Chapter 15

I awoke early on Friday morning, spooned up against Allen and feeling wonderful. We had made long slow, passionate love and then had sex last night before going to sleep. It seemed that we now awoke each morning spooned up against each other. Somehow we seemed to always find each other in our sleep, no matter how we started out on going to sleep. The three cats were asleep at the foot of the bed. The two females on my side and the male was on Allen’s side of the bed.

Following a good breakfast, we set about getting all of our things unpacked and put away in their accustomed places, so the cabin was comfortable to live in.

That afternoon, I went over to Sam’s house to see if his Wife, Kelly, needed any help. Their two boys were six and eight years old. Their Daughter, Melva, was three and a half and a real joy. She is so cute and is at that age where she wants to help her Mother with everything. I took her out to their garden, which was just being started for the year and let her help me plant some seeds and pull out a few weeds. She learned quickly and had a really good time playing in the dirt and helping me. A quick clean up spell when we were finished had her returned to the condition that she had left the house in. It also gave her Mother a little break, so she could relax and do some of the things she wanted to do.

By Sunday, the 20th, my period had not started, so either it was very late, or I was pregnant. Since they had always been on time for the past eight years or so, I had to presume that I was pregnant. That evening I told Allen the news after supper.

“I’ve missed my period, so I believe that I am pregnant,” I told him, as we listened to some music in the living room.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“No, I’ll need to see an OB/GYN to have it confirmed, but I haven’t had any morning sickness yet, and you need to be pregnant for at least a month before they can tell. There are some Magic users who are able to determine if you are pregnant before that, but I don’t see the need to visit one of them at this time. After I start having morning sickness, I’ll see an OB/GYN. I’m sure that Jill knows one or more of them,” I told him before we shared a long kiss there on the sofa. Later that night in bed, there was love and then sex. Both were long and passionate, and lasted a long, long time before we finally drifted off to sleep well satisfied.

The next two and a-half weeks were some of the most satisfying of my life. Living not on, but next to a farm was very fulfilling, and I helped the Duffields where I could with things like supervising their children when they did their chores and minding Melva to give her Mother a break. There was even some time spent going over Sam’s equipment to ensure that it was working correctly.

The sex during this period was fantastic also. We just seemed to fit together so well. I’d had sex with a number of other guys growing up and in college, but it had never been as good as it was with Allen. We tried everything during this period. When he licked me with that long tongue of his, I nearly went insane, and I managed to swallow that long, hard shaft of his with less trouble than I had thought. We even had anal, which I had only done a few times previously. It was a great turn on, and that big cock of Allen’s wasn’t as hard to take as I had feared, since he prepared both of us very well.

All of this came to an abrupt screeching halt on the morning of Wednesday, the 7th of May, as we were preparing to go to Walland for groceries. I had just returned from the Duffield’s minutes earlier when Allen grabbed his head and began to moan.

“What’s wrong?” I asked in concern.

“I don’t know, but I suddenly have a terrific headache,” he told me, obviously in pain. I started to check on him with my Magic senses to see what the trouble could be, but found it very difficult to get a reading. There seemed to be something in the space between us preventing me from reading him. I moved closer to touch him, but Allen warned me off.

“Stay back, there is something or someone in my head,” he warned me before nearly doubling over in pain. By now I was seriously concerned and tried to touch his Talent but found my way blocked!! What could be happening, I wondered, before beginning to sense his Talent start to fade.

“Get away, Maureen! There is someone in my head, and they want me to kill you,” he warned me in a gasping breath, since he was obviously in agony, as his face was distorted, he was very pale, and was sweating.

“Get away and take the amulet. They mustn’t get it or you,” he told me again, as he fought whatever was attacking him, but I couldn’t see or sense anything. He flung the amulet at me, and I caught it, as he screamed, clenching his teeth together, as he fought whatever it was.

“Get away quickly, I can’t hold out much longer,” he warned me through clenched teeth, and I still couldn’t sense anything. I was panicked by now, as I had never run into anything like this before, or anything that I couldn’t detect with my Magic senses. A quick check revealed that Allen’s Talent was fading rapidly and was almost gone. I panicked in fear then and transferred out of the cabin to appear at the Hardtrick farm.

“Help ... help!!” I screamed both vocally and mentally, as I appeared in their front yard. All five Hardtricks appeared around me in an instant.

“What’s wrong, Maureen?” Max immediately asked.

“It’s Allen. Something is attacking him and stealing his Talent. He begged me to escape,” I told them in tears.

“What?” four voices demanded in unison.

“Something is attacking him, but I couldn’t sense it,” I told them in a choking voice through my tears.

“Where were you when this happened?” Max demanded.

“We were at the cabin getting ready to go shopping,” I told him, as Jill held me and rubbed my back trying to comfort me.

“You will need to cast the transfer spell then, as I haven’t been to the cabin. We should appear outside of it,” Max told me, as he cast a ward around the two of us. Jill had backed up when he began to speak.

“Jill, stay here with the children and keep a sharp lookout. I’m raising the reinforced shell now. Alaster and Megan, help your Mother. Grace, check all of the animals and be sure they have plenty to eat, in case we need to leave here in a hurry,” Max told his Family before turning to me.

“Are you ready?” he demanded.

“Yes,” I sobbed.

“Then let’s go,” he told me, and I cast the transfer spell. In less than a second, we appeared outside of the cabin. Nothing appeared to have changed. Allen’s car was sitting there waiting for us to leave for Walland. The front door of the house was still open, but there was no sign of Allen or his Talent anywhere. I sent my Magic senses out in an ever widening circle, but there was no trace of him. I could sense Max beside me doing the same thing.

