by T S Paul
The two other members of the Witches Council moved out from Montgomery to form a triangle.
“Are we there yet? Is it time for me to fight the Dragons?” Fergus picked now to stick his head out of my shirt pocket and look around. “Hey, I know that guy. Isn’t he the one that made those rabbit things, the ones with the antlers?”
“Jackalopes,” I said.
“Yeah, those. You scared him off,” Fergus replied.
“Still playing with talking rodents. You’ll never learn.” Montgomery raised his hand and threw a fireball at me.
The militia around me came to life suddenly. Half of them hit the ground while the others opened fire on the enemy Witches in front of us. Many of the bullets they fired weren’t penetrating the shield, but I knew from experience they would eventually. The Witches on the ground started throwing lightning, fire, and ice at them as well.
Montgomery’s fireball went nowhere as one of my team deflected it. Raising my hand, I fired back. Whoosh! The size of my shot shocked even me. I could tell that the bracelets were a bit angry, but not basketball-sized angry. As the fireball approached my enemy, it actually increased in dimensions, forcing the older Witch to duck and cover.
“Get ready for the horn, buddy! Nobody calls me a rat and lives!” Fergus popped up out of his pocket. I could feel his tiny hooves digging in for traction even through my shirt.
I fired a second and third shot at the now prone Witch. Looking down at my chest for the briefest of seconds, I could see Fergus half out of the pocket. “Get back in there where it’s safe. You need to save your pointy horn of death for the Dragons. Don’t waste it on these assholes!”
“Oh, I’m telling Grandma on you. That’s a quarter for the swear jar,” Fergus replied as he followed my instructions.
A flurry of gunshots made me look to one side suddenly. The militia pulled a fast one on the other two Witches. Half the group attacked them on foot with melee weapons drawing fire while the other half shot them down. Council members were supposed to be tough but in a hostile situation, hand-to-hand, it was hard to keep your Magick going.
Racing forward to check the women, I noticed Montgomery was gone. He’d slithered away like the serpent he resembled.
“Marcella, we have new players on the board,” Cassie, one of the Elders, pointed out. New figures, marked in purple, now showed on the overall map.
Scanning, Marcella could see they encircled the Gate and were inside the town already. “Do we know who?”
“We do. One of our teams in town recognized Kassandra. It’s the Witches Council,” Minerva answered her.
Marcella slowly nodded. “That makes a certain amount of sense. I’m starting to see how some things go together now. Damn them. This is Bethany’s play for power. I’d completely forgotten the Gates inside the Council headquarters. It’s only been a century or so since I’ve been there. Who’s made contact with them?”
“Agatha’s team has,” Agnes spoke up. “Faith reports they managed the shield and almost immediately ran into three Council members. Montgomery escaped but they killed two women.”
“Is Agatha…Did she survive?” Marcella asked.
“Sweetie, she almost incinerated that old fool. He’s lucky he got away,” Agnes informed her. “She’s continuing the mission.”
“Okay. Two women. I doubt one of them is Bethany, so that leaves Katherine and Raye. Unless they recruited more people, we’ve only got four members left to deal with. Kassandra is a Seer and a very powerful Witch. Inform the town units to target her first,” Marcella directed. “What about the Dragon forces, what’s coming through?”
Pulling up the reports, Cassie told her of the Zombies.
Almost yelling, Marcella demanded, “Just Zombies? Someone or something has to be controlling them.”
Mineva stepped closer to her friend. “What is it?”
Marcella closed her eyes. “That damn book. It has to be it. Bethany’s people were looking for it, as were the Strega. We know…Arcane and the FBI know, that they had something that allowed them to summon the Demon Lord and open the Portal to Hell. Creating Zombies takes two things. Power and a certain spell. Someone with Necromancer blood is able to do it too, but there hasn’t been a trained one of those in more than fifty years. Not since that mess in Haiti.”
“Tell everyone to look for a powerful Witch. She’s the one directing the dead. If we can remove her from the board, we might win this one,” Marcella ordered.
