Summary – Hunter arrives in Widows Vale with his mentor Ciaran MacEwan. There he meets his half brother Cal and his girlfriend Morgan, whom he feels strangely drawn to, and is sucked into a cat and mouse game that has played between Ciaran and Selene Belltower for years and on top of it all he is reunited with his cousin Sky who is a Seeker for the International Council of Witches and has been hunting him down for years.
Disclaimer: These are all Cate Tiernans toys. They're just in my playground.
A/N: Hey everyone I'm sorry this story is taking so long I've been meaning to come back to it but I do have a very important reason why I haven't. On July 2nd 2015 I gave birth to my beautiful son Patrick, so now I'm dealing with a cheeky 5 month old who takes up pretty much all the time! Please be patient and I'll try to post as often as Patrick will let me because I do want to finish this, I've enjoyed writing this story and believe its my favourite to date, the one I've enjoyed writing most. So today I'll post 2 chapters for you wonderful people and I will try my hardest to get another one out before the New Year. Please read, enjoy and review!
We're closing in. It'll not be long now before she's ours. I wonder which path she'll choose. Will she join us willingly or will she stand against us? It's can be anyone's guess, she is both her mother and her father's daughter and it'll be interesting to see which one will win out in her.
I really hope that she chooses against us. I want those tools for myself, Belwicket's tools - what an asset they will be! Besides, I really want to see the look on Ciaran's face when I tell him who she really is after we drain her.
- SB
When we arrived at the bar that Killian lead us to, I saw the faces of the coven members as they climbed out of their cars. They were all immediately intimidated by this place, even Raven, although she hid it well, I could still sense it.
The bar looked more like a large wooden shack with red neon lights displaying the name 'Riley's Roadhouse' Motorbikes of all shapes, sizes and colours lined the perimeter of the building with a few small groups of bikers stood outside by their bikes holding bottles of beer.
Confidently Killian strolled up to the doorman, he said something to him and gestured to our group, the doorman looked up at us, his face dubious, I saw Killian mouth a few words and drew a quick sigil in the air and the doorman's face changed instantly. He smiled and nodded and Killian waved at us all to follow him in.
The inside of the bar wasn't much of an improvement on the outside. I could feel my feet sticking to the alcohol soaked floor, broken glass littered the tables and floors and I could barely see through clouds of cigarette smoke.
One end of the room had several pool tables all currently occupied and on the other side of the Bar there was a small platform that wasn't big enough to be called a stage that hosted a microphone, two large speakers stacked on top of each other and a TV screen. There was a large, bald, biker man wearing sunglasses indoors for some reason, currently shouting Van Halen's 'Hot for Teacher' into the microphone.
"Karaoke in a biker bar! Ha! You don't see that everyday!" Killian mused.
The place was filled with mostly leather clad bikers and we stuck out like sore thumbs, but they didn't show us any animosity. They mostly ignored us, some glanced at us with intrigue but aside from that I was relieved that we didn't feel like we were in hostile territory I needed Morgan to feel relaxed enough to talk to me.
We headed over to a group of free tables and pushed them closer together and pulled enough chairs up for us all.
As we sat down we were treated to a rendition of Ozzy Osbourne's 'Crazy Train' "So who's up for a round of beers?" Killian asked us, the majority of us nodded, a few others supplied an alternative preference to beer, one of whom was Morgan who requested a whiskey sour.
Cal, Killian and Raven made their way to the bar and I positioned myself next to Morgan, she smiled softly at me and I felt my heart skip a beat, "I didn't figure you for the going out type," she said to me
"Not usually," I admitted, "But Killian usually needs someone watching out for him when he gets these crazy ideas. I didn't figure you for it either," I said, "Whiskey sours?"
"I don't do things like this, ever." she said, "I don't even drink, but my mom drinks Whiskey sours, I thought I might like them too if I had to drink something,"
"No one's forcing you to drink, Morgan," I told her, she glanced at Cal over at the bar and shrugged so I decided to change the subject.
"So how are your studies coming along?" I asked and we began talking about the book she's been reading about the true names of plants and herbs when Killian, Cal and Raven returned with two trays containing the drinks that we asked for and a third tray filled with shot glasses containing something lethal knowing Killian.
Cal handed out the drinks everyone asked for, as he handed me my beer he shot me a look and glanced at Morgan, I knew it as a warning. He was telling me to back off. I nodded solemnly showing I understood.
"Who's up for shots?" Killian asked?
Almost two hours later most of our group were pretty drunk with the exception of me, Robbie and Sharon as we were the designated drivers. The others were drunk enough to give the karaoke rock ballads that the bikers were belting out a break as Bree got up and sang something about Independent women with Jenna and a very sober Sharon backing her up.
