Vengeance Moon

by Lee Roland

  This final piece of information clinched my suspicions.

  “Your missing witch is called Oonagh,” I said. “She’s here in the Barrows. She has the Portal. She’s dying and can’t access earth magic to cure herself without announcing her presence and setting a small army of Sisters after her. She sent those men to kill my mother and steal the Portal.”

  “And the one who had it didn’t take it back to her. He kept it,” Lillian said. “He ran away and hid. Why did he come here, though? How did she get it from him?”

  Abigail frowned. A slight V formed over her eyes. “I am not an expert on talismans of that sort, but it is possible that once its magic began to affect his mind, the Portal began to influence him. The Portal would gravitate to a place where it could return to where it belonged.”

  “That would be the Zombie Zone.”

  “Yes,” Abigail said. “It would be.”

  So, Kenny was driven insane and the Portal led him to the Barrows, where Oonagh found him, took the Portal from him, and left him to wander the streets lost in madness, helpless and alone.

  “Well.” Eunice straightened. She flexed those powerful muscles. A tone of excitement filled her voice. “Let’s go find this witch. Madeline has the Morié and the Solaire. She can take point.”

  “It won’t be just the witch. She has bodyguards,” I said.

  Abigail shook her head. “I doubt you can find her now. She is most likely hidden, preparing for the solstice. She’s going to use the Portal on a dark moon solstice. That is when it would be the most powerful. What does she want?”

  I had a good guess. “I don’t think it’s what she wants, but what she needs. She’s dying. She can’t use earth magic to cure herself. I’ll bet she’s trying to get enough power from the Portal to cure herself. Every time she uses it, the walls between the worlds thin a bit more. She brought the Drows here.”

  “And how do you know that?” Lillian locked her attention on me.

  “A Drow told me.” I held my hand up. “Don’t ask right now. This is my mission.”

  Eunice muttered under her breath, “Exactly what does this Portal do?”

  Abigail sighed. “I’m not completely sure. It never came to me to hold. I know it amplifies the will of the witch—if she can control it. Control is the key. I doubt that even I am strong enough to do that.” She straightened. “I need to go and talk to the Mother. She rarely intervenes, but maybe she will tell me what we can do.”

  Lillian smiled. “Sisters of Justice never count on the Earth Mother. We may take her orders, but we know how unreliable she is. You witches would do well to remember that.”

  Chapter 34

  Abigail walked out into her garden and we sat in silence, each forming our own thoughts, making our own plans. When my phone rang, I didn’t know what it was at first. I pulled it out of my pocket.

  “Madeline!” Riggs shouted. I jerked the phone away from my ear.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, cautiously bringing the phone back to my face.

  “Michael’s been kidnapped. I saw it. There were twenty men. He took out almost half of them, but they threw something on him and he went down. They put him in a car and drove away. I couldn’t do anything.”

  A bitter taste formed in my mouth. No, he couldn’t have done anything. Even I’d be put off by those odds. “Where did it happen?”

  “Behind the Den.”

  “Which way did they take him?”

  “Into the Barrows.”

  “I’ll find him.” I tried to speak with calm determination while I suppressed the urge to scream.

  I ended the call. “Michael’s been kidnapped.”

  “You cannot go searching for him!” Eunice was adamant. “Tonight is the solstice. You have to find the Portal!”

  “Madeline, I’m afraid I agree.” Lillian sounded sympathetic.

  “No. You’re wrong.” I stood and checked my weapons. “Michael is a part of this. He always has been, I think.”

  The most obvious kidnapper would be Oonagh. Her kind of adoration would demand kidnapping, to keep him from thwarting her. Make him a prisoner until after the solstice, then do with him as she wished. The creepy men at her place the day we went to lunch might be only a handful of the muscle she had at her disposal—another reason not to go at her head-on.

  “You gonna walk?” Eunice demanded. She gave me a furious scowl and held up her keys. “I won’t drive you.”

  “I will get there however I can.” I headed out the door.

  Lillian followed me. Eunice did not.

  “Madeline, please be reasonable.” Lillian kept pace with me. She tried to take my arm, but I pulled away.

