Raising Hell

by Sharon Hannaford

  “Arghh,” Athena growled in frustration from the hall.

  “Try again,” Tabari said, his voice impassive. “You will get it.”

  Athena muttered something Kyle didn’t quite hear, but he got the sense that time was running out. Whatever was going on here, this could only be another distraction. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the longer they lingered here, the worse things would be in the long run. His sense of urgency was mounting to the point that his wolf had begun pacing the back of his mind. He thrust his hands into his hair, trying to force his brain to shut off the worry and concentrate on the problem. He needed to put himself in their heads. The heads of those who didn’t have any kind of reverence for life, human or otherwise. If he wanted to taunt someone, if he had trapped someone in hell, where would he hide the key? His eyes searched the dark corners of the hall: storage cupboards, attic space, electrical box, under the stage.

  The stage.

  His eyes were drawn to the buzzing pile of bodies.

  The bodies. Of course.

  He rushed from the kitchen, aiming for the stage, trusting Razor to watch their backs. Gabi left the group and followed him.

  “What have…” She broke off as she realised where he was heading. “Oh, Lord and Lady, no,” she hissed, the disgust clear in her tone. “Really?”

  He glanced back at her. “It fits.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she retorted, pulling the front of her shirt up and over her nose and slipping Nex back into the sheath down her back.

  Kyle opened his mouth to breathe, trying to block his nose. As they neared the bodies, a cloud of dark flies exploded upwards, swarming them and adding to their misery. They swatted ineffectually at the nasty things as they moved in closer. Most of these bodies had not come from any funeral parlour or seen any kind of embalming. The bodies were colours Kyle hoped never to see again, and bloat had set in. Dead eyes caught the pale moonlight that streamed in a broken window high up one of the walls. It was difficult to figure out how many bodies there were, it was such a tangle of limbs and dishevelled clothing.

  Gabi swallowed, keeping one hand up to keep her face clear of flies. “Start with this one,” she choked out, leaning down to grip a pair of mottled purple hands.

  Kyle swallowed the bile rising in his throat and found the corresponding legs. Between them they carefully lifted the body, shifting it away and laying it gently down, the last thing they wanted was the thing bursting, spewing dissolving internal organs everywhere.

  Gabi retched several times, turning away as she bent over, then breathing deeply through her mouth before joining him back at the pile.

  They were busy moving the third one when Alexander ghosted up onto the stage with them.

  “I think I see something,” he told them, stepping gingerly into the small void they’d created in the centre of the grotesque mass. While they gingerly deposited their cargo, he reached down and tugged a scrap of fabric free from beneath another body.

  “Tabari,” he called loudly, and a moment later the other Vampire was beside him, “is this it?” He held a bag the size of his hand pinched between two fingernails. It was tied at the top with string, and some dried herbs hung from the ties. It was stained with things Kyle didn’t want to think too hard about.

  “More than likely,” Tabari answered, not reaching to take the bag, “unless it is a decoy.”

  “What do we do with it?” Gabi asked, the arm across her face muffling her words.

  “Burn it,” Tabari said.

  “Get her to ease off,” Gabi told Alexander, nodding back at the kneeling form of Athena once he’d dropped the suspect bag into the steel basin in the kitchen. “We might need her strength before the night is over.”

  He nodded and disappeared just as Butch appeared in the outer doorway. They’d called him to bring a flame-thrower, and he hadn’t dallied.

  Kyle pointed at the basin and the brown bag. “Torch it.”

  The other man didn’t hesitate, lifting the rifle-like contraption and aiming the nozzle. Kyle, Tabari and Gabi stepped back as a three-foot-long jet of flame spat outward with a muted roar. The basin groaned, turning black with char, and for a second the bag simply lay unburned despite the extreme heat. And then, with a whoosh of dark red sparks, it simply exploded into nothingness.

  Butch kept the flame on the basin for several more seconds before hitting the kill switch. None of them took their eyes from the blackened sink, and Butch’s aim with the flame-thrower never wavered as they waited for something more to happen. Razor, who had begun growling the moment they rushed into the kitchen with the bag, finally quieted.

