A Ritual of Fire

by J. L. Hendricks

  She sounded like the small green guy from one of my favorite movies as she continued, “The power of good and the power of evil. It’s a choice. Although, should a non-magical creature give themselves over to the dark, they become consumed by evil and gain power in exchange. Usually, this power comes from demons.”

  Mara was blowing my world view. Nothing was as I thought if this witch could be believed. “Are you going to try telling me again God is real? The Devil and his minions are behind this threat? Demons are one thing, I can sort of get behind that, but the Big D? That seems a touch… crazy.”

  “Yes, I am. I thought you understood that the other day when we discussed the apocalypse?” She gave me a confused look.

  At the time, it had been easier to let Mara think I was onboard with her thought process than to disagree. Now though, now I was considering it, and that was ten kinds of crazy.

  “Seriously? I thought the whole Heaven and Hell thing was something our parents told us as kids to make sure we turned out good.”

  When I first learned of this spell, I thought maybe it was something to bring over another type of power from an alternate dimension. I didn’t really believe demons would be raised from Hell. An alternate dimension made more sense.

  “You don’t think it could be another dimension? These werewolves could be trying to collide our universe with another. What we think of as demons could just be another form of paranormal creature in a multiverse.” This was something I actually thought about over the years. I had believed in the multi-verse theory ever since I’d joined the FBI.

  “Dear, you watch too much TV. The only other dimensions are Heaven and Hell. The multiverse is just a theory scientists made up. They can’t prove it or disprove it.” Mara shook her head.

  “I guess but I think it makes more sense.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

  Mara kept that soft, thoughtful smile. “All right, let’s just assume there really is a Heaven and a Hell for the moment, whether alone or part of a multiverse. From everything you have heard, would allowing the demons free reign here be good?”

  “No, it would end the world.” I sighed. “We’re definitely in agreement on that.”

  “And if your multiverse theory was correct? Would allowing two universes to collide be a good thing for us?” Mara made it sound so simple.

  “I see your point. It would also end our world as we know it. Either way, the world will end.” No matter what my religious beliefs were, I couldn’t allow this spell to be cast.

  “Exactly, so let’s get back on topic, please.” Mara did have a point there.

  “Right, magic.” I rubbed my face. “So, back to what you were saying, if I understand you properly, elemental magic is inherently good. If that’s the case, any other magic should be evil. It would be the balancing effort of the universe, right?”

  “With a few small exceptions, you are correct.” Mara nodded.

  “What do we do about it? Are there other magic wielders we can call? Those who use air or water? Can they help?” I didn’t know of any, but Mara might.

  “If we had phones. It might be possible or you could go back to your base and ask your boss if he has a way to contact them. I would imagine the FBI knows about their existence and how to reach them.” She chuckled. “There might even be an ambassador.”

  Something about the way she spoke made me think Mara knew more about my agency than I did. Ambassadors? Was it possible? If it was, had my parents been in contact with FBI ambassadors?

  No. Those were questions for another day. What mattered now was stopping this ritual. My time with Mara had answered a lot of the questions I’d had over the years, but it’d also opened up so many more.

  Was there more to my powers than I knew? If so, how would I learn to use them if there were no more dragons to teach me? Most importantly, how could I use my magic to stop the coming apocalypse?

  19

  Alyson

  “Mara, I’m going to try calling base again. Someone at command needs to know what’s going on.” If we didn’t stop the Shadow Walkers soon, there would be nothing left to save.

  That said, part of the reason I wanted to make the call was so I could have a few minutes to process. So, under the guise of making the call, I went to the garage for some peace and quiet.

  This was an awful lot to take in. Demons were real. Hell was real. How could my parents not tell me everything? I was only fifteen at the time, sure, but they also knew someone was coming for us. They should have warned me somehow, left me a notebook full of our secrets, or something.

  Instead, I was all alone, forced to work with witches who may or may not be responsible for destroying my species. Then again, maybe it wasn’t witches who were responsible after all. Maybe it was these shadow wolves who tried to kill my people off? Flames and cauldrons, how could there even be shadow wolves? How was that even a thing? Worse, how did I not know about them? How much more didn’t I know?

  I wasn’t sure, but whining about my lack of knowledge wouldn’t help things. No, doing something would, if only to keep my mind off the hellish shadow wolves. It was time to reach out to headquarters.

  I dialed the number I knew by heart and waited as it rang and rang. Taking a deep breath, I realized that if the phones were down, I should never have received a signal to begin with.

  Stupid Alyson! Why didn’t you think of this sooner?

  Running back into the kitchen, I caught Mara right before she left the room. “Mara, why is the phone ringing but nothing is going through? If the phones are still down, shouldn’t I have gotten nothing at all?”

  “If all phones services were down, yes, but as I understood it, they were slowly getting services back on. So, it’s not surprising it would ring but not actually go through.” She yawned. “It’s been a long day. I think I need some beauty rest.” She gave me a weary smile. “Maybe you should get some rest too.”

  “Yeah, okay. I will in a minute.” I was tired and my brain may not have been firing on all cylinders, but something was causing the tingles, which usually meant something wasn’t right in the state of Denmark.

