Kougar, Savanna - Kandy Apple and Her Hellhounds (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Savanna Kougar

  “Your pitiful plans will fail, foolish dog creatures, the Daughter of Affrony belongs to us.”

  Dog creatures? He and Zin took instant umbrage. Monstrous canine creatures bred by the gods and born of Earth’s fiery hearth.

  Kandace squeezed their hands in understanding. Down, my hellhounds. Charcoal-briquette them later.

  “During this time of All Hallow’s Eve, our power only increases. See it.” Droplets, black as oil, showered the pyramid, covering it with a thick slimy residue. “Feel it.” Wave upon wave of quake-like vibrations assaulted them, swaying their pyramid as if it dangled from a chain.

  Standing solid against the titanic sorcery aimed at them, they decided on an attack strategy. Zol altered his dolphin suit to make his body invisible, as did his twin. Remaining magickally connected to their one witch, they let go of her hands.

  Diving outward, Zol flew, soaring opposite Zin. Fast as wind-fanned flames, they curved their triad of power around the thirteen sorceresses. In the same instants Kandace streaked upward, arcing their combined force above the circle.

  Believing victory was within their grasp, the sorceresses hissed with glee and rapid-fired their wands. Their strikes dissolved the purple smokescreen Kandace created as she whirled.

  He and Zin absorbed the attack of dark-light pulses. Utilizing the energy as they did the combustible frequencies of Mother Earth, they moved into hyperspeed.

  Chapter Twenty-Six:

  Like a Zombie Army

  Kandace spun, saturating the sorceresses with a dampening field. Even though Halloween vibes fueled the Quevj, her field caused their force to drain rapidly. Slowing her spin, she tightened her magickal web and watched Zin and Zol weave strands of their smoldering force.

  With their true power undetected, Zol and Zin circled at Superman speed, creating cuts in the plasma-like shield the sorceresses had cast to protect themselves. Simultaneously, her hellhounds made their heads whizzing targets, the only visible part of their bodies, even to her eye.

  Kandace soared higher, making herself ignore the firing-squad pulses that barely missed Zin and Zol. She gathered her triad energy into a whirlwind, causing her web to vibrate and suck away more of her enemy’s magick.

  In coming to save her sister, Kandace had underestimated the fiendishly colossal power of the Quevj sorceresses. Once she’d known Merri was safe, she’d retreated to her protective bubble.

  Fighting off desperation, Kandace had summoned forth what remained of her magick. With the arrival of Zin and Zol, hope surged through her as nothing else beneath Earth’s sun. Her prayers had been answered.

  I’m a quantum explosion. That had been her first thought with the activation of their triad. Now, her witchy powers waned all too fast

  Kandace rotated like a dervish, siphoning off the evil sorcery and flinging it into the neutral ethers. Before she lost her strength, she had to weaken the Quevj enough to initiate their final defeat, as her mother had spoken.

  The sorceresses’s screeched curses in their own language, realizing Zol and Zin destroyed their shield. Their rage summoned Satan himself, and their gruesome screams shook the largest statues like rattles. Again, resembling a precision military team, they pointed their wands at Kandace, and fired blasts meant to stun her into helpless goo.

  She shot upwards, zigzagging madly. The volley of red neon pulses encircled her, the heat similar to her sister’s curling iron.

  Using some of her precious energy to shield herself, Kandace zoomed toward the loft floor. Landing, she heard Zin and Zol mind-shout, Ash avalanche! They warned her about their next move.

  With the sudden cessation of wand fire, Kandace slipped close to the rail and peeked over. Fully visible again, her hellhounds had positioned themselves opposite each other.

  Through the heavy fall of ash, she saw their straightened arms. Their force streaked from their hands, now pointing like arrowheads.

  Simultaneously, they dodged sporadic bolts. A surreal sight, the corkscrew lightning blasted, scattering the spewing downfall.

  Good, Zol. Good, Zin. That’s the way to keep draining their power.

  Close? They asked.

  Moments away. Get ready for an army.

  Zin jagged to the side, a bolt nearly taking out his thigh.

  No! Kandace mind-screamed before she could halt herself. Rising into the air, she readied herself to protect her hellhounds.

