The Second Covenant

Once inside the cave, I told the women of my plan and what it involved. Jane, the leader of the coven was adamantly opposed to bringing men into their circle. “Look, Jane, I grew up with them, they’re witches just like you and me, they are my brothers. And the other men are my pack, my family. I’m half witch and half wolf, they protect me and if this spell is to work we will need their help. Do you want to vanquish Mason Shaw to hell, or not?” Jane gnashed her teeth but ultimately agreed in the end. I sighed and gave a sharp whistle.

Drustan was already beside me in the cave, and at my signal was answered by my boys smoking into the cavern, and not long after Dax and Daire came trotting in and sat on either side of my feet. I put my hands on both their heads and Jane sighed after I introduced my ‘brothers’. “When will we do this?”
“Tonight. Right now. Sooner the better.”

Her brows shot up in surprise. “Should we not wait for the full moon?” I shook my head and stroked Daire’s ears, feeling grounded and steadied by his presence. “It is the dark of the moon, the full dark. I think it should be even better. Lets set up.” The women used their brooms to sweep the dirt floor clean of any negative energy and drew a pentagram with white clay on it. They set up candles and I watched, guiding from the instructions of the book and was being received very well. I would have been pissed if someone was giving orders like I was. But the girls seemed to need some kind of direction. “Alright. Ring the circle, guys please try and spread out.” Peyton looked at me with worry in his eyes. “You don’t want us beside you?” I smiled at him gently and winked. “You are. And I promised Riley I’d hold his damn hand.” He smiled back, weakly and nodded. “Okay.”

Riley stood on my left, Dax stood on my left too, between Riley and me, and it was Drustan on my right. Daire trotted around to stand beside Peyton. “I want a wolf next time.” Tristan grumped and I laughed. “Focus boys. Once Shaw is in the circle, we start the second spell. The candles and the crystals will hold him, but just in case, I and my brothers will put up a shield. No matter what happens, focus only on Shaw. He dies tonight.” There were strong nods all around and I took Riley’s hand, and Melinda’s hand, and it was like a thunderclap as our powers merged, hand by hand until we were vibrating, skin glowing with power. “Goddess, this is amazing.” Melinda breathed. I sighed at feeling the circuit completed. “You hold onto that feeling Melinda. Tight. All together now.” I said and as one, male and female voice rose to echo along the roof of the cave.

Magic forces black and white,
Reaching out through space and light,
Be he far or be he near,
Bring us the demon Adelphos here.

There was a heartbeat of time between the moment that our voices faded, when it went silent and then, there was a pop, and Mason Shaw dropped into the middle of the circle.
I threw up my shield and layer by layer, Peyton, Riley and Tristan added their own. The four of us focused on holding it while the others chanted.

Beast of legend, myth, and lore
Give my words the power to soar,
Feel our strength, leave fight as fate.
Make this evil obliterate.

They repeated it while Mason howled and used his power to beat upon the shield, I watched him start to smoke and on the last round of the spell I joined in, feeling Drustan and Dax leaning against my legs, feeding me more power. My own eyes were streaming as I took my revenge. His body exploded into dust and a black cloud hung for a moment and then it made a shattering sound and fell to the ground like an oil slick. I nodded to Riley and he focused on the slick, a moment later it burst into flames and burned to nothing. I sighed one last spell. “Demon hide your evil face, Adelphos leave no trace.” The fire Riley had made gave a loud boom and then nothing was left but a patch of scorched ground.

One by one the witches around me started to laugh and cheer. With a sigh I let go of my power and of Riley and sat down onto the ground between Dax and Drustan. I leaned my head against Dax and he nosed his way under my arm, so I hugged him. Drustan lay down beside me and rested his nose on my thigh, looking up at me with his ears flicking back and forth. I smiled at him and set my hand to stroking his silky ears. “Thanks guys.” I said softly and Daire came around the circle to sit at my back, his head on my shoulder, giving a sigh. “Lets go home.” I said and Drustan gave a huff, like he was disappointed. “Is it done?” Melinda asked me and I looked up at her. “Yep, one last thing.” I nodded to the women approaching with the buckets of spring water to wash the ashes away. “Ashes to ashes.” I said, breathing in the comforting scent of my pack. I was anxious to leave now, to go home and find Druex waiting for me.