by Tanya Simon
“I can’t do this.” She whispered to herself.
“You must.” A voice above her said.
Mystery looked up and into the agonized eyes of Ryan. Flesh was hanging from his outstretched arms where she had pulled it lose from gripping them to stop her fall.
“You must.” Ryan whispered.
Mystery woke up screaming, causing Seth to swerve. He pulled the car onto the shoulder and ran around the car to pull Mystery into his arms. She was trembling and crying. He knew from past experiences all he could do was hold her until she pulled herself together. She tentatively wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his chest. When she was calm again, Seth went around and got in the car and finished driving them home.
Mystery stared out into the snow and wished for the millionth time this were all just a nightmare.
She helped Seth bring in his bags and went to make some coffee when they got back to the house. Mystery made sure to keep her distance from Seth and chattered. She told him about the card she had sent Felicity and about the attack Nergal had made on her life. She chattered about the fact they were running low on coffee and creamer. Seth settled at the table and just watched her; when she looked up she saw the sad look on his face, and she knew Seth could tell what was coming. She wished again there were a way to do this without hurting him. She sat his coffee in front of him and he took her hand. She slid it loose when the doorbell rang. Seth buried his face in his hands as Mystery went to let Ryan in. Mystery opened the door and stepped back to let Ryan in. He looked into her face and stopped her as she turned to head back to the kitchen.
“What happened?”
“First, I had one of the most realistic and horrible dreams I’ve had since this thing started. Second, Seth knows what’s coming.”
Ryan leaned in and gave her a quick kiss and rubbed her arms. She turned and headed back into the kitchen, Ryan followed her. Seth looked up when they walked into the room, he noticed how they moved as a unit and he closed his eyes against it; maybe he was just imagining things. Mystery went to the coffee pot and poured Ryan a cup and poured one for herself, then she came and sat next to Ryan at the table. Seth tried to catch her eyes, but she looked down into her coffee.
“Seth, I’m guessing you have already figured out what’s going on.” Ryan took a sip of his coffee, hoping it would open up his throat.
“Yes.” Seth sipped his coffee and looked into his brother’s eyes. “I know you fell in love while you were here facing things, after I ran away. I know you have been denying yourselves so you wouldn’t hurt me.” He looked over at Mystery and when she wouldn’t look up, he took her hand. When she looked at him he continued. “I had hoped Mystery and I could find what we had before all of this, before I ran. But every time I looked into her eyes she would look away. And I knew the only thing I could do was leave you alone to find out if what you thought you were feeling was real.” He looked at Ryan again. “I had my answer the minute you walked into the room together. You were a team in ways Mystery and I never were.”
“I never meant for this to happen, Seth.” Mystery squeezed his hand.
“I know you didn’t and you both were in agony trying not to acknowledge what was between you.”
“So, where does that leave us?” Ryan looked at his brother and his heart bled.
“We’re fine, brother. I can take your hotel room and you can move in here.” Seth stood and began to walk out of the room.
“No way. You are safest here at the house.”
“Ryan, no offense, but the two of you can’t defend me. You have a hard enough time defending yourselves. It’s more than likely since you are what stands between her and Cain, he’ll come after you and leave me alone.” Seth said when Ryan grabbed his arm. “Besides, I can’t stay here and watch the two of you together, I just can’t do it.”
Ryan let go, he wouldn’t have been able to stay and watch day after day either.
“Seth you know about them. They can’t just let you walk away.” Mystery stood and walked over to him. “You know they will come after you.”
“I was safe while I was at the conference. I didn’t even have any nightmares so I should be safe at the hotel. And I’ll get Felicity to give me something stronger for protection.” He walked into the foyer and picked up his bags.
“Seth, Felicity has been under attack herself, she is using all of her power to keep herself safe. She isn’t even protecting the house anymore. We just have the crystals she left. She needs everything to fight Cain. He hasn’t gone after her yet, but it’s only a matter of time.” She stopped in front of him. “Please Seth. Please stay.”
Seth opened the door and looked back at them. “I can’t. I love you both. I’ll call in a couple of days and we’ll talk. I promise if anything happens, I will call you right away.” He went out and softly closed the door behind him.
Mystery and Ryan held each other as they listened to him drive away.
“That went well.” Mystery said sarcastically.
“Actually, it went better than I was expecting it to. My baby brother has quite the temper.”
“Seth? He is the one who tries to avoid the fight; I’m the one who starts them. He’s never lost his temper with me.”
“He used to hate the fact I wouldn’t fight with him when we were little. He would call me preacher boy or worse to try and egg me on. He would usually lose it and just punch me. That would usually work to get the fight he wanted. We would both end up spending time in different corners of the house until Mom cooled off.”
“He never told me.”
“He wasn’t proud of his temper. In fact, I think he took anger management classes when he was still in high school to control it.”
“It would have felt better if he had yelled at us or called me names or something besides quietly accepting it.”
“I know. Maybe that’s why he didn’t.”
