by M. J. Caan
“No,” I said calmly, reaching out with my magic to snap the force that was strangling my aunt.
The witch hissed at me, spinning around to send her dark knife flying in my direction. But my power was a song within me. It flowed through every fiber of my being in a way I had never felt before. Time slowed, and the knife seemed to be flying at me in super slow motion. I looked over at the witch only to see her frozen in space, her knife hand still extended in my direction. I glanced at Aunt Lena and Cody, both of whom were mired in place as well; the only signs of motion were the slight tracking movement in their eyes as they tried to take in the scene around them.
I returned my attention to the knife coming at me. There were a hundred things I could have done to avoid it. Instead I held up one hand and let the knife strike my palm. It burst into a sparkle of black light that drifted harmlessly to the floor. I willed my body to float calmly over to the witch. She was still facing towards where I had been standing. I reached out and grasped her hand in one shoulder and placed my other hand on the veil that shrouded her face.
“Okay, let’s see just who you are,” I said as I started to remove the covering.
“No!” she screamed, her own power bursting through and breaking mine.
But it was too late. I had a grip on her veil and the eruption of power that flowed out of her cast me back, but the witch’s covering came with me. I landed in a crouch, veil in hand and stared at the back of the witch’s head.
I could see the shocked look on Aunt Lena’s face as she stared at the witch. I readied an orb of power in my hand as she turned to face me. The orb flickered and was extinguished as I felt my heart shatter.
“Mom?” I whispered.
17
My magic flickered away to nothing as I dropped to the floor. My knees buckled and I crumpled like a puppet with cut strings.
Aunt Lena’s face went hard as she looked at my mother. “How…how is this happening?”
My mother stepped back, smiling as she regarded us. “‘How’ isn’t important, sister. What is important is that you know that tomorrow is the Leveling. And it will mark the end of your days.”
Then she raised her arms from her sides and slammed her hands together. There was a blinding flash of light accompanied by an enormous clap of thunder that rocked the house. When my vision cleared, she was gone.
I was in shock and couldn’t find my words. My limbs felt like lead as I sat there, numb to my surroundings.
“Allie, was that…?” Cody asked.
All I could do was nod, throwing my aunt a questioning look. She nodded in return. Aunt Vivian was starting to stir and reached a hand up for her sister to help her to her feet. There were tears in her eyes. Clearly, she had seen the same thing we all had.
“I don’t understand…” I started to say before I was cut off by Aunt Lena. She had her staff in hand and abruptly swung it in Elion’s direction. The tip of the staff glowed white-hot with mystic fire and Aunt Lena held it inches from the vampire’s face. Elion raised both hands to show that he meant no harm, turning his face from the fire.
“Okay, enough games, vampire,” Aunt Lena said coldly. “You tell me what you’re hiding, or I swear I will give you a burn that will make what the hellhound did to you look like a baseline tan. What are you hiding from us?”
“Aunt Lena, what are you doing?” I asked, stepping forward.
“Stay out of this, Allie,” she replied, never once taking her hard gaze off Elion. “I may not be able to kill him, but I’m betting I can hurt him really, really badly.” She inched the staff slightly closer to his face. “What were you hiding from me when I was in your head? Why were they so shocked that you were able to survive the hellhound? From what I saw, even you should not have been able to survive that. Who was that creature actually summoned for?”
Elion turned his face until he was looking right at my aunt, his nose nearly in the glow of her magical fire. I could see the skin on his face deepen in color in response to the heat.
“Me,” he said. “The hellhound was summoned for me.”
“Why would they send a hellhound after you?” Aunt Lena asked. “I swear, if you have been playing us all this time…”
“I have not been playing you. I swear that is the truth. Everything I have said has been the truth.”
“Why would Mallis go to that kind of trouble to kill you?” she asked. “You said that the hellhound was summoned to augment his army and to destroy us and the shifters. If that isn’t the truth, then you have been lying to us.”
“No, the monster was summoned to kill me. But Mallis also planned to use it against her as well.” He jerked his head in my direction.
I stepped forward, giving him a long look. “The night we met, you said you had been attacked by Mallis’s wolves. Was that true?”
“It was. Mallis had just summoned his hound. He turned it on me, but the hound was too weak and disoriented from its cross-dimensional travel to summon its full strength against me. The wolves attacked as well, adding their power to that of the hound. I escaped and traveled here, knowing that the wolves could not cross your wards. At least I hoped they couldn’t. Everything else has been the absolute truth.”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” I said softly. He nodded in agreement. “What did you do that made him want to kill you? It had to be more than just disagreeing with his plans.”
He was silent and I could see his temples pulsing, almost as if he was fighting with himself as to how to answer that question. I motioned for Aunt Lena to extinguish her flame and lower her staff.
“Elion, I just saw my dead mother try to kill us. If there is anything you aren’t telling us, now is the time. Because something tells me things are about to get dark…in the literal sense of the word. So if you’re holding back, then you aren’t with us. And if you aren’t with us…” I let that dangle in the air, my meaning crystal clear.
