The Doctor Witch (The Ward Witches) (17 page)

“
No indeed. Now let's get to that party.”

They took his car over to the hospital, and he led her up to the conference room with her hand in his elbow. He obviously could feel her nerves through his magic because he squeezed her hand before they went in. “I love you,” he whispered. “They'll love you too.”

She smiled and nodded.

At first, no one noticed their entrance. Leo took advantage of that to make their way over to a seated elderly man. There were a good number of people grouped around him, and yet, when he saw Leo, he gestured him over.

Leo smiled and shook the man's hand eagerly. “I'm glad to see you're finally retiring, old man.” His smile was warm and genuine, and Skylar got the feeling that this was a man who Leo really respected.

“
There comes a time for all of us. I know I'm leaving tomorrow for a transatlantic cruise with my wife. I'll be in no rush to come home either except to see the kids. I plan to take full advantage of all the time I've got.”

“
Sounds like a great plan to me.”

“
So now that I'm old and retired, I can be blunt. When are you going to get your own reason to go home at night?”

Leo's lazy smile spread across his face. “I actually already have. Meet Skylar, the beautiful woman I have the honor of escorting here.”

“
Nice to meet you, Skylar. I'm Gary Cross.”

“
Gary was my mentor through my residency, and we've remained close since,” Leo explained. They both seemed nearly oblivious to the people around them. But Skylar could feel their eyes. She could feel them considering her and her relationship with Leo.

“
You've never brought a woman around before,” Leo's mentor observed. “Does that mean this is serious?”

“
Extremely so. I've already married her,” Leo said proudly.

“
You move fast. I approve. I'm glad you were able to tie this one down. He's a good man.”

“
I know, Dr. Cross.”

“
Call me Gary, please.”

“
We shouldn't keep you from your guests for much longer,” Leo commented. “We're going to go mingle.”

“
Congratulations to both of you, and I'll give you a call when I get back, alright Leo?”

“
Sounds great. If I don't see you before you leave, have a great trip.”

“
Thank you.”

Leo guided Skylar over to the refreshment table. But before they got there, another doctor caught Leo by the shoulder. “Is it true then, Leo? You got married?”

“
Yes it is. This is my wife, Skylar Ward. Skylar, meet Rich Baylor, a talented cardiologist.”

“
Nice to meet you, Skylar. It's good to see Leo with a woman. But do be careful,” he said in an exaggerated whisper, “There are a lot of sharks disguised as women who wanted to snag Leo as their own.”

Skylar laughed. She liked Rich immediately. “You'll protect me though, right?”

“
Absolutely. I'll consider it my sworn duty to console some of these nicely single young ladies.” He winked and headed off, promising to catch up with Leo later.

Indeed, after they had put some appetizers on a plate, they got stopped by a woman. “What do you think you're doing?” She hissed at Skylar. “Leo's mine. We've dated for years.”

Skylar's heart stopped for a moment. But then she saw Leo glaring daggers at the other woman, and she figured it would work out fine. “We slept together, Melissa. I told you there was nothing permanent before we entered into any kind of relationship. A relationship which, if you'll remember, I called off months ago. Now if you'll excuse us...”

The other woman, Melissa, raised a hand as if to strike Skylar. But Skylar was too fast for her and grabbed the other woman's hand. “I know that Leo is a great man, and you're just mad that you can't have him anymore. But I'd advise you to lower your hand and leave both of us alone in the future.” She said it nicely and calmly, even though her insides were squirming. Melissa glared at her, and walked away.

“
Nice move,” Leo whispered and kissed her cheek. “You should know she meant nothing to me, especially not compared to you.”

“
I know.” Skylar grinned.

After that incident, the only people who approached them were friendly. Skylar liked a lot of Leo's co-workers, and she was glad she had been there to meet them and to see Leo's mentor off into retirement.

When they got back out to Leo's car, he gave her a big kiss. “You did marvelously.”

“
Thank you.”

“
I'm glad I brought you today.”

“
I'm glad you feel that way. I liked your friends and co-workers.”

“
And the ones that matter to me liked you too. I told you they would.”

“
You did say that. But now I've got to meet the Coven.”

“
That will be easier. For one thing, I didn't sleep with any of them. Besides, they'll understand better what happened between us. Not to mention that my family will all be standing behind you there.”

“
That's true indeed.”

“
Besides, we're victorious today. Don't worry about the future when you can think about the victory today.”

Dymphna was waiting for them when they got home.

“
How did it go?”

“
Great. Skylar was charming, and even stood up to one of the women I used to sleep with.”

“
Good for you, Skylar. Way to solidify your position.”

“
Thank you.”

“
So what's next?”

“
I've been cutting my classes over at the Coven House short, so I've got to go rededicate myself over there. Then, I suppose, the monthly Coven meeting on Friday.”

“
Can I give you some advice there?”

“
Please do.”

“
Stick close to one of us. There's been a lot of people trying to grab power away from Seb. They won't do it directly, of course, but if they can get to him through you...”

“
I see.”

“
If they can say you're a weakness in the Ward family at all, we might have a problem.”

