by T S Paul
“Right. On it.” Brushing my hand across her back, I gave Grams a half-assed hug. Losing her would hurt.
“May the Gods of Light protect you all,” Grams said, and she waved a blessing in the air as we left. It was hard to remember sometimes that as High Priestess, she was the Gods’ chosen on Earth.
The last time I’d opened the seemingly innocent old-fashioned garden gate at the edge of the yard, Fergus and I had been sucked into Otherwhere. Cautiously, I opened it with a squeak. “Ok, I can do this.”
Faith Vick, a girl I vaguely remembered from my seventh birthday party, gave a laugh. “Marcella, your grandmother, told us about the last time you did that. Don’t worry. If the Gate is open already it won’t open another one. Didn’t she teach you about them when you were younger?”
Holding the door open for the three dozen or so armed people with me, I looked into the girl’s eyes. We were almost the same age, but my party was the last time I’d socialized with most of the Coven. She was practically a stranger to me. “Sort of. Grams taught me a lot before I went to Quantico and the FBI. I know the basics for all things coven but not the practice. Too many people were scared of me back then. Even you.”
Straightening her helmet and vest, Faith tried not to look at me. “I’d say it was all your aunt Camilla, but you’d know I was lying. We were kids that had no control over our parents’ wishes. Can we leave the past behind and start over? Providing we survive.”
I ushered her through the gate, bringing up the rear. The others had faded into the brush like ghosts. “Sure. Provided we survive this. Have you and your circle practiced war games or something? You seem pretty prepared.”
“We run drills once a month like the National Guard. The Blackmore Militia is famous for it. Oldest continuous group in the United States,” Faith replied.
Cocking my head, I tried to remember my early Academy lessons. “I thought the city of Philadelphia was the oldest?”
“I actually know something you don’t? Amazing. We predate them by about a hundred years and they’re part of the National Guard now, anyway. This group has always been independent. Agnes was one of the original members,” Faith explained with a smirk.
Looking both ways, I could see the others had formed an ad hoc circle in the middle of what looked like an herb garden. The smell of rosemary was almost overpowering. Many of the other Witches were cutting sprigs for protection. I smiled and commented, “Be sure to pray to Aphrodite as you do that, since it’s her sacred herb. I’m not sure how she feels about Dragons, but it can’t hurt.”
“I barely know any of you and we don’t have time for introductions. Grandmother wants us to build a shield around the house and grounds to protect the property. Until we’ve done this, it’s vulnerable to attack. Before you say anything, I am aware it already has wards stronger than most and that the inner circle should be able to hold off any enemy. But if these Dragon people are anything like the Demons I took on in Charleston, we need our big guns worrying about them, not what might hit them from behind. So form a circle. We’re going old school,” I directed. Scanning the group, I could feel their affinities. Not something I’d been able to do before. It made me wonder about the actual power of the Guardians. Agnes had really only hit the high points. Grabbing people at what seemed random, I placed them at the four cardinal points. Drawing a deep breath, I drew in as much energy as I dared from the bracelets and the life force of the plants all around me. “Now we begin. Air?”
A man dressed in hunting camo holding an assault rifle laid the weapon at his feet and raised his arms skyward. “Lords of the sky. Elements of Air. I call upon the Watchtower of the East to lend us its protection.”
Using my Mage sight, I could see a yellow glow all around the man. Tendrils of power reached out from all sides of him, searching for connections.
Faith bowed her head and raised her arms. “I call upon the Watchtower of the South to aid us. Gods of fire and warmth, we ask for your protection as we go into battle.”
An orange glow joined with yellow as the circle came into being. West and North joined in, adding their colors to the mix. Standing in the middle, surrounded by herbs of protection, I allowed the tendrils of power to connect to me. Like plugging in a string of lights the entire circle lit up! Each member’s head snapped up to stare at me in surprise. Everyone knew I was powerful, but not this much!
