Joseph: Bentley Legacy (14 page)

As they made their way into the house some time later, Joey realized that after tonight things might be normal again. Or as normal as it could get for his family. Grandda was in the kitchen when he went in to see about dinner. He was smiling like a loon, and that worried him more than when Grandda was frowning.

“Boy, I’ve got a deal for you. Come on in the office with me. Micah and I have something to tell you.” Joey asked if he needed Chris and was told she was already there. Joey almost dreaded something else happening. He was exhausted with it all now.

~~~

Everything was set. The table and chairs on the lawn were all arranged, and the food was being brought out even as the limo pulled up in the drive. Joey came to stand next to Chris, and she took his hand like a lifeline. Soon, she kept telling herself, soon this would be over.

“We’re not going inside to eat?” Jackson looked a little panicky, and she told him that they decided that it would be more fun to eat out in the nice sunshine. “Well, then…can I use the bathroom?”

“I’m sorry, Jackson, but the bathroom on the main floor isn’t finished being renovated. There is the one in the barn you can use. But I’m afraid you’ll find it to be a little small. It’s used by the men that work for us, and they didn’t need a shower.” He looked at the barn then the house. “You’re welcome to go now if you want.”

As he made his way to the barn, she looked at Gracie. The woman had gone well and above the call of duty today. Not only had she gotten all the food organized, but she’d also thought of the bathroom in the barn. When Jackson came out of the barn a few minutes later, he was on his cell phone. Tuning into what he was saying, Chris had to hide a smile. This was great.

“I don’t know what you want me to do. Short of running in the house around the several hundred people that seem to be here, I don’t know what you want me to do.” The phone was jerked from his ear, and Chris would bet that Tyron was screaming at him to fix it. She was glad now that she’d listened to Myra when she explained why he wanted in the house.

“He’d have control of it. Ownership, I guess you could call it. Once he’s inside he can call on his power to make the home and the contents his. Including you. Joey would be his too, and it would be easy for him then to have Joey kill himself rather than Tyron dealing with it himself.” Chris had asked her why the house and not anything else, say the barn. “Because the house and all that is in it is yours, the two of you. The barn, while it does belong to you both, isn’t anything you think of when you treasure things. The barn is just what you’d think it would be, a place to store animals.”

“So he’d use our love of where we live against us?” Myra told her that was right. “You could have too. It’s why you couldn’t come in until I invited you.”

“No. That is different. I’m a witch. Tyron is a warlock. I’m bound by the laws of my kind…not to enter a dwelling until you are invited. Tyron being what he is, he’s not bound by the same rules. He needs to be summoned into the house by someone inside. And once there, he can do what he pleases to whomever he wants. Because he was summoned, it would be difficult if not impossible to get him out again.”

So dinner was being served in the yard and the only bathroom was in the barn. As they sat down, the entire family surrounding her, Jackson was at the end of the table with not just Myra and Carol, but a man that had shown up not ten minutes before Jackson had. Myra said that he was the council president and would be observing the happenings of the day.

Joey passed the potato salad toward the end of the table where Jackson was and cleared his throat. It was ready to begin. “So, Jackson, I’m to understand that you’re here to take the magic of my sister-in-law. It won’t work, in the event you’re wondering. I have it. Well, some of it. Chris has the—”

“It’s mine. I was to get it.” He stood up and slammed his hands down on the table as he spoke. “You were not allowed to take it. The rules clearly state that I can have it because I’m a stronger witch than she was. Not that I had anything to do with her death, not directly anyway, but I want it returned to me.”

“No you weren’t. Had you been then you would have killed her yourself, you moron. And how did you propose I give it to you?” Jackson only smiled at Joey. “I’m not going to kill myself over this. And from what I’ve been told, there was no magic within Angel when you had her killed, so therefore, it belongs to the person she held it for. My brother.”

Jackson looked around the table and then back at them. “You will give it to me then. There is a way for you to remove it from him, and then I can have it.” Joey was shaking his head. “Why the hell not? I told you, it was not against any law that I took it.”

