Crystal Web: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel (Moonshadow Bay Book 7) Read online

  “I’m growing to trust her. She’s been straightforward with me since we’ve made our peace. I give her food and she gives me information and we both benefit.” I stretched out on the sofa. “I told the others there’s something going on, but I didn’t tell them everything. Not yet. So, here’s what she told me.” I repeated the warning Rebecca had given me.

  Teran’s smile dissipated. “I remember my mother talking about something coming into town when she was a girl. Apparently, it held the town hostage. Even the Crystal Cauldron couldn’t handle it.” She frowned, worrying her lip.

  “I’ll go through Colleen’s diary and see if I can find anything. I still haven’t read through all of it yet.” I paused when my phone rang. A glance at the caller ID startled me. It was Naomi—my grandmother. “Well, Grandma’s calling. Your mother.”

  Teran stiffened.

  I picked up. “Hey, Nonny, how are you?”

  Naomi, my maternal grandmother, lived in Ireland. She had emigrated there when I was around eight. She usually wrote to me instead of calling. Naomi was pushing a hundred, though that wasn’t all that old for witchblood.

  “Getting there. I’m still up and around, my dear.” She paused. She didn’t have an accent, though her “American” had softened as she picked up overtones of a brogue.

  “Teran’s here, if you’d like to say hello to her.”

  “Of course I’d like to talk to my daughter. But first, I need to talk to you. My mother came to me in a dream last night and told me that the time has come to speak out.” Nonny sounded so serious that I sat up, crossed my legs on the sofa, and straightened as though I were a schoolgirl getting ready for lessons.

  “What’s going on?” My stomach churned. “Can I put you on speaker?”

  At that moment, Killian entered the room. I motioned for him to come over and he sat down on the sofa next to me.

  “Before you start, I want to introduce you to my boyfriend.” To him, I said, “Nonny’s on the phone. I’ve told you about her.” Then I spoke into the phone again. “Nonny, this is Killian, my boyfriend.”

  “Hello, Ms…” Killian gave me a frantic look, but Nonny spoke up.

  “Karns. My last name is Karns. How do you do, Killian? What do you do? Are you witchblood?”

  Technically, it was rude to ask someone what they were, but my grandmother was closing in on a hundred and age had its privileges.

  “No, Ms. Karns. I’m a wolf shifter, and I’m a veterinarian. I’m pleased to meet you.” He paused, then added, “I moved into the house next to January and from that first night, she enchanted me.” Again, he paused, then stumbled to add, “Not literally—I mean—”

  “You may call me Nonny.” Nonny laughed. “I’ll let you off the hook, young man.”

  Even though Killian was older than my grandmother, he didn’t contradict her. The fact was, emotionally, he was a lot younger than she was. Shifters aged even slower than those of us with witchblood.

  “Thank you, Nonny,” he said, laughing. “I’m honored to meet you. I hope you know that I love your granddaughter and I promise never to hurt her.”

  “Why haven’t you proposed?” Nonny’s voice echoed through the phone.

  I turned bright red.

  “I have, ma’am, but she’s not ready. I’ll wait until she gives me the word.” Killian stuck out his tongue at me and I stifled a laugh.

  “Well, then, you’re a patient man and that’s to your credit. Now, give me back to my granddaughter. I have some things to tell her,” Nonny said.

  After saying good-bye, Killian headed back into the kitchen and I heard the sounds of food prep. “I’m back, Nonny.”

  “Well then, he sounds like a lovely man. Why aren’t you marrying him?”

  “Because I’m not ready,” I said. “I’m still gun-shy after Ellison. But I love Killian and we’re serious. So, what was it you wanted to tell me?”

  My grandmother paused, then said, “With your mother’s death, it’s important that you know what I’m about to tell you. Did Althea ever mention a curse to you? One placed on the women of our family?”

  This didn’t sound good. I paused, trying to remember. “Actually, she didn’t. But Esmara seemed to think a chaos magician placed a curse on Great-Grandma. Something about a shorter lifespan.”

