The Second Covenant

The candles snuffed out and I felt a little dizzy. “That was fucked up.” Declan said and I sighed. “Welcome to my world.” I muttered and let Druex wrap me up in a tight, protective hug. “Can we go back downstairs now?” Dax asked evenly, but I could see him looking around, expecting something to come shooting out of the wall I’m sure. My lips twitched and I winked at him. The drapes flew back with a bang and he jumped. It made Donovan and Declan snicker.

My mother and Aunts were laughing when we came into the kitchen and Dom was regaling them with some story about one of them shifting shape. “How butch is a werewolf with whitey-tighties stuck on his ass?” Donovan growled and turned red. “That was an accident. Total wardrobe malfunction.” My Aunts all tried to look contrite now that he was in the room, but the grins of the men was just to much and we all broke out laughing. “So, honey, how’d it go up there?” My mother had sat in with me once, when I’d first tried to summon an ancestor like that. “Pretty good. I’ll tell everyone when the men-folk come home. No use repeating myself.”

Aunt Lisa was very curious about how a werewolf shifted. “So can you do the half man half wolf thing or is that Hollywood?” Daire shook his head. “We can’t. We’re more of…shifters. While we can infect someone with lycanthropy through a bite or a scratch while we’re in wolf form, we don’t need the full moon to change shape. Our bloodline goes back ages.” He looked at Druex and my Ulfric nodded for him to continue the story. “There’s a legend that says Odin blessed our Viking ancestors with the spirit of the wolf. Because they were just big and bad.” I smiled at that and leaned against Druex, soaking in his heat. I felt so cold without my sweatshirt on, a bone deep cold. Druex felt me shudder and put both his arms around me. “Your skin is cold.” He said in my ear and I nodded.

I felt the prickling of his power an instant before it rolled through me, like how my grandfathers had done, but this was warm, furry wolf. I shuddered opened my mouth to ask him if that was a good idea, but his beast rolled over me like a tidal wave, caressing the inside of me in ways just his hands would never be able to do. I felt my own power, less solid seeming next to his and marveled at how strong he was.

But when I felt it heading for lower places, I jumped away from him with a squeal, shaking myself to get rid of that gloriously amazing feeling. “Gaw! Don’t do that!” I said, knowing my cheeks were on fire with embarrassment. Because the other wolves could smell the desire pouring off of me and off Druex.

But they gave no outward indication they knew what Druex had just done and Druex himself was just smiling. “Why?” I glared at him. “Because.” My mother had her chin in her hand and was looking from me to Druex. “But you’re not cold anymore are you?” He said, completely fine with the fact he’d almost made me have an orgasm in public. “Not the point.”
“What’s not?” My dad said as the coven trooped in. I’d been so distracted I’d not even felt the shimmer of the wards as they passed it. And Druex was smirking now. “Bad werewolf.” I hissed at him and had an all over body shudder.

I’d banished Druex from sitting with me on the couch with a snarl and he rolled his eyes at me. I wasn’t surprised that the men hadn’t come up with something out of the books. “We didn’t even find a two worded reference to something in Salem. Are you sure that’s where you think it is?” Tyler asked me and I nodded. “Great Granddad Lucas said it was there.” My coven and family looked at me like I’d lost a few marbles. “Er…Cherish? He’s about three hundred years dead.” Tristan told me and I grinned. “Still so sweet though. While you were all off sniffing dust, I tried out a new spell and…it works.” I said with a huge grin. “Called up all the dead Danvers.”

Donovan shuddered. “It was fecking weird too.” I told them all about what had gone down in the attic. When I was done, Aunt Paige was frowning with interest. “So you’ve adopted some of the Wiccan Religion and applied it to your Power?” I nodded. “Mm-hu. Traditionally, witches are women.” I gave my coven a look. “The Wiccan path is geared towards that. I’ve been…experimenting to see if it would work for me. After the whole three choices speech, Grandpa William told me I worked a good spell. It kind of sounded like a hint, hint, nudge, nudge kind of thing.”

