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: You guys are in luck, we have a longer chapter than normal. I kind of kept my word I posted this to my Doc Manager before Christmas but haven't had chance to edit and post until now so sorry for that! Please submit your beautiful encouragement it'll drive me to churn the chapters out and finish the story faster ;-) Enjoy!

They're after that girl Morgan, after that circle at Selene's I'm sure of it and it's Cal's job to lure her in, I just need proof to show the council. They've been incredibly careful, nobody is talking and all leads are either dead ends or dead witches. But something big is stirring here, never has a group of dark witches this large convened in one town like this except for within their own cells. The situation here is getting too tight, too dangerous for a solo mission, I'll need to call into the council for support but I need to find a lead soon before it's too late.

Athar

I wasn't sure what to do. I wanted to be there for her, to comfort and support her, she'd been through a lot this evening. But I couldn't bring her back to mine that would be pretty much gift wrapping her for Ciaran and I couldn't let him suspect I was protecting her either.

"It's too dangerous, Morgan." I admitted

"Why is it dangerous?" She asked

I had to be truly honest with her now, I knew that, but she's just been through a breakup, she was still sobering up and I didn't want her to look at me with the same look of disgust she gave Cal earlier this evening. I wasn't ready for that just yet.

I wanted this last evening where she still looked at me with that glistening hope, because once I told her the truth about me, that would all change.

"Let me take you somewhere else, where you can completely sober up and get some rest and I promise in the morning I'll tell you everything, would you be ok with that?" It was a lot to ask for her trust when I've been a part of something so horrible. I had to collect my thoughts and figure out the right way to tell her without completely scaring her off.

"Ok," she acquiesced, this girl was a walking neon sign for dark witches everywhere, not just because of her power but that combined with her naivety, her lack of knowledge of the Wiccan world and the fact she just had too damn much trust in people. I bet that would all change once I told her the truth. I hoped it would, it would keep her safer but I prayed she didn't lose her trust in me.

I sent a witch message to the only other person I could entrust Morgan's life with, aside from Killian, who was not an option as he was staying with us. I contacted my cousin Sky.

Sky, I need your help please give me the address of where you're staying. I have Morgan with me and for obvious reasons I can't bring her back to mine.

A few moments back I received her reply, Dear cousin please find somewhere else to get your rocks off, I don't run a motel service.

I realized then how my message sounded and mentally slapped myself, No Sky, it's not like that I promise, she's had a rough night and doesn't want to go home right now and I need her to be safe.

Why don't I believe you? You are in league with Ciaran. This is some kind of trick or trap.

"Hunter is everything ok?" Morgan asked after a moments silence on my part.

I turned to her, "Yes I'm sorry, I'm contacting my cousin Sky for sanctuary, she's not making it easy,"

"Ah" Morgan saw the tension between Sky and I at Selene's so she must understand how hard this might be, "I'm sorry to be difficult, Hunter," she said "But I can't go home, not yet, not like this"

I took her hand in mine "I get it, Morgan, I completely understand, you are not being difficult. Let me do this for you"

She breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and sank back into the vinyl of the car seat.

Sky, I need your help too. You were right about me but first Morgan needs to be safe.

It was a few minutes before I received her reply, I guess she was weighing her options and trying to gauge whether I was telling her the truth or laying a trap like she thought.

Fine. She huffed and gave me the address, You better not be screwing me here Giomanach, I expect a proper explanation too. She added

I thanked her and started the engine up. I turned to Morgan to let her know where we were going but she was already asleep, her mouth forming a little 'o'. She was stunning, truly a goddess among mortals, even with the drool.

Sky was already waiting for us with the front door open when we arrived. I carried Morgan inside, Sky directed me to her bedroom where I took Morgan and gently placed her on the bed, covering her over with a blanket that was draped across a chair.

I lingered on her sleeping form for a few more moments wishing I could be what she needed and hoped that one day I could be before closing the door behind me.

She was sat on the couch in the living room waiting with a cup of herbal tea, I took a sip and felt my nerves calm instantly.

"Is she ok?" Sky asked, "What happened?"

I shrugged, "She's had a lot to handle tonight, I pretty much warned her that she's being hunted by Amyranth, told her that her boyfriend doesn't love her and is a part of it, she broke up with him and all while she was under the influence of alcohol," as I said it aloud I hung my head in shame "Goddess I'm such a terrible person,"

"I take it you haven't told her just how terrible, or about your involvement in it," Sky raised an eyebrow

"I'm going to tell her everything in the morning, but I've never wanted Ciaran to lay a finger on her or take her powers. I don't even want him converting her to Amyranth, she so pure, Athar, I just want her to be herself,"

"What's so special about this girl?"

I didn't miss a single beat with my answer, "I love her"

Sky snorted, "Are you even capable of love?"

