~

“What the hell?” The drunken idiot bit out, and I bit down on my need to push that man off the edge. Instead, I threw all of my anger behind my magic and aimed it at him.

“Sleep!” I bit out, and he dropped to the ground where he’d stood.

There was a strange sense of satisfaction in hearing the thud of his body hit the ground, but I snapped a look down over the edge, and there they were, falling together, twisting in midair so that Malachi’s body faced the rocks below.

I directed all of my anger into my magic and aimed it right at them. Like a blast of wind that had been whipped up from the sea, they were thrust outwards towards the water, carried on my magic until they hit the waves and disappeared below.

“Nice,” Nena said, standing beside me. “You two make a great couple.”

“We’re not a…” I stopped in mid-denial. I guess we were kind of a couple, but what kind of a couple remained to be seen. “Meh.”

“There they are!” She pointed as Malachi’s head broke the water first and he wrenched Jack up with him.

“Why are men so damn needy?” I sighed, but the fact that Jack was alive and my nightmare vision had finally come and gone without the eejit dying was a weight from my shoulders.

“They’re just wired like that,” she said.

I turned away from the edge, took a few steps and dropped to my backside on the grass with a thump to my pride and a Gran sized sigh. I felt older than my years.

“What about sleeping ugly?” She nodded towards the snoozing behemoth.

“Malachi can rinse his memory…”

“And replace it with the suggestion that he’s soft and cuddly?” She had an evil, wicked glint in her eye, and I liked it.

“Spends his time helping the elderly across the road…”

“Does good deeds for his local community…”

“And a wee nip of anything alcoholic never passes his lips.” I liked that idea.

“Oh, that’s worse than any sentence the court could throw at him,” she chuckled.

“You know – I do like your style,” I giggled.

“Do you think that the big man wearing ladies panties under his clothes is a step too far?”

“Considering he just pushed a man off a cliff nooo, tell me more.”

 

~

 

Well, Jack was gone, Nena was gone, Isla was starting to come out of her shell and was back on the street corner chatting with Mrs D this afternoon, although she didn’t much look as if her heart was in it yet, and Gran had started to perk up a little. It looked as if life might just have been getting back to normal, or as normal as it could be on Skye.

It was date night, and I was going out with Malachi, and for some strange reason, I’d been as nervous as a bride or her wedding day since I’d woken up this morning. Stupid really, he was just a guy, well, except that he was dead.

I hit the bottom stair just as Moira came out of the living room with a look of glee in her eyes and a big, stupid smile on her lips.

“Well, you went all out,” she said, motioning to my outfit, jeans and a little top, but I had put on a pair of heels, so I’d kind of made an effort-ish.

“I don’t want to give him the wrong idea,” I said, tossing her a death glare and hoping that she’d drop it – fat chance, it was Moira.

“That you’re open for business?” she said, folding her arms under her perky breasts and chuckling like a shrew.

“What am I, paid goods?”

“That could be a good side business for you,” she offered back, and I opened my mouth with a gasp of disbelief.

“Oh, you can kiss my a…”

“Moira!” Gran snapped out and made us both jump as she appeared at the door to the greenhouse and scowled at my sister.

“I didn’t do it!” Moira tossed back assuming default deniability mode without even being accused of anything yet.

“Possible, but we’ll get to what it was you didn’t do in good time,” Gran said, narrowing her eyes on Moira and making me feel guilty by association.

“O-kay,” Moira looked lost.

“Let’s go,” Gran said, and my sister shot a quizzical look in my direction, I had nothing to offer her but a shrug. “Those spells won’t just pop into your brain; you have to learn them.”

“S-pells,” she turned a death glare on me, and it was a good one.

I felt a sense of warmth spreading inside me, all warm and fuzzy for my sister’s misery. I offered her the same look of glee that she’d offered me.

“That’s right, sister,” I said, folding my arms and grinning with delight. “So many spells, so little time – you’ll want to get as much knowledge in that brain of yours as ye can because I think we both know it’s sadly lacking.”

