Moonlight and Magick

by Isobael Liu

  Anoria glanced around before looking at her. “It must have been difficult.”

  Lilian nodded. “When I escaped, I buried it deep down, didn’t use any of them, but they still managed to find me.”

  As they walked toward the gate, they saw it open and Anoria frowned. “Something’s wrong.”

  Anoria hurried toward the gate and she hesitated for a moment before she followed. Anoria slipped out through the large gate and around the corner. When she neared, she saw Anoria kneeling beside a prone figure of one of the guards.

  “He’s alive, just unconscious,” Anoria said.

  Lilian went to the other guard, kneeling down checking for a pulse, and found him to be the same. “Same here.”

  Lilian heard a noise behind her and turned. Anoria’s blow caught her in the side of the head, hard enough to knock her unconscious.

  * * * *

  When she came to, she found herself in the forest again. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a dream. She was on the ground; her hands tied behind her, she was gagged, and lying on her side.

  The pounding pain in her head kept her from hearing much, but she could tell there were two people talking somewhere close by, a male’s voice and a female’s. As the pain faded to a dull throb, the voices became clearer. She knew the female was Anoria, but the male she couldn’t recognize.

  Anoria walked toward her and knelt beside her.

  “You really thought I’d beg your forgiveness?” she sneered. “You’re nothing more than a human.”

  She stood up and kicked her in the stomach, hard enough to knock the wind from her.

  “Pathetic.”

  Anoria didn’t pay any mind to the man coming up behind her and she couldn’t see who it was from her position on the ground.

  The silver glint of the knife was the only warning before it slid across Anoria’s throat, slicing through flesh and windpipe. Lilian heard the cry of pain, and looked up, only to watch in mute horror as the man gripped Anoria’s head and yanked it back, slashing her again and again, until he decapitated her. Bound and gagged, she could do nothing to help.

  The blood was horrible! It seemed to spill out of Anoria as though it would never stop, falling onto the ground so near her that she tried to wriggle back from it. She could smell the coppery scent mixing with the loamy aroma of the earth, and she heard muffled screaming, but was confused as to where it was coming from.

  “She shouldn’t have kicked you. I might have let her live. No one’s allowed to hurt you except me.”

  Lilian looked up and stared in horror. It was Stephan, and yet, wasn’t. This Stephan was in horrible shape, gaunt with yellowish pallor, and his eyes wide and crazed. He let Anoria’s body fall, her head hitting the ground after the body had. Blood covered Stephan’s arms and hands, the knife drenched in it, and as he held it at his side, blood dripped.

  When Stephan came toward her, she tried to scream, only to realize it had been her screams she’d been hearing. He knelt down and tried to reach for her, but she struggled back, away from him. Infuriated, he grabbed her with his bloodied hands and dragged her closer to him. She could feel the metal of the knife in his hand, but he wasn’t trying to cut her. Yet.

  “Lilian! Where are you?” Matthias sounded frantic. “Try to use your abilities! We’re coming to find you!”

  Lilian tried to connect her mind with Stephan’s, to force him to release her, but found herself blocked. Someone else had tampered with his mind already.

  Stephan struck her with a bloodied fist. “Don’t you dare, you bitch! Get out of my head!”

  Pain flooded her, followed by disgust, as she knew her face now had Anoria’s blood on it from his fist. She bit back the cry, not wanting to give him the satisfaction. She would not beg, not like before.

  Stephan jerked her up from the ground, leaving blood on her upper arms. He dragged her away from Anoria’s body.

  “The bitch shouldn’t have touched you. Treacherous whore. I’m the only one allowed to hurt you,” Stephan muttered in an inane tone of voice.

  Lilian tried again to reach his mind, but he screamed and jerked her around, slapping her face again and again. She tried to struggle from his hold, but he was too strong this time. Something or someone was in control now.

  “Get out of my head! Only the worm is allowed! Only the worm!”

  “Lilian, don’t aggravate him any further. Go with him. We’ll find you. Don’t do anything to make him hurt you!”

