San Francisco Covens: Crucible

by Manuel Tiger

  “It sounds like there is more to this than you’re telling me.”

  “Once we get the artifact and are back at my place? I will tell you more than what I have,” she whispered.

  I nodded my head and we continued on up the stairs. I felt suddenly compelled to look back toward the entrance and swore I saw Scott entering. But the person was there and quickly gone, melting into the sea of people pouring in through the front doors.

  He wouldn’t have been coming here tonight would he? And if he had, where did he get an invite? Then I remembered his mother was on several art and society boards.

  If that was him, why was he here?

  He wouldn’t be trying to stop us from doing what we came here to do was he? Or make sure that Heather didn’t get caught? Was his crush on her bigger than I thought that he would play the knight in shining armor? Well, a knight in storm trooper armor?

  I paused at the top of the stairs, scanning the crowd, but it must have been my imagination.

  “What is it?” Heather asked.

  I shook my head. “Nothing. Let’s get this done and get out of here.”

  III

  The second floor was nearly spilling over with people in any and every direction one looked, which only added to my nervousness that I was trying to suppress. There was also a huge security presence walking around or weaving themselves through the crowd that didn’t help matters either. Seeing so many armed security guards sent butterflies beating against the inside of my stomach with razor blade wings.

  I needed fortification, something to make me less nervous or else I was going to screw this up big time.

  “Henry?” Heather said looking at me as I paused in the middle of the room getting myself together, or attempting to. People walked around us or called to someone they had spotted then rushed over to them with air kisses and half hugs.

  On a stage set up at the back of the room and standing at the podium speaking into the microphone was who I could only surmise was the museum director or some board trustee. They were giving the typical spiel of thanking everyone for showing up tonight and the donations to the museum would be greatly appreciated for wouldn’t you want to own this cute tote bag with a dinosaur for making such a generous donation?

  The tote was kind of cute. I would donate if I could to just get it.

  What? Dinosaurs are cool.

  “Henry? You okay?” Heather said snapping her fingers at my face. “Henry? Earth calling?”

  I blinked and nodded my head. “I’m fine,” I whispered reaching out and snagging a glass of wine so easily off a passing tray carried by a waiter he didn’t break stride once. I slammed it back, wishing it was something stronger like bourbon or hell, even a jack and coke. I replaced the now empty glass on another passing tray to exchange it for another glass of wine. “Just nervous,” I said slamming back the drink. After those two glasses it seemed to calm me down a fraction. “I’m better now. I swear.”

  “There’s nothing to be nervous about, Henry,” Heather whispered taking the empty wine glass out of my hand and handing it to another passing waiter. She placed her hand to my chest. “Just calm down. Your heart is racing a mile a second.”

  Well, whose heart wouldn’t be? We were about to steal a priceless, and no doubt rare, artifact from a heavily guarded museum. I was just glad I wasn’t sweating bullets. Bullets. Guards. Hah!

  “What about all these armed guards? What if something goes wrong, like, they pull a gun and oops! There goes my friend getting shot!” I whispered.

  “Nothing like that will happen,” she said adjusting my tie then cupped my cheek. “Now breathe in, breathe out. That’s it,” she said brushing a few locks of hair off my forehead. “Feel better?”

  I nodded and watched as several armed guards walked by us. I drew in a deep breath, released it and licked my lips. I had no idea this event would be so well guarded for a showing of artifacts. I reminded myself after this was over – and the dust had settled – that I would come back for a longer look at the items on display in the main room.

  Out of nervous habit I ran a hand down the front of my tux jacket. “Ready when you are chief.”

  She nodded and guided us through the sea of people, reaching back for my hand which I gave her and she squeezed gently. When we reached the room I breathed a little easier as it was the least occupied, but that wasn’t saying much.

  There was at least fifteen people walking around admiring a row of stone artifacts under glass and miniature recreations of a Mayan village. My eyes were drawn to a statue of the Mayan god of death Ah Puch that was placed at the very back of the room. His skeletal face grinned back at us like he was in on some joke that we were not aware of.

  In my university days I had taken a course on Mesoamerican history and had become enthralled with the subject. I had devoured every book and watched every documentary on the subject that I could find. I knew most of the Mayan gods but Au Puch has always interested me out of them all.

  Now as I stared at the statue it unnerved me for some reason, sending a cold chill through my body instead of interesting me.

  Perhaps it was because one of the things he was associated with was that of disasters. Let’s hope he wasn’t in the mood to cause any for Heather and me tonight.

  “Henny,” Heather whispered squeezing my hand while she pretended to look at a carved greenstone dagger that was under glass. “There, the case which the two guards are standing by.”

  I pretended interest in the dagger – well, not really pretending interest, as I realized the dagger to be a sacrificial one – then glanced toward the guarded case.

  It was located directly beneath the sky light, but with the storm still going on outside the skylight looked like a black square void residing above it.

  “So what do you want me to do?” I asked leaning in to get a better look at the dagger from another angle.

  “Walk up to them, enthrall them then I will cast the spell I was given to disable the cameras and alarms.”

