“Drawing room,” Jack murmured, turned and strode swiftly through the house to the drawing room, taking the children with him.
He opened the doors and Angus had the chance to see the women had lit candles so there was dim light. He also had the chance to see the faces pale and hear the gasps.
But this was all he had the chance to see.
They all turned when they heard a dog woofing and saw Belle racing behind the dog on her high-heeled shoes, her hands in her skirt holding it up.
“My love,” Angus heard Jack murmur.
“My sweet!” Angus then heard Belle cry.
Then Angus and the rest watched Belle race directly into Jack, throwing her arms around him, Myrtle and catching Lewis up in her embrace.
Well, it seemed Belle was Brenna if the presence of living, breathing Myrtle and Lewis didn’t faze her.
This also didn’t faze Angus but it fazed Jensen.
“Holy fuck,” Jensen muttered.
Still holding on, Belle arched her upper body back and caught Jack’s eyes.
“Something’s amiss,” she declared at the same time Jack announced, “There is danger.”
“Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?” Rachel whispered.
“If it’s what I’m seeing, you’re seeing what I think I’m seeing,” Lila whispered in answer.
“I think I’m seeing the same thing too.” Joy was also whispering.
The entire room stilled and braced as a commotion came from the hall, there were running footsteps and then a dripping wet, formally clad, shoeless Yasmin and an equally dripping wet somewhat formally but definitely eccentrically clad Cassandra skidded to the halt at the doors.
“Caleb Caldwell had a partner and she was a witch!” Yasmin shrieked.
“You stole my thunder, mate,” Cassandra muttered.
But Yasmin’s eyes rounded, her torso swayed back and she cried, “Oh my God! Myrtle and Lewis are real!”
Cassandra took in this fact and her eyes cut to Angus. “Have you ever seen this?”
“No’ ever,” Angus replied, shaking his head then concluded, “Best part of the job. Can have years in it and still be surprised.”
Cassandra looked back at Jack, Belle and the children, murmuring, “This is going to be the talk of the winterfest coven meeting, seriously.”
Jack cut in at this point and Angus’s eyes moved to him to see his on Angus.
“I know you but I do not. I do not understand this. I also do not care. Caleb Caldwell is in my home. I was able to incapacitate him to get my children to safety although I doubt he will be unconscious for long. I also doubt he has left this house. He is still here. He is, as usual, intent to do mischief. And we cannot delay in finding him and dealing with him.”
“There is a woman,” Belle put in quickly, she was now at Jack’s side, one of her arms curling Lewis close, the other arm holding Jack and Myrtle. “She’s in the west wing. One of the bedrooms.” Her head tipped back and she looked at Jack. “My beloved, I fear she’s demented.”
“Caldwell and his partner,” Cassandra said and moved into the room, pulling Yasmin with her and closing the doors behind her. Then she turned to face the congregation that automatically gathered together. “Right, I had a vision,” she announced. “Past and future. Caldwell allied with a local witch. He did this on the hush-hush. No one knew about it. Unfortunately, he did this in the only way he knew how. He beat her into submission, forcing her to help him. From what I gather, she’s been reincarnated too. And to make unhappy matters unhappier, she’s been reincarnated into Calvin Cole’s wife.”
“Oh lordy,” Rachel whispered.
“Shit,” Jensen muttered.
“Great, just great,” Lila snapped.
“She’s also here,” Cassandra added. “Both of them are. The spell Caldwell forced her to cast was that Brenna and Joshua would never be together, never happy, never living their lives to their fullest. In order to do this, if they were to be reincarnated, it would happen at a time where Caldwell and his partner were also reincarnated so that they could stop Brenna and Joshua or, in our time, Jack and Belle from living happily ever after.”
“So how do we stop them?” Joy asked.
“They both have to be destroyed,” Cassandra answered. “If he’s taken out, he won’t come back. And if she’s banished to hell, that’s it for her. But there’s a complication just because Caleb Caldwell was a full blown ass. As we know, the children are ghosts, or um,” she eyed the wee ones before she went on, “they were. And this was at Caldwell’s behest because, seriously, this guy was one major dick. He forced the witch to put a spell on the children to tether their spirits here after she smothered them. They could appear before anyone except their father or any master of this house. If they did, Caldwell would return to this earth, alive and breathing, so he could have fun.” She eyed Jack and the kids and finished, “I’m guessing this happened.”
“Indeed,” Jack answered and pulled Belle and the children closer to him.
“This means, I’m afraid,” Cassandra went on, “that all that work I did protecting against magical mayhem was for nothing. We’re dealing with two humans here. And that means anything goes.”
“Shit,” Jensen muttered gain.
“So why are the children real and Jack and Belle are, um… not exactly Jack and Belle?” Lila asked.
Cassandra shook her head. “I’m not sure but my guess is, love’s a powerful thing.”
“What?” Belle whispered and Cassandra’s eyes went to her.
“Love’s a powerful thing, mate. It holds a magic all its own that no one can control. When there’s love, and a lot of it, anything can happen.”
“Oh my,” Joy whispered.
“So we must destroy Caldwell and this witch,” Jack brought the matter to hand.
“You got it, mate,” Cassandra answered.
“And how do you propose we do that?” Jack asked.
“Well, him, he’s not supposed to be here so we can do whatever we want with him. Her, she’s real, from this time but she’s got the reincarnated bitch witch attached to her soul. So we need to get it out.”
“Perform the same ceremony as you did on Miles?” Joy queried.
“Exactly,” Cassandra replied.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Jack stated, bending to put Myrtle on her feet.
“Uh, we kinda need the bitch that’s got the bitch witch in her to do it,” Cassandra informed him as Jack straightened then pinned his eyes to her.
And his voice was a low rumble when he replied, “Then let’s find her.”
Cassandra grinned.
Belle wet her lips.
Angus began to move to go get his whip.
The doors to the room opened and Lachlan and Lorna, dripping wet, strode in.
Upon arrival, Lorna announced, “Lach should give up the family business and become a race car driver.”
At the same time Lachlan spied the children, his red brows shot up and he muttered, “Bloody, fucking hell.”
Caleb
“As before, you take care of the children, I’ll deal with Brenna,” Caleb ordered.
She shook her head.
“I want Belle.”
“I get Brenna.”
“I want Belle.”
He raised his hand and brought it down hard on her cheekbone. So hard, her head whipped to the side and she staggered.
“I’ll deal with Brenna. Then I’ll dispatch Joshua. You take the children.”
Righting herself, hand to her cheek, instinct caused her to agree, “Oh… okay.”
“Let us go,” he stated, lifting his hand toward her.
Instinct again forced her to lift hers to him, he took hold and dragged her from the room.