Bethany glanced at Kal to see his reaction to Joey’s nervous chatter. If he noticed the young man’s discomfort, he didn’t give any indication.
“Joe Austin, isn’t it?” Kal said, wiping his hand down the side of his jeans then sticking it out to Joey for a handshake.
“Uh, yeah. That’s me.” Joey wiped his hand on the front of his apron and offered it to Kal, although it seemed like a reluctant gesture to Beth.
“Yeah, I’ve seen you around at Poisons and Potions.”
A moment of awkward silence ensued before Joey turned to Bethany again. “I just wanted to know if these can be kept in a low light area with high humidity.”
“Is the customer taking the plant with them today?”
Joey nodded, glancing at Kal as if keeping tabs on where he was at all times.
“There is a pamphlet that goes with this plant under the display stand. Give them one to take home. It has all the details and a website listed where more information is given.”
“Thanks,” Joey called, heading back to the customer before Bethany’s words had melted into the air.
“Well, that was odd,” Beth said. She looked up at Kal, surprised to find him grinning broadly.
“What?”
Kal reached out to ease a strand of hair out of her face. “He’s got a major crush on you. Tell me you didn’t know that.”
“Well, I…not really.”
“You don’t want to know what he’s doing in the potting shed when he sneaks off.”
“Ick. Enough.” Bethany stopped him with an outstretched hand. “I don’t want to hear any more.”
Kal chuckled. “I’m kidding, but not about the crush. He’s got it bad.”
Chapter 6
Satisfied they had protected the plants and greenhouse from the oncoming storm, Kal went back to the shed and stepped inside, studying the claw marks the demon had left behind. He was missing something and desperately wanted to make things right for his little earth witch. He couldn’t stand the heartbreak he saw in her large hazel eyes.
With a frown, he paced the length of the shed, mentally willing the marks to speak to him. Outside, clouds obscured the sun, and rain pelted the tin roof with a hard staccato rhythm. Like the primitive beat of drums, the sound quickened Kal’s heartbeat, causing the familiar surge of magic to course through him like wildfire.
Holding his hands outward and palms up, he shut his eyes and began to chant softly in the ancient language of his ancestors. Heat flooded through his veins. He felt the tickle of static dancing at the nape of his neck where hair brushed against his skin. Ignoring the physical discomfort of strong magic, Kal kept reciting the words, building his power until a soft blue light illuminated the darkened building. In the otherworldly glow, the demon marks burned fluorescent green.
When the answer he sought came to him, Kal stumbled back a couple of steps and fell silent. For a brief moment, his words seemed to linger in the air then dissipated like smoke from a candle.
The demon had not been searching for something. It had been hiding an object. When the spell’s effect fully subsided, Kal rushed to the wall and dropped to his knees. He began digging at the dirt with his bare hands.
Unmindful of the dangerously acidic quality of the soil, Kal dug until his fingers touched cloth and bone. He would have burns on his hands from the residue of evil the demon left in the earth, but he would heal quickly. His kind always did.
Working carefully so that he didn’t lose any small detail of the talisman he dug up, Kal gently lifted a humanlike effigy, much like a voodoo doll, out of the shallow grave. Anger threatened to choke him as he brushed dirt from the doll and placed it tenderly on the corner of a potting bench.
He recognized the symbolism in the doll’s red yarn hair, painted hazel eyes, and the bundle of twigs held within its braided cloth arms. The demon had made an effigy of Bethany, trapping her magic inside with a binding spell.
Trembling with emotion and residue from his previous spell, Kal once again began speaking the words of his shamanistic forefathers. As his voice filled the air, the humanlike mixture of twigs, bone, and cloth began to move as if being stirred by a gentle wind. He kept his tone low, but the effect of his spell grew until, in a burst of twinkling light, the object he’d found disassembled and scattered like so much old debris. Beth would now be free from the demon’s curse and her power fully restored as her energy once again mingled with the earth’s essence.
* * * *
Locking down the last panel of plastic on the portable greenhouses, Bethany pulled tight at her bright yellow rain slicker. She wanted to make sure it covered her head before she made a dash through the downpour outside. Her goal was the enclosed showroom where Joey and the twins were already lounging in lawn chairs and watching her with amusement through the windows.
Bethany laughed as they made faces at her. They were a good group. Each of them did their work without complaint and was willing to cover special events, going that extra step when needed. The girls showed a real aptitude with plants, and Joey was picking up a little spending money while he attended the local university to become a naturopathic doctor.
Splashing through the puddles of water and trying to shield herself from the deluge of rain, out of the corner of her eye, Bethany thought she saw the potting shed windows flash with the unmistakable blue glow of magic light. But by the time she rushed into the showroom, dripping all over the stone floor, she convinced herself she must have seen a flash of lightning.
“Big help you are,” she told the grinning threesome.
Joey shrugged and handed her a soft drink from the nearby cooler. “What did you want us to do? Run out and hold an umbrella for you?”
Bethany snatched the drink out of his hand with mock frustration. “You didn’t have to laugh at me.”
That caused a fresh burst of laughter from all of them, including Bethany. She popped the tab on her soda and took a long drink, choking as she felt a strange sensation tighten her throat and tear through her body.