  Lilian went limp, closing her eyes. She’d fake unconsciousness. “I don’t think I’d have to do anything. He’s crazy, Matthias. He killed Anoria. Please…hurry.”

  She unloaded her memory into Matthias’s mind, showing him what had happened. Matthias howled.

  The sound was in stereo. She could hear it in her mind and outside of it, and knew they were still near the compound.

  Stephan grabbed her, threw her over his shoulder, and carried her off, hurrying. The branches and low-lying limbs of the trees scratched and slapped at her, but she made no noise, did not move. After a minute or two, or perhaps longer, Stephan dumped her off his shoulder without warning. She hit a floor of some sort and groaned in pain. She opened her eyes and saw Stephan’s crazed, gleeful look as he slammed the door to a cargo van, leaving her in darkness.

  Chapter 10

  “I’m in a van of some sort. I’m not sure where we’re going.”

  Lilian’s voice was shaky and she trembled. Even with the gag, her teeth rattled in her head. She dragged ragged lungfuls of air into her flared nostrils.

  “We’re coming after you. Just hold on.” Matthias tried to sound brave, in charge, but she sensed his worry and the rage he held inside of him.

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” she warned.

  “Exactly how did you mean that?”

  Lilian smiled behind the gag, though it was weak. “Well, you know. You’re a man so you can’t be accused of doing anything smart.”

  He was offended at first, which was followed by amusement when he realized her intention.

  “I’m not the one who goes off half-cocked and tries to kick ass like a little Super-Woman.”

  “Hah.”

  Lilian closed her eyes and allowed the swaying of the vehicle to relax her muscles. Every fiber in her told her she’d need her strength against Stephan at some point.

  Inside her mind, she heard the soft twinkling sounds of music, very faint and soothing. It helped to relax her further, yet not put her to sleep.

  Before long, the van slowed and stopped. The door slid open, and she cringed back from the sudden glare of sunlight pouring in and blinding her. She was grabbed and dragged out of the van. When she hit the pavement, she grunted.

  “Take her and lock her up. The Master will want to speak with her.”

  Two men, who wore the distinctive Custodes Secreti uniforms, carried out Stephan’s order. She was lifted, bundled through a metal door, and down a darkened hall.

  The combined scents pervading the building were very familiar and very terrifying for her. She could feel her heart beating faster and faster and her breathing came in ragged draws through her nostrils. The scent of medicine, fear, and pain combined and drifted through the building.

  “Easy, remain calm. Do not let terror fill your mind.”

  Her father’s voice filled her mind, and soothed her fears. She tried to take deeper, slower breaths, to ease the panic.

  “Lilian. Stay with me. We’re coming.”

  She was set down on a gurney, and untied, only to be strapped to it.

  Screams filled her mind, screams of pain and of horror. Her eyes snapped open to look around, frantic, only to be met with visions of monsters. They rode on the shoulders of the guards, and they floated through the air, monsters of all shapes and sizes, with dripping fangs and burning eyes.

  The guards were oblivious to them as they continued with their orders. But Stephan saw them. He swatted at the air, and muttered about the “damn creatures”.

  M
adness! She struggled in the bindings, but could not free herself. Stephan watched and cackled, his eyes wide on her.

  “The Master said I could have you when he’s done with you!” He came toward her, still holding the bloody knife he had used to kill Anoria. Stephan waved it at her, punctuating his words and causing flecks of the crimson liquid to splatter.

  “You’re mine, you know. You shouldn’t have run away! You’ll have to be punished, of course.”

  He brought the knife in and started to saw through her clothes.

  “The Master is going to be pleased,” he sneered. “I hope he lets me help.”

  Lilian closed her eyes and held very still, afraid Stephan would cut her as he sliced the clothes from her, baring her body.

  “Oh, pretty kitten,” he smirked. “The Master is going to love you.” He pulled the gag from her mouth and touched where he’d struck her face earlier, causing her to flinch in pain.

