Kai finally emerged himself, almost dragged over the shoulder of a tall redheaded woman with a fierce scowl who was laying into him in a language Sarah didn’t recognize but sounded almost musical. He was a mess, dust and blood and muck covering every inch as he trudged towards the fire. Sebastian ignored Sarah’s warning and leaped up to haul one of his brother’s arms over his shoulder and took some of the man’s sagging weight. Doc was already waiting with a washcloth and unceremoniously cut away the shirt that was really only holding on by a few threads anymore anyway.
Kai just sat there while Doc and Sarah cleaned away enough of the mess to find where most of the blood came from—something had caught him from behind, raking claws down his back from his shoulder to his hip. Sarah was staggered to think that he’d emerged in such bad shape that a wound like this wasn’t immediately obvious. Doc, however, seemed to have been expecting at least one major injury and had water boiling and sanitized tools rolled up in a special case.
The redhead took Sarah’s place as she and Doc forced Kai to lie down and get stitched up. He only grumbled about needing to get back in and finish the fight but didn’t resist them as they worked. Sebastian talked at him, pointing out that there were plenty of fresh fighters ready to do cleanup, and Mr. Young was still in the cave to supervise, so Kai could relax a bit already. Sarah gulped down some air and turned away towards the trees. The sight was not one she was prepared for, and though Kai didn’t seem to be in much pain, she suspected that was due more to the shock and exhaustion than anything else. She also remembered what everyone had said about wight wounds and the soul-chilling toxin they often contained. Kai’s lack of response might not just be shock., and that thought made Sarah shiver.
She walked into the slightly darker area just past the trees, looking away from the rocks and the makeshift camp towards the freeway that she had almost forgotten existed. The cars whipped by heading up towards Silicon Valley and San Francisco, or south, down towards the beaches of Santa Cruz. The traffic now represented to Sarah a completely different universe. Behind her was a fantastic world of spirits and monsters, magic and creatures so powerful they were considered gods. In front of her was humanity, encased in steel and technology hurtling across the earth at speeds undreamed of just a few generations back.
And there she stood, in between the two worlds, wondering: which one did she really belong in?
She understood the human world. It was the one her mother had raised her to live in and wanted her to stay firmly ensconced by. It left her feeling restless, though, like something very important was missing and now she understood why she felt like that. It was because there was a part of her that came from the world in the camp. The Villagers who were fighting an unimaginable cavern full of monsters in order to protect themselves and their children, and also those humans that had no idea of the existence of either the wights or the spirits fighting them.
She felt like she could almost understand that world, but the risks of being involved with it… her mind conjured the image of Sebastian’s shoulder that first morning, his fur matted with blood and mud. The cuts covering the Andersons, the wound down Chuck’s arm. Kai’s back.
The vandal’s clear message to her on the wall of her home.
Was that something she could live with? The risk of violence and pain and attack by things she had no way to expect. She listened to the murmur of the camp, quiet voices punctuated by laughter. Eventually, she even heard Kai’s laugh and breathed a sigh of relief. Sarah hadn’t noticed how tense she was with her worry until she started to relax. If Kai was laughing, he would be okay. And if he was okay, she was pretty sure that the Village would, too.
And that was important to her, she realized because she felt closer to these people, even the ones she’d barely met like Chuck, than she did to her own mother. They had been welcoming and warm from the first moment, helping her stay safe from the no longer scary one or two wights, cleaning up her house after the vandalism, helping her stay safe in her dreams as she now realized Mr. Young had been doing. They were family to her now, and you didn’t turn away from family even when things were scary.
She turned to walk back to the camp, feeling more positive than she had in a very long time. She had no idea what she was going to do, or how she would contribute to this motley group of apparently not at all mythological beings when she herself was just a human, but she sure as hell meant to try.
She squared her shoulders and started to take a step when the arm wrapped around her throat and a hand covered her mouth. She struggled for a moment but words coiled around her mind and before she could think what to do the whole world went black.
