"Queen Maab! What are you doing?" Her guests called out. "It is a fair trade!"
"I do what I want!" Maab screamed as she pointed at me again and again I ducked away from her—just not fast enough. Something struck my shoe and my foot and ankle went numb. It gave way under me and I landed behind a woman with an incredibly huge skirt.
I heard Mike's gun go off and then a hush. Mike knelt over me. "You okay?"
"I can't feel…" I had to re-evaluate. "I can't feel my leg."
"That's because it's stone," he said as he tried to help me up.
The woman whose skirt I hid behind grabbed Mike's shoulder. He started to bring the gun up to fire at her but she pushed it down and whispered. "If you haven't eaten or drank anything here, her magic cannot harm you for long. Your friend will revert back to herself in a few seconds, but you've got to leave!"
I stared at her face. She sounded and looked so…familiar. I noticed the fur on her dress. At her neckline and then at her wrists. Wolf fur.
A pendant at her neck moved in the subdued light. A silver disk with the carving of a gnarled tree, a flame and a howling wolf. I recognized the image—but from where?
"Dags—" Mike said as he supported me.
"Did you shoot her?" I asked as I looked away from her to Mike.
"Right between the eyes. It won't keep her down but it'll keep her—"
A scream pierced the conversation and guests scattered to the farthest ends of the garden. That left me and Mike facing a very pissed off Queen Maab with a bleeding bullet hole through her forehead. Blood black as tar streamed to either side of her nose like war paint. Her skin bleached white and her hair turned black. And oh God she was tall.
A familiar tingling started behind at my back, between my shoulder blades. I held onto Mike and tried to remain standing, but my good knee buckled as I lost control of it and Mike had to fully support my weight as well as hold his gun steady on Maab.
"Dags….I'm losing you."
And he was. I lost all feeling from the waist down and now it was working up over my stomach and my lungs—
I gasped. No! I couldn't breathe and tried to hold onto Mike. He looked from me to Maab and back and finally leaned over enough for me to roll into the ground, gasping like a fish out of water.
"Are you sure your trade is for your daughter?" She mocked him and laughed as she took a rumbling step closer. "Maybe you should choose between saving your friends?"
"Make a wish for the mantle," said a crow as it landed on the top of a woman's tall wig. "Fair trade, make a wish!"
"Shut up, Puck!" She pointed at the bird and something black shot from her finger. The crow avoided the hit and disappeared.
All the guests were nodding in agreement.
Mike leveled the gun at Maab again. "I know that bullet hurts. And I've got plenty more. Now, you can hand me over my daughter and return my friends to normal, or I can start shooting you and your guests."
What guests remained yelled and started running about.
Maab laughed. "Give me my mantle or I'll kill them both!"
The crow returned. "Liar! Liar! Maab's on fire!" Puck called out again and took off.
Mike aimed at her face. "He's right. You're a liar and you'll never have this mantle."
"Enough!" She charged at Mike, but something struck her from the left side and knocked her several feet into a line of guests. Mike and I both looked over to see the upper part of Sam's body moving from the fountain, but she was still stone from there down. Apparently she'd fired off some kind of magic whammy at the raving bitch of a queen.
"Sam!" Mike started toward her.
"Dags!" she screamed. "Use the damned book!"
I wanted to call out and remind her that Hob said not to—but then Hob had betrayed us. And I knew she was thinking the same thing. It was a bitch to concentrate on the book when I couldn't breathe. But it didn't seem to matter as the images came fast and I was knocked out of the driver's seat once again.
The stone spell was vanishing for me same as it was for Sam. Air rushed into my lungs as I bounced onto my still numb feet. A flaming black sword sprang from my left hand and I grabbed it in both as I took a ready stance facing Queen Maab as she got back to her feet.
"You!" Recognition raged behind her eyes and she produced a sword to match my own. "I know you know. You destroyed my Cairn."
