The Witch and Her Second Chance

20 | The excursion

A loud banging from the front door shot all three up to sitting. Jackie and Jo blinked rapidly, a groan from Jackie at her hangover. Verin rapidly got up, finding his discarded pants on his way to the door.

"You're not ready?" Celeste exclaimed as she burst past him when he opened the hotel room door.

"What time is it?" He glanced around and saw it was half an hour later than he was supposed to meet her. "Shit." They had a lot of ground to cover today, and with the night he had, he had uncharacteristically forgotten his duty.

He saw Celeste look towards the bedroom, hearing low voices from there. She cast a cheeky look his way just before dashing towards the room. He transported himself in front of the door and closed it.

"Is that them?" She asked in a loud whisper.

"Yes, now go sit down. I'll be a minute."

Puffing, she strode over to the couch, looking around at the mess: an empty bottle of champagne on the floor, clothes scattered around, and the coffee table askew. She gave him an amused, questioning look, her eyebrow c****d.

He just shook his head and slipped into the bedroom.

"Sorry about that,” he pushed his hair back, addressing the two women still wrapped in blankets on the bed. “I'm going out to the Dark Pine Coven. I was due to meet Celeste a little while ago. I'll just get ready– you can stay as long as you want."

"Why are you going there?" Jo asked.

"I'm trying to work out if there is any connection with the portal closures–there is a story of a mad witch that lost her mate…" he glanced to the side, feeling awkward explaining this. It was obvious why he was investigating, though he had heard of the witch before knowing about Jo. "She was linked to the covens that also closed."

"Can I come?"

Verin couldn't hide his surprise. "Uh… I'd have to explain you to Celeste…"

"Just say I'm a witch and can advise you on our lore."

Jackie was trying to catch up. "Sorry, what's going on? You're going to go off where exactly?"

"We'll be visiting a coven," Verin started to explain.

"What? A hidden place?" Jackie used a term that was more in line with Fae, but he didn't correct her–it was essentially correct. "Well, I'm coming too then. No way you're just disappearing, Jo."

Verin quickly assessed the impact of taking them. They needed to leave now. It was already a lot later than he had planned, and catching a moment when they could plane shift was tricky–not the effort. He'd be able to plane-shift the three of them easily; it was more the timing to slide through the seams.

~*~

"Why are we taking them?" Celeste asked again, not disguising her disgust at all.

"Jo can help with her knowledge of witches."

"And the human?" Celeste spoke like they weren't there.

"Moral support," Jackie flashed her teeth in a fake smile.

Celeste eyed her. Jo and Jackie sat across from them in the four-seater configuration in a train. They needed to travel a few hours to a slipstream they could use to travel to another part of the human world. Warlocks had mapped them, many a closely guarded secret, only a few shared with closer allies.

The one they were going to use was not a secret one. They had to teleport from the train as there were no roads to this one.

Celeste clucked her tongue. "What do we know?"

Verin created a bubble around them to disguise their conversation from any human passengers.

Verin listed out what had been in the library of the coven he'd visited the week prior. “The Dark Pine Cover is believed to have been closed by Lucy–a hybrid witch vampire. It was claimed she was the result of a forced coupling with a vampire. Her witch mother died during childbirth, and her mother's family brought up Lucy. The reports indicated that once her vampire side became dominant, she became a threat, and she was cast out. She then returned, killing a number of her mother's coven. No deeper motive is known."

"f**k…" Jackie said low. Her face showed true fear at the knowledge vampires were also real. Jo gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Verin had to resist the urge to comfort Jo’s chosen mate as well.

“Vampire witch hybrids never have magical abilities,” Jo informed Verin. “And thank the goddess. Could you imagine?”

Verin nodded. He had found that belief in his investigation. “Be that as it may, it does appear she was involved somehow. Only days after the portals closed, a neighbour coven, the Silver Ivy Coven, came across her as she wandered around the forest, mad from the severed bond after her mate died. She died herself shortly after." He gave a few seconds before adding only to Jo via a message spell, "It could just be a coincidence."

She jumped but did a good job of covering it.

"Crazed witch, huh?" Celeste asked. She eyed Jo. Jo met her eyes without blinking. Celeste grinned at her wickedly, enjoying the challenge. "Want to ask me something?"

Verin looked between the women, Jackie doing the same but seemed to understand what animosity was under the surface that Verin couldn't see. Truth be told, he didn't even know it was there.

Jo just shook her head and crossed her arms.

~*~

Verin and Celeste conversed with a warlock who would grant them access to the next seam. This one was in a building, the building having been built around the entry point. Jackie and Jo stood aways, waiting for instruction on how this would work.

"You okay there?" Jackie asked Jo with an amused tone.

Jo's gaze snapped to the shorter woman. "Huh?"

"Don't think I haven't noticed. My girl's eyes have turned quite green."

Jo still didn't understand her meaning. Her distracted gaze tracked Celeste's hand on Verin's arm as they both spoke with the warlock who worked here. Her eyes narrowed.

Jackie just laughed at her. The laughter shook Jo from her intense glare, and she blushed as she realised how transparent she had been. Celeste had called her out on the train. Yeah, Jo had wanted to ask Celeste something, like could she get off Verin? She sat so close to him she could sneeze and end up on his lap. Verin was oblivious to it, making Jo feel even madder.

She scowled at herself. It was just the stupid matebond. But that f*****g woman. Celeste looked like a lingerie model. It made Jo self-conscious about her own appearance. She couldn't stop thinking about Verin saying they had hoped to be mates. Did they still sleep together? They looked very close and comfortable with each other.

Following the two warlocks, they were led to a room. Jo could feel the charge in the air. She hadn't traveled in this way before, though she understood the concept. There were many short cuts between this world and Therien–though a well kept secret. They would pass first in Therien and then back into this world in a different location.

Jo held Jackie's hand and followed Verin through. She felt the protection of his magic around all of them as they passed the first seam.

Jackie shuddered at the feeling of passing through. "Wild," she whispered, Jo squeezing her hand.

Verin grinned at them. His genuine sudden joy at realising he had just brought them to his home world rose to the surface, if only for a moment. "Welcome to Therien."

It wasn’t much for a first impression. They were in a cave, a steady drip sound from down the winding tunnels snaking on either side of the cavern. Though it did nothing to showcase the gothic brutalism of their cities, Jo and Jackie looked around in awe regardless.

A soft smile remained on Verins face as he stepped them through the next seam and back into the human realm.

~*~