Lorcan stepped over Roscoe’s motionless body and then turned his concerned expression to me. Wanda and Betanya were right beside him.

  “How bad is it?” Wanda asked as she looked down at me and she kept swimming in and out of my focus. Actually, they all did.

  “Bad,” Lorcan breathed. “She’s barely hanging on.”

  “Can’t you do anything?” Wanda asked.

  Lorcan’s eyes darted up to meet mine. Then he pushed my chin up to examine the wound in my neck. I could barely focus on his face, but that one moment of connection calmed me.

  “My saliva will stop the bleeding until we get you to the hospital,” Lorcan said as he bent down, and I could feel his tongue lapping at my still bleeding wounds.

  “Sealing the wounds isn’t enough,” Wanda said. “She’s not… she’s not going to make it.”

  I felt myself weakening by the second. I could barely keep my eyes open. Then I heard what sounded like yelling in the background and a second later, it was as if a bomb went off in my head and I reeled out of my senses.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “She’s crashing! We’re losing her!”

  “Another twenty milligrams of epinephrine IV push! Get the crash cart over here now!”

  Fluorescent lights careened past my bleary eyes. I couldn’t focus on them before they streamed out of sight. I was moving fast and the back-and-forth sway made me sick.

  Excruciating pain tore me apart. I had to make it stop somehow, but I couldn’t summon the strength to move. My body felt glued to the stretcher, and every limb melted to jelly.

  Masked faces appeared above me. They yelled something I couldn’t make out and then they vanished. Needles punctured my arms. Pain like nothing I’d ever experienced blew me into a million pieces.

  “Her blood pressure is tanking! She’s going into atrial fibrillation!

  “Where are those two units of blood I ordered?”

  I had to have been in a hospital. Yes, that was it.

  The stretcher on which I lay slammed to a sudden halt. Brilliant, blinding light shone in my eyes. I shut them and immediately started to fade out of consciousness again when another blast of pain made me scream.

  “Restrain her!” someone shouted. “Hold her down! She’s convulsing.”

  My head flopped to one side. When my eyes hauled into focus again, I saw a man standing in the far corner of the room. The man was dressed in a black suit and I didn’t recognize him, though he had a kind face.

  You need to fight, Poppy, a voice sounded in my head.

  I didn’t recognize it, but the tone was deep, masculine. And the accent was… English? I couldn’t understand where the voice was coming from and when I focused on the strange man in the corner of the room, he simply nodded as if to say the voice belonged to him.

  I can’t fight… I’m too tired, I thought back, because I was more than sure my voice wouldn’t work.

  It’s not your time, the man insisted and this time, the slight smile was missing. His eyes were as hard as his tone. And they were piercing blue and in sharp contrast to his olive skin and black hair. In fact, the more I looked at him, the more I realized he was incredibly handsome.

  Not my time.

  Not my time.

  Not my time.

  Think of your son, his voice persisted.

  My son. Finn.

  All at once, a flood of heat rushed into my veins and the pain spiked out of this world. Molten lava burned me up from inside and I wanted to cry out.

  Be brave, the man continued.

  Life blood began to flow through my body. It filled every cell and corpuscle. It swelled in my arteries and muscles, bringing me back to life. I felt it enlivening my limbs. It filled me with strength and energy, even though I still couldn’t move.

  The blood suddenly filling me satiated my bottomless hunger as never before, making the pain a thousand times worse, but I didn’t care. I wanted that blood. I needed it.

  We will meet again, Poppy, the man’s voice continued. When the time is right.

  I must have passed out again because I suddenly snapped alert and looked over at the corner of the room, searching for a sign of the man, but he was gone.

  ***

  I woke up comfortable and happy, but very tired.

  All the pain was gone. I didn’t want to open my eyes in case the aching returned, but it didn’t. I checked every toe and fingertip. Nothing hurt. I was all right.

  I tried to stretch and felt someone holding my hand. My eyes popped open of their own accord and I looked up into the face of… Marty.