"You destroyed your Cairn, you dumb-ass." I heard myself say. I actually forced an attack with a hacking slash. Maab defended with a strong parry and then tried to undercut with a turn. But whomever was driving my body knew what they were doing and managed to twist in a way I couldn't have as I jumped over the swinging blade and hacked at the side of Maab's neck.
The blade actually struck home but didn't go cleanly through. Not enough momentum and thrust and I was at an odd angle. I didn't actually know all this, but the driver did.
I pulled back quick as she tried to swing her blade and missed—but then she was working on a half-decapitation and to my horror, didn't seem to mind. She screamed again—though with what I didn't want to guess—and pushed the blade straight at me as if she were going to skewer me like a shish-kabob. I moved to the right when I believed she was about to strike, certain her momentum would carry her through and past me and I could hack from the back to remove her head—but that's not what she did.
Maab apparently figured out what I was going to do before I did it, so instead of carrying the thrust through she slowed enough to see which direction I'd go and moved with me. She wasn't close enough to actually pierce me so she slashed before she lost her footing. The strike hit my side and the agony that came with it knocked the driver right out of the bus. I was alone and in control and rolling on the ground and bleeding. Curling up in a fetal curl seemed the right thing to do as I lost sensation on that side.
I watched Maab stomp toward me, dragging her sword on the ground. Mine was gone; back to whatever place the Grimoire created it. She stood over me, her head precariously sitting on her neck. I could see the tear and slice my blade had made at the angle she was standing. I realized she was balancing to keep it on. How could any creature survive that kind of damage? Was she immortal?
"Now my little thing," she said in a scratchy and liquid filled voice. Black blood pooled over the slice and ran down her chest. It also ran out of her mouth as she talked. "Time to find out what exactly you are and why you smell like an Angel and a Demon. So let's do a little carving—" she raised her sword up, the pointy end aimed at my chest.
More screams erupted behind me, scaring the shit out of me. I thought she'd already struck and I missed it because I was delirious—until I saw a wolf bound over me and lunge at Maab, its large jaws opened. Both of them went down and I saw something bounce to the side. Guests screamed and scattered, disappearing into hedges and trees.
"Dags!" Sam's voice was nice to hear as she knelt over me. Her legs and boots were still an odd color of gray but she was moving. Tears streamed down her face. "Oh shit, hold still—I can fix it—"
"No," I grabbed her hand when she tried to put it against my wound. "This is really too much this time."
She batted my hand away. "Mike's gone to look for Brendi. We have to get out of here. I don't think it matters anymore if we use magic. So shut up." Sam put her hand on the wound and closed her eyes. The pressure hurt and I closed my own eyes, not to copy her but because it hurt. I let out a moan and bunched up my muscles as I felt something creeping along my insides, only it felt as if it were moving from my chest down to my hips. I opened my eyes and saw what looked like ropey, gnarled tree branches wrapping around Sam's arm. Her expression softened and the pain in my side slowly melted away.
I was watching her when she opened her eyes. The branches fell away and she pulled at my t-shirt. "Wow…that's gonna leave a scar."
"I'm really not that worried about it. You know you…Sam?"
But she was already out. Unconscious sitting up. When she started to tip over I scrambled to catch her, feeling only a small t
winge where Maab's sword had hacked a nice hole in me.
The garden was empty and losing its green as I watched. The bushes and trees were now leaf-less and brown. Even the grass died beneath me and turned to dirt. The grand obsidian castle became a dilapidated husk and the fountain's base cracked, the water gone. But the most disturbing thing was the wolf that'd saved my life was quietly eating Maab. I could hear it lapping up the blood and swallowing.
I could see the thing that bounced. It was Maab's head. And it was watching the wolf eat and speaking. "Now you'll never be able to go back to your world you stupid animal…"
Her voice was scratchy and no longer filled with gurgling sounds. Mostly because the ground was soaking up her blood. I wasn't even going to argue the fact she was little more than a head with no vocal chords. But why make sense now?
The wolf paused and looked over at her and in that instant its outline blurred and folded and turned itself inside out until it wasn't a wolf crouched down with blood on its muzzle, but a girl.
