by N M Thorn
At the far end of the clearing, a tiny house nestled against the trees. Built in the classic old-Russian style, it had a tall A-frame roof, and even from this distance, Damian could see a wind vane crafted in the shape of a rooster.
“I need to check in with the Lady Gatekeeper first.” Zabava jerked her chin toward the house and snickered, taking in Jamie’s state of awe. “Can you walk without tumbling down, baby wizard?”
“I’m fine,” grumbled Jamie, taking a few unsteady steps forward.
Damian chuckled, grabbing his arm for support. “You’ll get used to it,” he said, heading toward the house. “Compared to the magical nexuses, the human realm is low on magic. The flow of magical and elemental energy here is so concentrated that every time you arrive in a nexus, your senses will get overwhelmed for a little bit. It’s an adjustment, you know. You’ll learn to deal with it.” He shrugged, throwing a humorous glance at his young apprentice.
“I don’t think I’d ever want to leave this place. It truly is magical,” Jamie murmured, looking around in wonderment.
Damian stifled a sigh, reminded why he was here in the first place. “It’s magical, alright, but it’s not a safe place, Jamie. All the monsters of your childhood nightmares, all the fairy tales and legends you’ve ever heard—everything is real here. So, you must be vigilant at all times, no matter where you are in the nexus, and remember that human logic doesn’t always apply here.”
“Human logic?” Jamie scratched the back of his head. “I’m not sure I had one in the first place. So, nothing to worry. I’ll be perfectly fine.”
Zabava slowed down a little, falling in step with them. “And Jamie, whatever you do, don’t look into the Lady Gatekeeper’s eyes. She’s blind, but she’s an ancient seer, and she can see better than any person with twenty-twenty vision. Take my word for it—soul reading is an unpleasant procedure.”
They approached the small house, and Zabava ran up the steps, raising her hand to knock, but the door opened up before she could do it. An old woman dressed in a long black skirt and white blouse with lacy sleeves walked out onto the porch and halted. Her eyes were closed, but somehow Damian felt as if she was looking into his very soul. Jamie gasped and squirmed next to him, taking a step back.
“Zabava, my child, I’m so glad to have you here.” The woman beamed, a web of small wrinkles manifesting around her tightly shut eyes. “Please, come in.” She stepped aside, ushering all of them into her home.
Inside, the house was just as beautifully crafted as on the outside. Built of solid wooden logs, it was light and spacious with a tall, vaulted ceiling. Lacy curtains adorned the windows, and the morning sun came into the room unobstructed, bouncing against a large mirror on the opposite wall.
The Lady Gatekeeper made her way to a table and sat down on a wooden bench with a soft groan, gesturing for them to join her.
“So, Zabava, what brought you here?” She turned toward her, inclining her head slightly. “You wouldn’t visit your old friend just to say hello, would you?” She turned her head slowly as if she could see Damian and shook her head. “Fascinating. If I am not mistaken, you brought a Destiny Enforcer into my domain. Why is that?”
She got up heavily and made her way around the table. Halting behind Damian, she placed her hands on his temples and stilled. Damian tilted his head up and gasped as her extremely powerful magical energy overwhelmed his senses, turning his muscles into powerless mush. Her milky blind eyes opened wide, gazing deep into the depth of his soul.
“My lady, please,” he whispered, unable to break their eye contact, “if you want to know something, just ask me. I swear I’ll be honest with you.”
“Hush, boy,” the old seer murmured. “I know the process of soul reading is not fun, but I’ll be honest with you, too. I’m not a fan of your kind, so I want to know who I’m dealing with.”
“I am Commander Damian Blake, Lord Magnus’ personal Shadow Enforcer,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “I’m here because—”
“You need to go there—you don’t know where and find that—you don’t know what?” she finished his sentence and let go.
Damian exhaled in relief, his chest still shuddering with laborious breaths. “Yes, my lady,” he managed to say.
She tapped on Jamie’s shoulder. “Please let me sit down here, young wizard,” she said, motioning for him to move over.
