The Dutiful Witch (The Ward Witches) (16 page)

“
Why?” Skylar asked, and Seb wasn't sure if she was stalling to give him time or if she was really wondering. He thought it was probably the latter.

“
You bitch. You pretend you don't know,” Selby said, slapping his sister. Seb flinched, but knew he couldn't do anything. Yet. “You had everything growing up. You were Mom's favorite, and you had a bright future as a powerful fire witch.”

“
That doesn't make sense. Mom would yell at me about how I should be ashamed to have magic. I didn't even learn how to use it until about a year and a half ago.”

“
That was my doing,” Linda said with an evil smile. “I couldn't have you learning how to use your powers until we could take them from you. Infuriatingly, you learned anyway before the Dark Order was ready to make use of you. But you'll die just the same.”

Seb wasn't used to contacting minds of non-air witches, but he had to try. “Skylar, if you can hear me, blink just your left eye.” She did, and it encouraged Seb to keep going. “The five in black are witches, the five in white have guns. On my signal, you're going to pop a fireball into the air. We'll only have a moment while they're surprised, so we need to use it. Incapacitate as many of them as you can, however you can. I'm going to use my magic to get the guns. If you understand, blink your left eye twice.” She did. She wouldn't be able to respond in kind since she didn't have air witch abilities. “Alright, on three. One, two, three!”

Instantly, a giant ball of fire exploded in the air right above their heads. Seb took advantage of the moment to use a current of air magic to pull the five guns to him. But while they were disarmed, they were still a problem. Skylar was flinging fireballs at the witches, who were countering with their own magic. Seb used his magic to pull the air out of the area around the non-witches. Two seconds after they collapsed, he took away the spell so that they'd be unconscious, but not permanently hurt.

Skylar had managed to knock two of the witches against the far wall, where they slumped, also unconscious. Seb took advantage of their concentration on Skylar to do the same trick on the witches. They fell too, and Skylar looked down contemptuously at her aunt and brother. “Do we have handcuffs?” She asked.

“
I've got twenty of the riot cuffs in my belt. Use those.” Skylar moved to do so while Seb crouched beside Brian, who was still unconscious. “Good work, by the way. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you.”

“
Thanks. Now what, though?”

Brian started to stir. “We've got to get Brian awake so he can watch the prisoners. Then we need to search the area. I can't sense her, but based on our reception, I think she is around here somewhere.”

“
I'd agree with you. Should we call the police to get these guys?”

“
First, we only have proof against Linda and Selby for any crimes. Second, if there are any more witches about, the police aren't equipped to handle them. We're technically intruding here, remember. So we wait.”

“
Alright.”

Brian finally woke up. Seb quickly summed up the situation and gave Brian the guns. When he could, Brian would rouse Tim and check for any lasting injuries. As soon as he was able after that, he'd use his water magic to make sure the Dark Order people stayed out.

Seb and Skylar moved to check the basement next. It was the same setup they had seen before, with white walls and four cages along one wall. The center of the room was dominated by a marked-out ritual area, and even bleach hadn't cleaned up the feeling of death in the room. Seb shuddered and was glad there was no one in the cages. There was a table in the room with a book containing sigils and spells and assorted paperwork. Just at a glance, Seb could see that there were logs of kidnappings. The police would like to see those.

But since there was no threat from down there, they moved on quickly. The barn was clear, so it was time to check the house. The problem was that they had both used a lot of magic in a short period. So they picked back up their guns, holding them in their hands rather than holstering them.

Tim was awake. “I'm so glad you guys came,” he said.

“
We've got your back,” Seb told him.

“
I feel so bad about getting Fiona and me into this situation.”

“
Don't worry about it. The Dark Order had a lot of resources put into getting her. Now what we need is for you to help Brian with these guys.”

“
I can do that,” Tim said grimly, glaring at his captors. “I can do that.”

As they approached the house, a black robed witch came out, probably to check on the ones in the barn. Seb crept around behind him and knocked him over the head with his gun. He fell like a sack of potatoes, and Skylar silently cuffed him before they dragged him out of sight of the house. In a quick-thinking move, Skylar grabbed the keys on the witch's belt.

“
Let's go get your wife back.”

From her prison, Fiona heard a lot of noise from the main part of the house. She hoped with all her heart that it was Seb and that he had come for her. She didn't have to wait long to find out.

She heard a succession of keys being tried in the lock. “Seb, is that you?” Fiona called out.

“
Yes honey, it's me! I'm going to get you out of there in just a moment when I find the right key.”

Finally he found the right key and opened the door. She threw herself into his arms.

“
Oh Seb, I'm so happy to see you!”

“
You too. I'm sorry I didn't protect you like I should have.”

“
You didn't do anything wrong,” she said, peppering kisses across his face. “You're here now.”

“
Skylar's out there calling the police. We'll have to give statements and so forth, but I'll get you out of there as soon as possible.”

“
I know. I love you Seb. I knew you wouldn't break the bond and that you'd come for me.”

“
My life's not nearly as wonderful without you as it is with you. I wasn't going to give you up, not for anything and especially not for Redman.”

“
I've got a lot to tell you about the Dark Order.”

“
Unless it's urgent, tell me later. For now, I just want to hold you and be grateful that you're safe now.”

