Mouth of Madness

by Hunter Blain

  “Wizard?” I asked, nodding down at her wand glowing with the power of the Earth.

  “Very astute, vampire,” the warden of the Council answered while letting her weapon dim. Her hand disappeared under her cloak only to reappear again without the wand. Her message was clear.

  “What can I do for you, Miss…?”

  “Warden Broadway,” she corrected without taking offense, but maintaining a semblance of authority.

  “Warden Broadway,” I nodded, tasting the words. “What can I do for you?” My mind replayed the means of our meeting, and my hand rubbed my throat. “Actually, why didn’t you just call?” I asked a little frustrated.

  “I don’t have your number, and I was on my way to your home when I saw you exposing yourself by flying above one of America’s most populated cities.”

  “I…I…” Words escaped me as I was slapped in the face with logic. Baleius had warned me of this very situation.

  “Please tell me you don’t make it a habit of using your abilities as blatantly as I’ve seen you do tonight,” she exhaled while shifting on her feet and rubbing the space between her eyebrows with the index and middle fingers of one hand.

  “Um, no?” I answered, extremely aware I was speaking to the police force of the supernatural community.

  She stopped rubbing her face and glared at me with knowing eyes. She knew I was lying and she knew I knew she knew I was lying. Deciding to let it go, she dropped her hand and confidently walked over to me.

  I unconsciously squared my body, acutely aware of the power a warden wielded, though I wasn’t sure if they had to come into the combative prowess before they were offered the position or if they had their inherent abilities unlocked once the mantle was taken.

  Warden Broadway noticed my change in posture and grinned. I couldn’t deduce if it was a coy smile or a challenging smirk.

  “What do you want with me?” I asked as I took one step back, pivoting so my left side was facing her while putting a hand out in a stopping gesture.

  “I’ve been tasked with bringing you in. The Council would like to have a word with you.”

  “About what?”

  She stopped in her tracks, cocked her head, and scrunched her face in annoyance as if I had asked if a hot dog was a sandwich.

  “If I knew, then you wouldn’t need to come with me, now would you?” she condescended, knowing full well a hot dog was in a category all its own and required no such labels.

  “Well, look, I’m kinda in the middle of something and, as much as I would love to talk to the Council…I don’t wanna talk to the Council.”

  “Unfortunately, that is not for you to decide.”

  “Oh ho! Is the gray cloak threatening me? And seriously, a warden of the Council wearing a gray cloak? Cliché much?”

  “First, I am absolutely threatening you. Second, maybe everyone portrays wardens with cloaks because they actually have cloaks. Most stories are based in fact. Ever think about that?”

  “Yes, actually. But still, cloaks? Come on! Oh, and don’t make me kill you.” I was enjoying our little back and forth. I wondered how she would respond to me spiking the ball over the net.

  I didn’t have to wonder long. A lance of unseen energy crashed into my stomach like an invisible cannonball, throwing me back with enough force to know she meant business, but not enough to do any real harm. Being the super graceful vampire that I was, I cartwheeled through the air while doing a ton of controlled flips that would make a gymnast blush.

  As I picked myself off the ground, I shook my head hard enough to send the dust and dirt that had invaded my beard flying. Another few hard pats against my body and I was basically as good as new, albeit a teensy-weensy bit peeved off.

  Turning a scowling face at my smirking attacker, I bared a fanged smile while letting my eyes shift to crimson before coldly saying, “My turn.”

  Warden Broadway shifted her stance to a defensive posture as Mjolnir manifested—from her point of view—out of nowhere before flying into my hand. As I was hoping, the warden’s eyes grew wide in surprise, and a portion of my mind wondered if I had just exposed too much in a simple duel for dominance.

  Too late, I thought to myself as I grabbed the area around her feet and flung my hand up toward the sky. A pillar of earth shot upward, tossing the warden into the air. To her credit, she took the surprise attack in stride, lashing out at the ground with her wand. A whip of white energy anchored into the dirt, and she pulled herself down to land in a superhero crouch.

