The White Queen and the Witch Hunter

A/N: This is the final chapter for this story so I hope you've all enjoyed it so far. Hopefully the ending will please everyone.

Chapter 4

Several weeks passed without any further appearances by the Shadow Master, but Kaulder and Chloe both noticed that Ariande was paler than usual and often seemed to be in pain. After a week of this Kaulder cornered her and demanded to know what was wrong.

"It's my brother…he's trying to force his darkness into me and fighting it off hurts…but I can't stop fighting or he'll win."

"Come here…"

He held his arms open to her and she curled into them, only just seeing Chloe looking at them with a soft smile.

"You two look good together."

"Thank you sweet one. I think he will fight me full on soon…he's testing my limits right now…testing my strength. I'm using as little as possible so he'll think he has the advantage."

"That's a good strategy my little queen. Kepp em guessing…let em think they have the upper hand…and then gut em like a fish."

"Not quite the visual I was going for my Hunter…I was aiming for something a bit less…bloody…"

Kaulder just shrugged, completely unapologetic as usual, and Chloe snorted loudly. Ariande just smiled softly as the two started bickering like siblings, remembering with fondness a time when she and her brother had been like that. She felt the dark pressure in her mind pull back sharply at the memory and she knew, with certainty, that that imagery had gotten to her brother. She pushed more memories of their childhood to the front of her mind and felt his darkness recoil as though it had been burned, but there was something behind that darkness…something tiny but still undeniably light, and she realized the brother she remembered was still in there…buried deep but still there. She came back to reality with a sharp gasping sound as she dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her face as Kaulder cradled her against him.

"What's wrong? Talk to me my little queen."

"He's still in there…my brother…the one I loved…he's still there…he's buried so deep under all that darkness…but he felt my memories and tried to reach for me…I think…I think I can still save him Kaulder."

"I hope you can…for your sake if not his."

"I hope so too…I miss my big brother."

"Is there any way we can help?"

"Yes…I'm going to need you, Chloe, to gather as many witches as you can and have them all meet in Central Park at sundown."

"I'm on it. I'll contact my friends and they'll contact others and spread the word on from there."

Chloe ran off to find a quiet apace to contact her group of friends, receiving assurances that they would be there and spread the word to others. Ariande smiled softly as she felt Chloe reaching out, her powers blossoming and growing under her teaching.

"Kaulder…I'll need you by my side for this."

"Of course. What are you planning my little Queen?"

"I'm going to flood his mind with love, and light, and happiness, and everything positive…I'm going to draw on the energy and light of those that come to help us and feed it into him. I will bring his last remaining light to the surface and help it grow again."

"I'll do what I can."

"I know. Just being there by my side will help. I know a lot of your past is painful and not very happy…"

"I was happy with my wife and daughter before I lost them…and I am happy now with you, and Chloe, and Dolan. We can draw on those memories."

"Somehow I don't think watching you fuck me into oblivion is going to help his mental state Kaulder."

Kaulder burst into a deep belly laugh and she gave him a cheeky smile. The two of them kissed and only broke away when Chloe came back in and made a comment on how they were like a pair of randy teenagers.

"I can't help it if she's perfect."

"Yeah, yeah, come on you two…we have work to do."

Ariande laughed softly and allowed Chloe to pull her up from the floor. Kaulder launching himself up and earning twin eye rolls from the two women for showing off. They met up with Dolan and poured over ancient magical texts, Chloe and Ariande projecting the necessary information into the minds of everyone who had agreed to meet up in the park. As the sun finally began to set Ariande grabbed their hands and transported them to the park, signing softly when those gathered there bowed to her.

"Please don't do that…"

"You are our Queen…we want to show you respect."

"You can do that by being the best you can be, and not allowing darkness to corrupt you."

"Yes My Queen. We are all ready whenever you are."

Ariande nodded sharply and sank gracefully to her knees. Kaulder took up his position behind her with his hands on her hips, and Chloe sat beside him with a hand on his shoulder. Everyone else joined around them in a circle, everyone holding hands and the last two touching Chloe's shoulders so that they all connected back to their Queen. Ariande's eyes snapped open, glowing bright green as the Shadow Master appeared in front of her. The other kept their eyes closed as she'd instructed them to, ignoring the deep frightening voice that spoke to their Queen as best they could.

"What are you planning little sister? Hmm? You think these people will give you enough power to fight me? Even you are not that naïve."

