Crossroads

by Wendy Saunders

  He hissed and stalked the edge of the barrier, baring his rotten teeth, his face livid with rage.

  ‘He looks very angry,’ she smiled delightedly.

  ‘Yes he does,’ Isabel replied mildly, ‘but his mood doesn’t concern me. I have told you what I want, can you give it to me or not?’

  ‘Of course I can,’ she spread her hands widely. ‘There’s very little I can’t do, but that kind of power won’t come cheap. The question is, what are you willing to pay?’

  ‘Name your price.’

  Isabel watched as the old woman studied her carefully. She tugged at the long lone hair protruding from her chin and sucked her teeth loudly in consideration.

  ‘Well,’ she murmured, ‘your request is not uncommon and it is really upsetting Nathaniel, which is very pleasing to me and so I am willing to deal.’ She beckoned Isabel closer with one craggy finger.

  Isabel leaned in as the old woman whispered in her ear. Her eyes widened a fraction and she turned sharply towards her, almost as if to ascertain if she was serious. She took an unconscious step back, her face troubled.

  ‘Not so easy when it actually has a price on it, is it?’

  Isabel stared at her, her mind churning. Everything she had ever wanted was right there within her grasp, all she had to do was reach out and take it. There was a small voice at the back of her mind telling her that it was too much, the price was too steep, that she would lose something she would never get back. But that voice was pushed ruthlessly aside and when she straightened her spine and stared straight into the old woman’s eyes she nodded slowly.

  ‘Agreed.’

  She clapped her hands together in delight, cackling loudly.

  ‘Very well, let us shake on it and be aware that it is binding, there is no changing your mind or going back now.’

  ‘I understand.’

  She held her hand out and Isabel reached out and clasped it firmly, gasping loudly as she felt a strange kind of wrenching deep inside her. Suddenly her body flooded with energy. She could feel the heady whip of power as it flooded her veins like adrenalin, while her mind was filled with centuries upon centuries of knowledge. As her hand was released she stumbled back gasping heavily. Her heart rate gradually began to settle and she straightened, her eyes no longer the warm aged whiskey color of the West women but now a bright vivid lavender. She ran her fingertips gently across the raised skin of her burn scar and felt as it smoothed out and disappeared. Her hair darkened from dark brown to black and the white streak at her temple disappeared. She stared down at her hands, turning them over as her skin tingled with a power so vast it made her want to rip the top off a mountain, just to see if she could.

  ‘Intoxicating isn’t it?’ the old woman’s eyes glimmered in amusement.

  ‘It’s incredible,’ Isabel whispered. ‘All my life I’ve felt the lack, known every woman in my family was strong with the magical gift but not me. I had to strain for it, to beg, borrow or steal the power but not anymore, now there is nothing I can’t do and once I have the book in my possession there will be no one to rival me.’

  ‘Be very careful Isabel’ she replied, ‘it does not come without a warning. Absolute power, corrupts absolutely. Be very careful you are not consumed by it.’

  Isabel cast a cold smile in her direction before turning back to the seething mad demon growling on the other side of the barrier.

  ‘You can release him now,’ Isabel told her. ‘I will deal with him.’

  The old woman smiled cagily.

  ‘The deal is done’ she shrugged, and the barrier disappeared.

  ‘ISABEL!’ he roared flying towards her, his rage palpable.

  ‘Stop,’ she held her hand up lazily and he froze, struggling as if he were held captive by invisible bindings. ‘Stupid demon,’ she spoke coolly her voice laced with disdain, ‘you’re even more arrogant than I am. Did you really think I didn’t know you were manipulating me? I’ve know it ever since you first started whispering to me from Hester’s devil’s trap.’ She shook her head, ‘and you thought I didn’t have any patience. I knew that sooner or later you would have to bring me to the Crossroads because you needed a human to make a deal.’ She leaned in close to him as he bared his teeth at her. ‘You were so busy gloating at a West woman who didn’t have the strong magical gifts of her predecessors, that you didn’t stop to fully understand the gifts I did possess. I’ve been able to read your intentions since the first day, every plan, every machination all there, wide open like a book. It was so easy to play you, to allow you to believe you had control of me.’

