Witches (2 page)

“And your jeans.” Nodding in approval, Bree now looked at Tiffany’s throat. “Why do you have your necklace tucked away? I bet it’s pretty too.”

Catching her breath, the enchantress made a quick decision. “Yes, it is.” Slowly, Tiffany pulled the chain out from underneath her shirt. “It’s called an earth stone.”

Gingerly touching the green jewel within the silver pendant, Bree gasped when it began pulsating. “Why is it doing that?”

“It’s responding to you, Bree. It likes you.” Quickly, Tiffany took the stone back. It wouldn’t do for young Bree to cause any magical outbursts.

“Can I get one too?”

“Yes, you can. Sooner than you might think, in fact.” Standing, Tiffany held out her hand. “Come on. Let’s get you and your mom settled upstairs.”

An hour later, upon leaving the shelter entrance, a warning tingle shot down Tiffany’s back. The young sorceress first unlocked the car door, then put the key back in her purse, scanning the darkened parking lot.

“Who’s there!” she called out. “Show yourself.” A moment of silence ensued.

“You bitch!” Mike Colby, Leanna’s husband and an assistant Rockland County District Attorney, darted from behind his new Mercedes parked off in the corner. A flushed, heavy set man, Colby’s suit pants were rumpled, tie hanging loosely around his unbuttoned neck. “Where’s my wife!”

Unfortunately, as a government official, Colby knew the shelter’s unpublicized location. Standing her ground, Tiffany held up a warning hand. “Mr. Colby, you’re not welcome here.”

“Where is she?” Colby repeated, stopping several paces away, brandishing his fist. “You meddlesome bitch, I asked you a question!”

“And I told you to leave.”

“Is she in here?” Motioning toward the shelter, Colby took a step toward the entrance. “With all the other whores and dykes?”

“Mr. Colby, you are not allowed...”

“Listen, you slut!” Arresting his movement toward the shelter, Colby now dashed drunkenly at Tiffany. “I can have you...”

Whatever threat Colby had in mind remained un-vocalized. As he thrust a finger in Tiffany’s face, the witch simply grabbed his arm, turned her hip, and threw Colby over a shoulder into her car. Face slamming into the rear door, Colby dropped to all fours, momentarily stunned.

“You bitch,” he continued to mumble, shaking his head. “When I get my hands on you...”

Touching the back of Colby’s head, Tiffany’s earth stone briefly flared beneath her shirt. Colby dropped down to the pavement in a deep sleep.

Using only minor magical assistance, the sorceress hauled the paunchy D.A. back to his car, dumping him into the driver’s seat.

“You’re going back home,” she whispered in his ear. “You will get into bed and sleep until tomorrow afternoon.”

“Yes,” Colby murmured, eyes still shut.

“You will obey all speed limits and traffic laws on the way home.”

“Yes.”

“And you will tell everyone your wife and daughter have gone to live in Minnesota with family. Later this year, you will quietly agree to a divorce.”

“Okay.” The very picture of geniality, he smiled serenely.

“Now open your eyes and go,” she commanded, stepping back and watching Colby drive off. Sighing, she then returned to her own vehicle, driving back over the Tappan Zee Bridge to her Tarrytown home.

***

“Nice work with the Colby girl,” Susan commented, nodding in surprised satisfaction following an initial martini sip. “Now that’s what I call a drink!”

“Thank you.” Sitting on an exterior veranda, the trendy lunch spot offered a wonderful view of the glistening Hudson River. Tiffany would have preferred eating inside, where they could enjoy ambiance without wind, but said nothing.

“Oh, don’t mention it. I just wanted to say, though...oh, here she is. Finally!” Rolling her eyes in mock exasperation at the returning waitress, Susan barked out her food order. Hoping to somehow compensate for the older witch’s severity, Tiffany meekly asked for a salad. Stiffly, the server retreated.

“So Leanna and Bree were taken over this morning?” Despite her best efforts, Tiffany’s fingers drummed irritably on the table.

“Yeah. Jen took care of it.” Susan gave a huge, theatrical sigh. “Both mother and daughter are in Haven now, where that Colby asshole will never find them.”

“Susan, please.” Leaning forward, Tiffany glanced meaningfully at those dining nearby. “We need to be discreet.”