“Are you saying that you had her killed for this magic you believed she had?” Everyone turned to Micah. “Angel…you said that you took it fairly. You mean you had her killed, or you killed her for her magic, and that’s how it belongs to you?”

“Yes. You’ve been studying our laws. Or someone has told you. But yes, she was killed by a magical creature that I hired to take her magic. And someone here has it.” Micah told him that she’d given it to him before she’d been killed. “Then you will give it to me.”

The magic, the power of it, had Chris standing up. As Jackson waved his fingers in the air, Chris pushed him back, took his power, and shoved it back at him tenfold. His magic hit him in the chest, much like he’d planned for it to hit Micah, only more of it. When he stood up after a minute or two, she could see that he thought Myra had done it when she had.

“You will not harm my family.” He looked at her, then raised his hands again. This time she not only pushed him back, but pinned him against the barn wall that was about ten feet from where they were. “And you will not get my sister’s magic. Not now, not so long as there is breath in my body.”

“I can arrange it so that you are dead, should you like.” His smile had her stepping back from him. “I’m not going to fuck around with you and this shit hole any longer.”

As he peeled from the wall, she lifted her hands. She wasn’t really sure what she could do to stop him, but he wasn’t going to hurt her family. When he dropped to his knees, his clothing suddenly gone, she took another step back, then another until she backed into Joey.

“I summon thee, Tyron the Warlock. Come to me.”

The air around them seemed to heat up exponentially. When she was sure that her own skin was going to burn from her flesh, a cooling breeze blew over her and she let out her breath slowly. When she saw the man that was there, Tyron no doubt, Chris knew that they were all in deep trouble.

He was what Myra had warned her about. The warlock that had made deals with the underworld. The warlock Tyron, in all his glory and magic.

“Hello, my bride. Are you ready for me?”

Chapter 14

Joey felt his cat. He was almost afraid to shift, but when Myra told him to do it, he let him take his body. In seconds he was standing there with his mate, and when she put her hand on his head, Joey nearly whimpered.

It wasn’t painful, not even close to that, but it was powerful. He could feel her magic dancing along his body from hers, and he moved closer to her. Leaning his big body into hers, Joey knew that they could conquer worlds should they need to. But right now, he’d be satisfied with killing this prick that had come uninvited to their home.

“I’m ready for you. But are you sure you want to go there?” The monster snarled at Chris when she laughed at him. “You can’t harm me. You should know that by now. Why don’t you just leave and we’ll forget this ever happened?”

Tyron looked evil; his body wasn’t human at all, but he looked like a giant lizard. Myra told Joey that he could see him in a way that no one else could, just him and Chris. She also told him to keep touching Chris, as he was giving her strength.

“I have come to claim you as my own. I will take you to my bed and we will be one.” Joey started forward, and Chris gripped her fingers into his fur. He stayed where he was for now, but he was pissed off. “I will have you, Christiana McKenzie, and all that you have to offer.”

“I offer you nothing.” The monster stepped back. The venom in Chris’s voice had him thinking that she was pissed too. “You will not take because you are not welcome here. You have been summoned by a lesser witch that you have killed with your anger. I have spoken.”

Jackson was dead, Joey just noticed. His body had been drained. His entire head was also crushed under the weight of the monster’s foot. When Tyron took another step back, Joey moved forward with Chris, but was cautioned once again to stay close to her. Once they had the monster backed up, Chris raised her free hand in the air and threw back her head.

“Lord of the underworld, I summon you to come to my aid.”

Joey had no idea what she was doing, but a man dressed in a business suit and tie was standing close to them. He wasn’t what he’d expected when Chris called for him, but the man bowed to her before turning to Joey.

“You are the cat, her mate and familiar?” Joey said that he was. “I owe her much for this. And you, if what you say is true.”

I am all that, and a man that is in love with her
.

The man nodded and turned to Tyron. He was down on one knee, his head bent almost to the ground. He looked like he was ready to meet his maker. Joey wondered what the hell was going on to Myra.

“I don’t have a clue. But I’m betting that Chris does.” She laughed, and he turned to look at her.

