by K. F. Breene
“Are we really going in without a plan?” Callie asked, bending over beside me wearing night-vision goggles. Dizzy leaned on the other side, both of them clearly sticking out above the car and apparently not caring. Then again, though they were spry and didn’t look it at all, they’d revealed they were in their sixties. Jumping up from a crouch was probably not in their arsenal.
“I’m going to cut through that spell, bust into the house, and see what happens.” I patted my weapons. They were all present and accounted for.
“That’s it? Just take it as it comes?” Callie asked.
“Yup. That’s the thing with criminals—when they get cornered they’re more violent and largely unpredictable. I’m usually the one who corners them, so…”
“She wasn’t knocking your style,” Dizzy whispered. “She’s excited. I would like to say, however, that I do not like this plan. It’s not my style at all.”
“Are you ready, Dizzy?” Callie asked.
“No.”
“That’s his yes.” Callie nudged me. “Let’s go. We need to analyze that spell as you cut through it. It wouldn’t hurt to get more acquainted with your magic, either.”
“This is crazy,” I said, looking around the empty lane in front of the house. It was deep into the night. “Having you along is crazy.”
“Yes,” Dizzy affirmed.
“He means no, it’s not. C’mon.” Callie nudged me again.
“You two have some serious consent issues with each other.” Taking a deep breath, I stalked forward and pulled out my sword, staring at the blackened windows, the drawn shades. My pouch was open at my waist, carrying all the spells I could fit in it, including the essentials for which Callie and Dizzy had refused compensation.
“Okay, here we go,” I whispered, hoping the other two could hear me.
The vibration of magic buzzed through my veins as I neared the hedge. Getting closer, I identified two different spells. The walkway to the front door was protected by the same block that had closed off the path to the unicorns’ island. This one was weaker in power.
I moved to the hedge, feeling that spell out. Less power still, cast by a different mage lacking finesse and an understanding of the craft. It was piecemeal, almost, like someone not very focused had muddled their way through the incantation.
“These people are still learning their craft,” Callie whispered as she walked closer.
“Get back,” I seethed, motioning her away. “Someone is liable to jump out. You never know.”
“Oh, hush.” She pushed me aside and opened her hand, revealing a small handful of herbs. Though she didn’t utter any words, the small mixture puffed up purple smoke. It grew into a sort of fog and drifted toward the spell, filling in the narrow opening. She wiped off her hand before digging some leaves out of her satchel. “Crush and blow, dear.” She handed them to Dizzy, who’d walked up behind her in a hunch. “Crush and blow.”
Dizzy took what was offered and, visibly shaking, crunched up the leaves in his fist. Also without muttering any words, he flung the leaves at the lingering purple haze. The two spells merged and started to circle, the leaves caught in a whirlwind, turning around and around. The swirling haze gradually turned orange, and then violet, before lightening to a pastel pink. A blast of light soundlessly filled the gap in the hedge before rocketing ten feet into the air. Slowly, it fizzled out. The magic within vanished with it, not even leaving a residue.
“Wow. That’s handy,” I whispered.
“You have the power, you just need the education,” Callie said, turning toward the hedge.
“I meant, handy if you aren’t me.” I grinned and barely stopped myself from powering up my blade. I’d almost forgotten that I didn’t have to do that anymore. I stabbed forward, piercing the middle of the other spell. It frayed. Too easy.
“Get back!” I yelled, leaping over the hedge.
The door burst open and a green blast shot out, too far right. Another came right for me. I slashed at it, breaking it apart as though it were paper. He shifted, which was when I saw the staff pointed toward me.
Who was this guy, Gandalf?
I threw on the brakes and dove to the side as a rush of air barely missed my arm. Hopping up, I was readying for the next spell projectile when a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky. It let out a boom as it hit the mage, spitting light and electricity. He convulsed where he stood and dropped the staff, which blasted out another rush of air. It hit the hedge and frosted it over. His body fell, smoke rising from his burning hair.
“Holy sugar tits, Batman,” I said, out of breath and looking skyward. When I glanced back, Callie had a huge grin on her face. Dizzy burped like he might be close to throwing up, but he shot me a weary thumbs-up. “It’d be worth learning magic just for that,” I muttered.
I eyed the door but ran alongside the house instead. If there were others in that house, they were waiting for my grand entrance.
I stopped down a ways and dug out one of the extremely volatile spells I’d lifted from John. After placing it by the wall, I picked up a rock and threw it on the casing. The spell exploded, releasing darts of red as it did so. Bricks spat out in every direction, melting once they hit the ground. I cut through the aftershock of useless magic unable to take shape—he’d missed the second half of that spell—feeling a disturbing prickle along my skin. Ignoring it, and hoping that decision wasn’t a really bad move, I launched into the house, sword in hand.
Two guys were staggering up from beside the front door.
“Surprise!” I yelled as I threw a casing. It hit between the two and roared to life, crackling and sputtering acid. One of the mages jerked away and screamed, the thing in his hand falling to the ground. Whatever it was started clawing up him, freezing his leg in place as it did so.