  I didn’t say anything. I was reasonable. Michael was mine. He had been from that first moment, even if it had taken me a while to recognize it. I stopped on the sidewalk, hands clenched into fists in frustration. I had no way of expressing the urgency of the moment other than going back in and wrestling those car keys from Eunice.

  That’s when I saw the bus heading toward me. The sign on the front said OUT OF SERVICE. It slowed as it approached. Jim opened the door. “Hey, lady. Need a ride?”

  “I don’t believe this,” Lillian said. She had a genuine look of shock on her face. I’d never seen that. Other than the occasional smile, she had the stoicism of a nun.

  I grinned, but Jim’s appearance was too coincidental. I knew it must be the Earth Mother’s doing. Perhaps she did intervene directly when needed. Eunice was still inside and I had no time to go back, get her, and argue with her. She might try to physically stop me, too.

  Lillian followed me as I climbed on the bus. “Jim, I need to get to the Den as fast as you can go without getting a ticket.”

  “You got it.” He grinned, cheerful as a kid at his birthday party.

  Before we could take a seat, the diesel engine roared and belched out a cloud of black smoke behind us. I laughed and grabbed a seat behind Jim. Lillian sat beside me. She didn’t look happy at all. “Did you just happen to be driving by?” she asked Jim.

  “Nope.” He held up his cell phone. “My grandmother called. She told me to drive down this street and get my ass here fast. Only she didn’t say ass.”

  Lillian shook her head, like she still didn’t believe it. I accepted the blessing in silence. I would’ve bet anything his granny was a witch, but now wasn’t the time to get into it.

  “You look like the world is falling apart,” I said to Lillian.

  “Madeline, my world has been falling apart since you arrived at Justice.” She ran a hand through her short cropped hair, hair that now had some gray. “Eunice and I are not novices. We are the elite. Before you arrived, we had been working in the field, serving the Earth Mother. When Evelyn called us to Justice to train you, we thought it was a waste of our time and talents. But then we met you. We saw your pain, your anger. And your strength and potential. We knew we needed to mold you into a woman of power to erase your destructive tendencies. We knew you were important to the balance of our world. And that is why we invested a good portion of our lives in you. When you were able to forsake your vengeance . . . we were so proud.”

  I slid my hand into hers. She’d humbled me. She and Eunice had given a part of their lives to me. But she was wrong. I hadn’t forsaken revenge. I’d merely chosen not kill a witch’s mindless tool. The witch who’d given the orders had to die.

  In minutes, we rolled through the invisible barrier that the Earth Mother would not cross lest her presence shatter it and allow Aiakós his freedom. From that point on, she would observe, but not interfere.

  Jim maintained the bus at a steady speed down River Street. He ignored the people who stood near the street edge, ignoring the OUT OF SERVICE sign and flapping their arms like chickens trying to fly.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Lillian asked.

  “I don’t have a choice. I need to go after Michael.” I looked at her hard. “I think it’s imperative. Apparently the Mother thinks it is,
too. She sent me the ride.”

  Jim pulled up in front of the Den. I hugged him as we climbed off the bus.

  “Want me to wait?” he asked.

  “No. Leave the Barrows.” I had no idea what was going to happen, and the next few hours might not be safe for anyone on these streets. “Call your granny and tell her I said thanks.”

  The western sun had dipped below the orange-streaked horizon, and soon the malevolent dark moon night would begin. I ran around the Den and into the alley, and Lillian followed. I had no clue where to look, but I knew whom to call. I slowed to a fast walk.

  “Termas!” I called for my great scaly friend. “Anyone!”

  “Who are you calling?” Lillian asked.

  “Backup.”

  I’d gone two blocks in the quickly fading light when young Termins ran out of the building. His clawed feet scrabbled along the asphalt and his scales gleamed in the last vestiges of twilight. The much larger Termas was right behind him, growling in what sounded like reprimand. He snatched Termins just before the young one plowed into and over me. I heard Lillian gasp. I twisted to face her, to stand between her and the giant Termas and his young.

  Lillian had drawn a gun. Of course, all she saw was a Drow.

  “Lillian!” I held out a hand. “They won’t hurt you. Put the gun away. Trust me. Please.”