She was nude, with a delicate body and long red hair. She licked her lips and looked back down at the body before she pushed up on her hands and stood on her feet. She turned toward me and smiled. She couldn't have been more than sixteen…seventeen…and it would have been a very uncomfortable moment with her naked and me clothed, but what really sent me back was the black blood on her chin and neck. Evidence the wolf I'd seen was in reality, this young girl.
Or, was the reality the wolf?
"You're Darren," she said in a simple voice and knelt down in front of me. I kept my gaze at eye level and hoped like hell Sam didn't wake up 'cause I was pretty sure she'd call me a pervert and hit me.
I cleared my throat. "Uh…yeah. And you have me at a disadvantage. Have we met?"
She nodded, and then she shook her head.
Well that was confusing.
A noise to my right made me glance over to see Mike move through a line of dead bushes. Puck flew overhead and made tsk-tsk noises before he landed on a nearby tree.
Something cold touched my cheek and when I turned back her lips met mine. I freaked out for two reasons—one was this was a really young girl and I didn't want to have to register as a sex offender and two—I could taste the blood on her lips. I let go of Sam and tried to push this girl off of me as she grabbed my shoulders, straddled me and shoved me to the ground on my back. Let me clarify that I wasn't that weak—she was that strong. Then she shoved her tongue in my mouth, pushing more of that foul blood with it. I wanted to cry out of for help but if I opened my mouth at all I was afraid she would try to push her body inside!
"Brendi!"
Mike's shout and the name he shouted made me freeze. Brendi? Was she nearby and watching this naked girl making out with me? I pushed harder but she grabbed my wrists and shoved my arms back.
She vanished and I immediately choked and spit as I tuned on my side. The taste of that stuff was like what I imagined rotten chicken to taste like. I gagged several times and finally managed to get up on my knees and hands.
"What were you doing? What's wrong with you?"
"Daddy!"
Oh. God. No…
My nausea increased when I realized Brendi hadn't been watching. The girl that attacked me…the one that forced the Faerie Queen's blood into my mouth… was Brendi.
A FATED FAREWELL
"What the hell were you doing?" Mike said while looking at me.
Eh? I took the edge of my shirtsleeve and rubbed it on my tongue before I answered. "Me? I didn't do anything. That girl was the wolf!"
"Wolf?"
"The one that finished taking Maab's head off." I pointed to the head. The damn thing was smirking at me.
Mike finally noticed it and took himself and his daughter a good two feet or more away from it.
Maab laughed. "Yes…she's never liked me. I took her away from those bullies at school…those mean girls. Gave her the body of a wolf, but did she appreciate it? Nooo…."
The raspy edge of the voice made my hair stand on end. I sat back on my feet and stared at her. She stared at me. "What did you mean she'd never go back now?"
"It's the rules, boy. As one of my dogs she had the possibility to return to her world. If she could leave my hold. But now that she's tasted my blood, it's the same as tasting fairy dust."
I blanched and felt a rush of cold start from my head to my feet. I had tasted that blood…Brendi forced me to.
"Yes I see it on your face. You'll be mine too. And then I can finally torture you and see what the hell it is you are."
"She's…full of it…" Sam said as she rolled over, finally awake. But not up to strength. She was still pale and her face looked sunken. Damn…I hated that I couldn't give back to her all she'd done for me since we met. "You're half Demon, Dags. The sword couldn't have cut her neck like that unless it was Demon made. So her blood wouldn't have the same effect on you."
"But what does that mean? And why in the hell did Brendi force it into my mouth so I'd taste it?"
Brendi pulled away from her father and pointed at something past me. "Strength and the ability of control, Darren. You have to run…all of you…"
I moved up on my knees. Just over the top of the now dead bushes I could see something toppling the trees, blotting out the sky. It looked like a storm rolling in over the horizon.
A storm traveling a thousand miles an hour. "Mike…"
"I see it."
