by Lee Roland
I’d seen many odd things in my life and travels. A place in the Okefenokee where the ghosts of ancient peoples gathered to dance to the beat of now-silent drums, a pit in Africa where the bones of animals collected and rattled and almost formed words—they awed me, but I would walk through them without fear. Should the Earth Mother grace me with her presence again, I would ask only one question. Why did she allow such a dangerous thing to exist here?
Chapter 16
I suddenly realized I was standing on the sidewalk in the arms of a stranger who might be a friend or might be an enemy. Whatever power was parked in the center of the plaza frightened me. Nothing that involved magic had ever actually frightened me before. Etienne had seen a moment of weakness I really hadn’t wanted him to see. When I pulled away, he instantly released me. He did give me a roguish grin and that managed to draw a smile from me in return.
“Let’s go inside,” he said. He didn’t move. Instead he caught my arm in a firm grip. He put his lips close to my ear. “If something happens, if I tell you to run, will you do it?”
“What do you think? Run? Yes, I’ll run. If necessary and if you run with me. Don’t ever think I’ll leave you to fight alone. To fight for me. As long as I have the strength to stand, I will.”
Etienne turned his face away and muttered under his breath. “Darrow said . . .”
“Darrow said what? I’ve probably heard it. ‘Nicky, you are the most stubborn creature on God’s earth.’”
Etienne’s face relaxed. He almost smiled. “Darrow said you had the courage of a tiger with cubs. That I would find no better warrior to stand at my back—if I could persuade you that I am worthy of your loyalty.”
“Damn. Darrow’s getting to be a philosopher in his old age.” I made light of it, but it pleased me deep in my heart that my old friend thought that of me. “Let’s get this over with.”
I walked with him across the sidewalk and through glass doors that whispered as they closed behind us. We entered into a marble-floor room with expansive ceilings and hand-carved woodwork. This place had been either recently restored or carefully protected from whatever disaster befell the ruins outside. The most striking thing in the massive room was not the marble under my feet, the high ceiling, or the wide ornate staircase leading to a second floor.
I held my breath as I approached a statue, the human representation of Earth Mother I’d seen in my dream last night. What artist could have created such a rare and perfect image? Certainly one who had been graced with her presence as I had. Human-sized and absolutely perfect, it seemed as if it would come to life if I touched it. Carved from a single, perfect opal, her eyes were closed, not as if she slept, but as if she prayed. That emphasized the perfect symmetry of her hands and arms. The first men and women had bowed to and worshipped her, changeless and eternal, for thousands of years. They had left their crude representations buried in the earth. Those humans lived within her cycle of life, birth, and death. They took careful note of the seasons as they foraged the land, herded animals, and grew their crops. Then as now, witches, healers, and oracles were the keepers of the world’s magic. Idolatry had no appeal for me, but seeing this, I could understand why humans would choose to fall to their knees before her.
“She is beautiful, our Innana.” The voice, deep and soft, came from my right.
Etienne stood behind me. His hands clamped on my shoulders with a grip that would probably defy any effort on my part to dislodge them. Not that I wanted to move just then.
Beyond a doubt, the melodic voice came from Laudine’s demon. He stood at least seven feet tall and was masculine as the statue of the Earth Mother was feminine. Golden skin and deeper golden eyes complemented magnificent crimson hair. Or maybe it was hair. It stood like a crest over his head and fell down to his shoulders. How exquisite, how . . . breathtaking.
Speechless, I simply stared as I had at the statue.
The demon favored me with a personal smile, a sensual smile, and it carried the promise of pleasure beyond imagination. At the same time, the offer came with the arrogance of a noble looking down upon his favored servant.
“Nyx.” Etienne spoke in my ear. “This is Aiakós.”
“Ah . . . yeah.” Could I sound more stupid?
Aiakós stepped closer. His clothing appeared to be modern, upscale, and flattering. It had to be custom-made for his size. It was the eyes, his eyes, that broke the spell. He’d dropped his guard to study me, and those perfect golden eyes turned black as a basement in hell. Only an instant, but my witch instincts shrieked. Etienne’s warning held true. Something deadly, something evil, approached.
