by Donna Raider
Leah kissed her again, hungrily, almost desperately. “Plan on dinner here tomorrow at six,” she said. “It will be a long night.”
Mika laughed. She wasn’t sending her away. If she had the promise of the next day, and the next day and the day after that, she would be happy.
“Breakfast, as usual, at the diner in the morning.” Mika pulled her tighter for another kiss.
“Yes,” Leah whispered, gripping her frantically, responding passionately to her kiss.
It was after midnight when Leah sent her away.
Leah locked the door behind her and slowly ascended the stairs to her cold and lonely bedroom. The bedroom she wanted so desperately to share with Mika Cross. She knew that eventually she had to tell her who she was. She was surprised that no one had seen fit to fill Mika in on her past, but apparently, their new respect for her had prevented that. They probably figured she already knew. The priest was so big on forgiveness, but she wondered if Mika would be able to forgive her sins. She doubted it. She tried to drive the agony of losing her from her mind. She knew she wouldn’t live without Mika. She willed herself to sleep. Tomorrow would take all the presence of mind she had. She needed to rest. For the first time in a long time, her sleep was haunted by the nightmares she thought she had escaped.
Mika toweled her hair as she looked at Leah’s balcony. The cold shower had calmed the longing in her. She was troubled by Leah’s reaction to the bishop’s announcement that they could marry. She thought Leah would be as thrilled as she. She had a sinking feeling that tomorrow would be a long day. She had known the first time she looked into Leah’s eyes that she was dealing with unimaginable demons, but Mika thought they had laid them to rest. She fell asleep with visions of Leah filling her mind.
Leah was at the diner when Mika arrived. She wondered how Leah existed on so little sleep. She looked lovely, as always, until Mika got close enough to see the dark shadows under her eyes. She knew Leah’s sleep had been as restless as hers.
“Whoa.” Ruth frowned when she saw them. “You two look like the harbingers of doom. I take it the bishop didn’t give you good news last night.”
“Yes, he did,” the priest said wearily, “we just have some issues to work through.”
“I hope you can, Priest,” Ruth said sincerely, “I truly hope you can.” She shook her head as she placed their coffee in front of them.
“Leah,” Mika spoke softly, “I love you and I know you love me. No matter what demons you are fighting, I will fight them with you. I’ll always be here for you.”
A small, sad smile flitted across Leah’s perfect face. She simply nodded.
“Look,” Mika pushed. “I have nothing pressing. Can we just talk about this right now? I will go crazy waiting until tonight.”
“Now is as good a time as any.” Leah shrugged. “Can we go to my home after breakfast?”
“Leah.” The sheriff charged through the door of the diner, almost running to their booth. “We have a problem at the mines. You really need to see this.”
Leah eyed Emily suspiciously, as if the sheriff were making up something to get her alone. “Now?” she hissed at the blonde.
“Now,” Emily insisted.
“Will you come with us?” Leah asked Mika.
“Of course.” She was curious about what could be so important at the mines that it would require the mayor’s immediate attention.
Emily stopped the patrol car at the top of the ravine that overlooked the main entrance to the mines. Mika noticed a road leading up to the mines, but it was blocked by huge boulders, forcing them to slip and slide down the steep embankment to the mouth of the mine. She held Leah’s hand, helping her as much as she could to keep her high heels from pitching her forward. Mika was amazed at how agile Leah was, and even in heels managed to reach the bottom of the incline before anyone else.
“Your Majesty,” the mine foreman, Levi, said as he bowed to Leah, kissing her outstretched hand, “thank you for coming. I know you will want to see this.”
The miners and several townspeople had gathered outside the mine and spread apart, providing a clear path for their mayor to move quickly to the entrance of the mine. Many of them bowed and mumbled, “Your Majesty” or “My queen.”
Leah glided effortlessly over the rough ground leading to the mouth of the mine. Her commanding presence was regal and very much that of a queen. The priest was impressed and found that she was tremendously proud that she was her future wife.
