A Charmed Life (Halloween LaVeau Book 5) (20 page)

The women stumbled over to the front of the house. They had no other choice but follow us now that their magic was gone.

We’d just reached the house when the hum of a car engine caught our attention. The car raced up the dirt and gravel driveway. Dust and pebbles stirred behind the wheels. It had barely stopped moving when Nicolas and Liam jumped out. They ran toward us, but instead of stopping to say hello, they tackled Arthur, knocking him to the ground. Everything was a blur as I ran over and attempted to yank the men off Arthur.

“Guys, he’s okay. He didn’t do this,” I yelled a couple of times until they finally heard me.

As soon as they paused, Arthur jumped to his feet and dashed over to a nearby oak tree. He knocked Spanish moss out of the way and continued on toward the tree’s giant trunk. Once there, he turned to face us, positioning his body into a fighting stance. He still looked a little stunned.

I hurried over to Arthur. “Are you all right?”

He released a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Nicolas and Liam looked a little confused and still a little bit angry.

“Who’s this guy?” Liam’s body was tense with fists clenched by his sides.

I looked at Arthur. “Actually, I don’t know. But I do know that he helped me.”

We stared at Arthur, waiting for an answer. Did we have his real name? I wasn’t sure since we’d found the fake name on the driver’s license. He owned us an explanation for that trick.

“Well, you going to explain?” Nicolas said in an irritated voice. 

Arthur ran his hand through his hair. “Okay, if you want the true answer.”

I nodded. “I would prefer that rather than a lie. You said you were here to open another bar to compete with the Bubbling Cauldron.”

“I came for a position with the Underworld.”

“What? You just told me you’re opening a bar with your friend.”

“No, we want to do that, but I want to work for the Underworld too,” Arthur said.

It’s a funny way to apply for a position,” I said.

“I’m a little shy and I didn’t know how to bring it up and then all that stuff started happening. I figured if I could help you out then I could prove myself.”

I stared at him. “Then why the fake name? Which one is your real name?”

“Rankin. I didn’t want you to think I was using my family name to get a position.” 

I frowned. “Rankin?”

He looked at Liam. “Rankin. I’m Liam’s cousin.”

“I’ve never met this dude before,” Liam said.

“Actually, we’ve never met, but when I found out that you were the leader of the New Orleans Coven and that you knew the leader of the Underworld, I figured maybe you could help me get in.”

“If you’re who you say you are, then I could’ve just helped you. It doesn’t help to be conniving and sneaky,” Liam said. 

Cora and Jolene caught my attention. It looked as if they might be planning a getaway. I stepped over to deal with them and caught part of the conversation.

“I don’t know why the spell didn’t work,” Cora said.

“You really messed this up again,” Jolene said. “Obviously the board members never fell for it.”

“I never thought it would work in the first place. I mean, making her the best witch ever? What’s wrong with that?” Beth said.

The women looked at each other as if a giant light bulb had just gone off in their heads.

“We forgot to reverse the spell that made her good at everything,” Williamina said. 

“No, Cora forgot to do it,” Jolene snapped.

“Me? Why is everything my responsibility?” Cora pointed. “You forgot!”

“It was your job.” Jolene sighed. “The plan was that the Underworld would be so suspicious of her that they would demand she step down. It would make the Underworld so weak that we would be able to destroy the Underworld and create a new one.”

“That is one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard,” I said.

The witches looked at me.

Jolene narrowed her eyes. “It would have worked if Cora hadn’t messed up.”

“Don’t blame me for your failed plan,” Cora said.

“So you cast a spell on me that would make everything I do great?” I didn’t want to believe it. What was the spell and what was honestly my skills?

“There was the winning lottery ticket, all the witches turning up to praise you, and then inviting you to the party and following you around there,” Cora said.

“Don’t forget both Nicolas and Liam proposing to her within two minutes of each other,” Jolene added.

My heart sank. Had they really only asked me because of the spell? I wouldn’t even respond. I didn’t want to hear another word. I’d leave them to their bickering. That explained why things had been good for me lately. Unfortunately for the witches, their magic wasn’t good enough to make the plan work. However, now I wondered what was real and what had been enhanced by their spellcasting. Maybe I wasn’t that great at witchcraft after all.

After telling Cora and Jolene not to move, I glanced back over at the men. They were still standing at the edge of the driveway talking. The women were sitting on the porch, waiting for me to decide what to do now. Luckily, the spell placed on them kept them from trying anything else. It was like having an invisible hold on them, but it wouldn’t keep them like that forever.

Liam looked up and saw that I was watching. Our eyes met and I knew what was on his mind.

Nicolas noticed Liam walking my way, but he continued talking to Arthur. I guessed to give me time to talk with me Liam alone. Though as far as I knew Nicolas had no idea what Liam had asked me, unless they had discussed it in the car on the ride over.

When Liam approached, he smiled and asked, “Are you doing all right?”

I was worried that our conversation would be awkward now. I didn’t want to lose his friendship. He meant too much too me.

“I just wanted to…” We both started to talk at the same time.

Liam laughed. “You go first.”

I shook my head. “No, you go first.” I really wanted to hear what he had to say.

He looked down at his feet for a few seconds and then met my stare. “I want to apologize for bombarding you with that question.”

I wasn’t sure if he was taking back the question, or just apologizing because I hadn’t answered.

“The magic probably had something to do with my emotions,” he said.