The other mage already had a casing broken and ready, and he shot a hex toward me. I dropped like a stone, hitting the ground and rolling to the side. The spell splatted against the back wall and ballooned into a bubble before freezing solid.
So, they’d not only expected me, they were trying to capture me.
Fat chance.
I flung out a capsule filled with black powder—I didn’t just fight with magic. It hit the man and fell uselessly to the ground. He laughed like a moron and dug in his pocket. I threw two more spells, aimed at their feet.
“Women can’t do magic,” his pal said, cackling. They were both loony-tunes.
The first had another spell out. He crushed it between his fingers, a slick smile on his face. He thought he was really good at this magicking stuff, I could tell.
The house started to rumble. The walls shook.
Crap, maybe he was right.
Like a dart, green shot out from between his fingers. Unfazed, I quickly cut it out of the air and waited for what came next. The structure around me screamed. Fissure lines cut through the paint on the walls.
The two spells I’d rolled released, purposefully delayed. Flames spurted out, lashing the more active mage’s legs with heat. It ignited the black powder, which exploded. His feet flew out from under him as the house roared around us.
Heart in my throat—the power was way greater than this dopey pair should be capable of—I ran out of the hole I’d created in the wall. I had to get Callie and Dizzy to safety before I came back and figured out how to beat this surge of power. There had to be someone else pulling the magical strings.
Bricks ground into each other.
“Get clear,” Callie shouted from somewhere behind the hedge.
“You get clear,” I yelled back, running at them. “Get out of here. I’ll handle it.”
A groan sounded right before an enormous crash. The walls blew out the side of the house, and part of it flattened, like a giant hand had swatted it down.
I dove behind the hedge. Bricks flew over and rolled along the ground. I belatedly realized that a wall of magic buffered the hedge, keeping the bricks from shooting through it.
I saw
two pairs of lit-up green goggles fifteen feet away—the Bankses. Like usual, they were arguing about something.
“Are you guys okay?” I asked, army-crawling to them.
“Are you okay?” they replied, speaking together.
“Yeah. Thanks for the magical wall.” I drew up next to them but didn’t rise off my belly. “Duck. Get your head down.”
“I told him you’d get clear,” Callie said.
“It was too close. We should’ve told her we were using that one,” Dizzy replied angrily.
“We didn’t even know we were going to use it; how could we have told her?” Callie said.
I peeked up over the greenery, surveying the ruined residence. That was when what they were saying sank in. Well, that and the fact that the house had been flattened right where the mages were standing.
“You guys did this?” I asked, more than a little in awe. I’d never seen anything like it, not on such a large scale.
Callie’s head came around, her state-of-the-art, badass goggles not matching the pink velvet sweats—she’d refused to change, wanting to be comfortable in the battle. “Of course. Now hurry, make sure we got everyone.” She turned back to Dizzy. “We gave them far too much warning.”
“It’s ten square feet of a house!”
“Still, we should—”
I didn’t wait around. I hopped up and ran around the non-flattened area, feeling clunky spells meant to either keep people out or warn of intruders. On the other side, I ran past a shed, waiting for something to surge out after me. Nothing happened. Further on, at the rear portion of the flattened area, I spied two legs sticking out of the rubble. He’d been at a back door, or maybe he’d been trying to get free. Either way, he hadn’t made it out.
Good news for me.
Back around the intact area, I put away my sword and snatched out my gun before kicking in a side door. I ducked in, ready to shoot. It was the master bedroom, with a messy bed and dresser. Lived in, but no one was there at present. A quick check under the bed and in the closet cemented that. I checked the bathroom next, and the room next to it. All empty.
House locked down, it was time to see if there were garden tools in that shed, or a mage fighting a demon for control of his body.
Gun in my left hand and sword in my right, I advanced slowly, feeling a pulse of magic. Filthy and violent residual magic lingered within a defensive spell, hinting at the dark deeds that had been done in the shed.
Taking a deep breath, because I had a feeling I knew what awaited me, I put my blade to the spell. I recognized the particular currents as the powerful mage’s. I had no way of knowing for sure, but I’d bet this was all him, without the help of a demon. It was far weaker, for one, and more controlled. The spell work didn’t seem as erratic as the stronger spells.
“What do you have?” Callie came around the house slowly, with her hands out like feelers. Dizzy was right beside her, studying the ground.
“Not as much power in this spell.” I finished slicing through. “You know what would be great? If you guys could design a sword that sucks in the power from the spell and stores that. Is that possible?”
Dizzy’s head snapped up. He looked at his wife.
“I have no idea,” she said.
“How is this the first time that has occurred to you?” I muttered, grabbing the rusty handle.
“Most people can’t use swords like that, remember?” Dizzy said. “But…it’s the same principle. Kind of.”
“Maybe it could work with her magic,” Callie said, looking at Dizzy.
“Here we go.” I opened the door slowly, waiting for something horrible to jump out at me. The air was still and stuffy, flavored with a sweet stench. I took a step forward, feeling the clenching of my body that meant something dead and gross was about to enter my world.