  “Nice,” she complimented before standing up straight and flinging her wand in my direction. A thread of electricity arced from the tip of her weapon, forcing me to deflect purely on instinct. The attack bounced off my swinging hammer and into the ground, where it erupted in a cloud of dust. I knew the attack wasn’t strong enough to do any real damage, but no one liked getting hit by electricity!

  “Neat,” I congratulated before telegraphing my next attack. Warden Broadway stood at the ready as I willed a lance of water to form in front of me by using the moisture in the air.

  “Water? Really?” Warden Broadway mocked, just as a ball of fire smashed into her from behind, coating her in flames and knocking her to the ground. Her screams were in surprised anger rather than pain, as my manifestation had been more of the “look what I can do” rather than the “DDDIIIIIIIEEEE!” variety.

  I sent out my lance of water while the warden writhed on the ground, trying to extinguish the meager flames. The aqua projectile missed, prompting a feeling of concern as the initially weak, nearly ethereal flames began to grow in intensity.

  “Shit,” I barked, fully aware that killing a warden was exactly what I didn’t need at this juncture of my unlife. I focused on the air around the warden, pulling all the moisture toward her as if she were a water magnet.

  Only problem was that the small flecks of collecting water were evaporating in an instant from the now fierce flames.

  “SHIT!” I yelled near panic as I expanded my field of influence further out, collecting a thickening sheet of water above where the warden had stopped writhing.

  I dropped my hold, and the wall of water fell on the warden with an impacting thud, immediately overwhelming the flames that had defied my orders.

  With a cry of frustrated relief, I rushed over to Warden Broadway and inspected the damage I had done, formulating an excuse I would tell to the Council about why I had accidently killed one of their members.

  Her skin was unblemished. Even her hair was still up in its bun. I rolled her over on her back and saw that the sigil on her chest was glowing, as the tip of her wand touched the center of my forehead.

  “Um—” was all I could get out before a not-so-delicate arc of electricity found a new home in my brain. I didn’t have the sensation of flying, or anything, really. Only muddied, jumbled thoughts ricocheted through my supercharged brain.

  Lachesis hissing, “The boy,” sprang forward before being intermixed and taken over by Ulric insulting me with the intent of cutting off my head, “… you petulant child.” Blackness swarmed as Locke’s voice swirled around me like a movie theater showcasing its superb surround sound, “I still remember the smell of searing flesh as your mother screamed and clawed, futilely.” The blackness took shape as I stood in an empty room as a single light was switched on several paces in front of me. A brazen bull was illuminated, faint screams wafting around me like the wailing of an apparition. It could have been mistaken for the wind even now as I stared with wide, quivering eyes. Breaking my paralysis, I stormed forward, rushing toward the bull that shrunk farther away the closer I got. Lily’s voice whispered from behind me, “I love you,” causing me to shoot my gaze all around, which resulted in my feet crossing one another. I tumbled downward, but instead of hitting the ground, I continued to fall in the volatile abyss of my mind.

  There was no wind as I fell, only the sensation of weightlessness. My breaths were quick and shallow, fearing what my thoughts would manifest next rath
er than worrying about hitting the metaphorical ground.

  A familiar figure appeared, seeming to swarm all around me before I understood that I was tumbling in the nothing. As the figure grew larger with each rotation, my throat constricted as recognition flooded my awareness.

  A hand rested on my shoulder and I was no longer cartwheeling through the nothing. My eyes locked onto the hand before slowly roaming up an arm to land on the face of my mentor for so many years.

  “D-Da?” I asked, finding the word near impossible to squeeze past the tightness in my throat. My vision blurred as the smiling face of my best friend stared back at me.

  “Remember, I won’t always be here, but I’ll always be with you.”

  Then he was gone, leaving me alone in the darkness. The warm feeling on my shoulder persisted, however, like returning to a bed that still had your body heat after getting up in the middle of the night. I placed my hand where his had been and closed my eyes and took in a deep, steadying breath.