As Jamie got up and took a seat next to Zabava, the Lady Gatekeeper lowered herself on the bench next to Damian, turning toward him. She raised her hand covered in thin slithering veins, and her fingers, deformed by arthritis, brushed over his face, pushing his hair away. Her hand lingered over the scar, and she shook her head again.
“You’re a Destiny Enforcer, but your heart”—she pressed her slightly trembling fingers over his chest—“is not hollow. How is that possible?”
“My lady.” Damian took her hand, gently removing it. “Can you help me find—er—this mysterious magical entity? The life of my brother depends on it.”
“A lot more than just the life of an ancient vampire depends on the success of your mission,” she said, patting his cheek in such a motherly manner that his breath caught in his chest. “I know, your brother is your world, but in the grand scheme of things, his life means nothing.”
“I know this magical entity is the real deal, but I have no idea where to find it,” said Zabava. “Can you point us in the right direction?”
“I wish I could,” the Lady Gatekeeper replied, rising, “but I can’t. I know it’s located on an isle, but this isle doesn’t stay in the same place long. It moves all around the nexus, changing its location every so often.”
“Perun almighty…” Damian bowed his head. Despite the old seer’s words, his thoughts returned to Cole and his dangerous situation.
“As powerful as Perun is, he can’t help you, Enforcer,” replied the Lady Gatekeeper, “but another deity of the Slavic pantheon can be quite helpful if the right person asks the right question.”
“Who is this person, and where I can find him?” Damian asked quietly.
“Her, not him.” The old lady cocked her head, staring at Zabava, the corners of her mouth lifting just a touch. “Luckily, you won’t have to go far since she’s sitting across the table from you. But the real question, is she willing to put her enormous pride aside for the greater good?”
Damian got up slowly. “Zabava, why?” he asked, his voice husky. “If all this time you knew where I needed to go, why did you waste my time? You know the gravity of the situation—"
The Lady Gatekeeper laughed, the sound of her cracked, elderly laughter bouncing in his ears. “No, Enforcer,” she said, readjusting her flowery kerchief to tuck a strand of gray hair under it. “She doesn’t know where the isle is located, but she knows someone who can identify the location. All she has to do is ask. The problem is, I don’t think she’s willing to do it.”
Damian’s jaw tightened as he stared at Zabava without blinking. “Zabava,” he exhaled, and the ground shook beneath his feet as he failed to control his power.
“I wasn’t wasting your time, Damian. I was hoping that as a seer, she could have given us directions,” Zabava yelled, throwing her hands up. “Fine! Stop staring at me like this. I’ll do it.” She snapped toward the old lady, her eyes igniting brighter with the glow of her magic. “Just so you know, it has nothing to do with my pride.” She stomped her foot and opened her mouth to add something but then changed her mind and marched around the table toward Damian and Jamie. “Jamie, get up. We’re leaving now.”
The Lady Gatekeeper chuckled. “It took the manipulation of some evil bastard to get you to do the right thing, but it’s about time.”
“Ugh.” Zabava stamped her foot again, reaching for Damian’s arm.
The old seer raised her hand, stopping her. “Hold on, darling,” she said, turning toward Damian. “There is something I want to tell you, Commander Blake.” She chuckled as if she found the sound of his title and nam
e amusing. “Choosing someone like you as his Shadow Enforcer? Magnus is as eccentric as always, but I can see why he did it.”
“What do you mean?” asked Damian, sending a puzzled look Zabava’s way, but she just shrugged, lifting her arms.
“Magnus knows what I mean. You don’t have to.” She stepped back, staring directly ahead at Damian’s chest. “Commander, maybe you’re not a common Destiny Enforcer who obeys every command blindly, but that’s one of the things that makes you special. Nevertheless, what I was going to tell you has nothing to do with your job.” She lifted her arm, placing her hand over his chest. “When the time comes, don’t be afraid to show what you have here.”
“Do you mean his sizable pecks and washboard six-pack?” asked Zabava snidely. “I don’t think there is anything else there to look at.”
“Aw, Zabava, how sweet. Don’t tell me you’re infatuated with this boy? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you showing any kind of affection to anyone.” The corners of her mouth lifted, but a thin layer of sarcasm was clear in her voice.