I got to my feet and helped Sam up on hers. She could stand but she wasn't exactly steady. Mike grabbed some of the skirt off of Maab's gown and tried to wrap it around Brendi. But she pushed at it and shook her head. "There's no time. You have to take her head back to our world. The only way to do that is to have Faerie blood." She looked at me. "And you're the only one that could change that blood so that it wouldn't keep you here."
"Did you know we were coming, Brendi?"
"Yes. Hob told me."
"Hob betrayed us."
"No. Maab did. She has spies everywhere, even with Hob. She knows he's rewritten the magic for the Cairn to carry you back to our world unhindered. He's done you a great favor and made a grave mistake. What you see coming here is going there as well. It sees a chance to take all of you and ride you back. It's going to destroy everything. You have to go now!"
Wind from the coming storm whipped dirt and leaves up and blew hair in our faces. I took the ripped cloth from Mike and tossed it over Maab's head and wrapped it up tight before I carried it. "We don't know where the Cairn is!"
"Just go back through the door you came here in."
I looked around as did Mike and Sam. "It's not here anymore."
"It is. It's just not the way you remember it." She pointed to the arch we walked under. "It's straight through there. The door to the left of the gate. The gate structure is there…" Brendi looked back at the approaching storm. "You've got to go now!"
"But you're coming with us! You have to come home!" Mike reached out to her.
Brendi took a step back. "I can't, daddy. I let her touch me with the dust when I thought she was going to let mommy go. But she lied to me." Tears sprang to her eyes. "I have to stay here. I tasted her blood so she wouldn't have power over me, but I could have dominion over myself." She took several steps back, her hair blown about by the wind. "I love you, daddy!"
And just like that, she was a wolf again. She turned and bounded in the direction of the ruined castle.
Mike started after her but Sam grabbed his arm. "No Mike! We have to get out of here. Dags has the bitch's head—let's put her in the sunlight and see what happens."
I liked that idea, and once everyone was running in the right direction, I took off as well.
But like watching a scary movie, I could feel something watching me, coming up behind me. Something struck Mike first. It grabbed at his shoulders and picked him up in mid-run. All I could make out were talons, wings and snake-like body. I reached out with my right hand as Mike's feet passed over my head. "Isatum!"
The thing burst into flames. Orange, yellow, and then ash. Mike landed in a roll ahead of me. As I ran to him something landed on top of my shoulders. I fell forward onto my front and Maab's head bounced and rolled away from my grasp.
Whatever it was raked something sharp down my back. I screamed and tried to turn over to see it. My thoughts bounced around in my head as I tried to concentrate on the book. I wanted to get the sword again. But the book had something else in mind.
Two shots and the pressure holding me down vanished, but the pain only got worse. I felt Mike and Sam's feet vibrate the dirt and dead leaves under me. Mike reached down to help me stand. His shoulders were raw meat. Blood flowed over his chest and back but he was alive. My back tingled again and this time I felt the wings as they emerged. They straightened out and flapped quickly as a crack to our left heralded the collapse of the door.
Our line to the Cairn was gone.
"Fuck!" Sam put her hands to her head. "Now what do we do?"
As strange as it sounded when I said it, I knew it was true. "I know the way." I grabbed Mike around the waist. "Hold on. Sam, grab the head!"
"Ew?"
"I don't need girly right now. I need that super bitch you keep tucked in there."
"Ass-fuck!" She grabbed the head and then ran at me. The second she was in my arms I bent down and kicked up as my wings pedaled and beat as fast as they could. We were airborne, and once again I wasn't in control. Whatever guided my sword, now guided my flight. Which was fine with me because I was feeling really…really…cold.
We broke out in front of the advancing horde and as the gate became visible my wings gave out. We crash landed near the tree and bench and I lay on my front, unable to move.
"Dags? Come on we've got to get—" Sam hissed. "What the hell happened to his back? It looks like your shoulders."
"Something got him. Come on." I felt Mike wrap his arms around my stomach and hips. All I could see was the grass and Mike's shoes. A pause and then the creak of metal and I felt the difference in the air. It was less hot, less oppressive and it smelled more like rotting plants than rotting meat.
Dance By Midnight Page 13
