Chasing Magic: The Last Witch Coven Book 1 Read online

  Chasing Magic

  The Last Witch Coven Book 1

  By Rachel Medhurst

  Copyright © 2020 by Rachel Medhurst

  PLEASE NOTE: THIS BOOK USED TO BE CALLED PISCES – BOOK 1 IN THE TWIN FLAME ZODIAC SERIES. IT HAS BEEN RE-WORKED AND RE-NAMED.

  Sign up to my mailing list for free books and updates: Rachel Medhurst Website

  This book is dedicated to my soulmate, Nathan.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Chasing Warlocks - Book Two

  Mailing List

  Copyright

  Author

  Chapter One

  The dark descended as I tripped over the paving slab, only just catching my balance. I hated being out alone at night, but there was just something about walking around, unhindered by those who had tried to trap me. It gave me a buzz.

  My coven had tried to warn me about being safe on the outside. The warlocks who promised to end our existence were getting pretty close to winning. With only ten witches left in the world, it wouldn’t take long for them to carry out their threat.

  The scrape of something on the ground behind me made me look over my shoulder. A shudder travelled down my spine as the quiet street echoed every little sound. The apartment I shared with a new friend was only a few roads away. Would I make it in time?

  If a warlock followed me, I would have to get creative. As a witch, I was almost powerless. Yeah, we’d been cursed a long time ago and there was barely any magic left, so the reason for my existence was pretty clear. Bring magic back to earth or else the witches would die out for good.

  Fun, huh?

  My footsteps sped up when the meow of a cat made me jump, forcing adrenaline to pump through my veins. Every single horror movie I’d ever watched flashed through my mind. And yet, the fear was real.

  “Please,” I muttered to myself. “Don’t prove them right.”

  The footstep sounded again. Propelling forward, I started to run, too terrified to stay cool. I wasn’t the most athletic, which was an understatement, but I managed to bolt down the street and into the next one within seconds.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I shuddered as my gaze tried to find a warlock lurking in the shadows. There was nothing there, the streets were empty. Instead of slowing, I pelted it the rest of the way back to my apartment, too scared to even stop for fish and chips like I’d planned.

  “Hey,” Kat, my flatmate, greeted me as I slammed the door shut behind me. “What’s up?”

  Shrugging, I smiled, half dying as my breath huffed in and out. “Thought I heard someone behind me, you know how it is.”

  Kat was settled on the sofa, remote in hand. “I hate when that happens.”

  Unable to help myself, I laughed as I waved a hand in dismissal and went into the bathroom, fully intending to emerge myself in a hot bath for ten hours.

  The bath filled quickly, allowing me to submerge myself within minutes. Shivers easing, I relaxed into the water and closed my eyes.

  “Penny!”

  The blurred vision of Kat staring down at me made me jump. Pulling my head out of the water, I rubbed a hand over my face. She gasped when bathwater streamed from my mouth, pouring out of my lungs. My long brown hair stuck to my back, almost glued to my skin. I whipped a strand away from my mouth as I sat up.

  “What the hell? You looked dead. I thought you were dead…!”

  I tried to cover my nakedness, but Kat didn’t pay any attention.

  “I can breathe underwater,” I said casually, climbing out of the bath and wrapping a towel around myself.

  “You can breathe underwater?”

  My stomach clenched as I debated whether to make a joke out of it. If I told her that all my siblings had unique elemental powers, she would just think I was mad. Humans had no idea that witches existed.

  “You can’t tell anyone, it’s my party trick. Top secret.” I took her hands in mine and winked at her. If I could convince her to stay quiet, maybe I could still live a normal life.

  She was shaking, her hands vibrating against mine. “I thought there was something weird about you,” she said, going out of the bathroom.

  Closing my eyes, I released my held breath, hoping I had managed to convince her that I was ‘normal’. If her words were anything to go by, probably not.

  Maybe if I bribed her with chocolate and wine, she would forget the whole sorry incident.

  Rushing to my bedroom, I stepped into my PJ bottoms and threw on a black vest. When I glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece, I winced. It was nine in the evening. The night was still young, but I was drained. Rubbing my hair dry with a towel as I grabbed up my offering, I came out of my room.

  The living area was open-plan, the kitchenette in the corner. Kat hovered by the phone, her gaze darting between me and the front door.

  “Please don’t ring anyone,” I asked quietly, almost pleading with my friend.

  She shook her head when she saw the slump of my shoulders and the wine in hand. “Don’t worry, I won’t say anything.”

  A knock sounded at the front door, sending my heart into a fast rhythmic pattern. I knew exactly who it was. I could feel them. Why couldn’t they just leave me alone?

  “I’ll get it.” Kat rushed to the door and opened it.

  The boys stood there, towering in the hallway. They completely blocked any view past the open door.

  “Hello, gorgeous.” Lee pushed his way into the apartment, his gaze locked on Kat.

  I froze by the bedroom door, mentally trying to calculate an escape. It was no good. The only way out was blocked by three men over six foot tall.

