by Mark Taylor
In the haze, she caught sight of Excalibur, who herself seemed to be wandering unguided through the ethereal. What’s happening?
Excalibur looked at her and smiled. It won’t last long…Don’t worry…this is the communion that we don’t use often…it’s a symbol of power…
Excalibur vanished into the black and left Mary to walk alone in the darkness that was overpowered by her sensation of fulfillment…and she didn’t feel scared, or alone.
Then it stopped.
Snapped back to reality, Mary looked down at the body of James. Even at a cursory glance she could see that he was older than the last time she had seen him, but not by much. Life expectancy was, after all, short in those days. Before she had time to relax, and move towards him, Lady had picked up one of the blankets and thrown it over his naked body.
“We do not have much time,” Dina urged, “come.” She turned and took the few steps to the second marker. “Begin again.” She dropped her head as before, followed by Mary, Excalibur and Lady.
Mary slid instantly into the other side as she bowed her head. She felt that together, the four of them were unstoppable. The power flowed so easily, making her stronger each time. On the other side she saw Dina and Lady, but when she called to them, they both continued to walk unhearing, ignoring her as much as each other. Why was Excalibur different…did it have something to do with her ability to feel me? She walked through the nothing, looking at the shadows that moved around her. They were not the shadows of mankind, but something else. It was hard to tell what, but they seemed less at ease than she, or Excalibur, had…
…and then again, it stopped.
Mary took a step back, disoriented by the experience and confused by what she had felt. She looked down to Sarah’s naked body on the ground, bruised around the neck, but otherwise healthy. “We did it…” she whispered.
Before Mary had time to do anything else, Lady had placed the second blanket over Sarah’s body.
“Come,” said Dina, “let us get them up and to the house.”
“Now you may want to wait just a moment.”
Mary recognized the voice immediately and spun around to face the Devil, standing no more than twenty feet from them. She glanced over to her left, to Dina, and then to Lady, and finally Excalibur. Each of them was looking silently at Him.
“Now I feel the need to have my say before you all go and elude me once again.”
“You,” Excalibur said.
“Hello, Excalibur, it has been a long time. Forgive me for sayin’ but your Father has expressed a desire to know how well you are doing. What would you have me tell him?”
“He can burn,” she replied.
“Oh, he does.” The Devil showed his teeth as he smiled. “But I guess that you’ll be seein’ him soon enough. But, back to business.” He turned to Mary. “You did not fulfill your side of our bargain, Missy. I laid before you a glorious coven at your request, and you in turn promised me the soul of Miss Juney Dillinger. Now, I am correct in sayin’ that, am I not?”
“I did,” Mary stepped forward, “and you had your prize.”
The Devil smiled once again, “See now, that’s a problem, ‘cause I didn’t get to see young Miss Dillinger. For that, I reckon you owes me.”
“What?” Mary glanced back to the rest of them, but none returned her look, they just continued to watch him.
“See, I had to take the time and trouble to establish why I got no payment for my favor. You see, Miss Dillinger was killed in an automobile accident about thirty minutes after the deal was made—plenty of time for me to make my arrangements—but I got no payment. She was taken from me…by those upstairs. Now it seems fair to me that I should get some sort of recompense for my work.”
She must have tried to get back to the alleys…“I didn’t know,” Mary said to him, and then turned back to the others, “I didn’t know,” she repeated. Returning to look the Devil straight in the eye, she said, “So what do you want?”
The Devil smiled playfully, leaning slightly to his left to look around Mary to Sarah’s body, shivering on the grass. “I reckon I’ll take these two. After all, I’ve been following you across the States to get to them.”
“That is not how it works.” Dina finally spoke, and from where Mary was standing—she meant it.
“And what gives you the right to tell me what works and what don’t, Miss Dina?”
“It has never worked in that way and you know it. If it did, we would not be here.” she glanced to Lady and back again, “Would we?”