  She heard Matthias’s roar in her mind. Red rage filled her. Her eyes snapped open and she glared at Stephan. He shrieked and immediately slashed at her, but the guards dragged him out before he could wound her. Her own shrieks of were loud and piercing in the small room.

  The nightmare creatures swam about, forward and away, taunting her by landing on her, gnashing their teeth, but they did not hurt her.

  Yet.

  Still, the sounds filling her mind drove her toward desperation, and she fought the bindings until her wrists became bruised and bloody.

  It went on and on until even Matthias’s voice in her mind became nothing more than just noise. Amras and Talis tried to call her from the edge of madness, to no avail. She fought them, fought herself, and fought the insanity threatening to take control.

  * * * *

  Matthias’s rage was all consuming. He had to get to his mate. He had to help her. He could feel her mind fracturing in her terror and confusion, fed by his seething anger. Their connection was too strong for him to block his emotions from her and it sped along the mental path to her.

  “It just might help her,” he heard Talis in his mind.

  Matthias snarled back in reply, in no mood for false hope.

  The first wave of the rescue group hit the Custodes Secreti compound and the guards hard and fast. It was an awesome sight to see, as wolves rushed the guards, and before colliding with them, shifted to their war forms. Anyone who did not submit was eliminated. Gunfire rang out and an alarm tripped inside the compound. Their sensitive ears could hear it.

  Damage control is going to be a bitch, he thought.

  Talis laughed in Matthias’s mind. “I have it taken care of.”

  Matthias wasn’t sure how, nor did he want to know. He launched himself at one of the guards, who fired at him. The bullets connected with his body and caused Matthias to jerk and stumble, but he caught himself and continued on, colliding with the guard. Teeth snapped on the man’s collarbone and broke it as claws shredded flesh from bone. The man screamed and fell still as he died.

  Matthias let the body fall to the ground and looked around. His ears swiveled, taking in the sounds of battle and the constant noise of his people as they kept in contact with one another. He could also hear the roaring of the hounds from inside the compound and knew another round of fighting was close.

  The doors to the compound opened and a surge of hounds rushed out, about twenty in total. They, too, were in their war forms, and with a howl, Matthias rallied his people to meet the onslaught.

  It hurt Matthias to have to kill his own kind. Their numbers were not great, but he knew he had a duty to destroy the evil. He didn’t know if Lilian had pulled a miracle out of her hat when she saved Khayyam, or if she could do it again, but he wished saving them was an option.

  Claws raked his midsection, and he roared in rage. Retaliating in kind, he swiped his claws at the face of a red-eyed Hound in war form. Teeth met with flesh and the two combatants fought it out like titans.

  All around them, the chaos intermingled with the turmoil of his emotions and his mind. He could feel Lilian’s growing madness and it pushed his control even further toward the breaking point. His own upheaval was feeding hers and amplifying it until he wasn’t sure her human mind could withstand it.

  His enemies fell, one by one, as he made his way to the compound entrance. When his people had made their way there, they entered en masse.

  * * * *

  Lilian could hear the screaming in her ears and in her mind, her own, and others. The coppery stench of blood was strong in the air, emanating from her skin and her clothes, left by Stephan, and from outside the room.

  She could see within her mind the scenes of death and destruction, followed by the nightmarish monsters as they fought amongst one another and attacked the fallen bodies, consuming what looked to be the last vestiges of energy, or souls of the fallen.

  The rage and terror reached a critical level and as the pain of it crested, she let out a scream, long and shrill. Objects in the room began to fly, spinning around her as though in a tornado with her as the eye of the storm. Glass shattered and her bindings fell apart, releasing her.

  Even as her scream died away, everything continued to move in what seemed to be controlled chaos. She scrambled up on the gurney to crouch there, her head lowered, eyes closed. Her hair tickled as it hung about her face.

  “Lilian?” The query came in her mind, but she ignored it. It wasn’t important, the voice unrecognized.