  “Okay, question.”

  “What?”

  “That stone under glass is pretty big. I don’t think it’s going to fit into your clutch and I’m pretty sure it would be noticeable on me if I stuck it in one of these tux pants pockets.”

  She held up her clutch. “This clutch is deeper than you realize.”

  I looked at her and she winked. Ah, a magical charmed clutch. Of course.

  “I understand,” I said with a grin. “Well, should we wait till the other guests clear out?”

  “The spell will put them under, but it won’t last for very long. We also have more people coming in so we should get to work.”

  “Got it,” I said. “Wish me luck.”

  “I’m our luck.”

  I smiled then slipped away from her and began walking over toward the display case while softly humming the Mission Impossible theme to myself.

  I approached the display and couldn’t help but notice that the guards towered over me by several inches. They were built like freaking muscled up linebackers and eyed me as I stepped closer to get a look at the display case.

  “Nice event going on here,” I said. They remained stoned faced and silent. The only thing that separated them from statues was the fact that their eyes moved to watch me.

  I ignored them and leaned in for a better look at the stone.

  It was reddish in coloring and had white markings running through it. Carved onto its surface was Mayan symbols and imagery from the Mayan mythology. I skipped my eyes to the card in front of it which informed me that the stone had been found buried with a noblewoman who had been believed to have been a powerful witch that had been highly regarded.

  Seemed witches were this week’s theme, I silently thought.

  Okay, time to get to work.

  “Well boys,” I said clapping my hands together. I leaned up and stepped back till both were in my line of sight. “Hope you enjoy leaving this room and going down the stairs to get ice cream from acro
ss the street.”

  For a moment they looked at me confused then the enthrallment settled in as they moved away from the display case and headed toward the main entrance to this room. Heather hurried over to join me.

  “Ready?” I asked.

  “Going have to work fast,” she said as she began to recite the spell when several things occurred at once.

  What sounded like a firecracker going off twice was followed by the two main entries into this room being sealed off by the doors slamming into place with a bang. The people nearest the doors cried out, jumping back.

  “What the hell?” I said and noticed the guards hitting the ground face first. I frowned then hurried over to check on them, wondering why they had fallen. I drew up short when I saw the pools of blood already spreading out around their heads. “Oh fuck,” I said dropping to a knee beside one.

  There was a small hole in the base of his skull and a quick check of the other guard revealed the same. “Fuck,” I said wisely not touching them. “Uh, Heather? Something went horribly wrong!”

  “Cute enthralling them like that. But one should never leave any witnesses behind, chico.”

  Stepping into view was a statuesque Spanish woman in a shimmering blue halter dress that showed off her lean muscular body and mile long legs. She lowered her arm, her hand holding a gun that had a silencer attached to it.

  “Who are you?” Heather said stepping slightly back from the woman as she came around the display case to her.

  The woman smiled, revealing gleaming white teeth. “A witch are you? Well, we are doubly fortunate tonight then.”

  “We?” Heather said.

  I noticed then that several guests had moved forward, tugging off their tuxes or gowns to reveal military style tactical gear from head to toe. Several were moving toward the doors and attaching what I knew from years of watching action movies as possibly C-4 explosives.

  What the fuck was going on here?

  “Aadya,” a man said approaching her. “Arrival in ten seconds.” He held up what looked like a communication device.

  “Grab the woman,” she ordered the man.

  “No!” I said then heard a click of guns and found six aimed at me from various positions around the room which gave me pause. I held up my hands. “Okay, not doing anything. Just standing here.”

  I knew I could probably take them out if I moved fast enough, maybe even get Heather out of here somehow, but it would be revealing myself for what I was.

  But it was a necessary risk.

  “Don’t Henry,” Heather said as if she read my mind. The man grabbed her by the arm and she begrudgingly allowed him to move her from beneath the skylight.

  I looked up as what sounded like a very large bird flapping its wings grew in volume. The woman, Aadya, stepped away just as the glass above suddenly shattered and rained down. Then I watched as thick coils of rope followed the glass and more people dressed in the same tactical gear, but wearing masks and helmets to hide their faces, slid down the ropes.

  I could hear through the nearby door the sound of people screaming and the firing of guns followed by what sounded like small explosions occurring.

  Holy shit! What had we gotten ourselves into?

  “Grab the stone and the statue,” Aadya ordered as the new arrivals moved like quicksilver. Several attached ropes to the statue of Ah Puch, then winded a thick metal cable around the statue.

  I looked up through the skylight to see a solid black military helicopter hovering silently, barely noticeable for it blended in with the night. My military knowledge was lacking, but it looked like a Blackhawk on steroids.

  The sound of breaking glass drew my attention back to the room to see a man had shattered the glass case around the stone. Another man beside him opened a briefcase into which the stone was laid with the utmost care onto the cushioned interior. With a snap the stone vanished from view and the man with the briefcase hurried over to one of the ropes which he began to attach to a belt around his waist with a hook. Once he was secured he gave the rope a tug that quickly pulled him up and toward the helicopter.

  “Her,” Aadya said pointing to Heather. “Her blood is vital to what is to come.”

