by Rain Trueax
“Today, we have brought two friends to the circle.” Maria looked skyward. “We ask blessings on us, as we intend to do good work for the light, for love, for the earth.”
The cry of a hawk split the silence. Edie plummeted down to land on Denali’s shoulder. Surprising Nick, a large screech owl descended and took its place in the center of the circle.
“Welcome, Elmo,” Maria said. “We welcome your aged wisdom.” The owl nodded his head toward her. “Someone is disturbing the balance in Tucson, in our community.” She looked skyward again. “We call upon the Earth Spirits and Nature Angels, all who can help us, who see the need.” She spread her hands wide and looked then toward the cottonwood grove. “Elementals, all who are near, if you can hear us, give us wisdom and direction.”
Nick saw the women had all bowed their heads. He felt that was not expected of him. He watched, considered as he heard the words that flowed as the women went around the circle, speaking what was in their heart. He tried to leave himself open to what was happening but could not pretend what he didn’t feel. It was a beautiful day, but he felt no supernatural forces.
After a time, the women rose and began to dance around the circle. Where the owl had been, a fire appeared and licked toward the sky. He realized it wasn’t fire such as he was used to seeing. Much as his logical mind fought against seeing any of this as magical, it was beginning to feel that way. All the colors in the meadow were intensifying. The air felt charged.
He had no idea how long the dancing and what he guessed to be incantations went on, but he felt the energy building, even going into him through some sort of electric charge. He no longer watched but let the feelings surge through him.
“You know what you must do,” a voice spoke from the flames. Then Nick saw two male figures emerge from it. One looked like a cowboy and the other some sort of lawyer with a gray suit. Two unlikely figures to be together. They were not tall and then they were. He could no longer deny he was seeing something biology couldn’t explain.
“Will you give us strength?” Maria asked.
“We will. He’s gone too far and abused his powers in a way, which cannot be forgiven,” the suited one said. “Ornis must also be disciplined. He must learn he cannot support this kind of evil and pay no price.”
“Tell us the way.”
The cowboy laughed. “You already know the way.” The two guides disappeared as the fire reappeared.
The women sat again in the circle. Nick noted the sun was moving downward. He felt shocked so much time had passed and yet it seemed as if none had. He looked toward Denali. Poised, as were her sisters, she was watching her mother. He’d seen that look in the eyes of men before combat. He looked then at the grandmothers and saw the same determined expressions. He and John were not needed.
“Yes, you are,” Maria said—again uncomfortably reading his thoughts. “You brought the other energy we needed. She laughed. “I didn’t read your mind. I saw it on your face.”
It made him only minimally more comfortable. “Do I have a part in what comes next?” he asked.
“It would be best if you did not. The truth is it will be all magick. You might now believe in a world you didn’t before, but you are not yet ready to participate in it, are you?”
He shook his head.
“You could though, John,” Maria said looking at her distant cousin.
He saw the older man consider that. “You’ll be stronger without me, and I should stay with Nick in case this doesn’t go well.”
Maria smiled and nodded. “That is true. I am glad you are back in the family.”
John bowed slightly but didn’t respond.
They went back to their horses, tightened the cinches and rode to ranch headquarters. “At the hacienda, there is a feast prepared,” Maria said. “I think we all should eat and enjoy the evening. Tomorrow will come the work.” Her tone was somber.
Hours later, Maria dropped John, Denali and Nick on their street. “Meet us tomorrow morning at ten,” she told her daughter. “John then can stay with Nick.”
John smiled and headed for his home. “See ya in the morning.”
Nick felt a surge of irritation. “You need to have an alibi if this all goes wrong,” Maria said. “Much will be thrown out tomorrow as we interrupt the balance.” With that, she was gone.
He understood, but he wasn’t used to letting someone else fight his battles, and he told Denali as much when they were alone inside, as he poured them each a whiskey.
“This is our fight though—a battle not just fought by my generation but those who came before us. We might grow old and die but the spirits remain—strengthened or weakened by our actions.”
He let what he didn’t understand go, his mind instead on the physical he could understand—or try to. “Will we ever know why Braddock wanted me set up?”
“Possibly. He will have the choice. He can admit what he’s done and go to the law with a confession at committing or ordering two murders. Or he can face the penalty for misuse of magical powers.” Her voice was hard.
“All right, but if we never know why, will it really be over?”
“His powers will.”
“You sure you can do that?”
“Now, after the infusion of power from today. It won’t last at this level, which is why it has to be tomorrow. We will go to his home. Morris and Jeff will be with us. We also requested Puriel if she can.”
“And Puriel is?”
“An angel of equivalent rank to Ornis. He also must be punished for what he’s done with Braddock. Power can very much corrupt.” She grinned. “Even if it’s a human, like in war or politics. It’s true for everything. There has to be balance and respect. Power cannot be misused without a consequence.”
Watching her lips as she said that, imagining them on his, his mind was on anything but the coming day. “If we make love tonight, will it weaken that force?”
“I think love will make it stronger.”
He pulled her into his arms. Whatever he could have with her, a moment, a year or a lifetime, he wanted it.
