The Coven: Book 1 | ✔️

Chapter 27 - Nightmare Haze

Lucy finally went upstairs to try and get some sleep. She had just spent the rest of the night and most of the morning creating a large forcefield around Jin's territory. She was drained, sore all over and in dire need of sleep. That fight with the demon hadn’t been very helpful either. After reaching for the last step of the stairs, her legs were asking for mercy.

Raksha, beside her, was waiting expectantly for her owner to start walking again. When she reached the door to her room, Lucy sighed when she saw Jin waiting for her there, leaning on the wall. The white wolf released a breath through her nose and perked her ears, looking up at Lucy.

"Since when do you ask for permission, you minx? Go!"

The white wolf let out another gruff breath, this time a happy one, and ran towards Jin, wagging her tail, as she jumped to stand on her back legs and support herself with her front paws on his shoulders. Raksha was tall enough to be standing and still be much taller than Jin. The wolf rubbed her neck on his face, as Jin laughed and softened his hands through the soft fur. Raksha then proceeded to draw a long, lazy lick to Jin's cheek, to which he scrunched his nose.

“Ah, seriously, you just ate demons, don’t do that!”

Lucy smirked while opening the door.

“I think he likes it, Raksha.” She said, much to Jin's despair, because now the wolf was licking his face repeatedly.

Lucy entered her room, finding comfort in the smell of cinnamon from the incense she had left to burn while being away. It was long gone, now, but the scent prevailed.

“How are you?” Jin asked, following after her and entering the room with a very happy Raksha beside him.

“Furious. But they won’t find her so easily anymore, I placed a spell around the house and most of the forest. They can’t even see the house, now.” Lucy said, sitting down on top of the bed.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Lucy… this isn’t your fault.” Jin mumbled, his eyes soft as he looked at her “It’s not your fault they’re targeting Amelia.”

Lucy sighed, rubbing her temples. She leaned back against the couch, with Raksha coming close to her to place her nuzzle on her leg. The wolf sighed and closed her eyes, emitting a pleasant energy that flowed through Lucy. It was a familiar's way of comforting someone.

“I feel like I failed them… Like I lost all their trust, what if they don’t trust me anymore?” She whispered.

Images of the girls when they were children started to play in her head like a movie, from when they were innocent and Lucy could keep them under her wing so that no one could ever hurt them. They were hers, her apprentices, her children, her friends… her sisters.

Jin's hands came up to her wrists, warm and soft, enveloping her skin. He crouched in front of her and brought her hands down, face serious.

“I need you to listen very carefully. Mina, Emily and Amelia love you from the bottom of their heart and trust you more than anyone else. Never think for one second that they don’t, they all love you very deeply. You’re caring, sweet, an amazing teacher and you were more than a mother to them. And that’s why I love you. Do you understand?”

Lucy smiled softly at him, bringing one hand to his cheek and stroking the warm skin with her thumb.

“It’s been a hell of a lot of years and I still fail to understand what you see in me.”

Jin smiled at her, only to be surprised by her lips touching his, just for a moment.

“Thank you. For loving me.”

He was a little dumbfounded for a second before nodding at her and getting up.

“Do you need anything?” He asked, getting up and ready to do anything she might need.

“Can you pick up my migraine medicine? It’s on the top drawer of the counter in the bathroom, please.”

Jin instantly nodded and turned to go to the bathroom, at the same time the door opened and shaky Mina peeked inside.

“Lucy?” She mumbled, blue eyes tearing up and bottom lip wobbling “Can I sleep with you?”

Lucy tensed, seeing Mina so distressed. Out of the three girls, Mina was the one that never cried in front of people. She was very strong willed and very rarely asked for help. Mina had a confidence in her own body and presence that any woman would wish she had, and that showed in her seduction skills. The girl was an actual seductress.

Only after what happened 80 years ago had Mina been a little more frail, you could say. And it was also the reason why she couldn’t sleep alone.

“Mina, sweetie, what happened?”

“I just… I had a nightmare, and Emily went to see Yoongi, Amelia is with Jungkook and I don’t know where Luna is…” She spoke really fast and shaky, one tear falling as she did. But it was when Jin came back to the room that she sniffled “Oh… I'm sorry, I'll go.”

When Mina was about to turn away, with Jin looking a little concerned, Lucy got up from the couch and went after her.

“No, no, no, Mina! Come here, you can stay, what happened?”

As soon as Lucy reached her, the girl broke down, bringing her hands up to her face and beginning to let out sobs.

“I keep seeing their faces and feeling their hands on me!” She cried, crying softly when Lucy brought her up to her own chest to hug her.