“
I am safe now, thanks to you.”

“
Redman will come for us again, you know.”

“
I know. He thinks we're meant to be together and that I should be his queen.”

“
You can't be a queen when you're already a Duchess.”

“
No, I can't. And I would rather be a Duchess any day over a queen.”

“
Good.”

They heard the police sirens approaching and went downstairs to deal with them.

It was nine by the time the police were satisfied. They didn't appreciate the witches going in without legal permission, but they didn't press charges, considering what had happened and that no one was badly injured. All through the collection of the prisoners, the ride to the police station, and as much of the time in the station that they had together, Seb didn't let go of Fiona's hand, and she was grateful for that.

They finally got back to the hotel, where they met up again with Theresa, Martin, and Mark. They each had hugs for Fiona, and she was touched at how much everyone cared about her. Seb went to get his bags from the other room and move into Fiona's room. Mark went to Tim's room first to check and make sure he didn't have any injuries or problems after his kidnapping. He'd come check on Fiona next. Brian could have done it, but he was still a bit hazy from being knocked out, and he called it an early night.

Seb lay down on the bed, holding Fiona like he thought she was going to disappear again at any moment.

“
I'm fine, Seb, really.”

“
I want Mark to confirm that.”

“
He'll be here soon.”

“
I worried so much.”

“
I know. But the whole time I was captured, I knew you'd come for me.”

“
I'm glad you believed in me like that.”

“
You are my husband, and I know you love me.”

“
I do.”

“
I was surprised Skylar came.”

“
You shouldn't be. She'd do anything for family, and she particularly loves you after you gave her that potion.”

“
Speaking of, I'll need to make some of the other potion for her while she progresses through her pregnancy.”

“
There will be plenty of time for that later. For now, I want you to rest.”

They then heard the knock on the door. “Everyone decent?” Mark called.

“
We're good,” Seb responded, opening the door. Fiona got to her feet, but Mark bade her lay back down for his examination of her.

“
I know you're a water witch, and you could probably check yourself, but you've been through a lot, and we both know that water witches are notorious for missing problems within themselves.”

“
I know. I'm quite glad you're here, even if it's just to assure Seb that I'm fine.”

“
Sure. Now lay still.”

Mark put his hands on her arm to get the skin-to-skin contact that he would need to do a thorough check. She felt the pinpricks of his magic as he assessed her from head to toe. It took him about fifteen minutes to take a full and proper look around.

“
How is she?” Seb probed as Mark drew his hands away.

“
She's fine. But it looks like Skylar's not the only one who is pregnant.”

Fiona took a minute to let that sink in. “What are you saying?”

“
I'm saying that you're going to have a baby.”

“
Oh my god,” Seb said, sinking down on the bed next to her. “But we were careful; she was on a birth control potion.”

“
And we all know that birth control other than condoms doesn't always work on witches like it works on non-witches.”

“
Oh my god,” Fiona gasped. “I'm going to have a baby. But I haven't had any symptoms.”

“
I can't explain that one. It's possible that since you have two types of magic that your body was able to deal with providing magic to the baby in a way that most magical mothers can't. But it looks like you're about three weeks into it. Congratulations.”

“
Thank you, Mark. I appreciate it.”

“
Sure thing. I'll leave you two alone.”

Immediately after he closed the door, Seb smiled, and Fiona felt her smile echoing his. “A baby,” she whispered.

“
A baby.”

“
Are you happy?”

“
Ecstatic. Are you happy?”

“
Absolutely. Oh honey, I'm so happy.”

He hugged her close. “Good. Our baby is going to grow up in a loving environment with parents and family to dote on it and give it every opportunity.”

“
Then he or she will grow up and learn to run the Coven.”

“
Yes. But only if they want to. I think that if our firstborn doesn't want to run the Coven, we won't push them into it. I hope to have more kids, and the rest of the family will have kids. If the firstborn doesn't want to lead, I'm sure one of the others will.”

“
That's a good thought. I wouldn't want to push our child into something they don't want.”

“
I love you, Fiona, and I think you're going to make a great mom.”

“
I love you too, Seb, and I know you're going to make a great dad.”

“
Thanks.”

The trip back to Boston went faster than the trip to Washington because everyone was together and safe. An air of relief had settled over the whole group. The entire Coven House, and a number of the witches who didn't live there, showed up to welcome them home. Fiona and Tim were hugged and generally shown that the witches cared about them. Mark, Seb, and Fiona had agreed not to tell anyone about the pregnancy until they could do a full family meeting at Ward Manor. Fiona was sure there would be more to celebrate when they came public with their news.

But first they had to debrief. Fiona hadn't gone into what she had learned, waiting until everyone was together. And indeed, all of the Coven Protection agents, Skylar, Melanie, and Seb were assembled in the ops room to hear what she had to say.

“
First of all, I found out that the Redman currently running the Dark Order is Eric Redman. It seems that his father was murdered twenty five years ago, and Eric has only begun rebuilding it in recent years. That explains why we didn't hear anything from them for so long. I spent my life running, and there wasn't even anything really to run from,” Fiona said wryly. “I heard a lot about taking witches' power and giving it to other witches and non-witches. I know that they had planned to give me the majority of Skylar's power and give the rest to Selby and Linda. So they can give one witch's power to at least three people.