  “You need to come home,” Lee told me.

  Kat’s eyes popped out of her head when he stretched. His tight shirt lifted to reveal toned, tanned abs. Her gaze roamed over his arms and landed on his blond hair. I crossed my arms as he strutted into the flat, showing off his tattoos.

  “I don’t want to come home.” I was adamant.

  He gently took my elbow and looked down into my eyes. “You can’t stay here, Penny, Kat knows your secret.”

  Turning to look at Kat, he stared for a second, his previous cockiness gone. A flash of something crossed his face. What was it that he wasn’t telling me?

  “What secret?” I laughed, the sound forced from my lips.

  I was being difficult, I knew that, but I needed my freedom. All my life, I had been around seven other witches, – four boys, three girls – and although I begged for space, the boys had never given me any.

  “Quit with the small talk. You’ve been compromised. Let’s go.” Alex, the cockiest of my coven brothers, came into the room, took hold of Kat and put his hands on either side of her face.

  She looked up at him, unable to take her gaze away from the tall, dark haired man.

  “I’m sorry,” Lee whispered to me.

  Before I knew it, I was thrown over his shoulder. Grabbing his hair, I tugged, making him grunt. He laughed at my weak efforts. My strength was nothing compared to hi
s. Why were they doing this to me? It wasn’t my fault that Kat had caught me. How did they even know?

  “Get her stuff.” Alex gestured to Theo, another of my coven brothers, without taking his gaze away from Kat.

  My chest constricted as Kat’s eyes went blank. Alex had wiped her memory, eradicating all knowledge of me in order to protect the coven. Yet again, I was losing a friend.

  My three brothers had once again ruined my chance at freedom. I would get my revenge one day.

  “I hate you,” I hissed as Lee carried me out of my new life and back to my old one.

  “Of course you do.”

  “I’m eighteen years old for witch’s sake. What’s so wrong with me wanting to fly from the family home? You promised me that I could try and live alone.”

  “Yeah,” Lee muttered. “On the condition that no one ever found out about your power.”

  “Okay, so it might not have lasted for five minutes, but surely it would’ve been easy enough to convince Kat that I used to be a deep sea diver or something?”

  Cursing myself for leaving the bathroom door unlocked, I half-heartedly tried to get free of Lee’s grip. If I hadn’t been so careless, Kat wouldn’t have witnessed my magic. And in turn, my brothers wouldn’t have ruined my life. Again.

  “You know you can’t do this,” Lee said as we got to the vehicle outside.

  The old Royal Mail delivery van had a bright red exterior with a black leather interior. With six seats, only some of us could go out at any one time. There were ten of us in the last witch coven, including our two witch elder guardians, all destined to revive our race. Most days, I wished I had been born human.

  “Can’t do what?” I mumbled, grunting when he dropped me to my feet.

  I was tempted to try and escape, but there was no point. He was faster. His long legs would catch up with me in one step.

  Hesitating when he opened the passenger door, I took a deep breath. I had to admit defeat.

  Climbing in, I switched on the radio and turned it up to full volume. Lee sat in the driver’s seat and flicked it off. “Do you want to get us noticed?”

  I glared at him before staring out of the window.

  “You can’t live a normal life, you know that, Penny.” Leaning across, he put his hand on my arm.

  Glancing down at where his long slender fingers rested against my pale skin, I growled. He pulled away and muttered under his breath as he started the engine. Watching as Alex and Theo came out of the building, I swallowed the lump that came to my throat. They would be back to pick up the rest of my stuff when Kat was at work. I wouldn’t be able to see her again.

  As tempting as it was, I could never run away. They would never let me leave. Eight coven siblings trapped in the same home forever. Or that’s what it felt like.

  A glint of silver caught my eye as I rested my chin against my fist. The bracelet around my wrist looked dark blue in the light from the street lamp.

  “Sorry, it had to be done.” Alex climbed into the back.

  “Shame, really. The flatmate was probably worth a—” Theo punched Alex in the arm, cutting him off.

  Ignoring them as they bickered, I studied the ancient crest of the Salem witches on my bracelet. The leather was worn and frayed, but the silver charm with the water symbol was still intact. Our coven hailed from the three elemental witches first accused of witchcraft in Salem. Sarah Good, Tituba and Sarah Osborne. Both Sarahs died, but Tituba managed to survive. Once the trials killed off many of the remaining witches, Tituba spread the word to the rest of the world about the witches’ persecution. Unfortunately, she was too late. The trials grew in seriousness, wiping out almost all of the witches on earth. Except a select few. Our ancestors.

  Fingering the leather, I tried to pull the bracelet off. I wanted to release myself from the life I had apparently agreed to live. One where my sole focus was to rebuild the witch population and bring back magic.

  “You will find him.” Lee squeezed my arm as he steered the van away from the life that I could’ve had.

  “It’s bloody cold tonight,” Theo whined.

  “London town, baby, I’ve missed this place!” Alex laughed, slapping the back of my seat.

