The Dashing Witch (The Ward Witches) (17 page)

“
Justin?” She whispered out loud. He saw the other inmates turn to look at her strangely.

“
It's me, baby,” he whispered back, and could hear his words come out of her mouth. The others' looks turned wary. “Where are you?”

“
I don't know. It was Kelsey; she chloroformed me and took me here. They're setting up a sacrifice. They want to take over your family's will using the baby's blood.”

It was wrong to hear her pretty voice saying the curses he put over the airwaves. “I'm going to find you.”

“
No! They'll use me and the baby against you.” He noticed the lack of plural when discussing the baby and assumed that meant her captors hadn't found out about the twins. “The sacrifice is scheduled for the full moon. Get your mind warded so they'll have a harder time getting to you. The Coven needs you, Justin.”

“
You need me more right now.”

“
No. You can't come.” He heard the door squeak, and as Melanie turned to look at who was coming, she tossed him bodily out of her mind.

“
They've got her,” Justin announced as he came back to himself in the car. “They're going to sacrifice her and three others under the full moon. We don't have much time.”

“
We're almost back in Boston,” Theresa said from her place behind the wheel. Justin's nap must have taken longer than he thought because they were indeed almost back at the Coven House.

“
Hurry. She needs us.”

169

CHAPTER TEN

Melanie woke with a jolt as cold water was splashed over her.

“
What's going on in here?” Another of her Dark Order captors looked deeply at her. Luckily, the other prisoners just shook their heads.

“
Bad dream. I'll be alright.”

The witch left, and her fellow prisoners turned to her.

“
You heard that?”

“
Yes,” the teen said. “What's going on?”

“
That was my husband, Justin. He's going to find us.” She had told him not to come, but she knew that he would. She'd learned enough of him in the last six months that she knew he'd die trying to protect her.

189

THE DASHING WITCH

“
Or die trying,” the cynical fire witch echoed her thoughts.

“
Right now he's our only hope, so we'd better pray he doesn't,” she said defiantly. “If only I could have told him where we were.”

“
No luck. We were all chloroformed and woke up here,” the woman said.

“
That's what I was afraid of. Look, we're going to have to make our own luck if he can't find us in time,” Melanie whispered and gestured for the others to listen closely. “They'll have to release us from the cages for the sacrifice, and here's what we're going to do...”

Back at the Coven House, Justin paced as he told Seb everything. The cell phone had been ditched right outside of town, so it was a dead lead.

Seb snapped his fingers when Justin mentioned the baby. “That's it!”

“
What's it?”

“
If they can use your blood in the baby to get to you, we can use your blood to get to the baby!”

“
You think it'll work?” Hope stirred in Justin's chest.

“
We have to try something.” Seb went for his scrying gear: a magically resonant emerald on a string and a set of maps. “I'm going to get your hand with mine on the emerald, and together we'll cast our minds for your unborn children. We'll use you to lead us right to them.”

“
We'll search for both the twins, and hope gives us even more power. I've called Leo, too, and as soon as he can get away, he'll be joining us to add his power to ours.”

“
Good.”

Seb linked his hand with Justin's as he grabbed onto the emerald. He began to swing it in a slow steady circle over a map of Massachusetts. Soon he declared she wasn't in Massachusetts and took out a map of the country.

Scrying was slow work in the best of occasions, and searching for an unborn set of twins made the process even longer. It took about thirty minutes to narrow the search down to the state of Maine. Between driving time and scrying time, even with Leo's help, it was early the next morning before they had an address: another piece of land owned by a suspected Dark Order member. This one had been sold with the assistance of one of Lina Crowley's known aliases.

They had just barely discovered the address when Justin was out the door again. He had his other nine most trusted Coven Protection members with him again. They had at least gotten a nap in while he had been up with his brothers. The others he put on a protection detail on the Coven House, Seb, Leo, Dymphna, and Skylar, just in case.

He tried to rest in the car ride, but had no luck, full of worry for his wife and children. His thoughts were full of them the whole way there.

