Heroines and Hellions: a Limited Edition Urban Fantasy Collection

by Margo Bond Collins

  “That’s a carnivorous ivy,” Megan said, growing pale. “It feeds on both magical and non-magical beings.

  23

  The Deadly Ivy

  "Uncle, resist!" I yelled, as we all rushed to his cage. He was standing in the middle of it, holding Daniel in his arms, who was still unconscious.

  "Daniel! I'm here" Megan yelled, desperate. "No. He's been out for a while now. Couldn't really cope with all this."

  "DIAFZEIRO! DIALUO! PIROS!" James shouted, making the plant's branches explode, break apart, catch fire. They burned and died, but only to grow back stronger in a matter of minutes.

  Megan hit the ivy roots with fairy magic with the same result…the grew back stronger in a few moments.

  "Normally I could easily eradicate that with my magic," she said, her eyes focused on her boyfriend. "But all that time in the iron cage weakened me. Just being around iron makes me weak..."

  "Alexo!"James roared, and an unusual orange light shot from his ring of power towards the ivy's roots. The plant shook and, for a moment, it sort of hesitated. It stopped growing. But only for a moment.

  "What was that?" Megan asked, taking his eyes off Daniel to look at the roots.

  "The most powerful repelling spell I know," James replied. "It works with all sort of poisonous monsters, keeping them away, but not with this one."

  A roaring sound covered his voice. The cave walls were shaking. We looked up and saw that the magical oval at the centre of the ceiling was slowly opening.

  "The last phase of the spell is about to start," Megan rushed. "Look, the cages are moving, in a minute the prisoners will be thrown into the cauldron..."

  She was right. A loud clank resonated in the cave and the cage containing the furry creature started moving across a suspended chain suspended from the ceiling. The creature behind the bars shrieked with terror.

  "Let's concentrate all we have on the branches in front of the door!" I rushed. "Then, we can open it with a spell, this one's not jinxed!"

  "It won't work," Megan cut me off. "The ivy regrows too fast. If it bites them, they're doomed," she turned to James. "Wizard, I need your help. We must joint forces."

  "I...sure, how?"

  The fairy knelt down and buried her hands into the magic soil created by the artificial forest. "We'll mix my magic with yours. You hit the ground near the roots with your repelling spell, I will do the rest. Just concentrate all the magic on the ground, not the plant, OK?"

  James nodded.

  "Perfect," she said, closing her eyes. "NOW!"

  "ALEXO!"

  James and Megan's magic shot into the ground, I could see it, pulsing underneath it, flowing towards the carnivorous ivy. The two fluxes of different magic hit the roots. The ground all around them turned grey. The plants lost its leaves. The branches started to die, no, to shrink somehow.

  "Carry on!" Megan panted, her eyes focused on the cage and Daniel, her hands digging deeper into the ground. "Do not...stop ..."

  James gritted his teeth and continued.

  "Goodness Gracious!" William muttered, staring at the ivy, wide eyed. I wasn't wrong: the plant wasn't dying. It was shrinking, more and more. The leaves became buds, the buds disappeared into the branches, the branches got smaller and smaller, retreating into the plant's trunk.

  "Will, be ready to open the door!" I yelled, enthusiastically. "Megan, it's working! Megan?" I turned to her and realized that her nose was bleeding badly: thick golden drops were smeared across her lips and chin, falling onto her chest and lap.

  "Megan stop!" I roared, rushing to her side. "You're too weak and using too much energy!"

  "I can't...let him die," she whispered. "I can't let her win."

  "Megan, we can get them out, the plant is nearly gone...please stop!"

  "It will regrow, if I stop now..."

  "Turner, please, make her stop!"

  "I can't," James gasped. "Our magic is now connected: I can't stop if she doesn't."

  "Megan, please! I've risked my neck to save your life! I've gone through hell and back," I implored her. "It will all be for nothing!"