Many Witches need props to do Magick. Those with real power don’t need them. We just are. Casting about with my hands, I called forth the Gods and raised what some called the cone of power.
“The circle is formed and power is raised. Maiden, mother, and crone, we call upon you to aid us in our time of need.” I’ve met the Gods on several occasions and they just want to be acknowledged. Which I did. Odin might be a creepy stalker but he’s a power. For this, though, I needed the feminine side. By calling on the triple Goddess, I planned to invoke a heavy. I was calling on one of the Titans, Selene. And in doing so, I was also calling on the Goddess of Witches, Hecate. Go big or go home.
“Come to me, three-faced Selene. Hear my sacred chant. Young, child of morn who rode the fierce bulls. Your triple forms dance and revel with the stars. Night crier, bull faced, lover of solitude, triple headed, triple voiced, Goddess of the triple ways. Give heed, you who protects the world and the power of the Witches. I call upon your power this day.” Grabbing some of the awesome power we’d raised, I projected it into the sky. If this didn’t get her attention, nothing would.
The circle all around me gasped as the Magick left my hand and spiraled outward. To my Sight, we glowed brighter than the sun. That was even before the sudden power surge of the Goddess’s return power hit us. With a physical bump that shook the Earth, it struck the circle.
“Agatha, your eyes,” Faith gasped at me.
I couldn’t see them, but I could see the faint glow my entire body now had. Selene, and by default, Hecate appeared to approve. But this power wasn’t mine to keep. We needed to protect our elders. Drawing a combat knife, I directed the energy toward the house and grounds, forming an impenetrable wall of force that extended both above and below.
Only a small ball of power remained in the center of the circle. Carefully, I split it in half, directing it to the now exhausted circle members. This was one ritual I doubt they’d ever forget. Raising my hands skyward, I went against standard practice. “Powers of Earth and Sky we thank you for your help and hope our offering is accepted. This circle is now broken.”
A final surge of power signaled the circle’s end and the transference of energy. All four of the Witches holding the Cardinal points collapsed.
I felt energized but worn out like a wet noodle. Shaking it off, I started directing the group. We still had way too much to do this day.
Marcella Blackmore felt the sudden spike of power as soon as Agatha triggered her spell inside the circle. With wide eyes, she looked across the room to Agnes Pickleberry. “You’ve been holding out on me.”
“Nope. You haven’t been watching. She’s more powerful than your grandmother, even without the bracelets,” Agnes snorted in soundless mirth. “Balls, too. Not sure I’d call on Hecate in the middle of a battle. There’s the prophecy to think of as well.”
“Not now. Don’t even bring that one up, especially here in this room. The tree can hear you,” Marcella remarked. They were all set up in the main room of the house. Boamire, the tree, took up the entire corner, but the room was otherwise empty. She’d figured it the best place to control the battle using the energy of the house, tree and all. Purple squirrels and a talking unicorn were bad enough. Throw in a conscious pine tree and things just got wild.
Agnes giggled. “I love your granddaughter, you know that, right?”
“She’s a pistol,” Marcella nodded. There was another sudden surge of power that everyone in the room felt.
“Shields are up. Now we can begin,” Minerva announced. Since she was Marcella’s protector, the house shields were tied to her as
well. When Agatha linked them together, it hit the sometime housekeeper like a ton of bricks. Casting spells built up over centuries, Minerva created Magickal maps that would’ve made any modern military man green with envy.
“Okay, ladies, contact your groups and attack. They’re spreading out like angry ants.” Marcella studied the map even as the Coven Elders mentally gave directions to the various groups. The Militia had practiced this for centuries. It was only the local human groups that were confused. Cappy and some of the other men had a solution for this as well. Radio.
“Shouldn’t you be preparing for battle?”
The voice of her Goddess caught Anastasia completely by surprise. She was sitting in her armored room aboard the bus. Dragons weren’t something any Vampire wanted to tangle with. It went totally against the Vampire rule of self-preservation.
Ana looked around the small room until her sight lit upon a small glowing spot near the door. “My Goddess?”