  “No, there Esmara has her facts wrong. I wonder why Colleen told her that.” Teran let out a long sigh. “I thought maybe it would have passed—”

  “You’re right. Esmara has her facts wrong but yes, there is a curse and it’s still active.” Nonny interrupted her. “No, I was hoping it had faded, but I checked and the curse is still there.” She sounded tired.

  “What kind of curse? Who cast it?” If there was a family curse, I wondered why the hell my mother hadn’t ever mentioned it. Or Teran, for that matter. I glanced over at my aunt. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  She hung her head. “Because I was hoping it was gone. I didn’t want to create a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

  “Teran Karns, I’m disappointed in you,” Nonny blurted out. The tone of her voice made both of us jump and I was suddenly grateful she hadn’t been my mother. “I’m also disappointed in Althea. Gods only know, Althea didn’t do her job. Sometimes I think she was ashamed of her heritage. First, she didn’t take January to the Aseer—”

  “I went, though, Nonny. I had her assess my magic!” It hurt to hear her ragging on my mother but in my heart, I knew she was right. My mother had neglected most of my training, including having me assessed and teaching me about my heritage. She had said she wanted me to decide on my own how far I wanted to take my magic, but she certainly hadn’t shown me that she was enthusiastic about me doing so.

  “And what did the Aseer say?” Nonny perked up. “I’m proud of you for taking that step.”

  “I’m rooted into earth magic and death magic. Teran is helping me with the former, and Rowan with the latter. By the way, another little piece of news. Did you know that Rowan Firesong is my other grandmother? She was—”

  “Trevor’s mother. That I know. I’m surprised you found out. Did Rowan tell you?”

  “I did.” Teran spoke up. “I felt she had the right to know. But Rowan’s working with her now, as am I.”

  Nonny paused, then said, “I’m glad you did. I urged Althea to tell Trevor, but she refused. I’m not sure what was wrong with that girl, but she fought me all the way. Maybe she blamed me for not—”

  “Don’t go there, Mother,” Teran said, a warning note in her voice. “You don’t want to go there.”

  I caught her gaze but she looked away. “What? I feel like I got left out in the rain. I love my family—all of you. I want to know what’s going on.”

  Teran closed her eyes, then said, “All right. Tell her. Tell her everything.”

  “Your mother blamed me for keeping her from the man she thought she loved. She wasn’t interested in Trevor at first. She wanted to be with someone else and I kept her from doing so. So did your grandmother Rowan. Together, we put a halt to her plans to run off with Val Slater.”

  I gasped and looked at Teran, who was staring at the floor. “Val Slater? My mother and—”

  “Yes, they got together secretly and by the time we realized what was happening, they were ready to run off together.” Nonny sounded like she was about to cry. “I hated breaking her heart, but Val had charmed her into believing she was in love. Rowan threatened to stake him, and he backed off.”

  I could barely believe what I was hearing. “My mother and Val Slater?” First, the idea of my mother running off with a vampire was ridiculous. Second, was that why she was so hesitant on letting me fully learn my heritage? Was she afraid I’d find out she was fucking around with that slimeball?” The full extent of the situation washed over me. “Ew… Val’s hit on me time and again! How gross!”

  I knew that I sounded like a teenager but the fact that Val had been fucking my mother and then tried to get into my pants made me queasy. But now that I knew, I was glad. “Thank you—I’ll never even…” I lowered my voice. Killian was in the kitchen but I didn’t want him to overhear me. “I’ll never even think about Val in that way again.”

  “Yes, well, your mother finally accepted that Val had been leading her on.” Nonny sounded like she was scowling. I could only imagine how she had reacted to my mother. “After a few months, we engineered a meeting between Althea and Trevor. Like Rowan and I thought, they hit it off.”

  I caught my breath again. “Did my mother love my father?” I didn’t think I could handle it if I thought their love had been a lie.

  Teran didn’t even pause. “Yes, dear. She did. She confided in me. While she was broken-hearted at first, before long she fell in love with your father. Several times over the years, she told me how grateful she was that Mother stopped her from running off with Val.”