She also found that Leah’s appearance invoked an even deeper desire in her. Leah was powerful and purposeful. She was magnificent.
When Mika caught up with her, Levi was showing Leah veins in the mine walls. “They are all like this,” he grunted in disgust. “Throughout the entire mine system, they’re all like this.”
Leah placed her fingertips against what looked like black tar. She studied it then sniffed it. “When did this begin?” she asked quietly.
“The night crew started noticing it right after midnight.” The mine foreman frowned. “The entire fuc…uh…frickin’ veins of…frickin’ dust have turned to this.”
The mayor couldn’t resist a moment’s disapproval. “Really, Levi, ‘frickin’?”
“Do you know what it is?” the miner barked.
“Yes.” She nodded. “It is evil!”
The priest knew what it was, too. She had smelled it the minute she entered the mine. For the first time since its inception, their town was being filled with pure, unadulterated evil.
“We need to contain it,” Leah spoke softly, but her words echoed throughout the mineshaft. “Close off all the tributaries leading into the main shaft. Seal the main entrance to the mine until we can figure out what to do. Build bonfires at night and keep sentinels around the mine twenty-four seven. Notify me immediately if any of it escapes the mine.”
Leah was extremely concerned. She was no stranger to evil, but she had never dealt with it in its purest form before. She had to get to her family mausoleum, and she had to lose the priest. She intended to tell Mika who she was, but she wanted to do it in her own way. Right now, that had to wait.
She pulled Emily aside and asked her to keep the priest preoccupied. “I don’t care if you have to lock her in jail,” she added. “Keep her out of harm’s way.”
The sheriff grinned at the idea of jailing the priest, but pushed the vision aside, knowing she could come up with something more diplomatic.
It was her first visit to the mines, and as they returned to the patrol car, Mika noticed the bay was visible from the mountain.
##
The sheriff skillfully pulled the patrol car to the curb in front of the cathedral, jumped out, and opened the priest’s door.
“What…where…I need to be with you,” Mika blurted to Leah.
“Nope, this is town business,” Emily barked as she tried to drag her from the car, “business the mayor and sheriff need to handle.”
Mika turned a frantic look toward Leah. “I can help,” she cried emphatically.
“Please, Priest, for once, just do as I ask.” Leah’s voice was cold and hard. She gave her a look that was not to be defied.
Mika got out of the car and watched as they sped away, toward the cemetery. Strange, she thought, I have been here almost two years and have never officiated a funeral. She had never set foot in the cemetery.
Mika headed for the diner to get a cup of coffee but noticed the Closed sign on the door. Oh, well, she thought, Martha probably has a pot of coffee on anyway.
To her surprise, no one was at work in the church. She walked back outside to the street and noticed that no living soul could be seen anywhere. The entire town was deserted. All the shops were closed. It felt like a ghost town.
Returning to her office, she tried to call Martha. No answer. She tried to call everyone on her staff. No one answered their phones. In desperation, she called Leah. She didn’t answer either. Mika walked to the sheriff’s office. Surely the deputy on duty would k
now what was going on. The door was locked.
##
Leah tore through her family mausoleum, frantically looking for something to reinforce her magic. There was no doubt that she was the most powerful witch in the world, but she was wading into new waters, dealing with demonic evil. Briefly, she wondered why it had come to her town. After what seemed like hours, she found the book of spells for which she had been searching. Flipping through the pages, she began reading the information on combatting the devil. She was ready. She transported herself to the mines.
As she arrived, she was engulfed in frantic activity as miners and townspeople scurried up the embankments and fled the mines. “The queen is here,” someone screamed, and the crowd seemed to calm a bit. They stopped to see what she would do.
Levi was the last to run out of the mines. “It is filled with demons,” he screamed at her, “millions of them.”
