Spirit Sorceress: Spirit Sorceress: Book 1

by D. L. Harrison

  Ceara answered, “What is it Lisa?”

  Lisa replied, “Major rogue attack. We were hit at Pulse, Miku said they were hitting Legends and Echo as well. No major damage at Pulse, we stopped the fire before it could spread, and bagged three out of four rogues, one escaped. I just sent a text to all guards, including the bouncers at the bar and club. Hopefully…”

  Ceara sighed, “Does she know why?”

  I nodded reluctantly when Lisa looked over.

  Lisa replied, “She does. We should be in the garage in five minutes, give us ten to jail these guys and we’ll come right up.”

  Ceara agreed, “Alright, be careful.”

  When we pulled into the garage a few minutes later, I grabbed two of the rogues and threw them over my shoulders. Lisa grabbed the last one and I followed her through to the stairs, and then down to the holding cells. I wasn’t gentle when I dropped them on the bunks. After making sure the doors were locked, we ran upstairs to the third floor and the large lounge room.

  There was a change in the room. That hideous throne like chair was gone, in its place were some more couches. We sat caddy corner to Ceara and waited.

  Ceara finally asked, “What happened.”

  Lisa explained we smelled smoke, and split up. After she described her and the two bouncers taking down their two rogues, I went through what happened to me.

  Ceara turned to me and asked, “So what do you know?”

  I took a deep breath, “The plan was to let the fire get out of control. They hoped no one would find out soon enough to put it out, they knew they’d never sneak any accelerants past the bouncers, so they’d been counting on the garbage, a lighter, and time for it to grow out of control in the bathroom before being noticed.

  “Once it was noticed, they counted on the humans panicking, and running for the doors. That’s when they would have killed as many vampires as they could from the coven, and then escape in the panic.”

  I paused a moment, “That was their plan. The why… because you’re here. They all work for a twelve-hundred-year old vampire named Mark. His goals were many, some of them simply petty. To turn the coven against you, because you didn’t protect us from him. To cut off your revenue stream. To cause the mortal authorities to poke around. He was also hoping you’d make a mistake in anger, allowing him to kill you. His end goal is to give each coven the ability to make its own rules, instead of you ruling them all. This was just the first step, but his vampires don’t know the rest of his plan.”

  Ceara asked, “What do you think of his plan?”

  “Me?” I asked surprised, “He’s an idiot. It would be anarchy from city to city, they’d have covens running city governments, some running criminal enterprises, and very little oversight means exposure would happen sooner or later.”

  Ceara asked, “And I? What should I do?”

  I shrugged, “Kill him, or put him on the new council. That’s all you really can do.”

  Ceara blinked, “Put him on the council I’m building? Why would you say that?”

  “I don’t know if it’s an option, it depends on why he’s actually doing this. Is he crazy, or just power hungry, or maybe he just wants to make his own destiny? The latter would be solved in that case wouldn’t it? Probably a bad thought, never mind.”

  Ceara asked, “Do you know where he is?”

  I nodded, “Maybe? Portland, Oregon. At the Holiday Inn in a penthouse suite. Not sure if he’s still there though, that was where his rogue believed him to be. If he’s smart though, I imagine he believed at least one of his men would be caught.”

  Ceara dismissed that with a hand wave, “Thanks. Lisa, get me some updates please and send them to my phone as you get them, I want you to coordinate for me.”

  Then she was just gone, before her last words faded. After about four seconds, I couldn’t feel her soul either, and I was reaching out a half mile. She just… went that fast. I wondered if she was in Portland already.

  It was going to be a long night, “Coffee?”

  Lisa nodded, “Sure. I’m worried. They caught the four vampires at Echo, they didn’t even get the first started. I haven’t heard back from the guys at Legends yet.”

  I frowned, “Don’t let my body slip off the couch.”

  She frowned, “What?” as I stepped out of my body and went to Legends with a thought.