Mystery stepped out of his arms and back into the kitchen. “What do you want for dinner?”
“You choose. I chose last night.” He kissed the top of her head. “It will hurt less with time.”
“I know. I love you, Ryan.” She leaned back into him.
“I love you, Mystery. And nothing will ever change that.”
As Naomi followed the dark sedan up the winding one lane road, she couldn’t help but notice the magnificent scenery surrounding her. The Rocky Mountains rose majestically to her right, their peaks capped delicately with snow. Centuries old blue spruce and Colorado aspen spread their ancient limbs to the sun. A gentle mountain creek gurgled as it fed the rich green valley on its journey to the icy rapids of the mighty Colorado River.
Naomi gasped when a bend in the narrow road revealed a deer-speckled meadow surrounded in a protecting circle by gentle rolling hills. Naomi was so taken with the beauty she almost missed seeing the sedan turn into a small grouping of shrubs. She braked and turned after the sedan.
The sedan continued down a narrow dirt trail for several miles. Trees so thick they blocked out the sun thumped their branches on the hood of Naomi’s car as though warning her to turn around.
When the sedan began to slow, Naomi stopped her car in an alcove in the trees and got out. Naomi snuck slowly up the trail and into a gated clearing, and ducked behind a car when she saw the guardhouse. Realizing it was empty she crept further into the clearing. Naomi shivered as a feeling of dread wafted over her. Ignoring it she looked at her surroundings. Several other cars, including the sedan Naomi had followed littered the clearing and Naomi picked her way through them, ducking when a woman dressed in red leather got out of a black sports car.
She watched the woman walk into the cave and disappear into the gloomy darkness. Naomi took a deep breath and followed her. She had to squint to see in the gloom. She inched her way along the clammy walls. Her breathing quickened as the spacious cave gave way to a thin passage with barely enough room for her to fit between the walls. She walked for several minutes and the path widened. Huge to
rches strapped to the walls revealed a spiraling set of stone steps going down into the earth.
Careful to remain in the shadows, Naomi peered over the ledge into the chamber below. She stared, transfixed at the scene below. Hundreds of figures clad in richly colored velvet robes, danced in a circle around a giant blazing bonfire. Their hooded heads gave them an odd androgynous appearance. Naomi watched them and was shocked to feel tears slide down her face at the beauty of the ethereal voices echoing chants off the rock walls.
Her breath hitched as the dancing stopped and the chanting gave way to cheering. In unison they pulled back their hoods and bowed their heads as a tall, dark haired man, resplendent in an emerald green robe made his way to the center of the circle. As one they dropped their cloaks and firelight danced on their naked bodies. A reverent hush hung in the air as a beautiful red haired woman in a brilliant purple robe sauntered through their number and stood on tiptoe to kiss the man in green. He chuckled and pulled her cloak off her shoulders. It pooled around her ankles to reveal her perfect body. She reached up and did the same thing to his robe.
The flames died without sputtering as they both kneeled naked before the stone altar the flames left behind, and bowed their heads. Their followers dropped to their knees. Naomi felt herself becoming aroused as the woman’s sultry voice purred at the followers to be silent. She watched amazed as the fire blazed to life between the redhead and the man and their followers.
“Nos queso vos Lucifer, Satraps of Boreas Regnum, commodo intercede in nostrum pro quod oro nostrum causa per vestri Abbas.” The woman tossed a dried flower into the flames, and they greedily devoured it.
“Precamur Leviathan princeps occidentis auxilio regnum recipere donum operationem nostram in hostem.” She poured water into the flames and they grew higher.
“Nos scisco vos Belial, Satraps of Australis Regnum, sumo nostrum vitualamen quod utor is prolecto secuutus ut nostrum causa.” She poured blood into the flames and they turned red.
“Rogamus Aguares omnipotens Orientali regno nostra da deinde auxilium tutus ex morte ad vitam pervenire Acheron.” She flung a giant ruby into the flames it gleamed, and disappeared.
“Beelzebub, Amplitudo Phasmatis of Vorago, commodo famulor is vitualamen insquequo est tutus in telum autum Satanas. Nema.” The words sounded beautiful to Naomi, so majestic, so musical. She swayed slightly and shook her head to clear it.
Slowly the woman and man got to their feet as the flames died. Naomi’s heart stopped as a young girl with long brown hair approached the altar and removed a white cloak to reveal her nakedness. She knelt in front of the altar and bowed her head. The man reared his head back and shouted, “Natas Sevil!” into the smoky air. The woman ran her finger through the kneeling girl’s hair and looked right at Naomi, her rosebud mouth curling into a tranquil smile. She helped the girl to her feet and turned her to face the man. He kissed the weaving girl’s forehead and helped her onto the altar. The woman handed him a stone bowl, in which he dipped his hand. When he removed it blood dripped from his fingers and he marked something on the girl’s forehead. The woman handed him another bowl and he sprinkled the girl with something from it.