  Stay! they mind-shouted. Neither Zol nor Zin halted their ash assault on the sorceresses. Instead, it increased to a blizzard.

  Seeing the force of the Quevj dim significantly and their lightning-like strikes lessen, Kandace sank down to the loft. She crouched beside one of the tall marble statues.

  Flattening her palm on the floor, she prepared herself to bring forth the power she’d been warned not to use. Until now.

  Wait. She cautioned herself, not wanting the sorceresses to know her plan of attack. “Wait, until it’s too late, for the wicked bitches to know their fate.”

  Kandace shut her eyes to concentrate. In that moment, an explosion ripped through the warehouse. Her eyes flew open, and she realized the sorceresses attempted to rid themselves of the ash Zin and Zol piled on top of them.

  Intuitively gazing upward, Kandace saw humongous plumes mushrooming above her. At the same time, an overwhelming stench, as if she’d entered a cave filled with bat guano, enveloped her. She gagged and, falling forward, she retched.

  “Daughter of Affrony, the canine creatures of Hades are beneath our mercy. Surrender. Surrender to us. It is your destiny.”

  Oh Goddess! Zol. Zin.

  Kandace flashed her awareness toward them. Bound by the black arts of the sorceresses, they stood unseeing. Even though, they were immobile, they remained unharmed.

  So far.

  Cold fury seized Kandace. Resolve surged through her. No one endangered her hellhounds. Pressing her palm to the loft floor, she flooded it with her special power.

  The sound of cracking stone surrounded her, lasting only seconds. She glanced around fast. Twenty-seven statues moved and came to life.

  As a child, Kandace had secretly animated her toys. This was no different, except for the super-charged currents flowing through her.

  Rapidly, Kandace pooled her magick over the surface. Too soon, the sorceresses realized she’d chosen their defeat. Their howling shrieks shivered the warehouse.

  Still, Kandace’s energy poured like a storm-raging river, feeding more life into the statues. If only…

  “Your cur beasts are doomed to the tortures of extraction.” The Over-Voice echoed from the rafters. “Their lava blood is ours, foolish daughter of Affrony.”

  Triumphant cackles menaced the very air.

  “You will writhe in agony before us. You will beg for our smallest mercy, despised witch of Enduoir.”

  Kandace dismissed their threats. She had to defeat the Quevj. Her life and the life of Zin and Zol were at stake.

  At stake, Goddess!

  Earth’s history flooded back. Whizbang! The scenes of witches being burned at the stake happened before her mind’s eye, all in an instant. Maybe evil sorcerers like the Quevj were why witches had been burned.

  Kandace knew better. Still, she had to wonder.

  With cold calm, she commanded the statues to march toward the two stairways. Before her eyes, they flexed their muscles, then stretched their marble and bronze bodies like athletes.

  The herculean men, the goddesses, fairies and cupids, sylphs and ballet dancers, cowboys and Indians—they all did her bidding and formed two lines. Marching as if on parade, they filed downward, their weight ringing the metal steps.

  Careful to keep mental control over her magick-wrought creatures, Kandace jumped up, rushing to the loft’s rail. Like a zombie army, her statues advanced on the sorceresses.

  Despite the slashing bolts of ice hurled at them, she kept the statues moving. They slowed as they froze, yet followed her orders, encircling the sorceresses.

  Kandace
flamed her force inside her army, draining her energies quicker than she wanted. While still strong, she counterattacked and sent an imperiously frowning Zeus and a brawny Indian to rescue her hellhounds.

  Even though Zol and Zin remained spell-stiffened, Kandace felt their struggle to free themselves. Goddess! she screamed inside. No matter the magickal cost to herself, somehow she would make certain they lived.

  “No!” The combined screech of the Quevj as they realized she’d begun rescuing Zin and Zol reverberated, but shook nothing in the warehouse.

  The tar-dark tentacles feeding the sorceresses had lessened to mere threads. Their powers waned and even the evil energies of Halloween weren’t enough to fuel them anymore.

  Advantage, the good witch. Kandace quickened the bronze Indian Warrior’s pace. He lifted Zol against his chest at her instruction, then carried him toward the loft steps.