Ariande locked eyes with him and pulled all of the feelings of happiness, love, light, and joy that she could gather and pushed them hard into her brother's mind. The Shadow Master gave a terrifying screeching sound and fell to his knees but she kept pushing, her inner eyes focused on the little light deep under the darkness that responded to her, reached for her. She reached back and touched that light, feeding it with her own light and helping it to grow against the oppressive darkness around it. She pulled Kaulder's mind to her and he gave her his strength, letting her draw from him to bolster her power and watched as that small light grew ever brighter.

The screeching hadn't stopped yet, it only grew louder and more desperate as the Shadow Master tried to attack Ariande to make her stop but he met a barrier of bright white light that he could not move past. He railed against it, pushing, clawing and beating at the barrier but to no avail. The barrier held fast and allowed Ariande to continue feeding her brother' light with her own, letting him feel the love and life of all those connected to her at that moment. She pushed the Shadow Master down, smiling as he brother helped her and together they managed to push the Shadow Master into a little black box in his mind. She pulled that box out of her brother's mind and into her own until she could get rid of it, but for now she needed to heal the damage done to her brother. Her light branched out and sought out all of the places that the darkness had taken root in, pulling at those roots and destroying them before healing those injured places. It took hours in the real world before she was done and they pulled their minds back into reality. Ariande released everyone's minds and they all sagged against each other, tired but satisfied at the beaming smile on their Queen's face.

"Thank you…all of you. Go back to your homes and make sure to drink at least two full glasses of water and eat a full meal before getting a good night's sleep. You'll feel better in the morning."

"You are more than welcome my Queen. We will always help you in any way that we can."

They all slowly trickled out of the park and back to their homes until only Kaulder and Chloe remained with the two siblings. Ariande looked at her brother and saw the tears running down his face as he drank in the sight of her and gathered him into her arms.

"hush now…I'm here…you're alright now. I've got you."

"I'm so sorry…I couldn't fight him…and he wouldn't let me reach you for help…I tried so hard…"

"It wasn't your fault. You'll be alright now. Come on…let's go home."

"Where is home now? I doubt the castle we once had still stands…"

"Oh it's standing…but it's a tourist attraction and museum now. Home is with Kaulder and Chloe now."

"Kaulder? As in the Witch Hunter? The immortal one?"

"The very same."

"What did I miss? By the gods I've missed a lot of important stuff huh?"

"Not really…I've spent a long time living alone in a cave in Ireland…I was…too weak to come out around others as they stopped believing in me. Chloe here brought me back."

"Then I owe her a debt of gratitude…thank you Lady Chloe."

"I'm no lady…I'm just Chloe."

Kaulder's snort earned him a harsh elbow from the fiery little redhead and he grunted softly. Ariande's brother smiled at them and threw an arm around his sister's shoulders, basking in the warm smile she gave him.

"Well then…just Chloe…I am called Cinéad, but my sister has always called me Cin."

"Well then Kin…pleased to meet ya."

"Oh the pleasure is all mine pretty lady."

Cin kissed her hand and she flushed a pretty shade of red, his roguish smirk did nothing to help that either. The man was as dark haired as his sister was light haired, and he definitely had the same good looks that she did. Kaulder gave him a warning look and the women just rolled their eyes. When Ariande collapsed Kaulder caught her and swept her up into his arms before heading to the car. Cin looked worried but Chloe reacted faster than either man had thought possible. She was by her Queen's side and had urged her to wake back up long enough to open the little vial around her neck and drink it. Once that was done Chloe relaxed, leaning against Cin without even realizing it, not that the man was complaining mind you…he was rather enjoying it actually. They eventually made it back to Kaulder's apartment and Chloe insisted that Cin stay in her room so she could 'teach him about modern life'…an excuse Kaulder saw right through but he let it go. Chloe was an adult and could do what she wanted, and she could certainly do worse…had in fact done far worse in his opinion…so this one he didn't have much of a problem with.

"Just use protection will ya?!"

Chloe flipped him off before pushing a laughing Cin into her room and closing the door. Kaulder heard the lock click before he carried Ariande to bed and stayed beside her as she slept for the next 24 hours…and then some. It was two full days before she rejoined the waking world and Kaulder had started to worry that something was wrong, despite Chloe and Cin's reassurances that it was fine.

"Hey beautiful…welcome back."

"How long…was I out?"

"Two whole days…had me worried my little Queen."

"I'm sorry…I'm ok now though…just needed rest."