><><
In the morning, sipping coffee, Denali heard the church bells as Nick was eating scrambled eggs. She took deep breaths, trying to prepare herself for doing her part and getting rid of Braddock. Her mother would be the team leader, and each of them knew their responsibility. Seven women against one man, a huge bodyguard, and who knew how many demons he could rally.
She kissed Nick and then left him instantly, materializing in her mother’s home, where the others were gathering. Elsa arrived and smiled at them. “I am so eager to get this monster gone.”
“As are we all,” Jess said.
“One last preparation and then we go,” her mother said. They formed the circle, each concentrating on what they had to do. “One final reminder,” her mother said. “When we leave here, we go forth as witches, each of us related to each other only as that. I am not a mother. Elsa and Jess are not grandmothers. You are not my daughters. We have a purpose to clear and cleanse. Can you do that?” They all nodded. Maria smiled. “So we go forth.”
One by one Denali saw them disappear as did she. Going through the atmosphere, maintaining her body as one of energy, Denali could still appreciate the beauty as she slowed to re-enter inside the gates of Braddock’s home. It sat on the foothills, not far below Pusch Ridge. Tall saguaro cactus, palo verde and ironwood trees surrounded a castle like home, with heavy gates to keep out the unwanted. They didn’t work well against witches.
The seven of them walked up the drive and right through the front door. “He’s in his library,” Maria said and led them to it. Looking around the room, Denali saw items of witchcraft, shamanism, and devil worship. Skulls, bowls with substances in them, incense, candles, whatever one might imagine a sorcerer would need was there. On one wall was an upside down crucifix. On another, it was in its proper position. From what she saw on tables and the walls, he was hedging his bets on all spiritual traditions.
<
br /> Braddock looked up from his desk, and if he was surprised, he was good at pretending. “And to what do I owe the pleasure?” he asked with a smile that looked wolfish to Denali. Surprising her, there were no demons in the room-- nor was the man they’d been told was always with him, the huge Boone Crockett. She assumed it would soon change, as Braddock drew to him whatever support he had been using.
“You know,” Maria said, her voice as stern as Denali ever heard it.
“I do?” His smile was innocent as he raised his hands, palms up.
“Two murders and one intended victim who managed to survive.”
“My. I just don’t know what to say to that. I, of course, am innocent of any evil. That’s not the way of magic, is it?” His smile was smug.
“We know you trained Jane Elm and then took her life or ordered it done. We also know you trained Cynthia Barnes, a girl who hoped for love, while you fooled her into thinking you could give her the object of her obsession. What we don’t know is why you chose Nicholas Beringer.”
“Of course, I did none of that.” He looked supremely confident. “You might as well leave now if you hoped for a confession from me.”
“Don’t need one.” It was the guide known as Jeff who had materialized. “We went into the records and saw it. Ya know as well as any of us that it’s all there.”
“Ridiculous.” For the first time, Braddock looked uneasy. “There’s nothing in the Akashic Records. Not about what you are claiming.”
“You think because you can blind some, you can blind the ultimate being?” Morris asked as he also materialized. “All you have done is written in the ether. Even demons have rules. You misused power and have broken sacred contracts. There is a price to be paid.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He sounded less sure of himself.
Whether she had been listening all the time or had just appeared, for the first time, Denali saw Puriel. She looked golden and exquisitely beautiful. Sometimes angels appeared with wings, but Puriel had none for this day. She had come prepared for war. Her expression showed the seriousness of her mission. “You know of what is spoken, Jason Braddock. The price will be paid.”
“Demons have their own rules,” he tried.
Puriel laughed. “None have their own, but what the one above all has deemed valid.”
Braddock had a moment of looking desperate before he threw up a shield of fire. Denali and her sisters drew up the elementals for water and dashed it to mist. She saw it on his face when Braddock finally realized he had gone too far.
“What do you want?” he asked. “I could tell the police I did it.” She saw the slyness in his smile and knew he had no intention of doing that. He was playing for time. “Or actually it was someone else who did it.”
“Nick Beringer?” Maria asked with a snort of laughter. “We know he did not. It was you.” She looked around the room, an expression of distaste on her face before she swept out her arms. Vases, paintings, skulls, bowls, all went crashing to the floor before disintegrating into dust. A room that only moments before had symbols on every surface was instantly as cleansed as if a monk’s cell.
“You had no right to do that,” Braddock snarled. “It represents a lifetime of collecting.”
“Why did you kill Jane Elm?” Maria asked turning back to him.
“Me. It wasn’t me. Beringer did it.”
Denali had to bite her tongue to keep from responding. She would not weaken her power for what lay ahead by letting anger cloud her judgment. She got control.
“He did not,” Maria said in that same cold voice. “Do not play games with us. They will end up serving you poorly.”
Braddock looked at the angel and then back at Maria. His tone grew more desperate. “Beringer cost my friend’s brother his life. He wanted justice. It served me also.” He forced a laugh. “I don’t like tall, handsome men. Too arrogant and then the paintings. As if he was a god, when he’s actually a nobody.”
