WILLFUL WITCHES

Chapter Fifteen

Raven didn't need to check Jimmy, he was sitting up and staring incredulously at both Raven and the stranger to whom he now owed his life. "Who is this?" he asked, his voice not quite steady. He was struggling to sit up, Raven allowed him to lean against her and kept her arms around him securely, as though if she let him go he would disappear.

"My name is Conner Finnery," he said. There was no doubt he was a most powerful wizard..

With a shaky breath Jimmy asked, "Why are you here?"

Conner smiled and brought one of Raven's hands to his lips. "I came to see Raven."

Jimmy slowly rose to his feet. Besides a slight feeling of weakness here and there, he started to feel fine. Energized in fact. He scrutinized this Conner Finnery closely. The energy of the man was immense. Jimmy was suddenly more afraid than he'd ever been in his entire life. And he owed his life to this being. "Who are you?" he asked his voice awed.

"I've told you," Conner said, getting slowly to his feet.

Jimmy marveled at what this man had done. It took immense energy. Here he was able to stand and talk coherently, when another witch would have needed several hours, if not a few days to recover. He knew Raven-knew her very well. Jimmy turned his attention to Raven. "You can't do this," he said.
Raven looked questioningly at Jimmy. "You can't bring in a wizard of his caliber and experience to help you. It's against the rules. Against our laws."

Raven suddenly smiled. "You misunderstand the situation, Jimmy," she said. She was holding Conner's hand and she smiled up at him. Conner Finnery was only a little taller than Raven, his grey eyes were tired, but they twinkled and his smile was dazzling. His black hair was wild around his face, brushing his shoulders, and his wiry frame stood straight and tall. Raven looked at Jimmy again. "Conner is not my ally," she said. "He's my lover. He does not serve my Goddess, but another. He came to visit me and I'd say his arrival, though unexpected, was quite fortuitous. Wouldn't you?"

A commotion from behind them made Raven and Conner turn. "Whoa!" said Dani, her eyes going wide as she took in Conner Finnery. "Who's this?" she asked, and the rest of the girls stood behind her staring open-mouthed.

"Ah, Conner, I see you've not lost your ability to turn the heads of the lasses," Raven laughed. Conner smiled, took Raven in his arms, and kissed her soundly, leaving the girls even more gape-mouthed than they had been.

Steph and Robert were the last to arrive on the scene. Steph took in Jimmy's appearance first then turned her attention to Conner Finnery. She was at a loss for words, but Robert wasn't. "Who's this?" he asked. Steph turned to look at him; there was an odd tone in his voice.

Raven answered, "As far as introductions go, this man is Conner Finnery. He's a very special person in my life. He's come to visit me and he's to be treated with the utmost respect."

Suz had come to stand beside Dani. "Is he a wizard?" she asked.

Conner smiled, a dazzling smile. "I am," he said, "but I'm only here to visit with Raven. I have nothing to do with your lessons, your schooling, or your choice." The last was met with puzzled looks, but Conner simply bowed. "I am at your service, ladies, should you need advice, but I shall not usurp the advice given by your teachers or those in authority at this school."

Raven sighed. "I thought I told you girls to wait in your rooms."

Felice said, "Yes, you did, but when Debbie told us about Jimmy, we had to come and see if he was all right. I guess she misjudged how powerful she is."

"She did not. An object lesson for all of you," said Raven, slipping back into her role as a teacher. "Debbie lost control of her power, she almost killed Jimmy as a result. Where is she by the way?" Raven asked, looking around and not seeing her.

"She feels really bad and is scared. I think she went to find Mr. Jones," said Dani.

Raven conversed for a few minutes with the girls. Steph listened to some of it, but her attention was mostly on Robert, Jimmy, and this strange man in their midst. Steph couldn't recall seeing him before but Robert was reacting strangely to his presence. Steph watched Robert watching Conner Finnery.

At length, Raven said, "All right, I think we should all return to the school now. I believe I need a word with Debbie."

