Fury Godmother

by Annabel Chase

  My mother shook her head dismissively. “Listen, your cousin Violet might have made a mess of a lesion hex on her brother and it’s his school dance tonight…” I tapped the screen and she disappeared.

  “Satisfied?” I asked.

  Neville hesitated. “It sounds like your cousin needs help with his…lesions.”

  “Not my job. My work is here.” I shifted my attention back to the computer screen.

  “I get annoying calls, too, sometimes,” Neville said.

  “Congratulations.” My phone rang again and I muted it. “Neville, how do I get to the database?” I clicked a few buttons on the keyboard, but the screen remained on the background image of a waterfall.

  Neville came to stand beside me. “If you expect to pass for an FBI agent specializing in cyber crime, you really should know how to work a computer.”

  He was right. I was lucky I could operate the sun lamp that Chief Fox had given to me. It was only one switch, but I had a habit of constantly trying to push the switch in the wrong direction and then wondering why it won’t budge.

  “I’ll be sure to practice in my spare time,” I said.

  Neville took the mouse and moved it to click on a folder labeled ‘garbage.’

  “That’s the database?” I asked, incredulous. “How do you keep it from getting trashed?”

  “Because the real trash folder is there and labeled as trash,” Neville said, pointing to the screen.

  “Can’t we call the database something else?” I asked.

  “Like what, Agent Fury? We need to keep it secret in the event that someone sees our computer screens.”

  “How about ‘Neville’s porn?’” No one would want to click on that.

  “I think you’ll find that the cyber crime division would frown upon porn on federal computers.”

  “But we’re not really in the cyber crime division and it wouldn’t be actual porn,” I said. I clicked open the database.

  “Click here,” Neville said. “I saved the search results for types of wish demons.”

  I followed the link and fifty results popped up. “I can’t believe there are so many different types.”

  “Now you’ll want to cross reference wish demon with the color green,” Neville advised.

  I added the new search term and scanned the summaries. “This wish demon grants the power to have one last conversation with a departed loved one.” I made a sympathetic sound. “That sounds like a pretty good one.”

  “It depends,” Neville said.

  I jerked my head to look at him. “How does it depend? Isn’t there someone you’d like to have one last talk with? Tell them all the things you wish you’d said when they were alive?” I didn’t have that issue, of course. I could talk to ghosts, but I recognized that this was a rare ability. Besides, most people didn’t want to commune with any and all ghosts, they wanted to choose which spirits to contact.

  “Be careful what you wish for,” Neville said. “Even a last conversation with a loved one could be damaging depending on the circumstances.”

  “Well, this one is definitely a bad situation all around,” I said. “It’s a shame because everything seemed fine initially. John had enough money to pursue his dream. Will dodged cancer. Maxwell was united with his true love. Mitsy got the fame she wanted.”

  “All that glitters isn’t gold,” Neville said.

  I arched an eyebrow. “Are you going to spout platitudes at me all day?”

  “I happen to be fan of platitudes. I used to own a platitude calendar. One for each day of the year.”

  “On the other hand, I want my feet back, so I guess they weren’t all winners.”

  “I thought you despised your big feet,” Neville said.

  “They fit my body,” I said. “I don’t like being clumsy. It’s not good for an agent to be a klutz.”

  “Fair point.”

  I continued to review the summaries and Neville returned to his desk. So many demons. So little time. Not too many green ones, though, and none that matched exactly. Strange. I clicked on the link for ‘ancillary demons.’

  “What’s an ancillary demon?” I asked.

  “Demons that are sometimes mistaken for other demons,” Neville said. “They might have physical characteristics in common, much like snakes that have similar markings. One might be deadly, while the other is quite benign.”

  My heart jumped as I read the description of the first ancillary demon.

  “Great balls of fury, Neville!”

  “What is it?” He came to peer over my shoulder at the computer screen.

  “It’s not a wish demon,” I said. “The creature in the well is something else.” I pointed to the image on the screen. “It looked like this. That exact shade of green with the black markings.”

  “Uh oh. A scales demon?” Neville sucked in a breath. “Ooh, I don’t like that. Not at all.”

  “You’re familiar with them?”

  “I’ve never dealt with one personally, but I know of one that caused trouble in a town in England about ten years ago.”

  “How do they work? They grant wishes and then turn the tables against the person who wishes?”

  “Basically. The scales tip in one direction and it all looks good, then suddenly. Wham!” He smacked his hand on the desk. “They tip the other way and all hell breaks loose.”

  “Hence the name.” I reviewed the paragraph on the screen again. “That explains what’s been happening. The scales are starting to tip out of favor. If it gets any worse, things could get very ugly very fast.”

  “What do we do?” he asked.

  “We need to figure out how to get it safely to the extraction team and returned to Otherworld without collateral damage.” I reviewed all the information on the scales demon. “No arms or legs. It moves like a constrictor and can squeeze you to death if it gets around your body.”

  “Then we have to make sure you can handle the creature without letting it move,” Neville said. He hurried to the table at the back of the office. “I have a few ideas.” He began rummaging in drawers and pulling bottles from shelves.

