“Doctor?” Sir Kain was obviously concerned that his best friend’s life was in the hands of whatever Faust was.
“Sorry. I’m feeling much better now,” both of Dr. Faust’s eyes returned to normal. “It’s been a long shift, sometimes my sister, well, it’s easier for her to get out when I’m tired. The antidote, I can’t guarantee it would work. So unfortunately it is my advice that you talk to him, spend as much time as you can with him and hope that he turns instead of dying.”
Dr. Faust got ready to leave but before she did she added one more thing. “Oh, some of your friends are waiting outside. I’ll send them in to see him.” And with that Faust left.
Friends? Did Lilith get here that fast? How? Or maybe it is Aunt Rose, or Winter. Sir Kain heard whistling outside in the hallway. It was coming towards Basil Augustine’s hospital room.
Who are you? Sir Kain found himself physically and mentally gearing up for a fight when Amadeus Essex walked into Basil’s room. He didn’t know him but felt, deep down inside, that Amadeus was bad news.
“Oh no dude. Is it as bad as it looks?” asked Amadeus with a feigned look of concern.
“Who are you?” Sir Kain wished he had his sword but surely he could handle the rather unremarkable appearing Amadeus Essex.
“Me? Nobody, really. I’m the grease that lubricates the wheel of change in this world Sir Kain. I’m a living means to an end. And relax, no need for a fight. Plus I didn’t exactly come alone.” Amadeus held Basil Augustine’s hospital room door open.
Next walked in a very solemn Winter.
“Winter? What is going on here? Who is this guy? “ Sir Kain was beyond confused.
“We need you to step aside Sir Kain,” said Winter in an uncharacteristically stale voice, completely devoid of emotion.
“And I need you to explain what’s going on here,” Sir Kain noticed Amadeus moving closer to Basil. “You! Stop right there!”
“It’s okay Sir Kain,” a third person entered Basil’s hospital room. It was his former master, Alizia Blackward. “You can trust them. We don’t mean you any harm.”
This is all wrong. And there is no way you can fight your way out of this, especially considering you are no warlock. Keep em talking. Maybe you can delay whatever this is until Lilith gets here to help.
“First Ms. Blackward, I in no way trust you.”
“That’s fair.” Alizia slowly approached Sir Kain with her hands up. “I completely understand but you need to understand that I, we come as friends.”
“Friends do not wipe each other’s memories and let them become mindless servants.”
“You’re mistaken Sir Kain. I did what I did to you in order to protect you. Just as I’m doing what I do now to protect you and my daughter. Give us Basil, simply walk away and I promise you, no harm will come to you.” Alizia’s face conveyed that every word she just said was genuine. That made it worse for Sir Kain.
“Why do you want him? He has not done anything to anyone.” Sir Kain grabbed the only weapon he could find, an IV pole. He held it like a bow staff and was fully ready to fight to the last.
“Well that’s not true, is it stone dude?” Amadeus sat on the opposite edge of the bed from where Sir Kain was standing. “He gave you your memory back didn’t he?”
Sir Kain didn’t answer.
“Yeah, he did.” Amadeus smiled at Sir Kain. It was so smug, the former knight wanted nothing more than to rip it off nose first.
Winter took out her .45 caliber coven police issued pistol. She aimed it at Sir Kain which made Amadeus practically giddy. He was like a child, playing with his toys.
“We can’t have him give Lilith’s ghost back hers. I’m sorry Sir Kain. Truly, I am.” Winter apologized. As her finger moved to and on the trigger she closed her eyes. “I’m so sorry, I can’t stop myself.”
“No! There’s no need to-” Alizia tried to stop it from happening, but her words were not enough.
Winter unloaded on Sir Kain. His body of living stone helped avoid fatal wounds as each bullet simply chipped off little pieces and chunks. Still, they wounded him. He started to bleed what appeared to be magma.
Winter!? Sir Kain was down on one knee, his hot glowing blood sizzled as it hit the hospital linoleum floor. He couldn’t believe what was happening. But he wasn’t going to let that shock and the pain stop him from protecting his friend.
