Witch Glitch: Magic and Mayhem Book Two (19 page)

"No," I said with a shrug. "Must be your pets."

"Cassandra dear, I completely forgot. I have to be invited into the house. Can you arrange that?" Hugo called out.

"No, she can't," I yelled back. "I don't let dead people in my abode. Too gross."

His hiss made the hair on my arms stand up and my mother's shrill laugh went all through me. She was batshit crazy and her boy-toy wasn't far behind.

"No worries," he snarled. "I'll try the back. I can usually get in that way without an invite."

"Good luck," I called out and then swallowed the 'fuck-face' I wanted to tack onto the end of my sentence. It couldn't be a good idea to rile up a vamp.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mac in his wolf from silently follow the vamp around the house. I prayed quickly to the Goddess to keep him safe. If anything happened to him, I would bite the head off the vamp myself. I didn't care what it would do to me.

"I've just come by because Hildy has something of mine and I wanted to get it back," my mother said in a pathetic attempt at a sweet voice.

"Hildy's dead."

"Oh, is she?" My mother feigned sorrow and I almost laughed. "How terribly sad."

"It is, isn't it? She was murdered," I added and watched her face.

"Oh, how awful. Did they find the murderer?"

"Yep, the little rubbery motherfucker is in my house as we speak."

Zelda," she snapped and shuddered. "There is no reason for such language. I raised you far better than that. Vulgar language is for classless people."

"Well, shitmotherhumperfuckpigbastarddicknosewankertitty," I said with a polite smile.

"Zelda," she ground out, completely appalled and furious now. "Don't make me smite you. And don't think I won’t."

"You
really
don't want to fuck with me," I said as my people began to emerge from the bushes and trees.

She glanced around alarmed, caught by surprise and then gave me a small evil smile.

"Kill them," she shouted to her honey badger army. "Leave no one alive except her." She pointed to me and then stepped away from the fray.

She was such a fucking wussy. I was so not like her.

I was like the insane warlock who was in the basement most likely cheating at poker with Baba Yaga's crew of gnomes.

I was like my ghost of an aunt who had the power to heal.

But mostly I was me—just me. I was a slightly less selfish, still unstable, and somewhat dangerous witch who had friends, a real home, and three fat cats. I had a wolf who thought he was in love with me. Me, the unlovable girl. I had things to live for and I'd be damned if I was going to let that woman take any of it away today. I had already lost my childhood to her, but I would not lose my current life.

"Attack," I shouted as I sent a thread of magic which pinned my mother against the car.

Trapping her trapped her magic and she couldn't hurt anyone. The Shifters fought like the animals they were and gave the badgers an ugly run for their money. I ran to the house to find the honey badger leader before he found the syringe. It had to be destroyed.

Before I hit the porch, the badger emerged looking confused and enraged. "It's gone," he screamed above the melee. "It's not there."

His voice boomed over the battle and my mother's shriek made my blood curdle.

Where in the hell was it?

My mother broke free of my magical ropes and hurled a fireball at my head narrowly missing. Shit, it looked like mommy dearest had gained some power since I last saw her. Not good. Not good at all.

"If I can't have your magic, neither can you," she screamed like a banshee at causing me to slap my hands over my ears.

And that's when all hell broke loose.

Chapter 17

I glanced around wildly to see how my people were faring. They were holding up far better than the honey badgers even though we were out numbered. Chuck fought closest to the porch. He was a freakin' killing machine. He even scared me and we were on the same team.

"Oh shit," he grunted as he slammed two badger's heads together and knocked them unconscious. "What did this syringe look like?"

"Um… it’s like the thing the doctor uses when he gives you a shot but bigger," I ground out as I popped three badgers who clearly had my name on their list of things to kill.

"I don't go to a doctor. I go to the Shifter Wanker. Does it look kind of like a meat baster with a pointy needle on the end?"

"It could be described that way," I said as I ducked a flying badger DeeDee had bucked across the yard and searched for my mother. Where had she gone?

"Was it filled with blue goopy stuff?" he inquired as he tore the head of another rubbery bastard and threw it at several others.

"Yep," I said.

"Dude, remember I told you I made a mess when I fixed the fridge?"

"Yep," I answered starting to feel giddy.

"I busted the thing to smithereens. Cleaned it up and threw it out in the garbage," he said with a shit-eating grin on his bear face. "It was toast. Completely unrecognizable as anything but dust."

"Yesssssssss," I hissed in triumph as I zapped several badgers headed for Roger and Simon. "Chuck I think I love you!"

"Love you more, little witch," he grunted and went back to killing shit.

The battle was getting uglier and I was losing people. Badger popsicles littered the lawn. Hildy had frozen at least ten and was looking weak and more transparent. Damn it, I needed Mac, but he was with the vamp. Please, please, please let him be okay.

This had been going well. The syringe was gone as well as the solution. The tools of the lurking fucking evil had been eliminated. Problem was that part of the lurking fucking evil was still in my front yard. My job was to protect my people. Where in the hell was the orange magic Hildy mentioned? I knew if I could summon it I could end the fighting.

I didn't think it could get any clusterfuckier, but I was wrong—very wrong.

Mac and the vampire were entwined like lovers in a death grip and flew like a cannonball being shot off into the front yard. I had no clue who was winning and my heart lodged in my throat. Chuck's roar pulled me away from the horror of Mac and Hugo.

The badgers had clearly gotten a second wind and were advancing like bats out of hell. They were winning. Fucking unacceptable.

