Charmed Ever After (The Halloween LaVeau Series Book 6) (19 page)

I marched toward the house. I was on a mission to get Liam and Nicolas. I wouldn’t let her stop me now. She couldn’t hold them and kidnap them. It was illegal and she couldn’t be the leader and do illegal things. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” she called out to me.

“Where does it look like I’m going?” I said over my shoulder.

I knew that she was walking up behind me. When I glanced to my right and then to my left, Annabelle and my mother were hurrying along beside me. The looks on their faces let me know they were nervous. The leader was completely unpredictable in her actions.

Just then, I felt the magic around me and I knew I would be hit with something. Before I even had a chance to prepare, I was knocked down by the spell. I smashed onto the ground hard. I wiggled around on the ground, trying to get up, but she had a spell on me that made it impossible for me to move. As I struggled, I wondered if I’d ever get out of this. Just then, I moved just a little bit. I looked to my left and to my right again, and apparently she’d done the same thing to my mother, Annabelle, and Ben. I continued to struggle to get up, fighting her magic.

I started to shift a little more, but it wasn’t where I wanted to go. I was going backward. She was carrying me somewhere and it was away from the manor. When I looked to my side again, she was doing the same thing to Annabelle, my mother, and Ben. I knew where she was taking us. She was carrying us out to the water. This was what she had planned for us. It was even worse than I imagined. She was going to drown us in the river. I clawed at the ground, trying to stop her from taking me, but all I got were hands full of dirt.

We moved closer and closer to the water at a faster and faster pace. The next thing I knew, splashing water surrounded me. I knew how to swim, but the spell was keeping me from moving my arms and my legs. I went under. Soon my lungs would be filled with water and I wouldn’t be able to breathe. I was less worried about me and more worried about my mother, Annabelle, and Ben. I had to save myself so that I could save them.

I pushed and kicked, then finally managed to get myself to the top of the water. I looked around for my mom and Annabelle. They were beside me, struggling just the same.

“Hold on, Annabelle and Mom. I’ll get you out of here.” I looked around for Ben and didn’t see him.

Oh, no. Maybe he was under the water. Maybe he was already gone. Maybe the current had already taken him away. I hated to even think about it. I looked up at the shore and spotted Ben. How had he been able to stop from going into the water? No matter how, I was glad that he’d been able to pull it off.

Ben was fighting with the leader. Where had he gotten the strength to fight off her binding spell? At least I knew he wasn’t still in the water, but that left me to figure out how to get us out. At least the new leader would be distracted so if we did get out she wouldn’t push us right back in. I was able to move my arms and legs more now and I swam over to my mother.

“Can you move your arms and legs more?” I asked.

“I’m moving them enough to stay afloat, but that’s about it,” she said. “And I don’t know how much longer I can do that. I’m getting tired quickly. Halloween, I love you, but I think this is it for me.”

“Don’t talk like that,” I said.

When I glanced back at the shore to find out what was going on, I saw Nicolas and Liam. I was overjoyed they had gotten free. But now it looked as if they were fighting a magic battle with the new leader and her men as well. At least they weren’t having to do this alone. I wanted to help instead of being out here in the water like a helpless fish. No wonder I hadn’t been able to keep my leader position. If I wanted something I had to work for it. Nothing came without hard work.

I was still in the water, trying to keep myself from drowning. I worked harder at concentrating on the spell than I ever had in the past. Who needed a book of spells to make magic work? I could do this on my own. All I needed was to concentrate. I kicked my legs and my arms. Finally, I was making traction. I was moving closer to land. The next thing I knew, I was at the shore, pulling myself out of the water. Now I had to save my mother and Annabelle.

Now that I was on land, I moved over to where they were in the water. I stretched forward as far as I could go without falling in. I leaned out to my mother and gave her my hand. She grabbed a hold and I pulled. With one big yank, I managed to get her on land.

“You never thought you’d catch something this big, huh?” she said.

