Stone Cold NV: World of Sin, Book 1

by J. A. X. Mikesell

“Maybe you shouldn’t have gone all sorts of bat shit psycho and gotten yourself trapped in there then, huh?” Aveline said.

  “I just wanted to become immortal so I could torture those bastards!” Tineva said. “No, I will not go over this with you. You are but a simple servant. Just do whatever it takes to get Leviathan to work harder on getting Araminta out.”

  “Like I said, it’ll still take a while. We will try to go faster, but there’s only so much we can do.” Aveline replied.

  “Then force that woman you got to do more on her part. Threaten her family or something.” Tineva said.

  “Whatever, I’ll see what I can do.” Aveline said before the silver liquid hardened, cutting off the connection.

  Letting out a scream of frustration, Tineva crossed to the other side of the table, yanking open the lid to the crumbling box and reached in, pulling out the ruby-eyed raven made of black onyx. She set it on the pillar by the table and let her Madgie mist envelope it, hardening like before and pulling in on itself before a muffled crack sounded. The mist cleared, and she swept up the glittering black and red dust, going back to the bowl she spoke a few words, pricked her finger and let a drop of blood land on the surface of the silver substance. Once it waved into a liquid state again, she dumped the black and red dust in.

  “Let’s get this moving faster.” She said. “That blasted demon had better hurry up.”

  ◆◆◆

  Cory and I opened the door to the penthouse and walked in to the smell of fresh coffee.

  “Pappy beat us back.” Cory said. “At least we don’t have to wait for coffee, though. It’s going to be a long night.”

  “Once we tell him everything we know, we might not even know time is passing. We have a lot to go over.” I said. “He’s over there asleep on the couch. Want to make him a cup of coffee? I’ll go wake him up.”

  Cory went into the kitchenette, and I went into the sitting area. Putting my bag on the opposite couch, I went and put a hand on Pappy’s shoulder, shaking him a little.

  “Pappy, wake up.” I said. “We’re back, I have the journal here to show you what I found.”

  Pappy just snorted and rolled his head a little before snoring slightly.

  “Helloooo?” I called out and shook him again, but Pappy just rolled over and snored even more.

  “Looks like he’s out till morning.” Cory said when she came over with the coffee mugs. “Might as well just wait until then. You know how difficult it can be to wake him up.”

  “Yeah, I guess so.” I said, disappointed. “I was excited to show him what I found.”

  “I think he’ll be more impressed with my news.” Cory said smugly. “He’ll understand why I need to unlock that spell.”

  “Cory, you haven’t even done it yet. He will tell you the same thing I did. You need to be careful and try to figure out a different trial to get your anima.” I said, exasperated.

  “No Az, I’m not going to try to do another trial. This is what I want to do. And you won’t change my mind.” She replied. “Here’s your coffee.”

  She set down the mug on the center table, spilling a bit over the side. Then she took her cup with her and went up the stairs to her room, slamming the door behind her.

  “You better be careful, Cory. For the sake of your sanity, I hope you really can unlock that spell.” I muttered, picking up the journal and coffee, then going upstairs to my own room.

  Cory

  After slamming the door and setting down my cup of coffee on the nightstand, I put my purse on the bed and sat in the middle, getting ready to meditate.

  Come on Cory, you can do this. You were almost there in that weird dream world. Just see if you can go back to the DNA forest and finish it. I thought.

  Grabbing my mug, I took a sip of the steaming brew and set it back down. Then closed my eyes, took a few deep breaths and tried clearing my mind. After about half an hour, I opened my eyes again.

  “This meditation thing is just not working.” I huffed. “Why is it so difficult?”

  Leaning over, I took another sip of coffee, thankful that it was in a mug that held the heat better than most. Then I sat back and thought again about what else I was doing in the DNA forest that might have been different.

  “Well, I was talking to my anima. Was able to add the raccoon DNA to that dormant strand and make it only semi dormant.” I said slowly. “Then from there I went to start meditating.”

  I threw up my hands in exasperation. “And then Az woke me up. What else am I missing?”