  He had visited Ireland in the hope of finding his soulmate. He had assumed that he found her, but when he’d become bored after a week, he realised that she wasn’t the one. It was often the way with Alex. He would find a woman, sleep with her and then get bored. A perfect example of a strong alpha male witch… or not.

  “Do you think any of us are close to finding our soul-match?” Lee asked, flipping the radio off when I reached forward and switched it back on. I didn’t want to talk about it.

  “Just shut up and drive,” Theo said.

  He was the only one of the men I could relate to. Being an Earth element, he kept me grounded, but understood when I needed space. Each of us had leaned towards a certain element, our magical powers showing early on, so we were able to define what type of elemental witch we would become.

  “I can’t believe you fell asleep underwater,” Alex muttered.

  I didn’t bother to look back at him. I loved him, but he still managed to rile me.

  “How did you know? How did you find out?”

  His chuckle was deep. “Mother rang an hour ago.”

  My thoughts wandered as I thought of her. Mother and Father were not our biological parents, they were the witch elders. They had collected us when we were born and brought us together to teach us about our witch heritage. Our parents had told us at a young age that we were on Earth to complete a mission. A very special one. Each one of us was unique, with our own special power. The last of the witches, we all had a past life that would become relevant once we met our true love. They nicknamed us the Witch Warriors. We were eight specially chosen individuals, living together with the main aim of meeting our soul-match in order to bring magic back to the damaged world. The witch race had almost died out years ago. An elder witch had cursed us with reincarnation in order to rebuild the race again.

  Sighing, I tried to push the history lesson out of my head, but it didn’t work. We had a nemesis of course, the warlocks. Warlocks who wanted the darkness to rule. There were only a handful of those left too, but they were determined to make sure that we didn’t succeed in our mission to unite with our human soulmates, awaken their witch blood, and procreate in order to grow the last coven. As of yet, I had not had the pleasure of meeting mine.

  My hands balled into fists as my mind came back to the present. Had my mother installed cameras in the bathroom?

  “That’s an invasion of privacy!”

  Lee’s cheeks flushed red when I glared at him.

  Alex clucked his tongue. “The cameras are in the living room. You know how Mother likes to keep an eye on us. When she noticed that you’d been in the bathroom for two hours, she got worried. She asked us to come and check.”

  They must have placed the cameras when they’d helped me move in. My teeth ached as I gritted them to prevent myself from losing it.

  “Don’t worry, she didn’t watch you pee.”

  The boys laughed at Alex.

  “I think we’ve got a tail,” Lee announced suddenly, his voice tight.

  The boys instantly switched from jokey to serious. They spun in their seats and reached for their phones. I sighed and rolled my eyes. They were so dramatic when it came to—

  The van was shunted from behind. I had to grab hold of the dashboard as I looked in the wing mirror. A 4x4 lined up to hit us again.

  Lee spun the steering wheel just before the car made contact, managing to dodge another hit.

  “Who do you think it is?” I asked.

  The dark sky made us less conspicuous. However, the bright red van was still obvious. No one knew who we were, not even the warlocks, so there was no reason for us to be under attack. We had been careful about our identity.

  “I’m not sure,” Lee said, laughing when the car clipped our rear end and spun us o
ut.

  “What the bloody-?” Alex shouted, holding onto the back of the seat as the tyres screeched across the tarmac. “Lee, you’re such a crap driver!”

  As the van skidded to a stop, the boys jumped out.

  “Stay here!” Alex shouted at me.

  It took me two seconds to consider his words, but they went in one ear, and out the other. Clambering from my seat, I got out just as the other driver approached the lads. A woman climbed out of the 4x4, keeping her head bowed as she stood back. The man came to a stop in front of my brothers as they stood in a line, their arms crossed over their chest.

  Inching closer, I caught a glimpse of a wooden baseball bat clenched in the man’s hand. He was brave to face the three young men in front of him. Although, he wouldn’t know that they were three of the strongest witches left in the world.

  “You slept with my wife!” he called in a shaky voice, his face turning red when the lads chuckled.

  I rolled my eyes. We had been run off the road in the middle of London because one of the lads had slept with the man’s wife. Bloody typical.

  The temptation to turn and run was overwhelming. I could deal with threats from people that didn’t understand who we were, but I couldn’t put up with drama over a bloody woman.

  Marching over to the boys, I pushed my way through and faced the man.

  “Which one was it?”

  “All of them,” the man said, glaring over his shoulder at his wife.

  Shaking my head, I looked into his eyes. The hard glare melted as our gaze met.

  “I really hope you don’t take that bat to your wife.”

  His eyes widened. “I would never do that!”

  Smiling sweetly, I held out my hand. The wood landed softly in my palm as a look of confusion crossed his face.

  “Your wife was the one that did the dirty on you. These boys are young and immature. They’re not as clever as you.”

  Alex snorted, but I ignored him. It was true.

  “I’m not going to bloody well waste any more time with you kids,” the man said through gritted teeth. “Sheila, I’ll deal with you when we get back. You better tell me the god damn truth!”