by J. C. Diem
“That’s because I’m a cougar,” she said with a sunny grin. “We love to play with our victims.” Real cougars usually ate their prey afterwards. In her case, I was pretty sure she just killed them.
We went silent when Margaret appeared to refill our mugs.
I should probably have been disturbed to learn that the squad sometimes resorted to torture, but I wasn’t. After reading through some of the files, I’d come to realize that there were many strange and horrible creatures out there. Our team would do anything necessary to complete our missions. That apparently included holding people against their will and causing them harm until they coughed up vital information.
We whiled the rest of the afternoon away then had an early dinner. The other guests began to arrive and Margaret was kept busy serving them as well. We were the first to finish our meals and gathered outside next to the SUV to discuss our plans.
“I’ll go in alone this time and scout the area,” Reece said. “I want to make sure it’s safe to enter. For all we know, the coven might have altered their wards now that they know we aren’t fully human.”
It made sense and no one argued with his plan, although we weren’t happy about him going in alone.
“I’m going with you,” Mark said. He held up a hand to stop us from voicing our protests. “I won’t enter Bradbury. I just want to be close in case you require a quick exit. I might not be able to assist your search, but I can at least man the wheel.”
“You might as well drive us there then,” Reece said and handed the keys over.
Glad to have something to do, Mark drove us towards Bradbury. He stopped short of the town line. Climbing out, we stayed at a safe distance as Reece approached the invisible barrier. I tensed up in expectation of pain as he extended his hand past the sign.
Nothing happened, so he cautiously entered the town. It might have been my imagination, but I could almost see a shimmer in the air when he walked across the town line.
He waited for a few moments then turned to Mark. “It’s seems to be safe.” He directed his next words at the rest of us. “I’ll contact you once I know the area is clear.”
He loped off and quickly disappeared. Flynn waited for a few minutes then turned to me. “Can you see through Garrett’s eyes?”
I’d been tempted to try, but I hadn’t wanted to intrude. Kala and Flynn were both as anxious as I was. Mark was also worried, but he hid his concern better. Closing my eyes, I reached out and tentatively touched Reece’s mind. Flynn asked me to look through your eyes, I said. I didn’t want him to think I was just being nosy.
Go ahead, he replied and relinquished a tiny part of his brain that allowed me to see what he saw. We were both careful not to pry into each other’s thoughts. Our personal issues would have to wait until after our mission was finished.
“Reece just reached the center of Bradbury,” I told the others. “He’s approaching Kate’s Kafé.” I studied the building through his eyes and saw the entire coven gathered together through the window.
The café was closed to the public and they’d dragged a couple of tables together. They were leaning towards each other as they discussed something earnestly. I presumed they were talking about us. “The coven is holding a meeting,” I informed the others. “Reece is too far away to hear what they’re talking about.”
I’m about to rectify that, he thought and moved in closer.
Reece hunkered down between two cars that were parked on the street outside the café. He could smell a human inside the trunk of the lead vehicle. From their deep, even breathing, the person had probably been put to sleep by a spell. Attempting to break them free would alert the coven and he didn’t want to risk discovery. Raising his head, he peered through the window again.
“We don’t know how many of them are hunting us,” one of the warlocks said.
“I’m not just going to sit here doing nothing,” Talitha replied, frustration evident in her tone and posture. “I say we should turn the tables on them and hunt them down.”
“We don’t even know who they are,” one of the women said. I heard fear in her tone and smiled as I recited their conversation to the others.
“Who cares who they are?” Talitha snarled. “We’ll kill them, just like we’ve killed everyone else who discovered what we are.”
“We’re still performing the ritual tonight, right?” another male voice interjected.
“Yes, Jeremiah,” the first warlock said with exaggerated patience. I was pretty sure it was Malachi. His back was to Reece and the men sounded very similar, so I couldn’t be sure. “We might as well get it over with now. I highly doubt the intruders will be stupid enough to return tonight.”