  Hissing like a tangle of demonic snakes, the sorceresses enveloped them in an icy cloud. Kandace fired a bolt, warming her Indian brave since Zol retained his core volcanic heat.

  Hearing the bronze statue clank up the steps, she directed her marble Zeus to wrap his bulging arms around Zin. Once the marble god placed Zin’s paralyzed body beneath his arm, he strode toward the other set of steps.

  Using his over muscled physique, Zeus shielded her hellhound from the frosty blast the infuriated sorceresses cast around them. Their attack became so fierce, icicles hung like glistening daggers from their fingertips.

  Concentrating, Kandace used all her might to bring Zol and Zin to the loft. Not so easy peasy since she also marched her statues forward, tightening the circle around the Quevj.

  As a child, she had only controlled toys. Certainly, she’d never trained herself to execute these complex maneuvers. Still, her force danced like lightning through her.

  Power up. Power up, she encouraged herself.

  Ramping up her attack, Kandace darted her statues in and out. The clustered sorceresses conjured sheets of freezing rain, and Kandace unthawed her ice-coated army, searing them with her energies.

  Once Zin and Zol were safely behind her, she sent her Indian Warrior and Zeus back to the good-witch-versus-the-bad-witches battle. Seized suddenly by one of her super-knowings, Kandace realized the weakness of her enemy. “Yes!” burst past her lips.

  She whirled the ballet dancers, causing them to fling scalding knives of energy. She flew her fairies above the Quevj, showering them with flesh-eating sparkles.

  With her focused thought, she directed the gods and goddesses, then watched them fling fireballs that absorbed more of the sorceresses’ power. At the same time, her cupids winged high, firing their little arrows, the ones Kandace transformed to red-blazing iron.

  Where the arrows struck, their flesh went up in flames and kept burning. The stench reached her nostrils, foul and heavy as cheap incense.

  “Burn, witch bitches, burn.”

  Thank the Goddess, her Enduoir heritage had taken possession of her at just the right time. Feeling like she rocked out to her fave playlist, Kandace caused her statues to move faster.

  The ballerinas became dervishes. Her cowboy lassoed one of the sorceresses, pulling her toward him. The rope scorched her flesh and she bawled like a recalcitrant calf, yet didn’t stop pelting him with ice balls.

  Wounds appeared on many of the Quevj, and their blood oozed, a disgusting shade of gunmetal blue. With a screech of fury, the sorceresses’s changed tactics.

  Prepared, Kandace slipped her sylph statues through the sudden onslaught of acid that poured from their palms.

  “Phantasmagorically bizarre,” Kandace muttered, as she protected her army. Putrid green, the potiony stuff ran down her statues like thick syrup, threatening to dissolve their marble and bronze bodies.

  Altering the acid to harmless jelly, Kandace bided her time. Within, she knew the right moment hadn’t arrived to destroy the majick of the black-hearted Quevj. Given that her own energies were vanishing, she had to wonder why.

  Spinning her sylphs around the alien witches, Kandace created winds that further disrupted their force. She wheeled her herculean gods closer, positioning them so they swung their giant fists like prize fighters. To avoid being pummeled, the sorceresses dodged as they maniacally squealed curses.

  “Soon, soon, you’ll bring about their ruin,” Kandace whispered, giving herself a pep talk.

  The next instant, she collapsed to her knees. Still, she kept magickal control of her army. Great Goddess, she had to win for her birth parents, their world. Her world.

  She had to win to save herself, Zin and Zol.

  Goddess…

  Chapter Twenty-Seven:

  Call Forth the Thunderbeat

  Bundled together tightly, with their sorcery diminishing, the Quevj spurted gumdrop-like sparks. In danger of being overpowered by the converging statues, they huddled together for several instants.

  After hissing like pissed-off alley cats, they managed to cast a spell of protection. Barely strong enough, the field shielded them from the statues’ fierce attack.

  “Not for long, hell bitches.” Instead of trying to stand, Kandace streaked the energy of her magick, keeping her army animated. And knew.

  Now! Now is the time of defeat. I call forth the thunderbeat.

