Page 33 of What The Hex (The Family Spells)
“Grab some slime lily as well,” Argent called up, and I did as he asked, even though I wasn’t quite sure what it was for. I slid down and spun around, tucking the herbs into the basket that Spec provided. My mother kept a horde of them, tucked neatly into cubicle spaces on a wooden shelf beside the door.
Caine stood watch, offering a feral grin to the two demons. But although he had a special hatred for Monster, it was Hex whom he focused on. I knew what he was thinking about. Me, and how upset I’d been when Hex had run out after we’d slept together. How I might actually have conceived his kid.
Ugh.
I gathered some other minor spell items, taking tiny jars from the cupboards and filling the basket to the brim. Once I was satisfied that we had what we needed, off we went, sweeping back out into the rapidly cooling autumn night.
A storm was brewing, but it didn’t feel like a normal storm. Oh no, this was tumultuous, charged, and very, very dangerous. Something big is coming. I mean, I didn’t need the storm to tell me that, but it was nice to see that mother nature agreed with my intuition.
I paused halfway along the path to creep through the bushes, peering over the short wooden fence that kept the garden separate from the large lawn, deck, and fire pit where a huge bonfire was currently burning. My sister was sitting on a wooden Adirondack chair, bouncing a massive tiger cub on her lap, her face cast in strange shadows from the flames.
I could see my kids sprinting around the yard with their cousins while my sister’s husbands kept a close eye on them. About half of our coven—which was two-hundred-and-thirty members in total—was present. Good thing my mother had nearly two acres to herself.
“Suzanna,” I called out, and my sister’s head snapped up. Her eyes widened and she scrambled out of the chair, tucking the yowling cub under her arm to join me on her side of the fence.
“You did it,” she breathed out, eyes wide as they flicked past me to Hex and then, unfortunately, drifted over to Monster. Her expression shifted, but I shook my head, hoping nobody else had heard or seen us. Monster had done a fair job of cloaking himself, but as I said, witches had excellent senses of smell. Even with his glamour in place to dampen the scent, they might still get a whiff of him.
To be fair, he had a strong masculine scent, musky but with just a kiss of heat and charcoal from Hael. I ignored it. My cunt refused to do the same, but there wasn’t much I could do about that at present time.
“What the hex is he doing here?” Suze ground out through gritted teeth.
“No time for that; we need to start the spell now or else …”
“Graceley, nobody here thinks you’re going to be able to pull this off,” she whispered, stroking a hand over the tiger cub’s head. I was just glad my babies were wolf pups and far easier to cart around—and feed. Pretty sure Suze’s toddler could take her hand off in a single bite. “The other soul-circle is waiting and you know me and my boys are always ready, but … we’re preparing for a funeral, not a recovery.”
I glanced past her, toward the white shroud on the deck. It was a funeral shroud, intended to wrap the body after it was washed in herbal water and spelled for a quick return to the earth. Most witches didn’t prescribe to any particular religion, but instead believed in reincarnation. Once someone passed, their body was returned to the ground in the most natural way possible, dressed in plain white cotton and wrapped in a linen shroud before being buried.
That would not be my mother’s fate this Halloween night.
“We ran into some witch-eaters in Hael,” I whispered, hefting the basket up on my shoulder before Caine gently took it from me, allowing me to lean in close to my sister. She was visibly trembling, whether because of our mother or because of what I’d just said or maybe even because of Monster, I wasn’t sure. “I need you to find Mahou and get her to watch the kids; you are your boys should start prepping. Also, send in whoever is the least likely to pitch a fit about Monster’s presence for guard duty.”
As soon as we cast this spell, the five of us—me, Caine, Argent, Spectre, and Hex—would likely faint. We may not wake up for weeks. Maybe a month or more. After that, we’d be bedridden for some time, frail and unable to care for ourselves. We needed protection, physical and metaphysical. We also needed spells to keep us hydrated, fed, and our bodily functions looked after.
