Patrick ran back to the group in the grove. “Still no sign of him.” He motioned to Leena and Steven. “You two get in place to block this space from the others.” He glared at Rhonda and Kasey standing beside Cora who was sitting on the ground. “Don’t take any chances.” He watched Rachel walk over. “Any of you.”
Rachel smiled. “Relax. The first impression will be we’re dancing to Kevin and Dade’s drumming, a private party of sorts.”
Chris kissed Kasey. “Be careful, sweetheart.”
She smiled up at him. “You just make sure you catch any spell I throw the wrong way. My heart is in my throat right now.” He nodded and walked over to sit to the side of the cleared area.
Owen sat beside him. “This part sucks. Just watching.”
Chris let out a slow breath. “We’re almost out of time, Cora’s barely able to sit up right now.”
Dade was ready to scream, they needed to stop checking and double-checking so they could get this done. Cora wasn’t doing well and if they didn’t hurry, all he was going to be able to send out anything but anger.
When Kevin finally knelt beside him, they started drumming.
Rhonda moved slowly between Cora and Dade and closed her eyes to send him the feelings.
Dade held his head down and closed his eyes grasping the emotions she sent to him and running it over and over in his mind.
Lifting his head, he did what he did best, falling into the beat his hand tattooed on the skins. Kevin didn’t even attempt to follow the rhythm he was pounding out. He couldn’t have even begun to keep up. The women weren’t dancing to the beats, just turning, moving, and watching.
Come to me. Dade thought. End this. The sweat dripped down his face as he called stronger than he ever had in his life. When Kasey cried out his head snapped up and he looked at her. She had stopped dancing and was staring at a man walking down the knoll toward Cora.
It was Charlie, but he didn’t look like the old familiar Charlie now, he looked haunted and was shaking. Yet, he seemed bigger than the man that ran around hunched and mumbling to himself. His eyes didn’t see anyone but Coralee lying on the ground, panting and writhing in pain.
“Your sins are many. I will end your suffering.” His voice was low and almost robotic.
Everyone stopped moving and watched as he moved towards Cora. Dade glanced up to see if he’d passed Steven and Leena, if it was safe for him to move yet. Charlie had another ten feet to go before they could be closed off from the rest of the camp. Dade slowly lowered his drum to the ground and saw Kevin do the same.
Coralee cried out in agony as Charlie stumbled a few steps and clutched at his head. It was then that everyone saw the blade in his hand. That was when the danger in this moment became a reality.
Dade watched Chris stand up slowly, moving so as to not bring any attention to himself, as Patrick squatted down to remain unnoticed. Dade’s heart was pounding so hard in his chest he couldn’t breathe. Charlie stumbled another step. Dade saw Steven and Leena each raise a hand and he waited until everything past the point where they stood blurred from the view of the campfire.
Slowly Dade stood and glanced at Rhonda. She was frozen in place staring at the knife, the same knife that marked her and almost ended her life. He moved silently, she started to tremble as Dade reached her. He moved to her, then pushed her gently towards Kevin.
Kevin pulled the shaking woman down to sit with him and closed his arms around her. He caught Dade’s glance and held a hand toward Charlie.
Just let him try to move towards her, Dade thought, Kevin has it covered.
Dade swallowed the terror threatening to choke him and watched Charlie move closer to Cora. Rachel and Kasey stood on either side of her, not moving.
Still pushing one hand against the pain in his head Charlie smiled. “It’s good you’re all here together. I get so tired. This way I’ll be able to finish it all at once. Then I can rest.” He looked down at Cora’s shaking body. “But you first, Coralee, you’re suffering the most.”
Rachel stepped in front of Cora. She stood with her legs apart and arms out. “You will not harm anyone.” Her voice was low and steady.
Charlie’s clouded eyes looked her up and down. “Look at you. You shouldn’t dress like that and taunt the men. It’s not their fault they want you.” He stepped towards her smiling. “Let me put you at peace.”
