The Evil Inside

latecomers.

Jenna was ready for another Wiccan’s Brew. As she headed over to one of the bars, Madam Samantha-in all her half-naked glory-cut in front of her. “Ah! Jenna Duffy. It’s not a party until the cops…er, Feds show up.”

“Incredible performance,” Jenna said. “Where’s your snake?”

“Oh, back in the cage…this is a lot of stimulation for a snake, you know.”

“I’m sure your snake is used to stimulation.”

“Food, sex, good wine…slinky pets!” Samantha said to her. “Oh, you’re not angry, are you? Your man is a stud, you know.”

“Why would I be angry?”

Samantha laughed. “Oh, honey! You can’t be that naive. Maybe he’s got the hots for you, but I’m sure I got a nice rise out him.”

Jenna was glad that the way the woman said the words actually and naturally made her laugh. She probably couldn’t have said or done anything more insulting, and she knew it because Samantha’s face turned a mottled shade or red.

“Sure,” Jenna said. “Excuse me, I was heading for the drink line. Can I get you anything?”

“Yeah. Yeah. You can get out of town. All you’re doing is hurting a lot of good people!”

“Noted. Now may I pass?”

“You going to make me move?” Samantha asked.

Jenna sighed. “I am a Fed, Miss Yeager. Lots of training under my belt,” she said softly.

Samantha moved. But as Jenna walked by, she warned, “You should get out of the state. You need to be careful. Whatever training you might have had, you’re not infallible. You could get hurt. I saw your cards, Agent Duffy. Actually, you could get dead.”

“Are you threatening me?” Jenna turned and asked.

“I would never! I’m telling you what I saw in your cards!”

Jenna continued toward the drink line. She was stunned when her way was blocked again.

Not by Samantha.

By a peacock.

Cindy Yates stared at her with teary eyes behind her jeweled mask. She seemed to be trembling with rage.

“How dare you? How dare you!” she demanded. “How dare you accost my son!”

“Mrs. Yates, I was at the cliff, showing the area to a friend of mine. Your son came to the cliff when I was already there.”

Cindy Yates continued to stare at her, shaking and looking more like a rooster at the moment. “That boy is the devil. That boy could kill us all. You stop trying to hurt our children. You stop what you’re doing-you-you-”

Jenna waited, certain she was going to hear another threat.

“You-you’re the cruelest, meanest person in the world!” Cindy said.

Then she didn’t threaten. She hauled back and slapped Jenna across the face with a startling strength.

Jenna was instantly aware of movement in the crowd. She knew that her group had rallied around her. She felt Sam at her back, as protective as a giant alpha wolf.

She lifted a hand quickly. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Yates,” she said softly, and she stepped around the woman. Whoever had witnessed the exchange began to huddle together and whisper, but Jenna knew that she had avoided a real scene-or a brawl!

Sam caught her arm. She saw the gray of his eyes beneath his mask. “Are you all right?” he asked anxiously.

“My cheek is stinging, but another Wiccan’s Brew will fix that,” she assured him.

He slipped his arm through hers and led her to the drink line. “Well, we did want to get the lay of the land.”

Angela and Jackson were behind them in the line, as if they’d tacitly decided there would be no more divide and conquer; they would close ranks.

“So, Wiccan’s Brews, four, please,” Sam told the bartender. She looked at Jenna a moment, and then smiled.

“Welcome to Salem,” the bartender said. “Glad to have you here-all of you. Welcome. I mean, come on! We are the original Patriots, too!”

They thanked her and took their drinks. Ivy and Cecilia went up to the microphone the next time the music stopped. They thanked everyone and offered a special surprise performance.

Jenna was startled to see Will, elegantly attired, take the stage. She glanced at Sam, and she realized that he had planned the performance.

“Sneaky like the wolf!” she whispered to him.

“Hey, thought he should garner a nice audience this way.”

Will went through the beginning of his performance with lights and prisms, and then, to her surprise, a light went through the audience and settled on her. “Ah, we have an ancient Celtic queen to join us! Miss, if you’d come to the stage…?”

She wasn’t sure what he was up to, but Sam quickly escorted her to the stage. She’d halfway expected the crowd to boo, but apparently everyone didn’t hate them; she received the appropriate applause as Will welcomed her as his assistant.

“All are welcome here, but we are here due to the benevolence of the Coven of Light. So, we have our Celtic queen of old here, and she’ll crown the two who have brought about this wonderful, giving occasion. Because we know, in modern Salem, that Wiccans believe that all souls have the right to do as they will, as long as they harm no others. No two show greater kindness of spirit than our true queens from A Little Bit of Magic-Ivy and Cecilia!”

Will handed her two beautifully wrought gold crowns surrounded with ivy leaves and flowers. He cast his hand out, and rays of light fell over the two women. Blushing, they headed for the stage. They had obviously not known about this part of the entertainment.

“This is really great of you, Will,” Jenna whispered. “But what are you doing? What am I doing?”

“Trust me!” Will said briefly.

Ivy and Cecilia were escorted to the stage, where they stammered and flushed some more and thanked everyone who had helped them.

“And now, they shall be crowned true queens of the ball!” Will announced. “But! Every queen must have a king, and it’s our beautiful Celtic goddess of old who will help find the proper kings for our queens! Goddess!” he said, looking at Jenna.

She arched a brow.

“Just turn around and lift your hands!” Will whispered.

When she followed his instructions, rays of light started shooting through the audience and landing upon the men in the crowd. Somehow, Will managed to find all those wearing the horned god costumes; there were a few vampires and werewolves thrown in, apparently for good measure.

The audience was laughing and applauding.

The costumed guests could do little but oblige, coming to the stage. Will was determined that each man would unmask, and she would choose the appropriate kings through their answers.

The first two horned gods were from out of town; the second two were women, giggling schoolteachers from Idaho. Will said that they had every right to be kings, but if they were kings, they’d still be called queens. The crowd laughed some more.

A vampire and a werewolf followed. The vampire, too, was a woman.

Three more horned gods came up. One was from Boston, one from Ipswich, and one was down from Gloucester.

They went through more and more horned gods.

Jenna didn’t recognize any of them or their names.

Until the end.

The last horned god had tried to slip away, but the good-natured crowd pushed him forward.