“Are they from a rival coven?” Ophelia wondered. “That girl has to have some kind of magical abilities to be able to control dogs like that.”
Talitha shook her head. “I don’t know what she is, but she isn’t like us.”
“The next time you encounter her, or any other strangers, make sure you do a better job of detaining them than our dear sister did,” Malachi informed the group as they stood. She sneered, but said nothing. That was one question answered. They were definitely siblings.
I shivered as I relayed this to the others. I’d already had a taste of Talitha’s power and I didn’t want a repeat performance.
Reece ghosted away from the café and into the shadows as the six witches and warlocks left the building. Talitha locked the door and they climbed into the two cars that were parked out front.
This is the perfect opportunity for us to search their homes, Reece thought at me. I’ll follow the coven while you three split up and search two houses each. I’ll warn you when they’ve finished their ritual.
Okay, I replied and opened my eyes. “The coven are about to sacrifice another human,” I told the team. Now I knew why there was a person in the trunk and what they planned to do with them. “Reece wants us to move in and search the properties while they’re distracted.”
We pulled our map pieces out of our pockets to consult them. “I’ll take the one towards the east and the one in Reece’s section,” Flynn said.
“Do you remember where it is?” Kala queried doubtfully. Reece had the northern section of the map. Flynn only had the east quarter.
“I’ll be able to find it,” he said confidently.
“I’ll take these two,” Kala said and indicated the house to the west and one to the south.
“I guess that leaves me with this house and the café,” I pointed at the final two properties that were marked on my map. Two of the houses weren’t far from where we stood now. It wouldn’t take long for Kala and me to walk there.
“I’ll wait here,” Mark said. “Call me if you run into any trouble.”
“You couldn’t help us even if we do,” Kala reminded him as kindly as possible. “You’d hemorrhage and die before you could even reach us.”
He gave a frustrated nod. “Be careful.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” she snapped him a salute and Flynn and I copied her. He cracked a worried smile and we took off into the darkness.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twenty-One
Kala stopped at the street that would carry her to the first house on her list. “Watch your back this time,” she warned me.
“I will.” I wasn’t about to make the embarrassing mistake of being caught so easily again.
Knowing that the witches and warlocks were currently busy working their black magic helped boost my confidence. Still, I approached the first building on my list cautiously and stopped to inspect it for telltale signs of a ward. Not that I really knew what to look for.
The house looked like all the others in the street. Nothing about it stood out from the other properties. It didn’t have a sign proclaiming that a witch lived inside. Just as I was about to step through the gate, I felt a surge of unease coming from Reece.
Drawn to his mind, I concentrated and caught a glimpse of what he was seeing. I pick
ed up that he was in a park somewhere to the north. Moving slowly and quietly, he pushed his way through a copse of trees to the edge of a clearing.
Six robed figures stood in a circle around a struggling man. They’d woken their victim from the spell so he would be aware of what they were doing to him. It seemed like an unnecessary cruelty, but it didn’t particularly surprise me. The coven weren’t exactly humanitarians.
Reece shuddered in reaction to the miasma of evil that pulsed from the siblings. Blood already stained the bare ground where grass refused to grow. Hundreds of men and women had already died in that clearing and yet another was about to join them. He would shortly become one more ghost that was bound to Bradbury. Unless we could destroy the coven, he’d be doomed to exist as a spirit for all eternity.
Hurrying into the witch’s yard, I stood in the shadows of a tree so I wouldn’t be caught trespassing. My curiosity had always been strong and this time was no different. I wanted to witness the ritual as it transpired rather than hear about it secondhand.
I closed my eyes so I could concentrate on the scene more clearly. The shrouded figures drew my attention first. Their robes were dark blue and their hoods hung low enough to cover their faces. A pentagram had been painted in the dirt. The skull of a goat lay between the victim’s legs. There was something satanic about the pentagram and the skull, but I didn’t think the coven worshipped the devil. They just used a similar setup as Satanists to get what they wanted. Apparently, that was eternal youth.
