CHAPTER #83

At the circle meeting, they talked about Samuel first. In order to use the Skull on him, they had to find him first and no one knew where to look.

Completely off topic Faye blurts, "is anyone else creeped out by my mom dating Adam's dad?"

Melissa frowns, "it is a bit weird I guess."

"He's so not her type, no offence Adam," Faye added.

Ben replies, "Faye your mom is a hot blond and she's single. What's not to like?"

Chris nods in agreement, "your mom's a M.I.L.F."

Faye's eyes narrowed. To stop a potential argument, Adam said, "well whether or not they hook up, she's distracting him from going back to drinking. He's much more focused than he ever has been. So I'm good with it."

"My dad's interested in those two too. He got back a few days ago and he's constantly asking about Dawn and Ethan. That's weird, since he always stayed away from them before." Melissa sighed. "And he keeps questioning me about the circle, not that I tell him anything. Talking to my dad has never been easy, especially anything magic related."

Jake looked at Cassie and then back to Melissa. "That's strange, doesn't he always bash magic and the circle?"

"And he use to threaten me with moving out of town, if I even mentioned the circle."

Diana finally spoke. "We'll just have to keep tabs on the three of them."

Faye shook her head. "That'll have to be Melissa and you mostly, because Zane and I have part time jobs now."

"I'm helping my dad at his office and he pays me. So that's a job too," Melissa protested.

"Everyone can give me their schedules for the next two weeks. I'll chart all the data and then we can take shifts at watching them." Diana explained to them all.

"Well while my dad is on this positive swing, he's been at the Boathouse more. We can watch him there too. With Christmas coming, we need to get the lights changed and decorations up. I'm sure he'll recruit Dawn doing that."

Cassie grinned, "I can't believe how quick the stores got rid of the halloween stuff. You're right everyone is putting up christmas decorations."

Diana groaned, "damn that reminds me, I'm helping Dawn with the high school's float for the christmas parade."

"Ugh, don't remind me. She's had the other grads over a few times to brain storm," Faye rolled her eyes.

Ben looked at Adam, "you should do a float for the Boathouse. It's a great way to advertise."

"I don't have the time," Adam replied.

Chris chirped in, "we'll do most of it. I think it could be fun."

Zane looked at his brothers as if they had gone completely nuts. "You two designing and completing a parade float?" He started laughing.

Ben shot him a nasty look. "You can help too."

Melissa smiled at Ben. "I'll help you. And Diana's great at organizing stuff like this. She's a pro."

"I'll help, if you guys help me on the high school float," Diana offered.

Adam shrugged. "Alright we'll do a float too. Do you want to come over after the circle, so we can figure out what to do?" He asked Diana.

Cassie noticed that he only invited her and not Melissa. His girlfriend pouted, but said nothing. Jake nudged Cassie with his leg, he had caught that too. Diana agreed to go over, but she invited Ben and Chris too. Ben bounced some of his ideas off of Melissa, so she'd go too. The dynamics of their group seemed to be changing slowly, but Jake and Cassie decided to stay out of it, having too much other things to occupy their time.

"Alright I guess this circle meeting is done. I'll text you my schedule tomorrow Diana," Cassie said.

Diana nodded and everyone left. Cassie stayed behind to clean up the pizza boxes and pop cans. Jake brought a garbage bag in from his truck, holding it open for her to dump in the mess. When they were done, he teleported the bag to his garage. Then he took his girlfriend in his arms and nuzzled her neck.

"What do you want for Christmas?" He mumbled.

"Just you and maybe a world without Samuel and his minions."

"To get rid of Samuel, you'll have to ask Santa. As for me, do I have to wear a bow?"

She giggled, "a Santa hat, a green ribbon and white socks… but nothing else."

"And what will you be wearing?" Jake asked huskily.

"That would be your Christmas present," she winked.

"Mmm… I like the sound of that. Maybe Faye will use her discount for you at her new job," Jake suggested.

"Maybe…." Cassie pulled Jake's face down to hers, giving him a long kiss that held promise.

"Screw Christmas… I want to unwrap my present now." Jake's tongue danced on the back of Cassie's neck, making her shiver with lust.

"I like where this is going, but not here. Let's go home," she suggested.

He grabbed her hand and they ran down the stairs, down the pathway and to his truck. They got in and he floored it, spraying gravel from the tires as they peeled out. In no time they were back at home and he picked her up, taking them to her room. Magic locked the doors, so they wouldn't be interrupted. Just like a present, he slowly removed her clothing, until she got impatient and tore his off.

"I tend to rip the paper off my presents," Cassie panted. "Guess I'm just impatient like that… need… to get…" she didn't have a chance to finish her thought.

Jake made love to her, like it was their first time together. He was patient and she allowed it for the first union, but then true to her nature, Cassie took control. He loved that duality in her, both in bed and out of it. Eventually they were both satisfied and just lay there snuggling.

"I guess I should go home and feed Lucky. He's getting so big."

"He's a little lion. I love it. I'll come over, just let me throw on my comfy cloths," Cassie smiled as she rolled out of her bed.

"God you are just so beautiful," Jake said watching her.

"I like when you call me God," she teased.

He rolled his eyes, "but not when I say you're beautiful?"

"Well that too. Come on lazy bones, let's go feed your cat."

Jake got dressed and smacked her ass affectionately, "our cat."