  He leaned over my bed, gazing deep into my eyes ,and clasped my hand between both of his.

  “Thank God you’re awake! I…” He took a deep breath. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to come back, Poppy.”

  I tried to sit up. “How long have I been here? Finn…”

  He pushed me down. “You have to relax, and stop trying to move around.”

  “Where is Finn?” I demanded, not giving a damn about what I was supposed to do or not do.

  “He’s with Henner and RJ and he’s fine. He was here earlier and he’s going to come back in an hour or two.” He cleared his throat. “We wanted to wait until you woke up… if you woke up.”

  “Well, I’m awake,” I answered as all of a sudden, memories started filtering through me. And in remembering… “Oh my God, Roy,” I said as I faced Marty and my mouth dropped open in shock. “Is he…”

  “Roy is okay,” Marty said with a quick nod. “He’s in one of the rooms down the hall.”

  “Then what… what happened to him?” I knew Roscoe had hit him with a blood bolt but I wasn’t sure how that would translate in hospital speak.

  “The doctors think he had a heart attack,” Marty answered as he shook his head. “But, he’s fine and he’s resting.” He continued to shake his head. “God, you all came close.”

  I relaxed back against the cot as I breathed a sigh of relief that Roy was going to be okay. Then my thoughts returned to Finn. “Finn knows I’m going to be okay, then?”

  Marty nodded.

  Then something occurred to me, and I faced him nervously. “Am I going to be okay?”

  He nodded again. “The doctors want to make sure before they release you, but yes, you just required a blood transfusion.”

  “And Wanda, Olga and Betanya?” I asked.

  “Everyone is fine.”

  “Roscoe?”

  “Is dead,” Marty finished for me.

  I groaned. “Thank God.” Then I looked over at him again. “Lorcan is okay?”

  Marty nodded. “I think Lorcan could survive an apocalypse. He’s like a cockroach.”

  I tried to laugh, but it hurt. “Don’t tell him that.”

  Marty beamed at me. “We’ve had a hell of a time with the human staff here,” he started. “And we’re sticking to the story that you fell while trying to change a light in your chandelier. You broke your glass coffee table and that’s how you cut your neck. Got it?”

  I nodded. “Got it.”

  He bent over and pressed my hand again, leaning close to me and rested one elbow on the bed. “I just don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t made it. When I thought you might not wake up… I couldn’t think of anything worse.”

  “Well, I pulled through, right?”

  He just looked at me, and I looked back up at him. I knew what he was going to do before he did it, but I didn’t try to stop him. The weirdest part was that I wasn’t uncomfortable. I didn’t feel awkward or anything, really.

  Marty leaned down and his lips met mine. I didn’t question him or us or the kiss. I just allowed it to happen. I kissed him… or he kissed me… or we both kissed each other. And the moment our lips touched, it felt somehow… right.

  He pulled back and his eyes told me he felt the same way.

  His eyes sparkled and he burst into a grin. “Hi.”

  I laughed. “Hi.”

  There didn’t seem to be anything else to say. We gazed at each other for a few seconds.

  “So that’s what it’s like to kiss Poppy Morton, the girl I’ve had a crush on since she moved to Haven Hollow.”

  I laughed. “That’s what it’s like,” I answered.

  A strange thing happened then—a memory of a man, all dressed in black, standing in the corner of my hospital room met me like a thief in the night. His piercing blue eyes and black hair that matched the darkness of his suit and contrasted with his olive skin suddenly wouldn’t leave my mind’s eye. And I could hear the echo of his deep British accent telling me to fight, to hold on and to be brave.

  “Was there… did someone else come to visit me?” I asked, facing Marty with a sense of concern.

  “Someone else?” he repeated, shaking his head.

  “Yeah… I remember seeing a man dressed in a black suit.”

  Marty shook his head again. “Where did you see him?”

  “In the emergency room.”

  A cloud of darkness seemed to pass over his expression.

  “What?” I asked.