That was when he saw that his entire family had shifted to panthers, and the wolves from earlier were standing right behind them. Micah came to stand beside him and leaned into his body. It was a sign that he was there for him, as were the rest of them. Joey turned back to the under lord.

“This man, your man, sent another to claim what is not his. He has come here with the intentions of entering my home and having my mate kill himself so that he may gain my powers. I have told you what he has planned to do with them. And as you have requested, I have called to you when he stated his business.”

The man nodded at Chris when she finished speaking. Then he turned to Tyron.

“You thought to use her powers against me, did you?” Tyron started to lift his head when the man spoke again. “You look at me now and I will be well within my rights to behead you. I’m not saying that it won’t happen anyway, but I will kill you without your giving me your side of this…this stupidity.”

“She is a lesser witch. One that is well within my rights as a powerful warlock to claim.” The man looked at him, then at Chris as Tyron continued. “You know our laws as well as I do. You know what I say is true.”

“What I know is that you were warned, by many I’m to understand, not to come here. You were told by the witch council that she was the grand witch. Yet here you are with a dead man stuck to the bottom of your foot like the shit that you are.” Chris giggled and the man smiled at her before talking to Tyron. “Do you not remember what I said to you this afternoon when you called for my help? What did I tell you? Twice as a matter of fact.”

“You said that you wash your hands of me and this folly, as she was too powerful for you to get involved with.” Tyron lifted his head only enough to look at him and Chris before he spit onto the ground. “I spit in the face of your inability to see what is right before you. I did not summon you, and I have no use for your guidance.”

“Oh, you misunderstand, Tyron. I’m not here for you. Well, I am, but not to help you. I’m here to take you. And I will. I’m here because this witch, the grand witch, has made me an offer that I cannot refuse. Well, that’s not true either. I could, but I don’t want to. She told me just what you plan to do with your magic should you take hers.” Tyron looked at them again as the man laughed. “And when I’m finished with you, the council wants their part of you. If there should be anything left.”

“You cannot take me anywhere. I’m a man that has no ties to you any longer.” The paper appeared almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth. “What’s this? My contract with you is void. You told me so when you came to take my minions with you.”

“So I did, so I did. But you missed this part right here.” The man held it up then snapped his fingers to make it in a more manageable form. “Let me read it to you in the event that you can’t remember it. Let me see. Ah, here it is. ‘Even should this contract be misrepresented by either part, there will never be any retaliation from either of the beings that have put their name to this.’ That would be you and me. And since you have plotted against me, using this woman here as your powerhouse, I am well within my right to do what it says here. ‘Death will be decided by the injured party.’ That would be me, and you have hurt me grievously, Tyron.”

With a snap of his fingers, not only was Tyron gone but the body of Jackson as well. He turned to them both, and Joey heard the low growls of his family behind him. The man stopped and put his hands up. Not that Joey trusted that any more, but he didn’t move forward.

“You have what you need?” He nodded and then smiled. “I’m not going to come with you. You’ve asked, and I’m still telling you no.”

“A man can dream, can he not?” The man bent to one knee in front of Joey and put out his hand. “I will not harm your cat, but I should like to shake your hand if you would allow it.”

Chris stepped between them and the man stood up, laughing. She told him to back up before speaking again. “I think that you’ve overstayed your welcome, sir. It’s time that you leave us alone.”

“I shall. But I would like to know one thing. How did you know to summon me? I mean, of all the demons that are in my realm, how did you know to call to me?” Chris said nothing. “You’re much smarter than I was led to believe, Grand Witch. If you are sure that we cannot come to some agreement, then I shall take my leave.”

“I’m not going to come with you. Nor will I summon you again.” He told her not to be too hasty. “I won’t. Should I need help, I’ll call on your boss. He was most helpful today as well.”

The man stood there for several seconds before he threw back his head and laughed. When he disappeared seconds after that, Chris dropped to the ground. Joey shifted to catch her, but he was too late. She was down before he could do anything more than hold her.