“Wow! I gotta say, I’m impressed Sir Kain.” Amadeus clapped. Then he walked over to Winter and took her gun from her. “Thank you Ms. Winter. Wait, do you have another, another....what do they call them?”
“Clips?” answered Winter. Though she didn’t cry, Sir Kain could see the anguish and helplessness in her eyes.
“Yes! Do you have another clip hon? Looks like you emptied this one. Actually now that I think about it, I don’t even know how to take the old one out and put a new one in. Here, you do it.” Amadeus handed the pistol back to Winter.
How are you going to get out of here Thomas? How are you going to save Basil? Sir Kain slowly rose up off one knee. Every inch of his body was in pain. Those bullets would never kill him but he was only mortal and they did their damage.
“Sorry dude. You see, I rarely get my hands dirty,” explained Amadeus. He hopped over to Alizia and playfully grabbed her by both shoulders. “Neither do you, do you? Oh, man, this is so much fun.” Winter handed over her reloaded pistol. “Why thank you Ms. Winter. Winter, that’s such a pretty name. Alizia would you mind?”
“ Seenk ruoy no!” Alizia emphatically recited a spell that made Sir Kain’s upper body feel five times heavier. It forced him back down to his knees, in easy position for Amadeus to finish him off.
“It’s even more fun this way Alizia. Making you obey without any magic at all!” Amadeus laughed maniacally.
This guy is out of his mind. There is no way this ends well. Lilith, where are you? For once I need you to save me.
“Allllright. As much of a blast as this has been dude...” Amadeus walked over to Sir Kain and pressed the gun barrel against his forehead, right between his glowing red eyes. “Don’t know if this will be enough to put you down big dude, but it’s definitely gonna hurt.”
“Moor eht ssorca dna teef ruoy ffo!” Alizia Blackward recited the spell as quickly as she could. Sir Kain was lifted off his knees and thrown through the window behind him. Seeing that Basil’s room was on the first floor, the fall wasn’t far and definitely survivable.
Amadeus, for the first time visibly upset turned to Alizia with his arms stretched out on both sides. “What the heck was that!?”
“Like you said. You didn’t use any magic to control me. Are you still having fun?”
“You certainly are a willful woman Alizia. I’ll address that later. Now if you’d excuse me I’m gonna finish the job.” Amadeus ran over to the now broken window in Basil Augustine’s hospital room. He was about to lean out and shoot Sir Kain again when a large black wolf came out of nowhere, jumped through it and latched it’s jaws on his arm.
Amadeus screamed in pain, dropped Winter’s gun and struggled to get the wolf to release it’s grip on his forearm. The wolf growled and shook its head back and forth tearing the skin and muscle from the bone. Never, in his whole life had he been in so much pain, and terror.
“Roolf ot sgel, ydob ot smra, regeurk retniw dnib!” In all the commotion of the unexpected wolf attack, Winter and Alizia hadn't noticed Lilith enter the room through the door.
Glowing orange iron restraints, made from soul energy appeared around Winter’s midsection, pinning and locking her arms against her torso. Another set appeared around her ankles complete with a heavy ball and chain.
“Mother! Don’t you move a muscle.” Lilith turned her attention to her mother.
“Retaw ot reh rednu roolf eht nrut.” Alizia Blackward quickly and quietly recited a spell. The floor under Lilith turned to water. She quickly sank down into it and found herself soaked and in the Saint Mercy Hospital basement.
“So
n of a...” Lilith ran around the basement trying to find the stairs back up to Basil Augustine’s floor.
Lilith found the stairwell. She was in such a hurry she jumped over, skipping several stairs. Once in the Hospital proper, she ran down the halls, shoulder checking several doctors. She might’ve knocked over an old man and a patient who was trying to go for a walk. But she refused to look back. They couldn’t get away, not her mother, not Amadeus Essex and especially not Winter.
“Where’d she go!?” Though Lilith was relieved to see that Winter was still restrained and in Basil’s hospital room, her mother was gone. And so was Amadeus. It was just the magically manacled Winter and Eve standing there with blood all over her face.