Next, I reached out the same way for Annabelle. She grabbed my arm and I pulled her with all my strength. My hands shook and my body trembled. I wasn’t sure how much more I could do. At least Annabelle was safe on land now too. Now I had to find a way to help Ben, Nicolas, and Liam.

Nicolas and I made eye contact. He smiled. I was so happy to see him. Of course they were in the middle of a battle with the leader and her men, so it was hard to show too much emotion. Just as I worked hard to get out of the water, I would have to do the same in order to help fight her magic. I recited the words for a spell and raised my hands, pointing in her direction. I waited for something to happen. A tiny spurt of energy came from my hands, but mostly the spell fizzled out.

She cast a glance my way, noticing what I’d done. She laughed and then zapped me with magic that made me fall backward. I landed hard on my butt. Luckily, I managed to scramble up from the ground, ready to fight even more. There were three of them and four of us, so if numbers were any indication, we would win this battle. I cast another spell, zapping her slightly on the leg. This time she jumped back a little, shocked that I’d managed that much. I had to admit I was a little proud of what I’d done. 

Just then, Gigi from the graveyard appeared next to me. She instantly waved her hand and did a quick spell. It missed Monique, but it came really close to her head. Gigi was a witch too, and apparently, she was taking our side. That was a plus.

“I’ll help you. Don’t worry,” she said.

“Thanks, Gigi” I said.

Good thing I remembered her name.

“Monique tried to kill me the other day by hitting me with her car. Luckily, I got away but she didn’t know that. I’ll do anything to stop her evil now,” Gigi said.

We kept zapping spells, one after each other, but nothing was having an effect on either side. When they cast a spell, we would bounce one right back at them.

I knew that Monique had the books nearby. I sensed it. If I could keep her distracted with doing magic, then maybe I could sneak over and get the books. Then I would be the leader again. I couldn’t believe she was so careless with them. Of course I hadn’t seen the books, but I just had a feeling they were somewhere nearby. She’d probably tried to hide them. That never worked. I’d learned that the hard way. I just needed the perfect opportunity to sneak around and look around somewhere behind her.

Gigi waved her hands through the air and giant sparks flew from her fingertips. She had cast a spell so powerful that Monique wouldn’t be able to block it. Monique tried though. She tossed her arms up in the air, trying to block the spell, but it went right through her arms and knocked her on the grass. She looked at the woman in shock, glaring at her.

Monique said, “I thought I killed you once. What are you still doing here?”

Ben was still fighting Monique’s men. I was impressed with his magic skills. Where had he learned to use magic so well? Maybe it was wishful thinking, but Monique seemed to be slowing down. Ben’s and the mystery woman’s magic was getting the better of Monique. Maybe Monique wouldn’t be able to cast many more spells. My mother was trying her best to do some magic, but Annabelle was at a loss. She was just trying to stay out of the way. Annabelle picked up a couple of rocks a few times, but I was worried that would just make the leader even madder.

Liam cast a spell and it spiked from his hands and got really close to Monique. She pulled her arm back and hit Liam with a spell. He fell to the ground. I called out to him, but he didn’t respond. I ran over to help him. Thank goodness, when I knelt down beside him, he looked up at me. Spells and magic zoomed all around us.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He sat up and then said, “I’m fine. Let’s get her.”

Liam stumbled up from the ground. Just then Ben cast a huge spell over all of them. Monique fell on her rear and the guys did too. I couldn’t believe what had happened. Annabelle took the rope they’d wanted to use on us, ran over and started tying up Monique.

“What are you doing?” Monique yelled out.

Gigi ran over to me. “She hid the books behind that tree over there in the hole.”

I ran over to the location she had pointed out. I held out little hope that I would actually find the books, but I prayed that I found them. When I neared the tree, I saw the spot that she was talking about. I leaned close and peeked inside. It was too dark to see. I really didn’t want to stick my hand in there, but I had no choice. Slowly I pushed my hand through. I felt around and my hand made contact with something. It sure seemed like a book. I reached further in, wrapped my hand around it, and pulled it out. Yes! I had the spellbook. Of course it was the new one, but I would take what I could get right now. Was the other one in there too?

