Witch's Awakening (30 page)

“Not necessarily.” Eva Grace sat forward, clearly intrigued as she turned to Delia. “Are you thinking of making a show of force?”

“Go on the offensive?” Fiona also seemed interested.

“The demon was weak with Inez the other day,” Delia pointed out. “Perhaps the Woman is weak, too. As Brenna said, it feels as if evil is gathering on the horizon like a storm. If we confront them now, we'll be prepared and armed. Our magic might be enough.”

Doubt flooded Brenna. If they summoned this evil, would it infect all of them? Might someone impulsively sacrifice herself? She wished she could believe Eva Grace would not make that decision. Lauren and Maggie weren't likely to give up anything, much less their lives, but they weren't as strong in character. Fiona, on the other hand, was young and impulsive. The instinct to protect them all filled Brenna.

“We need to think this through,” she offered to the group. “Didn't we go down this path the other night at the store?”

“Do you have another idea?” Delia asked. “We're open to suggestions if you do.”

The only other idea Brenna could think of was that since she had found the missing pages of history, she should be the one to sacrifice herself, but she couldn't bring herself to make that suggestion.

Instead, she focused on her mother's idea. It could work. “We'd need everyone in the coven there. Even Doris.”

“She's coming home tomorrow,” Sarah said. “She'll stay here with us for a while.”

“But is she up to magic?” Frances looked concerned.

“I'll help her,” Eva Grace said. “And Diane will be there with her.”

Fiona nodded to the two other empty chairs at the table. “What about Maggie and Lauren?”

“Leave them to me.” Sarah said firmly. “They'll be there.”

“We'll do it Monday night,” Delia suggested. “That gives Doris more time to grow stronger.”

And gives the demon and the Woman more time to do the same
.

Brenna swallowed the impulse to point that out to her relatives who were now so enthusiastic. Negativity would throw a pall over them all and she had no viable alternative.

The back door slammed open and Marcus's shout rang out. “Help me. The workshop is on fire.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

The fire spewed from the ground.

Jake ran down the driveway of the Connelly home place as geysers of flame rose from the earth and sprayed down on Marcus and Sarah's workshop. He heard the radio call as he was headed home, so he was first on scene. He had imagined the worst.

Brenna injured. Brenna needing his help.

But she was with the other Connelly witches, their hands linked, their voices rising in magical cadence over the roar of the blaze. No doubt they were trying to quell the fiery tentacles attacking their property.

He spied Marcus working a hose along with Dr. Burns as they tried to keep the fire from leaping to the nearby barn. The stream of water was inadequate. Jake heard sirens in the distance and knew the fire department was on the way, but what could their county volunteers do against this supernatural blast of heat?

“What the hell is this?” he shouted to the two men.

“Fire came up through the floor,” Marcus shouted back. “Aiden and I barely got out before the whole place was engulfed.”

“We need more water on it.” Jake looked around for more hoses. Maybe they could run some from the kitchen somehow?

“It's demon fire,” Dr. Burns yelled and jerked his head toward the witches. “They have to fight it.”

A ball of light rose from the magic circle and into the smoke. The fire pulsed.

Like a living thing, Jake thought, the flames reared and bucked against the magical force that sought to smother it.

He looked to the witches and saw Eva Grace's pale features, Fiona's fear and Brenna's determination. Only her mother's fierce concentration matched hers. Sarah, Frances and Estelle swayed with them and looked unsteady.

Again and again, they chanted, “Demon fire loosed from hell. Return to your maker, go back to your well. From this hell fire, set us free. As we will, so mote it be.”

Like a giant damper, the ball of magic dropped over the fire. A brief plume of sparks rose from the ground and then disappeared.

The witches continued to chant. The ground belched one last blast of smoke. The smell of sulfur saturated the air.

The fire truck arrived and Jake was busy helping them maneuver down the drive to the workshop. The firemen quickly shot the contents of their tank into the building, and if anyone thought it odd that the Connellys had managed to almost put out the fire with one garden hose, they said nothing.

