Told ya I wouldn't take long!

I did my best to get this chapter written in a timely manner; I'm not a fan of cliffies myself, so I wasn't about to leave you guys hanging for long.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. For this chapter, there's only a language warning and of course, brief violence that comes with an epic if brief battle and then there's some cuteness involved at the end.

Lastly, this chapter is another example of the chapter writing itself. I won't elaborate on what that means; you'll understand by the end of this chapter.

Now with all that being said, read on and enjoy!

Continued from the last chapter:

Connor squared his shoulders and walked towards the barn. Unbeknownst to him, Kayla and Jude were behind him.

By the time he got to the barn, the witches were already surrounding the young woman, who had to be the young boy's mother as she was feeding the two young fillies that were in her care. One of them looked exactly like the horse in his dreams…

A moment later, he looked down feeling Kayla slip her hand into his.

"What're you doing?" He demanded in a whisper. "I told you to go with Kira."

"It's the darkness!' She whispered. When he looked at his young cousin, her eyes were glowing a bright green and a few tears were streaming from her eyes.

"Yeah, I know."

Connor looked back up at the confrontation and gently pushed Kayla behind him. The evil presence was intense and strong. It was stifling.

As he took a moment to gather his wits, he heard the woman raising her voice in anger.

"…And I'm telling you the same thing I said before. I know you traffic in dark magik and you're the one responsible for killing that young mare! I won't allow you to torture any more innocent animals!"

"You don't have a choice, Bitch. Hand over that cat or I'll cut you down where you stand and that little whelp of yours will be the one to find your corpse."

Connor felt his anger snap at the threat. His inner shaman flared to life before he even realized what had happened. He was angry and hated the dark atmosphere around him.

"Not a chance, witch." Connor said in a dark voice. "This woman has already told you 'no' and I won't allow your wickedness to pollute the air any longer."

The witch turned to him waving her knife threateningly. "Do you know who I am?"

Connor looked her over and noticed the pentagram tattoo on her wrist. It resembled the one he'd spied on the wrist of Sapphire's mother, but this one had a goats head in the middle. This one looked evil.

"I think you've watched 'The Craft' too many times." He answered. "You're no Nancy."

The witch narrowed her eyes at him, and he saw the pupils turn a shiny black. She gripped her anthame and in a split second hurled it at him. But this time, it stopped in mid air, and hovered over the ground.

"What the fuck?" She hissed in anger.

Suddenly a huge gust of wind picked up in the barn and the horses whinnied in fear.

The witches gasped in fear as Eric finally made himself known. His powers were fully manifesting; his eyes were a ghostly blue as he walked into the barn with his hands out at his sides.

"You should watch your language in front of the children."

The witches looked very frightened now. Both twins were in full shaman mode and looking for all the world like mighty guardians.

This stops now." Connor told them.

When the head witch opened her mouth to speak, Eric gestured and the wind picked up and surrounded her, and then with a wicked grin on his face, he gestured again and the wind swirled even more, messing up the girl's carefully styled hair.

When she cursed even louder, Eric added, "If it wasn't apparent before, I have authority over the very air in here. If I wanted to, I could render you breathless."

Connor looked over at his twin and then back at the coven. "You may have come here with the intention of stealing helpless animals for terrible reasons, but now you're going to leave empty handed." Connor added. "I can commune with the spirits of this land. Your very presence violates them and they're angry."

"I won't even bother to hold them back if they decide to take revenge for what you've done. You should leave while you still have a chance."

They coven cursed at them, but hurried to leave. When they were gone, both men took a moment to peacefully dismiss their powers. Only when they were themselves again, did they realize how tired they were. A second later, they realized that the mother was still there, gaping at them…or rather at Eric in wonder and definitely appreciating what he'd just done for her.

Yeah, she was totally into him.

He grinned and then turned to his brother. "Bro, you good?"

Eric snorted. "Yeah, but I can see what you meant about how draining that is. I could seriously go for a triple bacon cheeseburger!"

Then, as if to remind Connor that she was still there, the ghostly mare got his attention again. She knickered at him and he got the impression from her that she was worried about her foal and what his fate would be.

He didn't know how he could do it but when he put his hand out palm up, she nuzzled it and he was able to feel her cold breath. "I know you're the mother." He whispered to the mare. "I'll take care of him."

The horse nickered at him again and then trotted over to the woman and nuzzled her too. The woman cried softly and whispered. "I'll miss you too, Mystique."