  I followed him to the table, curious to see what he was putting together. “I guess an invisibility charm won’t cut the mustard this time, huh?”

  “Not quite. These items will give you choices,” Neville said. “You never want to embark on a mission with only a Plan A.”

  “Fergus used to say that, too.”

  He placed three bottles on the table in front of me. “This one is a Sleeping Beauty potion.”

  “Self-explanatory,” I said.

  “The downside is it takes less than a kiss to rouse it from slumber,” he said. “A loud noise, for example, might be enough to break the spell.”

  “So there’s a risk with this one.”

  “There are inherent risks with every potion.” He tapped the lid of the round bottle in the middle. “This one is a paralysis potion. Use this if you decide to transport the demon. It will keep the creature in stasis long enough for you to hand him over to the extraction team.”

  “And what about this one?” I flicked the last bottle with my fingernail.

  Neville looked at me. “That’s a kill potion.”

  I snapped to attention. “You think I should kill it?”

  “I wouldn’t dare advise you on the course of your mission, Agent Fury.”

  “Eden.”

  “Yes, of course. Eden.” He unscrewed the lid and showed me the purplish black contents. “This is called Deadly Drip. A few drops of this on the demon’s skin and it will be dead inside of a minute.” He replaced the lid and set the bottle on the table.

  “I guess we’ve got our bases covered.” My gaze lingered on the Deadly Drip. I wasn’t keen on killing anything and certainly not with magic. I shuddered to think which new fury power would make an appearance if I actually used my powers to kill.

  “Now allow me to prepare your pack,” Neville said.

  “If by pack, you mean jetpack,
then I’m all for it.”

  He gave me a deadpan look. “Your utility pack, Agent Fury.”

  “Be careful with the bottles,” I said. “They might fall over in the backpack and spill.” The last thing we wanted was to spill deadly potions where people or animals might accidentally be exposed to them.

  “I have the perfect solution,” Neville said. He ducked behind the table and produced—

  “Is that a fanny pack?” In the name of Nyx, please say no.

  He held up the offending item. “The bottles are the ideal size for this. You simply pop it around your waist and unzip the pack. Presto! Your bottles are accessible.”

  “I thought you were going to give me a cool invention.”

  “The fanny pack is a cool invention. Highly underrated, in my expert opinion.”

  I snapped it around my waist, unconvinced. “I feel my self-esteem plummeting by the second.”

  “You wear it well,” Neville said.

  “I’ve never seen James Bond wear a fanny pack,” I complained.

  “And I’ve never seen you wear a tuxedo.”

  I glared at him.

  Neville set to work gathering the items I needed for my mission. “I have to admit, I’m relieved we’re not dealing with a wish demon,” he said. “I would have felt terrible about revoking their wishes. Knowing things will be careening downhill from here makes the whole thing more palatable.”

  “Even Cinderella didn’t get to keep her coach and her beautiful dress,” I said. The stroke of midnight returned the peasant girl to her former state.

  Neville zipped up the backpack. “But she did get to keep a glass slipper. I doubt the demon we’re dealing with allows for any such silver linings.”

  “I don’t even want to imagine how things might get worse.” Mitsy mentioned stalkers in the diner restroom. It was only a matter of time before one decided to take his obsession too far.

  “Are you certain you don’t want me to come with you?” Neville asked. “The park will be deserted at that hour.”

  “And that’s the way I want it,” I said. It was best to work under the cover of darkness. Less chance of being seen by humans or worse—the chief.

  “You had a partner in the FBI,” Neville said.

  “And I nearly killed him.”

  “This is different,” Neville said. He handed me the filled backpack.

  “You’re right. Now I have an assistant instead of a partner and I’m not willing to put him in any danger.”

  “In that case, anything else I can do to assist you?”

  “Call headquarters and arrange a rendezvous so I can transfer the demon to their care.”

  “Here or at the well?”

  “Have them meet me at the portal. It’ll be too difficult to explain where the well is.” It had taken me long enough to find it and I lived here.

  “Ten-four, Agent Fury.”

  I stifled a laugh. “Ten-four? Are you on your CB radio, good buddy?”

  Neville’s cheeks flamed. “I saw it on a television show and found the lingo appealing.”

  “Let’s talk like we’re in the same room—because we are.”

  “All right then. In that case, I wish you the best of luck, Agent Fury.”

  I sighed. “Do me a favor, Neville. Don’t wish for anything right now.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Moonlight streamed down through the trees as I made my way through the park to the well. Neville’s backpack was hooked around my shoulders and the fanny pack was secure around my waist. There was no one in sight, for which I was grateful. The last thing I wanted was for someone to see me wearing faux snake sneakers and a fanny pack.

  I dropped my bag to the ground and unzipped it. I removed the rope first and tied it tightly around my waist. Next I fastened a headlamp to my head and switched it on.

  “The better to see you with, my dear,” I said.

  I pushed a stake into the ground and tied the end of the rope to it.

  “I really miss drug dealers,” I muttered, as I climbed over the side of the well.

  “Make a wish to see them again and I can make it so,” the demon replied.