Sarah woke up and couldn’t figure out where she was. Whatever she was lying on was hard and poked into her hip sharply. She was cold, but not freezing, and she realized that she was in a sleeping bag on the ground under a tree. She also realized as she came more awake, that she was tied up, hand and foot like a cow at a rodeo.
“Yeah, I know, I know.” Someone nearby was talking. Sarah froze, not sure if she should scream for help or play dead. Then she realized that it was a moot point, with tape firmly plastered over her mouth.
“Yes, I understand that. But look, she gets kidnapped and terrified, then leaves California and my other client is happy. I use her as bait to lure out that weenie Sebastian, and destroy him. That will drive Kai into the ground and you know it. And that will make you happy, won’t it?” The voice was wheedling and a little greasy. Sarah wondered why she could only hear one side of the conversation.
“No, I know that,” he said. “Yes, I know. Don’t worry, I have it covered. I can take that guy easy. Yes, I know, but he’s only got a dribble of it, that’s why I’m going for him at all. I’m not stupid enough to try to take on Kai on my own. Besides, you know how droopy all those guys get about each other. Yes, I know. Yes, sir. Okay, I’ll call back later.” Sarah shuddered in the warm bag, and suddenly she saw beat up hiking boots stop right in front of her eyes.
“Awake yet?” asked the voice. She turned her face as far as she could, her arms behind her protesting as she rolled slightly. The boots shifted and the man crouched in front of her. He looked greasy to her, matching his voice, trying to look slick and powerful but without the money or a strong enough personality to back it up. He shivered slightly himself in his leather jacket, apparently too proud of his own image to wear anything warmer. She was glad of her heavy sweater and the sleeping bag, but couldn’t quite see past his chest to identify the man.
“Don’t worry, my client needs your connection to those idiots at the Village. Don’t make trouble and you’ll get through okay.” He chuckled then, amused at himself. “Well, mostly okay. Can’t hang out with that sort of critter and expect to stay safe for long. I’ll just be using this here for a moment.” He reached a hand down to her coat pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Sarah felt a growl in her throat, but there was nothing she could do to stop whatever this man had planned.
“I have to admit, lady, I’m pretty impressed.” He said as he thumbed through her contact list— she made mental note to put a less easily guessed lock code on it. “I honestly thought you’d run when you got caught up between those wights. That’s pretty damn ballsy.” He sounded honestly impressed. Sarah wasn’t flattered by his compliment, however. It just made her angrier, and she tugged carefully at the ropes. Rather than loosen at all, they just bit deeper into her wrists and she felt them wrenching her ankles back further. The man was still talking.
“I mean I’m used to them and they still creep me out. It took me forever to get that cave full of those things and to figure out how to lure them where I wanted them. I’m a bit pissed that those Village guys just undid all my hard work.” He was typing on her phone while he talked now. “Smile!” he held the phone up and snapped a picture before she could really react, then went back to typing. “I mean, really. Even if I wasn’t being paid to harass them I’d have to do something just because of that. So here we are. I m
ean it’s nothing personal, but this is what happens when you get mixed up in that kind of crowd.” Sarah saw his elbows move like he shrugged. She never knew how satisfying it could be to be able to scowl at someone, and thought at that moment that she’d pay money to be able to scowl at this man.
“Well, that should do it. I’ve got enough misdirection spells around here that only the person I want to find us will. Not even that demigod could power his way in, so it’ll be just your boyfriend. Divide and conquer, that’s the idea after all. Since I can’t seem to take them both down, I’ll take one then the other. If you’re lucky someone’ll find you eventually. You’ll be warm enough in there at least till morning, so there’s that hope for you.” He tossed the phone onto the ground as he walked off.
Dammit, there had to be something she could do, didn’t there? She couldn’t just let Sebastian walk into a trap like this! And whoever that guy was working for was after Kai and the Village, she had to do something. Pulling at the ropes just dug them further into her skin and she felt blood dripping. Her arms were going numb now anyway and her shoulders and legs ached.