The last thing the mare did was trot over to her foal and nuzzle it. The baby neighed in distress as the mother bid her baby goodbye.

Then she turned back to face Connor and they shared of a moment; eyes met before the beloved mare vanished into the night.

When the moment was over, the woman took a deep steadying breath and approached the twin brothers.

"Thank you for saving us."

Before Connor could speak, Eric said, "I'm happy to help; evil like that shouldn't be allowed to exist."

"The evil is gone for now, but I don't know what I'll do if they return."

"The only solution is to send them somewhere safe." Said another voice. Everyone turned to see Mr and Mrs Danvers walking towards them. They were the owners and operators of the orchard. Rocky was with them. Just behind them, David and Diesel with matching looks of pride on their faces.

Connor saw them and sighed. "Did you see all of that?"

"Yeah, we did and we're incredibly grateful that you protected the animals. Those wannabe witches have been doing their damndest to intimidate us into giving them that cat. We don't have the evidence to prove it, but we know that one of them contributed to that mare's death. It took a long time and a good chunk worth of donations to get her to full health and only a half hour for her to be beaten to death."

"It would have been horrible if those witches had managed to get to her baby too."

The husband hugged his wife tight. "Well, they're gone for now…but now we need to figure out a way to safeguard the foal and the kitten."

This whole time the two kids were watching the conversation, but now Kayla spoke up.

"Sir, we can take care of the fairy kitten!"

Mr. Danvers looked down at the little girl. "What fairy kitten?"

"I had a dream about the kitten. He's got four ears and a stubby tail."

When he looked back at Connor in question. "We're not sure but she's showing signs of having latent shaman abilities. She hasn't even seen the kitten and she knows things about it."

When the little boy walked back into the barn with a little ball of black fur in his arms. Kayla turned to him with a sad smile on her face.

"You should take Twilight with you. He's not safe here anymore."

"Sawyer?" The young mom asked. "What are you doing?"

The little boy looked up at his mom. "You told me that Twilight is my responsibility. He's not safe here anymore; she's a superhero!"

"We can protect him. The Miscreants will help me!"

"You know the Miscreants?" The little boy asked.

Kayla nodded. "They live with us and two of them are my cousins. We've already rescued a few other kittens from a mean lady that threw them into a ditch."

Connor looked at Kira who had finally shown up as their little cousin effectively took over the conversation. When he turned his sight on the other woman, he saw that the mother was watching everything in disbelief.

When she looked back up them Connor confirmed the question in her eyes. "It's true. My best friend is their mentor. He'll be safe with us."

The mother sighed. "It's up to my son. I did say that the fate of that kitten was up to him."

Sawyer gave Kayla a sad smile and handed the kitten over to her. "You gotta sign the application to adopt him."

When Kayla looked up at Connor he smiled back at her. "It makes sense to me. Kira and I had to do the same thing when we adopted Tris."

Sawyer looked up at his ma. "I need your help too."

In the next moment, the foal whinnied at them not wanting to be forgotten. Connor turned to the foal. "I promise that I haven't forgotten you."

Kira squeezed her husbands hand. "I'll just go with Kayla to sign those papers. You still have some business to finish."

"Thanks, Rockstar."

When she walked away holding Kayla and Jude's hand, Mr Danvers continued the conversation.

"I've never heard of the Miscreants, are they a new rescue organization?"

They're a little more than that." Rocky commented. My son is one of them along with his girlfriend." He continued explaining what the Miscreants mission was. They'll be doing the heavy lifting so to speak, but we parents are going to be supervising just to make sure everything is legitimate."

"And the kittens?" Mrs. Danvers asked.

"That's true too, and the kittens were not the first animals to be rescued. Princess Buttercup had been shot point blank by some gang members and Rook ran ever stoplight to the nearest vet and saved her life. We were lucky the cops didn't arrest him on the spot."

"They sound like good kids."

"They are." David nodded. "I performed the cleansing ceremony myself. They've got the blessing of a shaman and their parents. They'll be aiding the Angel Grove Special Victim's unit when they get back from their mini vacation."

And what about you?" Mrs Danvers asked. Do you know anything about horses?"

Connor sighed. "All I know is that a beloved Mare asked me to look after her foal and it makes sense only because my spirit guide is a mustang and I'm a shaman in training. I know it'll take a team of professionals to care for him. I have zero experience, but I have no issue providing for his care. If I have to, I'll build a stable just for him to stay in."

"Horses need to be around others of their kind. I know of a professional stable near Angel Grove that he can stay in."