“It is true that on the fourth day of May, in the year of my father, twelve ninety two, that Lady J’Tok of the Western Village did betray her promise to me, and that in recompense I did agree to take a favor of my choosing in return. That doesn’t mean that I wish to take another. Anyhow, I don’t see you have much choice.”
Dina shook her head. “No. Mary has admitted that she knew nothing of the demise of the girl. You can only take a favor.”
The Devil shook his head and took a few steps forward, closing the gap between them. “If you think that you and your junior here,” he waved towards Mary, his voice deeper, slower, and more sinister, “your Lady in waiting and your half-blood, are a match for me, then I will have no choice but to make y’all sorry. I will leave now however, if you give me the returners.”
Dina sighed. She turned to Excalibur. “What do you think?”
“My decision has already been made for me,” she replied.
Dina nodded, turned back to the Devil and said, “No deal.”
“Very well,” he took several steps away from them, “then you leave me no choice.” He raised his hands from his sides. “Come forth.”
From within the shadows of the night an army of Essence Mongers lurched forward into view, each of them grounded like vultures, closing in on already dead prey. A hundred or more of them surrounded the whole area and they moved silently, like only the dead can.
Mary was terrified; Dina had blown everything out of proportion. Surely if she had spoken for herself she could have stopped this from happening. Then a voice cut through her, trust in us. It was Excalibur, but she hadn’t spoken, she seemed to have projected…reached out. Mary glanced over to her and she smiled. It gave her a warm feeling. What with the power that they had…maybe it would be all right.
Dina moved up to Mary’s right, Excalibur, her left and Lady next to her. The four of them stood in a line between the Devil, his army, and Sarah and James, each of them still unable to move or speak. “Now would be a good time to say something,” Dina said.
Mary thought for only a second and then turned her head to Excalibur, “You’re always good at this.”
Excalibur shrugged. “I got nothing.”
Mary leaned a little further forward to look at Lady, “Do you have anything to say—it might be your last chance?”
Lady looked at Mary and then to the Devil. “You know,” she said, “I’ve been burdened by you for over seven hundred years, and finally, two days ago my promise was lifted. Now you want to kill me.” She looked up to the sky. “He wouldn’t do this. No. You’re just…well…at bit of a dick.”
The Devil laughed, drowning out Mary’s snigger. “Come…” he called, “Come.”
The Essence Mongers lurched into flight, their strength pushing them high above the grasses, circling the seven figures on the ground. They blanked out the sky like a cloud of bats. As they reached height, they screamed and screeched as they bayed for the lives of the living. Mary looked upon them and felt dread rising. There were so many of them, they were quick, and she felt that if they plunged towards them, the four of them would be swamped by the black.
In the growing darkness, as the stars were taken from view, Mary glanced at Excalibur. She stood with her arms ridged by her side, “Get the returners into the house,” she screamed above the bays of the dead. As Mary turned from her, she saw her force a convulsion down the length of her arms, and release her clenched fists, opening t
hem to a claw, enough for balls of burning embers to appear within them.
Excalibur leapt into the air, rising high above Mary’s head, and to her surprise, stayed up—she floated some twenty feet above her. When she stopped rising, she slung the first fireball into the chest of an oncoming Monger. It hit it square, causing it to screech in agony as it dropped, flaming, to the ground. Before she had brought that hand back down, the embers rose again with another ball of fire, and her other hand was throwing its ball into the thickening cloud of Mongers. Before Mary turned away, she saw Monger after Essence Monger drop from the sky.
Dragging the still incomprehensible Sarah to her feet, Mary kept looking around, watching for any Mongers that came for her or the returners. As Excalibur barraged the Mongers with fire, Dina had raised a ball of glowing blue between her two hands filled bolts of electricity racing inside of it. With a Yah! she launched it into the Mongers. Those that it collided with screamed in pain, falling from the air, as the electricity leapt from one to another, making them weave confused, crashing into each other. With them disoriented, Lady pulled her hands back and then slapped them hard together, a sonic wave emanating from them, pushing them back.