“She, I dunno. I was too busy biting that guy.”
“Speaking of ‘that guy’ where’d he go?”
“He told me to let go...and I did. I dunno why but I felt like I had to. So I did. I’m sorry friend Lilith.”
Lilith looked out the broken hospital room window. Sir Kain was lying on the parking lot, groaning. A couple employees were ran over him to see if he was okay.
“It’s okay Eve,” Lilith hugged Eve. “Thank you. You saved Sir Kain’s life. I owe you. Now, let’s get Basil out of here.”
Two minutes later the glamour spell over Basil Augustine’s room at Saint Mercy’s lifted. A nurse, who like the rest of the staff on that floor heard and saw none of the commotion just moments earlier entered. She was flabbergasted as she walked in on a broken window, blood on the floor and an empty bed.
Chapter 10
Case Closed
“She did what!?” Sir Kain couldn’t believe what Lilith just told him. It hurt to shout.
Sir Kain was slumped in the front seat next to Lilith, who drove. Eve was in the back guarding Winter who continued her futile attempts to free herself from her restraints. Basil sat next to Eve, still passed out.
“Winter killed Armando Lobos,” Lilith said matter-of-factly.
“But...why?” Sir Kain struggled to sit up, winced in pain as he did.
“Where do I start?”
“The beginning is always a good place to start.”
“Okay. So first, the Cold Dawn is far from dead. We should’ve gone back to San Francisco to get Heinrich Talon’s damn spell because a lot of what's happened in the last few days was because of that. Armando Lobos, he was working with my parents and Deacon Thorne to find it and use it to wipe out the mundane world. All of them had people out looking for us, looking for her, Winter. Only Deacon Thorne’s men were the ones that found us.”
“Detective Theodus?” Sir Kain asked a question which he didn’t expect to get answered.
“Theodus and our new best bud Amadeus Essex. They got the map to the spell and must’ve been on their way back to Devil’s End when Armando Lobos’s son Sandoval caught up with them. Apparently Armando wanted to double cross Deacon Thorne.”
“Why?” asked Eve. “Why would my dad do that?”
“Because Thorne was a threat. Especially if he got his hands on that spell. You see, all this nonsense is about the gaining and maintaining power. Armando wanted the spell to be in control of the new world that the Cold Dawn was planning on building.
“Armando sent Sandoval to take the map. Which he did. But he also took a prisoner, Amadeus Essex. Sandoval must not have known that Amadeus worked for Thorne or what he could do because when all was said and done, Amadeus got away.” Lilith talked as she looked in the rear view mirror.
“Okay, so who has the map to the spell?” asked Sir Kain.
“I’m not sure. But I think Sandoval still has it. Though who knows if he knows what he has.”
“Why was Armando Lobos killed?”
“Yes! Why did my pack leader die!” Eve kept staring a hole in the side of Winter’s head.
“At some point, I don’t know if it was before or after the map to the spell was stolen by Sandoval, plans were put in place to take our Armando. Deacon and Amadeus want to take control of the high table, which for all intents and purposes, they have. It was methodical. First was Basil Augustine, Amadeus managed to whisper in his ear that maybe he should step down from his chair, clearing the way for for my father and leader of the Cold Dawn, Marcus Blackward.
“That was step one. Step two was getting rid of the only skin changer on the high table. At some point Amadeus must’ve cast his spell on Winter. She set up a meeting with Armando at The Grand Theater.
“Once there, Armando was confronted by Winter who had no intention of negotiating or handing over anything. She shot him, once in the lobby. He tried to escape into the main theater. Winter....she followed him and shot him a couple more times, killing him and removing him from the board. That was one more free seat on the table.”
“Armando Lobos is dead?” Sir Kain wasn’t terrible surprised but wanted confirmation.
“Unfortunately and he’s not the only one.” Lilith stopped at a traffic light.
“Who else?”
“There were still four seats left on the high table. Deacon Thorne and Amadeus, they needed full control. Next they set their sights on my father.”
“Marcus...what did they do?”
“They killed him. It sounded like poison. I’m not sure. But he’s gone. My dad is dead.”
