Leaning back looking into Caleb’s eyes, I can see all his love reflecting out at me from his brown depths. “I love you, Angel, with all my heart,” Caleb says in no more than a whisper. Kissing my forehead, he slowly pulls away from me, lowering me back to the bed. Standing, he walks over to a door, opening it I see clothes. He pulls out several items and bringing them back to the bed, handing me a pile of clothes. I hold up a teal loose tank top with a matching bra and underwear set, along with a pair of jean shorts.
I go about putting on the clothes, surprised they all fit perfectly. I wonder who picked these out for me? After I pulled on the shorts, I turn to look at Caleb, who has everything on except his shirt. His jeans are slung low on his hips, show casing his v-shaped hips. He goes back over to the closet and puts something behind his back. He walks back over to me, “Do you want to see the shoes the ladies picked out for you?” he asks. I nod my head excitedly. He pulls out a beautiful pair of teal sandal wedges, they match my top perfectly. I squeal at seeing these beautiful shoes. I grab them and slip them on but before I can buckle them, Caleb is doing them up for me. Such a sweet little thing, but means so much at the same time. This man is my reason for my next breath.
“Everyone is probably gathered down in the formal room. They’ve been trying to figure out what kind of spell you were under. This coven of white witches, their power is unlike any I have ever seen. They have some amazing things here,” he says, as he puts on his boots. He looks good even putting on his boots, this man amazes me. “We should probably get down there, everyone was worried. Well, everyone except Chris, she thought you would be fine, said it was all meant to be,” he says matter-of-factly.
“Well, I guess we better get down there then. Since my sister-in-law says it’s all meant to be,” I say giggly. This new life of mine will never be boring. Feeling giddy and empowered, I start bouncing from one foot to the other. “I’ll race you down,” I squeal, as I take off running. Able to jump over all the stairs in one bound, I make in down the stairs before Caleb. He runs into my back and lifts me up off my feet swinging me around, both of us laughing like carefree teenagers.
The clearing of a throat brings our silliness to an abrupt end. I turn to stand face to face with a raven haired buxom beauty. Her bright green eyes highlighted by purple eye shadow. She doesn’t seem to be much older than me, but in her eyes, I see so many years of wisdom. Her smile is so kind, so warm, that I feel myself smiling back at her. “Hello, my dear sleeping beauty. You surely had us very worried, but I see you are very well now,” she says with so much humor in her eyes.
“My name is Carol, I’m the head of this coven. We have been very perplexed as to what had control over you, Angel. You are very lucky, that spell was so dangerous, so dark that our white magic was no match,” she says, looking very worried. Her concern for me is written all over her face. She moves over to me and brushes her hand over my cheek. Her tan skin is smooth and warm. I feel a vibration as her skin touches mine. “I’m using my powers to see if you are healed. I must make sure all the traces of that dark spell are gone,” she says as her hands move all over my face.
“I hope it’s all gone. I was in total darkness. It was very scary there,” I say, as I feel her magic moving through my body. As her warm magic flows through me, I feel things. I see in my mind a meadow with green grass and fresh upturned dirt. I feel the grass as if it is blowing against my skin, while I’m standing inside of a house. This is a very weird experience, like I can be in two places at once.
“What you are feeling is my earth magic. My magic comes from the earth, all witches get their powers from one element or another. I’m a very lucky witch who has the chance to work with the earth,” she says as she drops her hand down to her side. “I can help things grow, that is an amazing thing indeed,” she says as she walks over to a potted plant. She lovingly touches the petal on the yellow rose. As she turns to walk back to us, I see the rose bend toward her. I gasp as I see the rose move back to its upright position.
“What can I say, Angel? Plants love me, they tend to follow me if I’m close,” Carol says as she turns back to look at the rose. She chuckles as the rose starts to sway back and forth. Carol turns her green stare back at me. “How about we head to the backyard. Everyone is out there, enjoying the fresh air and sunshine,” she says as she waves us to follow her through the house. She walks down a long hallway. Looking around I see a bunch of photos that look like family pictures. A bunch of girls at different ages from different stages in life. Then toward the end of the hallway, I see some photos with little girls with the women from previous pictures.
