San Francisco Covens: Crucible

by Manuel Tiger

  Bryan still resembled an off brand Ken doll, that hadn’t changed at all. Although he now sported a beard and was wearing a metallic gray shirt, black slacks and dress boots in a shade of gray that looked like the coloring of spoiled meat. His hair was longer as well, then again, it had been eleven years since I last laid eyes on him. I had wished to have kept it that way too.

  If wishes were horses…

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Daman snarled. “How did you get by the notice of the jaguars when they did their sweep?”

  “Warm hello to you too, Beautiful Bastard,” Bryan said with a less than amused tone as he chucked the jaguar’s head over his shoulder and into the hall.

  “I have never ever liked that nickname.”

  “Funny, you didn’t seem to mind it being moaned when you were fucking me,” he smiled and leaned to the side slightly to look past Daman and directly at me. I bowed my head down, refusing to look at him, knowing that he was bringing this up on purpose. “You remember those times don’t you? When you had me bent over the nearest flat surface or any surface really. You always enjoyed taking me like that.”

  “I faked it, like many other things I did with you.”

  “Sure,” he said, but the cockiness of his tone was gone. “I see you returned to your mistake. Not surprised.”

  “Any mistakes here was your mother deciding not to swallow.”

  I looked up, my eyes wide as I gripped the back of Daman’s jacket. Let’s not piss off the person wielding the sword Daman, I silently urged him.

  “Such a mouth on you,” he said stepping into the room, lifting the sword up in front of himself. “One I know all too intimately well.”

  “As you know about half a million others, Bryan,” Daman said reaching behind him and taking my hand into his, his thumb rubbing the top of my fingers. “Why are you here?”

  “Vacation. Catch some rays. See what the clubs are like in Mexico. You know, playing the tourist.”

  “In those clothes?” I said without thinking.

  Bryan’s eyes narrowed at me as Daman chuckled.

  “Cut the crap, Bryan,” Daman said, that heat of anger returning to his tone. “Why are you here at Aadya’s home?”

  “What? I’m not allowed to make friends?” he said placing his bloodied hand against his chest. “So possessive aren’t you Daman?” he grinned.

  “We’ve been done and over for a very long time, Bryan. I don’t really care who you fuck. So again, why are you here?”

  When he saw that he was no longer going to get a rise out of Daman he leaned against the doorframe, pointing the sword down toward the floor.

  “There’s a storm coming Daman,” he said. “One I’m sure that you are probably already aware of. I rather not get swept away when the floods come and the cleansing fire scorches the land after the waters have receded. I rather stand at the right hand of evil then be oppressed by it.”

  “Sold your soul have you?”

  “Let’s say that when push came to shove? And you know how I love nothing more than shoving back? I decided to be a good boy for once and cast my lot with the one that will insure my safety from the storm and coming fires,” he pushed off from the frame, lifting the sword and turning it so that it caught the light. The blade glittered as did the blood that adorned it. “The one that will see me elevated to a king among vampires.”

  “You’re no king. You’re more jester of the court.”

  “Oh, such biting words Daman. Have to show the size of your dick now that you’re back with that worthless boy?”

  “He’s worth more than you will ever be.”

  “Will you feel the same when he’s in pieces? Or will you only want the lower half?”

  He quickly lunged toward us swinging the sword as Daman pushed us back, the blade passing mere inches from his chest.

  “I promise to kiss the wound and make it better, Bastard,” Bryan said as he began swinging and parrying the sword toward Daman. He struck several of the display cases that we found ourselves in the middle of. I watched helplessly as the priceless artifacts within were broken, even if they were items of dark magic, they were still part of history.

  Daman continued to stay just inches from the sword making contact each time, keeping us moving backwards when he suddenly smashed a display case beside us with his fist and withdrew the Sai that were within it, twirling them in his hands as he took on a fighter’s stance.

  “You never answered the question as to how you avoided being detected,” he said as he and Bryan paced around each other with Daman keeping me behind him.