  Her blood? Did they mean to…

  “No!”

  I was stunned to see Scott breaking away from a huddled mass of guests in the corner. He flew at Aadya but she was already reacting by spinning around. She delivered a flawless roundhouse kick to his head just as he reached her.

  The move took him down like a ton of bricks.

  “No!” I shouted moving forward, reacting, not even thinking. I heard a gun go off and a fiery pain lanced up and down my right arm and leg that brought me down to my knees faster than I had ever dropped to them before. I gasped and clutched my arm while blood ran between my fingers and from the side of my leg. I sensed someone standing behind me followed by the cold press of a metal barrel against the back of my head.

  “Leave him alone!” Heather cried as she was grabbed from behind. “You bitch!”

  Aadya turned around. “Take the fool that charged me,” she ordered. “He seems that he may be used as leverage to bring the witch to heel.”

  “No,” I whispered. I knew that Heather meant me, but it seemed Aadya thought she meant Scott.

  Scott laid on the floor looking dazed and was no doubt seeing stars or birds flying around. Or for him, quite possibly Jedi. A man reached him and slipped a harness around his body then attached a rope to the harness. With a quick jerk on the rope Scott was pulled up and off the floor, slipping up through the skylight.

  This can’t be happening, I thought.

  None of this can be happening!

  Heather went next, the two of us looking at each other briefly before she was taken up with one of the helmeted soldiers.

  The statue was last. It was guided by several masked soldiers toward the center of the room so that it was directly beneath the skylight. Once it was in place the soldiers hopped onto it and clung like black spiders while one of them gave a thumbs up. In a matter of seconds the statue with its cargo was hauled up and into the awaiting helicopter.

  It couldn’t be a Blackhawk. It had to be some new high tech military plane that the populace didn’t know about.

  I remembered an article I had written once for the Boston paper I had worked at before I had been downgraded to working in Virginia. It was about military aircraft and the advancements they were making on them to make some larger but faster. That was nearly eleven years ago and surely things had further advanced since then in regards to military technology.

  I quickly chastised myself for such random thinking at a time like this, but it was easier to think of that then to focus on what was actually occurring.

  There was a sudden pounding on the door behind me that was increasing by the minute, but my attention was to focused on Aadya as a female solider slipped a harness onto her. “Looks like we made it in record time,” she said. “It was a truly enjoyable evening at the museum, chico. Maybe we see each other again hm? Then again, maybe we won’t.”

  “Where are you taking my friends?”

  “Somewhere you can’t follow,” she said as she wrapped a hand around the rope that had been attached to the harness. “But don’t worry. I’ll make sure you’ll greet your friends when their use has been met.” She held out a hand to the female solider beside her who slipped a two inch silver cylinder shaped device into it. “There’s enough C-4 on the doors it should wipe you and this entire room out. You’ll be there at the gates of Heaven or Hell to greet your friends upon their deaths.”

  The door behind me suddenly flew inward, taking out the solider that was still standing over me. Both the door and the solider flew across the room and slammed into the wall.

  “You!” Aadya gasped. “No matter! You arrived too late!”

  I spun my head around and stared.

  No, it wasn’t possible!

  It couldn’t be!

  “I’m never late darl
ing. I always arrive just when I mean to.” The man said with familiar assuredness as he strode forward. He glanced down at me and the grin that he wore vanished in a second. “H-Henry?”

  Of all the people to come walking through that door, of anyone I thought it could be, I did not fucking expect it be him.

  My sire.

  Damiano Salvadori.

  Or as I had called him, Daman.

  We just stared at each other with neither one saying a word for what felt like eternity.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” we both said at the same time, but not with the same tone. Mine was raw anger. His was shock and disbelief.

  “Why? You expect me to have died? Or be in a whorehouse?” I said.

  “The latter, yes,” he said as I sprung up and took a swing at him, but he caught my fist and spun me around, locking his arm around my body and keeping me pressed against him.

  “Let me go! She’s getting away!” I shouted squirming against him. “She has my friends!”

  “This looks touching,” Aadya said as she jerked on the rope. “But I’m afraid I can’t remain to see how it plays out. You! Deal with him!” she ordered the female solider as she began rising into the air rapidly.

  The female soldier pulled up her automatic weapon, but before she could even pull the trigger Daman flung me away from him and was upon her within the blink of an eye. I flew a short distance and smacked into the wall and slid down it into a heap. I groaned and rolled over onto my stomach.

  The sound of a neck snapping drew my attention and I watched as the body of the female solider crumpled at Daman’s feet.

  “She’s getting away!” I shouted getting up, ignoring the pain in my arm that was burning like fire now.

  “Don’t worry Daman! I’m leaving you both a gift!” Aadya called down to us as she released the cylinder from her hand.

  “Fuck! Henry!” he said turning around and coming at me, grabbing me by the arm.

  “Let me fucking go you fucking asshole!” I shouted as he pulled me through the doorway and out into the main hall that was a fucking nightmare. Everywhere injured and wounded people laid around us while fires burned out of control.