“My energy is low at the moment. You’ve chosen well, my servant. This Witch of yours will do great things. She goes into battle with love in her heart. Love for her friends and love for her family. For many it is the same thing. This may not be your battle, but it is your task as well,” Hecate explained.
“Another task?” Ana asked. The last time the Goddess contacted her was at her rebirth almost two thousand years ago. While granting her eternal life, she’d also told Ana to devote her life to finding those people whose cleft points changed history. Something she’d seen in both Cat and Agatha the first time she met them.
“The Gods of Darkness have twisted events in their favor. Something none of us even saw coming, which in itself is troubling. Set, curse his name, has added a wrinkle to the battle,” the Goddess explained. “I need for you to stop him. Only you, Aeliana of Damascus, Daughter of the Architect, have the power to do this task. Will you accept?”
Hearing her true name spoken by her chosen Goddess froze Ana in place. All she could do was nod and accept the task. No wasn’t an option. “Yes, I accept.”
Chapter 19
Leading a team for the FBI the past couple of years was paying off in ways I didn’t understand at the time. People in large groups need direction. It was something I was sure the military understood at a visceral level. Without it, they were nothing but a mob, and mobs don’t stop monsters.
“Forward, ever forward,” I muttered. Either Bill or Chuck used to say that when they drove the bus. It was some historical military thing, but I found it fitting here.
Magick from the working we did was still buzzing around in my brain. Inwardly I smiled at the fact that the very first full circle I performed was on the eve of battle in the middle of a field of herbs. Grams and Minerva had taught me the basics when I was a child, but three humans and a unicorn do not a Magickal circle make.
Grams and the other Elders were supposed to be set up inside the house directing the defense. Faith was hearing their instructions via telepathy, but I wasn’t. Mind to mind wasn’t my strong point and I think the surge in power was making everything fuzzy…
“They say several hundred humanoids have already come through and are spreading out toward both the town and the main house. ‘Engage at will’ is the primary instruction. No Dragons yet,” Faith informed me.
I patted the guns Cat had forced me to bring along. Between them and my fireballs we should be able to handle it. As long as the things coming out weren’t Demons. Then we would have a bit of a problem. I worried a little for Cat and Chuck. They were supposed to be helping the human part of the militia cover the town. At least it wasn’t Dragons.
“At least it isn’t Dragons!” Chuck yelled as he fired one of the M27 rifles at the mass of Zombies swarming into the town. The specifically Marine battle rifle was similar to the M4 he’d trained with at the Academy.
Taking aim at a trio of shambling dead, Cat fired gunfighter style with her twin pistols. Her smaller stature let her duck in and out of the danger zone surrounding Chuck. With or without major firepower, he was the dangerous person on the field. “Shut up, Chuck, and just kill these things!”
Three hours ago, the day had started like they’d figured it would. They took an assignment from the Witches and tried to organize the town’s defenders. Most of the Witch families were either sheltering or with the militia, leaving the humans to fend for themselves. Mostly. The townies were technically part of the hidden organization. But only those born and raised here, which was fewer than most would think.
Better jobs and opportunities had drawn people out of town. Agatha’s aunt Camilla hadn’t helped, either. During her rush to power, locally she’d bought up property left and right, often ignoring the fact the humans had nowhere to go but out.
Twenty to thirty humans with assorted weapons were Chuck’s challenge. Cat grabbed the two remaining police officers she found in the station and pulled rank. They didn’t know she wasn’t technically FBI and she didn’t tell them. Chief Jenkins was MIA so she sent them, with their patrol cars, to either end of town to block the roads. The fewer tourists involved in this mess the better. Cat asked the young officers. “Do you know where the chief might’ve gone?”
Officer Brandon shook his head negatively. “He took off like a scared rabbit running across the park. For someone with his experience you’d think a few guns would freak him out.”
Both officers had explained about Sarah the receptionist, and all the guns in town.