  I sat and thought for a minute. Then opened my purse and pulled the egg out, setting it in my lap to stare at it for a minute. Hoping that I could remember exactly what the anima had told me. I took another drink of the coffee and then my eyes lit up.

  “That’s right, we had talked about how I needed to hold you since it was the trial phase.” I said, holding up the egg at eye height. “Maybe that’s the last thing I needed, was for your added power boost.”

  I settled back against the headboard and put the egg in my lap and closed my eyes again. Breathing deeply, I started to calm down again and began the process of clearing my mind. Then I opened my eyes fast to get another drink before I got too far. Gasping, I looked around, seeing only darkness.

  “It worked!” I said excitedly. “I’m back in the forest.”

  “Yes it did work, now come on.” The phoenix said as it plopped down in front of me. “Let’s hurry and get this done before your brother comes and snaps you out of it again.”

  “Agreed.” I replied. “So the last time I needed to hold you and then meditate, right?”

  “Yes.” The phoenix replied, then climbed into my lap through my outstretched arms.

  “Ok then. Let’s do this.” I said, closing my eyes, taking a few deep breaths and clearing my mind.

  Once I was able to fully clear my mind of everything, I began to think of myself. What I looked like, how I held myself, and how I moved. Then I thought of the raccoon, the coloring of its fur and how I knew raccoons acted. Then put the two separate thoughts together. Going from myself to the raccoon and then mashing them together. Forcing the images to meld together until it looked as if a picture book was being flipped through. The first image was of me just as I was, and then it slowly changed to include fur growing out of every surface area of my skin. A tail started growing from behind, my ears moving up, and a snout pushing through. Finally, the image shrank until it was a full raccoon standing there. Once the image was at the end, it flashed my jade green Madgie mist coloring and a clear chime rang out in my mind.

  “I think I did it!” I shouted, then stopped when I only heard growling and chittering instead of my own voice. I opened my eyes and saw the phoenix in front of me.

  “Yes, you did figure it out, Corsanna.” It said. “Now it is time to open your eyes in the real world as well. You have more things to do there than sit around here playing in the raccoon skin.”

  I nodded and closed my eyes again, focusing on the room I knew my body was still in and felt a shifting of air. Then I opened my eyes again. I was now laying in the bed in the same spot as when I started meditating with the anima egg in my lap.

  “I did it!” I called out, stopping again when I heard the same growling and chittering as before.

  Looking down, I saw that my hands were still the paws of the raccoon. I did a little dance on the bed, bouncing back and forth on the short legs supporting my new body. Then I looked at the clock on the bedside table. Gasping, I quickly pictured my human self again, growing back into my old self and looked at the clock again.

  I’ve been in here for eight hours? I thought. I’d better head down and see if Pappy and Az are up.

  ◆◆◆

  Changing into a new pair of pants and my favorite Voodoo Dolls t-shirt, I headed downstairs to have breakfast and found Az and Pappy already sitting at the kitchen island having mugs of coffee.

  “There she is, good morning, Cory. I figured you would be out soon enoug
h.” Pappy said, looking over at me. “I hope you still like waffles. I ordered some and they should be here any minute. Take a seat, I’ll get you some coffee.”

  “Good morning.” I replied. “And yes, waffles sound amazing right now.”

  I went to the sink and washed my hands vigorously, then sat down at the end of the island and sipped on my mug of coffee that Pappy put in front of me. Allowing the life-giving substance to warm up my soul and spark my brain into sharper focus.

  “So anywhooslebees Pappy, like I was saying, I think I know what we’re dealing with in regards to the gun.” Az said. “Cory and I had a box delivered here the other day that had a ton of news articles and an old journal in it going over unexplainable deaths. They kind of sound a bit like what we’re dealing with here.”

  “Did they mention anything about the bodies in these articles?” Pappy asked.

  “Not specifically, mostly just how it was nice average people killing others and then committing suicide, that nobody would have ever suspected to behave that way.” Az said.