“Now don’t be ridiculous. Just because I’m a warlock doesn’t mean I can’t tie a good knot. Some skills are just too important to let slide,” the man said. He’d come back and seemed to be leaning against a tree. “You just lie there and wait, lady. We’re both going to just sit back and wait for your boyfriend.
Twenty
Sarah drifted in and out of awareness as time started to feel very pliable, so she was aware of Sebastian’s presence in an abstract way before she realized that she could hear something rustling in the leaves nearby. She tried to move slowly, her whole body aching from the position and the cold of the ground seeping into the bag. She wanted to whisper, to shout, something to warn him not to walk into the clearing, but the damned tape kept her quiet. Oh, that warlock was going to get it if she ever got free.
The warlock himself seemed to hear the rustling noise now as well, and pushed himself upright, away from the tree he’d been leaning against.
“You might as well come out where I can see you. Not even magic will stop a bullet.” Sarah froze when she heard a metallic click. The quiet rustling stopped, then after a moment, Sebastian stepped out into the small clearing. His feet were maybe ten feet away, and there was nothing either of them could do to close the space.
“What do you want, warlock?” He growled.
“The usual, really. Money, power, fame, hot women fawning over me. Gotta take the jobs that’ll get me there, you know,” he said, shrugging. “Now I’m not actually going to hurt either of you, if you can follow directions well enough. Right now I just want to do the job and get in out of the cold. Here you go, put that on.” The warlock tossed something to Sebastian who let it fall on the ground at his feet without even making the effort to catch it. Sarah could feel the rage coming off Sebastian as he turned to her, ignoring the man with the gun.
“Are you okay, Sarah? Are you hurt?” he asked quietly. She twisted and with real effort, she managed to roll to her side and looked up at him. She scowled behind the tape and shook her head. No to both, if you discount the strain from being tied up and the abrasions from the ropes. No, the warlock hadn’t hit her or anything, but at the same time she was absolutely not ‘okay.’
“I’m not being paid to rough anyone up any more than necessary. She doesn’t try anything stupid she’ll be just fine when they find you both.” The warlock sounded amused. Sarah couldn’t see him anymore, but she could hear the smile in his voice. “Now you should pick that collar up. I made it especially just for you, after all.” Sebastian didn’t move.
“What do you want, warlock?” He asked again. The warlock sighed.
“Frankly, right at the moment, I want to get out of this cold. And I’m sure you do as well. Beyond that, I’m sure you have realized by now that I have simply been hired to do a job. I’m a contractor. That’s all. My job is to get you out from underfoot, so that’s what I’m doing. The girl can go on her merry way once we’re done here, and we’re done when you follow directions.” The warlock sounded tired, like he was trying to explain something rationally to a small child for yet another time, but now his voice sharpened. “However, if you don’t follow directions, I’ll just shoot her, then you in all likelihood. I don’t especially want to get blood on my hands, but I will if I must. You want to keep her alive? Put the collar on.”
Sarah glanced down at it and saw the thick leather strip glitter with some sort of runes that almost seemed to wiggle and shift under her gaze. The whole thing felt wrong to her and she wanted to scream at Sebastian not to even touch it. She met his eyes as they flicked back to her. She tried to get her message to him through sheer force of will, but he just grimaced and crouched down to pick up the collar.
It was maybe an inch and a half wide with a buckle on the end. It had clearly started life intended to be a dog collar before the warlock had inscribed the magic into it. Now it was clearly a trap, and everyone in the clearing knew it.
“Well. Now or never, buddy. Last chance.”
Sebastian looked over at Sarah again, his eyes apologetic, then he grimaced and wrapped the strip around his neck. The effect was almost immediate, causing his fingers to fumble with the buckle. The warlock huffed out a chuckle and Sarah could hear him moving around, and the clang of metal. Sebastian, on the other hand, had dropped to his knees, breathing heavily. A shout tried to escape past the tape, and even muffled it echoed loudly off the trees. Sebastian glanced at her, one hand clutching at the ground, his fingers digging furrows into the earth. His eyes were deep amber and swirled with a struggle against whatever the collar was trying to do to him.
