The Endless Series book 1: The Fairys Bargain

Chapter 13 Louisa Endless

Chapter Thirteen

If you believed the legends about The First Witch, she was the one who created faerie. The faeries were children of humans and angels, creatures that were never supposed to exist. The First Witch was the devil’s lover, and she decided that the faeries needed a place where they could be controlled.

When I was younger, I used to feel frightened of her. She used to show up when my Mother was feeling particularly bad. I remembered the last time that she visited, before Emma had been foolish enough to make a bargain with Oberon on our mother’s behalf.

I was thirteen at the time.

She arrived, in the middle of the night. I’d been up late, studying, waiting for her to arrive. Grandfather had been away, but he had long ago made arrangements for The First Witch to show, every Monday, like clockwork.

She’d administer a healing potion, one that would last long enough to make Mother feel better to make it out through the week but not one that could cure cancer. There was nothing that could cure that. Cancer was a demon, which could only be defeated by hope and faith.

The First Witch was named Hecate. She knocked on the door, and I would have known her rapping knock anywhere. I made my way down the stairs, hoping that I didn’t wake Bradley, Clark, or Emma. Especially not Emma.

Emma was terrified of the witch, and I couldn’t deal with her screaming. I had to focus on Mother, not my sister. That was who was truly important. I opened the door, revealing Hecate.

She had auburn hair, and a snake that wrapped around her neck. She wore red robes, and a decorative, beaded headdress with a silver moon charm hanging from it. “Gatekeeper,” she said to me. “Where’s Moira?”

“Upstairs,” I answered, “she’s supposed to be resting, but I know she isn’t. I heard her moving around earlier. Sometimes, she coughs so much she can’t sleep. That’s what happened tonight. She’s having a coughing fit. You’ll make her feel better, won’t you? She always feels better after I see you.”

“I’ll make her feel better, pet,” said Hecate, “but I can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to fix her. Nasty stuff, cancer. Even we don’t know where it comes from. Seems to be of its own making, that.”

I tried not to look disappointed. I had known that would be the answer, and yet, I couldn’t help but hoped. Being around magic, you got to thinking that you could escape anything, even death. But I knew one way or another, I would lose my mother.

I took Hecate up the stairs, to my Mother’s room. Sure enough, she was up, her dark hair hanging around her pale face, as she tried to focus on the book that she was reading. The lamp near her gave off barely any light at all, and I almost scolded her about her eyesight the way she would have us.

Instead, I looked towards Hecate. “She’s here.”

Moira Endless looked up from her reading and smiled. “Hecate. Glad you could make it. I was worried you’d get caught in the awful storm outside.”

“Witches have more clever ways to travel than brooms, whatever humans might think with their ridiculous stories. I was able to get here quite fine, with a portal. Now, Louisa, I suggest you leave for this part.”

I shook my head. “I want to stay with Mother. I want to make sure that she is alright.”

Moira looked from me, to Hecate, a grim smile on her face. “It’s alright, Hecate. She’s going to be gatekeeper. She needs to learn how to deal with pain sooner or later. It will be part of her life, part of her job.”

I nodded. “Besides, Mother needs me.”

Hecate smiled softly. “Alright. But this won’t be easy to watch, girl. This isn’t wand waving. Stand off to the side, and let me do my work alright? No matter what you think is happening, don’t interfere.”

I did as told. I stood off to the side, letting Hecate do her work. I knew that whatever was coming wouldn’t be pleasant. Whenever Hecate had come before, Grandfather Edward would send me out with Bradley, Clark, and Emma to keep them distracted from the sounds of our mother in pain.

Magic was a temporary fix. It only prolonged her life a little, it didn’t get rid of the cancer. Nothing could, it seemed. But sometimes, I didn’t think that the magic was worth the pain that it caused her. But I wasn’t the one that had to take the stuff, Mother did.

Hecate waved her hands, making a red-carpet bag appear. She rummaged through, until she took out some herbs, and a candle. She lit the candle with a snap of her fingers, then burned the herbs, making the whole room smell. Of what, I wasn’t quite sure, but it was a bitter smell, one that hurt my nostrils, and made me want to gag as I breathed it in.

But I wanted to be there for Mother, to prove that I was strong, so even though the smell made me want to gag, I stayed put, watching, waiting for whatever came next. Hecate stood over the bed, chanting in a language that I didn’t know.

Mother didn’t seem at all bothered by it. Instead, she kept her eyes focused on me, and mouthed, “I love you.”

I mouthed it back and tried not to flinch every time she groaned in pain. Though she had done nothing except for chant, and wave herbs, it seemed that even that held a kind of power. Finally, Hecate paused, and rubbed her hands together. She rubbed, and rubbed, until a glowing, golden light came from her hands.

The light spread from her fingertips, going into my Mother’s body, wrapping Mother in a golden light. Her body raised up from the bed, shaking, with cries of despair coming from her lips.

Her cries echoed off of the walls. Her head flung backwards, her eyes rolling back in her head until there was nothing but the whites of her eyes.

Mother screamed and screamed. I covered my ears, wincing the entire time. But I did not look away. I kept my eyes on my mother, as Hecate tried to do her best to heal my mother. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Hecate’s chanting quieted. Mother stopped writhing in pain and was finally lowered down onto the bed by Hecate’s hushed whispers.

Despite all of the pain, and torture that Mother had gone through, the color had returned to her cheeks. Mother looked up at me, a smile on her lips. “Alright, Louisa?”