  There was a huge crowed outside, and fire engines. I spotted two vampires I recognized, they must have been the bar’s security tonight. They were talking to the firemen and two policemen. I walked into the building, it was kind of bad. There was smoke and water damage on all the walls, and the furniture, though nothing was burnt out here in the main bar.

  The back hallway which led to the emergency exit was wet too, it was also blackened. I followed the damage back to the bathrooms which were a total loss. Worse, there were two vampire souls left in the building. I didn’t know them, hadn’t met them yet, but I’d felt them a few times over the last few days.

  One was a woman in jeans, a sports sweatshirt, and a green apron with the Legends logo on it. They weren’t real clothes, just what her spirit believed she should have on. Next to her was another soul, who must have been the bartender. The four who had done this must have escaped. I can only imagine it started here, and that pulse was second to be hit, not first as I’d hoped.

  I walked over to them. They were confused about being dead and didn’t seem to recognize me. I was of course, invisible to everyone else on a spirit walk, except to other disembodied spirits.

  I reached out and read their souls, just the last hour. It happened pretty much to their plan, there was fire, panic, and then death. I reached in and released their memories, allowing them to understand, see the past lives and the wheel. They would know where to go now, for their chance at another lifetime.

  I was conflicted. I felt guilty like there was something else I should have done. But that was ridiculous of course, I was a spirit sorcerer. This was natural, and right. Their souls would live on, their deaths just a part of the wheel of life.

  But I was also a vampire, and they were in my coven. It was a dichotomy I didn’t know how to handle. I waited with them until they went. They both thanked me before they faded away to rejoin the elemental plane of spirit. That did make me feel better.

  I took one more look around, and then returned to my body.

  “It’s bad Lisa, a waitress and bartender died, and the place needs a lot of work done. The main room is damaged, and the bathrooms and back hall are a total loss from the fire. The team there must have struck first, or at least at the same time they tried at Pulse.”

  Lisa frowned, “What about security?”

  “They’re dealing with the firemen and cops. I’m sure they’ll check in when they get a moment.”

  Lisa sighed, “This is not how I expected my night to go. Didn’t you say something about coffee?”

  I grinned, “Yup, let’s go. You can get me drunk and steal my virtue another time.”

  Lisa pouted…

  Chapter 19

  We were only about halfway through with our coffee when Ceara joined us. One second, nothing, next second she was sitting next to Lisa, across from me.

  Ceara’s face was a hard mask, “It was a trap. His room was wired with C-four, he might have gotten me too, if he hadn’t set the trigger on the outer door. Regardless, we are going with plan A.”

  Lisa asked, “Kill the bastard?”

  Ceara nodded, “That’s the one. His plans mostly failed tonight thanks to you two, and he will greatly regret killing two of my people before the end. Do you know where they were supposed to meet up after the job?”

  I shook my head, “They were to disappear and wait for cell phone contact before regrouping. I’d have said something otherwise. Mark really did expect someone to get caught so made sure he couldn’t be betrayed.”

  I looked at Ceara and remembered she almost got blown up, “I guess he was counting on it actually.”

&nb
sp; Ceara grunted, “This is frustrating. I know someone who could find them in a second, but… that bridge is burned. We have no choice but to tighten our security on the other three locations, and wait for him to try again, and hope he makes a mistake this time.”

  I asked, “What about Tina? Could she track Mark through the maker bond?”

  Ceara’s eyes narrowed.

  “Umm, did I forget to mention that? Two of the three we bagged are Mark’s direct turns.”

  She waved that away, “I don’t know, I was actually considering it. We don’t usually advertise every detail about us, so that’s never been tried before. She’d need a way to find that bond first. Will you and Lisa go find out in the morning? In the meantime, Lisa, you need to tighten that security and let everyone know visiting vampires not a part of our coven should be watched. Especially while in one of our businesses.”

  I nodded, “I’ll also call the alpha, have him get us estimates on Legends and Pulse.”

  Ceara asked, “I thought Pulse was okay?”

  I shrugged, “Mostly? The bathroom probably just needs a new paint job and a garbage can, but there’s a hole in the sheetrock in the back hallway. The rogue uh… well, he broke it with his head.”