“Don’t worry, dear.” With a dismissive wave of her butter knife, the other sorceress made a point of raising her voice. “These peasants have no idea what we’re talking about.”

“Don’t call them peasants!” Trying to take the sting from her rebuke, Tiffany smiled. “And you know...”

“Oh, lighten up, girl. There’s a hush buffer around our table. All anyone will hear more than two feet away is mumbling.”

Deliberately choking back an angry retort, the younger woman turned away. Back in the day, Susan had been one of the Coven’s most effective operatives. As a young girl, Tiffany could  recall getting up before dawn to watch Susan and others of her generation ride off on yet another mission of mercy.

In later years, when she came to understand the full extent of her Coven sisters’ activities, Tiffany found that particular memory tinged with a hint of shame.

But that was then. Now in her early 40's, with an extra thirty pounds and a martini glass seemingly glued to her left hand, Susan appeared yet another bored, middle-aged dowager intent on wearing too much make-up and expensive clothes a half-size too small. Grinning coquettishly at a handsome waiter, her face fell almost comically when the young man coolly looked from the old warrior to Tiffany, his face expanding noticeably into a broad smile.

Waiting until the male server had passed, Tiffany leaned forward. “You know that in this world we’re not supposed to use magic unnecessarily.”

“Bollocks to that.” Having recently decided England was the most sophisticated culture on Earth, Susan had begun watching British television exclusively. “I don’t see any reason to restrict myself. Nor should you.”

“I just think...”

“Don’t do that, dear. It will give you worry lines.” Just then a gust of wind swept away a pile of napkins. Sighing, Susan cast a quick spell to hold everything down, then pointedly held up her now empty martini glass. “Where the hell is that girl with my drink?” Just then their waitress swept by with another martini, Susan eagerly gulping down half the glass.

“Maybe,” Tiffany gently suggested, “you should slow down on the alcohol.”

“What’s the matter? Does Miss Goody-two-shoes have a problem with a second cocktail?”

“All right, Susan.” Looking away a moment, Tiffany let her butter knife deliberately clatter to the bread plate. “Enough.”

Susan looked down at the butter knife, raising an eyebrow. The junior witch’s rudeness had been noted. “Enough of what, dear?”

Leaning forward, Tiffany held the other woman’s gaze. “What have I ever done to offend you?”

“My, my. Aren’t we touchy today?”

“Clearly, you resent me, as do many of our sisters.” Deliberately, Tiffany paused, letting the moment become uncomfortable. “I’d like to know why.”

Taking another thoughtful sip, Susan stared off over the Hudson. “Some of us find it...well, how do I say this? We find it odd, to be frank, that you don’t avail yourself of the advantages of your position.”

Picking up her fork, the brunette beauty began on her just delivered salad. “If you’re talking about what I think you’re talking about...”

“I am.”

“Then I can tell you that I did act that way once.”

“Do tell!”

Angrily, Tiffany stabbed an unfortunate hunk of lettuce. “I didn’t enjoy it.”

“Oh, my dear girl!” Grinning wickedly, the senior witch unfolded a napkin. “There are counselors for that, you know.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it.”

“Acting ‘that way’, as you rather pompously say, is both very enjoyable and very necessary,” Susan chided. “We need to have some fun. Not to mention that our Coven would wither and die in a generation if we didn’t.”

“I know.” Carefully, Tiffany eyed her lunch companion. “But there are moral considerations. We’re manipulating people.”

“Nonsense. We’re very selective in the men we choose. You know that.”

“I suppose.”

“No, dear, that’s not good enough.” Warming to her theme, Susan nodded knowingly. “That Colby character. Would he be a no good, cheating, wife-abusing son-of-a-bitch whether his daughter had power or not?”

“Probably.”

“Not probably. Definitely.” Taking a bite of bread, Susan continued. “The fact that some kindhearted, caring witch slept with him a few days before he impregnated his wife, thereby instilling in his loins a potent gift to be passed onto Bree, doesn’t change who he is, or how he would have acted.”

“I know all that,” Tiffany conceded. “But what if our intercession somehow changes these men? What if they might turn around, become good husbands and fathers, and we’re somehow...”

“Blasphemy!” Now it was Susan who dropped a fork with an ugly clang. “Don’t even say that!”