The warlock came back into view, lugging a cheap looking large dog crate. He set it down next to Sebastian’s hunched over form and with one foot, shoved him in. Sebastian didn’t resist, instead almost collapsing into it as he continued to struggle against the spell’s effects. The warlock pushed his feet in and closed the cage door with a brisk, satisfied air about himself.
“Well. That’ll do it. That spell is designed to burrow deep into your mind and basically suck it dry. And don’t try taking it off. Without the counter spell it’ll just kill you straight out. As it is, you’ll be a happy, dumb, wild animal, but at least you’ll be alive, right?” he said, as he straightened. He looked over at Sarah who glared back at him. “You two will be safe enough right here for a while. I’m sure someone’ll find you sooner or later, though what they’ll make of you I’m not sure, if it’s a random stranger. Clearly some sort of Satanic ritual or something fun like that. A lady tied up like you are and a wild animal in a cage with occult paraphernalia? I think it’ll be clear enough, don’t you?” He laughed cheerfully and reached into his pocket for his own cell phone. After a moment he started speaking again.
“Just checking in, boss. It’s done. He’s in a cage down here, and it’ll all be over pretty soon. Yeah, no doubt. Sure, I’ll do that.” He was nodding into the phone and surveying his work, then turned to start walking away. “Yep, I’ll get him a note in a few hours. If nobody finds them before then, he’ll get a wonderful image to keep in his heart. Nah, his brother’ll never recover from this, no worries.” The warlock’s voice faded beyond her hearing after that but Sarah had heard enough.
The Village— Kai— had enemies. That much was screamingly clear, and those enemies had used her to lure out and destroy Sebastian. That was also obvious, and she thought that might very well destroy her, too. She twisted around to get a clearer view of Sebastian as he now lay curled up and panting in the cage. His hair was growing redder and the outline of his body was flickering slightly. His eyes, though, stared back at hers, unseeing and uncomprehending. She could almost watch the awareness leeching out of them.
Her mind flickered back to the first time she had ever seen him. He had been a fox then, but even so there had been a clear intelligence behind his eyes. He had known perfectly well that she was a friend, if n
ot exactly who she was already, and had tried to protect her. He had managed to communicate all that information to her, even though as a fox he had no language to use. Now, she could see none of that in his eyes. Instead she felt a moment of complete despair. This was so much worse than someone dying.
She was watching him be stripped of himself, which was a terrifying idea. That it could even happen at all was something she didn’t want to contemplate, but that it was happening in front of her, to someone she loved, and she couldn’t do anything about it. If she was free she could at least get that horrible thing off him, maybe stop the process before it was finished. Maybe Doc could do something then, help stop the spell or break it or something!
That thought stopped Sarah in her panic. Doc was a witch, and that could help Sebastian, but Doc wasn’t here. Sarah was. What was it that Doc had said? The rituals and the tools helped focus the power, but the power itself was inherited. Which meant it was already in her. So if she could just think of how to tap into it maybe she could help him. But… how?
“I always ask people as much as I can about their lives when I mix up a tea bland for them. The more I know about them the better I can help. I can focus the magic a bit more in this way or in that, wherever they really need the boost. “ Doc had said that morning as they tried to keep busy. God, had it only been that morning? Well, Sarah knew Sebastian about as well as she knew anyone. Probably better. She thought about all the long conversations about life and what they wanted to do and random silly little wishes they’d had as they painted her walls or sorted stuff or ate dinner. He had taught her how to make that chili Kai had fed them that first night they’d been going through Gran’s things, and she had felt so self-conscious about how bad she was with a knife, but he had been so sweet, showing her how to hold the onion and not slice off a finger.
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