  Ceara chuckled, “I assumed he had help?”

  I nodded sheepishly, “Just a little.”

  Ceara nodded, “Fine, and thanks. The witch takes precedence though.”

  Lisa and I agreed and then left. Lisa thanked me and headed for security. I figured it would be a busy day tomorrow, so I headed up to my condo to get some sleep. I was about to put my thumb on the door when I felt it again. Spirit magic. My piece of crap uncle was back…

  I’m ashamed to say I didn’t think at all. I just ran. I was thinking of course, about my dead parents, and dead grandparents that I’d never met. That I followed Inari and spirit sorcerer rogues needed to be stopped.

  It wasn’t until I caught up with him in an alley, and gathered my full power and let it rip, bathing my uncle Jiro in spiritual lightning that the truth really occurred to me. He was over five hundred years old, and way more powerful.

  He didn’t even attack me back.

  He just laughed, which pissed me off more.

  “Cut it out Miku, we need to talk,” he sounded calm, and almost pleasant.

  His calm words made it worse, and my anger raged more. He had taken so very much from me.

  Anyone that watched from nearby would think I was the nutcase here. But I didn’t stop, I couldn’t. It was useless, I channeled all my power and his shields just stopped it cold, he wasn’t even trying. It was like trying to knock over a boulder with a squirt gun.

  He sighed, “Enough,” and raised his hand. A bolt of fiery lightning leaped out of his hand, went through my shield like it wasn’t there, and knocked me on my butt. As I passed out, tendrils of his magic slowly wrapped around me, my last thought was that I’d really messed up this time…

  I woke up and my head ached, but it was clearing quickly. I looked around and… I was in my bedroom. What the hell? I felt my uncle in my living room. Huh, still not dead. I got up and walked out into the living room and scowled at him. Apparently I was kind of helpless, so I might as well hear him out. Not that I really had a choice.

  He smiled, “You have attitude. You remind me of myself when I was your age.”

  I shook my head, “I’m nothing like you, and I never will be.”

  He sighed, “No, I was nothing like me either, when I was younger. And I hope you believe me when I say I hope you never will be either.”

  I sat, really confused now, “What do you want?”

  He said softly, “Peace, and to tell you my side of the story.”

  “You want to justify yourself?”

  He frowned, “Not exactly. I don’t want your forgiveness; I don’t deserve it. But perhaps, I can just gain your understanding, and an agreement.”

  “Explain then,” I said daringly as I crossed my arms. I felt absurd ordering him like that, when he dwarfed my power. But I was too angry to do anything else.

  “When I was your age, I met Callie. My mate and a werewolf. We spent years together, happy, with your grandparents, and my sister who was still just a fox cub. I was like you, I respected Inari and held the tenets close to my heart. It was years later when it started. A water sorcerer, a young one, had taken offense with the local pack for some reason. It’s funny, but I never found out why, even to this day.

  “First, he killed the omega. Omega’s are the weakest in the pack, but also the heart of the pack. It hurt me, and even more so because my mate was devastated. Yet, according to the tenets, family is blood, and marriage only. I was friends with the pack, close friends, they felt more like brothers and sisters to me, but they weren’t my family in truth. Still, I wished to go out and stop the fire sorcerer. I knew even a young one could take on a whole pack with ease.

  “My mate’s pack.”

  He paused for a moment. I really didn’t want to feel sorry for him, but it was hard. It was especially hitting me because my own mate was a wolf, even if I couldn’t have him.

  Then I remembered the asshole in front of me was responsible for that, he derailed my life and it led here, instead of to my mate. Of course, that thought made me feel guilty, the coven had really welcomed me and had given me a place, and I wasn’t ungrateful for it.