  Very human groans made them spin towards the main hall. Alexander looked their way and nodded. The spell was broken.

  “I’ll salt and flush away the remains,” Tabari said, opening cupboards as Butch finally lowered the flame-thrower.

  Kyle clapped a hand on Butch’s shoulder as he and Gabi returned to the hall. This time Razor followed them.

  Two men Kyle didn’t know were helping the two prone Magi into sitting positions while Alexander held the flashlights and Athena stood close beside him. The young female Magus had tears streaming down her face, and the man looked as though he was about to be ill.

  “Melinda, our Healer, should be out with the others,” Athena said after clearing her throat a little. “Alpha, would you mind asking one of yours to escort her to us?”

  Kyle nodded and gave a quick hand gesture in the direction of the kitchen. Butch would’ve heard the request and would probably be grateful for the excuse to leave the stench for a few minutes. There was the sound of gushing water as Tabari finished clearing the hex bag. At least the water still worked in the hall, if not the electricity.

  “I’m…I’m sorry, High Magus,” the man said in a hoarse rasp. Kyle recognised him as Stewart, the Magi Tracker. “That was truly a stupid mistake—”

  Athena waved him to silence. “Yes, it was.” Her words were firm, but her voice was tired. “I warned you this will be the kind of Magic we’ve never encountered before. It is strong, unstable and unpredictable.” Her words had become angry. She gave a little huff and appeared to collect herself. “Tell me you at least made some kind of useful discovery.”

  Both Magi dropped their heads, not able to meet her eyes.

  “We…we came inside to try to lock onto something they touched,” the man began, “and then…and then we…” His hand waved around the area they’d been lying in; he was still shaking.

  If Kyle wasn’t so desperate for information himself, he would’ve told Athena to ease up on them, but they couldn’t afford to waste time on sympathy.

  “So if you’re free of the spell, you can try now?” Gabi asked. She had her arms folded across her chest, and Razor sat next to her right leg, staring at the Magi with unblinking orange eyes.

  “I…I’m sure…”

  “Wait,” said a woman’s voice from behind them. “Let me just check them over first.”

  Kyle hadn’t seen Melinda in several years. She had been an integral part of the SMV when he and Gabi were Hunters. She was a gifted Magi Healer and had patched both of them up too many times to count.

  “Yes, of course,” Athena agreed reluctantly.

  They all took a few steps back, giving the Healer and her patients some space. Tabari and Butch joined the group and waited as Melinda rolled back her sleeves and stepped close enough to touch Stewart’s forehead with her fingertips.

  “Physically they’re fine, High Magus,” she pronounced after a few tense minutes. She turned to look at Athena. “Their mental states are not as good.” She took a breath and looked stern. “If it were under other circumstances, I would recommend full rest until they could be further assessed, but I understand the gravity of the situation. If you will allow me to continue monitoring their well-being, and if there is no further chance of a repeat of what they’ve just experienced, I think it would be safe enough to let them try to track the Vodun.”

  �
�Tabari?” Athena turned to look in the Vampire’s direction. “Do you think there will be more similar traps here?”

  “No, High Magus,” he answered. “I have swept the area, and I can’t sense anything else. You could do it yourself to be sure though; you know now what to feel for.”

  Athena drew a breath and nodded. “I have already, and I can’t sense anything either.” She looked back to the Trackers. “I know what you’ve been through is traumatic, but we really need you now,” she said to them.

  They both nodded eagerly, clearly more than ready, despite their ordeal, to try to make up for disobeying orders and becoming enspelled.

  Unfortunately for them, the only thing left to use for Tracking, since the hex bag had been destroyed, was the mound of human remains. The Vodun would’ve had to touch them at some point. It should be enough.

  Butch had returned from fetching Melinda with a handful of ripped fabric, a lightweight blanket that had been torn into wide strips. He handed the strips around, and Melinda and the two Trackers gratefully tied them over their noses and mouths before approaching the pile. Kyle hung back with Gabi and the others; they couldn’t help with this. He concentrated on blocking out the retching sounds as the Magi neared the corpses.