  A sheet of white light flashed in the darkness, even with my eyes closed.

  “What the…” I drawled as another explosion of light hit, making me lift a hand to shield my eyes from the momentarily blinding intensity.

  A muffled voice drifted in from somewhere far away.

  “—AM—IRE!” came through.

  “Huh?” I asked as another flash blinded me, drawing a slight headache.

  “VAMPIRE!” the voice rang out clearly now.

  My eyes fluttered open and Warden Broadway slapped my face, hard.

  “Vampire! Wake up!”

  “oooooooOOOOOOOWWWWWW!” I moaned with growing annoyance as I alternated between rubbing my head and my stinging cheek. She was stronger than I had anticipated. The random thoughts were gone like tears in the rain.

  “Thank Merlin!” she let out while closing her eyes and face-palming.

  “Oh, come on. Merlin? Really? This is getting ridiculous.”

  “It’s just an expression amongst wizards, smartass. Why? What do you say?”

  Deflecting the question, I answered with, “Never mind. What’s with the brain blast?” I rubbed my forehead for emphasis and felt a divot between my eyes. A quick focus of the mind and I healed the wound.

  “Sorry about that. Accident. Similar to your fireball, I would guess. Right?” Her eyes narrowed as she signified a greater weight behind the question.

  “Hey! If you hadn’t been all rolling around on the ground screaming like a bi—Heh heh…” Her eyes went from narrowed to full-blown scowling. “Baby! Yeah! Baby! If you hadn’t been rolling around like a baby, my water would have struck home.”

  Lifting her hand with her palm up, a small orb of fire appeared. “Shall we light you on fire and see if you can sit still?”

  “Point taken,” I relented. We locked eyes and I felt an instant friendship blooming, not because of our impressive powers, but because we could commiserate over our lack of absolute control over our abilities. Leave it to me to feel a comradery with someone as aloof as me.

  “Wanna be besties?” I asked as I extended my hand.

  “Um, what?” Warden Broadway answered, standing up and grabbing my hand, pulling me to my feet. I didn’t need her help, but it was a gesture of friendship.

  “It’s cool. You took my hand. We’re besties now.”

  “Hey, listen, I have a job to do.”

  “And wouldn’t it be easier to do your job if I were your new best friend forever?”

  “I am already exhausted with you.”

  “Yup. That settles it. All my friends are exhausted with me. You’ll fit right in!”

  She sighed and shook her head, though I saw the corner of one side of her lips curl in the briefest of smiles.

  “So, where are we going?”

  17

  “To the Council, like I said.” Warden Broadway dipped her head forward in a gesture that said, “Are you stupid?” as she repeated her initial statement.

  “Cool. What’s your name, by the way? I don’t wanna call you Warden Broadway. That’s waaaaay too many syllables.”

  She looked at me for a moment, debating internally, before saying, “Hayley.”

  “Hayley, John. John, Hayley. Now, do we really, really need to see the Council right this very moment? ’Cause there’s this demon lord and warlock prick that needs a good kill’n.”

  “You won’t lose any time, as the Council meets in the in-between.”

  “Holy shit! Really? That’s kinda neat.”

  She eyed me for a moment, deciding what to make of me and my seamless shift between personalities. She would eventually learn that even though I was like a roller coaster, with twists and turns at seemingly random intervals, I was still one definable entity. It was kind of like the Texas Giant ride at Six Flags Over Texas in that, no matter how much it felt like some of the other rides with the hills, twists, and turns, you were still very aware that only the Texas Giant rode like it did on the tracks. Or something smart like that. You get what I’m saying.

  After a few moments of her squinting at me, I waved my hand in a gesture that said, “Go on.”

  With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, she grabbed my wrist in her free hand then lifted her wand while chanting something just under her breath.

  The world around us melted like an oil painting submerged in an aquarium of paint thinner.

  “Neat,” I said in admiration before being met with the familiar echo of the in-between.

  “NEAT!” I said again, louder.

  “Dude, are you done?” Hayley asked, already having her last nerve frayed.

