Debbie was worried. I guess that as angry as I was, I probably looked a little scary to her.

“Change of plans, Debbie. I’m through with the subtlety. They've finally pushed me too far.” I said, angrily.

I walked into the house and called out for Mom.

Emily? Where have you been, young lady? You should have been home hours ago! What happened?

I know, Grandma, and I’m going to deal with that first.

I finally found Mom relaxing in the Living room, reading a magazine. She looked so normal that it hurt. I had to do this carefully.

“Emily?” She asked, with a worried look. “Honey, are you all right?”

I sat down next to her sadly, and she reached out to comfort me. I clasped her hands.

“I’m sorry, Mom.” I held her hands tightly and linked with her. I pushed until I found the part of her mind that was possessed, and then I locked us together. The invader was tenacious, but her strength was as nothing to me. I enveloped the foreign mind, and then pushed her out of my mother. I stayed locked to her as she was drawn back to her body. I found myself inside of a van with several other women who were chanting as they sat around me with their hands on my “host” body, feeding it power.

I made sure my host was not going to regain consciousness any time soon, and then I took advantage of the situation. I started draining the power out of them, and by the time they realized what was happening, I was pulling in so much of their energy that they all passed out.

I turned back to my host, and began to scan through her mind. As I suspected, my host was the group’s leader. I completed my possession of her body, then grabbed the van’s keys and drove into town, to the building where they had taken Tim. I sat everyone up and made them look like everything was fine.

The old garage where they had their base of operations was in decent shape, but so ordinary that I can’t say that I had ever noticed it. I honked the van’s horn three times, as was expected, and the overhead door went up to allow me to drive in. I knew that Dianne and Gina were the only two that were here, and I saw that it was Gina, an overweight brunette, who had opened the door.

“Gina! We’ve got a problem, get Dianne, quick!”

She said nothing, but turned to get Dianne. Dianne was an older, gray haired woman, and I knew she had been watching Tim. I greeted them as they returned to the van.

“Okay, what’s up?” Gina asked as she struggled to catch her breath.

“You lose, ladies.” I telepathically knocked both of them out, but I lowered them to the floor carefully.

I ran to the room where I found my fiancé, handcuffed to a chair. I grabbed the keys and went to release him.

“Stay away from me! Get away, damn it!” He tried to kick me as I got close, making me proud that he was still fighting them.

“Such behavior! Where is my brave and gallant knight, who has pled his troth to me, and whom I hold so dear in my heart?”

He stared, and slowly began to smile. “Emily?”

“Ta-daa! How do you like the new look?” I asked as I released him.

He checked me out, critically. “Kinda old, isn’t he?”

“Whaaat!? She’s not a...”

“She? Oops, my mistake, the moustache fooled me.”

“Okay, you snot! I found your keys and your wallet. The school’s only a couple of blocks from here, so go over, get your car, and then let’s meet back at my house. I’ll make some arrangements, and then get out of here. I need to leave them a little message, first.”

“All right, your house it is. See you soon!” He ran out the open door, took a look around to get his bearings, and then ran out of sight. I turned, got everyone out of the van, and then I telekinetically crushed it and rolled it into a large ball, which I left in the middle of the floor. I sat all of them around the crushed van and made sure everyone was all right. I was tempted to leave the girl that had posed as Debbie’s “love interest” with a broken nose, but decided not to do it. Darn it, I'm way too nice! I made sure that none of them had any magical ability, and left them there, unconscious but healthy.

I made sure all of their phones were destroyed, then I sat my “host” body down and left her unconscious, just like the others. They would all wake up with huge headaches, no magic and no transportation. Maybe they’ll get the idea that messing with my family is not very smart.

I pulled myself back to my body. I startled Debbie when I sat up in the living room.

“Hey, she’s back, Emily’s awake!” Debbie yelled.