“And Bethany?” Agnes asked. “I can leave and take her on. She hates me less than you.”
Marcella shook her head. “No. Don’t give her what she wants. Taking one of us would change everything and I need you here. Our people and Agatha will have to fend for themselves. But I have one solution to the town issue.”
Crossing the room, Marcella opened the front door and called for Butch and Sundance. “Take your strongest Cohort and reinforce the town. Someone has raised all the dead as Zombies.”
Chapter 20
Esta shivered in excitement. Being back on Earth was nice, but the spells Pulao had put on her were better. For once, the Book wasn’t controlling her here. Its possession of her body both saved her and damned her at the same time.
She could still see the look on Ysabel’s face just before the Demon killed them all. All that time spent praising a God who only wanted their destruction. So silly. But she remembered. Things had come full circle. A Blackmore was at the start of her fall and now the destruction of that clan would be her salvation from it. But how it started was in death.
Several years had passed but the memory was fresh. Looking back all she could see was her former Queen.
“My Queen, it is time.” Esta stood before the Queen’s quarters. She, like the rest of the coven, was wearing ritual gear. Tonight would be a night to remember.
The door swung open soundlessly. “Is everything prepared?”
Esta bowed her head before replying. “Yes. The altar and all five corners have been cleansed. All three bosses, along with their underbosses and leading capos, are present.”
“Good. Inform the guards and any soldiers presently topside that no one is to be allowed below after the ritual starts. I mean no one. Any interruption could be disastrous.” Ysabel appeared in the doorway. She wore a small diadem on her head.
The Strega controlled the Mafia completely. Ysabel and the other leaders of the cult were once the wives and mothers of what was known as the ‘Black Hand’ in Sicily. Originally, they had banded together for protection. Women and children were often collateral damage in the many family wars. Natural Witches all, the women secretly plotted the takeover of their families.
Striking the first blow, Ysabel used a magical ritual to kill her husband and gain power. The power she needed to take and control the organizations. This thing of ‘ours’ became this thing of theirs. While families might appear to plot and fight for territory, they were all in the same organization.
Ysabel pushed her way through the dons and capos crowding the stairs to the cave.
“My Queen.” Esta held up her hand in a stopping motion. “Make way for the Queen! Make way for the Queen.”
The men blocking the way jostled and pushed each other, ignoring Esta’s voice.
Angry, Esta formed a blue ball of electricity in each of her hands. “Make way or be destroyed!”
Looking back at Ysabel, she muttered, “Stupid men.”
Ysabel smiled at her librarian’s turmoil. To her, they were but a nuisance. Pointing a finger at the first man blocking the door she said, “Die!”
“Welcome one and all to our organization's greatest day. This ritual will require all of your Magick and will. Instructions have been given. Follow them or die.” Ysabel pulled off her ritual robe and stepped into the circle drawn onto the floor of the cave.
Horatia and three other Witches also removed their robes. Like Ysabel, each wore only jewelry underneath.
“I call upon the guardians of the East, lords o
f Air and masters of flight…” Ysabel held a sword in her hand as she walked the outer edge of the circle. As she reached each point, she crossed swords with the Strega holding the point. Each woman holding a point glowed faintly.
Completing the circle, Ysabel struck the ground with her sword. “The circle is closed. Let all within bask in power and let the ritual be successful.” The entire cavern said the words after her like a mantra. “May the ritual be successful.”
Esta drew the sigils and runes. Each concentric circle meant something different.
Picking up the Book, Esta began to read. “I call upon Aradia, mother goddess and queen of the world to aid her followers in this great work.” Esta then began to speak in a language long forgotten by man. Clutching the book in a death grip, she continued to read as she mixed up some sort of potion on the altar.
With potion in hand, Esta started muttering again. Slowly, another circle began to form in the middle of the room. It, like the others, glowed. “With this potion, I call you forth…” She poured whatever was in her cup over Camilla Blackmore’s head.
“Eew. What the hell was that?” Camilla spat.
