A Grim Situation

by Whit McClendon

  Shit. That’s when I remembered I was several hundred feet in the air. And I’d just killed the thing that was keeping me up there. The fall wouldn’t kill me, but it would probably hurt. A lot.

  Fortunately, the other Wyvern hadn’t taken kindly to me killing its mate, buddy, or whatever it was. In the growing dark, its twin crimson eyes glowered at me as it closed the distance, its fanged snout open wide to rip me in half.

  I decided on a slightly different approach for this one, although it was a bit more dangerous. I waited until it was almost on me, intent on snatching me off the falling Wyvern’s back like a bird munching on a dragonfly. As it came close, I arched my body just enough that its jaws slid past me, and I wrapped both arms around its sinuous neck, dropping the kukri in the process. The force of impact nearly yanked my arms out of their sockets, but I managed to hang on to the beast as it flew on. Clinging tightly, I used my legs to maneuver myself up onto its shoulders, where I settled in front of its wings. I dug my claws into either side of its neck before it could reach around to snap at me and extended them into its scaly hide, not enough to damage it, but more than enough to cause it pain. The Wyvern shook its head, screeching in frustration.

  “Yield!” I bellowed. I knew that it wouldn’t hear me, but the magick I sent into the beast clearly conveyed my meaning. “Obey me, and live!” It shook its head again and yowled in frustration, and I dug my claws in a little deeper. It screeched once more, but this time, I felt its resignation. The fight went out of it as it recognized a new, if temporary, master. Its flight leveled out and I knew I’d gained its acquiescence. I added a little pressure with my right hand and squeezed with my knees, and the Wvyern responded by banking in that direction.

  Now that I wasn’t fighting for my life, I looked around and saw that Edge had already landed the copter in a small valley below. Smoke was coming out of it in a couple of places, and I could see the damage the Wyverns had inflicted, great gashes and rents in the steel. The rotors were slowing, but still appeared to be fully functional, although some of the smoke came from the engine below the rotor hub.

  With a combination of claws and will, I guided the Wyvern to the ground not far from where the copter had settled, and it touched down with impressive grace. I conferred with it for a few moments before removing my claws from its neck, letting it know that although I harbored no ill will towards it, I’d kill it if it acted up. Surprisingly, I caught a sense of respect from the beast along with its agreement. I slid off its neck, and was surprised when it leaned over and rubbed its rough, scaly head up against my arm. I sensed…affection? Wyverns are weird. I shook my head and took a moment to scratch it between its eyes.

  Ariana came out of the copter first, handguns at the ready. I held my palms out in a calming gesture and spoke to her mind-to-mind as the noise from the rotors came down to tolerable levels.

  It’s OK, I thought at her, this thing’s with me now. At least, for the moment. He won’t hurt us. It nudged me again and I gave it a shove with my elbow before giving in and scratching it once more. Its eyes closed and it made a gurgling sound of pleasure.

  Ariana looked from me to the Wyvern and back to me again before holstering her guns and shaking her head. Then she raised an eyebrow. Wait, where’s my knife?

  I shrugged. I dropped it. Sorry. I think it fell over there somewhere. I gestured eastward.

  She said some very unladylike things as she turned and walked off in that direction, stumbling at first as she figured out how to walk across the desert’s uneven ground, then smoothing out her gait as she compensated. She pulled a headlamp from some pocket or other and switched it on as she marched in search of her beloved kukri, muttering all the while. I couldn’t help it. I smiled.

  The rotors finally fell silent, and our brave pilot climbed out from under the copter where he’d been working. Wiping his oily hands on a rag as he approached, Edge kept a wary eye on my new, scaly friend. When it was clear that it wasn’t going to attempt to bite him, he relaxed and turned to me.

  “Well, this is gonna take a while for me to fix,” Edge nodded towards the downed helicopter, “but I can handle it. And we’re almost to where I was going to set us down anyway. The signal from the phone is less than a mile from here.” He threw a glance over his shoulder at Ariana, whose bobbing headlamp was slowly receding in the distance. “She should watch for snakes out here. It’s dangerous.”

