In the Witching Hour Read online

  “No. Yes.” He paced. “There’s more that you don’t know.” He could work with the witches if the witches would work with him. But the necessity for doing so reeked.

  Meg stared up at him, apprehension etched on her face. “It can get worse?”

  “So tell us, dear boy,” Sir Wesley whisked off his hat and scratched his head. “What is it that can give you such a ghostly pallor? Balberith doesn’t affect you that way.”

  Jason hated to scare the women but they had a right to know. He put his arm around Meghan and drew her close. “The freed demons are causing such frenzy, the world’s in danger of coming off its axis.”

  Everyone gaped at him.

  Meghan’s face drained of all color. “How? Why?”

  “All the so-called ‘natural’ disasters this past month aren’t natural. Our planet can’t take much more. If it doesn’t stop soon, our world could explode.”

  “Explode?” Lucy echoed dumbly.

  “The planet can’t take such stress.” He looked at the ghosts. “In all your years have you ever heard of so many ‘natural’ disasters at once?”

  “Fire and brimstone,” Kelvin the Brute said. “Judgment Day?”

  “This isn’t how the signs are to come, so no. This isn’t the scheduled Judgment Day. Although my father’s kind may very well bring it now if not stopped.”

  “Are you suggesting we stop it?” Disbelief warbled in Sir Wesley’s voice. “We don’t have that kind of power among us.”

  How could so many lack vision?

  “Not by ourselves. You were on the right track to ally ourselves with the witches. Only we need all the witches, and all the beings who possess supernatural powers that can still be reasoned with. Dissension won’t help anyone right now.”

  Lucy jumped to her feet. “So you’re saying that the devil caused this mess and will destroy the world. Now. Not in some far distant future. Do you know how crazy that sounds?”

  “Need I remind you you’re surrounded by ghosts and demons? That I orbed you here?”

  “Ohmigod!” Meg trembled against him. “All those hurricanes and volcano eruptions aren’t coincidental?”

  “Have you ever seen a season like this?”

  Lucy glared at him. “I thought you were trapped in a computer. How would you know?”

  He didn’t like all this questioning from the hostile female. “I was in the Internet where I had access to all kinds of information.”

  “So you didn’t know this before?” Lucy seemed determined to undermine him. If she’d been up against a full-blooded demon, she’d have found herself consumed by a fireball by now or dropped inside a raging volcano.

  “Most of it has only happened this month, since we’ve been here. I found out when I went to get your food.”

  Meg frowned at her and then at him. “Have demons no sense? No wish for self-preservation?”

  A growl rumbled in Jason’s chest and he fought to suppress the beast. “Full-blooded demons? No.” They were a mass of fury and devilish glee. But part human demons could be reasoned with. Most of them anyway.

  “We have no time to waste fighting amongst ourselves. Sir Wesley, please contact the Pembridge sisters and see if they’re willing to present us to the Tribunal of witches.”

  Lucy harrumphed. “So now you’re going to be the world’s savior? Like I’m supposed to buy that?”

  “Buy what you want.” The beast was about ready to seal her in the dungeon if she didn’t stop giving him a hard time.

  He wasn’t a savior by any means. Just a sane being which seemed to be in scarce supply. The world was in deep trouble when one of the few sane beings left was a half-demon.

  Perhaps the world wasn’t worth saving. Maybe he should just let it be put out of its misery. Then all this fighting would come to an end.

  No one would win.

  Was anyone winning now?

  When had he become so cynical?

  He was in danger of becoming like the other demons after all.

  Meghan….

  He had to hang onto her. To their love. Selfishness might just save the world after all.

  He couldn’t trust a truce solely to Sir Wesley’s persuasive powers. Turning, he hugged Meghan and buried his face in her fragranced hair. Love and despair rumbled through him. It was folly to face the witches, but what choice did he have?

  What choice did the world have?

  When Meghan returned his hug and pressed a kiss to his neck, hope flared in him. “We can’t let the world die.”