So he was taking back the question. I wouldn’t lie and say that I wasn’t a little disappointed, but again, I wasn’t going to answer yes either, so it was unfair of me for to even have these feelings.

He was staring at me, then he said, “I have a feeling you were going to say no, am I right?”

I grinned. “What would you have done if I had said yes?”

“No doubt you’d make me the happiest man in the world,” he said.

Okay, why did he have to go and say something that made my heart melt? He reached out and hugged me. His arms were strong and he smelled like spicy aftershave. Maybe I stayed in his arms a little too long, but I kind of lost track of time. For a brief moment, the future flashed in my mind. A pretend future, one where I was with Liam, not Nicolas. It was a good scene, but something didn’t feel right. Was that something Nicolas? Maybe Nicolas would tell me that he had only proposed because of the magic also. I had a feeling that would be the case.

I felt a stare on me. Finally, I stepped back from Liam. That was when I looked over and noticed that Nicolas was walking toward us. I supposed he had seen the hug and thought that it lasted too long.

“Is everything all right over here?” he asked when he stepped up. “It looks like you two were saying goodbye forever.”

I tried to act normal and laughed. “Not saying goodbye forever. I guess we were just happy that this didn’t turn out a lot worse than it did.”

Liam winked at me. Apparently he hadn’t shared his question with Nicolas. That was probably a good thing. It was something we would keep just between us.

Movement caught my attention and when I looked over, the women were trying to slip away.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” I yelled out.

The guys looked over and noticed what the witches were trying. They ran with me as we moved closer to the porch.

“We need to cast a spell again,” I said.

We grasped each other’s hands. My patience had run out with these women long ago. This spell would be so tough there was no way they would get out of it. Without the guys extra energy, I didn’t know if it would have worked. This was like a showdown between good and evil.

I started the spell and the men followed my words.

Bind the witches from all spells and magic. They can no longer practice the craft. 

We chanted the words so quickly that dizziness took hold of me. The energy around was overpowering between us. Flashes of lightning bounced from our bodies and over to the witches. The spell had incased them in our energy. The wind whipped the trees around us, snapping branches and tossing them about.

Williamina and Beth screamed. Nothing seemed to bother Cora and Jolene though. Anger covered their faces and I knew if they could get at me I would be in huge trouble. But the spell had worked. They were frozen now. Of course the women tried to move, but they couldn’t leave the spell-covered area. The only way out would be if we gave them an escort. That was exactly what they would get… right into the car and directly out of here. They would take a trip to find out their witchcraft fate.

We released hands and the energy dissipated. The guys and I walked over to the women. I stood in front of them and placed my hands on my hips.

Jolene glared at me. "You think you’re so good. This isn’t the last you’ll see of us.”

“Yeah, that’s what they all say.”

Liam and Arthur laughed. Did they really think they would get by with this?

“Don’t laugh at us. We’re much stronger than you realize. We’ve been planning this for years,” Cora said.

“Obviously you didn’t plan it long enough,” Nicolas said.

Jolene tried to move forward, but was instantly stopped. The anger came off her in waves. It was a good thing we were able to control their magic. They weren’t nearly as strong as they thought they were. That was a good thing for me. And I’d thought it was bad when people had wanted the Book of Mystics. These witches wanted way more than a book. What made them think they could ever take over the Underworld? Just the four of them.

Liam, Nicolas, and Arthur guided the women from the inner circle of the magic spell over to the cars.

“Where are you taking us?” Jolene demanded.

“Oh, just get in,” Cora said. “We’re not going to be able to stop them now.”

Finally the guys got the women in the car. It was a relief just to know that we had them in the car now. Jolene shook her fist at me as Nicolas closed the door.

“Well, she really is a tough one,” Arthur said. “But then again I suspected it all along.”

“If you suspected it, then why didn’t you say something earlier?” I asked.

He shrugged but didn’t comment.

“I guess now that we have them we should head back to Enchantment Pointe,” I said.

“Why did they do to this?” Liam asked.

“You’re going to like this.” I smiled.

“Should I sit down?”

“Maybe. They thought they could get rid of the Underworld and create their own version.”

The men laughed.

“That’s a big goal,” Nicolas said.

“At least they had objectives,” Arthur said.

Jolene had to know we were discussing her. She was still glaring at me from the backseat of the car. With the magic still binding them, the witches weren’t going anywhere.

“Do you know why they wanted to take over the Underworld?” Nicolas asked.

“I’m not completely sure. My guess would just be they wanted to be in charge. I don’t think they liked the way things were handled.”

“Well, they should let everyone else have an input on whether things should be changed or not,” Nicolas said.

“I totally agree,” I said.

Luckily, the guys had helped me and we’d stopped them with more magic. It would keep them from doing any witchcraft for a long time. I would meet with the board members to figure out what the next move was for the witches.

At least it was a relief to know that no one had actually been killed or reanimated. They’d only tried that stunt to attempt to get me in trouble with the Underworld. Liam rode with Arthur and the two women and Nicolas and I drove Liam’s car with Jolene and Cora.

Nicolas and I had only been on the road a few minutes. So far I’d avoided the marriage topic. As we headed down the road, up ahead we spotted a car pulled over on the side of the road.

“Looks like someone’s having car trouble,” Nicolas said. “Should we help?”

“Well, we’re on a lonely road at night… it’s dark and the person is a complete stranger,” I said.

“We can just see how it goes. We won’t get out the car if he looks like a creep.” Nicolas slowed the car.