I backed up tighter against Etienne. His breath remained steady, and his body rigid. My arms still hung at my sides.
“No magic,” Etienne hissed in my ear. “He won’t attack you.”
His words didn’t reassure me. Aiakós stopped.
“No. I won’t attack your witch, Etienne,” Aiakós agreed. “Innana”—he nodded at the Earth Mother’s statue—“has made that quite clear. I am only permitted to strike at her witches if I am attacked first. It seems unfair, but I remain her captive.” He gave the statue a glance that could only be taken as annoyance.
Desperate to change the subject, I nodded at the statue. “Where did you get that?”
“Oh, some diligent grave robbers found it deep within a cave in the Middle East. It is priceless, I’m told, though certain merchants were persuaded to accept a substantial amount of money and send it here. My son was most perturbed at the cost. That, too, was priceless, to see him so vexed. Apparently he feels there are some limits to wealth. You’ve met Michael.”
It was not a question. He’d been keeping track of me, probably since I first arrived.
My initial stupor at his appearance quickly changed to curiosity. Curiosity and my occasional reckless absence of fear had defined my life—and caused me endless trouble.
Etienne, apparently sensing I had overcome my initial shock and wasn’t planning an assault on his employer, slowly released me.
Aiakós studied me for a long moment. “I’m told that you are searching for your sister. Marisol. I have met her. To my utter surprise, she walked in one day and introduced herself. After that, she came to visit me occasionally. I certainly enjoyed her company. She was well versed in areas of earth magic that were of interest to me and had traveled extensively around your world. And quite a lovely young woman.”
“That sounds like Marisol.” Marisol had a far greater deficit of good healthy fear than I. I didn’t know she had traveled extensively. I thought I was the only wanderer in the family. “How long since you’ve seen her?”
“I don’t actually mark time as you do, but it has been the equivalent of five weeks. Now that I know she is missing, I will search for her. I lead a rather barren existence in this place. I value the few people whose company I enjoy.”
I nodded. “I take it Etienne isn’t much of a conversationalist.”
Aiakós laughed. “Oh, Etienne and I have communicated excellently at times.” The demon’s laugh carried an edge that made me shiver. Etienne still stood behind me, close enough I could feel his body grow stiff and his breath ragged. The man feared witches. He also feared his employer. But he somehow found the courage to face both those fears with only minor hesitation.
I’d relaxed a little since it didn’t seem likely that we would fall into an immediate violent confrontation. Maybe Aiakós would answer some questions. “What’s that thing outside? In the plaza.” I’d been told, but I wanted his understanding of the Zombie and its uses.
Aiakós nodded. “Marisol found it quite intriguing, too. That, my dear, is a most dangerous and difficult passage between worlds. Many who use it do not survive.” His voice and expression grew cold and hard. He changed a bit. His eyes narrowed and took on a really scary shine. A demonic shine. And his hands? He had claws. I hadn’t noticed them before. He reached out with a clawed hand and stroked the statue’s arm. “That wretched door is c
losed now, but it opens occasionally. With spectacular results. It is the portal that your—our—precious Earth Mother used to drag me here and make me a prisoner.”
I’d heard about the prisoner part. “Dragged you from where?”
“From a place where I was quite powerful. A place I enjoyed very much. I had the best of that world and the Barrows. Now I have . . . nothing.”
I broke from my awe and raised an eyebrow at his assertion. “You have a lot more than nothing.”
Aiakós suddenly relaxed. He went from demon to magnificent charming alien in a single instant. “Yes. I have money and servants to create a luxurious cage. It is not an alternative to freedom. But of course, my prison is not your fault. Will you join me for some wine? I’m curious about you.” He gave me a beneficent smile.
“No, thanks. Maybe later.” I’d like to talk to him, but my mind had to process things first. “I really need to be searching for Marisol. I know something is wrong, and I feel like time is running out.”
“Another time, then. Please. You will be safe here. I can promise you that.” He nodded politely.