Peyton was pacing, his brow also furrowed in thought. “So there’s an evil spirit buried in Salem, that was there during the Trials and fed off the death and suffering of the people killed. It’s bound to the earth, but is looking for a way out and thinks you’re it?” I nodded, hugging a throw pillow tightly to me. My heart was beating a little faster just talking about this, what if we were giving it power? “It’s highly possible that the Salem Trials were influenced by the spirit. It can project very real seeming dreams. And most of the charges brought against the witches were incubus’ in their dreams.”

I swallowed down a teeth chattering shudder. “It um…It’s reasonable to think it has some kind of power to posses, or did when it was free. I wonder if the women who were burned, the ones who really were witches, are the ones who bound it to the earth in the first place.” My dad’s brows lifted. “And what? The spirit took revenge by possessing people and feeding their pious minds that there were witches among them?”
“Pretty much.” I said rubbing my clammy hands on my thighs. “I mean think about it, if someone bound your powers and trapped you, wouldn’t you assume that if they died the spell would be voided?” I asked the question and the witches nodded. “Yeah.”

And here was where I drove home my point. “With our magic that’s how it would work, because we’re fueling the spell with our power. The Creation spell is a good example. Once the power is stopped, the spell ends.” I shivered again and Druex frowned at me. “Still cold?” I nodded and he jerked his chin a little in the direction of Declan, Daire and Donovan. They left the room and came back moments later in wolf form. It was apparent to me almost instantly who was who. Declan and Donovan both had reddish gold fur. Daire was huge, almost as big as Druex, a deep, earthy brown.

They came to me and wrapped their furred bodies around me like a blanket. The chill faded from my body fairly fast, surrounded by their body heat. “What are they doing?” Aunt Paige wanted to know and Druex patted Daire on the side. The big wolf licked his wrist. I felt better with the wolves in my lap. Much better. Baking in the heat and scent of the pack.

Druex’s hand slid through my hair and Donovan shifted so he was curled around my back with his head on my shoulder. “Cherish keeps doing things that drain her energy and she’ll need the heat from the pack to keep from getting sick.” He searched around for a good analogy. “It’s like how puppies pile on each other when they sleep, sharing body heat to stay warm when their mother isn’t there.” Everyone nodded, but they couldn’t understand. “What does it feel like?” Tristan wanted to know and I blinked lazily at him. “Good. Like a breathing electric blanket.”

Declan slid his nose along my throat with a little whine. “A blanket that want’s scratchies.” I rubbed his ears and he gave a happy growl. I sighed and let the heat soothe the aches away from my body. So much was happening, I couldn’t remember how many hours it had been since I’d almost shifted, but I was still hurting from it. Daire was across my lap, his head on his paws, eyes half closed while I stroked his silky fur. “They’re so big.” My mother said, and I smelled her nervousness before I saw her hands clenched in her lap. She really was afraid.

Unfortunately, it was a problem we’d have to deal with later. “What are the choices Cherish? I get the feeling you already know what they are.” Peyton said and I half smiled. Ah he read me well. “I do.” He lifted his brows and waved with a wide sweep of his hand. “Care to let us in on the secret?” I scrunched up my nose. “Yeah. But nobody starts yelling until I’m done.”

Brows shot up all around the room. “That is hardly comforting.” My father said and I nodded. “Yeah. So choice number one is we bind the spirit back to the ground. Recharge the spell with our power. But that could possibly drain everybody.” That was vetoed unanimously. “Choice two is a bit complicated. We have to figure out what it is that’s keeping it on this plane. Then we can destroy it. Kill it basically.”

That plan was considered. “And choice three?” Riley said with a drum roll on the back of the chair where his mother was sitting. I tangled my fingers in and around Daire’s coat. “Destroy the power the spirit wants.” Jaws dropped. “Not a chance in hell!” Peyton roared. I waved my hand at him. “I’m not done.” The wolves in my lap and behind me gave a hackle raising growl. “No Cherish. We don’t need to hear the rest. There is no option three. Period.” Druex said tightly and I smiled at him gently. “There has to be. Because if we can’t destroy it then you have to take away the food source.”