“I’m alright,” I said, “alright, Mother?”

“I’m alright, Lou. Come here, my darling girl.”

I went to her and crawled up into her bed. Hecate had already vanished, taking her herbs, and her carpet bag with her. I knew, that even if my siblings feared her, because of what she did for my Mother I would always trust The First Witch.

That was why I had no qualms contacting her about Ben, and his curse. What I did have qualms about was rubbing salve on his chest. I had made the salve myself, knew it worked well on curses from past experiences with a human who had gotten cursed by a faerie for stealing a cabbage from their garden.

But now, that I was alone with Ben Taylor, I found myself hesitating. He was shirtless again. He looked really, really good shirtless. If he had noticed me noticing, he was too polite to say anything, and for that I was grateful.

Still, I knew I was taking too long deciding whether or not to put the salve on him. Something that should have been an easy fix. But knowing that if it weren’t for Oberon, he’d be my sisters’ husband, I found myself unable to do something I’d done a million times before.

So much for the brave and fearless gatekeeper.

“You okay?” Ben asked.

His American accent was extremely off putting. It wasn’t New York, but midwestern, and he had a little bit of an accent. It wasn’t exactly southern American, but there was something there. “I’m fine,” I lied, my own voice coming out squeaky.

I was not inexperienced. I had had relationships. One night stands even. But Ben was uncharted territory, a potential feud between my sister and I. Although I hoped he didn’t sense that I was extremely attracted to him.

I also hoped that he wouldn’t act on it. Because, Goddess help me, if he acted on it, I didn’t know what I would do. I only knew what I wanted to, and if he did something there would be no going back.

No matter how much my mind screamed at me to be sensible.

“You don’t seem fine,” Ben said, “you seem like someone who is debating about whether or not to put salve on my chest for a cursed wound.”

“It’s not a cursed wound, it’s a curse,” I replied, “and I’m not debating. I’m…. thinking.”

“Thinking isn’t much better. What are you thinking about?”

“How on earth did you get together with my sister? She isn’t exactly the most open person.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. She never had any trouble talking with me, and there was always something mysterious about her. I liked that. When you grow up in Montana, there’s this kind of tightness. You’ve got a whole, big world in front of you but it’s easy to get lost in that world. I felt like if I had Emma by my side, I could survive anything. She’s the reason I moved to New York. She’s the reason I got my book deal. Without her, I wouldn’t have the life that I have. Emma kind of makes you think that good things still happen, even if you know that they’re a rare thing.”

“Here,” I said finally, handing him the purple bottle that contained the homemade salve that Hecate had given me. “You do it. You’re a grown man, and I’m not your mother.”

He took it, twisting the cap open slowly, his eyes on me the entire time.

I turned away and sat down on my bed. “Didn’t you suspect anything?”

He shrugged as he rubbed the salve on his wound. “She was cagey about her family, but that wasn’t too odd. I don’t like my family much either, so her not talking about you guys meant that I didn’t have to talk to her about mine.”

He winced as the salve touched the curse. “Mother fucker! What the hell is that?”

I grinned. “It’s made from dragon seamen.”

He glared at me. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“I wish I were,” I said, “The First Witch once told me how she went about getting it. I had weird dreams for months. Made things really awkward at home.”

“Why?” he asked. “You don’t have a pet dragon or something do you?”

“No, but my brother is one,” I said.

He paled. “You mean---Bradley----”

I nodded. “Strictly speaking, Dragons are usually shapeshifters, but Bradley was cursed into being one. Of course, the i***t was foolish enough to have an affair with Hecate, so I’d say he deserves it.”

“Your brother---” he winced again “---your brother had an affair with a goddess?”

“Witch,” I corrected, “for the record, Bradley is not the smart one of us.”

“No, he’s the pretty one.”

I stared at him. “You’re bi?”

He nodded.

“Me too,” I said, “Hecate was my first crush. I was awed by her power.”

He grinned. “That’s one way of putting it. What about Emma, was she----”

“No,” I answered, “Emma’s always been straight. Not that it would have mattered. She hasn’t had a chance to explore her sexuality, with the bargain. Which is a shame, because there are some lovely, lovely fae girls.”

“Huh. Too bad you plan on making me forget everything. It’s always been a fantasy of mine to have s*x with a fae warrior. Lithe?”

I grinned. “Oh yes. Very, and athletic. You’re not that much different from the fae soldier I used to spend some time with.”

“Oh?” Ben raised his eyebrows. He continued to rub salve into the cursed spot.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Huh. What of the girls?”

“Raphaelitesque,” I replied with a grin. I could see Ben’s c**k pulsing through his pants. I wondered what it would be like to be with him. Wondered if he would be open to having someone else with us, another fae, as a partner.

I imagined our bodies entwined, the two of us making a fae girl’s wings flutter against the ground as I claimed her cunt and Ben her backside. I swallowed, hard. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. After we get the curse taken care of, you’ll be going back to America. Besides, even if you went into faerie, you would run the risk of hurting Emma. I won’t let you do that.”

“Right,” he said with a nod, “right. Emma.”

He handed me back the salve and put his shirt back on.

“You should get some sleep. I’m sure you’re tired from your journey, and I’ve got to get in touch with Hecate.”

“Alright,” he nodded, “where should I sleep?”

I shrugged. “Sleep here. I won’t be using it anyway. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

I got up, and left him there, in my bed. Even though I hadn’t done anything wrong, my stomach was in knots as I left. All I could think of was Ben, shirtless, rubbing salve into his curse.