The two women locked gazes for several moments, Tiffany finally glancing away. “Look, let’s just drop it.”

“No, you listen to me, young lady.” Leaning forward, Susan unnecessarily lowered her voice. “Did you know that I was the one who took Mike Colby?”

“I suspected as much.”

“I found him in a bar, drunk, hitting on every woman there. And this was after sleeping with a law school classmate that afternoon!”

“All right.”

“Do you really think that kind of man changes on his own? Hmmm? Do you?” Holding up a knowing finger, Susan nodded. “They don’t. I was one more aimless encounter that did nothing for or against him. But I did give that worthless prick something to take home to his wife that changed both her and Bree’s life forever!”

“Fine.” Angrily, Tiffany sat back. “Look, I don’t mean to judge.”

“Then don’t,” Susan said. “If it wasn’t for us, and me in particular, Leanna Colby and her daughter would be living a life of misery, trapped forever with that asshole beating her night and day.”

“But to use men this way, to have them unwittingly create daughters who will soon leave them, in the process rendering them nearly impotent,” Tiffany continued. “What gives us the right to choose...”

“Choose? By the stone, girl, what are you talking about? Look at the choices these people make when left on their own!” Susan laughed. “These men choose to abuse their wives and often their daughters, while these stupid women choose to stay with them! We’re simply circumventing a pathetic cycle to give these girls, and their mothers,  protection and love, followed by a life of power and purpose!”

“I know all this.” Tiffany paused. “But don’t you think that maybe, just maybe, some of these men, if left alone, would become good husbands and fathers?”

“No, I don’t,” Susan flatly declared. “Especially your own dear father, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

The jab hit home. Rising from the chair, Tiffany dropped her balled napkin on the table. “I think we’re done here.”

“You’re the strongest girl of your generation, Tiffany.” Leaning back, Susan sighed. “You’re in your prime. You could be doing so much good, if your head was in the right place.”

“Thanks for lunch.” Tiffany took a step away from the table. It wouldn’t do to get into a public squabble, especially with Susan’s lack of discretion...

“Tiffany, don’t go.”

Choking down her anger, Tiffany turned back. “Why not?”

“As much as you enjoy my company, this wasn’t a social call.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re needed back home.” Suddenly losing all pretense at gaiety, Susan looked out over the Hudson. “We’re all in danger.”

“Danger?” Slowly, Tiffany sat back down. “From what?”

“It would seem...” The older witch paused, finishing off her second drink. “That the men are making a comeback.”

***

AS ALWAYS, the gentle mist tingled against the young sorceress’ skin, drawn to her as would a lover following a long absence. Coalescing about her slender body, gentle tendrils of earth fire sparked off into the night, chased merrily by the swarm of glowing hummingbirds that guided her through the Boundary.

Off to one side walked a beautiful deer and her two young fawns, their tan coats flashing in the evening twilight. Some fifty feet to her other side was a regal unicorn, keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings. Cool, crisp evening breezes made for a quick, invigorating pace.

So it had been for countless generations, the women of the Coven traversing this hazy intersection of worlds. Consisting of light woods and fields, the Boundary was stuck in permanent state of late evening. In fact, time or space had no meaning, Tiffany and her sisters unable to even guess whether they’d been traversing the Boundary for mere minutes or long hours. One simply walked into the mist, drew the hummingbirds to her with an earth stone, and then followed the delicate creatures to whatever dimension they were visiting. When returning to Haven, there were certain locations within each outer world that a sorceress could again summon the mist, creating a portal into the Boundary and home.

Little was known of the actual land itself. Geography and terrain constantly shifted, each journey seemingly covering an entirely different collection of hills, lakes, and streams. Many animals roamed the Boundary, including large, intelligent wolves with blood-red eyes. On rare occasion one tried to interpose themselves across an enchantress’ path, to be quickly chased off by an escorting unicorn.

As far as the Coven knew, the white-tailed deer were the only other creatures to regularly cross into other worlds, the mild-mannered animals often following a witch into the mist, both for companionship and protection, before heading off into another realm.

Though all contained human populations, each of the outer worlds bordering the Boundary varied greatly as to technology, mores, and magical knowledge. Some knew of the Coven and their activities, while others had no idea Tiffany and her sisters traveled among them.