  Stewart and the woman linked hands and then simultaneously knelt and reached to touch the nearest body, while Melinda stood behind them, keeping a hand on each of their necks. The Trackers began a soft chant, swaying slightly in unison. In the moonlight filtering down through the skylights, Kyle watched their faces grow taut with concentration. Their chanting grew louder, more insistent, and Athena took several steps closer to them. The frown lines on their faces grew deeper, and sweat began to bead on their foreheads.

  “Something’s wrong.” Melinda spoke in a low voice. She too was frowning. “There’s something blocking them. Not here, but at the end source.”

  “You can sense it?” Athena asked.

  “Yes,” the Healer replied, “through them. It’s like a dark wall, an impenetrable fog.”

  Athena mounted the stage, pulling her jacket up to cover the lower half of her face as she approached the trio.

  “Let me,” she said, and Melinda moved aside to allow Athena to touch the two Trackers in the same way she had. Athena’s head went back, the jacket dropping from her face, the smell no longer affecting her. Her breathing became laboured, and Melinda touched her fingers to the High Magus’s forehead.

  Nothing changed in the hall, but Kyle was certain that some kind of battle was going on at a level the rest of them couldn’t sense. Alexander was the only thing that moved in the room, disappearing from Kyle’s left only to reappear at Athena’s side. Kyle knew his friend couldn’t actually translocate, but he moved fast enough to seem like he did. Suddenly Athena let out a ragged growl and swayed unsteadily; her teeth were clenched and her knuckles white as pearl in the moonlight. Alexander’s hands reached out automatically, but he didn’t touch her yet.

  “Take that,” Athena spat from between clenched teeth, and dropped her hands from the Trackers. Alexander immediately put an arm around her waist, pulling her away so that Melinda could once more take her place. The chanting grew louder and more insistent, and the pitch of their voices betrayed a sense of excitement. It grew to a crescendo before abruptly ending as both their heads dropped forward. As a group, Kyle and the others moved towards them despite the smell.

  “We did it,” the woman whispered, wiping a hand across her face as she accepted Melinda’s help to get to her feet. “We know where they are.” Illuminated by the flashlights, her eyes looked haunted, but the set of her jaw was determined.

  Stewart nodded his agreement.

  “And?” Gabi growled impatiently.

  “The Source,” Stewart’s voice was hoarse, but his words were clear. “They’re near the Source.”

  “What?” Athena demanded, her tone alarmed.

  “Not at the Source, but near the Source,” the woman reiterated. “Within a mile, somewhere to the north-west of the Source. That’s where they are.”

  CHAPTER 18

  “Mobilise everyone.” Kyle knew his words were harsh as he threw orders at Trish via the commlink, but he was doing everything he could to hold back his wolf. “Lock down all of the Havens; put the Alphas on alert. Send Breanna and the girls to the panic room. Every able body who isn’t with me is to be on duty at Haven.”

  “I love you,” Trish told him, breaking with personal protocol. “Come home in one piece.”

  “Always,” he assured her, but the word felt empty. He cut the commlink before he gave away the true extent of his worry.

  Beside him Gabi was talking on her phone as she drove his van, the phone stuck between her ear and her shoulder. By the set of her jaw, arguing was more like it. She was speaking to Julius. “We can’t wait,” she said tersely. “Athena says they would’ve felt her break their concealment spell; they know we’re coming. We have no idea how long Flora has, or what they’re forcing her to do. Get here as soon as you can.”

  Julius said something Kyle couldn’t hear over the roar of the van’s engine.

  “Hopefully it’ll all be over by then.” Gabi’s voice echoed his own forced optimism. “I love you.” Before Julius could say anything more, she hit the ‘end call’ icon and tossed the phone onto the dashboard. “He’ll be on the ground in just over four hours. He’s not very happy that we’re going in without his backup. He seems unusually worked up, actually.”