“You first.” Rachel spat as she turned her hand to slap him back. He dropped down to one knee, his hand over his chest trying to catch his breath.
Dade caught a glimpse of Owen as he circled slowly to get behind Cora, trying to stay off Charlie’s radar. He wouldn’t let her lie there suffering. He squatted down and then crawled the last few feet to her. Pulling her in, he sat and closed her in his arms. He reached to pull the stone to amplify her abilities off her neck, then placed his own inside his shirt.
Dade’s eyes moved over Cora in Owen’s arms as he moved one small step every few seconds. She was shaking and Dade wanted to run over and smash Charlie into the ground.
Charlie stumbled to his feet and tried to dive towards Rachel. His body bounced off a solid wall and he landed on his back, hard.
“I don’t think so,” Kasey said walking up to stand beside Rachel.
Dade didn’t even have to look to know Chris would be in on this shortly now that his fiery woman had stepped up, he just kept moving in Cora’s direction.
Charlie lifted himself to his knees and picked up his knife again. “You little…” The knife jerked out of his hand with such force he fell forward again.
The knife landed at Patrick’s feet. Dade and Patrick turned to see Chris looking very angry.
Chris walked over a stood a few feet from Charlie. “I suggest you stay down and not say anything until you have a lawyer.” The man glared up at him. He struggled to his feet again and snarled at Chris.
Before Chris could take a step, Charlie flew back in the air five feet and landed on his back.
Dade’s head spun back around to see both Kasey and Rachel with their hands out looking very much like two powerful witches, and pissed off ones at that.
Patrick stepped forward with the knife wrapped in his jacket. “I think, for your safety, Mr. Hill I had better take over.”
Chris nodded to Steven and Leena who dropped their hands and were running toward them before he could speak.
Rachel and Kasey stood on either side of Patrick as he pulled cuffs out of his pocket and turned Charlie over. He looked up at them as he knelt. “You ladies ever want a job, you come talk to me, we could use your skills on the force.”
Rachel grinned and then stood back and put her hands on her hips and let out a long slow breath. “Wow.” She said as Steven wrapped his arms around her waist. “That was a rush.”
“Yes,” Steven hissed against her ear making her smile even wider.
Dade dropped to his knees beside Owen and ran his hand over Cora’s face. “Come on, honey, it’s over.”
Cora groaned. “Still hurts. Get me away from him.”
Dade nodded to Owen and pulled her into his arms. He held her tightly against his chest. “Let’s get you back to the house.”
Justin came along the path towards the camp over the knoll as Dade was carrying Cora. “She okay?”
Dade nodded. “She will be.” He motioned with his head towards the others that were standing watching Patrick pull Charlie to his feet. “That’s one sick man.”
Justin turned and shook his head, his shoulders drooping. The look on his face said it all. He watched Patrick half drag the man he’d called friend for fifteen years up the small incline.
Patrick tucked the phone back into his pocket as he guided Charlie along the path. “They’ll come pick him up and I’ll follow tomorrow.”
Chris nodded. “How are you going to write a report for this?”
Patrick grinned. “Pretty straight forward. He picked the wrong women this time and they fought back.” He grinned at little Kasey almost hidden in Chris’ arms. “Amazing woman you’ve got there, councilor.”
Chris grinned and swung her up into his arms. “Oh, you don’t have to tell me.”
Steven walked by him with Rachel in his arms. “We’ll go get the beer ready.”
Kevin walked past Patrick with a still shaky Rhonda in his arms. “I’ll take her back with the others.”
“Appreciate it.” Patrick said looking at her for a moment. “I won’t be long.”
Dade sat beside Cora on the couch. The others were slowly filing in, chatting excitedly. He was looking down at her pushing her hair back from her face. Her color was worrying him. The usual light brown tone was pale and sallow, giving her a frail appearance.
