Gypsy Witch

by David Delaney

  It screamed again, but this time, instead of sounding defiant, it sounded panicked.

  I used my new leverage to claw my way, hand over hand, up the blood mage's body, cutting and slashing the entire way. I reached its back and ripped one of the wings from its body. It shrieked in pain, and we both tumbled to the ground.

  We landed with a bone-jarring thud, but the blood mage didn't give up. I felt it powering up. It was going to try to whammy me again.

  How cute.

  The spell was a massive wave of death magic, and because of the close range, it pummeled my aura, slicing and dicing, but I remained injury free. Several imps standing close by weren't so lucky. They died in a poof of ash from spell spillage.

  When I didn't drop dead, the blood mage completely lost its cool. It reverted to old school tactics, slashing at me with its talons. I'm not sure if the death magic had weakened me, or if the talons were just the extra sharp flying-lizard-man variety, but the blood mage succeeded in cutting me. The gashes were deep: nothing critical, but they burned like acid had been poured over them. Poison, maybe? I was bleeding freely and the sight, but especially the smell of my own blood, caused my rage to increase. It felt like I was losing myself, that all I existed for was shredding the thing in front of me.

  I was deep in Ollphiest frenzy mode. The blood mage was like a rag-doll in my hands. I hacked, cleaved, and gnashed at it, wanting to erase it from existence.

  "Orson!"

  Elyse?

  Elyse was shouting my name. Was she in danger? Did she need me? I looked at the body before me. I could hear a heart beating. I wasn't finished yet. It wasn't dead—

  "Orson!" Elyse shouted again.

  If she needed me, I needed to go to her. I couldn't let her fight alone. I let thoughts of Elyse pull me back from the dark place. I dropped the tattered, blood-slimed body of the blood mage to the ground. I took a step back. I was covered in as much blood as the pathetic thing at my feet.

  A hand, Elyse's hand, touched my shoulder. She was back in human form and looked glorious. All the imps were dead; the last few dissolved into dust as I glanced around at Elyse's handiwork. With the imps dead, the portal was looking wobbly.

  "Hey," Elyse said softly. "I'm all for killing this . . ." She kicked the blood mage. "This thing, but maybe we should try to get some information first. You know, find out what all this craziness was about?"

  And that was just one of the millions of reasons why I loved her. She didn't bring up the fact that I had pretty much just wigged out and lost myself to the rage.

  Nope.

  Instead, she gave me permission to end the blood mage's life, but in a calm, reasoned manner, after we had interrogated it for possible intel.

  I shifted into human form. "Good idea," I said.

  I turned back to the blood mage. I was impressed that, even with the brutal beating it had just taken. it was still clinging to the flying-lizard appearance. I could see its aura was getting fuzzy around the edges. It was having trouble trying to heal itself and keep up the demon look.

  "Hey." I poked it with my foot. "You're going to die if you don't drop the transformation spell and heal yourself."

  "You're just going to kill me," it gurgled, around a mouth full of blood.

  "I promise I won't kill you." I held my right hand up in the Boy Scout salute. "Just drop the spell, stop yourself from dying, and answer our questions. Okay?"

  The blood mage stared at me with the only eye it had left. There was nothing but pure evil behind that stare. It had no humanity left at all, but it did have a desire to live. The magic spectrum flared and the demon-iguana-man morphed into a naked, sniveling man. He was completely hairless: nothing, nada, zip. He looked like an oversized Cabbage Patch doll. He looked . . . icky.

  The dude quickly used a spell to slow his loss of blood. He was far from being healed, but he wouldn't drop dead in the next few minutes.

  "You understand that I can see magic spells as they're cast, and if you even sneeze, I'll take your head," I said.

  I didn't think we needed to worry. The pain wracking his body was probably a large enough distraction that he would behave.

  "Who are you?" I asked.

  "I am one of many. And we shall end the Society's tyranny —" A coughing fit ended his diatribe.

  "Geez, I'm not really sure where to go from here," I said. "That was the easiest question I had."

  "You're a member of the Cabal?" Elyse asked.

  "Shifter pig—"

  "Hey, watch your mouth," I warned.