  “No. You risked your life to stop Okasan,” she whispered back. She was getting paler and paler…becoming transparent, fading away in front of my very eyes. “To save Daniel and give the Eye of Xipe back to my people...” she turned to me, looking me straight in the eyes, her face and chest covered with her golden blood. “Promise me you’ll do it.”

  “I…I’ll do my best.”

  “No. Promise me. Please. I don’t have much time left. I know you always keep your promises.”

  I could see the forest through her.

  “I promise, Megan, I’ll do all those things. You’ve got my word.”

  “Tell Daniel I love him,” she exhaled, as a last glow of powerful light came from her exhausted body, forcing me to close my eyes. When I opened them again, she was gone, leaving behind only and intense scent of tropical flowers and rain.

  24

  Okasan’s Barrier

  “No, NO!” I whispered, as tears filled my eyes. She was gone. I couldn’t feel our bond anymore. She was gone and it was all my fault!

  “All my fault!” I repeated, punching the ground.

  “Child, there was nothing you could do,” William tried to console me. "We tried everything. Your uncle was in there, so was your client, they would have died…now they’re here, safe and sound.

  “Niece, please, stop blaming yourself,” Uncle Terry said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have come.”

  I turned to him. The cage had been opened, he was right in front of me, in one piece, while Daniel was lying on the ground, unconscious but alive. Near the cage, where the trunk of the carnivorous ivy had been, a purple seed the size of a small pumpkin protruded from the ground: even in that desperate situation, Megan had chosen not to kill the plant, instead making it regress to seed status, so that it could live without hurting us.

  All that goodness for nothing. I had failed.

  “Miss Wise, we must go,” James said, bending towards me. “I know how you feel, but there’s no time for tears now. We must stop this. You promised.”

  He extended his hand towards me. I looked into his brave blue eyes and instantly felt something rising inside me, a strength I didn’t know I had magnified by deep anger and a thirst for revenge.

  “You’re right. Let’s go,” I replied, grabbing his hand and getting back up.

  “Will, take Daniel and Terry out of here. Then come back, we will need all the help we can get.”

  “Of course, child, I’ll be right back…”

  “Niece, I am so sorry!” Uncle Terry fretted. “All this was my fault. Daniel told me who she was… This wouldn’t have happened, if we hadn't come here and been captured, but I was so worried for you and…”

  “It’s OK, uncle. It’s not your fault. Once this is over, you’ll explain how you found me. Now go, please.”

  “Please, be careful…” he said, giving me a look of affection and concern. He gave me a long, desperate hug. “I’ll carry Mr Kostopoulos,” he said to William, loading Daniel on his back. “Let’s go.”

  And off they went.

  A loud metallic sound hurt my ears: the cages were moving faster towards the bridge, we needed to act fast.

  “The prisoners!” I said. “We must…NO!”

  Unfortunately, it was too late for the creature whose cage was closest to Okasan. It was so far away, that I couldn’t really see what it looked like: what I did see was the cage floor opening and something dropping into the cauldron, something silvery that darted into mid-air before being swallowed by the bubbling liquid.

  “WE MUST STOP THIS!” I roared with frustration. “Only Megan’s cage was jinxed. The rest is just locked with magic, you can easily open them with a spell.”

  “But I need to be closer to them…”

  “Then off you go, see you at the bridge!”

  “But, what about you?”

>   “I’ll be fine!” I replied, showing him my katana and grinning. “Go. I don’t want anyone else to die today.”

  He grinned back and rushed away, disappearing into the artificial forest.

  I ran towards the bridge, doing my best not to be slowed down by the vegetation, slashing at thick, green branches and yellow climbing plants that moved like snakes and blocked my way.