“Who is your friend?” Maria asked.
“It’s Boone Crockett, isn’t it?” Denali asked. She felt a surge of fear that she quickly suppressed. They had come with a purpose. Only one emotion suited what was needed—a demand for justice. She could not think about Nick or where Boone might be, if he was the one seeking some sort of justice.
“Beringer is responsible for his brother’s death.”
Denali was sure then. “Richard James was not killed because of Nick.”
“He told you, did he?” Braddock asked, looking at her, turning all his energy toward her. “It was his responsibility, and he knows it.” He smiled that unearthly smile, which nearly unhinged her. “He must pay for his lapse. And he will.”
“We all will,” Maria said, “but you first.”
“You would kill me.” Braddock’s tone was one of disbelief.
“There is a better way. We just need to take your power.”
It was then that Denali felt the force change. Ornis was there. The demon looked exactly like the painting Nick had done before he destroyed it. How had he planted his image in Nick’s head? Was it the openness of an artist to his inner muse and a demon’s attempt to manipulate that? Even with Puriel’s presence, could Ornis block them from dealing out justice this morning.
“Ornis,” Maria said, “you can make your decision as to whether you live on or stand with this monster and are destroyed with him.”
“You can’t destroy me,” Ornis said standing now behind Braddock, his golden headdress a mockery of Native American and shamanic garb. “I like playing with humans, seeing them suffer but destroy me, you cannot.”
Maria brought forth a long knife. It seemed to glow on its own. Denali looked back at Ornis and saw fear on his face. “Ah you recognize it, do you?” Maria smiled as she shifted the knife to a throwing pose. “Then you know from what metal it is made?”
“How did you…” Ornis moved away from Braddock.
“You already know-- a platinum osmridium alloy, forged by a wizard of exceptional power. There is no stronger metal, but you know its power. This metal can destroy you totally.”
Ornis moved farther from Braddock. “Marcus made it didn’t he?” His expression changed. “I don’t need this. I didn’t do…”
The family then began the incantation, the mix of humming a note going beyond human ability to hold. It seemed to fill the room. Denali heard Jeff repeating the words of banishment. In moments, Ornis had fled. Wherever he might go, he had retreated from this battle. He had left Braddock to his own devices-- enabling himself to fight another day.
“I don’t need him. I have power enough to destroy you all,” Braddock said his voice rising to a singsong, as he grew in size, preparing to shift into another form.
“No, you don’t.” As if one, the witches thrust out their hands and energy crossed the room, throwing him against the wall. He made a low keening sound as he tried to get away from the bolts, but he was going nowhere. He was held as the energy surrounding him grew. Denali saw the moment it changed and began to draw from him his life force—both from the demonic and human levels.
The energy, which had been his, was pulled from him and into a glowing ball. Denali saw dark and light colors, along with what appeared tiny lightning bolts. She’d only heard of this being done but never seen it. Maria gathered it and then threw it through the window where it whirled in the air to be gathered by Morris and Jeff.
“We’ll put it into something where it can’t hurt anyone,” Morris said with a laugh, as the two disappeared with the swirling orb.
Denali looked at Braddock who was still standing but now he looked shaken and his eyes held no intelligence. It wasn’t just his magical powers that had been drawn from him but his soul power. He would live but without the thoughts or abilities of even a man. The world would see it as a stroke. Few would know the truth of Braddock’s punishment and the price he had paid for misusing his power. She thought then of what he’d said about Nick. Where was Boone?
/> ><><
Worried about Denali, unsure what their confrontation might mean, Nick headed for his paints. He opened a fresh canvas and began painting with no goal for where it was going. Colors and where they ended up were all random. It wasn’t until he began to see a form take shape that he realized he had again painted the face of the demon Denali had called Ornis. He took his palette knife and scraped off the paint. Was he possessed himself? He’d certainly been around enough of what some would call hell on earth. Had it also been occupied by demons he hadn’t seen because he hadn’t wanted to?
Angry and frustrated, he went into his patio and tried to get a handle on the emotions surging through him. He had let himself fall in love with a woman he could never have. How could he live with a woman stronger than him? How could he live without her? Could he ever put behind him all he’d lived through or was post traumatic stress to be part of him for the rest of his life?
Too many questions and no answers. Normally, feeling as he did, he’d have gone for a motorcycle ride. Today he had to stay here and wait, wait like a woman for her man to return from battle. He shook his head at his foolishness.
The sound of a footstep behind him caused him to whirl. As usual, he’d left his door unlocked. The step had been heavier than John. He looked up and saw a stranger taller and wider than him. What the hell!
“Who are you?” he asked as the man approached him.
“You want to know the name of who kills you?” the man asked with a strange smile.
“Maybe the reason.”
“They call me Boone.”
“But that’s not your name?”
“It is now. I have new name after you killed my brother.”
Given the life he had led as a SEAL, Nick knew that was possible. “And your brother’s name?” he asked. He had his Ruger in the pot along the wall and moved just a bit so it was within easy reach. Given the size of this man, a physical fight might go against him. He was trained in hand-to-hand combat. Maybe this brute was also.