There was a brief silence.
“Do you think your mother....?
“I don’t want to think about that right now. All that was left in Deacon and Amadeus’s way were Lisabeth Essex and Tabitha Talon. I was there, at Talon House when they were possessed by Amadeus. They’re under his control. As of right now Devil’s End is under the control of a psychotic puppeteer and the biggest scumbag our town has ever known.” Lilith took a right when the light turned green.
“So who has the map?” asked Eve who surprisingly was following along with the conversation.
“Honestly I have no idea. Right now we just need to get Basil and Sir Kain to my aunt’s house. Anywhere else and Amadeus and Deacon can probably get me. We’ll be safe there. And then I have a funeral I need to get to.”
“WHAT HAPPENED!” YELLED a furious Deacon Thorne. “We had them dead to rights.”
Amadeus Essex, Deacon Thorne and Alizia Blackward were all in Blackward Manor’s living room. Deacon couldn’t relax as Amadeus slumped down in a recliner drinking a soda with his good arm. Alizia tried her best to keep her composure on the couch.
“What can I say Deke? We could’ve just handled Sir Kain, he’s nothing.” Amadeus pointed at Alizia. “Then this one let him go. Sorry, angrily threw him out of a one story window hoping to kill the man made of living stone. Right on cue her daughter showed up with a big damn wolf and ruined everything.”
“How is your arm Amadeus?” asked Alizia.
Amadeus raised up his arm that Eve took a bite out of. It was thickly wrapped in bandages. Some of the blood started to soak through. “Just peachy dude. Thank you for asking.”
“We no longer have a choice Alizia. We have to deal with your daughter. She needs to go.” Deacon’s usual cold calm demeanor was gone as he envisioned all the scenarios in his head in which his carefully laid plans could fail miserably. “Then we need to finally take care of Winter Krueger. Using her as our gun against Armando was admittedly a stroke of genius Amaedus...”
Amadeus held up his soda as to toast Deacon.
“But now she’s a loose end. Along with Basil Augustine.”
Alizia got up. “No one touches my daughter Deacon. No one.”
“You mean the daughter you hired for some reason, to find Armando Lobos?” Deacon got in Alizia’s face.
“I hired her before you told me you had him killed. I hired her to keep her attentions away from us, away from you and away from him.”
“I’m sorry darling, truly, I am, but Lilith needs to be dealt with. She knows far too much. So do her friends, Sir Kain and this wolf girl, Eve Lobos. Do you know where they are? And don’t lie to me.”
Alizia Blackward hit Deacon in the
face as hard as she could. He fell down to the floor amazed, shocked and even more angry. But not as angry as her. “You DO NOT touch my daughter! In all your mechanizations and scheming you forget who is actually the more formidable witch Deacon. If you touch her, I swear you’ll be seeing your brother Alfred in the afterlife, sooner rather than later.”
Amadeus started laughing uncontrollably, only kept in check by the pain in his forearm. “You guys, you’re a riot. Really. No need to bicker, no need to fight dude.”
“What is wrong with you!” screamed Deacon as he got up, wiped the blood from his split lip. “There is every reason to fight right now. Our plans are hanging on by a thread. And she didn’t answer my question. Where is her daughter and her little friends?”
“She’s at her Aunt Rose, Marcus’s sister’s cabin, just outside town,” casually replied Amadeus. That took his colleagues by surprise. “What? I’m always connected with those I put under my spell. I always know where they are until the strings are cut.”
“So what are we waiting for? Let’s go get-” Deacon suddenly stopped talking. Not because he wanted to because he couldn’t. Nor could he move.
“Now I’m a bad dude Deke. I know that,” Amadeus sat up in his chair and put his can of soda down on the Blackward Manor living room table. “But even I wouldn’t threaten Mrs. Or I mean Ms. Blackward’s daughter. In fact, despite what happened to my wing here, I kinda like her. She’s got guts, unlike you. And I’m thinking it’s about time to end our partnership. Especially considering...” Amadeus reached into his jeans pocket and took out the map to Heinrich Talon’s spell.
Hex to the No Page 8