Cal was slipping into a drunken stupor, Killian shot me a wink, he was signalling me, telling me it was my time to act with Morgan, he dragged Cal up next to sing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. I looked over at Morgan and could tell she was getting tipsy so I had to act fast.
"Morgan?"
She turned to me and a big goofy smile spread on her face, "Hunter!" she slurred, I sighed, unfortunately she had more to drink than I thought, it may already be too late.
"It looks like you need a little fresh air," I smiled, "Come on," I helped her out of her seat and asked for a pint of water from the bar on our way out. When we stepped outside, the alcohol that Morgan had consumed that evening appeared to hit her even harder and she became unsteady on her feet.
I sat her down on a bench and handed her the water, "Here, have some of this it'll help," I told her
A pint of water wasn't going to cut it. I was going to need a spell to sober her up. The only one I knew didn't work for more than ten minutes, but it'll be long enough for me to tell her what I needed to tell her.
I placed my fingers on the side of her temple about to murmur the spell when she gave me the most beautiful smile, "You are so handsome," she said sweetly, "and you've been so nice to me, that's why I like you,"
Morgan liked me? "You like me?"
"I shouldn't like you, I've got a Cal, but I do," she slurred, inside my heart was dancing and the darkness was growling, it was not happy. I wanted to her to tell me more but I didn't have long. Cal was bound to come looking for her soon.
I murmured the spell and instantly she sobered up, first I could see the clarity in her eyes and then I saw the horror, "Oh Hunter, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to say… I mean… oh Goddess," she stuttered
"Morgan, please don't apologise, I needed to sober you up quickly there's something I need to tell you." As much as it killed me inside to push pass her admission, I needed to protect her first and foremost.
I pulled the small stone out of my pocket, "Morganite," Morgan recognised it immediately.
I nodded, "I believe you're in danger, and I believe the danger is coming soon," I told her, so much for breaking it gently, Niall.
"Danger? Hunter, what are you talking about?"
"Please don't ask me to explain it's a long story, but Morgan I'm not a good person," I admitted,
"Don't say that, of course you are," she said sternly,
"No, Morgan I'm not. I really wish I could tell you that I was and I wish I could explain it all to you and one day I will, I promise, even if it makes you hate me, but right now I need to make sure your safe."
"Safe from what?" she asked
"Your power, your strength, it's made you a target and I know there's a dark coven who really wants that power desperately." I placed the Morganite into her hand, "I've spelled this stone, it will alert me whenever you feel scared for your life and I'll be able to find you wherever you are, I'll not be able to use it to spy on you or anything like that and I won't be able to find you through it always, only when it alerts me to your fear."
"You're scaring me now, Hunter," she said, "You're telling me there's a dark coven of witches coming for me?"
"Yes. I know and I'm so sorry to put all this on you but the last thing I want is to see any harm come to you, this is why I need you to understand how important it is that you keep this stone on you always, I will not let anything happen to you, Morgan, I promise."
Morgan nodded and pocketed the stone, "Does Cal know anything about this?" she asked
I swallowed hard, how could I tell her that the person she loved was part of a plan to either turn her dark or drain her powers and kill her? He knew about the plan but he told me he doesn't want to hurt her. Telling her that he knew about this plan would destroy her and I wasn't going to be the person to break them up. I couldn't do that to Morgan, or my brother.
"He doesn't know about the stone and we need to keep it that way, don't say anything to him, please." I finally said
"Why can't I tell him, Hunter? Cal's my boyfriend, he'll protect me from this dark coven too, right?" Morgan wasn't stupid she picked up on the fact I only mentioned the stone, I didn't want to lie to her but I didn't want to cause any heartache either.
"Cal doesn't want to hurt you, he told me this himself and I truly believe him, but there are people close to him that do, it's not safe. Please Morgan, trust me on this one,"
"I trust you," Morgan said earnestly, "I don't know why because I hardly know you, but I trust you Hunter,"
I breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you,"
She took a few steps closer towards me and looked me deep in the eyes, "You look sad," she said softly, "I don't understand why you think you're a bad person, someone so bad wouldn't care for another person like the way you're looking out for me,"
"It's because I like you too, Morgan, that doesn't make me good, it makes me selfish," I admitted, "I've never wanted anyone as much as I've wanted you,"
Electricity crackled between us and I knew we could both feel it. I felt her leaning in towards me and all my nerve endings were alight with desire. I silently urged her forward. This was it. Morgan was going to kiss me!