Joey was at her side instantly, thumping her back and bending her forward to expel the soda from her lungs. She coughed until her eyes watered then got control of her breathing once again and stood up slowly.
She felt a shimmering of heat coursing through her body and knew it for what it was. Her magic had returned. Bethany held out her hand to steady herself, wanting to fall to her knees in gratitude. She knew her breathing had quickened nearly to the point of hyperventilation.
“Are you okay?” the twins asked in unison, both looking frightened and concerned. Joey still hovered at her side, looking at her with worry.
“I’m fine,” Bethany assured them, waving them away. She shot them all a weak smile. “Excuse me. I need to go to my office.”
“But…”
“I’m fine, Joey. I just forgot something I have to do.”
Bethany practically ran to her office, knowing her actions would concern them even more, but she couldn’t help herself. She needed to try her magic in the relative privacy of her office. Sitting down at her desk chair, Bethany squinted her eyes shut, praying she wasn’t deluding herself.
Tentatively, she pointed her finger toward a colchicum sitting in the corner that was dying despite her best effort to keep the plant living. She steadied herself and concentrated on the plant, sending a healing spell toward the ailing flower. Before her eyes, the withered leaves began to plump and grow. The flower changed seasons within seconds, and lovely pink blooms sprouted on the stems.
Shaking with excitement, Bethany wiggled her fingers in the direction of a plant encyclopedia she kept in the bookshelf. The volume slowly backed out of line, rotating as it left the cabinet to float softly into her waiting hands.
“Impressive,” a husky male voice said from the doorway.
Bethany looked up at Kal standing in the door with his legs spread and his arms crossed over his massive chest. He was wet from head to toe, and the black T-shirt he wore fit him like a secon
d skin. His muscles seemed bulked up and hard as steel, inviting Bethany to explore. “How… Did you…” She couldn’t get past the intensity of his eyes. “I can perform magic again,” she said at last.
Jumping up from her chair, she ran to him. He picked her up as if she was light as a feather and kissed her long and deep before setting her down again.
Feet on the floor, she watched his smile fade and the familiar scowl return to his handsome features. For a moment she wondered if she had done something wrong because she didn’t understand the quick change of emotions. Putting her hand flat on his chest, she felt the steady beat of his heart under the damp shirt. “What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy.”
He reached out to touch her cheek with a powerful hand. “The demon wasn’t looking for something in the shed. It left an effigy of you in a shallow grave and smothered your magic.”
Sensing the fury burning inside of him, Bethany tried to calm his emotions. “But you brought it back to me,” she whispered. Her heart squeezed as she saw his love for her on his face. Stepping closer, she put her arms around Kal and lay her head on his chest, mindless of the damp, earthy smell of his clothing. She clung to him that way for several minutes.
When they broke apart, she noticed the marks on his fingers and reached out for his hands. Reluctantly, he gave them to her, and she turned them so she could see the full extent of his wounds. “Oh, Kal,” she whispered.
“It’s nothing.” He smiled at her. “I heal fast.”
Bethany pulled him over to her office chair and pushed him down. His large frame looked out of place sitting in the small seat, but he obediently stayed put. She began gathering up packs of herbs and bottles of potions she had stored in a large filing cabinet. With a mortar and pestle, she ground up items and mixed them into a paste until she was satisfied.
Without a word, Kal held out his hands, and Bethany tenderly smeared the mixture on his burns as he watched. She sensed his surprise when the burns lightened and became less painful almost immediately.
She had performed nearly the same ritual for Nick when he got burned by the demon’s residue at Mystic Tides. Both men showed a remarkable amount of pain tolerance. Paranormal burns were nothing to take lightly, yet neither man had offered one word of complaint.
When she finished with the salve, she looked Kal in the eye with a mischievous smile. “You were a good patient. Do you want a reward?”
He growled and pulled her into his lap, crashing the chair into the desk as they found each other’s lips.
Chapter 7
Kal sat in the study of Bryan Janzen’s mansion, listening to the man explain what focused the demon on Blansett, North Carolina, and the four cousins in particular. Demons didn’t just pop up out of the blue. Something had triggered its interest, or obsession.
What did you do, Bryan Janzen, to bring a demon to your door? Kal knew from experience demons were vindictive and vengeful. They could be called forth in magic rituals, but anyone naïve enough to believe they could control a demon usually found themselves dead shortly after the ceremony.
Bryan lowered his head, studying the floor. “I should have said something earlier. I just…the girls don’t know.”
Kal nodded, giving the man time to tell him what he knew. From the look in Bryan’s eyes, Kal knew he wasn’t going to like what he heard. He steeled himself to receive the worse. He’d deal with it when he knew how bad the damage really was.
“I didn’t know there were various degrees of possession back then,” Janzen said. “I grew up with magic, but demons weren’t my thing. All use of dark magic was banned by my father, Pieter. He wouldn’t even allow us to discuss the dark arts in his house, although my ancestors were rumored to be quite adept at them.” He gave a rueful little smile. “Of course, because it was banned from my life, I have to admit I couldn’t help but be curious about it.”
