House of Chaos

by K. R. Alexander

  Wind howling in my ears was deafening. The mirror’s glass exploded. Wade yelled and jumped back. Vel lunged at me, eyes blazing, but Fulco caught him, smashing him into the wall and biting his shoulder while Vel fought. Adam was vomiting blood at the edge of the circle, on his hands and knees. Gideon kept trying to stand but didn’t seem to be able to hear or see anything, still holding his head. Only Wade and I remained on our feet, while I was being pulled to the shimmering light in the center of the room, pushed by wind, dragged by unseen hands.

  “You’re finished here! You never should have stayed!” I had to shout over the wind like a hurricane in my ears.

  “And you never should have come back!” His voice all around me.

  “I’m not afraid of you!”

  “You fear me even in your dreams! Your power is nothing to mine!”

  “You’re wrong! You could be a million years old and suck the souls from a thousand victims and you’d never be as strong as us!” I pushed, he dragged, and the others fought against chaos, each locked in his own battle while the tornado dragged me to the rift. “Do you know why?”

  He was almost there, both of us, pushing and pulling, when he snapped free of my magic hold and shot through the room after the others. I snatched at him while his voice beat through the room like a scream, audible now to everyone: “You will suffer for this, Fulco! All of your kind, for all eternity!”

  “Go!” I shouted back, forming the tornado into a tunnel that sucked the flitting energy into the rift. “You can never match life! You can never match our circle of power!”

  That was the secret, that was what they had told me to keep in mind when facing down a demon. No matter what soul-destroying powers a demon may have gained, in this one area we spellcasters would always be more powerful. Why else would he keep trying to take life away from us?

  He was screaming, the rift glowing, Wade pushing energy forward as well, still holding what was left of the shattered mirror in a plastic frame in both hands. Our feet slid across the floor in the force of the wind as if on skis, yet the objects of the circle did not stir, the candles still lit.

  “It’s over, Xaphan!” I shouted. “Not that you deserve any peace, but at least Claribel’s memory will finally be honored instead of brutalized. Wherever you’re going, I hope your eyes are finally opened.”

  Still, he clung to something, some edge of light and this room, screaming until I thought my ears must be bleeding, snatching at me while Wade and I also fought back from the edge. The light blazed up until I could see the shadow of a figure grappling with it like a man might cling to the side of a pit with spikes at the bottom. Howling in anguish, shrieking Claribel’s name, yanking me in after him while we could resist only by virtue of our living bodies working together to beat him.

  “Nooooo! You will fail! Your weakness will catch you and you will die as they did! For I am nothing!”

  Wind knocked me forward while I pushed with both hands and all my will against the rift, closing it, sending him on, sure there was some exact spell for this also and having no idea what to do other than push like trying to close a suitcase that’s way too full.

  “You could barely touch me!” He kept shrieking. “Chance saves you today, but you will never make it past the house with the red gables! There you will find I was nothing—a harmless ghost! There you will die as your parents died, and I will know vindication!” Breaking off into a scream, a spiraling, dismal sound, tumbling away, fading through the wind. Screaming and spinning out of control, until…

  43

  Grrruuup-grrruuup-grrruuup.

  The bullfrogs were croaking in my dreams. Did that mean I had reached the lake after all?

  Hot air felt soft, muggy. My skin was no longer freezing, sensation returned to fingers and toes and face. I lay on the floor, no, earth, listening to bullfrogs and…

  “Ripley?”

  “Wade?” I blinked. “Where am I?”

  “Just outside, by the lake. You passed out.”

  Oh, shit. “He got away…”

  “No.” Wade touched my face, gently pushing back my hair. His other hand, or maybe it was someone else, already held a cloth against the aching cut on my jaw. “No, he didn’t. You closed the rift. I don’t know how. I never saw anything like that. But you closed it and passed out, it took so much energy. The wolves are worried about you, but I told them it was only the magic drain.”

  I nodded uncertainly, blinking, seeing real stars, faint light from a flashlight in the grass, and the dim shape of Wade. Still, my heart hammered. “What if he’s still in there? What if he got away?”