Steven squatted beside her, reaching over to check her pulse. He smiled at Dade. “She’ll be back to normal in a bit, it took a lot of out her, being close for that long. I’ll get Leena to make some tea.”
Dade nodded his acknowledgment of the words but continued to look down at her. Brushing a curl off her face he smiled as her eyes finally opened. “Hey, honey, how are you doing?”
She smiled and reached up, resting her hand on his chest. “Weak as baby, but the pain is gone.”
He held her hand to his chest and squeezed it. “It’s over. You did it.” He said raising her hand to his mouth.
Cora cupped his cheek with a shaky hand. “We did it.” She swallowed carefully. “Can you get me some water? My throat is so dry.”
He nodded and brushed his lips across her cheek as he gently placed her head on a pillow. “I’ll be right back.” Moving to the kitchen, he motioned to Leena for a bottle of water. He wasn’t letting Cora out of his sight.
Cora looked over at Rhonda, sitting pale and quiet, huddling into herself. “Hey. Good work,” she said, with a hoarse voice.
Rhonda looked at her blankly for a moment, then smiled. “You too, you braved a lot more than I did.” She pulled the gloves off her hands. “Does it always hurt you like this?”
Cora shook her head. “Depends on the emotion I pick up.” She grinned and looked around the couples hugging and talking quietly. “Been getting lots of interesting ones with this group lately.”
Rhonda looked around and laughed. “I guess you would.” She grinned. “I’d be walking around horny every second of it.”
Cora covered her mouth but didn’t get the chance to reply when Kevin came in.
“Who’s horny?”
She put her head down and laughed quietly.
“Better not be you.” Dade said coming up behind him. He opened the bottle and handed it to Cora. Then he stood back and looked at her, again. Still in her new outfit for the dance, the soft tops of her breasts were showing. His eyes wandered over her exposed waist and one sexy as hell leg, bent and showing through the slit of the skirt. When he worked his way back up to her face, she was looking at him.
“Could you get me a blanket Dade? I’m a little chilly and feeling a bit exposed.”
Dade smiled and put his hand over his heart. “And you look fucking amazing, honey.” He turned to see Kevin watching them. “I’ll get a blanket.” He moved quickly to the nearest room, grabbed a blanket, and returned in case she needed him for anything else.
Kevin grinned at her. “These guys are killing me. They just pick one of you up and off they go.”
Steven walked by and patted him on the head. “When you’re all growed up, you can find your own woman to carry around and make you feel manly.” He beat his own chest with a fist.
Rachel walked over and ran her tongue over her lips. “Mmm, manly.”
Kevin laughed when Steven grinned and turned to follow wherever she was going. “As manly as a fuzzy puppy there, Doc.”
Kasey came in from the kitchen. “Puppy?” She said softly. She looked at Chris. “Oh, I want a puppy.”
Dade untied the cords keeping the blanket rolled and watched as Chris looked at Kasey’s soft green eyes, her teeth biting her lower lip. Chris sent Kevin an annoyed look before looking back to Kasey. “I don’t know if I would survive you and a puppy running through the house.” Her lips pouted. “But I suppose we could look around and see if anything appeals.” Chris finished quietly.
“I’ll want to go to the pound to pick one, one that needs a home.” Kasey said with a smile walking back to the kitchen.
Chris turned and gave Kevin a blank stare.
Kevin grinned. “Sorry, Chris.” He shook his head. “Man, when she turns those eyes on you, that’s it huh?”
Chris sighed, shaking his head mournfully. “You have no idea.”
Dade shook out the blanket and put it over Cora gently. He turned to Chris. “Guess you’re getting a dog.”
Chris lifted the beer bottle towards him. “So it would seem.”
Dade sat down on the edge of the couch beside Cora and opened his beer. “Well, at least someone will be able to keep up with Kasey then.”
Chris grinned and got up shaking his head and wandered after Kasey. Dade was willing to bet he was going to go see if he could change her mind, or at least postpone the search.