  I jumped and ducked and cut again and again, trying to move as fast as I could. My mouth and throat were burning dry. Every inch of my body hurt. Badly. But I didn’t give a damn. All I wanted, was that Blue was able to destroy the dark barrier around Okasan, so that I could throw the Hesperides power into the fucking cauldron and end that madness. I just prayed that the Bluemini could follow our plan, that he’d reach the barrier, since otherwise we’d be all be…

  “…screwed?” I stuttered, as I sprung up out of the jungle, the narrow stone bridge a few yards in front of me. Blue had actually done his job: a giant, shiny Black Plague was surrounding the dark barrier protecting the meta-human and her mysterious allies. Actually, it wasn’t one black plague: it was four combined, meaning that he must have used all the seeds he had left, to take the barrier down. As powerful as it was, one plant wouldn’t have been enough. And maybe four weren’t either, since that thing had the most powerful dark aura I had experienced until then. The black plagues kept battling with the barrier, hungry and relentless, producing small holes in it, big enough for their branches to enter the barrier and eat it from the inside. Also, big enough for a tiny blue thief to pass through in a flash, and try to do the unthinkable, if only he could…I squinted and saw him taking advantage of one small gap in the lower side of the barrier. He had nothing to fear from the black plague, he being its master. He rushed and he was gone. What shall I do? There was nothing that I could do until protection from Okasan was in place, I wondered …

  “ALL THE PRISONERS ARE FREE!” James roared, running towards me, his forehead covered with sweat. I turned to him and he almost smiled at me but then, his expression changed: “RUN! RUN!” He shouted, still running toward me. But, I instinctively turned towards the barrier: the situation had suddenly changed, a column of blue lighting bolts broke through and hit the ceiling. The Earth shook under my feet, knocking me over right when James finally reached me.

  “MOVE! MOVE!” He yelled, helping me up and pushing me onward. The barrier wasn’t about to break, as we expected. It was about to explode. And we were damn close to it.

  25

  The Dark Thirteenth

  “I’VE GOT YOU!” He yelled, wrapping himself around me as he threw a powerful protection around the both of us, and we both jumped into the magic wood again while Okasan’s barrier exploded behind us. The blast was massive, it felt like having an atomic bomb detonating in my back garden. We both fell face down, James on top of me, surrounded by a powerful white light that blinded me and made me feel dizzy and nauseous. A moment, and it was gone.

  “Gosh, that was huge…” I said, slowly rising up, patting myself down to be sure I wasn’t missing anything. “Mr Turner, are you?…”

  I turned to James. He was back on his feet, covered with bruises but he seemed OK. He stared at the bridge, wide eyed.

  “Turner, what?” I looked at the bridge and my jaw dropped in a silent scream: the barrier protecting Okasan was gone, revealing what was underneath: the thirteenth hooded figures were getting bigger and taller, their cloaks tearing apart, revealing what they really were, giant scaly worm demons each the size of a bus, with a horrid, humanoid head covered with scraggly black hair and a large mouth full of fangs.

  The explosion had destroyed the bridge, but they didn’t care: their bodies were powerful and long enough to extend above the lava and reach our section of the cave.

  “RUN! RUN NOW!” James yelled, grabbing my arm and pushing me forward.

  It took me a few seconds to recover from the shock and the horror. We ran like crazy. But, it took those creatures less than a minute to cross to reach our side, then twelve of them went left, leaving only one chasing us. It was only one, but it was more than enough.

  “It’s almost on us!” James shouted, as we pushed through the forest. “We must climb!”

  “Where? I…”

  “Up here, quick!” He ordered me, pushing me up the thick trunk of what looked like a gigantic rhododendron: it had big, thick spikes protruding from it, which made it easier to climb.

  We reached the top just in time, since the next moment the worm demon had caught up with us and smashed his horrid head against the tree. The rhododendron shook, but resisted. James was quick to grab a nearby branch, I wasn’t, and practically fell into his arms. Down below, the demon let out a painful growl: he had wounded himself with the spikes of the trunk. He wouldn’t be able to climb up to us, which was something. I peeked down below and saw that he was sliding around the tree, angry and frustrated, waiting for us to come down. I doubted he had any intention of getting bored and letting us go.

  "What is that thing?" I panted, once we had reached the top of the tree.