  “He didn’t. It was epic. It closed up around him.” Wade was excited, obviously working to keep his voice calm at my “sickbed” while he wanted to jump around and give me a high-five. “He screamed all the way and you pushed him back. We could feel him gone. Gideon felt better right away. Vel’s pretty sick, but that’s from the vampire biting him. And Adam was messed up inside, but he transformed and I think he’s okay. Gideon is with him over by the car, getting him water. He’d been staying with you. Carried you out and everything. They were really upset about you.”

  “I’m fine,” I mumbled through cotton mouth, still unsure, not believing I’d done my first banishing on a wing and a prayer.

  “I figured.” Wade was beaming at me. He leaned in to kiss my forehead. “That’s a house down, isn’t it? You did it, Ripley.”

  “Yeah…” I rubbed my eyes and slowly sat up with his help. Wade pulled away what turned out to be a few tissues he was holding against my jaw.

  It might have been the most ungainly banishing ever performed, but it was done. Shouldn’t I be happy?

  My stomach churned. I clenched my teeth and it passed. There was something else. Some reason I wasn’t feeling euphoric or celebratory, yet I couldn’t put my finger on it, struggling even to remember what had happened.

  “Is Vel okay?” I asked thickly, trying to look around. I could see the shapes of Gideon and Adam in the drive by my car. Not the other two. We were a bit away from the house, in grass by the lake and clear air.

  “I suppose so. I’m not sure what vampire venom does to them, but they can’t turn, can they?”

  I shook my head. “Gideon said they’re immune. But immune to death from it doesn’t mean it’s pleasant. Wade…? Something happened, he said something that I can’t…” Then I remembered. I rubbed my temples. Two things he’d known about that he shouldn’t have.

  “Your parents?” Wade asked softly, tone of suppressed glee changing. “Were they killed at a house with red gables?”

  I nodded.

  “That’s what you’re working toward, isn’t it? If you can beat the rest of Midway City, you can beat the house with red gables? That’s why you’re doing this?”

  I looked at the lake, black and glassy with the reflected moon and stars. The bullfrogs were quieting down with the late hour.

  “I can’t go in there until I know what I’m doing. And have my curse back.”

  “Your curse?”

  “I shouldn’t be like this.” I still didn’t look at him. “I should be able to see spirits without effort. I used to. I saw them all the time. Right up until two weeks ago, when my parents were killed. Now … I can’t anymore. If I know the rest, master the rest, like tonight, and I also have my curse back so I can see them, I can clear that house before it hurts anyone else. If I can’t…”

  “You see ghosts? Usually? Just … all the time?”

  “Used to. There’s nothing sinister about the vast majority. But I still didn’t want them around. Until I did. And they’re gone. The first time I’ve ever tried to see them and…” Shaking my head, still thinking about what Xaphan had said.

  Wade squeezed my hand. “Then, maybe stop trying?”

  I finally looked at him. Only when he said that did it click. A childlike ability, an animal sixth sense.

  “Stop trying,” I whispered. “Just assume you’ll see…”

&nb
sp; “Something like that.” Wade cocked his head. “I’ve never heard of magic like that.”

  “Me neither. So I don’t know how to get it back. Other than … taking it for granted.”

  Was that it? Had I figured it all out? One: life force will always conquer a spirit. Two: I just had to relax and let my curse go to get it back.

  Maybe. But I could contemplate those things later. Right now, I had to take Wade’s word for it that we’d cleared the house and I could address something else that was eating me up from what the demon had said.

  I scrambled to my feet with Wade’s help, only to discover my knees were weak as soap bubbles and I had to hold onto him.

  “Ripley?” Gideon saw I was up and approached.

  Looking around in the dark for Fulco, I assured Gideon I was okay. Wade held me up and I started for the motionless figure at the Corvette, waiting for his lift home.

  I stalked over as well as I could under the circumstances, pulse pounding in my ears.