  The guy glared at us, but didn't say anything else.

  "I'll take that as a yes." Elyse continued. "So, my follow-up question is: are there any Cabal members on the Shifter Council?"

  Elyse's question must have surprised him, because his one eye betrayed him with a twitch.

  There were Cabal members among the shifters. I'd always figured the entire Society was infested with Cabal members, so why not the Shifter Council? Elyse, though, seemed very troubled by the news.

  The dude started screaming. "You bitch! How dare you . . . your death is certain! All who stand with the Society will fall! You're nothing, you're shifter filth . . . you daughter of a whore—"

  My hand was a blur, claws popping out on the fly. I swiped the blood mage's head from his body with such force in went spinning off into the night.

  "You said you weren't going to kill him. You even made that Scout hand thingy."

  "Yeah, but that was before he started calling you names. Nobody talks smack about my girlfriend."

  Elyse grinned. "Oh. Well, thank you, then."

  "Anytime."

  "Uh, are you going to . . . " Elyse pointed at the portal.

  "Right. Yes."

  I walked over to the portal, braced myself for the pain to come, and shredded the magic holding it together. When the portal was closed, I turned in a slow circle, opening my senses up as much as I could.

  "I don't see any imps or sense any more portals," I said. "Are you getting anything?"

  "No," Elyse answered, stepping up to stand next to me and scan the area.

  We both turned when the sounds of blood-curdling screams erupted behind us.

  "What'd you think that is?" Elyse asked.

  "Trouble," I answered.

  "Yeah," she said.

  The screaming ended just as abruptly as it started. I counted to ten, slowly.

  Nothing.

  "Whatever it was, it's over now," I said.

  Our shoulders bumped, and a shiver washed over me.

  "I should probably check it out, just to be sure . . . but it can probably wait a minute or two—"

  Elyse pulled me into a full body embrace. Our bodies mashed together and it seemed like we couldn't kiss each other hard enough. I was almost able to ignore the fact that we were both naked – well, almost.

  CHAPTER 19

  The campus swarmed with first responders. Fire trucks and police cruisers were parked helter-skelter across streets and lawns. The burned-out hulk of the police cruiser in front of the science building had the largest cluster of cops around it, both uniformed and plain clothes. Jimmy even spotted a woman in one of those windbreakers that had FBI stenciled across the back.

  A few craters still smoldered around the quad, and the fire department continued to spray down the hot spots. Cops were pulling off their riot gear and tossing helmets and plastic shields into the trunks of vehicles. All the injured had been transported to nearby hospitals, but there were several tarp-covered bodies – those who had not been lucky enough to escape the violence of the magic-fueled mayhem.

  Twenty-four hours.

  It had been less than twenty-four hours since Tinkerbelle and Dahlia had performed the spell. Jimmy sighed. Logically, he understood that the scene of destruction before him was partly his fault, but only partly. All he'd wanted was a date. He had relied on Tinkerbelle's expertise in magic. It wasn't his fault that she had been dabbling with spells that were way beyond her abil
ity.

  Jimmy glanced over at Lucy. She was in an animated conversation on a cell phone that a guy dressed kind of like paramedic had handed her. Jimmy had thought it odd that a complete stranger would hand his phone over to a girl who looked like anything but a victim of the night's events. The more Jimmy thought about it, the stranger it seemed that not one police officer had approached Lucy to question her.

  Something was up.

  Jimmy kept an eye on the cell phone guy, tracking the pseudo-paramedic as he crossed the quad to join a small group of other dubious looking individuals. Was this the back-up team Lucy had mentioned when she was torturing him? Jimmy watched the suspect men and women as they interacted with the other first responders.

  Yep, they weren't normal emergency personnel, and they were in full cover-up mode. It was some serious Men in Black stuff. Jimmy turned his attention back to Lucy. She was still deep in conversation, but she was keeping Maddie close.

  Maddie.

  She had power. Jimmy had seen it with his own eyes. He had watched as Maddie had healed every woman burned by Tinkerbelle's green acid fire, even one woman that Jimmy had been certain was dead. But the spell had done something to Maddie. It had drained her or something because she had collapsed.

