26
The beat of the drums filled the night. I stood in a circle of people as the full moon crested the rise of a small hill just south of Dallas. I was amazed at how many people the get-together group had gathered for their own private funeral. Brianna and Byron Supunski led the service as they honored the lives of Magee Reyes, Barry Crabtree, Madeline Fort and Xan Landron. There were several moving speeches given. The most notable by Alexia, who spoke of her love for Barry and then announced to everyone that she was pregnant and his legacy would carry on. That brought the assembled witches to tears and everything stopped for a few minutes while everyone had to hug her.
I wish Dusty could’ve been there, but it was a full moon night and he had pack obligations. I promised to fill him in when he got home in the morning. Tiffany and Tech were out on a date. I brought Alexia. We figured it’d be easier for her than letting one of the Council people bring her. The girl showed great potential. Tiffany agreed to teach her what she could outside of the basic training the Council had already started for her.
To give him a sense of closure, we told Reynaldo Reyes that Katie Crackles had been the one who had killed Magee. Since she was just a body now, it was easier than trying to explain that she and Lenny had done it together and that Lenny was now in magical custody. He felt better and had paid his bill, so I was okay with the omission.
The Council locked up Lenny Pentilli. They really wanted to know all about the Perfect Love book and the black book that Lenny had used to charge it, but somehow those tomes managed to disappear into the depths of my safe before they could get their hands on them. I wanted to go over them in fine detail with Tiffany before letting them into other people’s hands. I really wanted to know where the black book came from and what was in “Perfect Love” that gave it so much potential power that people would kill to control it. We’d gone back to the house before the Council cleaners arrived, to get Tech’s car and go over the place. We found a couple more books that bore more research as well.
I am still watching the shadows. I know that Lenny couldn’t be the person behind trying to unbalance the wer community as well as the Wiccan one. He was the one summoning the ODs, but I don’t believe he could’ve thought for a minute that he’d be able to take over the wers too. For that, we had to look at someone in the Council or an enemy of the Council. He claimed that wers weren’t affected by Prefect Love, and therefore, he was just trying to get rid of them. It would only be a matter of time before someone else stepped in to pick up Larry’s agenda. And unfortunately, Coyote in ill health, the werewolf community would unsettle soon enough, giving that person an opportunity to make things worse.
“Lovely circle,” A woman in a long denim skirt and tie-dyed dress shirt said softly to me, breaking me out of my thoughts. She’d been one of the drummers and I recognized her from the get-together meeting, where Dusty and I had been under illusion.
“Bree and Byron did a good job,” I said softly.
“Did you know any of them?”
“I met them a couple of times. But basically I’m Alexia’s ride tonight.”
She offered me a hug. “I’m Sue. Hope to see you around from time to time.”
I returned her hug. “I’m Ethan, I’m sure you will.”
“Well I have a bit more drumming to do. Stay around. We’re going to make it a royal send off.” She turned to head back to the drumming circle.
Alexia joined me looking drained. “Do you mind if we go now? That took a lot out of me.”
“No problem,” I replied as we turned toward the car.
There was a gambit of hugs yet to be given, as people expressed their regrets to Alexia over the loss of Barry and their hopes for her baby. This was something the Council didn’t have, a true sense of community. I was surprised to see it in the Wiccans. The wers all had it. But most humans seem to have forgotten about the true idea of community in our busy modern world.
Alexia sighed as she settled into the passenger seat. “They’re good people.”
I started the car and looked back at the hillside where a bonfire blazed. We could still hear the drums. Some people were beginning to dance around the fire.
“Yes, they’re good people. I think if people can achieve perfect love it would start in a group like this.” I pulled out of the little parking lot and headed back toward the city lights.
The End
Coming Spring 2012 “Perfect Trouble”
If you liked this book, check out these shorts in the same series,
“Belly of the Beast”
“Jewelry Jinx”
A.M. Burns currently lives in the beautiful Colorado Mountains surrounded by nature, his loving partner, several dogs, a couple of cats, some horses and a red-tailed hawk. When not hard at work on his next writing project, he spends time photographing the magical world around him.
Learn More about A.M. and keep up to date on his projects at
A.M.Burns.com
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