Esta looked up from the book. “Silence the sacrifice.”
Smiling, Ysabel slipped a ball gag over Camilla’s head and tightened it down around her mouth.
“Lords of Hell and Masters of the Outer plains. Hear our cry and receive this soul.” Everyone in the cavern repeated the phrase.
The chanting in the cavern slowed to a halt. Ysabel stared at Esta. “Did it work? Is it here?”
Esta set the book down on the altar. All the energy had been drained from her body. “I believe so, my Queen. The wards seem to still be up.”
Ysabel looked toward Camilla’s body. Still chained to the pillar, it was hanging limply by the chains. “Is anyone in there?” She poked at the body.
“Stay outside the circle, Ysabel. I’m not sure what came through.”
Ysabel’s sharp eyes turned to the librarian. “Do you not know?”
“I can feel…something. It may have been thrown into shock by the possession. Do you want me to release the main working?” Esta pointed toward the now sagging watchtowers.
“As long as the cage still holds, release them.”
Quickly, Esta walked the circle counterclockwise, or widdershins. At each watchtower, she released the guardian. The witches were completely exhausted. Several lay on the ground gasping for air.
“Honoria, check if she still lives?” Ysabel directed.
Everyone watched as the Witch approached the middle pillar, the glowing circle still surrounding it. “If I touch her, the circle will break.”
“Then don’t touch her. Check the eyes. If they glow, we were successful.”
Honoria bent down and looked up at Camilla’s face. If she still lived, there would be some sign of it here. Two glowing red eyes stared back at her.
Opening the circle was the Strega’s downfall. That and trusting the Dragons. Chaos upon the Earth was what they wanted as a counterpoint to their own invasion. Of course they’d give the Strega what they sought. And once the Book of Undying took possession of Esta she couldn’t even tell her sisters why. She sacrificed her husband, her family, and all her friends for power she couldn’t even control.
But now she was home. And if she proved her worth, the Dragon would be merciful. Now it was time to hook up with his allies and destroy the Witches. Giving Bixi a pat, she directed the Zombie Dragon forward into the fields.
“How did you know that guy,” Faith asked me. We’d tagged the dead Witches for pick up, but we kept moving forward.
Sighing, I told her the whole sordid story of all the teachers I’d had at the Academy, ending with Montgomery. “So he tells me to read a spell, which I do. There’s a flash of light and this thing hops out of the forest. A Jackalope is what we started calling them. Monty grabs the spell and yells bloody murder at me. I only read what he wrote, so it’s his fault I created another Magickal creature.”
“YOU made those things?” Faith laughed. “They were used in school as an example of Magick gone wrong, but I’d no idea someone local made them!”
“Yeah yeah, if I have to be famous for something that’s it. That and the squirrels. If we all survive this, speak to Chuck about how the Jackalopes got from Virginia to Kentucky and elsewhere. That one is on him and a sweet guy named Mongo, who, by the way, makes a killer Jack sandwich.” I explained my friendship with Mongo, Chuck, and Cat. “Being among them really saved me at the Academy. They stuck by me through it all.”
“The diner in town has a Jack special on the menu,” Faith replied.
I smiled. “I know. Grandmother owns it and stole the sandwich idea from me. Mongo’s dad runs a barbecue place down in Alabama.”
A loud roar suddenly froze me in my tracks.
“Dragon?” Faith asked me.
Glancing down, I could see Fergus’s head poking out of the pocket, a look of fear on his tiny face. “Dragon?”
“That sounds just like what the lore keepers described. Do I really have to fight it?” Fergus asked as he slid back down into my pocket.
“No, you can hide,” I patted him gently. He was practically indestructible, but why be mean to him.
The Garden areas we’d already crossed were laid out in a grid pattern lined with trees. Peeking through the trees in front of us, we could see the Gate and Otherworld on the other side.
“Is that it, another world?” Faith asked me. Others in our group crouched low, trying to get a glimpse as well.