  “Honestly, I think they should watch out for her,” I replied. A muffled gunshot reached us as Ariana killed something in the distance. “See?”

  Chapter 22

  “I was right,” Tanya purred, the sound of her voice irritating Avery’s every nerve, “you are trouble.”

  Avery stumbled, but the rough hands of one of Tanya’s mercenaries grabbed her until she got her feet under her again. The ground was uneven enough that she would have had trouble walking on it without a cloth sack on her head, but blindfolded as she was, she tripped about every fifth step. She’d already fallen twice, further skinning her knees, but she had refused to make a sound.

  When I get loose, I’m gonna make that bitch pay for whatever she did to Jim, I swear it, she thought. Anger kept her moving towards whatever fate Tanya had planned for her, though Avery was determined to fight tooth and nail given half a chance. For the moment, her hands were securely bound behind her back, and fighting would have done her no good since she couldn’t see a thing. She went along grudgingly, biding her time. I just need one chance, she thought, and I’m ripping her head off. After several minutes of walking, the ground evened out, and the sound of their footsteps began to echo all around her. A tunnel? A cold chill ran down her spine, an oily sense of dread that made her stomach turn.

  “Garrett, take her over there,” Tanya directed. “Chain her to that post. That should keep her out of my hair until I need her.”

  The guards manhandled Avery until she felt a solid post against her back. One of them pressed the barrel of a gun up under her chin, painfully enough that she raised her head up to get away from it. “If you so much as twitch when he uncuffs you, I’ll blow your brains all over the wall. Got me?” His voice was low and menacing, but sounded as though his nose was clogged.

  Avery sighed and gave one short nod. It sounded like the thug she’d overcome in her cell. His nose was broken, and it was doubtful that he harbored any warm feelings for her. She stayed still while the other thug quickly uncuffed her, raised her arms over her head one at a time, then clicked a new pair of cold, metal manacles in place on her wrists. She pulled against them but found no give whatsoever. She was stuck.

  The bag was yanked from her head and she blinked in the sudden light, dim though it was. Sure enough, the man holding the cloth bag was the one she’d subdued in her cell. He glared at her angrily, both his eyes already raccooned with bruises, and a bandage across the bridge of his nose. She returned his stare with her own, unflinching and intense. As her anger rose, a tingling sensation erupted from her core, a warmth that startled her. It spread out from deep within her body, flowing down through her legs, and up through her chest and into her arms. Avery felt the rising of her power without knowing what it was, but as it washed away some of her hurts and fatigue, she welcomed it. Holding Garrett’s gaze, she let a cold smile appear on her face, and she enjoyed seeing him blink.

  Then she kicked him in the balls as hard as she could. Garrett doubled over with an agonized wheeze and then slumped to the floor, clutching his groin.

  Tanya’s laughter echoed from the stone walls that surrounded them. “Oh my, you’re just delightful, aren’t you? My kind of girl. If you weren’t a cop, we could be friends.”

  Avery didn’t answer. She was staring at the sheer walls of red stone that surrounded them. They were in a circular stone chamber that appeared to be several stories high. She craned her neck upwards and saw a circular opening far overhead, allowing her a view of the starry heavens above. Torches burned in sconces in the walls, which were covered with what looked like N
ative American drawings. Some were obviously animals and humans, but others were more difficult to discern, looking more like a combination of the two. The sense of dread that seemed to permeate the entire place deepened as she took in some of the more macabre designs. Three tunnels led away from the central chamber, one larger than the others, and Avery had a strong feeling that they had entered through that passage. Small stones had been placed in a wide circle in the center of the chamber, and within that circular border, a bundle of wood had been laid in a pyramid, a fire waiting to be lit.

  “Garrett, could you please remove yourself? You’re annoying me with all that groaning. Go back to the main house and sit on an ice pack or something. Thomas, go ahead and take him. When you return, stay at the entrance and make sure I’m undisturbed here until morning.” Tanya spoke with the calm assurance that her orders would be obeyed, not bothering to look up at her men. “I’m not expecting any trouble, but I’ve worked a long time for this, and I don’t need any interruptions.”