  “Let’s just say that there is more going on here than you know, hm?”

  “Always trying to be vague,” Daman said with a smirk. “But then? You were never really much for deep thoughts were you?”

  Bryan’s face turned crimson as he screamed and began swinging the sword wildly toward Daman who dodged and ducked each swung before timing his next move. I fell back against the wall, my hands brushing various weapons that assaulted me with visions of death and destruction. I pushed off, my hands feeling sticky, dirty again.

  I watched as Daman thrust one Sai forward just as Bryan brought the sword down in an arc. He caught the blade of the sword between the prongs of the other Sai and twisted, yanking the sword from Bryan’s hand as he followed through with a side kick aimed at Bryan’s stomach in the same quick motion. Bryan gasped and flew back, crashing into one of the other display cases. Both went crashing to the floor shattering the artifact it had contained in fragments that bounced and scattered about.

  Daman strode toward him when the screaming began. It was carried down the hall toward us which caused him to pause.

  “Daman, that sounded liked Sophia,” I said clutching at his arm.

  “It was,” he said staring at Bryan. “What the fuck is going on here?”

  Bryan grinned. “You think a powerful witch like Aadya wasn’t aware of the assault that was going to occur tonight? Did you not think it odd that those overgrown kitty cats so easily infiltrated her house? The decrease in security guards when she owns a fucking army of mercenaries?” he laughed. “You all just walked right into her trap! She will have the sacrifices she needs! And it will be provided by you fuckers!”

  Daman struck him quickly in the side of his head with the blunt end of the Sai knocking him out. He crumpled and had a dazed look in his eyes before they closed.

  “Come on,” he said taking my hand as we ran out of the room and down the hall toward the open French doors.

  We entered the courtyard just as chaos swept through it.

  II

  By the thunderous boom that was occurring and the crackling of lightning filling the air around us I thought a sudden storm had blown in.

  That wasn’t the case.

  Daman and I both abruptly stopped at the top of the stairs that led down into the courtyard. We weren’t sure rather to believe that what we were seeing was actually what our eyes were showing us. Some part of my mind tried rejecting it while another part was screaming and freaking out, telling me it was very much real.

  In the center of the courtyard resided a fountain on which the Witch Stone had been placed. Shooting off from it like the streams on a plasma ball was tendrils of crackling magic that was latched to what looked to be every single rebel that had arrived with us as well as a few mercenaries that I recognized from the museum attack.

  And each was contorting in pain, their screams filling the courtyard like an army of banshees unleashed.

  The stone was drawing their life from them for every orifice was spilling blood that was being drawn along the tendrils that tethered them to the Witch Stone.

  And that wasn’t the worse of it.

  Each were-jaguar was shifting rapidly back and forth between their human form and that of their beast form, some were caught in between, stuck in that state as their screams chilled the blood. There was even a few eagles sporting human limbs or a face that was half eagle and half
human.

  There came a wet ripping sound and I watched one were-jaguar warrior was ripped in two, their body parts falling to the ground in a heap of bones and flesh.

  “What the fuck,” Daman whispered.

  It was at that moment the Witch Stone must have sensed our presence for a tendril of magic shot straight toward us crackling like lightning. I grabbed Daman and threw us down the stairs as that coil of magic slammed into the French doors behind us which exploded into a shower of glass and wood that pelted us.

  “Daman! Henry! Over here!”

  We looked up to see Sophia crouched behind one of the columns that encircled the courtyard. We scrambled over to her as the din of screaming rose in volume around us.

  “What the holy hell is going on?” Daman shouted as he pressed against the column. “What the fuck happened here?”

  “It was a trap,” Sophia said, her face red and tear streaked. I noticed her hands were covered in blood. “It was all a trap!”

  “Getting that,” he said. “But how did it happen?”