  I held her gaze for a moment until I knew in my heart she was telling me the truth. “Thank you, Teran. I needed to know that.” I paused, then said, “What about the curse?”

  “It ties in with Val,” Nonny said. “In fact, there’s an ulterior motive to why he was so focused on your mother. And why he’s focused on you.”

  Again, my stomach clenched. “Why? Did someone curse him to a limp dick unless he slept his way through the women in our family?”

  “Actually, Val was trying to protect your mother, albeit in a misguided way. And you, too.” Nonny let out another sigh. “Back in Ireland, Val’s grandfather had a curse cast on the women of the O’Leary family. Well, the ó Broin family—your great-great-grandmother’s surname. Ellen ó Broin was a powerful witch in her county. There weren’t many stronger than she was. Her father, Ian ó Broin, loved his family. The witchblood was strong in them, and they used it without fear.”

  A chill ran up my back. I’d never heard about Ellen before. “I feel like I’m missing out on so much of my history.”

  “There’s a lot for you to learn over the next few years,” Teran said. “I can teach you some of what your mother should have.”

  “Back to the curse,” Nonny’s voice echoed out of the phone. “Evan Slater, Val’s grandfather, was convinced that the ó Broins were using their magic to blight his crops. So, he hired a witch with a reputation for turning on her own kind. He asked her to hex Ellen and all of her female descendants. The curse basically condemns every female born to Ellen’s lineage to die young. Most never reached even half their potential age.”

  “So Val knew about the curse.” I wondered why he hadn’t mentioned it to me, but then it occurred to me that maybe he had been planning to. Or thought I already knew.

  “Humans think we live a great long life, but all my sisters died well before they even reached ninety,” Naomi said. “I’m the only one who has managed to reach one hundred. Knock wood, I won’t stop here. Given witchblood can live to over two to three hundred, I have no clue if I’ll ever reach my potential.”

  My head reeled with all that I had learned. “You think that Val was trying to protect my mother, in a clumsy way?”

  “I think he thought his presence could somehow keep the curse from rebounding on her. Unfortunately, it didn’t.” Teran teared up. “And child, you and I—and your grandmother—face this curse. As do some of your cousins.”

  That was another thing. My mother had been content keeping us in a bubble where family consisted of my father, grandma Nonny, and Aunt Teran. I had a sudden desire to reach out and start contacting some of the other members of my family I’d never met.

  “Is there a way to break it?” I asked. “I suppose that if there was, it would already be gone.”

  “Not necessarily. We think there’s a way to break it, but we don’t know how. For one thing, the witch who cast it still lives. She could lift it. And there are other ways to break a hex. Rowan’s been working on a counterspell for years but hasn’t found the key yet.” Teran stretched, grimacing. Her shoulder was almost healed up, but still stiff. “I think this is about enough for one evening, don’t you, Mother? I’m pretty sure January’s overloaded and full of questions.”

  “If I don’t have any now, I’m sure I will by tomorrow,” I said.

  Nonny chuckled. “January, love, I know tonight’s been hard, but you need to know. You must be careful, because there’s a shadow hanging over you. Talk to Rowan. Maybe you can work with her to break the curse. And I’ll keep hunting for the witch who cast it. That’s why I moved to Ireland, you know. Rumor has it she lives here. I won’t rest till I find her, my child. And trust me, if I find her, she will remove the curse.”

  As we said good-bye, I was struck with a sudden fear that I might not ever see my granny again. I also found myself dwelling on Teran and praying for her safety, too. So many women had descended from Ellen ó Broin, including Colleen and all her daughters. So many victims and potential victims of the hex.

  I set my phone on the table and turned to Teran. “Now, more than ever, I want Killian to drive you home.”

  “You aren’t going to become overprotective, are you? You know I won’t put up with that.” Teran scolded me, but she was smiling. “We’ll talk about this later. Maybe we can think of something to do.”