  Lucy had been able to revive Maddie, who, once her head had cleared, had no recollection of the healing magic she had performed. How could someone have that kind of power and not know it? Jimmy wanted to talk to her, but Lucy made him keep his distance.

  Bitch.

  Jimmy had known Maddie for over a year. She had even said that they were friends, and as far as he knew, Lucy had just met her last night. It wasn't fair. He just wanted a chance to talk to Maddie. He knew he could explain himself and make her understand that the chaos on campus wasn't completely his fault. He also wanted to ask her about the healing spell. If Lucy's actions were any indication, Maddie wasn't aware that she was a natural magic user or Paragon – whatever that was – but if he could make sure Maddie was in his corner, he felt he would have a better chance at leniency for his very small part in last night's event. Jimmy was as much a victim as anyone, and he knew he could convince Maddie to back him if he could just get her away from Lucy. Jimmy's fingers stole into his pocket once again, caressing the contours of the gun. He quickly pulled his hand free and massaged his fingers.

  No.

  Lucy was a total bitch, but she was his entry into the magic world. And Jimmy wanted in. He could only imagine the knowledge that awaited him. The mysteries of the Universe would be laid bare to him, and he would soak it all in. He would master all the skills and abilities necessary to become a person who mattered: a person Maddie would be proud to date.

  Lucy pulled Jimmy from his daydreams of grandeur when she rudely snapped her fingers in his face. Jimmy blinked rapidly and frowned at the short, annoying woman. Maddie was standing next to Lucy, which made her snapping even more infuriating. He was pretty sure Lucy got off on demeaning him in front of Maddie.

  "Are you with us, Jimmy?" asked Lucy.

  "Please stop that," Jimmy demanded.

  "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I bothering you?" Lucy said, continuing to snap her fingers at him.

  Jimmy started to say something rude, but bit his tongue. He'd seen Lucy in action; he didn't want to piss her off any more than she already was. The girl was scary. Jimmy slid his hand back into his pocket. The reassurance of the gun, the power it implied, helped him ignore Lucy's attempts to goad him. He smiled weakly at Maddie, trying to ignore Lucy entirely. Maddie didn't smile back; she just shook her head and sighed.

  I just need to get her alone, Jimmy thought again.

  Lucy continued, "I spoke to Orson . . ."

  Jimmy flinched at mention of the giant with the wicked claws. Lucy was scary, but Orson was a walking, talking nightmare. Jimmy involuntarily rubbed his head at the memory of being clutched in one of Orson's monstrous hands.

  Lucy was snapping at him again. "Hey, dickhead, are you listening to me?"

  Jimmy focused on her and nodded.

  "As I was saying was he's closed all the portals. Luckily for you, Jimmy, it looks as though we may get this situation under control."

  "It wasn't my fault," Jimmy mumbled, almost automatically.

  Lucy's eyes flashed.

  Uh-oh.

  Lucy stepped toward him, their noses almost touching. In the past, a female standing this close to him would have gotten Jimmy excited, but Lucy's death stare took all the sexiness out of it.

  Jimmy swallowed.

  "If you say 'it wasn't my fault' one more time, I'm going to set you on fire," Lucy said in a quiet, controlled voice. "Do you understand me?"

  Jimmy nodded.

  Lucy stepped back. She looked around at the crowds of people as if searching for something. After a moment, Lucy pointed and said, "There."

  Jimmy looked in the direction she was pointing. It was a bench nestled in a small cluster of trees. Lucy grabbed him, pushing him along in front of her, toward the bench.

  "What—" Jimmy started to ask.

  "Shut up," Lucy snapped. "Maddie, I'm going to need you to make sure we're not disturbed."

  "Um, okay. What exactly should I do?" Maddie asked.

  "Easy," Lucy said, in a much nicer voice than Jimmy had ever heard her use. "Just follow us over to the trees, and if anyone heads in our direction, let me know. Cool?" Lucy smiled.

  Maddie smiled back. "Cool."

  "What the hell's going on?" Jimmy demanded, as Lucy pushed him forcefully across the lawn toward the trees.