“Nothing,” I said in a dead voice.

“No, there is no trace of him or his Talent,” he agreed.

“We should check the house,” he said next.

“Is that wise?” I asked.

“Perhaps not, but it is necessary,” he told me, and I could feel him checking the wards around us.

“We won’t be able to get through the door together. Set your own wards, and I’ll shrink mine,” he told me before we started for the cabin, and I set my strongest wards around me.

“I’ll lead. Be prepared to transfer both of us away from here if necessary,” he warned me, as we started up the steps to the front porch.

On entering the house after crossing the front porch, it appeared to be nearly the same as when I had left a few minutes ago. The chair Allen had been sitting in was turned over, and there was no sign of him anywhere in the house, and no Magic signature to indicate that he might have transferred somewhere. There was nothing to indicate what had happened to him.

“This is very strange. I’ve never run into something like this before. Now I know how ordinary people feel when we use Magic, but there is no trace of Magic being used here,” Max said and fell silent for a time.

“Correction, there is no trace of White Magic being used here, but I’m not sure if Black Magic couldn’t have been used here. I have no way to test for that,” he finished.

“Angus’ books weren’t very helpful with that either. Witches have charms and amulets to detect the use of Black Magic, so there must be a way to do it. Perhaps Angus knows one,” I suggested.

“Close the house up. I’m going to warn Sam not to come over here. Then we’ll go to see Angus,” Max told me. That was when the cats reappeared. Apparently they had run off when I had transferred to escape.

“Can I send the cats to your farm?” I asked, as they all gathered around my feet, looking up at me.

“Yes, take them to the farm, and I’ll join you there, then we’ll go to see Angus,” Max told me before he transferred to warn Sam. I closed up the cabin after checking that everything was turned off, and the cats accompanied me outside. With them still around my feet, I transferred back to the Hardtrick farm. Jill and the children were startled when I appeared alone.

“Where’s Max?” Jill demanded in a concerned voice.

“He went to warn Sam. Allen has disappeared without a trace,” I told her in a choked up voice. “Can you watch my cats for a time?” I asked as Jill again took me in her arms to comfort me.

“We’ll take care of them,” she assured me just before Max appeared in the yard near us.

“We’re going to see Angus about ways to detect Black Magic,” he told his Wife.

“Black Magic!?” she said in shock.

“It’s the only way that we could think of that Allen could have disappeared without a trace,” he told her.

“We’ll stop back here after we see Angus,” he finished before casting the transfer spell, and he and I vanished to appear inside the inner shell around Angus’ house. Steve appeared on the porch as soon as we appeared.

“Hi Uncle Max. You too Maureen. What brings the two of you here together?” he asked.

“We have a problem. Is your Father available?” Max asked.

“Yes, he’s feeding the cats. Come on in,” Steve told us, having turned serious at the mention of a problem. He knew that if the two of us had a problem, it had to be serious.

Angus had just finished feeding the cats in the kitchen when we approached him.

“How serious is this problem?” he asked when we reached him, as obviously he had been listening with a spell while we talked to Steve.

“It may concern Black Magic,” Max told him.

“May?” Angus asked in a questioning voice.

“We aren’t sure. Allen has disappeared without a trace,” Max told him. “Is there a way to detect if Black Magic has been used?” he finished.

“It’s funny that you should ask. I just recently finished going over that Black Magic book that Maureen gave me for the second time. On the back cover there is a spell written in French for detecting the use of Black Magic. I missed it the first time that I went through the book, and only found it this time by accident. It doesn’t require the use of blood or other material to cast it. I can translate it for you to Gaelic if you would like,” he told us.

“Yes, that would be very helpful,” I told him, as the fear mounted about what we might find.

“Come into the library and I’ll write it out for you,” he told us, and we all retired to the library to get the spell.

“Be careful where you use this and who is around when you use it, as it isn’t apparently well known,” Angus warned us later as we prepared to return to the cabin to check for the use of Black Magic.

“We will, and thank you, Angus,” I told him, as we prepared to leave.

“Hold up a minute,” Angus asked. “I believe that I would like to see what that spell does and will go with you. I need to let Calisa know that I will be going first,” he finished, leaving the library to inform his Wife.

“Are we ready,” he asked returning a few minutes later having also changed his shoes to those appropriate to the outside.

“We’re ready,” Max said, as we all joined hands, and he cast the transfer spell. We again appeared outside the cabin, and all of us used our Magic senses to check it and the surrounding area for threats before entering the cabin.

“This looks cozy for two,” Angus said on entering and looking around.

“It was,” was all that I said in dejection.

“Do you want to cast the spell, Angus?” Max asked, getting us back to the reason we were all here.

“Why don’t you cast the spell, Max, and I’ll observe what happens as you cast it and the results,” Angus told him. Max looked at the paper with the spell written on it, and then he cast the spell with just a small sign made with his fingers.

Immediately on adding the Magic to the sign, a dark cloud appeared in the area where Allen had been sitting in his chair. The cloud was very dark and seemed to roil internally, like a storm cloud. We all watched it for more than a minute in silence before it faded, as we could sense the spell expire.

“I would say from the color of that cloud and the energy visible within it, that someone used a very powerful Black Magic spell. The effect of the spell was here, but the spell was cast from somewhere else,” Angus finished.

“You’re sure?” Max asked.