Dade looked down at Cora. “Leena will have some tea for you in a minute. Do you want anything to eat?”
She shook her head and then closed her eyes again. “Just want to rest for now.”
He watched her closely. She usually wasn’t this listless afterwards. He brushed the long curls back from her face again. “Just try to stay with us long enough to drink the tea and then I’ll take you up to rest.”
Cora turned and rested her hand on his leg and sighed. “Waiting for Patrick,” she whispered.
Dade rested his hand over hers and sat there looking down at her.
“How’s she doing?” Owen said quietly coming from the kitchen.
“It took a lot out of her this time.” Dade looked back down to see her resting her head on one hand and the other on his leg.
Owen shrugged. “I’ve recharged a bit, so to speak, it pulled a lot from me too, to tell the truth. Why don’t you get up and give me another go?”
He looked down again at her resting so peacefully against him and didn’t want to move and disturb her. But he also wanted to see her more like herself. He nodded at Owen. “I’ll go see if Leena has that tea steeped.”
Dade walked out to the kitchen to see Kasey pouting at Chris in the corner, clearly the puppy discussion wasn’t over, yet. Rachel and Steven had their heads together talking quietly and smiling at each other.
He almost hugged Leena to see her standing by the sink by herself and not cuddled up to anyone. “Owen’s with Cora for a few minutes.”
Leena turned and gave him a sympathetic smile. “She’ll be fine by morning, Dade. The tea is almost ready. I made her a completely different one than I did for Owen.”
Leaning against the counter, Dade took a sip of his beer. “I wanted to grab her and get her out of there when I saw him coming, but I was afraid to move too fast and startle him into action.” He let out a slow breath. “Owen took enough of a chance sneaking to her like that.”
She nodded and smiled again. “It was hard to stand where we were and not be able to do anything else. It was hard to focus with everyone in danger.” She lifted the lid off the pot and stirred it. “But it worked out in the end. I can’t believe it was Charlie… but that wasn’t Charlie.” She glanced at her watch. “Do you think Patrick will be back soon?”
Dade shrugged. “Hope so, Cora wants to go to bed but is waiting for him.”
She poured the tea into a cup. “Take this to her and try to get as much into her as possible.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “You’re so good to her, Dade.”
He grinned. “Tell her that often, will you?”
Patrick finally came back and everyone sat waiting for him to fill them in. Dade pulled Cora into his lap, closer to a sitting position. He held the cup for her, coaxing her to take in many small sips.
Patrick accepted the beer from Chris and sat down. “Well, he’ll be taken to the local station and held until I go in tomorrow.” He took a drink. “I’ll need each of you to jot down your statements. But, of course, we’re all going to have to sit down together and figure out how we’re going to word them.” He grinned at Steven. “Can’t explain that you blocked the celebrants’ vision with a wall of air, now can you?” Steven laughed.
He looked at Chris. “Would appreciate your help with this councilor, to make sure we don’t miss something along the way.”
Chris saluted him with the bottle in his hand. “It will be air tight.”
Patrick got up and knelt to Cora. “How are you doing, lovely lady?” She smiled. “I have no idea how I’m going to explain your presence in all of this.”
Cora touched his arm. “He won’t be getting out, will he?”
Patrick thought for a moment before answering. “He’s pretty sick, Cora, but I can tell you if he’s not in a prison he’ll be admitted to a secure mental hospital for the rest of his life.”
She nodded and smiled at him. “That’s all I needed to hear. If you’ll excuse me, Dade is going to help me to bed now. I’m in need of some serious sleep.” She reached a heavy arm around Dade’s neck as he stood.
Kasey came along behind. “I’ll come help you change Cora, we don’t want to make poor Dade try to do that.”
Dade grinned down at the drowsy Cora. “Oh, I’d try if needed.”
Cora smiled up at him. “Try what is the question.”