  “Neat,” I whispered in response. Hayley took a sharp breath to verbally lambaste me, so I quickly put up my hands in placation. “Juuuuuuust kidd’n. I’m done.”

  “Good, becau—”

  “Ah-neat-choo! Oh dear, bless me. Damn allergies around here.”

  “I will shrink your dick to the size of a toothpick if you say ‘neat’ again.”

  “Pfft. That’d be an improvement.”

  “I’m sure it would be. Now shut the hell up. We are here.”

  A seam opened in front of us like a curtain being pulled to the side on a stage with enough room to let a stagehand through. It closed behind us, and I looked around an impressive room made entirely out of white marble with veins of gray intermixed randomly like foam on the surface of the ocean. The air smelled of lavender, vanilla, and a fresh, light rainfall on a summer’s night. Though there were several people around chattering away, there was no echo like in the in-between. This was clearly a place built with the intent of gatherings and business.

  “Ooooooh. Nea—”

  “I mean it!” Hayley interrupted, pulling out her wand and pointing it at Little John.

  “Whoa there, cowgirl. Let’s take it easy for a minute, yeah?”

  “Warden Broadway,” an elderly female voice called out as the rest of the members in attendance hushed at the soothing but commanding voice. “Thank you for retrieving the vampire. I trust he didn’t give you much difficulty.” It was a statement rather than a question, as I was quite sure everyone in the room knew how awesome I was.

  “None,” Warden Broadway said with complete seriousness. My face shot to her with a gaping mouth.

  I held up my index finger and thumb with half an inch between them and mouthed, “A little?”

  “As easily subdued as a newborn lamb,” she reiterated her stance clearly. My face went from confusion to grumbling annoyance in one second flat. She smiled as I frowned, proving she would fit in with the gang, though I was about to cancel my Amazon order for BFF bracelets. It’s okay. They weren’t even real silver.

  “John Cook the Vampire, please step forward so that the Council may better see you,” the elderly voice suggested.

  I did as instructed, moving to the center of the white room with theatrical style. As I did, a half circle of podiums rose from the ground, lifting a member of the Council upon each one to stand six feet off the ground. I felt like I
was in court.

  I slowly let my gaze sweep from member to member, noting how they all had golden cloaks with a white T and upside down half circle symbol thingy upon their chests. Finishing my scrutiny, my eyes landed on the elderly lady in the center who had a different, unique cloak; hers was a pristine white that made the marble floor jealous with its purity, all except the golden symbol in the middle.

  I spun the wheel of apropos John actions in my head and watched as the ticker landed on “bow.” Being me, I, of course, overdid it to the degree that I first swept a hand out to my side, palm up, before stepping one leg forward and bending down enough that my nose almost touched my own shin. Then I dramatically flared upright again before returning to my normal stance.

  “Well received,” the elderly leader said, choosing to take the action in and of itself rather than focus on how it had been delivered. I’d have to watch her. People with absolute control over their emotions, especially when it came to dealing with yours truly, worried me. Maybe “worried” was too strong a word. Perhaps what I meant was, gave me pause. Yeah, let’s roll with that.

  “What can I do for you, Miss…?” I let the question linger.

  “Elder Hecate,” she answered with perfect grace.

  “Hecate,” I repeated in a whisper as I let my gaze go unfocused and drift to the ground. “Where have I heard that before?”

  “I aided in the education of Nathanial Locke. Though he went by a different name then.”

  “Godwin,” I drawled, shaking my head as understanding took hold. “Wait, you’re the same teacher from all those centuries ago? That would make you the same age as me, right? And I’ve never heard of a wizard, mage, warlock, um…let’s see…oh yeah, or sorcerer slash sorceress, living more than a century—maybe two—past their natural time line.”

  “Just because you haven’t heard of one, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Forgive me, John, but you don’t strike me as one that goes out of his way to learn about others beyond what impacts you directly. If I am not mistaken, you didn’t even know your best friend’s first name for nearly a century.”