“They’re gone, you’re safe here.” Lucy cooed, hugging the girl more to her and smoothing her hand over her unruly ginger curls.

Lucy let go of her only enough to be able to lead her to the couch, sitting Mina down to immediately bring her to her chest again. Jin looked like he would be a little overwhelmed, but instead went to the bed and picked up a blanket and placed over Mina’s back and ended up mouthing to Lucy, asking if there was anything he could do.

“Jimin. Go get Jimin.” Lucy mouthed back.

Jin was quick to leave the room, while Lucy placed her hand on the side of Mina’s neck to pass through healing energy while singing to her.

Jimin was woken up with a knock, inhaling sharply through the nose.

“Yeah?” He husked out, rubbing the sleep off his eyes.

Jin opened the door, a little winded and concerned.

“Get up. I need you to come with me right now.” The guy said, sounding serious.

Was something on fire? Jin looked like the world was about to end. Jimin sluggishly got up, still rubbing his face. He felt groggy as hell so, whatever Jin had to tell him better be good.

“Hurry up, man!”

“The hell? What’s going on?” Jimin finally asked, frowning at his Hyung’s attitude.

“It's urgent, just come with me quickly.”

Jimin rolled his eyes and huffed, following Jin further into the hall, to one of the guest rooms. Now, Jimin instantly thought it weird, since he didn’t know in which room the twins, Luna or Lucy were staying in. He had refrained from going there, since he didn’t like to peer over their privacy, but he did know the twins were sharing a room, since they always slept together.

Jin quickly opened the last door, the one to the light green guest room, and went inside, making way for him to enter.

What he saw broke his heart.

Lucy was laid back in the cream colored couch, while Mina was snuggled up close to her chest, hands tightly gripping the older witch’s shirt, while frowning as if in pain. She was asleep, but it didn’t look like a rested one. Lucy was humming a slow song, that seemed to be helping Mina fall asleep.

Jimin entered the room, a little fearfully. Lucy placed an index finger on her lips, telling him not to be loud, and then waved him over. He made his way to them.

“What happened?”

“Okay, I need you to help her with something.” Lucy whispered, while Jin left momentarily to give them privacy “I know you'll think this is weird, but it would mean a lot to me if you could spend the night with Mina…”

Jimin froze, flushing like a mad man when Lucy said that. He looked over at Mina and frowned again when she whimpered meekly, shaking in her sleep.

“I don’t understand, is she in pain?”

“So, Mina can’t sleep alone. I don’t want to be the one to explain why, that’s for her to tell you, but she can’t. She has nightmares and horrible insomnia.” Lucy soft explained, lovingly caressing Mina's wild hair “That’s why her and Emily sleep together. However, because Emily wasn’t with her, Mina panicked a bit. I think she’s most likely having another nightmare again. The reason I’m asking you is because she feels comfortable with you… Can I trust you with her?”

He nodded instantly, not even bothering to think twice about it.

“Can I take her to my room? Uh… I'm not gonna do anything- “

“I know, Jimin, I wasn’t thinking anything bad. And yes, you can. Come on, I'll help.”

Jimin carefully looped his arm under Mina’s legs and then pulled her torso to him with his other hand. Lucy helped by wrapping the girl’s arms around his neck. In her sleep, Mina whimpered a little and snuggled her face closer to Jimin, looking for comfort. When she was finally secure, Jimin got up from his position and went for the door, that Lucy opened for him. Jin didn’t say anything when Jimin passed by him and went for his room, Mina snuggled close to his neck.

As soon as he was in his room, he placed Mina on the bed, easing her body onto the mattress, then covered her before turning and closing the door and locking it. He didn’t want anyone seeing Mina like this.

Hearing another whimper and small cry from the bed, Jimin made his way to the bed and slowly eased inside the covers, not wanting to disturb her too much. Mina, however, feeling someone near her, scooted up close to Jimin and looked for comfort near him. She wrapped her arm around his waist and snuggled close to his skin, her temperature seeming too hot to be normal, but maybe due to her magic.

Jimin allowed himself to breathe in her luscious scent of roses, before wrapping his arms around her and hugging her figure close to him. Her breathing softened and she relaxed fully, going into a deeper state of sleep, little snores coming out of her.

He nuzzled the skin of her forehead and closed his eyes, reveling in the moment before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep again.

It was the best night of sleep he ever had… ever!

He woke up on his own accord, not even needing an alarm, and found himself wrapped in Mina’s arms still, her grip gentle but weighty. Her soft breathing was very close to his neck and he could feel her leg up his hip.