The coven broke the circle and Jake urged everyone back away from the smoke of the smoldering workshop.

After a few steps, Sarah fell to her knees, sobbing. “Our work, Marcus!” she cried. “All of our work, gone.”

Marcus knelt beside his wife and gathered her in his arms. Tears streamed down his face. “That doesn't matter, Sarah darling. It doesn't matter. We're okay, that's what matters.”

“But for how long?” she sobbed into his shoulder. “What will happen next?”

Fiona, Estelle and Eva Grace clutched each other while Dr. Burns drew Delia into his embrace.

Brenna backed away from them, one hand pressed to her mouth, looking horrified.

In two strides, Jake had her in his arms.

A tremor went through her body. Her voice was choked with tears. “It took their art, what they pour themselves into. How could this happen right here? How could we allow it?”

Jake drew his hand through her hair. What could he say to soothe her?

“This has to end,” she whispered. “I have to end it.”

Alarmed, Jake drew back. “What do you mean?”

She looked glassy-eyed from shock, as if she didn't really see him.

“You can't do it alone,” he told her, thinking of the information she had discovered that morning. “Brenna, you're not thinking—”

“Of course not,” she said, her gaze sharpening. “But the coven has a plan.”

“What—”

“I'll tell you later.” Leaving Jake, she strode to Sarah and Marcus and dropped to her knees beside them. Silently, she wrapped her arms around them. Sarah turned into her granddaughter's arms and they wept together.

In another hour, the firemen were gone. Marcus had packed Sarah off to their room. Estelle and Frances left. Fiona and Eva Grace were staying the night, and Jake convinced Brenna she should come back to his house.

She said little on the drive home, but Jake sensed the wheels spinning in her head. Good, she was moving past this latest calamity and thinking about a solution.

Tasmin greeted her witch with a cry that sounded like relief to Jake. The cat padded off to supervise Brenna's shower. Jake pulled homemade soup from the freezer, nuked it to thaw and then put it in a pot on the stove. Brenna needed sustenance after the heartbreak and loss of this evening.

“Sit down and eat while I clean up,” he told her when she emerged from her bath, hollow-eyed and pale.

The hearty soup restored Brenna's energy and she sat with Jake as he ate a couple of bowls, as well. As they cleaned up, he asked about the coven meeting.

Brenna shrugged. “It was the usual. Tears from Maggie, frustration from all of us, more discussion.”

“Did you do something?”

She looked confused.

“Did the fire start after a spell?”

Her laugh was mirthless. “Not at all. The fire came from the demon and the Woman. They're trying to destroy us, wear us all down.” Brenna looked very worn. She told him about the Remember-Not spell and Delia's plan for Monday night.

He was silent, wondering if any of it was wise. He was surprised Brenna was going along with the plan, especially since it came from her mother.

“I don't know what to do.” She laid her head wearily on one hand. “It seems hopeless.”

“You need some rest,” Jake said. “You'll think better in the morning.”

He got up, and made his usual check of doors and windows. Brenna remained at the kitchen table. She studied him with an expression he didn't quite understand.

“What is it?”

“Look at you. Locking us in against demons and the like.”

“Nothing is getting to you while you're with me.”

“After tonight, I have to wonder if anywhere is safe.”

“Come to bed.” He put out his hand and drew her through the house to the bedroom, shutting off lights behind them.

He expected her to fall asleep immediately. Instead, she spooned against his naked body and kissed his neck. He turned to face her. “You have to sleep. You're exhausted.”

“But I need you.” The word was almost a plea. One he couldn't resist. “Especially tonight.” She pressed her body to his, warm and fragrant, inviting.

There was only so much a male could resist, Jake thought as he framed her face with his hands. “Okay. I'm all yours.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Brenna kissed his forehead, cheeks, lips and his chin. Her lips moved to both nipples and lingered there awhile. When he was breathless and fully aroused, she moved down to take him in her mouth.

