Coven, page 24
After sealing the realm a final time, Dylan had kissed Sheridan’s forehead. “I don’t know what the Goddess and the God will do with this realm after they’ve cleansed it, but I’m sure they’ll let us know if it’s any of our concern,” she’d said, wrapping her arm around Sheridan’s waist. “Come on, beautiful, it’s time to go home. Are you ready?” Raising her other arm, a shimmering portal had winked into view.
Now, every inner circle witch from the Coven of the New Moon screamed in joy as Sheridan and Dylan appeared in the middle of Alex and Lily’s backyard. “Dude, we have been out of our fucking minds!” Alex yelled as she reached the pair. She hugged them both fiercely before everyone else crowded around to take their turn. “What the hell happened down there? The last group that came out filled us in on everything that went on before they left, but none of us have had any idea what’s happened to Michael O’Rourke or Cassius Deimos.”
A clearly exhausted Evie slumped against Sheridan for a minute before she kissed her cheek. “All of the captives who were from other realms have gone home, Sher,” the Healer managed to say. “Reese and I were able to stabilize the ones who were sick or injured until their people got here and Grace jumped in when she got back. Hayden used her magick to speed healing wherever she could, which helped us a huge amount, and Ryder supercharged everyone’s magick so we could keep going.” Evie leaned against Hayden tiredly.
“The Seelie Queen sent us a shitload of help, and honestly? I don’t think we could have done what we did without Selene or Iris,” said Keeley after she had hugged Sheridan and Dylan. “Emmaline was down in the realm with you for a long time, so I had to keep our magickal boilers lit without her, but those two were a godsend. They aren’t Magicians, but they were able to give me enough extra oomph to keep things going until Em was back.”
Suddenly, a tiny black kitten rocketed across the backyard and jumped into Sheridan’s arms. “Oracle!” Sheridan clutched her familiar to her. “I’ve missed you so much, baby.” After lots of hugs and kisses, Oracle finally meowed to get down, satisfied her human was okay, and trotted off. “She has a boyfriend,” Avalon whispered, amused. Sheridan stared at her coven mate with stunned wide eyes.
“I’m sure your familiar will tell you all about it as soon as things settle down. For now, I think the wisest thing to do will be for all of us to go home and shower, take a good long nap, and meet back here tonight so we can compare notes. Selene and Iris were so exhausted, Lily made them go into her guest bedroom to lay down about an hour ago, especially since Selene’s cards were telling her you were okay.”
Then, Avalon smirked. “Alex told them there wasn’t any point in fighting with her Warrior wife because they would lose that argument…although I’m personally not sure how a matchup between Lily and Selene would end. It might make for some interesting drama.”
Dylan laughed. “I agree.” She rapidly sobered before looking around at her coven mates. “We’ll discuss everything tonight with each other in full detail, but—just so you know—Cassius Deimos is no more. Michael O’Rourke was banished to the Void and Trom-Laighe has been destroyed.” Dylan pulled Sheridan to her as the rest of the inner circle sighed in relief. “I’ll order something for dinner for all of us after we meet back here and we’ll talk.” Her expression chilled. “I only have one thing I have to do first before I take my mate home so she can rest.”
Sam snorted and rolled her eyes. “If you’re talking about dealing with Frannie Porprest and Mary Lyn Amherst, you can forget it.” Dylan looked at her with a question in her eyes.
“When the last group returned from Trom-Laighe and everyone was jumping all over Rose and Erica, just fucking ecstatic they were back, it didn’t take those two bitches any time at all to tuck their tails between their legs and skedaddle on out of here.” Her face was disgusted.
“Honestly, fam, let them go,” Ryder chimed in. “Neither of them is strong enough for us to worry about…plus, I suspect they’re going to keep as far away from us as they can anyway, considering what they did to Sheridan. We aren’t going to see hide nor hair of them ever again, so save yourself the aggravation and just let them go. Yeah?” Dylan nodded slowly in the silence that followed.
