by Mina Carter
As her eyes adjusted to the dimness, Anika searched the space. Through the crush of bodies, a blast of light could be seen hovering over a couple of pool tables at the other end of the room. A few dangling lamps backlit dozens of bottles of booze that were nestled on their respective shelves behind a frazzled bartender who was busy manning a slammed bar. Other than a few neon signs, those were the only objects giving off any light in the tavern.
Hank, the barkeep, looked up at her with a flash of surprise and then dropped his gaze back down to the drinks he was pouring. First things first, Anika thought. She had to warn her good buddy, Hank, of the danger that just entered his establishment.
When they reached the bar, all the stools were taken, so Drake and Anika stood behind a couple of drunken fools who were hell-bent on causing trouble. One of the young punks, wearing a plain white t-shirt and dark blue jeans, with a head and face in dire need of a shave and trim, turned his attention on Anika. He tipped a stubbly chin, and his lips cracked wide into a cocky grin. “My lap is free, if you’re looking for a place to park that pretty little ass of yours.”
“As interesting as your offer is, I’ll have to pass.” She rolled her eyes and moved behind a different person at the bar. Drake, however, didn’t budge. Instead, he gave the guy a quelling stare.
“I was kidding, man. Chill,” the hairy guy said in a tone that wasn’t at all good for his health.
Drake was a pretty big guy, and with his muscular physique and hard-earned battle scars, which were painted across various parts of his body like don’t-fuck-with-me badges, one would think the scrawny punk would turn around and wisely shut up. But Anika realized what lay behind the guy’s false bravado when two of his buddies stood up and moved in on both sides of Drake, blocking him in.
It was at that moment that the wayward magic decided to rear its ugly head. Anika looked up, stunned, as a white blanket of smoke formed on the ceiling. The ominous cloud had fissures of light running all through it. Then, without warning, it dropped over the crowd. Anika’s fingers clenched the broom handle in her hand as she pushed the button located at the top, releasing the broom to its full length. Watching the bar’s patrons cough, their eyes bulging round with fear and confusion, she moved into action.
Drake could easily take care of himself against those loud-mouthed hoodlums. The hapless victims, however, didn’t stand a chance without Anika’s help. Like a mad woman, she waved the broom, swishing in and out of stray smoke strands. The cloud began to shrink with each pass of the bristles, because once the magic touched the tip of her broom, it was gone for good. But it was only a partial victory, because she still had the affected humans to deal with.
From out of the darkness, a chair came careening through the air, heading straight for Anika. Her arms covered her head as she dropped to her knees on the floor. The chair barely missed Anika’s head, but slammed into her arms, instead. The broom was knocked from her grip.
“You have got to be kidding me,” she said, her hands scrambling in search of the weapon.
Then her gaze flicked to a woman who was kneeling on the floor next to her. The lady looked like she was in excruciating pain, clenching her arms around her stomach. Anika gasped as she watched a beam of light spew out of her mouth.
“Anika! Are you okay?”
Somehow, she peeled her eyes from the human light show and peered into the gloom. Ten feet in front of her, Drake had one of the three men he was ‘disagreeing with’ in a head lock. Hairy guy was draped over the bar, and Abercrombie—named thus because he was forty-something, wearing a tight, blue Abercrombie shirt—was laid out on the floor at Drake’s feet.
“I’m fine. But I’ve lost my broom!” she yelled back.
With barely any effort, Drake popped the remaining punk in the face and dropped him next to his buddy on the floor. A mischievous grin ticked up at the corner of his mouth.
“I’ll find it for you,” he said, disappearing into the rioting crowd.
Chapter Six
The dark room was filled with agonizing sounds, and all Anika could do was search for the only object that would help her get through the mess.
“Help me.”
The groaned words had Anika crawling underneath the side of a pool table. Once her body was half-in, half-out, she stopped. Holding out her hand, she reached towards a young man, no older than twenty-one, who was curled up into a ball. He was in obvious pain.
