Ever since fanatical witch hunters consigned her to an eternity of fury, Rachel has been waiting for her chance to come back to life. Now, centuries later, the time is right. Amanda, a good witch, is all that stands between her and her unholy vengeance. Flanked by the forces of darkness, Rachel is ready to unleash all the horror at her command.
There are witches in the world…some are good and some of them are downright evil. Amanda Givens is careful how she uses her powers. She doesn’t want the people of Canaan, Connecticut, to know they have a witch among them…even a good, white witch. For years, she’s lived quietly in a remote cabin in the woods with Amadeus, her feline familiar.
When she’s wrongly blamed for a rash of ritualistic murders committed by a satanic cult, she knows she can’t hide any longer. She’s the one the cult is after; more than that, she’s the only one who can stop them and prove her innocence. Yet in doing this, she’s drawn back in time by the ghost of the malevolent witch, Rachel Coxe, who was drowned for practicing black magic in the 17th century. Now, as Amanda tries to rehabilitate Rachel’s reputation in an effort to save lives, as well as her own, she has to rely on a sister’s love and magical knowledge, and a powerful sect of witches called the Guardians, to help her get home safely.
Excerpt
Now, with her heart breaking, her eyes shut, her hands waving languidly over the fire, she chanted the nefarious words that would bring her husband back from the dead.
Mandy...no, Mandy...
Something crashed against the door, as if something or someone were throwing themselves against it. Wood splintered, but the door held. Amadeus, who had powers of his own, was fighting mad now. It was his responsibility to protect her, protect her from herself, if need be. She heard him growling at her through the door.
Open up, Mandy. Open the damn door!
“No. I told you, Amadeus, either help me or go away.”
The cat grumbled beyond the door, hissed and spat as loud as any big cat, and the battering resumed.
Amanda’s eyes flew open, widened as the apparition began to take form inside the pentagram—the outline of a man, tall, his arms thrown over his face as if in defense.
“Jake?” She moaned, staring at the thing.
It lowered its hands and a ghoulish, misty face peered out at her, a face so full of torment and fear, Amanda fell back in shock.
“Don’t do this, Mandy, I beg you! Remember me as I was. I don’t belong there anymore.” She heard the plaintive whisper, an echo on the still air. Its hands reached out to her. “Let me go. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
She couldn’t stop. The enchantment wasn’t complete. It would be better when it was. He was between two worlds now and he would be frightened. Half-formed. Between two worlds.
If she wasn’t careful, those unearthly denizens—shade demons, she called them—that haunted that dead world could escape into hers. So dangerous. What the hell was she doing opening the forbidden portals like this?
What happened if she was a moment off, a word wrong and the demons came through? If she unleashed them? A disaster.
Amanda steeled herself, wiped the fresh tears from her face with the back of her hand. “Damn it, I want you back, Jake. I’ll have you back,” she swore.
She took up where she’d left off, knowing if she stopped at this point of the spell, it could ruin everything. Everything.
The door groaned behind her under its assault (damn but that cat was strong), the wind screamed outside the windows. The candles placed around the pentagram fluttered in a strange breeze in the shadowy room.
Amanda’s heart froze. She stopped in the middle of the spell, her eyes going wide with fear, her hands half-raised before her, and her head thrown back as the flames from the fire glowed more brightly across her tense face.
What was that word? Suureerustus? Summertus? Or...
She stared at the blurry figure trying to form in the circle. It was yelling at her now...something...something...she couldn’t make out the words.
It was no longer alone.
Things writhed around its melting feet, flew about its head. Terrible things. Things from the dead world. Unholy things. Gaping mouths with sharp bloodied teeth, glittering fiendish eyes in deformed, hideous bodies. Some almost human, some insect like. Others indescribable. Some growing before her eyes to be taller than she was.
Monsters. Coming through the barrier, crossing the lines of the pentagram, into her world.
Amanda grabbed the nearest thing with which to fight them off, a broom, and started swinging at them.
She was so busy hitting and spewing out new spells to keep the shade demons from coming through that she never heard the door burst open; never felt the cool storm wind enter the cabin until something determined and furry flew by her face toward the pentagram, hissing all the way.
Then Amadeus was helping her herd the malignant spirits back from where they’d come. All claws, teeth, and unearthly glowing eyes. He snarled the word Sutterus at her in passing and Amanda quickly supplied it in the spell where it belonged.
The demons began to slowly dissolve in shrieks of rage.
Don’t send us away! Don’t send us back there! Let us out. Out!