  “Luis and Carmen were in position,” she said as a human head came sailing over us, hitting the wall and bounced off to roll by us. I felt sick to my stomach. “La Bruja and what looked to be the other witches were around the fountain preforming the ceremony. He gave the order only it wasn’t them! It was an illusion! By the time we realized that? It was too late,” she said as tears tracked down her face. “That damn stone started latching onto them and the Mercs that came out of hiding. It just began sucking the life out of them, doing what you’re seeing!”

  “Where are Carmen and Luis now?” I asked ducking to look around the column. I couldn’t find them and the courtyard was quickly filling with body parts.

  “The witches that arrived with you? The moment the stone started doing that,” she said gesturing with a bloodied hand to the scene taking place in the courtyard. “They started attacking the ones that were retreating, cutting them down. Luis and Carmen began fighting them and the last I saw they went tumbling out through that entrance at the back of the courtyard.”

  “I knew it!” Daman growled. “How injured are you?”

  “This isn’t my blood,” she replied looking down at her hands. “I tried to pull one of the jaguar warriors free from that coil of magic when they just…they just exploded!”

  “Shit,” I said. “We have to stop it somehow!”

  I didn’t want to think the thought that was going through my head about the witches turning on us. They had been sent by Miss Samantha and the council. If they had turned on us? Did that mean…

  An eerie silence suddenly fell over the courtyard. The screaming ceased all at once. We three looked at each other and leaned around the column.

  The Witch Stone was glowing with a bright red light that pulsed like a heartbeat. At least it was no longer shooting out coils of magic, but if I learned anything from watching horror movies with Scott this was just the calm before the storm with ancient artifacts of unknown origins.

  The courtyard was littered with the remains of the jaguar and eagle warriors twisted into misshapen forms. If one didn’t know what they had resembled before, they would never think what they were looking at people who once been alive, had been human. The same went for the bodies of the mercenaries who were basically turned inside out.

  “Heather, Scott,” I whispered as I looked at Sophia. “Did you see them? My friends? A woman with red and purple hair? A guy with a beard?”

  “I don’t think they were present,” she whispered back. “But then things happened so fast.”

  I prayed they weren’t one of the piles of flesh and bones. Please don’t let them be!

  “Chico!”

  Aadya’s voice filled the courtyard, but I couldn’t pinpoint her location due to the acoustics of the courtyard that she could be anywhere within it speaking from a hiding spot.

  “I sense you are here along with a witch and another leech! May as well come out and show yourself! The stone has fed and is no longer hungry!”

  Daman muttered beneath his breath.

  “How did you know we would be here?” he shouted back, pressing against the column.

  “I’ve been at odds with the rebels for weeks now,” she replied. “It was only a matter of time before they attempted some heroic feat to strike back at me!” she laughed and the sound echoed around us. “I had this planned for some time to be honest! It was why I attacked the museum! But you being part of it was a surprise, but expected once I received word of your involvement.”

  Daman and I exchanged a-what-the-fuck-look with each other. How did she receive word? Dread settled into the pit of my stomach now.

  “Come out Chico,” Aadya said. “Or you’ll risk Mister Sullivan’s friend’s lives if you don’t.”

  I looked at Daman and he mouthed the word “trap”. I shook my head. I couldn’t take risking Heather and Scott’s lives. He saw this and reluctantly nodded his head. With Sophia we came out from behind the column, sidestepping the grisly remains.

  Aadya stepped into view from behind a column. She was dressed in a black silk shirt, military style pants and boots. Her hair fell in a wave around her face that was twisted into a gloating sneer.

  “How did you know about our involvement?” I asked. “Where are my friends?”

  Aadya simply smiled and looked over her shoulder as another figure appeared.

  “I told her,” Miss Samantha said walking into view. “And you’d be wise to behave yourself or you will be responsible for Heather and your friend’s deaths.”

  “We still need the witch,” Aadya said. “The male is expendable.”

  “No,” Miss Samantha said calmly, adjusting the khaki safari jacket she wore. “We still need a sacrifice,” she fixed her steely gaze on the three of us. “Or several once we reach the location.”