It wasn’t helping his morning wood.

Ever so carefully, he removed himself from her snake like hug and eased out from the bed, getting up.

He went to the bathroom, trying to shake himself awake. Mina was still asleep in his bed after he was done taking a shower, now grabbing a pillow and stuffing her nose up close to the fabric. Jimin got dressed and went downstairs quickly, figuring it would be polite of him to fix her something to eat.

Who was he trying to fool… he really just wanted to pamper her. Not all girls liked it, maybe Mina wouldn’t enjoy it. But he didn’t know unless he tried it, right?

He pulled out the guns, grabbing the toaster, the pan and the tea Emily was always using and got to work. There was this strange unnatural need to feed the girl upstairs like she was a queen. So he made scrambled eggs, prepared the tea, two toasts with butter on top and made sure to place a little plate with jam in case she wanted it as well. And then with the bacon and eggs and a plate of grapes, he was done.

Fortunately, no one was awake yet so Jimin was able to make his way upstairs without being spotted by anyone while going up to his room.
Upon entering, he saw Mina was now stirring awake, one hand in her face as she rubbed her eyes.

“Em?” She huskily called.

Her eyes opened lazily, taking in the strange room she was in. It wasn’t the nice shades of light blue the room she shared with Em had. It wasn’t the green, one, Lucy was in… The furniture was dark and the covers were red with white drapes on the windows.
Her head raised when a whiff of soft bergamot filled her senses.

“Morning.”

Jimin’s voice came from behind her and Mina almost had a heart attack.
Jimin had damp hair, and damn, did she like seeing him with damp hair, a white, almost see through t-shirt with a V neck that showed off his throat and a bit of his chest, with gray sweatpants. He placed a tray of food on top of his desk first and then came to sit on the bed, beside her.

“Morning… Why am I, uh… this is your room, right?” Mina asked, frowning in suspicion and then panicking a bit when he nodded “Wait, how did I end up here?”

She actually didn’t remember the previous day, of falling asleep here. Mina even went as far as to look down at herself, checking for her clothes, thinking maybe she could have done something stupid. Well, no, she didn’t, the ache was still there. Along with her clothes.

“Nothing happened, I wouldn’t take advantage of you while you were sleeping.” Jimin said, pressing his lips into a line.

‘Oh, I wish you did…'

She kept her thoughts to herself and just nodded at him, dumbfounded.

“Hum, apparently you had a nightmare last night and went to Lucy. She called for me and asked me to stay with you for the night.” Jimin explained, looking at his fingers “You were sleeping when I brought you here with me."

Mina analyzed him for a bit, seeing him nervous. He was terrified Mina would think badly of him. She repressed a smile and sat up, loving how the scent of him was lingering around her. Sitting up, Mina brought her knees to her chest and stretched her arms languidly across her knees and looked at Jimin with a flirty smile.

“So you stayed with me?” She purred, dropping her voice to a more seductive tone. Jimin looked over at her and nodded again, this time flushing a bit when she smiled wider “Thank you. That was very sweet.”

“Uh, I made breakfast. I didn’t know what you liked so I just went ham on things.” He got up from bed and Mina couldn’t be happier when she saw him grab the tray of still hot food and place it on the bed in front of her.

Oh, this one was a keeper, wasn’t he?
“You made this for me?” Jimin flushed and nodded, sitting in front of her and the tray “You didn’t have to, you know?”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind.”

“Oh, you made Em's tea blend?”

This time he smiled timidly “Yeah, I saw her make that for you several times.”
“That’s so nice… thank you, Jimin.”

“Anything for you.”

When he said that, Mina felt the ache subside greatly, only to be substituted by a warm, comfortable feeling in her chest. This felt right, it felt good. She felt like she was meant to be here, with him. She smiled.

“Aw, don’t say that, I'll fall in love.” She said, ending up rewarded with a flushed and flustered Jimin, clearing his throat and looking away from her.

“Would that be bad?” He mumbled, looking down.

“Oh, no, not at all! In fact, I think it’s working.”

He released a breathy laughter, smiling when she finally began to eat, going for the eggs first. She made small talk, asking what kind of things Jimin liked, knowing he wanted to bring up what had happened the previous day. Mina wasn’t trying to run away, she just needed to get ready before telling him.

“Wait, you dance?” Mina asked, going wide eyed.

“Yeah… I think when you have a lot of time in your hands you end up growing bored and finding things to do. I decided to try contemporary dance a while back. Turns out I was good at it. I won two contests.”

“What! Damn, impressive! Good job, my man, that’s so cool!” Mina said, actually very much surprised and happy for him.