  He pulled away and gazed deeply into her eyes. “Precisely why I must go now to the high council of witches and offer our allegiance.”

  “But they’ll vanquish you before you can tell them why you’re there! You can’t go!”

  Warmth flowed through him. She cared. “What choice do I have? Every moment I delay in telling them what I know to stop this, is one moment closer to annihilation.”

  Meghan clutched his hand, lacing her fingers through his. “Then I’m going with you.”

  “It’s too dangerous.”

  “No more than staying here without you or magical protection. They wouldn’t harm an innocent, so you say. Then if I’m with you, shielding you, I would be your protection. They’d have to listen to you.”

  No guarantees it would be that cut and dried.

  “It might work.” He wished he felt half as positive as she did. Still, it was his best chance. Their best chance. “Come on.”

  He stood and opened his arms to her.

  Lucy scowled. “Sure. Leave me here as bait. Let me play nursemaid to these grungy ghosts.”

  “Stuff it, Luce,” Meghan said as she stepped into the circle of his arms.

  He tried to suppress a grin, but he gave her a squeeze. That cousin of hers needed to be put in her place.

  Meg marveled at the magic of orbing even as she dreaded facing the witch tribunal.

  She still had trouble grasping the larger newly revealed world of magic. Her former existence had been so narrow. So limited. It felt as if she’d been blind and could suddenly see.

  Scary.

  Exhilarating.

  “Demons!” A witch yelled and hurled a fireball.

  Jason orbed out with her and orbed into another spot as the fireball whizzed by them, making her dizzy.

  “Wait! I’m human. He’s with me.” How lame she sounded. “I’m innocent. We come to help.”

  “Demons, help?” one witch asked, a skeptical note in her voice.

  “A human with a demon?” still another witch asked as her brows knitted into one long line.

  “Are you a hostage, dear?” A kindly old witch asked from behind the younger ones, concern flooding her face.

  “Yes, we’re here to help. And no, I’m not a hostage. I’m here, with him, of my own free will. He’s half-human.” Like that explained it all.

  “We’re listening,” the first witch said, folding her arms over her chest.

  “It may be a trick,” the second witch said, eying them dubiously. “Let her step away from you and prove she’s not a hostage.”

  And leave him unprotected?

  “No.” Meg refused to budge from Jason’s side.

  “Betina, we must bind his powers so he can’t hurt us or the woman.”

  “I don’t like this,” Jason mumbled in Meg’s ear. “I’ll be at their complete mercy.”

  Nor did she, but what other choice did they have? Surely he must have expected something like this. The witches were bound to be as wary of him as he was of them.

  “I don’t think we have a choice. Spook them anymore and we’re all dead. Leave and we’re all dead anyway. This is our only chance.”

  It sucked.

  Jason’s eyes glowed red and she elbowed him and whispered. “Your eyes. Simmer down.”

  “What is he to you, dear?” The eldest witch who had been referred to as Betina asked, stepping forward. She directed two of the younger women to place runes around them, a magical for
ce field that would make Jason’s powers impotent.

  “He says we are lovers through eternity. That we’re soul mates,” Meg said, holding Jason’s hand as he remained tense and watchful.

  A young witch chuckled. “And you believe a demon?”

  “Half-human.”

  And yes, she was beginning to believe him. As he’d predicted, he’d risked his life to come here. Would an evil being do that to selflessly help others?

  Most full-blooded humans wouldn’t risk their necks. He was one-of-a-kind. A truly special being.

  She wasn’t convinced the witches were the good guys from what she’d seen so far. Stories often portrayed them as evil as demons. They still had to prove themselves to her.

  “You’re not any more trusting of me than I am of you. But I—we—are taking a leap of faith as there’s no other choice. Listen to what this man has to say or doom our world to an early death.”

  “You have our attention. How is the world doomed?”

  Jason squeezed Meg’s hand and took a deep breath.

  “Balberith, the demon master, released all the demons imprisoned in the Internet. All these so-called natural disasters aren’t natural. The constant hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, mudslides, riots….”