  She stared for long moments. Termas stood still and made no menacing moves. She holstered the weapon. She didn’t comment, but she kept her eyes on the massive scale-armored Drow.

  I turned back to Termas. “Please, take me to Kyros.”

  Termas nodded and went back into the building, carrying a struggling Termins under his arm. We followed him. Once inside, he picked up a small lantern—I’d bet for our benefit. We trekked through the semi-darkness of several other buildings where holes had been cut in walls to facilitate travel without going outside. The stink of dry rot was thick here and our feet stirred up dust. I drew the neck of my shirt over my nose and mouth to keep a fit of sneezing at bay. Lillian made no comment; nor did she ask questions. Finally, we entered what I recognized as the dimly lit room I’d been in only a few nights before.

  Kyros stepped out of the darkness. I turned to Lillian. Her hands were at her sides, clenched into fists, but she didn’t draw gun or knife. At least Eunice had stayed behind. I doubt I would have been able to control her.

  “Thank you for trusting me, Sister,” I said to her. I laid a hand on her arm to reassure her.

  “You seem to be very generous with trust, Madeline.” Her voice was full of dismay. She shook her head. “I have seen more Drows than you ever will. Most are mindless animals. Intelligence makes these more dangerous.”

  Kyros stepped closer to Lillian. She tensed, but didn’t reach for a weapon. He lowered his head to her. “I wish I could find a way to convince you that we want nothing but to leave this place in peace.”

  She met his gaze, then gave a slight nod that might have meant anything.

  “You are looking for Michael,” Kyros said to me. “The Tektos saw what happened and told me. I’ll take you to him.”

  I almost hugged him, but he looked too much like Aiakós. I still had no proof that I could trust this creature. Intuition alone was carrying me through this night. “Can someone else take me? You need to gather your people. Tonight is the dark moon solstice. I’m betting that the talisman will arrive in the plaza close to midnight, when it actually begins. The witch won’t want to lose a minute. All we have to do is take it away from her; then you and your kind can return home.” I hoped that Lillian would not connect the word talisman with the Portal. I didn’t need her knowing that the Drows needed it to travel home.

  Kyros smiled. “Is that all?” I didn’t know his expressions, but I think this one conveyed sarcasm. “Madeline, anyone who is able to command the stone, even incompetently, is dangerous.”

  “And that includes you?”

  “Indeed.”

  “We’ll have to take things on faith. As soon as I obtain it, I’ll give you the talisman so you can return home.”

  “You’re supposed to return it to the Sisters, Madeline.” Lillian spoke quietly. My euphemism hadn’t fooled her after all.

  “Why? So another witch can use it to destroy something? It doesn’t belong here.”

  Now I had to wonder if I could trust Lillian. Would I have to battle her and Eunice to get the Portal out of this world? That would truly break my heart. I said a silent prayer that I would not have to do that, though I don’t know to whom I prayed.

  Kyros spoke to Termas in a garble of words, almost like Chinese.

  I stepped closer to Lillian. “I’ll explain later.”

  “It ought to be interesting,” she grumbled.

  Termins, the little Beheras, bumped his thick scaled shoulder against her leg. She staggered. He turned a fearsome but innocent face up to her. She drew a deep breath and knelt beside him.

  “Watch the claws,” I said. “He’s an herbivore, but he’s still a kid. And a bit clumsy.”

  Termins lifted his hand. Lillian grasped it carefully to keep the claws from her. They remained like that, each engrossed in the other. Lillian, the Sister of Justice, had just bonded with a Drow. What next?

  “Termas and another will take you,” Kyros said. “They will carry you. It’s dark now. It will be faster.”

  “Okay.” I raised an eyebrow. “Lillian?”

  Lillian rose, silent.

  “You can go back if you like,” I told her. “They’ll lead you to the street.”

  She crossed her arms. “And let you have all the fun? Certainly not. You are the leader of this quest. I’ll follow you.”

  A great wave of love welled up in me for this woman. Now all I had to do was find the strength, the resolve, to do what might need to be done this evening.

  “Madeline?” Kyros laid a hand on my shoulder. “Please be careful. It’s only been a short while, but we are all quite fond of you.”

  “Yeah, I like you, too. Wish we could have met at a better time.”