  It had been several days since our terrorists/werewolves knocked down our telephone services, including some key cell towers, and while I knew the FBI would be all over it, someone should have returned my emails by now. That someone hadn’t was worrying to say the least.

  Opening my phone again, I checked for the bars to signal some cell service, and when I once again saw nothing, I wished I had my satellite phone once again. Still, it was strange. I shouldn’t have been able to call at all if there were no bars.

  Looking around the room, I found a landline. It was one thing to hear ringing when dialing on a cell, but a dial tone on a land line was something totally different. Cell phones didn’t have a dial tone. Landlines did. I lifted the handset expecting to hear nothing. Instead, I heard the dial tone all landlines had.

  “Why does the landline have a dial tone? Will it work?” I mused aloud as I proceeded to dial the FBI again. It rang and rang without any type of pick up. No message, no recorder, no person picked up. It made me wonder what would happen if I used the satellite phone. Would the same thing happen? Hell, was that why my email wasn’t working? Maybe it wasn’t getting through either.

  I hung up the phone and picked it back up. Trying something new, I dialed my own cell phone. On the landline, I could hear it ringing but there was no ringing from my cellphone. The lines really were still down. It was just strange I was getting dial tones but nothing was going through. Maybe Mara was right, they were just in the middle of fixing everything and those tones were only the first step.

  Sleep was what I needed so I went to my room to lay down.

  I woke up after the sun had set because I shared a biological clock with a vampire of all things. The house was fairly quiet, but I could hear some indistinct talking out beyond my room.

  My stomach rumbled, but I definitely needed a shower and some new clothes, otherwise I w
as going to lose my mind. I still hadn’t changed clothes nor showered for days even though I’d been in battles and had been traipsing around bloody crime scenes and whatnot. Sure, a little three day old dried blood never hurt anyone, but I didn’t want to wear it anymore.

  It made me wish I’d gone home instead of to this safe house, but doing so might leave the witches vulnerable to attack, and with everything that had happened, that didn’t seem like a good idea in the slightest. Besides, if someone’s home was going to get attacked, it might as well be theirs.

  Making my way out, I bumped into Vlad as he exited the bathroom. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, revealing a well-sculpted muscular chest that I tried very hard not to look at because , well, it did certain things to my body that had me think about jumping him again.

  “Sorry, I’m just finishing up.” He gave me a smile that made me flush for reasons I couldn’t quite admit. “Stella had some new clothes brought in for us.” He turned, causing the towel to slip down a couple precarious inches. Lower, part of me cried.

  He turned back to me. “They are on the counter in there. I grabbed the duffel with your stuff by accident.” He shot me another smile. “Now if you’ll excuse me.” He marched his mostly naked ass past me and into the living room.

  “Oh, Vlad!” I heard one of the girls call as I shook my head. I wasn’t sure why this attraction was happening now, just that I had to squash it down for good.

  Taking a deep breath, I moved into the bathroom and found a duffel bag on the counter just like he’d said. Inside was a toothbrush, deodorant, a hairbrush, as well as an off the rack navy suit similar to the one I’d been wearing.

  Part of me was annoyed, but most of me? Most of me was happy as a puppy in a field of wildflowers. Shutting the door, I stripped down to my birthday suit and looked at myself. I didn’t’ have any scrapes or bruises from the fight thanks to my accelerated healing, but I looked tired on a bodily level.

  “Guess it can’t be helped,” I muttered, moving to the shower and turning on the hot water. As soon as it reached maximum temperature, I stepped in and tried to enjoy the spray. Only, my stomach kept rumbling, so instead of relaxing I just got sort of hangry. I grabbed the sealed hotel-sized soaps and shampoo off the rack in the shower and set to work.

  Fifteen minutes later, I felt almost human, or as human as I could get. The clothing fit surprisingly well, and part of me was surprised. How had the witches known? I made a mental note to ask them as I walked into the kitchen.

  Vlad looked up and smiled. “Good morning. Care for some coffee?”

  I took the mug and was surprised to find it was already full of coffee, made just the way I liked it. My eyebrow arched, questioning the gesture.

  “I heard you leaving the bathroom and knew you would come here first. We have a busy day tonight.” He smiled in the way he always did when he made a joke.

  I smiled and took a sip. “Thanks, I appreciate it. I got your note last night after I had a strange talk with Mara.” I chuckled. “Though, to be fair, most of my conversations with her are weird.”

  It was Vlad’s turn to arch an eyebrow. “And?”

  “For now, I’ll trust this coven to have my back. Don’t worry, I don’t plan on going on a witch hunt or anything like that any time soon.” I shrugged. “Seriously though, Vlad. I shifted to save them. Why would I then turn around and murder them.” I shook my head. “Give me some credit.”

  “I did. That’s why I went to bed.” He leaned back in his chair. “I hope you can learn to trust them. Once they bring someone in to their coven, it’s a life-long relationship.”

  “I think we need to head back to HQ.” I took a sip of heaven and sighed. “It’s been too long and they need to know what’s going on.”

  “I agree.” Vlad picked up an empty plate and loaded it up with scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast before handing it to me. “You head to base and I’ll check some leads.”

