Wickedly Unraveled

by Deborah Blake

  Barbara chewed on her lip, thinking. “Well, if Maya is going to do something that permanently damages the water system in the area, that would make it Baba Yaga business. Maybe. Plus an Otherworld creature kidnapping a Human child is definitely against the rules.”

  “If she has kidnapped him,” Alexei reminded Barbara. “Maybe the boy’s father is a willing accomplice. We have never gotten involved in Human custody fights before.”

  Barbara gave him a fierce grin, the kind that caused lesser men to suddenly decide they needed to be elsewhere.

  “There’s a first time for everything,” she said. “Besides, I suspect that Maya is holding the boy hostage to keep control over his father, so it is less of a custody issue and more of a misuse of power. Not to mention that if I can prove that Maya is holding the child against his will, it would at least give the Queen a reason to punish her, which is something.”

  “So, we get to knock heads together and make trouble?” Alexei said. His glee at the thought of creating mayhem made his Russian accent even stronger than usual, so the “we” came out as “ve.”

  “Yes we do,” Barbara said with only marginally less delight. She’d been feeling pretty frustrated about the entire situation, and the chance to blow off some steam and actually take action sounded pretty damned good to her.

  She didn’t, however, want to bring a small child—no matter how gifted that child was—into what might turn out to be a nasty confrontation. She pushed up the sleeve of her black tee shirt to reveal the tattoo of a white dragon with green eyes coiled around her right bicep.

  Each Baba Yaga had her own way to summon the Riders when she needed them. Beka had two dragon earrings and a matching necklace she’d crafted herself. Barbara, however, had gone more traditional, and also had a tattoo of a red dragon with slanting golden eyes curled around her left bicep and a black Chinese style dragon with long whiskers drawn in intricate detail across her back and shoulders.

  Now she stroked the white dragon and pictured Mikhail, his long blonde hair like strands of spun silk, the handsome features that reflected the kind heart inside, and his constant friendship over the years. “Come to me, White Rider,” she said, murmuring the summoning chant that would bring him to her, and ignoring the tiny sting that came from the tattoo associated with him. “I need you.”

  “You want me to babysit?” Mikhail said an hour later. He hadn’t been far away, and had come as soon as he’d gotten the summons. “You and Alexei get to go off on an adventure, and I have to stay here and babysit?”

  Babs sat nearby, looking almost as indignant. “I do not need someone to sit with me,” she protested. “I am not a baby.”

  Barbara sighed. She wasn’t sure which one of them was being more difficult.

  “Of course you are not a baby,” she said to Babs. “No one thinks you are. Babysitter is just a term people use for someone who is watching a child. Which, despite your unusual abilities, you still are.”

  She turned to Mikhail. “And I am not about to take a child into a potentially volatile situation, so I need someone to stay with Babs.”

  Chudo-Yudo opened his mouth, sharp teeth on display, clearly ready to add his own protestations.

  “Someone besides a dragon disguised as a giant white pit bull,” Barbara added. “We all know that the two of you put together could probably take down a large army, plus a small group of telemarketers and a few insurance salesmen thrown in, but this is the Human world, and if someone happened to come by and find a supposed helpless ten year-old left alone with a dog, it could cause no end of ridiculous problems. None of which I have the energy to deal with right now. We got away with it before, but we’re more public here.”

  Plus there was always the worry that Brenna might show up out of nowhere and make good on her threat to harm Babs, but Barbara didn’t want to mention that in front of the girl, and possibly make her afraid. Barbara would have a quiet word with both Mikhail and Chudo-Yudo before she left about staying on guard against possible underhanded and/or evil attacks. In theory, the Airstream’s protections should be enough, but Barbara wasn’t going to take any chances.

  “So Mikhail is going to Babs-sit, and Chudo-Yudo can watch over them both, and Alexei and I will try and be back as soon as possible. Any more questions?” Barbara glared at everyone. They all wisely remained silent. Mikhail bowed his head in agreement, perhaps picking up on her as-yet unspoken concerns.