  ‘Why?’ he growled, ‘why keep up the pretense?’

  ‘Because it amused me to play you at your own game,’ she scoffed. ‘Did you think I didn’t know why you were really destroying the Crossroads? That I didn’t know what you took from the keepers?’ she sneered, ‘such a shame it was all in vain. You see you will never be free; you will stay locked up in that meat suit I put you in until I decide to let you out.’

  ‘It’s too late Isabel,’ he hissed, ‘it is already weakened. It is only a matter of time until it breaks down and then I am going to rip your throat out…’

  ‘You think so?’ she laughed.

  She raised her hands slowly and mimed tying two laces together and knotting them tightly. Nathaniel hissed in pain as the rotting flesh of his body, which had split open and begun to decay, suddenly wrenched itself back together and sealed itself shut. Large, angry looking stitches began to appear all over his face and body, closing all the gaps and pulling the suit of flesh back together tightly. When she had finished he stared at her hatefully, looking even more like Frankenstein’s monster than he had before.

  ‘There,’ she smiled sweetly, ‘all tucked in safe and sound.’

  ‘You bitch,’ he spat.

  ‘You’re welcome. Now for the finishing touch, just in case you have any more doubts as to who is in charge.’

  She snapped her fingers and two large shiny metal cuffs appeared at each wrist, the kind that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a genie in a magic lamp.

  ‘What have you done?’ he growled, struggling against the invisible bonds holding him.

  ‘That…’ she smiled cruelly, ‘is a Witch binding and trust me Nathaniel, those cuffs make your demon collar look like a Tiffany necklace.’

  He growled and struggled even more. ‘I’m going to strip the flesh from your corpse you fucking bitch.’

  ‘Temper, temper,’ she tutted. ‘You’re not going to do anything of the sort,’ she smiled gloatingly, ‘those cuffs not only suppress any supernatural abilities but they also bind you to my will. You are my slave now. You no longer have any free will. Welcome to a life of servitude.’

  ‘NO!’ he growled.

  Isabel yawned, ‘that’s enough Nathaniel, you’re really are becoming quite annoying now.’

  She flicked her wrist and several vicious looking stitches appeared across his mouth, firmly sealing it shut.

  The old woman howled with laughter while Nathaniel glared at her murderously.

  ‘There, that’s better’ Isabel told him. ‘Did you ever wonder why you were never able to take the book from my family Nathaniel?’ She waited pleasantly for him to answer, knowing full well he couldn’t. ‘No? It’s because you were never meant to have it. You continually underestimated the West women, including me and now you are going to stand by my side and bear witness as I gain possession of the book, because it was always meant to be mine…’

  He stared at her in hate filled silence.

  ‘You know; she wouldn’t have been able to tell you the location of the book even if I had asked for it.’

  His eyes cut across to the keeper who was now rocking in her chair comfortably, smoking a long strange thin looking pipe.

  ‘She’s right,’ the keeper nodded.

  ‘See, there you go’ Isabel continued, as his eyes swiveled back to her. ‘Underestimating the Wests again. If
Hester was powerful enough to seal you in a devil’s trap for three hundred years, do you really think she wasn’t able to hide the book somewhere you’d never find it? She was an incredibly gifted seer, she knew you’d find a way to the Crossroad and so she devised a way to conceal it from every supernatural creature, including a Crossroad keeper.’

  She released the invisible bonds holding him and he didn’t move, just stood there staring at her.

  ‘It was hidden by a West and it has to be found by a West,’ she smiled coldly. ‘Have you figured it out yet? To find the book you must first find Hester before she comes into her gifts fully, before she can see ahead to the Crossroads, back to when the book first passed into her possession.’

  His eyes widened in understanding but he was unable to say anything.

  ‘That’s right’ she smiled, as she gestured absently and the air behind her began to ripple, throbbing with a strange purple light. ‘We’re going back to the night you murdered her mother.’

  Cora stepped back frowning.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Charles asked in concern.