The entire group then burst out laughing when Sheridan suddenly gave a huge, jaw-cracking yawn and shattered the quiet. “That’s it for you, beautiful,” Dylan grinned, tucking Sheridan more firmly into her side. “Every single one of us is exhausted and we all need some sleep. We’re dumping adrenaline all over the place and are about to fall over, so let’s plan to meet back here about eight o’clock tonight after we’ve gotten some rest.
“We have one hell of a story to tell you and I’m sure you have the same, so get out of here and we’ll see you then. We love the hell out of you guys. There’s no one more thankful than I am that this shit is finally fucking over.”
Chapter 18
That night, the inner circle, plus Selene and Iris, met in Alex and Lily’s backyard again, much more rested and ready to compare notes on what had taken place while they were apart. Dylan had ordered enough food from Gianni’s—everyone’s favorite trattoria—to feed three entire covens instead of only the New Moon inner circle. Lily and Alex had ensured there was plenty of beer, wine, and a variety of teas and soft drinks for the witches.
First, the coven mates who had stayed in the Earth realm the entire time filled Dylan and Sheridan in on what had transpired while they were in Trom-Laighe. “It was fucking insane,” Reese said bluntly, cutting into her lasagna. “I don’t think any of the Healers in this coven has ever had to pull on their healing magick the way we did when those captives started coming out. I thought Selene was going to torch the whole goddamn neighborhood when she first saw Siofra, that poor little naiad.”
Selene glowered as she viciously snapped a breadstick in two. “Little witch,” she said menacingly to Sheridan, “had Siofra not been taken out of Trom-Laighe when she was, I don’t think she would have made it. Thank the Goddess the Seelie Queen responded as fast as she did to Reese’s summons and sent some of her own Healers to us immediately. Evie didn’t know anything about Fae healing, but she was at least able to stabilize Siofra long enough for the Queen’s Healers to get to her. Eolande said Siofra owes her life to Evie.”
Evie was crying softly, huddled in Hayden’s arms. “I could have never done it with everyone else, especially my spouse. She made it possible for me to speed up Siofra’s healing until the Fae Healers could get here.” The petite, golden-haired witch then straightened up and blew her nose before turning her attention back to her antipasto, determined to put the worry of those hours out of her mind. “All I know is that I’m glad those two fuckers are dead. Well, dead and banished, which I’m sure you’re going to tell us about.”
“Really, I think Selene has a career as a five-star general if she decides she wants to give up witchcraft.” Avalon raised an eyebrow at Sheridan’s mentor, who snorted at Avalon. “It was seriously chaos around here, Sher. The captives were starting come out, we were trying to keep ourselves sorted up here while not knowing exactly what the hell to expect, everyone was worried to death about you and Dylan, we hadn’t had a clue at first that you’d found Rose and Erica. Like Reese said, fucking insanity.”
“But, Reese told me Selene jumped in with both feet and started directing traffic right and left,” said Grace, spearing a pepperoncini from her salad. “Sam and I were so done when we got back up here in the Earth realm. The baneful magick that was soaked into the walls of the Trom-Laighe castle was stronger and more toxic than anything I’d ever felt before in my life. I was exhausted because a bit of it had still managed to seep into me, although we had strong protection magick wrapped around us. Sam was just as exhausted as I was. Selene took one look at us, cast a spell that pulled all that toxicity out of our bodies, then got us seated and comfortable before we could blink.”
Sheridan smiled at Selene lovingly before her smile turned impish. “You have absolutely no idea what it was to be a teenager learning magick for the first time with her as your mentor. General? Try dictator.”
“Keep it up, little witch.” Selene, unperturbed, bit into her bread stick amid the laughter. “I’m sure your mate wouldn’t mind giving you a good spanking for me.” Sheridan’s mouth dropped open and her eyes grew huge as Dylan snickered, looking at Sheridan with heat in her eyes.
“In any case,” Sheridan decided to change the subject before Selene gave Dylan any more ideas, “every one of you was absolutely amazing. We didn’t lose a single captive because of you. They’re all home now, including the humans, and their own people will take care of them so they can continue to heal, physically and mentally.”