It didn't take Justin long to turn his thoughts to remembering that no matter how it had happened, he had fallen in love with his spunky wife. Somehow, she had gotten to him in a way that no one but his family had before he met her. He recalled the way he felt when he first realized he loved her. He remembered how he felt when she entered a room or gave him one of her ever present smiles. He wanted to love her, and be loved by her in return, for the rest of his days. He wanted to read more books on fatherhood so that hopefully he wouldn't screw it up like his own father had. He wanted his wife back safe in his arms, and he may never let her go again. He wished he could tell her how much he loved her, even though he knew she knew.

Justin knew that of all the cases he had worked in Coven Protection, that this case was the most important because this case had his own life and future hanging in the balance. The car couldn't possibly go fast enough. The drive was supposed to last about four and a half hours, but they made it in three and a half, luckily avoiding any cops with speed radars.

But Justin knew his job well enough to know that he couldn't go bursting in if he wanted to see a successful conclusion to this situation. About a half mile up the farm road, they parked the SUVs and got out, slowly making their way to the barn where they suspected the hostages were being kept based on the configuration of the last place they had searched. He tried, and failed, to think of her as just another hostage.

“
OK guys, make it count. Martin, you're our only air witch. I need you to try to reach out to Melanie and see if you can pinpoint the location of the hostages.”

“
You got it.”

“
Everyone armed: spells and firearms?”

“
Yes sir!” They all responded.

“
Then let's get going. Stay low until we're in range. Take no chances. We all need to get out of this in one piece.”

“
Yes sir!”

“
And just to be clear,” Justin said in a calm but stern voice, “If any one of those bastards has hurt my wife in any way, that person is mine.”

“
Yes sir!”

They split up to all hit the barn at the same time. Each of them had a walkie, and Justin would beep in at precisely seven thirty. If in position, the person beeps twice in order. Then they wait three seconds before the next beeps in.

Soon, as the dark was really creeping over the horizon, Justin beeps. Two people single beeped their status as not ready. He waited the proscribed five minutes, wondering if he was going to make it. He was a bundle of nerves, even more so than a normal mission. It was only barely five when he beeped again. He waited, but there was no single beep backs. A triple beep from Justin, and they moved in.

Justin kept an eye on Martin, who was trying hard to get a reading on his fellow air witch. But then Justin was breaking in the door, and he knew he needed to rely on luck and his team from here. It was clear that Melanie's information that tonight was going to be the night of the sacrifice was right because in the first room alone, they encountered twenty hostiles. Some were in black, and preparing spells. Some were in white, and they drew firearms.

“
Hit the casters in black first!” He called out the order, taking no time in attacking the one closest to him. He kept his mind on the fact that these people were complicit in Melanie's kidnapping. He could feel trace elements of her presence here. His favorite water witch attack was to basically drown the person in the water that naturally occurred the in the body. He would withdraw the spell just after unconsciousness and before death. He wasn't one of them, and he didn't fire a spell to kill if he could avoid it.

In short order, Justin had three Order witches unconscious. His team had performed their various spells to incapacitate, but again, not kill, ten of the remainder. The other seven were all on the ground in surrender, being restrained for further questioning.

“
Justin!” Martin called from the room that branched off the main barn. He hurried over. It was the same scene as in the other location, but the cages were empty. “Not long empty, boss. I feel their resonant psychic energy all over the place. They're panicked and disoriented.”

“
Is Melanie with them?”

“
Yes.”

“
Pinpoint on her.” He laced his fingers with Martin's as he had with Seb and Leo. “Use me to find the baby who holds the same blood.”

“
You got it.” He concentrated as Justin's heart raced. He wanted to pace, but couldn't drop Martin's hand. “This way, toward the main house.”

They sprinted, Martin still unsuccessfully trying to make contact with Melanie. Getting close to the main house, they heard signs of a struggle. Martin radioed in while Justin rushed forward alone.

Luckily, because he was beyond a plan at this point, he heard raised voices. One of them was clearly Melanie, which made his heart only marginally lighter. The other voice was Kelsey, just as Melanie had told him.

“
You think you won, bitch,” Kelsey was sneering into Melanie's face as his wife was being dragged along the ground. “But I don't need the others for my special spell. I just need that baby. I joined the Dark Order to get Justin to be my slave. Your baby will let me get just that. If it dies in the process, it'll be just one less obstacle in my way.”

“
You're not getting my baby! You don't think Justin will come after me, but he will!”