As the group started to disperse, Steph reached out and took Robert's arm. "Wait a minute, I want a word with you," she said. Robert hung back, his manner guarded. When the others had left, she said, "Okay, so, who is he?"

Robert shrugged. "As far as I know, he's who he says he is."

Steph looked hard at Robert. "Come on, you've been acting weird ever since you saw him. Do you know something the rest of us don't?"

Robert turned his full attention to Steph. "This is what you want to talk about? Some strange man who comes here to visit Raven? Don't you think we have other things to discuss?"

"Like what?" Steph asked, her voice turning cool.

"Like us," he said, his voice becoming heated.

"We've had that discussion to death. The last time we had it, you accused me of being some slut who wanted to do you and Jimmy both."

Robert snorted, "For all I know you did do Jimmy!"

Steph sighed heavily, "I'm not having this discussion again with you. What I want to know is, who that man is? And, why you're acting like you are as if you're, I don't know, afraid of him."

"I'm not bloody afraid of him! I don't even know him!" but as Robert said it, both he and Steph knew it wasn't exactly the truth. Robert glared at her. "What is it? You want to do him too?" he asked, his voice acidic.

"And if I did, what the hell is it to you?" she snipped, her voice cold and her eyes flashing anger.

Robert clenched his fists then suddenly relaxed them. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. It's just, I don't know, there's something about him I don't know, I don't...damn it! Why can't I recall the things I need to recall? These last months' being civil, barely, being good as Raven calls it. Damn it! Hasn't it made you crazy as well? Why did you go to Jimmy? What drove you into his bed? It had to be more than my telling you something you didn't want to hear at the time! And I can forgive that, but...."

"Forgive? You can forgive me? Oh, how very magnanimous of you, Mr. Plant. How very civilized. I could give a flying fuck if you forgive me or not," Steph said glaring at him. "You know what, Robert. There are some things I need forgiving for, but bruising your astronomical ego isn't one of them. It's not as though you're exactly hurting for bedmates, now is it? How was dear Juli by the way?"

Robert looked at Steph, the puzzlement clear on his face. "Juli? Jimmy's assistant? What does she have to do with anything? Are you accusing me of sleeping with Juli, of all people? Have you completely lost your mind? I know she's with Jimmy, I'd never do that to him. What the fuck do you mean by accusing me of something like that?"

"Yes," Steph fired back, "rumors suck, don't they? But I heard you were sucking face with her pretty damn good, and well, it's not like you to stop at a kiss! The first time you kissed me, I had to pry you off me with a crowbar!"

"Yes, I know that, but it wasn't as though you didn't want me now was it? Derek and Matthew had a hard time convincing you to go out with me in the first place, but when you did, we had a nice time, and as I recall we had some very nice times after that. You were my damn girlfriend and I...." The look of wonder on Robert's face said it all. He gaped at Steph and then said, in a hushed voice, "You were my girlfriend! We lived together; we had a relationship. We were...I was going to...I mean...I thought we were going to...then your friend died and everything changed! Oh, my Gods, Stephanie, I remember. Not everything, but I remember!"

Steph looked at him, awed by the look on his face. "You remember?" she whispered.

"Yes! Gods, I remember. I wanted you in my life, forever. I was going to ask you to marry me. I wanted children with you. I...I was head over heels in love with you." Robert suddenly grabbed Stephanie and held her close and tight. He murmured against her hair, "And I still am. Oh, bloody hell, I've been such a damn fool!"

Stephanie let him hold her, relaxing into his body, as she had wanted to do for so many months now. But he didn't remember everything, he didn't remember what Raven had shown her, he didn't remember...murder. And she didn't know if it was true. But now there was someone else she could talk to. There was someone else who had come into the play. A new actor. One who'd known Raven a very long time. One who knew Robert and Jimmy as well. Maybe, just maybe, she could get some straight answers from Conner Finnery. She didn't know if he had them, but she was sure as hell going to find out.