My mom came running into the room. She kneeled down anxiously in front of me. “Baby, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Mom. I left them an example of what will happen the next time they mess with me, and I’ve blocked their access to their magic, at least temporarily.” I smiled. “Best of all, I know that they’re working out of Crawford, and I’m heading that way as soon as I can.”

“Not without us, you’re not. We need to gather the coven, and go there ready to fight.” Grandma proclaimed.

“No, I don’t want to risk anyone being hurt. I’ll just head-“

“You’ll listen to me, young lady. You don’t know what you will run into, so you should be ready for anything. I’m pretty sure this won’t be a physical fight, but that doesn’t make it any less dangerous. Thomas and his group will be a challenge, and you’re going to need all the power you can get.”

I could see that she was determined, so I knew better than to argue with her. Besides, what if she’s right? I really don’t know what will happen, so I nodded my agreement, and she went off to make some calls.

Tim arrived a few minutes later, and I ran to his car. He held me tightly, almost like he wasn't going to let me go.

"Grandma's calling out the troops," I told him. "We're going to Crawford tonight, to put an end to this crap."

"Are you sure you want to do it tonight?" He asked. "It might be better to wait, and make sure you're at your full power."

"I'm fine, Tim. This can't wait, I want to surprise them. The kidnappers will wake in the morning, and they'll let Thomas know what I've done. I have to do this tonight."

As we discussed it, a bunch of cars pulled into the yard, disgorging several blue haired old ladies. To tell
the truth, we looked deceptively silly, almost like an old folks’ home on a trip to the casino. There were a few younger women, and a couple of angry husbands with them. I finally called everyone to order and got them to be quiet.

“As many of you know, we've been the victims of several attacks against our coven. I don’t know why these attacks have been coming, to the best of my knowledge we haven't done anything to challenge or offend anybody, so these unprovoked attacks are pissing me off.

What we do know is that the attacks have come at the orders of a man named Thomas, a man with powerful magic. Somehow, he's gathered several covens together, and set them and their talents against us. Many of the witches with him are under his influence, and they aren't truly responsible for their actions.

After this latest underhanded attack on my family, I wentand kicked some ass and found out that the attackers are from Crawford. I know where they meeting house is, and I'm going over there tonight and force them to end this war, and free the people that he'zs using to fight for him.”

This produced several rumbles, and a few reactions which I hadn’t expected. Some of the coven felt that we should simply focus on defense, and not go looking for a fight. I even heard from a few people that perhaps Thomas was only doing what he thought was right, gathering the covens for our mutual protection.

Mama Gwen got angry at that. “These people stole my life for over a year! They're kidnappers and thieves! You think he’s doing it for our protection? You want to sit and wait while they use magic to steal and maybe even kill? You all know what could happen if we're exposed!

Do any of you really believe that this is happening for our common good? This is greed, pure and simple. They want our minds and magic! They can't allow us to oppose them. This is a war! This is a fight for our lives and our freeom. Hell, I'm done talking! I'm ticked off!"

We walked to the front of the group, and I stood in front of them all. “By right of power, for better or worse, I'm leading this coven. Anyone wanna argue with me? No, I didn't think so. I'm young, but I'm tired of this! If I’ve gotta do this alone, I will. If you’re coming with me, then say so, and if not, don’t even think about going against us. You'll be very sorry! Believe me, tonight, we will finish this!”

I turned and walked over to Tim, who hugged me tightly in support.

“Be careful, my Enchantress. I’m going home, but when you're done, you better call me. I’ll be thinking of you, and waiting for your call, whenever you get back."

“I’ll be fine. I can’t let this continue, Tim. I have to do this, and I've gotta do it tonight."

“I know,” he said, and he kissed me. “I can still be concerned, all right? I love you.”

“I love you, too. I’ll call you in a while, all right?” I kissed him again, and he went to his car, then waved and drove away. I walked over to my truck, where Debbie was waiting. “Not going with your mom?”

“Nope, I’m sticking with you. Let’s go!”

“You got it,” I said, as I started my truck. “It’s fun time.”

.