Voices came from the side of the room as several men and one woman entered. All were dressed in expensive tailored business suits. It seemed innocuous at first, until I heard a voice I knew. Alcides Spaneas.
To call Alcides Spaneas Greek was an insult to the people of that land, but he claimed it as his home. The nicest thing he’d been called was a gunrunner. The worst, a mass murderer. If Etienne’s picture was in the post office, this man’s face was everywhere. Wanted. Wanted by more countries than I could count. I had personally walked through some of the blood he’d spread across the world.
Aiakós laughed, soft and deadly as if he’d heard some secret joke. His attention was no longer on us. I had heard rumors of Etienne as a mercenary, but in conjunction with Spaneas? My horror must have shown on my face.
I turned to Etienne.
“Do you . . . have you . . . ?” What could I ask? Have you killed for Alcides Spaneas? I turned away.
Aiakós went to the group and herded them in another direction, thankfully away from us and the Earth Mother’s image. He towered over them and laughed with them. He allowed them to enter another room ahead of him. Before he went in, he looked straight at me and smiled. Alcides Spaneas wasn’t a demon here. Spaneas was human, only a small evil man. Aiakós would lead them. What evil did he have planned for the Earth Mother’s world? Would he use men like Spaneas as a tool to spread death and destruction?
Anger, a sense of horror . . . rage. I could do nothing about atrocities I’d seen. That was the past. This was about the future. The fire rose in me. I could follow them into that room and everything, everyone, demon and man, would burn.
Etienne lowered his mouth to my ear. His voice was cold and steady as steel. “Those are Aiakós’s . . . slaves. They think of themselves as comrades. They will receive what they truly deserve eventually.” He shuddered. “As I have received.”
He held me as if I was his anchor, this time. The flame in me descended to a flicker. I swallowed and drew a deep breath. Etienne released me.
“Let’s go. We’ll talk somewhere else.”
I started to turn when I realized Herschel was sitting on my feet. I guess he’d felt the fire rise in me. Did he plan to help or hinder me if I built an inferno? How did he get out of the SUV? What was this animal? What powers did he have—and what did he do with my lovable childhood companion?
“Herschel?”
A blob of slobber dropped from his mouth. He farted loudly and Etienne and I quickly backed away. Things dropped to something that approached normal for a witch and a mercenary soldier.
“Does he always do that?” Etienne asked.
“If you mean drool and pass gas, yes, he does. Standing between me and what he thinks dangerous, not often.”
“He felt you were in danger?”
“Possibly. Or maybe he was warning me not to do something . . . reckless.”
Aiakós was most certainly dangerous on his own, regardless of his comrades. I would not ignore the possibilities. The demon might not have harmed Marisol, but who’s to say he wasn’t holding her prisoner somewhere? Powerful Marisol was not immune to the witch’s curse of arrogance. Perhaps she had misjudged him, and he saw a way to use her. He might have made her a prisoner.
As for Etienne, Great Mother, what should I do with him? I could only find some consolation in the fact that the Earth Mother offered him to me and move on from there.
I had now met—or at least I hoped I had met—most of the major “players” in the Barrows. Etienne, the demon, Michael and Madeline, and Dervick had all put in an appearance. I’d even talked to Abigail, the High Witch. I’d spent very little time with Dervick before Etienne chased him off. Of course, any or every one of those I’d met could have lied actually or by omission. The two Sisters of Justice were a bit of a mystery. Like most witches, I was not likely to invite them out to play if I didn’t have to.
We walked outside and I stared again at the Zombie. A portal to other worlds, obviously closed since another vehicle drove by and passed right through it without harm. I managed to find a bit of courage and stepped toward it. Herschel grabbed my leg in his mouth. I staggered and started to fall, but Etienne caught me. Herschel held on. His teeth poked into me to the point of pain.
“What’s he doing?” Etienne asked.
“Urging me to resist my wildly curious nature. All right, Herschel, I’ll stay away.”
Herschel released me.
“Where to, witch?” Etienne asked as we climbed into the SUV.
“Back to your place, where I’ll clean your backseat and get my car.”