The little girls look like the women with them. They are mother and daughter pictures. We keep following Carol out through the kitchen, which is huge. Beautiful granite topped counters over oak cabinets, the tiled floor matching the dark grey granite countertops. The appliances are all stainless steel. The space is amazing, I almost trip going out the door because I’m still looking at the kitchen. Caleb chuckles behind me as I right myself before completely falling. I look out into the backyard and see it is more than a backyard, there are acres upon acres of land behind this place. The grass is nicely cut low and very green for being fall time. Most things are brown by now. Looking up at the trees, I see some are showing fall coloring but most are still green.
“Most things stay green here, and all our plants grow even in the dead of winter. It’s our magic, but everyone who isn’t welcome here sees what we want them to.” A young redheaded beauty comes walking up to us. She is a little taller than me with the wedges on. Her long fiery red hair is blowing in the breeze, making me think of fire.
“My name is Sophie, I’m a fire witch, and my mother is Kim, which is Carol’s sister. We witches here are all related somehow,” she says, shaking my hand. I feel the heat radiating off her instantly. Looking at her, I see red flakes in her dark eyes, they almost look black except all the red I see in them. Her eyes are hypnotizing to look at. “Trust me I know my eyes look weird, it’s all because I’m a fire witch, and we all have these kind of eyes,” she says, shaking her hand near her eyes.
“I think they are cool,” I say, looking her dead in the eyes. I mean it too, they are the strangest, but most amazing eyes I’ve ever seen. I see when she knows I mean what I say, she smiles at me with a slight nod.
“Come and meet my witch sisters and mothers,” she says as she takes my hand in hers, dragging me along behind her. Her long green dress flows behind her as she walks quickly, creating her own wind. As we are walking, I notice she is barefoot. I’m really short compared to her if I’m in heels and she is still taller.
Caleb chuckles from behind me, hearing my thoughts. I turn to look at him and it just causes him to smile broadly at me. We make our way to a little structure that looks like a gazebo in the distance. I hear voices coming from that direction. Hearing Theron’s voice, I take off running, yelling out his name before I reach him. His look of shock is only on his face for a moment before I’m on him, giving him the biggest hug. I feel his arms wrap around me, embracing me in a hug. We have not hugged like this since I was really young. But knowing I almost died can change one’s views on things in their life.
“We thought we lost you, Angel. Don’t you ever do that to me again, do you hear me?” Theron’s voice is so emotional, almost having me in tears. We have had each other for so long that I couldn’t see my life without him in it.
“I will try to never get myself put under another spell again,” I say into his shoulder, causing him to chuckle despite our emotions. I push back and see Alyssa standing next to us, looking like her perfect elf self, her eyes showing unshed tears. I let go of Theron and grab Alyssa into a hug. She comes willingly, we have never ever before hugged. We have barely ever touched, but in this moment she is someone I need to hug. She has been my silent guard for a few years.
Alyssa has been my friend for years, but we have never really shared anything personal about one another. When I release her, she looks at me with tears in her mint green eyes. Her glamour gives way as she is crying in front of me. Her hair is growing longer and turning the same color of her eyes, and as her skin becomes iridescent, her ears elongate. Even though we didn’t say anything to each other, our hug says all the words we need to say.
I smile sweetly at her. She is a true friend, she knew my secret, never once letting on that she knew. She was always there for me, even if we didn’t share, we understood each other. Alyssa smiles back at me with so much happiness in her eyes. I let her completely go and she is immediately swept up into Theron’s arms. They truly look happy and that they really belong together. To some people, seeing as Alyssa looks my age, would frown upon them being together, but Alyssa is not my age. No, she is so much older but I don’t know how old.