  Kandace launched her statue goddesses. Armed with the vibration of thunder, they hurled the sound like darts, their arms whirling fast as carnival Ferris wheels.

  The ferocious drumming sound pierced the sorceresses’ shield, destroying it. Seconds later, Kandace swayed and everything went black.

  The next thing she knew, two pairs of strong arms lifted her. “It’s time,” she mumbled, not fully conscious. Oh, Goddess! Was there still time? “Zol, Zin.”

  “Yes, we are here.”

  Kandace heard their combined voice as if they spoke through a dense fog. Desperate to bind the Quevj before they could gather their evil energies again, she struggled to stand. Her hellhounds steadied her between them, then took hold of her hands.

  “Triad,” Zin and Zol chorused.

  Their lava force filled her, blazed through her. With her head becoming clearer, Kandace caught a glimpse of her statue army. They returned to their solid state.

  Below her, the confused sorceresses stumbled about, firing their wands in an attempt to shatter the Herculean hunks blocking their escape.

  Realizing their mistake, they transformed themselves into plumes of smoke. Rising quickly, they reformed their flesh and instantly began recharging their wands.

  Cackling with dark enjoyment, they aimed, certain of victory.

  “Speak your power,” Zol and Zin intoned. “Speak the magick of your mother.”

  It crossed Kandace’s mind to wonder if they’d entered her mind. But it hardly mattered now.

  Kandace closed her eyes, seeking the exact words to cast her spell of destruction. Mother, I need you.

  Torrents of starry energy traveled through her, as if her very blood had been transmuted. Raising their hands high, Kandace waited until the words formed before her mind’s eye.

  Shrieks of triumph sliced the air toward Kandace. “Daughter of Affrony, as our slave, you will behave. The black power of our will conquers your pitiful—”

  Simultaneously, Zin and Zol’s force spewed inside her as if a giant volcano erupted. Kandace floated, her force barely contained by her flesh. When her feet dangled above the loft floor, the sorceress’s chant stopped.

  “Quevj.” Kandace heard her voice boom. “I call upon the four sacred winds.

  “The East Wind of the Beginning.

  “The South Wind of the Sowing.

  “The West Wind of the Completion.

  “The North Wind of the Restoration.

  “Your evil is swept from this world forever.

  “By the power of Good, you return never.”

  Blasts of wind buffeted Kandace as the sorceresses screamed a cacophony of curses. Keeping her eyes closed, Kandace focused, then chanted, “Quevj
, I call upon the precious waters.

  “Rains, pour and drench my enemy.

  “Rivers, flood and drown their fury.

  “Tides, rise high and smash their power.

  “Seas, swirl and suck their evil under.”

  Kandace heard both the wild rush of water and the cries of the sorceresses as they battled what she had summoned. While raindrops splashed her skin like kisses, she concentrated, and continued, “Quevj, I call upon the force of fire.

  “Flames, scorch and devour the deeds of these foul witches.

  “Blazes, consume and disappear their harming spells.

  “Wildfires, rage and turn to ash their wicked energies.

  “Smoke, spiral, sting the eyes of these alien creatures.”

  The frequency of fire sizzled around Kandace. Yet a soft warmth bathed her. Listening to the miserable moans of the sorceresses, Kandace fought the urge to look at what she had wrought. If she did, that would break the connection to the Source of All, ending her word-cast spell.

  Gathering her powers, Kandace spun them, increasing their strength. Zol and Zin fed her more of their inferno, and she gratefully received their gift.

  The time had arrived to bring about the final annihilation of the sorceresses’ dark energies. Kandace knew her final incantation had to be not only precise in word, but super-powered.

  Now or never…now or never…now or never…

  “Quevj, I call upon the beloved Earth Mother.

  “Gaia, drain these foul witches until they are but wrinkled skin.

  “Gaia, drag their force into an endless grave where they cannot sin.

  “Gaia, hear my plea, let them never walk upon your sweet ground again.

  “Earth Mother, I do beg, make their evil only dust, and we both shall win.”

  Silence.

  Absolute silence hung like a heavy velvet curtain. Kandace hardly dared to breathe.

  Had she won against evil?

  Her feet touched the floor. It was over. Complete.