2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Ailin

I sighed at the same time as Seb. “Of course you do. What’s wrong?”

“I’ve had over fifty calls from people saying their kids’ toys are attacking them, and the calls keep coming in.”

I blinked at that, then exchanged a look with Seb. “The toys are attacking kids?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of toys?” Seb asked, staring at me with wide eyes.

“It’s a variety so far, and apparently not only toys. Some holiday decorations have been attacking people too. The ones I’ve spoken to are all brand-new toys and decorations. But, guys, I don’t have enough hands on deck. I’ve already called in everyone I can think of, and we’re still having trouble keeping up. Can you please come help out?”

Since this was for kids—and we always helped Alec out anyway—I didn’t even have to ask my viramore. “Yes, of course. Text me an address.”

“Thank you. I’ll have you come to the same street I’m on. We set up a base here because there’re several houses on this street with the same issue. Honestly, it feels like every damn house on this block has attacking objects.”

“Okay, we’re leaving now,” Seb said, already nudging me toward the door. It was a shame I couldn’t get him to stay shirtless while we were doing this. Seb glared at me. “No way in hell.”

Oops . Guess he overheard my thoughts.

“Sera! Zamm! You coming?”

Our Bonded Ones—a familiar of sorts—hadn’t wanted to come to the mall with us earlier because they’d been busy playing with some of the younger kids out by the lake on our coven land. But I doubted they’d want to be left at home for a second time today.

Sure enough, a tiny purple and black dragon about the size of a house cat came flying down the steps and crash-landed into the side of Seb’s head.

“Oh my god, Zamm! What the hell?” Seb cried out, reaching up to grab the flapping dragon.

I stifled a laugh but didn’t have time to tease him about his Bonded because mine, a black cat named Seraphina, came rushing down the steps and clawed her way up my body to ride on my shoulder. Damn, she had sharp claws.

Seb’s Bonded might’ve had a rough landing, but at least she hadn’t made him bleed, for fuck’s sake.

We headed out, got in the car, and I plugged in the address Alec sent. Luckily, it wasn’t far.

We arrived quickly but were cut off by a barricade. From the looks of what I could see, it was complete mayhem on the other side. There were people milling about everywhere with toys and decorations strewn about the yards and lying in the street. Some of the objects were on fire, some were lying on the ground destroyed and looking like something you’d find in a horror film, some were moving around, and some were underneath a witch’s shield.

There were also several large shields around groups of people, keeping them safe. From the colors of the shields and the feel of the magic, I could tell some of my kids—Basil, Thayer, Jorah, and Clover—were already here and working the case. The four of them worked for the BCA, so that wasn’t a surprise. There were some other witches and other beings with magic among the BCA agents as well.

Seb and I got out of the car and walked up to the barricade.

“Excuse me, sirs, but I’m going to have to ask you to turn around,” a human police officer said. Alec had obviously called them in to help secure the scene. When he’d said all hands on deck, he’d clearly meant it.

I pulled out my ID while Seb did the same, then we both stepped forward to show the guy. “I’m Ailin Ellwood, and this is my viramore, Sebastian Ellwood.”

The human’s eyes went wide—we may’ve been a little famous since the Berserker War; our names were definitely written in the history books kids read in school these days—and he stammered. “Oh, I’m sorry… I… um… sorry, sirs, I, um, I didn’t know. I—”

“It’s okay,” Seb said, cutting the guy off with a kind smile—he was always so polite and nice to strangers… at least when the strangers weren’t a threat. “No big deal. But we’re here to help out, so can we head in now?”

“Oh!” He quickly moved out of the way, waving us through. “Sorry. And, uh, thank you.”

I had no idea what he was thanking us for, but I gave him a nod and weaved my way through the barricade with Seb right behind me and our Bondeds riding on our shoulders. No one even looked twice at the small dragon and black cat because everyone was used to witches carrying around their Bondeds this way.

That hadn’t always been the case, but the Berserker War had many consequences, not the least being our grand reveal. Humans found out that magic was real and supernatural beings existed. Since many of those supernatural beings—including Seb and myself—had been trying to save all of humankind and the supe world, the humans had accepted us more readily than I’d expected. It took some getting used to back in the day, but since it’d been decades with us out in the open, no one batted an eye at our little Zammerra.

We headed toward a BCA tent on the side of the road. I figured Alec would be at the temporary command center, and if he wasn’t, someone there could tell us where he was.

Luckily, we found my brother-in-law there, but he looked stressed as fuck. It took a lot to get him this worked up, so we were likely walking into a nightmare. Fun times.

“Hey, Al,” I said as we walked in, giving Sera a few scratches.

He blew out a breath, looking relieved. “Hey. Thanks for coming… again.”

I waved him off. “Alright, tell me where you need us.”

“Let me call the kids over so they can tell you what they’ve found.”

I might’ve been biased, but Alec generally wasn’t when it came to work, so when he relied on my kids and said they were the best at their jobs, I believed him. Honestly, I knew they were because I’d worked with them too many times to count.

“Sounds like a plan.”

He radioed them, and soon, Clover, Jorah, Thayer—along with his viramore, Toby—and Basil—with his viramore, Hiro—all came into the tent.

“Hey, guys,” Seb said, then started petting Zamm, who was still wrapped around his neck.

I could tell he wanted to hug each of them as badly as I did, but we were all on the job, and there could be lives at stake, so we both refrained.

All of them lived on coven land, but they each had their own houses there with their viramores and kids. So even though they lived close by, we didn’t see them every day. Although, all of our family members were in and out of the big house —AKA, my and Seb’s home—all the time. I loved that they all came for visits, even if half the time it was only to come steal some food.

“Alright, tell me what you know,” I said.