I look around at my surroundings, seeing people I have already met and some new faces as well. A little sprite looking young woman comes bouncing up to me. Her movements remind me of a dancer, so fluid and look so natural. Her hair is light brown with a pixie cut, with her slender build, the look is great on her. Her sparkling blue eyes seem to flow around her pupils, almost like water. Her eyes dance from Caleb to me, then back again with merriment. I extend my hand to her but instead of taking it, she takes me into a hug.
“My name is Emma, I’m Michelle’s daughter, and also a water witch. If you haven’t already been told, we are all related. Our mothers are all sisters, and we have two sets of twins among our younger generation. Me and my sister, Hanna, being a set.” She pauses to look back at the crowd of faces I don’t know. “There are five of us who practice the arts right now, our mothers only practice when they need to. We are somewhat still in training, trying to reach our potential,” she says, taking my hand, leading me toward the women who are all seated around a huge white oak tree.
An older woman with dark brown hair and light brown highlights rises from her seat on a beautifully carved wooden bench. Her eyes are blue with flecks of light brown, very unique. She holds out her hand to me, I take it and shake her hand. “Hi, I’m Michelle. I see that my Emma has already introduced herself,” she says as she is motioning to a young woman who was sitting next to her. Looking at her, I can see she looks a lot like Emma, but with dark brown hair and brown eyes with flecks of green, like the color of the earth. Both Emma and her sister look like their mother in ways. Their mother has a bigger build but just as beautiful. “Hanna here is Emma’s twin. Emma is a water witch like me. Hanna gets her earth powers from her father,” she says as Hanna shakes my hand.
Hanna’s magic spreads across my fingers, making me feel as if I’m running my hands over soft grass. “It is great to meet you. I’d like to introduce you to my other cousins,” she says as she walks over to the other girls. One girl had purple and blue striped hair, with a reverse bob haircut. Her eyes catch my attention, they are a deep purple. The other girl looks a lot like the other but with long blond hair and light blue eyes like the sky. They both are medium build, definitely athletic. A woman comes over to stand behind them, her long blond hair flowing down her back. She definitely looks too young to have daughters my age, she looks like their older sister. The older woman holds out her hand to me.
“Hello, I’m Tabitha, an air witch, and these two are my daughters.” The two in front of her bow to me.
The one with purple eyes steps forward. “I’m Ava, a spirit witch, pleased to meet you, Angel,” she says as she smiles at me, stepping back.
Her sister steps forward. “I’m Olivia, an air witch like my mother. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Angel,” she says, stepping back away from me. Caleb wraps his strong arms around me pulling me to his front. I grab his arms and take a deep breath, taking his scent into my lungs.
The women of this coven seem to all be so grounded in their magic that it’s humming around us. I concentrate on the humming and I feel it coming from everything around us. The trees, ground, wind, the stream that runs into the pond nearby, and the fire they have burning somewhere near, everything is so powerful. I have never thought about it until now, everything has its own magic. As if sensing what I’m thinking, Carol steps close to Caleb and me. “Everything here has more power flowing through it than most places on the planet, but no matter where you go you can find magic everywhere as long as you have one of the six elements of magic,” she says, moving her arms around encompassing everything around us.
“We older witches of this coven are nowhere near as powerful as our daughters. They have all six elements of magic when they cast a circle, we never did. These girls are so special,” she says, looking a little sad at the mention of the girls. And then a thought hits me and I have to ask.
“Miss Carol, do you have a daughter, or are your sisters the only ones?” I ask, not thinking before I ask. I should really learn to think before I speak. Looking into Carol’s eyes makes me regret asking her. Carol’s eyes are filled with so much sadness it breaks my heart thinking of what could cause that much sadness.
“My daughter was taken from me at a young age. I haven’t seen her since she was five years old. She was a special girl, just like my nieces,” Carol says, wiping tears from her cheeks.
I want to wrap her in a hug, no one should ever lose their child. Especially have their child taken from them, it is just cruel. I feel my eyes tearing up just at the thought of what it must be like for Carol. Carol wipes away a stray tear that escaped from my eye. “Don’t fret over things you cannot change, my dear. Yes it is sad, and I will always be sad for the fact that she is no longer with me, but I have learned that God would not have taken her from me unless he had his reasons,” Carol says with so much strength in her voice. Seeing her stay strong even through the worst thing that could happen, makes my beliefs all the more solid.