Cat considered looking for the chief in the town buildings on the other side of the park, but helping Chuck sounded like a better idea. Politicians just made her eyes itch too much.
They’d just finished assigning different groups of armed citizens to parts of the town when the town lit up with a boom and a bright flash of light.
“I thought Agatha said the Gate was near the house?” Chuck asked. Up until this moment most of the human militia and volunteers were sure the Paranormals were just pulling their legs with some sort of gigantic joke. Hearing the sound of the Gate opening really freaked most of them out.
“She did. Remember the briefing they gave us? Two main regular people gates and one scary trans-dimensional one. That over there is the one everyone here uses to go pick veggies,” Cat said as she pointed to a high fence and large metal gate at the end of the street. “As the town grew, it moved South of the Garden.”
“And it’s the one the attack is coming from,” Chuck replied.
The humans stationed in half the shops along the square opened fire first. Zombies dressed as Roman soldiers broke down the fence, staggering into town. At first there were only one or two, then dozens, then hundreds. Dead humans and things that looked like dinosaurs were swarming all over town.
“Fire faster!” Cat yelled even as she pulled the trigger. Dropping her empty magazines, she reloaded much faster than a human could. Each Zombie she targeted dropped. Head shots are a killer.
“That will be about enough of that,” a man said as he stepped out of the shadows. With a snap of his fingers the guns in Cat’s hands suddenly got too hot to hold and she dropped them. “Animals shouldn’t play with guns.”
“Who the hell are you?” Cat growled. She could feel her beast pacing inside of her now. The big cat was hungry.
“Someone who has an interest in this thing,” said the man. He waved his hand and a shield formed around both him and the front wave of Zombies. “Stand aside and maybe I’ll let you serve me in the new Empire.”
Making a quick glance to one side, Cat dove left, pulling her backup pistols before she even landed. “I serve no one!”
Firing, she aimed at the Magick user exclusively. Her rounds, once flying straight and true, suddenly whizzed over the man.
“Is that the best you can do? I can tell you now you’re doomed. Stay where you are. Allow it to happen. The Master will add you to his army of undead.”
Cat let out a roar that stopped Chuck in his tracks and made the Magick man pause. Her beast took over and a more than thous
and-pound Sabertooth Tiger stood in her place. Growling, she tore into the Zombies.
Weres had the natural ability when changed to ignore most Magick, and Cat took full advantage of it. Passing through the shield wall she ripped the head off the first Zombie she encountered. It bounced off to one side like a lost soccer ball. Charging like a housecat after a mouse, she ran straight for the Magick user.
“That’s far enough. Why don’t you children turn around and go back to your toys,” said the three Witches, as they stepped out of nowhere. “This event is none of your concern.”
I could feel my face redden with anger. We might have started out to fight an unknown enemy, but these three I knew. A conversation between Grams and me had brought the whole thing together for me. Now I finally understood what was happening. Or at least I thought I did.
“Montgomery. How nice to see you. Long time. Still teaching young Witches how to pervert their Magick?” I asked.
The failed teacher and primary go-to guy for the American Witches Council shook with rage. “If anyone is a perversion it’s standing before me. Why Bethany thought you were so important is beyond me. Protect the daughter was our mandate. Camilla was more useful than you. You couldn’t even follow simple instructions!”
Waving at the militia, I motioned for them to spread out a bit. Hanging out with Chuck, I’ve seen a lot of superhero movies. Keeping the bad guy talking was always one goal. “Why was I so important? Did your leader want me to join the council?”
“Join us?” Montgomery laughed. Turning to the two women beside him, he asked, “She wants to know if we actually wanted someone of her persuasion and pedigree on our team. Can you believe that?”
“Little girl, we’ve been on the Council for more than a century. Your pitiful Magick is of no use to us. Bethany wanted you for other reasons. Leverage and power. You won’t live long enough to learn this, but to get anywhere in our world you need those two things. One to survive the other to rule,” Montgomery remarked.