You went searching for it, didn’t you? And you found more than you bargained for. He kept his thoughts to himself. Accusing the man of bad judgment wouldn’t get him the information he needed.
Bryan took a sip of whiskey and moved to the window to look over his front lawn. “Anyway, the girls were tiny, all of them between three and five years old. Beautiful, happy little things with the whole world in front of them.” His eyes grew soft at the mention of the girls as children. “All of us were close, and we basically ruled the town. We had it all, looks, money, success. I guess we didn’t think it would ever end.”
“So what happened, Bryan?” Kal asked quietly when the man lapsed into the memories.
Bryan sighed and turned away from the window. “We took a trip to the islands. The girls stayed here with family, and damn fools that we were, we played with magic we knew nothing about. We thought our power here would keep us from getting into trouble there. It didn’t.”
“Vodou.” Kal kept his voice soft and nonconfrontational.
“And worse,” Bryan admitted. “We were dancing with the devil, but we didn’t know it at the time.” The pain in his eyes made Kal flinch with sympathy.
“When we came back home, it was all different. We kept our distance from each other. We didn’t want to be reminded of what we’d done together in the islands. Then things started going sideways. Bethany’s dad started drinking and fighting. He’d fight at the drop of a hat, turned against all of us. My beautiful Victoria...” He stopped and cleared his throat. “She was diagnosed with terminal cancer.”
He looked at Kal, locking stares. “Do you see a pattern here? Something happened to each and every one of us. Bethany’s parents were murdered, Grey’s parents died, Halona’s folks were spared, but they hadn’t participated in the island rituals.”
Kal felt Janzen’s pain as if it were in his own chest. “You know all of the deaths may have been a coincidence.” Not likely, but if it makes this man feel any less guilty, I’ll gladly tell him what he needs to hear.
Kal found himself liking Bryan Janzen a lot. He’d performed an inordinate amount of good for the citizens of Blansett, and despite his wealth, he was down to earth and friendly. He also had incredible mental strength and intelligence.
“I’d like to think so, Kal, but in my heart, I know he cursed us all. I banished him, you know. I had no idea he’d been unleashed again or that he’d show up here in Blansett.” Running an impatient hand through his hair, he shook his head. “He tried to get hold of Sydney’s copy of Malleus Daemonum. The Hammer of Demons. It was the book I used when I cast the spell to banish him.”
Now things are beginning to make sense. “I’m assuming he used a surrogate, a host he could easily manipulate? It’s why a demon is so difficult to track down.”
Janzen nodded. “Yes, I had to exorcise the demon from a young woman it possessed before I could banish him. She’s never been quite the same I’m sorry to say. I make sure she’s well taken care of and lives as normal a life as possible.”
“Not your fault either. The demon left her impaired, not your exorcism.”
Janzen looked grateful for the words of encouragement. “I accept full responsibility for everything that’s transpired, but I’ve tried to make it right.” He finished off his drink and set the empty glass down on the table. “Well, that’s enough of a trip down memory lane for today. Are we finished here, demon hunter?”
“Just one more thing,” Kal held up one finger. “What did you take from the demon?”
“I took nothing.” Anger flashed in Janzen’s eyes, but they remained guarded. He wasn’t telling the whole truth.
“I didn’t mean to imply you personally,” Kal said, playing with a talisman he wore around his neck. “But one of you took something the demon wants back.”
Janzen hesitated, and Kal stood up from his seat, advancing on the man. “I can’t help you, or the girls, if I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
“It was Bethany’s parents. They were the most adventurous, the most likely to break a few rules, or at least her father was…”
Of
course, it’s why the demon focused on her and her grandmother. You might have been involved, Bryan Janzen, but you knew better than to steal from a demon, and you’ve been trying to control the damage since then because you feel responsible somehow.
“What did they take?” Kal asked again. He felt the knot of anxiety growing in his belly. For the demon to come anywhere near the man who’d banished him meant he would readily die for revenge.
In the bright sun streaming through the windows, Bryan looked older, as if the conversation had somehow aged him. He wiped a hand over his face. “A mirror. A little jeweled mirror.”
A gateway between the worlds.
“The demon wants the mirror to travel freely between dimensions of his own accord. Without the mirror, he must be summoned to earth by ritual magic, and he cannot leave unless the summoner knows the correct spell to send him back. Or, as in your case, he’s exorcised from a human host, but that doesn’t send him back to his world unless you know his name and the correct spell.”
“But with the mirror he has freedom to travel on his own?” Bryan asked. “Any time he wants and any place?”
Kal nodded. “Without the mirror, he will roam the earth, unable to return to his world. When you banished him, you sent him to a dimension between the veils. He wasn’t of this world, but he couldn’t return to his either. He would have been imprisoned in a cold, dark void.”
“Yet somehow he escaped and returned to earth,” Bryan said, trying to think through the dilemma.
“He had no place else to go,” Kal answered. “Without the mirror, or human intervention, he will always return to our world. He’s spent the last two years building power so he can battle you for the mirror. We have to send him back through the portal and disable the gateway so he can never return.”
“And how do we do that?” Bryan asked, getting ready to pour himself another drink.
Mystic Tides Page 29