  He swallowed hard. “The only presence dressed in black and appearing when you’re on the verge of death that I’ve ever heard of is Death, himself.”

  It was my turn to swallow hard. Could the man have been… Death? But, no, it just… it didn’t feel like that was the answer. He’d told me to fight for my life—he hadn’t tried to take mine.

  I looked up at Marty. “I don’t think it was Death.”

  “Well, we might have to chalk it up to one of those mysteries that never get solved.” He gave me a sweet smile and I nodded, even though inside I didn’t want to chalk it up to an unsolved mystery.

  Another silence fell between us, but it was a comfortable silence. When I looked up at him, I smiled again.

  “I’m glad it was your face I saw when I woke up,” I said.

  Marty just smiled down at me, and we fell into another silence that seemed overflowing with meaning. He broke the silence by bending down and kissing me again. This time, he kissed me even longer and his lips were warm and full against mine.

  When he pulled back, he whispered, “So what does this mean?”

  “It means…” I trailed off. Then we glanced at each other and burst out laughing again. It meant whatever it was supposed to mean.

  I didn’t have to figure it out. I didn’t have to figure anything out because it was enough that Marty was here right now. We were holding hands and kissing, and that spark of happiness in his eyes reflected my own.

  Memories of a stranger in a black suit fled my mind and, instead, I focused on the here and now. And I focused on the one person I wanted to see more than anyone else.

  “I really want to see Finn,” I said.

  ***

  People packed my house and more filed through the door every minute. We were celebrating Henner and RJ’s birthdays, as well as my recovery.

  It had been over two weeks since my encounter with Roscoe and in that time, Wanda had made sure all the broken furniture had been cleared out and any repairs addressed.

  As to the Jeep? Yeah, it had been a total loss so now I was waiting on the insurance to replace it, after having told them a tree had fallen on it (Lorcan had helped with felling the tree). Now I was sporting a gray Toyota Corolla rental car.

  But, back to the house, the living room and part of the dining room were cordoned off with plastic sheets from the ceiling to the floor and the same repairman who’d replaced the windows in the kitchen from the time when Astrid had blown them out, was now footing the mess that was my living room. And I was more than sure Lorcan was fitting the bill.

  Darla stood at the kitchen counter, pouring drinks like her life depended on it. Libby had staked out a place between the stove, the oven, the sink, and the counter. She chopped, arranged, and served in a whirlwind of skirts, pearls, and beehive hair while Florence assisted her. Betanya was talking with Wanda and Lorcan about something in the other room.

  Finn and Astrid were seated at the kitchen table, playing a video game on the Xbox which we’d relocated from the living room.

  I was still feeling pretty exhausted from my whole ordeal with Roscoe, but getting stronger and better with each passing day. Even Hellcat had decided to join the festivities, though he’d mainly kept to himself and was now sitting on the kitchen windowsill and licking his paws.

  Meanwhile, there was a knock on the door and Darla opened it to reveal Marty, Henner, and RJ, who were just showing up. Olga Fischer and her familiar raccoon, Franz, appeared from the other side of the graveyard.

  Roy, who was fully restored to himself, Fifi, the Stompers, and several more of our supernatural neighbors filled the house and spilled into the other rooms that weren’t cordoned off by plastic.

  “Grandma!” Henner kissed Betanya on the cheek as everyone assembled in the kitchen. It was then that Betanya cleared her throat and raised her glass.

  “Here’s to Poppy, Wanda, Lorcan, and… and all of you! I can’t tell you how much it means to me to now be able to live… free.”

  Several ‘here, here’s’ answered her. Wanda shouldered through the crowd and held out two bottles, Jack Daniels’ in her left and Wild Turkey in her right. She set them down on the table beside Finn, who pushed one of them away a few inches.

  “Do you mind?” he asked. “I’m trying to game here.”

  She rubbed his blonde head with a laugh and then faced the others in the kitchen. “Who’s ready to get this party started?”

  “Count me out,” Betanya told her. “I’m no longer a Blood Witch, so I better start winding down the intensity level.”