  “So the demons are wreaking this havoc? You know Mother Nature is royally pissed and I wouldn’t put it past her. Which demon do you allege is behind this worldwide destruction?”

  “Balberith. He opened the ‘Adopt-A-Demon’ site on the Internet. Humans think it’s just a fun, harmless Halloween gag, but it’s really a vessel to release the demons. He has them sign a contract that they will pillage and plunder once back in the world.”

  “How do we stop them?” Betina rubbed the talisman hanging around her neck, as if drawing comfort from it.

  “I don’t know. We were hoping we could stop them by working together.” Jason stood tense beside her.

  “Why would you, a demon, want to stop them? Why should we trust you?” The witch circled them, looking them up and down.

  Meg hated being caged or put under a microscope.

  Jason sighed heavily. “Because they’re out of control. The balance between good and evil is off-kilter. If we don’t set it right, everyone loses. We won’t have a planet left to be a battleground.”

  The witches huddled together, speaking in hushed tones.

  Meg twisted around to look up at Jason. “Maybe this wasn’t such a brilliant idea.”

  “We’re married to it now. I can’t break the field.” Jason tried to touch the invisible field, drawing sparks and earning glowering looks from the witches.

  Just then, Sir Wesley orbed in with a young, beautiful witch on each arm. Identical except for different hair color, they must be twins. One had hot pink glittery, spiky hair. The other wore her silky hair long and violet.

  The witch with pink hair released Wesley and approached the Tribunal. She knelt on one knee and bent her head in deference. “If I may, I’d like to speak on behalf of Sir Wesley. He would like to speak on behalf of Incubus, also known as Lord Jason Althorp.”

  “Incubus? Jason?”

  Jason waved his hand high in the air. “Yo. That would be me.”

  “You vouch for his trustworthiness?” The eldest witch nodded. “You may address the Tribunal now, Sir Wesley.”

  Sir Wesley floated forward and tipped his hat. “Ladies of the Council. I am an old family friend of the Pembridges’ and I am also a longtime member of Althorp Manor. I served Her Majesty in the Battle of Alnwick and gave my life in her service. Now I pledge my allegiance to Lord Jason Althorp, one of the finest men I have ever known. He is worthy of your trust. His only concern is the best interest of the world.”

  “You call this demon a man?” The skeptical witch asked with a disdainful expression.

  “His mother was human. He is more human than most men of my acquaintance.”

  “And has he ever performed a demonic act?” The witch’s brow arched as she pinned him with her glare.

  Sir Wesley fidgeted under it as Meg held her breath, praying the answer would be no. She longed to look at Jason, but dare not.

  After a long hesitation, Wesley sadly said, “Yes.” Then he hurried on. “But that was in his younger days. He was reborn and hasn’t performed mischief in many centuries.”

  “And the demons let him live?”

  “They imprisoned me,” Jason said, bristling. “For breaking the ‘Demon Code.’ Because I refused to cause mayhem and ruin. It was considered insurrection in the demon ranks.”

  “He led a half-human revolt against the demons. Almost won, but then some witches attacked his forces, allowing the demons to prevail. Those that weren’t vanquished were imprisoned.”

  The elderly witch narrowed her eyes and looked around her ranks. “So witches helped the full-blooded demons? Perhaps it was to keep this precarious balance you’re so concerned about.”

  “No, your grace. The demons were out of control again. It was 1886 and they had unleashed a string of hurricanes.”

  “But computers, much less the Internet, weren’t invented yet. Your story unravels.”

  “They were originally imprisoned elsewhere and later moved into the Internet. Where do you think computer viruses originated?”

  Ahs and nods greeted the revelation.

  So demons explained computer viruses. Unable to resist, she stood on tiptoe and whispered in Jason’s ear, “So, I should give you the bill for my hard drive crash?”

  Red flame flickered in his eyes. “Don’t you know how dangerous it is to tease a demon?”

  “Who’s teasing?” She batted her lashes at him.

  If only the world mayhem was a joke….