Putting up a force field in front of her, Leah ventured into the mouth of the mine. The main room of the mine was clear, but when she turned the corner into a smaller tributary, she was shaken by the sight of thousands of demonic-looking creatures of all sizes, crawling on the walls and ceiling, skittering along the floor. They shrieked and howled when they saw her, as if she was the prey for which they had come. She immediately increased the size of her force field, filling every crevice of the mine from right to left. She began to move forward, pushing the screaming, slobbering demons back into the caves.
Too late, she realized that all the tributaries were filled with the screaming ghouls. They began streaming in from her right and left, almost reaching her before she could throw up a shield to protect herself. One slashed a talon across the right side of her face, causing blood to run freely down her neck and shoulder.
The smell of fresh blood, her blood, whipped them into a frenzy. Howling, they began to push harder against her, as thousands more of them filled the caverns.
Ruth heard the increased roar of the demons inside the mine and knew they were moving closer to the entrance and outside the mines. She moved quickly to get the only help she could think of. She skidded to a stop in front of the cathedral. Running at top speed, she quickly entered the confessional, screaming at the top of her lungs for the priest.
Without hesitation, Mika jumped into Ruth’s car. She drove like a mad woman but made it to the mines in less than three minutes. She parked in the same place the sheriff had parked the patrol car earlier that day.
Mika was out of the car before it stopped. The screaming and wailing that assaulted her ears was deafening. It sounded like someone had poured boiling oil on a million screaming banshees. The sounds coming from the mine were so ominous that she put her hands over her ears.
Amber and the entire Samson family—including Richie—and Mother Superior from the convent were standing on the ridge overlooking the ravine to the mine. “Where is Leah?” Mika screamed, trying to make herself heard over the din.
“She is in the mine,” Amber yelled in her ear.
A roar of applause went up from the crowd as their mayor emerged from the mine, but it was short lived. She wasn’t emerging triumphant. She was backing out of the mine, being pushed by the hideous creatures she was somehow containing temporarily.
It appeared that she had created a force field between her and the legions seeking to devour her.
“Help her!” Mika screamed. “Someone help her!” She was frantic. “Emily, Mother Superior, help her, please,” she pleaded.
The sheriff didn’t move. She couldn’t move. The horror of what she was witnessing had incapacitated her. Her eyes bugged out in fear. Mika looked at Samson and Delilah. Everyone was staring in stunned, frozen terror.
Mother Superior had a smug look on her face, as if she believed the mayor was getting her due.
Richie broke the sheriff’s grip on him and ran to Mika. “Mika, please help her,” he screamed. “Don’t let my mom die, please.” Tears were streaming down the boy’s face
“I would rather die with her than live without her,” the priest said as she slid down the incline and ran to Leah.
##
Leah knew her force field was weakening when a claw raked across her chest, cutting deep slashes into her breasts, sending blood spewing everywhere. Her hands were so busy maintaining the force field that she couldn’t mount an attack on the demons. She struggled to increase the force field, but a gnarled hand reached through and grabbed her ankle, sending her falling backwards. She knew this was the end. Strong arms caught her. She thought that Emily had finally joined to help her. As the arms stood her upright, encircling her waist and pulling her tight against her, she realized it was the priest.
I will die happy if I’m in her arms, Leah thought.
Mika buried her face in Leah’s hair, her lips right on her ear. “I’m here, Leah,” she yelled. “You don’t need your hands. Your mind is where the strength is. Continue to hold the force field and conjure the largest fireball the world has ever seen. Use your mind.”
Raw power shot through Leah, pure, unadulterated power. She wasn’t sure she could contain it. It wasn’t magic. It was unbelievable, earth-shaking power. All her injuries disappeared, and her strength returned to her tenfold. In her mind, she visualized the world’s largest fireball. The fiends howled and began to struggle harder to reach her.
“When I say ‘now,’ drop the force field and throw the fireball into the mine. Follow that with flames through all the tributaries. Burn out every moving thing in the mines,” Mika instructed her. “When you see water coming out of the mines, freeze it all the way to the ocean.”