  I peered into the darkness of the well, trying to aim my headlamp in his direction. “No thanks. Small feet are enough.”

  The demon’s laugh echoed in the small space. “That was you?”

  I wiggled one foot in the air above his head. “Sure was. Been paying the price ever since.”

  “Are you coming to rescue me?” the demon asked.

  “Something like that.” The demon appeared to be huddled in the bottom corner. “How did you get stuck down here anyway?”

  “I came from Otherworld. I’d intended to go to the Rocky Mountains. I like wide open spaces.”

  “One might argue this is a taste of your own medicine. Which portal did you come through?”

  “New York,” he said. “My cousin Ezra had done a cross-country trip and couldn’t stop raving about it. I wanted to see for myself.”

  “Then how did you end up here?” I inched further down the side of the well, still clutching the rope.

  “I felt pulled here,” he said. “It was my intention to travel west, but instead I began to move south. I sensed the presence of a vortex. I thought the ley lines might converge at the bottom of this well.”

  “And then you got trapped down here?”

  “Clearly.”

  “The vortex is half a mile from here,” I said. “You were close.”

  “I would appreciate it if you could help me out of here,” the demon said. “I’ve been quite uncomfortable.”

  “Try having feet too small for your body.”

  “That was your wish, not mine.”

  “Either way, I’ll be glad to see the back end of you. You’ve done quite enough damage during your stay.”

  The demon laughed. “I can’t help my nature.”

  “Of course you can,” I said. “You just chose not to.” I watched as his serpentine body uncoiled and slithered across the base of the well. “What do you plan to do in the Rockies?” Aside from wreak havoc whenever the opportunity presents itself.

  “Explore,” the demon said. “I’ve always wanted to explore this world. If I like it, I’ll stay.”

  “How did you manage to get approval to come here?” Otherworld was particular about the demons it let through. A demon like this wouldn’t be high on the list. Humans without the Sight would mistake them for snakes, so the physical form wasn’t necessarily an issue, but their potential for long-term damage was massive.

  “What makes you believe anyone gave approval?”

  Ugh. Just as I suspected. He snuck in. New York was such a large portal that it was impossible for the border guards to catch every supernatural that didn’t belong.

  “I’ll get you out of here, but you need to go home,” I said. “You can’t stay in this world.”

  “I have no interest in going home,” he replied. “I’m going cross-country, as I originally planned.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not possible,” I said. “I’m an agent with the Federal Bureau of Magic and you’re under my authority now.” My hand slipped and I grabbed the rope, slamming into the side of the well in the process.

  Ouch. That was going to leave a bruise.

  “I’m under no one’s authority,” the demon hissed. The change in his tone told me that the friendly conversation portion of our evening had concluded.

  “You have two options,” I said. “You either come peacefully so I can send you back to Otherworld or I have to kill you.”

  “I could just agree to come peacefully so you get me out and then double-cross you.”

  I fixed my light on him. His green skin shimmered in the spotlight. “Why would you admit that? Now I have no choice but to kill you.”

  “Hmm. Good point. My mother always said I should have more of a filter.”

  “As long as we’re admitting things,” I said, “I don’t want to kill you.”


  “Then don’t.”

  “But I can’t let you go either.”

  The demon huffed. “Then I suppose that leaves us at an impasse.”

  A strange noise caught my attention. I looked up and noticed that the rope had begun to fray.

  Sweet Hecate.

  I had to move quickly before I joined the demon in the bottom of the well. He wasn’t likely to be friendly once I got down there.

  “Having trouble?” the demon asked.

  “No, not at all,” I said. “I planned for this possibility.” A lie, of course. I planned for the demon’s resistance, but not for a plunge to my death.

  I hurriedly unzipped the fanny pack and reached for the middle bottle. The rope began to drop further and further.

  “Come to papa,” the demon said. He slithered beneath me and I shuddered.

  I popped the lid off the bottle and dumped the contents directly onto his body. The demon began to glow.

  “What did you do?” he asked. “I can’t…” His next words died on his lips as his body succumbed to Neville’s potion.

  “Paralysis potion, to answer your question.” The rope split and I fell to the bottom, landing on my bottom with a splash. The small amount of water was enough to cushion my fall.

  “Blech,” I said, inhaling the stench of mildew in the well. I stood and studied the demon’s body next to me. It was longer than I expected. I had to figure out the best way to carry him out of the well. Actually, I had to figure out the best way out of the well—period. The rope was out of the question. If only I could levitate like Grandma. Then I remembered—I could do better than levitate.

  I could fly.

  I took a deep breath and willed my wings to appear. I strongly resented having to use my fury powers to get out of this predicament. The fewer reminders of my true nature, the better. I looked from side to side and saw that the tips of my wings were squashed against the interior walls of the well. It wasn’t going to be easy to get out of here. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice. The rendezvous point for the FBM extraction team was at the portal. They had no idea how to find the well.

  I squatted and used my legs to lift the demon over my shoulders and place him around my neck. My father would be proud that I bent my knees so as not to strain my back. Anything to preserve my precious posture.