  Kyle studied her expression; Hellcat was back, the cold, hard facade of a Hunter, one he had rarely seen in recent years. He couldn’t blame Julius for wanting to be at her side in this fight; he would personally be feeling far more confident if they had the Master Vampire at their backs. But Gabi was right, they couldn’t afford to wait. Insidious tendrils of worry filtered through the battle rage, forcing him to consider what would happen if either he or Gabi didn’t make it out of this alive. In his case he knew that Derek would make a great Alpha, especially with the support of the Vampires and the rest of the Pack. It would be hard on Trish, but she was strong, she would pull through with the Pack around her and for Breanna’s sake.

  Gabi was a different story though. If Julius lost it because of Gabi’s death… He’d heard stories of Vampires who turned Beserker, driven mad by rage or grief. They’d caused destruction on a huge scale before they were taken down, but none of them, no other Vampire in existence, was as strong or powerful as Julius. None of them had the power of elemental Magic or the ability to control other Vampires. If they all made it out of this tonight, the Werewolves needed to discuss another protocol… He breathed deeply, yanking his mind back to reality. They would end this tonight.

  Somehow.

  Gabi glanced over at him as she turned off the tar road and onto a dirt one. She had questions in her eyes, his silence obviously disturbing her.

  “Just don’t die tonight,” he told her with a forced grin.

  Gabi frowned, but had to turn her attention to the road, a little-used, gravel utility road that led as close as roads got to the cave system Trish had found. At the change in road surface, Razor stood up in the back seat and peered out into the dark, his body armour already strapped in place. The Source lay in a huge underground cavern, and they were working on the theory that the Patrium would be underground as well. The cave system that the Source occupied was vast and had several entry points, but this was the only one within a mile north-west of the Source.

  “This isn’t the biggest monster we’ve faced,” Gabi reminded him. “It just feels like it because someone we love is at risk. We’ll all be home in time for breakfast.”

  He knew her bravado was as forced as his smile. This was as serious as it got, and this foe had been several steps ahead of them since the very beginning, and Kyle’s gut told him they probably still were.

  Gabi hit the brakes, and the van came to a sliding halt in a cloud of road dust, in front of a high chain-link fence. The road had come to an end. Signboards li
t by the van’s lights declared this private property and prohibited caving and hiking. Behind them several more vans and cars pulled to a stop, disgorging Werewolves and Vampires kitted out in dark clothing and weapons. Kyle jumped from the van and looked around, frowning.

  “Yeah,” Gabi agreed even though he hadn’t spoken. “Where are their vehicles? How did they get here?”

  “And are we in the right place?” he growled, feeling agitated. He walked a few steps away from the melee and sniffed the air as he turned his head in the direction he knew the cave entrance to be. Dust, pollen, small rodents, bird life. If the great outdoors had a signature scent, then this was it. Except…he took a few more steps and sniffed again, listened harder, searched the darkness. There was something…something he couldn’t put his finger on but…

  “It’s the right place.” Tabari’s deep voice made him start; the Vampire was a few feet behind him. “I can feel it.”

  “I can feel it too.” Gabi’s voice betrayed her surprise, and Razor’s low growl from beside her added to the eeriness. “I can feel something dark. Something huge and dark. I can’t define it better than that.”

  “It’s the Patrium.” Athena joined them. “It has to be. I can sense it too. It feels like the Source, but…tainted.”

  “Well, I guess that makes me the magical dunce,” Alexander chimed in, “because I can’t sense a damned thing. Guess I’ll just have to trust the rest of you.”

  “Are we ready?” Gabi asked Kyle, inspecting the fence as Nex’s smooth blade caught the faint moonlight. She checked the straps on her own body armour and flexed, making sure she had free movement, before rechecking Razor’s. Kyle turned to scan the group of armed Werewolves and Vampires, and behind them a small knot of Magi, young Lucy in the centre. Derek and a few more from Haven were en route, but he couldn’t wait for them. They would have to catch up. This wasn’t a huge group, the cave system would more than likely be narrow, and they’d opted for a small elite team rather than a large unseasoned one. He knew each of them personally, even the wolves from the other Packs. They looked back at him in silence, primed and ready to go. He double-checked weapons and that each of them wore body armour. Their enemy knew how to stop Werewolves and Magi and probably Vampires as well. They had to be ready for anything.