” Clay revealed, “But she was asleep. In fact she slept the whole time we were there which was weird. Definitely not what we had anticipated.”

“So the enchanted sleep incantation worked,”  Mistress Harlayne uttered quietly, followed by a smile at the girls who returned it, beaming at their new found friends magical prowess.

“Yes, perfectly,” Ben agreed.

“We were so worried that it might not work on a witch.” Sonya said still beaming and so excite that the men had made it back safely.

“Well, I don’t know exactly what you ladies did, but it worked,” Clay interjected as he squeezed Sonya’s hand.

Lynda sat quietly taking it all in, listening to the conversation. Suddenly Ben realized that his wife was much quieter than usual. “Lynda, are you okay? The babies…”

“Yes, we’re all fine so far…,” Lynda said, looking very concerned still, “but what about the curse – did you get the wand and the personal possession? I didn’t see either one of you bring in anything.”

And with that statement both men looked at each other and smiled. Clay reached into the neck of his t-shirt and pulled out the witches scarf and handed it to Sonya. She hugged his neck again, sniffed the scarf, growled a little throaty growl at the scent, then handed it on to Lynda. Lynda took the scarf and did the same – yes, it was the witches.

“Thanks Clay, that is wonderful. But what about the wand? We still need the wand to break the curse, right?” Lynda asked the group and then turned to face Ben.

“Well, that’s true. And I didn’t want to disappoint you since Clay held up his part of the mission so well…” Ben said, as he reached behind his back and revealed a tiny, crooked, little black witches wand which he handed to Lynda.

Lynda’s eyes lit up and Sonya shrieked at the sight of the wand. “I can’t believe you got it. I mean, without a fight or anybody getting hurt, Ben.”

“Me too,” he said with a wry smile on his face. He looked from woman to woman as he said, “We just snuck in there, found the wand and snuck back out. It couldn’t have gone any smoother. It seems that all our planning and the spells you ladies did worked perfectly.”

“So then we have one last thing to do then,”  Mistress Harlayne confessed. “Before she has time to notice her loss we must destroy the wand, and hopefully all her dark magic with it.” She got up and immediately went over to the kitchen table which now held a copper bowl filled with a few stick like plants, something that looked a bit like spices and the scrap of fabric from the witches cloak. A long tipped lighter sat right next to the bowl.

The others followed her lead to the table. As soon as they all got there Lynda handed her the wand.  Mistress Harlayne took it and placed it in the bowl. “Gather round the table and take hands,” she directed them.

The group moved about the table, clasped hands as directed and closed their eyes. They stood there quietly as she said a few words. Once completed she told them, “Open your eyes.” And they did as they still held hands.

She picked up the lighter, lit it, and put it in the copper bowl lighting the contents on fire. The smell of the burning items was rather nasty and made them all cough. The twigs crackled, the fabric curled up and the wand glowed red all around it’s edges in the pot, but before the fire died completely it poofed up a final belch of white smoke which smelled almost like perfume and then it went out. As soon as the fire was done Mistress Harlayne reached over, grabbed the granite pestle from the mortar it sat in, and handed it to Lynda.

“Now you two sisters must break the wand – together,” she said simply.

Lynda grabbed Sonya’s hands and both girls held the pestle above the bowl. They glanced at each other one last time and then brought the pestle down upon the smoldering wand in the bowl. It cracked in an instant. Sonya, not wanting to take anything for granted, held onto Lynda’s hands and smashed the wand 3 or 4 more times with the pestle into several pieces – not just 2.

Clay, Ben and Mistress Harlayne smiled at the reaction from Sonya toward the wand and as soon as she realized what she had done she laughed too. Lynda laughed as well, visibly worn by the whole ordeal, but the destruction of the wand had helped her emotionally. She now felt better than she had in almost 2 weeks. She rubbed her belly and was rewarded by a movement inside her that only the twins could make which instantly made her cry.

Ben and Sonya both grabbed her instinctively, trying to console her. Normally a super tough lady, the sight of Lynda crying made them all feel so very uncomfortable. Clay, clearly uncomfortable at the outburst, stood to the side looking a bit confused at her reaction while Mistress Harlayne reached out and patted her hands.