“Otherworld,” I corrected her. “It’s like visiting Rome in ancient times but with machine guns and giant talking birds,” I whispered. My summer vacation there may have only been a couple of days in our world, but it was months in Otherworld time.
“Talking birds?” Faith asked skeptically. Pointing to my shirt pocket, she asked, “Like your friend in there?”
“No. More like the actual Owl of Athena. It’s a strange place.” I looked back toward the gate. “So there’s the Dragon and our friend Montgomery as well. I wonder who the hooded woman is?” I asked the group.
“Where is Lord Leomaris and the rest of his army? I demand you tell me!” Chief Councilor Bethany yelled.
A scuffed and twig-covered Montgomery stood next to Fitzgerald. Both Council members were there to back up their leader and get a good look at the new overlord.
Esta glared down at the Witches before her. Lord Palua had told of the Cabal of Witches run by the mysterious Bethany. She was but one linchpin in the great plan. Subverting her and the other leaders had been child's play compared to the Demon Lord. She wasn’t privy to all his plans, however.
“My lord and master is coming. The army of the dead was to clear the way.” Motioning to the massive Gate behind her, Esta instructed them, “Enter and search for yourself, if you like.”
Bethany looked past the massive Dragon and into the Gate. Another Dragon stood in the center of town, directing monsters that resembled dinosaurs. She recognized them for the Dracaena she’d read about. “He comes. We can wait.”
“I cannot. My task is what way. There are Witches to kill and a town to consume.” Esta pointed her Dragon toward the house on the hill.
“Not if we have anything to say about that plan. Nobody, and I do mean nobody touches Witches under my protection!” A glowing figure stepped out of the trees surrounded by dozens of heavily armed people.
Anastasia stood mixed in with one of the larger groups of undead Romans. For a Vampire of her age, moving quickly through unfamiliar territory was easy. Her eyesight was sharper than an eagle’s. The legionnaires brought a tear to her eye. Their outfits were more modern than the ones her father had commanded but it gave her the feeling of home.
The Goddess Hecate had been very specific with her. Kill the Witch and save the world. She was in the right place at the right time, but now there were at least a dozen Witches on the field, if she counted Agatha and her people. Obviously it was a
choice between the one on the Dragon or the one that looked like an evil nun. The whole thing reminded her of a crazy television show Chuck had made her watch. In that one they had to save the cheerleader. Which bloody one?
Chapter 21
I blame the bracelets. It’s the only story that made sense to me in my little brain as I stood, pushed through the trees, and confronted the Witches in front of me. It was a bit crazy to take on the Witches Council in a normal situation. But taking on three of them and a Dragon-riding dark Witch as well was insanity.
Call me insane then.
“Not if we have anything to say about that plan. Nobody, and I do mean nobody touches Witches under my protection!” I shouted as I stepped from the woods.
All three Council members spun around at my voice. The hooded one spoke first. “Ah, if it isn’t the foundling. Have you come to join us? It’s a new world we’re creating. Come help us found a new glorious empire.”
I felt, rather than heard the words coming from the Witch in front of me. Down deep in my soul they twisted and burned, attempting to coerce me. “Join us in celebration. The others are lying to you. The others are lying to you. The others are lying to you.” The words whispered to me over and over.
Involuntarily, I took a single step forward.
“Come to me, child. Let me take your pain away,” Bethany said to me.
Fergus took this moment to stick his head out of my pocket and stab me with his tiny horn.
“Ouch!” Without thinking, I slapped my hand over the pocket. The sudden burst of pain snapped me out of the haze Bethany was clouding over me.
Looking up, I shook my head. Using the power of the bracelets, I reinforced my personal shields. Most Witches had some bits of what was known as Mind Magick. Those skills you were born with. They included telepathy, telekinesis, and empathy. But there were rare skills as well. Necromancy was at the top of the rare list, as was something called persuasion. A combination of telepathy and empathy, someone with persuasion could sell ice to Eskimos. Bethany was one such person. I instantly wondered how long she’d been using it against the Council.