“Everything will be okay,” she said, patting him on the back.
The guy jerked from the contact, whipped his head around, and literally hissed at her. She recoiled at the site of his yellow eyes and pointy fangs. Tingles ran up and down her spine as she watched a long, forked tongue flick from his maw.
Of all the possible things for Anika to run into, a snake-man would top her list of worst-things-ever.
“I found it,” Drake said, his voice acting like a soothing balm to help chase away the terror engulfing her.
Anika changed course and crawled backwards on her hands and knees in a hurry, towards Drake’s voice. She moved so fast that she smacked the back of her head on the table. All the while, her focus on the snake-man, who was much too close, never wavered.
Big, strong hands wrapped around her upper body, and she found herself hoisted, settling upright with her back against a hard, heaving chest.
“Ani, what in the hell is that thing?” Drake’s whispered question warmed the inside of her ear.
Caught up in the dreadful moment, all she could do was shake her head.
He banded a firm arm around her waist and pulled a dagger from the sheath at his side. The snake-man hissed menacingly, long and low, his yellow eyes darting from Drake, to the blade he held in his fist.
Somehow, Anika found her voice. “Don’t hurt him. It’s the magic; it turned him into that thing. I can fix this, but I need my broom.”
“It’s tucked inside my jeans, in the back.”
Anika reached behind her and around his hip. Finally, her fingers were once again wrapped around her broom. She pulled it free from his waistband and pushed the button. The magical tool sprung open.
Drake was more concerned with keeping her as far away from the magically altered human as possible, so he had yet to attack the snake-man. Before their eyes, the young man, once more human than reptile, shrunk and reformed. After several seconds, what was left of him had Anika swallowing a shriek.
“Do you still think I shouldn’t kill it?”
Drake uttered a quick incantation that launched them both over the huge cobra slithering out from under the pool table. They landed on top of the table, but the snake was hot on their trail.
Taking one look at the advancing serpent, Anika wanted desperately to give Drake the go ahead to kill it, but all she had to do was get close enough, and she’d be able change it back to human…she hoped. That was the problem; getting in close enough to the writhing yuck-sack to be of any use. The magic running rampant around the room couldn’t hurt her, but those fangs and coiling body, on the other hand, could do some real damage, and she didn’t mind admitting that she was close to pissing herself.
Several feet away from them, the cobra reared up and hissed.
“I don’t know if I can do this.” Anika’s entire body shivered.
Drake held his dagger out, so the snake could get a good look at it. The threat of slicing it to pieces had worked before, so hopefully, it would hold the serpent off again.
“Have no doubts, darlin’, because I know you can do this.” He stood strong and confident.
Anika sucked in some badly needed air before pulling herself from the shelter of Drake’s arms. “At least, one of us has faith in me. Here goes nothing.”
The snake was farther than she’d realized, so when she leapt for it, instead of sailing over to land behind the monster, she slammed right into it. Scrambling up, she grabbed her broom and came face to face with a set of citron eyes. The cobra’s flared head drew back to strike. With a shriek, Anika lift
ed her broom just in time. The snake’s fangs came down hard on the metal handle, less than an inch from sinking deep into the flesh of her wrist.
She jumped to her feet. Letting go of one end of the broom, she pulled the bristled end inward, towards her chest, and it slipped out of the serpent’s mouth. Without missing a beat, the snake swerved at her again. Anika dove to the side, swiping her broom at the snake in the process. Once the broom brushed against the snake’s scaled body, it collapsed to the floor.
Anika flinched with eyes wide. She held her broom out in front of her like a security wall, squeezing the handle hard for fear she’d drop it. After several seconds, she was able to breathe again as she watched the huge cobra shift back into a harmless young man.
Score one for the chicken-shit witch and her trusty broom.
Chapter Seven
“Well, that was something,” Drake said with a Cheshire cat grin. Then his smile faded, and his entire body stiffened. “Don’t move.”