  The door opened and Ulwe stepped in, followed by Stephan. Even with her eyes closed, she knew who had entered from the energy they radiated around them and she didn’t need to open her eyes to know where to aim her attack. She sent a blast of telekinetic energy, hitting the two of them and sending them backward into a wall.

  Ulwe laughed. His harsh, coarse tone grated on her and she snarled.

  “The Madness has taken control!”

  Lilian lifted her head and opened her eyes. His dark eyes glittered with uncontrolled glee. The objects around her began to spin faster.

  Stephan eyed the room in wariness, his movements jerky.

  Ulwe pushed forward and when she sent another blast, he waved a hand to block it. She snarled with rage and shifted her weight on the gurney.

  “That’s it,” Ulwe growled. “Let the Madness control you.”

  “Lilian! Fight it! Control it!”

  The voices she heard in her mind warred with the ones she heard outside of it. She could see the nightmares hovering and flying around Ulwe, as they fed on Stephan’s energy.

  “We’re losing her.”

  “No, she’s stronger than you realize.”

  Lilian screamed in rage and curled her hands into claws.

  Ulwe launched a mental attack and she met it without hesitation. He dug in and shredded at her barriers, but she was stronger than even he realized in her current state. She ejected him, slashing at his barriers as she did so.

  He snarled with anger and tried again, this time hitting her harder. The two battled mentally. Each time, she managed to eject him, striking damage at his mind even as he damaged hers with each attempt.

  When Stephan moved to approach, she lifted a hand and swept her arm across the air. The brand on her right palm glowed as Stephan went flying through the room to hit a far wall. He hung there, unable to struggle, and fighting just to breathe.

  She caught a moment of weakness, an opening, in Ulwe, when he realized how great her power had become and she struck hard and fast. She had become a feral beast, a cornered predator now, pushed to the limits, and she fought back.

  Ulwe found himself in his own mind, in a courtyard made of stone. She stood across from him, wearing white armor, a sword, glowing silver, in her hand. She gave him very little time to fashion a weapon before she attacked him.

  At first, she fought him with just the sword. In her mind, she was adept with the bladed weapon, slashing and slicing at Ulwe, driving him back. Still, she hadn’t been trained for this type of battle, fighting on an astral le
vel. To her, the battle was physical, not mental, and so she gave herself the same limitations she expected to have as though in the physical world.

  No! I can do this!

  It had been Ulwe, infiltrating and insinuating his darkness into her mind, undermining her thoughts to try and weaken her, make her doubt herself.

  Lilian snarled as she struck at him, using both sword and telekinetic abilities. He braced himself, fought against the onslaught of her attack, pushing her back.

  She kept his mind busy, and with his concentration on her, in their mental battle, he was unaware of what was going on outside of his body. With her mental fracturing, in the Madness, she could use both mental and physical abilities at the same time. She released Stephan from his pin against the wall, and she crept across the gurney toward Ulwe’s form.

  The nightmare creatures shrieked with rage and dived at her, but she ignored them as she moved closer to her enemy. Stephan cursed and tried to attack her, but when flying objects bombarded him, he tucked tail and ran from the room. She heard his shrieking down the hall, adding to the cacophony of screams which had become her world.

  Ulwe’s sword clashed against her mental shield. Her previous battle with her father had taught her to create shields and she used the newly developed ability now. She could see Ulwe’s surprise in his eyes, but he only sneered at her and renewed his attacks.

  Even in the astral plane, their fighting caused wounds and she tired from the mental exertion. Ulwe was, as well, from what she could see. His brow was beaded with sweat, and he was bleeding from various cuts made by her sword. She used everything she knew in order to keep Ulwe from realizing what she was doing outside their minds.

  His evil radiated from him like an aura of sickness and it drove her mind closer and closer to the edge of insanity, to Madness. She used this to her advantage. As her mind fractured even further, it gave her the strength to separate her mind, to shield her physical body as it moved ever closer to his. To end this battle she would kill him. There could be no other choice in the matter.

  “I will use your shell as my slave,” he said with a grin. “You will obey my every desire, my every command. I will feed from your soul and fuck every orifice.