“Cool,” Ellen said as Allyson escorted Herb—Jessica and Karla’s dad—into the living room.
Everyone stood up as Allyson introduced Herb to everyone. Sadie stepped into the living room during the introductions, and once the introductions were over, Herb was told about Blaire, Trevor and Devon being coven leaders, and that his daughters were offered membership into Blaire’s coven.
Herb sighed before questioning, “This witchcraft will never be over, will it?”
“Mr. Harman, your two daughters are powerful sorceresses and they have expressed the desire to practice their craft,” Trevor began. “I have no doubt that they will continue to practice their craft if they join the Tri-Star Confederation or not, but by them being a member of our confederation, they are guaranteed our support and guidance.”
“Dad, they operate their covens peacefully, and I believe that this is a great opportunity for Jessica and me,” Karla said.
“Karla and I want to join,” Jessica added.
Herb slightly hesitated, and while slightly shaking his head, he told Jessica and Karla, “You two are the ones who are going to explain this to your mother.”
“We would like to speak with your wife, Mr. Harman,” Blaire told him before Jessica or Karla could say anything. “The chances are slim, but we might be able to get your wife out of prison.”
“Please call me Herb, and I would be grateful if you could pull that off,” he said. When Blaire nodded with a grin, he continued with, “Anyway, Jessica. Karla. We should go.”
“See you all later,” Karla told them with a slight wave.
Jessica slightly waved too as she and Herb told them, “Bye.”
“Bye,” the others echoed before Jessica, Karla and Herb could turn and walk away.
As Jessica, Karla and Herb were leaving, Allyson asked Everett, “Are you going with us when we go out to eat?”
“I would like to,” Everett said.
Allyson nodded before looking at the others and saying, “Okay, if no one objects I would like to go now.”
“We can go now,” Trevor said followed by the others.
“I’ll get Sonya ready,” Ellen said as she turned towards the playpen.
Sonya was asleep and she began to fuss once she was picked up. Ellen quickly began singing to Sonya, which quickly calmed her.
It took the group a short time to get organized before everyone left the house.
As they were leaving the house, Ellen asked Sadie, “Have you started yet on writing out that incantation?”
“Not yet, and it might take a day or two to create one,” Sadie replied.
Ellen responded with a nod and a polite grin.
Everyone was quiet for a brief moment before Ellen asked, “Which spells can be linked to a magical token?”
“I’ll put it to you this way,” Trevor began. “The only spells that can’t be linked to a magical token are vivacious incantations.”
“What about precision incantations?” Ellen asked.
“Okay, the only spells that can’t be linked to a magical token are vivacious incantations and precision incantations,” Trevor amended. “Any other spell can be linked to a magical token.”
“I want to try it,” Ellen announced. Everyone gave Ellen a curious look. “I want to link a spell to a token.”
“Okay,” Trevor said in an uncertain tone. “Which one?”
“What are the common ones linked to magical tokens?” Ellen asked as they were approaching the vehicles.
“Linking spells to magical tokens are done more for convenience and not which one is more common,” Trevor told Ellen. “Which spell would you more like to cast with a single word or a short phrase?”
“Defensive spells,” Ellen uttered without putting too much thought into her answer. “One at least—one that will defend off an attack.”
As they stopped walking near the vehicles, Trevor informed, “Offensive and defensive incantations are known as combat incantations, and because of the complexity of combat incantations, a magical token holding a combat incantation can only be activated once.”
“Okay,” Ellen said while pondering what was said. “Could I… reload it? The object that I used for my token? With the same spell?”
“Of course,” Trevor said. “You can even cancel a spell attached to a token and attach a different spell to it.”
“Cool,” Ellen uttered. “Which spell would be the best one to defend off an attack?”
“I recommend one that will knock a person back several feet in order to give you time to assess the situation,” Devon suggested.
“If I’m defending myself against an attacking wizard, I would know what the situation was,” Ellen retorted.
“It’s not that simple, Ellen,” Blaire was the one to say. “Some peaceful yet untrusting wizards and sorceresses will attack first and ask questions later. At which you will want to defuse the attack without causing harm to that person, so you can explain that you are there peacefully. However, the untrusting wizard might not believe you, and come at you again. At which you will need to use a stronger defense against the attacking wizard. And even then, you will want to use a spell that will defuse the attack without causing harm.”
“Alright-alright,” Ellen quickly said. “I get it. I’ll go with the type of spell that Devon had suggested. I want to link that type of spell to a magical token.”
“Alright,” Trevor agreed. “They’re known as blow-back incantations. There are several different ones with varying effectiveness. Several years ago, I had memorized one of the powerful ones, and when we get back from dinner, I’ll instruct you on how to link it to a token.”
“Thanks,” Ellen said.
Trevor nodded before instructing, “In the meantime, think of a word or a short phrase that you would never use in a conversation. That word or phrase will be what you’ll say to activate the spell.”
“Okay,” Ellen agreed before she and the others went to their respective vehicles.
Winona, Riley and Brad left Bonnie’s house to search for the two vampires within the city; however, from a vampire locating spell that would be cast on a mirror or a crystal ball—that Winona’s father would do within Winona’s hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida—they knew exactly where to go.
After climbing into their rented van that had eight seats and side windows, Winona, Riley and Brad went to the house that had hosted the large Halloween party the night before, and as they drove up, they saw that the owners of the house were hosting another moderate size social event.
Brad was the one driving, and when he saw the moderate number of expensive vehicles parked in the driveway and around the house, he asked, “What now? We can’t exactly knock and barge in.”
Winona was in the seat directly behind Brad, and after a short moment of pondering what to do, she said, “We’ll sit out here and wait. They have to leave at some point.”
The neighboring houses were two to three times farther apart compared to other neighborhoods, and Brad turned around in the next driveway down.
Trees filled the neighborhood yards, but Brad found a place to park the van with a good view of the house between the driveway that he had used and the house that was harboring the vampires.
They talked as they watched the house, and after a forty-minute wait, a police cruiser—with its