Anika froze in place. Tiny pin-pricks shuffled across her neck and shoulders, and she tried like hell not to bolt. “Why?” she mouthed.
Drake’s dark eyes flickered to left and held. He lifted his hand and motioned her to move.
She began to slowly inch forward, but dropped to the floor when she felt something akin to wings flutter against her hair. Her hand went to her breast pocket, and she sighed with relief. Faing was still in there, fast asleep. Man, that dragon had to be the laziest beast in existence. Between the passed-out bar customers, the loosed magic, and the slothful dragon, Anika could hardly keep her wits about her. She patted her dragon and crawled across the floor until she reached Drake.
She turned and looked behind her. That was when she learned something new and interesting about the daring, bad-ass warlock. He was apparently frightened by tiny things with wings. A burst of fairies, colorful and energetic, zipped in and out of the liquor bottles on the shelf. Looking around, Anika noticed that several of the patrons, who had been ducking for cover when the magic first hit, were missing. Apparently, creepy snake-men weren’t the only things the malevolent magic had conjured up.
Drake batted at the air around him and shivered. “Mind using that broom of yours to sweep those little pests away?”
Across the room, one of the fairies turned her head and looked straight at Drake. As if she’d heard what he said, she levitated a few inches—her wings vibrating like a humming bird’s—and dive-bombed straight for him.
With lightning reflexes, the warlock threw up his hands and said, “Cavea!”
In a flash, his incantation had them both surrounded by a cage made out of magical see-through bars. The green-winged fairy flipped backwards, just short of running into the barrier. With a perplexed expression, she hovered in place. Drake shifted as her silver eyes narrowed in on him.
“Why can’t I remember anything?” The fairy’s voice chimed like bells, and the beat of her wings gave off a subtle scent of ginger.
Anika had heard that about fairies, how each one gives off its own unique fragrance, which is reminiscent of either a flower or fruit. She watched Drake stare mutely at the fairy. It made her curious about what his hang-up was with tiny creatures.
“You’ve been magically altered…” Anika was having trouble figuring out what to call the fairy, so she went with the obvious. “… Ginger. You’re actually a human being.”
Ginger rocketed up and then did several flips back down. Being mindful of the cage, she hovered inches from Anika’s face.
“I don’t feel like I was ever human. Was that my human name? Ginger?”
Anika laughed, looking at the spirited fairy. It was hard not to. “I’m not sure what your human name is. You smell like ginger, so that’s why I called you that.”
“Do you mind?” Drake asked. He looked a few shades lighter than usual and was looking at Anika like she’d just sprouted another head.
“You’re seriously bothered by her?”
Drake looked at the fairy and swallowed hard. He then straightened his stance and cleared his throat. “I’ve seen the wicked side of the Fae, darlin’, and while one of these fluttering fruit stands can seem innocuous, try dealing with several of them at once.”
His eyes shifted over to the liquor bottles, where several of the little creatures were fluttering about. One of the fairies, a thirsty, purple-winged one, had the top off a vodka bottle and was drinking from the cap.
Anika leaned over and whispered at him, “Yup, they seem like devious creatures. Why, the drunken one over there is even now plotting our doom. I just know it.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it.”
The fairy smiled; humor gleamed in her eyes. “I was put in charge of boiling your eyeballs.”
Barely repressing a growl, Drake reached forward and flipped the fairy off.
Anika’s chest warmed at the playful banter between herself and the fairy. Even though their acquaintance was a new one, she found herself developing a kinship towards her and felt regretful that she would soon lose her new friend once the workings of the magic that created her was eliminated. Her gaze shifted to the colorful flock of fairies, which had recently been human, and winced with regret. By using the nullifying broom, which she gripped at her side, she was not only forced to say ‘good-bye’ to her new friend, but she was also signing a death warrant for the fairy magic that made them.
“I think it’s safe to drop the shield,” Anika said to Drake.
He clenched his jaw before letting out a huff of surrender. Lifting two fingers, he snapped, and the barrier vanished.