“In his wet dreams,” Zabava grumbled. “And just for your information, the last time he could have been called a boy was about a thousand years ago or more.”
“Compared to you and me, he is a boy,” the old lady objected and gave her a dismissive wave of her hand. “Now, off you go.”
“Thank you for your help, my lady,” said Jamie with a bow.
“At least one of you has some manners.” As the Lady Gatekeeper glanced at Jamie, a warmth changed her features, wiping out the sarcasm. “I’m glad you’re here, young Warden. Your mentor needs you.”
“I’m not a Warden.” Jamie glanced at Damian for support, confusion written all over his face.
“You’re marked by Guardians, but here and here”—the old lady touched his forehead and his chest—“you’re a Warden. Luc de la Crosse is your Master, I believe.” Jamie nodded. “He’ll tell you soon...” Her eyes moved from Jamie to Damian and then halted on Zabava. “Godspeed, all of you.”
Rolling her eyes, Zabava stepped between Damian and Jamie and pushed her arms through the crooks of their elbows. Then she snapped her fingers, and everything around them swirled into a continuous blur as she teleported them out of the Gatekeeper’s house.
They materialized in the middle of a forest, the trunks of tall leafy trees covered in a thick cloak of moss rising all around them. At the far end, a dim light broke through the thickets, and Damian headed toward it. Halting at the edge of a clearing, he turned to Zabava, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Whoa…” Jamie exhaled, carefully pulling shrubbery apart to get a better view. “I don’t know if modern movies or fantasy books are a reliable source, but that can’t be any good.”
A small hut with a straw-covered roof stood in the center of the clearing. Lacy wooden frames surrounded the windows in an intricate design, and a wind vane, similar to the one on the Lady Gatekeeper’s house, topped the tip of the roof. But the most unusual part of the house architecture was that it was supported by two massive chicken legs.
“Are you kidding me?” Damian hissed, jerking his thumb at the hut. “As if I didn’t have enough problems without that!” He waved his hand in a wide arch, muttering a spell under his breath, and a power field lit up with a dim bluish light, running all around the clearing. “Only a god can conjure this kind of protective magic! And not just any god. If I’m not mistaken, these wards were placed by Veles, the god of the Three Realms and one of the most powerful deities in the Slavic pantheon.”
“I’m more than sure Veles isn’t here, so stop shaking in your pants. You wanted directions?” Zabava huffed, taking a step closer to him. “This is the only place where you can find them. Deal with it, Enforcer. And if you think I want to be here, think again.”
“And what directions might that be?”
Damian heard a female voice and turned around to find a tall woman dressed in a black leather outfit and motorcycle boots standing in front of him. She threw her long, dark-brown hair off her face and cocked her head slightly, her honey-colored eyes exploring every inch of Damian’s body. Then her gaze darted to Zabava, and her coral lips twisted into an icy grimace.
“Well, hello, daughter. Long time no see.”
Chapter 16
~ Damian Blake ~
“There is no need for such a dramatic entrance, Mother,” Zabava muttered, but shrunk under the woman’s heavy stare and fell silent.
“Whoa…” Jamie exhaled, staring at Zabava. “Now I know where your sweet personality came from. Are you saying Baba Yaga is your mother?”
The woman glanced at him, a shadow of displeasure crossing her face. “I prefer Yaginya if you don’t mind,” she said coldly. “Thanks to Russian fairytales, the image of Baba Yaga has been turned into some kind of bogeyman that is used to scare misbehaving children.”
She grabbed Jamie’s arm, pulling him closer to the invisible barrier of protection magic. Jamie threw a pleading glance at Damian, but she probably noticed it because she laughed, shaking her head.
“Don’t be afraid, little wizard. I don’t eat children for breakfast.” She touched the barrier, whispering something, and it lit up with a dim blue light. Giving Jamie an arched stare, she pushed him through the shield and added with a snide smile on her lips. “Children are on my dinner menu.” She glanced back and jerked her chin toward the hut. “What are you two waiting for? A special invitation?”