When I reached in and my hand made contact with something else that felt like a book, I almost fell over with joy. I prayed that it wouldn’t be a hoax. Some kind of dirty trick that she was playing to make me think I was getting the book back. I wrapped my hand around what felt like another book and then pulled it out. When I saw that it was the spellbook, a million emotions overwhelmed me. Now the other members of the Underworld wouldn’t have to endure Monique.

I held onto the books tight as I walked back over to everyone. They had managed to tie up the ex-leader and her men. I stood in front of her. I didn’t want to gloat, but she deserved it. I smiled as I showcased the books to her.

“Looks like you won’t be needing these anymore. Now you’re not the leader. You’ll be punished with no more magic. What you did to everyone is inexcusable.”

“I had my reasons,” she said.

Now that we had them tied up, we were taking them back into the manor… my manor. Well, actually we were practically dragging them to the manor. Monique was putting up a fight by kicking and screaming. Basically, she was throwing a huge hissy fit. I would let the board members deal with her now.

Gigi from the graveyard had followed us into the house. I had to find out who she was. She must have noticed me staring at her awkwardly.

She said, “You must wonder who I am.”

I nodded. “Yes, I was curious.”

Everyone was staring at her, waiting for an answer. They were just as curious as me. The woman pointed at Monique. “She’s my sister. She used to be the leader of the Dallas coven.”

I glanced over at Monique.

She smirked. “I was good as leader of that coven. Just like I was good as leader of the Underworld. I’m much better than you’ll ever dream of being.”

She was seriously delusional if she honestly believed that. Something told me she did believe it.

“That was many years ago, before I was killed. That’s a different story for another time,” Monique said, as if I wanted to hear more stories.

“I recently reanimated my sister and I guess I underestimated her nastiness,” Gigi said.

“Why are you reanimating anyone? I didn’t think that this was something that just anyone could do,” I said.

“It’s not and it took me many years to figure out how. I’d thought she would be much better than she is. I didn’t know she was going to try to take over the Underworld. I suppose I should have known… she was always pushy.”

“Oh, shut up, Gigi. How would you know?” Monique said.

Gigi ignored what her sister said. “Anyway, I came to you for help, but my sister got here first. That was the day that Monique came here to be the wedding planner. I guess things got out of hand. She blocked me from the manor. That’s why I was hanging out in the graveyard.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner? Maybe I could have done something to stop her.”

“I was embarrassed. I felt like I had already caused enough problems. She had been researching you for quite a while. I just thought it was innocent. I didn’t realize she wanted to take over your life.”

It was crazy to know that someone had been researching me and then wanted to take over. She’d been pretty darn successful at it too. Thank goodness we’d been able to stop her.

I looked from Gigi to Ben. “I just wonder what the connection is between Monique and Ben. He can’t seem to remember.”

“How can you forget me?” Monique said.

I looked at her and said, “Be quiet. I’ve heard about enough from you today.”

A taste of her own medicine.

“I can tell you how they know each other,” Gigi said.

We waited with bated breath for what she had to say.

“Ben and Monique were married until she killed him.”

“What? She said it was the other way around. That Ben had killed her.”

“That is what happened,” Monique said.

“No talking.” I snapped my fingers.

“No, that’s not the way it happened it all,” Gigi said.

“So Ben was reanimated too?” I asked. “I didn’t do it?”

“Again, I think that was my fault. It was an accident. I didn’t really mean for it to happen. “I was reanimated some years ago and I thought I’d give it a try on my sister since it had worked out for me.”

“Who reanimated you?” I asked.

“Her name was Gina Rochester,” Gigi said.

“That’s Nicolas’ mother,” I said.