“Thanks… what about you?”

“Me? Dance? Well, for some Sabbaths we perform rituals that involve movement, but I don’t think a professional would consider it dancing.”

“What’s a Sabbath?” He asked, frowning a bit and taking one of the grapes.

Mina smiled fondly “Think of it as, like, our own holidays… pagan holidays. Most Witches don’t have Christmas, they celebrate Yule. And on those holidays there’s always rituals and little protecting spells that we do.”

“So you don’t celebrate Christmas?”

“Eh, Lucy never really imposed any religion on us. She sort of mingled Yule rituals and the Christmas tradition together. Amelia used to really like Christmas when she was a kid because of the presents... I think she likes it now because of the food.”

“What’s your favorite Sabbath then?” He placed another grape in his mouth.

“Ostara, the Spring Equinox, it’s the celebration of growth, life and fertility, because it marks the start of spring. I also really like Beltane, because it’s also about spring.”

“Beltane… what do you celebrate?”

“Spring is at its peak, so we usually celebrate love, passion, lust, the marriage of the Gods and Goddesses. The rituals are fun, too.”

Jimin smiled at her flushed cheeks, loving the way she always spoke so enthusiastically about the things she loved. Her eyes were shining bright with that lovely glint and her smile was contagious. Jimin loved hearing her talk…

“How about hobbies? Is there anything you like to do?”

“Well, there’s Tarot, for one. However!!” Mina plopped a grape in her mouth before speaking with a proud look “I learned how to play the piano.”

It was Jimin’s time to go wide eyed.

“Seriously?”

“Of course! I grew up in the 18th century in France, my guy, all the women from the court learned things like that. Emily, for example, she can play the violin but I know she hated it. And Amelia learned how to play the piano as well. Well, my mentor was a bit of a prick and didn’t want to teach her cause she has…” Mina rolled her eyes and faked a mocking voice “…small hands. Who the fuck even- If my girl wants to learn the piano, she will damn learn the piano! He tried to hit her hands once. Lucy almost ate him alive.”

When Jimin opened his mouth in surprise, Mina smiled.

“Yeah, I started teaching her after that. But she was the voice, among us… That girl loves to sing. It’s been a while since she’s done it.”

“You all seem very close.” Jimin said, smiling fondly at her.

“So do you and your brothers. You guys seem to have a very nice connection.”

“Not at first. Taehyung had it the roughest, because he was a rogue vampire. His mood was so bitchy that we almost always ended up fighting. Especially him and Namjoon. Now they’re inseparable. Namjoon and Jin have always been like the glue keeping us together.”

Mina was smiling like an idiot, just hearing him speak about the men that lived with him. He was smiling without noticing, eyes sparkling with love for them and Mina thought it was endearing.

“By the way, you said Amelia can sing… How about you?” Jimin suddenly asked, turning to her in curiosity.

The question had her blushing and going a bit flustered.

“Uh… well, I do. Technically, all witches do, because of our chants and rituals. But…” She scrunched her nose and put on an apologetic smile “I really like Jazz!”

Jimin let out a soft breath, beginning to laugh at her demeanor. But, now that the conversation turned to Mina’s interests again, specifically this topic, she flushed in satisfaction.

“Don’t tell Em, but I discovered this really cool, fancy looking Jazz bar downtown, a little on the more expensive side of town. They have, like, a massive grand piano and they do live performances every Friday night at ten! I can’t wait to go there one night.”

“I can take you, if you’d like.”

“Are you serious?” She deadpanned, taken aback with his words.

“Sure! If it makes you happy, why not? Plus, I’d like to hear you sing, one day.”

Mina finished her tea to hide the massive grin that was threatening to come out of her. He would have the surprise of his life… Mina didn’t like to brag, or rather, didn’t have to. She knew the effect she had on men, Jimin had been no different. The only thing separating him from any other person she been in bed with, was the fact that Jimin wasn’t trying to get her in bed. From day one, he had been as respectful as possible.

If it hadn’t been for her kissing him first in the bathroom, Jimin would’ve never touched her.

“Mina, I know you probably don’t want to answer me, but I’m kind of worried about it… Last night, you sounded like you were in pain while sleeping.” Jimin said, a little frightful that Mina would evade his question or be mad “Can you tell me what it was?”

She sighed, taking in the soft scent of the leftover tea mixed with his own smell of bergamot.

It seemed she wasn’t as bothered by the idea of telling him as she thought.

~Sass 😘
(It’s getting real close to a smut scene, and I've just realized I may have too few scenes... 👀)