  “Excellent,” she said. Then she gave Mikhail one of her rare grins. “I know you’d rather be in on the adventure, but you may find that taking care of a precocious magical ten year-old is more of an adventure than you think.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  With their enchanted motorcycles (her royal blue classic BMW had spent most of its existence in Russian fairy tales as a flying mortar and pestle), Barbara and Alexei got to Ohio faster than any normal Human could have. Even so, it was still after eleven when they crept up on the house where Maya and Peter Freeman were staying, just in time to see Maya getting into her flashy sports car. Barbara was torn—she wanted to go check the house to see if little Petey was there—but they didn’t want to chance losing Maya, so they followed her instead.

  Magical motorcycles can be quite silent when their riders want them to be.

  Maya parked the car on a rutted back road that didn’t seem to lead anyplace important and set off down a narrow track. Barbara and Alexei waited a few minutes to give her a head start, since it didn’t seem likely that she would be going too far. Not in those heels.

  “Any idea where we are?” Barbara asked quietly.

  Alexei looked around, checking out landmarks and the position of the stars in the sky.

  “I’d say we’re north-northwest of the fracking site,” he said in a thoughtful tone. “I didn’t even know this road existed, and I scouted this area pretty thoroughly. But if my calculations are correct, then the main portion of the site should be about a half a mile away, over that small rise. I’m guessing that once we get about halfway down this track, we’ll be able to see the tops of some of the towers.”

  “I wonder why she isn’t here in broad daylight and parked right out front,” Barbara said sarcastically. “Gee, do you suppose she’s up to no good?”

  “Considering that the last couple of times I followed her at night, she left her car by the side of the road not too far from the site, I’m thinking we got here just in time,” Alexei said. “What now?”

  Barbara shrugged. “That depends on her, I suppose.” She really hoped the rusalka gave them a hard time.

  From the top of the rise, they could look down on various mysterious pieces of machinery. Maya was crouched by something Barbara was pretty sure was a drill of some sort, although it was a lot larger than any drill she had ever seen. After a short period of time, Maya straightened up, tugging her short skirt back into place and wiping her hands off on a rag. She tossed the rag on the ground and turned around.

  “Blyat!” she said, when she saw Barbara and Alexei standing right behind her. “Where the hell did you come from?”

  “Tut, such rude language,” Alexei said. “And you seem like such a nice woman.”

  Barbara pointed to the rag. “Littering and cursing. Really, what is the world coming to?”

  Maya snarled at them and started edging away. Alexei’s hand shot out so fast Barbara barely saw it move and settled around Maya’s forearm like a band of steel.

  “I don’t think so,” he said. “We just started chatting. You don’t want to leave yet.”

  Maya glanced nervously at the equipment they were next to and gave what was probably supposed to be a charming laugh, although there was an edge to it that rendered it less than convincing.

  “Oh, if you want to chat, why don’t we go back to my house?” she suggested, trying unsuccessfully to loosen Alexei’s grip. “It is so much more comfortable than this muddy old field.”

  “And yet here you are, in the middle of the night,” Barbara said. She crouche
d down to look at the spot Maya had been fiddling with. A connecting piece seemed to be looser than it should be and was rattling fitfully. Even as she examined it, the noise got noticeably louder.

  “Do you know, I think there is something wrong with this machine,” she said in a pleasant conversational tone. “I have a sneaking suspicion that it might actually blow up.” She turned to Alexei. “Does that sound to you like something that might blow up, Alexei?”

  “You know, it kind of does,” he said. “I’m guessing that would make rather a big mess.” He grinned at Maya. “An even bigger mess of anyone who happened to be standing next to it when it went boom, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Yes!” Maya shrieked. “Now let me go. We need to get out of here.”

  Barbara shook her head. “I don’t think so. Mind you, I have no love for the companies who desecrate the earth this way, and I’m almost sympathetic to what you’re doing.” She narrowed her eyes. “Almost being the operative word, since you don’t seem to care who else gets hurt in the process, or even whether or not you make the problem worse instead of better.”