Leah let out a strangled gasp and waited for Mika’s signal.
“Now!” screamed the priest.
Leah simultaneously dropped the force field and launched the fireball with all her strength. The stench of burning flesh filled the air. The demons squealed and screeched as the fire incinerated them. She moved forward, a human flamethrower sending a stream of flames through every crack and crevice of the mines. The priest continued to hug Leah securely against her, taking every step she took.
Those standing along the rim of the ravine gasped as the bay began to boil. A spout of water shot over twenty feet high as Leah’s fireball flamed out into the heavens causing a tidal wave.
“Freeze,” Mika screamed.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Leah froze the tidal wave as it reached the mouth of the mine.
There was total silence. Everyone looked around, in a stupor. They couldn’t believe they were still alive. They had never witnessed such an exhibition of their queen’s power.
The entire Samson family stood slack-jawed, unable to muster the presence of mind to close their mouths. Delilah fainted and Samson began to whimper. He was glad they were now on the good side of the queen.
Amber was the first to reach them. “Mika are you okay?” she cried.
“Yes,” she said, still holding on to Leah like a drowning woman with a life preserver.
Amber stared Leah in the face and screamed in an angry voice, “Who are you?”
“She is our queen,” the crowd roared. They surged forward, lifting Mika and Leah onto their shoulders, and began marching toward their town.
The priest never let go of Leah’s hand. Mika was shaking. She remembered Leah had incurred several severe injuries. Her face had been laid open to the bone, and blood had been gushing from her chest. Mika twisted to see how much damage she had endured and smiled as her flawless face came into focus. Leah wasn’t injured anywhere.
By the time they reached the diner, drinks were lining the counter. A bottle of Glendronach Scotch malt whiskey sat on their table. The priest wasn’t a drinking woman, but she needed something to calm her nerves. Lighter fluid would have been just fine.
Ruth opened the bottle. Smiling at Mika, she said, “Our queen doesn’t drink hard liquor often, but when she does, it’s only the best.” She then poured Leah’s and Mika’s drinks and proposed a toast to their “power couple.”
>
Everyone applauded, whistled, and demanded, “Speech, speech.”
Leah graciously thanked all of them for being there and giving their support. She then turned the floor over to Mika.
Pulling her best embarrassed little girl look, the priest cleared her throat and said, “All I did was hide behind her skirts.”
The crowd roared with laughter. Then roared with pride as Mika held her glass high and said, “To Her Majesty, the queen.”
After the applause died down, she added, “I hope you all know that she could have easily left and let the demons have all of us. Instead, she dug deep down into herself and saved this town. She could have died, fighting for us.” She wanted these people to know that Leah had been willing to die for them. “I hope you will remember this if she ever needs you. Would you fight for her?”
The cheers and applause were deafening. “I would gladly die for our queen,” a voice yelled from the crowd.
“Me, too,” several more voices screamed.
Leah’s eyes locked with Mika’s and never released her gaze until she sat down beside her and kissed her gently. Leah wondered what was going on in Mika’s mind.
Mika absentmindedly picked up the bottle of Scotch that had been placed on their table and noted it was Glendronach 1968 'Recherché' 44-Year-Old, Cask #5. She whistled as she read the Scotch’s credentials. Even she knew the bottle cost over four thousand dollars. She had to admit it was the smoothest anything she had ever tasted.
They stayed at the celebration until everyone was drunk enough that they wouldn’t be missed. Mika placed her lips next to Leah’s ear and whispered, “May we go home now?”
Leah smiled and nodded. Mika took her hand and led her outside. The night had gotten very cold. Mika took off her jacket and draped it around Leah’s shoulders. She then put her arm around Leah and pulled her close.
“Are you okay?” Leah said softly. “I’m sure you have some questions.”
“I do.” Mika nodded. “Who in this town can afford a four-thousand-dollar bottle of Scotch?”