  As Killian obligingly escorted her to his car to drive her home, I watched out the window. The world suddenly seemed so much bigger and larger, and out there, not only was a creature that Rebecca feared, but a curse hanging over my head.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Next morning, I was up and ready for work before Killian even woke up. I wanted to look up my great-great-grandmother and see if I could find out anything about her. Plus, I wanted some time to think before I told Killian about the curse.

  As he woke, I was putting on my makeup and getting ready to write him a note.

  “Hey, why don’t you come back to bed and join me for some exercise?” He sat up, propping himself against the headboard as he yawned.

  Normally, I would have welcomed the diversion. Making love with Killian was everything I had hoped it would be, and more. He was as good in bed as my ex had been bad. We had an active sex life, and yet we both made allowances when the other was too tired.

  “I’d love to, but I have some things I need to check out. I was going to head into work early today, but you can sleep late if you want.” I was on the fence about when to tell him about the curse. Part of me was afraid it would spook him away, although logically I knew that he loved me and he would want to help me find an answer to this.

  “You look worried,” he said. He patted the bed beside him. “Come sit and get a cuddle for a moment.”

  I moved over to the bed and scooted in next to him, leaning back yet keeping my shoes off the comforter. I had bought it when we were in Nimah Rock for Valentine’s Day, for what turned out to be a very un-relaxing vacation.

  “Kind of,” I said. “Did you hear much of what we were talking about last night, when you were in the kitchen cleaning up?”

  Killian shook his head. “No, I didn’t. I don’t make it a tendency to eavesdrop, even on my girlfriend.” He grinned, planting a kiss on the tip of my nose.

  “How did I get so lucky with you? All right, I have something to tell you and I don’t know how you’re going to take it. I didn’t even know about it until last night.”

  Sobering, Killian straightened up against the headboard and turned to me. I could tell he had an erection, judging by the tent in the blankets, but he was ignoring it in favor of the conversation. “Tell me. Are you all right?”

  “Yes, for the most part. You remember talking to Nonny?”

  He nodded. “She’s a firecracker. How old is she?”

  “Not quite a hundred, but for witchblood that isn’t that old. Anyway, she told me some things about my family that I didn’t know.”

  “You sound serious,” Killian said. He took my hand and focused on my eyes. “What did she tell you?”

  “Apparently, there’s a curse on the women of my family. It was placed back in Ireland, by a witch hired by Val Slater’s grandfather. Apparently Evan Slater thought that Ellen ó Broin, my great-great-grandmother, had blighted his fields. He believed she had cast a hex on him, so he hired a powerful witch to counter-cast a hex on Ellen.”

  Killian was staring at me, a blank look on his face. “All right. Was Evan a vampire, too?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think he was. Anyway, the hex cursed all of Ellen’s female descendants to die young. Since then, none of my female ancestors have lived to their full potential. That means there’s a good chance I’ll die young. My mother certainly didn’t live anywhere near as long as she could have. Nonny’s one of my oldest female relatives, and she’s not anywhere near her full lifespan.”

  Clutching my hand, Killian leaned close. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said. “Would Val know how to break the curse?”

  I shrugged. “I really don’t know,” I said. “But I’m going to talk to Rowan. Apparently she’s been looking for a counterspell to the hex for years. Maybe I can help her find one.”

  “What’s the name of the witch who cursed Ellen’s descendants?”

  I thought for a moment, then shook my head. “I don’t know. Maybe Val would know. I don’t know how long he’s been a vampire, but if his grandfather was the one who paid for the curse, there’s a chance he might have been there at that time.”

  I knew how serious Killian was taking the curse when he didn’t argue with me about contacting Val. He pulled me in for a long kiss. After a moment, he let me go.

  “Be careful,” he asked. “I don’t want anything happening to you. Did Nonny indicate whether the curse works through natural causes, or accidents?”

  I slowly stood, holding his hand and kissing it before letting go. “She didn’t say. Honestly, I’m stunned. It never occurred to me to ask why the women in my family die early. But now that I think about it, when I look at the family tree in my mother’s Book of Shadows, I do seem to remember a lot of surprisingly short lifespans. Short even by human standards,” I added, feeling cold. “I better get to work.”