  “That does almost sound like a lot of the reports that the local MICAWs are getting.” Pappy said. “What about the old journal? What’s in there that you think is relevant?”

  “Well, when we got it, there were only a few pages that were actually filled out. Different potions and what they can help with.” Az replied, pulling the journal out from his bag. “Then yesterday, right before I called you, it kind of flashed and glowed for a minute until I opened it to see what was going on. Then it had 4 more pages of stuff that were added.”

  Az opened the book and flipped a few pages in before handing it to Pappy.

  “The first one is going on about an envy demon called Araminta, and then the next one is about her husband, a prince of hell called Leviathan. The last two give a list of ingredients and directions to a potion on how to trap them back into a specific void.” Az said.

  Pappy hesitated, looking at the book and then back at Az. Getting a puzzled look on his face.

  “Az, there’s nothing here. Just a bunch of gibberish and drawings of random things. It doesn’t even look like any type of language that I’ve seen or heard of before.” Pappy said, holding the book back out to him.

  “I told him the same thing.” I said to Pappy. “But he keeps going on and on about how those things are actually there. I told him I thought it was just an old journal of some child.”

  “How can neither of you see what it says?” Az asked, incredulous. “It’s literally right there.”

  Az took the book and flipped to the first page, pointing at the writing.

  “Right here, it’s a health potion. Then this one, this one here is an energy potion.” Az said as he was flipping through the pages. “This one is a potion to help with concentration, and then this one helps with open wounds as a topical potion.”

  Each page he flipped to showed nothing but gibberish to me and Pappy. Pappy grabbed the book again and looked through it one more time, slowly scanning each page and what it held. Then he finally looked up at Az and shook his head.

  “Az, I’m afraid this really does just look like scribbles or gibberish. None of them look like any type of potions I’ve ever seen.” He said.

  “Well, how about the last few pages with writing?” Az asked. “Those really do say the different things about Araminta, and Leviathan, and the potion on how to trap them again.”

  “Az, none of the pages-” Pappy started, but cut off mid-sentence. “Wait, did you say Leviathan? As in a shortened name for that would be Levi?”

  “Yeah, why?” Az asked.

  “That’s the name of the new drug lord in town. He’s the one that the police are trying to catch because he’s completely flipped the entire crime structure here on its head.” Pappy said.

  “And he’s doing it with some type of projectile.” Az continued. “Kind of like a gun, perhaps?”

  “We don’t know that, Az.” I said. “He could be using some other trick up his sleeve to create more chaos.”

  “I really think it’s with the gun.” Az said, reaching back in his bag again. “While I was on my way back from the last gun shop, I overheard a couple of guys in an alleyway talking about how they felt weird after seeing some guy… Actually, now that I think about it, I think they said his name was Levi.”

  He pulled out the wallet of the second man that had dropped it and set it aside. Then pulled the bullet out and set it in between me and Pappy.

  “I hid in a rosebush by the alley and overheard them talking about how they felt different than normal. One said something about how he felt super jealous of almost everyone around him, and apparently he’s not the type to get jealous.” Az explained. “I don’t remember exactly what was said in the whole conversation, but he started to shake real bad and had grabbed the shoulder of the guy with him. His body flashed green for a second, and then the guy with him fell to the ground and started doing the same. This thing looked like it crawled out of the second guy's leg. They got spooked and ran off, leaving these behind. When I picked up the bullet, it was a dark green color. Almost looked like an emerald. But I was turning it over to examine it, and put it in my hand to let it roll and I could see it from different angles, when it touched a bit of blood I had from a scratch from the rosebush. The bullet turned clear, and the blood turned green and then flaked off.”

  “Your blood turned green?” Pappy asked, horrified.

  “Well, yeah.” Az said, looking worried.

  “Did any of it get into you?” Pappy asked him.

  “Not that I know of.” Az replied. “I feel fine.”

  “The last report we got from the ME’s office said the people that are dead in his morgue that are not caused by a natural circumstance, their blood is green.” Pappy said. “Is your scratch still relatively fresh?”