  Vel sat on the front steps, head in his hands, looking like he was combatting nausea. Adam had changed to fur, apparently healing the internal bleeding because he seemed all right as he approached, panting.

  I addressed the vampire, who simply stood there, leaning against the car with his arms crossed, impatiently waiting.

  “He knew who you were,” I said.

  Fulco only looked at me. Wade and Gideon glanced between us.

  Angrier and angrier as I remembered suspicions and unanswered questions from the night before, I went on. “How did he know your name? And why did you bring us here? Of everywhere in Midway City? Of all the vampires we could have been rounding up? Why here?” Voice snapping by the end.

  “We settled a trade, did we not? I would aid your house clearing and you would spare vampires. How could it make any difference?

  “How could it make a difference to throw us into a demon house first thing when you knew we were struggling to figure this out? When we’d have been far more prepared to tackle a couple of vampire houses first? When you knew all that?”

  “I do not recall any voicing of opinions to tour the town in a designated order, Miss Ahearne.”

  “And why do you talk like that?” I demanded in a shout. “You’re not old! You’re a newborn! My name is Ripley.” I jabbed a finger at him, one hand gripping Wade’s shoulder to keep on my feet while he had an arm around my back. “The demon knew who you were, and I think you knew who he was and didn’t like him being here. And you know what else? Vampires and demons don’t cohabitate. Maybe you had a little grudge against this one. Or your people did? Since you only recently showed up here, yet now you already know about my parents and you’re leading us around on a leash. And you know the local demons by name?”

  “You are entirely overreacting to—”

  “No. I’m not. You want to see overreacting? Overreacting is what’s going to happen if you don’t tell us, right now, what’s going on. And it’s going to involve wolves and wooden stakes and maybe a head blowing up. That’s what overreacting to vampires looks like around here. Now, if you don’t want to see that, you’d better start talking. What the hell is going on?”

  For the first time, Fulco shifted. He glanced at the three guys staring at him. One in fur and able to run a hell of a lot faster than he could in the open. One who still had magic powers up his sleeve. One who could find a stake on Marybeth.

  Even the bullfrogs had hushed, leaving a moment of ringing silence like the space between music and applause.

  44

  “I was … sent here because of the demons in Midway City,” Fulco said quietly after a moment. “The vampires were in hiding here, while spirits were attracting attention from the magical community. The arrival of the Ahearnes appeared a welcome relief as they tackled spirits. Then they turned their efforts on vampires as well. I was brought to dissuade them.”

  “Some vampire higher ups sent a newborn deliberately to kill my parents?” My hands were shaking, mouth dry and lips struggling on words.

  “Certainly not. I arrived to monitor the situation and guide the undead into better hiding. We did not wish the Ahearnes slain before they had rid the town of the demonic infestation. We broke a hole in the farmhouse foyer to the hive below in case they did come to pay their respects. I saw Mrs. Ahearne each day because she fed the cats. The fox monitored them for us in return for taking free license over the house and barn.”

  “So you had contact with them. Even if they didn’t know it. You sent them to the worst demon houses with what mental messages you could, didn’t you? Got her thinking of tackling the house on Meadowlark Lane and the house with the red gables while she was out chatting with Mil-Mil? They beat Meadowlark. I guess you know that. This place would have been next, wouldn’t it? Only the red gables got them, so you’d run out of your tools for banishing demons. They all know about you by now, of course. Once we showed up, you knew exactly the next house on the list to send us. You could even come along to help and make sure it didn’t do us in the way the red gables did my parents.”

  Fulco lifted his bony hands in a gentle shrug. “I am uncertain as to why you are so upset, Miss Ahearne. I did not lie. We have aided one another. One more house is cleared. You could not have performed the banishing without me. Is it not your mission to clean these houses? As it is mine? Then what is amiss?”

  “You don’t reckon it might feel amiss to us to be used like a spade to dig a grave?” Gideon growled, stepping in closer to the vampire. “Don’t reckon it’d bother anyone to think you plotted to send their parents into the worst danger you could find in order to do your bidding? Were you counting on some folks liking finding out they’ve been watched and manipulated, and they’ll nod along because you never told them a boldfaced lie, so that makes it palatable?”