She fidgeted a bit. “You should know I had a bit of a crisis when it came to dealing with my father while we were in Trom-Laighe and finally confronted him. I’d thought everything was so crystal clear when it came to him and that fucking asshole demon, especially when I saw what they’d done to the captives there…Erica and Rose, most of all. They needed to go. But…” she halted, not knowing how to continue.
“I’ve got this, beautiful.” Dylan calmly put down her fork and wrapped her arm around Sheridan’s shoulders. “I don’t think any of us is surprised that Sheridan balked a little bit when it came to killing her father, despite his evil. I also don’t think any one of us could ever blame her for that. We all know what he was, but Sheridan’s mother had loved him once, and that complicated matters for her.”
“Sher.” Avalon was astonished. “Of course none of us would blame you! You didn’t grow up with him, you didn’t know him, but he was still your father. Despite the fact you were adamant he was nothing more than the male who had contributed sperm to your creation, life isn’t always that black and white, honey.”
Hayden raised her eyebrow at Sheridan. “This coven inner circle knows—without a shadow of a doubt—that the absolute last thing you would ever do is something that would put the Earth realm or the rest of the realms at risk. If there was even a hint of doubt in your mind about Michael, it was there for a reason and you needed to figure that out. That’s why you had Dylan, you know. I’ve known Dyl for so many years, I knew she would never let you fall while you were resolving everything in your head.”
“So, you’re not mad at me for being confused?” Sheridan was hesitant.
Lily stared at her. “Sher, I can’t believe you feel you even have to question that. Honestly…if you’d had no hesitation whatsoever about disposing of your father—no question in your mind at all—I would have been way more worried about that. Your humanness and your compassion is what makes you what you are. I’m so proud to call you my friend.” Tears started to slip down Sheridan’s face as the rest of the witches clamored in agreement.
Selene cleared her throat and everyone fell silent. “Little witch, I was going to wait to tell you this, but I think now is a better time.” She reached for Iris’s hand as the quiet witch leaned over and kissed Selene on the cheek. Selene looked at Sheridan with love in her eyes.
“You’ve known both of us for most of your teenage years and your whole adult life. When you moved to Youngstown from Rochester because your mother was sick, there was no one more supportive of that decision than us, because Eileen’s care had to take priority over everything…but it left a hole in our hearts when you were gone. Thankfully, Youngstown really isn’t that far from Rochester, so we were able to come and visit you fairly frequently.”
The normally silent Iris then spoke up. “You know I’m usually pretty quiet, Sheridan, and I don’t say much. That’s just my nature. Of course, it’s not like anyone can ever get a word in edgewise with this one here.” She nudged a smirking Selene playfully as Sheridan choked out a laugh before Iris continued. “When we woke up today, Selene and I spent some time talking with each other before we joined the others.
“You live in Florida now, sweet one. We can’t just jump in the car for a three-hour road trip like we could when you were living in Youngstown. A three-hour drive is now a seventeen-hour drive, which means we won’t be able to see you very much. The thought of that is completely intolerable for both of us.”
“Also, we’re both in good shape, but we are getting older,” Selene said, nodding at Iris. “Winters are getting harder and harder for us to deal with, and it’s no damn fun shoveling all that snow at our age. Not that we’re old by any means, but neither one of us wants to do that anymore. So…we’ve decided to sell The Enchanted Owl to Crystal and her wife, then move down here to Isla Del Mar.” Sheridan’s jaw dropped open with a kerplunk as her eyes became enormous.
Iris smiled. “This is such a lovely place, Sheridan. The energy all around here is incredible, which we felt the minute we arrived, despite what we knew we were walking into. Therefore, Selene and I think it’s high time a Florida version of The Enchanted Owl manifested. What do you think?”
Sheridan squealed, set her plate down on one of the tables with a thump, and flew to the two women. “I think that’s awesome!” she yelled, throwing her arms around them as the inner circle burst into a thunderous applause filled with laughter and excited chatter. The three witches hung on each other as they all cried together, Sheridan’s shock and joy almost too much for her to handle.
“We’ll have no more talk about anyone being mad at you because of the situation with your father, though.” Selene pulled back to wipe the tears from Sheridan’s face as she looked at the flame-haired witch solemnly. “You forget Iris and I have known you since you were barely sixteen years old, little witch. You have more integrity than anyone else we’ve ever known. Clearly, not only do your coven mates know that, your mate knows it as well. So, trust in them if you can’t trust in yourself right now, and I promise you will get through this.”