“Ginger, can you round up the other fairies for me?”
The dark-haired fae flipped backwards, and at the same time, she whistled a chiming melody. The flutter of fairies stopped dancing amongst the liquor bottles and turned to watch her. In an instant, a rainbow stampede zipped their way.
Anika smiled a ‘thank you’ to her new friend and held out her broom for the vibrant flurry to land on. One by one, tiny feet settled on top of the yellow bristles. Excited chatter from at least a dozen lilting voices filled the air. Anika leaned forward and peered at them.
“Close your eyes, little ones, and fade away.” Her warm breath blanketed the fairies as they shimmered in and out of focus. Within seconds, they disappeared.
In random spots along the floor, the people who had been turned into fairies shimmered back into their human forms. Each one, that is, except for Ginger. Her miniature feet never touched down on the bewitched broom like the others. Instead, she stubbornly flew higher into the air, avoiding the broom altogether.
With arms crossed and a stubborn set to her pointy chin, Ginger said, “I’m not going back to being one of them. I like being a fairy. It suits me.”
Anika looked at her thoughtfully. She liked the idea of keeping Ginger around, but knew nothing about the magic that made her, other than how to eliminate it. For all she knew, Ginger could eventually shift back into her natural form on her own. She glanced around, seeing a whisper of grey smoke hovering in the back of the tavern next to the rear exit. Shaken, Anika said, “I don’t have time to argue with you about this. You can remain a fairy for now. When there’s time, we can discuss the matter in more detail.”
“What the hell?” Drake said as he knelt by one of the fallen humans. He had been moving from person to person, checking their vitals, while she’d dispensed of any lingering magic. “What are we going to do with that insect in the meantime?”
“Be nice,” Anika said. “You’ll hurt her feelings.”
She didn’t have to worry about Ginger’s feelings. The green fairy was so happy about not having to change back to human that she was zipping in and out of the pockets of the pool table, doing flips in the air, and whistling a merry tune. Her cheerful disposition had Anika wondering if she was as pleasant as a human as she was as a fairy. If Ginger had anything to say about it, Anika would never have the chance to find out.
With an arch to his eyebrow, Drake stood. “I’ve been
casting a memory-blocker spell over the humans as I checked them. We should be able to leave without anyone remembering what happened here tonight.”
“Good thinking.”
Ginger slipped past them. With barely contained excitement, she peered over her shoulder and winked. “Let’s get a move on. Your smoke monster just slipped out the back door.”
Drake turned to her. “Are we really keeping her?”
Ginger’s laughter floated over to them.
Anika smiled. “I certainly hope so.”
Chapter Eight
“Where did it go?” Anika asked.
“There!” Ginger squeaked. “It’s up on the roof!”
They ran across the street, over to the Crimson Crescent Inn.
“How are we supposed to get all the way up there without anyone seeing us?” Anika asked, looking upward as she stood hidden under a tree at the side of the ginormous Victorian.
Ginger landed on her shoulder. “I can fly up there and check for any open windows or doors.”
Drake shook his head. “You better not, mosquito. If the magic touches you again, who knows what it will do to you? It’s safer if you stay away from it.”
Pleasantly surprised by Drake’s switch in attitude towards the fairy, Anika smiled at him. “You’re right; Ginger isn’t safe anywhere near that magic. But I have an idea.”
Pulling at the lip of her jacket pocket, Anika gazed in at the dragon. Faing was still fast asleep, curled into a tiny ball, with his head resting on his tail.
“Wake up,” she said, nudging his rear end with the tip of her finger.
The lazy dragon’s head moved slowly. One eye popped open, watching her, as he yawned. Then he burped a stream of fire that almost singed the tip of her nose.
“You’re ticking me off, Faing. Get your scaled tail out of there now.”
Drake reached over and smoothed his thumb over the tip of Anika’s nose. “You okay, darlin’?”
Anika let out a breath. “I will be just as soon as I make this lazy lizard vacate my pocket.”