  Termas lifted me and the other Beheras picked up Lillian. The trip wasn’t comfortable, but it was fast as the Drows ran through the now pitch-black night.

  Chapter 35

  I knew I’d be covered with bruises from banging against Termas’s armored skin when we came to a stop in an alley, but we’d gotten there in record time. I had no plan, no agenda, only the deepest need to find Michael.

  I could see lights ahead, enough for me to pinpoint our location.

  “Damn,” I whispered. “This can’t be right.”

  This was the light industrial area where Étienne had brought me to watch his men wrestle and train. Dark dread filled me. All my suspicions about Étienne coalesced into one atrocious ball. The large building that housed his troops sat across a wide street and parking lot. The windows were covered, but I could see men moving around in the light spilling from an occasional open door. Farther down was the training facility where I’d trounced good old Hogg.

  Something cold and full of dismay wiggled in my gut. Étienne. What was he up to? I did not want him as an enemy because I liked him—and he would make a formidable adversary.

  Termas lifted his great arm and pointed at a building fifty yards down the street. It, too, was a warehouse, though not a large one. And it was guarded. Étienne’s troops again. Two men carrying large rifles stood in front of a door.

  A vehicle came our way. Termas grabbed me and dashed into an alley. Lillian and the other Drow followed, but not before I got a good look at the door guards as the headlights flashed on them. They wore military-issue night-vision goggles. Sneaking up on them would be near impossible. We’d have to find another way in.

  We made our way around to the back of the guarded building. Everything appeared sealed tight, but there were no guards. I smiled as I remembered Sister Tara’s lessons on B&E. Nothing is impenetrable. Our target building’s back wall towered over us, substantial steel doors barring our way thro
ugh, but I could see light coming from above in places where the roof met the walls. That light illuminated little, but obviously our Drow friends could see quite well in the dark. Not far away, perhaps inside, I could hear the grumble of generators providing electricity.

  “Let’s see if we can find a hole,” I said. Termas and his companion searched with us, carefully feeling our way across the building wall. All doors seemed secure and entrance impossible. It was Lillian who found a way in. At the bottom of a ramped loading dock was a large grate, probably a drain, big enough that Lillian and I could get through. The Beheras could not.

  Trash covered most of it, but we quickly cleared that away. I grabbed the grate and jerked. It didn’t budge. Was it bolted down? Termas put his big hands on my shoulders and moved me aside. The grate made a popping sound when he jerked it off, but it sounded loud in the night. It revealed a three-foot square.

  “Termas, go back and help Kyros get ready to go.”

  Termas didn’t move.

  “Please.”

  He drew me close for a moment, murmured words, sounds I could not understand. Not that it mattered. The gesture was universal, a moment of caring in an uncaring world. All my years at Justice I’d lived without such comfort. I’d grown stronger, but now I questioned the cost. He released me, and he and the other faded into the night.

  Lillian followed me as I crawled in. My hands and knees protested as they landed on small, hard objects, pieces of debris small enough to make it through the grate. They wouldn’t do any permanent damage or lacerate the skin, but they did hurt.

  I hadn’t even thought of a flashlight, nor had I had time to obtain one. The floor sloped steadily down.

  I’m not normally claustrophobic, but I felt as if the dimensions of the hole closed in on me, tight as a glove, as I forced myself along. My elbows scraped against the walls and I battered my head more than once.

  I came to another grate, this one in the floor. I couldn’t see, of course, but the tunnel went on, past the grate and into, I hoped, the building. It made sense, sort of. When it rained, the water drained from the confines of the loading dock into the tunnel, then into the floor grate and not into the building. So what was the rest of it for? We continued to crawl until we hit a chute. I skidded down like a skier on a slope straight to hell and crash landed on my ass in a pile of trash, which, thankfully, contained no sharp objects. It made a lot of noise. I scrambled to my feet. There was light here, a single bulb on the ceiling, and I could see the purpose of the chute. I’d landed in a basement, and an ancient coal-fired furnace sat across the room. Long dead, it had once warmed the floors above us and the tunnel and chute had brought it fuel. Lillian followed me, but landed far more gracefully. She stood and brushed the dust off her clothing.