  ‘I can’t pull them back from the Otherworld’ she replied, ‘because they are not there.’

  ‘What? Where the hell are they then?’

  ‘Shush,’ she gestured at him absently as she closed her eyes and concentrated.

  He dropped down on his haunches, watching her as she sat cross legged on the floor amidst all the scattered herbs and candles, waiting patiently. Minutes passed and he grew anxious. When she opened her eyes and looked at him directly the feeling only intensified.

  ‘They are in the Underworld.’

  ‘No,’ he shook his head in denial, ‘it’s not possible, there’s no way.’

  She frowned again as she focused on them. ‘It’s difficult to tell what’s happening but they are in Tartarus, the lowest most dangerous pit of the Underworld.’

  ‘Tartarus?’ he breathed heavily as full blown panic began to set in. It was the feeling only a parent could know, the feeling of utter helplessness when your child is in danger. ‘That’s where Zeus cast down the Titans.’

  ‘I know’ she mused. ‘It’s weird, I can’t focus on them. It’s like they keep phasing in and out of sync with everything else, like they’re someplace separate and yet not. I can’t really describe it.’

  ‘You have to pull them out.’

  ‘I can’t,’ she stood abruptly and dusted the herbs from her dress.

  ‘What do you mean you can’t?’ he scowled. ‘We had a deal.’

  ‘We had a deal for a ride out of the Otherworld,’ she told him bluntly. ‘Tartarus is Hades’ domain and no offense but you’ve paid nowhere near enough. One favor is not enough for me to go up against a God.’

  ‘Then how much is enough.’

  ‘Cher, can you hear yourself? Some things should not be messed with. If they are in Tartarus, then there’s probably a good reason why they’re there.’

  ‘There is no good reason to be in Tartarus,’ he disagreed. ‘I want her back, I don’t care if I have to sell my soul to Lucifer himself.’

  ‘Lucifer has no authority in Tartarus,’ she replied dryly.

  ‘Stop being deliberately obtuse,’ he growled, ‘can you bring them back or not?’

  ‘It’s a lot more difficult,’ she scowled back at him. ‘At best I could only bring one of them back, not two.’

  Charles closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. If he only brought Olivia back and left Theo in the Underworld there was a good chance his daughter would never speak to him again. She’d certainly never forgive him. But really, what choice did he have? He had to get her back. Okay, so she probably wouldn’t speak to him ever again but at least she would be alive and back in the real world where she belonged. His heart ached at such an impossible choice. If he brought her back, he’d still lose her anyway. He slowly opened his eyes and fixed them on Cora.

  ‘Name the terms.’

  ‘Cher, I urge you to reconsider.’

  ‘Name the terms,’ he repeated slowly.

  ‘Fine,’ she replied coolly. ‘I want your ability to plant suggestions in people’s minds.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You think this is a walk in the park for me? You’re asking me to spring someone from the Underworld, to go up against a God? The price has to be worth the risk and mind control is a very rare gift indeed.’

  He didn’t even want to think about why she wanted his ability to plant thoughts in people’s minds, his conscience could only take so much in one day.

  ‘Fine,’ he whispered, ‘just bring her back.’

  ‘Damn, Cher’ she shook her head as she retrieved a small glass ampule from a nearby shelf, ‘she must really mean a lot to you.’

  ‘You have no idea,’ he muttered.

  She removed the glass stopper and stood in front of him. ‘Are you absolutely certain about this Cher? There are no refunds.’

  He nodded silently.

  Sighing in resignation she began to speak in a low tongue he couldn’t understand, something ancient with a strange guttural quality to it. A tickle began at the back of his throat and he coughed. She continued to mutter and the tickle got worse and suddenly he was coughing uncontrollably, trying to suck air into his oxygen starved lungs, but something felt as if it were trying to force its way up and out of his throat. He gave a final cough and heaved, as a pale amber colored mist smoked out from between his lips. Cora scooped it up in the ampule and replaced the stopper. Charles dragged a deep lungful of air into his chest, blinking rapidly to clear his watery eyes, his gaze fixed on the swirling amber smoke in the ampule.