  Instantly, she sobered. Vicious volcanoes and killer hurricanes were no joke. The demon threat was serious.

  “Excuse me,” Meg spoke up. “I don’t think we have time to waste on the committee process. What are we going to do to save the world?”

  A sunny-haired witch looked down her nose at Meg. “Humans should be seen and not heard. Who are you to tell us what to do?”

  Jason bristled and opened his mouth to retort but Meg put a quelling finger over his lips. She understood he wanted to protect her, but she could handle verbal sparring. He could save his energy for the magical bouts.

  Seething herself, she said, “A concerned world citizen. We risked our lives coming here to be proactive and set things right not to waste time. I’m not a magical being, or even a geologist, but I can see our planet hasn’t much time left. Are you with us or not?”

  Out of breath, she drew in a ragged gulp of air. “If you’re against us or you don’t believe us, you may as well do away with us now as time’s about up.”

  Betina gazed up at the moon. “Our calculations show we have till midnight of All Hallow’s Eve until utter destruction is imminent. It’s not so easy to fight demons and now they’re being unified, Goddess help us.”

  “How do we stop them?” The idea of bait dangled in her mind. “What do they want above all else?”

  Jason massaged the back of his neck and drawled, “That’s easy. The destruction of all their enemies—namely witches.”

  “So maybe this is a trap. Catch us off guard and destroy us.”

  “No. But if we could let them think your guard is down, we could lure them in.”

  “How do we do that?”

  Duh. “It is Halloween, isn’t it? Season of witches and magic. Do you not hold festivals and parties? Hold a giant conference.”

  “Invite all the witches worldwide to the Halloween party of the century. Make it too good for the demons to ignore. They’ll think they have an easy victory.” Jason leveled his gaze at each Tribunal member in turn.

  “And I suppose you’ll watch our backs?” Therena flipped her silky mane behind her shoulders and anchored her hand on her hip.

  “Not only me. We’ll recruit other half-demons. Not all the witches need to attend. The demons just need to think there’ll be a
large gathering so they’ll have easy pickings.”

  “Pardon us if we don’t like the sound of that.” Therena pursed her lips and twirled her hoop earring through her ear.

  “If you have a better idea, my dear, we’ll be pleased to hear it,” Sir Wesley said, scratching his chin.

  Sherena and Therena exchanged glances. “Unfortunately, no. Not at the moment.”

  “Would you mind releasing us from this prison? Let us all sit at the table to discuss this civilly.” Jason prowled the edges of the force field that entrapped them.

  “We’ll put it to a vote,” the eldest witch said. She beckoned the council members to convene. Seven witches voted to release them. Six voted to keep them imprisoned.

  “Not a very comfortable margin,” Jason mumbled under his breath.

  “Free is free.” Meg would take their freedom any way they could get it. Inside the magical field, they were helpless. Outside, they could be part of the solution.

  A loud explosion rocked the room, knocking Meg off her feet and she realized she didn’t know what part of the world they were in. Shakily, she rose to her feet. “What was that? A volcano eruption?”

  “Planes are crashing.”

  “No, it was an earthquake.”

  “It’s both.”

  Armageddon.

  Meg suppressed a shudder.

  “May I petition the council for some magical protection for myself and my cousin? Balberith is targeting me personally.” Meg stood tall and straight.

  Betina tapped her chin with her finger. “Incubus will protect you.”

  “But he can’t be with me every second. Balberith almost killed me a few days ago. I have no protection from demons, especially if the ghosts and Lord Althorp are away on missions, nor does my cousin who is also a guest of the manor for her protection.” She had trouble calling him Incubus, his demon name, and she didn’t think they would know him as Jason.

  “Why are two human females guests in your home?” Betina’s gaze turned to Jason and she crossed her arms over her ample chest.

  “It’s a long story which we don’t have time to go into now, but it resulted in Balberith seeking revenge on me and threatening the two women. They had no protection where they were, so I took them with me so I could protect them until such time I could resolve the problem.”