“
I understand.”

Leo smiled at her and grabbed her hand. “You'll do fine. Just be who you are, and don't let anyone push you around.”

Dymphna nodded solemnly. “Remember that you've got Justin for backup if anything goes awry.”

“
Why Justin in particular?”

“
He may look like he's all fun, games, and women, but as Head of Coven Protection, he's a force to be reckoned with.”

“
Good to know.”

The next day, Skylar worked with Timothy on casting fireballs. She was getting good at making one that hovered over her hand, and was feeling quite proud of herself.

“
Good work. Now can you throw it?”

“
Excuse me?” The fireball went out.

“
You're a very powerful witch. I believe you can do a lot more than summon a fireball.”

He went into a closet off the main gym area and came back with a target. Skylar watched as he set it up then cast a protection spell to keep any flames in the limited area they were working in.

“
Did you see the protection spell?”

“
Yes.”

“
Now I want you to cast one as well. Remember, particularly with fire magic, you can't just go casting spells. You need to ensure that the spell doesn't go awry and do something you didn't want it to do. So before we throw fireballs, we protect the surroundings.”

It took a few tries, but she got it pretty quickly. Timothy dropped his and threw a fireball right at her shield. The fireball was exterminated, and he smiled.

“
Good work. Now, summon your fireball.” She did as requested. “Then, using a projection of your will onto your magic, throw the fireball at the target.”

They spent the rest of the lesson working on aiming and sizing the fireball. By five, she could get any reasonable size of fireball at the center of the target every time.

“
You're a fast learner,” Timothy remarked.

“
Thank you. I've come to understand that now my complete protection shields on my magic are gone, I have to be careful. I don't want to accidentally ignite something or otherwise get into trouble with my magic. So I keep my new shields up, and I try hard at these lessons.”

“
It shows. But really, no matter how hard you worked, you couldn't master these skills so quickly if you weren't really powerful. So I'd like you to take down your shields for a minute. Just for my own curiosity, I want to assess just how powerful you really are.”

“
Sure.”

She lowered her shields and felt Timothy's magic probe hers, testing it. It almost tickled and made her skin crawl at the same time. Then he withdrew.

“
Put your shields back up.”

“
So what's the verdict?”

He sighed. “I've told you I don't like to inflate egos.”

“
Yes, you've said that.”

“
But based on sheer potential power, I don't think I've met a more powerful fire witch. Training wise, yes. But on the amount of magic you have accessible to you, no one else.”

She stopped, stunned. “Really?”

“
Yes. I look forward to seeing how far your ability propels you. Just keep in mind that with that amount of power comes a greater need for shields and protective spells. Don't let it rule you.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Some witches will get too addicted to their magic. Some will tap their power source so hard that they will burn out all of their ability. Others will want more and more and turn to blood magic.”

“
I haven't heard anyone talk about blood magic.”

“
I'm not surprised. I know you've heard of the Dark Order.”

“
Yes.”

“
One of the key differences that sets them apart from us is that they believe it's alright to use blood magic, and we do not. Blood magic is addictive, and while it may start with a little blood to enhance a spell, it spirals. It doesn't take too long before the witch's natural ability is gone, replaced by the ability to gain more magic through blood. Eventually that blood will need to come from a sacrifice of a live person, though there are many steps before that.”

“
When Leo and Seb collapsed from feeling someone else's pain a week ago, do you think that was a sacrifice?”

“
Yes, I do. But don't let that information leave the room. Justin believes the same thing, but others in Coven Protection and the Coven administration don't agree. I'm afraid that it will keep happening until we find a way to stop it. But if we can't even agree on the source, I don't know how we'll work together to stop the next sacrifice.”

“
There's a reason you're telling me this, isn't there?”

“
You're very smart. I have two reasons. One, Justin and I believe that there is someone, and possibly more than one someone, inside the Coven who is also part of the Dark Order or aiding them. They've been keeping one step ahead of us all this time, and that can't be coincidence. Two, I want you to keep your eye out and be careful. The more powerful the sacrifice, the more power the blood magic will be. Therefore, you're a big target as soon as others realize what kind of raw power you have. Three, if Leo has another spell, I want you to try to get any information out of him that you can. Anything might help our case.”

“
I'll try. But if you're so convinced that someone in the Coven is helping the Dark Order, why did you trust me with this?”

“
Again, I have a few reasons. If a witch uses blood magic, they lose their ability to bond with someone like you've bonded with Leo. Plus, Leo and Seb are both strong air witches. I'm sure that they've both checked you out for any kind of malevolent thought.” Skylar remembered Leo's check of her in the hospital. “If they trust you, then I can trust you.”

“
Thank you.”

“
Now I know I keep interrupting your training schedule, but Justin and Seb want to have a meeting tomorrow during the day to prepare for the monthly Coven meeting in the evening.”

“
So no lessons tomorrow?”

“
No. But work on your shields at home. I want you to get it to where you show only an average amount of fire magic. Shield yourself so that any probe will not find how much raw power you have. Basically, try to make yourself look like less of a target to any black magic user who might run into you tomorrow evening.”