  “What do you want us to do with the other cop?” Thomas, a leanly-muscled fellow with a dark crew cut and a beard, inquired.

  “I don’t need him. Set him loose in the desert. Tell the demon to walk until the body dies beneath him.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Thomas pulled Garrett to his feet, and helped him towards the largest of the connecting passageways. Their footsteps stirred up reddish dust as they shuffled out, leaving Avery alone with Tanya. Silence fell on the ancient chamber, broken only by Avery’s breathing and the crackling of the torch flames. Tanya wandered over to a huge, wooden trunk and knelt before it. Its hasp was secured by an impressive padlock, and she produced a key from a chain around her neck that unlocked it with a loud click.

  “You’re wondering about all this, aren’t you?” Tanya’s voice was low, but the words were clear in the silence. She laid the lock aside and opened the trunk. “You know, I hadn’t planned to bring you into this, but I couldn’t have you running around town back home and calling attention to my mother’s death. And using a police officer for my ritual will increase the credibility of my petition. I’ve already got more than enough as it is, but a cop?” She clicked her tongue, “That’ll clinch it.”

  “Clinch what?” Avery asked, both disgust and curiosity in her voice. “What could you possibly be doing here, in the middle of some cave in New Mexico? This is crazy!”

  Tanya laughed, a low, throaty chuckle that echoed from the stone walls. “Wow, you really don’t know anything about magick, do you? Even though you’re so strong with it that I can feel it from here. Well, that is an oddity. Most people who have powers like yours either figure out how to use them or they go insane and kill themselves. But you did neither, did you? No, you probably just squashed it down inside yourself and pretended it wasn’t there. Am I right?” Tanya stood and turned away from the trunk, stalking slowly towards Avery as she spoke. “That’s it isn’t it? You just denied it. Ignored it. Even when it was screaming to come out.” She stopped a few feet away, safely out of range of Avery’s feet. “That’s more impressive than you know, officer.”

  “It’s Detective,” Avery corrected. She could feel Tanya’s approaching presence, a tingling pressure, a sense of power tightly contained, as the lithe woman came closer. “And I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Tanya smiled and shook her head, but kept her emerald green eyes locked on Avery’s. “Delude yourself if you want to. The power is there, inside you. Not my fault you never figured out what to do with it. I, on the other hand, knew early on that I could feel magick. I could move things. I knew things. And that was only the start of it.” She looked off to one side of the cave, where a black duffle bag lay against the wall. She reached a hand towards it and murmured a few words Avery didn’t recognize. Suddenly, Avery’s skin broke out in gooseflesh as she felt an unmistakable energy rising from Tanya’s elegant hand, accompanied by a low hum of power. The bag stirred, rose from the cavern floor, and drifted lazily over to Tanya, who took hold of the strap and ended her spell. The energy vanished, and Avery stared at the sorceress, who only smiled. “Magick is handy for so many things. I had a touch of power, no more than that. But time and practice has served me well, and now, I’m almost a match for…well, you wouldn’t know them. But I’m capable of many extraordinary things.”

  “Like calling demons to kill your own mother?”

  Tanya’s eyes widened. “My, my, I guess you are a detective! I’d hoped you’d think that witch and her friend were responsible for that.” She circled around to Avery’s side before moving closer, making it more difficult for Avery to kick her, and slipped up right next to the detective. “Who was the shadowy one? The one you shot? I’ve heard of Ariana, at least. He was a stranger to me, though, and his energy was something I’ve never felt before.”

  Avery turned to glare at Tanya, and the thought of head-butting her was becoming quite attractive. But then, Tanya waggled a finger in admonition and made a claw with one hand. Instantly, the power rose again and Avery’s throat began to constrict. She tried to remain calm, but soon, the pressure had her wheezing.