The man lying in the center of the pentagram was young, handsome and completely naked. His arms and legs were spread and were tied to large metal spikes that had been driven deep into the ground. His eyes were wide and terrified and his screams were muffled by a gag.
One of the warlocks began to chant in a low voice. I assumed it was Jeremiah, since it was his turn to perform the ritual. He spoke in an ancient, foreign language that was unfamiliar to me. Drawing a dagger from beneath his robes, he knelt beside the sacrifice. His chant grew louder and more frantic then he plunged the dagger into the man’s heart.
Reece cursed beneath his breath when the young man shrieked in agony. He thrashed for a few moments then mercifully passed out. Limp and unaware, blood ran down his side to stain the ground.
Jeremiah knelt in the spreading red pool, patiently waiting for his sacrifice to expire. He didn’t have to wait for long. I let out a soft gasp as an insubstantial mist floated up from the corpse. Jeremiah chanted a few more words and the mist was drawn to him. It hovered near his face then was sucked beneath his robe as he breathed it in.
Throwing his head back, his hood slipped off to reveal his ecstatic expression as he spread his arms open wide. His body jerked backwards and forwards as he absorbed the victim’s life force. He dropped the knife and one of the others scooped it up from the ground.
Sagging in exhaustion, Jeremiah fell forward. He barely managed to put his hands out in time to catch himself from sprawling on the corpse. Glazed and unseeing, the sacrifice’s eyes reflected the agony and horror that he’d just suffered.
Moments later, his spirit formed and stared around in confusion. Instead of being naked, he wore jeans and a t-shirt. Apparently, ghosts were clothed in the outfits they’d last been wearing before they died. Seeing the body on the ground, a look of abject sorrow came over him. Wailing soundlessly, he turned and fled from the sight of his own dead body.
“It is done,” Jeremiah said and staggered to his feet. That seemed to end the ritual and the circle broke apart. None had seen the ghost appear. They hadn’t seemed to be aware of it at all.
Flipping his hood back, Malachi surveyed the bound man. “Help me get rid of the body,” he instructed the other two warlocks. Together, all three dragged the corpse over to a darker patch of ground near the trees. He lifted a cleverly hidden trapdoor and they pushed the corpse through the opening. I heard a thump a second later and surmised they’d dug out their own private graveyard. I didn’t even want to know how many bodies were interred inside the pit.
“Something is wrong,” Talitha said. “I can feel someone watching us.” Still hooded, her gaze swung towards Reece. He melted back into the trees before she could pinpoint his location.
They know we’re here. Abort the search, he instructed me. Tell Kala and Flynn to run.
Okay, I responded. We’ll meet you back at the SUV. He gave me a mental nod. “Kala, Flynn,” I said, knowing they were wearing their earpieces and that they could hear me. “The ritual is finished and the witches are already on their way back to their homes.”
“Damn it,” Kala replied. “I was just about to break into the first house.” I shared her frustration. I was only steps away from the home that I’d intended to search.
“We’ll have to try again tomorrow night,” Flynn said. He was more philosophical about our failure than Kala and I were. We wanted to get this done now, not postpone it yet again.
Turning to run, I stumbled to a stop when I felt a surge of confusion from Reece. Again, my mind was drawn to his and I saw through his eyes.
Waiting for the coven to leave, he’d almost made it out of the park when he felt someone watching him. A woman was standing in the shadows across the road. She looked so much like me that he was momentarily puzzled. He should have been able to sense me, but couldn’t.
Before I could warn him to flee, she moved. In the blink of an eye, she was standing right in front of him. She’d moved so quickly that not even he’d been able to track her movement. Only one creature could move that fast; a vampire.
Capturing him with her gaze, he instantly became immobile. “So, you are the creature who has stolen my daughter away from me,” she said. I didn’t know how Katrina had managed to track me to West Virginia. I hadn’t sensed her hunting me this time. Maybe because I wasn’t her intended victim.