Her magic was strong inside tonight. She felt it whirl through her body and infuse her lovemaking with an intensity she'd never felt before. According to the control Jake was exerting to hold his own release in check, he was experiencing the enhanced feelings, too.

Brenna knew the enhancement to her magic was her love for Jake. It moved through her into him like the slow spill of hot caramel.

That knowledge added heat to her climax, a thunder in her blood that was new for Brenna. Wave after wave of emotion collided inside her as Jake joined her in sweet release.

They lay entwined for a moment as pulses returned to normal. Then Brenna sent Jake to sleep with a wisp of magic. “I love you,” she whispered before slipping out of bed.

There was work to be done, and she must do it.

He was deep into sleep by the time she dressed. She headed for the front door hoping her magic would keep him asleep till morning.

But she still had to get past her familiar. Tasmin barred the front door, spitting and arching her back. Brenna stooped to stroke her. “You'll stay here with Jake and help him for me,” she told the cat. “You know what I'm doing is the only way.”

Tasmin's meow was disagreement in the most direct way possible. She even swiped out with her paws, raising a scratch on the back of Brenna's hand.

“Well, that's mean.” With a flick of her wrist, Brenna moved the cat to the other side of the room and slipped out the door. Tasmin might well find another way to follow her, so she added a stay spell. She only hoped the cat's yowling didn't wake Jake.

As she stepped onto the front porch, the owl swooped down at her with a horrific screech that almost sent her back inside.

“Stop it,” she ordered, but the owl followed her to her car, hissing like an ill-tempered snake.

Her journey to Mulligan Falls was accompanied by the disgruntled owl's swoops and bloodcurdling screams. Brenna counted it a minor miracle that she made it to the start of the back-end trail. As she parked the car and studied the angry bird sitting on the hood of the SUV, it dawned on her that the owl might have a reason to stop her. It was possible he wanted to protect her from what she was going to do.

And at last, she understood the owl's message…and the messenger.

“Garth. You couldn't leave with unfinished business, could you?”

The owl hissed and spread his wings, the noise rising to an ominous level that echoed through the woods.

“There's only one way to stop this. The fire tonight helped me see. The Woman in White demands tribute, and I'm prepared to save my family and this town with my life if necessary.”

The bright yellow eyes of the bird burned with anger as he screamed at her again.

Brenna extended her hand and chanted, “The trees will soothe, the breeze will calm. The air contains a resting balm. My work is done as now you sleep. As I will, so mote it be.”

The owl's big eyes blinked several times and then he tucked his wings in tightly before going to sleep.

Brenna opened the back door of the SUV and took out the royal blue cloak she sometimes wore for rituals. Sarah made each of the girls one when they completed their craft training.

Following the trail to Mulligan Falls, Brenna was soon in the clearing. Water roared over the rocks, although if this heat wave continued without rain, the falls might dry up. The night air was hot and heavy as Brenna took off her clothes, donned the elegant cloak and walked straight to the spot where Garth had died.

She raised her arms and summoned the wind. She was relieved when the trees rustled with a soft breeze that grew until the branches whipped and lashed.

“I'm a Connelly witch and proud of it. What you see is what you get, the witch with the strongest power of my generation. You want one of our clan. Here I am, a sacrifice offered freely for the Woman in White. Come and take me.”

The wind continued its fury as Brenna waited. She wasn't afraid exactly, just not sure if this was the right thing to do. Could she stand here and die? She closed her eyes and forced herself to concentrate on the members of her family, her coven. She thought of the fire's devastation at the home place tonight. Reasons to die willingly. Then she thought of Jake. He was a reason to live happily. She knew this was the right thing, but she couldn't make herself enjoy giving up.

The seconds turned to minutes as Brenna waited in the clearing. The wind died and with it her hope of being the sacrifice the family needed. She was on the edge of despair when a female voice called her name.

Taking a deep breath, Brenna turned and faced the figure that melted into the clearing from the shadows. The Woman in White stepped toward her. Unlike the day that Garth died, the spirit looked more flesh and blood tonight. It was as if she lived and breathed.