Connor nodded and then walked over to the foal who was pacing restlessly in his stall.

He snorted when Connor approached. "Easy, boy. You're going to be safe now."

When he held his hand out, palm up, the foal snorted and looked at his new master.

Connor looked back at the Danvers. "Does he have a name?"

"Not yet, naming him was the conundrum we were facing when his mother was killed. We normally wait for him to show his personality before we name him. however, he's going to be your horse, so now it's up to you to name him."

Conner turned back to the foal who seemed to know what was happening. He looked the horse in the eye and nodded to himself looking certain.

"Your name is Harley and your mine now."

The foal blew softly on his hand and neighed happily. When he looked back at the owners, they were smiling happily at him.

"What papers do I need to sign to make it all official?"

Conner signed his name on the dotted line, making his guardianship of the young foal official. He shook hands with Mr. Danvers.

"Congrats, you're the new guardian of a foal."

"Thanks." Conner answered with a grin. He paused and then asked. "Open an account under my name and I'll cover whatever tak or supplies he needs. When I get back from San Diego I'll settle up."

"Sounds good. How long will you be gone?"

"Only about a week or so. Our friends are getting married in a little over a week, so we need to be back for that."

Sounds good." Mr. Danvers answered and then paused. Do the Miscreants have a website?

"So far, it's just a Myspace Page, but I'm betting a new website will be up as soon as they get back."

About an hour later…

Connor chuckled as he sat with Kira in the middle row of the dimly let trailer. They were being pulled by a powerful tractor and the woman dressed in dated clothing was retelling the classic American legend of 'Sleepy Hollow.'

As she narrated, the tractor pulled them through a replica of the sleepy town complete with a creepy scary and haunted grave yard. Eric sat across from him with a nervous Kailen clinging to him; the little boy had tried so hard to be brave, but when the ghosts had emerged from the gothic mausoleum, all bets were off.

Kayla and Jude, on the other hand were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Kayla sat with her grandparents and laughed at some joke he told her. Jude now sat with his parents whom had finally shown up and they were having just as much fun as everyone else.

Connor who had watched the Disney Cartoon previously knew what was coming as the scenery changed and the smoke machines started up. The poor Ichabod Crane (whom was played perfectly by a very skinny young man) walked out of the Van Tassel house and towards the spooky road. He mounted his horse and turned down the path and then a moment later paused hearing the music change.

Conner leaned into him with a low chuckled. "This is gonna be good!"

Across the way, Skull grinned at him and nodded.

Everyone watched in silence as the horse began to trot down the spooky road…and then was joined by none other than the Headless Horseman who road a massive black horse!

As they watched in horror, the massive black horse reared up in front of them and everyone could see the flaming pumpkin head in the headless horsemen hand. A second later, the horse and rider took off having spied their perfect prey.

Ichabod screamed loudly and took off, only to be chased by the massive black phantom. They all watched as the flaming pumpkin head went flying. The moment it hit the ground, red fireworks exploded and the small figure fell of his horse and disappeared.

"What happened to him?" Kailen asked in a scared voice.

The narrator was on point. "Well, young master. No one really knows. He was never seen or heard from again. All they found was his hat and a smashed pumpkin. Some people think the Hessian dragged him away, some think he left the town behind and found his fortune elsewhere. But whenever a townsfolk mentions that legend or of poor ichabod, old Brom Bones smirks devilishly and turns away.

As if to punctuate the story, heavy hoofbeats were heard again and the Headless Horsemen came rushing at them from the opposite direction and reared up at them.

He only lingered a moment more before racing away from them.

The last thing any of them saw as the trailer ended the trip, was the smashed pumpkin and the trampled hat.

As they pulled into the safety of the orchard, everyone clapped to show their appreciation.

Finally, feeling safe, Kailin lifted his head and his dad ruffled his hair. "We're safe now. You ready to go?"

As they walked back through the Spooky Acres, they saw that things were beginning to shut down for the night though there were just a few stragglers trying one last time to win the prizes that they'd not be able to get earlier.

Just before the exit, they saw that a table had been set up with a cauldron full of candy. Beside it, was a lighted up poster board with a short message on it:

Thank you for coming to Spooky Acres! We hope everyone had fun at our orchard and made many happy memories. The students you saw tonight put many hours and energy into every game and costumes for the haunted hayride. If you could find time, they ask for the visitors to visit their website and leave constructive criticism so they can better their work for next year!

Have a fun and fanciful Halloween!