  And that was the truth. With Roscoe’s death, Betanya had been released from his Kiss, which meant she’d been returned to being an ordinary witch. And she seemed happy enough about that—or maybe her happiness was reserved for the fact that Roscoe was now dead and gone.

  “You aren’t a Blood Witch anymore, true,” Wanda replied, “but you’re still a witch and, as anyone knows, witches can handle their alcohol!”

  The others laughed and everyone broke apart to talk, laugh, and help themselves to the food Libby kept ferrying in from the kitchen.

  As to RJ and the fact that he wasn’t supposed to know all his friends and neighbors were supernatural? I figured Wanda, Olga and Betanya would be performing a memory erasing spell after the party was over.

  At the feel of someone touching my elbow, I glanced up to find Marty at my side. He looked at me with that rapt expression I recognized from the hospital and it suddenly seemed as if the rest of the house vanished.

  He slipped his fingers into mine and sat down beside me at the kitchen counter as the festivities continued to rage around us.

  “How are you doing?” he asked in a soft voice.

  “Great,” I answered, and really felt it. “I… I couldn’t be better, actually.”

  I didn’t know what was going on between us but there was definitely something in his eyes as he looked at me. And that something didn’t feel like the rush you get when you first get into a relationship. It just felt deeply, deeply comfortable. It felt like it had been going on for years.

  And I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. On the one hand, Marty was really everything I could want in a man—he was kind, considerate, protective, fun and easy-going. And on the other hand, he was also my best friend. And that was a relationship I really didn’t want to mess up.

  Was this what Devona, the sasquatch witch from Roy’s ancestral land, meant when she said I had to make room for the right man to come into my life? Was Marty the man she’d seen in her visions, the man destined for me?

  I didn’t know.

  And I figured I’d probably never have a true, clean answer to that question.

  No, I was fairly sure it was just one of those things where you had to live your life to find out.

  The End

  ~~~~~

  Return to Haven Hollow in:

  The Yule Log

  ~~~~~

  Turn the page for a list of ingredients and directions to all the potions in this book, and to learn more about Haven Hollow!

  ~~~~~

  Return to the Table of Contents

  Poppy’s Potion Recipes Referenced In This Book:

  From ‘The Complete Formulary Of Magical Oils’ by Celeste Rayne Heldstab

  Mystic Veil:

  1/8 part Cinnamon Oil

  1/2 part Sandalwood Oil

  1/8 part Clove Oil

  1/4 part Myrrh Oil

  This is used for pathworking, psychic endeavors or to break through the astral plane.

  Fiery Command Oil:

  Equal parts: Dragon’s Blood Oil, Frankincense Oil, Myrrh Oil, Cinnamon Oil

  Will force others to do your bidding without question. Use with care.

  Confusion Oil:

  To 2 ounces of base oil, add contents of one vitamin E capsule and:

  ½ part Coconut Oil

  ¼ part Lavender Oil

  ¼ part Violet Oil

  ¼ part Black Pepper

  2 drops Ginseng

  Will help to confuse others who are working against you, also aids in breaking hexes.

  Flying Devil Oil:

  Black Pepper, a pinch

  ½ part Dragon’s Blood Oil

  ¼ part Cassia Oil

  ¼ part Patchouli Oil

  A special Voudoun uncrossing oil used to overcome the power of a strong Ouanga or hex. Works quickly.

  Sleep Oil:

  ½ part Rose Oil

  ¼ part Jasmine Oil

  ¼ part Chamomile Oil

  Anoint the temples, neck, pulse of both wrists, soles of the feet. Brings on natural sleep.

  ~~~~~

  Return to the Table of Contents

  THE YULE LOG

  A Haven Hollow Novella #12

  (Remarkable Remedies)

  by

  J.R. RAIN

  &

  H.P. MALLORY

  The Yule Log

  Published by Rain Press

  Copyright © 2021 by J.R. Rain & H.P. Mallory