~~~

Myra watched Joey and Chris. They were both sleeping soundly and had been for several hours now. She wasn’t worried about them. They had no ill effects from their ordeal, but she did want to ask her about the demon. That had been a surprise to them all.

“What do you suppose she will do with a demon on her side?” Myra looked at Carol, then back at the sleeping couple. “She knew just how to take care of this and no one was hurt. Well, none of us were hurt. You think that’s why she did it? To keep her family safe?”

“She’s much stronger than we even knew. And to think that I came here to help her transition into this new role.” Carol only snorted. “Okay, it was what I had started out wanting to do. But I think I fell in love with the two of them. Her mother would have been so proud of her.”

“She would have. Had she let her do any of this in the first place. That woman was terrified of her own shadow after you talked to her. You might should have said it differently. Perhaps we might have been able to foresee this sooner.” Myra said nothing. “I’m going to be staying on. I thought to leave after this was done, but if they don’t care, I’m going to hang around. There are a few more of us retired old witches that need a place like this too.”

“They’re broke.” Carol said she knew that. “I can’t let them be in a situation like this. We have to make sure that they go and see where her sister put that stash. It will not get them out of debt, but it will help them along the way.”

“They gotta open that thing in the barn first. Those guys that be watching it, they got themselves some families to go back to.” Myra had forgotten about that. “I think I’ll mention it to them when they wake. Seems only fitting that they get to it now that the trouble is all over.”

“I don’t think the trouble is over, do you?” Carol asked her what she meant. “There will be others, not unlike Jackson and Tyron, who will come for her. She’s going to need to be on her toes and ready for anything. They won’t be able to take her powers because of how strong her magic is, but they can hurt her and you.”

Carol laughed and Myra turned to her. “You never did see what was right in front of your face. Did you see that family of theirs? The way them wolves, even the ones that can’t be no more than they are right now, how they stood up with her and him? Hell, I’m thinking that the council would do well to get her on their side and leave the rest to her. She’s a might stronger than they think, and I don’t mean the magic. Those two have it all. Family, love, and more than enough heart to go around.”

Myra watched them for a bit longer before she went to her own home. It was small compared to the one that she’d just left, but it suited her needs. And they were not many. She thought about what Carol had said about the couple and how they had it all. Myra had to agree with her, they did. And they’d have even more before they were to have their own children. Which by her calculations would be soon, within the next two years. And the children would have more than their parents, Myra thought.

It took her nearly three hours to get ready for the morrow. Angel had asked her just before she’d been killed to watch over her sister. It had been her dying wish that her sister have her things, and Myra was going to make sure that they got them. No matter what. In addition to the magic that she’d already taken, there were her things as well. Personal items as well as her book.

Angel had begun to write down spells that she’d found or figured out on her own. She’d been a witch that hadn’t relied on her magic, but her ability to cast. Few people knew that there was a difference. But Angel had. And she’d been very good at it.

Myra knew that she had herbs too. Some that had not been around for decades, longer on some of them. Where she’d been able to find them was anyone’s guess, but she had a stash of those as well. And Myra knew this and had sent Carol to the Bentley household because her knowledge of such things would bring them to life again. Then there were the gems and stones.

Most would have thought her rocks pretty bobbles to amuse. But they were more than that. They were magical. And not only that, but when put together in a certain way, they could do more harm or good than any bomb that had ever been made. Myra thought about the first time she’d seen them. And how suspicious Angel had been about her.

“Moonstone? You have moonstone? And a blue one to boot.” Angel had stood in front of her case, blocking Myra from seeing them. “I won’t touch them should that be what you’re thinking.”

“I know you won’t. So just back off.” Myra nodded and took a few steps back from the girl and her case of stones. “How did you find me here? I’ve not even registered this place as yet as my home.”

“The stones called to me. I use them as well.” Angel hadn’t moved, nor did she speak. “I know who you are. And I knew your mother.”

“So?” Myra had nodded and tried her best to hide the smile that had been fighting to come out. “If you knew her, then you knew my father. The real deal.” She nodded and took another step back. The anger coming off the girl had been strong.

“I knew of him, yes. He wasn’t a very good man, nor a good provider. You look like your mom. Does your sister too?”

It was all it took to have Angel on the defense. She’d been hostile before, but when Myra had brought up Chris, it was as if everything had been opened up and was raining on her. It wasn’t a nice warm shower.

“You are to stay away from her. She’s not what you think. Chris is stronger than any of us.” Myra nodded but didn’t comment. She was more concerned by the stones that came to life over Angel’s head. “They belong to me.”

“I can see that. You’re a conjurer, aren’t you? And strong too. You’ve called the stones to you and in turn, they’ve called me to you to help you.” Angel had told her no. “But you know that it’s true. Listen to them talk to you.”

When she closed her eyes, Myra stood very still. The girl was so strong that she was draining her. When she looked at her after several moments, Myra felt as if she’d had her fingers put into an electrical outlet, her waning power surged into her just like that.