  “Now, now, keep your temper under control,” Tanya purred. “Don’t try anything foolish, or it will be more difficult for you than it has to be. Do we understand each other?” She clenched her fingers tighter, and Avery’s face began turning red with the strain. She gasped and choked a few moments more, then relented and managed to agree. Tanya lowered her hand and the pressure evaporated, leaving Avery to heave great lungfuls of air as she recovered. “Now answer me. Who was the other being in the house?”

  “I don’t know,” Avery lied, keeping her eyes cast down as though defeated. “I thought he was killing your mother, so I shot him. I know I hit him. He might be dead.”

  Tanya laughed, “Oh, I doubt that. I saw what he did to my Gray Beast. Whatever did that won’t keel over for something as trifling as a couple of your bullets, Detective. You’re sure you don’t know?”

  Avery took a deep breath before replying. There was a faint tingle of power coming from Tanya, subtle, but noticeable. Avery had the strongest feeling that Tanya was listening with more than just her ears. Not wanting to give her any more information than absolutely necessary, Avery focused on the image of the shadowy figure that she had seen in the Thornhill house, the same thing she had seen as a little girl. Kane, she knew, if only from a brief meeting. But that creature, the one with the glowing eyes and flashing claws, she truly did not know what that was. She held to that truth with all her might. “No. I don’t know. And I’d only met Ariana once before when we searched Raymond’s house. Some strange stuff went down there, and now I know that you were behind it all.” She finally picked up her gaze and leveled it at Tanya. “Weren’t you?”

  Tanya’s smile widened until Avery could see most of her teeth. They looked sharp. “Well, of course! Yes, I had to deal with Raymond, and then I couldn’t have anyone poking around his things. That might have incriminated me. I was quite surprised when I felt the snake-demon’s death. He was supposed to kill anyone he met and then destroy a few things in Raymond’s conjuring room, but someone dispatched him pretty quickly. I presume that was Ariana’s doing?”

  Aha, so she doesn’t know everything, now does she? Avery thought to herself. She hesitated for a moment, then agreed, “Yes. She stabbed him with some kind of knife.”

  Tanya clucked her tongue. “Oh, well. I can continue that little experiment at another time. Raymond was useful, but a bit twitchy. I’ll find someone else for that.”

  “Why those men?” Avery asked, “and what in the world were you trying to do to them?”

  At first, Tanya seemed confused, then she laughed. “You mean the men that took Raymond’s pills? They were nothing to me, just random test subjects. I suspect that Raymond might have had some issue with each of them that aided his choice, but I left that up to him. I just needed to see if the drug would work. And it did! Each pill opened up a path for a demon to inhabit that perso
n’s body. It was magnificent!”

  Avery’s brows furrowed. “Why in the world would you want a drug that induces demon possession? They just go berserk until they’re either put down or exorcised…what good is that?”

  “Well, firstly, it’s just fun to watch,” Tanya purred with a smile. “I get off on it.” Avery grimaced in disgust, but before she could retort, Tanya continued, “Secondly, they don’t go berserk if someone strong enough to compel their obedience holds the reins.”

  “Someone like you, I’m guessing?” Avery’s voice dripped with revulsion.

  “Oh, you’re a smart one, aren’t you?” Tanya walked up and ran a delicate finger along the line of Avery’s jaw only to yank it back when the detective tried to bite it off. Unfazed, Tanya laughed, then slapped her hard enough to split her lip. “Feisty…I like that. Anyway, yes, that would be me. Or it will be, once I complete this ritual.”

  Avery ran her tongue over her swollen lip, tasting blood there, but kept her eyes on her captor. “And what is this ritual supposed to do?”

  Tanya laughed. “It’s going to give me powers beyond anything you’ve ever dreamed, little witch.”

  “I’m not a witch,” Avery responded without thinking.

  Tanya raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. “Whatever you say. I can feel your power, and it’s impressive. If you’re not a witch, then you’ve been missing out on an awful lot of fun. Too bad you won’t have a chance to experience that. Now, unless you want me to replace the ball-gag, keep quiet while I set this up.”