"It's fine my little Queen…oh…just so your don't get any shocking surprises when we leave this room…Your brother and Chloe are sleeping together."

"Really? After seeing how they reacted on meeting…can't say I'm shocked."

"Yeah…she actually flipped me off when I told her to use protection…"

"You didn't?"

"I most certainly did. They don't know each other well enough yet to be risking having a kid."

"True…but honestly…a witch can't get pregnant unless she wants to…didn't you know that?"

"No…I didn't. How the hell did I not know that one?"

Her giggling laughter made him smile and lift her up out of the bed before carrying her to the breakfast table, where Chloe and Cin were already waiting for them. Kaulder sat her next to her brother and sat himself across from her and next to Chloe. He watched with a soft look as the two siblings leaned against each other, finally reunited after so many long years of painful separation. They all ate together, talked of numerous topics form modern life, to ancient life, and everything in between. There were tears, laughter, teasing, cursing, and Chloe ended up shoving Kaulder off his chair at one point. This was the scene Dolan walked in on and he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face as he watched the new little family interact…for in his mind that is what they all were…a family…and he was the proud father watching them all grow together.

After a full year of living together they established a routine of sorts, they knew each other's likes and dislikes, their habits, and their limits. They also knew how to push each others buttons and they all argued often, as stubborn people tend to do when their opinions clash, but overall their life together was harmonious. Chloe and Cin were married almost exactly 6 months after meeting each other. Kaulder, Ariande, and Dolan were all there as were Chloe's friends. They had their honeymoon back in Europe, half in England and half in Ireland so they could see each other's homelands. It took a while longer for Kaulder and Ariande to finally get married, but they weren't in any hurry. Their honeymoon was split between Ireland and his original homeland, though they really didn't do much sightseeing.

Two years after they all ended up together Chloe and Cin welcomed their first child, a little boy they named Aidan meaning fiery…which turned out to be an appropriate name as his hair ended up being just as fiery red as his mother's. Another year later and they had a little girl as well whom they named Ena which also meant fire. She grew to have hair as black as her father's but her temper was all her mother.

Kaulder and Ariande welcomed their only child, a little girl with her mother's hair and her father's eyes, after they'd been together nearly four years. They named her Moreira, a combination of his language and hers that came out to mean 'great mercy' and suited her perfectly as she grew up. She was beautiful, kind, helpful, and sweet. Her cousins were extremely protective over her and if anyone dared to even insult her, let alone actually hurt her, they would face the wrath of the two fiery tempered children.

When their family first started growing Kaulder purchased a large house out in the woods with a lot of land so they could have peace and privacy, he also ended up being quite the doting father and uncle and almost always got the kids anything their little hearts desired…even animals. They ended up with a menagerie of horses, cats, dogs, goats, a cow, and even a few ducks and chickens…all because Kaulder couldn't say no…especially to the two little girls. Chloe and Ariande were more than a bit amused by how easily their girls had wrapped him around their little fingers. Life was peaceful for them, but they all forgot about one very important detail.

They all forgot about that locked black box in the back of Ariande's mind that seethed in silent captivity and waited for the slightest hint of weakness.

A/N: And there you have it…the end of this story. I know it wasn't a long story, but I accomplished what I wanted with it so take it as you will. Any flames will be used to roast my favorite steaks on.

A note on the brother's name, and the children's names:

Cinéad - (KIN-ayd) "handsome". Irish form of Kenneth. Cionaodh (KIN-ee), Kennet.

Aidan — (AY-den)(Celt) "flame, fire, fiery"; derived from word aedh "fire". Edan, Aodhan (EH-thahn); anglicized form of Irish Aodán; dim. of Aodh; Edan.

Ena — from the Celtic word for "fire". Enat.

Mór — (MOHR) from Old Irish mor "great, tall". Popular until the 19th C. Moire, Morin, Moya, Moirin, More, Moreen, Maureen.

Eira: Variant form of Old Norse Eir, meaning "help, mercy."

I got the celtic names from this website which has a lot of Celtic names from various regions and their meanings for both men and women. Mine means "Protector of Man" which is kind of awesome…makes me feel like a superhero a bit lol.

www . amethyst–night names . html

The Norse name came from here:

www . 20000-names female_norse_names . htm

I combined Old Norse and Celtic names for Kaulder and Ariande's daughter as I felt that would be appropriate to combine their different heritages…I think it turned out well. Let me know what you think guys.