My fury consumed me and my entire body lit up like a Christmas tree on fire. With my arms over my head I chanted like I'd never chanted before. A wind mixed with the blood of the dead lying in my yard whipped up and swirled violently through the battle. The sound was deafening and my insides burned like a furnace.

Dropping to my knees, I started to chant. My pain was nothing compared to the wounded and fallen. I was still here and I could make a difference to the ones who lived. I would. I believed in myself. I still hadn't found the orange, but what I had found inside me might just be enough.

The magical tornado blasted across the lawn, lifting the remaining badgers and tearing them to shreds. The bile in my stomach rose to my throat, but I kept chanting. The lives of my people were at stake and I could stop the madness. I had to stop the madness. It was my fate.

The Shifters froze and watched me cause the destruction of the enemy with both admiration and fear. I'd have done the same in their shoes. I prayed they'd still like me after they'd seen the havoc I could wreak.

I hoped I could live with myself…

Then it ended.

It was over. Every single badger was dead.

The clapping took me by surprise and the kneeling was a shock.

"Whisperer, whisperer, whisperer," they chanted.

I scanned the yard frantically for Mac. He stood apart from the crowd in his wolf form with the head of the vampire in his teeth. He was torn up and bleeding, but he was alive. I tried to breathe a huge sigh of relief, but the vise like hold around my neck prohibited me.

"Come a step closer and I kill her," my mother hissed, completely unhinged.

Her face was over my right shoulder and I knew she could see the detached head of her lover now lying at my wolf's feet. Her body trembled as she shot small knife like daggers of magic into my back. The pain was intense, but the lack of breathing was more of a problem at the moment.

I prayed to the Goddess for Hildy's help, but she lay on the ground barely visible only feet away. If my mother succeeded in killing me, I knew she wouldn't make it out alive. She was far too out numbered even with her magic.

But if I was going down, she was coming with me.

Where in the fuck was the orange?

"Here's how this will work," she barked as she tightened her grasp on my neck. "I'm going to take a little drive with my daughter and no one is going to stop me. If you do, she dies."

"And if we don't, she dies," Chuck growled. "I really don't see that as a fair option, lady."

"Shut up," she snarled and zapped me with a volt that made me convulse and see stars.

She was fucking serious and her grip blocked my magic. She had clearly been studying with someone.

"Don't underestimate stupidity," Fat Bastard croaked as he and the other two cats waddled into the clearing.

They looked like shit on a stick, but thankfully they were alive. Jango was missing most of his fur and Boba seemed to be sporting a few less teeth. However the advice was outstanding.

I lifted my foot and came down on her instep with a vengeance, causing her grip to loosen for a brief second. It was all I needed.

"Everyone back up," I commanded. "She's mine."

As she hopped around and regained her balance, I shoved her away. It was time for a witch smack down. I only hoped Simon would be able to keep his butt shut. I didn't need to throw up during a crucial moment.

"May the best witch win," my mother sneered with wild eyes as she hurled a blue fireball at my head, missing me but setting the porch on fire.

Goddess, she really wanted to kill me. A secret part of my heart that I had kept for her finally died. I could no longer pretend she would change. I needed to defend myself and stop her from her megalomaniac quest.

I countered with an explosion that singed off most of her hair. My stupid misplaced allegiance kept me from going for kill spots or popping her. Her demented wail of fury went straight to my toes as I wondered just how strong she was.

Blast after blast and zap after zap were traded. I was burned and bleeding, but I was still standing. The Shifters took me at my word and had backed away. Mac stood at the front of the group and looked ready to blow a gasket. This was my fight, not his or theirs. Mac's respect for me was humbling.

The porch was now in flames and I felt the blazing heat at my back.

"Is there anyone in the house?" she demanded as she raised her hands and aimed.

Wanda, Bo, Daaaaad, Sassy, older Shifters, the children and the warlocks were in my house. The look of horror on my face answered her question and she winked.

Time slowed and I raised my hands to deflect her fireball with my own magic, but I was too slow. It was enormous and flew from her hands as she shrieked like a wounded animal. I watched in shock as it headed toward the house to incinerate it and I screamed.

I was knocked to the ground as a huge mass dove through the air and took the brunt of her evil magic in his chest. Hildy's weak moan confirmed it was Chuck. He was on fire and I couldn't even see his body through the flames.

But that didn't satisfy my mother. She threw another as I crawled to my feet and the house exploded behind me.

I swung to gape at it in shock. Flames licked hundreds of feet into the sky. The inferno that had been my home mocked me. I didn't belong anywhere now. She'd taken my father and she'd taken my home.

The sound that left my mouth was inhuman. With Chuck dying a foot away from me and my dad and friends burning to death in my basement, I found the orange—or maybe it found me.

My vision blurred and my skin grew hot. The orange magic rose up inside me with a frightening rage I'd never know. I was no longer just a witch who healed. I was a fucking magical maniac who was able to fly without a broom.

I dove for my mother like a bullet flying out of a gun and gut punched her with my head, flinging her across the lawn. But that was just the appetizer.

Again I flew and landed a non-magical punch to her face that broke her lovely nose. I winced as blood spurted all over the two of us. She had destroyed my life, killed my friend and murdered my father. She would die by my hand in honor of my dad.

My tears almost blinded me. I hated what I was doing, but I couldn't stop.

"Die bitch," she hissed as she pulled up her magic and threw me off of her. "I was meant to rule, not you."