“It’s over,” Ben said to Lynda, as he held her close, reaching out and patting Sonya at the same time. “It’s going to be all right now. You… Sonya and the babies, we’ll all be fine now. The wand is destroyed, so is the curse and we’ll all be fine.”

Free Chapter Preview: Paranormal Beverages, Potions and Tonics

I hope you enjoy this free Chapter Preview from one of my other books,
Paranormal Beverages, Potions and Tonics
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The store now known as Henry Sister’s Potions, Tonics, and Magical Beverages had a long history of being a place to find help for all those situations that needed assistance outside the realm of ordinary, day-to-day life. If you needed something extra-ordinary, this was definitely the place to check. Almost a century ago this building was owned by a family of wiccans, after that it was a tattoo parlor for a while and then it sat empty for a long, long time. So this particular building had a long and colorful past and seemed to draw to it people outside the realm of the ordinary.

But for now, the current owners were sisters, spinsters by best guess, who had a flair for the unusual – but most especially for their knowledge of medicinal and magical herbs, oils and their abilities to make the best potions in the state. In fact, on their business card it even stated the following, “Henry Sister’s Potions, Tonics, and Magical Beverages, The Best Notions and Potions This Side of the Ocean” all in a wonderful scripted font that was both beautiful, yet easy to read, at the same time. In fact, it was the girls dad who had come up with the ocean slogan. It made Susan smile every time she read it as it so reminded her of her dad and his pride in the sisters small, yet unique, business.

And people did come from all over to purchase potions from the sisters. It was not uncommon at all to see all manner of cars with out of state license plates near the sisters small shop just about any day. Many had advised them to get their business online but they had not yet opted to do so out of a dislike for the impersonal nature of the internet.

But the sisters were also well known in their tiny little town for their long standing rule that all their potions and magical concoctions would only be made for the good of everyone – they would never make a potion to be used for negative reasons. So those hoping for something to harm another knew never to come here for help. No type of poisons or harmful elixirs would ever pass through their doors. To this one rule they vowed always to stay true and never to break.

Daily activities here overall were no different than at any other store you might frequent. The main difference being that the products for sale here were hand crafted one at a time by a pair of gifted potioneers, not something pre-packaged in a colorful box that hundreds, or even thousands, had been made of at a faceless factory in another land. And the staff here were knowledgeable, helpful and freely gave advice as needed with their clientele. Not the same kind of atmosphere that you’d expect at your typical “big box” store at all.

When you first entered the Henry Sister’s Potions, Tonics, and Magical Beverages you would at once be overcome with the amount of shelves the store contained for it’s intimate overall size – all filled with bottles, boxes and vials filled with every kind of herb, stick, twig, oil, leaf or powder that you might have ever thought of. And more. Many more.

And the smell inside, a hard one to describe due to all the products they had in stock, but needless to say it was very unique. And if the girls were brewing that day, in the tiny area in the back of the store, which they did almost every day, then there was no telling what smells you might encounter. But the fragrance was often compared to old libraries for some reason by their newest customers when described to others.

As it turns out this day was nothing out of the ordinary – Susan Henry, one of the stores owners, carefully stirred all the contents of her enameled spell pot in the back of the store. The fragrant liquid she was currently brewing had the entire room smelling absolutely delicious. She was all caught up on orders and trying to restock the shelves a bit and noticed that she was low on love potions. One of her most popular items, she knew she did not want to run out so she decided to brew up a batch before she was completely sold out.

Now love potions in particular were always tricky to mix – that was just one of the tricks of the trade, so she always paid careful attention when making these in particular. Now some potions and elixirs she could mix up blind folded, left handed, hanging upside down and in the dark – but not love potions – they demanded a lot more time and attention to detail.

She had spent all morning adding just the right amount of ingredients to the one she was working on. As it turns out she had been distracted on more than one occasion while putting this mixture together so she felt she really ought to have been done an hour ago. At least that was what she had planned. But when you are dealing with customers you just have to work around their schedules and needs and that is just the way that it is.