Red splatters cut repeatedly across a white chalk line, forming a circle that took up most of the floor space. Within the circle, figures and lines spelled out a complex spell I’d seen in many books. Though the characters lining the edges were different than I remembered, the idea was the same. On one side, nearest the door, there were three more characters just outside the circle. I’d always thought of that as a doorway. My mark was definitely toying with possession, and he’d done it here with a three- or four-level demon. Such a demon was, in essence, middle tier when it came to power, which meant it would give the mage a pretty hefty bump.
At the other end of the shed lay a mangled carcass crawling with maggots. Blood had once oozed from under it, but it had since congealed into a dark, syrupy mess.
“That is super gross.” After identifying the animal as a calf, I snapped a picture of the circle with my phone and stepped outside for a breath of fresh air.
“Is it safe?” Callie asked, peering into the shed.
“You have the power to flatten a house, and you’re asking me if it’s safe?” I chuckled and cleared out of the way.
“Just a small portion of a house, actually.” Dizzy stood near the door of the shed. “That spell took us a couple months of power storage. This is an entirely different situation. We can’t sense power, magic, or spells like you can. You are so much fun to explore with. If it weren’t for the danger, I’d love to glue myself by your side. You know what we should do? We should create a magical obstacle course and walk with you as you work your way through it. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?”
“Is it safe?” Callie asked again, louder.
“It’s safe, but there’s a carcass in the corner.” I vaguely pointed, trying to scrub the image from my mind. Death was one thing, but a twisted body and splintered bones covered in maggots was entirely different.
A moment later they were discussing the circle and the type of incantations used, commenting on the power and ability of the demon the mage had summoned. I’d catalogued most of that and was now thinking about Darius. Dizzy was certain he would turn up at their house looking for me. Dizzy had left a magical note in Latin, something he said Darius would be able to decode, telling him where we’d gone.
I checked the time. It was edging into the small hours of the morning. If Darius had planned to find me, he would’ve done so by now.
“He’s not naturally powerful,” Callie said as she emerged from the shed. “He’s less than middle tier.”
“How do you know?” I matched her pace as she walked around the house, leaving Dizzy behind. The slow pulse of insects throbbed in the night.
“That circle.” She scratched her head. “He had to sacrifice a large animal to reach the power level to use it. I worked backward from there. The ability to pull off the possession confuses me. You’re sure he actually took the demon into himself?”
“Positive.”
“That circle was calling a level-three demon. There are six power levels, with Lucifer himself being the only one at level six. So three is not too shabby. With the sacrifice, he could get it into the circle. That circle was well made. He’s done his homework. Once in the circle, I have every belief he could keep it there.”
“You’re wondering how he got the power boost to get the demon into his body?” I asked.
“Exactly. Usually a possession is more about opening the body, like providing yourself as a vessel to be filled by the god or goddess who chooses you. They choose you, not the other way around. The mage’s initial progression through the circle was aided by the various herbs and other plants he tossed in with that carcass,” she said, vaguely motioning around her. I grimaced, having missed that detail. “But a lower-level mage would need a substantial boost to ingest such a powerful demon. And that higher level would need to be sustained for the duration of the demon’s stay. Otherwise, the demon would overtake the body after a single night.”
The boost was the unicorn blood. It had to be. But I couldn’t tell her that.
“In other words,” I said, “as long as he keeps sacrificing and getting that boost, I have a powerful mage to look forward to. And he’d surely do all that before one
of his rallies.”
“Surely. He has to look like he’s all-powerful to attract the power-hungry sheep.” She waved that thought away and shook her head. “The boost couldn’t be vampire blood. It doesn’t work like that.”
“I know.”
“You know what it is, don’t you?”
“I know nothing.”
We walked through the hedge and to the car, a beat-up old station wagon that Dizzy referred to as his “company car.” I had made a plea to take his aforementioned Cadillac, but Callie hadn’t wanted to risk getting it scratched. After seeing what they’d done to the house, I got it.
“It would sure be nice for you to pass on what you know,” she said. “But since this guy is being hunted by vampires and a hired gun, I suppose it’s better not to know.”
“It is definitely better not to know, for a great many reasons.”
“Oh yeah, like that helped my burning curiosity. Thanks.” She leaned against the car. “If he has that demon in his body, your best bet is to wait him out. Wait until the boost dies down, if it ever does. When he’s struggling for control of his own body, or better, kicks the demon out, then you take him down.”
“And if he can keep upping his boost?”
She thinned her lips and took off her goggles. “You use our spells, the ones that don’t require an elaborate incantation, get close, and stab him.”
“You guys don’t even use incantations.”
“Spells don’t have ears. The point of words is to focus the mind of the caster on what they’re doing, what they should be feeling, and their expectations of the casting. When witches or mages are trained, they use a combination of words and actions to achieve that focus. Once it becomes second nature, they can go one of two ways. The most common is to continue to use the words and actions, but once that path is forged, it becomes like a rut. Getting out of that rut often takes retraining.
“Dizzy and I, before we’d even met and formed the dual-mage bond, decided to take the harder path. We continued training, first taking away the actions, and then taking away the words. It requires more focus. More patience and practice. But now, we can cast most spells almost instantly—no words and minimal action required.”