Damian threw a scorching stare at Zabava. “You couldn’t tell me earlier that you’re a demigod and your mother is Yaginya?” he hissed.
“What makes you think I’m a demigod, Enforcer?” she snapped back, invading his personal space.
Damian froze in place as the image of Zerkalitsa with a halo over her head flashed before his eyes. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Zabava seized the shirt on his chest and yanked him through the barrier.
As soon as he crossed inside the protected area, the view changed. The hut on chicken legs was replaced by a contemporary home built of glass and concrete. A clearing covered in tall grass had turned into a perfectly manicured front lawn with blooming flowerbeds by the side of the building. Yaginya and Jamie had already reached the house and stood on the marble steps in front of the entrance.
The ancient goddess pushed the door open, inviting them inside. “Please come in,” she said dryly, her frosty eyes lingering on Zabava. “I wish I could say my daughter’s friends are my friends, but I can’t. She has really bad taste in men.”
“Now you see why I didn’t want to come here?” Zabava muttered, poking Damian in his ribs.
“Sorry, not sorry,” murmured Damian. “She’s your mother. Kiss, make up, and be happy you still have her.” He fell silent, thinking about his mother whom he barely remembered, wondering how his life would have turned out if she had lived longer.
He crossed the clearing and halted in the doorway indecisively, observing a sizable open room with a tall ceiling and giant windows taking most of the wall space. A large dining table covered with a white tablecloth stood at the other end of the room, reflected in perfectly polished marble tiles.
A few pictures in modern frames depicting mountains, rivers and forests hung on the wall. In each picture, he saw Yaginya either sitting on or standing next to a beautiful Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Just like now, she was dressed in biker’s gear, including a leather jacket, pants, and motorcycle boots. With her rich, long hair blowing in the wind, she looked like one of those high-end models, posing for a photo in a fashion magazine.
“Nice bike,” murmured Damian before he could stop himself.
Yaginya walked Jamie toward the table, gesturing for him to sit down, and turned to Damian, lifting a brow.
“What can I tell you,” she said. “A girl has a need for speed.” She chuckled, shaking her head. “Or did you think I ride around in a mortar with a pestle in my hands? Or maybe on a broom?”
“Nothing like that, ma’am,” Damian re
plied cautiously, approaching the table. “Just admiring your taste in transportation.”
“Uh-huh,” she hummed, looking up at him.
Even though she was tall, at least six feet, he still towered over her, and judging by the expression on her face, she wasn’t fond of it—or of him in general. She didn’t invite him to sit down, and her slightly downturned eyes flashed to her daughter, igniting with annoyance.
“Zabava, I haven’t seen you for centuries, and then you show up here, unannounced, accompanied by this brute?” She pointed at Damian, and his jaw dropped.
He had expected anything from the old goddess-slash-sorceress, but this kind of frosty welcome wasn’t something he had foreseen.
“I didn’t know I needed a special invitation to come home, Mother,” Zabava growled, folding her arms. “Trust me, if I had a choice, I wouldn’t, but the future of the human realm is more important than my grievances about the way my mother treated me when I was a child.”
“The way I treated you?” Yaginya threw her hands up, and the walls of the house trembled slightly as the magical energy field spiked around her. “How about what you did? Running off with a man—a filthy human to boot—to live in a world deprived of magic? And if that wasn’t enough, you warded yourself, so no one, including me and your father, could detect your presence. Every night, I had nightmares about you being burned at the stake by witch hunters! Do you know what it feels like for a mother not to know what happened to her child?” She nodded mostly to herself, mirroring Zabava’s position. “Wait, one day you’ll have children of your own, then you’ll understand how you made me feel.”
“Mo-o-the-er—,” Zabava started but didn’t finish the statement.
“Don’t mother me!” Yaginya yelled, pointing at Damian over her shoulder. “And now, centuries later, you show up accompanied by this? An Enforcer?” She seized Damian’s arm, pulling him closer. “Don’t tell me he’s your new object of affection. Destiny Enforcers have empty hearts, Zabava. They’re not allowed to fall in love, have families, live normal lives. I thought you were smarter than that, daughter.”