-The Spooky Acres Team

Just before the got to the gate, they saw Harley and Sawyer's mother, Isla waiting for them. The foal neighed loudly and danced around a little bit.

Connor grinned at the sight and walked over to the foal. He knelt down to the foal's height. "Hey, I promise that I'll be back to get you, but you gotta behave till then. Okay?"

The foal only leaned into him and Connor rubbed it's neck. "I'll see you soon, Harley."

When he got back up, he held out his hand to Isla. "Feel free to call me if anything comes up with him." he paused to see the young woman glancing at his twin's backside. "Or if you want my twin's number. He's very single."

Instead of seeing the young woman blushing, she was grinning. "No need, I'll be seeing you guys soon enough. I've have friends over at the stables by Angel Grove. Harley's mother was was my responsibility. I sat with her when she delivered him and I don't feel comfortable with just anyone looking after her foal."

Connor nodded. "Then I'll be looking forward to see you soon."

"Enjoy your road trip."

When they got back to the SUV, Eric was looking at him with narrowed eyes. "You're setting me up?"

"More like talking you up. You deserve to be as happy as I am with Kira."

"I'm not ready for another relationship, Bro. I just got out of one."

"Look, it's not a set up; I just adopted a foal and I need an expert who knows what she's doing. I'd be more willing to pay for someone like her that already knows Harley and won't cut corners. If you happen to find love in the process than it's a win-win for everyone."

Eric shook his head. "I hate that I can't disagree with any of that logic."

Connor grinned. "Just go with it. Now, I'm sure that you're anxious to get to the cabin and get Kailen put down for the night. So, let's get going."

Eric sighed and got into the back seat next to his son's car seat.

Just as Connor opened the door to the driver's seat, Kayla and Rocky walked up to them.

"Great work today. Tommy will be proud."

"You're not going to join us for the night?"

Rocky shook his head. "Nah, I really miss my mate and I hate the idea of sleeping alone. Not to mention that I need to make a stop at Walmart to pick up a few supplies. This little girl needs a few things before we get back to the Manor. If you have anything you need me to take back to Angel Grove, now's the time."

"Nah, we just got started, but I did just adopt a foal. We're going to have to rework the budget to fit him in."

Rocky grinned. "Got it, I'll talk to the accountant when I get back."

"Forget it." Diesel interjected. I'll cover his care."

When Conner looked at him, Diesel added. "I've missed over 18 years of birthdays, I'll be making up for them this way."

Conner shook his head and then handed over the business card that he'd gotten from Isla. "Here's Isla number, she's the one that's going to be in charge of Harley's care."

Rocky pulled out his phone and took a snapshot of the business card. "Got it, now you better get going; we'll see you when you get back."

Connor paused and then looked at Rocky again. "You don't seem shocked that I've suddenly adopted a horse."

Rocky shrugged nonchalantly. "How do you think we got Psyche and Mischief? We never thought we'd have a house full of dogs, but when Billy moved in, he started finding out that his wolf spirit drew other canines to him; we've all just learned to roll with it.

Rocky paused again. "However, I would be appreciate it if you didn't decide to adopt any orcas during your trip to Sea World."

Connor laughed out loud, "I promise the only orcas we bring home will be the decorative variety."

"Good, now if you don't mind, I really want to get on the road. I'm missing 'Ish like crazy."

When Connor climbed into the driver's seat of the SUV, he looked at Kira. "So, I guess our family has expanded some more. I hope you're okay with it."

Kira only smiled at him. "Seeing you happy like that makes it worth it. We're going to have the most unique family photos ever."

"Really? You want to include all of them?"

Kira grinned and nodded at him. "Yeah, Tris was our first, and now we have Harley and this little orca will make three. I kind of like having that idea of even having them in our maternity shoot.

Connor held up their joined hands and kissed them. "You are the most amazing wife and partner ever."

Kira leaned over and kissed him. "I love you too and this amazing wife you speak of suddenly craves a large fry and a milkshake. Would you mind?"

Connor grinned and looked at the rear-view mirror. Eric was fast asleep and so was Kailen.

"Yeah, we can drop by whatever is open before we get to the Lodge."

And with those words, he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road.

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and that it was worth the wait! I did my best to make the showdown worth the wait. The plotline of the mare and her foal were what took me so long to write the previous chapter. I knew I wanted it to happen, but wasn't sure how to lead up to it.

Anyway, the next chapter will be in the Miscreant's story which I have been chomping at the bit to get to. (It's pretty much the portion of the story I've been looking forward to all this time!)

See you guys next chapter!