  Maya twitched under Barbara’s basilisk stare, but didn’t look the least bit remorseful. “They poison the water without hesitation, draining the power of any Paranormal creatures who depend on the natural waters here and in the Otherworld for their very essence. Why should I hesitate to exact my revenge?”

  The machine gave a shuddering groan and they all jumped.

  “Let me out of here!” Maya said through clenched teeth. “We’re all going to die.”

  “I don’t think so,” Barbara said. “Although one of us might be looking at a considerably shortened lifespan for other reasons.” She waved her hand at the equipment and recited a simple spell under her breath. The drill gave one last shudder and stopped altogether, smoke coming out of the section Maya had tampered with.

  “Pity, but I doubt that particular apparatus is ever going to work again. Still, I suppose they’ll be happier replacing it than they would have been cleaning up the mess you would have made.” Barbara glanced around her at the rest of the site, shaking her head at the destruction of an otherwise beautiful spot.

  “You know, since I’m here…” she nodded at Alexei to hang on to Maya and strolled around muttering to other bits and pieces of machinery. By the time she was done, the entire place was silent. Walking back to the other two, she dusted her hands off. “Waste not, want not,” she said. “That will take them a while to get up and running again.” Then she picked up the rag Maya had dropped and tucked it into the back pocket of her black leather pants. Barbara hated littering.

  “Now we can go back to your house and have the rest of our little chat,” she said to Maya. “You can consider the destruction of this operation a parting gift.”

  “Oh, you’re going somewhere?” Maya said, perking up.

  “No,” Barbara responded. “You are. And I don’t think you’re going to be too happy about it.”

  Back at the house, there was a light on in the kitchen despite the late hour. Peter Callahan looked up when Maya entered the room and said wearily, “I don’t suppose there is any point in asking where you’ve been.”

  “She’s been at your fracking site, sabotaging your equipment,” Barbara said cheerfully as she and Alexei followed Maya in. “I hate to say this, but you have lousy taste in girlfriends.”

  Callahan jumped to his feet, his gaze swinging wildly from Maya to the tall woman with the cloud of dark hair and the huge man wearing head-to-toe black leather.

  “Maya, what the hell is going on?” Callahan said. “Who are these people? And what does she mean, you were damaging things at the site?”

  “Oh, shut up, Peter,” Maya said, any vestige of her charming persona completely gone. “You must have realized that every place you’ve been assigned since we got together, something has gone horribly wrong. Did you really think that was just an unfortunate coincidence?”

  Callahan slumped back down into his chair. “Yes. No. I’d hoped so.”

  Barbara thought he was a far cry from the polished, arrogant man she’d met in the other timeline. Apparently life with Maya hadn’t been easy on him. Pity.

  “I don’t understand,” he said. “Why would you want to destroy my work? You’re just a woman.”

  Okay, not such a pity.

  Barbara watched Maya’s shape waver as the rusalka considered showing Peter exactly what she was.

  “Don’t do it,” Barbara warned. “You’re already going to be in enough trouble with the Queen. I really don’t think you want to make it worse.” Allowing Humans to learn about the Paranormal world was strictly against the rules, and the punishment was swift and merciless.

  Maya sighed. “You see what I have to deal with, Baba Yaga. I would think you’d be more sympathetic.”

  Before Barbara could say anything, Alexei held up a hand. “Do you hear that?” he asked.

  Barbara listened. A thin, plaintive wail rose up from somewhere under the house, the distinctive sound of a child crying.

  She was standing next to Maya before she’d even made a conscious decision to move, fingers wrapped tightly around the other woman’s throat, lifting Maya up onto her toes.

  “Where. Is. He?” Barbara asked through gritted teeth.

  Maya made a choking noise and Barbara relaxed her hand a tiny bit, enough to the woman could get enough air to gasp out, “In the basement.”

  “I checked the basement,” Alexei said indignantly. “There was no one there.” It sounded like der vas no von der. Apparently he was upset too.

  “Show me,” Barbara demanded. She nodded at Alexei and jerked her head toward Callahan, although he didn’t show any inclination to move. “Watch him.”