“That’s right. She was a wonderful woman. I’m glad I reanimated Ben though. He saved us.” Gigi smiled.

My mother was standing next to Ben. She looked at him and batted her eyelashes. “Yes, I’m glad that it happened.”

Ben smiled at her in return. They looked like a couple of lovebirds. I had never seen her look so happy. Not even when I had gotten all my magic right.

“Well, we won’t even worry about why they were reanimated right now. I’m just glad that all of this is over. But I do have one question that’s been nagging at me since this happened.”

“What’s that?” Gigi asked.

“I want to know how she got the book. I mean, I had that thing locked down secure like Fort Knox. I had the keys to the room and safe around my neck. How did she get into the safe? How did she get in there and get it out?”

Monique laughed from over in the corner.

I glared at her. “Unless you’re going to enlighten me, then be quiet.”

“I’ll never tell,” she said with a smirk.

“I didn’t think you would, so that’s why I said be quiet.”

“She switched the keys when she had you try on the veil. A guest that stayed with you last month was someone Monique had hired to come to the manor. That person reported back to Monique everything she found. The guest had overheard you talking with your mother about the keys you wear and that the combination to the safe was written on the back of one of the keys.”

“Halloween, I told you that you should write that combination somewhere else,” my mother said.

I looked down at the key still dangling around my neck. I’d never had the heart to take it off. “This isn’t the right key?”

“Nope. That’s not the one,” Gigi said.

“It was so simple,” Monique said. “You never even thought to look and make sure you had the right key.”

I supposed I’d been so distracted by wedding planning that I’d never thought someone could do that.

“Okay, I have another question. Why did she want the wedding dress? Was she planning on marrying someone else to kill?” I asked with a smirk.

Gigi looked at Nicolas.

“You can’t be serious,” I said.

“Oh, my gosh,” Annabelle said.

“She had us tied up. She said that if I married her she would leave you alone permanently. Of course it wasn’t going to happen and I didn’t believe her anyway,” Nicolas said. “As long as I continued to say no, she was going to keep us tied up.”

“You wanted to marry Nicolas?” I asked. “What makes you think that was possible? He’s marrying me.”

“Yes, but I was the leader, so that meant that I could marry him,” Monique said.

“You’re really weird, you know?” I said.

“You won’t get away with this. I’ll get the book back,” Monique hissed.

“We’ll see about that. You won’t get anywhere near any magic for a long time… forever.”

It was creepy that she wanted to take over my life, including the wedding part. Even wearing the same wedding dress. That brought me back to the wedding dress subject.

I turned to Nicolas. “I don’t understand why you had a wedding dress in a trunk.”

Liam and Nicolas exchanged a look.

“Yeah, about that… I was going to tell you, but I didn’t have a chance. The wedding dress was my mother’s. I know she would have wanted you to wear it. Plus, the dress has some special powers.”

“You say special powers so casually. Oh, is that all?” I waved my hand.

So that was why Monique had wanted to marry Nicolas. She’d wanted to have all the power available. Now she was left with none.

“Why did you go to the Raleigh Company bar?” I asked.

Nicolas and Liam chuckled.

“I found out that my mother had left the other book with Raleigh. We thought he still owned the bar. I thought if we got the book, then you could be the leader again. That was when Monique and one of her guys took us.” 

“I can’t believe you did all that for me,” I said.

He wrapped his arms around me. “I’d do anything for you, Halloween LaVeau.”

“Plus, the extra magic kind of helps. What kind of magic does it have?” I asked.

He winked. “I guess you’ll just have to wear it to find out.”

The only way I was doing that was when we got married. The wedding was still on now that I’d found Nicolas. Everything was back on track. Now I could wear the dress to find out what would happen.

My mother tossed her hands up. “Well, that does it. No more wedding planning for me.”

I was tempted to let her go with that, but it wasn’t her fault, so I had to make her feel better. “Maybe we could ease up on the planning. You don’t have to stop completely.”