  “You are both distorting this out of proportion.” But Fulco was edging along the hood of the car now, perhaps deciding to walk home. “We pursue the same end. You are creatures of packs and teams, seeking others with whom to work. And working together increases chances. I did not murder your parents anymore than I misled you to get here. It was hardly my fault if they proved themselves inept.”

  “I’ll be proud to prove you inept.” Gideon moved even closer and Fulco stepped around the headlight, backing past the license plate, still facing the shifter.

  “You’re wrong,” I told Fulco, chest rising and falling fast, so angry there were tears in my eyes, yet so drained I could not cast or chase or scream or even stand up on my own. “We don’t want the same things. I set out to clear Midway City of troubled spirits, demons, and undead. And that’s what I’m going to do.”

  “A newborn is always a good place to start.” Gideon made a lunge for him.

  Fulco dodged around my car and ran.

  Adam sprang after, tearing around this side of the car to give chase.

  The power around Wade felt like an electric jolt as if from sheets out of the dryer as he called up energy.

  “Let him go,” I snapped, giving myself another shock.

  Gideon looked around. Adam slowed.

  “Just…” I shook my head, still breathing hard, trembling. “It’s true that he helped us tonight. Even if he did it for his own gain. We couldn’t have cleared the house without him.” I blew out a tight breath. “So we’re even. Next time we see him…”

  “Stake,” Gideon said.

  Adam growled but remained on the driveway.

  I looked around.

  Vel had watched the show from the steps. He still looked sick, hunched forward, elbows on knees.

  “Let’s get out of here,” I said. “Gideon? Can you drive my car? I don’t think…”

  “Give Adam a break to change back so he can bring his bike.” He stepped to me, reaching to squeeze my shoulder. “Then, yeah. You okay?”

  “I think so. It’s just magic drain.”

  “That’s what Wade said. Thought that demon had done something to you.”

  “Well … a
bit. But I suppose I’ve been my own worst enemy in all this.”

  “Don’t say that.” He leaned in to kiss my forehead. “Nothing wrong with having a lot to learn. It’s called ‘life.’”

  One hand still on Wade, I hugged Gideon with the other, drawing all three of our heads close. “That was why we won. Life … together, fighting back. As much as any real magic. Thank you.”

  “Anytime,” Gideon whispered and kissed my lips.

  I didn’t know how Wade would feel or react about that, so I was startled when he only followed it with a gentle kiss of his own. Maybe he still had faith that I knew better than to take relationships with wolves seriously. Or maybe he didn’t really mind sharing that much either. Or maybe he was nearly as tired as I was and hardly noticed.

  Adam wedged his head between my hip and Gideon’s until I reached to stroke him. Licking my skin, he wagged his tail.

  Behind us on the steps, Vel threw up.

  45

  So hot again, and bright, I turned away. There’d been such cold just a minute ago. Or had that been last night?

  The demon, the whirlwind, Fulco, the house with the red gables. We’d won this time. So why had we all been subdued returning home?

  Vel should have gone home but I’d felt sort of bad for the guy, sick as he was. He’d changed into fur and dragged himself behind the couch in the family room as if to die. Maybe he had a banana or apple back there. The two wolves had mocked him, claiming he was pathetic, and they could take three or four bites before they felt that bad. I don’t know why they were uppity—considering Gideon had spent the whole showdown either attacking me or clutching his head in his hands, and Adam had been vomiting as much as Vel had.

  Sunlight hit the sheet hanging on the curtain rod in the north-facing window of my room. Just a touch; the sun not far risen. Almost normal time to get up, maybe. Nightmares…? My parents, failure, dark corridors. But that was nothing new. No more attacks.

  Legs against mine as I turned away, a hand on my waist, extra warmth on me as if the room wasn’t enough. Who was it? I couldn’t remember.