  I just stared at her, shaking my head. “How…why?” I shouted moving forward when Aadya lifted her hand up, blue crackling magic engulfing her hand at once. Daman grabbed me and pulled me back. “Why? Why are you with her?” I demanded feeling defeated.

  “Because Mister Sullivan,” Miss Samantha grinned, reaching up to brush a lock of hair off her forehead. “It is wiser to join then resist.”

  “Resist what? What is going on? The attacks on the supernatural races in San Francisco?”

  “The attacks on the supernatural races is just the prep work for what is to come,” Miss Samantha said. “There is a great storm building on the horizon, Mister Sullivan. A storm that will turn the world over to those of us who serve it, who will bask in its cleansing rains.”

  “To serve as the right hand of evil instead of oppressed by it,” Daman muttered.

  “Exactly Mister Salvadori,” Miss Samantha said. “I take it you met your ex?”

  “Unfortunately.”

  She smiled. “It’s funny how large the world can appear at times when it’s really smaller than one would think when paths cross.”

  It was mind boggling to me this turn of events. “But…but you were part of the witch council! You were the leader! You and the council sought to make peace among the supernatural races of San Francisco!” I said.

  “Oh, we did,” she said folding her arms across her chest. “But when Aadya first approached me some time ago, telling me of things that were starting to unfold? Even I could see the writing on the wall. It would be pointless to resist what was going to be inevitable.” She shrugged. “It is wiser to sleep with the devil willingly than oppose him.”

  “What did you do to the council?” I asked. “Are there here as well?”

  “When they found out my betrayal? They wished to remove me, to put me on trial,” Miss Samantha said. “So I killed them,” she said causally. “Just like I had the strongest and most powerful witches of San Francisco murdered.”

  “The one found in the floating marina? Audrey Bolin? And all the others that were turning up dead?”

  “Ah, a powerful and stubborn witch if ever there was one
,” Miss Samantha said. “Sadly, I didn’t have a hand in that. I don’t know who did it but they deserve applause for doing so.”

  “How did Bryan get involved?” Daman asked. “Why is he fucking here?”

  “I think it would be better to hear that from him,” Miss Samantha said looking toward the stairs.

  Bryan appeared at the stop of the stairs as if this was some play unfolding and his cue had arrived. He came down the stairs with his eyes narrowed toward me and Daman. “The vampire council became aware of what was going on,” he said rubbing at the goose egg size lump on the side of his head. “They sent me to investigate and along the way word reached me of a powerful dark witch in Mexico who may have the answers. And she did have the answers,” he said looking to Aadya. “She revealed to me a truth that is undeniable so I joined up with her. Been helping her ever since.”

  “You never do anything so willingly without wanting something in return,” Daman snarled at him.

  “Oh, in lining myself with Aadya? I will be granted leadership of the vampire council, as in, the only member of it, king made,” he said with a grin. “I never cared for their rules, their regulations. Once the storm arrives and when the water drains away? I’ll be rewarded with the position and will be making my own changes.”

  “A whore is a whore is a whore,” Daman said.

  “Ouch,” Bryan deadpanned.

  “Enough of this talk!” Aadya said. “We must be on our way.” She snapped her fingers and several Mercs appeared behind us. I felt the cold press of a gun barrel against the back of my head.

  “Your own men have no issue with you sacrificing their own?” Daman asked.

  “They know that there must be sacrifices made, Chico,” Aadya said walking over toward the fountain. “And those that remain loyal to me will rise with me.”

  “Whatever or whoever you’re doing all this for must be selling one hell of a line to you,” he said.

  “It’s no line,” she replied removing the stone from the top of the fountain. “It is a truth that has been hidden for centuries ever since the demons were driven underground, denied their rightful rule of the world.” She held the Witch Stone in her hand gazing upon like one would something dear. “Some can fight back as they wish. But in the end? It will all be for not.”