The kids all exchanged looks before Clover spoke up for the group. “So far, all we know is that a bunch of toys and decorations attacked people. We can all sense magic on them, but we don’t know what kind of magic.”

That’s… unusual.

Before I could ask questions, Jorah added, “We can tell that the magic is sucking up the victims’ fear and some of their life essence, but it doesn’t feel like it’s holding onto it.”

My brow furrowed. “What does that mean?”

Basil shrugged. “It’s like the toys are sucking in the energy and just letting it go—or maybe they’re sending it somewhere else, but we can’t tell where.”

I blinked at that and exchanged a look with Seb before turning back to our kids. “You haven’t been able to follow the magic?” All of them shook their heads, and I frowned. “That’s… odd.”

“Tell me about it.” Bas sighed. “I think you should try. You might have better luck than we did.”

My eyebrows rose. It was true that at one time, I was known as Sage and considered the most powerful witch in the world, but that was before Bas, Jor, and Thay sucked in the Power of Three magic during the Berserker War. They became The Three —also known as super badass and hella powerful witches with extra fae magic thrown in. Maybe my innate magic was stronger than theirs—but I doubted it since they were powerful in their own right—but with the added Three magic, there was no way in hell I had them beat, not even with the way my magic was able to combine with Seb’s enchanter magic.

The title of Sage only stayed with me out of some strange sense of respect everyone had. I was pretty sure Jorah should’ve held that title, but no one wanted to listen to me about it, so there were still times people within the supernatural community called me it. I was used to it, so I answered to the title and shrugged it off.

“I’ll take a look, but you know I’m not going to find anything different than you guys.”

Thayer shrugged and shot me a smile. “Maybe not, but it’s worth a try. You have a… better understanding of magic in general.”

I stared at my kids, suddenly suspicious. I’d taught them all everything I knew, so there was no way all four of them had missed something, and they knew it. “Why are you all buttering me up? What do you want?”

All four of my kids laughed, and Toby and Hiro even cracked some smiles.

Jorah said, “We don’t want anything.”

“Uh-huh. I believe you.” I rolled my eyes. Didn’t want anything, my ass.

Seb said through our link, “They definitely want something.”

“Oh, I know. Little suspicious butts.”

Seb snorted out loud, and Bas glared at us. “Stop making fun of us where we can’t hear it.”

I chuckled, and my viramore said mock-innocently, “We would never.”

That made everyone laugh, and Bas gave Seb a playful push before we all filed out of the tent. Clover led the way down the street to a house that had a family of five standing on the front lawn, trapped under one of Clover’s shields, protecting them. They seemed worried and scared but also grateful to Clover for her protection.

Clover walked over to them, reassuring them and doing a fine job of calming them down further. It wasn’t hard to see how much she cared about people. She was such a good kid—not that she was actually a kid anymore, but she always would be to me.

Jor said, “There’re some toys inside that we haven’t disabled yet. We left them for you to examine.”

I gave him a nod, then preceded the kids into the house with Seb right behind me. Our Bondeds hopped down to the ground, using their superior noses and ears to find the attacking toys or whatever they were. The front door opened up into a living room where there was a big Christmas tree in the corner, two couches, a TV, end tables, and a coffee table. But I didn’t see any toys.

“They’re in the dining room,” Clover called out from behind me.

I grunted in acknowledgment and headed farther inside, walking under an archway that led to the dining room.

Seb yelled out, and I turned in surprise, expecting to see something attacking him, but a blink of movement above my head made me startle.

There was a flash of blue magic—Seb’s magic—surrounding me. A shield. Seb had thrown a shield around me.

As soon as I had the thought, I saw a flash of green and red hit the top of the shield, right over my head. It made me flinch in surprise.

My eyes widened. On top of the shield was a piece of mistletoe tied with a red bow, but the mistletoe had sort of… come to life. And the thing was going crazy, wiggling around, flailing, banging against the shield again and again.

And it was… growling. How a mistletoe decoration was growling, I’d never know.

Going up on my toes to get a better look, I examined the crazed thing. “Ew.” I wrinkled my nose. “It has teeth.”

“That’s disgusting.” My viramore shivered dramatically. “How the hell did that thing grow teeth?”

“No idea, but it sure as hell wants to use them against me.”

“No shit.” Seb stepped closer and walked through his own magic to join me under the shield. “I thought I was going to have to catch it after it hit the shield, but part of it is still connected to the archway.” He paused. “Well, if I wasn’t going to have nightmares before, I sure as shit am now. What the hell is that thing?”

“No clue. Let me catch it with my magic so we can examine it.”

“I’m not dropping my shield until you step away from that thing. If it touches you, I’m blasting it to bits.”

That made me grin at him. I loved when his overprotective side showed.

When he saw the look on my face, he rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”

I snorted and gave him a nudge until the two of us backed away, taking the shield with us.

That left the mistletoe dangling from one branch, swinging around, chomping at the air. I’d never admit it to Seb, but that thing was creepy as hell.

“Thanks for the save,” I murmured.

“Like I’m gonna let some possessed murderous mistletoe attack you. Nope. Not on my watch.”

I grinned again, but since I didn’t want him to yell at me, I faced away from him so he couldn’t see.

“I know you’re smiling.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed.

“Asshat.”

Trying to shake off my amusement, I formed a shield that was open on one end, then wrapped it around the mistletoe, closing it against the ceiling. Seb dropped his shield without my asking, but I could tell he was on high alert, watching my back to make sure nothing else attacked.

With him—and the kids too—keeping an eye out, I let my earth magic out. It emanated from me in a green haze, and I gave it a tiny push toward the mistletoe, trying to get a sense of the magic within the decoration.

It only took me a few minutes before I paused. “Huh. That’s weird.”