  “Thanks and are you sure?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as I took the plate. “You don’t want to come with.”

  “Not really.” He scowled. “There’s a really good chance we’ll have to do paperwork if we go. I’m hoping you have to do it.”

  “Oh, this was a bribe, was it?” I shook my plate at him.

  “I suppose that’s one way to look at it.” He smirked. “My contacts don’t take kindly to Feds.”

  “Um … pot calling kettle black?” I sat down next to him and looked for a fork. Spying one, I snatched it up.

  “I used to run with them, back before my time at the FBI,” he explained as I took a bite of scrambled eggs. “They weren’t too happy about my choice so I haven’t seen them in a while. I think if I go without you they’ll be fine though.” He smiled. “I am me, after all.”

  I swallowed. “What about Mara? I thought you wanted to stay by her side until this was over?”

  “I’ll take her with me. She knew them as well back then. They’ll be fine with her.” He didn’t look at me. In fact, he looked everywhere but at me. Was he embarrassed? Why?

  “Why would they know anything about what’s going on?” I asked. I hated when he kept things from me, especially since we were partners.

  “Back when I knew them, we hung out with some shady characters. They tended to raise hell with a few really nasty werewolves. I’m betting they have heard some rumors about these wolves, at the very least.” He looked like he might elaborate, but then just stopped and stared at me as I ate.

  “If you see them commit a crime tonight, are you going to haul them in?” I asked, spearing a piece of sausage. I held it up between us. Then I took a bite.

  “Nah, I don’t care about their petty crimes and I’m sure the FBI won’t care right now either.” He watched me chew for a moment. “We have more important things to worry about than what they’re into.”

  “Really? What types of crimes are they into? What was a typical Friday night like with Vlad and the gang?” I laughed, as I imagined him providing protection for rap stars at dance clubs.

  The paranormal tended to drift more towards mafia types of crimes. They had a lot more power than most humans so it was easy to be the big bully, unless of course they changed their minds and decided to uphold the law, like Vlad had done a few years back.

  He smiled. “A story for another time. Head off to command and get them to send us an entire SWAT team or a platoon of soldiers, if you can swing it. We’re going to need them. Oh, and see if they have any radios we can use for communications.”

  “Are you really going to take Mara with you?” I asked as he got to his feet. “Will she be safe with them?”

  “She’s known them for a long time. They have respect for her and wouldn’t dare mess with a great witch. She’ll probably be safer with them than with us here.” All the same, Vlad seemed to be worried about something. His forehead was creased with worry lines, and he scratched his chin.

  “Hey, is something bothering you?”

  “Nah.” He shook his head. “It’s nothing. Be safe.”

  Part of me wanted to press but I knew better. When Vlad clammed up, nothing could pry his mouth open. “Yeah, you too.”

  20

  Alyson

  After I put my plate in the sink, I headed out to the garage to see if they had any cars I could borrow that weren’t riddled with bullet holes. I found Brenda already in the garage and figured she was as good as anyone to ask.

  “Hey, Brenda. Do you have an extra car I can borrow for the night? I need to head up to my base and report in.”

  “Sure, just try not to get into another firefight.” Brenda chuckled and threw me a set of keys with a Hyundai logo on them. “It’s hell to fix them, even with magic.”

  I clicked the key fob and saw a light for a small, sporty car out of the corner of my eye. “A Veloster? It looks like a tin can.” I walked around the car and wondered how I was going to fit in it. I’m not too large but this thing sure seemed tiny, especially compared to my SUV.


  Brenda laughed as she walked over. “Don’t worry. You’ll fit. It’s rather comfy. The seat forms around a body quite nicely, and the car has some get up and go. Just try not to get shot while driving it.”

  “Can’t I take out a SUV or a full-size sedan?” I hated tiny cars. They felt and looked like those toy cars my friends played with when I was a little girl.

  “Sorry, since it’s just you, it’s the small car. We need to keep the larger vehicles here in case we need to make a quick exit.” She gave me a conciliatory smile. “You know, all those extra seats.”

  She was right. If they were discovered, it would take every seat they had to get everyone to safety.

  “Fine, I’ll do my best to keep it safe. No promises on the gun fight.” I grinned at her before having to practically sit on the ground when I got inside the thing.

  She was right, it did have some get up and go.

  Not many cars were on the road that night. I couldn’t blame them. With all the chaos in the city, it felt like the apocalypse was already here. I wondered how it would feel if they finished the spell and all those demons showed up. This week would probably look like a walk in the park in comparison.

  With the light traffic, it didn’t take me too long to get to our local base of operations. Most FBI agents worked out of city offices but my division had a base set outside of town because we were special operations. Most of the cases we took were major crimes with a paranormal connection.

  Sometimes we would fly out to investigate crimes in other regions of the country. We tried to keep the truth a secret from the world so if it was a paranormal crime, we were called in. It wouldn’t do well to let people know everything they were afraid of was real. We made sure the paranormal secret stayed hidden while ensuring those same paranormals didn’t cross the line. When they did, one way or another, we ended whatever the bad guys were doing.