  “It has a scab over it now. Why?” Az asked.

  “Peel the scab off.” Pappy said urgently.

  Az flipped over his left hand and peeled the scab off from the fleshy part by his thumb. A dark crimson drop of blood glistened in its place.

  “Thank the gods.” Pappy said relieved. “You’re not infected.”

  “Wait a minute.” Az said, looking from him to Cory with a look of horror. “Cory got hit with a bullet the other day that didn’t break her skin or anything. And she immediately started acting crazy. She almost beat the man to death, and would have succeeded if I didn’t stop her.”

  “Cory, do you have any wounds or scratches that have a scab or something you could see if your blood is red or green?” Pappy asked her.

  “Well, no…” I replied. “But I think I was infected at that point. But not any longer.”

  “How can you be sure?” Pappy asked. “Did you take any medicine? Did you dig the bullet out?”

  “None of that. But after I was shot I really did go kind of crazy on the guy that shot me. He was a Shifter, and I got really jealous of him being able to Shift.” I said slowly. “So after Az stopped me from beating him up, I ran away and found an abandoned warehouse to try and figure out how to Shift myself.”

  “Oh Cory, no.” Pappy said. “You mustn’t try to figure out that spell. Countless Madgie before you have tried and have all failed.”

  “I know that Az was saying the same thing.” I said defensively. “But I-”

  “No buts, Cory. This is serious, we need to find a cure for you immediately.” Pappy said, pulling out his phone. “I need to speak with the ME now, see if maybe he has any idea of a cure or what we can do to stop this.”

  “Pappy, I’m fine.” I said. “I was able-”

  “No, Cory. Let us help. You need to stop this insane quest you have in your head. It’s not safe!” Az told her, anger coloring his words and cheeks.

  “Would you both stop and look at me!?” I yelled at them both.

  Pappy looked up from his phone at me, and Az shut his mouth, red still coloring his cheeks. Once I had their attention, I stood up from the island and moved a few pac
es away. Then I closed my eyes and pictured the mesh of my own image and the raccoon. I opened my eyes to see the looks of shock on both of their faces right before my field of vision got blurred by the jade green of my Madgie mist. Once the mist cleared, I could see that I had shrunk and my vision was a foot above the ground.

  Az slowly walked forward and crouched in front of me.

  “Cory?” He asked.

  “Yup, it’s me.” I squeaked my response.

  “Oh, my gods!” Az said. “She did it! Pappy, she hag blasted did it!”

  “Oh, my…” Pappy said, sitting back down on the stool at the island.

  “Well, at least now you’ll be more like me. A trash panda is better than a clean freak.” Az said.

  There was a sound of cracking on the island, and we spun around to look. My purse jerked a few times before the flap fell open and a huge green phoenix hopped out.

  “I knew you could do it, Corsanna.” The phoenix said. “I am your anima. We’ll do great things together.”

  Levi/Pappy

  “Here’s your looking glass, sir.” The Ashen said as he placed a tray down beside the chair that Levi was lounging in, watching yet another woman belly dance across the bedroom, her blouse and bra draped over Levi’s neck.

  “Perfect.” Levi said, setting down his glass of jack and coke, he picked up the small mirror and waved the woman away. “You may leave now, woman. I have important details to follow up on. Barry, please see her down to the casino floor, and give her a few chips so she won’t waste her night.”

  The Ashen held his hand out to the woman.

  “This way, ma’am.” He said, his tail lashing from side to side.

  The woman drifted over to Levi, and she leaned down, placing her breasts in his face as she gathered her clothes from his neck before she took the hand of the Ashen and he led her to the door.

  “And be careful with her, I don’t want anyone to think that any of my guests leave here with scrapes from your blasted scales.” Levi called over his shoulder as the door was closing. He lifted the mirror to his face, seeing where the circle of small clear gems was almost completely surrounding the outside rim of the reflective surface. An image of a woman with long blonde hair waiving slowly around her toga clothed body as she floated in a vast empty space of amber light.