  Lucy halted, yanking Jimmy to a stop. "The people I work for are super mad, Jimmy, that was them on the phone. You see, incidents like this," Lucy nodded toward all the emergency personnel and students wrapped in blankets and bandages, "are really hard to cover up, and as you can imagine, we can't have people running around screaming about magic and monsters. There is a large team of people working furiously to clean up your mess."

  "A large team? That guy, the paramedic—" Jimmy began.

  Lucy gave his arm a painful tug. "Did I say you could speak?"

  If there were other Society people here, then maybe Jimmy could talk to Lucy's boss or something. File an official complaint. He also wanted to discuss his training. He wasn't sure if it was something he'd be able to do while still attending normal classes. Maybe they had their own University: a place that he could transfer to and continue his studies? He was starting to get excited about it all.

  Jimmy had a horrible thought. What if the others listened to Lucy, and he was blamed for everything that went down last night? Would they punish him by denying entry into the training program? They couldn't. There had to be some kind of rule for mistakes made by beginners, right? Heck, he wasn't even a beginner yet. Just a guy caught up in circumstances beyond his control. This was why he needed to speak with Maddie. Her display of power would probably give her some advantages, and if she could testify or whatever on his behalf—

  Lucy started pushing again. Jimmy scowled, but walked toward the trees. He realized he couldn't wait. He needed to know now. His access to the power of magic was so close he could taste it. Lucy was a jerk, but she was part of the magic organization or society or whatever, and so she must be bound by rules. Jimmy had to risk it. He had to know and waiting any longer was unacceptable.

  As they reached the trees, Jimmy broached the subject, doing his best to sound contrite and respectful. "So, how much . . . um . . . trouble am I in? Will I get, like, a formal reprimand or something?" he stammered. Lucy made him so nervous. "I just want to make sure it's not going to affect my membership or anything."

  Lucy stopped, her hand dropping from Jimmy's shoulder. Jimmy turned to face her. Lucy couldn't have looked more shocked. Her look of surprise, however, was quickly replaced with a giant smile and then she started laughing. Jimmy was confused. He reviewed what he had said, and couldn't figure out what she found so funny. Tears were starting to stream from Lucy's eyes, she was laughing so hard. Jimmy looked to
Maddie, who looked as perplexed as he felt. He turned his attention back to Lucy, who was slowly getting herself under control, wiping at her eyes and taking deep breaths.

  "Jimmy or James, I think after everything we've been through I can call you James," said Lucy.

  Jimmy nodded.

  "James," Lucy continued. "Why do you think I'm here, at Stanford?"

  It was an odd question, considering the last twenty-four hours, but Jimmy answered, "Well, you said before that you were here on a recruiting mission. I assume you're here to recruit me."

  Lucy started laughing again – not hard, more of a deep, throaty, chuckle. "You're supposed to be a smart guy, right? Like with a super high IQ, and all that?"

  Jimmy wasn't sure where this was going, but he was starting to get a bad feeling. His hand, almost as if it had a mind of its own, slipped back into the pocket where the gun sat, a heavy reassurance. "I'm top of my class," he said proudly.

  "Well how is it, Mr. Top-of-the-class, that you think I'm here to recruit you?" Lucy asked.

  "Because you said—"

  "No, Jimmy. What I said, was this was supposed to be a simple recruiting mission, and that you had turned it into a fuster-cluck. You are responsible for all this death and destruction, and it was just dumb luck that I was here to stop what you started. I was never here for you, Jimmy. I'm here for her," Lucy said, pointing at Maddie.

  Maddie?

  "For me?" Maddie said softly.

  Lucy smiled at Maddie. "It will all make sense soon, I promise."

  Lucy was here for Maddie, not him.

  Sure, Maddie had pulled off that healing spell, but she wasn't even self-aware enough to know that she could do magic. Jimmy was the genius; he was the one whose magic spell had been so powerful. How could Lucy not see that?

  "But the spell, I was the focus . . . it was my spell. Tinkerbelle and Dahlia said—"

  "Tinkerbelle is, sorry, was an evil bitch who decided to play with a power she didn't understand and couldn't control, and Dahlia – she's just an idiot who followed along," said Lucy. "You weren't the focus of the spell, Jimmy. You were just an ingredient."