Naomi wanted to leave; to run away from the things she sensed were to come, but her body would not move. Again, the woman looked right at her and smiled, and she handed the man a dagger. Naomi’s heart pounded, they knew she was there, yet they left her alone.
The man dipped the dagger in each bowl and he gripped it with both hands. Raising it above his head he plunged the dagger deep into the girl’s chest, the sound of him tearing bone away filled the moist, cavern air. Naomi screamed in horror as he ripped the still beating heart from the girl’s chest and sunk his animal sharp teeth into it. He turned and smiled at Naomi with blood oozing through his teeth. The man broke into maniacal laughter as blackness enclosed her.
When Naomi came to, she was chained to a cot in a room made of stone. A plain cotton smock had replaced her clothing, her gun was gone and her feet were bare. Strangely, she wasn’t frightened, but more relaxed than she had been since this case had begun. She closed her eyes and would have drifted off to sleep if the heavy wooden door hadn’t opened. She gaped as the man in the emerald robe walked in and sat down in the only other furniture in the room, a rough wooden chair.
“Hello. My name is Cain.” He said with a gleam in his startling blue eyes. “I trust you are alright?” he asked her politely.
“Fine.” Naomi looked around her. “Where am I, and why?”
“You are a guest in my aerie.” He said in a voice that made Naomi’s head spin.
“Your what?” Naomi said sleepily.
“My coven’s meeting place.” He brushed her hair out of her face.
“Why…” she yawned, “am I chained?”
“Questions, questions,” he chuckled, a deep rich chuckle.
“I’m not going to end up like the others am I?”
“No.” He said in total seriousness, his earlier humor gone. “You are not worthy of such an honor.” His eyes glowed.
“Why?” She was mildly shocked her tone sounded as though she was insulted.
“Because only those who are pure can be sent to my Father through the ceremony.” He said indignantly.
“Oh.” She strained against her chains. “So what’s goin’ to happen to me?”
“Well,” He said the gleam returning to his eyes. “I am going to allow you to join our coven, your training will begin tomorrow.” He stood.
“Okay.” Naomi said as she drifted off to sleep.
Mary Kate heaved a sigh of relief, when she finally let herself in her front door and could lock the outside world out. She put down her satchel, took off her holster and kicked off her shoes. Barefoot she padded down the hall and into the kitchen, she opened the freezer and picked a homemade frozen dinner out. She made a mental note she would have to cook this coming weekend, or she would be in take-out land and she hated how she had to exercise off the extra calories. She put the dinner in the microwave and went to her room to change. She put on her pajamas, loving the comforting feeling of cotton on her skin after the hard day she had just put in.
Mary Kate strolled down the hall as the microwave beeped and she stretched trying to relieve the tension in her shoulders. She froze in her tracks, it sounded as though someone were in the guest room, she snuck back to the kitchen and got the gun she kept taped behind the refrigerator, and softly went back down the hall to the guest room. She stood out of the doorframe and swung the door open. After peeking around the corner and noticing no one, she gingerly stepped into the room. There was no one there, and the connecting bath was empty as well, shaking her head at herself she turned out the light and closed the door, but she decided to keep her piece with her. She gathered her dinner and went to sack out in front of the television, a couple of hours of mindless entertainment were just up her alley. She listened to the popular vampire show and wished her hair would stay perfect when she was wrestling with someone twice her size. She laughed at herself when the telephone rang and she jumped.
“Ballard.”
“Just calling to check up on you, I got one of my vibes.” Mary Kate was delighted to hear partner on the other end of the line.
“I scared myself earlier, you probably just sensed it.” Mary Kate turned off the television, she would much rather talk to her partner and best friend.
“How?”
“I thought I heard someone in the guest room and I went all commando, and there was nobody there.” Mary Kate admitted sheepishly.
“Are you sure no one was there?” Felicity said in her stern voice.
“Yes, mom. I am sure no one was there.”
“Just be careful.”
“I will.”
“Wear the talisman I gave you at all times, even when you shower. It should offer you some protection.”
“I will.” Mary Kate couldn’t stifle her yawn. “I think I am going to turn in.”
“Okay, sleep well
, my little friend.” Felicity said with a smile in her voice.
“You too, my big friend.” Mary Kate laughed as she hung up.
She took her dishes into the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher, turned out all the lights and went to bed.
Several hours later, she was awakened by something. Instinctively she reached for the gun under the pillow and slowly sat up, scanning the room for an intruder. Seeing nothing she got up and quietly approached her door. The smell of rotting flesh filled her nostrils and she stopped just before she opened the door. She turned and ran for her bed, just as the door burst open and a half-rotted demon with oozing sores lumbered into her room. She held tightly to the talisman around her neck and prayed fervently the protective circle Felicity had put under the bed would be enough. The demon snarled at her and she could smell the flesh hanging in its razor sharp teeth. It threw itself against the barrier again and again, getting angrier each time it didn’t give. It fixed its pussy eyes on her and sneered.