“I knew what Mallis had been planning for some time. I thought it was just another one of his mad schemes. I didn’t really think it could be done…at least not by him. This was when he only had the services of the Warlock, and no matter how many witches the Warlock drained, I knew that he would not have the power to cast a spell of the magnitude that would be required for the Leveling.
“Mallis knew it as well after a while. That was why he came up with the plan to bring back the witch that held the Warlock imprisoned in the caves. He knew a witch that powerful…one that was tied directly to the power of the ley lines could certainly accomplish his needs. I thought that was folly as well. The witch had been destroyed…or so the Warlock had told Mallis.
“But she wasn’t. She was simply lost…in a kind of limbo. Mallis was able to craft a spell, powered by the Warlock’s stolen magic, that could call the witch back to this realm. It was the blackest of magics that did that; and the darkness of the act also bound the witch to Mallis, much like his wolves.” He turned to face me again. “I swear, I had no idea she was your mother. When I found out what he had done, what he planned to do, I told him I would not allow it. I tried to kill the witch.”
My heart was trip-hammering at his words. “Why wouldn’t you tell us this in the beginning?”
“What? Why wouldn’t I tell a family of witches that I intended to kill one of their own kind? Even though I had no idea who she was, I didn’t know how you would react to that. You were already suspicious that I might be working for Mallis. Had I told you I was an attempted witch murderer…” Now it was his turn to leave something dangling.
“What else?” said Aunt Lena. “Why would Mallis summon a hellhound to kill you? Why didn’t he just do it himself?”
“Because he can’t,” said Elion. “Mallis is my brother. My younger brother. I was turned before him, and I was the one who made him.”
The silence was broken by a voice from the stairwell.
“What kind of fucked up family reunion is going on around here?” said Hope, entering the room for the first time. Sh
e looked at me, shaking her head. “Your mother, his brother…it’s like a messed up daytime soap…Days of Our Undead Lives, or something.”
“Hope, are you okay?” I asked. In all the commotion I had forgotten she was in the house.
“Yeah, I’m good. At the first sight of all that fighting I hid in the closet upstairs until it got quiet. Then I crept down here to hear all the family drama going on.” She walked over and placed a hand on my arm. “Are you alright? Was that really her?”
I rubbed Hope’s hand, grateful for the support. “It was.”
“Wow. So what does this mean?”
“It doesn’t mean anything,” I said, setting my resolve. “We still have a fight to win.”
No one said anything. Aunt Vivian walked over to me. “Allie. This changes things…”
“How?” I asked in exasperation. “If Mallis succeeds in what he plans to do tomorrow, then we all die. Not just us…humanity dies.” I plopped down on the couch, eyes closed, pinching at the bridge of my nose. “That…that thing was not my mother. What I met in the cave, that was my mother. This was some kind of bastardization.”
I could feel my aunts looking at one another silently.
“You know I’m right,” I said without looking up. “Tell me that was my mother…your sister.”
Their silence gave me the only answer I needed.
“Whatever that was that just attacked us, there was no trace of her in it. There was only darkness…and hatred. It was a force of pure evil wearing my mother’s face; nothing more.”
“It will still make it hard to do what needs to be done…” said Aunt Vivian.
“No,” I replied. “That bastard has gone too far this time. It will make killing him all the easier.” I looked up at Elion. “Are you with us? Because brother or not, I am going to melt that monster.”
“I am with you,” he said. “What my brother is planning to do will warp the natural order of things indefinitely. It will unleash a hell that he has not yet foreseen, so yes; I am with you.”
“What the hell happened here?” Nate was entering the room. He and Rob had a couple of bags of sandwiches that they slowly sat down on the table as they surveyed the damage to the basement.
“Like I said,” answered Hope, “fucked up family reunions.”
“Long story but I’ll fill you in later,” I said. “But right now we need to mobilize.”
“What are you thinking?” asked Cody.
“Do you know where they are?” I asked Elion.
“I think so. That mansion looked familiar. My brother’s MO is to purchase several of them in an area that he moves into and rotate between them. Despite everything, he is still very paranoid. But that one is one of his favorites; it is just outside the city limits, on the way to the cave where…” He didn’t have to finish that sentence.
“Is that where they will perform the ritual for the Leveling?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Magic is not really my forte. But I do know that in order to perform a spell of that size they need to be at a nexus of incredible mystical energy to direct it.”
“Makes sense,” I said. “The ley lines running through this town come together at the caves near Singing Falls. It’s probably the most powerful convergence of mystical energy in the Western Hemisphere.”
“What are you thinking?” Cody said.
“I’m thinking, why wait until tomorrow to end this? I’m thinking we gather all of our forces and go take that monster out. Or…” I trailed off as an idea started forming in the back of my mind. A crazy, impossible idea…
“What? What craziness has gotten into you?” asked Aunt Vivian.
“Something that just might save us all…or kill us instantly,” I replied. “First, we need to get the word out to the shifters and the Totems. We will also need to reach out to Esmee and Detective Walker. Get everyone together. Ready or not, they are moving on that mansion tonight.”