Jake’s figure returned. A shadow with hanging head. Just one or two sentences and the incantation would be complete. Jake would be there, solid, before her.
Amanda hesitated. The thing in the circle looked so pitiful. So unnatural.
Before she could finish, soft, but strong paws clamped tightly around her neck and wouldn’t let go. Something howled like a banshee in her ear, as sharp teeth angrily nipped it. She couldn’t breathe.
“Amadeus! Get off!” She screamed, tumbling to the floor with the huge cat on top of her, still holding on like a leech, its yowling and screeching enough to wake the dead—instead, it woke her.
By the time she’d yanked the cat off, throwing him roughly against the opposite wall so that he yelped in pain, and she’d crawled back to the pentagram, Jake was gone. The enchantment broken.
Amanda gazed at the empty pentagram for a long time, suddenly horrified, disgusted at what she had almost done.
She’d almost crossed the line. Almost. Thank God for Amadeus.
She curled up on the floor next to the fire and sobbed, the last of her anguish finally releasing itself. The cat limped over to her and licked the tears from her face. He didn’t seem to be angry with her any longer. Just worried.
“I’m so sorry I hurt you, Amadeus, so sorry.” She pulled him into her arms, and hugged him like a baby until he began to purr. “Forgive me?”
Of course.
“Thank you for that, Amadeus. You saved me from making the biggest mistake of my life.”
He was smart enough not to answer that one. She snuggled him, rocking on the floor.
Professional Reviews
5 Stars TWO LIPS REVIEWS
"An amazing storyteller."
Melanie Ziebarton May 28, 2013 5 stars
This was my first read by this author and I can say I will be reading many more. I loved the characters in the book so much and really grew to understand them. You know a book was wonderful when you miss the characters after the story ends. Would love to see a series.....
Nancy Allen (The Avid Reader)on June 8, 2013 5 stars
The following review is my opinion and not a paid review. I was given a free copy of the book from the author for my honest opinion.
Amanda Givens is a witch a white witch who lives in the twenty first century and only uses her powers for good. She is a very loving and caring person. She will help anyone she can in any way that she is capable of helping them. She will only use her powers when absolutely necessary and in ways that no one will know what she is doing. Amanda lives alone in a cabin out in the woods away from the town of Canaan, Connecticut. It hasn't been that long ago that she lost husband and she has been depressed and hasn't been to town in a while. She missed him so much that she almost gave up, she thought if she couldn't have him in her life then life just wasn't worth living. She wanted him back so bad that she almost did something magical that would have caused her a lot of grief but in a different way than just missing him is causing her. If it had not been for familiar a cat whose name was Amadeus who stopped her. People were being found murder in Canaan by a Satanic cult. They were after Amanda and she knew she was the only one that could put a stop to all the killings.
Rachel Coxe is also a witch but she uses black magic and is a very evil and cruel person. She was very mean to everyone even her own two little girls. She would use people to get what she wanted from them. Her girls never had enough to eat and a lot of times they didn't get anything to eat. Rachel always ate first and if she left anything then they could eat it. Rachel always had nice dress and shoes to wear but her girls had like maybe one dress a piece. Rachel only cared about herself she had no heart. She used her magic to get whatever she wanted and the people in the town was afraid of her so they chased her probably with all intentions of hanging her but instead they chased her to the river and drowned her. Rachel wanted her life back and she knew a way a spell that would get her just that. She brought Amanda back in time back to her time. Amanda ended up living Rachel's life in her body. Amanda being the nice person that she is can't fool Rachel's daughters into thinking that she is their mother. Amanda is nice to the girls and helps out around the house. She feeds them and clothes them. She treats them like human beings and like a mother should.
Amanda has to find a way to get back to her own life and time. She likes the life that she has as Rachel. She has wanted to be a mother for a long time and with living Rachel's life she has that. She also meets another guy who is very nice to her and the girls and helps them out when he can. Amanda falls in love with him she never thought that she could ever love anyone else after losing her husband. Does Amanda make it back to her time? How does she get back home? What happens to Rachel's girls? Does she take the girls back with her to her time? Does she take her new man back with her to her time? To get the answers to these questions you will have to read Witches for yourself. You won't regret it if you do. Witches is a very good book I mean you have murder, magic, evil, talking cats, love and time travel all rolled into one magical read. I own Ms. Griffith a very huge thank you for giving me the opportunity to read Witches. Thanks I really, really loved it. I love reading just about anything with witches in it.
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