“Okay,” Sheridan whispered. She found herself enclosed in Dylan’s arms, her mate hugging her fiercely, before the two of them resumed their seats.
Dylan caressed Sheridan’s face before both of them went back to their suppers. “As far as Michael O’Rourke is concerned…there was no saving the Field, despite the fact it was sentient, because he had corrupted it so badly with black magick. When we realized it was too far gone to bring back, Sheridan obliterated it, then the Goddess and the God banished Michael to the Void. It was the perfect solution, as far as I was concerned.” Dylan continued to fill in the inner circle on what had happened with Sheridan’s father.
“They gave him a reprieve from death—and I believe with my whole heart they did that for Sheridan’s sake—but he will learn some very harsh lessons there, even as he’s kept physically safe while he’s given the chance to redeem himself. Neither of us is that hopeful, frankly, but Sheridan said it became clear to her that her mother had always seen a spark of something in Michael.
“From what Sher tells me, Eileen Sullivan was one of the strongest clairsentient and claircognizant empaths in existence, although Eileen had always denied the existence of witchcraft and empathic ability. On the one occasion Eileen did tell Sheridan about her father, because Sheridan absolutely insisted on it, she’d made it seem like he had played her for a fool. In hindsight, we don’t think that’s what she truly thought, deep down inside. Eileen was waiting for Michael to make his way back to the Light or, I guess I should say, find his place as a Dark magick witch who was untainted by black magick.”
Sheridan twirled some spaghetti on her fork. “We’ll never know for sure. All I know is that my mother’s soul is at peace and my father has been given the opportunity to eject the black magick that’s permeated his essence. Whether he ever does or not remains to be seen, but that’s not for any of us to worry about. The Coven of the New Moon still needs to keep the Universe in balance and make sure black magick doesn’t corrupt any of the other Dark realms. That’s enough of a responsibility for now.”
“In the meantime, Yule is in ten days and a certain someone has a birthday we need to think about.” Evie beamed at Sheridan. “Plus, we have a bunch of get-togethers to plan in your beautiful apartment. You’ve barely been there since you moved in, and I think that needs to change.” Avalon and Grace gave each other a high five. “Starting with a femme gathering where we can watch chick flicks together and cook all kinds of delicious food.”
“Hey!” Alex and Sam protested. “Sher said the butches can watch some soccer games there, too. Well, us and whoever else wants to be there. It’s no secret Emmaline is crazy about soccer.”
Em rolled her eyes. “Which means I’m going to get stuck cooking for you all because the hell I’m watching a soccer game with just beer and potato chips.” Keeley put her arms around her wife and hugged her before kissing her on the cheek, laughing. “I have a feeling your girls will ride to the rescue, baby. No worries.”
The rest of the evening passed in a blur of food, fun, and camaraderie. By the time Sheridan and Dylan returned to Dylan’s apartment with Oracle, they were both a bit worn out, but had a lightness of soul that had been missing for a very long time. A tired Oracle curled up on the sofa on top of her favorite blanket and promptly fell asleep, her little belly filled to the brim with tidbits of chicken and feline-friendly vegetables from the Italian feast.
Sheridan’s eyes widened as Dylan started to deliberately stalk her. “Dylan, what are you doing?” she stuttered as she backed up down the hallway toward the bedroom. “It’s been a really long day. We both slept this afternoon, but I know you still have to be tired. Plus, it’s almost midnight and you have to be at the gym early to meet your kickboxing instructor.” She squealed as Dylan lunged at her and swept her up into her corded arms.
“I need my mate more than I need sleep right now, beautiful.” Dylan nuzzled Sheridan’s neck as she carried the Fire witch to her bed and climbed onto the surface with Sheridan in her arms, laying her down in the middle of the soft comforter. Brushing her lips over Sheridan’s jaw, she moved her mouth lower again and nipped at her neck, licking her way down to the dip in Sheridan’s neckline.