Mesmerized, Reece could only watch as the woman who resembled me so greatly circled around him. Her spell held him still as she placed a razor sharp fingernail on his chest. “I’m going to carve out your still beating heart and feed it to you.” Her smile was beautiful, yet twisted. “No,” she said as she changed her mind, “that would be too quick, too easy and far too painless. I have a much better idea.”
Her smile was malicious and I knew what she planned to do to him. He tried to back away from her when he felt my panic, but was held immobile by her will. I’d begun to sprint towards the park as soon as I’d realized she was there. I knew I wouldn’t make it in time to save him. “Garrett’s in trouble!” I shouted, hoping Kala and Flynn were still wearing their earpieces. If they were, I’d probably just shattered their eardrums.
Gripping Reece by the back of his neck, Katrina ripped his shirt open to give her unobstructed access to his flesh. She savagely sank her fangs into his right shoulder. Pain and befuddlement transfixed him and he opened his mouth in a wordless scream.
Guided by our bond, I ran as fast as I could. I spied Reece and my mother ahead and prayed that I could reach him before it was too late. Even as I watched, he sank to his knees. My leech of a parent bent over him with her mouth still fastened to his flesh. I heard the sucking noises as I closed in.
Absorbed in feeding, I was on her before she even realized I was there. Grasping Katrina by the hair, I tore her off Reece and tossed her aside like a rag doll. Snarling, she scrambled to her feet. Blood smeared her face and dripped from her elongated teeth. “You dare to defy me?” she hissed. “Your own mother?”
“You’re not my mother,” I said coldly and drew my gun. “You’re just the reanimated corpse of the woman who gave birth to me.” Her outrage changed to alarm when I pulled the trigger. Moving with shocking speed, she dodged the bullet. It only grazed her arm rather than piercing her heart. I’d known that killing her wouldn’t be easy and she was proving me right.
Kala and Flynn sprinted into view and Katrina hesitated. With a final snarl of rage, she spun around and ran.
“Was that what I think it was?” Flynn asked unea
sily as they reached me. She’d fled before they could get a good look at her.
“If you were thinking it was a vampire, then yes, it is what you think it is,” Kala confirmed. Concern flickered across her face when she saw Reece on his knees. “Please tell me she didn’t bite him.” The fear in her voice worried me almost as much as the attack itself had.
We moved in to surround him. Blood still oozed from the nasty wound on his shoulder. “We have to get him back to Mark asap,” Flynn said. “I’ll go get the SUV.”
“What happened?” Kala asked when he darted off into the darkness.
“I sensed that Reece was in danger. I reached him just as the vampire was biting him,” I explained.
“How did she manage to get so close to him? He’s too smart to just let a bloodsucker walk up to him and start chowing down.”
I avoided her gaze and shrugged, but I knew exactly what had happened. Katrina had confused Reece because she looked so much like me, or I looked so much like her. Then she’d been within striking distance and he’d fallen beneath her spell. I didn’t know how she’d found us, but she clearly had a vendetta against him. With Reece out of the way, she probably thought she’d be free to convert me to her side. That was my guess anyway.
Flynn returned with the SUV and pulled up as close as he could to the park. Kala and I carried Reece the short distance and gently placed him on the backseat. I climbed in and pillowed his head on my shoulder as Kala grabbed the first aid kit from the back. She slid in on his other side and did her best to stop the bleeding as Flynn drove us back to Mark.
Our boss climbed into the front seat. His worried look did nothing to dispel my fears. “Let’s get him back to Dawson’s Retreat,” he said quietly. Flynn sped off, driving almost as recklessly as Reece usually did.
It didn’t surprise me that no one had come running to investigate the gunshot. Bradbury was so heavily beneath the coven’s spells and hexes that it was a wonder any of the inhabitants could function at all.