“And you?” Cody said. “You said ‘they’ are moving on the mansion. What will you be doing?”
I gathered them around and started telling them the bare bones of my planes. It was crazy alright, but maybe, just maybe, it was crazy enough to work.
18
The warmth of my bed tried its damnedest to keep me enclosed in comfort and safety. I lay with my head resting on Cody’s strong chest, one hand absently playing with the light cover of hair that ran down his abdomen.
“You know how I feel about this plan, Allie,” he said, moving one arm down to caress me and draw me in closer.
Yes. He had made his feeling perfectly clear earlier. “I know, Cody. But it’s the only way. Besides, if it works, it will save a lot of bloodshed.”
He started to speak but held his tongue instead. I knew he was only trying to protect me, like always, but now wasn’t the time. What we were facing, what I had asked my friends to do, was near impossible. Elion had told us that if Mallis was able to do what he intended, it would be open season on mankind for creatures from the dark realm. They would would make the hellhound look like Snoopy.
The imbalance of magic would spread like a virus around the globe, opening portal after portal to allow all kind of demons and hungry monsters to pour into our plane of existence. There was a reason that things go bump in the night; they fear the light of day. Without that fear to hold them back…we as a species were about to get bumped to the bottom of the evolutionary ladder.
“You sure you’re up for this? If we play this out the way you plan, she will probably show up.”
“I’m counting on it,” I said. My mother, or whatever the hell Mallis had summoned up from the abyss, was a wild card only in that the power she wielded was clearly head and shoulders above what myself and my aunts possessed. “Cody, I need you to promise me that you’ll stay with the Totem Shifters tonight.”
His body stiffened against me in response. “I’m not leaving your side, Allie. So you can forget that.”
I turned over on my stomach, placing my chin on his chest so that we could be eye-to-eye. “They are going to need your experience. They will naturally look to you as a leader. And I can’t have you with me tonight because I can’t risk any distractions. If I’m worried about you, I can’t focus on what needs to be done.”
“You’ll be unprotected. I won’t gamble that I could lose you.”
“No. I won’t be. I will have Nate and Elion with me.”Silence in bed is never a good thing. I nudged him slightly. “You know it makes sense.”
He sighed and I could hear him swallow hard. “Nate is a saber-tooth. He is a hell of a lot stronger than me, so yeah, I understand it from a tactical perspective. But it still stings a little. You’re my girlfriend. I should be the one protecting you.”
“It’s not about protection. It’s about what gives us the best chance at winning. Having Elion there means that Mallis will probably send the hellhound there; and that means it won’t be at the mansion where the shifters will be focused. Together, Elion and Nate have the best chance at stopping that thing.”
“And where you go, so goes the witch.” I nodded in silent agreement. “But what about Mallis himself?”
“My bet is he will follow his witch. He needs to protect his strongest asset. Plus, if he has a blood vendetta against his brother, my bet is he won’t be able to resist seeing Elion killed in person.”
“There are a lot of moving pieces and bets to fall into place to make this work,” said Cody.
“Yes. But right now I really think this is the best chance we have.”
“And you’re confident you can do this?”
“I have no idea. My power has been growing. But this…we’ll see.”
I moved up and planted a kiss on his lips. My hand traveled across his hard abdomen and found its way lower, cupping hard warmth. “Well, that was fast.”
“Don’t you know wolves are known for their stamina and recuperative abilities?” he whispered into my face before nuzzling up against me and easily lifting my body until
I rested on top of him. I placed one hand on his chest, my fingers splayed through the light smattering of hair there, while with the other I reached down between us to guide him into place.
Our lovemaking was not tender. It was raw and animalistic in a desperate attempt to possess one another. It felt like our bodies were parched and this might be the last drink of water we would ever get.
We made our way from my bedroom to the large living area just as Elion was coming up from the stairs, followed by Hope. I gave her a questioning look but she refused to meet my eyes.
“Nice jacket,” she said, breezing by.
“Hey, it’s a motorcycle jacket and will help protect my arms against bite and claw. I hope.” Even though it was autumn, it was still North Carolina, so that meant sticky warm days and sticky, slightly less warm nights. This jacket would make me sweat my ass off, but if it saved me from some potential permanent scars, so be it.
Nate, Elion, and Rob all stood opposite Cody and myself, waiting for instructions.
“Okay, so everyone knows what the game plan is, right? Cody will lead the shifters to—” A knock at the door interrupted me, and I turned as Hope walked over to see who was there.
“Sorry we are late,” said Detective Walker as she entered the room. Behind her trailed Esmee. “It took some doing to accomplish what you asked.”
“But you were able to, right?” I asked.
She nodded. “Singing Falls is now closed in a twenty mile radius surrounding the park,” she said. “A methane leak is nothing to play around with.” She smiled and winked at me.
“Good. That will minimize the potential collateral damage to civilians.”
“You know I may not have a job to go back to after this,” added Detective Walker. “If brass finds out it was a hoax…”
“If Mallis turns out the lights tomorrow, you won't have to worry about not having a job,” I said dryly. “Did you manage to get the second part of my wishlist?”