This coven is good, very pure magic, not the evil that had me under that spell. “The spell that I was under, how could they cast it on me?” I ask, trying to change the subject from the unhappy to something we really need to talk about. I see everyone else come back to gather around to listen. “I mean I didn’t run into any witches during the fight. I know I didn’t fight any at any time. How could they cast a spell on me?” I ask, truly curious about the answer. I need to figure out how to fight so it doesn’t happen again.
“Well, if they were able to get your blood, or anything that was yours, they wouldn’t have needed to have met you or even been near you to cast it. They could be in a different country and still be able to cast that spell,” Carol answers first. Her sisters nodding their heads in agreement with her.
“That spell was a very powerful black magic spell. It would take at least a whole coven and then some to cast a spell that powerful,” Michelle adds her thoughts to the equation.
“Not only powerful, Michelle, but maybe even older magic. It could have been an older creature with magical abilities that helped with that spell,” Kim says, adding to the discussion.
“I have contacted some of our friends and they said there is a small coven of warlocks that travel where they are needed. Do you think they may be able to help with this problem we seem to have?” Jonathan asks the coven. “I know you have stayed hidden for a while now. I wouldn’t want to bring you out of hiding or anything. Just thought I would put the option out there,” he says to all the ladies, looking lastly at Carol. They must have gone into hiding since her daughter was taken. I do not blame them, it had to be very hard for them all.
“I think that maybe we should come out of hiding. We have stayed hidden for far too long. We are stronger than we were back then. And if we bring in more power, maybe join with another coven, we would be stronger,” Tabitha says, looking to her sisters. They seem to always think from every aspect before they decide anything.
“I think you are right, sister. It is time,” Carol says as she walks over to Jonathan. “Please do contact your friends, let them know we will definitely need some assistance. Our coven needs some fortifying,” Carol says to him, then walks back toward the house.
“Well, I will make all the appropriate calls. See how long it will take for them to get here. It might take a while to get in touch with them,” he says as he starts to walk back to the house, holding out his hand for Chris to take hold. Chris winks at me as I look at her. She then leaves with Jonathan. Theron and Alyssa wave to us as they walk away, going to a little cottage type house off in the distance. I see the others walk off, all except Sophie.
“Come on, guys, I’ll show you where Angel can hunt. Then ya’ll can head to your cottage, Caleb, if you remember where it is since you never left Angel’s side since you got here,” Sophie says as she turns to walk deeper into the property.
We walk quite a ways from the house, and I am just taking in how beautiful this place is. Sophie tells me that they own hundreds of acres here, and that the place is warded so no unwanted company will sneak in. This makes me feel at ease, considering that we are still trying to stay away from the ones who are after me. Sophie stops at one of the many streams that run through the property and reaches down, scooping up a handful of water to take a drink. She looks over at us and smiles. Her smile lights up her already beautiful face. Her hair blows around softly in the light breeze.
“Okay, this is where I leave you two. There will be plenty of game out this far. Please, no killing on these grounds, we keep the peace and balance here. We know your brother hasn’t killed any animal since being here. We don’t know many vampires as old as him who know how to control themselves so well,” Sophie says as she goes to leave. What does she expect me to do?
“Sophie, wait. What are you talking about?” I ask, feeling like I’m missing something. She turns back to look at me.
“Well, Angel, you haven’t taken any of those pills that suppressed your hunger since you’ve been out. So you will need to feed, and I’m not talking about your snacking on Caleb’s neck,” Sophie says with a wink and walks off before I can say anything to her. I look at Caleb, who has kept quiet this whole time. His smile says it all, everyone knows we made love as soon as I woke up.
“Well, how about we get you fed, then we can talk about what happened to you while you were under that spell?” Caleb says with a smile that melts my heart and has me thinking of doing somethings, and none of them are hunting.