A Very Merry Iona Christmas by M. L. Briers

CHAPTER ONE
     
     
     
    ‘ Whoa. That was a
little different. Where the hell am I now?’
    Iona had felt
something of a head rush. The powers that be had wrenched her out of the last body
that she’d been in and now she was… Where?
    ‘ Come on, come on.
Give me the damn connection to the witch…’ Iona grumbled. She was far from
being a patient witch and now that she was an entity, she was less so.
    ‘ Someone up there
wanna give me some damn juice down here and turn the lights on?’
    Iona tapped her
imaginary foot and crossed her imaginary arms. She’d kind of wanted to see how
the last life that she’d worked so hard to help had played out. But that was
just because she had a soft spot for the guy that Jenna had fallen for.
    She had to wonder if
she’d be slaying dragons… well, vampires at least, or just getting a little old
witch her mojo back. She was eager to get started. She just hoped that this
witch wasn’t prickly and rude…
    ‘ Oh look! This
witch does Christmas…’ Iona’s connection within the witch grew stronger and
she could finally see something, even if her other senses weren’t really
working well yet.
    ‘Bah- humbug.
That’s it. I need a holiday- that’s not Christmas. Can’t you send me to a witch
on a Caribbean island for a few… months?’ She grumbled to the powers that be.
    ‘ Now what am I
supposed to do with a witch that likes Christmas? I mean look at that… stick of
a tree, and those pathetic baubily ball thingy things. Yuck! Looks like an elf
threw up on that one…’ She pointed an imaginary finger at the barely a
tree-tree and the lame, sad little glittery thing that hung from it.
    ‘ I mean, come on,
that thing looks like it was made by a…’
    “Mummy…” The little
girl’s voice tugged at Iona’s heartstrings. She’d had a daughter, and she
missed her dearly. One of these damn days she was gonna get the powers that be
to send her on vacation to visit her great-great-great… She didn’t even want to
consider how many years had passed by since her flesh had touched the earth,
felt the sun…
    “Yeah, baby?” When the
witch that she’d been placed in turned around; Iona caught sight of the little
minx in her PJ’s, all snuggled up under blankets on the seen-better-days sofa.
    “When Santa comes this
year, do you think he’d bring me a dolly?”
    ‘ Ten of ‘em kiddo.’ Iona beamed the little one a smile, even if she couldn’t pass it along.
    She felt the
connection hit home in that precise moment when every muscle in Carly’s body
tensed. She felt the rush of guilt from the witch. The remorse.
    “I don’t know, baby…”
Carly strolled across the room and sat beside her daughter. She reached out a
hand and stroked the silken strands of soft hair. “But I’m sure Santa’s gonna
try his very best.”
    Iona felt as if her
own heart was breaking inside of her. The emotion within her ward was at
bursting point and there was no saying that the dam wasn’t going to break there
and then. Iona reached out with her magic and rested an imaginary hand on the
woman’s shoulder for strength.
    ‘ It’s gonna be ok,
sweet child. Your Aunty Iona’s here now.’
    For one long moment
Carly had to wonder if she was going insane. The sound of a voice inside of her
head was as clear as day, and yet she knew that nobody had entered the little
one bedroom flat that she shared with her daughter. Carly reached down and
scooped the child up into her arms.
    “But someone needs to
go to bed and get their fill of sleep or someone isn’t going to be big and
strong when Christmas morning comes around.”
    Carly strolled into
the bedroom and tossed back the covers with one hand as she balanced her
daughter in her other arm. She tucked her under the covers of the bed and
shivered with just how cold the room had become since she’d turned off the
heating. She’d hoped that the heat would last until Hope was fast asleep, but
the winter was cruel this year and the