“Let’s be having you,” Gran said and turned on her heels to leave.

“Y-ou,” Moira hissed at me, and I offered her a big old grimace.

“Enjoy your date, Maggie,” Gran said, “you do know that Malachi is your match, don’t you?” She tossed back over her shoulder, and I almost swallow my tongue as my jaw tried to hit my chest.

The sound of Moira’s squeal of delight echoed inside my brain.

“M-m-ma…” I spluttered.

“Oh,” Moira said, and I snapped a look at her, “that’s just soooo…”

“Against all things natural?” Malachi asked, appearing at the kitchen door beside me as I froze in place. I couldn’t turn to look at him, but I shot a look at Moira for help instead.

“I…” I shrugged, words failed me.

“Help, The Beatles, good choice!” Moira announced, and the moment that she said it I realised that I was singing it in my head. “Sorry, busy-busy, Gran duties.”

“That’s…” I tried to reach out to her, but she shot off down the hallway, and I was left grasping at thin air.

“Have a good time, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” She called back over her shoulder.

“Well, that doesn’t leave a lot,” Malachi called after her, and she grunted in annoyance, but didn’t stop walking.

I slowly turned my gaze towards Malachi, and the teasing, cocky look on his face made me want to dig a big hole and bury myself in it.

“You can say it,” he offered, and I frowned. “I was right – again.”

“I…” My stupid brain farted. “There are no words.”

“Because it’s just so … meant to be.” He gave me one of those stupidly sexy grins and my mouth opened, but nothing came out. “You’re overwhelmed with happiness.”

“That’s not where I was going with that,” and I wasn’t.

Gran had hit me with a giant wrecking ball – Malachi was my match? In what universe was that possible?

“I know what you’re thinking,” Malachi said, and I glared at him. “Oh, no wait. That was the other part of our deal. Drop the magic, Maggie.”

“No, it wasn’t, bite me.” Now that I knew we were fated, all bets were off.

“Later,” he grinned, and I snatched my head back on my neck and growled just a little. “Paging Ross?”

“Someone want me?” Ross asked, padding to the kitchen doorway with a large chicken leg in his hand.

“Can you kill him, pretty please?” I snapped at Ross, and the man lifted his hand and scratched his head.

“Why?”

“Because I asked nicely,” I hissed back.

“She’s got a point, how often does Maggie ask nicely?” Malachi chuckled, but Ross looked confused. I guess the whole multi-tasking thing of eating and thinking wasn’t working out for him.

“If I had a point I’d kill you myself,” I bit back.

“I thought you two were…” Ross wiggled his eyebrows, and I groaned.

“Oh, we are,” Malachi said.

“Not yet, we’re not,” I grumbled.

I should have been happy, right? I mean, the agonising was over, I didn’t have to wonder about all that; should I or shouldn’t I, stuff. He was my match, but… ugh!

Now I knew how Moira felt when she found out about Ross, but that didn’t help me any.

Moira and Ross, Eileen and Duncan, Malachi and … yep, still not seeing the big picture. What, did fate think we all needed big, bad supernatural protectors or something? Oh, maybe.

Cos that’s not insulting. I’m guessing fate is male.

“Shall we go?” Malachi asked, and I wondered if the scowl on my face was going to be permanent.

I suppose on the plus side, he was as sexy as sin, he did make me laugh, and he really got under Gran’s skin – bonus. But, how did you date a bloodsucking dead guy? I guess I was going to find out.

“Just keep those fangs to yourself,” I sneered.

“For now,” he shrugged.

I put one foot in front of the other and headed for the front door with the sound of Ross’ chuckles in my ears. Then Malachi was at my side, and I felt his cheek against mine.

“But, you’re going to love the fangs,” he whispered, and I opened my mouth to speak, “remember – I’m always right.”

“I guess when you’re that bloody old you’ve seen and done everything,” I bit out, and his chuckles warmed me just as much as having him that close.

Sure, I could date a dead guy – what’s so hard about that? I was a witch, this was the Isle of Skye, and stranger things have happened.

 

The End.