"Race you there," Cassie challenged, running down the stairs. When she was sure he was following, she teleported herself into his house.

Jake grabbed his and her boots, then did the same. He found her in his kitchen, "that's cheating!"

Cassie laughed and hopped up on to the kitchen counter, "you never said I couldn't use magic."

He pretended to give her a sour look, "like you even gave me a chance."

"Meow!" Lucky interjected.

"Here you go my little buddy." Jake put down some wet and dry food mixed together.

Jake and Cassie smiled at each other as they heard the loud purr coming from the cat. Then they stood arm in arm, just watching him eat.

CHAPTER #84

Samuel was annoyed that some how those brats had helped Ethan get over the drug cocktail he had injected. The magical tie was still there, but barely. Fortunately he didn't need to control Ethan like the puppet he was. Not yet. He would back off his attacks and try a different angle. If he got the last of the old circle out of the way, then the kids would have no one to go to for help. Samuel was wiser, knew more magic and was much more devious then those kids. But because of the Skull, he had to remain cautious and patient. When the kids were least expecting it, he'd come in with a lethal blow.

Meanwhile, Dawn and Ethan were meeting for lunch. He enjoyed her quick wit and he had a thing for blonds. When they were teenagers, she was out of his league and he'd only had eyes for Amelia. But just like him, Dawn missed having magic and both were lonely. It wasn't a surprise that they had come together. Once Ethan's mind had cleared, he had started working out. He was more physically fit now, than he had been for years. Dawn noticed his biceps and was impressed, she couldn't keep her hands off his arm. They knew their children wouldn't understand, so they snuck around like teenagers, meeting up secretly for coffee.

What they didn't know was how advanced their children's magic had become. As per Diana's chart, everyone took turns watching the couple. Some just projected their mind into other animals or insects, and others preferred to shape shift. Either way, those secret meet ups, were not so secret. When they weren't doing surveillance on the adults, or working, then everyone helped with the two christmas parade floats. It ended up being pretty fun for them, since it was something a normal person would do.

For the Boathouse, they created a fisherman's boat on water, fishing. They had fish and crab traps, nets and fishing poles as decoration. On the side was a big sign that said the restaurant's name and the year 1948, when it was introduced to Chance Harbour. The colours were red, white and blue. Adam had re-painted the outside of the restaurant to get rid of the hospital-lime green colour and the yellow, that he'd always hated. So they went with the new colours instead. They also had a Washington State flag, to show everyone they valued their heritage. A mermaid wearing a Santa hat would be sitting in a net, tossing the crowd fish shaped treats. The wrapping paper would have the restaurant's name and number on it, as well as the website address. Creating a website for the Boathouse had been all Diana's idea, but it helped with booking events and large diner parties. Adam was thrilled with it.

The high school float was almost done, because the other grads had been helping. It was much more elaborate and bigger. The school colours were dominant, but had traditional christmas lights and more included too. The band would march in front of the float and the teams would go behind. The cheerleaders would be on the float with Santa, but the mascot would be street level. Diana was please with how both floats were coming along.

As November made room for December, the snow blanketed the town. It would be a white Christmas for sure this year. Jake and Zane helped decorate Cassie's house. Even though Jake refused to let his house have any decorations, he and Zane came up with some interesting snow sculptures. The more offensive ones were left in the back yard.

"I can't believe you have a snowman with obvious man parts exposed, in your back yard! Who did that one?" Cassie asked Jake.

"Zane, we killed ourselves laughing. I wanted it on the front lawn, but he said it would piss off the neighbours and he didn't mean you."

"When I saw it, I almost peed myself laughing."

"What about the ones on the front lawn?" Jake asked.

Cassie smiled, "I love the unicorn. You guys used magic to make it though right?"

Jake nodded, "yup, there's no way the legs would have supported the body, without us freezing the whole thing."

"The icicle horn is beautiful. I've seen people walking by and taking pictures of it."

"I know, isn't that awesome! Who needs a float in the parade, when you have the best snow sculptures on the block!"

"Try the best in town!" Cassie praised. "I started an igloo on the front of my lawn, but it's getting hard to do the dome part."

"I'll finish it, you just pack the snow into the plastic bin. I'll lift the blocks on and shave it to fit. You ice it into place."

Cassie got her snow pants, hat and mitts on and then went to join Jake outside. He didn't have snow pants, but she liked his hat and mitts. Before they got to work on the igloo, they had a snowball fight and did some snow wrestling. Both were laughing and having tones of fun.

"Last year we had a coven of dead witches trying to kill me, over winter. I'm glad this year, even with the threat of Samuel hovering, we have time to have some fun."

"I know what you mean. Maybe he'll back off until after Christmas," Jake said.

Cassie frowned, "I doubt it. I picture him more as the Grinch who stole Christmas."

They finished building the igloo and then crawled into it. Both were impressed with their work. Cassie teleported a pot of hot chocolate, rum and two mugs, in to the igloo. Jake grinned and poured the rum into their cups of hot liquid.

"Best winter ever," Jake grinned.

"Best boyfriend, best snow fort, best hot chocolate ever!" Cassie chimed in.

Jake teleported a plastic bag and cushion for him to sit on, so his butt wouldn't get too cold. They sat there in the completed igloo, sipping spiked hot chocolate. The quiet and peace, made them lean into each other and just revel in the moment.