  "A major demon. They are all major demons, as far as I can tell," James gasped. He was exhausted too. We both knew we had survived only thanks to the Rain Man's armour: his barrier wouldn't have been enough to shield us from that Armageddon of an explosion. And now we had that giant monster trying to knock our tree down. "Those are not quite as powerful as Okasan's master, or they wouldn't be able to walk on Earth, still... they’re even immune to the Aureus Flos’ pollen!" James exhaled, nodding at the golden pollen puffing all around the monster, which didn’t even start to turn into gold. Damn it.

  "I just don't understand. Why unleash them only now?" I fretted. "I mean, they could have destroyed us already, why not use them before?"

  "They were clearly involved with the making of the spell," James replied. "So she couldn’t ..."

  "But she hasn't completed the spell yet! Do you really think she'd give up so easily?"

  "CHILD! PLEASE, RESPOND!" William's voice resonated desperately in my head.

  "Will, you're back!"

  "YOU ARE ALIVE! THANK GOODNESS! Where are you? I cannot pinpoint your position. Your uncle and client are safe and sound."

  "That's great news! I'm on the top of the giant oleander, the one with orange flowers. James is with me. We have a major demon after us, can you help? All the others seem to be distracted by something, so they're not an immediate threat..."

  "They are all after the Bluemini, child. He managed to steal the the Eye of Xipe. He's hiding in a crack in the wall, the other side of the cave, that's why the other twelve monsters are concentrating there. We are lucky he has no aura, so that they cannot really pinpoint his position, not yet at least..."

  "FUCK! SHIT!" I fumed, kicking the air.

  "What is it?" Back on his feet, tension palpable in his voice.

  "William is back," I replied, then I quickly explained what was going on.

  "FUCK! SHIT!" Was his response.

  "That's what I said! Gimme a second," I concentrated once again on my ghost. "Will, can you take the Bluemini out? Like you did with Terry and Daniel?"

  "I am afraid not. A powerful dark barrier has just formed around this house, preventing anything and anyone magical from getting in. Or out. It started forming when I was trying to come back, it's a miracle I managed to get in."

  So, the moment we’d torn down her barrier, Okasan had created another one to be sure no one could run away with her precious talisman. And she’d unleashed her demons against us. I suddenly realized I was my friends' only hope, since even William could be destroyed. Either I managed to purify Okasan's potion with the Hesperides, or we'd all die trapped in London's most haunted house.

  "William, James will be with you in a minute. Keep searching for Blue. Those demons must NOT get that talisman, am I clear? No matter what it takes."

  "Clear, child. But if you're sending me Turner, how?"

  "Don’t worry," I cut him off. Then t
urned to James: "We can't get out. Okasan has locked us in with an impenetrable barrier. William is already trying to protect Blue, you need to go and help him."

  "I…What? NO! I'm not leaving you here! Plus, how am I supposed to avoid that thing?" He nodded at the demon sliding on the ground below, waiting for us to climb down.

  "You can teleport yourself, right?"

  Yes, but I can only cover short distances..."

  "That will be enough. I'll distract the worm, so that you can go unnoticed."

  "You...no...ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY??"

  "Of course I am! I’m also the only one that can end this," I continued, moving my jacket aside to reveal the catapult dangling from my belt.

  "Go! Help Blue and Will. I'll take care of the rest. Can I count on you?"

  "I..." he hesitated for a second. "Of course, you can!" He finally said, defeated. Then he gave me one of his long, mysterious looks. "Please, stay alive."

  “Sure! By now you should know that I'm pretty resourceful" I winked at him. "So...on my three?" He nodded, his shoulders already tensing-up. "

  “OK, one…two…three!” I yelled, jumping off the giant rhododendron and grabbing my katana with both hands. I heard a loud ‘pop’ behind me and knew that James was gone.

  26

  Fairy Wings

  I landed exactly where I had wanted, right on the demon’s disgusting back. It hissed and turned its monstrous back towards me.

  “Dude, you need a haircut!” I said, stabbing him with my sword. Unfortunately, it didn’t produce any significant effect, besides pissing him off. I jumped off just in time before he opened his obscene mouth and spit at me an enormous quantity of corrosive and super-toxic poison.