“
Of course I will,” he interjected loudly, trying to keep his demeanor as calm but threatening as possible.  “I don't know what you want, but you're both coming with me.” He had his pistol cocked and ready at the back of Kelsey's head. Justin help the gun with one hand and handcuffed the woman with the other hand and the handcuffs he had kept in his belt. “Are there any others in the main house here that I need to be concerned with? And remember, if you lie, you die. By my hand. I promise you that.”

“
Two, upstairs, guarding the other hostages.” Justin tried hard not to look at his wife to keep Kelsey's twisted mind off Melanie, though he ached to make sure she was alright.

He radioed in, and Martin and Theresa hurried over. He wanted them upstairs as fast as possible before the Order was prepared to counter the Coven's attack. They returned with the two guards with no trouble. The Coven team would make sure that Kelsey and the other Order members would all be assembled in the barn under guard, and the hostages would stay in the house. Two other water witches were hurrying over to the house to help the other hostages since Justin had eyes only for Melanie.

“
Take your time, boss,” Martin told Justin, taking the initiative to direct the relief efforts of the other water witches on the hostages in the living room. Justin pulled Melanie to standing and brought her into the kitchen, sitting her in one of the kitchen's chairs.

“
Melanie?” Justin asked, moving to where she sat. “It's over, sweetheart. Are you hurt?” She wasn't responding, which worried him.

Then she did. “I'm so tired, Justin. I gave the twins everything I had, and I don't know if it will be enough. I don't know if they'll make it through.” She started crying, huge gasping sobs that tore at Justin's heart.

“
Then let me help.” He hated leaving himself vulnerable in enemy territory, but all the Order members were accounted for in the barn. So he went into his meditation deep enough to check on the twins. They seemed healthy enough, but in an almost suspended animation. The only thing he could think was that somehow, to protect the twins, Melanie had paused their growth. He wasn't sure if he could wake them from that again, but when he started feeding some of his reserve magic into her womb, they perked up again.

However, when he came back to the room, Melanie was unconscious in his arms. Brian came in the main house and called out to him.

“
Boss, we've got the police alerted. Apparently, a lot of these people,” and he spat the word, “Have been wanted for various other crimes in a few states. They'll all be going to jail. I've sent four of our team to be there when the police question them. The three water witches are still with the hostages. Theresa and I are coordinating efforts and trying to get transport back to Boston. We've also got some incriminating money laundering documents as well as written details of the kidnappings. That evidence is being emailed and faxed to the local police station as we speak.”

“
Perfect. Look, I'm worried about Melanie. Can you stay in charge here and I'll go with the water witches and the hostages back to the Coven House?”

“
You betcha. I hope she's alright.”

“
So do I,” he whispered. He stood then picked her up and brought her to one of the SUVs that would be leaving Maine. He'd been running so hard on fumes that giving magic to the babies was the last straw, and he slept on the way home to Boston, Melanie's head in his lap.

Dymphna woke him up.

“
Get out of there, sleepyhead. I'm missing work for this.”

He obliged, and brought Melanie with him. She still showed no signs of stirring. Whatever she was experiencing, it wasn't sleep. Dymphna took charge, ordering Melanie to be put in the Coven House's miniature infirmary in the basement. Dymphna carried Melanie herself, Justin following. The other hostages could all walk, and she ordered them down there too, just in case.

“
What did they do to Melanie?” His sister asked the older man, a fire witch, while she tended to the burns on his hand. Justin stood next to Melanie's cot, holding her hand, knowing that in his current state, he wasn't much good as a healer.

“
They did it to all of us,” the woman replied instead. “The leader, Harley Thorndike, said that he couldn't wait for the ritual for everything. One by one, they said some kind of spell over us. I don't know how it worked, but it drained some of our magic straight from us. I'm not sure if I could manage a spell now if I wanted to.”

Justin and Dymphna exchanged worried looks. “They did that to Melanie while she was pregnant?”

“
Yeah. I know the implications, and so did they. But it was almost like junkies needing a fix and they went after her anyway. I hope her babies make it.”

The teenage boy chimed in next, “I heard one of them complaining that there must be something wrong with their spell because they couldn't get the baby's magic as well. They were sick, trying to take whatever they could. Is she going to be alright?”