“No point in that.” He grinned and spoke with obvious pleasure. “I’ll take you where you want to go. I have people who can clean the car, or get me a new one.”
“Suppose I want to go somewhere without you?”
“That’s too bad.” His voice tightened with determination. “Unless you want to go to the police, straighten out your life, and go home.”
“Why are you so determined to play bodyguard?”
“I don’t want to get blamed if something happens to you.” His voice sounded flat. What didn’t he want to tell me?
“Etienne, who would care if something happened to me?”
“Abigail, Darrow. Maybe Madeline . . .”
I could read the truth behind his words. Damn, I did not need this. Why had this man suddenly decided there was some umbilical cord between us?
“What do you want from me? I am absolutely nothing to you. Besides, if I hadn’t helped you last night at the road block . . .”
“I remember helping you, too.”
“You dragged an unconscious woman home and dumped her in your bed. You could have left me lying on the ground. Herschel would have protected me from Laudine.”
“You’re sure about that?”
No, I wasn’t. And yes, I was beginning to like the man a little, but I wasn’t going to give him any say-so in my life. Immune to magic, my ass. I’d see about that. I gathered a minuscule bit of magic. I ever so gently brushed him with it.
It slammed me back so hard I cried out and jerked in my seat. Blast furnace light blinded me. My head smacked against the window. My legs went numb.
Herschel lunged forward. His massive mouth closed on Etienne’s neck. Etienne clawed for his gun.
“Herschel,” I screamed. “Stop!”
I used what little strength I had to throw myself over and grabbed Etienne’s wrist so he couldn’t draw. He froze.
“Let him go, Herschel.” I gasped out the words.
Herschel held for a second, then released him. My familiar growled in warning. He had let go physically, but kept alert.
My body still trembled as I collapsed across Etienne. At that point he could probably have drawn his gun, but he didn’t. He placed his hands on my shoulders and sat me back straight in my seat.
I drew deep gasping b
reaths, unable to pull oxygen in fast enough. My stomach churned and my heart raced. What a disaster. Etienne had red marks on his neck where Herschel’s teeth had come deathly close to removing his head. I’d seen my unusual familiar bite the head of an alligator. A man didn’t stand a chance.
I wasn’t the only one breathing deeply. Etienne had both hands on the steering wheel as if he would lose control of them if he released it. When he spoke, his voice was rough, but edged with deadly calm. “If that animal ever tries that again, I will kill him.”
I could feel the rage rolling off him.
His anger was justified—but not at Herschel. I’d always taken pride that my use of magic had been for an absolutely necessary reason. This time, I’d gone a little beyond a line I shouldn’t cross. I had no cause to touch him with magic and I’d paid the price. It didn’t dampen my curiosity about his immunity, but I would have to find another way to learn more.
“I understand. I’m so sorry. It was my fault.” My words sounded inadequate. My humiliation ran deep to the core of my life. “He thought you attacked me.”
The Mother had said I should teach him to trust me and I’d created a mess.
“If you’re sorry, you’ll tell me what happened.” Etienne had relaxed a bit. His voice was still tight as a steel coil spring.
“I wanted to know about this immunity-to-magic thing Laudine talked about. I touched you with magic. Only a tiny bit, a single finger tap, and it backfired. Herschel thought you had hurt me.”
Etienne’s jaw clenched and he clutched the steering wheel tighter. He’d break it soon. “And what did you try to make me do?”
“Make you do?” His question stunned me. “No. No. I can’t . . . I never . . .” I sat back and closed my eyes. He’d made a harsh judgment of me. I told myself he had reason, but it hurt nonetheless. I tried to relax, let myself settle into the moment. When I could speak calmly, I tried to explain.
“Etienne, I was born into a family of witches. I’ve had certain lessons drilled into me from the time I understood I had the power to do things.” I rubbed my hands over my face and tried to work a little saliva into a parched mouth. “A witch can sell or give you a potion for you to use. Laudine sells arthritis and hot flash meds to old women. A witch can defend herself when threatened. Like I did with the rain and blowing out the street and car lights.