  Alexei gave the man a grim smile, and Callahan twitched.

  Maya tottered on too-high heels down steep steps into a cement block basement. She stopped in front of what looked like a blank wall, sighed, and waved her hand. The illusion wavered for a moment and then fell away, revealing a small door with a padlock through its latch.

  Barbara supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that Alexei hadn’t spotted it on a quick run through. Rusalkas weren’t witches, but as Paranormal creatures they had their own abilities, and illusion was one they excelled at. How else to lure Humans to a watery grave when your normal appearance tended toward pallid skin, long green hair, and sharp teeth? On top of which, Maya had gotten a boost in power from her trades with the court nobles.

  The crying had subsided to the occasional heartrending sob.

  “Open it,” Barbara demanded.

  Maya gave her a snooty look, clearly still not understanding just how much trouble she was in. “I think the key is somewhere upstairs. I’ll just go and get it. You wait here.”

  “I’m done waiting,” Barbara said, and snapped her fingers. The lock fell to the floor with a thud. She swung the door open to reveal a small boy wearing ragged shorts and a stained tee shirt, sitting on a cot in what was probably intended as some sort of storage space. It wasn’t even tall enough for Barbara to stand up. She restrained her fury—barely—for fear of frightening the child, but vowed that there would be a reckoning later.

  “Hey there,” she said in as calm a voice as she could manage. “It’s okay, Petey. I’ve come to rescue you. You can come out now.”

  When he didn’t move, Barbara stooped down and went in to get him, glaring at Maya when she made a move toward the stairs. Together, they trooped back up, Petey nearly limp in Barbara’s arms, his tear-stained face wetting the shoulder of her leather jacket.

  His father stood up and reached for him, but Petey shied away, clinging to Barbara like a starfish about to be washed away in the tide.

  “I’ll take him,” Alexei said, shoving Peter senior back into his chair with a little more force than was good for either the man or the furniture. At least one of them let out an alarming creaking noise.

  “Hey,” Alexei said in a surprisingly gentle voice. “Are you hung
ry? I just happen to have a cookie I was saving for later.” He pulled an only slightly bedraggled chocolate chip cookie out of his pocket, and held out his arms. Petey went to him without hesitation. Children always seemed to know that the hulking mountain of a man would never hurt them.

  Hands free, Barbara turned to Peter and Maya. “Neither of you gets a cookie,” she said with quiet fury. “In fact, I’m not sure either of you will ever eat a cookie again. I hear toads don’t much like them.”

  Peter Callahan sputtered. “I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but I’m the victim here. This woman weaseled herself into my confidence and then took advantage of that by holding my son hostage so I would do what she said. She threatened to hurt him if I didn’t keep my mouth shut.”

  Barbara gave him a hard stare. “Right. And it never occurred to you to break your son out and run for it?” True, the room had been hidden behind an illusion, but Peter had rented the house. He had to have known the room was there. She wondered if he had even tried to find and rescue Petey.

  “I, uh, she was blackmailing me,” Callahan said.

  Barbara nodded, thinking of the nobles in the Queen’s court who still hadn’t admitted to Maya’s involvement in their crimes. She must have had something pretty substantial to hold over their heads if that threat was worse than the Queen’s current anger.

  “She’s good at that,” Barbara said. Maya had the nerve to preen. “It’s probably going to cost her that pretty head.”

  “Baba Yaga!” Maya endeavored to look pitiful. “I was just defending my kind from the desecration of the land he and his ilk have caused in the name of greed.”

  “Don’t talk to me about greed,” Barbara said between clenched teeth. “I know about the children you stole in Clearwater County and brought through to the Otherworld using an illicit doorway. And so does the Queen.”

  Maya subsided, head drooping. Peter, on the other hand, hadn’t run out of bluster.

  “All I want is her out of my life and to have my son back,” he said with the confidence of a man who had never been thwarted more than temporarily. He held out his arms in the direction of the boy. “Petey, tell them you want to stay with Daddy.”