Mary’s attention was brought back to Sarah by her hand touching her shoulder. She turned to her and smiled. Sarah stood, slightly hunched, with the blanket wrapped around her. “Marie-Anne…” she said, “what is happening? Where am I? What are you wearing?”
Mary blinked the fight behind her away, “Don’t worry about that now, are you strong enough to stay on your feet?”
Sarah nodded.
“Wait here.” Mary left Sarah where she stood and went behind Dina and Lady, over to James. She helped him up, and walked him carefully over to Sarah. The look in his eyes—although deadened by years of being away—was that of surprise and longing when he saw his bride, alive. Barely able to speak, the two of them fell into each other’s arms.
“Mary!” Dina screamed above the noise of burning, crackles of electricity, and the screeches of the Mongers, “Move…now!”
Mary parted the two lovers, taking each by the hand and started over to the house. When she looked over her shoulder, Excalibur had joined Dina and Lady on the ground, and although the bombardment from the three of them continued, they were being pushed back.
“Give it up, ladies,” the Devil called over the noise, “give it up, or come with me…” His laugh haunted the battlefield as his army marched ever onward.
Dragging Sarah and James to the house and through the unlocked front door, Mary almost pushed the two of them into an empty room to the left. Looking around she saw the clothes that Dina had left. “Put these on,” she said, tossing the clothes to them.
“I didn’t think this week was going to end up here,” Excalibur quipped, flicking a fireball in an arc around one Monger and into another behind it.
“No,” Dina responded coldly. She launched a glowing ball into three Mongers as they closed in on Lady, scattering them to the ground. “Lady,” she called, “watch yourself.”
Lady nodded, and sent another sonic wave into the horde.
“I can’t keep this up,” Excalibur continued, continually throwing balls of fire, “I’m getting tired.”
Dina glanced at her. It was true. Excalibur’s embers were getting smaller with each conjuring. “Try,” she said. “Lady, try to back up, we need to get out of here.” She separated her hands and willed individual glowing spheres of blue, throwing them at the oncoming monsters. She was getting tired, too.
Mary went over to the window and looked out to see the three of them in a circle. Excalibur was throwing fireballs as quickly as she could muster them, and it was the same with the electricity from Dina. Lady had now taken to using fire as well, although hers streamed from her hands like shots from a flame thrower. It appeared that no matter how many of them dropped from the sky, fell where they stood, or were pushed back, more came, like an army of unstoppable hate created by Beelzebub himself.
She had to do something to help.
Mary looked at her hands and concentrated. She imagined them burning, holding balls of fire…she imagined herself like Excalibur. Slowly, she managed to will small balls in her hands, and as she closed her eyes and focused they grew in size, but her concentration was broken by a scream. The fireballs disappeared and Mary returned her look to the fight outside.
Lady was fighting one of the beasts hand to hand, having been thrown to the floor, struggling under the weight of the onslaught of its attack.
“No,” Mary whispered. She burst through the front door leaving Sarah and James struggling to fathom how jeans worked, leaving the house and into the fray. As she ran from the house, as the Mongers acknowledged new prey, Mary screamed, “Not today!” She stopped behind Lady and pushed the magic, the essence she had been cultivating since she met these women—her coven—into her hands fueling swirling fireballs.. She flung the first at the Monger arched over the besieged Lady with enough force to knock it away from her and to the ground.
It screamed as it burned.
Her second ball was flung over Dina’s head, taking out the Monger that had thought it had found its opportunity when Dina had turned to face Mary as she screamed. It fell to the ground, inches from Dina’s feet. “Into the house,” Mary beckoned the three of them over, “now,” she urged.
Excalibur pulled Lady from the ground and the three of them ran over to Mary, and then into the house. As Mary slammed the door behind her, she backed up against it, taking the force of two or three Mongers as they crashed into it, like birds lost in a glass house.