  He continued, “Your grandparents talked me out of it, and to be fair to them, I still believed in the tenets at that time. It wasn’t very hard to convince me. But as the pack was picked off one by one it became much harder to bear. My wife left one night, in a fit of anger and disgust, that I’d let her family die when I could stop it. That same day, the pack mystic was killed, mate to the beta. To a werewolf, pack is family, closer than family. Mystics are important to the packs, they not only have magic, they can also manipulate it. Like a witch, but not as powerful.

  “Our tenets must have seemed like such a cruelty to them.”

  He paused there, as if working himself up to the next part, “The next night the fire sorcerer attacked again, and my mate died, while protecting the alpha. I wasn’t there because she’d pushed me away, refused to let me even come so I could guard her. She was angry with me, perhaps she might have come back and forgiven me, I don’t know, and I never will.”

  “Do you know what happened then?” he asked, looking at me with pain filled eyes.

  I shook my head, “What happened?”

  He looked past me, or through me as he said, “I spirit walked, found him, and used spirit lightning to kill him.”

  His eyes refocused on me, his tone of voice wasn’t filled with shame, but neither did he sound proud, “Then I wrapped his spirit up with my power, and tore it apart, and scattered it to the four winds. I completely destroyed it.”

  My eyes widened, destroying a soul was against the tenets. A twisted use of the power we are entrusted with. Seeking revenge for his mate wasn’t, if he’d stopped after the sorcerer died he wouldn’t be rogue.

  He sighed, “It was a moment of rage, and weakness, and pain from my mate’s death. The worst thing to me is I did it in five seconds. Five seconds, to stop a monster, yet I could not save my mate or her pack.”

  I frowned, “What happened then?” I asked, knowing the story wasn’t finished. He’d yet to explain the other deaths.

  He shrugged, “I decided the tenets were flawed. I no longer follow them. I haven’t destroyed a soul since, but I’ve protected those I care about. My parents, they came after me. It took them years, but they finally decided their son wasn’t going to return to the fold, and seek redemption. So I killed them, and fled.

  “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I found your mother a little over two years ago. I approached her, hoping to reconnect. I didn’t expect her approval for how I lived my life, but I hoped that the world was big enough for both of us, and she’d speak to me on occasion.”

  I frowned, “What happened?”

  He sighed, “Y
ou. I didn’t know about you when I approached her in Seattle. She was very protective of you, and when she saw me, she panicked and drove me off. She hunted me for about a month, and I couldn’t get through to her. I should’ve just stayed away, but I knew she had decided I needed to be put down as a rogue. I… couldn’t allow that.

  “One day, you will see her again, she’ll be reborn. Scant comfort I know.”

  I was back to rage, why couldn’t he have just fled, hid somewhere else?

  “So what is it you want from me?”

  He shrugged, “Nothing. I want nothing. I want you to simply live and let live. When you grow in power, do not come after me. Let it go, because I’m really tired of killing family…”

  I had no idea how to respond to that at all. I saw a flash of elemental spirit power and he was gone. Huh, spirit shifting. It was like teleporting, and incredibly dangerous, and it would be years before I could do it. I understood how it worked, but I wasn’t strong enough to enter the elemental plane of spirit for the second it would take to get to my destination, it would kill me.

  I shook my head in disgust, because he’d almost had me. I understood his dilemma, and felt sorry for him. At least up until the point he killed my mother and father, and then threatened to do the same to me if I didn’t leave him alone. If I was lucky he’d leave the city now and not come back for a very long time.

  I sighed. As for me, I had no choice but to leave him alone, at least, for a long time to come…

  Chapter 20

  I groaned as I heard the banging on my door. I grabbed my phone, I had missed two calls from Lisa, and it was around seven thirty. I’d tossed and turned most of the night, I hadn’t been able to get to sleep after my uncle’s visit. The more I’d thought about his story the more holes I found in it. He could have found a way, a better way.

  I wasn’t sure what, but the rules didn’t cover self-defense. Much like I’d simply stood in the hallway last night. The rogue had assumed I was there to capture him. That he could have simply waltzed by me probably never occurred to him. I’d also realized he’d had his wife living with him and his parents, which meant he’d made a wolf live apart from their pack. That wasn’t right.