  ‘Okay then,’ Cora shook her head, slipping the ampule into her pocket as she began to remove various other containers from the shelves, emptying them out and arranging things on the ground, adding to the symbols and sigils. She stood slightly off center and raised her arms, her voice once again beginning to murmur in the strange guttural language.

  ‘I truly hope she forgives you for this Cher,’ she murmured as the candles suddenly flared up, the flames burning with a bright green fire.

  Sam leapt forward as the demons began spilling out of the tunnel, desperately trying to reach Olivia. Theo also rushed forward running one of them through, as Sam swung his sword and decapitated another.

  ‘OLIVIA OPEN THE DOOR!’ Theo yelled.

  She scrambled towards the entrance to the Crossroad and grasped onto the metal handle, turning it and swinging the door open.

  Both of them began edging back towards the open gateway.

  ‘Theo go!’ Sam swung in front of him, blocking another demon.

  ‘Not without you,’ Theo ducked under Sam’s arm and slid his blade easily through the demon in front of him.

  They looked at each other and then both dived through the gateway as Olivia moved to shut the door. Several demons rushed forward to stop them, but the second their skin touched the door it began to blacken and smoke, causing them to howl in pain and release their grip. The door swung shut with a resounding crack. Breathing heavily Olivia turned towards the center of the Crossroad, where ahead of her she could see a strange purple glow. In front of it was her mother and Nathaniel.

  ‘NO!’ she shouted and took off. Pulling out her bow while on the run, she took aim and let loose a black bolt.

  Isabel turned at the sound of her daughter’s voice. She saw her rushing towards them with a blazing bow made of pure blue flame and letting loose a bolt. She smiled as the bolt hit her shield and exploded in a shower of black sparks and when they had cleared, both she and Nathaniel were gone.

  ‘NO!’ Olivia screamed in frustration.

  ‘I could help you, you know,’ a crackly voice spoke from the shadows.

  Olivia jumped and turned her bow in the direction of the voice. ‘Step into the light,’ she replied, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

  An old woman hobbled out onto the Crossroad. Olivia could see she had been sitt
ing in an old fashioned wooden rocking chair, and her bleak shapeless knitting was in a basket sitting beside it. The woman herself had iron grey hair underneath a strange looking knitted hat. Her face was old and lined, with a wicked long hair poking out of her chin. She wore an old fashioned dress with a shabby moth-eaten shawl around her hunched shoulders which crossed over her chest and was tied up at the small of her back. In fact, the woman wouldn’t have looked out of place during the French Revolution, sitting at the bottom of the steps of Madame la Guillotine watching the Aristos being led to their deaths. She looked like the kind who would sit there cackling in delight as heads rolled.

  ‘You’re the keeper?’ Olivia asked suspiciously.

  ‘Yes’ she nodded, eying Olivia’s bow with interest, before her gaze flickered to the two large dragonflies hovering over her shoulder.

  ‘What’s your name?’ Olivia lowered her bow slowly.

  The old woman looked at Olivia slightly puzzled, as if no one had ever bothered to ask before.

  ‘Marguerite,’ she replied after a moment, ambling slightly closer to Olivia and looking over in curiosity as Sam and Theo appeared by her side.

  ‘The woman who was just here...’

  ‘Yes’ Marguerite replied, ‘you’re her daughter aren’t you?’

  ‘Unfortunately.’

  ‘You look like her,’ her eyes narrowed as she studied Olivia intently.

  ‘So I’m told,’ she answered coolly. ‘Did she make a deal?’

  ‘She did.’

  ‘And what was it? What did she ask for?’

  ‘Sorry,’ Marguerite grinned, revealing dirty rotting teeth. ‘Don’t ask, can’t tell.’

  ‘Where did you send her then?’

  ‘I didn’t send her nowhere,’ she shook her head.

  ‘You must’ve,’ she murmured thoughtfully, ‘she doesn’t have the magical ability to open a portal herself. That takes a lot of power.’

  Suddenly understanding, she turned back to the old woman. ‘That’s what she asked for, wasn’t it? She asked for power?’