The noise stopped, and Mary relaxed slightly.
“Nice work, Tink.” Excalibur spoke, out of breath, as she bent over, resting her hands on her knees, exhausted.
“Lady,” Dina looked at her, “are you all right?” Lady nodded, and Dina turned to them all. “Suggestions?”
“How many Essence Mongers are there in existence?” Mary asked.
“A lot,” Dina answered.
“And how many of them are outside?”
Excalibur shrugged, “All of them?”
Sarah appeared at the door, “Marie-Anne, what are these garments you have us wear, and where are we?”
Mary looked at her and smiled warmly, “Don’t worry, Sarah, they’re called casual, and you’re still in Salem, but for now, I ask you to please wait with James…I’m sure that you have plenty to talk about.”
Sarah looked confused, but nodded all the same, and left the doorway. Mary turned back to the others. “What’s happening now?”
“So, you all wish to hide from me?” The Devil’s voice echoed around the empty house as if he were everywhere and nowhere. “I thought better of you, Miss Dina. You will all likely die if you do not bow down before me now and give me what I desire.”
Excalibur looked out of the window to the side of the front door. The Devil stood about thirty feet away, and Essence Mongers crouched like owls all around him, stretching like a wall, out of her sight in both directions and around the house. “He’s still out there, and we’re surrounded.”
“Then I must end this,” Mary took a step towards the door, “I will lay down before him, and do what I must.”
Excalibur moved in front of her and blocked the door. “I can’t allow that.”
Mary angered, “This isn’t your fight.”
“But it is…” Dina placed her hand on Mary’s shoulder. “Excalibur is different to us, she is not like other witches, and as a half-blood she has bonded with you…you are now sisters…the same as us all.”
“What?” Mary turned to Dina, who looked at Excalibur.
“My mother was a witch, probably like yours,” Excalibur began, “but my father was not a human, nor a witch…he was Vampyr—the last of the Vampyr to be precise.” She turned away as she spoke. “It gives me different powers and abilities, as well as burdens like no other carries. However, I do bond with people…and it is not a bond that can be broken. I can’t allow
you to be taken by the Devil because I will be obliged to get you back from him—a task that would take my life for sure.”
“And ours,” Lady added, “as we are also Excalibur’s sisters.”
Mary tried to take it in. “So if I go out there, save everyone being a hero, but get taken by the Devil, you’ll all come and try and get me back regardless?”
“Normally, yes,” Dina answered, “but do not forget that he does not want you, he wants the returners, and it is likely a fruitless sacrifice.”
“So we’re screwed, right?” Mary smiled wryly.
“We are not lost yet.” Excalibur looked out of the window to the collected evil. She stood and watched…waiting…
“And…?” Mary asked after a few moments.
“Prepare the returners,” she said absently, “Mary, when the time is right, you must take them to the car with Lady. Dina and I will deal with this.”
“You will?” Mary looked at Dina, who simply nodded.
“We will all do our part,” she said.
“What are you going to do?” Mary asked.
Excalibur looked at her and smiled, a pair of fangs protruded just slightly from her upper lip. “I’m going to bite the fucker.” She glanced at Mary. “As soon as the time is right, go.” She flung the door open and launched herself into the air.
As Excalibur flew towards the Devil, the Essence Mongers leapt to the air to meet her. Dina raced from the door, throwing balls of electricity into them, trying to stop them from reaching her sister. In his surprise, the Devil didn’t even retreat.
Mary saw Excalibur land on the Devil and then be swamped by Mongers screeching to protect their master, all the while Dina threw her power into them, burning them and killing them. She grabbed Sarah from the next room, and Lady took James, and the four of them ran from the house. The Mongers powered past overhead, feeling nothing but the need to protect him. They reached the car, got in and Mary slammed it into reverse, skidding out onto the road, and away.