"I've done some questionable things Sky but how could you doubt I'm capable of love?" I was genuinely hurt. I had always made it known that I was never proud of hurting or killing anyone to obtain power.

"She can't be herself with you, Hunter" Sky said, "Pure? You can't mix that with your darkness and it be untainted"

"I know that," I sighed, "but this girl is changing me Sky, something about her has helped me see the truth, the one you tried to tell me about."

I put my cup down on the coffee table and stood up pacing the room, "You were right, Sky, the way I am, it's not really me, I'm not in control and I haven't been for a long time. This darkness inside me, it's the Taibhs I summoned all those years ago, it possesses me and somehow Morgan helped me to see through it, finally saw it as a separate entity and she has been helping me fight it off and she doesn't even know it. That's why I need your help Sky, I want it gone for good and I can't do it alone because it fights back a little stronger each time and I'm scared that it will eventually pull me back under its spell and there'll be no coming back from it again. I'm just so afraid I'll hurt Morgan." Sky watched me intently "I feel its hunger for her power sometimes and it takes all my effort not to rip it away from her myself. It's made me a monster."

I waited for Sky to speak, she was reading me trying to work out whether this was a ploy or for real. I sunk back into the couch and ran my hand through my hair several times, she had to believe me I needed her to. She had to help me.

"The thing is Giomanach is I don't know you anymore so I'm finding it hard to tell if your acting has improved since we were kids," she said eventually, "but I'm also running out of options and I need your help as much as you need mine, so I have to take a risk and believe you,"

I breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you, Sky. I know it's a lot to ask but I need to ensure that no matter what happens from here on out, Morgan is safe,"

Sky nodded, "Fair comment," she agreed, "Before we can do anything, I need information, all my leads have run dry and to help stop Amyranth and save your girlfriend I need to know what's happening here in Widows Vale so I can inform the council and get support, can you tell me why the cells are gathering?"

I sighed "Before I tell you anything, I just need one thing first."

"And what's that then?"

"Your word, please promise me that you and the council will strip them of their powers the first chance you get because if I do this, the word will be out for my head and I will be a dead man." I told her

"I'll do everything in my power to make sure no harm comes to you or anyone else." she promised, "But it is the councils first priority to strip both Ciaran and Selene of their powers, they've been waiting for the opportunity to trap them for a long time and I think you might be the key to bringing them down,"

"Ok," I sucked in a deep breath, I could feel the fear creeping in and the darkness was stirring, it was not happy will me, I could feel it begin to fight back, try to stop me. I closed my eyes and pictured Morgan, Morgan laughing, frowning, working magick. I pictured the way she was tonight, what she told me when she was drunk, how beautiful she looks when she slept and I felt stronger.

"Hunter? Are you ok?" Sky asked

"I'm afraid," I admitted, "And the Taibhs - I can feel it, it's angry with me, I'll tell you all I know but Ciaran doesn't tell me everything. He only reveals what he needs people to know and keeps his cards close to his chest. He likes to play games with people, he and Selene they're in this constant Cat and Mouse battle with each other, trying to one up each other with magick or mind games but I don't know why or how it started."

I scratched the itch on the back of my neck and felt the rebellion within me, I thought of Morgan again, let her fill me with strength.

"Ciaran and Selene are going to either convert Morgan to Amyranth or strip her of her powers, but I believe they will choose to take her power, she's so strong they won't be able to resist taking it for themselves, I know because that's how the taibhs feels, also with power as great as hers even if they did convince her to go dark, they're afraid that one day she'll outgrow their control and she'll take over,"

"I figured that was their plan but what is so special about this girl? Why is everyone gathering for her?" Sky asked

"Because Ciaran and Selene discovered that Morgan is the Sguirs Dan,"

"The Sguirs Dan? That is just a myth" Sky cried incredulously

"Well Ciaran, Selene and the rest of Amyranth seem to believe that it is very, very real. They are planning to use her power to create a dark wave big enough to pick out millions of specific people or witches at any one time," I revealed,

"Hunter, what you're talking about is genocide, the dark wave destroys towns and villages and has left so much decimation in its wake but it can't do what you're saying,"

"All the cells are gathering here to be a part of it. Selene and Ciaran have worked together with the best dark spell crafters they know to amend the dark wave spell to do exactly that and Morgan's power is the catalyst that could actually give it that extra push to make it work, they could target not just specific covens but specific clans if they want, if they choose to they could wipe out all of the Brightendales in the world in one blow and their power will be collected by the dark wave and returned to Amyranth,"

"Is that who they're targeting? The Brightendales?" She asked, now horrified.

"I don't know who the targets are, or what the specifics of the spell are, this is all I know,"

"Hunter this is huge, we have to take out anyone involved in this spell, I need to contact the council immediately, I can't handle this alone, we need back up."

I agreed. The Taibhs roared ferociously within me. I was trying to take away its claim to more power.