“See, I knew you didn’t like my choices,” she said.

“No, it’s not that. Just maybe a little less.” I pinched my thumb and index finger together.

“Oh, for heaven’s sakes, what is the point of this conversation? I can’t stand it anymore. I’d rather go to jail than listen to this,” Monique said.

“Don’t worry, they’ll be here soon to take you away,” I said. I looked at Gigi. “Who’s the leader of the Dallas coven now? I just wondered if she noticed anything strange about what you did. Or if she noticed anything strange about what Monique did.”

“I don’t think there’s a leader there now.”

Why hadn’t I been notified of these things? “Would you like to be the leader of the Dallas coven? You’ve shown that your magic skills are appropriate for it. Of course we’d have to do a full background check,” I said.

“It would be amazing,” she said. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“That’s my way of repaying you for everything you did out there. You stopped your sister,” I said.

She shrugged. “It was the right thing to do.”

I looked at Liam and Nicolas. “Of course, you guys are the leaders of New Orleans and Enchantment Pointe again.”

“Try not to screw it up this time,” Nicolas said to Liam.

“Hey, I’m not the one who got us tied up,” Liam said.

“You guys can discuss that later,” my mother said. “What about Ben?”

I wasn’t sure if she was asking me or him. I thought she was worried that he might be leaving now.

“I’m sure I can find a position for Ben with the Underworld since his magic is so impressive too. That’s of course if he wants that,” I said.

My mother looked at Ben for an answer. I hoped for her sake that he said the right thing, the thing that she wanted to hear. She wanted him to stay around. Did he want the same thing?

Ben took my mother’s hands in his. The next thing I knew, he was down on one knee. “Will you marry me?”

I stared at the whole scene wide-eyed with an open mouth. I couldn’t believe it. Had Ben seriously asked my mother to marry him? Yes, that was exactly what I was witnessing.

I waited with bated breath for her answer, as did Ben and everyone else in the room. Even Monique seemed interested in what was going on—after all, she was his ex.

The long pause was beginning to make me nervous. Ben too.

Finally, my mother said, “Yes, yes, I will marry you.”

Ben wrapped his arms around her. They embraced in a kiss while the rest of us clapped. I couldn’t believe that my mother was getting married. I liked Ben though, so I knew she would be happy. I hugged my mother and then Liam and Nicolas shook Ben’s hand.

“So when is this happening?” Annabelle asked.

My mother was standing next to Ben. “Oh, I don’t know. We’ll have to think about that.”

Ben took my mother’s hand in his again. “How about we get married now?”

She stared at him for a moment. “Are you serious?”

He shook his head. “I’m very serious.”

She smiled and said, “Okay, let’s do it.”

“I figure there’s no reason to wait,” Ben said.

It was a bit of a rush, and I wasn’t sure what the hurry was, but I supposed they were in a hurry. They were in love, so that was okay with me.

“What do you mean by now? As in tonight?” my mother asked.

“We can get everything together,” Ben said.

I hugged my mother and then Ben. “Of course, I insist that you get married at the manor.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” my mother said.

“How’s that for you, Ben?” I asked.

“Sounds perfect,” he said.

“Now I can plan a wedding,” I said with a smile.

“No wedding planners.” She smirked.

Monique glared at me.

“We can have it right out by the river.” I gestured.

“That sounds wonderful,” my mother said.

“It will be beautiful,” Gigi said.

“I have a lot of work to do in a short time,” I said.

Thank goodness the board members had finally shown up.

“Take your filthy hands off me,” Monique hissed as they pulled her from the chair.

They took Monique and her men away. She would be in the county jail until the trial. I wasn’t sure how she would have a defense for what she’d done. She complained the whole time that she was escorted out to the car that she was still the leader—that just because I had the book didn’t mean that I should be the leader.

“You’ll see how Ben is. Trust me, you will be sorry.”

Ben shook his head. “She must have really hated me.”

“It seems like she hates everyone,” I said.